新疆维吾尔族妇女子宫颈鳞状细胞癌中人乳头瘤病毒16感染和p33ING1b及端粒酶逆转录酶催化亚单位表达的相关性

目的探讨新疆维吾尔族妇女子宫颈鳞状细胞癌组织中人乳头瘤病毒(HPV)16感染和p33ING1b及端粒酶逆转录酶催化亚单位(hTERT)表达的相关性。方法采用免疫组织化学方法检测了50例子宫颈鳞状细胞癌(SCC)和34例子宫颈上皮内瘤变(CIN)p33ING1b和hTERT表达情况,PCR法检测HPV16感染情况,并与12例正常子宫颈进行对照。结果对照组、CIN1组、CIN2～3组和SCC组中HPV16感染率分别为0、22.2%、44.0%和74.0%,各组间差异有显著性(x2=26.537,P=0.000);p33ING1b阳性率分别为91.7%、77.7%、68.0%和36.0%,各组间差异有显著性(x2=38.943,P=0.000);hTERT阳性率分别为50.0%、66.6%、88.0%和94.0%,各组间差异也有显著性(x2=48.199,P=0.000)。HPV16感染与p33ING1b表达呈负相关(r=-0.294,P=0.004),与hTERT表达呈正相关(r=0.286,P=0.005);p33ING1b表达与hTERT表达呈负相关(r=-0.361,P=0.000)。结论HPV16感染可能与新疆维吾尔族妇女子宫颈SCC组织中p33ING1b表达下降及hTERT表达增加有关。     

Thyroid diseases in atomic bomb survivors exposed in utero

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to evaluate the association of thyroid disease with radiation dose in atomic bomb survivors exposed in utero. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study. SETTING: The study was conducted in atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included 328 atomic bomb survivors exposed in utero (mean age 55.2 yr, 162 males) who participated in the thyroid study at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. Examinations were conducted between March 2000 and February 2003. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The relationships of various thyroid conditions to atomic bomb radiation dose were measured. RESULTS: Among the 319 participants excluding nine participants whose exposure radiation dose was not estimated, the mean maternal uterine radiation dose was 0.256 Gy. We observed no significant dose-response relationship for the prevalence of solid thyroid nodules (odds ratio at 1 Gy, 2.78; 95% confidence interval 0.50-11.80, P = 0.22), but the risk estimate was similar to the estimate for childhood exposures. The prevalence of cysts and autoimmune thyroid diseases was not associated with radiation dose (P > 0.30). We could not evaluate the dose response for malignant tumors or benign nodules due to the small number of cases. CONCLUSIONS: We did not observe a statistically significant linear dose response to radiation for thyroid nodules or autoimmune thyroid diseases 55-58 yr after participants' in utero exposure. However, the risk estimate for solid thyroid nodules was similar for those exposed in utero and those exposed in childhood. Because the study had limited statistical power to detect moderately sized effects, further studies are needed for a definitive conclusion.     

Endocarditis and pericarditis caused by Salmonella paratyphi A: two case reports and review of the literature

We report on two children with paratyphoid fever and rare cardiac complications (endocarditis and pericarditis) during an outbreak of Salmonella paratyphi A infection in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1996. Both of the patients had underlying congenital heart disease. Two cases in the literatures of endocarditis and five cases of pericarditis caused by Salmonella paratyphi were reviewed. These rare cardiac complications should be considered among persons who reside in an endemic area of enteric fever or during disease outbreaks, especially in children with underlying heart diseases.     

Growth hormone directly and indirectly stimulates articular chondrocyte cell growth

Although growth hormone (GH) is known to regulate cartilage growth and differentiation during development, it is still unclear whether the cell growth of articular chondrocytes is stimulated directly by GH or mediated by GH-induced insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). In the present study, we focused on whether GH directly or indirectly stimulates articular chondrocyte proliferation. Monolayer articular chondrocytes from 5-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were cultured in Ham's F-12/Dulbecco's modified essential medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Stimulation of DNA synthesis by GH was dose-dependent between 0.1 and 1 microg/ml, and the maximum active concentration of GH was 500 ng/ml, which induced a 3.5-fold increase over control values. Anti-IGF-I antiserum neutralized about 80% of GH-induced DNA synthesis. GH stimulated the secretion of IGF-I into the conditioned medium in a dose-responsive manner. To determine whether GH stimulated DNA synthesis directly, we investigated the time-course changes in mRNA expression of IGF-I and the proto-oncogene c-myc. Induction of IGF-I mRNA occurred at 4 h, and reached a maximum level at 12 h, whereas the expression of c-myc mRNA was induced within 4 h, and continued to increase until 72 h after GH treatment. Furthermore, administration of cycloheximide, an inhibitor of protein synthesis, resulted in the superinduction of both IGF-I and c-myc mRNAs. These results suggest that early induction of c-myc is due to a direct stimulatory effect of GH, and that long-term induction of c-myc was attributable to an indirect effect of GH in which GH-induced secondary proliferative factors may act in an autocrine/paracrine manner. The superinduction of c-myc gene by cycloheximide also indicates that fresh protein synthesis of an intermediate protein was not required for GH-induced c-myc expression. Western ligand blot analysis of IGF-binding proteins revealed that cultured rat articular chondrocytes produced a predominant 41 kDa and a faint 32 kDa form, and that GH significantly stimulated the secretion of the 41 kDa form without affecting expression of the 32 kDa form. Furthermore, a specific IGF-I binding study suggested that the increase in DNA synthesis induced by GH was not associated with changes in affinity or in the number of IGF-I binding sites. These results support the conclusion that the stimulatory effect of GH was mainly mediated by GH-induced IGF-I production in monolayer rat articular chondrocytes. However, it is likely that GH may also have a direct stimulatory effect by inducing c-myc proto-oncogene expression.     

Ultraweak biophoton emission imaging of transplanted bladder cancer

Biophoton emission or spontaneous ultraweak light emission has been observed from almost all living organisms, with intensities ranging from 10^-19 to 10^-16 W/cm². The measurement of biophoton emission offers the attractive possibility of noninvasive monitoring of the underlying physiological function of a living system. In the present study, ultraweak biophoton emission from mice with transplanted bladder cancer was detected by a two-dimensional photon-counting system. Photon counts were observed to be 1.51–4.73 times higher from the regions of untreated tumor than from normal regions. Our study suggests that this novel technique may be applicable to the diagnosis of superficial tumors.     

A cost-utility and budget impact analysis of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for severe thalassemic patients in Thailand

Background  

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the only curative treatment available to severe thalassemic patients. The treatment, however, is very costly, particularly in the context of low and middle income countries, and no studies have been carried out to explore its economic justifiability. This study aimed to estimate the cost-utility of HSCT compared with blood transfusions combined with iron chelating therapy (BT-ICT) for severe thalassemia in Thailand, and to investigate the affordability of HSCT using a budget impact analysis.