The infection rate of Oncomelania snails, emergence rate of Schistosoma japa-nicum cercariae, number of emerged cercariae and survival time of infected snails were observed experimentally by exposing single snails to different number of miracidia (i.e. 1, 5, 10, 20 and 40 respectively). The infection rate of snails was shown to be increased with the increasing number of miracidia. The frequency of cercaria emergence of infected snails varied significantly in different seasons and the highest was in spring and summer. No cercaria emergence was observed in winter. The average number of cercariae emerged from a single infected snail in each observation was 70.67, and through the whole lifetime in this experiment, 1,148.85?96.29. There was no significant difference in average number of emerged cercariae among the 5 groups of infected snails. The maximum number of cercariae emerged from one infected snail was 8,079. Calculated from the begining of cercaria emergence, the survival time of infected snails was in average 118.28?9.94 days, and the longest being 839 days. There was no significant difference in survival time among the 5 groups, and 94.8% infected snails died within one year.

Objective To study the impact of precipitation and water level on acute schistosomiasis for providing reference to control acute schistosomiasis in advance. Methods The historical data on precipitation and water level as well as acute schistosomiasis from 2003 to 2007 in Eastern, Southern and Western Dongting Lake regions were collected and analysed for the correlation between acute schistosomiasis and precipitation and water level in local areas. Results Acute schistosomiasis gradually decreased year by year from 2003 to 2007. Compared with 2003, the number of acute schistosomiasis in 2007 reduced by 95.37%. There was no outbreak of acute schistosomiasis from 2005 to 2007.In the period of peak acute schistosomiasis, the average monthly rainfall reduced from year to year for the successive 5 years. There was a significantly correlation between acute schistosomiasis and monthly average water level. Conclusions The acute schistosomiasis is directly affected by nature factors and has a close correlation with the rainfall and water level in Dongting Lake regions.

Purpose To investigate TRAP1 expression in esophageal cancer and its relationship with clinicopathological features and prognosis.Methods Expression levels of TRAP1 in 60 pairs of cancer and adjacent normal tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry,and the relevance between TRAP1 and clinicopathological features was evaluated.Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional regression analyses were performed to determine the association of TRAP 1 expression and survival of the patients.Results The positive expression rate of TRAP1 was 55.0％,and the amount of relative protein transcript level was 2.7 ± 1.1 in the cancer tissue.The positive expression rate of TRAP1 was 11.7％,and the relative expression protein was 0.5 ± 0.4 in the adjacent normal tissue.The expression level of TRAP1 in cancerous tissue was significantly higher than that of tissue adjacent to carcinoma.There was no statistically significant difference between the expression levels of TRAP1 with sex,age,location,and degree of differentiation (P ＞ 0.05).There was statistically significant relationship between recurrence,metastasis and TNM stages with the expression of TRAP1 levels (P ＜ 0.05).The average survival time of TRAP1-negative patients was 69.0 months (95％ CI:60.2-77.9) while the TRAP1-positive patients was 34.2 months (95％ CI:24.4-44.1).High levels of TRAP1 were correlated with decreased survival of postoperative esophageal cancer patients (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion TRAP1 is overexpressed in esophageal cancer and associated with the progression and prognosis of esophageal cancer.

AIM:To evaluate the effect of microRNA-155(miRNA-155) on the regulation of angiogenesis in diabetic rats with cerebral ischemic injury .METHODS: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 5 groups:sham group, cerebral ischemia group , diabetic cerebral ischemia group , diabetic cerebral ischemia +miRNA-155 inhibitors group and diabetic cerebral ischemia +scramble group .Diabetes model was made by injection of streptozocin and permanent cerebral ischemic model was developed by suture-occluded method .The scores of neurological deficit and infarct volume were estimated at 24 h after cerebral ischemia .miRNA-155 level was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction.The expression of platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 ( PECAM-1/CD31 ) and vascular endothelial growth factor ( VEGF) was detected by Western blotting .RESULTS:miRNA-155 inhibitor significantly reduced miRNA-155 levels in the ischemic cortex (P<0.05), improved the scores of neurological deficit , reduced infarction size and up-regulated the levels of CD31 and VEGF (P<0.05).CONCLUSION:miRNA-155 has a critical role in the regulation of angiogenesis in diabetic rats with cerebral ischemia .Down-regulation of miRNA-155 using miRNA-155 inhibitor attenuates brain infarct injury in diabetic rats .

Objective To investigate the protective effect and potential mechanisms of hypertonic sodium chloride hydroxyethyl starch solution (HSH) against the cerebral vasospasm (CVS) following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).Methods Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly assigned to four groups according to the random number table,with 6 rats in each group.The SAH-CVS model was reproduced by injection of the blood twice through the cisterna magna.Rats in both model and HSH treatment groups received 8 mL/kg normal saline (NS) or HSH treatment everyday via caudal vein.Rats in sham group were injected with 1.5 mL/kg NS into cisterna magna followed by 8 mL/kg NS treatment.Rats in normal group received no treatment.Rats were sacrificed to harvest basilar artery after 7 days.The thickness of vessel wall and lumen area were measured using hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining.The rate of apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) was assessed using flow cytometry.Caspase-3 activity was measured by a fluorometric assay.The expressions of Bax and Bcl-2 were determined by Western Blot.Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was detected by H2DCFDA.Results Compared with normal group,increased thickness of vessel wall (μm:27.72 ± 1.94 vs.18.30 ± 1.10,P＜0.05),decreased lumen area (μm2:26 115 ± 1 991 vs.55 080 ± 2 091,P＜0.05),and elevation of rate of apoptosis of VSMCs [(35.05 ± 5.54) ％ vs.(5.93 ± 1.53) ％,P＜ 0.05] were found in model group.Compared with model group,decreased thickness of vessel wall (μm:22.55 ± 1.50 vs.27.72 ± 1.94,P＜0.05),increase of lumen area (μm2:48 115 ±2 460 vs.26 115 ± 1 991,P＜0.05),and depressed rate of apoptosis of VSMCs [(16.54 ± 5.94) ％ vs.(35.05 ± 5.54) ％,P＜ 0.05] were found in HSH treatment group.Caspase-3 activity,intracellular ROS level,Bax and Bcl-2 expressions in model group were (188.40 ± 19.35)％,(163.50 ± 17.02)％,(208.71 ± 26.04)％ and (44.52 ± 9.61) ％ of those of normal group,and the differences of these parameters between model and normal groups were statistically significant (all P＜0.05).Caspase-3 activity,intracellular ROS level,Bax and Bcl-2 expressions in HSH treatment group were (135.05 ± 19.52)％,(119.44 ± 11.50)％,(139.20 ± 18.04)％ and (85.35 ± 13.12)％ of those of normal group,respectively,and the differences of these parameters between HSH treatment and model groups were statistically significant (all P＜0.05).The differences of all measurements between sham and normal groups were not statistically significant.Conclusion The current results demonstrate that HSH attenuates the SAH-induced CVS,alleviates thickness of vessel wall,and increases lumen area via inhibition of VSMCs apoptosis.

Objective:To investigate the protein expression of GTPBP4 in human hepatocelluar carcinoma (HCC) tissues and the influ-ence of GTPBP4 silencing by siRNA on the proliferation and cell cycle of HCC cell line Hep G2. Methods:Western blot analysis was per-formed to observe the protein expression of GTPBP4 in 24 cases of HCC tissues compared with their adjacent noncancerous liver tis-sues. Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) was used to silence GTPBP4 expression in Hep G2, and the infection efficiency was observed under a fluorescence microscope. The silencing effect was tested by Western blot and real-time PCR. After silencing the GT-PBP4 gene, cell proliferation was detected using CCK-8 assay, and the cell cycle was observed using flow cytometry. Results:(1) GT-PBP4 was overexpressed in 21 cases (87.5%) of HCC tissues (P<0.000 1). (2) After the lentivirus with GFP reporter infected the Hep G2 cells, 90%of the cells showed green fluorescence. LV-GTPBP4-RNAi effectively inhibited the expression of GTPBP4 at both mRNA (70%) and protein (67%) levels. (3) The proliferation ability of the LV-GTPBP4-RNAi group significantly decreased after 96 h (inhibition rate:54.51%). Flow cytometry showed that the LV-GTPBP4-RNAi group significantly increased at the G0/G1 phase, whereas the S phase de-creased and arrested at the G0/G1 phase. Conclusion:GTPBP4 overexpression in HCC tissues was associated with hepatocarcinogenesis and promoted tumor cell proliferation, but the specific molecular mechanisms remain to be investigated.

Objective:To investigate the changes of related indicators of right heart hypofunction in patients with primary myelofibrosis (PMF).Methods:The clinical data of 55 PMF patients in the Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province and Jiangsu Province Hospital from January 2015 to August 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The differences in right heart function-related echocardiographic indexes and biochemical indexes between pre-fibrosis/early stage fibrosis patients and obvious stage fibrosis patients were compared. Single factor linear regression method was used to analyze the correlations of pulmonary artery pressure with biochemical indexes.Results:The hemoglobin level [119 g/L (47-224 g/L) vs. 78 g/L (33-182 g/L)] and platelet count [233×10 12/L (5×10 12/L-984×10 12/L) vs. 117×10 12/L (7×10 12/L-731×10 12/L)] of patients in the pre-fibrosis/early stage fibrosis group were higher than those in the obvious stage fibrosis group, and the differences were statistically significant (both P<0.05). Among 22 patients with complete results of cardiac ultrasound, 90.9% (20/22) patients had increased pulmonary artery pressure, 72.7% (16/22) patients had increased left atrial diameter, and 90.9% (20/22) patients had increased right ventricular diastolic diameter. There were no patients with abnormal ejection fraction. The pulmonary artery pressure [48 mmHg (46-90 mmHg) vs. 33 mmHg (20-50 mmHg) (1 mmHg = 0.133 kPa)], left ventricular diastolic diameter [46 mm (36-50 mm) vs. 47 mm (43-53 mm)] and fractional shortening rate [38.1% (36.0%-38.9%) vs. 35.4% (32.7%-37.8%)] of patients in the pre-fibrosis/early stage fibrosis group were higher than those in the obvious stage fibrosis group, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). The pulmonary artery pressure of patients had positive correlations with age ( r = 0.590), serum ferritin (SF) ( r = 0.608), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) ( r = 0.711) and soluble growth-stimulating expression gene 2 (ST-2) ( r = 0.580)(all P<0.05), and had negative correlation with platelet count ( r = -0.596, P = 0.003). Conclusion:PMF patients are prone to right heart hypofunction, the pulmonary artery pressure is higher in older patients and patients with high SF, LDH and ST-2 levels and low platelet count.

PURPOSE: Hyperglycemia increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the resulting oxidative stress plays a key role in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. Nicotinamide dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase is one of the major sources of ROS production in diabetes. We, therefore, examined the possibility that NADPH oxidase activation is increased in various tissues, and that the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) may have tissue specific effects on NADPH oxidase and tissue antioxidant status in diabetes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Control (C) and streptozotocin-induced diabetic (D) rats were treated either with NAC (1.5 g/kg/day) orally or placebo for 4 weeks. The plasma, heart, lung, liver, kidney were harvested immediately and stored for biochemical or immunoblot analysis. RESULTS: levels of free 15-F2t-isoprostane were increased in plasma, heart, lung, liver and kidney tissues in diabetic rats, accompanied with significantly increased membrane translocation of the NADPH oxidase subunit p67phox in all tissues and increased expression of the membrane-bound subunit p22phox in heart, lung and kidney. The tissue antioxidant activity in lung, liver and kidney was decreased in diabetic rats, while it was increased in heart tissue. NAC reduced the expression of p22phox and p67phox, suppressed p67phox membrane translocation, and reduced free 15-F(2t)-isoprostane levels in all tissues. NAC increased antioxidant activity in liver and lung, but did not significantly affect antioxidant activity in heart and kidney. CONCLUSION: The current study shows that NAC inhibits NADPH oxidase activation in diabetes and attenuates tissue oxidative damage in all organs, even though its effects on antioxidant activity are tissue specific.
Acetylcysteine/*therapeutic use ; Animals ; Antioxidants/*metabolism ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/*drug therapy/*metabolism ; Heart/drug effects ; Kidney/drug effects/metabolism ; Liver/drug effects/metabolism ; Lung/drug effects/metabolism ; Male ; NADPH Oxidase/*metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Objective:To investigate the effect of rapamycin in treatment of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)-resistant chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) without ABL mutation.Methods:Flow cytometry was used to detect the positive expressions of p-mTOR and p-S6 in CD33 positive cells of 2 CML patients with TKI resistance in Jiangsu Province Hospital, and the influence of rapamycin on the positive expressions of p-mTOR and p-S6 in vitro.Results:Rapamycin in vitro inhibited the positive expressions of p-mTOR and p-S6 in CD33 positive cells. After 3 months of oral administration of rapamycin, the positive expressions of p-mTOR and p-S6 in CD33 positive cells were decreased, and the copy number of BCR-ABL fusion gene was also decreased simultaneously.Conclusion:Part of the resistance of CML patients to TKI may be related to the activation of intracellular signaling pathway of mTOR.

BACKGROUNDSome researches have found that the development of tumor could be encouraged by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), but how about the mode of VIP? The aim of this study is to examine the effects of VIP on expression of VEGF mRNA in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells.

METHODSExpression of VEGF mRNA was detected in NSCLC and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique.

RESULTSVEGF mRNA was detected in NSCLC cell lines A549, GLC-82, H157, H460 and SCLC cell line H446. VIP could enhance the expression level of VEGF mRNA in NSCLC cell lines A549 and H157. The expression level of VEGF mRNA reached a peak at 8h and 16h after VIP administration, which was significantly higher than that at 0h (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSVIP may promote the angiogenesis of lung cancer through increasing the expression and secretion of VEGF in lung cancer cells, and thus plays an important role in the pathogenesis of lung cancer.