This study aimed to investigate the immune adjuvant effect and mechanism induced by chitosan nanoparticles carrying pJME/GM-CSF. In this study, plasmid DNA (pJME/GM-CSF) was encapsulated in chitosan to prepare chitosan-pJME/GM-CSF nanoparticles using a complex coacervation process. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the type of infiltrating cells at the site of intramuscular injection. The phenotype and functional changes of splenic DCs were measured by flow cytometry after different immunogens were injected intramuscularly. The killing activity of CTLs was assessed using the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay. The preparation of chitosan-pJME/GM-CSF nanoparticles matched the expected theoretical results. Our results also found that, after pJME/GM-CSF injection, the incoming cells were a mixture of macrophages, neutrophils, and immature DCs. Meanwhile, pJME/GM-CSF increased the expression of MHC class II molecules on splenic DCs, and enhanced their Ag capture and presentation functions. Cell-mediated immunity was induced by the vaccine. Furthermore, chitosan-pJME/GM-CSF nanoparticles outperformed the administration of standard pJME/GM-CSF in terms of DC recruitment, antigen processing and presentation, and vaccine enhancement. These findings reveal that chitosan could be used as delivery vector for DNA vaccine intramuscular immunizations, and enhance pJME/GM-CSF-induced cellular immune responses.
Adjuvants, Immunologic ; administration & dosage ; Animals ; Chitosan ; administration & dosage ; immunology ; Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; virology ; Encephalitis Virus, Japanese ; genetics ; immunology ; Encephalitis, Japanese ; immunology ; prevention & control ; virology ; Female ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Nanoparticles ; administration & dosage ; Spleen ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; immunology ; virology ; Vaccines, DNA ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic effects of steel plate fixation after the failure of arthrodesis of ankle by screw fixation.

METHODSFrom August 2001 to October 2011, 15 patients were with steel plate fixation after failure of arthrodesis of ankle by screw fixation. Among patients, 9 cases were males and 6 cases were females,ranging age from 40 to 65 years old with the average of 56 years old. Ten cases were in left and 5 cases were in right. Screws were removed and steel plate was fixed intraoperatively, and plaster external fixation for postoperation. Clincal effect were evaluated according to AOFAS scoring system from pain, waliking ability and aligment before and after operation, and X-ray was used to evaluate joint fusion after operation.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up, and the duration ranged from 4 months to 4 years with an average of 2 years. The incison were healed in stage I. No ankle pain,injury of blood vessel and nerve,infection and farilure of internal fixation occuerred. The AOFAS score increased from 36.86 +/- 8.32 preoperatively to 85.09 +/- 4.65 (t = -26.366, P = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONSteel plate fixation after the failure of ankle arthrodesis of screw fixation has the advantages of rigid stability, simple manipulation and high success rate, less pain, perfect recovery.

Adult ; Aged ; Ankle Joint ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Arthrodesis ; Bone Plates ; Bone Screws ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; instrumentation ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Steel ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Failure

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical effects of enblock distal radius T-plate fixation in treating trailing edge fracture of tibial plateau medial condyle and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) avulsion fracture.

METHODSFrom September 2008 to November 2011, 5 patients with trailing edge fracture of tibial plateau medial condyle and PCL avulsion fracture caused by knee joint hyperextension,were treated with surgery. There were 3 males and 2 females with an average age of 35 years old (25 to 42). Left knee injury was in 3 cases and right knee had in 2 cases; 2 cases caused by sports injury and 3 cases caused by road accident. All patients were undergone emergency treatment. Fractures were anatomically reduced and fixed with T-plate through poples approach. Complications were observed after operation. Bone healing and clinical effects were respectively evaluated by X-rays and HSS system.

RESULTSFive patients were followed up for 1 to 4 years with a mean of 2 years. All incisions obtained healing of I stage. All knee joints recovered well and were stable with inflexion more than 120 degrees, no complications such as knee joint pain, injuries of nerve and blood vessel, infection, internal fixation failure were found. The mean score of HSS system was 94.40 +/- 6.09 and all patients got excellent result.

CONCLUSIONFor the treatment of trailing edge fracture of tibial plateau medial condyle and PCL avulsion fracture caused by knee joint hyperextension, enblock distal radius T-plate fixation had advantages of good stability,higher success rate, and knee joint function can recover well.

Adult ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; Humans ; Male ; Posterior Cruciate Ligament ; diagnostic imaging ; injuries ; surgery ; Tibial Fractures ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome

60 Gy.The 5-year local control rates are 92%,71% and 87% respectively(P=0.9194),and 5-year overall survival rate are 68%,62% and 53% respectively(P=0.4194).There is no significant difference of overall survival and local control rate between these three dose groups.Five patients with dose of more than 50Gy died of late toxicities.Conclusions:Adjuvant radiotherapy for Stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ patients with rectal cancer dose not show dose response.There is no improvement of local control and survival due to the escalation of dose.The dose of conventional radiotherapy is better at less than 50Gy.Overdosage may lead to severe toxicities.

Adult ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; MART-1 Antigen ; metabolism ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Medulloblastoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Melanocytes ; pathology ; Melanoma ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Melanoma-Specific Antigens ; metabolism ; Meningeal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Neoplasms, Multiple Primary ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Neurilemmoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Nevus of Ota ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; S100 Proteins ; metabolism ; Skin Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Vimentin ; metabolism

Objective To compare the influences of off-pump and on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting operation on plasma thyroid hormones.Methods Forty patients undergoing coronary surgery were randomly divided into off-pump group(n=20)and on- pump group(n=20).Plasma thyroid hormones(T_3,T_4,FT_3,FT_4,rT_3)and thyroid-stimulating hormone(TSH)were studied perio- peratively.Results Before operation,the values of aU the variables were within normal range in the two groups.In off-pump group, T_3 and FT_3 concentration dropped significantly after operation,reaching the lowest value at first day postoperatively[T_3:(39.7?6.2) ng/dl vs.(78.6?2.1)ng/dl,P0.05),which were within normal range all along,rT_3 concentration rose significantly after operation,reaching the highest value at third day postoperatively[(82.1?26.8)ng/dl vs.(42.3?15.6)ng/dl, P0.05),whereas baseline,operative and postoperative variables were similar.Con- clusion Off-pump operation has some influences on plasma thyroid hormones,showing"low T_3 syndrome"postoperatively,that is similar to what on-pump operation does.

Objective To assess set-up errors measured with kilovoltage cone-beam CT (KV-CBCT), and the impact of online corrections on margins required to account for set-up variability during IMRT for patients with prostate cancer. Methods Seven patients with prostate cancer undergoing IMRT were enrolled onto the study. The KV-CBCT scans were acquired at least twice weekly. After initial set-up using the skin marks, a CBCT scan was acquired and registered with the planning CT to determine the setup errors using an auto grey-scale registration software. Corrections would be made by moving the table if the setup errors were considered clinically significant ( i. e. , ＞ 2 mm). A second CBCT scan was acquired immediately after the corrections to evaluate the residual error. PTV margins were derived to account for the measured set-up errors and residual errors determined for this group of patients. Results 197 KV-CBCT images in total were acquired. The random and systematic positioning errors and calculated PTV margins without correction in mm were:a) Lateral 3. 1,2. 1,9. 3;b) Longitudinal 1.5, 1.8, 5. 1 ;c) Vertical 4. 2,3.7, 13.0. The random and systematic positioning errors and calculated PTV margin with correction in mm were:a) Lateral 1.1,0. 9, 3.4;b) Longitudinal 0. 7, 1.1, 2. 5;c) Vertical 1.1, 1.3, 3.7. Conclusions With the guidance of online KV-CBCT, set-up errors could be reduced significantly for patients with prostate cancer receiving IMRT. The margin required after online CBCT correction for the patients enrolled in the study would be appoximatively 3-4 mm.

Objective To investigate the distribution of pelvic recurrence in rectal cancer after radical resection and analyze the outcome and prognostic factors of pelvic recurrent rectal cancer treated with radiotherapy. Methods Ninety-three patients with pelvic recurrent rectal cancer who received radiotherapy from August 2000 to August 2006 were retrospectively analyzed. Of them, 21 patients received pelvic radiation alone;56 received pelvic radiation plus chemotherapy and 16 received pelvic radiation plus surgery and/or chemotherapy. Radiotherapy was delivered with 60Coγor 6/15 MV X ray to a median dose of 59. 4Gy (range,20-74 Gy). Conventional fractionation was used in 90 patients. Chemotherapy was given to 68patients with a median number of 3 cycles ( range, 1 - 8 cycles). Concurrent chemo-radiation with 5-FU based regimen was given to 42 patients. After radiotherapy, 16 patients underwent surgical resection, with 7R0 resection and 9 palliative resection. Results The entire cohort included 132 recurrent sites. The most common recurrent sites were peri-rectal region ( 31.8% ), pre-sacral region ( 30. 3% ) and internal iliac nodal region (20. 2% ). The follow-up rate was 92% for the entire cohort, 39 and 4 patients had minimum follow-up time of 2 and 5 years respectively. Overall clinical response ( complete and partial symptomatic relief) was achieved in 83% of the patients after radiation therapy. The 2-and 5-year local progression-free survival rates were 49% and 22% respectively, and the 2-and 5-year overall survival rates were 46% and 14% respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that treatment modality was the independent prognostic factor for local progression-free survival. Patients treated with radiation plus surgery and/or chemotherapy had better local progression-free survival than those treated with radiation plus chemotherapy or radiation alone.Recurrent tumors larger than 5 cm in diameter, disease-free interval less than 2 years and distant metastasis after radiotherapy were independent unfavorable prognostic factors for overall survival. Conclusions Perirectal region, pre-sacral region and internal iliac nodal region were the most common pelvic recurrent sites in rectal cancer. Radiotherapy is an effective palliative approach for patients with pelvic recurrent rectal cancer.Radiotherapy plus surgery and/or chemotherapy was associated with better local progression-free survival,and recurrent tumors lager than 5 cm in diameter, disease-free interval less than 2 years and distant metastasis after radiotherapy were unfavorable prognostic factors for overall survival of pelvic recurrent rectal caner.

Objective To analyze the results of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination(OSCE) of medical interns in Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics,and to assess the role of OSCE in clinical teaching and practice. MethodsAtolal of 104 medical interns of five-year education program in 2002 and seven-year education program in 2003 in School of Medicine had taken part in OSCE of gynecology and obstetrics.The OSCE consisted of six stations: gynecologic examination,obstetric examination,oral test,interrogation of standardized-patients(SP),drawing partogram,and non-stress test(NST) explanation.After gathering the data of each station,the software of SPSS 11.0 was used to make statistical analysis. Results The median scores were as follows: 92.0 for gynecologic examination,91.0 for obstetric examination,83.5 for oral test,80.0 for interrogation of SP,80.0 for drawing partogram,and 70.0 for NST explanation.There was no significant impact of familiarity to OSCE on the results of the test.The results showed that medical interns did good job in basic performance,but lack of clinical practice skills in some complicated practice of gynecology and obstetrics.Conclusion The grading system and stations setup of OSCE in Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital show objectivity and equity.The OSCE can be widely applied in the after-department examination and even graduation examination.

OBJECTIVE:To establish a method of simultaneous determination of inulicin and deacetylinulicin in Inulae Flos. METHODS:HPLC was performed on the column of Zorbax SB-C18 with mobile phase of acetonitrile-water(gradient elution)at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min,the column temperature was 25 ℃,the detection wavelength was 210 nm,and the injection volume was 10 μl. RESULTS:The linear range was 0.000 2-0.005 μg/ml(r=0.999 8)for inulicin and 0.000 1-0.001 7 μg/ml(r=0.999 4)for deacetylinulicin;RSDs of precision,stability and reproducibility tests were lower than 2.0%;recoveries were 99.63%-103.56%(RSD=1.26%,n=9)and 95.98%-101.21%(RSD=1.84%,n=9),respectively. CONCLUSIONS:The method is simple,accurate and reliable,and can be used for the quality evaluation of Inulae Flos.