AIM:To explore the effect of angiotensin II ( Ang II) on phenotypic transformation in adventitial fibroblast subpopulations isolated from rat thoracic aorta .METHODS: Vascular adventitial fibroblasts were individually expanded by the method of cloning rings .The isolated cells were identified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reac-tion ( RT-PCR) and immunofluorescence staining .The rat vascular adventitial fibroblasts were cultured in vitro and incuba-ted with or without Ang II.Using the methods of fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR), immuno-fluorescence staining and Western blot , the expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) was detected .RESULTS:The spindle cells and round cells were isolated by the method of cloning rings .From passage 3 to passage 8,α-SMA expression was decreased in the spindle cells , and increased significantly in the round cells .Induced by Ang II , the expression of α-SMA was increased in the 2 cell subpopulations, and that in the round cells was significantly increased (P<0.01).The results of Western blot indicated that Ang II stimulated the subpopulation of the round cells to transfer to myofibroblasts . CONCLUSION:Ang II promotes the phenotypic transformation of adventitial fibroblast subpopulations , and the 2 subpop-ulations may play an important role in vascular remodeling and reparative process .

OBJECTIVE To study the prevalence of atypical pathogens in patients with community acquired pneumonia(CAP) and the distribution of serotypes of Legionella pneumophilia.METHODS A prospective study was performed on 257 consecutive adult patients with CAP between Dec 2003 and Nov 2004.Antibodies of the paired serum samples to Mycoplasma pneumoniae,Chlamydia pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophilia serotypes 1 to 14 were detected.RESULTS The etiology of CAP was identified in 82(31.9%) patients.The distribution of causal agents was as follows:M.pneumoniae 63(24.5%),C.pneumoniae 17(6.6%),and L.pneumophilia 11(4.28%).Serotype 12 of L.pneumophilia was the predominant one,responsible for 21.8%(56/257).CONCLUSIONS Atypical pathogens especially M.pneumoniae have an important role in CAP;serotype 12 of L.pneumophilia is the predominant one in northern area of China.

Objective To explore the direct association between metabolic syndrome (MS) and gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in Beijing men and women.Methods We investigated the medical check-up data from the 14,204 physical examination population (male 9524,female 4680) of year 2008.A cross-sectional study was carried out to explore the direct association between MS and GGT or ALT.MS was defined by the Chinese Diabetes Society (2004).Chisquare test was performed to analyze the categorical variables.The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was plotted to obtain area under curve (AUC) and the cutoff point of GGT and ALT.Results The prevalence of MS was significantly higher in subjects with the highest quartile of GGT or ALT than the subjects with the lowest quartile of GGT or ALT.For male,the prevalence of MS is 7.57％ in the lowest GGT quartile and 29.04％ in the highest GGT quartile.For female,the prevalence of MS is 1.28％ in the lowest GGT quartile and 17.86％ in the highest GGT quartile.For male,the prevalence of MS is 9.27％ in the lowest ALT quartile and 21.88％ in the highest ALT quartile.For female,the prevalence of MS is 3.52％ in the lowest ALT quartile and 14.70％ in the highest ALT quartile (P ＜0.01).The optimal cutoff points of GGT to diagnose MS were 31 U/L in men and 18 U/L in women.The optimal cutoff points of ALT to diagnose MS were 23 U/L in men and 19 U/L in women.Conclusions The prevalence of MS increases with the increase in serum levels of GGT or ALT even through the normal range of GGT or ALT in Chinese men and women.

To explore relationship of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood lipid level with non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) to provide evidence for its early intervention. Methods Data of 13 532 people living in Beijing undergone regular physical examinations at Beijing Hospital, including liver-ultrasonic scanning, measurements of blood lipid, height, weight, waist circumference and BMI during January to December 2007 were statistically analyzed. Results Totally, 4 807 people were diagnosed as NAFL by B-type ultrasonic scanning, with a mean age of (54 ± 14) years and median age of 53 years. Prevalence of NAFL significantly increased with changes in body building (normal weight, overweight and obesity) and age groups (X2 = 1640.394, P<0.01 ). There was statistical significance in prevalence of NAFL between groups with normal weight and overweight at varied ages ( X2 = 172.618 and 31.928, respectively, P < 0.01 ), with the highest at ages of 51 - 60 years. No statistical difference in prevalence of NAFL between varied age groups was found in those with obesity (X2 = 6.194, P =0.402). Mean of WC, BMI, serum levels of triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly higher in NAFL group than those in those without NAFL, but mean serum level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was significantly higher in the former than that in the latter ( P < 0.05 ). Prevalence of dyslipidemia was significantly higher in NAFL group than that in those without NAFL ( X2 = 112. 974 - 895. 500, respectively, P < 0. 01 ), with the highest of hypertriglyceridemia, accounting for 54. 36 percent. Prevalence of NAFL was significantly higher in those with larger WC than that in those with normal WC in the normal weight and overweight group (X2 = 120.982 and 45.327, respectively, P<0.01). Results of logistic regression analysis showed that WC, BMI, TG and LDL-C all were risk factors for NAFL both in men and women, and HDL-C was a protective factor for NAFL only in women. Conclusions Overweight, obesity and dyslipidemia closely correlate with occurrence of NAFL Control of body weight and blood lipid level are essential for decreasing prevalence of NAFL.

Thyroid nodule is a common diseases of neck,which property is usually identified by ultrasound examination.Color doppler ultrasonography can reflect the distribution of blood vessels and blood flow within the nodules.And with development of new technologies,three-dimensional ultrasound increase the accuracy of identification.Three-dimension power doppler ultrasound (3D-PDUS) can reflect blood flow information within the nodule space,which is more accurate than two-dimensional ultrasound and it can be used to evaluate the blood flow in nodules qualitatively and quantitatively,provide a new reference for clinical diagnosis of thyroid nodule.

Ultrasonography can clearly show pelvic anatomic structures,as well as the location and length of mesh after pelvic floor reconstructive operation.The consistency of ultrasonic diagnosis of severe pelvic organ prolapse with pelvic organ prolapse quantitation is good.Furthermore,ultrasonography can provide imaging basis for evaluating the safety and efficacy of pelvic floor reconstruction.The progresses of ultrasound in diagnosis of severe pelvic organ prolapse and postoperative evaluation of pelvic floor reconstruction were reviewed in this article.

AIM: To explore the expression of cytokeratin 20 (CK-20)target gene in peripheral blood of patients with colorectal cancer. METHODS: Total cellular RNA was extracted from whole blood of cancer patients and control groups, including 10 healthy adults, 17 benign gastrointestinal disease patients, 32 cases of colorectal cancer. The CK-20 gene expression was measured by reverse transcription PCR. RESULTS: 1. CK-20 mRNA was not detected in benign gastrointestinal disease patients and healthy adults. 2. In the colorectal carcinoma group, CK-20 mRNA expression was negative in 2 case of patients at Dukes A. The CK-20 mRNA positive expression can be detected in 4 patients among 15 cases at Dukes B, 6 out of 10 cases at Dukes C, 4 out of 5 cases at Dukes D. 3. The total positive percentage of CK-20 mRNA is 43 8% in 32 colorectal cancer patients; The positive percentage of CK-20 mRNA in patients at Dukes A and B is 23 5% and 6 7% in Dukes C, D patients CONCLUSION: It is a specific, sensitive and no damage method to detect the CK-20 target gene in patients with colorectal cancer. It is helpful for early diagnosis of tumor micrometastasis and for direction of chemotherapy.

The study is to investigate the effect of angiotensin II (Ang II) and its receptor blockers on migration and endothelin-1 (ET-1) expression of rat vascular adventitial fibroblast subpopulations. Vascular adventitial fibroblasts were individually expanded by using cloning rings, and the effects of Ang II on the migration of adventitial fibroblast subpopulations were evaluated by Transwell. Fluorescence quantitative-PCR detected the expression of preproET-1 mRNA induced by Ang II, and its receptor antagonists losartan and PD-123319. The concentration of ET-1 was determined by ELISA. It showed that spindle shaped and epithelioid shaped cells were isolated by using cloning rings, named as spindle cells and round cells. RT-PCR showed that fibroblast subpopulations did not have leukocytes, endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells, namely pure cell lines. Compared with respective control cells, two subpopulations had transferring ability. Ang II significantly improved round cells migration in a concentration-dependent manner, and had no obvious influence on spindle cells migration. Ang II (1 x 10(-8) - 1 x 10(-6) mol x L(-1)) significantly increased the expression of preproET-1 mRNA in round cells (P < 0.01), and had no significant effect on the expression of preproET-1 mRNA in spindle cells. Losartan blocked the expression of preproET-1 mRNA induced by Ang II in round cells, and had no significant effect on the expression of preproET-1 mRNA in spindle cells. The effects of Ang II and ET-1 receptor inhibitors on the release of ET-1 were similar to the expression of preproET-1 mRNA. The results indicate that there are two cell subpopulations: round cells and spindle cells in rat vascular adventitial fibroblasts. Ang II significantly improved cells migration, and increased the expression of ET-1 in round cell subpopulation. It suggested that there may be different migratory mechanisms in two cell subpopulations, and the two subpopulations may play a different role in vascular remodeling and reparative process.

Aim To explore the effects of salvianolic acid B(SAB) and tanshinone ⅡA(TA) alone or the compatibility of these two effective components on the proliferation of rat vascular adventitial fibroblasts, and to observe the effects of the compatibility of the two on cell proliferation with the stimuation of angiotensin Ⅱ(Ang Ⅱ).Methods The effects of SAB and TA alone or the compatibility of the two on cell proliferation were detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT) method, and flow cytometry was adopted to detect cell cycle with or without the induction of Ang Ⅱ.Results It was shown that SAB and TA alone could inhibit fibroblast proliferation in different degree.Through a series of concentration screening, three effective concentrations were obtained respectively and then the inhibition of cell growth was detected by Pairwise compatibilities.The results showed that the compatibility of TA(10-8 mol·L-1) and SAB(10-5 mol·L-1) had the most significant inhibitory effect(P<0.01), and they could inhibit cell proliferation, further flow cytometry was adopted to detect drug effects on cell cycle, the results indicated that the compatibility of SAB and TA mainly blocked the cells in G0/G1 phase.Induced by Ang Ⅱ, the compatibility of SAB and TA group, compared with Ang Ⅱ group, blocked thee cells in G0/G1 phase;and compared with combination of SAB and TA group, it mainly blocked cell cycle in S phase.Conclusion SAB and TA have certain inhibitory effect on fibroblast proliferation, also they could inhibit the proliferation induced by Ang Ⅱ, mainly by blocking the cells in G0/G1 phase.