Objective To study the MRI features of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease(sCJD). Methods Three patients with clinically diagnosed sCJD underwent MR study,including SE T_1WI,FSE T_2 WI,and DWI sequences.The MR imaging features were analyzed.Results The lesions were not definite either in SE T_1 WI or in FSE T_2 WI,but were prominent in DWI.Abnormal hyperintensive signal appeared in the cerebral cortex,with the frontal,parietal,and occipital lobes being the mostly involved region.The subcortical white matter was normal.The bilateral caudate nuclei and thalami could also be involved.The abnormal signal could be either symmetrical or asymmetrical.There was diffuse atrophy of the brain parenchyma in the late phase of disease,especially in the cortex.Conclusion With the application of MR study,especially the DWI,combined with its characteristic clinical manifestation,the diagnosis of sCJD can be made definitely.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expressions of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptors 1-3 (S1P1- 3) in the corpus cavernosum of castrated male rats and its relationship with the NOS/NO/cGMP and RhoA/Rho kinase signaling pathways.

METHODSWe equally randomized 18 eight-week-old healthy male SD rats into a sham-operation control, a castration, and a testosterone replacement (TR) group and harvested the bilateral testes and epididymides from the rats in the latter two groups, followed by 4 weeks of subcutaneous injection of testosterone propionate at 3 mg per kilogram of the body weight per day for those in the TR group and that of plant oil for those in the control and castration groups. At the age of 12 weeks, we measured the serum testosterone (T) level and maximum intracavernous pressure/mean arterial pressure (ICPmax/MAP) of the animals and determined the expressions of SlP1-3, eNOS, P-eNOS, ROCK1, and ROCK2 in the corpus cavernosum by Western blot and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSThe serum T level was significantly decreased in the rats of the castration group as compared with those of the control and TR groups ([0.41 ± 0.04] vs [16.01 ± 1.02] and [15.84 ± 1.32] nmol/L, P < 0.01), with no statistically significant difference between the latter two groups. The ICPmax/MAP at 0 V, 3 V, and 5 V electric stimulation was remarkably lower in the rats of the castration group (0.088 ± 0.014, 0.323 ± 0.014, and 0.432 ± 0.012) than in those of the control group (0.155 ± 0.011, 0.711 ± 0. 010, and 0.819 ± 0.024) and TR group (0.153 ± 0.012, 0.696 ± 0.017, and 0.763 ± 0.027) (P < 0.01), with no significant difference between the latter two groups. With GAPDH as internal control, the animals of the castration group showed markedly reduced expressions of S1P1 ([49.99 ± 3.39]%), eNOS ([46.82 ± 3.81]%) , and P-eNOS ([45.42 ± 4.35]%) in comparison with those in the control group ([72.57 ± 3.06], [89.76 ± 3.98], and [82.53 ± 8.92] and TR group ([71.77 ± 4.43], [87.19 ± 4.23], and [79.82 ± 7.38]%) (P < 0.01) , while the expressions of S1P2, S1P3, ROCK1, and ROCK2 were significantly upregulated in the castration group ([82.35 ± 4.13], [61.03 ± 5.14], [74.50 ± 4.02], and [69.83 ± 5.75]%) as compared with those in the control group ([41.67 ± 1.68], [31.66 ± 2.67], [35.69 ± 5.56], and [39.85 ± 7.17]%) and TR group ([42.80 ± 3.87], [32.25 ± 4.22], 38.06 ± 5.21], and [42.36 ± 4.44]%) (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONAndrogen deficiency induces significant reduction of ICPmax/ MAP in male rats, which is possibly associated with the decline of S1P1 in the corpus cavernosum, inhibition of the eNOS/NO/cGMP signaling pathway, increased expressions of S1P2 and S1P3, and activation of the RhoA/Rho kinase signaling pathway.

Animals ; Male ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III ; metabolism ; Orchiectomy ; Penis ; metabolism ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, Lysosphingolipid ; metabolism ; Testosterone ; blood ; pharmacology ; rho-Associated Kinases ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the relationship between the matrix metalloproteinase-3(MMP-3)and the stability of carotid artery plaque,and explore MMP-3's prediction role on the attack and relapse of acute ischemic cerebrovascular events.Methods 100 patients with the first ever acute cerebral infarction,100 patients with chronic cerebral circulation insufficiency(CCCI)and 40 persons without cerebrovascular diseases were enrolled in this study.According to the carotid ultrasound examination,100 cerebral infarction patients were divided into three subgroup: unstable plaque group(45 patients,mixed plaque,soft plaque),stable plaque group(35 patients,plaque Group)and endometrial coarse group(25patients).Matrix metalloproteinase-3(MMP-3)levels of all the subjects were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(as basal level).All the subjects were followed up for one year to observe cerebral infarction events.Serum MMP-3 levels of each group,and the basic serum MMP-3 levels were compared among patients who were attacked or relapsed cerebral ischemic with those who had not been attack cerebral ischemic during this period of time.Results 5 patients in the cerebral infarction group had relapse (5%),2 patients in the CCCI group were attacked by cerebral ischemic(2%),and no one in the normal control group was attacked by cerebral ischemic.Serum MMP-3 levels in the acute cerebral infarction group were significantly higher than CCCI group,and both groups were significantly higher than normal control group (P ＜0.05).The basic serum MMP-3 levels in all patients who were attacked by cerebral ischemic were significantly higher than those who had not been attack by cerebral ischemic during this period of time(P ＜0.05).The serum MMP-3 levels of the unstable plaque group were significantly higher than stable plaque group.And both groups were significantly higher than endometrial coarse group(P ＜0.05).Conclusions Elevated levels of matrix metalloproteinase-3(MMP-3)might have something with the stability of carotid atherosclerotic plaque,and participate the attack and the relapse of acute cerebral infarction.Determination of MMP-3 might be used to predict the attack and relapse of acute cerebral infarction.

Prostate cancer is one of the common malignant tumors of male urogenital system, and the incidence of prostate cancer in China has increased significantly in the past decade. At present, endocrine therapy based on androgen blockade is the main method of clinical treatment except radical surgery and radiotherapy/chemotherapy for prostate cancer. However, the clinical benefit can only be obtained in the early stage of treatment, and nearly 90% of patients will develop to the castration resistance, and among them, nearly 90% of patients will have bone metastasis. The quality of life decreases sharply with the progression of disease for patients. In addition to the androgen signal pathway, studies have shown that many other oncogenic signal pathways have involved in the development of castration resistance, including classic cancer signaling pathways, immune and inflammatory signaling pathways, etc. Understanding the mechanism of androgen independent signal pathway in the formation of castration resistance will help to understand the off-target effect of androgen blocking therapy and introduce new treatment targets or strategies to get rid of the "no drug available" dilemma for clinical treatment of castration resistance.

Objective To evaluate the Carryover between the chemistry and immunoassay in Beckman Coulter Laboratory Au-tomation System and decide to whether sharing samples for testing between chemistry and immunoassay systems or not. Methods According to a certain order,high concentration samples and low concentration samples of HCG with different sample volume (500 μl,2 000 μl)were tested on Beckman AU5421 automatic biochemical analyzer.The HCG of low concen-tration samples were then tested to evaluate the carryover between the chemistry and immunoassay and explored the correc-tive procedure to deal with the carryover by increasing special cleaning process of beckman AU5421 automatic biochemistry analyzer.Results Under different sample volume,the carryover in a single module and as a whole of the beckman AU5421 automatic biochemistry analyzer were 5.44,15.47,23.51 and 45.96 ppm respectively (t=14.553,P <0.001;t=5.527,P =0.005;t=3.985,P =0.016;t=20.457,P <0.001).By increasing special cleaning process the carryover of 0.22 ppm was detected in 500 μl sample volume of the beckman AU5421 automatic biochemistry analyzer as a whole.Conclusion The car-ryover between the chemistry and immunoassay in Beckman Coulter Laboratory Automation System could been sovled by in-creasing special cleaning process of beckman AU5421 automatic biochemistry analyzer.

Bacillus subtilis B6-1 was used as an original strain for mutagenic treatment and a defined medium was used as the selective medium. A mutant named B. subtilis W003 was isolated after three serial ultraviolet (UV) irradiations and one diethyl sulfate (DES) treatment. The ?-PGA yield on a rotary shaker was enhanced from 10.9 g/L in parental strain to 20.5 g/L in the mutant. It was illustrated by single factor experiments that the optimal carbon and nitrogen sources were glucose and (NH4)2SO4 respectively. The optimal fermentation medium was achieved by orthogonal test. In the optimal medium, a ?-PGA yield of 45.3 g/L was obtained after 36 h cultivation.

Poly ?-glutamate is a biopolymer material that has a good application prospect.The Vitreoscilla hemoglobin(VHb) gene was integrated into the chromosome of Bacillus licheniformis WX-02 by integrative vector pDG1730-vgb.The expression of VHb was confirmed by CO-difference spectra analysis.It was shown by the results of batch cultures in a 3 L bioreactor that biomass and ?-PGA obtained in the recombinant M2 were 25.5 % and 20% higher than those of the control respectively.

Objective To estimate the difference of PS、CBV/CBF in the evaluation pf angiogenesis and growth behavior of the C6 glioma.Methods Sixty adult Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups randomly.CT perfusion were performed at the time of 5,13,20 d after the rats were inoculated C6 glioma cells.Permeability surface(PS),cerebral blood volume(CBV),cerebral blood flow(CBF)of different part of the tumor(central part,peripheral part,adjacent part and contralateral normal parenchyma)were measured at different time.Results At the central parts of the lesions,there were obvious difference between different time of tumor growth among PS[(3.94?0.15),(8.47?0.34),(5.20?0.65)ml? 100g~(-1)?min~(-1)],CBF[(280.33?8.82),(388.33?14.00),(116.16?11.54)ml? 100g~(-1)?min~(-1)],CBV[(7.75?0.27),(12.73?0.98),(5.14?0.66)ml?100g~(-1)](F=4.421,P= 0.013;F=11.370,P=0.000;F=15.789,P=0.000).There were statistical difference of PS at the different time in both the peripheral and adjacent parts of the glioma.(F=13.567,P=0.000;F=12.470, P=0.000).No difference were detected in CBF or CBV at different time of the peripheral parts of the tumors(F=1.176,P=0.336;F=0.148,P=0.710).there were significant difference between different time of tumor growth among CBF[(175.33?12.95),(275.50?13.76),(246.33?12.81)ml? 100g~(-1)?min~(-1)],CBV[(4.15?0.47),(8.05?0.30),(7.54?0.89)ml?100g~(-1)]at the adjacent parts of the tumors(F=24.176,P=0.000;F=17.148,P=0.000;F=15.791,P=0.000). Coneluslon CBV,CBF can reflect the number and volume of the tumor vessels,while PS can directly reflect the function of the angiogenesis and the behavior of the glioma.

OBJECTIVETo sum up the experience of carotid endarterectomy (CEA).

METHODSFrom January 1999 to July 2003, 59 patients were treated by CEA. There were 40 males and 19 females, and their age ranged from 56 to 79 years with an average of 71.8 years. The stenotic degree of internal carotid artery were over 80% in all cases. The left lesions were in 35 cases, and the right in 19, and the bilateral in 5. Patching were in 5, bypass with a great saphenous vein in 2.

RESULTSFifty-five cases were excellent. Two patient died, one was caused by hyperperfusion syndrome, the another was due to the acute cardiac infarction at 31 days after operation. The complications included 5 hematosis and 1 hoarseness.

CONCLUSIONCEA is still the best method in treating the stenosis and occlusion of carotid artery.

Aged ; Arterial Occlusive Diseases ; surgery ; Carotid Arteries ; Carotid Stenosis ; surgery ; Endarterectomy ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Care ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVEHepatic stellate cells (HSC) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) transdifferentiate into extracellular matrix-producing myofibroblasts. Activated HSC can promote invasion and metastasis of HCC. To understand the differences of HSC in normal liver and HCC, we compared the gene expression patterns in HCC cell induction-activated and culture-activated rat HSC.

METHODSHSC were isolated by density centrifugation and exposed to conditioned medium from rat HCC cell line C5F. Expression of 22 012 genes in quiescent HSC, culture-activated HSC and HCC induction-activated HSC was analyzed by cDNA microarray and confirmed by real-time RT-PCR and Western blot.

RESULTS1672 genes were differentially expressed in culture-activated HSC, including proinflammatory factors, cell adhesion molecules, cell surface receptors, signaling transduction molecules and immune factors. 711 genes were differentially expressed in HCC induction-activated HSC. Some of them were identical to those in culture-activated HSC. HCC Induction-activated HSC showed specific gene expression patterns, including Raf1, Rac2, Adam17, Wnt6, MMP-9 and TNF, suggesting that HCC cells can specifically induce HSC activation.

CONCLUSIONThe gene expression patterns in HCC induction-activated HSC are different from those in culture-activated HSC. HCC induction-activated HSC may play a major role in the invasion and metastasis of HCC. In vivo activation should be considered as the standard for the study of HSC biology. HCC induction-activated HSC should be considered as the standard for HSC biology studies.

Animals ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cells, Cultured ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Hepatic Stellate Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Liver Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred F344