Objective To investigate the dynamic changes in expression of cell markers desmin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and (-smooth muscle actin (?-SMA) in primary cultures of human and rat pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs). Methods PSCs were isolated from human as well as rat pancreas using Nycodenz discontinuous density gradient centrifugation following digestion with combination of collagenase IV, Pronase E and DNase I, and purified by centrifugal elution techniques. Freshly isolated cells were examined by laser scanning confocal microscopy for vitamin A autofluorescence, by immunostaining for desmin, GFAP, and ?-SMA. Expression of ?-SMA was as well measured by Western analysis. Procollagen ?1(Ⅰ) mRNA expression was analyzed by Northern analysis. Results The purity of rat PSCs obtained by centrifugal elution were above 95%. More than 85% of either freshly-isolated human or rat PSCs displayed positive vitamin A autofluorescence. Rat PSCs stained positively for desmin and GFAP and negatively for ?-SMA, whereas human PSCs were negative for either desmin, GFAP or ?-SMA. During the process of primary culture, rat PSCs were positive for ?-SMA at 3d and completely transformed from quiescent state to myofibroblast-like phenotypes at 7d, which negatively or scarcely expressed desmin and GFAP, but fully expressed the ?-SMA protein and procollagen ?1(Ⅰ) mRNA, similarly to the settings of human PSCs. Conclusions Human and rat PSCs could be successively isolated in above 95% purity by combining gradient centrifugation with following centrifugal elution techniques. The results show some species differences in desmin and GFAP expression between freshly-isolated human and rat PSCs. Both of which, however, acquire a myofibroblast-like phenotype largely expressing ?-SMA protein and procollagen ?1(Ⅰ) gene in culture.

Analyzing and discriminating incorrect cases is a good method in medical statistics teaching,which can not only help students review the knowledge they have learned but also guide their self-learning.Teachers can start teaching based on the reverse thinking,propose incorrect cases with moderate difficulty and in accordance with the reality and arouse students' creativity through introducing the incorrect cases,reviewing the incorrect cases and conducting group discussion.

Objective:To study the effect of edaravone on EAE rats and the underlying mechanism.Methods:Wistar rats were immunized with GPSCH,and randomly divided into control group,EAE group,dexamethasone group,low dose of edaravone group and high dose of edaravone group.The morbidity of disease and clinical signs were observed.The pathological changes of spinal cord tissue sections were observed under light microscopy after HE staining and trichrome staining.The expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 was observed by immunohistochemistry.Results:Morbidity of high dose of edaravone group (8.33%) and DXM group (0%) was significantly lower than in EAE group (58.3%) (P

10.3969/j.issn.1000-8179.2013.12.011

ObjectiveTo assess the current situation of postgraduates knowledge about medical research design and optimize the curriculum setting of research design.MethodsAn investigation was carried out in the postgraduates of 2011 using questionnaires in a medical university..The questionnaire ineluded basic information of participants and cognition of basic methods of research design.ResultsA total of 473 postgraduates participated in the investigation.Among them,311 systematically learned medical statistics before enrollment,and 275 ( 58.14％ ) once participated in scientific researches.Most of them ( ＞80％ ) knew about the 10 basic methods of research design listed in the questionnaire,but only a few of them were familiar with them,and some even didn't know about the methods.ConclusionWe should pay attention to the culture of scientific research thought in statistical design,strengthen the practice of research design teaching,and the curriculum of research design should be led into undergraduate course.

Objective To evaluate the effect of problem-based learning (PBL)versus tradi-tional methods in medical statistics. Methods Computer retrieval was conducted to search for con-trolled studies comparing PBL and traditional methods. The quality of included studies was critically evaluated and data were analyzed by using the Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5.0 software. Results A total of 21 articles were retrieved,but only 7 were included. The results of Meta analysis showed that there was no significant difference between PBL and traditional methods in both the passing rate of student's score (RR=1.09,95%CI=0.98-1.23,P=0.12>0.05)and the exact score (WMD=0.30, 95%CI=-0.06 -0.67,P=0.10>0.05). Conclusion PBL showed no better learning results in medical statistics compared with traditional methods.

AIM: To investigate the role of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) signaling pathway in the Kupffer cells (KCs) production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-?(TNF-?) and interleukin-1?(IL-1?), in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) rats. METHODS: Sprague-Dwaley rats were randomized into three groups: ①sham operation rats, ②SAP rats, ③SAP rats given the p38 MAPK inhibitor CNI-1493(10 mg/kg, iv). The SAP model was induced by the bili-pancreatic duct infusion with 5% sterile soduim taurocholate solution. Rats from each group were killed at 12 h after sham operation or SAP and Kupffer cells (KCs) were isolated. The mRNA expressions of TNF-? and IL-1? (by quantitative real-time RT-PCR) and p38 MAPK activity (by Western blot analysis) in KCs were examined. The levels of TNF-? and IL-1? in plasma were determined by ELISA. RESULTS: There was a significant acvitation of p38 MAPK in KCs harvested from SAP rats than those from sham operation rats. SAP also promoted the mRNA expressions of TNF-? and IL-1? in KCs and the plasma levels of TNF-? and IL-1?. These events were significantly inhibited by treatment with CNI-1493.CONCLUSIONS: p38 MAPK activation is one important aspect of the signaling events that may mediate the KCs production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-? and IL-1?, in SAP rats. The inhibition of the p38 MAPK may be a potential target in the prevention and treatment of SAP.

Objective To explore the correlations of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) types and the degree of neurologic impairment in acute ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation.Methods DWI images and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS) of 186 patients with acute ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation were collected retrospectively.The correlation of DWI features and NIHSS was analyzed.Results On DWI,all acute ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation presented high signal intensity.Single cortex-subcortical infarction mostly appeared in the anterior circulation(94,50.5%);Multi-infarction commonly occurred in the posterior circulation(18,13.0%);The neurological deficit scores of subcortical-cortex infarction in the left anterior circulation(16.75±7.10) were higher than that in the right side(13.50±5.70)(P<0.05).The neurological deficit scores of cortex-subcortical infarction in the posterior circulation (6.38±2.03) were significantly lower than that in the multi-infarction (16.77±8.90) (P<0.05).Conclusion DWI types are valuable for etiological diagnosis in ischemic stroke.Combination with NIHSS score could provide a basis for clinical individual treatment programs selection and prognostic evaluation.

Objective To investigate the evaluation of medical doctoral students on medical statistics teaching. Methods An investigation was carried out among doctoral students of 2012 using questionnaires in a medical university. A total of 272 doctoral students were investigated and 266 (97.79%)of them had learned medical statistics before enrollment. Statistical description was used to analyze enumeration data by calculating cases and percentages. Results More than 88.00% of them thought that medical statistics was helpful for their future work. More than 60.00% of them thought that the present teaching contents were appropriate and about 93.00% of them thought that examina-tion mode was appropriate. However,65.00% of them thought that the class hours were not enough and some con-tents should be explained more clearly. Conclusions Both basic statistics methods and advanced statistics methods should be given consideration to. Some frontier or hot knowledge of medi-cal statistics should be arranged and the class hours should be increased to expand the content of teaching.

Objective To study relationships between myocardial injury and the levels of serum complement C3, C4 and C5b-9 in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods A retrospectively analysis was conducted. 170 ACS patients [including 110 cases of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and 60 cases of non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS)] with ischemic chest pain or chest discomfort onset within the prior 12 hours admitted to the cardiology department of Tianjin Union Medicine Center from January 2014 to July 2016 were enrolled. Thirty-six healthy cases were enrolled as control during the same time. The levels of serum complement C3, C4 and C5b-9 on 1, 3 and 7 days after admission and myocardial function indicators were analyzed. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and readmission rate were analyzed after 1 year follow-up. The correlation between serum complement levels and myocardial function indicators was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. Results ① The levels of serum C3, C4 and C5b-9 on the first day in NSTE-ACS group and STEMI group were significantly higher than control group [C3 (g/L): 1.04±0.33, 1.26±0.35 vs. 0.39±0.21, C4 (g/L): 0.31±0.14, 0.33±0.10 vs. 0.19±0.07, C5b-9 (g/L): 575.46±197.26, 659.26±160.77 vs. 501.40±141.51, all P < 0.05]. There were no changes of serum C3, C4 in NSTE-ACS group, but C5b-9 decreased after a peak (g/L: 700.63±218.42) at 3 days. Serum complements in STEMI group reached peak on the third day [C3 (g/L): 1.37±0.33, C4 (g/L): 0.42±0.12, C5b-9 (g/L): 754.72±136.22]. The levels of serum C4 and C5b-9 in STEMI group were higher than NSTE-ACS group on the third and seventh day. ② The levels of troponin T (TnT), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), solution intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), global registry of acute coronary events (GRACE) scores and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) numbers in STEMI group were significantly higher than those in the NSTE-ACS group, which were as opposite as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). However, there were no significant differences in levels of serum N-terminal pro-brain nitric peptide (NT-proBNP), Fibrinogen (Fib), readmission rate and incidence of MACE between STEMI and NSTE-ACS groups. ③ According to GRACE, patients with ACS were divided into low risk group (≤ 108 scores, 26 cases), intermediate risk group (109-140 scores, 61 cases) and highest group (> 140 scores, 83 cases). TnT and sICAM-1 in intermediate risk group were significantly increased as compared with low risk group. Levels of TnT, sICAM-1, C3, C4 and C5b-9 in the highest group were significantly higher than the low and intermediate risk groups, however the lowest LVEF was found in the highest group. ④ It was shown by Pearson correlation analyses that levels of serum C3, C4, C5b-9 were positively correlated with TnT (r value was 0.481, 0.367, 0.292, respectively, all P <0.01), sICAM-1 (r value was 0.298, 0.249, 0.365, respectively, all P < 0.01), but negatively correlated with LVEF (r value was -0.384, -0.260, -0.200, respectively, all P < 0.01). In addition sICAM-1 positively correlated with TnT (r = 0.536, P = 0.000), but negatively correlated with LVEF (r = -0.341, P = 0.001). Conclusions Serum complements activation was found in the acute phase of ACS patients. Serum complement C3, C4 and C5b-9 are involved in the process of myocardial injury, and may reflect severity of myocardial injury and cardiac dysfunction.