Objective: To investigate the effects of Qingyi Huaji (QYHJ) decoction, a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, on tumor inhibition rate and serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in nude mice with transplanted tumors of human pancreatic cancer. Methods: The tumor-bearing mice model was established by subcutaneously inoculating with xenografts of pancreatic cancer into the right armpit of 40 BALB/c nude mice. After successful modeling, the mice were randomly divided into untreated group (Arabic gum), capecitabine group, low-dose QYHJ decoction group (36 g/kg) and high-dose QYHJ decoction group (72 g/kg), with 10 mice in each group. Citrate buffer solution (containing 5% Arabic gum), capecitabine suspension and QYHJ decoction were administered to four groups by gavage respectively. After 5-week treatment, the concentrations of serum IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using blood sample from eye socket. Then the mice were euthanized by cervical dislocation. Tumor weight and the tumor inhibition rate were calculated. Results: Tumor weight in the low-dose QYHJ decoction group decreased significantly as compared with the untreated group (P<0.05). Serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha in low- and high-dose QYHJ groups were extremely significantly lower than those in the untreated group (P<0.01). Serum level of IL-8 in the low-dose QYHJ group was significantly lower than that in the untreated group (P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that transplanted tumor weight of the mice was linearly positively correlated with serum levels of IL-6, IL-8 or TNF-alpha (P<0.01). Conclusion: Conventional dose of QYHJ decoction is effective in suppressing pancreatic carcinoma in nude mice. The mechanism may be related to down-regulation of serum cytokines such as IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha.

Objective To study the changes of the transient outward K+ current (Ito),delayed rectifier K+ current(IkDR) and the inward rectifier K+ current(Ik1) of the rat bone mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) induced by 5-Azacytidine(5-Aza) during proliferating and differentiating process in vitro. Methods MSCs were cultured according to related articles for two weeks and then some of the cells were induced by 5-Azacytidine.The experiment was divided into uninduced(cultured for 6w) and induced(1,2,3 and 4w) cell groups. Each week had twenty cells random tested by the whole-cell patch clamp technology and the K+ currents were identified by corresponding ionic blockers.Results The detection rate of the same type of K+ current during test weeks had no significant deviation;The three types of K+ current intensity were gradually augmented after being inducing cultured for 1,2,3 and 4 weeks(P

Objective To investigate the incidence and the related factors of the depression in Parkinson's disease. Methods 52 cases with idiopathic Parkinson's disease were included in this study. Such scales as Hamilton depression scale-24 item (HAMD-24), Non Motor Symptoms Scale for Parkinson's disease (NMSS), 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39), unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS), revised Hoehn-Yahr rating scale (H-Y), revised Schwab and English daily life event scale (S-E), Minimum Mental State Examination (MMSE), etc. were applied and underwent Spearman correlation analysis. Results Thirty-six patients with Parkinson's disease (69.23%) met the criteria for depression. The spearman rank correlation analysis showed that MMSE (r=-0.294, P=0.036) and S-E (r=-0.506, P<0.001) had negative correlation with depression in Parkinson's disease, and the course of the disease (r=0.274, P=0.049), UPDRS (r=0.485, P<0.001), H-Y (r = 0.459, P = 0.001), NMSE (r = 0.729, P < 0.001) and PDQ-39 (r = 0.619, P < 0.001) had positive correlation with depression in Parkinson's disease. Conclusions The patients with Parkinson's disease had high incidence of depression. The depression in Parkinson's disease is associated with many factors and affected the quality of life of the patients.

Purpose To investigate the clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical features,and differential diagnosis of nephrogenic metaplasia (NM).Methods The clinical data,histological and immunohistochemical characteristics of 6 cases of NM were analyzed,with review of the literature.Results There were 1 case of female,5 cases of male,aged from 31 to 81 years,with average of 58.1 years.The history revealed lithiasis of urologic tact in 2 cases,previous transurethral resection for benign prostatic hyperplasia or cystitis glandularis in 3 cases,and concurrent urothelial carcinoma in 1 case.The lesion involved in the ureter in 3 cases,prostatic urethra in 2 cases,and bladder trigone in 1 case.Cystoscopic examination demonstrated mucosal rough or low villous protrude.Microscopically,the lesion was consisted of tubules,cysts,small nests and papillary structures with basement membrane-like eosinophilic sheath,and lined by cuboidal,or low column epithelial cells with cytological atypia in some area,and shown inflammation in stroma.Immunohistochemically,there was positive staining for PAX2,PAX8,CK7 and P504S,negative for p63,CD10,and PSA.Conclusion NM is a rare tumor-like lesion often with injure of urologic tract,and should be differential with urothelial carcinoma,prostatic carcinoma,clear cell adenocarcinoma and endometriosis.It's important to know the clinicopathological and immunohistochemical features of NM for the correct interpretation.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of evaluation of fetal cardiac function in congenital heart disease by brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and velocity vector imaging (VVI). Methods Fetuses who came from Shenzhen Maternity & Child healthcare Hospital were divided into the congenital heart disease group and the control group. At the same time we collected amniotic fluid and assayed BNP concentration. Using the VVI software, the velocity, strain and strain rate of the global and segmental of the left ventricle were measured. Comparison and correlation were made between the two groups. Results There was significantly difference of BNP concentrations in amniotic fluid between two groups. The gestational age had significant positive correlation with BNP concentrations in disease group. The comparison of global velocity, strain and strain rate of left ventricle between the two groups showed significant differences. All of the left ventricular dynamic parameters in disease group were lower than those of the control group. Conclusions Compared with the control group, the disease group had a high level of BNP in amniotic fluid and a lower level of dynamic parameters of left ventricular. There was a positive correlation between BNP concentration and gestational age in disease group. So we can conclude that theBNP concentration can be a biological parameter for evaluating the latent impairments of fetal cardiac function.

AIM:To investigate the effect of microRNA-429 (miR-429) on the expression of occludin (Ocln) in intestinal epithelial cells ( IECs) and intestinal epithelial barrier function in diabetic mice.METHODS:Diabetes mel-litus mouse model was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozocin.The expression of miR-429 in IECs of diabetic mice was inhibited by antagomiRNA-429 injected via tail vein.The expression of miR-429 and mRNA expression of Ocln were detected by real-time PCR.The protein expression of Ocln was determined by Western blotting and immunohistochem-istry.The urinary lactulose/mannitol ratio was measured by gas chromatography.The plasma LPS concentrations in the mice were measured by chromogenic end-point TAL kit.RESULTS:The results of real-time PCR confirmed that the ex-pression of miR-429 in IECs of diabetic mice was remarkably inhibited by tail-vein administration of antagomiRNA-429, and resumed to similar level of normal mice on the 6th day after the administration.After suppressing the level of miR-429, the expression of Ocln in IECs of diabetic mice increased significantly (P<0.05), while the urinary lactulose/mannitol ra-tio and the plasma LPS concentration decreased obviously ( P<0.05 ) .CONCLUSION:AntagomiRNA-429 effectively suppresses miR-429 expression in IECs of diabetic mice, and then enhances the expression of Ocln and partially resumes the intestinal epithelial barrier function.

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To study the process of promoting mouse embryonic stem cells ( ESC) to specify to definitive endoderm by up-regulating of Nodal signal pathway in order to find the best cultivated systems of differentiation of mouse ESC to definitive endoderm cells.METHODS:The cells were divided into different groups based on the culture medium:ESC group ( serum-free medium +LIF) , natural differentiation group ( serum-free medium) and activin A group ( serum-free medium +50μg/L activin A).The cells and the sterilized coverslips with cells were collected at 1, 3, 5 and 7 d of the cultivation.The proportion of CXCR4 +cells was detected by flow cytometry.The expression of CXCR4 was determined by immunocytochemical method, and the protein expression of OCT4 and CXCR4 was detected by Western blot.RE-SULTS:The proportion of CXCR4 +cells showed no dramatic change in ESC group along with the extending of cultivation day, while there were gradually increased in natural differentiation group and activin A group and the highest level was ob-served at 5 d.Among the 3 groups, the proportion of CXCR4 +cells at 5 d was the highest in activin A group.The brown or tan staining in the cells observed under microscope was considered as positive CXCR4 by immunocytochemistry.The pro-tein levels of OCT4 and CXCR4 in ESC group along with the extending of cultivation days was observed.The expression levels of OCT4 were gradually decreased in the cells in natural differentiation group and activin A group, while those of CX-CR4 were gradually increased with the highest level at 5 d.It was highest in the cells in activin A group.CONCLUSION:The proportion of definitive endoderm was the highest at 5 d of the induction during in vitro mouse ESC differentiation.Up-regulation of Nodal signal pathway by adding activin A at the early stage of mouse ESC differentiation promotes mouse ESC to specify to definitive endoderm with CXCR4 molecular marker.

ObjectiveTo investigate the variation of thalamus metabolism in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) or neuronmyelitis optica (NMO) using 1H-MRS.Methods1H-MRS was performed to 32 MS patients (MS group),28 NMO patients (NMO group) and 35 healthy volunteers (normal control group).The ratios of metabolism in thalamus,including N-acetylaspartic acid/creatine (NAA/Cr),choline/creatine (Cho/Cr) and myo-inositol/creatine (mI/Cr) were calculated and compared.ResultsThere was statistical difference of NAA/Cr in thalamus among the three groups (P＜0.05).NAA/Cr in thalamus of MS group was significantly lower than that of normal control group (t= -3.45,P＜0.05),while no statistical difference of Cho/Cr and mI/Cr was found (t=0.086,0.661,all P＞0.05).No statistical difference of NAA/Cr,Cho/Cr or ml/Cr was found between NMO group and normal control group (t=-0.792,1.408,1.735,all P＞0.05).Conclusion1H-MRS shows the decrease of thalamus NAA/Cr that suggesting axon damage in MS patients,but in NMO patients no same result is found.1 H-MRS can reflect the pathological changes of MS and NMO,and improve the differential diagnosis of the two diseases.

Objective To evaluate the impacts of the two different gastrectomy methods on the quality of life,complication and prognosis in proximal gastric cancer.Methods One hundred and two cases of proxi-mal gastric cancer in Tung Wah Hospital were collected for retrospective analysis.They were divided into proxi-mal gastrectomy/gastroesophagostomy (PG)group (n =50)and total gastrectomy/esophagojejunostomy (TG) group (n =52),according to the methods of gastrectomy and reconstruction.The postoperative complications, nutritional status and prognosis of the two groups were compared.Results The incidence of reflux esophagitis was obviously higher in PG group than that in TG group (38.0% vs 1 9.2%,χ2 =4.464,P =0.035).No sig-nificant differences were found between the two groups in the incidences of postoperative infection,bleeding and anastomotic leakage (χ2 =0.063,P =1 .000;χ2 =0.001 ,P =0.978;χ2 =0.31 1 ,P =0.577).There were no significant differences between PG and TG group in total plasma protein [(65.26 ±4.1 0)g/L vs (65.33 ± 3.75)g/L,t =-0.402,P =0.688],albumin [(39.76 ±2.1 7)g/L vs (39.59 ±2.04)g/L,t =1 .778,P =0.076],hemoglobin [(1 07.33 ±1 1 .1 0)g/L vs (1 08.09 ±1 1 .1 7)g/L,t =-1 .502,P =0.1 33]and weight loss [1 .00 ~8.00 kg vs 0.50 ~8.20 kg,t =-1 .622,P =0.1 05]in one year postoperatively.All cases were followed-up for 7 months to 1 0 years.No significant differences were found between PG and TG group in the incidences of anastomotic tumor recurrence (4.0% vs 5.8%,χ2 =0.1 71 ,P =0.679),metastasis (24.0% vs 28.8%,χ2 =0.308,P =0.579)and median survival time (53.6 months vs 49.8 months,χ2 =2.564,P =0.1 09).Conclusion Compared with PG group,the incidence of postoperative reflux esophagitis is effectively reduced,and the incidences of malnutrition,tumor recurrence and metastasis and death are not increased in TG group.Hence,TG should be a safe and effective surgery strategy.

ObjectiveTo explore the values of 3D enhanced T2-star weighted angiography (ESWAN) in detecting iron deposition of the brain in patients with multiple sclerosis ( MS).Methods Conventional MRI and 3D ESWAN were performed in 22 patients with released-remitting MS(RR-MS) and in 22 age- and gender-matched normal controls.Both the magnitude images and phase images were available after post processing of the original ESWAN data post processing.The expanded disability status scale (EDSS) scores of the patients were from 0 to 8.5,and the course of disease were between 0.5 year and 15 years.The manifestation of MS lesions was evaluated on conventional MR images and ESWAN images by two experienced radiologists with blind methods.The phase values were measured for MS lesions between the semioval center and periventricular white matter and the corresponding regions in the normal control group were measured as well The Wilcoxon rank test was used to compare the differences of phase values between MS patients and normal controls,and the Spearman rank correlation analysis were used to analyze the correlations among the phase values of MS lesions,EDSS scores and course of disease of MS patients.Results( 1 ) MS lesions were observed on magnitude images and phase images,respectively and together.Two hundred and thirteen(32.8％ )lesions were detected on both the magnitude images and phase images,164 (25.2％)lesions were detected on the magnitude images only,and 273 (42.0％) lesions were detected on the phase images only.A total of 650 lesions were observed on the ESWAN,which showed more 42 lesions than conventional images(608).Among 486(273 + 213 )lesions observed on the phase images,205 (31.5％) lesions were homogeneously hypointense,45 (6.9％ ) lesions showed hypointense ring,and 236 (36.4％ ) lesions were inhomogeneously hypointense.(2) “ Penetrating veins” were showed in 424 (65.2％ ) periventricular lesions.The “penetrating veins” showed dilated and prolonged in 198 (30.5％ ) acute lesions,thin and short in 208 (32.9％ ) chronic lesions.However,the “penetrating veins” of 12 ( 1.8％ ) chronic lesions in 5 stable MS patients were expanded and prolonged slightly.( 3 ) The average phase value of the lesions ( - 0.05 ± 0.08) in patients with RR-MS was significantly lower than that of corresponding to regions (0.06 ± 0.05 ) in the normal control group( Z = 22.30,P ＜ 0.01 ).(4) The phase values of MS lesions were significantly correlated to the EDSS and course of disease of patients with RR-MS (r = -0.98,0.99 respectively,P ＜ 0.01 ).ConclusionESWAN can be helpful in the evaluation and quantification of abnormal iron deposition in MS lesions,which provides important values for the pathogenesis and pathological study for MS patients.