Bone Density ; Coronary Artery Disease ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Hypertension ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Kidney Diseases ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Macrophages ; metabolism ; Neoplasms ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Receptors, Calcitriol ; physiology ; Risk Factors ; Skin Diseases ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Vitamin D ; metabolism ; physiology

Objective To investigate the correlation of clinical and pathological characteristics of bladder transitional cell carcinoma(BTCC) with platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF). Methods Expression of PD-ECGF,VEGF and MVD were examined in the specimens of 52 cases of BTCC by Envision immunohistochemical staining.All the 52 cases were followed up via interview for a period of 5 years. Results Of the 52 cases 50 provided complete relevant data.The 5-year postoperative tumor-free survival rate was 42.9%(21/49) and overall survival rate was 78.0%(39/50).The positive expression rate of PD-ECGF in G 1 tumors was 17.6%(3/17);in G 2,59.3%(16/27) and in G 3,87.5%(7/8)(P

Objective To evaluate the role of clinical features,radiography and histopathology in differential diagnosis between chronic necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis(CNPA)and aspergilloma.Methods Thirty-four patients including 8 cases of CNPA and 26 of aspergilloma comfirmed by operation and histopathology in First Affiliated Hospital,Zhejiang University were investigated retrospectively.The clinical manifestations,radiological and pathological findings of all the patients were analyzed and related references were reviewed. Results The age of onset was not significantly different between CNPA and aspergilloma.Obsolete pulmonary tuberculosis and lung abscess were predisposing factors of them.Productive cough was presented in all 8 cases of CNPA,haemoptvsis in 7,and 5 were presented with constitutional symptoms.The most common symptom of aspergilloma was haemoptysis, which was presented in 25 cases.The less common symptoms were cough and sputum,which was presented in 17 cases.Only two cases were presented with constitutional symptoms."Air crescent"sign at radiography was typical and suggestive of diagnosis in both CNPA and aspergilloma,but the wall of cavity in CNPA was thicker and irregular,infiltrates were often to be seen around the cavity.Histologically,CNPA and aspergilloma both showed septate fungal hyphae branching at an acute angle.CNPA was characterized with the presence of tissue invasion by aspergillus,tissue necrosis and granulomatous inflammation. Fungal hyphae ware only found in a preexistent cavity or ectatic bronchus without tissue invasion in aspergilloma.Conclusions Histopathology is gold standard of differential diagnosis of CNPA and aspergilloma. Meanwhile, clinical features and radiological findings appear to be valuable for the diagnosis.

Objective To observe the significance of expressions of CD14+CD16+ on peripheral monocytes in children with Kawasaki di-sease (KD).Methods The expression of CD14+ and CD14+CD16+ monocytes in 16 children with KD (1-11 years old) were analyzed by flow cytomety both pre-treatment and post-treatment.And the percentages of CD14+CD16+ monocytes among CD14+ monocytes were calculated.Sixteen healthy children (10 months -10 years old) were served as normal control group.Statistical analysis was performed using t test.Results The levels of CD14+ monocytes,percentage of CD14+CD16+ monocytes among CD14+ monocytes and CD14+CD16+ monocytes in children with KD during acute phase (n=16) were (1.03?0.58)?109 L-1,(12.53?5.31)% and(1.20?0.79)?108 L-1.They were significantly higher than those in the normal controls[(0.57?0.21)?109 L-1,(3.86?1.84)% and (0.21?0.10)?108 L-1](Pa0.05).And the expressive levels remained high when the patient recurred.Conclusions The expressive levels of CD14+CD16+ monocytes increase in children with KD.And they change when the patient's clinical condition change.

We developed a rehabilitation system by using the virtual reality technique and the Kinect in this paper. The system combines rehabilitation training with HMI and serious game organically, and provides a game and motion database to meet different patients' demands. Extended interface of game database is provided in two ways: personalized games can be developed by Virtools and Flash games which are suitable for patients' rehabilitation can be download from the Internet directly. In addition, the system provides patients with flexible interaction and easy control mode, and also presents real time data recording. An objective and subjective evaluation method is proposed to review the effectiveness of the rehabilitation training. According to the results of short questionnaires and the evaluation results of patients' rehabilitation training, the system compared with traditional rehabilitation can record and analyze the training data, which is useful to make rehabilitation plans. More entertainment and lower cost will increase patients' motivation, which helps to increase the rehabilitation effectiveness.
Computer Simulation ; Humans ; Internet ; Rehabilitation ; instrumentation ; methods ; Upper Extremity ; physiopathology ; User-Computer Interface ; Video Games

Objective Calreticulin (CRT)is a multifunctional protein of endoplasmic reticulum implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis(RA). The present study was undertaken to determine whether CRT was involved in an?giogenesis events in RA. Methods Serum CRT levels were measured by enzyme-linked immnuosorbent assay(ELISA)in 106 patients with established RA, 75 osteoarthritis(OA)and 80 healthy controls(HC). CRT levels in synovial fluid were al?so measured in 25 RA and 22 OA patients. The expression of CRT in synovial tissue was examined by immunohistology. In order to investigate the role of CRT on angiogenesis, human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVECs)were isolated and cultured for in vitro experiments. The proliferation, migration and tube formation of HUVECs following CRT stimulation were examined in vitro by MTT assay, scratch wound healing assay and tube formation assay. Results Our results showed a sig?nificantly higher concentration of CRT in serum [(6.4±3.1) μg/L] of RA patients compared to that of OA [(3.7±0.9) μg/L, P<0.01] and HC [(3.4±1.0) μg/L, P<0.01];and significantly higher CRT in synovial fluid [(6.9±3.4) μg/L] of RA vs OA [(3.9± 0.7) μg/L, P<0.01]. Increased CRT expression predominantly localized to vascular endothelial cells, inflammatory cells and perivascular areas in both the lining and sublining layers of RA synovial tissue. Furthermore, CRT significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and tube formation of HUVECs, as showed by MTT assay, scratch wound healing assay and tube for?mation assay. Conclusion These findings suggested that CRT may be involved in synovitis and pannus formation events via promoting angiogenesis in RA.

Objective Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) play important roles in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).The present study was undertaken to investigate the mechanism of calreticulin (CRT) to promote FLS survival in RA.Methods FLS were isolated by enzymatic digestion of synovial tissue specimens obtained from RA and osteoarthritis (OA) patients and cultured in vitro.The expression of Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 in FLS at mRNA and protein level was detected by quantitative-polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR),Western blotting and immunofluorescence respectively.RA and OA FLS were cultured with different concentrations of recombinant human CRT for 48-72 h,the expression of Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 was detected by q-PCR and Western blotting.The proliferation of RA FLS following CRT stimulation was determined by MTT assay.Results ① Compared with FLS from OA patients (1.00±0.39;1.00±0.46),the anti-apoptotic Bcl-XL and Mcl-l mRNA expression (14.51 ±2.20;12.82±1.80) was significantly higher in the FLS from RA patients (t=10.47,1 1.02;P＜0.01);Western blotting analysis also showed increased protein levels of Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 in RA FLS;Immunofluorescence results showed higher expression of Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 in RA at the single FLS level;② CRT up-regulated the expression of Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 in RA FLS:compared with the control group (0 ng/ml),CRT stimulation at 10 ng/ml and 50 ng/ml increased the levels of Bcl-XL mRNA (1.70±0.28 vs 1.00±0.20,q=4.58,P＜0.05;1.87±0.35 vs 1.00±0.20,q=5.69,P＜O.05) and Mcl-1 mRNA (1.85±0.36 vs 1.00±0.20,q=5.63,P＜0.05;1.72±0.26 vs 1.00±0.20,q=4.77,P＜0.05) in RA FLS,while no significant effects of CRT on Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 mRNA expression were observed in OA FLS (F=1.49,1.60;P＞0.05);Western blotting results showed elevated protein levels of both Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 in RA FLS after CRT treatment at a concentration dependent manner.However,neither Bcl-XL nor Mcl-1 expression was significantly changed in OA FLS.③ MTT assay showed that CRT had no significant effect on the proliferation of RA FLS (F=2.88,P＞ 0.05).Conclusion Our results indicate that CRT-mediated up-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 may inhibit apoptosis and promote the survival of FLS from RA patients.

BACKGROUND: Ephedra, a Chinese medicine, is often used to treat obesity with relatively satisfying results recently. However, the effects of Ephedra on the perimenopausal and postmenopausal obese women remain unclear.OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of oral Ephedra decoction on body mass and the levels of blood lipids, blood glucose and hormone in ovarietomized obese rats.DESIGN: A completely randomized and controlled experiment.SETTING: Institute of Physiology and Psychology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University.MATERIALS: The experiment was performed in the Key Laboratory of Pre-clinical Study for New Drugs of Gansu Province and the Laboratory of Institute of Physiology and Psychology, School of Basic Medical Sciences,Lanzhou University from February 2006 to June 2006. Forty-four healthy female SD rats were randomly divided into four groups with 11 rats in each group, namely sham-operated group, ovariectomized group, estrogen replacement therapy group and Ephedra group.METHODS: ① After having been narcotized by cloraminone (110 mg/kg),rats were underwent a bilateral ovariectomy except those in the sham-operated group, which were also operated, but their ovaries were not cut off. ②Rats in the sham-operated group and ovariectomized group were subcutaneously injected with sesame oil (0.2 mL/each rat) every day postoperatively till the end of the experiment. ③ The rats in the estrogen replacement therapy group were given estradiol (1 mg/kg) by subcutaneous injection every day postoperatively till the end of the experiment. ④ The rats in the Ephedra group freely drank 1% water extracts from Ephedra postoperatively, later the concentration of Ephedra gradually increased to 8% on the sixth day, which lasted until the end of the experiment. ⑤ The food intake was monitored daily, and body mass was measured every ten days. ⑥ At the end of the experiment, all the rats were fasted for 12 hours and collected blood samples for the measurement of serum indexes. The body mass and body length were measured to calculate the Lee's index [(g)×103/body length (cm)] at the same time.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Body mass and Lee's index at different time points in each group. ② Food intake at different time points in each group. ③ Levels of blood lipids and blood glucose in each group. ④Levels of estrogen, progesterone and insulin in each group.RESULTS: Forty-four rats all entered the analysis of results. ① Result of body mass and Lee's index at different time points: The body masses on the 20th, 30th, 40th and 50th days in the ovariectomized group were (256.4±14.3),(271.3±16.1), (276.4±12.7), (285.7±24.2) g, which were significantly higher than those in the sham-operated group [(226.5±11.5), (241.8±12.6),(243.1±13.5), (251.1±22.4) g, P ＜ 0.05-0.01], and the Lee's index in the ovariectomized group was greater than that in the sham-operated group(317.2±13.5, 280.4±11.2, P ＜ 0.01). The body masses on the 40th and 50th days in the estrogen replacement therapy group were (243.7±14.8) and(246.2±11.9) g, which were significantly lower than those in the ovariectomized group (P ＜ 0.05-0.01), and the Lee's index (289.9±13.5) was lower than that in the ovariectomized group (P ＜ 0.01). The body masses on the 40th and 50th days in the Ephedra group were (245.4 ±14.1) and(252.4±14.9) g, and the Lee's index was 294.4±11.0, which were all lower than those in the ovariectomized group (P ＜ 0.05). ② Result of Food in take at different time points: The food intakes on the 30th, 40th and 50th days in the Ephedra group were (17.8±2.4), (22.3±3.9), (26.1±3.5) g per day,which were decreased as compared with those in the ovariectomized group[(25.9±4.7), (28.5±5.3), (32.8±5.5) g per day, P ＜ 0.05]. ③ Levels of blood lipids and blood glucose: The levels of triglyceride, cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the ovariectomized group were (1.73±0.32), (1.45±0.50), (0.78±0.19) mmol/L, which were higher than those in the sham-operated group [(0.94±0.29), (1.05±0.30), (0.08±0.11) mmol/L, P ＜ 0.01]. After the estrogen replacement therapy, the levels of triglyceride, cholesterol, LDL-C and blood glucose were (1.10±0.34),(1.14±0.30), (0.17±0.05), (5.88±1.21) mmol/L, which were lower than those in the ovariectomized group (P ＜ 0.05-0.01), but the level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was higher than that in the ovariectomized group [(1.11±0.31), (0.88±0.21) mmol/L, P ＜ 0.05]. The levels of triglyceride, cholesterol, LDL-C and HDL-C in the Ephedra group were (0.97±0.16), (1.11±0.20), (0.59±0.07) and (0.45±0.061) mmol/L, which were lower than those in the ovariectomized group (P ＜ 0.05-0.01). ④ The serum levels of estrogen, progesterone and insulin in each group: The serum levels of estrogen and progesterone in the ovariectomized group were lower than those in the sham-operated group [(17.09±9.00), (28.51 ±7.99) μg/L;(58.69±12.11), (62.73±10.93) μg/L, P ＜ 0.01], the serum level of insulin was higher than that in the sham-operated group [(31.74±6.69),(23.75±6.66) mU/L, P ＜ 0.01]. The serum levels of estrogen in the estro gen replacement therapy and Ephedra group were (36.03±8.83) and (30.18±8.61) ng/L, which were higher than those in the ovariectomized group(P ＜ 0.05-0.01), the level of insulin were (21.34±4.57), (24.86±6.20) mU/L,which were lower than those in the ovariectomized group (P ＜ 0.05-0.01).The serum level of progesterone in the Ephedra group [(17.68±6.19) μg/L]was lower than that in the ovariectomized group (P ＜ 0.01).CONCLUSION: Ephedra can promote loss of body mass, reduce levels of the blood lipids and insulin, and increase the serum levels of hormones in ovariectomized obese rats.

Objective To investigate the expression of hepatocyte nuclear factor-1α (HNF-1α) and hepatocyte nuclear factor-4α (HNF-4α) in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and explore the function of HNF-1α and HNF-4α during HCC carcinogenesis and development. Methods Twenty-six specimens of hepatocellular carcinoma were collected. The expressions of HNF-1α and HNF-4α in HCC tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry staining. Results The mRNA levels of HNF-1α and HNF-4α were significantly lower in HCC tissues than that in adjacent non-cancerous tissues (0.818±0.371 vs. 0.383±0.102 for HNF-1α, P＜0.05;0.846±0.384 vs. 0.397±0.105 for HNF-4α, P＜0.05).The positive rates of HNF-1α and HNF-4α protein were significantly lower in HCC tissues than in adjacent non-cancerous tissues (92.3% vs. 42.3% for HNF-1α, P＜0.05;96.2% vs. 50.0% for HNF-4α, P＜0.05). The mRNA and protein expressions of HNF-1α and HNF-4α were correlated with tumor differentiation (P＜0.05). There was a negative correlation between HNF-1α and HNF-4α mRNA expressions in HCC tissues.Conclusion The expressions of HNF-1α and HNF-4α are down-regulated in HCC, which might be related to carcinogenesis and development of HCC.

Objective: To observe the regulatory effects of miRNA-31 (miR-31) on LATS2 and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy via down-regulating miR-31 expression in rat's cardiomyocytesin vitro. Methods: Rat's cardiomyocytes were isolated and cultured for 10 daysin vitro, according to different intervention methods, the cells were divided into 4 groups:①Blank control group,②AngII intervention group,③Lentivirus with miR-31 inhibitor infection group,④Negative lentivirus infection group. On day-8, gene expressions of MiR-31, LATS2, cardiac hypertrophy ANP and β-MHC were examined by qRT-PCR; on day-10, cell morphology was observed by fluorescence staining. LATS2 protein expression was examined by Western blot analysis. Dual luciferase reporter plasmids were transfected into 293T cells, then luciferase activity was detected to identify the targeting effect of miR-31 on LATS2. Results: Compared with Blank control group, AngII intervention group showed increased gene expressions of miR31, cardiac hypertrophy ANP and β-MHC,P<0.05, enlarged cardiomyocyte surface,P<0.05; while decreased gene and proteinexpressions of LATS2,P<0.05. Compared with AngII intervention group, Lentivirus with miR-31 inhibitor infection group had down-regulated expressions of miR31, cardiac hypertrophy ANP and β-MHC,P<0.05, reduced cardiomyocyte surface, P<0.05; while slightly increased LATS2 gene expression and obviously increased protein expression,P<0.05. Dual luciferase reporter assay presented that relative luciferase activity of TRAF6-3' UTR+miR-146b was significantly decreased than TRAF6-3' UTR+miR-NC,P<0.01 and relative luciferase activity of LATS2-3' UTR+ miR-31 was signiifcantly reduced than LATS2-3' UTR-NC+miR-31,P<0.01. Conclusion: Cardiomyocytes hypertrophy could be reversed at certain degree by down-regulating miR-31; the targeting effect of miR-31 on LATS2 was involved in cardiomyocyte hypertrophyregulation.