Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Anthracosis ; complications ; microbiology ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Gram-Negative Bacteria ; isolation & purification ; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections ; complications ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; etiology ; microbiology

OBJECTIVE: To establish an artificial neural network (ANN) for predicting tacrolimus concentrations in kidney transplantation recipients. METHODS: Three hundred and twenty-two tacrolimus concentration data from 55 Chinese kidney transplantation recipients were collected. ANN was established after the network parameters were optimized by using momentum method combined with genetic algorithm. Furthermore, the performance of ANN was compared with that of multiple linear regression (MLR). RESULTS: When using the accumulated dose of tacrolimus in the 6 d before TDM as the input factor, the mean prediction error and mean absolute prediction error of ANN were (0.13±1.91) and (1.49±1.22) ng·L-1, respectively. The absolute prediction errors for 87.9% of the test data set were less than 3.0 ng·L-1. The accuracy and precision of ANN were superior to those of MLR. CONCLUSION: The correlation, accuracy and precision of ANN are good enough to predict tacrolimus concentration.

Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pneumoconiosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Radiography, Thoracic ; methods ; Tomography, Spiral Computed

Evidence has indicated that low doses of anti-tumor regimens can induce cell apoptosis in vitro, although different regimens induce apoptosis by different mechanism and pathway. In recent years, new tumor treatment strategy has been mainly focused on inducing tumor cell apoptosis. The present review discusses the advantages and disadvantages of inducing tumor cell apoptosis. The benefit of inducing apoptosis is not to cause inflammatory reaction, but as its disadvantage, it inhibits immune responses, and the phagocytosis of apopotic bodies may result in horizontal transfer of genes (including oncogenes and other oncogenic materials), which can be one of the causes of tumor relapse. This paper proposes that the tumor treatment strategy should be turn into promoting tumor cell necrosis and inducing anti-tumor immune responses.
Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Humans ; Necrosis ; chemically induced ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; immunology ; pathology

Objective To explore the apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cell(AEC)and the dynamic changes of Caspase-3 mRNA and Bax and Bcl-2 expression in premature rat with hyperoxia-induced chronic lung disease(CLD).Methods Sixty premature rats within 1 day after birth were randomly divided into 2 groups:hyperoxia group(n=30)and control group(n=30).Hyperoxia-induced premature rat CLD models were prepared,and situ nick end-labeling(TUNEL),reverse transcription polymerasechain reaction(RT-PCR)and immunohistochemical technique were used to determine apoptosis index(AI)of AEC and the expressions of Caspase-3 mRNA and Bax and Bcl-2 proteins in lung tissues at 1,3,7,14 and 21 d after birth.Results Compared with control group,in the hyperoxia group,on the third day after exposured to hyperoxia,the AI of AEC and the expressions of Caspase-3 mRNA and Bax began to increase,and the expression of Caspase-3 mRNA was kept at high level on 7-21 d.The expression of Bcl-2 began to decrease on 7 d,and significantly decreased on 7-21 d.AI of AEC was positively correlated with the expression of Caspase-3 mRNA and Bax,and negatively with the expression of Bcl-2.Conclusions Hyperoxia may induce the increased expression of Caspase-3 mRNA,which might result in the abnormal expression of Bax and Bcl-2 in lung tissues and their imbalance,which might be one of the underlying mechanisms of apoptosis of AEC in premature rats with CLD.

Objective To investigate effects of different doses of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in fetal mouse osteoblasts.Methods Calvaria osteoblasts of fetal mice of 19 days were cultured.The effects of rhBMP-2 at different doses and different action times on VEGF expression patterns in fetal mouse osteoblasts were observed with reverse transcrip- tion-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot staining.Results In the present study,RT-PCR detected a steady expression of VEGF mRNA in the control fetal mouse osteoblasts.The levels of VEGF mRNA increased in an apparent biphasic manner with a maximum stimulation (about 2-fold above the control,P＜0.05 ) in both VEGF mRNA species observed at 300 ng/mL of rbBMP-2.After 48 h of rhBMP-2 treatment,the VEGF mRNA levels approached those in the control.The VEGF mRNA levels appeared to be biphasic in rhBMP-2-treated cultures,showing peak induction at 3 and 24 h and remaining elevated at 48 b.Compared with the individual control value at each time point,an apparent maximum increase (about 2.5-fold above the control,P＜0.05) occurred at 6 h.The second peak induction,about 2-fold above that in the control,occurred at about 36 h.Conclusions The expression of VEGF mRNA is steady in the control fetal mouse osteoblasts.RhBMP-2 can promote the expression of VEGF in dose-dependent and time-dependent manners.

Relapse, which puzzled several generations of hematologists, is the bottle-neck of radical treatment for leukemias. The progress of Human Microbiome Project at the beginning of 21st century suggested that human body was a super-organism constituted by the core of human cells and symbiotic microorganisms. The elucidation and characterization of endogenous retrovirus and prion protein suggested the possible effects of co-evolutional microorganisms on human health. Recently, the elucidation of the roles of tunneling nanotubes in intercellular communication and transportation suggested a novel way for cellular communication and transport of oncogenic materials. The role and significance of in vivo cell fusion have been studied in more detail. On the other hand, donor cell leukemia was reported. All of these approaches provide novel insights for studying the mechanism of leukemia relapse. Based on previous work, the authors suggest the hypothesis: there are two possible mechanisms for the relapse of leukemias: the minimal residual disease (MRD) and intercellular transportation of oncogenic materials.
Cell Fusion ; Humans ; Leukemia ; pathology ; Neoplasm, Residual ; pathology ; Recurrence

Objective To explore the effect of different indexes on evaluating insulin resistance in obese children. Methods Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed in obese children (n= 61) and age - matched normal volunteers( n= 23) Serum glucose and insulin levels were determined at 0,30,60,120,180 min after OGTT, insulin resistance was estimated by homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Indexes such as the ratio of area under the curve of glucose(AUCG)/area under the curve of insulin(AUCI), the ratio of fasting blood sugar(FBG) and fasting blood insulin (FINS) were meanwhile calculated. Results The level of serum FINS was significantly higher in obese children(P

Objective To develop a network system for radiotherapy.Methods Delphi 6.0 lan- guage was used to program the system based on PACS through the model of client-server machine and local network.Data of different facilities were transferred among each other through Dicom 3.0 and Dicom RT pro- tocol.Results The main function of this system was a management software for radiotherapy,a PACS sys- tem,a TPS system and a therapeutic machine system.Conclusion The network system operates steadily with data safe and reliable,and is an important part of the information construction in the department of radio- therapy