Objective: The current study was designed to investigate the relationship between the pattern of methylation of calcitonin (CT) gene and the activity of DNA methyltransferase (MTase). Methods: The methylation rate of 5′ region of CT gene (CTMR) and the activity of MTase in 6 solid tumor cell lines and 2 leukemia cell lines were determined. CTMR was detected by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) with inter and external references in combination with restriction endonuclease and laser scan technique. MTase activity was examined by isotope labeled microassay. Results:Both CTMR and MTase activity in all tumor cell lines were significantly higher than that of control cells. The increased MTase activity was relative to elevated CTMR. Conclusion: There is prevalence of hypermethylation of CT gene and elevated activity of MTase in malignant cells. The increased MTase activity is one of the possible reasons for CT gene hypermethylation in tumor cells.

BACKGROUND:Negative pressure wound therapy has been widely recognized, the currently published papers are limited in academic value and lack of scientific, objective, qualified index to confirm the therapy effectiveness. OBJECTIVE:To systemical y evaluate the clinical effect of negative pressure wound therapy, provide more evidence for its clinical application, and guide clinical research.
METHODS:Fifteen articles were screened out of peer-reviewed publications (Cochran library, Embase, PubMed-Medline and Chinese BioMedical Literature Database). Scientific data were col ected and evaluated by two researchers. The data were statistical y analyzed with RevMan software.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Only 15 random-control ed trials were final y preserved, including 10 as B-grade moderate bias risk and focused on the effect of negative pressure wound therapy on chronic wounds, and 5 as C-grade high bias risk and focused on the effect of negative pressure wound therapy on acute wounds. There were significant differences in the main outcome measures between negative pressure wound therapy and conventional wound therapy. As for chronic wound patients, no significant difference was observed in the operation-preparing period, reducing wound area, promoting wound granulation, and amputation rate between two therapies. As for acute wound patients, the differences were significant in the operation-preparing period, promoting wound granulation, wound infection rate, and cost materials between two therapies. However, no difference was significant in the healing of wound and hospitalization time. Our findings indicate that, negative pressure wound therapy is an effective means for both acute and chronic wounds, it can shorten operation-preparing period, promote wound granulation, and reduce amputation rate and infection rate, thus providing evidence for clinical application. The wel-designed study is needed to develop high-quality random control ed trails.

BACKGROUND:Negative pressure wound therapy has been extensively used, but most people only knew the superiority of negative pressure wound therapy based on clinical experiences or subjective judgment.
OBJECTIVE:To observe the effects of negative pressure wound therapy on the wound on the body surface, and to compare with contemporaneous conventional method.
METHODS:A total of 45 patients with wound on the body surface treated in the Peking Union Medical Col ege Hospital from January 2006 to December 2011 were enrol ed in this study, including 25 patients undergoing negative pressure wound therapy and 20 patients undergoing conventional change dressing method. Al clinical data were recorded.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Negative pressure wound therapy was better than conventional method (P<0.05), on terms of preoperative preparation period, wound granulation, bacterial scavenging, labor intensity of working staff and incidence of postoperative complications. However, no significant difference in therapy cost was detectable (P>0.05). These results suggested that compared with conventional method, negative pressure wound therapy positively contributed to the healing, obviously shortened preoperative preparation, accelerated the diminution of wound, decreased the incidence of complications of reconstruction, lessened patient’s distress, reduced their economic cost, and diminished labor intensity of working staff. Negative pressure wound therapy has been proven an excellent tool of to promote wound healing.

Objective To evaluate the use of double balloon endoscopy(DBE) in diagnosis of ulcerative lesions in small intestine.Methods Data of patients diagnosed as small intestinal ulcer under DBE during September 2003 and December 2007 at Nanfang Hospital were analyzed retrospectively.Results Ulcer in small intestine was detected by DBE in a total of 62 patients,including 48 males and 14 females,aging from 10 to 71 years old( mean 43.9 yr).The main clinical manifestations consisted of small intestinal hemorrhage(38/62,61.3%),abdominal pain(16/62,25.8%),abdominal distention(5/62,8.1%),loss of weight(2/62,3.2%),and diarrhea(1/62,1.6%).The ulcers were diagnosed endoscopically as Crohn's disease(CD) in 53 cases(85.5%),drug induced lesions in 4(6.5%),nonspecific chronic inflammation in 2(3.2%),lymphoma in 2(3.2%) and tuberculosis in 1(1.6%).They were all microscopically diagnosed as chronic inflammation.Of the 62 patients,32(51.6%) underwent surgery.In 30 cases of CD diagnosed by DBE,22 were confirmed by post-surgery pathology(malignant cells were found in 3),while in the other 8 cases,4 were diagnosed as lymphoma,3 as Behcet's disease and 1 as tuberculosis.Meanwhile,the 1 case of tuberculosis and 1 lymphoma diagnosed by DBE were confirmed as CD after operation.The overall accurate diagnosis rate of small intestinal ulcerative lesions by DBE was 68.8%(22/32).Conclusion DBE is valuable in diagnosis of ulcerative lesions in small intestine,but surgery should be included into consideration to confirm the diagnosis when necessary.

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of single balloon enteroscopy (SBE) in diagno-sing of suspected lesions in small intestine. Methods Data of 23 patients with suspected small intestinal disease, who underwent SBE (Olympus) between February 2009 and August 2009, were retrospectively studied. A total of 34 procedures were performed in 23 patients. The indications for the examination were suspected obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (n = 9), abdominal pain (n = 7), suspected intestinal tumor re-vealed by capsule endoscopy (n = 4), and Crohn disease (n = 3). Results The average preparation time of SBE was less than 5 minutes. The mean procedure time was 61±25 minutes and 67±28 minutes for the oral and anal routes, respectively. Examination of whole length of small intestine was achieved in 6 patients. The diagnostic rate of small-intestinal lesions was 60. 9%, and no severe complications including perforation occurred. Conclusion SBE is safe and easy to prepare and perform, which can be a useful diagnostic and therapeutic tool for suspected small bowel disease.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the protective effect of melatonin on residual hair follicle cells of scald rats at early stage.

METHODSEighteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into scald group, treatment group, sham group , with 6 rats in each group. The rats in scald group and treatment group were subjected to 30% TBSA partial thickness scald on the back, and were resuscitated with balanced solution after 1 hour, while those in sham group were immersed in water at 37 degrees C for 25 s to simulate scald, and did not receive fluid replacement. Rats in treatment group were intraperitoneally injected with 10 mg/kg melatonin solution at 1 minute, 8 hours and 12 hours after scald, while those in sham group and scald group were given equal volume of 1% alcohol sodium-isotonic saline instead. Tissue samples were harvested at 6, 12 and 24 post scald hours (PSH) for determination of MDA and GSH levels. Apoptosis of residul hair follicle was detected by TUNEL method and immunohistochemistry of caspase-3.

RESULTSThe level of MDA in scald group at each time point was much higher than that in sham group (P < 0.01) and treatment group (P < 0.05), and it peaked at 12 PSH. The changes in GSH were just opposite to that of MDA. Under fluorescence microscope, the residual hair follicle cells were blue, and the apoptotic cells appeared green. The apoptosis rate in scald group at 6, 12, 24 PSH was obviously higher than that in sham (P < 0.01) and treatment groups (P < 0.05), which was (20.2 +/- 3.4)% vs (4.3 +/- 2.3)% vs (10.9 +/- 3.2)%, (31.2 +/- 3.6)% vs (5.1 +/- 2.5)% vs (19.1 +/- 3.7)%, (22.4 +/- 2.7)% vs (4.1 +/- 2.4)% vs (13.1 +/- 3.4)%, respectively. The score of caspase-3 positive cell in scald group was higher than those in sham group (P < 0.01) and treatment group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThere is obvious correlation between oxidative stress and apoptosis rate of hair follicle cells in rats with partial thickness scald. Early administration of melatonin may have anti-apoptosis ability for residual hair follicle cells by attenuation of oxidative stress.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Burns ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Hair Follicle ; cytology ; metabolism ; Male ; Melatonin ; therapeutic use ; Oxidative Stress ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) has emerged as a promising anticancer drug target due to its key role in the DNA repair process. It can polymerize ADP-ribose units on its substrate proteins which are involved in the regulation of DNA repair. In this work, a novel series of para-substituted 1-benzyl-quinazoline-2, 4 (1H, 3H)-diones was designed and synthesized, and the inhibitory activities against PARP-1 of compounds 7a-7e, 8a-8f, 9a-9c and 10a-10c were evaluated. Of all the tested compounds, nine compounds displayed inhibitory activities with IC50 values ranging from 4.6 to 39.2 micromol x L(-1). In order to predict the binding modes of the potent molecules, molecular docking was performed using CDOCKER algorithm, and that will facilitate to further develop more potent PARP-1 inhibitors with a quinazolinedione scaffold.
Antineoplastic Agents ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Drug Design ; Enzyme Inhibitors ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Molecular Structure ; Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1 ; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases ; Quinazolinones ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Structure-Activity Relationship

PARP [poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase] represents a novel potential target in cancer therapy. It is involved in a DNA repair process by catalyzing the transfer of ADP-ribose units from NAD to a number of its substrate proteins. In this work, a series of novel azaindole derivatives was designed and synthesized. Moreover, 16 target molecules were screened and 8 compounds displayed inhibitory activity against PARP-1. It has been demonstrated that these azaindoles bearing cycloamine substituents at 2-position were active to both PARP-1 and PARP-2.
Antineoplastic Agents ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Aza Compounds ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Indoles ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1 ; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases ; metabolism

Photothermal therapy (PTT) has attracted significant attention due to minimal side effects and high treatment specificity. However, it often requires very high temperature to achieve complete tumor ablation under a single PTT. Such high temperature brings obvious thermal damage and inflammatory response to the body, affecting the therapeutic effect. In recent years, nitric oxide (NO) has been used to significantly inhibit tumor growth and enhance the sensitivity of tumor cells of temperature and drugs, thus enhancing the therapeutic effect. However, compounds as NO donors often have some disadvantages such as poor biocompatibility and untargeted delivery, etc., therefore, this medical application based on NO therapy is limited. In conclusion, the organic combination of NO donors and photothermal agents (PTAs) is expected to overcome the shortcomings of single therapy and achieve the antitumor effect of "1 + 1 > 2". In view of the rapid development of NO combining with PTT in tumor therapy, this review firstly introduces the antitumor mechanisms of different types of NO donors. Then the treatment strategy based on NO combined with PTT is discussed. Finally, the prospects and challenges of this combination therapy strategy in the clinical treatment of cancer are discussed.

Objectlve To detect the KChIP2 mRNA level in rheumatic heart disease patients with or without atrial fibrillation (AF) by real-time PCR.Methods Right atrial appendage samples from rheumatic heart disease patients with (n=17) or without AF (n=13) were obtained during cardiac surgery.Total RNA was extracted from the atrial tissues.and the KChIP2 and Kv4.3 mRNA were detected by SYBR Green I real-time PCR with the GAPDH as the house keeping gene.Result The ratio of KChIP2/GAPDH(0.1468 ±0.0452 VS.0.2200±0.0388,P＜0.01)and the ratio of Kv4.3/GAPDH(0.3946±0.1826 vs.0.5257±0.1427.P＜0.05)were significantly lower in AF patients compared to non-AF patients.Conclusion Down-regulated atrial KChIP2 and Kv4.3 mRNA expressions in rheumatic heart disease patients with chronic AF might be one of the molecular bases responsible for the down-regulation of the Ito current density of AF.