ObjectiveTo study the relationship between vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism and calcitonin receptor (CTR) gene polymorphism, and bone mineral density (BMD) of the Han nationality woman in Hebei, explore the pathogenesis of osteoporosis (OP) at the gene level.MethodsPolymorphisms of VDR gene and CTR gene were analyzed by restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in 60 Han nationality women in Hebei.ResultsBb genetype of VDR had lower BMD values at all sites which were measured compared with bb genetype (P<0.05); CC genetype of CTR had tendency for lower BMD values at the L1～L4 compared with CT genetype (0.05

Objective To investigate the mechanism of the radiosensitivity effect of Cox-2 gene in esophageal cancer.Methods Cox-2 specific siRNA was constructed and transfected to EC9706 cells to downregulate intracellular Cox-2 expression.The expressions of MMP-2,Bcl-2 mRNA,AKT and phosphorylated AKT proteins were assayed after radiation.Colony formation,cell proliferation,apoptosis and cell invasion in vitro were examined as well.One-way ANOVA method was used to analyze the data.Results Affter 2 and 4 Gy irradiation,a significant increase in the mRNA expression of Bcl-2 was observed in the Cox-2 up-regulation group (F =3.36,4.32,P ＜ 0.05).In the group of Cox-2 downregulation,the expression of MMP-2 mRNA was significantly reduced(F =3.86,8.09,P ＜ 0.05).Affter irradiation,a significant decreaseof Bcl-2 mRNA (F =3.73,5.64,P ＜ 0.05) as well as an increase of Bax(F =7.03,7.42,P ＜ 0.05) was detected,and the levels of total and phosphorylated AKT proteins had the highest level in the Cox-2 upregulation group and had the lowest level in the Cox-2 downregulation group.In the Cox-2 downregulation group,the apoptosis induction obviously increased with dose (F =317.40,P ＜ 0.05),and the proportion of cells in Go-G1 phase gradually increased but the proportion of cells in S and G2-M phases decreased,concomitant with the obvious suppression of cell proliferation,in addition,cell invasion was decreased.Conclusions Downregulation of intracellular Cox-2 mRNA expression,concomitant with subsequent downregulation of MMP-2 and Bcl-2 and upregulation of Bax,resulted in reduction of the invasion and metastatic capabilities of tumor cells,and induction of Go-G1 phase arrest and apoptosis.Downregulation of AKT and phosphorylated AKT (pAKT) protein expression might also interfere with the capability of the PI3K/Akt signal transduction pathway to resist radiotherapy.

Objective To observe the acute skin and mucous membrane reactions in patients treated with concurrent radiochemotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma,and to analyze the influencing factors.Methods A total of 85 nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases treated with concurrent radiochemotherapy were enrolled in the study.Fifteen clinical and laboratory indexes,including BMI,radiation dose,degree of acute oral mucous and skin reactions and blood routine test were observed weekly.Univariate and multivariate regression analysis were performed to assess the factors,and screen the independent factors.Results Multiple-factor analysis showed that the risk factors cloesly related with acute radioactive oral mucosa reactions were smoking history(OR =3.467,P ＜ 0.05),single-dose of gross tumor volume (GTV) ＞2.15 Gy(OR =3.393,P ＜ 0.05),while those with acute radiation skin reactions were diabetes history(OR =87.859,P ＜ 0.05) and hemoglobin values 1 week before radiotherapy ＞ 130 g/L (OR =21.404,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions In the patients treated with concurrent radiochemotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma,smoking history and single-dose of GTVnx is the independent risk factors of acute radiation oral mucosa reactions,while diabetes history and hemoglobin values I week before radiotherapy are the independent factors of acute skin reactions.

Objective To assess the tolerance of elderly patients with esophageal carcinoma to chemoradiotherapy through.Methods A retrospective analysis of 596 elderly patients with esophageal carcinoma receiving chemoradiotherapy was conducted.Patients were divided into radiachemotherapy group and radiotherapy group,and according to age,patients were divided into four age groups (aged 70-74,75-79,80 80 and 85years and over).The tolerance to treatment was assessed by Charlson index.Results 185 patients completed chemoradiotherapy,113 patients reduced the dose of chemotherapy (reduction group),81 patients unfinished chemoradiotherapy (unfinished CRT group),160 patients completed radical radiotherapy alone (unfinished RT group),and 57 patients incompleted radiotherapy.Further analysis found that the tolerance to treatment in reduction group had significant differences between patients aged ≥ 75 years and ＜ 75 years (x2 =6.815,P=0.009),and between WIC ≥ 1 and ＜ 1(x2 =10.636,P=0.001); the tolerance to treatment in unfinished CRT group had significantly differences between aged ≥ 80 years and ＜80 years (x2 =63.842,P=0.000),and between WIC =0,1 and ≥ 2 (x2 =21.153,P=0.000).Conclusions Further age re-grouping and WIC assessment is necessary before treating esophageal cancer patients.Reduction of therapy dosage is more beneficial for patients aged ≥ 75 years and WIC≥1,and greater caution is required in chemotherapy for patients aged ≥ 80 years and WIC＞1.

Objective To investigate the effect of the extent of postoperative prophylactic radiotherapy after radical surgery on the long-term survival in patients with thoracic esophageal carcinoma.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 201 patients with thoracic esophageal cancer who received postoperative prophylactic radiotherapy after radical surgery from 2000 to 2007.The effect of the extent of radiotherapy on survival was evaluated,and the possible prognostic factors were subjected to multivariate Cox regression analysis.The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival (OS) rates,and the log-rank test was used for survival difference analysis.Results The 5-year follow-up rate was 97.0％.The OS rates for patients who received radiotherapy to the whole mediastinum,whole mediastinum + lymph nodes along the left gastric artery,whole mediastinum + bilateral supraclavicular regions,upper and middle mediastinum + bilateral supraclavicular regions,and whole mediastinum + bilateral supraclavicular regions + lymph nodes along the left gastric artery were 21.7％,37.1％,38.7％,34.8％,and 19.8％,respectively (P =0.406).Multivariate analysis showed that postoperative N stage was the independent prognostic factor (P =0.009).After prophylactic irradiation,metastases to the supraclavicular lymph nodes,lymph nodes in the upper and middle mediastinum,and abdominal lymph nodes were observed in 11,34,and 10 patients,respectively.Conclusions The extent of postoperative prophylactic radiotherapy after radical surgery for thoracic esophageal carcinoma only includes upper and middle mediastinum and bilateral supraclavicular regions.

Objective To observe the formation of the biofilm in endotracheal tubes,the characteris-tics of etiology, drug resistance and relationship between the biofilm and ventilator-associated pneumonia ( VAP) . Methods A total of 60 cases of ventilated children patients whose mechanical ventilation time were≥48 h in the ICU from September 2010 to September 2012,according to the mechanical ventilation time,all cases were divided into 2 to 6 d group,7 to 14 d group and ≥15 d group. The incidence of VAP, biofilm structure under the electron microscope,etiology culture positive rate of the lower airway secretions and bio-film,etiological characteristics and drug resistance were prospectively studied. Results ( 1 ) A total of 19 cases occurred VAP in 60 cases of mechanical ventilation,the incidence of VAP was 31. 7%. (2) Observed by electron microscope,biofilm had formed in the endotracheal tube inner wall in early period of mechanical ventilation. With prolonged mechanical ventilation,biofilm structure had improved,as well as VAP incidence rate from 9. 1%(2 to 6 d group ) increased to 44. 4%(7 to 14 d group) and 88. 9%(≥15 d group). (3) A large number of pathogenic bacteria colonized in the biofilm. Gram-negative bacilli were dominate and drug resistance was high. (4) With prolonged mechanical ventilation,the cultured pathogens from the lower airway secretions and biofilm converged. Conclusion Biofilm could form in the endotracheal tube with mechanical ventilation patients,and is associated with the occurrence of VAP and refractory infections.

Objective To investigate the clinical values of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18FDG PET-CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in precise radiotherapy after surgery in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.Methods A total of 53 patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma were enrolled and underwent PET-CT and MRI imaging within two weeks after surgery.The detection rates of residual lesions and lymph node metastases after surgery by PET-CT and MRI were compared on the basis of the pathological results of biopsy.The gross tumor volume (GTV) and clinical target volume (CTV) determined by PET-CT and MRI were compared;the normally distributed data were analyzed using the t test, and the skewed distribution data by the Wilcoxon rank sum test.The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value in predicting precise radiotherapy after surgery, as determined by PET-CT and MRI, were compared with the chi-square test.Results Fourteen patients had residual lesions after surgery.The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of PET-CT in detecting residual lesions after surgery were significantly higher than those of MRI (92.86%, 94.87%, 86.67%, 97.37%, and 94.34% vs.57.14%, 76.92%, 47.06%, 83.34%, and 71.70%, all P<0.05);the specificity, positive predictive value, and accuracy of PET-CT in detecting lymph node metastases were also significantly higher than those of MRI (all P<0.05), except for the sensitivity and negative predictive value (P>0.05).For the 14 patients with residual lesions, GTVPET/CT was significantly smaller than GTVMRI(45.62±22.13 cm3 vs.60.61±23.12 cm3, P=0.034), so did CTV (125.54±17.53 cm3 vs.142.18±21.22 cm3, P=0.011).There was no significant difference between CTVPET-CT and CTVMRI in 39 patients without residual lesions after surgery (117.87±17.66 cm3 vs.128.05±20.65, P=0.099).Conclusions PET-CT is superior to MRI in detecting the residual lesions and lymph node metastases after surgery in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, which provides valuable information for radiotherapy planning.

Objective To investigate the value of computed tomography (CT)-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image fusion in target volume delineation of postoperative precise radiotherapy for gliomas.Methods Thirty-six patients newly diagnosed with gliomas were enrolled and received postoperative intensity-modulated radiotherapy.Landmark (L) combined with manual fusion (M) and maximization of mutual information (MI) was used for image fusion.Target volume and organs at risk were delineated based on CT images and fused images,respectively.Comparison of the volume was made by pairwise t test.The distance from a landmark on CT image to the corresponding one on MRI image was calculated.The volume method and geometric center method were used to calculate the degree of volume overlap and changes in central positions after image fusion.Results The L+M+MI method achieved a high registration accuracy in image fusion,with a registration error less than 2 mm.In patients with grade Ⅲ-V gliomas,the CT images yielded significantly smaller gross tumor volume (GTV) and clinical target volume (CTV) than the MRI images (74.62±46.91 vs.105.99±58.86 cm3,P=O.042;304.03± 130.05 vs.387.94± 150.12 cm3,P=0.040).After image fusion,the smallest change in central position occurred in the chiasma (1.32± 1.42 mm),and the largest change occurred in CTV (7.99± 11.06 mm),followed by GTV and the brain stem.Conclusions CT-MRI image fusion helps to reduce the uncertainty of target volume delineation in patients with gliomas,especially in those with edema and residual tumor after surgery.

BACKGROUND:Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) show strong antibacterial effect and are not easy to have drug resistance. But the antibacterial mechanisms of AgNPs have not been wel developed.
OBJECTIVE:To explain the antibacterial mechanisms of AgNPs.
METHODS:We investigated the influence of Ti, TiO2 and TiO2 containing AgNPs onEscherichia coliand Staphylococcus aureus by bacterial inhibition ring test. Escherichia coli was cultured in LB liquid medium with 0, 5, 10 mg/L AgNPs. We measured the absorbance value of bacterial culture. DNA gel electrophoresis was used to study the effect of AgNPs onEscherichia coliDNA. Then we researched the character of apoptosis on Escherichia coli by Annexin V and PI staining, using flow cytometry.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The inhibiting effect of Ti and TiO2 onEscherichia coliandStaphylococcus aureus was not obvious. But the inhibition rings of TiO2 containing AgNPs to bacteria appeared. The absorbance value of Escherichia coliculture was reduced whenEscherichia coliwas co-cultured with AgNPs. And this decrease tendency was in direct proportion with AgNPs concentration. AgNPs reduced the amount of DNA of Escherichia coli and this tendency was directly proportional with AgNPs concentration. TheEscherichia coli apoptosis rate induced by AgNPs was increased and this tendency was positively correlated to the AgNPs concentration. These results indicate that AgNPs can induce bacterial apoptosis to influence the growth of bacteria.

Objective To research the influence of docetaxel on radiosensitivity in papillary thyroid carcinoma TPC-1 cells.Methods 6 MV X-ray irradiation and deocetaxel were incubated separately or jointly with TPC-1 cells.Proliferation inhibition of docetaxel on TPC-1 cells was detected by CCK-8 method.Radiosensitization of docetaxel was measured by clone formation assay.Flow cytometry (FCM) was employed to analyze cell apoptosis and cycle progression.Western blot assay was applied to examine the expressions of Bax and Bcl-2 proteins.Results The proliferation inhibition effect depended on the concentration and treatment time of docetaxel with IC50 value of 6.06 (24 h),1.39 (48 h),and 0.09 μg/ml (72 h),respectively.The value of SF2,D0,Dq in the radiation treatment group combined with docetaxel were obviously lower than those in the radiation alone group.The SER of docetaxel was 1.53.Following treatment with 0.05 μg/ml docetaxel combined with radiation for 24,48,72 h,the ratios of apoptosis in TPC-1 cells were 31.67％,44.57％,70.20％,which were higher than that of radiation alone group(t =-146.56,-15.13,-19.15,P ＜ 0.05).FCM measurement showed that cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase in the cells treated with docetaxel and radiation was much more obvious than the group of radiation alone (t =-79.17,P ＜ 0.05).In addition,in the combination treatment group,the expression of Bax increased (t =93.56,P ＜ 0.05) while the expression of Bcl-2 decreased (t =41.02,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Docetaxel can enhance the radiosensitivity of TPC-1 cells by promoting cell cycle arrest,induction of apoptosis and formation of associated proteins Bax/Bcl-2.