Critical areas of cell adhesion on micropatterned surfaces

The adhesive area is important to modulate cell behaviors on a substrate. This paper aims to semi-quantitatively examine the existence of the characteristic areas of cell adhesion on the level of individual cells. We prepared a series of micropatterned surfaces with adhesive microislands of various sizes on an adhesion-resistant background, and cultured cells of MC3T3-E1 (osteoblast), BMSC (bone mesenchymal stem cell) or NIH3T3 (fibroblast) on those modeled surfaces. We have defined seven characteristic areas of an adhesive microisland and confirmed that they are meaningful to describe cell adhesion behaviors. Those parameters are (1) the critical adhesion area from apoptosis to survival denoted as A? or A(c?), (2) the critical area from adhesion of a single cell to adhesion of multiple cells (A(c?)), (3) the basic area for one more cell to adhere (A(Δ)), (4) and (5) the characteristic areas of a microisland most probably occupied by one cell (A(peak?) and two cells (A(peak?)), (6) and (7) the characteristic areas of a microisland occupied by one cell (A(N?)) or two cells (A(N?)) on average. Besides the introduction of those basic parameters, the present paper demonstrates how to determine them experimentally. We further discussed the relationship between those characteristic areas and the spreading area on a non-patterned adhesive surface.     

Isolation and phylogenetic characterization of bat astroviruses in southern China

Astroviruses are associated with acute gastroenteritis of human and many animal species. Recently, two studies have reported that novel astroviruses were found in bats. In order to extensively understand the genetic and phylogenetic characterization of bat astroviruses, we tested fecal samples of nine bat species that were collected at four natural habitats in three areas of southern China. The geographic distributions of the bats involved differed from previous reports. Three out of nine species of bats were observed to harbor astroviruses. These included Miniopterus schreibersii, Scotophilus kuhlii, and Rousettus leschenaultia. Phylogenetic analysis based on amino acid sequences of partial ORFs of astroviruses revealed that the bat astroviruses are not only divergent from previously described human and other animal astroviruses but also show remarkable diversity among themselves. However, five bat astroviruses were phylogenetically related to mink astrovirus, ovine astrovirus, and the recently discovered human astroviruses VA1, VA2, and VA3. The results indicate that astroviruses may have adapted to the Chiroptera, and bats may transmit astroviruses to humans and other animals, or vice versa.     

有关癫患者再次手术问题:五例报告并文献分析

目的回顾5例手术失败癫癎患者临床诊断与治疗经过,探讨失败原因,总结经验教训。方法与结果5例首次手术失败癫癎患者,男4例,女1例;年龄最小2岁7个月、最大24岁。其中胚胎发育不良性神经上皮瘤3例,海马硬化伴皮质发育不良2例。首次手术失败原因分别为病灶和(或)致癎灶切除不完全(3例)、颞叶内侧致癎灶切除不彻底(1例)和致癎灶定位错误或欠精确(1例)。均经再次手术联合抗癫癎药物或伽玛刀治疗获得较好预后,疗效评价达Engel标准Ⅰ级者4例,Ⅲ级者1例;谭启富标准达满意者4例,良好者1例。结论导致癫癎手术失败的原因可能与致癎灶切除不彻底有关。通过严格的术前评价施行再次手术不失为最佳纠正方法,并可获得良好效果。     

Persistent proteinuria and dyslipidemia increase the risk of progressive chronic kidney disease in lupus erythematosus

Advances in immunotherapy have improved survival of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus who now face an increasing burden of chronic diseases including that of the kidney. As systemic inflammation is also thought to contribute directly to the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD), we assessed this risk in patients with lupus, with and without a diagnosis of nephritis, and also identified modifiable risk factors. Accordingly, we enrolled 631 patients (predominantly Caucasian), of whom 504 were diagnosed with lupus within the first year and followed them an average of 11 years. Despite the presence of a chronic inflammatory disease, the rate of decline in renal function of 238 patients without nephritis was similar to that described for non-lupus patient cohorts. Progressive loss of kidney function developed exclusively in patients with lupus nephritis who had persistent proteinuria and dyslipidemia, although only six required dialysis or transplantation. The mortality rate was 16% with half of the deaths attributable to sepsis or cancer. Thus, despite the presence of a systemic inflammatory disease, the risk of progressive CKD in this lupus cohort was relatively low in the absence of nephritis. Hence, as in idiopathic glomerular disease, persistent proteinuria and dyslipidemia (modifiable risks) are the major factors for CKD progression in lupus patients with renal involvement.     

DHA对人鼻咽癌CNE2细胞增殖的抑制作用及机制研究

目的 研究DHA对鼻咽癌细胞增殖、凋亡的影响.方法 CCK8法检测DHA对CNE2细胞增殖的影响;AnnexinV/PI双染流式细胞仪检测DHA对CNE2细胞凋亡的影响;RT-PCR检测DHA处理后CNE2细胞凋亡相关蛋白表达变化情况.结果 DHA较对照组明显抑制CNE2细胞增殖.经DHA处理后CNE2细胞中Bcl-2、Bcl-xl表达下降,且呈剂量依赖性.结论 DHA可有效抑制Bcl-2、Bcl-xl的表达而发挥抑制癌细胞增殖、诱导凋亡效应.     

High expression of EphB6 protein in tongue squamous cell carcinoma is associated with a poor outcome

EphB6 is a member in the receptor tyrosine kinase Eph family in that its kinase domain contains several alterations in conserved amino acids and is catalytically inactive. Although EphB6 is expressed both in a variety of embryonic and adult tissues, biological functions of this receptor are largely unknown. In this study, we examined the expression of EphB6 protein in 54 of tissue specimens of tongue squamous cell carcinoma by using a specific polyclonal anti-EphB6 antibody. The relationship between expression of EphB6 and clinical pathologic parameters was analyzed. The expression level of EphB6 in carcinoma cells from 34 out of 54 (63%) specimens was no alterative compared with normal squamous cells in same patient. The level of EphB6 protein staining was increased in carcinoma cells in 20 out of 54 (37%) specimens compared with normal squamous cells in same patient. The high-expression of EphB6 was significantly associated with age (P=0.021), tumor TNM stage (P=0.026) and lymph node metastasis (P=0.046). Patients with high expressed EphB6 protein had a high mortality (P=0.057). No significant relationship between expression of EphB6 and sex, tumor grade, HPV infection, relapse and smoke was found. We showed that patients with high expression of EphB6 had a significantly poor overall survival (OS) compared to patients with negative or weak expression (P=0.042). Our results indicated that EphB6 protein may be used as a new marker for prognosis for tongue squamous cell carcinoma.