Objective To determine the effects of 1320 nm non-ablative laser on the proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts,and the secretion of basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF)and transforming growth factor-?1(TGF-?1)in vitro.Methods Human dermal fibroblasts were cultured,and irradiated three times by 1320 nm laser at a dose of 15,20 and 24 J/cm~2,respectively.The levels of bFGF and TGF-?1 were examined by ELISA at 0,24,48 and 72h after the irradiation.The number of fibroblasts before and after irradiation were determined.Results The number of fibroblasts and the secretion of bFGF both in- creased after the irradiation at the doses of 20 J/cm~2 and 24 J/cm~2(P

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical efficacy of intradermal injection of methylene blue for treatment of moderate to severe acute thoracic herpes zoster and prevention of postherpetica neuralgia in elderly patients.

METHODSSixty-four elderly patients with herpes zoster were randomized to receive a 10-day course of intradermal injection of methylene blue and lidocaine plus oral valaciclovir (group A, 32 cases) and intradermal injection of lidocaine plus oral valaciclovir (group B).Herpes evaluation index, pain rating index, incidence of postherpetic neuralgia, and comprehensive therapeutic effect were compared between the two groups at 11, 30 and 60 days after the treatment.

RESULTSThe baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups (all P>0.05). Compared with that in group B, the time for no new blister formation, blister incrustation and decrustation, and pain relief was significantly shortened in group A (P<0.05) with also obviously lower pain intensity after the treatment. The incidence of postherpetic neuralgia was significantly lower in group A than in group B at 30 days (P<0.05), but not at 60 and 90 days after the treatment. The total clinical response rate was 93.8% in group A, much higher than that in group B (62.5%, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONIntradermal injection of methylene blue can effectively shorten the disease course, reduce the pain intensity and prevent the development of postherpetic neuralgia in elderly patients with herpes zoster.

Acyclovir ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Aged ; Herpes Zoster ; complications ; Humans ; Incidence ; Injections, Intradermal ; Lidocaine ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Methylene Blue ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Neuralgia, Postherpetic ; therapy ; Pain Measurement ; Valine ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use

OBJECTIVETo investigate Runx3 and C-myc expressions in colorectal cancer and their relationship with the clinicopathological parameters.

METHODSReal-time quantitative PCR was used to detect Runx3 and C-myc mRNA expressions in 38 colorectal cancer tissues and matched adjacent tissues, and Runx3 and C-myc expressions was detected by Western blotting in 63 pairs of colorectal cancer and adjacent tissues. The results were stratified according to the clinicopathological characteristics to examine the relationship of Runx3 and C-myc expressions with the clinicopathological factors in the patients.

RESULTSRunx3 expression was down-regulated and C-myc expression up-regulated at both mRNA and protein levels in colorectal cancer tissues compared with the normal tissues, and their protein expressions exhibited an inverse correlation (r=-0.398, P=0.001). Runx3 and C-myc expressions differed significantly between tumors with different Dukes stages, depths of tumor invasion, lymph node statuses, or histological differentiation (P<0.05); Runx3 down-regulation and C-myc up-regulation were more obvious in tumors in advanced Dukes stage and in poorly differentiated tumors.

CONCLUSIONAbnormal expressions in Runx3 and C-myc may contribute to the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer and are closed correlated with the patient's clinicopathological parameters.

Blotting, Western ; Cell Differentiation ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; Core Binding Factor Alpha 3 Subunit ; genetics ; metabolism ; Down-Regulation ; Humans ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Up-Regulation

Huntington disease (HD) is a chronic autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disease. The gene coding Huntingtin has been identified, but the pathogenic mechanisms of the disease are still not fully understood. This paper reviews the involvement of mitochondrial dysfunction in pathogenesis of HD.

In the present study, we reported distribution of ER alpha and ER beta mRNAs in the hypothalamus of young and old ovariectomized (OVX) rhesus macaques. The ER alpha were detected in all six major vestiblular nuclei which included arcuate nucleus (ARC) , paraventricularis nucleus (PVN) , periventricular nucleus (PeriV) , supraoptic nucleus (SON) , medial prioptic nucleus (MPN) and lateral hypothalamus area (LHA). However, the ER beta mRNA can also detected in those nuclei excerpt SON, but the signals of ER beta mRNA were weaker than those of ER alpha mRNA. We observed that the degree of expression of ERs mRNA were different in most nucleus of old and young monkeys. The ER alpha mRNAs were highly expressed in ARC and SON in young monkeys compared with old monkeys. Moderate amount of ERalpha mRNAs hybridization signals and weak signals were observed in LHA, and MPN both in young and old monkeys. In contrast, only lower level of ER alpha hybridization signal were observed in PVN and PeriV in young monkeys, and the signals of ER alpha were very low in those nucleus of old monkeys. In general, the expression of ER beta mRNA were weaker than that of ER alpha mRNA in above nucleus excerpt LHA. The relatively higher density of ER beta hybridization signals have been observed in the LHA in young monkey compared with old monkeys. Low amount of ER beta mRNA hybridization signals were observed in the ARC, PVN and MPN, and no age differences were seen in PVN and MPN of those monkeys. In PeriV, we observed some signals in young monkey and a few signals in old monkeys. It was different from the rodent in which we did not found ER beta hybridization signal in SON. This study showed that both of the two estrogen receptors not only had the same pattern of expression but also had many different patterns of expression. The different expression of ER alpha and ER beta mRNAs in the young and old monkey brain may imply diverse functions in different regions of the monkey brain.

Adolescent ; Blood Cell Count ; Child ; Copper ; blood ; Electromagnetic Fields ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Iron ; blood ; Magnesium ; blood ; Male ; Students ; Trace Elements ; blood ; Zinc ; blood

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical value of modified Bethesda assay, modified Nijmegen assay and blank assay for detection of coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) inhibitors in patients with hemophilia A and analyze the factors that affect FVIII inhibitor detection.

METHODSThe levels of FVIII inhibitors in 257 patients with hemophilia A were detected using modified Bethesda assay, modified Nijmegen assay and blank assay (in which the buffer or FVIII-deficient plasma in the control mixture was replaced by deionized water). The 3 methods were compared for positivity rates and FVIII inhibitor titers based on the positive cut-off value of FVIII inhibitors ≥0.60 BU/mL.

RESULTSThe positive rates of modified Bethesda assay, modified Nijmegen assay and blank assay were 79.38%, 85.21% and 72.37%, respectively. A strong correlation was found between the results by modified Bethesda assay and modified Nijmegen assay (r=0.996, P<0.001), and FVIII inhibitor titers (P<0.001) but not the positive rates (P=0.105) detected by the two methods differed significantly. The correlation coefficients between modified Nijmegen assay and blank assay was 0.994 (P<0.001), and a significant difference was found in FVIII inhibitor titers (P<0.001) but not the positivity rates (P=0.079) detected by the two methods. The correlation coefficient between modified Nijmegen assay and blank assay was 0.994 (r=0.994), and the two methods yielded significantly different FVIII inhibitor titers and positivity rates (P=0.001).

CONCLUSIONThe modified Bethesda assay has a lower sensitivity than modified Nijmegen assay but has a higher sensitivity than blank assay. The consistency level of coagulation factors in the reaction system and stable buffer system are important factors that affect FVIII-inhibitor detection.

Biological Assay ; Blood Coagulation Tests ; Factor VIII ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Hemophilia A ; blood ; Humans ; Plasma

OBJECTIVETo explore the role of survivin and PI3K/AKT pathway in the pathogenesis of psoriasis vulgaris (PV).

METHODSPlaque-like lesions collected from 22 patients with PV in progressive stage and 18 normal control skin specimens were examined using immunohistochemical staining, Western blotting and real-time quantitative PCR for expressions of survivin, PI3K and AKT in the keratinocytes, and their correlation was analyzed. A small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to knock down AKT in cultured HaCaT cells, and Western blotting was used to detect the changes in the expression of survivin. RESULTS Compared with normal skin, PV lesions showed obviously up-regulated expressions of survivin, PI3K and AKT in the keratinocytes. Survivin expression was positively correlated with PI3K (r=0.4510, P=0.0351) and AKT (r=0.4423, P=0.0393) in the keratinocytes in PV lesions. In cultured HaCaT cells, siRNA-mediated knockdown of AKT caused down-regulation of survivin expression.

CONCLUSIONSurvivin and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway may participate in the occurrence and progression of PV.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We tried to investigate the expression characteristics of KAI1, a suppressor of wide-spectrum tumor metastasis, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), the most common angiogenesis factor, and then to analyze their diagnostic value for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: The protein and mRNA expression levels of KAI1 or VEGF in HCC tissues and in self-controlled para-carcinoma tissues were analyzed by Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Serum levels of KAI1 and VEGF in the patients with HCC, benign liver disease or in healthy controls were quantitatively detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The expression level of KAI1 was downregulated, while the expression level of VEGF was upregulated in the tissues or serum of the patients with HCC. The expression level of serum KAI1 in HCC patients was correlated with TNM staging, intrahepatic metastasis, lymph node or peritoneal metastasis, and portal vein thrombus. In addition to the factors that were correlated with KAI1 expression, VEGF expression was also closely related to the alpha-fetoprotein level of the patients. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the diagnosis of HCC was 0.907 for KAI1 and 0.779 for VEGF. The sensitivity of serum KAI1 levels in the diagnosis of HCC was 86.96%; the accuracy was 83.06%, while the sensitivity, the accuracy and the negative predictive value were improved to 91.86%, 84.68%, and 78.79% according to the combined detection of KAI1 and VEGF, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A combined detection of KAI1 and VEGF may greatly improve the efficiency of diagnosis and form a reliable panel of diagnostic markers for HCC.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antigens, CD82/blood/genetics/*metabolism ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/blood/*diagnosis/genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Liver Diseases/genetics ; Liver Neoplasms/blood/*diagnosis/genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/blood/genetics/*metabolism ; alpha-Fetoproteins/analysis

OBJECTIVETo examine the expression of Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) in T lymphocytes of oral lichen planus (OLP) and the effects of Fas, FasL and activation-induced cell death (AICD) on OLP.

METHODSThe oral mucosa samples from patients with OLP and normal oral mucosa were assessed by in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated deoxyuridine-5'-triphosphate (dUTP)-biotin nick end-labelling (TUNEL) assay for nucleosomal DNA fragmentation of apoptotic cells in infiltrating lymphocytes. Immunohistochemical technique was used for detection of expression level of Fas and FasL. Immunohistochemical double labeling was performed to examine the expression of Fas and FasL in CD8+ T cells and CD4+ T cells.

RESULTSThe rate of apoptosis in infiltrating lymphocytes of OLP was (1.9 +/- 1.8)%, which was lower than that of normal oral mucosa (P = 0.013). The expression of Fas and FasL were increased in lymphocytes of OLP (P = 0.005 and 0.000 respectively). The positive rate of double labeled cells of CD8+ and Fas+ was not increased in OLP (P = 0.313), and of CD8+ and FasL+ in OLP was higher than that of normal oral mucosa (P = 0.002). The expression of double labeled cells of CD4+ and Fas+ in OLP was higher than that of control group (P = 0.031). The expression of CD4+ and Fas+ T cells in reticular OLP were increased (P = 0.019), and of CD4+ and FasL+ did not show remarkable change (P = 0.097).

CONCLUSIONSThere was a low frequency of lymphocytic apoptosis. T cells, especially CD8+ T cells in OLP and CD4+T cells in atrophic-erosive OLP appeared to escape from AICD, which may account for the persistence of inflammation. Some CD4+ T cells in reticular OLP may go through AICD.

Adult ; Apoptosis ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; metabolism ; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; metabolism ; Fas Ligand Protein ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Lichen Planus, Oral ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mouth Mucosa ; metabolism ; pathology ; fas Receptor ; metabolism