Improving the cardio protective effect of aFGF in ischemic myocardium with ultrasound-mediated cavitation of heparin modified microbubbles: preliminary experiment

Ultrasound (US)-mediated cavitation of microbubbles has evolved into a new tool for organ-specific gene and drug delivery. This paper was to investigate the feasibility of acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) intravenous delivery to the ischemic myocardium of rats by ultrasonic microbubbles modified with heparin. Heparin modified microbubbles (HMB) were prepared by the freeze-dried method. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) model was established and the cardio protective effect of the aFGF combing with HMB (aFGF-HMB) under US-mediated cavitation technique was investigated. aFGF-HMB combined with US-mediated cavitation technique was examined by ECG. Ejection fraction (EF), fractional shortening (FS) and left ventricular diastolic diameter (LVDd) were measured to monitor the improvement of global myocardial contractile function. Myocardial tissue was stained with hematoxylin and eosine (HE) to evaluate the elaborate general morphology of the ischemic myocardium. From morphologic observation and echocardiography in rat heart, aFGF-HMB had suitable size distribution, physical stability and good acoustic resonance function. From AMI rat experiments, aFGF-HMB under US-mediated cavitation technique exerted aFGF cardio protective effect in ischemic myocardium. From histological evaluation, US-mediated cavitation of aFGF-HMB showed improvement of myocardial ischemia. With the visual imaging and US-triggered drug release advantages, US-mediated cavitation of aFGF-HMB might be developed as a novel technique for targeting delivery of aFGF into ischemic myocardium.     

OPN promotes survival of activated T cells by up-regulating CD44 in patients with oral lichen planus

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of oral mucosa, which represents cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. Pathological study demonstrated that abundant T lymphocytes infiltrated the oral mucosa, in which the activated T cells that trigger apoptosis of oral epithelial cells is an important mechanism for OLP. However, to date the molecular mechanisms underlying the T lymphocytes infiltration and accumulation in OLP remain unclear. In this paper, we found that the levels of plasma OPN were elevated and were associated with the up-regulated expressions of CD44 in OLP patients. In vitro, the addition of exogenous OPN can suppress the apoptosis of activated CD8(+) T cells via CD44, and this T cell resistance to apoptosis may be attributed to the reduction of endogenous mature granzyme B. Our results suggested that the abnormally elevated levels of OPN may contribute to the abnormal infiltration and accumulation of the activated T cells by up-regulating CD44 in OLP.     

Regulation on the biocompatibility of bioactive titanium metals by type I collagen

To study the regulation on the biocompatibility of titanium metal surface structure, the interaction between the collagen and the titanium surface structure were studied with titanium surfaces subjected to anodic oxidation and acid-alkali treatment. The cell response on the treated surfaces was studied in vitro experiments of MG63 osteoblasts. The effects of different collagen adsorption ability on the biomineralization were investigated with simulated body fluid (SBF) experiment and osteoblasts culture experiments in a mineralization culture medium. It was found that the collagen adsorption ability was controlled by the wettability. The acid-alkali treated titanium could adsorb much more collagen on its surface. The abilities of cell attachment and proliferation were improved after collagen soaking. The apatite formation ability was inhibited in SBF after collagen adsorption on the surfaces, but improved in cell-involved situation. The ALP and OCN activity of MG63 cells assay showed the collagen on the titanium surface could enhance the bioactivity of the cells, which could accelerate the biomineralization process in cell culture experiments. The result indicated that the different adsorption ability of type I collagen could regulate the biocompatibility of titanium metal surface. It is possible to optimize the biocompatibility of the titanium metals by using suitable surface modification method.     

A prediction model of substrates and non-substrates of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) developed by GA-CG-SVM method

Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) is one of the key multi-drug resistance proteins, which significantly influences the therapeutic effects of many drugs, particularly anti-cancer drugs. Thus, distinguishing between substrates and non-substrates of BCRP is important not only for clinical use but also for drug discovery and development. In this study, a prediction model of the substrates and non-substrates of BCRP was developed using a modified support vector machine (SVM) method, namely GA–CG–SVM. The overall prediction accuracy of the established GA–CG–SVM model is 91.3% for the training set and 85.0% for an independent validation set. For comparison, two other machine learning methods, namely, C4.5 DT and k-NN, were also adopted to build prediction models. The results show that the GA–CG–SVM model is significantly superior to C4.5 DT and k-NN models in terms of the prediction accuracy. To sum up, the prediction model of BCRP substrates and non-substrates generated by the GA–CG–SVM method is sufficiently good and could be used as a screening tool for identifying the substrates and non-substrates of BCRP.     

Urodynamic changes in a female case of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with enuresis: 7 years’ follow-up

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome （OSAS） is characterized by repetitive upper airway occlusion resulting in apnea lasting 10 seconds or more. Clinical manifestations include snoring, daytime somnolence, intellectual deficiency, sexual impotence, and nocturnal polyuria. Enuresis associated with OSAS is suggested to be more common in children than in adults） In children, removal of upper airway obstruction by surgical intervention （tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy） leads to a significant decrease in or complete cure of enuresis. Although a great deal has been written concerning aduk enuresis,     

腹膜后副神经节瘤19例临床诊治分析

目的 探讨腹膜后副神经节瘤的临床特征及预后因素,提高腹膜后副神经节瘤的诊治水平.方法 回顾性分析本院1999年11月至2009年3月手术治疗腹膜后副神经节瘤19例患者的临床表现、肿瘤功能、术中所见、手术方式、病理和影像学资料,以及术后生存时间.结果 (1)本组19例腹膜后副神经节瘤男女比例为1.375,中位年龄50岁,最常见的临床表现为腹部肿块(9/19,47%),术前CT诊断误诊率高(89%);(2)肿瘤好发于下腔静脉及腹主动脉周(9/19,47%),平均最大直径为8.6 cm(3～23 cm),58%(11/19)肿块包膜完整,42%(8/19)肿块与周围脏器紧贴或紧密粘连,26%(5/19)需作毗邻受累器官切除;(3)本组63%(12/19)肿瘤为功能性,术前表现高血压占67%(8/12),术中血压波动剧烈占33%(4/12);(4)16例18个肿块行免疫组化染色,89%(16/18)Chg-A(+),67%(12/18)S-100(+),增殖细胞核抗原(PCNA)呈不同程度表达(0%～48%),Ki-67与P53均只在恶性病例阳性表达(分别为20%,34%);(5)本组病例随访1～107个月,中位随访40个月,Kaplan-Meier及Log-Rank生存分析显示:全组总体的5年生存率为77%,生存率与肿瘤出现远处转移相关(χ2=6.604,P=0.01),与肿瘤大小(χ2=3.208,P=0.201)、功能状态(χ2=0.121,P=0.728)、肿瘤局部情况(χ2=0.036,P=0.849)相关不显著.结论 早期诊断腹膜后副神经节瘤较为困难;患者生存预后与转移相关,应强调终生随访;术后病理免疫组化检查对判断肿瘤性质和预后非常必要.