Cholangiocarcinoma is a highly malignant tumor which originates from bile duct epithelial cells, and its invasion and metastasis is an important factor affecting the prognosis of patients and the main causes of the high mortality.Epithelial-mesenchymal transition is a reversible biological process of transition from epithelial phenotype to stromal cell phenotype, which is closely related to tumor invasion and metastasis.The microRNA is an endogenous non-coding RNA with a sequence of 20~25 nucleotides, which participates in the occurrence and development of tumor, especially in the progress of tumor invasion and metastasis by complementary base pairing with the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of the target gene at the post-transcriptional level.Herein, we present the mechanism of microRNA regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition and its effect on the invasion and metastasis of cholangiocarcinoma.

Adult ; Ejaculatory Ducts ; surgery ; Genital Diseases, Male ; surgery ; Humans ; Hyperthermia, Induced ; adverse effects ; Iatrogenic Disease ; Infertility, Male ; etiology ; Male ; Prostatitis ; therapy ; Urethra

Objective To evaluate the significance of human interleukin-31(IL-31)in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis and its correlation with pruritus in patients with atopic dermatitis(AD).Methods Twenty-two children with mild to severe atopic dermatitis and 22 age-matched healthy controls were included in this study.Patients and controls were randomly and equally assigned into stimulation and non-stimulation groups.Venous blood samples were obtained from all participants,peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from these samples and cultured with(stimulation groups)or without(non-stimulation groups)staphylococcal enterotoxin B(SEB)for 24 hours.Then,the mRNA expression of IL-31 on PBMCs was assessed via real-time reverse transcription-PCR.ELISA was used to detect the total serum IgE level in these objects.The severity of AD in patients was rated according to scoring atopic dermatitis(SCORAD).The relationship between the mRNA expression of IL-31 and the level of serum total IgE.severity of atopic dermatitis,and degree of pruritus.was evaluated.Results The expression of IL-31 mRNA on non-stimulated PBMCs from patients was 23.2 folds as high as that from the healthy controls(P＜0.01).The stimulation with SEB upregulated the mRNA expression of IL-31 on PBMCs.and the increase on PBMCs from patients was 20.44 times of that from the controls.The total serum IgE level was 260.05 IU/mL(5.9-1131.01 IU/mL)and 17.7 IU/mL(5-140.7 IU/mL)in the Patients and controls respectively(P＜0.01).There was no significant correlation between the mRNA expression of IL-31 and disease severity or total serum IgE level(r=0.07.0.22respectively.both P＞0.05)in patients witll AD.Condusions IL.3 1 is involved in t11e pathogenesis of AD,which is unlikely to be IgE-dependent.SEB can induce the rapid expression of IL-31 on PBMCs of healthy human,and is an important modulator for the production of IL-31.

Objective: To analyze the association of thrombocytosis with the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.Methods: The clinical materials of 782 patients with gastric cancer who underwent initial surgery in our hospital between January 1995 and December 1999 were retrospectively analyzed.Kaplan- Meier and Log-Rank test were used to analyze the data.Prognostic factors were analyzed by multivariate Cox proportional hazards model.Results: Thrombocytosis oc-curred in 11.4% (87/782) patients.The platelet level was not significantly different among patients of different gender, tumor stage, and histological differentiation (P>0.05).However, a significant difference was observed in the platelet level among patients with different age and surgical approach (P<0.05).The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 75.0%, 40.1% and 28.9% in patients without thrombocytosis and 52.8%, 16.9%, and 13.5% in patients with thrombocytosis (P=0.002).Univari-ate analysis showed that histological differentiation, pathological stage, surgical approach and thrombocytosis significantly affected the survival of patients.While age and gender had no significant impact on patient survival.Multivariate analysis showed that pathological stage, surgical approach, and thrombocytosis were independent prognostic factors for gastric can-cer.The relative risk of death of patients with thrombocytosis was elevated by 1.454 times (RR=1.454, 95% CI: 1.135～1.861, P=0.005).Conclusion: Thrombocytosis is an independent prognostic indicator for the survival of initially treated pa-tients with gastric cancer.

Objective To develop a convenient method efficiently expands the frequency of specific CTLS.Methods We used different concentrations of CMV-speeific epitope peptides pp65 to stimulate PBMCs for expansion of CMV-specific CTLs.CMV-specifie CTLs were doubly labeled by tetramers-PE and CD_8-FITC for FACS analysis.Results The method expands CMV-speeific CTLs efficiently.CMV-specific CTLs were expanded from 1% to 20% of PBMCs quickly(namely 40% of CD_8~+ T cells).The method provided a large number of cells with tetramer staining of CD_8~+ T cells for FACS analysis from a single blood sampling.Conclusions Peptides stimulation methods are convenient,easy to operate and expanded CMV- specific CTLs efficiently.The increased frequencies of CMV-specific CTLs allowed the data of different individuals to be easily compared and sequentially evaluated.The methods lay the base for adoptive immunotherapy to prevent CMV disease.

Objective To choose proper proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy(~1XH-MRS) parameters to fit for practical femoral marrow cavity and to produce short-timed,well-repeated and excellent ~1H-MRS images.Methods The tentative study of ~1H-MRS on the normal femoral bone marrow in 26 volunteers was performed with a 1.5 T MR after the informed consent.The single-voxel spectroscopy and stimulated echo acquisition mode were used for ~1H-MRS collection.~1H-MRS parameters for 12 volunteers were 128 acquisitions,1 cm?1 cm?1 cm volume of interest(VOI)size and repeatedly 2—3 times within the same location.~1H-MRS parameters for another:14 volunteers were different numbers of acquisition (128 and 256 times,respectively)and different VOI sizes(2 cm?2 cm?2 cm and 1 cm?1 cm?1 cm, respectively).Results For ~1H-MRS with 1 cm?1 cm?1 cm size of VOI and 128 times of acquisition with the full width haft max of water≤8—12 Hz,the base-line was steady and the signal-noise ratio was high up to 11.31.~1H-MRS was different in the different femoral locations showing the maximum peak sites at near 0.90 ppm(?10~(-6))or 1.65 ppm,but~1H-MRS within the same location was always same or similar with different VOI sizes(1 cm?1 cm?1 cm or 2 cm?2 cm?2 cm)or different numbers of acquisition(128 or 256 times).~1H-MRS acquisition time was not related with the size of VOI but with the numbers of acquisition.128 and 256 times of acquisition cost 199 s and 391 s,respectively.Conclusion With the technique of small size of VOI(1 cm?1 cm?1 cm)and decreased numbers of acquisition(128 times),it is propable to get well-repeated and excellent ~1H-MRS within less time.It is also more practical for clinics to achieve ~1H-MRS of the femoral marrow with the proper technique.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of puerarin on activity of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) cultured with oxidized free radical (OFR), to explore the effect of puerarin on metabolic mechanism of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA).

METHODSHUVECs of the 3rd - 6th passage cultured with modified Jaffe's method were divided into 4 groups, the blank control group cultured with DMEM medium, the OFR group cultured with DMEM medium containing 0.1 mmol of OFR per liter, the puerarin group 1 and 2 cultured with DMEM medium containing 0.1 mmol of OFR per liter as well as 0.5 mg/ml and 1.0 mg/ml of puerarin respectively. After being incubated for 24 h, activity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), contents of nitric oxide (NO), ADMA, endothelin (ET), and L-citrulline (L-cit) in the supernate were measured, and DDAH protein expression in the lysate was detected by Western blotting.

RESULTSCompared with those in the blank control group, ADMA and ET contents were higher, while the levels of NO and L-cit and the activity of NOS were lower markedly, but the DDAH expression changed insignificantly in the OFR group. These abnormalities were restored significantly in the puerarin groups.

CONCLUSIONThe increase of ADMA in OFR injured HUVECs was correlated with the reduction of DDAH activity and irrelevant to DDAH expression. Puerarin could promote ADMA metabolism through increasing DDAH activity, and improve NOS activity, thus to reduce the impairing of OFR on endothelial function.

Amidohydrolases ; metabolism ; Arginine ; analogs & derivatives ; metabolism ; Blotting, Western ; Cells, Cultured ; Culture Media ; Endothelial Cells ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Endothelins ; metabolism ; Free Radicals ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Isoflavones ; pharmacology ; Nitrates ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; metabolism ; Nitrites ; metabolism ; Oxidation-Reduction ; drug effects ; Umbilical Veins ; cytology

AlM: To investigate the association between the degree of anterioruveitis and related factors including inflammatory markers as well as sacroiliac joint imaging in patients with ankylosing spondylitis ( AS) .
METHODS: Anterior changes evaluated by slit lamp, erythrocyte sedimentation rate ( ESR ) , C - reactive protein ( CRP ) and magnetic resonance imaging of 55 cases with AS associateduveitis were retrospectively analyzed. A modified endotoxin-induced uveitis ( ElU ) clinical standard was used for uveitis grading. SPARCC sacroiliac scoring was used to evaluate bone edema of sacroiliac joint. The correlation between the degree of uveitis and sacroiliitis was assessed.
RESULTS: ln the 55 patients with AS, ElU grading scored 2-10, and SPARCC index scored 0-22. Further analysis showed that the severity of uveitis was significantly correlated with ESR (r=0. 869, P<0. 001) and CRP (r=0. 485, P<0. 001). The degree of anterior uveitis in AS patients was not correlated with inflammation of sacroiliac joint (r=0. 237, P=0. 081).
CONCLUSlON: Local autoimmunity of uveitis and sacroiliac joint inflammation with subsequent bone formation in AS might be mutually independent processes.

Objective:To investigate the effect of compound polysaccharide with Lentinan,Pachymaran and Tremella polysaccharide on the function of macrophages under various treatment conditions.Methods:The macrophage strain RAW264.7 cells were treated with compound polysaccharide (CP),compound polysaccharide combined with LPS (CP + LPS) and pre-treated with compound polysaccharide and then combined with LPS (Pre-CP + LPS).RAW264.7 cell endocytosis of Rhodamine NP (RNP) was detected by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry.The level of NO was detected by Griess reagent.The expression levels of CD40,CD80 and CD86 were detected by flow cytometry.Results:Compound polysaccharides treatment can enhance the phagocytosis of RAW264.7 cells on fluorescent microspheres with time-dependent manner.The compound polysaccharide could promote the secretion of NO in RAW264.7 cells when the concentration was above 1 000 μg/ml.Compound polysaccharide could improve the expression levels of CD40,CD80 and CD86 in RAW264.7 cells.Under the condition of LPS stimulation,both co-treatment and pre-treatment with compound polysaccharide could reduce the expression levels of CD40,CD80 and CD86 in RAW264.7 cells.Conclusion:CP can regulate the immune function of RAW264.7 cells under various treatment conditions that it promotes activation and phagocytosis of the resting state cells and inhibits activation of LPS treated cells.

The Treatment Satisfaction Scale (TSS) has been developed to assess various concepts related to erectile dysfunction (ED) treatment satisfaction in patients and their partners. The self-report questionnaire consists of 4 modules: unmedicated patient, medicated patient, unmedicated partner, and medicated partner modules, measuring a range of sexuality concepts considered important by ED patients and their partners including six domains: "Confidence", "Ease with Erection", "Erectile Function Satisfaction", "Pleasure from Sexual Activity", "Satisfaction with Orgasms", and "Satisfaction with Medication". The TSS is an internationally valid, psychometrically sound instrument to assess patient and partner satisfaction with ED therapy. In a recent double-blind, multicenter, parallel arms, flexible dose clinical trial, the TSS was used to compare patient and partner's satisfaction with vardenafil and placebo therapy. The results demonstrated that vardenafil significantly improved not only erectile function, but also confidence, ease of erection, pleasure, and satisfaction with erectile function, orgasm and medication in men ED and their partners. These attributes are considered to be essential in the acceptance and continued use of PDE5 inhibitor therapy for ED.
Double-Blind Method ; Erectile Dysfunction ; drug therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Imidazoles ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Patient Satisfaction ; Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors ; therapeutic use ; Piperazines ; therapeutic use ; Sexual Partners ; psychology ; Sulfones ; therapeutic use ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Treatment Outcome ; Triazines ; therapeutic use ; Vardenafil Dihydrochloride