Adult ; Aged ; Aristolochic Acids ; adverse effects ; Chronic Disease ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; chemistry ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nephritis, Interstitial ; blood ; chemically induced ; pathology

Objective To investigate the relationship between the promoter of IL-12B gene polymorphism and the susceptibility and clinical features of chronic gastritis and duodenal ulcer with or without Helicobacter pylori(Hp) infection in children and adolescent.Methods Mucosal biopsies were obtained from 132 children and adolescent (patient group),including 100 children with chronic gastritis and 32 children with duodenal ulcer,undergoing an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for dyspeptic symptoms.Biopsy specimens were stained with hematoxilin and eosin (HE),and gastritis was graded according to the Sydney system.Serology,urease test and histology were taken to assess Hp status.Genomic DNA was obtained from peripheral blood or gastric biopsies of patients and 102 healthy children as normal control group.The promoter of IL-12B +1188A/G gene polymorphism was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and sequencing.The genotype distributions and allele frequencies were compared between the study group and the normal control group,and the association of genotypes with clinicopathological features was studied.IL-12B mRNA level expressions in gastric mucosa were confirmed by reverse transcription PCR biopsy-based tests.Results The genotype distributions and allele frequencies of IL-12B +1188A/G gene polymorphisms were similar in gastric upper gastrointestinal diseases and healthy subjects.The IL-12B +1188A/G gene polymorphisms were not associated with Hp status.IL-12B+1188A/G gene polymorphisms did not affect IL-12B mRNA level expressions and were not associated with the degree of antrum chronic inflammation.Conclusions These data suggest that IL-12B+1188A/G gene polymorphisms are not associated with susceptibility to chronic gastritis and duodenal ulcer in children and adolescent.

Objective To investigate the effects of Panax Notoginseng saponins (PNS) on protein expression of Klotho in rats with renal ischemia reperfusion injury; To discuss its protective mechanism for model rats. Methods Experimental rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group, model group, positive medicine group, PNS high-, medium- and low-dosage groups. Each administration group was given relevant medicine for gavage, once a day. Renal ischemia reperfusion injury model was established. Rats were sacrificed by taking blood from abdominal aorta after 4 hours of modeling. Serum levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (SCr), malondialdehyde (MDA) content in kidney tissue, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity were measured. HE staining was used to observe the morphological changes of renal tissue. The protein expressions of Klotho and NF-κB p65 were measured by immunohistochemical method. Results Compared with the sham-operation group, the levels of BUN and SCr in the model group increased significantly (P<0.05); protein expression of Klotho in renal tissue decreased and the protein expression of NF-κB p65 increased (P<0.05). Compared with the model group, the expression of Klotho increased but protein expression of NF-κB p65 decreased in each administration group (P<0.05); Compared with the positive medicine group, the expression of Klotho in PNS high-dosage group increased but protein expression of NF-κB p65 decreased (P<0.05). The protein expression of NF-κB p65 was negatively related to protein expression of Klotho (r=-0.895, P<0.05). Conclusion PNS can inhibit oxidative stress and anti-inflammatory effects through upregulating protein expression of Klotho, and reduce the protein expression of NF-κB p65, and thus exerts renal protective effects.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the dynamic correlation between pre-S1 antigen, pre-S2 antigen and HBV DNA in the serum of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients undergoing nucleoside analogue therapy.

METHODS12 CHB patients with transient virological response after lamivudine treatment, and 20 patients treated with adefovir for 5 years were recruited in this study. Serum samples were collected at four time points when HBV DNA fluctuated sharply during lamivudine treatment, and at 0, 8, 12, 28, 52, 104, 156, 208, 260 weeks following adefovir treatment. HBV DNA was quantified by real-time PCR, pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens were detected by ELISA.

RESULTSThe titers of pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens were not correlated with the HBV DNA level in the serum of lamivudine treated patients. Only in one case of the adfovir treated patients, the decrease of pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens was in parallel with the decrease of HBV DNA. Linear regression analysis indicated that neither pre-S1 antigen nor pre-S2 antigen was correlated with HBV DNA in the serum of lamivudine or adfovir treated patients (P more than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONOur results indicate that the titers of pre-S1 and pre-S2 antigens are not correlated with the serum HBV DNA in CHB patients undergoing nucleoside analogue therapy. Neither pre-S1 nor pre-S2 is a good predictor for the outcome of nucleoside analogue treatment.

DNA, Viral ; blood ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Lamivudine ; therapeutic use ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Aged ; Aneurysm, Dissecting ; complications ; Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic ; complications ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Coronary Artery Disease ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged

BACKGROUNDSeveral studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) have indicated that cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) might improve cognitive function by changing brain activations in patients with schizophrenia. However, the results were not consistent in these changed brain areas in different studies. The present activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was conducted to investigate whether cognitive function change was accompanied by the brain activation changes, and where the main areas most related to these changes were in schizophrenia patients after CRT. Analyses of whole-brain studies and whole-brain + region of interest (ROI) studies were compared to explore the effect of the different methodologies on the results.

METHODSA computerized systematic search was conducted to collect fMRI and PET studies on brain activation changes in schizophrenia patients from pre- to post-CRT. Nine studies using fMRI techniques were included in the meta-analysis. Ginger ALE 2.3.1 was used to perform meta-analysis across these imaging studies.

RESULTSThe main areas with increased brain activation were in frontal and parietal lobe, including left medial frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule in patients after CRT, yet no decreased brain activation was found. Although similar increased activation brain areas were identified in ALE with or without ROI studies, analysis including ROI studies had a higher ALE value.

CONCLUSIONSThe current findings suggest that CRT might improve the cognition of schizophrenia patients by increasing activations of the frontal and parietal lobe. In addition, it might provide more evidence to confirm results by including ROI studies in ALE meta-analysis.

Brain ; physiopathology ; Cognition ; Cognitive Remediation ; Humans ; Likelihood Functions ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Schizophrenia ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo compare the inhibitory effects of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells alone, chemotherapeutic drug alone, and CIK cells combined with chemotherapeutic drug on the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells transplanted in nude mice.

METHODSPeripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) collected from five healthy donors by blood cell separator were incubated in vitro to induce CIK cells in the presence of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), IL-2 and anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb). The phenotype of CIK cells was characterized by flow cytometric analysis. BEL-7402 HCC cells were inoculated subcutaneously to nude mice. On day 5, at the inoculation site were injected normal saline (group 1), CIK cells (3 x 10(7) and 6 x 10(7), group 2 and 3), mitomycin-C (MMC 80 microg in 0.2 ml, group 4), and CIK cells combined with MMC (group 5), respectively.

RESULTSThe percentage of CD3(+), CD3(+)CD8(+), CD3(+)CD56(+), CD25(+) cells increased from 64.0%, 28.0%, 7.8%, and 9.1% to 94.7%, 67.7%, 61.3%, and 84.0% respectively after cytokine induction. The percentage of CD3(+) and CD3(+)CD8(+) cells remained at high levels during incubation period, but that of CD25(+) and CD3(+)CD56(+) cells peaked respectively on day 7 and 13 and then declined. During the 90-day observation, the tumor formation rates were 100%, 70.0%, 80.0%, 70.0% and 66.7%; and the mouse survival rates were 10.0%, 60.0%, 40.0%, 50.0% and 75.0%, respectively from group 1 to group 5. Compared to the other groups, in the combined therapy group of mice, not only the tumor grew slowly and but also showed more marked tissue necrosis.

CONCLUSIONThe growth inhibitory effect on human HCC transplanted in nude mice of combined CIK cells and MMC treatment is more potent than that of CIK cells or MMC alone.

Animals ; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; immunology ; pathology ; therapy ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cells, Cultured ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Cytokines ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunotherapy, Adoptive ; Killer Cells, Natural ; transplantation ; Liver Neoplasms ; immunology ; pathology ; therapy ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Mitomycin ; therapeutic use ; Neoplasm Transplantation

AIMThe purpose of this study was to develop a mathematical model to quantitatively describe the passive transport of macromolecules within dental biofilms.

METHODOLOGYFluorescently labeled dextrans with different molecular mass (3 kD, 10 kD, 40 kD, 70 kD, 2000 kD) were used as a series of diffusion probes. Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sanguinis, Actinomyces naeslundii and Fusobacterium nucleatum were used as inocula for biofilm formation. The diffusion processes of different probes through the in vitro biofilm were recorded with a confocal laser microscope.

RESULTSMathematical function of biofilm penetration was constructed on the basis of the inverse problem method. Based on this function, not only the relationship between average concentration of steady-state and molecule weights can be analyzed, but also that between penetrative time and molecule weights.

CONCLUSIONThis can be used to predict the effective concentration and the penetrative time of anti-biofilm medicines that can diffuse through oral biofilm. Furthermore, an improved model for large molecule is proposed by considering the exchange time at the upper boundary of the dental biofilm.

Actinomyces ; growth & development ; Algorithms ; Biofilms ; growth & development ; Biological Transport ; Dental Plaque ; microbiology ; Dextrans ; pharmacokinetics ; Diffusion ; Fluorescent Dyes ; pharmacokinetics ; Fusobacterium nucleatum ; growth & development ; Macromolecular Substances ; pharmacokinetics ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Models, Biological ; Molecular Probe Techniques ; Streptococcus mutans ; growth & development ; Streptococcus sanguis ; growth & development

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship of the promoter of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) gene polymorphisms with the susceptibility and clinical features of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-related chronic gastritis and duodenal ulcer in children.

METHODSOne hundred children with chronic gastritis, 32 children with duodenal ulcer and 102 healthy children were enrolled.The promoter of MMP-9-1562C/T gene polymorphisms were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and sequencing. MMP-9 mRNA expression in gastric mucosa was confirmed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTSThe genotype distributions and allele frequencies of MMP-9-1562C/T gene polymorphisms were similar in gastric upper gastrointestinal disease and healthy subjects. The relative risk for H.pylori infection in C/C genetype carriers was 3.1 times as high as that in T allele (C/T+T/T) carriers in children with chronic gastritis. MMP-9-1562 C/T gene polymorphisms did not affect MMP-9 mRNA expression level.

CONCLUSIONSThese data suggest that MMP-9-1562 C/T gene polymorphisms are not associated with susceptibility to chronic gastritis and duodenal ulcer in children. The C/C genotype of MMP-9-1562 C/T gene polymorphism might be associated with H.pylori infection.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Chronic Disease ; Duodenal Ulcer ; etiology ; genetics ; Female ; Gastritis ; etiology ; genetics ; Genotype ; Helicobacter Infections ; complications ; genetics ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Male ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic

Stem cell growth factor (SCGF) is an early-acting hematopoitic cytokine that has two isoforms including hSCGF with full length molecules and hSCGFbeta, 78 amino acids of which lost in the conserved calcium-dependent carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD). It has been demonstrated that hSCGFbeta is strictly species-specific in regulating he-matopoiesis. This study was aimed to explore whether human SCGF can exert synergistic stimulatory effect on heterogenous murine CFU-GM progenitor. Firstly, hSCGF cDNA was amplified from human fetal liver cDNA library by using two-step PCR. The hSCGF mature peptide coding sequence was subsequently placed at downstream of glutathione S-transferase (GST) sequence in GST gene fusion expression vector. The results indicated that there existed an additional 60 kD protein compared with mock BL21 when the cells hosting recombinant plasmid were induced with IPTG at 37 degrees C. SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated that the GST-hSCGF fusion protein mainly existed in insoluble form. When induced at low temperature (28 degrees C), the recombinant protein was mostly soluble. The GST-fusion recombinant protein was subsequently purified by using affinity chromatography. The clonogenic assay revealed that, unlike hSCGFbeta, hSCGF had the granulocyte/macrophage promoting activity (GPA) for murine bone marrow GM progenitor. It is concluded that, in contrast to human SCGFbeta, the intact molecular hSCGF may have no species specificity, implying that CRD domain in human SCGFbeta does not directly bind to corresponding SCGF receptor, but may have certain biological function.
Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Hematopoiesis ; genetics ; Humans ; Species Specificity ; Stem Cell Factor ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification