BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated that berberine represses multiple tumors and tumor stem cells, but the effect of berberine on lung cancer stem cells (LCSCs) remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of berberine on the proliferation and apoptosis of LCSCs and the possible mechanism. METHODS: CD133+ LCSCs were separated from A549 cells by immunomagnetic beads. The effects of different concentrations (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40 mg/L) of berberine on the proliferation and apoptosis of LCSCs were determined by MTT and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. In order to further affirm the effect of berberine on the proliferation and apoptosis of LCSCs, the expression levels of Ki67, Bax and Bcl-2 protein were detected by western blot. In addition, to investigate the potential mechanism by which berberine exerts regulatory effects on LCSCs, the expression levels of Hedgehog signaling pathway-associated proteins (PTCH1, SHH, Gli-1 and SMO) were determined. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: After magnetic cell sorting, the content of the CD133+ fraction was enriched up to 84.13%. MTT and flow cytometry assays showed that berberine inhibited proliferation and promoted apoptosis of LCSCs in a concentration-dependent manner. Western blot analysis showed that the expression levels of Ki67, Bcl-2, PTCH1, SHH, Gli-1 and SMO proteins of LCSCs cultured in the medium with 20 mg/L berberine were dramatically decreased compared to the control, while the expression level of Bax protein was markedly increased compared to the control. These findings suggest that berberine may inhibit proliferation and promote apoptosis for LCSCs through the Hedgehog signaling pathway.BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated that berberine represses multiple tumors and tumor stem cells, but the effect of berberine on lung cancer stem cells (LCSCs) remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of berberine on the proliferation and apoptosis of LCSCs and the possible mechanism. METHODS: CD133+ LCSCs were separated from A549 cells by immunomagnetic beads. The effects of different concentrations (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40 mg/L) of berberine on the proliferation and apoptosis of LCSCs were determined by MTT and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. In order to further affirm the effect of berberine on the proliferation and apoptosis of LCSCs, the expression levels of Ki67, Bax and Bcl-2 protein were detected by western blot. In addition, to investigate the potential mechanism by which berberine exerts regulatory effects on LCSCs, the expression levels of Hedgehog signaling pathway-associated proteins (PTCH1, SHH, Gli-1 and SMO) were determined. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: After magnetic cell sorting, the content of the CD133+ fraction was enriched up to 84.13%. MTT and flow cytometry assays showed that berberine inhibited proliferation and promoted apoptosis of LCSCs in a concentration-dependent manner. Western blot analysis showed that the expression levels of Ki67, Bcl-2, PTCH1, SHH, Gli-1 and SMO proteins of LCSCs cultured in the medium with 20 mg/L berberine were dramatically decreased compared to the control, while the expression level of Bax protein was markedly increased compared to the control. These findings suggest that berberine may inhibit proliferation and promote apoptosis for LCSCs through the Hedgehog signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVETo reveal the possible mechanism involved in patella-femoral degenerative arthritis (PFDA) in- duced by torsion-deformity of tibia via analyzing the relationship between torsion-deformity of the tibia in patients with PFDA and the disorder of patella-femoral joint under the static and dynamic conditions.

METHODSFrom October 2009 to October 2010, 50 patients (86 knees, 24 knees of male patients and 62 knees of female patients) with PFDA were classified as disease group and 16 people (23 knees, 7 knees of males and 16 knees of females) in the control group. The follow indexes were measured: the torsion-angle of tibia on CT scanning imagings, the patella-femoral congruence angle and lateral patella-femoral angle under static and dynamic conditions when the knee bent at 30 degrees of flexion. Based on the measurement results, the relationship between the torsion-deformity of tibias and the disorders of patella-femoral joints in patients with PFDA were analyzed. Finally,the patients were divided into three groups including large torsion-angle group, small torsion-angle group and normal group according to the size of torsion-angle, in order to analyze the relationship between torsion-deformity and disorders of patella-femoral joint, especially under the dynamic conditions.

RESULTSCompared with patients without PFDA, the ones with PFDA had bigger torsion-angle (30.30 ± 7.11)° of tibia, larger patella-femoral congruence angle (13.20 ± 3.94)° and smaller lateral patella-femoral angle (12.30 ± 3.04)°. The congruence angle and lateral patella-femoral angle under static and dynamic conditions had statistical differences respectively in both too-big torsion-angle group and too-small torsion-angle group. The congruence angle and lateral patella-femoral angle under static and dynamic conditions had no statistical differences in normal torsion-angle group.

CONCLUSIONTorsion-deformity of tibia is the main reason for disorder of patella-femoral joint in the patients with PFDA. Torsion-deformity of tibia is always accompanied by instability of patella-femoral joint,especially under the dynamic condition, thus causing PFDA. It can not only provide arrangement information and degenerative condition of patella-femoral joint,but also provide guidance through the analysis on the relationship for better clinical prevention and early treatment of degenerative bone and joint disease.

Adult ; Female ; Femur ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; diagnostic imaging ; etiology ; Patella ; diagnostic imaging ; Radiography ; Tibia ; diagnostic imaging ; Torsion Abnormality ; complications ; diagnostic imaging

Objective To investigate the efficacy observation of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)for improving the attention in patients with infarction in basal ganglia area. Methods Sixty consecutive patients with basal ganglia infarction admitted to the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine,the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from May 2015 to May 2016 were enrolled. They were randomly divided into either a control group or a test group according to the random number table (n = 30 in each group). The patients in both groups received routine rehabilitation training,and those in the test group received tDCS therapy synchronously,and the control group received the sham tDCS stimulation. The evaluations and analyses were conducted with the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA),d2 test of attention,and event-related potential-P300 (ERP-P300),respectively in all patients before intervention and 4 weeks after intervention,and they were compared between the groups. Results There was no significant difference before intervention between the two groups (all P > 0. 05). Compared with before intervention,the ERP-P300 latencies were reduced,the amplitudes were increased after intervention in the patients of the test group and the control group (all P < 0. 05). The MoCA total scores (the test group:22. 7 ± 2. 7 vs. 15. 5 ±
2. 4;the control group:17. 2 ±2. 5 vs. 15. 6 ±2. 3),attention dimension scores (the test group:4. 6 ± 1. 2 vs. 2. 4 ± 1. 6;the control group:3. 6 ± 1. 5 vs. 2. 5 ± 1. 5),and the total completion of d2 attention test task, total scores,and concentration degree scores (the test group:295 ± 31 vs. 250 ± 45,279 ± 38 vs. 223 ± 52, 97 ± 22 vs. 75 ± 25;the control group:276 ± 33 vs. 247 ± 45,257 ± 39 vs. 211 ± 56,84 ± 23 vs. 71 ± 24) were all increased (all P < 0. 05),and all the indexes of the test group were better than those of the control group (all P < 0. 05). Conclusion tDCS contributes to the improvement of the attention in patients with infarction in the internal capsule-basal ganglia region.

Purpose To investigate the effect of differential expression,over expression and low expression of Uba-2 in hepatic carcinoma on the proliferation and invasion of hepatoma cells.Methods The expression of Uba-2 mRNA in clinical specimens was detected by qRT-PCR.Mter transfection of Uba2 over expression vector and siRNA expression vector into hepatoma cell HepG2,the effect of Uba-2 on proliferation of hepatoma cells was detected by MTS assay while the effect on the invasion and metastasis of hepatoma cells was detected by cell migration/invasion assay.The expression levels of TGF-β1-3,VEGF and Snail proteins in hepatoma cell HepG2 were detected by Western blot.Results The expression of Uba-2 was high in hepatic carcinoma.Compared with that in adjacent liver tissues,there were significant differences (P ＜ 0.01).qRT-PCR detected over expression or low expression of Uba-2 in HepG2 cells.Cell proliferation data showed that the expression level of Uba-2 was related to the proliferation ability of hepatoma cell HepG2,and siRNA interferring the expression of Uba-2 in silent HepG2 cells could inhibit its growth.The data of cell migration/invasion showed that over expression of Uba-2 could promote the invasion and metastasis of hepatoma cell HepG2.Compared with cells in the control group,there were statistically significant differences.The results of Western blot indicated that the abnormal expression of Uba-2 affected the expression levels of TGF-β2,VEGF and Snail proteins.Conclusion The high expression of Uba-2 gene in hepatic carcinoma may promote the proliferation,invasion and metastasis of hepatoma cells.

Animals ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred Strains ; Nickel ; toxicity ; Oxidative Stress ; physiology ; Testis ; drug effects ; metabolism

Objective To analyze the distribution of class 1,2 and 3 integrons and their gene cassettes,and to explore its relationship with drug resistance in Shigella.Methods Antimicrobial susceptibility was detected by minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) method.All the genes of integrons and gene cassettes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).The amplicons were identified by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and sequencing.Results Fifty seven multi-drug resistant strains were identified from a total of 62 Shigella strains (91.9％).Among multi drug resistant strains,52 strains carried integrons of class 1 (91.2 ％) and 55 strains carried integrons of class 2 (96.5％).Only 2 strains carried class 1 integrons alone,5 strains carried class 2 integrons alone and 50 strains had both class 1 and class 2 integrons.Class 3 integrons were not detected.The gene cassettes of typical class 1 integrons,dfrV and dfrA17-aadA5,were detected in 6 strains and 2 strains,respectively.Atypical class 1 integrons with gene cassettes blaOxA30 aadA1 were detected in 44 strains.The typical and atypical class 1 integrons coexisted in 6 Shigella flexneri strains.Gene cassettes for class 2 integrons were dfrA1 sat1-aadA1.Conclusions The multi-drug resistant Shigella strains are widely distributed in Ji'nan,and the atypical class 1 integrons and class 2 integrons are common in these strains.Coexistence of the two integrons is observed in some of the strains.

BACKGROUND:Repairing tuberculosis bone defect has become a research focus with the development of anti-tuberculosis functional bone tissue engineering scaffold. OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the preparation, drug release performance and osteogenic properties of the anti-tuberculosis functional bone tissue engineering scaffold. METHODS:PubMed, Chinese Journal Ful-text Database, Wanfang databases were searched by computer for articles addressing functional bone tissue engineering scaffold for repair of tuberculosis bone defect. The keywords were“bone tissue engineering scaffold;tuberculosis;bone defect”in English and Chinese. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The anti-tuberculosis functional bone tissue engineering scaffold has good drug delivery, biocompatibility, osteogenic properties and anti-tuberculosis properties. As a good choice to avert bone defect relapse, the scaffold enables a long and stable drug release into bone defects to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of anti-tuberculosis drugs topical y. Given the technical deficiencies, we can only combine two drugs with the anti-tuberculosis bone tissue engineering scaffold, although the combined use of three or four anti-tuberculosis drugs is preferred. Additional y, a complete course of anti-tuberculosis treatment often lasts for 6-12 months, which cannot be achieved by the existing anti-tuberculosis bone tissue engineering scaffold. Up to now, the effect of this scaffold has not yet been confirmed in animal models, although how to prepare this scaffold has been reported.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence rate of critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency (CIRCI) and the effect of low-dose glucocorticoid on prognosis of CIRCI in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). METHODS: Since January 2010 to December 2012, 385 patients, who met the criteria of AECOPD, were enrolled in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the First People's Hospital and Municipal Central Hospital of Xiangtan City. The AECOPD patients complicated with CIRCI screened by an adrenalcorticotrophic hormone test within 12 hours after admission to ICU were divided into a treatment group (n=32) and a control group (n=31) for a prospective, randomized and controlled clinical trial. Hydrocortisone (150 mg/d) or normal saline was injected intravenously for 7 days. The patients were followed up for 28 days after injection. The endpoint included 28-day survival time, non-shock time, ICU stay and the period of non-mechanical ventilation. The markers of inflammation C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin 6 and procalcitonin were measured at baseline and 7 days after treatment. The variables were analyzed by Student's t test, the non-parametric statistical test, the Chi-square test or the Kaplan-Meier method with SPSS18.0 statistic software. A P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Totally 63 patients were diagnosed with CIRCI by an adrenalcorticotrophic hormone test and the prevalence rate was 16.4％. The shock rate of the AECOPD patients complicated with CIRCI was higher than that of the AECOPD patients without CIRCI (23.8％ vs. 8.7％, P<0.01). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that the 28-day survival time of the treatment group was obviously longer than that of the control group (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, shock-free days within 28 days was longer in the treatment group (18.2±9.5 vs. 25.8±4.1, P<0.05). Treatment with low-dose glucocorticoid obviously decreased the markers of infection and inflammation (P<0.01), such as C-reactive protein (13.2±5.5 mg/L vs. 8.3±3.1 mg/L for the control group; 13.5±5.9 mg/L vs. 5.1±2.3 mg/L for the treatment group), tumor necrosis factor-α (26.1±16.2 g/L vs. 17.5±11.7 g/L for the control group; 25.0±14.8 g/L vs. 10.4±7.8 g/L for the treatment group) and procalcitonin (3.88 g/L vs. 2.03 g/L for the control group; 3.77 g/L vs. 1.26 g/L for the treatment group). Furthermore, the markers in the treatment group decreased more obviously than those in the control group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The prevalence rate of CIRCI was higher in the patients with AECOPD in the department of critical medicine, and low-dose glucocorticoid treatment for one week reduced the 28-day mortality, shock time and markers of infection and inflammation.

Objective Platelet activating factor(PAF),which has been implicated in the pathophysiology of inflammation in asthma,is degraded and inactivated by PAF acetlhydrolase(PAF AH).To investigate the association of PAF AH activity with genotype in asthmatic children.Methods We studied 57 asthmatic children and 30 normal controls. The plasma PAF AH genotype was detected as representative case with 3 different genotypes (Val/Val,Val/Phe and Phe/Phe) by allele specific polymerase chain reaction(AS PCR).The PAF AH activity in plasam was examined by the changes of substrate assay.Results In severe asthmatic individuals plasma PAF AH activities were lower than those of mild or moderate groups and control group,and plasma PAF AH activition was absent 15.4 %.In another three groups plasma PAF AH activation were absent 2 %-3 %.There was significant difference of plasma PAF AH activity among 3 groups of genotype(Val/Val,Val/Phe and Phe/Phe).In the similar genotype, there was no significant difference of plasma PAF AH activity between the groups of control and asthma.Conclusions There was imbalace of PAF/PAF AH in asthmatic children. In severe asthmatic individuals plasma PAF AH activities were lower than those of mild or moderate groups and control group. PAF AH(Val279Phe) gene mutation was related with plasma PAF AH activity.

Objective:To compare the dosimetric difference between knowledge-based planning (KBP) volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) models for predicting the dose distribution during IMRT, aiming to investigate the feasibility of VMAT model to predict the IMRT plans.Methods:Fifty prostate cancer patients who had completed radiotherapy were selected. Manual planning was performed on each selected patient to generate the corresponding IMRT and VMAT plans. The IMRT and VMAT manual plans of the 40 randomly-selected patients were adopted to generate the KBP VMAT and IMRT models. The remaining 10 patients were utilized to predict IMRT plans. VMAT library-derived IMRT model (V-IMRT) and IMRT library-derived IMRT model (I-IMRT) were generated. Dosimetric parameters related to organ-at-risks (OARs) and planning target volume (PTV) were statistically compared among the manual IMRT (mIMRT), V-IMRT and I-IMRT plans.Results:Compared with the mIMRT plan, I-IMRT could significantly better control D max of the PTV ( P=0.039), whereas V-IMRT and I-IMRT plans could better protect the bladder and bilateral femoral heads (both P<0.05). V-IMRT plan could better protect the D max of bilateral femoral heads and the D 15% of the right femoral head (both P<0.05), whereas no significant difference was observed in other OARs and PTV (all P>0.05). Conclusions:Compared with the manual plans, KBP IMRT plan has significant advantages in protecting the OARs. KBP VMAT and IMRT models are both feasible in clinical practice, which yield equivalent accuracy for predicting IMRT plan.