Serum cortisol and plasma ACTH were determined in 10 patients with severe sepsis and 12 with septic shock on day 1,3,5 after diagnosis were made,and the data were compared with 12 control patients. To evaluate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal(HPA)axis function in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock,1?g ACTH stimulation test was applied after hormone concentrations were obtained on day 1.Compared with the control patients,ACTH level was significantly higher in patients with severe sepsis and lower in septic shock(P

OBJECTIVETo study the expression level and significance of glucose transporter 1 (Glut-1) in normal breast tissue, adenosis, adenoma and breast carcinoma.

METHODSA total of 147 cases of female breast tissue samples, including 92 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma, 26 cases of breast fibroadenoma, 24 cases of breast adenosis and 5 cases of normal breast tissues, were collected for quantitative detection of the expression of Glut-1 protein by immunohistochemistry (EnVision method) and Western blot, and its mRNA by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTSIn normal breast tissue and benign lesions of the breast, Glut-1 was undetectable or only weakly detectable in cytoplasm of ductal and acinar epithelia. In contrast, the intensity of Glut-1 staining was significantly higher in invasive ductal carcinomas (P = 0.0002) with protein expression predominantly in cellular membrane and lesser in cytoplasm. Western blot and RT-PCR analyses showed that the expression of Glut-1 protein and mRNA were significantly increased in invasive ductal carcinoma than fibroadenoma (P =0.001 for protein; P <0.05 for mRNA) and adenosis (P =0.001 for protein; P < 0.05 for mRNA). There was a significant difference among groups (P = 0.0002 for protein; P = 0.0001 for mRNA).

CONCLUSIONSGlucose transport activity, as indicated by Glut-1 protein and its mRNA expression, significantly increases in breast carcinoma than non-cancerous lesions. The over-expression of Glut-1 in breast carcinoma is tightly coupled with tumor cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis, implying that Glut-1 may serve as a new marker in the early diagnosis and prognostication of breast malignancy as well as a new therapeutic target.

Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast ; metabolism ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Glucose ; physiology ; Glucose Transport Proteins, Facilitative ; genetics ; metabolism ; Glucose Transporter Type 1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Prognosis

Global Health ; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Influenza, Human ; epidemiology ; history ; therapy ; virology ; Russia ; epidemiology

OBJECTIVETo explore the anatomical characteristics and surgical selections of upper lumbar disc herniation, and evaluate its clinical effects.

METHODSFrom January 2009 to January 2013, 26 patients with upper lumbar disc herniation were treated in our department. There were 16 males and 10 females, aged from 28 to 51 years old with an average of 45.7 years, 4 cases were in L₁,₂, 9 cases in L₂,₃, and 13 cases in L₃,₄. The data was collected including distance between outer edge of lower facet and the spinous process, the outer edge of the isthmus and spinous process, the lower edge of lamina and the upper edge of the intervertebral space, nerve root arising points and lower edge of the corresponding pedicle. Transforaminal discectomy and interbody fusion combined with pedicle screw fixation was performed in patients with L₁,₂, L₂,₃ herniated disk and 5 patients with L₃,₄ herniated disk complicated with lumbar instability. However another 8 patients with L₃,₄ herniated disk were treated with posterior fenestration decompression. Clinical effects were evaluated by Japanese Orthopaedic Association(JOA). The relative height rate(R) of the intervertebral space was measured preoperatively and 1 year postoperatively. The fusion of the bone graft was also observed.

RESULTSIntraoperative anatomical measurement was taken in all patients. All patients were followed up for more than 1 year with an average of 16 months, and all incisions got healing, JOA was improved from preoperative(10.13±1.49) points to last follow up (25.21±2.13) points with the improvement rate of 79.9%. Among the patients underwent fusion operation, 17 cases obtained bone fusion and 1 case maybe non fusion and no internal fixation failure was found;the R value was (0.231±0.056) mm preoperatively, however (0.345±0.076) mm at 1 year after operation with statistical difference(<0.05). In the patient underwent posterior fenestration decompression, the R value was(0.243±0.036) mm preoperatively, and (0.212±0.046) mm at 1 year after operation without statistical difference (>0.05). No spinal instability and lumbar disc herniation recurrence were found in these patients.

CONCLUSIONSAccording to the anatomical characteristics of L₁,₂ and L₃,₄ herniated disk, these patients could be treated with transforaminal discectomy and interbody fusion. The anatomical characteristics and clinical manifestations of L₃,₄ herniated disk is similar with the lower lumbar disc herniation, for the patients, an appropriate surgical method should be chosen according to the lumbar stability.

Thelazia callipaeda, T. californiensis and T. gulosa are three causative agents of human thelaziasis. Most of the reported cases were caused by T. callipaeda, occurring in the old world, particularly in Asian and European countries. T. californiensis and T. gulosa have rarely been reported infecting humans in North America. T. callipaeda has long been called the oriental eye worm, referring to its traditional distribution across eastern and southeastern Asia (i.e., China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, and India) where infection is endemic in animals and humans, usually in poorer rural areas and mainly among children and the elderly. The identification of the parasite was mainly based on the characteristics of oral and genital organs. In Asia and Europe, vectors for this nematode are male Phortica okadai and P. variegata drosophilids respectively, which feed on ocular secretions of hosts and transmit infective stage larvae to domestic and wild carnivores, lagomorphs, and humans. China probably has the largest number of cases with thelaziasis in the world, and lots of cases have been existed in other Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. Although a few of human cases have been reported, there were high infection rates of wild animals and domesticated dogs and cats in most of European countries. Based on the cox1 gene, a total of 21 haplotypes were identified in the samples from worldwide, in which, one circulated only in European countries (h1), while the other 20 haplotypes were distributed in Korea, Japan and China. In general, the Chinese clinical isolates of T. callipaeda expressed high genetic diversity. The population differences between Europe and Asian countries were greater than those among China, Korea and Japan. The T. callipaeda populations from Europe and Asia should be divided into two separate sub-populations. These two groups started to diverge during the middle Pleistocene.

This study explored the effect and underlying mechanism of Stellera chamaejasme extract(SCE) on multidrug resistance of breast cancer. The chemotherapy-sensitive breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and adriamycin(ADR)-resistant cell line MCF-7/ADR were used as experimental subjects. MTT assay was used to detect cell proliferation activity. Pi staining was used to detect the cell cycle. 4',6-Diamidino-2-phenylindole, dihydrochloride(DAPI) staining and flow cytometry were used to detect apoptosis. Dansylcadaverine(MDC) staining and GFP-LC3B-Mcherry adenovirus transfection were used to detect autophagy. The protein expression of Bcl-2, Bax, caspase-9, caspase-3, LC3B, p62, and Beclin-1 was detected by Western blot. The results showed that SCE could significantly inhibit the proliferation of both sensitive and resistant breast cancer cell lines. The drug resistance factor was 0.53, which was significantly lower than 59 of ADR. Meanwhile, the proportion of sensitive/resistant cells in the G_0/G_1 phase increased significantly after SCE treatment. In addition, DAPI staining showed that a series of apoptosis phenomena such as nuclear pyknosis, staining deepening, and nuclear fragmentation appeared in sensitive/resistant cell lines after SCE administration. Moreover, the results of flow cytometry double staining showed that the proportion of apoptotic cells in sensitive/resistant cell lines increased significantly after SCE administration. Besides, Western blot showed that the protein expression levels of caspase-3, caspase-9, and Bcl-2 significantly decreased and the expression level of Bax protein significantly increased in both breast cancer cell lines after SCE administration. Furthermore, SCE could also increase the positive fluorescent spots after MDC staining and yellow fluorescent spots after GFP-LC3B-mcherry transfection, and up-regulate the expression levels of autophagy-related proteins LC3B-Ⅱ, p62, and Beclin-1 in breast cancer cells. In summary, SCE may play the role of anti-multidrug resistance by blocking the cell cycle of breast cancer multidrug-resistant cells, blocking autophagy flow, and ultimately interfering with the apoptosis resistance of drug-resistant cells.
Humans ; Female ; Breast Neoplasms/metabolism* ; MCF-7 Cells ; Caspase 3/metabolism* ; Caspase 9/metabolism* ; Beclin-1/pharmacology* ; Apoptosis ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Cell Proliferation

With the deepening reform of ideological and political education, Medical Parasitology teaching needs to update the teaching concept, change the teaching ideas, as well as keep trying to combine ideological and political education with the curriculum content closely. In addition to teaching students’ basic knowledge and practical skills, teachers are needed to cultivate their moral literacy and political awareness through course teaching, so as to provide the basis for students’ subsequent adaptations to social environments and jobs. Currently, the study of ideological and political education in Medical Parasitology teaching is still in the exploratory stage. Therefore, colleges and universities need to carry out effective construction of ideological and political education in Medical Parasitology teaching, in order to achieve good teaching outcomes and provide insights into ideological and political education in teaching.

Aim To observe the cardio-protective effects of curcumin on rats with myocardial hypertrophy, and to further explore the mechanism. Methods Abdominal aorta was constricted in SD rats to establish a pressure overload-induced myocardial hypertrophy model. Rats were divided into sham group, AAC group and curcumin group. They were treated by intragastric administration. Twenty weeks after the operation, cardiac function was evaluated using echocardiogram. The heart rate was recorded using biological function experiment system. The blood pressure and left ventricular pressure were measured by a cannulation into right common carotid artery and left ventricular respectively. Circulating blood MPs level in rats was detected by BCA. Effects of MPs on the viability of human umbilical vein endothelial cell were measured by CCK-8. Results Twenty weeks after surgery, only two rats in AAC group died. The results of echocardiography showed that compared with sham group, left ventricular internal dimension at systole (LVIDs), left ventricular internal diastolic dimension (LVIDd), left ventricular posterior wall diameter (LVPWd), heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) all significantly increased in AAC group, whereas ejection fraction (EF), fractional shortening (FS), left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), maximum upstroke velocity of left ventricular pressure (+ dp/dt

BACKGROUND: Recently, T-helper 17 (Th17) cells have been proved to play an important role in promoting cervical cancer. But, till now, few study has been carried out to understand the involvement of these cells in efficacy of anti-tumor treatments. This study aimed to investigate the alterations in the percentage of circulating Th17 cells and related cytokines in locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) patients before and after concurrent chemoradiotherapy (cCRT) and to analyze the correlations between the alterations in Th17 cells and treatment efficacy. METHODS: A prospective study with 49 LACC (International federation of gynecology and obstetrics [FIGO] stage IIB-IIIB) patients and 23 controls was conducted. Patients received the same cCRT schedule and were followed up for 3 years. Circulating Th17 cells (CD3+CD8- interleukin [IL]-17+ T cells) and related cytokines IL-17, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), IL-10, IL-23, IL-6, and IL-22 were detected before and after cCRT. Correlations between alterations of circulating Th17 cells and treatment efficacy were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS: We found that 40 patients finished the entire cCRT schedule and met the endpoint of this study. The percentage of circulating Th17 cells in the LACC patients was higher than that in the controls, and it significantly decreased after cCRT (P < 0.05). After cCRT, patients were divided into two groups based on the average of the Th17 cells declined. The subgroup of patients with a prominent decrease in circulating Th17 cells after cCRT had a higher treatment efficacy and longer PFS and OS times. Compared with the control patients, LACC patients had higher IL-6, IL-10, IL-22, TGF-β levels and a lower IL-23 level (P < 0.05). After cCRT, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, IL-23 level significantly increased and TGF-β level significantly decreased compared with the levels before cCRT (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Circulating Th17 cells in the LACC patients (FIGO stage IIB-IIIB) were higher than those in the controls, but they generally decreased after cCRT. A more pronounced decrease in circulating Th17 cells after cCRT was correlated with better therapeutic effect and longer PFS and OS times.
Chemoradiotherapy ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Th17 Cells ; Treatment Outcome ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/therapy*

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