Deafness ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Genetic Counseling ; Humans

Objective To establish the reference range of serum human serum insulin levels in our laboratory and investigate measurement stability, Methods The automated Architect i2000 chemiluminescence immunoassay, calibrator and quality control materials were used to measure concentration of serum insulin. Totally 413 cases of healthy adults were enrolled. The physiologic characteristics and the influence of laboratory markers on insulin levels were analyzed. Then the reference range in our laboratory was established. The thermal stability of insulin at different temperatures was investigated. Results Within-run imprecision and between-day imprecision of the automated Architect i2000 insulin assay were 1.67% and 2. 6%, which indicated that this system had good analytical performance. The subjects were classified into 4 groups according to age range ( 10 years). There was no significant difference among four age groups (the median is 5. 6, 5.2, 5.3 and 5. 7 mU/L) (X<'2> = 1. 929,P >0.05). However, the insulin levels were higher in female ( median = 5.7 mU/L) than male ( median = 5.0 mU/L) ( Z = 3.696, P < 0.01 ). The reference range was established based on the 2. 5 and 97.5 percentile values. The reference range of insulin for female was 2. 6-11.8 mU/L and 2. 3-11.6 mU/L for men, which differed from that of other insulin assay. Insulin had a positive correlation with BMI (r =0. 115 ,P =0. 019) and triglyeeride (r =0.143 ,P = 0. 004), and a negative correlation with high density lipoprotein (r = -0.179, P = 0.000). Insulin was stable at 25 ℃ for at least 4 hours or 4 ℃ for 24 hours or could be extended to at least 7 days when stored at -20 ℃. Conclusion Gender is an important physiologic characteristic which has an impact on human serum insuhn level. Insulin reference range should be established according to gender. Insulin immunoreactivity was not very stable at different temperatures.

Objective To investigate the osteoclast′s function levels in infants and toddlers and the relationship between the osteoclast function and sex,age,body length,body weight and body mass index(BMI).Methods Sixty-eight children(37 boys and 31 girls,aged from 1 to 36 months) were studied.All of the children were in good health.These children were divided as infants group and toddlers group according to their age.Just before the samples were collected,the children′s body weight,body length were measured and the BMI were calculated.Two biochemical markers,such as serum tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b(TRAP5b) and urine deoxypyridinoline(DPD) were measured.Results The difference of serum TRAP5b concentration between infants and toddlers was significant at the level of P

Objective To investigate the survival status of liver cirrhosis patients without upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS).Methods From 2004 to 2013,15 liver cirrhosis patients without upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage volunteered received TIPS treatment were followed up to find out the difficulty and the success rate of TIPS procedure,the incidence of hepatic encephalopathy,upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage and improving of hypersplenism.Results The success rate of operation was 100％.The average of operation time was 60 minutes.During follow-up,no stent angulation occurred,no gastrointestinal hemorrhage happened and no one died in all 15 patients after TIPS operation.There were four patients with hepatic encephalopathy in eight weeks after operation.The anemia of four patients improved compared with that before operation.Conclusions TIPS is a safe and effective threapy in the prevention of gastrointestinal hemorrhage in the patients with liver cirrhosis accompanied with severe gastroesophageal varices.It may become the primary prophylaxis for liver cirrhosis patients without upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

Objective To analyze the cause of delayed hemorrhage after minimally invasive percu- taneous nephrolithotomy(MPCNL),and to summarize the experience in the interventional treatment of severe bleeding after MPCNL by superselective arteriolar embolization.Methods The clinical data of 3812 cases of MPCNL from June 1998 to July 2004 were reviewed.Of them,12 patients(11 men and 1 woman;mean age,45 years)who developed severe hemorrhage after MPCNL were identified.The cause of hemorrhage and the treatment results were analyzed.Results The rate of delayed hemorrhage after MPCNL was 0.31% (12/3812).The mean time to onset of severe bleeding was 10 d after MPCNL.Renal arteriography was per- formed in all 12 patients,showing 5 arteriovenous fistulas and 7 false aneurysms.Superselective arteriolar em- bolization for hemostasis was performed in all 12 cases.All these vascular abnormalities were successfully treated by superselective embolization.Follow-up showed that the hematuria disappeared and renal function recovered well.Conclusions Severe hemorrhage following MPCNL is a rare complication,the incidence of which is significantly lower than that of conventional PCNL.The cause is mainly the arteriolar injury of re- nal puncture passage.Superselective embolization provides effective control of bleeding and currently consti- tutes the treatment of choice based on our experience.

In many pathogens infection,especially virus,antibody-dependent enhancement(ADE) can aggravate the infection and lead to severe diseases.In this immunopathological phenomenon,virus-specific antibodies enhance the entry of virus into monocytes,macrophages and granulocytic cells and even the replication of virus through different mechanism.This phenomenon has been reported in numerous pathogens including virus,bacteria and parasite and the mechanisms of ADE vary from different species.Further study of ADE can promote the vaccine research and development to make the most use of vaccine and prevent human body from pathogens,which will be helpful to control the spread of pathogens including Zika virus.In the present review,we review the research progress of ADE mechanism in recent years,including antibodies mediating,receptors mediating,complement mediating,viral proteins mediating and cellular mediating ADE.In addition,dengue virus,human immunodeficiency virus,Coxsackie virus,Ebola virus,Zika virus and other pathogens will be illustrated respectively.This review provides insights on the different mechanism of ADE in different pathogens.

Objective To evaluate effects of chronic arsenic exposure and arsenic exposure time on oxidative DNA lesions in humans. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in 108 subjects exposed to high concentrations of arsenic in drinking water and 75 control subjects. A cohort study was conducted in 64 subjects exposed to high levels of arsenic in drinking water for 7 or 9 years. Urinary 8-oxo-7,8-dihydredeoxygnanine(8-OHdG) levels were analyzed by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit(ELISA). Urinary arsenic concentration was detected with hydride generation atomic absorption spectroscopy. Results In the cross-sectional study, the median of urinary arsenic concentration was 484.17 mg/kg Cr for the arsenic-exposed group, and 13.80 mg/kg Cr for the control group, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (t=32.57, P<0.01). The median of urinary 8-OHdG levels was 16.60 and 21.88 mg/kg Cr for arsenic-exposed children and adults respectively, much higher than control children(10.50 mg/kg Cr) and adults (9.11 mg/kg Cr), and the difference was statistically significant (t=5.049, 6913, all P<0.01). Urinary 8-OHdG levels were signifieandy lower for children than adults in the exposed group(t=-1.997, P<0.05). In the cohort study, the median of urinary arsenic concentration was 461.3 mg/kg Cr for the 7-year-exposed subjects and 422.90 mg/kg Cr for the 9-year-expesed subjects, and no significant difference was observed(t=-0.250, P 0.05). The median of urinary 8- OHdG levels for 9-year-exposed children and adults were 23.46 and 24.30 mg/kg Cr respectively, significantly increased compared with those of 7-year-exposed(14.29 and 18.38 mg/kg Cr), and the difference had statical signhqcanees (t= -2.949,-3.055, all P<0.01). Conclusions Chronic arsenic exposure can lead to oxidative DNA lesions in humans. The arsenic-induced DNA lesions may aggravate with the exposure time in a certain period.

Objective To summarise the clinicopathologic features and survival of gastric cancer at different tumor locations.Methods A total of 942 adult gastric cancer patients undergoing curative gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy were recruited from the First Affiliated Hospital,Sun Yat-sen University,and examined retrospectively.In all cases,patients' age,gender,pTNM stage and survival time were identified and recorded.Results There were 208 carcinoma cases at gastroesophageal junction (GEJ,22.1％),261 fundus/body cases (27.7％),445 antrum/pylorus cases (47.2％) and 28 whole stomach cases (3.0％).Compared with fundus/body and antrum/pylorus carcinoma,GEJ carcinomas were more often seen in males,among older patients,with larger tumor size and deeper infiltrated tumors,higher stage and worse 5-year disease-free survivals.Whole stomach carcinoma had predilection in female,younger patients,and at later stages and worst 5-year disease-free survival.Conclusions Gastric carcinomas differ greatly in biologic behavior and prognosis by anatomic locations.GEJ carcinoma has independent biologic features.Whole stomach carcinoma is of the highest malignancy and worst prognosis.

The purpose of this study is to prepare T7 and TAT dual modified liposomes (T7-TAT-LIP) to penetrate through blood brain barrier and target to brain tumor cells. The liposomes were prepared with CFPE, T7 modified PEG-DSPE, TAT modified PEG-DSPE, soybean phospholipid, PEG-DSPE and cholesterol. The CFPE was used to track the cellular uptake efficiency. The density of T7 and TAT and the length of PEG were optimized, and then the liposomes were characterized by particle size, zeta potential, morphology and stability. Afterwards, the cellular uptake by bEnd.3 and C6 cells were evaluated. The results showed that the optimized parameters were 6% of T7, 0.5% of TAT, the molecular weight of PEG for T7 was 2000 and the molecular weight of PEG for TAT was 1000. After optimization, the particle size of T7-TAT-LIP was 118 nm, the zeta potential was -6.32 mV and the particles were spherical. The turbidity and particle size of liposomes were not obviously changed after 24 h incubation in PBS at 37 °C. The particle size and polydispersity index were also stable during 1 month incubation at 4-8 °C. The cellular uptake by both bEnd.3 and C6 cells of T7-TAT-LIP was higher than that of T7 or TAT modified liposomes, suggesting dual modified liposomes possessed better blood brain barrier targeting ability and brain tumor targeting ability than the single ligand modified liposomes.
Biological Transport ; Blood-Brain Barrier ; Brain Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Cell-Penetrating Peptides ; pharmacology ; Cholesterol ; Liposomes ; Particle Size ; Phosphatidylethanolamines ; Polyethylene Glycols

In this study, the effect of heparin-derived oligosaccharide (HDO) on platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) induced vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) proliferation and the related signal transduction mechanisms were investigated. MTT assays were used to measure VSMCs proliferation. Cell cycle distribution was analyzed by flow cytometry. The level of key regulatory proteins in PKC, MAPK and Akt/PI3K pathways were determined by RT-PCR, Western blot and immunocytochemical methods. Meanwhile, mRNA expressions of some proto-oncogenes were assayed by RT-PCR method. Our data showed that HDO (0.01, 0.1 and 1 μmol · L(-1)) inhibited 30 ng · mL(-1) PDGF-induced VSMCs proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, blocked the G1/S transition and inhibited the level of key regulatory proteins and some proto-oncogenes (P < 0.05). The results showed that HDO may decrease the key regulatory proteins expression, hence suppress the transcription of proto-oncogene and G1/S transition, finally inhibiting VSMCs proliferation.
Cell Cycle ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Flow Cytometry ; Heparin ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; cytology ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; cytology ; drug effects ; Oligosaccharides ; pharmacology ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Signal Transduction