OBJECTIVE: To describe our experience in the clinical manifestation and treatment of malignant tumors of the external and middle ear. METHOD: The study reviewed 39 patients between 1994-2011 in our hospital, including 15 pinna tumors, 18 external canal tumors and 6 middle ear tumors. 23 males and 16 females were enrolled in this study. The mean age of patients at the time of surgery was 59. Radiotherapy or radiotherapy and chemotherapy were the only possible treatment in 6 cases. Thirty-three patients were treated surgically, and 9 patients also received radiotherapy after surgery. RESULT: All of the patients had been followed up over 3 years, except for 1 case of external canal and 1 case of middle ear tumor. The 3-year survival of pinna, external canal and middle ear tumors were 86.7%, 82.4% and 60.0% respectively. At the last follow up, the pinna tumors showed that the survival rate was 100% in T1, T2 and Tx stage, and 0% in T4 stage; the external canal tumors showed that the survival rate was 90% in T1 stage, and 66.7% in T2, T3 stage; the middle ear tumors showed that the survival rate was 100% in T1 and T2 stage, 0% in T3 stage. CONCLUSION The T staging system is for an important prognostic factor, and it is important for an early diagnosis and radical surgery to achieve a better therapeutical result.
Ear Auricle ; pathology ; Ear Canal ; pathology ; Ear Neoplasms ; pathology ; Ear, Middle ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Neoplasm Staging ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUNDBrain metastasis is one of the most important causes of treatment failure in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) on survival and brain metastases for patients with limited stage small cell lung cancer in complete remission.

METHODSFifty one patients with limited stage SCLC in complete remission after chemoradiotherapy were randomly divided into PCI group (n = 26) and control group (n = 25). Patients in the PCI group received PCI at a dose of 25.2 to 30.6 Gy in 1.8 to 2.0 Gy per fraction. The Kaplan-Meier method and Log rank test were used to analyse and compare survival rates, and chi(2) test was used to compare the incidences of cranial metastases in two groups.

RESULTSThere was no significant difference in clinical characteristics of patients such as age, sex, effect of treatment before PCI between the two groups. The incidence of brain metastases was 3.8% in the PCI group in contrast to 32.0% in the control group (chi(2) = 5.15, P = 0.02). The 1, 3, 5-year survival rates were 84.6%, 42.3%, 34.6% respectively in the PCI group and 72.0%, 32.0%, 24.0% respectively in the control group, with no difference between the two groups (chi(2) = 2.25, P = 0.13). No serious sequelae were observed in patients receiving PCI.

CONCLUSIONFor patients with limited stage SCLC responding completely to chemotherapy plus radiotherapy, PCI can decrease the incidence of brain metastases and improve survival rate.

Adult ; Aged ; Brain Neoplasms ; prevention & control ; secondary ; Carcinoma, Small Cell ; therapy ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Cranial Irradiation ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVETo identify the effect of interleukin-8 in cell progression and invasion of human breast cancer.

METHODSHuman cytokine antibody arrays were applied to screen a panel of cytokine expression from 11 human breast cancer cell lines, and the mechanism of identified key factors involved in breast cancer progression was studied.

RESULTSProfiling of cytokine expression showed the expression of interleukin-8 was related to estrogen receptor status, metastasis and vimentin status in the 11 human breast cancer cell lines. Elevated expression of interleukin-8 in breast cancer cells had positive correlation with breast cancer invasion. Neutralization of antibody against interleukin-8 specifically blocked interleukin-8-mediated cell invasion. However, anti-interleukin-8 antibody did not influence the proliferation of breast cancer cells.

CONCLUSIONInterleukin-8 may be the key factor involved in human breast cancer progression and invasion, and play an important role in cell invasion of breast cancer.

Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Proliferation ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Interleukin-8 ; biosynthesis ; physiology ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Protein Array Analysis ; Receptors, Estrogen ; metabolism ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; metabolism

Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) offer distinct advantages as a means of pulmonary drug delivery and have attracted much attention in the field of pharmaceutical science. DPIs commonly contain micronized drug particles which, because of their cohesiveness and strong propensity to aggregate, have poor aerosolization performance. Thus carriers with a larger particle size are added to address this problem. However, the performance of DPIs is profoundly influenced by the physical properties of the carrier, particularly their particle size, morphology/shape and surface roughness. Because these factors are interdependent, it is difficult to completely understand how they individually influence DPI performance. The purpose of this review is to summarize and illuminate how these factors affect drug-carrier interaction and influence the performance of DPIs.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are attracting increasing interest for potential biomedical applications. With tailored mesoporous structure, huge surface area and pore volume, selective surface functionality, as well as morphology control, MSNs exhibit high loading capacity for therapeutic agents and controlled release properties if modified with stimuli-responsive groups, polymers or proteins. In this review article, the applications of MSNs in pharmaceutics to improve drug bioavailability, reduce drug toxicity, and deliver with cellular targetability are summarized. Particularly, the exciting progress in the development of MSNs-based effective delivery systems for poorly soluble drugs, anticancer agents, and therapeutic genes are highlighted.

When nanoparticles were introduced into the biological media, the protein corona would be formed, which endowed the nanoparticles with new bio-identities. Thus, controlling protein corona formation is critical to

This study was purposed to investigate the B cell-activating factor belonging to the TNF family (BAFF) and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) levels in bone marrow, and the BAFF receptor expression level on B cells in multiple myeloma (MM) patients, in order to explore the characteristics of B cells in bone marrow of MM patients. MM patients were studied before treatment (newly diagnosed group, 19 patients) and after treatment with improvement (stable group, 17 patients), 10 non-hematologic patients were selected as control (control group). The BAFF receptors (BAFF-R) and transmembrane activator and calcium modulator and cyclophilin ligand interactor (TACI) on B cell (CD19(+)), naive B cell (CD19(+)IgD(+)) and memory B cell (CD19(+)CD27(+)) of bone marrow in all groups were detected by flow cytometry. The BAFF, APRIL level in bone marrow supernatant were tested with ELISA. The results showed that the BAFF-R expression level on CD19(+) cells in newly diagnosed group were higher than that in stable group and control group; there was no significant difference between the BAFF-R expression level on CD19(+)IgD(+) cells in newly diagnosed group and stable group, but BAFF-R expression level on CD19(+)IgD(+) cells in newly diagnosed group was higher than that in control group; the BAFF-R expression level on CD19(+)CD27(+) cells in newly group was higher than that in stable group and control group; there was no significant difference between the BAFF-R expression level on CD19(+) cells, CD19(+)IgD(+) cells or CD19(+)CD27(+) cells in stable group and control group. There was no significant difference among the TACI expression level on CD19(+) cells, CD19(+)IgD(+) cells or CD19(+)CD27(+) cells in newly diagnosed group, stable group and control group. The bone marrow supernatant BAFF level in newly diagnosed group was higher than that in stable group and control group, but there was no significant difference between stable group and control group. There was no significant difference among the bone marrow TACI levels in newly diagnosed group, stable group and control group. It is concluded that both the bone marrow BAFF level and the BAFF-R expression level on CD19(+) cell, CD19(+)IgD(+) cells and CD19(+)CD27(+) cells in MM patients increase, which may help to stimulate B cells, thereby may relate with to MM pathogenesis.
B-Cell Activating Factor ; metabolism ; B-Cell Activation Factor Receptor ; metabolism ; Bone Marrow ; metabolism ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma ; metabolism ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effectiveness of psychosocial services provided by social workers in reducing dropout rate and increasing treatment dosage in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) users.

METHODSFrom May in 2009 to April in 2010, 300 MMT users were recruited from three MMT clinics in Guangzhou, and were randomly allocated into the intervention group and the control groups. The control group (152 cases) received standard MMT services while the intervention group (148 cases) received additional services provided by social workers. Methadone dosage, dropout rate, perceptions toward MMT etc. were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe 1-month dropout rate of the control and intervention groups were 19.7% (30/152) and 6.8% (10/148) (P < 0.05) respectively; the 6-month dropout rate of the control and intervention groups were 75.5% (115/152) and 50.7% (75/148) (P < 0.05) respectively. The intervention group had higher average treatment dosage than the control group ((56.0 ± 21.2) vs (64.4 ± 23.1) ml/d, (58.0 ± 24.0) vs (66.1 ± 26.6) ml/d, P < 0.05). At 1-month and 6-month, the intervention group had higher scores of MMT-related perception ((1.26 ± 0.68) vs (1.84 ± 0.95), (1.55 ± 0.83) vs (2.44 ± 1.23), P < 0.05), self-efficacy of maintenance ((3.68 ± 1.33) vs (4.20 ± 1.05), (3.80 ± 1.38) vs (4.43 ± 0.79), P < 0.05) and satisfaction toward MMT((4.08 ± 0.54) vs (4.15 ± 0.60), (4.01 ± 0.67) vs (4.31 ± 0.64), P < 0.05) as compared to the control group. The reverse was true for the score of negative experiences ((1.05 ± 0.86) vs (0.96 ± 0.92), (1.46 ± 0.87) vs (1.11 ± 1.07), P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe psychosocial interventions provided by social workers were effective in reducing dropout rate, increasing treatment dosage and improving cognitions of MMT users.

Adult ; Female ; Heroin Dependence ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Methadone ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Opiate Substitution Treatment ; Patient Compliance ; Social Work ; Substance Abuse Treatment Centers ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo study the exons deletion mechanisms for dystrophin gene, the molecular characters of breakpoints of junction fragments for deletion-type Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients with 46 and 51 exons deletion were compared and analyzed.

METHODSDeletion-type DMD patients were detected by multiplex polymerase chain reaction(mPCR). The breakpoints of junction fragments with 46 and 51 exons deletions were cloned and sequenced respectively.

RESULTSAnalysis of sequences of deletion-junction fragment of exon 46 showed that the 5'breakpoint was located in AT-rich region of intron 45 and the 3' breakpoint was in medium reiteration repeats (MER1) sequence. There existed 2 bp(ta) junction homology between two breakages. No small insertion, small deletion or point mutation was located near the junction point. Similarly, analysis of sequences of deletion-junction fragment of exon 51 showed that the 5 breakpoint was located in transposon-like human elements (THE1) of intron 50 and the 3' breakpoint was in L2 sequence. There existed 3 bp(cta) junction homology between two breakages. No small insertion, small deletion or point mutation was located near the junction point. By analyzing the secondary structure of junction fragments with 46 and 51 exons deletions, it was demonstrated that all breakpoints of junction fragments were located at the non-matching regions of single-strand hairpin.

CONCLUSIONBy comparing the junction fragments with 46 or 51 exons deletion, it was found that all of breakpoints were located in repeat sequences and the repeat sequences formed the single-strand hairpin which could make the introns instable and result in exon deletion.

Base Sequence ; DNA ; chemistry ; genetics ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Dystrophin ; genetics ; Exons ; genetics ; Introns ; genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne ; genetics ; Nucleic Acid Conformation ; Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid ; genetics ; Sequence Deletion

OBJECTIVETo evaluate relative factors affecting the efficiency of ultrasound-guided compression repair in iatrogenic femoral artery pseudoaneurysm.

METHODSUltrasound-guided manual compression was performed in 42 patients of iatrogenic femoral artery pseudoaneurysm from June 2004 to June 2010. There were 28 male and 14 female patients, with a mean age of (52 ± 5) years. These patients were presented with femoral artery pseudoaneurysm after catheterisation procedure by percutaneous femoral artery puncture and confirmed by color doppler flow image. Ultrasound-guided manual persistent compression with probe was performed at the puncture site between femoral artery and pseudoaneurysm, until completely thrombosis of pseudoaneurysm, whereas the pseudoaneurysm failed to complete closure required surgical repair.

RESULTSOut of 42 patients, 34 patients (81.0%) were successfully treated by compression resulted in completely thrombosis. There were 8 (19.0%) failures conversion to surgery. Factors associated with success were size of pseudoaneurysm (< 25 mm, 25 - 40 mm, > 40 mm; χ(2) = 13.956, P = 0.001), anti-coagulation status (χ(2) = 5.578, P = 0.010), depth of artery break (< 50 mm, 50 - 80 mm, > 80 mm; χ(2) = 14.055, P = 0.001), pseudoaneurysm communicated with common femoral artery, superficial femoral artery and profunda femoral artery (χ(2) = 8.968, P = 0.011), as well as days to presented with pseudoaneurysm (< 3 d, ≥ 3 d; χ(2) = 5.733, P = 0.012). In multivariate Logistic regression analysis, success by compression was associated with size of pseudoaneurysm (WALD = 5.34, P = 0.021) and with depth of artery break (WALD = 4.84, P = 0.028).

CONCLUSIONThe ultrasound-guided compression repair of iatrogenic femoral artery pseudoaneurysm is safe, convenient, inexpensive and reliable treatment.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Aneurysm, False ; surgery ; therapy ; Female ; Femoral Artery ; Humans ; Iatrogenic Disease ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome ; Ultrasonography, Interventional