BACKGROUND: Interverbral disc degeneration (IDD) is the major cause of low back pain, which is considered as the pathological basis of intervertebral disc herniation and other degenerative diseases that severely affect the patients' quality of life. At present, neither conservative treatment nor operative treatment can reverse or inhibit the pathological development of IDD.OBJECTIVE: To summarize the progress of stem cell therapy for IDD, and to further analyze its challenge and potential solutions.METHODS: Relevant studies in PubMed database published before September 2016 were retrieved. Studies about stem cell therapy in IDD in vitro and vivo as well clinical trials were enrolled to analyze its existing problems.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Stem cell therapy provides a new strategy for IDD treatment. So far, a large number of studies in vitro and vivo as well as clinical trials have reported the remarkable effect of stem cell therapy. (2) However, problems such as how to deal with microenvironment of interverbral disc, choose proper stem cells and master indications will be a challenge in the future.

Objective To evaluate the expression of STAT3, VEGF and Survivin in human gastric carcinoma and its clinicopathological significance. Methods The expression of STAT3, VEGF, survivin was determined by immunohistochemical staining of specimens from 53 cases undergoing radical gastrectomy and 53 cases of normal gastric mucous membranae. We evaluated the relationship between expression of these proteins and various clinicopothological factors. Results The expression rate of STAT3, VEGF and survivin in 53 gastric carcinoma tissues was 58%, 62% and 74%, respectively, which was significantly higher than those in the normal group(P <0. 01). STAT3 expression correlated with VEGF(r =0. 608 ,P <0. 01) ,survivin(r = 0. 451, P = 0. 001). Positive STAT3, VEGF staining was significantly associated with tumor size, Lauren's classification,lymph node metastasis and clinical staging(P < 0. 05). Survivin staining was significantly associated with Lauren's classification, lymph node metastasis and clinical staging(P <0. 05). Multivariate analysis revealed STAT3 expression and lymph node metastasis were independently prognostic factors of poor survival. Conclusion VEGF, survivin possibly regulated by STAT3 leads to tumor angiogenesis and anti-apoptosis. The expression of STAT3 is an independent prognostic factors in gastric carcinoma.

Objective To investigate early changes of angiopoietin-2(Ang-2)in multiple trauma patients and assess its clinical significance.Methods Forty-five multiple trauma patients aged 2060 years admitted to the hospital within one hour after injury were randomly divided into three groups according to injury severity score(ISS).Blood specimens were obtained immediately upon arrival in the emergency department and plasma samples were assayed for comparing changes of Ang-2,TNF-a and IL-6.Meanwhile,plasma level of Ang-2 was measured and analyzed under different oxygenation index,shock index and base deficit.Results Plasma level of Ang-2 was positively correlated with ISS(P ＜ 0.01)and was concordant with the plasma levels of TNF-a and IL-6(P＜0.01).Furthermore,plasma level of Ang-2 was elevated upon increase of shock index or decrease of oxygenation index(P ＜ 0.01).Plasma level of Ang-2 was elevated with the increase of base deficit(P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions High level of Ang-2 is a marker of endothelial activation and dysfunction early after trauma.Ang-2 is related tightly with the injury severity,inflammation factors,systemic oxygenation and tissue hypoperfusion and may have a tight relation with pathophysiological development and clinical outcome after trauma.

Objective To study the internal atlas sphincter of rats with congenital anorectal malformations(ARM)by observing the number of the ganglion cell and the number of nerve plexus in the internal sphincter.Methods Healthy pregnant Wistar- Imammichi rats are induced to ARM by ETU.67 rats with ARM were obtained.The pelvis was continuously cut from the exactly midsagittal plane, and the slices were stained with HE to observe the number of the ganglion cell and the number of nerve plexus in the internal sphincter under microscope.Result The average number of the ganglion cell in the rats with ARM was 1.206,and the number of the nerve pluxes is 0.310.The numbers in both two groups were extremely less than that in normal rats(P＜0.05).The rats without ARM which were also dealt with ETU had no distinctness compared with the normal rats.Conclusion The pathology changes of ARM includes many ways,for example,muscles,mucosa and the nerve system.The decrease of the ganglion cell and the nerve plexus in internal sphincter is an important aspect of ARM.

OBJECTIVE:To study the effects of arsenic trioxide(As 2 O 3 )on the encoding protein expressions of nm23and P53in gastric cancer cells and to study the anti-canecer mechanism of which in the tumor.METHODS:A control group and a test group were set up.The expressions of gene coding proteinum nm23and P53of the gastric cancer cells cultured in vitro by the action of As 2 O 3 were determined by immunohistochemistry method.RESULTS:The expression levels of nm23and P53in gastric cancer cells have been lowered compared with the control group.CONCLUSION:As 2 O 3 can exert its anti-tumor effect by decreasing the expression of gene coding proteinum of nm23and P53.

OBJECTIVE:To study inhibitory effects of propofol on PC12 cells injury induced by glutamic acid via mitogen-acti-vated protein kinase/extra-cellular regulated kinase (MAPK/ERK) signal pathway. METHODS:PC12 cells were randomized into normal control group,model group(10 mmol/L glutamic acid),propofol low-concentrations,medium-concentrations and high-con-centrations groups(12.5,25,50 μmol/L+10 mmol/L glutamic acid). The optical density of cells,cell apoptosis,the phosphoryla-tion of ERK1/2 and the expression of c-fos,Bax,Bcl-2 were detected after treated with relevant medicine for 48 h. RESULTS:Compared with normal control group,optical density of cells,the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and Bcl-2 decreased in model group (P<0.01);apoptotic rate,the expression of c-fos and Bax increased (P<0.01). Compared with model group,optical density of cells,the expression of Bcl-2 and the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 increased in propofol group (P<0.01);apoptosis rate,the ex-pression of c-fos and Bax decreased (P<0.05 or P<0.01). There were statistical significant between the different concentrations (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS:Propofol can inhibit the apoptosis of PC12 cells induced by glutamic acid,which is associated with the up-regulation of ERK1/2 phosphorylation.

Objective To observe the pathologic changes of ganglion cell and nerve plexus in internal anus sphincter of rats with congenital anorectal malformations (ARM).Methods Healthy and pregnant Wistar-Imammichi rats were induced to ARM by ethylene thiourea (ETU). There were 67 rats with ARM at all. The pelvis was continuously cut from the exactly midsagittal plane. The HE staining was performed, and the numbers of the ganglion cell and nerve plexus in the internal anus sphincter were observed under the microscope.Results The average numbers of the ganglion cell and nerve pluxes in the ARM embryos were (1.206±0.012) and (0.308±0.051). Those of the normal control embryos were (3.710±0.043) and (1.227±0.072) respectively. There was a significant difference between two groups ( P<0.05～0.01). While, those of the embryos without ARM which dealt with ETU were (3.012±0.032) and (1.187±0.004) respectively, didn't differ from the normal control embryos.Conclusion The decrease of the ganglion cell and the nerve plexus in internal anus sphincter is an important pathologic change of ARM.

Smu. 260 encodes a putative protein of 200 residues in Streptococcus mutans, a primary pathogen for human dental caries. Smu. 260 was cloned into expression vector pET28a and expressed in good amount trom the E. coli strain BL21 (DE3). Smu.260 protein was purified to homogeneity in a two-step procedure of Ni2+ chelating and size exclusion chromatography. The purified protein exists in two forms, a dimer form about 46 ku with yellow color and a tetramer form without apparent color. Crystals were obtained from the dimer protein by hanging-drop vapor-diffusion method. The crystals diffracted to about 2.3 A resolution and belong to orthorhombic space group P212121 with cell dimensions of a = 89.88A, b = 90.91 A, c = 105.17 A. The asymmetric unit is expected to contain two dimers with solvent content of 53%.

Objective To study the expression of Notch3 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and to find out its relationship with clinical features and overall survival in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.Methods PDAC and adjacent non-cancerous tissues from 80 patients who under went surgery for primary PDAC in the Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Zhengzhou University were collected between 2008 and 2015.The specimens were divided into two subgroups by immunohistochemical staining of Notch3:the low expression group (0-4 points) and the high expression group (5-12 points).Correlations between expression of Notch3 with clinical features and prognosis of patients with PDAC were analyzed.Results A high expression of Notch3 gene was significantly associated with tumor grade,metastasis,venous invasion and TNM staging.Univariate Cox regression analysis showed that metastasis,venous invasion,TNM stage and protein expression of Notch3 were strongly correlated with overall survival of patients.Multivariate analysis showed that metastasis,TNM stage and Notch3 were independent risk factors of overall survival in patients with PDAC.Kaplan-Meier survival curves indicated that a high expression of Notch3 was an important risk factor of poor survival.Conclusions A high expression of Notch3 was significantly associated with progression and poor prognosis of PDCA.Notch3 may serve as a new indicator of PDAC progression and patient survival outcomes.

Objective To explore the imaging appearances of adult Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) in spine and improve the awareness of this disease.Methods Imaging appearances of 29 patients with adult LCH in spine confirmed by clinic and pathology were analyzed retrospectively and the lesions number,location,the type of bone destruction,paravertebral and intraspinal and MRI signal and enhancement characters were evaluated.Results The total sum of spine lesions was 48 including 26 cervical lesions,17 thoracic lesions and 5 lumbar-sacrum lesions among 29 cases,and 11 cases involved multiple segments.Bone destruction was located in vertebral body in 15 cases accounting for 51.72％ (15/29),and 14 cases involved posterior arch accounting for 48.28％ (14/29).Sclerosis rim was found in 10 cases (10/29,34.48％) and bone sclerosis was found in 4 cases (4/29,13.79％).75.86％ (22/29) LCH extended to paravertebral space and the incidence of compressed fracture was 48.28％ (14/29),4.13％ (7/29) appeared as vertebra plana.On T2-weighted image,LCH showed iso-or-hypointensity (11/19,57.89％),hyperintensity (6/19,31.58％),heterogenous signal (2/19,10.53％).On MR enhanced scan,94.12％ (16/17) cases was significant enhanced,5.88％ (1/17) was moderate enhanced.Conclusion Cervical was commonly found in adult LCH,and bone destruction was mainly in vertebrae.It may involve one or multiple spine segments and bone destruction may be continuous or skip distribution.Vertebra plana was not rare.Bone sclerosis around bone destruction may be helpful for diagnosing LCH.