Objective To study the molecular mechanism of renal injury of chronic arsenic poisoning rats induced by the expression of cysteine caspase-8 and P53 in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells.Methods Sixty healthy SD rats were divided into three groups,high-,low-dose group,and control group,n =20 in each group.The rats in high and low dose groups were treated with As203 through drinking water,10.0 and 0.4 mg/kg,respectively.The control rats were given distilled water.Four months later,serum and urinary arsenic level was determined,and kidney specimens were taken.The expression of cysteine caspase-8 and P53 in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells was detected by histological technique-HE staining and SABC immunohistochemistry.In addition,cell number counting and image analyses were used in the study.Results The number of caspase-8 positive cells of renal proximal tubule in control group,low-and high-dose group was 3.33±1.32,31.14±8.02 and 46.50±7.20 cell number/visual fields,respectively,which was increased with dose increasing(all P ＜0.05);the average gray value was 151.34±6.40,133.58±4.63 and 128.34±16.28,respectively,decreased with dose increasing(all P ＜0.05).The number of P53 positive cells was 3.17±1.59,26.29±4.23 and 47.00±6.22 cell number/visual fields,respectively,increased with dose increasing (all P ＜ 0.05) ; the average gray value was 142.54±8.06,121.48±5.68 and 101.89±6.35,respectively,decreased with dose increasing (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The increase of caspase-8 and P53 positive cells is one of the molecular mechanisms of renal injury induced by arsenic poisoning.

Objective To explore the expression of HCK gene during the cardiomyocyte differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells and analyze the role of HCK gene in maintenance of pluripotency of embryonic stem cells.Methods Mouse embryonic stem cells were cultured,then induced to differentiate into cardiomyocytes.Total RNAs were isolated from mouse embryonic stem cells in the differentiation days:0 day(D0),the second day(D2),the fourth day(D4),the sixth day(D6),the eighth day(D8),respectively.The levels of HCK mRNAs were assessed by the method of semi-quantitive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).In the meanwhile,Total proteins were also isolated from mouse embryonic stem cells in the differentiation D0,D2,D4,D6,D8,and the levels of HCK proteins were evaluated by Western-blot.Results HCK mRNAs could be detected in the mouse embryonic stem cells in D0 and D2,however,they were undetectable from D4 to D8.The expression of HCK mRNAs was rapidly down-regulated during cardiomyocyte differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells.Expression of HCK proteins,which coincided with HCK mRNAs,down-regulated during differentiation and couldn't be detected in D4.Conclusions With the cardiomyocyte differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells,the expression of HCK in the levels of mRNA and proteins are sharply down-regulated;HCK may play an important role in maintaining the pluripotency of embryonic stem cell.

Angioplasty ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Popliteal Artery ; pathology ; surgery ; Vascular Diseases ; surgery ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo study the prevalence of asthma and its correlated factors in Zaozhuang area in 2003, to provide a basic consideration for prevention/treatment and control policy.

METHODS6 points were selected by stratified-clusterd-random sampling with a total of 16,725 persons expected, but only 10,610 subjects investigated.

RESULTSIn this survey, 128 asthma cases were identified with a overall prevalence of 1.21%. The prevalence for children was 2.02%, and for adult was 0.90% with the former significantly higher then the latter (chi(2) = 21.39, P < 0.01). Rates for male and female were 1.08%, 1.32% with a ratio of 1:1.22. For 77.97% of children with asthma. The initiative age of asthma was before 7 years old among children while among 36.23% of the adults, it was before 15 years of age. Correlation analysis showed that upper respiratory tract infection (OR = 17.81, 95% CI: 12.25-25.89), cold air exposure (OR = 3.43, 95% CI: 2.41-4.90), stimulation through cooking and by harmful gases (OR = 2.56, 95% CI: 1.80-3.63), allergic materials (OR = 2.74, 95% CI: 1.80-4.17) were main inducing factors. 65.63% of the asthma cases having had history of allergic disease while 25.78% having had family history with the OR of allergic history and family history as 21.69 vs. 73.96.

CONCLUSIONThe epidemic status of bronchial asthma was serious, with an assumption that asthma cases might have reached the number of 43 thousand in Zaozhuang area.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Asthma ; epidemiology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors

Objective To study the diagnostic values of X-ray,CT and MRI for the hip joint lesion of the patient with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).Methods Totally 180 AS patients underwent the examinations of X-ray,CT and MRI from January 2014 to December 2015,and the hip joint lesion,clinical features and the efficacies of the three imaging techniques were observed.Results The rates for positive findings were 69.44％,71.11％ and 72.22％ respectively by X-ray,CT and MRI,and more than 90％ patients had the lesions occurred at the bilateral hip joints simultaneously.Hip joint lesion of AS had the imaging features of bone marrow and joint space changes,which related to the disease progress closely.Early positive signs consisted of medial joint space narrowing by X-ray,rear joint space narrowing by CT as well as bone marrow fat deposition (BMFD) and bone marrow edema (BME) by MRI.Conclusion X ray,CT and MRI all gain their advantages when used to diagnose the hip joint lesion of AS.X-ray behaves well in early diagnosis of medial joint space narrowing,while have disadvantages in displaying soft tissues and minute structures when compared with CT and MRI.CT displays the minute structure of hip joint clearly,and is not so good at soft tissue resolution as MRI.MRI gains the highest resolution for displaying soft tissues in the three techniques,and can show BMFD,BME and etc which can not be revealed by X-ray and CT.

OBJECTIVEThe present study was to explore signaling mechanisms underlying nicotine-induced inhibition of large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels (BK(Ca)).

METHODS8 week male Wistar rats were divided randomly into saline group and nicotine group and received respectively injection with saline or nicotine (Sigma, Shanghai, China) at 2 mg/(kg x d) for 21 days. Coronary vascular smooth muscle cells were dissociated enzymatically. Dissociated smooth muscle cells were interfered with CPT-cAMP (100 micromol/L) or forskolin (10 micromol/L). The signal channel open dwell-time (To), close dwell-time (Tc) and open probability (Po) were recorded.

RESULTSCPT-cAMP or forskolin significantly prolonged To, shorten Tc and increased Po in saline group (P < 0.01). But in nicotine group To, Tc and Po did not been changed.

CONCLUSIONThis phenomenon may serve as a physiological mechanism that nicotine inhibits BK(Ca) channel activity to increase via cAMP/PKA-dependent pathway.

Animals ; Arteries ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Coronary Vessels ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Large-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels ; metabolism ; Male ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Nicotine ; pharmacology ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Signal Transduction

BACKGROUNDBAFF, the B cell activation factor, is a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand family that binds to BCMA, TACI, and BAFF-R. Previous studies have shown that members of the TNF family are detected in human placental trophoblast cells, but the expression patterns of BAFF involved in human decidua and the differential expression of BAFF between normal pregnancy and miscarriage are still incompletely documented or unknown. This study was designed to investigate the expression of BAFF and BAFF-R in the trophoblast and decidua of normal early pregnant women and recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) patients.

METHODSForty-five patients with RSA and 45 normal pregnant women were included in this study. By reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blotting and immunohistochemical experiments, we explored the expression of BAFF and BAFF-R in the maternal-fetal interface of normal early pregnant women and RSA patients.

RESULTSAnalysis by RT-PCR and Western blotting revealed that BAFF was detected in both trophoblast and decidua of all the samples, and the expression level was higher in the tissues of normal early pregnant women (P<0.05) than that of recurrent spontaneous abortion patients under the same gestational weeks. Messages for BAFF-R were absent. Immunohistochemical experiments showed that expression of BAFF was cell-specific which was localized to villous cytotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast cells in trophoblast and to stromal cells in decidua. Whereas BAFF was prominent on the trophoblast and decidua of normal early pregnant women, it was decreased in the tissues of RSA patients.

CONCLUSIONSBAFF might steer maternal leukocytes away from a harmful immune response and toward a favorable one and play a potentially vital role for successful pregnancy.

Abortion, Habitual ; metabolism ; B-Cell Activating Factor ; analysis ; genetics ; physiology ; Decidua ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Interleukin-10 ; genetics ; Pregnancy ; RNA, Messenger ; analysis ; Th1 Cells ; immunology ; Th2 Cells ; immunology ; Trophoblasts ; chemistry ; metabolism

This study was purposed to investigate the effectiveness of bacterial screening with 24 hours holding in preventing and controlling bacterial contamination of platelets. Bacterial screening of apheresis platelets preserved for 24 hours was performed by using BacT/ALERT automatic bacterial culture system. The samples from 5 bags of platelet were taken in aseptic condition and were merged into 1 bag. The final sample was inoculated into aerobic and anaerobic bottle respectively for testing, meanwhile the screened platelet samples were held for 24 hours. If the platelets were cultured for 24 hours and identification of bacterial strains showed negative, the platelets could be released, and the original platelet samples should be rescreened if initiate positive was found. The results showed that in screening 8017 samples of apheresis platelets the initiate positive results were 16 (0.2%) and confirmed positive were 4 (0.05%). Out of 4 confirmed positive strains, three were Staphylococcus aureus and another was Staphylococcus auricularis. It is concluded that it is necessary for blood center to apply the method of bacterial screening of platelet with 24 hours holding as conventional screening method, which is an effective and feasible way to prevent and control bacterial contamination of platelets.
Bacteria ; isolation & purification ; Bacterial Infections ; prevention & control ; Bacteriological Techniques ; instrumentation ; Blood Platelets ; microbiology ; Blood Preservation ; methods ; standards ; Humans ; Platelet Transfusion ; adverse effects ; Plateletpheresis ; instrumentation

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the outcome of emergency adult right lobe living donor liver transplantation for fulminant hepatitis.

METHODSNine cases of adult right lobe living donor liver transplantation were performed from September 2002 to August 2005, the clinical and follow-up data was analyzed.

RESULTSAccording to Child Pugh Turcotte (CPT) classification, 9 patients were classified as grade C before transplant. The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores of these patients were 26.7 +/- 8.8. The principal pre-transplant complications included hepatic encephalopathy (5 cases), electrolyte disturbance (3 cases), renal failure (2 cases), gastrointestinal bleeding (1 case). The operations in donors and recipients were all successful. The post-transplant complications induced pulmonary infection in 2 patients, acute renal failure in 3 and transplantation related encephalopathy in 1. There were no primary graft non-function and no blood vessel and bile tract complications occurred. One-year survival rate was 55.6%. No serious complication or death found in donors.

CONCLUSIONSEmergency adult to adult living donor liver transplantation is an effective treatment for fulminant hepatitis but the safety of the donors should be assessed strictly preoperation.

Adult ; Critical Illness ; Emergency Medical Services ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hepatitis ; pathology ; surgery ; Humans ; Liver Transplantation ; methods ; Living Donors ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo generate a P19-alphaMHC-EGFP reporter line and induce cardiomyocyte differentiation of this reporter line.

METHODSThe P19 cells were transfected with palphaMHC-EGFP, a P19-alphaMHC-EGFP reporter line was obtained after G418 selection and limited dilution of recombinant clones. The reporter line was induced to differentiate into cardiomyocytes which would beat and express green fluorescent protein. A comparison of cardiomyocyte differentiation rate and cTnI expression amount between the reporter line and the untransfected P19 cells was also performed. The ultrastructure was observed under transmission electron microscope.

RESULTSThe ultrastructure characteristics indicated cardiomyocytes-like changes on induction day 10. The beating cardiomyocytes which express GFP appear in the seventh induction day. The cardiomyocyte differentiation rate and cTnI expression amount of P19-alphaMHC-EGFP reporter line were similar as those in untransfected P19 cells (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe P19-alphaMHC-EGFP reporter line is of great benefit for identifying and purifying cardiomyocytes from undifferentiated P19 cells without influencing the differentiation of P19 cells. This feature makes P19-alphaMHC-EGFP reporter line a promising cell source for clinical cardiomyocyte replacement therapy.

Animals ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Line ; Mice ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; cytology ; Stem Cells ; cytology ; Transfection