OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of prostate stromal cells from different zones of normal prostate tissue on the growth of prostate cancer cells and their action mechanisms.

METHODSWe extracted stromal cells in the fresh normal prostatic tissue derived from the peripheral zone (PZ) or transitional zone (TZ), amplified them in vitro, and used the supernatants of the cells as conditioned media to culture hormone-resistant prostate cancer DU145 cells. We measured the growth curve of the tumor cells using the CCK8 method, determined the number and viability of the cells by trypan blue staining, evaluated their invasiveness by scratch test, and detected the effects of the stromal cells on the key enzymes in the glycolysis of the tumor cells by Western blot.

RESULTSThe conditioned medium with the PZ-derived stromal cells promoted, while that with the TZ-derived stromal cells inhibited the growth of the tumor cells. The former significantly increased, while the latter markedly decreased the expressions of the key enzymes hexokinase 2 (HK-2), pyruvate kinase 2 (PKM-2), lactate dehydrogenase (LDHA), and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) in the glycolysis of the tumor cells.

CONCLUSIONProstate stromal cells from different zones exert different influences on the growth of tumor cells, which may be associated with their different effects on the glycolysis of tumor cells.

Blotting, Western ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Proliferation ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; Glycolysis ; Humans ; Male ; Prostate ; cytology ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; pathology ; Stromal Cells ; physiology ; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Objective To investigate graduate students' common compulsory courses settings of the Military Medical University and put forward suggestions.Methods With self-made questionnaires,we investigate with simple random sampling all the concerned principals of teaching about their opinions of English,politics and statistics courses.Results Most of the experts thought graduate students should not be required to study English but test should be required(68.9％),that politics course was more than required (76.0％),and the percentage of the experts who thought the contents in graduate and undergraduate courses were less overlapped and more overlapped is respectively 47.9％ and 46.6％.Conclusion To satisfy scientific research needs of graduate students in military medical university,the common courses should be reformed,including teaching politics in various methods like lectures,taking software studying and experiment design into statistics,implementing the policy of students taking English test in the exemption of English study,etc.

Objective To investigate the protective effects and mechanisms of granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)on a rabbit model of chronic myocardial ischemia.Methods Myocardial ischemia models were created by partial ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery in Japanese white male rabbits.Rabbits were subcutaneously injected with G-CSF (G-CSF group)or saline (control group)for 6 days after myocardial ischemia.The percentage of CD34-positive cells in the peripheral blood was evaluated by flow cytometry,and CD34-positive cells homing and vWF expression in the ischemic myocardium were determined by immunohistochemistry.Results Rabbits in G-CSF group had a higher survival rate than those in control group (P <0.05).Immunohistochemistry of the ischemic myocardium showed that compared with control group,G-CSF group had increased homing of CD34-positive cells on day 7 post-surgery,and more vessels on day 28 post-surgery by anti-von Willebrand factor staining.In addition,we observed an increase in the percentage of CD34-positive cells in the peripheral blood in G-CSF group.Conclusion G-CSF produces an obvious protective effect against chronic myocardial ischemia in rabbits by increasing stem cell mobilization,homing to ischemic myocardium and accelerating neovascularization.

Objective To explore the efficacy and safety of high-dose methotrexate (MTX) and L-asparaginase (L-Asp) for the treatment of adult patients with high risk Ph acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).Methods Five adult patients with high risk Ph-ALL were treated with several courses of MTX (3-5 g/m2 by continually intravenous drip for 24 h) and L-Asp (8 000-10 000 U/time, once a day, 10 times for one cycle).Results Five patients were disease-free survival, their survival time was 60-96 months and the median survival time was 73 months.The chemotherapy-related bone marrow depression was mild.No obvious liver and kidney damage, severe allergic reaction and pancreatitis were observed.Conclusion Highdose MTX and L-Asp are effective and well tolerated, and may contribute to long-term survival of adult patients with high risk Ph-ALL.

Objective To analyze the serum level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25-(OH) D] in pregnant women in Nanjing and its relationship with age,gestational week,pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and season,so as to provide some guidance on clinical application of vitamin D measurement and supplementation.Methods 880 pregnant women (in 21-36 gestational weeks) regularly visiting antenatal clinic in Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University were selected from January to December 2015.Their serum 25-(OH)D concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results The mean serum 25-(OH) D concentration in these pregnant women was (42.03 ± 19.22) nmol/L and sufficient in only 42 (4.77％).Vitamin D levels showed seasonal variation (P =0.0164),with the levels in summer [(44.61 ±23.57) nmol/L] and autumn [(43.43 ± 19.31) nmol/L] being higher than spring [(39.68 ± 16.91) nmol/L] and winter [(39.65 ± 13.36) nmol/L].There was no statistically significant difference in serum vitamin D level among different gestational weeks (P =0.929 4).There was statistically significant difference in serum vitamin D level among different age groups (P =0.038 3).Vitamin D level was not associated with pre-pregnancy BMI.Conclusions Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent among pregnant women in Nanjing.We suggest vitamin D testing be carried out more actively.

Background Lasein situ keratomileusi(LASIK) imainstream surgery forefractive correction,and femtosecond laseimuch often used to create thin corneal flap.The measuremenof OPTOVUE RTVue-100 OCto flap and stromal bed thicknesseofferuseful basifoLASIK.Ican be used in measuring the thicknesand shape of the corneal flap.Buthe study on the comparison of flap thicknesbetween WavelighFS200 femtosecond laseand MoriM2 microkeratome 90 μm-knife (Mori90 microkeratome) LASIK by OCilack.Objective The aim of thitrial wato compare the featureof corneal flapcreated by the WavelighFS200 femtosecond laseand Mori90 microkeratome.Methodpiloand prospective study wadesigned.Written informed consenwaobtained from each patienprioto LASIK.Sixty righeyeof 60 patientwith myopiomyopiastigmatism were enrolled in thiclinical trial.The patientwere randomized into the FS200 femtosecond lasegroup and Mori90 microkeratome group with matching demography.RTVue OCwaused to measure flap thicknesusing 10 settingon the 60 eye1 month afteoperation.The featureof the LASIK flapwere analyzed based on the measuring outcomes.ResultThe central flap thickneswa(112±3) μm and the mean flap thickneswa(112 ±3) μm in the FS200 femtosecond lasegroup,which wasignificanlowethan the central flap thicknesa(121±7) μm and the mean flap thicknesa(128±11) μm in the Mori90 microkeratome group respectively (P=0.031,0.030).Corneal flapin the FS200 femtosecond lasegroup showed flashape and thain the Mori90 microkeratome group wameniscushape.The central flap thickneswanoevidently differenfrom thaof peripheral thicknesin the FS200 femtosecond lasegroup (P =0.320).However,in the Mori90 microkeratome group,the central flap thickneswaobviously thinnethan thain the peripheral thicknes(P=0.038).The mean deviation between the actual and predicted flap thicknes(110 μm) wa(3±4)μm in the FS200 femtosecond lasegroup and (17±10) μm in the Mori90 microkeratome group,showing significandifference between them (P =0.009).ConclusionRTVue OCdeterminethathe shape of flapcreated by the FS200 femtosecond laseimore uniform and closeto the expected thicknesof 110 μm than the onecreated by the Mori90 microkeratome.OPTOVUE RTVue-100 OCiuseful tool to evaluate the flap shape and thicknesafteLASIK.

The contribution of particles to cardiovascular mortality and morbidity has been enlightened by epidemiologic and experimental studies. However, adverse biological effects of the particles with different sizes on cardiovascular cells have not been well recognized. In this study, sub-cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were exposed to increasing concentrations of pure quartz particles (DQ) of three sizes (DQPM1, <1 μm; DQPM3-5, 3-5 μm; DQPM5, 5 μm) and carbon black particles of two sizes (CB0.1, <0.1 μm; CB1, <1 μm) for 24 h. Cytotoxicity was estimated by measuring the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and cell viability. Nitric oxide (NO) generation and cytokines (TNF-α and IL-1β) releases were analyzed by using NO assay and enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. It was found that both particles induced adverse biological effects on HUVECs in a dose-dependent manner. The size of particle directly influenced the biological activity. For quartz, the smaller particles induced stronger cytotoxicity and higher levels of cytokine responses than those particles of big size. For carbon black particles, CB0.1 was more capable of inducing adverse responses on HUVECs than CB1 only at lower particle concentrations, in contrast to those at higher concentrations. Meanwhile, our data also revealed that quartz particles performed stronger cell damage and produced higher levels of TNF-α than carbon black particles, even if particles size was similar. In conclusion, particle size as well as particle composition should be both considered in assessing vascular endothelial cells injury and inflammation responses induced by particles.

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of filiform fire-needling plus continuous passive motion (CPM) therapy for frozen shoulder. Methods: A total of 72 patients were randomized into an observation group and a control group by the random number table method, with 36 cases in each group. Patients in the control group received celecoxib capsule plus CPM, while those in the observation group received filiform fire-needling plus CPM. The whole course of treatment lasted for 2 weeks in both groups. The visual analog scale (VAS), Constant-Murley score (CMS) and range of motion of shoulder joint were measured for therapeutic efficacy evaluation. Results: The total effective rate was 91.7％ in the observation group, higher than 72.2％ in the control group, and the between-group comparison showed statistical significance (P<0.05). After treatment, the VAS scores in the two groups dropped significantly, the CMS as well as the range of motion including abduction, forward flexion and extension were all increased significantly, and the intra-group comparisons showed statistical significance (all P<0.05). The betweengroup comparisons showed the improvements in these items in the observation group were more significant than those in the control group (all P<0.05). Conclusion: Filiform fire-needling plus CPM can produce more significant efficacy than celecoxib capsule plus CPM for frozen shoulder; it can alleviate pain, improve shoulder function and restore joint range of motion in such patients.

Objective To establish a model based on Random Forest algorithm that can accurately predict the phlegm-dampness constitution in traditional Chinese medicine and find out the relevant important characteristics.Methods After data preprocessing,a total of 2710 subjects were included,50%of which were phlegm-dampness constitutions;The RFECV method was used to implement feature selection,and the selected feature subset was used to construct the prediction model of phlegm-dampness constitution based on random forest,and the performance of the prediction model was evaluated by six indicators:accuracy,precision,sensitivity,specificity,F1-score and AUC,and compared with SVM and logistic regression models.Results A total of 16 features were used in the prediction model of phlegm-dampness constitution by RFECV feature selection method.In the modeling group and the validation group,the prediction accuracy of the random forest model was 0.907,0.814,the accuracy was 0.936 and 0.827,the sensitivity was 0.885 and 0.806,the specificity was 0.932 and 0.822,the F1-score was 0.910 and 0.816,and the AUC value was 0.970 and 0.901,respectively,which were higher than those of the other two prediction models.Conclusion The prediction model of phlegm-dampness constitution of traditional Chinese medicine based on the random forest model has good performance.This study provides methodological reference for objectified model of TCM constitution type prediction.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of irinotecan combined with xeloda (CAPIRI regimen) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer after failure of chemotherapy with oxaliplatin.

METHODSTotally 38 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer after failure of chemotherapy with oxaliplatin were enrolled. Patients received xeloda 1 000 mg/m2 orally twice daily on day 1 to 14 and intravenous irinotecan 100 mg/m2 on day 1 and 8 every 3 weeks.

RESULTSThe median age of 38 patients was 58.5 (27-77) years. CAPIRI regimen was used 11.0 (3.0-24.0) months after the diagnosis of metastatic colorectal cancer (CAPIRI regimen as second-line chemotherapy in 33 patients, third-line in 4 patients, and fourth-line in 1 patient). A total of 121 cycles of chemotherapy (median 3.0) were administered. Thirty-four patients were evaluable for response. The overall response rate and disease control rate were 5.9% and 61.8%, respectively. The median time to progression and overall survival were 4.5 months (95% CI, 3.4-5.6 months) and 11.0 months (95% CI, 10.2-11.8 months), respectively. All 38 patients were evaluable for safety. The most common adverse events were leukopenia (73.7%), neutropenia (65.8%), nausea and vomiting (60.5%), and diarrhea (28.9%). The occurrence rates of these grade 3-4 events were 10.5%, 13.2%, 10.5%, and 7.9%, respectively. All adverse events were tolerable.

CONCLUSIONCAPIRI regimen is effective and well-tolerated in Chinese patients with metastatic colorectal cancer after failure of chemotherapy with oxaliplatin.

Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Camptothecin ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; Capecitabine ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Deoxycytidine ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Organoplatinum Compounds ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome