OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinicopathological features of testicular malignant Leydig cell tumor (TMLCT) and improve the non-invasive diagnosis of the disease.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological data on a case of TMLCT, detected the circulating tumor cells (CTC) in the peripheral venous blood, and reviewed the related literature.

RESULTSThe patient, a 47-year-old male, underwent radical orchidoepididymectomy under general anesthesia. Postoperative pathology confirmed the lesion to be TMLCT, which was mainly composed of Leydig cells and suspected with vessel carcinoma embolus. Immunohistochemistry showed the tumor cells to be positive for α-inhibin, Ki67, CD30, vimentin, EMA, and PLAP, but negative for CK, CK7, S100, CD10, SMA, Des, AFP, hCG, CEA, CK19, CD117, Oct-4, LCA, CD20, Pax-5, CD3, and CD43. Two CTCs were detected in the peripheral venous blood. The patient received 3 courses of chemotherapy for retroperitoneal multiple lymph nodes metastasis post-operatively. Subsequent CT imaging manifested no obvious reduction of the retroperitoneal lymph nodes and consequently the patient again underwent retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy and cryoablation. At 8 months after treatment, CT examination revealed notably enlarged retroperitoneal lymph nodes with the right adrenal gland evidently invaded.

CONCLUSIONTMLCT is an extremely rare sex-gonad stromal tumor with high malignancy and poor prognosis, and CTCs may be used for its early diagnosis and prognostic prediction.

Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Leydig Cell Tumor ; drug therapy ; pathology ; surgery ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Cord-Gonadal Stromal Tumors ; drug therapy ; pathology ; surgery ; Testicular Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; surgery

Animals ; Chemokine CCL11 ; metabolism ; Guinea Pigs ; Respiratory Mucosa ; metabolism ; Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal ; metabolism

Background and purpose:Chemotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of breast carcinoma by inhibiting the tumor growth and inducing the apoptosis.MAPK transduction pathway is closely related to proliferation and apoptosis of varieties of tumor cells,inhibition of MAPK pathway may increase the efficiency and decrease the toxicity of chemotherapy.Our study was to investigate the effect of MEK inhibitor PD98059 in response of breast cancer cell lines to Epirubicin.Methods:Human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR were used as cell models.Epirubicin(EADM),PD98059(inhibitor of MAPK Kinase-MEK),or EADM+PD98059 was added into the culture medium,the expression of MEK2 and p-ERK were measured by Western blot,the growth of the two cell lines were measured by MTT.Results:ERK activity was elevated in MCF-7 after the treatment of EADM,the cells were more sensitive to EADM if combined with PD98059,while in MCF-7/ADR,ERK activity kept unchanged after EADM treatment,and PD98059 has no effect on the sensitivity of cells to EADM.Conclusion:MAPK signal transduction may be activated in some cells treated by EADM,adding inhibitor of MAPK signal transduction could improve the sensitivity of the cells to EADM.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common degenerative disease of central nervous system. Brain mitochondrial dysfunction and structural damage are the important pathogeny of PD. At present, many of Chinese herbal compounds, herbal medicines, and TCM active ingredients are used to prevent and treat PD. The main mechanisms of these medicines are involved in the protection of mitochondrial structure, anti-oxidative stress, anti-calcium dysregulation, mitigation of excitotoxicity, and anti-apoptosis, etc., which also play a comprehensive role through multi-link, multi-level, and multi-target. Through looking up the recent representative literature, the experimental results of Chinese herbal compounds and TCM active ingredients preventing and treating PD through repairing brain mitochondrial structure and function were analyzed and inducted. Many of Chinese herbal compounds and TCM active ingredients were proved to have good effects on PD.

Objective To discuss the risks of hypertension development with relation to the level of lipid variables among populations who had normal blood pressure at baseline study. Methods In April 2000, under the support of project "prevention of metabolic syndrome and multi-metabolic disorders in Jiangsu province", a cohort study was performed to obtain the baseline data among 8685 persons from age 34 to 74. In June of 2006, a follow-up investigation was carried out among those who had been in the study for 5 years after the baseline study started. 2603 persons who met the selection criteria and showed normal blood pressure during baseline study, were recruited in this investigation. The interval from the baseline to the follow-up studies was 6.38 years on average. Relationship between the risk of developing hypertension and the baseline level of lipid variables were analyzed. Results Relations between baseline lipid levels and the incidence of hypertension during the follow-up was discovered. In gender and age adjusted model, the lipid variables were all associated with hypertension(Wend test, P<0.01). In multivariable-adjusted model, HDL-C [aRR=0.71 (95%CI: 0.61-0.99)], non-HDL-C [αRR=1.28 (95%CI: 1.14-1.83)], TC/HDL-C ratio[aRR=1.41 (95%CI: 1.25-2.03)] and TG [αRR=1.49(95%CI: 1.30-2.13)] were again associated with hypertension (trend test, P<0.05). Even the αRR was much weakened after the baseline SBP, DBP were adjusted with Cox model, the significant relation of hypertension to HDL-C, TC/HDL-C ratio and TG still existed. Excluding the two factors of obesity (BMI≥28) and diabetes which had been recognized in marked linking with hypertension, lipid variables were still associated with hypertension. Conclusion Dyslipidemia might occur before being hypertensive. Hypertension was associated with HDL-C, TC/HDL-C and TG or even exclusion of obesity, diabetes and factors of smoking and drinking or baseline level of SBP, DBP were adjusted.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the prognostic effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with local advanced gastric cancer.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed prognosis in 191 patients with advanced gastric cancer, of whom 71 were treated with NAC and 120 received surgery only between February 2007 and July 2013. Postoperative complication rate was recorded. Survival by clinicopathological features, pathological T and N stages, and histopathological tumor regression was retrospectively compared between the two groups.

RESULTSAccording to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, none of the 71 patients in the NAC followed by surgery group showed complete response, 36 showed partial response, 25 had stable disease, and 10 had progressive disease. The chemotherapy response rate was 50.7%; the disease control rate was 85.9%. Grade 3/4 adverse events were seen in less than 20% patients, with acceptable toxicities. No difference was found in the overall postoperative complication rates between the two groups (7 versus 22 cases, P=0.18). Median survival time was significantly different, at 54 months in the NAC combined with surgery group and 25 months in the surgery-only group (P=0.025).

CONCLUSIONIn patients with operable gastric adenocarcinomas, NAC can significantly improve overall survival without increasing surgical complications.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo study the epileptiform discharges and sleep structure in children with nocturnal epilepsy.

METHODSA total of 54 children with nocturnal epilepsy (NE group) between December 2009 and June 2011 were enrolled in this study using a cluster sampling method. Their epileptiform discharges and sleep structure were monitored using nocturnal 12 h-video-echoencephalography (EEG) and polysomnography. Meanwhile, 40 age- and gender-matched normal children were enrolled as the control group.

RESULTSAll the 54 children in the NE group suffered from epileptiform discharges and a varied number of clinical seizures, especially at S1 and S2 states. Compared with the control group, S1 and S2 states had significantly higher proportions in the NE group, and S3 and S4 states and REM state had significantly lower proportions (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSEpileptiform discharges and clinical seizures are more common in children with nocturnal epilepsy, especially during the non-rapid eye movement sleep. Meanwhile, remarkably disordered sleep structure also exists.

Child ; Child, Preschool ; Electroencephalography ; Epilepsy ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Polysomnography ; Sleep ; physiology

By reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), an open reading frame of pathogenesis-related protein 1 (PR1) was isolated from Panax notoginseng and named as PnPR1. Molecular and bioinformatic analyses of PnPR1 revealed that an open reading frame of 501 bp was predicted to encode a 166-amino acid protein with a deduced molecular mass of 18.1 kD. Homology analysis showed that the deduced amino acid sequence of PR1 protein of Panax notoginseng had a high similarity with other higher plants had the same conservative structure domain of cysteine-rich secretory protein (CAP). The recombinant expressed plasmid pET28a(+)-PnPR1 was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21. The expression conditions were optimized by induction at different times, different temperatures, different IPTG concentrations and different giving times. The optimum expression condition was 0.4 mmol.L-1 IPTG at 28 degrees C for 20 h. The successful expression of PnPR1 provides some basis for protein purification and preparation of the monoclonal antibody.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Cloning, Molecular ; Escherichia coli ; metabolism ; Molecular Weight ; Open Reading Frames ; genetics ; Panax notoginseng ; chemistry ; Phylogeny ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Alignment

Objective To measure the association between lipid accumulation product (LAP) or body mass index (BMI) and diabetes. Methods In this prospective study, subjects were recruited and followed up for more than five years from the program "Prevention of Multiple Metabolic Disorders and MS in Jiangsu Province" (PMMJS). A total number of 3598 people participating in the follow-up program, with complete information. Incidence rates of diabetes and relative risk in different levels of LAP and BMI were compared and analyzed. Areas under the receiver operation characteristic curve for obesity indicators such as LAP, BMI, waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in predicting diabetes of cohort population were calculated. Results The number and the cumulative incidence of diabetes increased with the LAP levels in both men and women. After adjusting for age and other traditional risk factors on diabetes, the adjusted risk ratios (aRR) value of diabetes were 4.33(1.34-14.01) for men and 5.04(2.06-12.34) for women, between the highest and the lowest level of LAP groups. When further adjusted for BMI, the aRR value decreased to 3.15 (1.13-8.80) for men and 4.84(2.16-10.84) for women. The number and the cumulative incidence of diabetes also increased with the BMI levels in both men and women but not significantly as the LAP showed, and the aRR values were 1.34 (0.61-2.93) for men and 1.69 (0.91-3.06) for women in the highest level of BMI group, when compared with the lowest level group. Again, when further adjusted for LAP, the aRR values decreased to 1.23 (0.59-2.69) for men and 1.39(0.74-2.60) for women. The area under the ROC curve(AUC) for the four kinds of obesity indicators in predicting diabetes in the descending order were LAP, WHR, WC, BMI in both men and women. Conclusion LAP seemed more associated to diabetes than to BMI. When comparing with weight gain, diabetes might be more closely associated with the lipid accumulation product.

Objective To compare metabolic syndrome(MS)score with the 10-year-Framingham risk score(FRS)to predict the occurrence of cardiovascular disease(CVD).Methods MS score for prediction of CVD was developed based on the 10-year FRS.Cox proportional hazard model and receiver-operating characteristic(ROC)curves were used to compare the predictive effects,based on data from a cohort study on the prevention of multiple metabolic disorders and MS in Jiangsu province.Results Area under the curve(AUC)increased after changing MS components into continuous variables.AUC of MS score/MS components aggregation was 0.70/0.65,P＜0.05 and sensitivity of MS score/MS components aggregation was 80.5%/74.4% for a given specificity.After mutually adjusted risk factors of MS score and the FRS,when age was exclusively excluded,AUC of the FRS decreased from 0.78 to 0.65(P＜0.05).However,when age was included,the AUC of MS score increased to 0.78(sensitivity of MS score including the age/the FRS:90.2% vs.87.8 %);In Cox proportional hazards multiple risk factors analysis,MS score including age appeared greater association with CVD than FRS on the same exposed subjects.Conclusion The new developed MS score with age included was a valid tool for predicting CVD and its predictive ability was as good as the FRS.