Objective To investigate the role of CT three-dimensional reconstruction (3D-CT) in the diagnosis of bronchial foreign body.Methods Thirty-seven suspected pediatric cases of bronchial foreign bodies underwent CT scanning and 3D-CT reconstruction,whose accuracy was defined by bronchoscopical or surgical findings.Results For all the 37 cases,chest X-ray showed 8 cases (group A) had bronchial foreign body,while 29 cases(group B) were negative.In group A,CT findings suggested lung infection in 5 cases,congenital pulmonary dysplasia-lung lobe absence in 2 cases and tracheo-esophageal fistula in 1 case.In group B (29 patients),25 cases with bronchial foreign bodies were suspected by CT scanning and further bronchoscopical examination confirmed the existence of 24 cases of vegetable foreign body,one case of the tracheal tumor.For the four cases with negative result of bronchial foreign bodies after CT scanning,lung infection and laryngitis were confirmed in two cases respectively.Among the 24 surgically-confirmed cases of vegetable foreign bodies,CT scanning showed tracheobronchial foreign body in fourteen positive results,irregular tracheal stenosis in six cases and obstructive atelectasis,emphysema,pneumonia in seven each.Tracheobronchial foreign body and irregular tracheal stenosis were direct signs,accounting for 74%(20/27).Obstructive atelectasis,emphysema and pneumonia were indirect signs,accounting for 26%(7/27).Conclusion 3D-CT plays an important role in diagnosis and differential diagnosis of bronchial foreign body.

Objective To evaluate Feridex(superparamagnetic iron oxide,SPIO)enhanced MRI in the diagnosis of hepatic lesions.Methods Feridex-enhanced MRI was performed in 31 patients with CT,or MRI proved or suspected hepatic lesions.T 2WI signal intensity of hepatic parenchyma,lesion and background noise was measured before and after enhancement separately.SNR and CNR of parenchyma and lesion before and after enhancement were calculated.The number of lesions on plain and enhanced scans were observed and alalyzed.Results Post-enhancement SNR of liver significantly decreased (?0.05).Post-enhancement lesion-liver CNR increased significantly (?

Transcription factor is one of the key factors in the regulation of gene expression at the transcriptional level. It plays an important role in plant growth, active components biosynthesis and response to environmental change. This paper summarized the structure and classification of bHLH transcription factors and elaborated the research progress of bHLH transcription factors which regulate the active components in plants, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids. In addition, the possibility of increasing the concentration of active substances by bHLH in medicinal plants was assessed. The paper emphasized great significance of model plants and multidisciplinary research fields including modern genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics, providing the contribution to improve the discovery and function characterization of bHLH transcription factors. Accelerating the research in the mechanism of bHLH transcription factors on the regulation of active components biosynthesis will promote the development of breeding and variety improvement of Chinese medicinal materials, also ease the pressure of resources exhaustion of traditional Chinese medicine home and abroad.

Objective To investigate the effect of extracellular histones (EH) on intestinal mucosal barrier function in mice and the correlation of EH with the pathogenesis of sepsis.Methods Twenty male C57BL/6 mice were assigned into experiment group (n =10) and control group (n =10) according to the random number table.Same dose (50 mg/kg) of EH and saline were administered through the caudal vein of mice in experiment and control groups respectively.Blood and intestinal samples in each group were collected 3 h after the administration.Morphology of intestinal mucosal tissue was detected by light scope and transmission electron microscope.Expressions of tight junction related proteins (ZO-1,Occludin and Claudin-1) were detected by western blot.Plasma levels of diamine oxidase (DAO) and intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP) were determined by ELISA method.Plasma level of endotoxin (ET) was determined by limulus test.Results Under transmission electron microscope,experiment group showed disorganized microvilli of intestinal epithelial cells with partially twisted,broken and lost,unclear tight junctions,and widened cellular space.Under light scope,experiment group showed substantial inflammatory cell infiltration in the intestinal wall,disorganized intestinal villi,edema and hemorrhage of mucosa and submucosa,and edematous goblet cells.Experimental versus control group showed significant reduction in levels of Claudin-1 (0.587 7 ±0.060 6 vs.0.677 2 ±0.038 3),Occludin (0.1277±0.0857vs.0.4306±0.0869) and ZO-1 (0.393 3±0.080 8 vs.0.812 8± 0.096 3) (P ＜ 0.05).Experimental versus control group showed significantly up-regulated plasma levels of DAO [(1.61 ±0.20) U/ml vs.(0.69 ± 0.15) U/ml],I-FABP [(548.5 ± 36.8) EU/ml vs.(178.8±26.9) EU/ml] andET [(0.182±0.076) EU/mlvs.(0.091 ±0.029) EU/ml](P＜0.05).Conclusion EH can obviously impair the integrity of intestinal mucosal barrier in mice and hence induce endotoxin translocation.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of preoperative aspects and dimensions used for an anatomical (PADUA) scores in determining the surgical approach for T1 stage renal masses.Methods From Jan 2010 to Dec 2012,clinical data of 122 cases (76 males and 46 females),who underwent surgery for T1 stage renal masses,were collected retrospectively.The mean age was 51 years(range 21-81) and mean body mass index was (22.8±3.9) kg/m2.Sixty-three tumors were found in left kidney and 59 in right kidney.Among them,78 patients were diagnosed as T1a stage and 44 patients were T1b stage.In patients with T1a stage,56 received nephron sparing surgery (NSS) and 22 received radical nephrectomy (RN).In patients with T1b stage,21 received NSS and 23 received RN.The PADUA nephrometry score was analyzed to evaluate their relationships to surgical type and the approach of NSS.Results According to the PADUA nephrometry score,the number of low risk,middle risk and high risk patients were 24,62,26,respectively.Inlow risk group,middle risk group and high risk group,the proportion of RN and NSS was 8.3％/ 91.7％,30.6％/69.4％,66.7％/33.3％.In 77 patients received NSS,the unmber of laparoscopic NSS and open NSS was 18 ∶ 4,25 ∶ 18,2 ∶ 10,respectively.The PADUA nephrometry score was significantly associated with the type of surgery (x2 =23.16,P＜0.01),and the NSS approach (x2 =13.57,P＜0.01).Tumor size (HR =2.79 ; 95％ CI,1.29-6.02 ; P＜ 0.01),percentage of tumor deepening into the kidney (HR =3.82; 95％CI,1.77-8.09; P＜0.01),longitudinal (HR=4.00;95％CI,1.83-8.72; P＜0.01),tumor relationships with renal sinus(HR=103.13; 95％CI,21.85-486.81 ; P＜0.01),tumor relationships with urinary collecting system (HR =15.11 ; 95％ CI,5.95-38.35 ; P＜ 0.01),rim tumor location (HR =3.50 ; 95％ CI,1.61-7.59; P＜0.01) were closely related with surgery approach.The correlation coefficients of relationship with renal sinus was highest (r=0.70).Conclusions The PADUA nephrometry score provides a simple,useful and stable system to character the salient renal anatomy and guide the surgery.Low risk group should consider the NSS as the first line therapy.NSS could also be chosen in the middle risk group.However,the renal anatomy in those patients should be referred.RN should be chosen in high risk group.

Objective To investigate the characteristics of the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell(MSC)in children with aplastic anemia(AA)in vitro,and the expressions of tumor necrosis factor -α-induced protein -8 -like 2(TIPE2)in the bone marrow,and the correlation between the level of TIPE2 mRNA with γ-interferon(IFN -γ)and IL -6 in AA patients.Methods Bone marrow samples were collected from 1 8 children with AA(AA group)and 8 children with bone injury (control group)who were hospitalized in Jinan Children′s Hospital from January 201 2 to June 201 5.MSC were isolated and cultured.The morphology of MSC was observed and immune phenotype was detected.The TIPE2 mRNA was detected by using real -time fluorescence quantitative PCR,and the levels of IFN -γand IL -6 were detected by using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.Results Different sizes had been presented in the primi-tive MSC of AA patients,but the third passage MSC until 80% confluence had manifested the uniform convergence with long spindle and swirl distribution.In the sixth passage,cells showed degenerative change.The primitive and first pa-ssage MSC in patients with AA was longer than that in the controls.CD73 ,CD1 05 ,CD44 and CD90 were expressed in MSC,while CD34 ,CD45 ,CD271 expressed rarely.The level of TIPE2 mRNA in AA patients (5.29 ±1 .56)was obviously lower than that of the control group(8.68 ±2.00),and the difference was significant(t =-4.48,P <0.01 ).The con-centration of IFN -γ[(5.48 ±1 .97)ng/L]and IL -6[(5.43 ±1 .92)ng/L]in AA patients were higher than those of the control group[(3.40 ±1 .24)ng/L,(3.79 ±0.92)ng/L],and the differences were significant (t =2.70, 2.26,all P <0.05).The level of TIPE2 mRNA in AA patients was negatively related with IFN -γand IL -6(r =-0.838,-0.658,all P <0.05),but there was no significant correlation between them in the control group (all P >0.05).Conclusions The proliferation of MSC is significantly reduced in patients with AA.TIPE2,as an important role to stabilize the immune system,plays an important role in the occurrence of AA by its low expression and up -regula-ting the expression of inflammatory factors.

Objective To study the changes of plasma cystatin C level (PcyC),and evaluate the effects of the joint use of atorvastatin and probucol on PcyC and severity of coronary lesion in patients with borderline lesion of coronary artery.Methods One hundred and thirty consecutive patients with borderline coronary lesion assessed by quantitative coronary angiography were enrolled into borderline coronary lesion group (BCL),and another 136 subjects without coronary lesion were enrolled as controls (CTR).And in the meantime,the subjects in BCL group were randomized (closed envelope method) into routine treatment subgroup ( RTT,n =60),and combined treatment subgroup in which patients were treated with atorvastatin 20 mg plus probucol 1.0 g daily in addition to routine medication ( CBT,n =70) for 6 months.There were no statistical differences in basic clinical features between two subgroups.PcyC,high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP),total cholesterol (TC),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( HDL-C ) and triglycerides (TG) were determined.Of them,104 patients in BCL group rechecked by coronary angiography.Comparison of biomarkers carried out between two groups by using a number of independent-sample t-test and analysis of variance.For enumeration data,chi-square test was used to compare mean values of biomarkers between groups. P ＜ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results PcyC levels were significantly higher in BCL group than those in CTR group ( P ＜ 0.05 ).Compared with RTT subgroup,levels of PcyC,TC,LDL-C,TG and hs-CRP were more significantly decreased in CBT subgroup (P ＜ 0.05,P ＜ 0.01 ).Moreover,there was a trend of slight decrease in the mean percent of stenosis (MPS) of coronary artery with borderline lesion in RTT subgroup treated for 6 months,whereas more marked decrease in the MPS of coronary artery with borderline coronary lesion in CBT subgroup treated for 6 months ( P ＞ 0.05 ; P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusions Cystatin C plays an important role in the pathogenesis of coronary artery,and PcyC is associated with severity of coronary lesion,the combination of atorvastatin and probucol decreases the PcyC level,and it may be the treatment of choice for borderline lesion of coronary artery.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the bone refilling in the interface between the trabecular metal (TM) acetabular shell and the bone surface according to consecutive X film measuring after surgery.

METHODSFrom July 2006 to July 2007, 35 patients (40 hips) accepted total hip replacement using trabecular metal monoblock acetabular cup system (TM). The cup was made of a ellipse shaped press fit Tantalum shell and high cross-linked PE liner (Longevity) with 28 mm inner diameter. The patients demography was: 16 male (20 hips), 19 female (20 hips), 5 bilateral hip replacements, age from 41 - 71 (mean 53), including 18 avascular necrosis hips, 16 osteoarthritis hips (including those secondary to a dysplasia hip), 4 avascular necrosis hips after femoral neck fracture, 2 Ankylosis Spondylitis. All the 40 total hip replacements used posterior approach, using hemispherical acetabular reamer and 2 mm press fit of final metal shell without screw fixation. The consecutive X film was taken at the end time of surgery and 2, 6, 12, 24 weeks, and 12 months. The clinical results was evaluate according to Harris scoring system, and the standard pelvis AP X film was measured at the interface between metal shell and the acetabular bone surface, witch was divided into five regions (A, B, C, D, E).

RESULTSTotally 32 patients (37 hips) were followed with average 8.7 months (7 - 12 months). The Harris before surgery was 50.5 (32 - 85), promoted to 91.0 (72 - 100), including 29 excellent, 6 good, 2 fair, and the total excellent and good rate was 94.6%. Complications include 4 patients leg length discrepancy from 1 - 2 cm, 3 patients moderate thigh pain and released after conservative therapy. No infection and dislocation was found. Twenty-one patients (23 hips) were found lucent line at the bone-metal interface from 1 - 5 mm, most common in B region and BC boundary than C, D, and CD boundary. All the patients followed was found the lucent line disappeared and refilled with bone at X film 24 weeks after surgery, however, no patients was found osteolysis and cup migration.

CONCLUSIONThe trabecular metal has strong capacity of bone conductive and bone inducement.

Adult ; Aged ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; methods ; Bone Regeneration ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip ; diagnostic imaging ; Hip Prosthesis ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Radiography ; X-Rays

The medicinal fungi, which are of great importance in traditional medicine, are facing the problems of wild resources scarcity and low concentration of bioactive compounds. Velvet family and LaeA global regulator play a vital role in secondary metabolism and developmental programs, which are found in a wide variety of fungi ranging from Chytridiomycota to Basidiomycota. This review elaborates the structures and functions between Velvet family and LaeA protein. The Velvet family which shares the Velvet protein domain, including VeA (Velvet), VelB (Velvet like B), VosA (viability of spores A) and VelC (Velvet like C), acts on the regulation function is secondary metabolism and developmental programs such as asexual and sexual development. Furthermore, the function is affected by environmental factors such as light and temperature. LaeA protein which owns S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase domain, coordinately regulates development and secondary metabolism by regulating and modifying the Velvet proteins. The regulation of LaeA is mediated by light receptor proteins. Therefore, clarifying the mechanism of Velvet and LaeA proteins in medicinal fungi will pave the way for nurturing medicinal fungi and improving production of bioactive compounds.

Transcription factor is one of the key factors in the regulation of gene expression at the transcriptional level. It plays an important role in plant growth, active components biosynthesis and response to environmental change. This paper summarized the structure and classification of bHLH transcription factors and elaborated the research progress of bHLH transcription factors which regulate the active components in plants, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids. In addition, the possibility of increasing the concentration of active substances by bHLH in medicinal plants was assessed. The paper emphasized great significance of model plants and multidisciplinary research fields including modern genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics, providing the contribution to improve the discovery and function characterization of bHLH transcription factors. Accelerating the research in the mechanism of bHLH transcription factors on the regulation of active components biosynthesis will promote the development of breeding and variety improvement of Chinese medicinal materials, also ease the pressure of resources exhaustion of traditional Chinese medicine home and abroad.
Alkaloids ; biosynthesis ; Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; metabolism ; Flavonoids ; biosynthesis ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics ; metabolism ; Terpenes ; metabolism