Background and purpose:Smac/DIABLO was the only apoptosis-related protein that could inhibit IAPs directly and simultaneously.The four amino-residual AVPI(Ala-Val-Pro-lie)in its N-terminal was the very important domain that could stimulate apoptosis.This study investigated the effect of synthetic Smac peptide (SmacN7) on chemotherapy sensitivity of bladder cancer cells.Methods:SmacN7 penetratin peptide was synthesized and delivered into T24 cells.MTT assay was adopted to evaluate the viability of T24 cells induced by low-dosage of MMC. Flow cytometry was applied to analyze the proportion of apoptosis and Western blot was used to detect the expression of XIAP and caspase-3;The activity of caspase-3 was measured and the effect of SmacN7 combined with MMC on T24 cell lines was also determined.Results:SmacN7 penetratin peptide could successfully interact with endogenous XIAP and increase the proportions of apoptosis of T24 cell lines induced by low-dosage of MMC in a dose-and time- dependent manner.An obvious down-regulation of XIAP expression and up-regulation of caspase-3 was identified by Western blot.The activity of caspase-3 in experimental group was significantly increased as compared with that in the control group;Combining the treatment with SmacN7 penetratin peptide,the viability of T24 cells decreased to 55% and 72.7% in 24 hrs and 48 hrs respectively.Conclusion:SmacN7 penetratin peptide could act as a cell-permeable IAP inhibitor,inhibit the proliferation,induce apoptosis and enhance the chemo-sensitivity of bladder cancer cells to MMC. When combined with chemotherapy,it may be a very promising strategy for bladder cancer therapy.

Objective To explore the inhibition of different immunosuppressive drugs or immunosuppressive combination regiments on the development of de novo donor specific antibodies (dnDSA).Methods We used BABL/c mice and C57BL/6 mice alloimmunized using donor splenocytes for establishing model of producing dnDSA.After that,mice were divided into 10 groups,and were administrated with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF,300 mg· kg-1 · d-1);sirolimus (0.3 mg·kg-1 ·d-1);tacrolimus(0.9 mg· kg-1 · d-1);cyclosporine A (45 mg· kg-1 · d-1);MMF (150 mg· kg-1· d-1) + tacrolimus(0.45 mg · kg-1 · d-1);MMF (150 mg · kg-1 · d-1) + cyclosporine A (22.5 mg·kg-1 ·d-1);MMF (150 mg·kg-1 ·d-1) + sirolimus (0.15 mg·kg-1 ·d-1);sirolimus (0.15 mg· kg-1 · d-1) + tacrolimus (0.45 mg· kg-1 · d-1);sirolimus (0.15 mg· kg-1 · d-1) + cyclosporine A (22.5 mg· kg-1 · d-1);and placebo;respectively.Anti-serum was harvested and tested using flow cytometry.Results (1) Four weeks after sensitization,the dnDSA level in BALB/c and C57BL/6 group was 88.86％ and 25.58％.Comparing with control group(25.33％),there was a significant increase in BALB/c group(89.23％ versus 25.33％;P＜0.001),whereas no change was found in C57BL/6 group (25.58％ versus 25.33％;P =0.259),that we chose BABL/c mice as the model for sensitization.(2)After 4 weeks of sensitization and immunosupression,dnDSA level was 29.31％,46.33％,57.10％ and 66.35％ in MMF,sirolimus,cyclosporine A and tacrolimus monotherapy group respectively.In comparison to sensitization group,dnDSA level in all monotherapy arm reduced significantly.Intra-group analysis found MMF monotherapy had the most effective inhibition of dnDSA production,sirolimus came the second,and tacrolimus and cyelosporine A had equivalent effectiveness.dnDSA level was 31.00％,33.12％,45.18％,44.62％ and 61.60％ in MMF+ sirolimus,MMF+ tacrolimus,MMF+ cyclosporine A,sirolimus + cyclosporine A and sirolimus + tacrolimus combination treatment arm,respectively,which was much lower than that of sensitization group (P＜0.001,P＜0.001,P＜0.001,P＜0.001,P =0.015).MMF + tacrolimus and MMF+ sirolimus combination treatment had comparable effectiveness in dnDSA inhibition,which is greater than that of the rest of three combination.Conclusion Our data show that the effects of single immunosuppressive drugs on the level of dnDSA is MMF＞sirolimus＞cyclosporine A =tacrolimus,and that in combination regimens is MMF + tacrolimus =MMF + sirolimus＞MMF + cyclosporine A =sirolimus + cyclosporine A =sirolimus + tacrolimus.In conclusion,this study demonstrates that MMF+ tacrolimus combination treatment arm can minimize the development of dnDSA.But,this conclusion remains to be confirmed by future clinical studies.

Emerging evidence has indicated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play pivotal roles in the regulation of cellular processes and are found to be aberrantly expressed in a variety of tumors.However,the clinical role of circRNAs in bladder cancer (BC) and the molecular mechanisms have yet to be fully understood.In this study,the clinical specimens were obtained and the expression level of a circRNA BCRC4 was detected by real-time PCR in both BC tissues and cell line.The circular RNA over-expression plasmid was constructed and transfected into BC cells and related cell line.The cell cycles and apoptosis were observed using inverted microscope and flow cytometry.Western blotting was used to compare the relative protein expression of groups with different treatments.It was found that circRNA BCRC4 expression was lower in BC tissues than in adjacent normal tissues.Furthermore,consequences of fomed-expression of BCRC4 promoted apoptosis and inhibited viability of T24T and UMUC3 cells,and up-regulated BCRC4-inereased miR-101 level,which suppressed EZH2 expression in both RNA and protein levels.In addition,gambogic acid (GA) is a promising natural anticancer compound for BC therapy,and GA treatment increased the BCRC4 expression in T24T and UMUC3 cells in a dose-dependent manner.Altogether,our findings suggest that BCRC4 functions as a tumor suppressor in BC,and mediates anticancer function,at least in part,by up-regulating the expression of miR-101.Targeting this newly identified circRNA may help us develop a novel strategy for treating human BC.

The effects of dietary supplementation with Clostridium butyricum on growth performance and humoral immune response in Miichthys miiuy were evaluated. One hundred and fifty Miichthys miiuy weighing approximately 200-260 g were divided into five groups and reared in 15 tanks with closed circuiting culture system. The animals were fed 5 diets: basal diet only (control) or supplemented of the basal diet with C. butyricum at doses of 10(3) (CB1), 10(5) (CB2), 10(7) (CB3) or 10(9) (CB4) CFU/g. Compared with the control, the serum phenoloxidase activity was significantly increased by the supplementation (P<0.05), acid phosphatases activity was increased significantly (P<0.05) at the doses of 10(9) CFU/g. Serum lysozyme activity peaked at dose of 10(7) CFU/g and in the skin mucus at dose of 10(9) CFU/g. Immunoglobulin M level in the serum and skin mucus was increased except at dose of 10(3) CFU/g (P<0.05). The growth at the dose of 10(9) CFU/g was higher than that of the control (P<0.05). It is concluded that supplementation of C. butyricum can mediate the humoral immune responses and improve the growth performance in Miichthys miiuy.
Animal Feed ; microbiology ; Animals ; Antibody Formation ; physiology ; Clostridium butyricum ; immunology ; Dietary Supplements ; microbiology ; Fishes ; growth & development ; immunology ; Probiotics ; administration & dosage

The paper is aimed to study the difference in yield and quality at different harvest time and determine the optimum harvest of planting Gentiana in Ludian traditional harvest period. The authors analyzed the variation in fresh weight, dry weight, dry discount rate, length, diameter, volume and the content of gentiopicroside, loganin acid, alcohol-soluble extract and total ash and made a comprehensive appraisal of yield, appearance quality and intrinsic quality by gray relational distance ideal Comprehensive Evaluation method. The results showed that there is a big difference in yield and quality both 2-year-old and 3-year-old Gentiana harvested in traditional harvest period and the comprehensive evaluation more better when harvested more later. It can be seen, Gentiana harvested the later had a better yield and quality in Ludian traditional harvest period. The harvest of Gentiana can be appropriate delayed depending on the particular circumstances of production.
Agriculture ; methods ; China ; Gentiana ; anatomy & histology ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Iridoid Glucosides ; metabolism ; Organ Size ; Quality Control ; Time Factors

Background Doxycycline is a broad spectrum antibiotic,and it is frequently used in the treatment of ocular surface diseases.Objective The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of doxycycline on the inhibition of cell proliferation in bovine corneal myofibroblasts in vitro and assess its contribution to ocular surface repairing mechanism.Methods Six fresh bovine corneas were collected.The corneal stromal layer was isolated by two-step method of 1.0 g/L and 2.0 g/L collegenase-1.Isolated cells were plated at mantaryay culture flask in 10％ FBS of RPMI-1640.Vimentin and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) organization were evaluated by immunocytochemistry,and the cells with influoresccence staining for vimentin and α-SMA were identified as the corneal myofibroblasts.Doxycycline at the concentrations of 10,20,40,60,80 mg/L was added to the medium,respectively,in different concentrations of doxycycline groups.Dexamethasone (120 mg/L)was used in the same way in the positive control group,and no drug was used in the negative control group.Cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT and the cell cycle was analyzed by BD FACScan flow cytometer assay 24 hours and 48 hours after addition of any drug.Results The cells grew well and showed the positive response for vimentin and α-SMA.MTT assay showed that the A570values of bovine corneal myofibroblasts were gradually declined with the increase of the concentration of doxycycline and lapse of active time,showing statistically significant difference (Fconcentration =1233.778,P＜0.001 ; Ftime =227.564,P ＜ 0.001).And the difference between the two factors was also statistically significant (Ftime*concentration =51.656,P＜0.001).Flow cytometry cell cycle analysis showed that 24 hours after 10,20,40,60,80 mg/L doxycycline treated,the perentage of of corneal myofibroblast cell in G0-G1 phase was 82.85％,84.36％,85.18％,87.12 ％ and 89.31％,showing significant increase in comparison with 63.89％ of the negative control group (all P＜0.05),and that of 40 mg/L doxycycline group was near the positive control group.Forty-eight hours after 10,20,40,60,80 mg/L doxycycline treated,the perentage of of corneal myofibroblast cell in G0-G1 phase was 82.78％,86.15％,88.23％,89.57％,93.00％,with significant increase in comparison with 70.17％ of the negative control group (all P ＜ 0.01),and that of 40 mg/L doxycycline group was near the positive control group.Conclusions The growth of the bovine corneal myofibroblasts is inhibited by doxycycline in time-and dosedependent manner in the range from 10 mg/L to 80 mg/L,and 40 mg/L of doxycycline has an obviously inhibitory action as 120 mg/L dexamethasone.

Objective To investigate the clinical features of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP)in patients with autoimmune diseases.Methods The data from 12 patients with autoimmune diseases who were hospitalized in Peking Union Medical College Hospital because of developing PCP were retrospectively reviewed.Clinical characteristics and T cell subsets in the peripheral blood were analyzed.Results The main clinical manifestations of these 12 patients were fever(12/12),cough(9/ 12),expectoration(9/12)and obvious dyspnea(12/12),which were progressive.Blood gas analysis presented with typeⅠrespiratory failure.Bilateral interstitial and alveolar infiltrates were observed in chest X-ray film.The counts of peripheral blood lymphocytes(0.44?0.31)?10~9/L,CD4~+ T-lymphocytes (0.120?0.079)?10~9/L and CD8~+ T-lymphocytes were(0.248?0.252)?10~9/L decreased significantly and the CD4/CD8 ratio reversed,which were significantly different from those of healthy person(P

Objective To study on the difference of plasma renin activity ( PRA),angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang Ⅱ ),and aldosterone levels in patients with essential hypertension (EH) or primary aldosteronism (PA) or pheochromocytoma (PHEO),and to analyze the sensitivity and specificity on the diagnosis of PA among patients with hypertension with aldosterone/PRA ratio (ARR).Methods The plasma aldosterone,Ang Ⅱ and PRA concentrations in supine and upright positions were measured by radioimmunoassay from 413 patients including idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA,n =111 ),aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA,n=l18),PHEO (n=98) and EH (n=86).ARR was calculated.Results Plasma aldosterone concentrations in both of supine and upright positions in PHEO group [ 374 (294,465 ) pmol/L and 629 (449,997) pmol/L] and PA group [471 (346,632) pmol/L and 673(499,825) pmol/L] were higher than those in EH group [ 277 (224,332) pmol/L and 427 (341,501 ) pmol/L ] (P ＜ 0.01 ).They were also higher in APA group [576 (416,731 ) pmol/L and 726 (554,906 )pmol/L ] than those in IHA group [399(313,504) pmol/L and 609(485,776)pmol/L ] (P ＜0.01).Ang Ⅱ levels in both positions were lower in PA group [43.2(26.4,74.4) ng/L and 60.1(38.5,103.6) ng/L] than in EH group [56.7 (43.3,78.9) ng/L and 84.3(61.3,108.4) ng/L] or PHEO group [54.3(29.9,101.5) ng/L and 102.8 (49.9,167.0) ng/L] (all P values ＜ 0.01 ),and there was no difference between IHA and APA group (P ＞ 0.05 ).The PRA level in both positions of each group were PHEO group [ 0.3 (0.2,1.0) μg ·L-1 · h-1 and 1.4(0.6,3.4) μg · L-1 · h-1] ＞EH group [0.2(0.1,0.4)μg · L-1 · h-1 and 0.6(0.4,1.0)μg· L-1 ·h-1] (P＜0.01) ＞PAgroup [0.1(0.1,0.1)μg· L-1 · h-1 and 0.2(0.1,0.3)μg·L-1 · h-1] (P＜0.01),and APA group [0.1(0.1,0.1)μg · L-1 · h-1 and0.1(0.1,0.3)μg · L-1 ·h - 1 ] ＜ IHA group [ 0.1 ( 0.1,0.2 ) μg · L - 1 · h - 1 and 0.2 (0.1,0.3 ) μg · L-1 · h - 1 ] ( supine P ＜0.01 ; upright P ＜ 0.05 ).APA was divided into 2 types with renin-Ang Ⅱ -responsive APA ( n =26) and unresponsive APA (n =92).The plasma aldosterone concentration was lower in supine position but higher in upright position in renin-Ang Ⅱ-responsive APA than in unresponsive APA patients.ARR in upright was higher in PA group ( P ＜ 0.01 ) but lower in PHEO group ( P ＜ 0.05 ) compared with EH.ARR was higher in APA than in IHA (P ＜0.01 ).The sensitivity and specificity of ARR as 40 (aldosterone unit:ng/dl;PRA unit:μg · L-1 · h-1; its value should multiply 27.7 when transferred to pmol/L,simili) were 93％ and 76％,respectively.Conclusion The levels of PRA,Ang Ⅱ and aldosterone from patients with EH,PA and PHEO are significant different.ARR as 40 in upright position could be used for PA screening cutoff point.

Objective To explore the investigate of X-chromosome-linked inhibitor of apoptosis pro- tein(XIAP)and its effect on chemotherapeutic sensitivity in bladder carcinoma.Methods Using immu- nohistochemistry methods,the expression of XIAP was evaluated in 47 bladder carcinomas and 6 normal bladder tissues.The XIAP gene was transfected into bladder cancer cell line T24 by liposome and the positive clone was screened by G418.Cellular XIAP mRNA level was detected by RT-PCR.The apoptosis of T24 cells was induced by low-dose of mitocycin C(0.005 mg/ml and 0.05 mg/ml,respectively).The in vitro cellular growth activities were assayed by MTT color imetry;and the apoptosis rate was assayed by TUNEL methods. Results The expression rate of XIAP was 78.7%(37/47)in bladder carcinoma samples,with no corre- lation with carcinoma stages and grades(P＞0.05).XIAP mRNA level in transfected T24 ceils was signifi- cantly increased by 3.8 times.Treated with 0.005 mg/ml and 0.05 mg/ml of mitomycin C,the growth rates of XIAP transfected T24 cells were increased [(11.60?0.25)% and(16.51?0.87)% ,respectively,P＜0.05];and the apoptosis rates were decreased [(10.1?0.2)% and( 11.9?0.2)% ,respectively,P＜0.05]compared with those in control cells.Conclusions XIAP is highly expressed in humun bladder car- cinoma samples.Overexpression of XIAP in T24 cells results in decrease in bladder carcinoma cell apoptosis induced by MMC,which may decrease the chemotherapeutic sensitivity of T24 cells.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the feasibility of utilizing self-designed score system for lower lumbar vertebral burst fractures to select surgical approach.

METHODSFrom January 2006 to December 2011, the clinical data of 56 patients with lower lumbar vertebra burst fractures who underwent surgical treatment were retrospectively analyzed. There were 42 males and 14 females with an average age of 43.1 years old (ranged, 19 to 65). Causes of injury included falling down (40 cases), traffic accidents (12 cases), and crashing injury by heavy objects(4 cases). Injury site was L3 in 37 cases, L4 in 16 cases, and L5 in 3 cases. According to the AO classification, 17 cases were type A3.1, 14 cases were type A3.2, 25 cases were type A3.3. According to Frankel grade of nerous function, 2 cases were grade B, 5 cases were grade C, 9 cases were grade D and 40 cases were grade E. Surgical methods and approaches were chosen based on the comprehensive evaluation of AO classification, condition of posterior column injury and spinal canal encroachment. Surgical methods and approaches included trans-vertebra fixation (15 cases), intra-vertebra pedicle screw fixation (21 cases), combination of anterior and posterior approaches (11 cases), one-stage posterior approaches (9 cases). Cobb angles, restorations of the affected vertebral anterior border height, and conditions of spinal canal encroachment were compared before and after surgery. Conditions of bone graft fusion and internal fixation (if bending, loosening or breakage existed) were observed. Spinal cord functions were assessed according to Frankel grade. Localized pain and working status of patients were also assessed at the last follow-up.

RESULTSNo incision infection was found and no spinal nerve symptoms improved in all of 56 patients. All patients were followed up for 12 to 60 months with a mean of 28.5 months, without internal fixation loosening or breakage. There was significant differences in Cobb angle, vertebral anterior border height and recovery of spinal canal encroachment between preoperative and postoperative instantly (P < 0.05), however, there was no significant difference between postoperative instantly and final follow-up (P > 0.05). Thirteen cases obtained fusion by trans-vertebra fixation, 20 cases obtained fusion by intra-vertebra fixation, and 20 cases were treated by the combination of anterior and posterior approaches or one-stage posterior approaches all of patients obtained fusion. Spinal nervous function recovered I to II grade, 1 case was grade C, 3 cases were grade D, 52 cases were grade E. Localized pain was assessed as P1 in 52 cases, P2 in 3 cases, and P3 in 1 case. Working status was classified into W1 in 12 cases, W2 in 39 cases, and W3 in 5 cases.

CONCLUSIONThe lower lumbar vertebra and thoracolumbar junction exhibit different injury characteristics due to variations in anatomy and biomechanics. A comprehensive score of the AO classification, posterior column injury and degree of spinal canal encroachment will guide the selection of surgical method and approach for the treatment of lower lumbar vertebra burst fractures.

Adult ; Aged ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fractures ; surgery ; Spinal Fusion ; methods