双氢青蒿素对人骨肉瘤细胞TE85细胞内尿激酶型纤溶酶原激活物和色素上皮衍生因子表达的影响

目的 观察双氢青蒿素(DHA)对人骨肉瘤细胞活性、转移能力以及细胞中尿激酶型纤溶酶原激活物(uPA)和色素上皮衍生因子(PEDF)表达的影响.方法 将不同浓度的DHA(5、10、20、40、80 μmol/L)作用于体外培养的正常人成骨细胞和人骨肉瘤细胞TE85 12、24、48 h后,噻唑蓝(MTT)法测定DHA对细胞活性的影响,反转录-聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)法检测细胞中uPA和PEDF mRNA水平的表达,Westen blot法检测uPA和PEDF蛋白水平的表达.结果 DHA对人成骨细胞活性无明显影响(P＞0.05).DHA能够明显抑制人骨肉瘤细胞TE85的活性(P＜0.05).不同作用时间下DHA对人骨肉瘤细胞TE85的半数抑制浓度(IC50)分别为(12 h)=(41.66±0.53) μmol/L、IC50(24 h)=(32.28 ±0.27)μmol/L和IC50 (48 h)=(22.53±1.26) μmol/L.DHA能够明显减少人骨肉瘤细胞的迁移和细胞中uPA的表达水平,同时细胞中PEDF表达升高(P＜0.05).结论 DHA对正常人体骨组织无害,能够有效抑制骨肉瘤细胞生长和转移.     

Impact of gender on the clinicopathological features of patients with primary IgA nephropathy

Objective To explore the impact of gender on the clinicopathological features of patients with primary IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Methods All patients with IgAN who were biopsy-proven in The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University from January 2006 to December 2011 were divided into two groups by gender: male group and female group. The clinical manifestations and pathological features of two groups were retrospectively investigated and compared. Results A total of 1512 primary IgAN patients were enrolled in the study, and the ratio of male to female was 1∶1.16, with a median age of 32(26, 39) years old at biopsy. Compared to female patients, male patients with IgAN exhibited more severe clinical manifestations including worse renal function, greater urinary protein excretion, and more frequent occurrence of hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperuricemia. Besides, male patients had worse histological lesions, including more severe segmental sclerosis, tubular-atrophy/interstitial fibrosis and interstitial infiltration. For female patients, hematuria, including gross and microscopic hematuria, was more frequent. Conclusion Male patients with IgAN were with worse clinicopathological changes than those of female.     

Blood–brain barrier dysfunction and myelin basic protein in survival of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with or without frontotemporal dementia

Neurological Sciences - We aim to investigate blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction and myelin basic protein (MBP) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with or without frontotemporal...     

Side effects of long-term oral anti-seizure drugs on thyroid hormones in patients with epilepsy: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Neurological Sciences - Anti-seizure drugs have long been known to affect thyroid hormone levels in epilepsy patients. The current study is a network meta-analysis designed to produce a systematic...     

Impaired white matter microstructure associated with severe depressive symptoms in patients with PD

Brain Imaging and Behavior - Depression is a common occurrence in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD); however, its pathophysiology is still unclear. This study assessed the association...     

Development of a miniaturized and modular probe for fNIRS instrument

Lasers in Medical Science - Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive and promising method for continuously monitoring hemodynamic and metabolic changes in tissues. However,...     

Numerical modeling and simulations of type B aortic dissection treated by stent-grafts with different oversizing ratios

Retrograde type A dissection after thoracic endovascular aortic repair has been a major drawback of endovascular treatment. This study investigated the biomechanical mechanism of stent-graft-induced new lesions after implantation and analyzed the relationship between radial force and spring-back force of the stent-graft when it was implanted virtually under different oversizing ratios. Based on the computed tomography angiography images, a three-dimensional geometric model of a patient-specific aortic dissection was established. The stent was designed in CAD software and the stent-graft implantation procedure under different oversizing ratios was simulated in the finite element analysis software. Implantation simulations were performed six times for each stent-graft model under 0%, 3%, 6%, 9%, 12%, and 15% oversizing ratios and the peak stress of the aorta was compared among groups. It was observed that the peak stress of the aorta was located where the proximal bare stent interacted with aortic wall and its value was increased by 62.2% from 0% to 15% oversizing ratio. The conclusions are reached that the long-term higher stress in the aortic wall may lead to the emergence of new lesions in these areas, and the radial force plays a key role in the formation of a new entry in the real aorta model.     

Evaluation of Quality of Life Using EORTC QLQ‐BM22 in Patients with Bone Metastases after Treatment with Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound

Objective

To reveal the alterations in quality of life (QOL) in bone metastases patients after magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS).

Methods

This retrospective study enrolled 26 patients diagnosed with bone metastases. Patients had various primary malignant tumors and tumor lesions in different locations. All patients received MRgFUS for bone metastasis. Each focal spot sonication pulse that was applied to create energy deposition lasted 20 s and was performed at a frequency of 1.05 MHz. The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to measure pain level and the EORTC QLQ‐BM22 was applied to evaluate QOL for 12 months. The lower the QLQ‐BM22 score, the better the QOL of patients.

Results

The painful site subscale of the EORTC QLQ‐BM22 was observed without significant change. Significant reductions in the functional subscales were observed after therapy compared with the baseline. The functional interference was reduced significantly during the first 12 months. From the 2‐month time point onwards, the pain characteristics subscale also decreased significantly. VAS scores had decreased by 40.8% 1 month after the operation and had decreased 10.9% compared with VAS scores preoperation. Scores for pain characteristics decreased by 28.8% after the operation and the scores were still down by 10.8% 1 year after the treatment. VAS scores indicated a significant reduction in pain over the course of the research until the 12‐month time point follow‐up compared with the baseline.

Conclusion

MRgFUS therapy improved the QOL of patients with bone metastasis by relieving bone pain.