ObjectivesTo explore the clinical significance of tyrosine kinase receptor RON mRNA expression and it's splicing variant in bladder tumors. Methods Sixty-three cases of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (TCCB), including 30 cases of pathological grade I , 15 cases of pathological grade Ⅱ and 18 cases of pathological grade Ⅲ (44 cases of clinical stage Tis + T1, 15 cases of T2 + T3 +T4), 7 inverted papilloma of the bladder ( IPB), 9 cases of papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential (PUNLMP) and 12 cases of normalbladder mucosa RT-PCR was employed with the internal standard (GAPDHmRNA) to detect the expression of RON mRNA. PCR and direct sequencing was then utilized to identify the potential RON mRNA splicing variants. Finally, the variants' positive rates of expression were analyzed among the different tissues, diverse TCCB pathological grades and clinical stages. ResultsThe expression levels of RON mRNA/GAPDH mRNA among TCCB, IPB, PUNLMP and normal control were 4. 9 × 10-3 ( 1. 8 × 10-3-1.0 × 10-2 ), 3. 8 × 10-3 (2. 4 × 10-3-1.7 × 10-2 ), 4. 9 ×10 -3 ( 1.7 × 10 -3-1.1 × 10 -2 ) and 1.0 × 10-3 (4. 5 × 10-4-2. 8 × 10-3 ) respectively. The difference had a statistical significance (x2K-W = 17. 278 ,P ＜0. 05 ). The expression levels among pathological grade I, Ⅱ andⅢ were 3.7 × 10-3( 1.3 × 10-3-7.5 × 10-3) , 4. 9 × 10-3(1.9 × 10-3-1.1 × 10-2) and 8.9 × 10-3(2. 7 ×10 -3-8.0 × 10 -2 ) respectively. The erpression levels among the clinical stage Tis + T1 and T2 + T3 + T4were 3.5 × 10-3 ( 1.2 × 10 -3-7. 7 × 10-3 ) and 9. 7 × 10 -3 ( 2. 9 × 10-3-5. 3 × 10-2 ). The differences between expression levels were of statistical significance among the different pathological grades ( x2k-W =7. 341, P ＜0. 05 ) and clinical stages ( Z = - 2. 306, P ＜ 0. 05 ). The positive rates of exon 11deletion(E11△) in TCCB, IPB and PUNLMP were 71％ (45/63), 57％ (4/7) and 67％ (6/9) respectively, andthe total positive rate in bladder tumor tissues was 70％. Meanwhile, expression of the novel RON variant wesnot detected in the normalbladder mucosa. The positive expression rate of E1 1△ has no significant correlationamong the different clinical pathological tissues (x2 = 0. 620, P ＞ 0. 05 ). There was no statistical significancein expression positive rate between different pathological grades ( Z =0. 221, P ＞0. 05 ) and clinical stages( Z = 0. 538, P ＞ 0. 05) as well. A novel RON splice variant, deletion of RON exon 11 3 476 - 3 539 ( E3476 -3539△) was fond in the pathological tissue. The positive expression rates of E3 476 -3 539 in TCCB,IPB and PUNLMP were 57％ (36/63), 43％ (3/7) and 56％ (5/9) respectively, and the total positive expression rate was 56％ (44/79). The positive rates of E3 476 -3 539△ in pathological grade I , Ⅱ and Ⅲ were 40％ ( 12/30), 67％ (10/15) and 78％ (14/18), and it's positive rates in clinical stage Tis +T1and T2 +T3 + T4 were 48％ (21/44) and 80％ (12/15). The differences in each group had significantly statistical significance ( Z = 7. 285, 5. 041, P ＜ 0. 05 ) . However, the positive rates amongdifferent pathological tissues had no significance (x2 = 0. 517, P ＞ 0. 05 ). Conclusions The expression level of RON mRNA is significantly associated with histological grading and clinical stage. RON may play an important role in the progression ofTCCB. Compared with the normal control, the increased RON variant expression may contribute to the carcinogenesis of the bladder tumor.

Objective To investigate the features of event-related potentials (ERP) P300, auditory evoked potential(AEP) and brainstem auditory evoked potential(BAEP) in senile depression patients and the dynamic chan-ges before and after treatment of sertruline. Methods P300, AEP and BAEP were recorded in 31 senile depression patients using Chinese WOND 2000C Instrument, and a comparison between the patients and 33 normal controls in terms of these evoked potentials were made. Some of the depression patients treated with oral intake of sertraline were followed electophysiologically after 12 months of treatment. Results Compared with normal controls, senile depres-sion patients showed delay of latency of P300-P3 and BAEP-Ⅲ, decreased amplitude of P300-P3, AEP-P2 and BA-EP-Ⅲ(P <0.05 or 0.01). The 12-month follow-up measures of ERP showed significant improvement in terms of la-tency and amplitude of P3/P300,AEP-P2 and BAEP-Ⅲ after treatment of sertraline. Conclusion Senile depres-sion patients showed abnormality on several ERP indexes (such as P3/P300, AEP-P2 and BAEP-Ⅲ), and these in-dexes might provide important evidences to monitor the effect of medicine.

Objective · To explore the correlation of serum S100B protein with depressive episode of bipolar disorder (BD) and its prognosis.Methods· Based on BD criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition (DSM-Ⅳ),80 patients with depressive episode of BD (case group) and 42 healthy controls (control group) were enrolled.Patients were randomly assigned into quetiapine group who were treated with lithium and quetiapine and modified electroconvulsive therapy (MECT) group who received lithium and MECT.The serum S100B level and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) were assayed before and after 4-week treatment.Results· The serum S100B levels before treatment in patients with depressive episode of BD were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (P=0.000).The levels of S100B in both drug and MECT groups decreased after 4-week treatment.The HAMD score after treatment significantly decreased than that before treatment (P=0.000).Pearson correlation analysis showed that the change of S 100B level was positively correlated with the change of HAMD score before and after treatment in case group (r=0.33,P=0.013).Conclusion· S100B may be associated with depressive episode of BD and its prognosis.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of sodium ferulate (SF), an intravenous drug made from traditional Chinese herbs, on activation of postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95) and neuroprotection after transient cerebral artery occlusion in rats.

METHODSForty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into 2 groups (n=23 in each group): the control group and the SF group. After anesthesia, the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was conducted with the intraluminal filament technique. The neurological deficit was assessed with the method devised by Bederson et al. The 2,3,4-triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining was used to assess the infarct volume. We adopted a modified six-point scale to conduct neurobehavioral evaluation. Immediately the activation of postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95) was studied with Western blot analysis system in the cortex and striatum of rat brain.

RESULTSThe neurologic deficit score of the SF group decreased substantially compared with that of the control group (P<0.05). The infarct volume of the control group (168.1 mm3 +/- 42.2 mm3) was significantly larger than that of the SF group (61.5 mm3 +/- 28.7 mm3) at 24 hours after reperfusion (P<0.01). And the rats showed some neurological deficit. The activity of PSD-95 in the SF group at most timepoints was less than that in the control group. No upregulation of PSD-95 protein could be detected in the contralateral cortex.

CONCLUSIONSSodium ferulate can induce a neuroprotective effect against the transient focal cerebral ischemic injury and weaken the activation of PSD-95 in ischemic area after MCAO.

Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Brain Infarction ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Coumaric Acids ; therapeutic use ; Disks Large Homolog 4 Protein ; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Ischemic Attack, Transient ; complications ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Male ; Membrane Proteins ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Neuroprotective Agents ; therapeutic use ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To investigate the imaging findings and clinicopathological features of osteofibrous dysplasia(OFD)in tibia.Methods The imaging findings of 1 0 cases with OFD in tibia,which were confirmed by pathology and had complete clinical data were analyzed retrospectively.Results The disease occurred in children and the main clinical manifestations were anterior mass and arch deformity of calf.X-ray and CT examinations showed that the lesion distributed along the long axis of tibia and the anterior cortex was involved in 9 cases and the posterior cortex was involved in another one;the midpiece of tibia was involved in 7 cases and the lesion located at the junction area between upper third and middle third of tibia in another 3 cases;9 cases showed multilocular osteolytic lesions within the expanded cortex,manifesting as the high-density bony intervals of different thickness among a number of low-density lesions and another one presented as unilocular osteolytic lesion with sclerosis rim.Lesions manifested as multiple bubble-like intermediate or high signal intensity foci and low-signal interval bands on T2WI in 3 cases of MRI examinations.Microscopic examinations revealed that the lesion was composed of fibrous tissue and trabecular bone,fibrous tissue varied from sparse to dense and trabecular bone was surrounded by a great many osteoblasts and osteoclasts of vary number.The lesion presented as band-shaped distribution with more fibrous tissue and less trabecular bone in the central zones (corresponding to osteolytic destruction areas in radiography)and with trabecular bone gradually increasing in the peripheral zones to form abundant merged lamellar bone (corresponding to bony intervals in radiography).Conclusion OFD in tibia is characterized by the high-density bony intervals(low-signal interval bands on T2WI)of different thickness among a number of low-density lesions(multiple bubble-like intermediate or high signal intensity foci on T2WI)within anterior cortex, which reflects the pathological changes.Typical cases can be diagnosed with a variety of imaging findings and clinical features.