Vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin) is a transmembrane adhesion protein of specific expression on vascular endothelial cell surface. It mediates the adhesion between adjacent endothelial cells. It plays important roles in maintaining vascular integrity, regulating permeability between endothelial cells, leukocyte extravasation, and intracellular signal transduction. In addition to its adhesion properties, VE-cadherin also participants in regulating various intracellular processes, such as cell proliferation, apoptosis as well as modulating the function of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor. Consequently, VE-cadherin is essential for angiogenesis and postnatal neovascularization during embryogenesis. It plays important roles by participating in angiogenesis in the processes of atherosclerosis of various aspects.

Effects of Lopid and Fenofibrate on serum lipids, lipoproteins, apolipoproteins were studied in 22 diabetic patients with dyslipidaemia. The levels of FBG, HBA1, lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins were determined before treatment, 3 weeks and 6 weeks after treatment. The results showed: 1). Lopid lowered the levels of TC, HDL-TG,TG,apoB100 and raised the levels of HDL-C, apoA-I significantly.2). Fenofibrate lowered the levels of TG, TG, HDL-TG, apoB100 and raised the level of HDL-C, but no effect on apoA-I. Comparing the efficacy of these two drugs on lipids metabolism, i seems that Lopid is better than Fenofibrate. Both of the drugs can be well tolerated by most diabetic patients.

It is well established that cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of diabetes-related death. Endothelial dysfunction is widely accepted as the initial and critical factor contributing to diabetic vascular diseases. Insulin resistance may result in vascular endothelial dysfunction, which in turn aggravates diabetic vascular diseases. Via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, insulin inhibits the function of FoxOs, which, endothelial FoxO1 especially, exerts an important role in atherosclerosis and angiogenesis. In this regard, Wang et al. characterized 10 FoxO1 target genes regulated by insulin in endothelial cells, among which, CITED2, a transcriptional coregulator, was selected to extensively investigate its role and the underlying mechanism of insulin-regulated angiogenesis. CITED2 was significantly increased in vascular endothelial cells in diet-induced mice, ob/ob mice, as well as obese type 2 diabetic patients, all of those models or subjects are accompanied by insulin resistance. In endothelial cells, insulin significantly down-regulated CITED2 expression through insulin receptor-PI3K-Akt-FoxO1 pathway. Inhibition of CITED2 resulted in significant increases in proliferation and tube formation of endothelial cells. Overexpression of CITED2, however, repressed the transactivation of HIF. The study on the mouse model with hind limb ischemia showed that endothelial CITED2 deficiency gave rise to significant increases of expression of endothelin-1, a well-known HIF target gene, induced by ischemia or hypoxia, suggesting that CITED2 inhibited endothelial angiogenesis via suppressing HIF transactivation. In summary, insulin resistance accompanying obesity and type 2 diabetes leads to enhanced CITED2 expression, consequently impairing HIF signaling and proangiogenic capacity in endothelial cells. Inhibition of CITED2 will be a promising novel way to deal with ischemic cardiovascular diseases in diabetic patients.

Objective To study histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) patients.Methods PBMCs were isolated by density gradient centrifugation from 10 active SLE patients,7 inactive SLE patients and 8 healthy volunteers.Chromatin immunopreeipitation linked to mieroarrays (ChIP-chip) was used to profile the variations in H3K4me3 in CpG island regions in PBMCs of SLE patients and controls.ChIP-qPCR was used to validate the mieroarray results.To confirm correlations between H3K4me3 and gene expression,expression analysis by qRT-PCR was performed on three randomly selected H3K4me3 candidates.Results 413 (137 increased and 276 decreased H3K4me3) and 393 genes (112 increased and 281 decreased H3K4me3) displayed significant differences in H3K4me3 between active and inactive SLE when compared with healthy SUhjeets.The results of ChiP-qPCR were consistent with microarray.ConclusiOn There are significant differences in H3K4me3 profiling between SLE and healthy subjects.These novel candidate genes may be potential biomarkers for future therapeutic targets.The ChIP-chip technology can help further reveal SLE molecular mechanisms and discover new therapeutic targets.

Objective To observe the mid-term effectiveness of percutaneous lumbar puncture and injection of medical ozone and collagenase in treating lumbar disc herniation.Methods CT-guided percutaneous lumbar puncture and medical ozone injection into the intervertebral disc was performed in 78 patients with lumbar disc herniation, which was confirmed by imaging study or clinical manifestations.After 2-4 days, neucleolysis was carried out.Collagenase 12 000 U was injected via the anterior epidural space onto the surface or into the inside of the prominence of the protruded disc.Results The clinical results were evaluated in 6-25 months after the procedure.Of 78 patients treated with this technique, the result was excellent in 58(74.3%), good in 16(20.5%) and poor in 4(5.1%).Symptoms returned in 12 cases in 2 months after the procedure, and the reappeared symptoms were relieved in 9 of them within 2 months without giving any treatment.In 3 cases the symptoms disappeared after repeated injection of medical ozone.No serious complications occurred.Conclusion Percutaneous lumbar puncture and injection of medical ozone combined with collagenase is an effective, safe and minimally-invasive therapy for lumbar disc herniation.

Objective To investigate the assessment value of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI)and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)in the differential diagnosis of common cerebellar tumors of children.Methods 45 patients with cerebel-lar tumors were retrospectively analyzed,including 23 medulloblastomas,14 astrocytomas,and 8 ependymomas .The ADCmin of parenchyma of different tumors were measured and Receiver operating characteristic (ROC)curve were delineated.The optimum ADC value for differential diagnosis of common cerebellar tumors of children was analyzed and determined.Results The mean ADC-min of medulloblastoma (0.497 ± 0.023 )× 10 -3 mm2/s was lowest,the mean ADCmin of astrocytoma (1.572 ± 0.145 )× 10 -3 mm2/s was highest,while that of ependymoma was (0.784 ± 0.037 )× 10 -3 mm2/s.The optimum ADC to distinguish ependymomas from medulloblastomas was 0.61 1 × 10 -3 mm2/s (100% sensitivity and 95.7% specificity).The optimum ADC to distinguish low-grade astrocytomas from ependymomas was 1.064×10 -3 mm2/s (92.9% sensitivity and 100% specificity).Conclu-sion ADC is very helpful with differential diagnosis of common cerebellar tumors of children.

Objective To understand genomic copy number variations (CNVs) and ascertain karyotype for a 46,X0, + der(?) fetus, and investigate possibility and superiority of array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH ) in clinical cytogenetic diagnosis. Methods G-banded chromosome analysis was carried out. The whole genome of the fetus was scanned and analysed by array-CGH. The results of array-CGH were confirmed by RT-qPCR. Results G-banded chromosome analysis showed that the fetal karyotype was 46,X0, +der(?). Array-CGH revealed the derivative chromosome as Y chromosome without CNVs. A total number of 118 submicroscopic CNVs were identified. Comparable results between array-CGH and RT-qPCR were obtained for 9 novel CNVs. Conclusion Comparing with conventional cytogenetic analysis, array-CGH is of high resolution, high-throughput and high accuracy, which provides a technical platform for accurate detection of submicroscopic chromosomal aberrations.

The aim of this study is to establish stable transfected cell lines which could produce SPAG4L protein labeled with Myc and His tags in vitro. The open reading frame (ORF) of human SPAG4L was amplified by PCR and the fragments were cloned into eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1/myc-His(-)A. The recombined plasmids of pcDNA3.1/myc-His(-)A/SPAG4L were verified by sequencing and digestion with enzymes. Then, the recombined plasmids were introduced into HeLa cells and screened by G418. Western blotting was performed to detect the expression of SPAG4L and its tags in stable transfected cell lines. SPAG4L and its tags were expressed in the stable cell lines transfected with pcDNA3.1/myc-His(-)A/SPAG4L, but not in the control group. Further study showed that SPAG4L colocalized with the endoplasmic reticulum(ER) marker PDI by immunofluorescence. The stable transfected cell lines established in this study will provide a powerful tool for further studies such as co-immunoprecipitation and pull-down.
Carrier Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Cloning, Molecular ; Female ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; HeLa Cells ; Histidine ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc ; genetics ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Transfection

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of serum ferritin in children with systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SO-JIA). Methods Fifty-seven patients with fever of unknown origin (rectal temperature>38.5 ℃ ) over two weeks and hospitalized in our general medicine ward longer than one week were enrolled in this study. Patients were recorded the course of fever, elinieal symptoms and signs including rash and swollen joints/arthralgia, laboratory tests including complete blood cell count, C-reactive protein, erythroeyte sedimentation rate, lactate dehydrogenase and the level of serum ferritin. SPSS 10.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results Two of 57 patients could not be diagnosed before discharge. The other 55 patients whose diagnosis was confirmed were divided into four groups. Twenty-five patients were SO-JIA,12 patients had hematologic or oncological diseases, 12 patients had infectious diseases and 6 patients had other rheumatic diseases. The level of serum ferritin was significantly higher (P<0.01) in SO-JIA group than in other groups. Moreover, the levels of serum ferritin in SO-JIA group were all higher than normal and the levels of serum ferritin in 76% of SO-JIA group were more than five-fold elevation. Four cut-off levels of serum ferritin level for the diagnosis of SO-JIA were selected based on clinical practice and ROC curve. When the cut-off levels of serum ferritin were 328.25, 529.50, 731.05 ng/ml and 1121.10 ng/ml, the sensitivity for the diagnosis were 100%, 88%, 72%, and 64% respectively, the specificity were 77%, 87%, 90% and 100%,respectively. Conclusion Serum ferritin is valuable for the diagnosis of SO-JIA and 529.50 ng/ml may be a good cut-off level

Objective To assess the value of S index and FIB-4 for diagnosis of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) by comparing with traditional indexes APRI and Forns.Methods A total of 361 patients with confirmed CHB from the First Hospital of Nanjing Medical University and Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University during January 2006 and December 2011 were enrolled in the study.The clinical,laboratory and pathological data of patients were collected.Four noninvasive score systems APRI,Forns,S index and FIB-4 were computed.With liver biopsy as the gold standard,the area under the ROC curve (AUROC) was used to assess the value of above 4 score systems in diagnosis of liver fibrosis,and Z test was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of above systems.Results The areas under ROC curve (AUCs) of APRI,Forns,S index and FIB-4 for significant fibrosis (≥S2) were (0.737 ±0.027),(0.716 ± 0.028),(0.745 ± 0.026) and (0.781 ± 0.025),respectively.When the cut off value of FIB-4 was set at 1.62,the sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) for diagnosis of significant fibrosis were 59.3％,85.8％,89.4％ and 51.2％,respectively,which were better than Forn index (Z =3.28,P =0.001).While for S4 (cirrhosis) the AUCs of APRI,Foms,S index and FIB-4 were (0.687 ± 0.035),(0.792 ± 0.028),(0.863 ± 0.024) and (0.832 ± 0.025),respectively.When the cut off value of S index was set at 1.06,the sensitivity,specificity,PPV and NPV for diagnosis of cirrhosis were 77.9％,85.5％,59.4％ and 93.5％,respectively,which were better than APRI and Forns (Z =6.74 and 3.21,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions APRI,Forns,S index and FIB-4 are simple and accurate methods for assessing liver fibrosis.FIB-4 and S index are better than APRI and Forns in diagnosis of significant fibrosis and cirrhosis,which may replace liver biopsy in certain extend.