Heart Neoplasms ; Hemangioma ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn

Objective To study the inhibition of neutrophil apoptosis induced by interleukin-6 (IL-6) and evaluate the effect of propofol on IL-6 induced inhibition of neutrophils apoptosis. Methods Neutrophils were isolated from 20 healthy volunteers( 20-55 yr) and incubated in RPMI1640 cell culture medium . Neutrophils from each volunteer were divided into 6 parts and incubated with NS (group Ⅰ -control), IL-6(group Ⅱ), propofol( group Ⅲ), intralipid (the lipid vehicle of propofol-group Ⅳ ), IL-6 + propofol(group Ⅴ), IL-6 + intralipid(group Ⅵ ) respectively. After 24 h of incubation, neutrophils were stained with acridine orange and ethidium bromide and observed under fluorescence microscope. Apoptosis index was calculated.Results IL-6 inhibited neutrophil apoptosis (IL-6 35.80 ?8.59 vs control 52.00?10.60, P

Objective To describe fatigue among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)receiving chemotherapy in hospital and explore its related factors.Methods A total of 100 hospitalized children with ALL receiving chemotherapy and their main caregivers were surveyed on demographic information,treatment data,Wong-Baker facial scale and the PedsQLTMMFS Multidimensional Fatigue Scale.Results The incidence of fatigue was 99％ (99/100).The total score of fatigue scale was (56.71±17.32) on average.Multiple linear regression modeling showed that the factors related with fatigue included the time of dexamethasone use,childen's sleep quality,hemoglobin content,pain score,the time for the present chemotherapy,age and main caregivers' self-rating health status (P＜ 0.05 or 0.01).Conclusions Fatigue is serious among children with ALL receiving chemotherapy and is related with demographic factors,diseases,treatment condition and health status of the caregivers.

Objective To explore the application of Chinese version of PedsQLTM Multidimensional Fatigue Scale(PedsQLTM MFS) in children with leukemia.Methods 141 children with leukemia and their main caretakers (one parent) were surveyed with the Chinese version of PedsQLTMMFS.Results The Cronbach α was 0.836-0.949 and 0.761-0.930 for parent-proxy scale and children's self-report scale respectively.The correlation coefficients between each item and its subscale were higher than those between each item and other subscales.The scores of parent-proxy scale and children's self-report scale were positively correlated with the correlation coefficient as 0.373-0.738,P＜0.01.Conclusions The Chinese version of PedsQLTMMFS has good reliability and validity.It is a reliable scale in measuring fatigue in children with leukemia.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the changes of CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T cells in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and their association with insulin resistance in different stages of prostate cancer (PCa).

METHODSUsing flow cytometry, we counted the CD4+ CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T cells in the PBMCs of 62 PCa patients (5 cases of TNM stage I, 16 cases of stage II, 21 cases of stage III, and 20 cases of stage IV) and 42 normal healthy controls, and calculated their proportion in the CD4+ T-lymphocytes. We determined the levels of fast blood glucose (FBG) and fast insulin (FINS) for the insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), obtained the serum IGF-1 level by ELISA, and analyzed the relationship of the count and proportion of CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells with insulin resistance by comparison between the PCa patients and normal healthy controls.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, the PCa patients showed significantly increased HOMA-IR (3.68 ± 1.42 vs 6.68 ± 1.66), decreased level of serum IGF-1 ([164.56 ± 30.58] vs [96.39 ± 21.21] ng/ml), and elevated count ([1.99 ± 0.78 ] x 10(7) vs [3.55 ± 0.29] x 10(7)) and proportion ([5.33 ± 0.65] vs [13.88 ± 0.96]%) of CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 regulatory T cells in the PBMCs. The TNM stage was correlated positively with the count and percentage of CD4 + CD25+ Foxp3 + regulatory T cells and HOMA-IR, but negatively with the level of serum IGF-1. Meanwhile, the count and percentage of CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T cells were found to have a positive correlation with HOMA-IR (r = 0.722 and 0.689, P < 0.01) but a negative correlation with the level of serum IGF-1 (r = -0.747 and -0.896, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe count and proportion of CD4+ CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T cells in the peripheral blood and insulin resistance increase with the elevated stage of PCa. CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T cells may be involved in the occurrence and progression of PCa by regulating insulin resistance.

Aged ; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; Case-Control Studies ; Disease Progression ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism ; Insulin ; blood ; Insulin Resistance ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; metabolism ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; Lymphocyte Count ; Male ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; blood ; immunology ; pathology ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory

Objective To observe the usage of antiasthmatic drugs and seek problems of following the guidelines of asthma and COPD prevention & treatment in community hospitals.Methods The prescribed quantity in 2013 of antiasthmatic drugs was recorded for 5 community hospitals in a district of Shanghai.Basing on the defined daily dose (DDD),the dosing frequency of drugs (DDDs) and the percentages of each category of drugs were calculated.Then comparisons were made with the data of a grade Ⅱ hospital and a grade Ⅲ hospital in the same district.Results Among three level hospitals,no significant difference existed in the percentages of oral antiasthmatic drugs.But the major category of oral drugs at grades Ⅱ-Ⅲ hospitals was leukotriene receptor antagonist whereas only oral theophylline and oral β2-receptor agonists were available at community hospitals.Among inhaled drugs,inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) dominated at grades Ⅱ-Ⅲ hospitals.But at community hospitals,inhaled short-acting beta-agonists (SABA) predominated.Among inhalants,dry powder inhaler (DPI) dominated at grades Ⅱ-Ⅲ hospitals and metered dose inhaler (MDI) at community hospitals.Conclusions The usage of antiasthmatics at community hospitals is not consistent with the guidelines.Optimizing drug purchasing at hospitals,strengthening continued medical education,modifying the medication concept of patients and boosting the production of domestic inhalants should be urgently undertaken.

Objective To study the effect of intensive trunk muscle training on balance and walking in pa- tients with hemiplegia caused by stroke.Methods A total of 90 stroke patients were recruited and randomly divid- ed into a treatment group(45 cases)and a control group(45 cases).All the patients were given conventional reha- bilitation training.Meanwhile,intensive trunk muscle training was also administered for those in the treatment group as well.The trunk control function,balance ability and walking ability were assessed by using the trunk control test, Berg Balance Scale and the balance subscale of the Fugl-Meyer physical performance test,and Holden's functional ambulation classification,respectively,before and after 6 weeks of training.Results It was found that all the pa- tients scored better with the trunk control test,Berg's balance scale,the balance subscale of the Fugl-Meyer physical performance test and Holden's ambulation classification after treatment,and there were significant differences between the two groups after treatment(P

OBJECTIVETo investigate the feasibility of real-time fluorescent quantitative (qPCR) assay in detecting mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB) in paraffin embedded tissues for diagnostic purpose.

METHODSUsing qPCR assay, 1000 consecutive formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues (from 2011 to 2012) suspected of MTB infection were tested by amplifying the MTB specific insertion sequence 6110 (IS6110). The specificity of the PCR product was confirmed by Sanger sequencing as compared with the MTB genomic DNA of the IS6110 sequence. Tissues with Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast staining were used as control.

RESULTSIn the 1000 samples, 513 were positive for mycobacterium by Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast staining (detection rate 51.3%); whereas 546 were MTB positive by qPCR assay (detection rate 54.6%). Concordance rate for both assays was 73.1%. The diagnosis rate increased by 14.4% by combinination of Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast staining and qPCR results. More interestingly, by analyzing the Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast staining and qPCR results three cases of M.leprae infection and four cases of non-tuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM) infection were identified.

CONCLUSIONSqPCR detection of MTB in FFPE tissue is more sensitive than Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast staining assay. Combination of these two assays can increase the detection rate and also identify some rare cases of NTM infection.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; DNA, Bacterial ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Paraffin Embedding ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Staining and Labeling ; methods ; Tuberculosis ; diagnosis ; microbiology ; Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal ; diagnosis ; microbiology ; Tuberculosis, Lymph Node ; diagnosis ; microbiology ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; diagnosis ; microbiology ; Young Adult

BACKGROUNDTransforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) plays an essential role in the regulation of normal physiologic processes of cells. TGF-beta has been shown to regulate several mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathways in several epithelial cells. However, the effects of TGF-beta on soft tissue sarcoma are seldom reported. Our previous studies suggested that there should be some other signal transduction pathways besides Smads, which are important to regulate the growth of human embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) cells. In the present study, we examined the expression and functional relations of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) and Smad4 in human RMS tissue and a RMS cell line, RD.

METHODSRD cells and normal human primary skeletal myoblasts (Mb) were treated with TGF-beta1 to establish the expression profile of ERK2 at the mRNA and protein levels detected by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of ERK2 and Smad4 in 50 tissue specimens of human RMS and 23 specimens of normal skeletal muscles. Follow-up of specimens was performed 6 months to 70 months later.

RESULTSRD cells and human RMS tissues showed the higher expression of ERK2 and Smad4 than the normal control, either the protein level or the mRNA level. And, exogenous TGF-beta1 stimulation can lead to higher expression of ERK2 and its nuclear translocation, so TGF-beta1 can also activated MAPK (ERK2) pathway, resulting in a sustained activation of ERK2 for at least 2 hours. Immunohistochemistry analysis, however, showed that there was no correlation between ERK2 and Smad4 protein. The overexpression of ERK2 and Smad4 had no indicative effects on histological subtypes, histological grading, gender, age, and prognosis.

CONCLUSIONSIn RMS, signaling of TGF-beta1 from cell surface to nucleus can also be directed through the MAPK (ERK2) pathway besides the TGF-beta1/Smads pathway. The activation of ERK2 by TGF-beta1 may be Smad4 independent. Moreover, there may be some other tanglesome relationships between the TGF-beta1/Smads pathway and the MAPK pathway which takes part in the development, invasion and metastasis of tumor cells.

Cells, Cultured ; Humans ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 ; physiology ; Muscle, Skeletal ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; analysis ; Rhabdomyosarcoma ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; Smad4 Protein ; physiology ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; pharmacology

This study was to investigate the anti-lymphocytic malignancy immunologic effects induced by two types of the idiotypic nucleic acid vaccines which were constructed from the genomic DNA and RNA of the human B lymphoma cell line respectively. Namalwa cell line and BALB/c mice were used as the models. The gene fragments of the IgH variable region (IgHV), which were obtained from the genomic DNA and RNA of Namalwa cell respectively, were cloned into the eukaryocytic expression vector pcDNA 3.0 to be used as the idiotypic nucleic acid vaccines. After transfecting COS cells with one of vaccines constructed from the genomic DNA by using LipofectAMINE, the result of transcription was identified by using RT-PCR. The experimental mice were immunized by intramuscular injection with two types of vaccines. The specific anti-idiotypic antibody was detected by indirect immunofluorescence assay. The results showed that the nucleic acid vaccine constructed from the genomic DNA can be transcribed in COS cells, the transcription product turned shorter, and the intron region of 86 bp was spliced accurately. When immunizing the mice, two vaccines both induced the anti-idiotypic antibody against Namalwa cell, the anti-idiotypic antibody could be detected since detected since after immunization, and got to the peak of titer on the sixth week. It was concluded that the nucleic acid vaccines against lymphoma can be constructed from both the genomic DNA and RNA.
Animals ; Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic ; blood ; immunology ; Base Sequence ; COS Cells ; DNA, Neoplasm ; genetics ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains ; genetics ; immunology ; Immunoglobulin Variable Region ; genetics ; immunology ; Injections, Intramuscular ; Lymphoma, B-Cell ; genetics ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Plasmids ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Time Factors ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; Vaccines, DNA ; genetics ; immunology