Angiotensin II ; metabolism ; Cisplatin ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Kidney ; drug effects ; Kidney Diseases ; chemically induced ; metabolism

Objective To assess the impact of respiratory motion on the displacement of target area and to analyze the discrimination between free breathing and active breathing control (ABC) in patients with gastric cancer treated with post-operative radiotherapy. Methods From January 2005 to November 2006, 22 patients with post-operatively confirmed gastric cancer were enrolled in this study. All diseases were T_3/ N +, staging Ⅱ - Ⅳ. Patients were CT scanned and treated by radiation with the use of ABC. Image J software was used in image processing, motion measurement and data analysis. Surgical clips were implanted as fiducial marks in the tumor bed and lymphatic drainage area. The motion range of each clip was measured in the resultant-projection image. Motions of the clips in superior-inferior (S-I), right-left (R-L) and anterior-posterior (A-P) directions were determined from fluoroscopy movies obtained in the treatment position. Results The motion ranges in S-I, R-L and A-P directions were 11.1 mam, 1.9 mm and 2.5 mm (F = 85.15, P = 0. 000) under free breathing, with 2.2 mm, 1.1 mm and 1.7 nun under ABC (F = 17.64, P = 0. 000), and the reduction of motion ranges was significant in both S-I and A-P directions (t = 4.36, P = 0. 000;t = 3.73,P = 0.000). When compared with under free-breathing, the motion ranges under ABC were kept unchanged in the same breathing phase of the same treatment fraction, while significant increased in different breathing phase in all three directions (t = - 4.36, P = 0. 000; t = - 3.52, P = 0.000; t =-3.79, P = 0. 000), with a numerical value of 3.7 mm, 1.6 mm and 2.8 mm, respectively (F = 19.46, P = 0. 000) . With ABC between different treatment fractions , the maximum displacements were 2.7 mm, 1.7 mm and 2.5 mm for the centre of the clip cluster (F =4.07,P =0. 019), and were 4.6 mm, 3.1 mm and 4.2 mm for the clips (F =5.17 ,P =0.007). The motion ranges were significant increased in all the three directions (t = - 4.09, P=0.000 ; t =-4.46, P = 0.000 ; t = - 3.45, P =0.000). Conclusions In the irradiation of post-operative gastric cancer, the maximum displacement of organ motions induced by respiration is in S-1 direction and the minimum in R-L direction under free breathing. The use of ABC can reduce the motions significantly in S-I and A-P directions, and the same changes exist in both inter-and intra-fraction treatment.

Objective To study the hepatocyte cells infected by hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive serum. Methods Human hepatocyte 7701 was incubated with HCV RNA-positive and HCV antibody(Ab) negative sera BP52. Then, the expression of HCV antigen and the presence of HCV-RNA in cell and supernatant were assayed by RT-PCR, sequence analysis, immunofluorescent staining, Western blot, confocal laser microscopy. The ultrastructural changes of infected cells were observed by electro-microscopy. Results Plus-strand RNA and minus-strand RNA were intermittently detected in cell and/or supernatant on day 7-45 after infection. Sequence analysis demonstrated that the positive DNA nucleic acids were identified with HCV 5′-non-coding region(NCR) sequence. HCV core and NS3 protein were expressed in cytoplasm of infected cells. After 2 or 3 weeks, obvious intracellular ultrastructural changes and virus-like particles were observed. Conclusion human hepatocyte 7701 could support replication of HCV in vitro, which could be a useful tool for setting up cell model of HCV infection and studying the mechanism of HCV infection.

Objective To estimate the value of confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE)for differential diagnosis of gastric ulcer. Methods Patients diagnosed as gastric ulcer by conventional endoscopic mode of CLE were enrolled. The eonfocal endoscopic mode of CLE was used to observe the borderline and/or the surface of the ulcers. Biopsy specimen was taken for histopathological examination and the result of CLE was compared with histopathological finding. Results A total of 12 769 CLE images were obtained from 150 sites of 43 patients. The sensitivity and specificity of CLE for phlegmonosis process were 83.54% and 85.92%, respectively, with positive predictive value of 86.84% and negative predictive value of 82.43%. Whereas the sensitivity and specificity of CLE for intraepithelial neoplasia were 53.57% and 88.52%, respectively, with positive predictive value of 51.72% and negative predictive value of 89.26%. As for diagnosis of gastric cancer, the sensitivity and specificity of CLE were 88.37% and 93.46%, respectively, with positive predictive value of 84.44 % and negative predictive value of 95.24%. The kappa values for agreement of histopathological findings and CLE for diagnosis of phlegmonosis process, intraepithelial neoplasia and gastric cancer were 0.69,0.42 and 0.81, respectively. Conclusions CLE can provide a real-time histopathological diagnosis of the gastrointestinal tract with high sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values. Targeted biopsy can be done under CLE and the detective rates of precancerous lesions and tumors will be increased.

The distribution of authors, institutions that published papers, and key words in CNKI-covered papers on library information service model was analyzed, which showed that there are a number of high production authors in China engaged in studies on library information service model but the number of cooperative studies is few, aca-demic libraries are active in performing related studies but public libraries seldom participate in such studies, the related studies are focused on the application of information technologies and the personal demands of users.

The new intein-mediated PHB purify protein system is a high expression, automatic cutting, for purification, low-cost protein purification system,it is conducive to large-scale protein purification.Choose human antibacterial peptide LL-37 as the purification objects,which is poison to prokaryotic cell.We construct intein-mediated PHB purified human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 system through genetic engineering technology and use this system to purify LL-37. The results show that this system can highly express LL-37 fusion protein and purifiy the product as same size with expectations.

BACKGROUNDThis study was undertaken to obtain differentially expressed genes related to human glioma by cDNA microarray and the characterization of a novel full-length gene.

METHODSTotal RNA was extracted form human glioma and normal brain tissue, and mRNA was used as a probe. The results of hybridization procedure were scanned with the computer system. The gene named 507E08 cone was subsequently analyzed by northern blot, bioinformatic approach, and protein expression.

RESULTSFifteen differentially expressed genes were obtained from human glioma by hybridization and scanning for four times. Northern blot analysis confirmed that the 507E08 clone was low expressed in human brain tissue and over expressed in human glioma tissues. The analysis of BLASTn and BLASTx showed that the 507E08 clone was a novel full-length gene, which codes 203 amino acid of protein and is called human ribosomal protein 14.22 gene. The nucleotide sequence had been submitted to the GenBank with the accession number of AF329277. After expression in E. coli., protein yielded a major band of apparent molecular mass 22 kDa on an SDS-PAGE gel.

CONCLUSIONScDNA microarray technology can be successfully used to identify differentially expressed genes. The novel full-length gene of human ribosomal protein 13.22 may be correlated with the development of human glioma.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Base Sequence ; Blotting, Northern ; Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; chemistry ; genetics ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; Glioma ; genetics ; pathology ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Ribosomal Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression status of 11 different cancer/testis (CT) antigen genes in esophageal carcinoma.

METHODSEsophageal carcinoma tissue and adjacent normal esophageal mucosa taken from 35 esophageal carcinoma patients were assayed for the expression of 11 different CT antigen genes by RT-PCR techniques.

RESULTSOf the 11 CT antigen genes analyzed, none of them was expressed in normal esophageal mucosa. MAGE-3 was found to be the most frequently expressed in esophageal carcinoma tissues (62.9%), followed, in the order of expression frequency, by MAGE4 (31.4%), LAGE-1 (28.6%), MAGE-1 (25.7%), CT10 (20.0%), NY-ESO-1 (20.0%), CT7 (5.7%) and SCP1 (2.9%). No expression of SSX-1, SSX-2 and SSX-4 was found. Among the 35 cases, 28 (80.0%) expressed at least one CT antigen gene, 21 (60.0%) expressed more than 2 CT antigen genes, and 4 of the 21 (19.0%) expressed more than 4 CT antigens, which accounted for 11.4% of total number of patients (4/35). No CT antigen expression was found in the tumor tissue in 7 cases, including 5 cases in stage II and 1 case each in stage I and IV, respectively. Of the 11 CT genes examined, expression of 5 genes (NY-ESO-1, LAGE-1, MAGE-1, MAGE-3 and MAGE-4) was correlated with tumor progression. SCP-1 and CT10 expression was found more frequently in early stage patients. With progression of the disease, the frequency of co-expression of multiple CT antigen genes was significantly increased reaching 28.6% in stage III patients.

CONCLUSIONOf the 11 different CT antigen genes examined by RT-PCR in esophageal carcinoma, 8 genes were detected in various frequencies in 28 of the 35 esophageal cancer patients studied. They are candidate tumor-associated antigens in the preparation of tumor vaccines for immunotherapy in esophageal cancer patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Antigens, Neoplasm ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Neoplasm Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between job satisfaction and occupational stress in the workers of a thermal power plant.

METHODSThe cluster sampling method was used to investigate 875 workers in a thermal power plant. The job satisfaction, occupational stressors, strains, personalities, meeting strategy and social support were measured using occupational stress instruments, job content questionnaire and effort-reward imbalance questionnaire.

RESULTSThere were no significant differences of job satisfaction scores between different groups according to sex, educational level, marriage status, smoking and drinking (P > 0.05). But there were significant differences of job satisfaction scores between different age groups or between different service length groups (P < 0.01). The correlation analysis revealed that job satisfaction scores were related positively to responsibility for persons and things, promotion opportunity, job control, job stabilization, rewards, mental health, positive affectivity, self-esteem, superior support and coworker support scores (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), negatively to role ambiguity and conflict, job future ambiguity, job demands, negative affectivity, depressive symptoms, patience, and mental locus of work control(P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The results of variance analysis indicated that the job relationship, responsibility for persons and things, promotion opportunity, job control, job stabilization, reward, mental health, positive affectivity, self-esteem and buffer scores of the workers with high job satisfaction scores were significantly higher than those of workers with moderate and lower job satisfaction scores (P < 0.01), but the role ambiguity and conflict, job future ambiguity, job demands, and depressive symptoms scores and mental locus of work control of the workers with high job satisfaction scores were significantly lower than those of workers with moderate and lower job satisfaction scores (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of job dissatisfaction for workers with low reward was about four times as high as that for workers with high reward (OR = 3.773), the risks of job dissatisfaction for workers with low social support and mental locus of external work control were about two times as high as that for workers with high social support or mental locus of internal work control (OR = 2.419 and 2.219, respectively). The daily life stress, low control strategy, low support strategy, low job control and negative affectivity were risk factors of job dissatisfaction (OR = 1.125 approximately 1.790), but the self-esteem and positive affectivity could reduce the risk of job dissatisfaction.

CONCLUSIONIncreasing the decision level, social support, meeting strategy and reward or decreasing the role conflict and ambiguity, demands and negative affectivity could improve worker's job satisfaction level.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Diseases ; epidemiology ; Power Plants ; Social Support ; Stress, Psychological ; epidemiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics and correlated factors of daily hassles among thermal power plant workers.

METHODSA mass screening of daily hassles and correlated factors was conducted on 498 workers from a thermal power plant in Zhengzhou in July, 2008. The questionnaires included Daily Hassles Questionnaires, Work Roles Questionnaires, Job Content Questionnaires (Chinese version), Effort-Reward Imbalance (Chinese version), Work Locus of Control Scale and Type A Behavior Scale, with content covering demographic characters and occupational stress correlated factors among subjects. The daily hassles was divided into lower level and higher level according to scores, and the epidemiological characteristics and correlated factors of daily hassles were analyzed.

RESULTSA total of 446 qualified questionnaires were obtained, effective response rate was 89.6% (446/498). For respondents, the age was (36.96 ± 6.49) years old, working length of the current job was (12.05 ± 7.54) years, the daily hassles scores was (9.01 ± 2.50), and the prevalence rate of the higher level of daily hassles was 34.1% (152/446). The multiple non-conditional logistic regression analysis showed 5-14 years' working length of current job (OR = 0.451, 95%CI: 0.225 - 0.904), average income > 3000 yuan(OR = 0.372, 95%CI: 0.202 - 0.684), reward (OR = 0.557, 95%CI: 0.325 - 0.954) and coping strategy (OR = 0.552, 95%CI: 0.330 - 0.925) were negatively correlated with daily hassles, and shift-work (OR = 1.887, 95%CI: 1.108 - 3.215), effort (OR = 2.053, 95%CI: 1.198 - 3.519), psychological demand (OR = 1.797, 95%CI: 1.049 - 3.078), negative affectivity (OR = 3.421, 95%CI: 2.065 - 5.668) were positively correlated with daily hassles.

CONCLUSIONThe prevalence rate of the higher level of daily hassles was considerable high for thermal power plant workers. Its negative correlated factors included 5 - 14 years' working length of the current job, average income > 3000 yuan, reward and coping strategy and its positive corelated factors included shift-work, effort, psychological demand and negative affectivity.

Adult ; Burnout, Professional ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Diseases ; epidemiology ; Power Plants ; Stress, Psychological ; epidemiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires