Adult ; Biopsy ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Male ; Melanoma ; diagnosis ; pathology

A new method for O-ethyl S-[2-( diisopropylamino) ethyl] methylphosphonothiolate ( VX) , sarin detection and its kinetic analysis based on piezoresistive microcantilever aptasensor was developed, where VX, sarin aptamers were immobilized on the microcantilever surface by biotin-avidin binding system. A linear relationship between the response voltage and the concentration of VX in the range of 2-60μg/L was obtained. The linear regression equation was △Ue=0. 886C-1. 039 (n=5, R=0. 984, p<0. 001) and the detection limit was 2μg/L ( S/N≥3 ) . A linear relationship between the response voltage and the concentration of sarin in the range of 10-60 μg/L was obtained, the linear regression equation was △Ue=0. 716C-2. 304 ( n=5, R=0 . 996 , p<0 . 001 ) and the detection limit was 10 μg/L ( S/N≥3 ) . The sensor showed no response for O-butyl methylphosphonochloridate, a structural analog of VX and sarin, which indicated high specificity and good anti-interference ability. On this basis, a reaction kinetic model based on receptor-ligand binding and the relationship with output voltage change was established. Response voltage (△Ue ) and response time( t0 ) were obtained from the fitting equation on different concentrations of VX, sarin fitted well with the measured values.

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of Xinfeng Capsule (XC) on lipoprotein metabolism of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

METHODSTotally 180 RA patients were assigned to the experimental group and the control group by random digit table, 90 in each group. Patients in the experimental group took XC (three pills each time, three times daily), while those in the control group took Methotrexate Tablet (four tablets each time, once per week). One month consisted of one therapeutic course and all patients were treated for two therapeutic courses. A healthy control group consisting of 60 patients was also set up. Changes of lipoprotein indices, clinical efficacy, lipid metabolism, joint symptoms and signs, activity indicators were observed, and correlation analyses were performed.

RESULTSCompared with the healthy control group, expression levels of prealbumin (PA), globulin (GLO), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), apolipoprotein Al (Apo-A1) were lowered in RA patients (P <0. 05, P <0. 01). Correlation analyses showed that PA was negatively correlated with joint tenderness, morning stiffness time, disease activity score (DAS-28), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6, respectively. Total protein (TP) was negatively correlated with joint tenderness. GLO was negatively correlated with joint tenderness and DAS-28. HDL was negatively correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and endothelin (ET)-1. Apo-Al was negatively correlated with joint pain; Apo-B was negatively correlated with CRP; LDL was negatively correlated with morning stiffness time (P <0. 05, P <0. 01). Compared with before treatment, expression levels of PA, HDL, Apo-A1 , Apo-B, and serum IL-10 contents increased, and expression levels of ESR, CRP, IL-6, ET-1 , joint pain, joint swelling, morning stiffness time, and DAS-28 decreased in the experimental group (P <0. 05, P <0. 01). PA increased more after treatment than before treatment in the control group (P <0. 01). There was statistical difference in joint symptoms (except joint tenderness) and activity indices (except ET-1) in the control group (P <0. 05, P <0. 01). Compared with the control group after treatment, PA and HDL increased, ET-1 and duration of morning stiffness decreased in the experimental group (all P <0. 05).

CONCLUSIONSLipoprotein metabolic disorder exists in RA patients, and it is associated with disease activity. XC could obviously improve lipoprotein metabolism and joint symptoms.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; Capsules ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-6 ; Lipoproteins ; Lipoproteins, HDL ; metabolism ; Methotrexate

OBJECTIVETo observe the change of PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in rats with adjuvant arthritis and to explore the mechanism of neovasculization in rheumatoid arthritis.

METHODSThirty rats were randomly divided into normal control group and model control group. The model control group were established the model of adjuvant arthritis using Freund's complete adjuvant. At 19 days after modeling, the expression of microvascular density (MVD), HIF-1α, VEGF were detected by ELISA assay and PTEN, PI3K, AKT were detected by Werstern Blotting.

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, paw swelling, arthritic index were increased, and the expression of MVD, VEGF, HIF-1α of serum, PI3K, AKT of synovial tissue were significantly increased, PTEN was significantly decreased in model control group. PI3K, HIF-1α were positively correlated with MVD; VEGF, AKT were positively correlated with paw swelling; PTEN was negatively correlated with the arthritis index; HIF-1α was positively correlated with VEGF; PI3K was positively correlated with AKT, PTEN was negatively correlated with PI3K, AKT, VEGF.

CONCLUSIONImbalance of PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway in rats with adjuvant arthritis is one of the mechanisms of synovial neovasculization.

Animals ; Arthritis, Experimental ; physiopathology ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; physiology ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; etiology ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase ; physiology ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; physiology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Signal Transduction ; physiology

Objective:To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the expressions of acetylcholine (ACh) and mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) in the lungs of rats with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),and explore the mechanism of EA in treating COPD.Methods:Thirty Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into a control group,a COPD group,and an EA group,with 10 rats in each group.The control group was a group of normal rats.The COPD rat model was induced by cigarette smoke combined with lipopolysaccharide (LPS).The COPD rats were treated with EA at bilateral Feishu (BL 13) and Zusanli (ST 36) in the EA group,30 min each time,once a day,successively for 14 d.The lung function was tested.The contents of ACh and MUC5AC in lungs and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Pearson method was used to analyze the correlation between pulmonary function and the content of MUC5AC in lungs.The mRNA and protein expressions of MUC5AC in lung tissues were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot (WB),respectively.The immune response of MUC5AC was observed by immunohistochemistry.Results:Eight rats were left in each group,and the other two died.Compared with the control group,the total airway resistance (Raw) increased significantly and dynamic compliance (Cdyn) decreased significantly in the COPD group (P＜0.01);compared with the COPD group,the Raw level declined significantly and Cdyn increased significantly in the EA group (P＜0.01).The contents of ACh and MUC5AC in the lungs and BALF were remarkably higher in the COPD group compared with those in the control group (P＜0.01,P＜0.001);compared with the COPD group,the contents of ACh and MUC5AC were significantly lower in the EA group (P＜0.05,P＜0.001).There was a negative correlation between MUC5AC content and lung function (P＜0.001).The mRNA and protein expressions of MUC5AC in the lungs were significantly higher in the COPD group than in the control group (P＜0.001);compared with the COPD group,the expressions were significantly lower in the EA group (P＜0.01).Compared with the control group,the immune response of MUC5AC in the airway epithelium significantly increased in the COPD group (P＜0.001);the immune response of MUC5AC was significantly lower in the EA group compared with that in the COPD group (P＜0.001).Conclusion:EA treatment can improve the lung function of COPD rats,which may be related to its effect in the down-regulation of ACh and MUC5AC contents in the lungs as well as the inhibition of mucus hypersecretion.

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene Hind III polymorphism is associated with Chinese type IIb hyperlipoproteinemia.

METHODSLipoprotein lipase gene Hind III polymorphism was studied using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) in 103 type IIb hyperlipoproteinemia patients and 129 healthy subjects from a population of Chinese Hans in Chengdu area.

RESULTSBoth in type IIb hyperlipoproteinemia group and control group, the H+H+ homozygote was the major allelotype. The H+ allelic frequency of type IIb hyperlipoproteinemia group was higher than that of control group (0.864 vs 0.705, P<0.01). But the H- allelic frequency of type IIb hyperlipoproteinemia group was significantly lower than that of control group (0.136 vs 0.295, P<0.01). The plasma triglycerides (TG) level of H+H+ genotype was significantly higher than that of H+H- and H-H- genotypes (P<0.05 and P<0.01); the plasma TC level and TG/HDL C ratio were higher than those of H+H- and H-H- genotypes (P<0.05); apoA II levels of H+H+ and H+H- genotypes were significantly lower than that of H-H- genotype (P<0.01 and P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe Hind III RFLP at intron 8 of LPL gene is associated with type II b hyperlipoproteinemia to some extent in Chinese population.

Adult ; Aged ; Deoxyribonuclease HindIII ; Female ; Genotype ; Humans ; Hyperlipoproteinemia Type II ; genetics ; Lipoprotein Lipase ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length

Objective To evaluate the value of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI)in diagnosing benign and malignant solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN)with Meta-analysis.Methods The databases including PubMed,EBSCO,Cochrane Library,Ovid, CBM,VIP,Wan Fang Database and CNKI were searched to select the literatures about the diagnosis of SPN with DCE-MRI.Inclusion criteria were established,according to the validity criteria for diagnostic research published by the Cochrane Methods Group on Screening and Diagnostic Tests .Methodological quality was assessed by using the quality assessment of diagnostic studies (QUADAS-2)instrument.Meta-analysis was performed by Stata 12.0 and Meta-Disc 1.4.According to the results of heterogeneity of the included articles,proper effect model was selected to calculate the pooled sensitivity,specificity,positive likelihood ration,negative likelihood ration,and diagnostic odds ratio.Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC)curve was drawed and the area under the curve (AUC)was calculated.Results A total of 17 studies involving 1255 lesions were included.The results of Meta-analysis showed the pooled sensitivity,specificity,positive likelihood ration,negative likelihood ration,and diagnostic odds ratio were 0.95,0.81,4.9,0.06 and 85,respectively.The AUC of SROC was 0.97.Conclusion DCE-MRI has relatively high sensitivity and specificity in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant SPN.

Objective To evaluate the value of diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)in cognitive impairment of patients with acute cerebral infarction.Methods Diffusion tensor images were obtained from 30 volunteers who underwent clinical MR imaging and were found to have no abnormalities on conventional MR images and 30 patients who were clinically diagnosed cerebral infarction and were found to have infarction lesions on conventional MR images.Color-coded FA images and three-dimensional color-coded tensor images were reconstructed.For volunteers,average apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)and fractional anisotropy(FA)were measured in some main white matter structures of peripheral white matter, basal ganglia,and cerebral peduncle,etc.For infarction patients,ADC and FA were measured and compared between infarction lesions and corresponding contralateral normal regions.Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine correlation with cognitive impairment.Results In infarction patients group, FA and ADC of lesions unrecovered declined.Change in ADC and FA had positive correlation with cognitive impairment of patients with acute cerebral infarction.Conclusion DTI has positive correlation with cognitive impairment of patients with acute cerebral infarction.

To explore the effect of a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor STI571 and P21(WAF) gene clone on the proliferation, cycle, apoptosis of leukemia cell line K562, P21(WAF) gene was obtained by RT-PCR, and its sequence was approved to be correct, then P21-pcDNA3.1 vector was constructed and transfected into K562 cell line. After selected with G418, P21-pcDNA3.1-K562 cell clone that stably expression P21(WAF) was isolated. P21(WAF) protein was identified by Western blot. The survival rate were tested by MTT. Cell cycle and apoptosis were tested by flow cytometry. The results showed that the expression of P21(WAF) protein could be detected by Western blot in P21-pcDNa3.1-K562 cells. A strong inhibition of cell proliferation was observed in P21-pcDNA3.1-K562 cells as compared with that of the control. The cells cycle were arrested in G(0)/G(1) phase. The percentage of apoptosis was declined slightly after P21-pcDNA3.1-K562 cells were combined with STI571, meanwhile its survival rate declined more slowly than that of K562 cell with STI571. In conclusion, P21(WAF) inhibits the proliferation of K562 cell, meanwhile slightly inhibits its apoptosis induced by STI571and decrease its sensitivity to STI571.
Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Benzamides ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; genetics ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cloning, Molecular ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Imatinib Mesylate ; K562 Cells ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Piperazines ; pharmacology ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Pyrimidines ; pharmacology ; Transfection

The rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) is a prominent component of the descending modulatory system involved in the control of spinal nociceptive transmission. In the current study, we investigated melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) expression in the RVM, where the neurons involved in modulation of nociception reside. Using a line of mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the MC4R promoter, we found a large number of GFP-positive neurons in the RVM [nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) and nucleus gigantocellularis pars α (NGCα)]. Fluorescence immunohistochemistry revealed that approximately 10% of MC4R-GFP-positive neurons coexpressed tyrosine hydroxylase, indicating that they were catecholaminergic, whereas 50%-75% of those coexpressed tryptophan hydroxylase, indicating that they were serotonergic. Our findings support the hypothesis that MC4R signaling in RVM may modulate the activity of serotonergic sympathetic outflow sensitive to nociceptive signals, and that MC4R signaling in RVM may contribute to the descending modulation of nociceptive transmission.
Animals ; Female ; Male ; Medulla Oblongata ; cytology ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Transgenic ; Neural Pathways ; cytology ; metabolism ; Neurons, Afferent ; cytology ; metabolism ; Nociception ; physiology ; Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 4 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Serotonergic Neurons ; metabolism ; Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase ; metabolism