Objective To investigate the effects of Xuanfeitongfufang Decoction on expressions of MD-2, NF-κB protein and its mRNA in lung of the rats with acute lung injury caused by LPS. Methods Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group, dexamethasone group and Xuanfeitongfufang Decoction large-, medium-, small-dose group, each group had eight rats. The ALI rat model was established by LPS tail-intravenous injection (6 mg/kg). The rats in Xuanfeitongfufang Decoction groups were pretreated by Xuanfeitongfufang Decoction (15.12, 7.56, 3.78 g/kg) for 3 days before LPS induced ALI. The rats in dexamethasone group were pretreated by dexamethasone (5 mg/kg). MD-2, NF-κB protein and its mRNA were measured by immunohistochemistry and PCR. The histopathology of the lung injury was observed by light microscope. Results Compared with normal group, the expression of MD-2, NF-κB protein and its mRNA were obviously increased in model group (P<0.01). Compared with model group, the expression of MD-2, NF-κB protein and its mRNA were obviously decreased in Xuanfeitongfufang Decoction groups and dexamethasone group (P<0.01), and there was no obvious difference between Xuanfeitongfufang Decoction groups and dexamethasone group. Light microscope observation indicates that there were large areas of pulmonary hemorrhage and necrosis in model group. While in Xuanfeitongfufang Decoction group and dexamethasone group, the pathological manifestations were much more ameliorated than those of the model group. The lung bronchiale inflammation appeared occasionally, and the edema was lightly. Conclusion Xuanfeitongfufang Decoction can lessen the injury of lung tissue and has protective effects on rats with ALI, the mechanism is possibly related to the inhibition of the expressions of MD-2 and NF-κB protein and its mRNA in injured lung tissues.

OBJECTIVETo observe and compare the effects of two kinds of lung recruitment maneuvers, namely sustained inflation (SI) and incremental positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) (IP) on oxygenation, respiratory mechanics, and hemodynamics of dogs with severe smoke inhalation injury.

METHODSAfter being treated with conventional mechanical ventilation, 12 dogs were inflicted with severe smoke inhalation injury. They were divided into group SI and group IP according to the random number table, with 6 dogs in each group. Dogs in group SI were subjected to continuous positive airway pressure ventilation, with inspiratory pressure of 25 cmH2O (1 cmH2o = 0. 098 kPa), and it was sustained for 20 s. PEEP level in group IP was gradually increased by 5 cmH2O every 5 min up to 25 cmH2O, and then it was decreased by 5 cmH2O every 5 min until reaching 2-3 cmH2O. Then the previous ventilation mode was resumed in both groups for 8 hours. Blood gas analysis (pH value, PaO2, and PaCO2), oxygenation index (OI), respiratory mechanics parameters [peak inspiratory pressure (PIP), mean airway pressure, and dynamic lung compliance], and hemodynamic parameters [heart rate, mean arterial pressure (MAP), pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP), and cardiac output (CO)] were recorded or calculated before injury, immediately after injury, and at post ventilation hour (PVH) 2, 4, 6, 8. Data were processed with analysis of variance of repeated measurement and LSD-t test.

RESULTS(1) At PVH 6 and 8, pH values of dogs in group SI were significantly lower than those in group IP (with t values respectively 2. 431 and 2. 261, P values below 0.05); PaO2 levels in group SI [(87 ± 24), (78 ± 14) mmHg, 1 mmHg =0. 133 kPa] were lower than those in group IP [ (114 ± 18) , (111 ± 17) mmHg, with t values respectively 2. 249 and 3.671, P <0.05 or P <0.01]; OI values in group SI were significantly higher than those in group IP (with t values respectively 2.363 and 5.010, P <0.05 or P <0.01). No significant differences were observed in PaCO2 level within each group or between the two groups (with t values from 0. 119 to 1. 042, P values above 0.05). Compared with those observed immediately after injury, the pH values were significantly lowered (except for dogs in group IP at PVH 6 and 8, with t values from 2.292 to 3.222, P <0.05 or P <0.01), PaO2 levels were significantly elevated (with t values from 4. 443 to 6.315, P <0.05 or P <0.01), and OI values were significantly lowered (with t values from 2.773 to 9.789, P <0.05 orP <0.01) in both groups at all the treatment time points. (2) The PIP level at each time point showed no significant differences between two groups (with t values from 0. 399 to 1. 167, P values above 0. 05). At PVH 4 and 8, the mean airway .pressure values of dogs in group SI were significantly higher than those in group IP (with t values respectively 1.926 and 1. 190, P values below 0.05). At PVH 4, 6, and 8, the dynamic lung compliance levels of dogs in group SI [(9.5 ± 1.9), (12.8 ± 2. 1), (13. 1 ± 1.8) mL/cmH2O] were significantly lower than those in group IP [(11.6 ± 1.2), (15.4 ± 1.8), (14.9 ± 0.8) mL/cmH2O], with t values respectively 2. 289, 2. 303, 2. 238, P values below 0.05. Compared with those observed immediately after injury, PIP and the mean airway pressure values of dogs in two groups were significantly lowered at each treatment time point (with t values from 2. 271 to 7. 436, P <0. 05 or P < 0.01); the dynamic lung compliance levels were significantly elevated in both groups at PVH 6 and 8 (with t values from 2. 207 to 4. 195, P < 0.05 or P <0.01). (3) Heart rate, MAP, and PAP levels at each time point between two groups showed no significant differences (with t values from 0. 001 to 1. 170, P values above 0. 05). At PVH 4, 6, and 8, CO levels in group IP [(0. 6 + 0. 3), (0. 6 + 0. 4), (0. 5 + 0. 7) L/min] were significantly lower than those in group SI [(1.5 0.7), (1.8 + 1.1), (1.6 +0.9) L/min], with t values respectively 3. 028, 2.511, 2.363, P values below 0.05. Compared with that observed immediately after injury, CO level in group IP was significantly lowered at PVH 4, 6, or 8 (with t values respectively 2. 363, 2. 302, 2. 254, P values below 0. 05).

CONCLUSIONSBoth lung recruitment maneuvers can effectively improve oxygenation and lung compliance of dogs with severe smoke inhalation injury. IP is more effective in improving lung compliance, while SI shows less impact on the hemodynamic parameters.

Animals ; Blood Gas Analysis ; veterinary ; Dogs ; Hemodynamics ; Lung Compliance ; physiology ; Oxygen ; blood ; Oxygen Consumption ; physiology ; Positive-Pressure Respiration ; methods ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory Mechanics ; Severity of Illness Index ; Smoke ; adverse effects ; Smoke Inhalation Injury ; physiopathology ; therapy

In order to investigate the effects of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) on plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) expression in renal tubular cells induced by transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1) and to explore the role of CTGF in the degradation of renal extracellular matrix (ECM), a human proximal tubular epithelial cell line (HKC) was cultured in vitro. Cationic lipid-mediated CTGF antisense ODN was transfected into HKC. After HKC were stimulated with TGF-beta1 (5 microg/L), the mRNA level of PAI-1 was detected by RT-PCR. Intracellular PAI-1 protein synthesis was assessed by flow cytometry. The secreted PAI-1 in the media was determined by Western blot. The results showed that TGF-beta1 could induce tubular CTGF and PAI-1 mRNA expression. The PAI-1 mRNA expression induced by TGF-beta1 was significantly inhibited by CTGF antisense ODN. CTGF antisense ODN also inhibited intracellular PAI-1 protein synthesis and lowered the levels of PAI-1 protein secreted into the media. It was concluded that CTGF might play a crucial role in the degradation of excessive ECM during tubulointerstitial fibrosis, and blocking the biological effect of CTGF may be a novel way in preventing renal fibrosis.

Aromatase is a key enzyme responsible for in vivo estrogen biosynthesis. Inhibition of the activity of the aromatase has become an alterative way for treatment of breast cancer. In this review, the structure and catalytic mechanism of the aromatase is briefly introduced followed by thorough review of the progress in the study of the steroidal and non-steroidal aromatase inhibitors. This review is focused on the natural compounds that exhibit the aromatase inhibition, which include flavonoids, xanthones, coumarins, and sesquiterpenes. The structure-activity relationship of these compounds is also discussed.

Objective To observe ultramicro pathologic change of rabbit brain central damaged tissue and peripheral tissue after LOT, to evaluate the changed structure of blood brain barrier (BBB) of peripheral tissue in acute stage. Method Seventy Newzealand rabbits were randomly screened from Zhejiang University Animal Experiment Center. By stereotaxic technique, semiconductor surgica laser fibers were inserted into right frontal lobes and heat treated to randomly build LITT Group A (2 W, 600 s, n = 20) and LITT Group B (15 W, 100 s, n = 20) brain damaged models successfully. Other 15 nomal rabbits were randomly distributed as mannitol perfusion group and fake operation group. The ultramicro structures in central thermodamaged tissue were observed with transmission electro microscope after LITT 3 h,6 h,12 h,24 h. In peripheral tissue, ultramicro morphologic changes of brain vessels and BBB were evaluated. S100B protein in serum and BBB indexe were measured at different stages post LITT. Experimental data were treated as one-factor analysis of variance and q test. Results The brain damage center connected the tip of laser fiber and turn into thermodamage tissue. The main structure changes were cytoclasis, damnification of cell membrum, swelling of cell organelle such as mitochondrion, endoplasmic reticulurn,disappearance of mitochondrion and sparseness of cytoplasm in local tissure. Heat energy conducted to damage peripheral tissue, some cells occured apoptosis in different stage. In acute stage after LITT, contracted capillary vessel, oncreted red cell, swell endothelium cell, broken base membrum, wide around clearance and destroyed aperture structure were identified. The levels of serum S100B and BBB indexe dramatically rised. The opening time of BBB in peripheral tissue was longer than mannital perfusion group. However at 24 h post LITT, they began to recover in Group A. The difference of serum S100B and BBB indexe between Group A and Group B has statistical significance ( P =0.0087). Conclusions With semiconductor laser heat treatment and stereotaxic techniqe, definite cells cytoclasis, cell membrance structures and chondriosome damage could be performed obviously in rabbit brain thermotherapy point. Apoptosis could be found in peripheral tissue, BBB could be opened in an acute stage. The opening time course of BBB was shortened in those LITT cases with small power. It shew us a new method to perform a safe and exact damage zone of brain for functional neurosurgery.

Objective To investigate the potential role of miR-34a on breast cancer recurrence and prognosis.Methods In this study,88 breast cancer patients underwent mastectomy with detailed clinical follow-up information.Extracting RNA from the formalin-fixed paraffin embedded samples,miR-34a levels were quantified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).miR-34a levels among clinico-pathological variables were accessed by Mann Whitney-U test.RFS and OS survival curves were derived from Kaplan-Meier estimates and the curves were compared by Log-rank tests.All statistical tests were two-sided.Results Significantly lower miR-34a level was found in tumor tissue compared to paired normal tissue (P =0.000).A potential relationship between miR-34a levels and existing clinico-pathological parameters of breast cancer,such as menstrual status,tumor size,nodal involvement,stage of disease,hormone receptor status,HER2 status,or tumor subtype was investigated.No statistically significant difference were identified for these features (P ＞ 0.05).miR-34a level was significant lower among G3 group than G1 + 2 group (P =0.024).Down-regulated miR-34a level was observed in breast cancer with later relapse compared to patients without relapse (P =0.008).When considering 2-△Ct =0.117 (median level)as cut-off value,patients with miR-34a up-regulation showed a positive association towards a longer survival,either RFS(P=0.026,Log-rank test) or OS(P =0.019,Log-rank test).Conclusions miR-34a,as a tumor suppressor,promotes differentiation and contributes to relapse when down-regulated.miR-34a has the potential as prognostic factor for breast cancer.

Objective To investigate the association between the difference of specific cytotoxic lymphocyte (CTL) and liver function of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype B and C infections and interleukin (IL)‐7 induced follicular helper T lymphocytes (Tfh) .Methods Sixty‐seven patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) hospitalized at Wuxi No .5 People′s Hospital from August 2013 to January 2015 were collected and 30 healthy blood donors were set as healthy control group .The peripheral blood IL‐7 , Tfh ,IL‐21 ,HBV specific‐CTL ,nonspecific CTL ,levels of HBV DNA ,alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and total bilirubin (TBil) were compared between patients with genotype B and C infection ,hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐positive and HBeAg‐negative CHB ,high ALT level and low ALT level .Multivariate regression analysis was performed to determine the factors associated with IL‐7 .The t test was used for quantitative data and chi‐square test was used for categorical data .Results Of the 67 CHB patients with average age of (35 .1 ± 11 .4) ,48 were male and 19 were female;32 were infected with genotype C and 35 were infected with genotype B ;40 were HBeAg‐positive CHB and 27 were HBeAg‐negative CHB ;17 were with high ALT levels and 50 were with low ALT levels .IL‐7 ,Tfh ,IL‐21 and HBV specific‐CTL levels in the peripheral blood of genotype C‐infected patients were (20 .79 ± 4 .82 ) ng/L , (3 .93 ± 0 .82)% ,(24 .77 ± 7 .52) ng/L and (0 .20 ± 0 .04)% ,respectively ,while in genotype B‐infected patients , those were (29 .13 ± 8 .17) ng/L ,(5 .92 ± 1 .92)% ,(39 .94 ± 24 .00) ng/L and (0 .40 ± 0 .06)% , respectively .Levels of IL‐7 , Tfh ,IL‐21 and HBV specific‐CTL in genotype C‐infected patients were significantly lower than those in genotype B‐infected patients (t= 5 .027 ,5 .595 ,3 .553 and 15 .133 , respectively ;all P<0 .01) .Nonspecific CTL ,HBV DNA ,ALT and TBil levels in the peripheral blood of genotype C‐infected patients were all significantly higher than those in genotype B infected‐patients (t=4 .899 ,6 .815 ,2 .763 and 4 .899 ,respectively ;all P< 0 .01) .IL‐7 ,Tfh ,IL‐21 ,HBV specific‐CTL levels in the peripheral blood of HBeAg‐positive patients were significantly lower than those in HBeAg‐negative patients (all P<0 .01) .Nonspecific CTL ,HBV DNA ,ALT and TBil levels in the peripheral blood of HBeAg‐positive patients were all significantly higher than those in HBeAg‐negative patients (all P<0 .05) .IL‐7 ,Tfh ,IL‐21 ,HBV specific‐CTL levels in the peripheral blood of patients with high ALT levels were all significantly lower than those in patients with low ALT levels (all P<0 .01) .Nonspecific CTL and HBV DNA levels in the peripheral blood of patients with high ALT levels were both significantly higher than those in patients with low ALT levels (both P<0 .01) .HBV DNA ,IL‐21 and nonspecific CTL were all correlated with IL‐7 (all P<0 .01) .Conclusion The differences of HBV specific‐CTL and liver function in CHB patients infected with genotype B and C may be correlated with interleukin‐7 induced Tfhcells.

Objective To evaluate the analysis capability of urine protein qualitative test between AX-4030 and Cobas U411 u-rine dry chemistry analyzer,and study on evaluating the performance of qualitative test.Methods According to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)EP12-A2 document,analyzed the bias and imprecision of urineprotein qualitative test between the Aution MAX AX-4030 and Roche CobasU411 system.Their C50 ,C5 ~C95 intervals and imprecision curves were compared.The protein of 310 specimens were simultaneously determined by both Cobas U411 and AX-4030,in order to eval-uate their concordance.Results C50 for AX-4030 system was less than that for Cobas U411;C5 ~C95 interval of AX-4030 system was narrower than CobasU411.The imprecision curve of AX-4030 system was steeper than Cobas U411.The com-parison of the two analysis systems showed that the concordance was 96.8%,the positive concordance was 82.7%,and the negative concordance was 99.6%.The 95% credibility interval (CI)was 94.2%~98.16% and the Kappa value was 0.88. Conclusion For the sensitivity and imprecision of urine protein test in the C50 critical value,the AX-4030 system was better than Cobas U411.The concordance of them in determining clinical specimens was pole-strength.The evaluation recommen-ded by the EP12-A2 document is practical and effective.

Objective To investigate the effect of sodium houttuyfonate on the expression of PI3K and AKT1 and mTOR mRNA in the lung of rats with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD),and reveal the possible mechanism of the COPD treated with sodium houttuyfonate. Methods Twenty-four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control group,model control group,dexamethasone group and sodium houttuyfonate group(n=6 for each). The rat models of COPD were established by intratracheal instillation of lipopolysaccharide and smudging. The expressions of PI3K and AKT1 and mTOR mRNA were determined by real-time PCR. The morphological changes of the lung tissue was examined by histopathology. Results Compared with the normal control group,the expressions of PI3K and AKT1 were significantly in-creased and mTOR mRNA was significantly decreased in the model group(P<0.01,P<0.05). Compared with the mod-el group,the expressions of PI3K and AKT1 were significantly decreased and mTOR mRNA was significantly increased in the sodium houttuyfonate group and dexamethasone group(P<0.01,P<0.05). Compared with the dexamethasone group, the expression of mTOR mRNA was significantly increased in the sodium houttuyfonate group(P<0.05). The pathological observation indicated that there were local pulmonary consolidation and a extensive neutrophil infiltration in the alveolar cav-ity. Prominent pulmonary interstitial fibrous hyperplasia was observed in the model group. The pathological manifestations were much ameliorated than those of the model group,and only mild interstitial pneumonia and a slight fibrous hyperplasia were seen in the sodium houttuyfonate and the dexamethasone groups. Conclusions Sodium houttuyfonate reduces the in-jury of lung tissue and has protective effect on COPD rats. The mechanism is probably related to the down-regulatation of expression of PI3K and AKT1 mRNA and up-regulatation of expression of mTOR mRNA in COPD rats.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the influence of intraoperative implantation of radioactive (125)I seeds on healing of surgical anastomosis.

METHODSThe jejunum was cut, and end-to-end anastomosis was made in 12 healthy dogs. In the experimental group (n = 8), the (125)I seeds were implanted into the two sides of the anastomosis. The total radiation dosage at the anastomosis was 116 Gy. The other 4 dogs were in the included control group. At the 7th, 14th postoperative day, specimens were obtained from 4 dogs in the experimental group and 2 dogs in the control group respectively. The healing of the anastomosis was observed grossly; hydroxyproline content, as well as histopathological and ultrastructural changes of the anastomotic tissue were studied.

RESULTSGross observation showed healing of the anastomosis of the experimental animals. The hydroxyproline contents were 0.578 +/- 0.020 microg/mg proteins in the experimental group and 0.631 +/- 0.012 microg/mg proteins in the control group (P > 0.05). Histopathological and ultrastructural changes of the anastomotic tissue were not significant in healing as compared to the control group. One of 29 patients had anastomotic leakage.

CONCLUSIONSIntraoperative implantation of (125)I has no adverse effect on healing of surgical anastomosis; it is safe and feasible in clinical practice.

Adult ; Aged ; Anastomosis, Surgical ; Animals ; Brachytherapy ; Dogs ; Female ; Humans ; Intraoperative Care ; Iodine Radioisotopes ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Animal ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Wound Healing ; drug effects