Objective:To explore significance of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP)and N terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP)for diagnosis of acute respiratory distress syndrome and its guidance of treatment.Methods:A total of 124 cases with definite organic heart disease and sudden respiratory distress syndrome (measurement group) received measurement of BNP and NT-proBNP to judge whether they suffered from heart failure or not.Another 110 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome but no receiving BNP and NT-proBNP measurement were en-rolled as no measurement control group.Relevant data,including diagnosis time,length of hospital stay,hospitali-zation cost and mortality rate etc,were collected in all patients.Results:Compared with no measurement control group,there were significant reductions in diagnosis time [(24.2±6.4)min vs.(16.3±5.2)min],length of hospi-tal stay [(12.5±3.5)d vs.(8.5±4.5)d]and mortality rate (8.18% vs.4.84%)in measurement group,P<0.05 all;there was no significant difference in mean hospitalization cost between two groups (P>0.05).Conclusion:Measurement of brain natriuretic peptide and N terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide possesses important value for early diagnosis,elevating therapeutic effect and improving prognosis in patients with acute respiratory distress syn-drome.

Objective:To study the regulatory effects of Ligustrazine Hydrochloride(LHC)on tumor-induced immunosuppression by Colon26 cells in vitro.Methods:Colon26 cells were cultured for 48 h in the presense of LHC and either the cell fraction or the cultural supernatants was collected,with the untreated Colon26 cells as control for the study.The down-regulating effects of LHC on tumor immunosuppressions (including the suppressed NK killing and ConA induced transformation of murine spleen cells detected by MTT,and the reduced expression levels of IL-2R?,CD3?+?+ and CD3?-?+ detected by FCM) were determined.The concentrations of immunosuppressive cytokines,including TGF-?1,VEGF,IL-4,IL-6 and IL-10,in the supernatants were analyzed by quantitative ELISA.The relationship among the down-regulatory effects of LHC on secretion immunosuppressive cytokines and tumor immunosuppressions were evaluated by multiple linear regression analysis.Results:All of the cytokines assayed were found in the supernatant of Colon26 treated without LHC,in which TGF-?1 was the highest,and the significant inhibition of five immune functions mentioned above was showed.To the Colon26 treated by LHC,the concentrations of TGF-?1,IL-6 and IL-10 in the first re-cultured supernatant and its inhibition of five immunol functions decreased greatly.The concentrations of TGF-?1 and IL-6 in the second re-cultured supernatant and its inhibitions of transformation,CD3+?+ and CD3-?+resumed highly.The positive correlations existed between TGF-?1 and inhibition of immunol functions except for transformation,between IL-6 and inhibition of transformation or CD3-?+,between IL-10 and inhibition of NK killing or IL-2R? or CD3+?+,respectively.Conclusion:LHC can exert down-regulate effects on Colon26 secretion of immunosuppressors and its tumor immunosuppression.Reducing tumor immunosuppression of Colon26 through decreasing its secretion of immunosuppressors should be one of anti-tumor mechanisms of LHC.

OBJECTIVETo study the expression of gastrin(GAS) and gastrin releasing peptide(GRP) in patients with gastric cancer and investigate the clinical significance.

METHODSThe expression of GAS and GRP in sixty patients with gastric cancer was detected by using tissue chip technique and immunohistochemical methods.

RESULTSThe positive rates of GAS and GRP were 30.0% and 11.7% respectively in 60 cases with gastric cancer. The positive rates of GAS and GRP were higher in moderately and poorly differentiated cancers than those in well differentiated cancer (P< 0.05). The positive rates of GAS and GRP were significantly higher in mucinous adenocarcinoma and signet-ring cell carcinoma than those in other types of gastric cancer (P< 0.05). The positive expression of GAS and GRP in gastric cancer was correlated with lymph node metastasis (P< 0.05).

CONCLUSIONTissue chip technique is a feasible,rapid,economic and accurate approach for screening clinical tissue specimens on a large scale.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Gastrin-Releasing Peptide ; metabolism ; Gastrins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Staging ; Protein Array Analysis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of a self-made guiding needle of steel wire in guiding the wire through the tibial tunnel for the treatment of avulsion fractures of tibial posterior cruciate ligament with open reduction and wire fixation.

METHODSFrom February 2011 to June 2014, a total of 22 patients with avulsion fractures of tibial posterior cruciate ligament underwent surgical treatments were analyzed, including 14 males and 8 females with an average age of 35.6 years old (ranged, 17 to 63 years old). According to Meyers classification, 9 patients were classified as type II, 13 patients were classified as type III. All the patients underwent open reduction and wire fixation with medial knee "L" shape approach. A wire guiding needle was used to guide the wire through the tibial tunnel during operation.

RESULTSWith the assistance of wire guidance needles, wires passed through the tibial tunnel rapidly during the operation in all the 22 patients. All the patients were followed up, X-ray imagings 6 months after operation showed the fractures healed well. The average follow-up time in all patients was 6 months (ranged, 6 to 12 months). The averaged Lysholm knee score in 22 knee was 92.7 +/- 3.4. All patients' posterior drawer test were negative.

CONCLUSIONSelf-made wire guiding needle can simplify the operation procedures in which the wires pass through the tibial tunnel, shorten the operation time, reduce the surgical trauma and complications, and be worthy of clinical application.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Bone Wires ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Posterior Cruciate Ligament ; injuries ; surgery ; Tibia ; injuries ; surgery ; Tibial Fractures ; surgery ; Young Adult

Cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma of pregnant woman, originated from fetal and / or placental cells undergoing apoptosis, is mainly the short-sized DNA fragments of less than 313 base pairs in length for the sake of nuclear endonuclease selectively cleaving fetal DNA during the apoptosis process. The mean cell-free circulating fetal DNA in maternal plasma accounted for 3.4% and 6.2% of plasma total DNA during the early and the late gestation, respectively. Owing to its relative abundance, circulating fetal DNA in maternal plasma has now become the important DNA source for non-invasive prenatal molecular genetic diagnosis and it is widely used in fetal sex-determination, detection of fetal Rh (D) sequence in the plasma of the rhesus-negative woman, fetal aneuploidy detection, fetal STR genotyping and other clinical applications. Cell-free fetal DNA source, concentration, purity, size, distributions and postnatal clearance of fetal DNA in maternal plasma as well as the reported clinical applications are summarized and discussed in this paper. Based on the molecular characteristics of cell-free fetal DNA and the target gene, the using of appropriate molecular diagnosis strategy and experimental design as well as reducing the fragment size of PCR product and adjusting the PCR conditions to the optimum enable the improvement of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis accuracy.
Cell-Free System ; DNA ; blood ; metabolism ; Fetus ; metabolism ; Genetic Diseases, Inborn ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Humans ; Mothers

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of 3-(4-~(18)F-fluorobenzyl)-8,9-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrochromeno [3,4-c]pyridin-5-one ( is F-FDTP) as a potential dopamine D4 receptor PET imaging agent.Methods ~(18)F-FDTP solution in ethanol-physiological saline was incubated with calf serum to test its in vitro stability through the determination of radiochemical purity.Normal rats were injected intravenously with ~(18)F-FDTP and then sacrificed at 2,5,10,15,30,60 and 120 min after anesthesia.Blood,organs and brain tissue samples were collected.All samples were weighed and measured for radioactivity.The uptake of samples was expressed as percentage activity of injection dose per gram of tissue ( % ID/g).Results The stability of ~(18)F-FDTP was satisfactory and its radiochemical purity was above 95% after incubation 120 min at 37℃ in calf serum.The biodistribution showed that ~(18)F-FDTP could penetrate through the blood-brain barrier and selectively accumulate in striatum,hypothalamus,frontal certex,hippocampus,cerebellum,where the D_4 receptor was reportedly located.The radioactivities in hippocampus,hypothalamus,striatum,frontal cortex,cerebellum,pons were (0.42±0.03),(0.46±0.05),(0.54±0.04),(0.39±0.04),(0.45±0.06),(0.35±0.04) %ID/g,respectively,2 min post injection.And there was difference between the normal biodistribution results and the blocking experimental results:(0.36 ±0.05),( 0.33±0.05 ),(0.55±0.05 ),(0.30±0.07 ),(0.34±0.07 ) and (0.32±0.04) % ID/g in hippocampus,hypothalamus,striatum,frontal cortex,cerebellum and pons,respectively.Conclusions ~(18)F-FDTP can penetrate through the blood-brain barrier and selectively accumulate in striatum,hypothalamus,frontal cortex,hippocampus,cerebellum,where the D_4 receptor was known to concentrate.These preliminary results suggest that ~(18)F-FDTP is a potential dopamine D_4 receptor imaging agent and further studies are needed.

The purpose of this study was to explore the ability of discrimination of the AmpFlSTR Yfiler PCR amplification kit containing 17 Y-STR loci and the allelic mutation in the practice of paternity testing in Chinese population. 36 non-paternity father/son pairs and 84 confirmed father/son pairs, which had been previously genotyped by using Reliagene Y-PLEX 6 commercial kit and the "9 Y-STR multiplex with reduced-size amplicons" developed by our laboratory, were subjected to Y-STR genotyping at 17 loci using the AmpFlSTR Yfiler PCR amplification kit. 17 Y-STR loci were amplified in single multiplex and the PCR products were detected by using ABI Prism 3100 DNA Sequencer. The number of Y-STR exclusion for each non-paternity father/son pair and the mutation events for each confirmed father/son pair were calculated and the observed results were compared with our previous reported data determined by Reliagene Y-PLEX 6 kit and the "9 Y-STR multiplex with reduced-size amplicons". The results showed that out of 36 non-paternity father/son pairs subjected to Y-STR genotyping by using the AmpFlSTR Yfiler kit, one case with no Y-STR exclusion of paternity and 35 cases with more than 3 Y-STR exclusions for each father/son pair were observed. The percentage of cases with more than 3 Y-STR exclusions in all the tested non-paternity cases for Yfiler kit was 97.22% (35/36), which was more than that of Reliagene Y-PLEX 6 kit (92.11%, 35/38) and our "9 Y-STR multiplex with reduced-size amplicons" (91.67%, 33/36). Except for single father/son pair with no Y-STR exclusion, an average of 11.3 Y-STR exclusions was observed in other 35 non-paternity father/son pairs. In the 84 confirmed father/son pairs, 5 mutation events with a single unit repeat change at DYS437, DYS439, DYS635, DYS389II and DYS19, respectively, were identified using the Yfiler kit. The average mutation rate was estimated at 3.50 x 10(-3) per locus per generation. The cases with Y-STR mutation events in all tested confirmed father/son pairs for Yfiler system were 5.95% (5/84), which was significantly higher than that of Y-PLEX 6 (2.15%, 2/93) and "9 Y-STR multiplex with reduced-size amplicons" (no mutation events in the same 84 confirmed father/son pairs). It is concluded that the Yfiler kit which allowing simultaneous analysis of 17 Y-STR loci offers a high ability of discrimination for paternity testing, however, the Y-STR allelic mutation of the Yfiler system can not be neglected.
Chromosomes, Human, Y ; genetics ; Forensic Medicine ; methods ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Loci ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Microsatellite Repeats ; genetics ; Mutation ; Paternity

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of Qianlie Huichun capsule on the microstructure and ultranstructure of prostate glandular tissue in the model rat.

METHODHynertophy of prostate model rat was established by injecting testosterone to gelding male rats. After having been fed with Qianlie Huichun capsule for 30 days, the rats were killed and prostate tissues were resected for pathomorphological studies with microscope and electromicroscope, and the diameter of glandular lumer and the height of glandular epithelial cells were measured under the microspcope for different groups of rats.

RESULTIn the model groups, the glandular epithelial cells mutiplycated notably, showing stratified and pseudostratified cells that made the glandular lumer cramped. Under the electromicroscope, the glandular epithelial cells became high columnor and the rough endoreticulum extremely expanded. But in treatment groups, the change of the diameter of the glandular lumer and the height of the glandular epithelial cells were less remarkable than those in model groups. So the differerence between the model group and the treatment groups was remarkable (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONQianlie Huichun capsule can depress the glandular epithelialceu multiplication of prostate gland in model rats.

Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Epithelial Cells ; pathology ; Male ; Materia Medica ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Prostate ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; chemically induced ; pathology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo summarize the clinical study of modified total aortic arch replacement and stent elephant trunk technique treatment to patients with DeBakey I thoracic aortic dissection.

METHODSFrom January 2006 to October 2010, 101 cases of DeBakey I aortic dissection were treated by modified total arch replacement and stent elephant trunk technique, in which emergency surgery for 73 cases. There were 76 male and 25 female patients, aged from 21 to 77 years with a mean of (49 ± 8) years. Intraoperative ascending aortic replacement in 31 cases, Bentall procedure in 29 cases, Wheat procedure in 7 cases, David procedure in 34 cases. At the same time stent elephant trunk in the left subclavian artery corresponding position was windowed to rebuild the blood supply. Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest cerebral protection was completed by bilateral antegrade cerebral perfusion.

RESULTSThe mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was (212 ± 40) min, mean myocardial occlusion time was (95 ± 16) min, mean circulatory arrest time was (42 ± 8) min. Operative mortality was 1 case and hospital mortality was 5 case, which died of septicemia, acute renal failure and hemiplegia complicated with multiple organ failure. Compared with selective cerebral perfusion, the incidence of postoperative cerebral vascular accident and transient neurological dysfunction decreased. Seventy-six cases received aorta CTA before discharged, the closure rate of descending thoracic aortic dissection false lumen was 78.9%. Seventy-one patients were followed up for 5 to 49 months, 50 cases was reviewed by CTA, of which closure rate of descending thoracic aortic dissection false lumen was 88.0%, no late death and re-surgery.

CONCLUSIONSThe modified total aortic arch replacement and stent elephant trunk technique treatment for patients with DeBakey I thoracic aortic dissection was safe and effective, with less postoperative complications.

Adult ; Aged ; Aneurysm, Dissecting ; surgery ; Aortic Aneurysm ; surgery ; Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Stents ; Young Adult

Ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder of herbal medicine lack of the morphological characters and microscopic identification features. This makes it hard to identify herb's authenticity with traditional methods. We tested ITS2 sequence as DNA barcode in identification of herbal medicine in ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder in this study. We extracted genomic DNAs of 93 samples of 31 representative herbal medicines (28 species), which include whole plant, roots and bulbs, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. The ITS2 sequences were amplified and sequenced bidirectionally. The ITS2 sequences were identified using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) method in the GenBank database and DNA barcoding system to identify the herbal medicine. The genetic distance was analyzed using the Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model and the Neighbor-joining (NJ) phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA 6.0. The results showed that DNA can be extracted successfully from 93 samples and high quality ITS2 sequences can be amplified. All 31 herbal medicines can get correct identification via BLAST method. The ITS2 sequences of raw material medicines, ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder have same sequence in 26 herbal medicines, while the ITS2 sequences in other 5 herbal medicines exhibited variation. The maximum intraspecific genetic-distances of each species were all less than the minimum interspecific genetic distances. ITS2 sequences of each species are all converged to their standard DNA barcodes using NJ method. Therefore, using ITS2 barcode can accurately and effectively distinguish ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder of herbal medicine. It provides a new molecular method to identify ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder of herbal medicine in the quality control and market supervision.
Cell Wall ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Phylogeny ; Plants, Medicinal ; classification ; genetics ; Powders ; Quality Control