Hepatitis B virus(HBV)will become reactive in non-active HBsAg carriers when they are in the immunosuppression status,which is often caused by cytotoxic drugs in chemotherapy or immunosuppressants.Liver damage will be induced in such patients and even liver failure in some patients.Nucleoside analogues could be used in early phase as prophylaxis for reactivation of hepatitis B in immunosuppression and to improve clinical prognosis.

BACKGROUND:Many previous retrospective smal-sample studies analyzed the short-term effects using pedicle screw placement to repair thoracolumbar fracture. Conclusions are relatively thin. Simultaneously, screw placement in the injured vertebra can further stabilize the vertebral body, and reduce screw and rod breakage and loss of correction. OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the long-term effects of pedicle screw placement fixation through the injured vertebra in the repair of thoracolumbar fracture. METHODS: From February 2010 to February 2012, 36 patients with thoracolumbar fracture, who were treated in the Department of Orthopedics, Guangzhou Panyu District Second People’s Hospital, were selected. They were treated by vertebral pedicle screw placement fixation. Height ratio of preoperative injured vertebral leading edge was averagely 36%. Kyphosis angle (Cobb angle) was 25°. Sagittal diameter of the center of the vertebral canal was 60%. Nerve function was classified according to Frankel classification: grade A, 2 cases; grade B, 6 cases; grade C, 10 cases; grade D, 9 cases; grade E, 9 cases. The height ratio of injured vertebra, kyphosis angle (Cobb angle), sagittal diameter of the center of the vertebral canal and Frankel classification of nerve function were compared before and after treatment. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The postoperative folow-up was 3-3.5 years. Pain was obviously aleviated postoperatively in 36 patients. Average height ratio of injured vertebra was 95%. Kyphosis angle (Cobb angle) was 3.5°. Sagittal diameter of the center of the vertebral canal was 96%. Significant difference was found in the above indexes before and after treatment (P < 0.05). Postoperative neurologic recovery: grade A in 1 case, grade B in 2 cases, grade C in 3 cases, grade D in 4 cases, and grade E in 26 cases. Postoperative fractures were reset. Complications such as breakage, loosing or correction loss were not found. These findings suggest that pedicle screw placement fixation through the injured vertebra in the repair of thoracolumbar fracture can make a satisfactory reduction, enhance the pressure stability of the spine, reduce the internal fixation of fracture and vertebral height loss, and have good long-term effects, indicating that the implant and host have good biocompatibility.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsThe research was divided into 2 parts,including testing research and confirmatory research.The clinical data of 269 patients with HCC ( group A) and 390 individuals (including 135 patients with hepatic cirrhosis,106 with benign hepatic diseases and 149 healthy individuals,control group A) who were admitted to the Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University from January to May,2004,and 173 patients with hepatic cancer (group B) and 257 individuals (including 86 patients with hepatic cirrhosis,79 with benign hepatic diseases and 92 healthy individuals,control group B ) who were admitted from August to December,2004,and 80 patients with HCC who received radical hepatic resection in January 2005 were retrospectively analyzed.Samples of plasma of patients in the group A and individuals in the control group A were collected before operation.Samples of plasma of patients received radical hepatic resection were collected preoperatively and at postoperative day 3,7 and 30.HCC and adjacent issues of patients in the group A were collected.The levels of MIF in the plasma and tissues were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunohistochemistry,respectively.Non-normal distribution data were described as M( QR).Differences between the groups were analyzed by using the Mann-Whitney U test,and the relationship between the levels of MIF in the plasma and tissues was detected by the Spearman correlation coefficient.The diagnostic value of MIF was analyzed by the ROC curve.ResultsThe levels of MIF in the plasma of patients in the group A and individuals in the control group A were 85.7 μg/L (58.8 μg/L) and 15.5 μg/L(31.6 μg/L),respectively.The levels of MIF in the plasma of the patients with hepatic cirrhosis,benign hepatic diseases and healthy individuals were 24.9 μg/L (12.6 μg/L),12.5 μg/L(7.3 μg/L) and 13.2 μg/L (7.7 μg/L),respectively.There was a significant difference in the level of MIF between the group A and the control group A (F =54.235,P ＜ 0.05 ).The area under the ROC curve reached peak when the level of MIF in the plasma was 35.3μg/L.Compared with the control group B,the vdues of AUC,sensitivity and specificity were 92.1％,90.7％ and 93.4％ in the group B.The levels of MIF of the patients with HCC before operation and at 3,7,and 30 days after operation were 81.0 μg/L(54.0 μg/L),76.1 μg/L(47.5 μg/L),50.9 μg/L (40.7 μg/L) and 18.7 μg/L ( 15.1 μg/L),respectively.The levels of MIF decreased with time passed by,and were back to normal at 30 days after the operation.The median expressions of MIF in the HCC and adjacent issues were 0.083 and 0.007,respectively,with a significant difference ( U =3.975,P ＜ 0.05).The expression of MIF in the plasma was positively correlated with its expression in the HCC tissue ( r =0.759,P ＜ 0.05 ).ConclusionMIF plays an important role in the genesis and development of HCC and has potential to be one of the molecular markers for the diagnosis of HCC.

A review of cell traction forces (CTFs) measurement based on Biological MiCro Electromechanical Systems (BioMEMS) microposts matrix is presented.CTFs are exerted by cells and ansmitted to the underly-ing substrate through focal adhesions and close contacts.which is essential for cells movement.Cells probe the mechanicaI compliance of the exlracellular mabix (ECM) in part by locally deforming it with nanonewton-scale traction forces.Precision measurement of CTFs is significant for many researches such as call biology and tissue engineering and so on.Enabled by the advancement in BioMEMS technology,surface treated high aspeect ratio Polydimethyisiloxane(PDMS)micropos matrix devices,which serve as BioMEMS sensom for de-tecting cellular nanoforces and studying in vitro cell mechanics,have been developed.Closely spaced vartical microposts matrixes were designed to encourage cells to attach and spread across multiple microposts,and to bend the microposts like vertical cantilevers as the cells locomote on the surface.Using this dense and dis-crete matrix of microposts rather than a convanfional continuous substrate,CTFs can be directly measured and quantified by processing the microscopy images of the deformations of microposts.The resolution of the force was in tens of nN/μm scale.At first,the conventional CTFs measurement methods were concisely summa-rized.Then BioMEMS microposts matrix method was described in detail,including principle and fabfication process,Surface treatment and cell expedment results.Furthermore,high aspect ratio structure collapse prob-lem was investigated.

A review of cell traction forces (CTFs) measurement based on Biological MiCro Electromechanical Systems (BioMEMS) microposts matrix is presented.CTFs are exerted by cells and ansmitted to the underly-ing substrate through focal adhesions and close contacts.which is essential for cells movement.Cells probe the mechanicaI compliance of the exlracellular mabix (ECM) in part by locally deforming it with nanonewton-scale traction forces.Precision measurement of CTFs is significant for many researches such as call biology and tissue engineering and so on.Enabled by the advancement in BioMEMS technology,surface treated high aspeect ratio Polydimethyisiloxane(PDMS)micropos matrix devices,which serve as BioMEMS sensom for de-tecting cellular nanoforces and studying in vitro cell mechanics,have been developed.Closely spaced vartical microposts matrixes were designed to encourage cells to attach and spread across multiple microposts,and to bend the microposts like vertical cantilevers as the cells locomote on the surface.Using this dense and dis-crete matrix of microposts rather than a convanfional continuous substrate,CTFs can be directly measured and quantified by processing the microscopy images of the deformations of microposts.The resolution of the force was in tens of nN/μm scale.At first,the conventional CTFs measurement methods were concisely summa-rized.Then BioMEMS microposts matrix method was described in detail,including principle and fabfication process,Surface treatment and cell expedment results.Furthermore,high aspect ratio structure collapse prob-lem was investigated.

Objective By analyzing the expression of cluster of differentiation 74 (CD74) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and HCC cell lines,the correlation between the level of CD74 expression and the patients' prognosis was investigated.MethodsThe expression of CD74 in high metastatic potential HCC cell lines(MHCC-LM3,MHCC-97H),low metastatic potential HCC cell line( MHCC-97L),and no metastatic potential HCC cell line(Hep-G2) were estimated by Western blot.The paraffin embedded tissues which include intra-tumor and paratumor tissues were collected from 320 patients who had received HCC curative surgical resection and 5 normal liver tissues from the donors of liver tranplantation.The high density tissue micro-array was made of these specimens. Immunol-histochemistry was applied to discover the different levels of CD74 in tumor,paratumor and normal liver tissues.Survival curves were generated by the Kaplan-Meier method and verified by the Logrank test.Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was applied to estimate the prognostic factors in multivariate analysis.ResultsThe expression level of CD74 was significantly higher in low metastatic potential and no metastatic potential HCC cell lines (MHCC-97L 1.224 ±0.014,Hep-G2 1.374 ±0.006) than that in high metastatic potential ones( MHCC-LM3 0.622 ±0.078,MHCC-97H 0.732 ± 0.083 ).Significant differences can be found between the groups (t =- 13.308,- 16.849,- 10.177,- 13.436,- 17.057; P ＜0.01 ).Meanwhile,in tumor tissues,the CD74 was expressed positively in 221 patients and negatively in 99 patients.But CD74 was expressed slightly in paratumor and negatively in 5 normal liver tissues.There's no significant differences between the groups categorization according to age,HBsAg,cirrhosis,AFP level,tumor number,tumor size,tumor capsule,blood vessel invasion,Edmondson Grades and tumor nodes metastasis classification (TNM) stages (x2 =0.053,0.141,1.200,0.000,0.277,1.975,0.263,1.044,0.000,0.433 ; P ＞ 0.05 ),except gender (x2 =3.954,P ＜ 0.05).Kaplan-Meier method showed that patients with positively expression of CD74 had better prognosis than others (x2 =5.620,P ＜ 0.05 ).Cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that CD74 was a significant and independent prognostic factor of survival [ hazard ratio (HR) =0.721,95％confidence interval (CI) =0.522 - 0.996,P ＜ 0.05 ].Conclusion The expression of CD74 in hepatocellular carcinoma could be a biomarker of the prognosis and there's some potential correlation with cancer cell apoptosis.

Background Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease.Various treatment regimens and combinations of therapies provide only partial renoprotection.Therefore new approaches are needed to retard the progression of DN.The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of a novel spiroalkaloid from Acorus tatarinowii named acortatarin A (AcorA) in inhibiting high glucose-induced extracellular matrix accumulation in mesangial cells (MCs).Methods The cytotoxity of AcorA on MCs was examined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2.5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.The expression of fibronectin and collagen Ⅳ was examined by real time PCR and western blotting.The expression of p22phox and p47phox was detected by western blot.The interaction between p22phox and p47phox was examined by co-immunoprecipitation.The phosphorylation of p47phox was examined by immunoprecipitation.The phosphorylation of protein kinase C (PKC) α,PKCβ,phospholiase C gamma (PLCγ1),and the p85 subunit of PI3K was determined by Western blotting.Results AcorA significantly inhibited high glucose-induced activation of NADPH oxidase,a ROS-generating enzyme,by increasing phosphorylation of p47phox and enhancing interaction between p22phox and p47phox.Preincubation of AcorA with MCs inhibited high glucose-induced collagen Ⅳ and fibronectin production in a dose-dependent manner.Moreover,AcorA attenuated high glucose enhanced phosphorylation of PKCα,PKCβ,PLCγ1,and the p85 subunit of PI3K.Conclusion AcorA inhibits high glucose-induced extracellular matrix production via blocking NADPH oxidase activation.

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction

Ambroxol ; therapeutic use ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn ; epidemiology ; mortality ; prevention & control

Objective To explore the clinical features of invasive fungal infection in 27 children treated at nephrology department between 1999 and 2014.Methods Twenty-seven cases of invasive fungal infection at nephrology department were analyzed retrospectively.Results Candida urinary infection was found in 9 cases,pneumocystis carinii pneumonia were found in 8 cases,invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and urinary aspergillosis found in 4 cases and 1 case respectively,cryptococcus neoformans meningitis and pulmonary candidiasis found respectively in 2 cases,and pulmonary filamentous fungal disease was found in 1 case.These 27 cases showed different features of illness:10 primary nephrotic syndrome,7 secondary nephrotic syndrome,6 malformation of urinary development and 4 preterm birth ＜ 32 weeks gestational age with low birth weight.All of the cases had the history of taking antibiotics.Seventeen cases of them had used corticosteroid and cytotoxic drugs in a long-term.Sixteen cases had experienced invasive procedures.All children had fever in varying degrees,14 cases showed gasp,7 cases had progressive hypoxia and respiratory failure,and 5 cases developed into multiple organs failure.Chest computed tomographic (CT) imaging data showed diffuse ground-glass opacity with mosaic sign of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia(8 cases).The features of pulmonary aspergillosis included multiple nodules and cavity in bilateral lungs (4 cases).The radiologic findings showed patching lesions with indistinct edge and uncertained density of bilateral middle-lower lung fields with pulmonary candidiasis (2 cases).Full dose of antifungal drug was given to 23 cases of them,16 cases recovered completely,3 got better,4 cases died.Four cases gave up full dose antifungal therapy.Conclusions Long-term use of corticosteroid and cytotoxic drugs,use of broad-spectrum antibiotics,invasive therapies,such as indwelling centralvenous catheters,endotracheal intubation with mechanical ventilation,and preterm birth with low birth weight were risk factors in predicting invasive fungal infection.Chest CT findings were different among these cases.Even though not specific,the relatively differences were helpful to the differential diagnosis of these diseases.