Psoriasis is a common immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease with multiple genetic and environmental risk factors.Abnormal vascular hyperplasia,excessive proliferation of keratinocytes and infiltration of various immune cells are the main pathological features.MAPK signaling pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis,and SPRED1 has been proved to be a ma-jor negative regulator of MAPK signaling pathway in many diseases.This article reviews the possible role of SPRED1 in the pathogene-sis of psoriasis,in order to provide new insights into the pathogenesis of psoriasis and new directions for the treatment.

Objective To investigate the expression of miRNA-140 in chondrocytes and synovial fluid of osteoarthritis (OA) patients, and explore the relationship between the miRNA-140 expression and OA severity.Methods This study enrolled 30 OA patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty for chondrocytes sampling and 30 OA patients who underwent intra-articular injection for synovial fluid sampling. All OA patients were grouped into mild [Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) grade 1-2], moderate (KL grade 3) and severe (KL grade 4), with 10 in each subgroups for each sampling purposes. 7 non-OA patients and 10 patients with knee injury were collected for cartilage and synovial fluid sampling respectively as control groups. Chondrocytes were isolated from the cartilage tissue and cultured in vitro. Quantitative real time PCR for miRNA-140 in chondrocytes and synovial fluid were performed, and the U6 snRNA was used as internal control. The expression difference of miRNA-140 among groups and correlation between the expression and the KL grade of OA were analysed using one-way ANOVA and Spearman test respectively. Results The expression of miRNA-140 in chondrocytes of knees in OA patients was reduced than that in normal knees, and the between-group difference was statistically significant (F=305.464, P<0.001). miRNA-140 could be detected in synovial fluid of both normal knees and OA knees, its relative expression level was reduced in synovial fluid of OA group compared with normal group, and the between-group difference was statistically significant as well (F=314.245, P<0.001). The relative expression level of miRNA-140 in both chondrocytes and synovial fluid were negatively correlated with the KL grade of OA(r=-0.969, P<0.001; r=-0.970, P<0.001). Conclusion miRNA-140 could be detected in chondrocytes and synovial fluid of OA patients, and its expression was negatively correlated with the severity of OA.
Adult ; Aged ; Cells, Cultured ; Chondrocytes ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; metabolism ; Male ; MicroRNAs ; analysis ; Middle Aged ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; metabolism ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Synovial Fluid ; metabolism

Objective To upgrade No.1 Military Medical Project from single operation to Oracle RAC to eliminate single failure of the operation system, protect medical data and lay a foundation for the following upgrade and deployment.Methods RAC software and hardware environment was constructed for database upgrade and deployment of Data Guard.Results The database was gifted with high availability and high performances, and database maintenance and upgrade could be carried out with the operation system less ceased than before.Conclusion The database is upgraded from a single-mode rigid architecture to a multi-mode elastic one, with the performances, safety and extendibility enhanced greatly.

Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) is gradually replacing conventional radiation therapy and has become the mainstream radical treatment for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). IMRT can conform and increase radiation doses to tu-mor-associated regions as well as decrease exposure doses and volumes on normal organs and tissues to avoid damage on critical or-gans. Aside from system and setup errors, other factors, such as the gradual reduction of the primary NPC lesion and the decrease in vol-ume of involved neck lymph nodes as well as body weight loss and changes in the head and neck shape during IMRT, may cause devia-tions in the radiation doses and volume delivered to the NPC targets and the organs at risk. These factors may affect the accuracy of IMRT. Several researchers have attempted to correct such deviations during IMRT for NPC patients by using adaptive radiotherapy (ART). The results indicate that ART is feasible to a certain degree and can correct the deviations, including decrease in tumor volume, body weight loss, and changes in head and neck shape of NPC patients.

ObjectiveTo explore the determinants of average length of stay of three county hospitals and eleven countryside hospitals of Xinjiang province.MethodsRelative data of the county and the countryside hospitals from 2009 to 2010 were collected,and descriptive analysis and rank sum test were employed to explore the determinants of average length of stay.ResultsThe average length of stay of the county hospital was longer than the countryside hospital,the average length of stay had significant differences between the gender,age,and the disease classfication.ConclusionThe average length of stay of the county hospitals and countryside hospitals had difference significantly.

Objective To study the risk prediction for new intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) with high sensitivity C-reactive protein ( hs-CRP) level. Methods In a retrospective, nested, case-controlled study, 323 cases of ICH were identified and matched with 646 controls. The hs-CRP levels at baseline were compared between the two groups. The relevance of different hs-CRP levels and the risk of ICH were analyzed. Results The ICH group had a higher median hs-CRP levels (1.10 mg/L) as compared with the control group (0. 66 mg/L) with significant difference ( P<0.01 ). In addition, the increase of risk associated with hs-CRP levels was primarily observed in the individuals with the highest quartile of hs-CRP levels(>2.12 mg/L). These patients had an increased risk of ICH (OR 2. 58, 95% CI 1. 77 to 3. 76) as compared with those in the lowest quartile(≤=0.30 mg/L). Individuals with basiline hs-CRP levels above the specified cut point of 3 mg/L ormore and those in the 80th percentile were at a markedly increased risk of ICH (for specified cut point of 3 mg/L,0R2.26, 95% CI 1.60-3.20, P<0.01; for 80th percentile, OR 2.24,95% CI 1.60-3.13, P <0.01, respectively). Conclusions Risk of ICH might be predicted with the level of hs-CRP. With the increase of hs-CRP level at baseline, the risk of ICH was increased.

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) are human's closest evolutionary relatives next to Chimpanzees, and they are widely used in biomedical researches. Analyses of the rhesus monkey trasnscriptome and the sequence divergence between monkey and human are of importantce to the development of scientific analyses and to the application and interpretation of the results from animal experiments. In this study, we analyzed the genetic and transcriptional information. Four hundred and one clones were randomly selected from a liver tissue cDNA library of rhesus monkey, and the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were sequenced. We acquired 393 effective ESTs that were assembled into 221 Unigenes with Phrap software. Alignments of the sequences showed that 188 Unigenes matched with known proteins in Swiss_prot database, of which 16 Unigenes matched the known rhesus proteins, and 171 Unigenes had high homology with human proteins. Then the result of BLASTN comparison showed that 26 of another 33 Unigenes matched the known rhesus genes. Finally, the remaining Unigenes were aligned in dbEST and rhesus genome database, and the results suggested 3 Unigenes be newly discovered ESTs of rhesus.
Animals ; Expressed Sequence Tags ; chemistry ; Gene Library ; Liver ; chemistry ; Macaca mulatta ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

This study sought to clone Chinese Banna minipig inbred-line (BMI) alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase (alpha1,3-GT) gene and construct its recombinant eukaryotic expression vector. Total RNA was isolated from BMI liver. Full length cDNA of alpha1,3-GT gene was amplified by RT-PCR and cloned into pMD18-T vector to sequence. Subsequently, alpha1,3-GT gene was inserted into pEGFP-N1 to construct eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-N1-GT. Then the reconstructed plasmid pEGFP-N1-GT was transiently transfected into human lung cancer cell line A549. The expression of alpha1,3-GT mRNA in transfected cells was detected by RT-PCR. FITC-BS-IB4 lectin was used in the direct immunofluorescence method, which was performed to observe the alpha-Gal synthesis function of BMI alpha1,3-GT in transfected cells. The results showed that full length of BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA was 1116 bp. BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA sequence was highly homogenous with those of mouse and bovine, and was exactly the same as the complete sequence of those of swine, pEGFP-N1-GT was confirmed by enzyme digestion and PCR. The expression of alpha1,3-GT mRNA was detected in A549 cells transfected by pEGFP-N1-GT. The expression of alpha-Gal was observed on the membrane of A549 cells transfected by pEGFP-N1-GT. Successful cloning of BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA and construction of its eukaryotic expression vector have established a foundation for further research and application of BMI alpha1,3-GT in the fields of xenotransplantation and immunological therapy of cancer.
Animals ; Animals, Inbred Strains ; Base Sequence ; China ; Cloning, Molecular ; Galactosyltransferases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Recombinant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Swine ; Swine, Miniature ; genetics ; Transfection

In the conventional treatments of type I diabetes, there are various problems. As a new adequate treatment of diabetes, cell replacement therapy of diabetes has been applied and given research priority. We have investigated the applications of cell transplantation in the treatment of diabetes and have retrieved the relevant articles on cells transplantation for the treatment of diabetes. In this paper, we review the history, development, merits and demerits of cell transplantation and the recent advances in pancreatic islet transplantation research. The latest progress in the induction of stem cell to differentiate into the insulin-producing cells was also introduced.
Animals ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 ; surgery ; therapy ; Humans ; Insulin-Secreting Cells ; cytology ; Islets of Langerhans Transplantation ; methods ; Stem Cell Transplantation

In order to understand the situation of schistosomiasis in Fujian Province, the surveillance and field survey data of 16 counties (cities or districts) were statistically analyzed from 2003 to 2008 according to the national and provincial surveillance protocols. The snail areas were 69 400 m~2 in 2003, and 506 700 m~2 in 2004, then decreased to 57 700 m~2 in 2008 after the snail control in 2005 and 2006. Serological examinations were conducted in 18 000 people, among which 5 412 people were the mobile population from schistosome-endemic areas, and 110 persons were positive, among which 8 persons had eggs and miracidia in their stools, among 7 885 appendix samples, Schistosoma japonicum eggs were found in 8 samples of the patients who came from the o-riginal endemic areas. By the stool examination, 2 709 head of farm cattle in the region with snails were not found infected with Schistosoma japonicum. It is suggested that the areas of residual snails are large and widespread, and the imported patients are found frequently, so the danger of schistosomisis transmission still remains.