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Objective:To investigate the expression and significance of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and programmed death 1 (PD-1) in colorectal cancer complicated by schistosomiasis.Methods:A total of 134 patients with colorectal cancer who received treatment in Xuancheng People's Hospital during 2014-2021 were included in this study. These patients consisted of 74 patients with colorectal cancer combined with schistosomiasis (patient group) and 60 patients with only colorectal cancer (control group). The expression of PD-L1 and PD-1 in colorectal cancer tissue was detected by an immunohistochemical method. The differences in PD-L1 and PD-1 expression were compared between the two groups. The relationships between PD-L1 and PD-1 expression and clinical pathological characteristics were determined.Results:The positive expression rates of PD-L1 and PD-1 in cancer cells and interstitial lymphocytes were 55.4% and 60.8% respectively in the patient group and they were 35.0% and 40.0% respectively in the control group. The positive expression rates of PD-L1 and PD-1 were significantly higher in the patient group than the control group ( χ2 = 5.55, 5.74, both P < 0.05). The expressions of PD-L1 and PD-1 in the patient group were correlated with lymph node metastasis and high tumor-node-metastasis stage ( P < 0.05). Conclusion:PD-L1 and PD-1 are highly expressed in colorectal cancer complicated by schistosomiasis and are related to their invasive behavior. PD-1/PD-L1 singaling pathway may be involved in the molecular mechanism underlying the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer complicated by schistosomiasis. Blocking PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway may be a new strategy for immunotherapy of colorectal cancer complicated by schistosomiasis.
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Objective:To investigate the effects of recombinant adenovirus with human vascular endothelial growth factor 165 (Ad-hVEGF 165) and recombinant adenovirus with human tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (Ad-hTIMP-1) on rats with myocardial infarction (MI) and its mechanism. Methods:A total of 30 healthy 8-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: sham-operated group (sham), virus control group (Ad-Track), Ad-hVEGF 165 group, Ad-hTIMP-1 group and Ad-hVEGF 165+Ad-hTIMP-1 group (hVEGF 165+hTIMP-1) ( n=6 per group). Except the sham group, all rats were ligated the left anterior descending coronary artery to induce MI model with ST-segment elevation and Q waves or T-wave inversion on electrocardiogram and local myocardial whitening. The corresponding recombinant adenovirus comprising 100 μL (1×10 10 VP/100 μL) combined with NaCl solution was injected into the myocardial infarction area at four points respectively. The sham group received no treatment. After 4 weeks, all rats were sacrificed after echocardiography was completed and heart tissues were collected. The expression of hVEGF 165 and hTIMP-1 were detected by immunohistochemistry. The mRNA expression of apoptosis-related factors were detected by real-time PCR. The protein expression of apoptosis-related factors were detected by immunohistochemistry. Differences between groups were determined by One-way analysis of variance. Multiple comparisons between groups were performed using the least significant difference t-test. Results:(1) Both heart rate (HR) (480.83±24.09) beats/min, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD) (6.88±0.44) mm and left ventricular end-systolic dimension (LVESD) (4.85±0.42) mm were increased in the Ad-Track group than those in the sham group (433.16±17.86) beats/min, (6.20±0.45) mm, (4.06±0.70) mm (all P<0.05), and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (62.70±3.17) % and left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS) (29.52±1.88) % were significantly decreased in the Ad-Track group than those in the sham group (72.78±5.44)%, (29.52±1.88) % (both P<0.01). Compared with the Ad-Track group, LVEF (71.50±6.23) % and LVFS (36.17±5.27) % in the hVEGF 165-hTIMP-1 group were significantly increased (both P<0.01), and LVEDD (6.22±0.39) mm and LVESD (4.13±0.23) mm were decreased (both P<0.05). LVEF and LVFS in the hVEGF 165-hTIMP-1 group were increased significantly than those in the Ad-hVEGF 165 group (64.65±4.00) %, (30.95±2.57) % (both P<0.05). The mRNA expression of BCL2-associated X protein (Bax), cysteine aspartate specific proteinase 3 (Caspase-3) and BCL-xL/BCL-2-associated death promoter (Bad) in the hVEGF 165-hTIMP-1 group were decreased than those in the Ad-Track group ( P<0.01 or P<0.05), and B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 (Bcl-2) in the hVEGF 165-hTIMP-1 group were increased than those in the Ad-Track group ( P<0.01). The mRNA expression levels of Bax and Caspase-3 in the hVEGF 165-hTIMP-1 group were decreased than those in the Ad-hVEGF 165 group (both P<0.05). There was no statistically difference in the mRNA expression of Bax, Caspase-3, Bad, and Bcl-2 between the hVEGF 165-hTIMP-1 group and the sham group (all P>0.05). The protein expression of Bax and Caspase-3 in the hVEGF 165-hTIMP-1 group were significantly decreased than those in the Ad-hVEGF 165 group, the Ad-hTIMP-1 group and the Ad-Track group (all P<0.01), and the protein expression of Bcl-2 in the hVEGF 165-hTIMP-1 group was increased than those in the Ad-hVEGF 165 group, the Ad-hTIMP-1 group and the Ad-Track group (all P<0.05). There were no statistically differences in the protein expression of Bax, Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 between the hVEGF 165-hTIMP-1 group and the sham group (all P>0.05). Conclusions:Ad-hVEGF 165 and Ad-hTIMP-1 can improve cardiac contractile function of MI rats and the beneficial effects are largely attributable to inhibiting myocyte apoptosis. The combination of hVEGF 165 and hTIMP-1 may have a synergistic effect on MI.
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Background: Crohn's disease (CD) and intestinal tuberculosis (ITB) share similarities in disease manifestations, but their treatment methods are totally different. Thus, the differential diagnosis between CD and ITB is of great clinical importance. Aims: To investigate the significance of positive tuberculosis interferon-gamma release assay (TB-IGRA) in differential diagnosis and treatment of CD and ITB. Methods: Fifty-six consecutive patients with positive TB-IGRA and definite diagnosis of CD (n=23) or ITB (n=33) in the Tenth People's Hospital of Tongji University from Jan. 2015 to May 2018 were enrolled. All these patients have been proposed as CD at their first visit. The effects of TB-IGRA on diagnosis and treatment were analyzed. Results: ROC curve analysis demonstrated that the cut-off value, sensitivity and specificity of TB-IGRA for diagnosis of tuberculosis infection were 100 pg/mL, 88% and 74%, respectively. In patients with TB-IGRA≥100 pg/mL, 4 were CD and 29 were ITB, while in patients with TB-IGRA<100 pg/mL, 19 were CD and 4 were ITB (P<0.05); 75.0% (3/4) of the CD patients with TB-IGRA≥100 pg/mL and 5.3% (1/19) of the CD patients with TB-IGRA<100 pg/mL had a history of tuberculosis infection (P<0.05). Thirty-five patients received diagnostic anti-tuberculosis therapy, the efficacy of those with TB-IGRA≥100 pg/mL was significantly higher than those with TB-IGRA<100 pg/mL (96.2% vs. 22.2%, P<0.05). Conclusions: 100 pg/mL might be set as the cut-off value of TB-IGRA for differential diagnosis between CD and ITB. Diagnostic anti-tuberculosis therapy is preferred for patients with TB-IGRA≥100 pg/mL, while patients with TB-IGRA<100 pg/mL need comprehensive analysis. For patients with history of tuberculosis infection, false positive TB-IGRA is prone to occur.
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Objective: To investigate the expression level and clinical significance of a long non-coding RNA (LncRNA), BC200 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and analyze its correlation with the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins, E-cad-herin, N-cadherin, and Snail. Methods: Sixty NSCLC and sixty paired adjacent tissue samples were collected to detect the BC200 levels. Furthermore, 40 samples of NSCLC and 40 samples of normal lung tissues were collected to quantify the messenger RNA (mRNA) lev-els of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Snail using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The relationship between the BC200 level and mRNA levels of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Snail was explored in NSCLC tissues. The correlation between BC200 and clinical pathologi-cal parameters (gender, age, TNM stage, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, and pathologic type) was also analyzed. Receiver operat-ing characteristic curve (ROC) was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of BC200. Immunohistochemical staining was per-formed to determine the expression levels of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Snail in 40 specimens of NSCLC and 20 specimens of normal lung tissue and their correlation to the expression levels of BC200 was evaluated. Results: 1) The expression of BC200, N-cadherin mRNA, and Snail mRNA was significantly upregulated in the tumor tissues when compared to that in normal lung tissues (P<0.05). The expression of E-cadherin mRNA was significantly lower in tumor tissues than in the normal lung tissues (P<0.05). 2) The positive rate of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Snail in NSCLC was 40% (16/40) , 57.5% (23/40), and 57.5% (23/40), respectively, while that of normal lung tissues was 95% (19/20), 5% (1/20), and 10% (2/20), respectively. There was a significant difference between these two data sets (P<0.05). 3) BC200 is highly expressed in the NSCLC tissues. The high expression of BC200 in lung cancer was correlated with lymph node metastasis, clinical stage, and positive rate of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Snail. The expression of BC200 in NSCLC tissues was negatively correlated with the expression of E-cadherin mRNA (r=-0.31, P<0.05) and positively correlated with the expression of Snail and N-cadherin mRNA (r=0.305, r=0.257, P<0.05). 4) ROC analysis of BC200 indicated a potential diagnostic value of BC200 levels in NSCLC . Conclusions: BC200 is highly expressed in NSCLC tissues, which was correlated with lymph node metastasis, clinical stage, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Snail positive rate. The expression of BC200 in NSCLC tissues was negatively correlated with E-cadherin and positively correlated with Snail and N-cadherin. BC200 may regulate the invasion and migration ability of NSCLC by EMT. BC200 may be a potential tumor marker for NSCLC diagnosis.
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Objective To observe the pathological change of visceral pleura in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to discuss the relationship between the changes and COPD airflow limitation. Methods A total of 70 patients received the pulmonary lobectomy or partial resection because of lung tumor in Tianjin Chest Hospital from May 2014 to August 2015 were selected in this study. According to the results of pulmonary function test, the patients were divided into COPD group [forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)/ forced vital capacity (FVC) 0.05). The visceral pleural thickness and the proportion of elastic fibers in visceral pleural were significantly thinner in COPD group than those of control group ( P0.05). Conclusion The thinner visceral pleural and the reduction of elastic fibers in visceral pleural are one of the causes of expiratory airflow limitation in COPD patients.
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Objective:To investigate the expression and clinical significance of glioma cancer-related gene homologous protein 1 (Gli-1) and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins, namely, Snail, E-cadherin, and N-cadherin in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods:Immunohistochemical staining was performed to determine the expression levels of Gli-1, Snail, E-cadherin, and N-cadherin in 67 cases of NSCLC and 20 cases of normal lung tissues and its relationship with clinicopathological features and prognosis was explored. Another 20 samples of fresh NSCLC tissues and corresponding normal lung tissues were collected to detect the mRNA level through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results:1) The positive rates of Gli-1, Snail, E-cadherin, and N-cadherin in NSCLC were 61.19％(41/67), 50.75％(34/67), 56.72％(38/67), and 53.73％(36/67), respectively;whereas those of normal lung tissues were 20％(4/20), 10％(2/20), 100％(20/20), and 5％(1/20), respectively. These two sets of data have significant statistical difference (P<0.05). 2) The high expression of Gli-1 in tumor tissues was closely related to lymph node metastasis, tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) stage, and tumor differentiation (P<0.05) but was not associated with gender, age, tumor size, and pathological type. The expression of Gli-1 in NSCLC tissues was negatively correlated with E-cadherin (r=-0.325, P<0.05) and positively correlated with Snail and N-cadherin (r=0.379, r=0.490, P<0.05). 3) RT-PCR results showed that the expression levels of Gli-1, Snail, and N-cad-herin mRNA were significantly higher in NSCLC cases than in normal lung cases (P<0.05). The expression level of E-cadherin mRNA was lower in tumor tissues than in lung tissues (P<0.05). 4) Patients with high expression levels of Gli-1, Snail, and N-cadherin had signifi-cantly worse prognosis and lower survival rate than those with low expression (all P<0.05), whereas patients with low expression lev-els of E-cadherin had significantly better prognosis and lower survival rate than those with high expression (P<0.05). Multivariate Cox's proportional hazard regression analysis indicated that E-cadherin-negative group expression, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, and tumor differentiation were independent prognostic factors for NSCLC. Conclusion: The abnormal activation of Hedgehog signaling pathway in NSCLC is correlated with EMT. Detecting the expression levels of Gli-1 and EMT-related proteins Snail, E-cadherin, and N-cadherin might be helpful in understanding the clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with NSCLC.
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Objective To investigate the effects of ERK1/2 signaling pathway on coronary atherosclerosis-associated inflammatory reaction in autopsy cases. Methods Forty-five autopsy cases were divided into three groups:coronary arterydisease (CHD)-associated death group, CHD group and control group (n=15 for each group). The inflammatory cell infiltration in myocardial tissues was observed through staining leucocyte common antigen (CD45) by HE and immunohistochemistry method. The protein expression level and distribution in extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (t-ERK1/2) and phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (p-ERK1/2) of myocardial tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western-blot assay. The expression level of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) was determined using semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis. The activity of nuclear factor (NF)-κB was assessed using electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). Results Compared with CHD and control groups, myocardial inflammatory cell counts, phosphorylation of ERK1/2, TNF-α mRNA expression and NF-κB activation were significantly increased in CHD-associated death group (P < 0.05). Western blot analysis showed that the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 was positively correlated with expression of TNF-αmRNA and the number of inflammatory cells in CHD-associated death group (r=0.675, P<0.01;r=0.893, P<0.01). Conclusion Results reveal that the activation of ERK1/2 signaling pathway is considered as an important mechanism for coronary atherosclerosis caused myocardial inflammatory reaction, which indicates that the inhibition of ERK1/2 signal transduction pathway may become a potential new target for prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic coronary infarction.
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Objective To study the expression of forkhead box Q1(FOXQ1)in non‐small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) ,then investi‐gate clinical pathological characteristics of NSCLC and its prognosis in patients .Methods The expression of FOXQ1 in 84 cases of NSCLC(selected from June 2007 to December 2008 )was detected by immunohistochemistry(SP) .The correlations of the expres‐sion of FOXQ1 with clinic pathological features and survival time of the NSCLC patients were analyzed .Results The positive ex‐pression rate of FOXQ1 was 91 .7% (77/84) ,closely correlated with patients`histological type and TNM stage(P<0 .05) .The Cox multivariate analysis demonstrated that histological type ,TNM stage and FOXQ1expression were independent factors of NSCLC (P<0 .05) .Conclusion The expression of FOXQ1 may be highly expressed in NSCLC and negatively correlated with prognosis .
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Objective:To investigate the expression of Gli-2 protein and nuclear proliferation marker Ki-67 in human thymic tu-mors, as well as its relationship with clinicopathological features and prognosis. Methods: Immunohistochemical staining was per-formed to determine the expressions of Gli-2 and Ki-67 in 64 thymic tumor cases, in which 9 were type A, 6 were type AB, 11 were type B1, 22 were type B2, and 16 were type C. Results:1) Positive expression rates of Gli-2 in types A, AB, B1, B2, and C thymomas were 1/9 (11.11%), 2/6 (33.33%), 2/11 (18.18%), 5/22 (22.73%), and 13/16 (81.25%), respectively. Statistically significant differences existed in the two sets of data (P0.05). 3) The positive labeling indexes of Ki-67 in invasive and non-inva-sive thymomas were 7.14 ± 6.99 and 15.24 ± 9.13, respectively. The differences between both thymomas were statistically significant (P<0.05). 4) A positive correlation existed in the expression of Ki-67 and Gli-2 in thymomas. Five-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate was lower in the Gli-2 positive group (56.5%, 13/23) than in the negative group (92.7%, 38/41). The Ki-67-positive group (61.5%, 16/26) also showed a lower five-year PFS than that in the negative group (92.1%, 35/38), with statistically significant differences be-tween the two groups (P<0.05). Multivariate Cox's proportional hazard regression analysis indicated that the Gli-2-positive group ex-pression, Ki-67-positive group expression, and invasion of the pleura were independent prognostic factors of thymic tumors. Conclu-sion:The expression of Gli-2 and Ki-67 showed a positive correlation with thymic tumors. Detecting the combined expression of Gli-2 and Ki-67 may elucidate the clinicopathological features and prognoses of patients with thymic tumors.
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Objective To investigate the expression levels and clinical significance of (forkhead box Q1) FOXQ1 and E-cadherin in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods Expression levels of FOXQ1 and E-cadherin were in ESCC tissues (ESCC group, n=42) and adjacent normal esophageal tissues (control group, n=42) were detected using im?munohistochemistry. Correlations of FOXQ1 and E-cadherin expressions with clinical pathological parameters and progno?sis were analyzed between two groups. Results The expression level of FOXQ1 was significantly higher in ESCC group than that in control group(64.29% vs 28.57%,χ2=5.384,P<0.05). The expression level of E-cadherin was significantly lower in ESCC group than that incontrol group(52.38%vs 90.48%,χ2=7.691,P<0.05). There were significant differences in FOXQ1 expressions between different TNM stages and whether lymph node metastasis is involved within ESCC group. There were significant differences in expression of E-cadherin between different tumor differentiation, depth of invasion, TNM stage and whether lymph node metastasis is involved within ESCC group. The expression of FOXQ1 was negatively cor?related with E-cadherin in ESCC (r=-0.412, P<0.05). The 5-year survival rates were significantly lower with high expres?sion of FOXQ1 or with low expression of FOXQ1(18.52%vs 66.67%,χ2=9.737,P<0.05). The 5-year survival rates were significantly higher with high expression of E-cadherinor low expression of E-cadherin(59.09%vs 10.00%,χ2=10.996,P<0.05). A multivariate Cox's proportional hazard regression analysis indicated that high FOXQ1 expression, low E-cadherin expression and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors for ESCC. Conclusion The expression of FOXQ1 and E-cadherin showed a good correlation with ESCC. And examining expressions of both FOXQ1 and E-cadherin in ESCC may have practical values in estimating the prognosis of ESCC and directing future treatment .
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Objective To investigate expression level of sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and their relationships with invasion, metastasis and prognosis of NSCLC. Meth-ods Ninety-three NSCLC specimens and paraneoplastic normal lung tissue from conventional surgery were confirmed by histology. Expression of SPHK1 and NF-κB were detected by Immunohistochemistry on paraffin sections. Primary antibody were Rabbit Anti-Human SPHK1 and Rabbit Anti-Human NF-κB p65, which were incubated 1 hour in water bath. The secondary antibody was HRP-Polymer anti Mouse IgG, which was incubated 20 minutes in water bath. Results SPHK1 ex-pression was positive in 96.8% (90/93) of NSCLC specimen which is higher than in paraneoplastic normal lung tissue in which the positive rate is 18.3%(17/93);NF-κB expression was positive in 89.2%(83/93) NSCLC which is higher than the in paraneoplastic normal lung tissue in which the positive rate is 12.9%(12/93). The expression of SPHK1 and NF-κB in NSCLC was positively correlated (r=0.464, P＜0.01). TThe expression levels of SPHK1 and NF-κB p65 in NSCLC patients with were positively related to TNM staging and lymph node metastasis. SPHK1 expression and NF-κB p65 expression lev-el were higher in the deads than in survivals. There was no statistical significance in different expression intensity of SPHK 1 and NF-κB p65 in patients with NSCLC who had differences in gender, age, tumor size, tumor location, histological type. Survival analysis showed that survival time of patients of NSCLC with high expression of SPHK1 was shorter than those in the group with low SPHK1 expression, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=14.025, P ＜ 0.01). Conclusion In the process of NSCLC invasion and metastasis,SPHK1 may play an important role through NF-κB, and it can predict prognosis of NSCLC patient. Moreover, it will become a potential target for NSCLC target.
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Objective To investigate the expressions of RhoB and E-cadherin in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and their clinical significances thereof. Methods Immunohistochemical staining was applied to detect expres-sions of RhoB and E-cadherin in 116 samples of NSCLC (NSCLC group) and 116 samples of normal lung tissues (control group). Correlations of expressions of RhoB and E-cadherin to clinical pathological parameters and prognosis were analyzed in two groups. Results The expression intensities of RhoB and E-cadherin were significantly lower in NSCLC group than those in control group (57.76%vs 87.07%,54.31%vs 85.34%,P＜0.01). There were significant differences in the expres-sion of RhoB between different pathological types, differentiation and lymph node metastasis in NSCLC group. There were significant differences in the expression of E-cadherin between different TNM stages, differentiation and lymph node metas-tasis in NSCLC group. The expression of RhoB was positively correlated with the expression of E-cadherin ( r=0.503,P＜0.01). The 3-year survival rates were significantly higher in patients with high expression of RhoB (83.93%) than those in pa-tients with low expression of RhoB (40.00%, Log-rank χ2=18.992,P＜0.01). The 3-year survival rates were significantly higher in patients with high expression of E-cadherin (85.11%) than those in patients with low expression of E-cadherin (44.93%, Log-rankχ2=16.680,P＜0.01). Further multivariate analysis suggested that both lower expressions of RhoB and E-cadherin and lymph node metastasis were prognostic indicators for NSCLC (P＜0.001). Conclusion The expressions of RhoB and E-cadherin showed a good correlation in NSCLC. Detecting the expression of RhoB combined with E-cadherin may give a clue on clinicopathological features and prognosis in patients with NSCLC.
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Objective:To investigate the expression and clinical significance of cell division cycle 42 (Cdc42) and WASP family verprolin-homologous protein l (WAVE1) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods:The expression of Cdc42 and WAVE1 was detected in 106 paraffin-embedded NSCLC tissues and 46 adjacent normal lung tissues (control group) using immunohistochemis-try. Results:The expression levels of Cdc42 and WAVE1 was distinctly higher in NSCLC than in the control group. The expression of Cdc42 in NSCLC significantly correlated with tumor differentiation, TNM stage, and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). The expression of WAVE1 in NSCLC was significantly correlated with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The expression of Cdc42 was significantly correlated with WAVE1 in NSCLC (r=0.469, P<0.01). The 3-year survival rates were significantly lower in the group with high Cdc42 expression (44.16%) than in the low expression group (72.41%;P<0.01). Similarly, the 3-year survival rates were significantly lower among patients with high WAVE1 expression (39.44%) than in those with low expression (77.14%;P<0.01). Lymph node metastasis and the common high Cdc42 and WAVE1 expression were independent prognostic factors for NSCLC. Conclu-sion:The Cdc42 expression is correlated with WAVE1 expression. They may act together and have an important function in NSCLC. The expression of both Cdc42 and WAVE1 in NSCLC tissue may be used as markers for assessing the clinicopathologic features and prognosis.
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Objective To investigate the clinical autopsy results of patients died of cardiovascular disease or other disease complicated with cardiac damage. Methods Complete autopsy was performed on 86 cases with uncertain cause of death. Through integrating clinical diagnosis and treatment with gross autopsy findings and microscopic observations, 86 autopsies were determined the major cause of death. Results In 86 autopsies, 69 cases were heart disease. Differences between pathological diagnosis and clinical diagnosis were compared. Twenty-seven cases were cardiac deaths, with diagnosis accrodance rate of 81. 5%. Fortytwo cases died of non-cardiac disease but complicated with heart disease or involving the heart which accelerated the death in patients, with accordance rate of 78.6%. Conclusion Scientific and correct performance of autopsy was important to determine the causes of death, to promote development of related disciplines and to improve the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases.
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Objective To examine the expression of angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang Ⅱ) receptor subtypes in human left and right atrial tissue in atrial fibrillation underlying rheumatic heart disease. Methods Atrial tissue samples were obtained from 39 patients with rheumatic heart disease, 25 with atrial fibrillation(AF) and 14 with sinus rhythm(SR) during open heart surgery. AT1 and AT2 mRNA levels were measured with semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction techniques. AT1 and AT2 protein levels were measured with immunohistochemical techniques. Results Compared with that of the SR group, left atrial inner diameter was significantly increased in the patients of the AF group. The AT1 mRNA and protein levels in the LA significantly increased in patients with AF compared with those in patients with SR (P < 0. 05), whereas AT2 mRNA and protein were not significantly altered. Investigations of Ang Ⅱ receptor subtypes' mRNA and protein levels in the RA did not exhibit any significant changes either in AT1 or AT2 in patients with AF and SR. Conclusions AF is associated with an up-regulation of AT1 in LA, but does not appear to influence the AT2 expression. This may indicate a possible pathophysiologie role for renin-angiotensin system in the development of AF. The series of effects mediated by ATI activation may be one of the molecular mechanisms involved in the process of atrial remodeling.
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AIM To investigate the effects of ondansetron, a selective 5 Hydroxytryptamine3 (5 HT 3) receptor antagonist, on morphine physical dependence. METHODS The morphine dependent models in mice and in isolated Guinea pig ileum were used. RESULTS Pretreatment of ondansetron for 12 days significantly reduced morphine withdrawal symptoms in mice ,such as body weight loss(Groups 2～100 ?g?kg -1 ?d -1 ) or reduced both body weight loss and jumping times (Group 100 ?g?kg -1 ?d -1 ). In addition, concomitant treatment with ondansetron(1～20 ?mol?L -1 ) dose dependently suppressed the contraction induced by naloxone in Guinea pig ileum. CONCLUSION The chronic pretreatment of ondansetron can prevent morphine physical dependence to some extent.