Angiosteosis is associated with increased vascular stiffness and leads to clinical manifestations such as high blood pressure and heart failure,which increases the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.Angiosteosis is considered to be ectopic deposits of calcium phosphate crystallization in the form of hydroxyapatite in cardiovascular tissue.However,the mechanism of angiosteosis is not yet clear.The pathophysiologic process of angiosteosis is similar to normal bone mineralization.Matrix vesicles (MV) play an important role in bone mineralization.Researches confirmed the existence of MV in the calcified arteries under the microscope.Angiosteosis is widely found in clinical diseases,so the studies of the mechanism of angiosteosis and the role of MV in angiosteosis are of great significance.

Objective To investigate the G2 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induced by HIV-1 Vpr gene on Hela,Lovo and HepG2 cancer cells.Methods Recombinant vector pcDNA4-Vpr was constructed by DNA recombination technology and was then transfected into Hela,Lovo and HepG2 cells.Meanwhile,pcDNA4-EGFP plasmid group,FUGENE group and blank group were also set up as control.Ratio of cytostasis was evaluated by MTS assay 24 h,48 h and 72 h later,cell cycle arrest examined by flow cytometry and apoptosis detected by staining with ANNEXIN V and PI double dyes.Results Compared to the control group,the value of inhibition ratio,G2 arrest and apoptosis of Hela,Lovo and HepG2 cells increased obviously 24 h,48 h and 72 h after the transfection ( P ＜ 0.05 ).72 h after the transfection,the inhibition ratio of Hela,Lovo and HepG2 was 29.67％,27.35％ and 31.67％ respectively.Percentage of G2 phase cells was 24.9％,18.8％and 32.1％ respectively.Apoptosis percentage of Hela,Lovo and HepG2 ceils was 15.46％,7.7％ and 41.5％ correspondingly.Conclusion HIV-1 Vpr gene can induce cell cycle G2 arrest and apoptosis of Hela,Lovo and HepG2 cell lines in vitro.

Acute cerebral infarction is a common disease of the central nervous system, the key of the current treatment is to restore blood flow and save ischemic penumbra .The studies have shown that good collateral circulation can reduce the infarction area, improve prognosis.Thus, an accurate and complete evaluation of collateral circulation in the early stage of disease has an important sig -nificance.The development of modern imaging techniques provides important means for the assessment of collateral circulation estab -lishment in acute stroke .In this paper, techniques and methods of the imaging examination of collateral circulation establishment in a -cute cerebral infarction and methods are reviewed, aiming to provide the basis for choosing reasonable imaging modality .

Objective To investigate the effect of DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) on autophagy induction by ionizing radiation ( IR ) .Methods The cell model of knocking-down DNA-PKcs expression was constructed by transfecting HeLa cells with a pSicoR-based lentivirus vector expressing DNA-PKcs specific shRNA .Cellular growth activity and radiosensitivity were detected by cell countingkit ( CCK)-8 assay.The expression of autophagy related proteins was detected by Western blotting hybridization .Autophagy was also detected by monitoring the autophagic marker green fluorescere protein ( GFP )-light chain 3 ( LC3 ) puncta per cell under an immunofluorescent microscope .Results A cellular model of knocking-down DNA-PKcs expression was successfully generated by transfecting the specific shRNA against DNA-PKcs.Depression of DNA-PKcs significantly decreased the growth activity of HeLa cells and increased the cellular sensitivity to ionizing radiation .Both the expression changes of P 62 and LC3 proteins and immunofluorescent GFP-LC3 puncta observation indicated that knocking-down DNA-PKcs prompted the induction of autophagy by ionizing radiation . Moreover, inactivation of DNA-PKcs led to a decreased phosphorylation of mammalian target of sirolimus ( Rapamycin, RAPA) ( mTOR) at S2481 site.Conclusion Depression of DNA-PKcs expression prompts the induction of autophagy by IR and cellular radiosensitivity .mTOR signaling may be involved in the regulation of autophagy processing by DNA-PKcs.

Objective To investigate the relationship between dendritic cell (DC)and intestinal endotoxemia in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).Methods Peripheral blood were collected from CHB patients (n = 80)and healthy controls (n = 21 ).Plasma endotoxin (ET)levels,liver function (alanine transaminase,total bilirubin)were detected.According to plasma ET concentration,all CHB patients were divided into two groups:ET positive and ET negative.The peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)were isolated and then cultured with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor ( rhGM-CSF),recombinant human interleukin-4 ( rhIL-4 ),FMS-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L)and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)to derive DC.The phenotypic patterns were characterized by flow cytometry.The proliferation of T lymphocytes was evaluated with mixed leukocytes reaction (MLR)and the levels of IL-12 and interferon-γ (IFN-γ)produced by DC were analyzed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Comparisons among the two groups and healthy control group were done by single factor analysis of variance.Results Compared to healthy controls,the expressions of CD83,CD80,CD86,human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DR and the proliferation of allogeneic T lymphocytes by DC were all significantly reduced in CHB patient groups.The expressions of CD83,CD80,CD86,HLA-DR and the activation of proliferation in ET positive subjects were lower than those in ET negative subjects [CD83 (8.25±3.63)% vs(11.39±4.35)% ,CD80 (10.63±4.52)% vs (13.56±5.13)%,CD86 (36.61±16.16)% vs (45.90±15.35)%,HLA-DR (61.65±14.33)% vs (70.35±18.89)%,the activation of proliferation0.812±0.311 vs 1.153±0.324; F=5.123,4.213,3.714,3.323 and 3.125,respectively; all P＜0.05].After cultured for 9 days,the secretions of IL-12 and IFN-γ by DC were significantly lower in CHB patients than in healthy controls [IL-12 (16.99± 6.74)pg/mL vs (44.51±14.56)pg/mL,IFN-γ (10.52±4.19)pg/mL vs (17.94±5.86)pg/mL].The level of IL-12 in the ET positive group was significantly lower than that ET negative group [( 13.14 ±5.71)pg/mL vs (20.98 ± 9.03)pg/mL; F= 3.225,P = 0.016].The level of IFN-γ was not different between two groups [(9.46 ± 3.24)pg/mL vs (11.54 ± 5.20)pg/mL; F = 2.003,P =0.076].Conclusion The intestinal endotoxemia may play a role in DC dysfunction in CHB patients.

Objective To evaluate the effect of anti-histamine treatment on intestinal endotoxemia and liver inflammation in experimental chronic hepatitis rats.Methods Thirty Wistar rats (15 males and 15 females) were randomly divided into control group (n =8),chronic hepatitis group (n =12) and hepatitis + anti-histamine group (n =10).Chronic hepatitis was induced by subcutaneous injection with 40％ of CCl4,and feeding with low protein,low choline,high cholesterol and high alcohol diet.Antihistamine treatment was given 1 week after the modeling by intragastric administration of ketotifen (1.25 mg/kg).All rats were sacrificed 4 weeks later.Plasma endotoxin,alanine aminotransferase (ALT),total bilirubin (TBil),tryptase,histamine,interferon-γ (IFNγ),iuterleukin (IL)-12,IL-10 and IL-4levels were detected,and the changes in liver histology,the morphology and ultrastructure of mast cells were observed.SPSS 13.0 software package was used for statistical analysis.ANOVA was used for the comparison of measurement data,and SNK method was used for pairwise comparison.Results Plasma endotoxin,ALT,TBil,tryptase,plasma and liver tissue histamine concentrations were (81 ± 19) pg/mL,(186 ± 140) U/L,(10.2±6.2) μmol/L,(0.75 ±0.21) mg/mL,(145 ±52) ng/mL,and (107 ±43) ng/100 mg in chronic hepatitis group,while the above parameters were significantly lower in anti-histamine group except TBil (P ＜ 0.05).Under light microscope,fatty degeneration and fibrosis were formed in liver of chronic hepatitis rats,the hepatic injury was attenuated in anti-histamine group.Toluidine blue stain showed that there was many degranulating and degranulated mast cells filled with purple granula around liver blood vessels and in fiber-interval in chronic hepatitis group,and there were few purple granula in anti-histamine group.The number of mast cells in anti-histamine group was (6.5 ± 1.5)/HP,which was significantly lower than chronic hepatitis group [(10.9 ± 1.6)/HP,P =0.000],but was still higher than that in the control group [(2.2 ± 0.9)/HP,P =0.000].Under electron microscope,the phenomenon of degranulation was severe in chronic hepatitis group and moderate in the anti-histamine group.Compared with the chronic hepatitis group,IL-4 and IL-10 in anti-histamine group were significantly decreased (P ＜0.05),IL-12 was increased (P ＜0.05),but the level of IFN-γ had no significant change (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Anti-histamine therapy can significantly improve liver inflammation and alleviate intestinal endotoxemia.

Abstract: Objective　To collect extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from Xi'an City between 2019 and 2020, and analyze the drug resistance patterns of XDR-TB strains to second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs and the occurrence of new defined extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Xi'an, in order to provide evidence for guiding clinical drug use of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients. Methods A total of 3 088 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that underwent phenotypic drug susceptibility testing at Xi'an Chest Hospital from January 2019 to December 2020 were retrospectively selected to analyze the resistance of anti-tuberculosis drug. Among the stored MDR-TB strains, 114 strains of preserved multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis were randomly selected for bedaquiline and linezolid susceptibility testing. Combined with the results of previous second-line drug susceptibility testing, the incidence of newly defined extensive drug resistance was analyzed. Results Among the 3 088 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains analyzed, 411 strains (14.3%) showed resistance to isoniazid, 347 strains (11.2%) showed resistance to rifampicin, 142 strains (4.6%) showed resistance to ethambutol, 550 strains (17.8%) showed resistance to streptomycin, and 237 strains (7.6%) exhibited multidrug resistance. Of 237 MDR-TB strains, the resistance rates of ethambutol, moxifloxacin, rifampicin, sodium para-aminosalicylate, prothioconazole, capreomycin, amikacin, and clofazimine were 44.3%, 26.6%, 33.3%, 24.1%, 5.1%, 4.2%, 3.0%, and 2.5%, respectively. Among the randomly selected 114 MDR-TB strains, none showed resistance to bedaquiline, three showed resistance to linezolid, and one strain met the new definition for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Conclusion In Xi'an City, high rates of resistance among MDR-TB strains are observed for ethambutol, quinolone and sodium para-aminosalicylate, and the drug susceptibility tests should be obtained as much as possible when using these drugs. The incidence of new definition extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis is low, and bedaquiline and linezolid remain effective drugs for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis even without drug susceptibility testing results.

Objective In recent years , multivariate pattern analysis ( MVPA) method was proposed and considered to be a promising tool for automated identification of various neuropsychiatric populations .Support vector machine ( SVM) is one of the most widely used methods of MVPA .Using SVM classifier for MVPA of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and normal control (NC) group, the present study aims to build an individual diagnostic model with significant discriminative power and investigate the gray matter abnor-malities of aMCI patients . Methods Fifty-one aMCI patients and 68 normal controls were scanned on the 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for high-resolution T1-weighted images.Gray matter volume map was calculated for each subject and used as features for subsequent discriminative analysis .We first applied feature selection to remove redundant information and reduce feature dimension , and then trained an SVM classifier . Leave-one-out cross validation ( LOOCV) was used to estimate the performance of the classifier , and finally the most discriminative features were identified . Results The proposed classifier achieved a classification accuracy of 83.19%with a sensitivity of 76.47%and a specificity of 88.24%.In ad-dition, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.8368.Further analysis revealed that the most discrimi-native features for classification included bilateral parahippocampal gyri , bilateral hippocampi , bilateral amygdala , bilateral thalamus , right cingulate , right precuneus , left caudate , left superior temporal gyrus , left middle temporal gyrus , left insula and left orbitofrontal cortex. Conclusion The proposed classification model has achieved significant accuracy for aMCI prediction , and it also displayed the whole brain gray matter atrophy pattern in aMCI patients .It suggests that the proposed method may have important implications for early clinical diagnosis of aMCI patients .

Objective To discuss the effect of α-asarone on the expression level of Cyt-c,Smac,Caspase3 mRNA and protein in human esophageal carcinoma Eca-109 cell mitochondria. Methods The Eca-109 cells were cultured in vitro,and divided into the negative control group and the α-asarone treatment groups(final concentration:25,50,100 μg·mL-1).After 48 h,the morphological changes of Eca-109 cells were observed by fluorescence inversion microscope.The total RNA of cells were extracted by TRIzol method,the expressions of Cyt-c、Smac and Caspase3 were measured by RT-PCR and Western blotting. Results After Eca-109 cells were treated with different concentrations of α-asarone for 48 h,and obvious changes in the morphology were observed,the expressions of Cyt-c,Smac and Caspase3 genes and protein were increased significantly compared to the negative control group( P<0.05). Conclusion α-asarone can induce the human Eca-109 cells apoptosis by regulating expressions of mitochondrial apoptosis pathway correlation genes such as Cyt-c,Smac and Caspase3.

We screened differential expression bone-related microRNAs (miRNAs) in serum of patients with osteogenesis imperfect (OI). First, we selected the reference gene (s) fit for quantitative detection of serum miRNAs by using geNorm and several other programmes. Then real-time fluorescent quntitative PCR was used to detect the expression level of bone-related miRNAs gained by means of miRanda, Targetscan and Pictar softwares caculation and reading literature. Then, the results were analyzed with the matched t test. All 6 candidate reference genes had a stable expression level in serum of healthy controls and patients with different characters, and the optimal number of reference genes is 4 (miR-16, let-7a, snRNAU6, miR-92a) after Pairwise Variations analysis (V4/5 = 0.133 < 0.15). For validating the universality of expression stability, we detected the relative expression value of miR-16, let-7a, snRNAU6 and miR-92a in another 8 healthy controls and 16 patients with OI and the result revealed that the expression of 4 genes remained stable (M < 1.5). After measuring serum levels of more than 100 bone-related miRNAs in patients with real-time qPCR, 11 miRNAs showed differential expression, and bioinformatic analysis suggested these altered expressional mioRNAs had possibilities to participate in the process of OI. So the experiment indicated that there existed many differential expression bone-related miRNAs in serum of patients with OI, and these miRNAs had potentials to be promising biomarkers for serologic tests and diagnosis of OI.
Biomarkers ; blood ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Female ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Male ; MicroRNAs ; blood ; genetics ; Osteogenesis Imperfecta ; blood ; genetics