Objective To investigate the significance of anti-SmD1 antibody and other auto-antibod- ies in systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE).Methods Forty-four SLE patients and 136 other rheumatic dis- eases patients were studied.The later group included Sj(?)gren's syndrome,undifferentiated connective tissue disease,ankylosing spondylitis,and rheumatoid arthritis.Immunoblotting was used to measure,the anti-SmD1 antibody,ANuA and anti-SSA60 000 antibody.ANA and anti-dsDNA were detected by indirect immunofluo- rescence,immunodotting was used to measure the anti-Sin antibody.Results The seropositive rate of anti- StuD1 was 47.7% in SLE patients.It was much higher than that of anti-Sm(P

Adolescent ; Humans ; Male ; Microphthalmia-Associated Transcription Factor ; genetics ; Mutation ; Waardenburg Syndrome ; genetics

Diagnostic Errors ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Thyroid Nodule ; diagnostic imaging ; Ultrasonography ; Zenker Diverticulum ; diagnostic imaging

The bFGF plays an important role in embryonic development of tendons and ligaments and in the healing of injuried tendons and ligaments. The eukaryotic expression plasmid of rat basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) gene was constructed in order to further investigate the bFGF function in molecular regulatory mechanism in the repair of tendons and ligaments and to provide the foundation for the clinical application. The cDNA fragments of bFGF were cloned from the skin of rats by RT-PCR, and recombinated to the pMD18-T vector. The cDNA encoding bFGF was cloned from the pMD18-T vector by RT-PCR, digested with restriction enzyme EcoR I Pst I and bound to eukaryotic expression plasmid pIRES2-EGFP to construct eukaryotic expression plasmid pIRES2-EGFP-bFGF. The pIRES2-EGFP-bFGF was transfected into the tenocytes by lipid-mediated ransfection technique. MTT test was used to detect the biological activity of bFGF in supernatants after the transfection. The expression of type I and III collagen genes was detected by using RT-PCR. It was verified that the pIRES2-EGFP-bFGF was successfully constructed, and its transfection into tenocytes could significantly enhance the biological activity of bFGF, and increase the expression of type I and III collagen mRNA, suggesting that pIRES2-EGFP-mediated bFGF gene therapy was beneficial to the repair of tendons and ligaments.

Aim To compare the advantage of different methods of terminating early pregnancy. Methods 684 women in early pregnancy(≤49 d) were allocated into three groups according to their request: Group A (medical abortion,n=241), taking (po) mifepristone 25 mg every 12 h for three days and then taking misopostol 600 ?g at 8:00 on the forth day; Group B (induced abortion, n=220), taking the routine intrauterine operation by vacuum aspirator; and Group C (medical with induced abortion, n=223), inserting a Gongshuan suppository into rectum 0.5～2 h before induced abortion operation. Some indices were compared, including the efficacy, vaginal bleeding volume and time, side effects and acceptability of the three abortion methods. Results The abortion effects of Group C and B are better than that of Group A (P

Adult ; Biopsy ; DNA ; genetics ; Female ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; genetics ; pathology ; Humans ; Kidney ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

Objective To establish a citrate pharmacokinetics model which is applied to evaluate the risk of citrate accumulation in patients with liver dysfunction in the continuous renal replacement treatment (CRRT) with regional citrate anticoagulation (RCA). Methods The source of citrate for extracorporeal anticoagulation, the body clearance and filter elimination of citrate, which were the three major citrate fluxes of systemic citrate level, were combined into a single-pool, first order kinetic equation. The data from a published clinical study of systemic citrate kinetics in the intensive care unit patients with or without liver cirrhosis were adapted and the citrate kinetic equation was applied to predict the risk of systemic citrate accumulation in patients with normal, impaired and absent liver clearance while different RCA-CRRT protocols were carried out. Results The single pool, first order citrate kinetic modeling equation was as follows:Csys=C(0)·e-[(clb+clf)·t/V]+G/CLb+CLf×(1-e-[(clb+clf)·t/V])There was excellent agreement between published citrate measurements and our predictions. Kinetic modeling showed that the plasma citrate concentration of patients with normal citrate body clearance was no more than 1 mmol/L during common RCA-CRRT. The model predicted that when the single pass fractional extraction of citrate on the artificial kidney was above 66％, systemic steady citrate concentration would be among the safe range even in patients of impaired body metabolism of citrate.Conclusions The citrate kinetic model of RCA-CRRT can predict the risk of systemic citrate accumulation and provide the basis for designing the safe RCA-protocols for the patients with impaired body clearance of citrate.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association of male reproductive tract infection (RTI) with semen parameters and sperm DNA damage.

METHODSWe classified 1 084 males attending the infertility clinic into an RTI group (n = 300) and a non-RTI control group (n = 784). According to the WHO standards, we obtained routine semen parameters, detected sperm morphology, and determined the sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) by sperm chromatin structure assay.

RESULTSThere were statistically significant differences between the RTI and control groups in the semen volume ( [2.58 ± 1.20] vs [3.00 ± 2.10] ml), grade a + b sperm ([50.6 ± 17.2] vs [53.2 ± 15.8]%), grade d sperm ( [39. 8 ± 17.8] vs [36.5 ± 16.2]%), and total sperm count ([218.5 ± 185.0 ] vs [278.5 ± 375.5 ] x 10(6)/ejaculate) (all P < 0.05), but not in the males' age, sperm concentration or pH value (P > 0.05). The percentage of morphologically normal sperm was significantly lower ([3.46 ± 2.90] vs [4.61 ± 3.60%, P < 0.05) but the DFI was markedly higher in the RTI group than in the control ([19.4 ± 11.4] vs [15.2 ± 8.8]% , P < 0.01). The percentage of the cases with DFI > 30% was remarkably higher (13.0 vs 5.74% ) while that of the cases with DFI < 10% dramatically lower in the former than in the latter (16.0 vs 28.0%). The level of seminal plasma elastase was correlated negatively to sperm concentration, sperm count, and the percentage of morphologically normal sperm (P < 0.05) but positively to DFI and grade d sperm (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONMale reproductive tract infection not only affects semen parameters and sperm morphology but also causes serious sperm DNA damage.

DNA Fragmentation ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; physiopathology ; Male ; Reproductive Tract Infections ; physiopathology ; Semen ; chemistry ; Semen Analysis ; Sperm Count ; Spermatozoa ; pathology

Biopsy ; Histological Techniques ; instrumentation ; methods ; Humans ; Indicators and Reagents ; Paraffin Embedding ; Ultrasonics

To examine the effect of transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) of liver tumors on hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) expression in the residual viable tumor, a total of 30 New Zealand White rabbits implanted with VX2 liver tumor were divided into 2 groups. TAE-treated group animals (n=15) were subjected to TAE with 150-250 mum polyvinyl alcohol particles. Control group animals (n=15) underwent sham embolization with distilled water. Six hours, 3 days or 7 days after TAE, the animals were sacrificed, and samples of tumor and adjacent normal liver tissue were harvested. Expression of HIF-1alpha protein was examined immunohistochemically. Real-time PCR was performed to examine the HIF-1alpha mRNA levels. Our results showed that HIF-1alpha protein was expressed in the VX2 tumors but not in the adjacent normal liver tissue. The HIF-1alpha-positive tumor cells were located predominantly at the periphery of necrotic tumor regions. The mean levels of HIF-1alpha protein were significantly higher in TAE-treated tumors than those in control tumors (P=0.002). Among the three sacrificing time points, the difference in increase in HIF-1alpha protein was significant between the two groups at the sacrificing time point of 6 h and 3 days after TAE (P=0.020, P=0.031, respectively), whereas no significant increase was noted 7 days after TAE (P=0.502). In contrast, although HIF-1alpha mRNA was expressed in TAE-treated and control VX2 tumors, there existed no significant difference in the HIF-1alpha mRNA level between the two groups (P=0.372). It is concluded that TAE of liver tumors increases the expression of HIF-1alpha at protein level in the residual viable tumor, which could be attributed to hypoxia generated by the procedure.