Search

BACKGROUND The incidence and prevalence of atrial fibrillation are increasing each year, and this condition is one of the most common clinical arrhythmias. AIM To investigate the levels and significance of serum fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF-23) and miR-208b in patients with atrial fibrillation and their relationship with prognosis. METHODS From May 2018 to October 2019, 240 patients with atrial fibrillation were selected as an observation group, including 134 with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and 106 with persistent atrial fibrillation; 150 patients with healthy sinus rhythm were selected as a control group. The serum levels of FGF-23 and miR-208b in the two groups were measured. In the observation group, cardiac parameters were determined by echocardiography. RESULTS The serum levels of FGF-23 and miR-208b in the observation group were 210.20 ± 89.60 ng/mL and 5.30 ± 1.22 ng/mL, which were significantly higher than the corresponding values in the control group (P < 0.05). In the observation group, the serum levels of FGF-23 and miR-208b in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation were 234.22 ± 70.05 ng/mL and 5.83 ± 1.00 ng/mL, which were significantly higher than the corresponding values in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (P < 0.05). The left atrial dimension (LAD) of patients with persistent atrial fibrillation was 38.81 ± 5.11 mm, which was significantly higher than that of patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (P > 0.05). The serum levels of FGF-23 and miR-208b were positively correlated with the LAD (r = 0.411 and 0.382, P < 0.05). In the observation group, the serum levels of FGF-23 and miR-208b in patients with a major cardiovascular event (MACE) were 243.30 ± 72.29 ng/mL and 6.12 ± 1.12 ng/mL, which were significantly higher than the corresponding values in patients without a MACE (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The serum levels of FGF-23 and miR-208b are increased in patients with atrial fibrillation and are related to the type of disease, cardiac parameters, and prognosis.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death and ranks sixth in terms of incident cases worldwide. The purpose of this study was to develop an effective and sensitive method to distinguish liver cancer tissues from normal tissues in HCC patients. Integrin α6 is a promising cell surface target for molecular imaging of HCC, where it is overexpressed and is a prognostic biomarker. We previously identified an integrin α6-targeted peptide CRWYDENAC (RWY) that has been used for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of HCC in mouse models.We labeled the integrin α6-targeted RWY peptide with cyanine 7 (Cy7) to form an optical probe (Cy7-RWY) for near infrared fluorescent (NIRF) and photoacoustic (PA) imaging in HCC. Mice transplanted with subcutaneous HCC-LM3 or orthotopic HCC-H22 cells that overexpressed integrin α6 were intravenously injected with Cy7-RWY and its corresponding Cy7-control. NIRF and PA images of mice were collected from 0 to 48 h after injection.Both NIRF and PA signals started to accumulate in the tumor 2 h after injection of Cy7-RWY and peaked at 24 h.Cy7-RWY is a promising optical probe for NIRF and PA imaging of HCC in mice, and has potential clinical application for HCC detection.

Background & Aims: Growing evidence has shown that M2-PK is involved in cancer diagnosis and prognosis. The overall diagnostic accuracy of the pyruvate kinase isoenzyme type M2 (M2-PK) in biliary tract carcinoma (BTC) remains controversial. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic value of M2-PK for BTC.Methods: The online PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Embase databases were searched for eligible studies published until August 8th, 2017. The Quality Assessment for Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) was used to evaluate study quality. All statistical analyses were conducted with Stata 12.0.Results: We included 7 studies from 5 articles with 410 patients with BTC and 438 controls. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and AUC for M2-PK in the diagnosis of BTC were 0.79 (95%CI 0.70-0.86), 0.81 (95%CI 0.71-0.88), 4.1 (95%CI 2.5-6.8), 0.26 (95%CI 0.16-0.41), 17.159 (95%CI 5.468-54.071), and 0.87 (95%CI 0.83-0.89), respectively. The same indicators assessed for CA19-9 were as follows: 0.70 (95%CI 0.62-0.77), 0.71 (95%CI 0.45-0.87), 2.38 (95%CI 1.2-4.73), 0.43 (95%CI 0.34-0.53), 6.28 (95%CI 2.4-16.44) and 0.73 (95%CI 0.69-0.77), respectively. Additionally, the diagnostic value of M2-PK varied based on characteristics of golden methods and different cut-off values.Conclusions: This meta-analysis showed that M2-PK had a better diagnostic accuracy for BTC compared with CA19-9, with moderate diagnostic performance. However, prospective studies are required to confirm its diagnostic value.

Contrast enhancement agents are often employed in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for clinical diagnosis and biomedical research. However, the current theory on MRI contrast generation does not consider the ubiquitous presence of macromolecular crowders in biological systems, which poses the risk of inaccurate data interpretation and misdiagnosis. To address this issue, herein the macromolecular crowding effects on MRI contrast agent are investigated with the 1H relaxation rate of water in aqueous solutions of Dotarem with different concentrations of macromolecules. Two representative macromolecular crowder systems are used: polyethylene glycol (with no specific secondary structure) and bovine serum albumin (with compact secondary and tertiary structures). The water 1H relaxation rates in various solutions are measured in a fixed magnetic field and in variable magnetic fields. The results show significant crowding effects for both crowders. The relaxation rate is proportional to the concentration of the MRI contrast agent but shows conspicuous superlinearity with respect to the concentration of the crowder. The size of polyethylene glycol does not affect the relaxivity of water in Dotarem solutions. The above effects are verified with T 1‐ and T 2‐weighted NMR microimages. These results highlight the importance of the effect of macromolecular crowding on the MRI contrast agent and are valuable for understanding the mechanism of MRI contrast agents and designing new‐generation MRI contrast agents.

Dental injuries, especially of the incisors, caused by punches in violent criminal attacks could be seen in daily forensic casework involving the identification of injuries to a living body. Sometimes, when there is neither circumstantial evidence nor information about the surrounding circumstances, it is difficult to discern the cause of these injuries and the manner in which they were inflicted. As an example of clinical forensic medicine, we present the case of a 58-year-old woman whose teeth were injured when fighting with her son-in-law over household affairs with no witnesses present. The two parties had conflicting stories about the cause of the woman’s injury. The woman claimed that her teeth were lost while she was being beaten by her son-in-law, and the man argued that the damage to his mother-in-law’s teeth was self-inflicted when she bit his fingers. The police attending the crime called for a forensic examination. Forensic practitioners analysed the mechanism of the tooth loss using multi-slice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) and imaging reconstruction technology. Local alveolar bone (medial alveolar) fracture and a small area of alveolar bone loss were found on MSCT. Thus, forensic medical experts speculated that the woman’s lower central and lateral incisors were lost as a result of a violent attack and were not self-inflicted. Finally, forensic practitioners helped police in avoiding a miscarriage of justice and wrongful conviction.

ZD6474, a small molecule VEGFR and EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been considered as a promising tumor-targeted drug in various malignancies. EGFR and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) were found overexpressed in osteosarcoma in previous reports, so here we tried to explore the anti-osteosarcoma effect of ZD6474 alone or combination with celecoxib, a COX-2 inhibitor. The data demonstrated that ZD6474 inhibited the growth of osteosarcoma cells, and promoted G1-phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis by inhibiting the activity of EGFR tyrosine kinase, and consequently suppressing its downstream PI3k/Akt and MAPK/ERK pathway. Additionally, daily administration of ZD6474 produced a dose-dependent inhibition of tumor growth in nude mice. Celecoxib also significantly inhibited the growth of osteosarcoma cells in dose-dependent manner, while combination of ZD6474 and celecoxib displayed a synergistic or additive antitumor effect on osteosarcoma in vitro and in vivo. The possible molecular mechanisms to address the synergism are likely that ZD6474 induces the down-regulation of COX-2 expression through inhibiting ERK phosphorylation, while celecoxib promotes ZD6474-directed inhibition of ERK phosphorylation. In conclusion, ZD6474 exerts direct anti-proliferative effects on osteosarcoma cells, and the synergistic antitumor effect of the combination of ZD6474 with celecoxib may indicate a new strategy of the combinative treatment of human osteosarcoma.

Leptin has been reported to be expressed in carotid atherosclerotic plaques, where it can promote lesion instability. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) produced by smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are known to contribute to the weakening of atherosclerotic plaques via the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. The present study investigated whether leptin promotes plaque rupture by increasing the expression of MMP in SMCs in vivo and in vitro. In vivo, the neointima/media ratio and expression of MMP in the carotid artery of ob/ob mice were measured following carotid ligation and systemic administration of leptin. In vitro, the effect of leptin treatment on the expression of MMP in isolated SMCs and the underlying signaling pathways were investigated by gelatin zymography and western blot analysis. The results demonstrated that leptin treatment significantly increased the neointima/media ratio and expression of MMP-9 in the carotid artery of mice following carotid ligation. In vitro, leptin also significantly increased the expression and activity of MMP-9 in cultured SMCs in a dose-dependent manner. Leptin also increased the production of MMP-9 by activating leptin receptor and mitogen-activated protein kinases, including extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), which in turn enhanced the binding of the transcription factor activator protein-1 (AP-1) to the MMP-9 promoter. The inhibition of leptin-activated phosphorylation of ERK and JNK suppressed the leptin-stimulated expression of AP-1 and MMP-9. Leptin treatment induced the expression of MMP-9 in SMCs, suggesting that leptin may have substantial involvement in plaque rupture by promoting the degradation of ECM.

A statistical analysis of gamma-ray burst host galaxies is presented and a clear metallicity-stellar mass relation is found in our sample. A trend that a more massive host galaxy tends to have a higher star-formation rate is also found. No correlation is found between A V and N H. GRB host galaxies at a higher redshift also tend to have a higher star formation rate, however, even in the same redshift, the star formation rate may vary for three orders of magnitude.

To investigate concentration and distribution in blood and tissues of formic acid after methanol intoxication in rats.The Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into groups for control group and 3-day and 7-day intoxication treatment groups. The experimental groups were administered methanol by gavage with the initial dose of 8 mL/kg and followed with 4 mL/kg supplemental dose 24 h later. After 3 days and 7 days later, rats were killed by decapitation. Then samples of cardiac blood, liver, kidney, brain, heart and stomach of each group were collected. Formic acid concentrations were detected by high performance liquid chromatography.Formic acid concentrations in tissues were higher than in blood. Compared with 3-day intoxication group, there was an increase formic acid of concentration in brain and stomach in 7-day intoxication group, while a decrease in liver and kidney (P0.05).High performance liquid chromatography could be used to accurately detect formic acid. As the metabolite of methanol, formic acid accumulates in rat blood and tissues after intoxication and the concentrations in organs and tissues are obviously higher than in blood.

Objective. To explore the potential effects of methanol and its metabolite, formic acid, on rat retina function.Methods. Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3- and 7-day groups and a control. Experimental groups were given methanol and the control group were provided saline by gavage. Retinal function of each group was assessed by electroretinogram. Concentrations of methanol and formic acid were detected by GC/HS and HPLC, respectively.Results. The a and b amplitudes of methanol treated groups decreased and latent periods delayed in scotopic and photopic ERG recordings. The summed amplitudes of oscillatory potentials (OPs) of groups B and C decreased and the elapsed time delayed. The amplitudes of OS1, OS3, OS4, and OS5 of group B and OS3, OS4, and OS5 of group C decreased compared with the control group. The IPI1 of group B and IPI1-4 of group C were broader compared with the control group and the IPI1-4 and ET of group B were broader than group C. Conclusions. Both of scotopic and photopic retinal functions were impaired by methanol poisoning, and impairment was more serious in the 7-day than in the 3-day group. OPs, especially later OPs and IPI2, were more sensitive to methanol intoxication than other eletroretinogram subcomponents.

The Cover Feature shows that macromolecular crowders PEG or BSA in an aqueous solution of a paramagnetic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent generally bring additional proton spin relaxation to the water molecules close to the paramagnetic ion and lead to contrast change in the MRI images. This highlights the importance of considering the effect of macromolecular crowding on the performance of MRI contrast agents and image analysis, as well as diagnosis in clinical and functional MRI. More information can be found in the Full Paper on page 288 in Issue 4, 2018 by R.‐H. Cheng et al. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/open.201700192).

ZD6474 is an orally available, small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor. This study explores the effect of ZD6474 on imatinib-resistant K562 cell lines, which show markedly increased SRC family kinases (SFKs) activity. ZD6474 induces growth arrest and apoptosis of imatinib-resistant and parental K562 cells, as well as inhibition of Src activity and its downstream effectors, the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family. ZD6474 treatment also inhibits the activity of STAT3 and reactivation of its activity results in suppression of the anti-tumor effects of SFKs inhibitors. A single oral administration of ZD6474 produced dose-dependent inhibition of imatinib-resistant K562 cells xenograft tumors. These results suggest that clinical assessment of ZD6474 against imatinib-resistant CML is warranted.

Seedling development, accumulation and distribution of lead (Pb) in Iris lactea var. chinensis (Fisch.) Koidz. and I. tectorum Maxim. were studied using plants grown in sand culture and exposed to 0-10 mmol l(-1) concentrations of Pb supplied as Pb(NO3)(2) for 28 days. A significant reduction in dry weight (dw) of shoots and roots of I. lactea var. chinensis was observed at 6 and 10 mmol l(-1), respectively, and a significant reduction in dw of shoots and roots of I. tectorum was observed at 6 mmol l(-1). Concentration of Pb in the shoots and roots of I. lacteal var. chinensis exposed to 4 mmol l(-1) Pb reached 1,109 microg g(-1) and 2,408 microg g(-1) dw, respectively. The index of tolerance (IT) of I. lactea var. chinensis among 0-8 mmol l(-1) Pb treatments were not significantly different, while those of I. tectorum at 6 mmol l(-1) Pb were significantly decreased. The results indicated that I. lactea var. chinensis was more tolerant to Pb than I. tectorum. Sub-cellular localization of Pb in root cells was evaluated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Pb deposits were found along the plasma membrane of some root tip cells of I. lactea var. chinensis treated at 10 mmol l(-1) Pb. Deposits of Pd were also observed along the surface, in the root tip cell wall and in the cytoplasm of a few malformed cells of I. tectorum exposed at 10 mmol l(-1) Pb treatment. One possible mechanism to explain these observations may be that most cells can maintain normal activities in the plant by sacrificing a small number of cells that accumulate a large amount Pb and show toxicity. Future studies should be designed to test this hypothesis.

Vaccination with Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is being used to prevent HBV infection. The fact that 10% of vaccinees fail to develop protective antibodies has fostered a large body of research for more effective vaccination strategies. Search for new adjuvant, able to selectively trigger protective antibody production, is one of the most promising approaches. The oligosaccharide beta-(1-->6)-branched beta-(1-->3) glucohexaose is the basic unit of lentinan and several other fungal beta-glucans with immunostimulatory activity. beta-glucans stimulate innate immune response mainly through interaction with myeloid cells (macrophages) and dendritic cells. In this study, the ability of synthetic beta-(1-->6)-branched beta-(1-->3) glucohexaose analogue (beta-glu6) to enhance the immune response to HBsAg has been evaluated. Administration of synthetic beta-glu6 i.p. in BALB/c mice greatly enhanced the mobilisation and maturation of macrophages and dendritic cells to co-administered HBsAg, as compared to the antigen alone. The adjuvant effect of beta-glu6 was evident in the increase of T and B cell activation in response to HBsAg, as judged by the percentage of CD69-positive CD4(+) and CD19(+) lymphocytes in the spleen. beta-glu6 could significantly enhance the number of IL-4-producing cells in response to HBsAg, while it had no effect on the number of IFN-gamma-producing lymphocytes, suggesting a Th2 bias of the immune response. The correlate of protection for HBV vaccination, i.e. the titer of HBsAg-specific antibodies, was greatly enhanced by the use of beta-glu6 as a vaccine adjuvant. The IgG1/IgG2a ratio within the anti-HBsAg antibodies was higher in the mice immunised with HBsAg plus beta-glu6 than receiving HBsAg alone or mice administered HBsAg with Freund's adjuvant, indicating a shift towards a Th2-biased anti-inflammatory protective antibody response.

To compare the correlation between contrast vision (LV) and sweep visual evoked potential acuity (SVEP-A) among people with emmetropia, mild myopia, and moderate myopia.The CV and SVEP-A were tested individually in 96 eyes from healthy young volunteers, including 37 eyes of emmetropia, 27 eyes of mild myopia, and 32 eyes of moderate myopia. The statistic analysis was done by ANOVA analysis and rank sum test.(1) With the decrease of contrast, CV and SVEP-A decreased in every group. (2) At 100% contrast, the difference of CV between emmetropia and mild myopia had statistical significance (P0.05). At 100%, 25% and 10% contrast, the difference of CV between emmetropia and moderate myopia had statistical significance (P0.05). (3) In the same group, the difference of 100% and 25% contrast had statistical significance (P0.05). So was between 100% and 10% contrast. (4) At 100% and 10% contrast, the difference of CV and SVEP-A had statistical significance (P0.05).The CV of myopia relates to many factors including ametropia and fundus lesions. The correction of ametropia is important to the values of CV and SVEP-A.

alphaB-crystallin is the structural protein of vertebrate lens, which is widely expressed in non-lens tissue. As one of the heat shock protein family members, alphaB-crystallin possesses biological properties of molecular chaperones and anti-apoptotic effects. Multi-factor injuries, such as retinopathy, inflammation and nervous system diseases, have a closely relationship with alphaB-crystallin. This paper reviews the research progress of the expression and mechanism of alphaB-crystallin in retina and extraocular tissues and organs.

Social tagging system has become a hot research topic due to the prevalence of Web2.0 during the past few years. These systems can provide users effective ways to collaboratively annotate and organize items with their own tags. However, the flexibility of annotation brings with large numbers of redundant tags. It is a very difficult task to find users’ interest exactly and recommend proper friends to users in social tagging systems. In this paper, we propose a Friend Recommendation algorithm by User similarity Graph (FRUG) to find potential friends with the same interest in social tagging systems. To alleviate the problem of tag redundancy, we utilize Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to obtain users’ interest topics. Moreover, we propose a novel multiview users’ similarity measure method to calculate similarity from users’ interest topics, co-collected items and co-annotated tags. Then, based on the users’ similarities, we build user similarity graph and make interest-based user recommendation by mining the graph. The experimental results on tagging dataset of Delicious validate the good performance of FRUG in terms of precision and recall.

With the sharp increment of information on the Internet, many technologies have been proposed to solve the problem of information explosion in people’s life. Collaborative Filtering (CF) recommendation system is one of the most popular and efficient ways of solutions, especially item based CF systems. While traditional item based CF recommendation algorithms either ignore the diversity of different users’ rating behavior or do not deal with it efficiently. In this paper, we present a novel similarity function using the average rating for each user instead of the overall average rating for all users. In order to find the optimal similarity function, we use genetic algorithm (GA) to optimize the weight vectors associated to the similarity function. A series of comparison experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness in terms of the quality of prediction of the proposed method.

Staphylococcus epidermidis is one of the major causative agents for nosocomial infections. To reveal the pathogenesis factors, we performed the comparative proteomic analysis of invasive ATCC35984 and commensal ATCC12228 strains by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry. The differentially expressed proteins were involved in carbohydrate metabolism, sugar binding, lipid degradation and amino acid binding. In addition, we demonstrated that the trap gene was transcribed by 3.657+/-0.156 (P

To compare the agreement of anterior chamber angle examination by ultrasound biomicroscope (UBM), slit lamp optical coherence tomography (SL-OCT), and gonioscopy in angle recession and angle closure.The anterior chamber angle was measured with UBM, SL-OCT and gonioscopy in turns for temporal, nasal, superior and inferior quadrant in the same dark room. The results were compared with the agreement of the three methods in angle recession and angle closure by χ2 test and Kappa test.There were no statistically significant differences of the three methods in testing angle closure and angle recession (P0.05). The consistency of UBM and gonioscopy was better (Kappa value of 0.882) than that of SL-OCT and gonioscopy (Kappa value of 0.624).When testing angle recession, UBM is better than SL-OCT with gonioscopy as the standard. When testing angle closure, UBM, SL-OCT and gonioscopy have good agreement.

To study the characters of oscillatory potentials (OPs) of electroretinogram (ERG) after methanol intoxication in rats.The SD rat models of methanol intoxication were established and divided into control group, 3-day intoxication group, 7-day intoxication group. The changes of OPs of ERG were recorded in a dark room.The total amplitudes of 3-day and 7-day intoxication groups decreased approximately 50% compared with that of the control group, while the schedule delayed approximately 16% and 61%, respectively.The characters of methanol intoxication in rats included delay in schedule and decline in the total amplitude of OPs.

Multifocal visual electrophysiology, consisting of multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) and multifocal visual evoked potential (mfVEP), can objectively evaluate retina function and retina-cortical conduction pathway status by stimulating many local retinal regions and obtaining each local response simultaneously. Having many advantages such as short testing time and high sensitivity, it has been widely used in clinical ophthalmology, especially in the diagnosis of retinal disease and glaucoma. It is a new objective technique in clinical forensic medicine involving visual function evaluation of ocular trauma in particular. This article summarizes the way of stimulation, the position of electrodes, the way of analysis, the visual function evaluation of mfERG and mfVEP, and discussed the value of multifocal visual electrophysiology in forensic medicine.

A replication-deficient adenovirus (Ad) encoding secreted human endostatin (Ad-Endo) has been demonstrated to have promising antiangiogenic and antitumoral effects. The E1B55k-deleted Ad H101 can selectively lyse cancer cells. In this study, we explored the antitumor effects and cross-interactions of Ad-Endo and H101 on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The results showed that H101 dramatically promoted endostatin expression by Ad-Endo via rescuing Ad-Endo replication in NPC cells, and the expressed endostatin proteins significantly inhibited the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. E1A and E1B19k products are required for the rescuing of H101 to Ad-Endo replication in CNE-1 and CNE-2 cells, but not in C666-1 cells. On the other hand, Ad-Endo enhanced the cytotoxicity of H101 by enhancing Ad replication in NPC cells. The combination of H101 and Ad-Endo significantly inhibited CNE-2 xenografts growth through the increased endostatin expression and Ad replication. These findings indicate that the combination of Ad-Endo gene therapy and oncolytic Ad therapeutics could be promising in comprehensive treatment of NPC.

Background Gene therapy using a recombinant adenovirus (Ad) encoding secretory human endostatin (Ad-Endo) has been demonstrated to be a promising antiangiogenesis and antitumor strategy of in animal models and clinical trials. The E1B55KD-deficient Ad dl 1520 was also found to replicate selectively in and destroy cancer cells. In this study, we aimed to investigate the antitumor effects of antiangiogenic agent Ad-Endo combined with the oncolytic Ad dl 1520 on gastric cancer (GC) in vitro and in vivo and determine the mechanisms of these effects. Methods The Ad DNA copy number was determined by real-time PCR, and gene expression was assessed by ELISA, Western blotting or immunohistochemistry. The anti-proliferation effect (cytotoxicity) of Ad was assessed using the colorimetry-based MTT cell viability assay. The antitumor effects were evaluated in BALB/c nude mice carrying SGC-7901 GC xenografts. The microvessel density and Ad replication in tumor tissue were evaluated by checking the expression of CD34 and hexon proteins, respectively. Results dl 1520 replicated selectively in GC cells harboring an abnormal p53 pathway, including p53 mutation and the loss of p14ARF expression, but did not in normal epithelial cells. In cultured GC cells, dl 1520 rescued Ad-Endo replication, and dramatically promoted endostatin expression by Ad-Endo in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In turn, the addition of Ad-Endo enhanced the inhibitory effect of dl 1520 on the proliferation of GC cells. The transgenic expression of Ad5 E1A and E1B19K simulated the rescue effect of dl 1520 supporting Ad-Endo replication in GC cells. In the nude mouse xenograft model, the combined treatment with dl 1520 and Ad-Endo significantly inhibited tumor angiogenesis and the growth of GC xenografts through the increased endostatin expression and oncolytic effects. Conclusions Ad-Endo combined with dl 1520 has more antitumor efficacy against GC than Ad-Endo or dl 1520 alone. These findings indicate that the combination of Ad-mediated antiangiogenic gene therapy and oncolytic Ad therapeutics could be one of promising comprehensive treatment strategies for GC.

To study the correlativity between the projected visual chart vision ("projector vision" in this paper) and the measured values of contrast vision, and to explore the application of contrast vision in identifying visual impairment after eye injury in the clinical forensic medicine.One hundred and twenty nine eyes of seventy-nine young volunteers were collected for examination both of projector vision and contrast vision. In the examination of contrast vision, the contrast of optotypes were set to 100%, 25% and 10%, respectively. The correlativity of both collected experimental data were statistically analyzed.Projector vision was consistent with 100% contrast vision. There was a close and positive correlation between the contrast of optotypes and measured vision values. Under the same contrast of optotypes, projector vision presented a linear correlation with the average value of contrast vision.There is a close correlation between projector vision and contrast vision. The contrast vision can be applied to judicial identification in the clinical forensic medicine.

In order to study the functional and structural alterations of the retina in SD rat model after methanol intoxication, 35 rats were divided randomly into five groups administrated with saline, 3-day high dose, 7-day high dose, 3-day low dose and 7-day low dose methanol separately. The retinal function of each group was assessed by flash electroretinogram (F-ERG) 3 and 7 days after methanol poisoning. The microstructure and ultrastructure of the retina were observed at the same time. The high-dose methanol intoxication induced irreversible retinal functional and structural damages 3 days after poisoning, which included prolonged latency and reduced amplitude of the Max-reaction of F-ERG. These injuries were aggravated 7 days after poisoning. Meanwhile, the latency and amplitude of the Cone-reaction of F-ERG were also affected 3 days after poisoning, but there were no further worsening tendency 7 days after poisoning. The retinal histological analysis showed cellular edema, heteromorphy and disarrangement, tissular loosen of the inner nuclear layer and photoreceptors layer. The mitochondrial damage began at the photoreceptors layer and developed further into the inner nuclear layer. The low-dose methanol intoxication only caused transient damage of the retina. Our results showed that the function and structure of the photoreceptor and inner nuclear layer were the primary target of methanol intoxication and that the rod cells were more sensitive to methanol intoxication than the cone cells. The mitochondrial damage developed from outer layer to inner layer of the retina.

Background The long-term survival in hepatocellullar carcinoma (HCC) patients after transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) remains dismal due to local and/or regional recurrence as well as distant metastasis. The efficacy of sorafenib in advanced HCC has been demonstrated and brought great hope. Recently, the use of sorafenib in combination with TACE for BCLC stage B and C HCC patients was recommended. However, data on this dual-modality treatment is little, and its advantage over TACE alone has not been addressed. The present study sought to understand the efficacy of the combination of TACE and sorafenib in the treatment of advanced HCC. Methods Between June 2008 and Feb 2011, 45 patients with advanced HCC were enrolled and treated with sorafenib in combination with TACE according to an institutional protocol of the Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University. The control group of 45 other HCC patients with similar characteristics treated with TACE alone in the same period of time in our institute were selected for retrospective comparison of the treatment outcomes especially overall survival time. Adverse reactions induced by sorafenib were observed and recorded. Results The median overall survival time of the combined treatment group was 27 (95% Confidence Interval: 21.9–32.1) months, and that of TACE alone group was 17 months (95% Confidence Interval: 8.9–25.0) months (P = 0.001). Patients required significantly less frequent TACE for their symptomatic treatment after the initiation of sorafenib therapy. The most common adverse events associated with sorafenib were hand-foot skin reaction, rash and diarrhea. Of CTCAE grade IV or V toxicity was observed. Conclusion TACE combined sorafenib significantly prolonged median overall survival time of patients with advanced HCC.

To study the application value of contrast vision in identifying the malingering decreased vision in the practice of clinical forensic medicine.Thirty-one young and middle aged volunteers were selected and divided randomly into group 1 (16 persons with 32 eyes) and group 2 (15 persons with 30 eyes). The optotype contrast was 100%, 25%, 10% and 5%, respectively. The contrast vision of group 1 was tested. The contrast vision of group 2 was tested as follows: (1) the volunteers cooperated without inspector's interference; (2) the volunteers cooperated under inspector's interference; (3) the volunteers disguised decreased vision without inspector's interference; (4) the volunteers disguised decreased vision under inspector's interference. The data was then analyzed by statistics.There was a close correlation between contrast vision and contrast. As the contrast decreased, the vision acuity also decreased. The contrast vision curve of former two methods showed a good reproducibility while the contrast vision curve of latter two methods had a bad reproducibility.The repetition of contrast curve with or without inspector's interference can be used to discriminate malingering vision. The acquired contrast curves can be provided to the court as direct evidence and can help enhance the verification conclusion.

Well-sampled optical lightcurves of 146 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are complied from the literature. Multiple optical emission components are extracted with power-law function fits to these lightcurves. We present a systematical analysis for statistical properties and their relations to prompt gamma-ray emission and X-ray afterglow for each component. We show that peak luminosity in the prompt and late flares are correlated and the evolution of the peak luminosity may signal the evolution of the accretion rate. No tight correlation between the shallow decay phase/plateau and prompt gamma-ray emission is found. Assuming that they are due to a long-lasting wind injected by a compact object, we show that the injected behavior favors the scenarios of a long-lasting wind after the main burst episode. The peak luminosity of the afterglow onset is tightly correlated with Eiso, and it is dimmer as peaking later. Assuming that the onset bump is due to the fireball deceleration by the external medium, we examine the Gamma_0-Eiso relation and find that it is confirmed with the current sample. Optical re-brightening is observed in 30 GRBs in our sample. It shares the same relation between the width and the peak time as found in the onset bump, but no clear correlation between the peak luminosity and Eiso as observed in the onset bumps is found. Although its peak luminosity also decays with time, the slope is much shallower than that of the onset peak. We get L t^{-1}_{p}$, being consistent with off-axis observations to an expanding external fireball in a wind-like circum medium. The late re-brightening may signal another jet component. Mixing of different emission components may be the reason for the observed chromatic breaks in different energy bands., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, to be published by IJMPD (Proceedings of "The Third Galileo - Xu Guangqi meeting", Beijing, October 11-15, 2011)

We continue our systematic statistical study of various components in gamma-ray burst (GRB) optical lightcurves. We decompose the early onset bump and the late re-brightening bump with empirical fits and analyze their statistical properties. Among the 146 GRBs that have well-sampled optical lightcurves, the onset and re-brightening bumps are observed in 38 and 26 GRBs, respectively. It is found that the typical rising and decaying slopes for both the onset and re-brightening bumps are ~1.5 and -1.15, respectively. No early onset bumps in the X-ray band are detected to be associated with the optical onset bumps, while an X-ray re-brightening bump is detected for half of the re-brightening optical bumps. The peak luminosity is anti-correlated with the peak time, L_p\propto t_{p}^{-1.81+/-0.32} and L_p\propto t_{p}^{-0.83+/-0.17} for the onset and re-brightening bumps, respectively. Both L_p and the isotropic energy release of the onset bumps are correlated with E_{\gamma, iso}, whereas no similar correlation is found for the re-brightening bumps. Taking the onset bumps as probes for the properties of the fireballs and their ambient medium, we find that the typical power-law index of the relativistic electrons is 2.5 and the medium density profile behaves as n\propto r^{-1} within the framework of the synchrotron external shock models. With the medium density profile obtained from our analysis, we also confirm the correlation between initial Lorentz factor (\Gamma_0) and E_{\gamma, iso} in our previous work. The jet component that produces the re-brightening bump seems to be on-axis and independent of the prompt emission jet component. Its typical kinetic energy budget would be about one order of magnitude larger than the prompt emission component, but with a lower \Gamma_0, typically several tens., Comment: 38 pages, 2 tables, 13 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Objective In order to investigate markers of toxic injury and elucidate the mechanisms underlying methanol intoxication at the protein level, proteomics technology was applied to study variations in retinal protein expression between normal rats and rat models of methanol intoxication. Methods Seven rats were administered saline and methanol respectively by gavage. After seven days, retinal function was assessed by electroretinography and retinal proteins were extracted and separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The gels were then stained with AgNO 3 and analyzed with Pdquest software. The differential expression of proteins was analyzed by MALDI-TOF-TOF MS, and related proteins were searched in a protein database. Results Twenty-eight spots with significant differences were found, 24 of which were successfully identified. Specifically, there were 14 increased expression proteins, such as aldehyde dehydrogenase, tropomyosin alpha-1 chain, myosin light chain, and crystallin family proteins. There were 10 decreased expression ones, such as glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, recoverin, ATP synthase alpha subunit in rats with methanol toxicity. Conclusions Retinal function was greatly destroyed upon methanol intoxication. Several key proteins were up- or down-regulated upon induced retinal toxicity, indicating that there are other mechanisms underlying methanol poisoning besides oxidative injury. Together, this data provides insight and knowledge for future studies in this field.

The methanol poisoning by oral intake or skin contact occurs occasionally, which may have serious consequences including blindness and/or death. Methanol and its metabolites, formaldehyde and formic acid, are associated with metabolic acidosis, visual dysfunction and neurological symptoms. At present, the mechanism of methanol poisoning primarily focuses on the cell hypoxia, the alteration of structure and biological activity induced by free radical and lactic acid. Meanwhile, methanol poisoning causes changes in the balance between the production of free radicals and antioxidant capacity and in the proteases-protease inhibitors system, which lead to a series of disturbances.

To explore the relationship between eyeball structure and visual acuity in high myopia.Totally, 152 people (283 eyeballs) with different levels of myopia were tested for visual acuity, axial length, and fundus. All cases were classified according to diopter, axial length, and fundus. The relationships between diopter, axial length, fundus and visual acuity were studied. The mathematical models were established for visual acuity and eyeball structure markers.The visual acuity showed a moderate correlation with fundus class, comus, axial length and diopter ([r]0.4, P0.000 1). The visual acuity in people with the axial length longer than 30.00 mm, diopter above -20.00 D and fundus in 4th class were mostly below 0.5. The mathematical models were established by visual acuity and eyeball structure markers.The visual acuity should decline with axial length extension, diopter deepening and pathological deterioration of fundus. To detect the structure changes by combining different kinds of objective methods can help to assess and to judge the vision in high myopia.

To investigate the changes of sweep pattern visual evoked response (SPVER) acuity in different temporal frequency.The persons were collected and divided into the low visual acuity group (71 eyes) and the high visual acuity group (92 eyes). The eyes were stimulated with different temporal frequency (8.5 Hz, 10 Hz, 15 Hz and 20 Hz, respectively) and the same series of spatial frequency. The accuracy of SPVER acuity in different temporal frequency was evaluated by compare the SPVER acuity with the subjective vision.In the low visual acuity group, there was a good correlation between the SPVER acuity and the subjective vision applying the spatial frequency of the group. In the high visual acuity group, the SPVER acuity was lower than the subjective vision. SPVER acuity showed a good correlation with the subjective vision at the temporal frequency of 10 Hz in two groups.The temporal frequency can influence SPVER accuracy, so it is necessary to select the suitable stimulation condition in forensic practice.

To study the features of blood supply and results of transarterial infusion and embolization in spinal metastases.Forty-one patients with spinal metastasis received transarterial infusion and embolization between March 2001 and June 2008. The inclusion criteria were: The metastatic lesion caused back pain; The metastatic lesion involved vertebra at or below T3 level. There were 29 males and 12 females with a mean age of 56.0 (33 - 71) years. Epirubicin was used as the chemotherapeutic agent. Lipoid Ultra-Fluid, Contour SE or gelfoam particles were used as embolitic material.The technical success of therapy was achieved in 52 vertebrae (100%) including 14 thoracic, 35 lumbar and 3 sacral vertebrae. 105 arteries were used for infusion and embolization (16 intercostal arteries, 78 lumbar arteries, 4 iliolumbar arteries, 4 branches of iliac arteries, and 3 median sacral arteries). Lipoid Ultra-Fluid (2 - 8 ml) was used in 15, Contour SE (300 approximately 500 microm, 20 - 100 mg) in 20, and gelfoam particles in 33 arteries. Three days after treatment, complete pain relief (CR) was achieved in 17 patients, partial pain relief (PR) in 20, and moderate pain relief (MR) in 4, with an effective rate of 90.2%. Two weeks after treatment, CR was achieved in 17 patients, PR in 21, and MR in 3, with an effective rate of 92.7%. No adverse nervous system effect occurred. 16 patients developed swelling and pain of normal tissues which were alleviated after symptomatic treatment.Transarterial infusion and embolization is an effective therapy in relieving pain resulting from spinal metastases.

To analyze the unilateral image of the traumatic optic nerve atrophy using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to explore the relationship between the optic nerve atrophy and visual acuity or visual field.Fifteen cases with traumatic optic nerve atrophy were studied. All cases were tested by routine opthalmological examination, visual evoked potentials (VEP) and optic disc examination with OCT. In cases with visual acuity more than 0.1 the visual field was tested.All cases had visual acuity and visual field defect at various levels and optic disc retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) atrophy.The traumatic optic atrophy begins in the temporal area of optic disc. The nasal area's atrophy occurs at the last and is the mildest. The more serious is the optic nerve atrophy, the worse is the vision function impairment. OCT is a valuable technique for evaluating the optic nerve atrophy and has good correlation with the visual function.

Interferon gamma (IFNgamma) is regarded as a potent antitumor agent, but therapy with IFNgamma is hampered by its short half-life and significant side effects. We developed a replication defective adenovirus carrying the human IFNgamma gene and evaluated the effects of adenovirus-mediated IFNgamma (Ad-IFNgamma) gene transfer on human prostate cancer cell lines in vitro and on xenografts in vivo. Our results showed infection of prostate cancer cells with Ad-IFNgamma led to production of an active cytokine and resulted in an antiproliferative effect on the prostate cancer cells. Intratumoral injection of Ad-IFNgamma significantly inhibited the growth of DU-145 cell xenografts in vivo, while no significant toxicity effect was observed. RT-PCR analysis indicated transgene expression mainly enriched in tumors in vivo, and slightly distributed in livers. These findings suggest adenovirus-mediated IFNgamma gene transfer is a promising approach in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

GRBs are the most luminous events in the Universe. They are detectable from local to high-z universe and may serve as probes for high-z galaxies (e.g., Savaglio et al. 2009; Kewley & Dopita 2002). We compile the observations for 61 GRB host galaxies from literature. Their redshifts range from 0.0085 to 6.295. We present the statistical properties of the GRB host galaxies, including the stellar mass (M*), star-forming rate (SFR), metallicity (Z), extinction (AV), and neutral hydrogen column density (NH). We explore possible correlations among the properties of gamma-ray burst host galaxies and their cosmic evolution with observations of 61 GRB host galaxies. Our results are shown in Figure 1. A clear Z-M* relation is found in our sample, which is Z ~ M0.4. The host galaxies of local GRBs with detection of accompanied supernovae also share the same relation with high-z GRB host galaxies. A trend that a more massive host galaxy tends to have a higher star-formation rate is found. The best linear fit gives a tentative relation, i.e, SFR ~ M0.75. No any correlation is found between AV and NH. A GRB host galaxy at a higher redshift also tends to have a higher SFR. Even in the same redshift, the SFR may vary over three orders of magnitude. The metallicity of the GRB host galaxies is statistically higher than that of the QSO DLAs. The full version of our results please refer to Chen et al. (2012).