OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of beta-dystroglycan (beta-DG) and the roles of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) on beta-DG in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC).

METHODSbeta-DG in highly lung metastatic cell line ACC-M and lowly lung metastatic one ACC-2 was tested by immunocytochemistry with different concentrations (10, 15, 20, 25 micromol x L(-1)) of TIMPs, and that without the regulation of TIMPs was served as controls. beta-DG was detected in seven specimens of SACC and ten cases of normal salivary gland tissues which were considered as a comparison group by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSThere was no positive beta-DG immune-staining at the ACC-2 and ACC-M cell lines without TIMPs in the cell culture. beta-DG expressed after the regulation of TIMPs. beta-DG expression was localized predominantly in basement membrane of the acinus, while the negative results were distributed in the carcinoma cells and around the cancer cell nests.

CONCLUSIONBeta-DG is widely expressed by transmembrane protein that plays important roles in connecting the extracellular matrix to the cytoskeleton, the fracture of this structure means that it is easy to invade and transfer, so restoration of beta-DG expression by TIMPs is considered to be critical for successful treatment of SACC.

Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Dystroglycans ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Salivary Gland Neoplasms ; Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases

Mitochondrial diseases is a group of metabolic disorders caused by abnormal structure and dysfunction of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Abnormalities of mtDNA include point mutations, deletions, and rearrangements and depletion of mtDNA. These may affect the ability of mitochondria to generate energy in cells of various tissues and organs. As many factors are involved in the regulation of mtDNA mutations, most mitochondrial diseases may manifest great genetic heterogeneity and a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. On the other hand, for the low prevalence of single disease, these disorders may be easily missed or with delayed diagnosis. This review focuses on the pathological mutations and benign variations of mtDNA, and research progress on such disorders.
Biomedical Research ; methods ; trends ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; genetics ; Energy Metabolism ; genetics ; Genetic Heterogeneity ; Humans ; Mitochondria ; genetics ; metabolism ; Mitochondrial Diseases ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Mutation

Objective To explore the application of fuzzy mathematics theory in the evaluation of medical students' comprehensive mental quality. Methods A total of 80 medical undergraduates studying in the Affiliated Huai'an No.1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from October to December 2017 were randomly selected to conduct a questionnaire survey on medical students' mental quality. The questionnaires were designed by the study group, containing 3 first-level items (learning pressure, life stress and interpersonal stress), and 19 secondary items, with the recovery rate as 95%. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was used for data processing and analysis. Results By comparing the data obtained from the comprehensive evaluation of the secondary factors with those of the pre-set evaluation set, the study concluded that 25.00% of the medical students need to adjust the future pressure, 41.70% the family health status pressure and 26.79% the appearance pressure according to the principle of maximum mem-bership degree. The comprehensive evaluation of the first four factors (0.249 7, 0.268 9, 0.270 2, and 0.211 2) showed that the comprehensive mental quality of medical students was "good". The quantitative analysis results showed that 27.02% of the medical students had good comprehensive mental quality, 24.97% need the mental quality adjustments, 26.89% had the average mental quality, and 21.12% had outstanding mental quality. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation indicated that it is necessary to adjust the learning pressure and life stress of medical students, while the interpersonal stress had little effect on the mental quality of medical students. Conclusion The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation adopts the quantitative method to deal with the qualitative indicators uniformly, being scientific and reasonable. The corresponding data of each indicator can be easily identified with the help of the indicator system built up in the evaluation, which provides evidence for distinguishing and improving the corresponding decision-making for improving the medical students' mental quality. This evaluation method has strong applicability and provides new methods and ideas for objectively evaluating the comprehensive mental quality of medical students.

Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness of medical practical training with a multi-level comprehensive model.Methods:We randomly selected 100 medical undergraduates who received practical training in The Affiliated Huai'an No.1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from 2017 to 2019, 20 medical education experts, and 30 teachers for a questionnaire survey using self-designed questionnaire with 3 first-level items, 8 second-level items, and 31 third-level items. Data processing and analysis was made by multi-level comprehensive model.Results:The comprehensive evaluation data (0.176 4, 0.512 3, 0.252 5, 0.058 8) obtained by the multi-level comprehensive model showed that the proportions of medical undergraduates achieving excellent, good, moderate, and poor effects of medical practical training were 17.64%, 51.23%, 25.25%, and 5.88% respectively. According to the principle of maximum membership, the final comprehensive evaluation result of the effectiveness of medical practical training was "good".Conclusion:This research has demonstrated the scientificity and feasibility of using the proposed multi-level comprehensive model to evaluate the effectiveness of medical practical teaching. In the comprehensive evaluation, the quantitative processing of qualitative indices can generate the matching score of each index in the multi-level index system. The evaluation results are intuitive and easy to analyze, thus providing the basis for the targeted improvement of medical practical teaching effect.