Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Meningitis, Meningococcal ; diagnosis

Histone lysine methyltransferase EZH2 has been reported to be frequently overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and associated with hepatocarcinogenesis. However, the exact mechanism of EZH2 up-regulation in HCC has not been determined. In this study, we used murine hepatocyte AML12 cells to investigate the role of hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) in regulating the expression of mEZH2. Western blot analysis demonstrated that the expression level of mEZH2 protein in AML12 cells was up-regulated by HBx in a dose-dependent manner. To further investigate the mechanism of mEZH2 overexpression, the 2500 bp regulatory sequence upstream from the first exon of the mEZH2 gene was amplified from AML12 genomic DNA and constructed into a luciferase reporter plasmid. The luciferase activity of the mEZH2 promoter significantly increased in AML12 cells co-transfected with HBx plasmid, and deleting the -486/-214 promoter region decreased HBx-induced mEZH2 promoter activation by nearly 50%. The -486/-214 region was then analyzed in the TRANSFAC 6.0 database and a typical E2F1-binding site was found. Mutation of this E2F1-binding site or knockdown of E2F1 expression by RNAi led to a dramatic decrease in HBx-induced activation of the mEZH2 promoter and mEZH2 overexpression in AML12 cells. These results provide evidence that HBx up-regulates mEZH2 expression by transactivating the mEZH2 promoter through E2F1 transcription factor, thereby providing new epigenetic evidence for the carcinogenic effect of HBx.
Animals ; Binding Sites ; Cell Line ; E2F1 Transcription Factor ; genetics ; Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 Protein ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; metabolism ; virology ; Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Mice ; Plasmids ; Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; genetics ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Trans-Activators ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transfection ; Up-Regulation

Objective To investigate the curative effect of YU Yun pulse-feeling-based acupuncture therapy for the treatment of middle-late liver cancer. Methods A total of 60 middle-late liver cancer patients were divided into control group and treatment group by stratified randomization method,30 cases in each group. The control group was given integrated Chinese and western medicine therapy according to the clinical pathway, including anti-cancer treatment such as vascular interrention,molecular targeted therapy,chemotherapy,radio therapy, and focal ablation therapy,as well as chinese medicine treatment based on disease differentiation and syndrome differentiation. And the treatment group was given YU Yun pulse-feeling-based acupuncture therapy on the basis of treatment for the control group. The two groups received 12-week treatment, and then their curative effects were compared. Results The treatment group had better effect on increasing the survival rate, prolonging survival time, improving the scores of clinical symptoms, stabilizing tumor size, and increasing the scores of Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS)than the control group,the difference being significant (P < 0.05 or P <0.01). Conclusion YU Yun pulse-feeling-based acupuncture therapy exerts certain curative effect for the treatment of middle-late liver cancer.

OBJECTIVETo understand the distribution of chronic disease related behavior and lifestyle in adults from Beijing.

METHODS16,658 adult residents from Beijing city were randomly selected with stratified multi-stage cluster sampling method in 2005. Each participant was invited to receive a set of standardized questionnaire, physical examinations and laboratory tests.

RESULTSIn the adults living in Beijing, 33.2% were overweight and 16.4% were obesive. The current smoking rate was 26.2% and the regular smoking rate was 21.4%. 57.7% of the male and 4.6% of the female adults were current smokers. In male adults, 64.3% drank alcoholic beverage at least once per month while 16.1% drank almost everyday, 16.5% drank more alcohol than moderate, and 18.5% were binge drinkers. 46.0% of Beijing adults were in lack of active physical exercise. Unhealthy dietary habits such as:excess consumption of sodium or oil, lower intake of vegetable, milk and soybean productions, skipping breakfast, fond of salted vegetable and fried food intake, as well as eating snacks etc. were quite commonly seen in the adults from Beijing. In addition, most of the risk factors had a higher prevalence in the suburban areas and population at working-age.

CONCLUSIONThe prevalence rate of chronic risk factors was still high in adults of Beijing. Effective interventions should be carried out to prevent further worsening of the situation, especially in the suburban areas and people at working-age.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alcohol Drinking ; epidemiology ; China ; epidemiology ; Chronic Disease ; epidemiology ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Life Style ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Obesity ; epidemiology ; Overweight ; epidemiology ; Smoking ; epidemiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

Objective To summarize the clinical experience in the replacement of the damaged sec- ond metacarpophalangeal joint with the second metatarsophalangeal joint with a pedicle of dorsal pedis artery and great saphcnous vein.Methods The damaged second metacarpophalangeal joint,distal part of the sec- ond metacarpal and proximal part of the proximal phalanx were dissected.The metatarsophalangeal joint was transferred to the region of metacarpophalangeal joint of hand.The dorsal pedis artery was anastomosed to the radial artery,and the great saphenous vein was anastomosed to the cephalic vein at anatomical snuff-box.The dissected bones of the hand removed of the cartilage of joint and soft tissue were grafted back to the donor site of the foot.Results A 5～30 month follow-up study in 8 out of 11 cases showed that satisfactory functional recovery was achieved in clinical practice.The movement of second metacarpophalangeal joint was excellent. Conclusion The function of the second metacarpophalangeal joint can be effectively recovered by the trans- fer of the vascularized second metatarsophalangeal joint.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of bi-calutamide combine with goserelin in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.Methods Fifty cases of advanced prostate cancer patients were randomly divided into treatment group (25 cases) and control group (25 cases).Treatment group was given oral bicalutamide 50 mg, qd +sub-cutaneous goserelin 3.6 mg, once 4 weeks, a monthly review of serum prostate-specific antigen ( PSA ) content , when the serum PSA <0.2 ng· mL-1, disabled two drugs, when PSA>4 ng· mL-1, begin a new round of treatment.Control group was given the continuous dosing , the same dosage and usage as the treatment group.The course of treatment for two groups was 12 months.Comparison of the clinical efficacy , serum PSA value and adverse drug reactions.Results After 6, 9, 12 months of treatment , the clinical efficacy of treatment group was significantly higher than that of control group (P<0.05).After 3, 6, 9, 12 months of treatment , the serum PSA value was significantly lower than that of before treatment ( P<0.05 ) , and there was no significant difference in serum PSA between the two groups at each time point ( P>0.05 ).The main adverse drug reactions of the two groups were the castration syndrome , blood vessel contraction , osteoporosis , and liver toxicity, and the incidence rate of adverse drug reactions were not statistically different between the two groups ( P>0.05 ).Conclusion The clinical efficacy of intermittent administration for bicalutamide combined with goserelin in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer was significantly better than the continuous dosing , without increasing the incidence of adverse drug reactions.

Objective To analyze existent problems of standards of the nursing offered to inpatients, and provide evidence for constituting united standards of the nursing offered to inpatients. Methods Totally 30 experts of nursing management were surveyed by questionnaire on existent questions of standards of the nursing offered to inpatients. Results The rate of agreement was 49.27% among 30 experts of nursing management about the problems of existent standards. The rate of agreement was 45.18% among them about the imminence degree of amending existent standards. Conclusions There are some problems of the existent standards of the nursing offered to inpatients. It is extremely urgent to constitute united and new standards of the nursing offered to patients.

OBJECTIVETo explore the role of cytokines and keratinocytes in the survival mechanism of mixed auto and allogeneic skin grafting.

METHODSThirty-six SD rats were employed in the study. The rat model with mixed auto and allogeneic skin grafting and mixed human epithelial and lymphocytic culture (MELC) model were established. The change of IL-10 in the serum and the supernatant of the cultured tissue sample from the local wound was observed after the mixed skin grafting in scalded rats. And the role of epithelium in the induction of immunosuppression in vitro was monitored.

RESULTSThe serum IL-10 content in the rats with mixed skin grafting (25.89 +/- 2.82 ng/L) at 7 postoperative day (POD) was evidently higher than that in normal rats (14.20 +/- 2.43 ng/L) (P < 0.05). The IL-10 content in the culture supernatant of rat tissue samples exhibited evident different during 4-14 PODs (P < 0.05-0.01), while which was no difference to that in normal rat on 21st and 28th POD. The inhibiting effects of autologous epithelia and keratinocytes in MELC system were correlated with their dosage. After the adding of autologous keratinocytes to MELC system the cytokines secreted from Th1 could induce the secretion of cytokines from Th2 by IL-10 mediation. This effect could be corrected by the addition of monoclonal antibody of IL-10.

CONCLUSIONThe keratinocytes inlayed in the autoskin during mixed grafting could increase the local IL-10 level by activating Th2 cells, which might be one of the important reasons of the survival of mixed skin grafting.

Animals ; Burns ; immunology ; surgery ; Cytokines ; metabolism ; Giant Cells, Langhans ; cytology ; Graft Survival ; immunology ; Humans ; Interleukin-10 ; metabolism ; Keratinocytes ; cytology ; Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Skin Transplantation ; immunology ; Th2 Cells ; metabolism ; Transplantation, Autologous ; Transplantation, Homologous

To investigate the cell-killing effect and its possible mechanism of rClone30-hDR5 in combination with TRAIL on human hepatic carcinoma (HCC) cell line, first of all, recombinant plasmid pee12.4-hDR5 was introduced into HepG2 cells by liposome transfection. After five rounds of screening by flow cytometry, HepG2 cells expressing high levels of DR5 on cell surface were isolated. The cytotoxicity of TRAIL to selected cells was higher than that of TRAIL to HepG2 cells by MTT method (P < 0.01). The result suggested that the cloned hDR5 gene had biological activity. MTT assay showed that, rClone30- hDR5 in combination with TRAIL more efficiently inhibited the tumor growth of HepG2 cells compared to rClone30-hDR5 or TRAIL in vitro. The results of Annexin V-FITC/PI staining and Quantitative Real-time PCR indicated that rClone30-hDR5 in combination with TRAIL significantly increased the mRNA levels of caspase 3 and caspase 8, and induced the apoptosis of tumor cells. HepG2 cells were infected with rClone30-hDR5 or rClone30 at MOI of 1. The expression of hDR5 on tumor surface increased significantly by rClone30-hDR5 compared to that by rClone30, which contributed to the sensitivity to TRAIL. In conclusion, rClone30-hDR5 in combination with TRAIL has potential application value in cancer treatment.
Apoptosis ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; pathology ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Caspase 8 ; metabolism ; Drug Synergism ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; pathology ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand ; pharmacology ; TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand ; pharmacology ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo explore the feasibility of single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) as one of lab tests to examine DNA breakage for the diagnosis of Fanconi anemia (FA). Case Record A 4-year-and-10-month old boy presented with cryptorchism, deformities of both thumbs and esotropia of right eye. He developed thrombocytopenia and anemia when he was 3 year- and -2-month old. He was clinically diagnosed as FA.

METHODS AND RESULTSDNA breakage of peripheral white blood cells from the patient and his parents was examined with SCGE. The percentages of cells with chromosome breakage (comet-tail positive cells) were 100%, 90% and 52% for the patient,his father and mother, respectively, while that were only 2% and 5% in two normal same-age children (P <0. 001). The micronucleus-positive lymphocytes was 6.74% in the patient, being also much higher than normal value (0.40%).

CONCLUSIONSCGE disclosed DNA breakage in the patient with FA, suggesting that it could be used as a test for determining DNA breakage of FA.

Child, Preschool ; Comet Assay ; Fanconi Anemia ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Male