姜黄素对哮喘大鼠肺内胶原沉积、结缔组织生长因子表达及气道重构的影响

目的:通过观察姜黄素对哮喘大鼠肺内胶原沉积、结缔组织生长因子(connective tissue growth factor,CTGF)表达的影响,探讨姜黄素对哮喘气道重构的治疗作用。方法:36只雄性SD大鼠随机分为正常对照组(A组)、哮喘模型组(B组)、姜黄素治疗组(C组)各12只,采用卵蛋白致敏大鼠哮喘模型,观察3组动物哮喘发作症状、胶原沉积情况及SABC免疫组化法检测CTGF在肺组织的表达变化。结果:B组大鼠哮喘发作症状明显重于C组,A组无症状。B组支气管黏膜下、血管壁及周围、肺泡壁、肺间质均有胶原大量沉积,C组胶原沉积程度明显轻于B组。A组胶原沉积不明显。免疫组化发现B组CTGF表达最强,C组较弱,A组微弱表达。结论:姜黄素可抑制哮喘大鼠肺组织的胶原沉积,在延缓气道重建中起重要作用,其作用机制可能是通过抑制CTGF的表达来实现。     

Genome-wide analysis of DNA 5-hmC in peripheral blood of uremia by hMeDIP-chip

Background: Treatment of uremia is now dominated by dialysis; in some cases, patients are treated with dialysis for decades, but overall outcomes are disappointing. A number of studies have confirmed the relevance of several experimental insights to the pathogenesis of uremia, but the specific biomarkers of uremia have not been fully elucidated. To date, our knowledge about the alterations in DNA 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) in uremia is unclear, to investigate the role of DNA 5-hmC in the onset of uremia, we performed hMeDIP-chip between the uremia patients and the normal controls from the experiment to identify differentially expressed 5-hmC in uremia-associated samples. Methods: Extract genomic DNA, using hMeDIP-chip technology of Active Motif companies for the analysis of genome-wide DNA 5-hmC, and quantitative real-time PCR confirmation to identify differentially expressed 5-hmC level in uremia-associated samples. Results: There were 1875 genes in gene Promoter, which displayed significant 5-hmC differences in uremia patients compared with normal controls. Among these genes, 960 genes displayed increased 5-hmC and 915 genes decreased 5-hmC. 4063 genes in CpG Islands displayed significant 5-hmC differences in uremia patients compared with normal controls. Among these genes, 1780 genes displayed increased 5-hmC and 2283 genes decreased 5-hmC. Three positive genes, HMGCR, THBD, and STAT3 were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. Conclusion: Our studies indicate the significant alterations of 5-hmC. There is a correlation of gene modification 5-hmC in uremia patients. Such novel findings show the significance of 5-hmC as a potential biomarker or promising target for epigenetic-based uremia therapies.     

Hamstring tendon autograft versus LARS artificial ligament for arthroscopic posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in a long-term follow-up

Introduction

Surgical reconstruction has been increasingly recommended for the surgical management of posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) ruptures. While the choice of tissue graft still remains controversial. Currently both hamstring tendon autograft (HTG) and ligament advanced reinforcement system (LARS) artificial ligament are widely used but there are seldom reports on the comparisons of their clinical results. Our study was aimed to assess the effectiveness of these two grafts.

Materials and methods

Thirty-five patients with unilateral PCL rupture were enrolled in this retrospectively study. Sixteen of them received arthroscopically assisted PCL reconstruction using hamstring tendon autografts (HTG group) and nineteen using LARS ligaments (LARS group). All cases were followed up for 46–57 months with a mean of 51 months. Follow-up examinations included radiographic assessment, Lysholm score, Tegner score, International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) rating scales and KT-1000 test.

Results

All patients improved significantly at the final follow-up compared with the examinational results preoperatively and there were no significant differences between HTG group and LARS group with respect to the results of radiographic assessment, Lysholm score, Tegner score, IKDC rating scales and KT-1000 test.

Conclusions

Similar good clinical results were obtained after PCL reconstruction using hamstring tendon autografts and LARS ligaments. Both LARS ligament and hamstring tendon autograft are ideal grafts for PCL reconstruction.     

Concomitant mediastinal and extrarenal retroperitoneal angiomyolipomas in a patient who previously underwent ipsilateral radical nephrectomy

The association of the tuberous sclerosis complex with angiomyolipoma (AML) arising from the retroperitoneum and mediastinum has not been reported in the literature. We present the first case in which a patient presented with a combined retroperitoneal extrarenal and posterior mediastinal AML. Interestingly, the ipsilateral retroperitoneal AML emerged 15 years after radical nephrectomy for the left renal AML.