Attention was gradually paid by biologists to the using of RNA secondary structure in the classification of microbiology and phylogenetic relationship analysis in recent years. The development around the research was summarized here briefly. And more emphasis was given to the part introducing the application of RNA secondary structure to the analysis of phylogenetic relationship.

Objective To improve the knowledge,diagnostic level on concealed penis in children,and explore the operative treatment methods of concealed penis.Methods Ten children with concealed penis were reviewed retrospectively in the First Hospital of Jilin University from Jun.2005 to Jul.2007.Patients were 6-12 years old.Penis length was 1.2-2.6 cm.Patients growthing and micturition were normal,the results of androgne and estrogen examination were normal.The etiology was simple obesity in one case,fiber streak of penis sarcolemma in 9 cases.The clinical symptoms and signs,diagnosis and operative method were analyzed.Results The diagnosis of 10 children were correct,and all patients were treated by Devine's operation and 10 cases patients had healed in one stage.There was no vessel,nerve and urethra injury during the operation.The length of penis was 3.0-5.5 cm,average in 3.6 cm after operation.Followed up 3 months to 2 years,10 children's phimosis were removed,the micturition were normal;the appearance of penis was also satisfactory after operation.One patient with under-developed penis had a amelioration after treatment with HCG postoperatively.The penis contour was dissatisfactory in 1 obesity patient,but it was ameliorated gradually while growing up.Conclusions The correct diagnosis and differential diagnosis are very important for operative treatment depend on the different etiology and pathologic changes of concealed penis.Suitable operation can extend the length;moreover,ameliorate the symptom of micturition and the appearance of the penis.

The adventitious root of Tripterygium wilfordii was used as experiment material to study effects of various concentration of aspartic acid, isoleucine, cysteine and arginine in MS medium on the growth and triptolide, wilforgine, wilforine contents of the adventitious roots. The results showed that compared with the control, supplemented with 0.25 mmol x L(-1) aspartic acid at 3rd week, the growth of the adventitious roots only accounted for 80%, but the content of triptolide of the adventitious roots and the medium was 1.36, 1.30 times, the content of wilforgine was 1.16, 1.37 times, the content of wilforine was 1.22, 1.63 times, respectively. At 3rd week 0.05 mmol x L(-1) isoleucine, the growth of adventitious roots was 97.3%, wilforgine of adventitious roots and medium 1.02, 1.27 times, wilforine 1.36 times and 1.15 times. At 1st week 0.25 mmol x L(-1) cysteine, the growth of the adventitious roots comprised 77.5% of the control, while content of triptolide of adventitious roots reached 1.87 times. At 2nd week 1.00 mmol x L(-1) cysteine, the growth of adventitious roots was 44.6% of the control, the content of wilforine in medium was 2.97 times. At 3rd week 0.50 mmol x L(-1) arginine, the growth of adventitious roots was 124.2%, the content of wilforgine and wilforine was 1.3, 1.4 times, respectively.
Amino Acids ; analysis ; metabolism ; Diterpenes ; analysis ; Epoxy Compounds ; analysis ; Lactones ; analysis ; metabolism ; Phenanthrenes ; analysis ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Pyridines ; analysis ; metabolism ; Secondary Metabolism ; Tripterygium ; chemistry ; growth & development ; metabolism

Objective To evaluate the applications of magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) after fat meal in the preoperative evaluation of biliary anatomy of living liver donors.Methods Fifty cases of the preoperative donors for living liver transplantation were included and all had the corresponding intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) information. The MRCP of the donors for living liver transplantation was performed before and after fat meal (two fried eggs). The visualization and diameter of the secondary bile duct were analyzed before and after the fat meal. The results of the biliary branching pattern by MRCP after fat meal were compared with the corresponding IOC results. The accuracy, sensitivity,specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of MRCP after the fat meal in distinguishing normal and any type of variant biliary anatomy were calculated. Results In all cases,82% of the 50 cases in MRCP before the fat meal could meet the diagnosis needs of the preoperative evaluation,and 100% of the 50 cases in MRCP after the fat meal could meet the diagnosis needs. There was significant difference in the demonstration quality and diameter of the secondary bile duct in MRCP before and after the fat meal (P＜0. 05). MRCP showed accurate anatomy of the biliary system, using IOC as the reference standard, in 49(98%) subjects. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of MRC in distinguishing normal and any type of variant biliary anatomy were 98%,94. 7%, 100%, 10% and 96. 9%,respectively. Conclusion The MRCP after fat meal can clearly demonstrate the secondary bile duct and perfectly meet the needs of the preoperative evaluation of the living liver transplantation. The MRCP after fat meal and routine MRCP should be considered complementary to one another in order to avoid complications in living liver transplantation donors.

Background & Objective:Background &Objective: The class Ⅰ Alcohol Dehydrogenases (ADH) play a key role in hepatic alcohol catabolism. Human ADH is encoded by at least seven genes, and three class Ⅰ ADH genes-ADH1, ADH2 and ADH3, which encode the α, β, and γ subunit respectively, had been isolated and mapped on chromosome 4q21-q25. This experiment tends to clone the human class Ⅰ ADH and investigate its role in the hepatic alcohol catabolism. Methods: A pair of primers were designed and the full-length cDNAs encoding human Class Ⅰ ADH were cloned at one time. Class Ⅰ ADH cDNAs were amplified with RT-PCR from total RNA extracted from fetal human liver and kidney, and cloned into pGEM-T vector. To identify cDNA segments, a pair of differential primers was designed. By using them, a portion of the ADHs which encodes the segment from -4 to 296 was cloned. These cDNA segments then were detected directly when being digested with Kpn Ⅰ and Pst Ⅰ, respectively. Then all the full-length cDNAs were subcloned in the plasmid pTYB11 and expressed in E. Coli. Stably. Alcohol Dehydrogenase activity of catalyzing alcohol were monitored at 340 nm. Results: Here we had successfully the human class Ⅰ ADH cloned and the full-length cDNAs expressed in E.col.I stably. The relative activity of recombinant enzymes metabolizing ethanol was 0.81 ～1.31 U/mg,0.09 ～0.15 U/mg and 0.76～1.11 U/mg, respectively. Conclusions: In the paper, the full-length cDNAs encoding human class Ⅰ AD H were successfully cloned and expressed and the recombinant enzymes showed the activities similar to the ones isolated from liver.

The effects of different carbon source,nitrogen source,proportion of carbon and nitrogen source, microelement and buffer salts on the growth of Lactobacillus casei Zhang isolated from Koumiss were studied.The enrichment medium for Lactobacillus casei Zhang was optimized by response surface methodology and its composition was glucose 20.9 g/L,soy peptone 10.45 g/L,yeast extract 10.45 g/L,K2HPO4 3.5 g/L, sodium acetate 14.6 g/L,sodium citrate 2.35 g/L,MgSO4?7H2O 1.0 g/L,MnSO4?5H2O 54 mg/L, CuSO4?5H2O 10 mg/L,tween 80 1.0 g/L.After cultivated in enrichment medium for 18h at 37℃,the living cells of Lactobacillus casei Zhang were 4.78?109 CFU/mL,which was about 10 times higher than in MRS (4.8?10 8 CFU/mL).

BACKGROUNDSuccessful lung transplantation has been limited by the scarcity of donors. Brain death (BD) donors are major source of lung transplantation. Whereas BD process induces acute lung injury and aggravates lung ischemia reperfusion injury. Carbon monoxide (CO) inhalation at 50-500 parts per million (ppm) can ameliorate lung injury in several models. We examined in rats whether CO inhalation in BD donor would show favorable effects on lung grafts.

METHODSRats were randomly divided into 4 groups. In sham group, donor rats received insertion of a balloon catheter into the cranial cavity, but the balloon was not inflated. In BD-only group, donor rats were ventilated with 40% oxygen after BD confirmation. In BD+CO250 and BD+CO500 groups, donor rats inhaled, after BD confirmation, 250 ppm or 500 ppm CO for 120 minutes prior to lung procurement, and orthotopic lung transplantation was performed. The rats were sacrificed 120 minutes after the lung transplantation by exsanguination, and their blood and lung graft samples were obtained. A total of 8 rats fulfilling the criteria were included in each group.

RESULTSThe inhalation decreased the severity of lung injury in grafts from BD donors checked by histological examination. CO pretreatment reversed the aggravation of PaO2/FiO2 in recipients from BD donors. The CO inhalation down-regulated pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-6) along with the increase of anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) in recipient serum, and inhibited the activity of myeloperoxidase in grafts tissue. The inhalation significantly decreased cell apoptosis in lung grafts, inhibiting mRNA and protein expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and caspase-3 in lung grafts. Further, the inhalation activated phosphorylation of p38 expression and inhibited phosphorylation of anti-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) expression in lung grafts. The effects of CO at 500 ppm were greater than those at 250 ppm.

CONCLUSIONSCO exerts potent protective effects on lung grafts from BD donor, exhibiting anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptosis functions by modulating the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal transduction.

Administration, Inhalation ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Brain Death ; Carbon Monoxide ; administration & dosage ; Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Inflammation ; prevention & control ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; analysis ; genetics ; Lung Transplantation ; methods ; Male ; Phosphorylation ; RNA, Messenger ; analysis ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Tissue Donors ; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; metabolism

Objective:To explore the occurrence of symptoms in postoperative patients with oral cancer, and to explore the types and number of symptom groups.Methods:The Anderson symptom assessment scale for head and neck cancer was used to conduct a questionnaire survey on 345 patients after oral cancer surgery. The results of two exploratory factor analysis methods were compared, and the cluster analysis and Spearman rank correlation analysis were combined to determine the symptom group of patients after oral cancer surgery.Results:There were 4 symptom groups in patients with oral cancer, including oral and pharynx symptoms group, dietary and digestive symptoms group, gastrointestinal and emotional symptoms group, and rest activity symptoms group.Conclusions:There are many symptom groups that affect the life of patients with oral cancer in the rehabilitation process after surgery, so the medical staff should carry out targeted intervention mode to achieve better intervention effect.

OBJECTIVETo assess the effect of Qingfei Quyu Decoction (QQD) in preventing radiation pneumonitis in esophageal carcinoma patients by concurrent using it with chemoradiotherapy.

METHODSA total of 120 patients with mid-late stage esophageal carcinoma were randomly assigned to the treatment group (60 cases) and the control group (60 cases). All patients received concurrent radiochemotherapy. Patients in the treatment group additionally took QQD, one dose per day for 8 successive weeks. The incidence of radiation pneunonitis was compared between the two groups. The improvement rates of short-term benefit rate, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS), and body weight (BW) improvement rate were calculated between the two groups. The 1-and 2-year overall survival rates were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe incidence of radiation pneunonitis was 8.93% (15/56) in the treatment group and 18.64% (11/59) in the control group (P < 0.05). The short-term benefit rate was 92.86% (52/56) in the treatment group and 69.49% (41/59) in the control group (P < 0.05). Besides, the KPS and BW improvement rate were higher in the treatment group [89.29% (50/56) and 83.05% (49/59) ] than in the control group [80.36% (45/56) and 66.10% (39/59)] (P < 0.05). The 1-and 2-year overall survival rate were 66.07% and 35.71% in the treatment group, higher than those of the control group (61.02% and 30.51%; P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONConcurrent using QQD with chemoradiotherapy for treating esophageal carcinoma patients could lower the incidence of radiation pneumonitis, attenuate the degree of radiation induced lung injury, improve clinical benefit rate, and elevate their QOL.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Chemoradiotherapy ; adverse effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Humans ; Radiation Pneumonitis ; prevention & control ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVETo prepare a decellularized whole laryngeal scaffold by utilizing a perfusion-decellularized technique, reseed cells on it, and construct decellularized laryngeal muscles.

METHODSPerfusion decellularized larynxes were obtained by common carotid arterious perfusion with detergents. Then they were performed by macroscopic view, histological examination, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cartilage viability. Decellularized laryngeal scaffold were then reseeded with inducted mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Composites were transferred into greater omentums of rabbits after one day's adherence and harvested after eight weeks. Macroscopic view, histological examination and immunohistochemistry were performed.

RESULTSPerfusion larynxes became transparent after two hours. Histology and SEM indicated that perfusion method showed better decullularized effect. More vintages and collagen fibers but no intact cell or nuclei were retained in the decellularized matrix. Porosity measured by Image pro plus 6.0 was 80.4% +/- 3.2% (x +/- s). Chondrocyte vitality assay indicated chondrocyte vitality rate in the perfusion group was 86.9% +/- 1.5%. After eight weeks, vascularization formed and integrated cartilage frameworks still remained. Histological examination could clearly show the presence of muscle bundles and vessels. Immunohistochemical examination indicated that sarcomeric-alpha actin expressed positively in corresponding areas.

CONCLUSIONSIt is feasible to reseed MSCs into the decellularized laryngeal muscle matrix for constructing tissue-engineered laryngeal muscles. This in vivo maturation into the omentum could be the first step before in situ implantation of the construct.

Animals ; Extracellular Matrix ; Feasibility Studies ; Laryngeal Muscles ; cytology ; physiology ; Larynx, Artificial ; Rabbits ; Regeneration ; Tissue Engineering ; methods ; Tissue Scaffolds