Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect and safety of the intratracheal instillation of sodium nitroprusside for treating persistent pulmonary hypertension of newborn (PPHN) .Methods The intratracheal instillation of sodium nitroprusside was used to 19 cases of PPHN under the mechanical ventilation ,and the pulmonary arterial mean pressure(PAMP) ,arterial mean pressure(AMP) ,transcutaneous oxygen saturation(TcSaO2 ) of the right upper and left lower limb at the basic state ,30 ,60 ,120min after intratracheal instillation of sodium nitroprusside were respectively measured and compared .Results Among 19 cases of PPHN ,17 cases had the primary lung disease .Of 17 cases ,14 cases(82 .35% ) had significant decrease of PAMP after intratracheal instillation of sodium nitroprusside ,which was most significant at 30min after therapy and the difference was statistically significant compared with before therapy [(21 .30 ± 4 .200)mm Hg vs .(30 .30 ± 4 .20)mm Hg ,P<0 .05] ,but AMP between before and after therapy had no statistical difference [(56 .00 ± 3 .00)mm Hg vs .(55 .00 ± 6 .00)mm Hg ,P>0 .05] .Conclusion The intratracheal instillation of sodium nitroprusside is the safe ,effective and economic method for treating PPHN .

Books ; Language ; Linguistics ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Translations

Objective To study the expression of transforming growth factor ?(TGF-?) and connective tissue growth factor(CTGF) in renal interslitium of patients with lupus nephritis(LN) and itssignificance. Methods Expression of TGF-?1, CTGF, CD3, CD68, proliferative nuclear cell antigen(PCNA) and ?-smooth muscle actin (?-SMA) in renal interstitium of LN patients were detected byimmunohistochemical staining. The degrees of staining in LN patients were compared to those in patients withminimal change disease (MCD) . Results Expression of TGF-?1 and CTGF in renal interstitium elevatedsignificantly in LN patients as compared to those in MCD patients. There was a positive correlation betweenthe expression of TGF-?1 and CTGF ( r = 0. 5316, P = 0. 023). The expression of ?-SMA and the numbersof CD3, CD68 and PCNA positive cells in renal intersitium were significantly increased in LN patients as compared with MCD cases. The expression of a-SMA in renal interstitium was correlated with the degree of renal interstitial lesions or fibrosis( r = 0. 436, P = 0.032) . Conclusion The increased expression ofTGF-?1 and CTGF in LN patients may be involved in the damage of renal interstitium and the infiltration ofinflammatory cells.

Objective To customize the optimal plans for radioactive 125I seeds volumetric implants in selected regular target volumes.Methods 125I seeds were symmetrically and uniformly implanted into 3 spherical targets with the diameters of 1,2 and 3 cm and 7 ellipsoidal targets with the 3 dimensions of 1 cm×1 cm×2 cm,1 cm×1 cm×3 cm,1 cm×2cm×2cm,1 cm×2 cm×3 cm,1 cm ×3 cm×3 cm,2 cm×2 cm×3 cm and2 cm×3 cm×3 cm.The activity and inter-space of seeds were adjusted to obtain the conformal and uniform dose distribution,with the prescribed D90 (the dose delivered to 90％ of the targets) greater than 145 Gy.The inter-space of seeds was changed from 1 cm to 0.75 cm,to improve the conformity and uniformity of dose distribution.Plan quality was assessed using homogeneity index (HI),external index (EI) and conformal index (CI).The activity and number of seeds implanted were also recorded and compared.Results For the spherical target with the diameter of 1 cm,when seeds were implanted with the inter-space of 1 cm and 0.75 cm,the HI were 40.0％ and 55.9％,the EI were 98.3％ and 95.1％,the CI were 0.44 and 0.44,respectively.For the spherical target with the diameter of 3 cm and the target with the 3 dimensions of 1 cm × 2 cm × 2 cm,the implant with the inter-space of 1 cm provided better indices of HI,EI and CI than those with the inter-space of 0.75 cm.For the other targets,the implants with the inter-space of 0.75 cm provided better indices of EI and CI than those with the inter-space of 1 cm,although they displayed a little worse homogeneity in terms of HI.The activity per seed was 17.0-27.8 MBq and 30.0-58.8 MBq in the implants with the inter-spaces of 0.75 cm and 1 cm,respectively.2-10 more seeds were needed in the implants with the inter-space of 0.75 cm.Conclusions For the studied targets except the spherical targets with the diameter of 1 cm and 3 cm and the ellipsoidal target with the dimension of 1 cm × 2 cm × 2 cm,125I seeds implanted with the inter-space of 0.75 cm could provide more conformal dose distribution.It could be the better customized plans for uniformly spaced seed implantation.

Objective To study the dosimetric characteristics of thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD).Methods A total of 350 pieces of TLD 2000 type TLDs having the same sensitivity within ± 3.0％ were selected.The TLDs were irradiated to study the repeatability and dosage effect of TLDs by using 6 MV X-rays and 125I seeds.In order to study the dose response,the TLDs were irradiated at different dosages by using 137Cs (662 keV γ-rays),125I seeds and 6 MV X-rays.In order to study the energy response,the TLDs were exposed to the same dose,from 125I seeds,137Cs and X-rays(48,65,83,118,250 keV and 6 MV).Results The maximum deviations of the repeatability were 2.7％ and 4.0％ for 6 MV X-rays and 125I seeds,respectively,and there was no effect of dose rate observed.The dose response of TLDs to 137Cs and 125I seeds were linear.For 6 MV X-rays,the linear response was within the range of 0.74-10 Gy and non-linear range was beyond 10 Gy.The energy response to 125I seeds,48,65,83,118,250 keV and6 MV X-rays,relative to the energy response of 137Cs,were 1.70,1.25,1.08,0.99,0.91,0.96 and 1.22,respectively.Conclusions TLD 2000 has a good repeatability and linear dose response for 137Cs,125I seeds and 6 MV X-rays with no dose rate effects,but the dose response is energy dependent.

Background It is well known that sclera remodeling occurs during axial elongation in myopia under the control of growth hormone or its downstream effectors.The role of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in myopia has been determined in previous studies.Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is one of members of the TGF-β superfamily,but if it plays an important role in the genesis and development of myopia is not completely clear.Objective This study was to identify the presence of BMPs in normal guinea pigs sclera and investigate the change of BMPs in the sclera in form-deprivation myopia (FDM) of guinea pigs.Methods Thirty young guinea pigs were randomized into normal control group and experimental group using table of random number.FDM models were established by occluding unilateral eyes of guinea pigs with a translucent lens for 14 days in the experimental group,and the fellow eyes served as the controls.Diopter of all eyes was tested by retinoscopy optometry,and ocular axial length was measured by A-sonography before and after modeling.Posterior sclera tissue of the animals was obtained on 14 days,and the relative expression level of BMPs mRNA and protein were assayed by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and Western blot.The use and care of the animals complied with ARVO Statement.Results On 14 days after occluding of unilateral eyes,the refraction diopter of the experimental group was (-0.48±0.51) D,and that of the fellow eyes was (3.22 ±0.34) D,showing a significant difference between them (t =-12.814,P =0.000).Also,a significant difference in the diopter was seen between the experimental group and normal control group ([-0.48±0.51]D vs.[2.97±0.70]D,t =-11.878,P=0.000).Axial length was (8.30 ± 0.05) mm in the experimental group,(8.11 ±0.06) mm in the fellow eyes and (8.06±0.06) mm in the normal control group,showing a significant increase in the experimental group compared with the fellow eyes and normal control group (t =7.230,P =0.000 ; t =9.084,P=0.000).The expressions of BMP-2 mRNA,BMP-4 mRNA,BMP-5 mRNA in posterior sclera were detected in the normal guinea pigs.Fourteen days after the induction of myopia,the relative levels of BMP-2 mRNA and BMP-5 mRNA in sclera were 0.41 ± 0.11 and 0.65 ± 0.06 in the experimental eyes,which were significantly lower than 0.62 ± 0.07 and 0.84 ± 0.03 in the fellow eyes with the descent range of 34.48％ and 23.67％ respectively (t=2.838,P=0.017; t=2.524,P=0.028).The relative values of BMP-2 protein and BMP-5 protein were 0.44±0.06 and 0.70±0.05 in the experimental eyes,and those of the fellow eyes were 0.61±0.05 and 0.82±0.03,showing significant decline in the experimental eyes with the lowing range of 23.42％ and 15.21％,respectively (t =2.465,P =0.030;t =2.445,P=0.031).No significant differences were found in the expression of BMP-4 mRNA and protein in posterior sclera between the experimental eyes and the normal control eyes (mRNA:t =0.704,P=0.460;protein:t=0.987,P=0.365).Conclusions The expressions of the BMP-2 and BMP-5 in sclera down-regulate significantly in FDM eyes,which suggest that BMP-2 and BMP-5 participate in sclera remodeling during myopia induction.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy, toxicity and clinical benefit response of gemcitabine on advanced non small cell lung cancer in elderly. Methods Patients in the chemotherapy arm of the study received gemcitabine 1 250 mg/ m 2 as a intravenous infusion every 21 days .Patients in the best supportive care(BSC) arm should not receive chemotherapy or anticancer therapy. Results Overall survival period in the gemcitabine arm was significantly longer than in the BSC arm ( P

Objective To investigate the effect of transforming growth factor-?1 (TGF-?1) on the activity of connective tissue growth factor(CTGF) gene promoter in human renal proximal tubular epithelial cell line HK-2. Methods The regulation fragment of 5' flanking region of human CTGF gene was linked to pGL3-Basic vector. The recombinant plasmid pCTGF-luc was transient transfected to HK-2 cells. The activity of CTGF promoter after treatment of TGF-?1 and mitogen-activated prontein kinases (MAPK) pathway inhibitors was assayed by means of luciferase reporter gene assay system. Results TGF-?1-induced increase of CTGF promoter activity was concentration-dependent, with a plateau at 5 ng/ml by 1.82-fold vs control (P

Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) are involved in the regulation of gene transcription in eukaryotic cells and their inhibitors could be a promising class of drugs due to their ability to modulate transcription and exert antiviral, anti-inflammatory as well as antioxidant effects. Nonradioactive spectrophotometric HAT assay is an alternative method to the widespread radioactive assay but suffers from drawbacks as lack of sensitivity and accuracy. A simple, non-radioactive fluorescent assay that measures the production of CoASH was established by its facile reaction with O-phthalaldehyde and 2-amino-ethanol. This method gives much higher accuracy compared to spectrophotometric assay, and allows screening of various compounds with potential HAT inhibition. The novel assay should be a valuable tool in transcriptional research and especially drug discovery.

Objective To investigate the clinical manifestations,laboratory findings and genetic characteristics of two cases with simple virilizing (SV)21-hydroxylase(21OHD). Methods Clinical manifestations and laboratory data were obtained. The promoter and coding areas of CYP21A2 gene were directly sequenced. In silico analysis were used to predict the function of mutations. Results Two patients presented severe virilism. The laboratory examinations showed that plasma ACTH,aldosterone,androstendione and testosterone were significantly increased compared with normal individuals. VCT scan showed hyperplasia of bilateral adrenal. Direct sequencing of CYP21A2 gene showed two complex mutations-H62L/V69L and I2g/10InsL,which were not reported previously. In silico analysis(Polyphen)showed the novel mutation V69L could probably damage the function of CYP21A2 protein. Conclusion The combined mutations,H62L/V69Land I2g/10InsL,could be associated with SV type 21-OHD phenotype.