The effects of tumor promoter TPA, MZR and PB on gap junction intercellular communication in NIH/3T3 cells were studied using the scrape-loading/dye transfer technique. All of these 3 agents were shown to cause a dose-dependent inhibition of the intercellular communication. The blockage of intercellular communication induced by TPA and MZR was inhibited in the presence of the protein kinase C inhibitor, staurosporine or palmitoyl carnitine, but not inhibited in the casexinduced by PB. The results suggest that the serape-loading/dye transfer technique may be used as a rapid screening assay to detect the tumor promoters and protein kinase C may be involved in the genesis of intercellular communication blockage induced by TPA ane MZR, but not by PB.

Objective To compare the difference of therapeutic effect of surgical operation and non-operation for acute damnification of elbow ulnar collateral ligament in rabbits.Methods A total of 81 New Zealand rabbits were randomly and equally divided into three groups(27 rabbits per group),ie,Group A(control group):the ulnar collateral ligaments of right elbow joint were only enclosed;Group B:the ulnar collateral ligaments of right elbow joint were severed and sutured;Group C:the ulnar collateral ligaments of right elbow joint were severed,without suture.The biomechanics was detected at time intervals of 3 and 6 weeks.Results Twelve weeks after transplantation,the displacements of the ligaments in Groups B and C were(6.06±0.4)mm and(7.72±0.44)mm,with statistical difference(P ＜ 0.05).The displacement of the ligaments in Group A was(5.87±0.46)mm,which was similar to that of Group B(P＞0.05).The maximum loads of the ligaments of Groups B and C were(68.23±5.64)N and (42.45±3.66)N respectively,with statistical difference(P＜0.05).The maximum load of the ligaments of Group A was(72.86±2.99)N,which was similar to that of Group B(P ＞ 0.05).The rigidities of the ligaments of Groups B and C were(11.33±1.52)N/mm and(5.52±0.67)N/mm respectively,with significant difference(P ＜ 0.05).The rigidities of the ligaments of Group A was(12.49±1.44)N/mm,which was similar to that of Group B(P ＞ 0.05).The power consumption of the ligaments of Groups B and C were(0.206±0.017)J and(0.163±0.013)J respectively,with statistical difference(P＜0.05).The power consumption of the ligaments of Group A was(0.213±0.010)J,which was similar to that of Group B(P＞0.05).Conclusion Surgical operation is more effective than the non-operation in dealing with acute damnification of the ulnar collateral ligaments of elbow ulnar collateral ligament in rabbits.

The s tr ucture of a micromovement external fixture for treatment of diaphyseal long bo ne fracture is presented in this paper.Minisize DC geared motor and screw drive are used to transmit the power.Micro controller is used to control the micromove ment extent and frequency.This device can give the fractured bone ends micromo vement stress stimulation,so as to improve the forming and calcifying of the ca llus,and to accelerate the fracture healing process.This device can be applied t o the research on micromovement treatment of bone fracture.

Finite element method (FEM)is a calculating method for stress and strain analysis in the field of mechanical engineering.FEM has already been used in the design of medical apparatus,especially of the fixer for fracture treatment.The external fixer taken as an example,the anti-compression,anti-blending and anti-torsion characteristics of a certain type of external fixer are analyzed using FEM.This paper shows that by using FEM,the mechanical property of medical apparatus can be revealed at the designing stage.The strength and rigidity weak pocket can be found,and thus the improvement and optimization of medical apparatus can be made.

Objective: To study the inhibition of antisense TRP1 on cell growth of malignant melanoma(MM) and explore a new way for therapy of melanoma. Methods: Antisense TRP-1 recombinant vector was constructed and transfected into MM cells. According to the results of MTT, cell growth curves were drawn and then clonogenic assay was performed in vitro. At last, tumorigenesis assay was undertaken in nude mice in vivo. Results: Cell proliferations of TRP-1 transfected MM cells were inhibited compared with the control cells. The results of clonogenic assay displayed the difference of clonogenic percentage between TRP-1 transfected MM cells (52% , P

Objective To investigate the regulatory effect of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) on the mRNA and protein expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS), as well as the release of nitric oxide (NO) in cultured human keratinocyte line HaCaT. Methods NO level in the supernatant of cell culture medium was detected with an enzymatic NO detecting kit, the mRNA expression of neuronal NOS was studied with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), and the protein expression of neuronal NOS was studied with immunochemical technique(SP). Results Compared with that in normal culture condition, the mRNA and protein expression of neuronal NOS and the release of NO was significantly upregulated by CGRP in HaCaT cells. Whereas, the expression of neuronal NOS and the release of NO in HaCaT cells induced by CGRP was inhibited by CGRP-8-37, an inhibitor of CGRP receptor. Conclusion The expression of neuronal NOS in keratinocytes and the release of NO from keratinocytes could be upregulated by CGRP.

Objective To investigate and summarize the clinieal effects and cosmetic results of 5-aminolaevulinic acid-photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) on cephalic and facial skin tumors.Methods Patientswith skin basal eell carcinoma(BCC),squamous cell carcinoma (SCC),keratosis seborrheica (KS),and solar keratosis (SK) were included in this study.Inoperable cases were given topical ALAPDT,and received clinical response evaluation and satisfying questionnaire after 3 months follow-up.Resalts28 patients including 16 BCCs,8 SCCs,2 KSs and 2 SKs received ALA-PDT.100% BCC had responseto PDT,including 15 cases with complete response (CR);only one recurred.Overall response rate was 67% for SCC,2 of 8 cases failed to continue the treatment,3 eases CR,1 case partial response (PR) and 1 patient with no response.Response rate was 0% in KS.100% of SK had response to PDT,and 2 cases showed CR and PR,respectively.64.2% patients (18/28) showed extreme satisfaction for cosmetic outcome,11% (3 cases) satisfaction,7.1% (2 cases) little satisfaction,and 10.7% (3 cases) no satisfaction.Conclusion Topical ALA-PDT is an effective and satisfied treatment with lower recurrent rates, especially for cephalic and facial skin tumors including BCC,SCC and SK,but no response for KS.

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a member of FGF family. It has been demonstrated that FGF21 is an independent, safe and effective regulator of blood glucose levels in vivo. In order to improve the activity of FGF21, we exchanged the beta10-beta12 domain of the human FGF21 with that of the mouse FGF21 to construct a novel FGF21 gene (named hmFGF21), and then subcloned hmFGF21 gene into the SUMO expression vector to create pSUMO-hmFGF21 and transformed it into E. coli Rosetta for expression of the fusion protein SUMO-hmFGF21. Both in vitro and in vivo glucose regulation activity of hmFGF21 was evaluated. The SDS-PAGE result showed that compared with wild-type hFGF21, the soluble expression of hmFGF21 increased about 2-fold. HmFGF21 was more potent in stimulation of glucose uptake in HepG2 cells in vitro. The results of anti-diabetic effect on db/db mice demonstrated that hmFGF21 had better efficacy on controlling the blood glucose of the db/db diabetic animals than wild-type hFGF21. These results suggest that the biological properties of FGF21 are significantly improved by optimization.