Chronic cough is a multi-factorial symptom,postnasal drip syndrome (PNDS) and gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) are common causes of chronic cough, which is closely associated with the otolaryngologist. The aim of this paper is to highlight the issues in clinical features, diagnosis and management of chronic cough from the otolaryngologist perspective.
Chronic Disease ; Cough ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans

Objective To observe the effect of RNAi that silences MTA1 gene on invasion and migration of esophageal carcinoma 9706 cells. Methods The siRNA expression vector that silences MTA1 gene was transfected into EC9706 cells by liposome. MTA1 mRNA and protein expressions were detected through quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. The invasion and migration of EC9706 cells were evaluated by scrape wound healing assay and cell invasion assay in vitro. Results MTA1 gene expression significantly decreased. The scrape wound of EC9706 cells healed more slowly and the cell population that cut through Matrigel were less in the EC9706 cells transfected with siRNA expression vector than non-transfected EC9706 cells and the EC9706 cells transfected with blank vector (P

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the levels of serum miR-21 and miR-34a in patients with advanced gastric cancer before and after Folfox chemotherapy and its relationship with chemotherapy efficacy.Methods Forty-five patients with advanced gastric cancer who underwent Folfox chemotherapy were enrolled from May 2015 to October 2015.The levels of miR-21 and miR-34a were analyzed by Real-time PCR before and after chemotherapy.The relationship between miR-21 and miR-34a levels and chemotherapy efficacy was analyzed.The predictive values of miR-21 and miR-34a on the efficacy of chemotherapy were evaluated by the receiver operating curve(ROC).Results After chemotherapy,6 cases(13.33%)were relieved,10 cases(22.22%)were stable disease(SD),29 cases(64.44%)were disease progress(PD),the objective response rate(ORR)was 13.33%,the disease control rate(DCR)was 35.56%,the median survival time was 8.1 months.The level of miR-21 was down-regulated and up-regulation for miR-34a after chemotherapy.They were statistically significant(P<0.05).The level of miR-21 in the chemotherapy group was lower than that in the ineffective group,and the level of miR-34a was higher than that of the ineffective group(P<0.05).MiR-21 was negatively correlated with the efficacy of chemotherapy(rs=-0.431,P<0.05),while miR-34a was positively correlated with it(rs=0.504,P<0.05).The median survival time was 7.6 months for low-level patients with miR-21 and 6.0 months for high-level patients.The median survival time of miR-34a patients was 5.5 months,compared with 8.3 months for high-level patients,with a statistically significant difference(P<0.05).The Log-Rank test showed that the median survival of patients with low miR-21 was higher than that of patients with high miR-21(P<0.05).The median survival of patients with high miR-34a was higher than that of patients with low miR-34a(P<0.05).The miR-21 combined with miR-34a in predicting chemotherapy efficacy under the curve(AUC)was 0.865,the sensitivity was 80.9% and the specificity was 89.8%.Conclusion miR-21 and miR-34a are correlated with chemotherapy efficacy median survival time of patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Purpose To investigate the diagnostic value of dual energy CT spectrum curve combined with CT morphology in central lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).Materials and Methods Thirty-one PTC patients who accepted dual energy CT double-phase enhanced scan before surgery were analyzed.Central lymph nodes with short diameter ＞ 5 mm were labelled using axial plus 3D positioning.Preoperative labelled lymph nodes were collected and marked during operation.The CT morphology of metastatic lymph nodes was analyzed.The spectrum curve slope (K) difference between metastatic and non-metastatic lymph nodes of arterial-phase and venous-phase primary lesion was compared.The critical K value and the diagnostic efficacy of K value combined with morphology were obtained according to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Results A total of 73 central lymph nodes were obtained from 31 patients,among which 51 were metastatic and 22 were non-metastatic.There was no significant difference in K value between metastatic and non-metastatic lymph nodes of arterial phase group (P＞0.05).While,there was a significant difference in K value between metastatic and non-metastatic lymph nodes of venous phase group (P＜0.05).For venous phase,the sensitivity and specificity of the K value in diagnosing central lymph node metastasis were 62.7％ and 59.1％,respectively,and combined with morphology,the sensitivity and specificity reached 76.5％ and 81.8％,respectively.Conclusion The K value of CT spectrum curve is of certain significance in predicting PTC central lymph node metastasis,and the K value combined with CT morphology can improve the accuracy of diagnosis.

Objective To identify novel mutations in the GATA6 gene associated with congenital atrial septal defects (ASD).Methods This was a case-control study.A cohort of 220 unrelated Han-race patients with congenital ASD and 200 unrelated ethnically matched healthy individuals used as controls,who were admitted to Tongji University Affiliated Tongji Hospital from January,2007 to October,2011,were recruited.The peripheral venous blood samples from the participants were prepared.All the coding exons and their flanking sequences of the GATA6 gene were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and sequenced using the di-deoxynucleotide chain termination technique.The acquired sequences were aligned with the sequences derived from GenBank by BLAST to identify the sequence variations.The software ClustalW was used to analyze the conservation of the altered amino acids.Results Three novel heterozygous missense GATA6 mutations,c.250G ＞A (p.A84T),c.649G ＞C (p.G217R) and c.1270A ＞C (p.S424R),were identified in 3 of 220 ASD patients,respectively.None of the three mutations was detected in 200 healthy control individuals.A cross-species alignment of GATA6 encoded protein sequences showed that the mutated amino acids were relatively conserved evolutionarily.Conclusion The identification of novel GATA6 mutations associated with ASD contributes to the reveal of the mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of ASD.

Objective To explore the significance of mediastinum drainage tube in prevention and treatment of intrathoracic anastomotic leak after esophagectomy. Methods The morbidity and prognosis of intrathoracic anas-tomotic leak after esophagectomy in 180 patients with esophageal or cardia carcinoma (group A) who used mediasti-num drainage tube in operation from 2006 to 2008 was studied retrospectively,and were compare with 154 patients (group B) without mediastinum drainage tube from 2004 to 2006. Results The morbidity of intrathoracic anasto-motic leak after esophagectomy was 1.67% (3/180) in group A,and 4.55% (7/154) in group B,but no difference between them(χ2=1.4807, P>0.05) were found. Compared to group B, the final diagnosis of anastomotic leak in group A was early [(6.7±0.6) vs (10.0±2.1) days after operation (t=2.62, P<0.05)] and the duration of fe-ver was short [(5.3±1.5)vs (43.0±20.9) hours (t=4.39, P<0.01)]. The prognosis of 3 cases in group A was well, who all recovered without operation and had shorten hospital days than group B [(23.7±5.9)d vs (45.3± 5.0)d,t=4.86,P<0.01)]. In 7 cases of group B,there were 5 cases underwent second operation,but only 3 cases recovered, the case fatality rate was 2.60% (4/154), higher than in group A (0, Fisher, P<0.05). Conclusions Although the mediastinum drainage tube used or not used in esophagectomy is unrelated with the occurrence of anas-tomotic leak, and the significance to use it is that it can help to discover anastomotic leak early, and control mediasti-num infection effectively without reoperation,and improve patients' prognosis.

Adult ; Ethylene Dichlorides ; poisoning ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Neurotoxicity Syndromes ; etiology ; pathology ; Young Adult

AIM: To construct a mouse IFN-? expression vector and observe the antitumor effects of mouse peritoneal macrophages transfected with IFN-? in vivo and in vitro. METHODS: The IFN-? mRNA was amplified by RT-PCR. The open reading frame of mouse IFN-? gene was recombinanted with eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1 through subcloning. Mouse peritoneal macrophages were transfected with recombinant vector pcDNA3.1-IFN-?. The expression of INF-? mRNA was measured by RT-PCR. Another group of peritoneal macrophages were cultured with the culture medium from pcDNA3.1-IFN-? transfecting groups, and its antitumor effect was measured by MTT. pcDNA3.1-IFN-? plasmid was peritoneally injected inte mouse with tumor. The appearance of ascites of pcDNA3.1-IFN-? plasmid injected mice and survival time were observed. RESULTS: The mouse IFN-? expression vector pcDNA3.1-IFN-? was constructed. The sequence was demonstrated to be the same as on GenBank. The recombinant vector was introduced into mouse peritoneal macrophages. IFN-? mRNA was detected by RT-PCR. The supernatant from cultured macrophages transfected with pcDNA3.1-IFN-? plasmid stimulated the antitumor effects of the macrophages without transfection. The appearance of ascites in pcDNA3.1-IFN-? plasmid injected mouse was delayed and survival time was longer than that in other groups. CONCLUSION: We have successfully constructed the mouse IFN-? expression vector pcDNA3.1-IFN-?. Mouse peritoneal macrophages transfected with pcDNA3.1-IFN-? have antitumor effects in vivo and in vitro.

Objective To study the effects of Alternariol(AOH) on DNA polymerase ?(DNA POL?)expression in NIH3T3 cells.Methods RT-PCR,Immunocytochemistry and Western blot were used to detected mRNA and the protein levels of DNA POL? in NIH3T3 cell line induced by AOH.Results The expression of DNA POL? in NIH3T3 cells contaminated by AOH was significantly higher than that in the control group(P

Objective To study the effect of gene engineering adenovirus H101 for treating esophagus carcinoma EC9706 induced by CEA gene specific silencing and to explore internal influential factor of H101 sensitivity. Methods To construct the siRNA expression vector of CEA and to inhibit the expression of CEA through RNA interference and gene transfection in EC9706 cell,stable CEA gene silencing system was set up,compared with empty vector group and non-transfected EC9706 cell,the model of athymic mouse subcutaneous transplantation tumor of human esophagus carcinoma EC9706 cell was established followed by injection with H101. The mRNA and protein expressions of CEA were detected by real time PCR and immunohistochemistry,the tumor size was measured. Results Silencing CEA gene by applying RNAi can inhibit CEA mRNA and protein expression in nude mice model with transplanted human esophageal cancer cells,there was no evident influence on tumor growth and mass oftumor. After using H101,the tumor size of interfering group was much smaller than that of empty vector group and normal control group(P