Objective To investigate the expressions of amyloid precursor protein and β-microtubule protein,and to study their clinical significance in patients with cerebral infarction.Methods 108 cases of acute cere-bral infarction as the observation group and 60 normal adults as the control group were collected in the study.The expressions of amyloid precursor protein and β-microtubule protein in different clinical characters were detected by western blot.Results The results of observation group [APP:(168.78 ±13.64)μg/L,β-tubulin:(124.64 ± 27.08)μg/L]were significantly higher than those in control group (t =22.81,P <0.01;t =21.08,P <0.01).Their expressions were correlated with CT scores and prognosis.Conclusion The higher expressions of amyloid precursor protein and β-microtubule protein may promote the occurrence and development in patients with cerebral infarction. The joint detection should be helpful to predict the prognosis and direct the treatment.

Objective To investigate the gastric empty and electrogastrogram(EGG) in patients with renal insufficiency before and after hemodialysis, and to study the enteric nervous system (ENS) in experimental acute renal failure rats.Methods The comparisons of gastric emptying and EGG before and after hemodialysis were carried out in 15 patients with uremia who have gastrointerstinal symptoms. Acute renal failure models were also established. The neuroplexus of ENS and levels of some gut hormones were investigated. Results The EGG and gastric emptying were abnormal in patients with uremia before hemodialysis, but improved after dialysis. The neuroplexus of ENS with positive nitric oxide synthase(NOS) staining in rats with acute renal failure was significantly decreased. The levels of gastrin, vasoactive intestinal peptide and motilin in rats with acute renal failure were (159.1?55.6)?g/L, (121.6?48.9)pg/L, and (6.32?3.55)pmol/L, respectively, which were significantly different from those of the control group(P

0.05).There was a significant positive correlation between serum osteocalcin and ESR in female patients with RA aged less than 50 years (P

AIM: To evaluate posterior capsular opacification (PCO) with hydrophobic acrylic intraocular lens (IOL, Sensar AR40e) and silicone IOLs after cataract surgery, to use a software program developed to provide an objective assessment of the amount of PCO in the digital images of the posterior capsule to quantify PCO. METHODS: Ninety-eight eyes underwent standardized phacoemulsification and "in the bag" IOL placement, were randomized to receive a three piece lens of hydrophobic acrylic or silicone, but lens materials were different in one case. In year 1 and 2, digitized retro-illumination images were taken from the posterior capsule. Images were analyzed by POCO software program, removing the Purkinje light reflexes, contrast enhancement, filtering to enhance low-density PCO. RESULTS: The percentage of PCO were 0.32±0.13 of hydrophobic acrylic IOLs in year 1, compared with 0.39±0.17 of silicone (P=0.37). In year 2, the percentage of PCO were 0.42±0.20 with hydrophobic acrylic IOLs and 0.34±0.18 with silicone IOLs (P=0.50). Of those patients with PCO in year 1 and 2, severity grades were 0.50±0.30 and 0.82±0.58 of hydrophobic acrylic cases, compared with 0.63±0.35 and 0.55±0.35 of patients with silicone IOLs (P=0.52,P=0.69) with no statistical significance.CONCLUSION: The POCO system is capable of producing an objective and repeatable measure of PCO that is relevant to assessing techniques of PCO prevention.

Objective To study the triterpene saponins from Gynostemma pentaphyllum with antitumor activities.Methods The 75% EtOH extract of G.pentaphyllum was used for isolation by silica gel column chromatography and preparative HPLC.The structures of pure compounds isolated were identified by the spectral analysis and chemical evidence.Results Two compounds were isolated and identified as 23(S)-3β,20ξ,21ξ-trihydroxy-19-oxo-21,23-epoxydammar-24-ene 3-O-α-L-rhanmopyranosyl(1→2)-[β-D-xylopyranosyl(1→β)]-β-D-arabinopyranoside(1)and23(S)-21(R)-O-n-butyl-3β,20ξ-dihydroxy-21,23-epoxydammar-24-ene 3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1→2)-[β-D-xylo-pyranosyl(1→3)]-β-D-arabinopyrannside(2).Conclusion Compound 2 is a new triterpene saponin with moderate antitumor activities against the HL-60,Colon205,and Du145 cell lines.

Objective To discuss the relationship between serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D[25(OH)D] level and the severity of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus.Methods 1474 cases of type 2 diabetic patients were classified into three groups according to their severity of diabetic retinopathy, the non-diabetic retinopathy group(NDR group, n =640), the background diabetic retinopathy group(BDR group, n =494) and the proliferative diabetic retinopathy group(PDR group, n=340).640 healthy people with normal level of glycosylated hemoglobin(HbA1c) were selected as control group(NDM group, n=640).Disease duration, body mass index(BMI), systolic pressure, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol(LDL-C), HbA1c and 25(OH)D were detected and compared among groups.Results Disease duration and HbA1c were increasing significantly, and the levels were NDM groupNDR group>BDR group>PDR group(all P<0.05).The level of 25(OH)D was negatively related to disease duration and HbA1c (P<0.001), and it was negatively associated to the severity of diabetic retinopathy(r=-0.855,P<0.001).Conclusion The decrease of 25(OH)D level is closely associated with the severity of diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and it might be an important predictor for the severity of diabetic retinopathy.

Objective To investigate the expression of gastrin, cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) and Ki-67 in dif-ferent gastric mucosal lesions and to assess the role of gastrin and COX-2 in the sequence of gastric carcinogenesis and its relationship. Methods 96 samples with different gastric mucosal lesions were obtained by gastroscope. The expression of gastrin,COX-2 and Ki-67 was examined with immunohistochemical staining technique(EnVision). Re-sults Positive rates of gastrin expression in chronic superficial gastritis (CSG), chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), intestinal metaplasia(IM),dysplasia(Dy) and gastric cancer(GC) were 58.8 % ,30. 0% ,57.9 % ,68.2% and 77.8% ,respectively, and there were significant differences between GC and CAG(P<0.05). Positive rates of COX-2 expression in CSG,CAG,IM,Dy and GC were 41.2 % ,45.0% ,68.4 % ,72.7% and 88.9% respectively, and there were significant differences between GC and CAG(P<0.05). Ki-67 proliferation index (PI) from CSG, CAG, IM, Dy to GC also had an increasing tendency. From CAG to GC,the expression of gastrin and COX-2 was positively correlated with PI (P<0.05). The expression between gastrin and COX-2 was correlated significantly in gastric pre-cancerous lesions (P<0.01). PI was increased significantly in group with co-expression of gastrin and COX-2. Con-clusion Gastrin expression is decreased in CAG. From CAG to GC, gastrin expression is increased gradually. COX-2 expression has an increasing tendency in the sequence of gastric cancerization. From CSG to GC, PI is gradually in-creased. Gastrin and COX-2 co-promote proliferation of gastric epithelial cells,and gastrin may take part in up-regu-lation of COX-2 expression in gastric precancerous.

AIM: This study aimed to observe the effects of high-glucose on proliferation and apoptosis of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, and tried to elucidate their possible role. METHODS: Various concentrations of glucose were added to the culture system of EPCs from 25 cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (DM group) and 25 cases of healthy volunteers (control group). MTT assays were used to detect the proliferative rates. Annexin-V/PI stains were used to detect the apoptotic rates, and RT-PCR to detect the expression level of bcl-2 and bax. RESULTS: Proliferative activity of EPCs in both control group and DM group were attenuated when concentration of glucose was 33 mmol/L, while apoptotic rates increased. No significant change of proliferative rate and apoptotic rate of EPCs in DM group and control group in the presence of 5 mmol/L glucose was observed. The expression level of bax of EPCs in both DM group and control group increased while expression level of bcl-2 did not change much in the presence of 33 mmol/L glucose. CONCLUSION: High-glucose attenuates proliferative activity of EPCs and increases the apoptotic rate. Upregulation of bax may be its possible role.

As one of the major geriatric syndromes,frailty exerts adverse effects on life expectancy and quality of life of the elderly.Because of its importance,a number of methods and tools have been introduced for the assessment of frailty.Malnutrition,as an independent risk factor,interacts with frailty and is involved in its progression.This article reviews recent studies on frailty and malnutrition.

AIM: To investigate the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), membrane type MMPs (MT-MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs) in human primary cultured prostatic cells and malignant prostate cell lines.METHODS: Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-based measurements of the mRNA levels of MMP-2, MMP-7, MMP-9, MT1-MMP, MT3-MMP, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 in relation to the house-keeping gene glyceraldehydes phosphate dehydrogenase were performed in cancerous and non-cancerous prostatic tissue samples, in primary cell cultures of epithelial cells, in both fibroblasts and smooth-muscle cells as stromal cells, and in the human malignant prostatic cell lines DU-145, LNCaP and PC-3.RESULTS: MMP-2 was mainly expressed in stromal cells. MMP-7 and MMP-9 showed their highest values in epithelial cells. MT1-MMP, MT3-MMP, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 were found both in stromal and in epithelial cells, but there were some differences between the expression in fibroblasts and smooth-muscle cells. Different expression was also observed between the cells deriving from the primary cell cultures, the benign cell line BPH-1, and the malignant cell lines LNCaP, DU-145, and PC-3.CONCLUSION: These results concerning different expression of MMPs and TIMPs in cells from prostatic tissue suggest that a better insight into changes observed in prostatic tissue needs studies on cells cultured from the tissue.