Adolescent ; Adult ; Anti-Mullerian Hormone ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Glycoproteins ; blood ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Testicular Hormones ; blood ; Testis ; growth & development

Objective:To prepare a kind of G418 resistance fibroblast feeder layers.Methods: In order to prepare a stock primary embryonic fibroblast (EMFI) cells, the pregnant Smad3ex8+/- mice containing heterozygous neo gene were killed 14 days after coitus to get the embryo. EMFI cells were tested by PCR to identify their gene types. Only one EMFI cell which contained heterozygous neo gene was chosen and treated with mitomycin C.The mitomycin C-treated EMFI feeders were stored at -70℃. Results: The EMFI feeder layers could support the growth of embryonic stem cell line TC-1 efficiently and could live in G418 resistance medium for 1-2 weeks.

OBJECTIVETo assess the state of glucose metabolism and beta-cell function in obese and overweight children.

METHODSLevels of glucose and insulin were detected during oral glucose tolerance test in 52 obese and overweight children aged 11.3 +/- 1.8 years with body mass index (BMI) 30.2 +/- 19.2 kg/m(2). Insulin resistance index (IR = FIN x FPG/22.5), insulin sensitivity index (IS = 1/FIN x FPG) and ratio of insulin increment to glucose increment at 30' (I(30)-I(0)/G(30)-G(0)) post oral glucose were measured. (FIN = fasting insulin. FPG = fasting plasma glucose). The IR, IS and the ratio post oral glucose were compared among groups with varying BMI and between groups of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and control. Serum triglyceride determination and B ultrasonography of liver were performed.

RESULTS(1) one patient with type 2 diabetes (1.9%) and 5 patients with IGT (9.6%) were found. (2) IR (> or = 2.8) was observed in 76.9% of the cases. (3) The IR, IS and their ratio showed no difference between the compared groups. (4) IR and IS did not show significant difference but there was significant difference in ratio between the IGT and control group. (5) Increased serum triglyceride and fatty liver were noted in 36.5% and 53.3% of the cases, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe results indicated that insulin resistance and reduced insulin sensitivity in obese and overweight children are common, and these changes seemed not to correlated with the varying degree of BMI. Beta-cells function was obviously impaired in obese children with IGT and disorder of lipid metabolism exists in many obese and overweight children revealed.

Adolescent ; Body Mass Index ; Child ; Female ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Humans ; Insulin ; secretion ; Insulin Resistance ; Male ; Obesity ; metabolism ; Overweight ; metabolism

The association rate constant and dissociation rate constant are important parameters of the drug-cyclodextrin supermolecule systems, which determine the dissociation of drugs from the complex and the further in vivo absorption of drugs. However, the current studies of drug-cyclodextrin interactions mostly focus on the thermodynamic parameter of equilibrium constants (K). In this paper, a method based on quantitative high performance affinity chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry was developed to determine the apparent dissociation rate constant (k(off,app)) of drug-cyclodextrin supermolecule systems. This method was employed to measure the k(off,app) of meloxicam and acetaminophen. Firstly, chromatographic peaks of drugs and non-retained solute (uracil) on β-cyclodextrin column at different flow rates were acquired, and the retention time and variance values were obtained via the fitting the peaks. Then, the plate heights of drugs (H(R)) and uracil (H(M,C)) were calculated. The plate height of theoretical non-retained solute (H(M,T)) was calculated based on the differences of diffusion coefficient and the stagnant mobile phase mass transfer between drugs and uracil. Finally, the k(off,app) was calculated from the slope of the regression equation between (H(R)-H(M,T)) and uk/(1+k)2, (0.13 ± 0.00) s(-1) and (4.83 ± 0.10) s(-1) for meloxicam and acetaminophen (control drug), respectively. In addition, the apparent association rate constant (k(on,app)) was also calculated through the product of K (12.53 L x mol(-1)) and k(off,app). In summary, it has been proved that the method established in our study was simple, efficiently fast and reproducible for investigation on the kinetics of drug-cyclodextrin interactions.
Acetaminophen ; chemistry ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Drug Interactions ; Kinetics ; Mass Spectrometry ; Thermodynamics ; Thiazines ; chemistry ; Thiazoles ; chemistry ; beta-Cyclodextrins ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo study the clinicopathologic features of subependymal giant cell astrocytoma.

METHODSThe clinical and pathologic characteristics of 18 cases of subependymal giant cell astrocytoma were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSAmongst the 18 cases studied, there was a male predominance (male-to-female ratio = 2:1). The age of patients ranged from 7 to 54 years (mean age = 18.2 years). The tumor often occurred in the lateral ventricles (16/18, 88.9%). Most patients presented with headache and vomiting (11/18, 61.1%), followed by visual disturbance (3/18, 16.7%). Eleven patients (61.1%) had clinical features of tuberous sclerosis, usually in the form of facial angiofibroma (8/18, 44.4%). Computerized tomography was performed in 10 cases, in which 7 cases were of high density and 5 cases showed contrast enhancement. MRI revealed isointense mass lesion on T1WI (7/11, 63.6%), highly intense lesion on T2WI (10/11, 90.9%) and contrast enhancement in some cases (9/11, 81.8%). Four patients had follow-up information available and all of them were alive from 1 to 5 years (mean = 3.5 years). Histologically, there were bundles of spindle cells mixed with clusters of gemistocytes and ganglion-like cells. The spindle cells showed immunoreactivity for glial fibrillary acidic protein (18/18, 100%), while the gemistocytes and ganglion-like cells expressed synaptophysin (14/18, 77.8%). Most of the cases (16/18, 88.9%) had MIB-1 index

CONCLUSIONSSubependymal giant cell astrocytoma is a benign brain tumor with distinctive histopathologic features. The tumor typically affects children and young adults. It is associated with a favorable clinical outcome, especially if completely excised.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Astrocytoma ; complications ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cerebral Ventricle Neoplasms ; complications ; metabolism ; pathology ; Child ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein ; biosynthesis ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Synaptophysin ; biosynthesis ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tuberous Sclerosis ; complications ; metabolism ; pathology ; Young Adult

A novel method was developed for the rapid determination of multi-indicators in corni fructus by means of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) based least squares support vector machine was investigated to increase the levels of quality control. The calibration models of moisture, extractum, morroniside and loganin were established using the PSO-LS-SVM algorithm. The performance of PSO-LS-SVM models was compared with partial least squares regression (PLSR) and back propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN). The calibration and validation results of PSO-LS-SVM were superior to both PLS and BP-ANN. For PSO-LS-SVM models, the correlation coefficients (r) of calibrations were all above 0.942. The optimal prediction results were also achieved by PSO-LS-SVM models with the RMSEP (root mean square error of prediction) and RSEP (relative standard errors of prediction) less than 1.176 and 15.5% respectively. The results suggest that PSO-LS-SVM algorithm has a good model performance and high prediction accuracy. NIR has a potential value for rapid determination of multi-indicators in Corni Fructus.
Algorithms ; Calibration ; Cornus ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Models, Theoretical ; Neural Networks (Computer) ; Quality Control ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared ; Support Vector Machine

Objective To evaluate the prognostic value of serial 18F-fluorodeexyglucose (FDG) PET/CT in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).Methods Thirty-seven NPC patients who had 18F-FDG PET/CT scan before and after external beam intensity-modulated radiotherapy, were studied retrospectively.All patients were followed for five years.Correlation analysis between metabolic tumor volume (MTV)/uptake volume index (UVI) and survival was performed by Kaplan-Meier analysis, Log-rank test and multivariate Cox model.Results The 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 70.3% (26/37) and 62.2% ( 23/37 ), respectively.Patients with a lower MTV (MTV＜30 cm3) had significantly higher 5-year OS ( 82.6% ( 19/23 ) ) and DFS (73.9% ( 17/23 )) rates than those with a higher MTV (OS:50.0% (7/14),x2 =5.28, P＜0.05; DFS:42.9% (6/14),x2 =4.84, P＜0.05).Patients with a lower UV1 (UVI＜150) had significantly higher 5-year OS( 87.5%( 21/24 )) and DFS (79.2% (19/24)) rates than those with a higher UVI (OS:38.5% (5/13),x2 =10.72, P＜0.01;DFS:30.8% (4/13), x2 =11.04, P＜0.01).Multivariate analysis showed that UVI and metabolic response (MR) were independent predictors of DFS.Conclusions Tumor volume parameters, UVI and MR, are independent prognostic factors for patients with NPC.Patients with a high UVI may benefit from more aggressive treatment.

Through cluster multistage sampling,a resident group of 6 412 subjects with hypertension in the rural area of Liaoning province were recruited.According to IDF and NCEP-ATPm criteria the age-standardized prevalences of metabolic syndrome were 36.2%and 25.9%respectively.The prevalence of metabolic syndrome decreased with advancing age,but increased with rising of blood pressure.

BACKGROUNDPulmonary embolism (PE) is a common and often fatal disease. Early after pulmonary thromboembolism, inflammation and associated intimal hyperplasia occur within the pulmonary arteries, similar to what is observed with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. This study tested the hypothesis that thrombolytic and anticoagulant agents would have anti-inflammatory effects or inhibit intimal hyperplasia of involved pulmonary arteries.

METHODSSeventy-two male New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into two groups (54 rabbits in the PE group and 18 in the sham group). Experimental PE was induced in 54 rabbits by femoral vein injection of autologous blood clots and confirmed with pulmonary angiography, and other 18 rabbits underwent sham operations. Fifty-four rabbits in the PE group were randomly divided into three groups: a control group (treated with normal saline), a low-molecular- weight heparin (LMWH) group (treated with LMWH), and a urokinase (UK) group (treated with UK). Arterial blood gas was analyzed at 2, 7, and 28 days (n = 6 per time point by random group division), then lung tissues were removed and were analyzed for pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, and were stained for intimal hyperplasia.

RESULTSThe overall survival of rabbits undergoing PE was 100%. PE distribution detected on digital signal angiography (DSA) and histopathology was shown in 67% of rabbits (36/54) in the bilateral low lobar pulmonary arteries (PAs). The results showed that alveolar-arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) difference (PA-aO2) significantly increased and PO2 decreased in the control group compared with the sham group. Compared with controls, the UK group had a decreased level of PA-aO2 on day 2 (P < 0.05), however, there was no significant difference in the LMWH group. Compared with controls, the LMWH group had a decreased level of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in affected tissue and serum samples on days 7 and 28 (P < 0.05), and the UK group had decreased levels on days 2 and 7 (P < 0.05). Compared with sham group, all PE groups had an increased level of interleukin-13 (IL-13) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in unaffected lung tissue samples at days 2 and 7. IL-13 in affected lung tissue in the LMWH group was decreased at all time points compared with controls (P < 0.05). However, TGF-β in affected lung tissue of the LMWH and UK groups increased at day 28. There was less intimal hyperplasia in involved pulmonary arteries at days 7 and 28 in the LMWH group compared with controls; there was no statistical difference in the UK group compared with controls.

CONCLUSIONSUK treatment can rapidly improve the V/Q mismatch in PE and appears a short-term anti-inflammatory benefit. However, LMWH maybe inhibit the later local inflammatory reaction and reduce intimal hyperplasia.

Animals ; Chemokines ; analysis ; Cytokines ; analysis ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Oxygen ; blood ; Pulmonary Artery ; drug effects ; pathology ; Pulmonary Embolism ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Rabbits ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator ; therapeutic use

Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Drug Resistance ; Humans ; Neutrophils ; cytology ; drug effects ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; drug therapy ; Theophylline ; therapeutic use