The bystander effect(BE) plays an important role in the gene therapy of cancer by the herpes thymidine kinase/ganciclovir(HSV-TK/GCV) system.It enhances the therapeutic efficacy of this system.Up to now,the exact underlying mechanism of the bystander effect remains unclear.A large body of evidence has indicated a close correlation of the connexin expression and gap junction in the targeted cells to the bystander effect.Here the publications concerning the relationship of gap junction with the bystander effect in the HSV-TK/GCV treatment have been reviewed.The possible cell death signals that can be transferred through gap junction to induce the bystander effect are also discussed.

Autoimmune diseases (AID) are a group of diseases,in which the tolerance of immune system to self component is broken.However,the etiology and pathogenesis of AID has not yet been clear so far.For better understanding the pathogenesis of AIDs and providing new idea on the diagnosis and treatment of AID,this review will focus on the latest development on pathogenesis of AID,including genetic background,environment factors,abnormal immune regulation,and the role of target cells.

Objective To screen polymorphisms and mutations in the promoter region of WD gene.Methods DNA from peripheral blood was obtained from 71 subjects of 36 family (48 WD patients,23 patients first-degree relatives) and 20 healthy people from Feb.2001 to Feb.2004.DNA sequence of the genes was analyzed by PCR amplification and direct genomic sequencing.Results There were three polymorphisms at positions-190,-78,+260(transcription start site as +1) of the promoter region of WD gene.Normal controls,WD patients and patients’ first-degree relatives all showed the polymorphisms;three of 48 WD patients presented C→T base substitution mutations at the same position -183:two were homozygous mutation,while the other was heterozygous.Normal control subjects and patients' relatives didn’t show this kind of mutation.Conclusion It suggests that the mutation of the promoter region is one of WD pathogenesis.

Objective To explore the differential expression of Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4)mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs)between the patients with ankylosing spondylitis(AS),rheumatoid arthritis(RA)and the healthy individuals as well as its clinical significance.Methods The expression level of TLR4 mRNA in PBMCs was determined from 60 AS patients,30 RA patients and 30 healthy controls by real-time fluorescence quantitative RT-PCR.Erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR)and plasma C-reactive protein(CRP)were detected automatically respectively by ESR automatic analyzer and specific protein electrophoresis analyzer.Results The expression level of TLR4 mRNA in PBMC was significantly higher in patients with AS or RA than in the controls,while no significant difference was observed between the two disease groups.Furthermore,both HLA-B27-positive and -negative AS patients showed higher TLR4 mRNA level than healthy controls,and HLA-B27-positive AS patients higher than RA patients.However,there was no significant difference between HLA-B27-positive,-negative AS and RA patients.In HLA-B27-positive AS patients,close correlations between TLR4 mRNA and ESR or CRP were observed,but no correlation observed in HLA-B27 negative patients.In RA patients,the level of TLR4 mRNA correlated with CRP.Conclusion The expression level of TLR4 mRNA is elevated in PBMC from either AS or RA patients.Although the upregulation of TLR4 mRNA is not associated with whether HLA-B27 is positive or not in AS patients,it is more significant in HLA-B27-positive AS than in RA.Furthermore,the correlations between the expression of TLR4 mRNA and ESR or CRP are influenced by HLA-B27 antigen in AS patients.In conclusion,the present results indicate that the abnormal expression of TLR4 might play a role in the development and progression of AS and RA.

Background Left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH) is a cardiovascular risk factor independent of the blood pressure. JAK/STAT pathway has been confirmed to participate in cardiac hypertrophy and hyperplasia. Our previous reports have shown that sodium tanshinone ⅡA sulfonate(STS) reversed LVH,inhibited the myocardial cells Ca2+ influx,lowered left ventricular myocardial tumor necrosis factor-?(TNF-?)and the proto-oncogene c-fos,Bcl-2,and p53 protein expression. Objective To study the effect of sodium tanshinone ⅡA sulfonate(STS) on JAK/STAT pathway in left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH) induced by abdominal aorta stenosis in rats. Methods Twenty-four 9-weeks-old rats submitted to abdominal aorta constriction,were randomized to receive STS 10 mg/(kg?d)(n=8)or sterilized distilled water (1 mL/d)(n=8),or valsartan 10 mg/(kg?d) by gavage(n=8),with age and sex matched sham operated rats(n=8) as control. HE,VG and immunohistonchemical staining were used to evaluate the myocardial fiber dimension(MFD). Expressions of JAK1 and STAT3 were assessed by using Western blot. Results Compared with the control group,pressure loaded rats had higher SBP[(117.3?8.3) vs LVH: (186.5?13.5)mmHg,P

Moyamoya disease is a cerebrovascular disease w hich is characterized by progressive cerebrovascular stenosis and occlusion. The direct and indirect revascularizations modalities are the preferred methods for the treatment of moyamoya disease now . This article review s the surgical modalities of moyamoya disease.

The recombinant plasmid pPIC-gpd-bgl-hyg was constructed, which contained GPD2 promotor and terminator from industrial yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ?-glucosidase gene (BGL1) from Sac-charomycopsis fibuligera and hyg from hygromycin as the selected marker. With the yeast’s high efficiency of homologous integrated, the BGL1 gene was successfully integrated into industrial yeasts S. cerevisiae. The recombined yeast could grow on the cultures with the cellobiose as a sole carbon source, and the ?-glucosidase activity achieved 0.764 U/mL after 48 hours’ cultivation. In the experiments of VHG ethanol fermentation, the cellobiose concentration in broth of recombined yeast was 80% lower than that of indus-trial yeast.

Objective To assess whether dynamic arterial elastance (Eadyn)can be used to predict the reduction of arterial pressure after decreasing norepinephrine (NE) dosage in patients with septic shock.Methods A prospective observational cohort study was conducted.Thirty-two patients with septic shock and mechanical ventilationwere enrolledfrom January 2014 to December 2015 in ICU of Wuxi People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University.Hemodynamic parameters were recorded by pulse contour cardiac output(PiCCO) monitoring technology before and after decreasing norepinephrine dosage.Eadyn was defined as the ratio of pulse pressure variation (PPV) to stroke volume variation (SVV).Mean arterial pressure (MAP) variation was calculated after decreasing the dose of NE.Response was defined as a ≥ 15％decrease of MAP.AUC was plotted to assess the value of Eadyn in predicting MAP response.Results A total of 32 patients were enrolled in our study,with 13 responding to NE dose decrease where as the other 19 did not.Eadyn was lower in responders than in nonresponders (0.77 ± 0.13 vs 1.09 ± 0.31,P ＜ 0.05).Baseline Eadyn was positively correlated with systolic blood pressure variation,diastolic blood pressure variation,systemic vascular resistance variation and MAP variation (r =0.621,P =0.000;r =0.735,P =0.000;r =0.756,P =0.000;r =0.568,P =0.000 respectively).However,stoke volume variation,baseline level of systemic vascular resistance and NE baseline dose were not correlated with Eadyn baseline value (r =0.264,P =0.076;r =0.078,P =0.545;r =0.002,P =0.987 respectively).Eadyn ≤ 0.97 predicted a decrease of MAP when decreasing NE dose,with an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of 0.85.The sensitivity was 100.0％ and specificity was 73.7％.Conclusions In septic shock patients treated with NE,Eadyn is an index to predict the decrease of arterial pressure in response to NE dose reduction.

Fungal polyketide synthases are responsible for the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites such as pigments, mycotoxins, and they are very important in pharmacology , food science and agriculture. The recent advances in the methods for the isolation and manipulation of multiple classes of polyketide synthase genes from fungi were introduced. It is useful for discovery of novel fungal polyketide synthase gene clusters. These methods can also be useful for revealing the genetic potential of fungi to produce multiple types of bioactive polyketide.

Corneal opacity is one of the most commonly used parameters for estimating postmortem interval (PMI). This paper proposes a new method to study the relationship between changes of corneal opacity and PMI by processing and analyzing cornea images. Corneal regions were extracted from images of rabbits' eyes and described by color-based and texture-based features, which could represent the changes of cornea at different PMI. A KNN classifier was used to reveal the association of image features and PMI. The result of the classification showed that the new method was reliable and effective.