Objective: To explore the effect of herb-partitioned moxibustion (HPM) on tight junctions (TJs) of intestinal epithelial cells in Crohn disease (CD) mediated by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB)-myosin-light- chain kinase (MLCK) pathway. Methods: Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a normal control (NC) group, a model control (MC) group, an HPM group and a mesalazine (MESA) group, with 12 rats in each group. Trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) was administered to establish CD models. When the model was confirmed a success, the HPM group rats were treated with HPM at Tianshu (ST 25) and Qihai (CV 6), while the MESA group rats were given MESA solution by lavage. When the intervention finished, the colonic epithelial tissues were separated, purified and cultured in each group to establish the intestinal epithelial barrier model in vitro, and TNF-α was added (100 ng/mL) in the culture medium and maintained for 24 h to establish an increased epithelial permeability model. Transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) was used to examine the permeability of the barrier; Western blot was used to observe the expressions of the proteins related to TJs of intestinal epithelial cells mediated by TNF-α-NF-κB-MLCK pathway; immunofluorescence staining was used to observe the expressions and distributions of tight junction proteins in the intestinal epithelium. Results: After TNF-α induction, compared with the MC+TNF-α group, the TEER value increased significantly in the HPM+TNF-α and MESA+TNF-α groups (both P<0.001); the expressions of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p65, MLCK, myosin light chain (MLC), tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) and receptor interaction protein-1 (RIP1) decreased significantly (P<0.01 or P<0.05), and the expression of zinc finger protein A20 (A20) increased significantly (P<0.01); the expressions of occludin, claudin-1, zonula occludens protein 1 (ZO-1) and F-actin also increased significantly (all P<0.01). Compared with the MESA+TNF-α group, the expressions of MLC, occludin, claudin-1, ZO-1 and F-actin increased significantly in the HPM+TNF-α group (P<0.01 or P<0.05). Conclusion: HPM can protect or repair the damage of intestinal epithelial barrier in CD rats, which may be achieved through modulating the abnormal TJs in intestinal epithelium mediated by TNF-α-NF-κB-MLCK pathway.

BACKGROUNDInterleukin-13 (IL-13) has been implicated to be responsible for recruitment of inflammatory cells from the blood to the lung, regulation of matrix metalloproteinase and induction of mucin production and secretion in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We determined plasma IL-13 levels in patients with COPD and investigated its association with common polymorphisms of IL-13 gene in a case-control study.

METHODSWe genotyped 160 cases and 175 control subjects in a local hospital using Mass-Array(TM) Technology Platform then tested the association of four SNPs in IL-13 (rs1295685, rs1800925, rs1881457, rs20541) with COPD, and then determined plasma IL-13 levels in patients with COPD and controls.

RESULTSAssociation was found between IL-13 gene SNPs (rs20541 and rs1800925) and an increased risk of COPD. By linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis, two blocks (rs1881457 and rs1800925; rs20541 and rs1295685) were found. The risk of COPD was found associated with the IL-13 gene polymorphism among southern Chinese Han population. Plasma IL-13 level was increased in COPD patients compared with controls.

CONCLUSIONSThe polymorphism of the IL-13 gene is associated with an increased risk of COPD in southern Chinese Han population. Plasma IL-13 levels were found elevated in patients with COPD.

Adult ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Gene Frequency ; genetics ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; genetics ; Genotype ; Haplotypes ; genetics ; Humans ; Interleukin-13 ; genetics ; Linkage Disequilibrium ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; genetics ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical efficacy and the toxicity of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel and FOLFOX4 (5-fluorouracil/leucovorin combined and oxaliplatin) regimen for advanced gastric cancer.

METHODSSeventy-eight patients with cTNM stage III or IV (M0) gastric cancer were enrolled and 39 were randomized into the treatment arm (n=39, paclitaxel combined with FOLFOX4 regimen neoadjuvant chemotherapy every two weeks in each cycle) and control group (n=39). Clinical response was evaluated with RECIST criteria after 3 cycles. Patients in experimental group received surgery after 2-4 weeks and postoperative chemotherapy of 3 cycles of the original regimen. When disease progressed, postoperative chemotherapy regimen was changed into ECF regimen. The control group of 39 patients received surgery within 2 weeks and postoperative chemotherapy of 6 cycles of paclitaxel combined with FOLFOX4 regimen.

RESULTSThe clinical response rate was 66.7% in the treatment arm. The R0 resection rate (59.0%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (P=0.025) and the number of lymph node metastasis in the treatment arm(3.23±2.80) was significantly lower than that in the control group (5.79±2.69, P=0.001). There were no significant differences in postoperative complication rate (5.1% vs. 2.6%) and the number of lymph node dissection (19.69±2.95 vs. 20.59±3.22) between the two groups (P>0.05). The median survival time and 2-year survival rate in the treatment arm [(27.10±2.32) months and 59.0%] was significantly higher than that in the control group[(18.20±1.30) months and 28.2%] (P=0.001, P=0.006). Cox regression multivariable analysis showed that tumor differentiation, R0 resection, lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors. Adverse reaction of chemotherapy, mainly hematological adverse reactions, and peripheral nerve toxicity, were tolerable. No significant differences were noted between the two groups in adverse reactions (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe efficacy of paclitaxel combined with FOLFOX4 as neoadjuvant chemotherapy is high. Patients tolerance and compliance are satisfactory. It can improve in patients with advanced gastric cancer the R0 resection rate, reduce lymph node metastasis and improve survival.

Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Leucovorin ; administration & dosage ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Neoplasm Staging ; Organoplatinum Compounds ; administration & dosage ; Paclitaxel ; administration & dosage ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the predictive value of seven gastric cancer-associated factors on neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

METHODSExpressions of C-met, EGFR, HER2, Ki-67, MMP7, P53 and TOPOII were detected by immunohistochemistry in gastric cancer tissues of 53 cases before and after mFOLFOX7 neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Chemotherapy efficacy was evaluated according to RECIST 1.1 standard combined with histopathology, and the relationship between various genes and chemotherapy efficacy was analyzed by univariate and logistic multivariate regression analyses.

RESULTSThe clinical response rate was 52.8% (28/53) in neoadjuvant chemotherapy, including complete response in none, partial response in 28 cases (52.8%), stable disease in 24 cases (45.3%) and progressive disease in 1 case (1.9%). The expressions of all the genes were not significantly different before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P>0.05). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy efficacy was 83.3% (10/12) in the patients of HER2 positive expression and 43.9% (18/41) in the patients of HER2 negative expression. The former was significant higher than the latter (P=0.016). Response rate of patients with P53 positive expression was 35.7% (10/28), significantly lower than 72.0% (18/25) of those with P53 negative expression (P=0.008). Six patients with both HER2 positive expression and P53 negative expression showed better efficacy. The expressions of C-met, EGFR, Ki-67, MMP7 and TOPOII were not associated with response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P>0.05). HER2 and P53 were independent influencing factors of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONExpressions of HER2 and P53 have great value in the prediction of mFOLFOX7 neoadjuvant chemotherapy efficacy, suggesting that as independent factors, HER2 and P53 may be used to predict the efficacy before chemotherapy.

Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Leucovorin ; therapeutic use ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Organoplatinum Compounds ; therapeutic use ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; metabolism ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Treatment Outcome ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the effect of Astragalus injection on iodine-131(131 I)induced thyroid radiation injury.Methods Two-stage SD male rats were randomly divided into three groups: control group, 131I irradiation group and Astragalus intervention 131I irradiation group.131I irradiation group and Astragalus intervention 131I irradiation group were treated with intragastric administration of 11.1MBq 131I, respectively.At the same time, the Astragalus intervention 131 I irradiation group was injected intraperitoneally 400 mg/(kg· d)Astragalus injection liquid.The levels of thyroid hormone were measured by solid-phase radioimmunoassay in the 2nd and 8th weeks of the experiment.The thyroid tissues from rats were HE stained into paraffin sections after 8 weeks.Administration of 0,25,50,100,200 MBq/ml into 131I irradiation of thyroid follicular carcinoma cells(WRO)lasted 24 hours, the proliferation and apoptosis of WRO in Astragalus membranaceus 0.5 g/L intervention and non-Astragalus intervention were detected by MTT assay and flow cytometry.Results Compared with the normal control group, FT3and FT4were significantly decreased in the 131 I irradiation group(P=0.021,0.017).The morphological changes of the follicular epithelial cells in the thyroid tissue were irregular and the hyaline degeneration was observed.However, compared with 131I irradiation group, FT3and FT4were significantly improved by Astragalus injection(P=0.033,0.045),and the degree of vitreous degeneration of thyroid tissue was alleviated.Cell experiments in vitro showed that the proliferation of thyroid cells was increased, but apoptosis was reduced.Conclusion Astragalus injection can improve the thyroid function and thyroid injury induced by 131 I in rats.

Objective To construct a prediction model for postoperative healthcare-associated infection(HAI)in elderly patients with hip fracture,analyze the economic burden,provide a reference and basis for the development of clinical prevention and control programs.Methods 627 elderly patients who underwent hip fracture surgery in a hospital from January 1,2017 to May 31,2023 were selected as the study subjects.Patients were randomly divided into a modeling group and a validation group at a 7:3 ratio.A logistic regression prediction model was constructed based on data from the modeling group,the discriminant and consistency of the model were evaluated by receiver ope-rating characteristic(ROC)curve and Hosmer-Lemeshow test,and the direct economic burden of postoperative HAI in patients was analyzed with 1∶1 propensity score matching(PSM).Results The incidence of postoperative HAI in elderly patients with hip fracture surgery was 12.1％,with pulmonary infection being the most common(52.6％).Logistic regression analysis showed that male,old age,perioperative disturbance of consciousness,gradeⅣ of American Society of Anesthesiologists(ASA)classification,low albumin level,and intensive care unit(ICU)admission were all independent risk factors for postoperative HAI in patients(all P＜0.05).There was good model discrimination and consistency between the training and validation groups in predicting the risk of postoperative HAI.The direct economic burden of postoperative HAI in patients was 7 927.4 Yuan,of which the burden of wes-tern medicine was the largest(3 139.7 Yuan).HAI prolonged patients hospitalization time by 3.6 days.Conclusion Postoperative HAI increases the economic burden of patients,the nomogram model constructed in this study can effectively predict the risk of postoperative HAI in patients,which can provide a basis for the early identification,as well as the implementation of targeted preventive and diagnostic measures for high-risk patients in the clinic.

OBJECTIVETo cultivate human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in the serum of overfatigue rats with the intervention of Tongxinluo superfine powder (TXLSP). By examining the variation of the activity of JNK/c-Jun/HO-1 pathway, the possible mechanisms of vascular endothelial dysfunction under overfatigue conditions and the intervening effect of TXLSP were explored.

METHODSThe HUVECs were randomly divided into the normal control group, the model group, the SP600125 (a specific antagonist of JNK) group, the TXLSP group and the TXLSP + SP600125 group. The content of carboyhemoglobin (COHb) and the leak rate of lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) in different groups were measured. The mRNA and protein expression of JNK, c-Jun, HO-1 and the phosphorylation level of c-Jun (P-c-Jun) were detected using Western blot and PCR methods.

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, the COHb level in supernatant was increased significantly in the model group, and the expression of HO-1, JNK, c-Jun mRNA and corresponding proteins and P-c-Jun were also increased remarkably. The increases in these parameters were significantly decreased by SP600125. TXLSP showed remarkable up-regulation on the expression of JNK, c-Jun, P-c-Jun and HO-1 mRNA and their protein expression. Compared with the SP600125 group, the expressions of JNK, c-Jun, P-c-Jun and HO-1 mRNA and its protein in the TXLSP+SP600125 group were significantly increased at different time points (P<0.05, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe vascular endothelial dysfunction under overfatigue conditions is related to the activity of the JNK/c-Jun/HO-1 pathway. One of the mechanisms of TXLSP in improving the vascular endothelial function is to adjust the activity of the JNK/c-Jun/HO-1 pathway at gene and protein levels.

Animals ; Blood Proteins ; pharmacology ; Cells, Cultured ; Cytoprotection ; drug effects ; genetics ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Endothelial Cells ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Fatigue ; blood ; metabolism ; Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiology ; Humans ; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiology ; Male ; Particle Size ; Powders ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Serum ; metabolism ; physiology ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; genetics ; physiology ; Umbilical Veins ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism

Objective To evaluate and improve overall quality detection of 8 instruments in emergency laboratory using 6σ quality standard.Methods In 2017,collected both internal quality control (IQC) and external quality assessment (EQA) data of 46 assay items from 8 instruments in their laboratory,and then calculated their σ values and total allowed errors ac cording to CLIA'88 standards.By comparison of their quality goal index (QGI) between first and second half year of 2017,successfully elevated assayquality using strategy (man,machine,material,method,measurment and enviroment).Results For all 46 assay items (except NT-proBNP without second EQA data),made better improvement of detection of 34 (75.6 ％ of 6σ qualified),38(84.4％ of 5σ qualified),40(88.9％ of 4σ qualified),44 (97.8％ of 3σ qualified) and 1 (2.2％ of 2～3σ qualified) items,respectively whereas there were 27 (58.7％ of 6σ qualified),30 (65.2％ of 5σ qualified),35 (76.1％ of 4σ qualified),41 (89.1％ of 3σ qualified) and 5 (10.9％ of 2～3σ qualified) items before improvement.Conclusion Using 6σ quality standard,could make more progress in the laboratory for many respects:fast and accurate clinical reports,reducing reinspection rate,and increasing patient's satisfactory,etc.

Tooth development relies on sequential and reciprocal interactions between the epithelial and mesenchymal tissues, and it is continuously regulated by a variety of conserved and specific temporal-spatial signalling pathways. It is well known that suspensions of tooth germ cells can form tooth-like structures after losing the positional information provided by the epithelial and mesenchymal tissues. However, the particular stage in which the tooth germ cells start to form tooth-like structures after losing their positional information remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the reassociation of tooth germ cells suspension from different morphological stages during tooth development and the phosphorylation of Smad2/3 in this process. Four tooth morphological stages were designed in this study. The results showed that tooth germ cells formed odontogenic tissue at embryonic day (E) 14.5, which is referred to as the cap stage, and they formed tooth-like structures at E16.5, which is referred to as the early bell stage, and E18.5, which is referred to as the late bell stage. Moreover, the transforming growth factor-β signalling pathway might play a role in this process.

OBJECTIVETo explore the expression profile of male germ cell-associated genes during the spontaneous differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) and assess the potency of their spontaneous differentiation into male germ cells in vitro.

METHODSEmbryoid body (EB) formation was used to promote the spontaneous differentiation of iPS into male germ cells, and the expressions of germ cell-associated genes were detected by real-time PCR and PCR.

RESULTSReal-time PCR and PCR revealed different expression levels of relevant genes at different times of iPS spontaneous differentiation into male germ cells. Each of the 9 genes analyzed exhibited one of the four temporal expression patterns: wavelike increase of Oct4, progressive decrease of Dppa3 and Stra8, wavelike decrease of Dazl, and decrease following initial increase of Tex14, Msy2, Scp1, Scp3 and Akap3.

CONCLUSIONInduced pluripotent stem cells express male germ cell-associated genes and male haploid genes during their spontaneous differentiation through EB formation, and have the potency of differentiating into male gametes.

Animals ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Line ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Germ Cells ; cytology ; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ; cytology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR