Objective To explore whether the antagonistic effect of decorin (DCN)on progression of glomeruloselerosis is associated with the inhibition of the expression of type I and type II transforming growth factor-? receptors (TGF-?R I and TGF-?R II )in mesangial cells (MsC). Methods RT-RCR and Western blot analysis were used to detect the expression of TGF-?R I and TGF-?R II mRNA and their proteins on cultured rat MsC stimulated by exogenous TGF-?1. Lipofectin-mediated method was used to transfect DCN vector into MsC. After screening and identifying of transfected MsC, RT-PCR and Western blot analysis were adapted to detect the changes of TGF-?R I and TGF-?R II expression respectively. Results The expression of TGF-?R I and TGF-?R II mRNA and their proteins on normal MsC stimulated by exogenous TGF-?1 increased in time-dependent manner and reached the peak at 24th hour. Compared with normal and untransfected MsC (1P-1), the mRNA and protein expression of TGF-?R I and TGF-?R II on MsC (3D-5, 7D-1) transfecled by DCN gene decreased significantly, and DCN gene transfection could antagonize the increase of mRNA and protein expression of both receptors caused by exogenous TGF-?1. Conclusions The expression of both TGF-?R I and TGF-?R II decreases obviously in MsC overexpressing DCN gene, which may be one of the importan antagonistic mechanisms of decorin involved in the development of glomeruloselerosis mediated by TGF-?.

Objective To explore the inhibitory effect of decorin(DCN) on rat mesangial cell (MsC) growth and on the expression of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and p21 protein. Methods Lipofectin-mediated method was used to transfect DCN vector into MsC. After the screen and identification of transfected MsC, DCN-containing supernatant was collected and added into the culture medium of normal MsC, then flow cytometer was used to detect the cell cycle. Western blot analysis was used to explore the changes of MAPK and p21 protein. Immunofluorescence was adapted to detect the expression of p21 on cultured MsC. Results Compared with normal MsC, the number of G2-M cells treated with DCN-containing supernatant decreased to 35%(P

Objective To investigate the clinical applications of coronary CT angiography in patients with suspected coronary artery disease and identify factors that affect CT findings. Methods Medical records of patients suspected of coronary artery disease over a period of 12 months from a tertiary teaching hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Patient age, sex (male/female), duration of symptoms and abnormal rates of coronary CT angiography scans were analysed to investigate the relationship among these parameters. The patients by age were duration of symptoms was also classified into five groups: less than one week, one week to one month, one to three months, three to six months and more than six months. Results Of the 880 patient records reviewed, 800 met the above study criteria. Five hundred and forty nine patients demonstrated abnormal CT findings (68.6%). There was no significant difference in the percentage of abnormal CT findings based on patient sex and the duration of symptoms (P = 0.14). The abnormal rates of coronary CT angiography, however, increased significantly with increasing age (P < 0.001); with patients over 65 years of age 2.5 times more likely to have an abnormal CT scan relative to a patient under 45 years. A significant difference was found between abnormal coronary CT angiography and the duration of symptoms (P = 0.012). Conclusions Our results indicate coronary CT angiography findings are significantly related to the patient age group and duration of symptoms. Clinical referral for coronary CT angiography of patients with suspected coronary artery disease needs to be justified with regard to the judicious use of this imaging modality.

Objective To discuss the efficacy of retroperitoneal laparoscopic dismembered pyeloplasty for pediatric ureteropelvic junction obstruction(UPJO). Methods Retroperitoneal laparoscopic dismembered pyeloplasty was performed on 24 patients with UPJO.The age of the patients ranged from 3 to 14 years(mean,7 years).The diagnosis was set up by ultrasonography,IVU,CT or magnetic resonance urography.All the patients had hydronephrosis,with 4 cases mild,10 cases moderate and 10 severe ones. Results All operations were completed laparoscopieally,without conversions to open surgery during operation.The mean operative time was 180 min(range 150 to 200).The mean blood loss was 60 ml(range 40 to 100)and the mean postoperative hospital stay was 7 d (range 5 to 9).All 24 patients were followed-up for 6 to 24 months(mean,1 4 months).There was no stricture at UPJ.Eighteen patients had complete resolution of hydronephrosis and 6 patients showed obvious alleviation in hydronephrosis. Conclusion Retroperitoneal laparoseopie dismembered pyeloplasty could be a mini-invasive,safe,and effective procedure for the treatment of UPJO in pediatric patients.

Objective To investigate the risk factors of slow coronary flow (SCF) phenomenon; To study the prognosis of SCF patients and analyze the high risk factors of adverse events by follow-up.Methods 17930 patients were analyzed retrospectively who had undergone routine coronary angiography because of suspected coronary artery disease at TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital from January 2006 to December 2010.By Thrombolysis in myocardial infarction Frame Count method,236 patients with normal coronary artery but slow coronary flow were enrolled in the SCF group and 240 patients with normal coronary artery and normal coronary flow (40-50patients per year) were enrolled in the control group.After that,the risk factors leading to SCF were analyzed by the multivariate logistic regression analysis and all patients were followed up from March 2012 to April 2012 to know about the incidence of adverse events (acute coronary syndrome,malignant arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death) and the high risk factors leading to the adverse events.Results (1) Compared to the patients in the control group,the patients in SCF group have higher percentage of male (76.69％ vs.42.08％,P =0.000) 、rate of smokers (58.48％ vs.27.50％,P =0.000) 、BMI (26.78 ±3.75 vs.26.13 ±3.20,P =0.043) 、serum uric acid (344.90 ± 86.18 vs.304.43 ±76.44,P =0.000) 、serum creatinine (68.27 ± 15.10 vs.60.92 ± 13.17,P =0.000)、triglyceride (1.85 ± 1.23 vs.1.65 ± 0.81,P =0.037) but younger age and lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.14 ± 0.28 vs.1.19 ± 0.30,P =0.048).(2) By multivariate logistic regression analysis,male,smoking status,hiah BMI and serum uric acid are all independent factors for SCF.(3) The SCF phenomenon noted in lvessel,2 vessels and 3 vessels accounted for 7.29％,26.04％,66.67％,respectively.(4) During the follow-up,2 patients with malignant arrhythmia and 1 patients with ACS were found in SCF group,no sudden cardiac death took place.None of the adverse events happened in the control group.Conclusions Younger male smokers are prone to have SCF,high BMI and serum uric acid are also independent factors for SCF; The SCF phenomenon is most common in three coronary arteries.Both malignant arrhythmia and acute coronary syndrome took place in the SCF group in the follow-up.

Objective To study the pinoresinol diglucoside (PDG) on gene regulation role of ESF-1 cells in collagen secretion, to reveal PDG repair mechanisms on scalded skin.Methods The cells cultured in vitro were divided into the control group, the estradiol group and the three different PDG doses groups. The concentration of the high, medium and low dose groups were 100, 10, 1μmol/L, and that of estradiol group were 10-3μmol/L. The activity of proliferation was detected by MTT. Then collagen type I (Col I), collagen typeⅢ (ColⅢ), tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1), tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) expression levels of mRNA after administration of cells were detected by RT-PCR.Results Compared with the control group, the proliferation of ESF-1 cells (0.559 ± 0.027, 0.552 ± 0.034vs. 0.489 ± 0.027,P<0.05) in the estradiol and medium-dose PDG was significantly higher. The expression level of mRNA of ColⅠ(0.958 ± 0.021, 0.929 ± 0.031, 0.916 ± 0.015vs. 0.844 ± 0.022), ColⅢ (0.783 ± 0.038, 0.918 ± 0.021, 0.855 ± 0.017vs. 0.678 ± 0.024), TIMP-1 (0.939 ± 0.025, 0.889 ± 0.036, 0.853 ±  0.015 vs. 0.780 ± 0.023), TIMP-2 (0.507 ± 0.024, 0.655 ± 0.037, 0.572 ± 0.025vs. 0.405 ± 0.062) in the estradiol, low-, medium-dose PDG groups were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Besides, the MMP-1 (0.343 ± 0.038, 0.407 ± 0.046, 0.435 ± 0.037vs.0.519 ± 0.041) mRNA expression level in the middle and low dose PDG groups significantly decrease (P<0.05 orP<0.01). Conclusions The PDG could enhance the activity of ESF-1 cell proliferation, increase the expression of related collagen and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases and inhibit that of matrix metalloproteinases to repair scalded skin.

Objective To assess the treatment outcomes of anterior segment optical coherence tomography(OCT) assisted excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) for fungal corneal ulcer.Methods Twenty-four patients (24 eyes) suffered from fungal corneal keratitis were collected by a retrospecive chart review with at least 6 months of follow-up data available.All corneal ulcer depth did not exceed 1/3 corneal thickness and were resistant to local and systemic medication therapy for at least 1 week.Patients were divided into 2 groups.14 patients with 14 eyes were taken PTK and 10 patients with 10 eyes were treated with lamellar keratectomy.Follow-up time was at least 6 months.Visual acuities,corneal thickness,confocal microscope,healing of the epithelial defect and inflammation and complications were recorded.Results The postoperative visual acuity in two groups were significantly improved,visual acuity of PTK treatment group improved significantly better than the control group (P ＜ 0.05).Healing time of PTK treatment group (19.43 ± 5.68) days was shorter than that of the control group (34.40 ± 5.38) days,the difference was statistically significant (P ＜0.05).There was no significant difference in the residual central corneal thickness between the PTK treatment group and the control group (P ＞ 0.05).Residual mycelium after operation in the treatment group was significantly decreased than that of control group.Healing time of epithelial in PTK treatment group (4.0 ± 1.1) days was shorter than that of the control group (6.20 ± 1.39) days,the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).There was no corneal dilation in two groups.No recurrence in PTK treatment group was occurred.3 cases in control group had recurrence after 6 months,drug control was effective in 1 case,and other 2 cases undertook corneal transplantation.Conclusion Anterior segment OCT assisted PTK for corneal ulcer can effectively clear the lesion,accelerate epithelial healing,provide a new choice for the treatment of early superficial fungal corneal ulcer.

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of triple anti-platelet therapy (low-dose tirofiban plus aspirin and clopidogrel) comparing to dual anti-platelet therapy (aspirin and clopidogrel) in preventing stent thrombosis (ST) and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) within 30 days after implantation of drug-eluting stent (DES) in ACS patients.Methods A total of 2904 ACS patients treated with DES from March 2004 to November 2010 were enrolled for retrospective study.Of them,1145 patients were treated with dual anti-platelet therapy (DAT) and 1759 patients with triple anti-platelet therapy (TAT).The incidences of ST,MACE (cardiac death,urgent target vessel revasculanization and myocardial infarction) and side effects occurred within 30 days after PCI were compared between two groups by Fisher' s exact test.Results (1)Although there were significant differences in age,the degree of coronary stenosis,the number of smokers,diabetes,hyperlipidemia and coronary diffuse lesion between two groups,but these differences did not impact on the end point events showed by Cox analysis.The rest of the general condition of patients between two groups was no difference.(2) The incidence of ST as primary end point was lower in TAT group than that in DAT group (0.11％ vs.1.05％,P =0.0036),reducing the relative risk by 89.52％.In addition,the incidence of MACT as secondary end point was also lower in TAT group than that in DAT group (0.17％ vs.1.48％,P =0.0005),reducing the relative risk by 88.51％.Among the total,the incidences of cardiac death and urgent target vessel re-vascularization in TAT group were lower than those in DAT group with significant differences.However,there was no difference in the incidence of myocardial infarction between two groups.(3) Both two groups had no severe hemorrhage complication,the incidence of mild hemorrhage was similar in two groups (0.45％ vs.0.35％,P =0.6720).Nesides,the incidence of acute thrombocytopenia between two groups was also similar (0.45％ vs.0.09％,P =0.083).Conclusions The patients with ACS in the TAT group have significant lower incidence of ST and MACE than those in the DAT group within 30 days after PCI.While the risk of bleeding and the incidence of acute thrombocytopenia do not increase.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effects of Astragalous Injection on oxidative stress and micro-inflammatory status in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). METHODS: Sixty MHD patients were included and randomized into treatment group and control group, with another 10 healthy volunteers as normal control. The patients in the treatment group were treated with Astragalous Injection and the patients in the control group were treated with normal saline for 12 weeks. A spectrophotometric method was used for the measurement of plasma concentrations of oxidative parameters including advanced glycation end products (AGEs), advanced oxidation protein product (AOPP), malondialdehyde (MDA) and vitamin E (Vit E). The content of C-reactive protein (CRP) was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Compared with the normal control group, the plasma levels of AGEs, AOPP, MDA and CRP were significantly increased, while plasma level of Vit E was significantly decreased in MHD patients ( P<0.01). After Astragalous Injection treatment, the plasma levels of AGEs, AOPP, MDA and CRP were decreased as compared with the control group ( P<0.01), while there was no significant difference in plasma Vit E level between the treatment group and control group. CONCLUSION: There exist oxidative stress and micro-inflammation in MHD patients. Astragalous Injection can ameliorate the accumulation of oxidative products and micro-inflammatory status, but it has no significant effect on plasma Vit E level.

BACKGROUND: Recent researches indicate that ischemia and hypoxia can lead to abnormal brain metabolism and even energy failure, which is an important reason for brain damage and necrosis and identifies energy metabolism disorder as the key event in brain ischemia-reperfusion (IR)injury. Glucose transporter-3 plays the vital role in brain energy metabolism.OBJECTIVE: To observe the changes of cerebral infarct volume and glucose transporter-3 mRNA and protein expressions in cerebral cortical penumbra at different stages of focal cerebral ischemia and reperfusion in rats.DESIGN: Randomized controlled experiment.SETTING: Department of Neurosurgery, Second Hospital Affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University.MATERIALS: This experiment was conducted in the Animal Laboratory of Medical Research Center, Second Hospital Affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University between August and October 2002.Totally 56 SD rats were randomized into 3 groups which were subjected to ① ischemia for 1 hour followed by reperfusion (n=28), ② ischemia for 3 hours followed by reperfusion (n=24), and ③ sham operation (n=4). The rats in the first group were subdivided into 7 subgroups for examination at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 72hours and 1 week after ischemia, with 7 rats in each subgroup; the rats in the second ischemia group were also subdivided in similar manner but without a 1 hour postischemic subgroup. The rats in the sham operation group only received the operation but without arterial occlusion.METHODS: Focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury model was induced in the rats in the two ischemic groups by means of insertion of suture for arterial occlusion, and the ratio of central ischemic area to cerebral infarct volume in the ischemic penumbra was examined at the specified time points. Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of glucose transporter-3 mRNA in the cerebral cortex in ischemic penumbra region, and semi-quantitative immunohistochemistry (IHC) employed to detect the level of glucose transporter-3 protein.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cerebral infarct volume after IR injury, changes of transporter-3 mRNA and protein expressions after IR injury.RESULTS: Totally 56 rats were used in this experiment and all entered result analysis. The post-IR cerebral infarct volume was obviously smaller in 1-hour ischemia group than in 3-hour ischemia group. Glucose transporter-3 mRNA expression began to increase 3 hours after ischemia in 1-hour ischemia group, reaching the peak level at 24 hours and still mainrained higher level than that of the sham operation 1 week; in 3-hour ischemia group, the mRNA expression was slightly decreased at 3 hours but began to increase afterwards till reaching the peak level at 24 hours, followed then by recovery of normal level at 1 week. The changes in glucose transporter-3 protein and mRNA expressions followed almost the same pattern.CONCLUSION: Glucose transporter-3 expression is up-regulated in the ischemic penumbra region, possibly as a protective response to cerebral IR injury.