Objective To analysis the spiral CT scan diagnosis value of lymph node metastasis in thoracic esophageal carcinoma and investigate the rules of lymph node metastasis distributions.Methods 117 patients with surgically and pathologically proved esophageal carcinoma underwent CT scans of the chest before the surgical operation to identify the presence of lymph node metastasis and evaluate the diagnosis value of spiral CT in lymph node metastasis.CT imaging which was detected by CT and histopathological analysis performed with attention to the distribution characteristics.Results In 117 cases of esophageal patients,the diagnosis of sensitivity,specific and accuracy degree on lymph node metastasis were 86.0 ％,80.6 ％,84.6 ％.The most lymph node metastasis in the upper thoracic esophagus is the mediastinum group[8/14(57.1％)]and the trachea group[4/14(28.6 ％)].the middle is on the trachea surrounding group[21/41(51.2 ％)],the main pulmonary artery window group[17/41(41.5 ％)]and subcarinal group[15/41(36.6 ％)].the lower thoracic esophagus is around the side of preventriculus[7/19(36.8 ％)]and the left gastric artery[5/19(26.3 ％)]respectively.Conclusion Spiral CT imaging can accurately evaluate the lymph node metastasis of esophageal and distribution characteristics.

Objective To compare the effect of silica-extraction method and Silico membrane based method in DNA purification from bones and teeth.Methods DNA samples were purified respectively with the silica-extraction method and MinElute PCR Purification kit from 6 bones and 8 teeth,then tested STR types by GlobalFiler? kits. And evaluated the two methods with the success rate and the peak height. Results Both of the two purification methods can successfully obtain the STR markers of the 14 samples. And there was no statistical difference between the two methods in the average peak height from bones and teeth. Conclusion The Silico membrane based method which have more advantages in operation is an efficient method to purify DNA from bones and teeth, and there is no significant difference compared with the silica-extraction method. But the cost is higher. It can be selectively used in forensic practice.

Background and purpose:Researches had indicated that about over 85%of malignant tumors highly express telomerase activity. So telomerase has become one of the important methods in the research field of tumor diagnosis and treatment. Nowadays, several reports about malignant tumor which over expresses hTERT targeting imaging with radionuclide labeled hTERT ASON had been published. In these reports, high quality of pictures can hardly be acquired because of poor anatomical and spacial resolution in nuclear imaging itself. Accordingly, in this study, we developed a method of detecting human telomerase in vivo with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and evaluate its feasibility. Methods:Firstly, Uniformly phosphorothioate-modified human telomerase reverse transcriptase antisense oligonucleotide (hTERT ASON) was labeled with Gd3+ through the bifunctional chelator 1, 4, 7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane-N, N’, N’’, N’’’-tetraacetic acid (DOTA) and iv vitro experiments were performed to characterize the antisense probes (for biodistribution and cellular uptake, 99mTc-DOTA-ASON was used in stead of Gd-DOTA-ASON). Then Gd-DOTA-ASON was injected intraperitoneally in pulmonary adenocarcinoma A375 nude mice tumor-bearing BALB/c for in vivo imaging using 7.0 T Micro MRI periodically, tumors and their surrounding tissues were defined as region of interest (ROI) to calculate the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of tumor to muscle using Gd-DTPA as control. Finally, immunohistochemical analysis of telomerase activity of each xenograft was operated 2 days after imaging. Results:The binding efficiency of Gd-DOTA-ASON reached was as high as 65%(63.2±2.4, n=6). And it can maintain 61%in fresh human serum and normal saline at 37℃over 24 h;A375 cells showed an uptake of 8.5%when incubated with 99mTc-DOTA-ASON;In comparing with DOTA-ASON and Gd-DTPA, cells transected with Gd-DOTA-ASON had higher SI when performed MRI with T1WI. The hTERT-expressing xenografts were obviously enhanced by Gd-DOTA-ASON at 0.5-6 h after injection and the SNR can reach 2.37, whereas obvious enhancement only could be found within 2 h after injection of Gd-DTPA. Both labeled and non-labeled antisense probes can suppress the activity of telomerase of A375 cells either in vitro or in vitro. Conclusion:Our research offers proof that Gd-DOTA-ASON can be used as tumor specific targeting MR probe for diagnosing malignant tumors with high expression of telomerase.

Objective:To analyze the factors related to metastasis of contralateral central lymph node (CLN) in cN0 papillary thyroid car-cinoma (PTC) and discuss the indications for CLN dissection. Methods:We enrolled 149 unilateral PTC patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and prophylactic bilateral (CLN) dissection. This work analyzed the relationship of gender, age, extrathyroidal extension, multifocality, thyroiditis, ipsilateral central lymph nodes, and prelaryngeal lymph node with CLNs. Results:The rates of metastasis to ip-silateral and contralateral central compartments were 73.2%and 23.5%, respectively. In univariate analysis, gender, age, tumor size, multifocality, and thyroiditis were not important in predicting contralateral central compartment lymph node metastasis (P=0.792, 0.097, 0.531, 0.269, and 1.000, respectively);by contrast, extrathyroidal extension (P=0.017), prelaryngeal lymph nodes (P=0.006), and ipsilateral CLNs (P<0.001) are related to CLN metastasis. However, multivariate analysis showed that ipsilateral central metastasis was an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis in the contralateral central region when the number of ipsilateral central metas-tases is≥3 (P=0.010). Conclusion:Extracapsular invasion, prelaryngeal lymph nodes, and ipsilateral CLN influence the metastases of CLN. Bilateral CLN dissection should be performed when the number of ipsilateral central metastases is≥3 and there is merger of ex-tra-laryngeal lymph nodes or capsule invasion.

Insulin receptor substance-1 (IRS-1) mRNA and protein were assayed in rat muscle of hindlamb by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry respectively.Smoking decreased the expressions of IRS-1 mRNA and protein in rat muscle of normal chow smoking group,high fat chow smoking group and diabetic smoking group as compared with matched control groups (P

Objective To identify the important regulatory elements in the promoter of human CD2 associated protein(CD2AP) by conserved sequence analysis among different species and luciferase functional detection. Methods The promoter sequences of CD2AP from different species were analyzed by BLAST. Plasmids containing different length of deletion mutations of human CD2AP promoter were constructed. Pro-moter activities were tested in 3 kinds of cells from different species by luciferase analysis and were tested in HEK-293 cells treated with all-trans-retinoic acid. Results Homologous sequence comparison in CD2AP promoter area among human, cattle and pig showed that putative specific protein 1 (Sp1) sites and down-stream promoter element (DPE) were highly evolutional]y conserved. Progressive deletion luciferase analysis of DNA fragments revealed similar promoter activity style among 3 different cell lines from 3 different spe-cies, HEK-293, BHK-21 and Vero cells. One basic promoter activity located within 500 bp upstream of ATG. Fragments of further upstream 100 bp or more had drastically 10 times increased promoter activity. Two putative Sp1 sites were in this 100 bp region. All-trans-retinoic acid decreased the luciferase activity of CD2AP promoter. Conclusion Putative Spl sites and DPE have important functions in the promoter activity of CD2AP.

Objective To investigation the pathological characteristics of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma to provide reference criteria for delineating the target area in radiotherapy.Methods Fifty-two patients from the Fourth Hospital of HeBei Medical University underwent resection whom all had been proved to have esophageal squamous cell carcinoma before operation.Chest CT was scanned and transmitted to the 3- dimensional conformal planning system for radiotherapy by VRX-16 scanner.The lesion of esophageal carcinoma was delineated in the 3-dimensional rebuild CT image and the lesion volume was computed by digital rebuild program.Every surgically resected specimen was made into pathologic giant section.The actual size of the specimen was obtained by calculating the size under the microscope with the shrinkage ratio.Multicentric carcinomatous lesion,severe dysplasia and direct intramural infiltration were observed in the giant section with a microscope and the order of such pathological characteristics were analysed statistically.Results 1.The tumor length by different method of preparation of operated specimens differed obviously.The longest was shown by CT. 2.Multicentric carcinomatous lesion was found in 15(29%)cases out of 52 patients.Proximal to the tumor,the mean distance between the multicentric carcinomatous lesion and the main lesion plus the length of the multicentric carcinomatous lesion was 3.02?1.45cm.Distal to the tumor,it was 2.60?2.44 cm.Severe dysplasia was found in 28 patients.Proximally,the mean distance between the severe dysplasia and the main lesion plus the length of the severe dysplasia was 2.45?1.30 cm.Distal to the tumor,it was 3.24?2.19 cm.Direct intramural infiltration was found in 41 patients,of which the mean length being 2.80?1.52 cm proximally and 2.02?1.51 cm distally. 3.Tumor thrombus was found in 6 patients and lymphoduct infiltration in 36 patients.Direct intramural infiltration was found at higher incidence in specimens complicated with lymphoduct infiltration(86%)and those complicated with tumor thrombus(91%).There were no apparent factors affecting severe dysplasia.The proximal distance to direct intra- mural infiltration was much longer than distally.Conclusions Multicentric carcinomatous lesion,severe dysplasia and direct intramural infiltration may be observed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Multicentric carcinomatous lesion and direct intramural infiltration are obviously correlated with lymphoduct infiltration.To cover 95% of the microscopic extension,a margin of 5.0 cm is needed proximal to the base of gross tumor volume,and 7.5 cm distal to it.To cover 90% of the microscopic extension,a margin of 4.5 cm is needed proximally,and 5.0 cm distally.

Objective To investigate the factors that influence the consistency of international normalized ra tio (INR) of prothrombin time. Methods Using the same automated blood coagulation analyzer and INR calibration plasma with two different types of prothrombin time (PT) reagent to assay the INR values of 19 controls (group 1), 12 patients who took long-term anticoagulant orally (group 2),12 patients who took it at the first time (group 3) and 8 patients who took long-tern anticoagulant togeth er with cephalosperin N (group 4). Results The two kinds of reagents gave quite different INR val ues in all four groups (P＜0.01). The INR difference in group 3 (0.23±0.07, n = 12) was larger than that in group 2 (0.51±0.20, n=12) (P＜0.01) .The difference in group 4 (0.61 ±0.21, n=8) was larger than that in group 2 ( P＜0.01). Conclusions The factors that may influence INR consistency are the source and sensitivity of the reagents , as well as the period of the anticoagulant been taken and the other drugs taken at the same time.

Objective To study the genotype distribution of insulin receptor substrate-2(IRS-2)gene 1057G/A polymorphism in Han population from Southwest China,and to explore its association with the metabolism of glucose and lipids,insulin resistance and islet?-cell function in type 2 diabetic patients and subjects with impaired glucose tolerance(IGT).Methods A total of 929 Hans[462 patients with type 2 diabetes(DM group) and 164 subjects with IGT(IGT group)and 303 normal controls(NC group)]from Chongqing and nearby regions were screened for 1057G/A polymorphism of IRS-2 gene by PCR-RFLP assay.Body mass index(BMI),plasma glucose,serum insulin and lipid profile,high-sensitive C-reactive protein(hsCRP)and non-esterified fatty acid were measured.Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance(HOMA-IR)and disposition index(DI)were used to estimate insulin resistance and?-cell function respectively.Results In DM group,A allele frequency was significantly lower than that in NC group(0.326 vs 0.388,X~2=6.19,P=0.01).Compared with NC group,AA genotype frequeney was lower and GG genotype frequeney was higher in DM group(0.104 vs 0.135 and 0.452 vs 0.360 respectively,X~2=6.80,P

OBJECTIVETo clarify the frequency and presentation associated factors, pathogenetic mechanism, treatment and outcome of hyponatremia after surgery of pituitary adenoma.

METHODSRetrospectively reviewed the data of 186 patients who underwent pituitary surgery between January 1999 and June 2000 in the department.

RESULTS72 (38.7%, 72/186) patients had suffered post-operative hyponatremia. Among them, 43 (59.7%, 43/72) cases the hyponatremia appeared at 4 to 7 days postoperatively. 43 (59.7%, 43/72) cases presented with nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, confusion and weakness. The symptoms of hyponatremia was related to the age, tumor size and adenoma cell type, but not to the sex, surgical approach and degree of removal. Treatment consisted of salt replacement and mild fluid restriction in 4 patients and salt and fluid replacement in 68 patients. Hyponatremia had been resolved within 7 days in 63 patients.

CONCLUSIONSHyponatremia often appeared about 7 days after surgery of pituitary adenoma, especially in elderly and in patients with macroadenomas. The principle of treatment was salt and fluid replacement.

Adenoma ; surgery ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Hyponatremia ; etiology ; Hypophysectomy ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; surgery ; Postoperative Complications ; etiology ; Retrospective Studies