Objective To investigate the effect of arsenic exposure on learning and memory ability of rats.Methods Fourty- eight weaned SD rats were randomly divided into four groups,12 in each.The control group drank tap water,the other three groups treated with sodium arsenite at doses of 2.72 mg/L,13.6 mg/L and 68 mg/L for 12 weeks.Morris water maze was used to test the spatial learning and memory ability of rats.Arsenic level in the blood and brain was assessed after Morris water maze test.Results Arsenic contents in the blood of arsenic exposed rats were significantly higher than that in control rats(P

Objective To investigate the correlation between specific features on contrast-enhanced CT and its clinical findings of adrenal tuberculosis so as to improve the diagnostic accuracy of the disease. Methods Contrast-enhanced CT features in 30 patients with documented adrenal tuberculosis were retrospectively evaluated blindly for the features of location,size,morphology,attenuation and enhancement patterns on CT images,and compared with clinical and pathological materials.Results The common CT manifestations were as follows:enlargement of the adrenal glands in all 30 cases(bilateral 90%,mfilateral 10%)including mass-like enlargement in 13 cases and enlargement but the contours preserved in 17 cases, heterogeneity(28 cases,93.3%),calcification(17 cases,56.7%),and low attenuation in the center with peripheral enhancement(16 cases,53.3%)of the lesions.After antituberculosis chemotherapy, 5 cases of enlarged adrenal glands decreased in size or returned to normal size and configuration,with disappearance of the central low attenuation and new appearance of dot-like calcification in 2 cases.Cochran Armitage trend test showed there was an increasing tendency of calcification rate with clinical duration(X~2= 7.47,P

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between the pink teeth phenomenon and the cause of death as well as its significance in forensic medicine. METHODS: Inspection method was adopted to observe the pink teeth phenomenon in different causes of death. Ten rats were selected for every experimental groups, which were then divided into two groups: Eight in fresh group with teeth pulled immediately, and two in decayed group with body decayed in water firstly. The teeth pulled from rats were immersed in 75% alcohol and observed at different immersion time. RESULTS: In every fresh groups, pink teeth phenomenon was not observed when they were pulled immediately, whereas it emerged gradually after the teeth immersed in 75% alcohol, and the color showed distinct and constant four hours later. In decayed groups, Pink teeth phenomenon was observed immediately when teeth pulled, it became distinct and constant after one hour's immersion in alcohol. So it was more distinctive in the decayed groups than that in the fresh groups. CONCLUSION There is no significant connection between the pink teeth phenomenon and the cause of death, thus it may not be subject to forensic identification.
Animals ; Asphyxia/pathology* ; Cause of Death ; Color ; Dental Pulp/pathology* ; Female ; Male ; Postmortem Changes ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Time Factors ; Tooth/pathology*

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the antagonism effects of green tea (GT) against microcystin LR (MC-LR) induced hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity in mice.

METHODSAll 40 male mice were randomly divided into four groups. Mice in group III and IV were pretreated with green tea for free drink at doses of 2 g/L and 12 g/L prior to MC-LR intoxication, for consecutively 18 days. The toxin treatment mice were administered continually intraperitoneal injections of MC-LR at a dose of 10 microg x kg(-1) x d(-1) bw from day 6th till sacrifice, continually 13 days. Mice were sacrificed and immediately subjected to necropsy, and the body weight, relative organ weight, serum biochemical parameters, antioxidant enzyme levels (SOD and GSH), lipid peroxidation products (MDA) and histopathology were systematically evaluated.

RESULTSMC-LR exposure led to increase the oxidative stress and organ injury was significantly observed through biochemical parameters and microscopic evaluation. However, high dose of GT pretreatment caused a significant elevation in serum GSH and SOD levels, and a decrease of serum MDA level as compared with MC-LR control. The mean values of GSH and SOD activities were separately 467.29 mg/L and 139.22 U/ml in group IV. Subsequently, GT pretreatment obviously diminished the serum ALT, AST and Cr activities. Those pathological damages in liver and kidney, were to a certain extent, lessened in GT pretreatment mice in correlation with the biochemical parameters.

CONCLUSIONGT might elevate antioxidant defense system, clean up free radicals, lessen oxidative damages and protect liver and kidney against MC-LR induced toxicity.

Animals ; Antioxidants ; pharmacology ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; Free Radicals ; metabolism ; Kidney Diseases ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; pathology ; Liver Diseases ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred Strains ; Microcystins ; toxicity ; Oxidative Stress ; Tea

OBJECTIVETo investigate the feasibility of acellular porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS as bioscaffold of tissue engineering skin.

METHODSThe second passage keratinocytes were seeded on SIS, after seeded for 11, 13, 15, 17 days, the keratinocytes/SIS composites were observed by dye directly, histopathology, immunohistochemical studies with monoclonal antibodies against laminin and transmission electron microscope (TEM).

RESULTSAt eleventh day, keratinocytes were growth very well on the surface of SIS, there are 2-3 cell layers on partial of the SIS surface, the continued expression of laminin can be detected between the keratinocytes and the surface of SIS. After 13, 15, 17 days this stratified structure increased, cells contact more closely, the tonofibrils in cells, desmosome between cells and the basal membrane between the keratinocytes and the surface of SIS can be seen with TEM.

CONCLUSIONSSIS is a kind of good bioscaffold in the culture of porcine keratinocytes in vitro.

Animals ; Biocompatible Materials ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Survival ; Cells, Cultured ; Intestinal Mucosa ; cytology ; Intestine, Small ; cytology ; Keratinocytes ; cytology ; Swine ; Tissue Engineering ; methods

OBJECTIVETo identify the factor XI gene mutation in a Chinese pedigree of congenital factor XI deficiency.

METHODSThe peripheral blood samples were collected from the proband and her family members and the plasma FXI:C and FXI:Ag were assayed. All the exons and their adjacent intron sequences of factor XI were amplified with PCR and sequenced thereafter.

RESULTSTwo novel nonsense mutations TGG-->TGA (Trp228stop) and TGG-->TAG (Trp383stop) were identified in the family.

CONCLUSIONThe compound heterozygous Trp228stop and Trp383stop may attribute to the pathogenesis of the congenital factor deficiency.

Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Codon, Nonsense ; Factor XI ; genetics ; Factor XI Deficiency ; congenital ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pedigree ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Objective In this experiment, the model of Platform Switching Implant was simulated by adopting three dimensional (3D) finite element method and the stress distribution of implants planted in different depth was analyzed when the platform switching implant system was applied with different loading in front maxilla. Method By using the Solidworks 2007 and Ansys Workbench11.0 software to simulate the 3D finite element models,the stress distribution of implants in the form of platform switching as experimental group and traditional abutment as control group which were respectively planted into the level of alveolar ridge(bone level),1 mm below bone level(minus 1) and 2 mm below bone level(minus 2) were analyzed. Results For platform switching implants, the stress of cortical bone was effectively reduced and smaller as the imlpant was planted deeper, while the traditional abutment did not change significantly with deeper planting level.Under vertical loading, the stress distribution in each model’s abutment of platform switching was basically similar, having no significant correlation with the planting depth, while the stress distribution in the traditional abutment had a significant change: gradually trending up with deeper planting level; the stress distribution of two groups of implants in each planting level and cancellous bone was basically similar, having no significant correlation with the planting depth; the stress distribution of cortical bone was shifted down with deeper planting level for platform switching group, while in the traditional abutment group, the stress distribution of cortical bone always focused on the joint between alveolar ridge top and abutment, which was more concentrated than that in platform switching group. The stress distribution under horizontal loading was similar to that under vertical loading,and the only difference was in that the maximum stress distribution of abutment and implant was mainly concentrated in their corresponding labial parts.In cortical bone, the buccal stress was obviously more concentrated than that in the vertical loading group. Conclusions Platform switching implant planted below the alveolar ridge top can improve the stress distribution, which has obvious advantages over the traditional abutment form. But the component force in horizontal direction would increase the stress on the labial part of alveolar ridge, and should be avoided.

O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) can remove DNA alkylation adducts, thereby repairing damaged DNA and contributing to the drug resistance of gliomas to alkylating agents. In addition, glioma stem-like cells (GSCs) have been demonstrated to be involved in the recurrence and treatment resistance of gliomas. In this study, we aimed to investigate MGMT expression and regulatory mechanisms in GSCs and the association of MGMT with temozolomide (TMZ) sensitivity. GSCs were enriched from one MGMT-positive cell line (SF-767) and 7 MGMT-negative cell lines (U251, SKMG-4, SKMG-1, SF295, U87, MGR1, and MGR2) through serum-free clone culture. GSCs from the U251G, SKMG-4G, SF295G, and SKMG-1G cell lines became MGMT-positive, but those from the U87G, MGR1G, and MGR2G cell lines remained MGMT-negative. However, all the GSCs and their parental glioma cell lines were positive for nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). In addition, GSCs were more resistant to TMZ than their parental glioma cell lines (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) of TMZ between MGMT-positive and MGMT-negative GSCs (P > 0.05). When we treated the MGMT-positive GSCs with TMZ plus MG-132 (an NF-κB inhibitor), the antitumor activity was significantly enhanced compared to that of GSCs treated with TMZ alone (P <0.05). Furthermore, we found that MGMT expression decreased through the down-regulation of NF-κB expression by MG-132. Our results show that MG-132 may inhibit NF-κB expression and further decrease MGMT expression, resulting in a synergistic effect on MGMT-positive GSCs. These results indicate that enhanced MGMT expression contributes to TMZ resistance in MGMT-positive GSCs.
Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Dacarbazine ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Drug Synergism ; Glioma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Humans ; Leupeptins ; pharmacology ; NF-kappa B ; antagonists & inhibitors ; metabolism ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; metabolism ; O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo identify gene mutations of a pedigree with inherited factor V (FV) deficiency.

METHODSThe activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), FV activity (FV:C) and FV antigen (FV:Ag) tests were performed for phenotypic diagnosis. The genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of the proband and all the 25 exons and their flanks of FV gene were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products were screened by direct sequencing and the mutations were further confirmed by restriction enzyme digestion.

RESULTSAPTT, PT, TT, FV:C, FV:Ag of the proband were 249.2 s, 46.6 s, 17.9 s, 0.1% and 1.5%, respectively. FII, FVII, FVIII, FIX, FX activities, vWF and Fg were within normal ranges. Taking the GenBank Z99572 sequence as the reference, four mutations were identified in FV gene of the proband. They were a heterozygous two bases deletion in exon 13 (2238 approximately 2239delAG) introducing a frameshift and a premature stop at codon 689, and a heterozygous missense mutation in exon 23 (G6410T) resulting in the substitution of Gly for Val at codon 2079, respectively. The proband's father and mother were heterozygous for G6410T and for 2238 approximately 2239delAG, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe severe FV deficiency of the proband is caused by a frameshift mutation of 2238 approximately 2239delAG and a missense mutation of G6410T, which haven't been identified before.

Adult ; Base Sequence ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Exons ; genetics ; Factor V ; genetics ; metabolism ; Factor V Deficiency ; genetics ; Female ; Frameshift Mutation ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mutation, Missense ; Partial Thromboplastin Time ; Pedigree ; Phenotype ; Prothrombin Time ; Thrombin Time

OBJECTIVESTo identify the FXI gene mutations in two Chinese pedigrees of congenital factor XI deficiency.

METHODSThe peripheral blood samples were collected from the probands and their family members and the plasma FXI:C and FXI:Ag were determined. All the exons and exon-intron boundries of FXI gene were amplified with PCR and sequenced thereafter.

RESULTSA nonsense mutation Trp228stop and two missense mutations Glu323Lys and Leu172Pro were disclosed in the two pedigrees. All mutations existed in a heterozygous state.

CONCLUSIONThe FXI gene mutations Trp228stop, Glu323Lys and Leu172Pro attribute to the pathogenesis of the congenital factor XI deficiency in Chinese. The Leu172Pro is identified for the first time.

Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Child ; Factor XI ; genetics ; Factor XI Deficiency ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation ; Pedigree