ABSTRACT
[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To study the process of promoting mouse embryonic stem cells ( ESC) to specify to definitive endoderm by up-regulating of Nodal signal pathway in order to find the best cultivated systems of differentiation of mouse ESC to definitive endoderm cells.METHODS:The cells were divided into different groups based on the culture medium:ESC group ( serum-free medium +LIF) , natural differentiation group ( serum-free medium) and activin A group ( serum-free medium +50μg/L activin A).The cells and the sterilized coverslips with cells were collected at 1, 3, 5 and 7 d of the cultivation.The proportion of CXCR4 +cells was detected by flow cytometry.The expression of CXCR4 was determined by immunocytochemical method, and the protein expression of OCT4 and CXCR4 was detected by Western blot.RE-SULTS:The proportion of CXCR4 +cells showed no dramatic change in ESC group along with the extending of cultivation day, while there were gradually increased in natural differentiation group and activin A group and the highest level was ob-served at 5 d.Among the 3 groups, the proportion of CXCR4 +cells at 5 d was the highest in activin A group.The brown or tan staining in the cells observed under microscope was considered as positive CXCR4 by immunocytochemistry.The pro-tein levels of OCT4 and CXCR4 in ESC group along with the extending of cultivation days was observed.The expression levels of OCT4 were gradually decreased in the cells in natural differentiation group and activin A group, while those of CX-CR4 were gradually increased with the highest level at 5 d.It was highest in the cells in activin A group.CONCLUSION:The proportion of definitive endoderm was the highest at 5 d of the induction during in vitro mouse ESC differentiation.Up-regulation of Nodal signal pathway by adding activin A at the early stage of mouse ESC differentiation promotes mouse ESC to specify to definitive endoderm with CXCR4 molecular marker.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) complicated with acute pancreatitis (AP) .Methods From January 1999 to December 2013 ,the clinical data of 16 patients with SLE complicated with AP among the total 2 526 cases of SLE was collected .A retrospective analysis was performed and the clinical data of patients was classified and documented ,which included general information ,past history ,clinical symptoms , laboratory findings ,imaging findings ,treatment and outcome .The rank sum test was performed for analysis of non‐normal distributed measurement data ,and the Fisher′s exact test was used for count data analysis .Results The incidence of SLE complicated with AP was 0 .63% (16/2 526) .Among them ,ten patients were mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) and six patients were severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) .All patients were treated with fasting ,gastrointestinal decompression ,nutritional support ,anti‐acid ,anti‐inflammatory ,glucocorticoid and somatostatin and so on . Six patients were cured , seven patients improved and three patients died (two SLE complicated with SAP ,one SLE complicated with MAP) . Compared with the SLE patients complicated with SAP ,the SLE patients complicated with MAP were more easily to have lupus nephritis(6/6 versus 5/10 ,Fisher′s exact test) ,hematological system injuries (6/6 versus 5/10 ,Fisher′s exact test) ,liver injuries (5/6 versus 0/10 ,Fisher′s exact test) ,more organs involved (mean 7 versus 3 ,Z= -3 .225) and higher SLE disease active indexes (DAI) score (mean 13 .5 versus 6 .5 ,Z= -2 .876);the differences were statistically significant (all P<0 .05) .Compared with the cured and improved SLE patients complicated with AP ,lupus encephalopathy (2/3 versus 1/13 ,Fisher′s exact test) ,more organs involved (mean 7 versus 5 ,Z= -2 .276) and higher SLE DAI score (mean 21 versus 12 ,Z= -2 .195) was more common in dead SLE patients complicated with AP;the differences were statistically significant (all P< 0 .05) .Conclusions SLE patients complicated with SAP are more easily to get lupus nephritis ,hematological system injuries ,liver injuries ,activity of SLE and multiple‐organ systems involved . The prognosis of SLE patients complicated with AP was poor in those with activity of SLE ,multiple‐organ involved and lupus encephalopathy .
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the clinical value of three dimensional dynamic contrast enhanced MRA(3D DCE MRA)on esophageal and gastric varices compared with endoscopy.Methods From April 2003 to June 2008,153 patients with portal hypertension who underwent both 3D DCE MRA and endoscopy were reviewed retrospectively.All the patients were divided into bleeding group and non-bleeding group according to the clinical symptoms.The location and degree of the esophagogastric varices on 3D DCE MRA were assessed with postprocessing images,including subtraction,MIP and thin-slab maximum intensity projection(thin-MIP),and were compared with the results of endoscopy.The maximum,minimum and mean diameters of esophagogastric varices inside and outside of the wall were measured on the reformed images.The correlation between the findings of 3D DCE MRA and endoscopy were analyzed with Spearman rank correlation coefficient test The rates of esophagogastric varices outside of the wall in bleeding and non-bleeding group were compared by means of Chi-square test Results In bleeding group,severe esophageal varices were documented in 59 patients,moderate in 6 patients,mild in 5 patients;in non-bleeding group,severe esophageal varices were documented in 32 patients,moderate in 4 patients,mild in 5 patients.Severe,moderate,and mild gastric varices were documented in 28,34 and 16 in bleeding group,while they were 7,12 and 9 in non-bleeding group.Esophageal and gastric varices can be wholly presented on MIP images after subtraction,while the esophagogastric varices inside and outside of the wall can be differentiated on thin-MIP images.The location and degree of esophagogastric varices on 3D DCE MRA were correlated with the findings of the endoscopy.The range of r was from 0.544 to 0.878(P＜0.01).In 91 patients with severe esophageal varices,27 patients presented outside esophageal varices in bleeding group(n=59)and 24 patients presented outside esophageal varices in non-bleeding group(n=32).There was a significant difference in ratio of outside esophageal varices between bleeding group and nonbleeding group(X~2=7.199,P＜0.01).In 35 patients with severe gastric varices,22 patients showed adventitial gastric varices in bleeding group(n=28)and 4 patients showed adventitial gastric varices in non-bleeding group(n=7).The ratio of adventitial gastric varices in bleeding group was not significantly different from that of non-bleeding group(P=0.340).Conclusions 3D DCE MRA can display and differentiate the esophagogastric varices both inside and outside of the wall by three dimensional reconstruction.The results of 3D DCE MRA and endoscopy have good correlation.It is of importance in evaluating the esophageal varices outside of the wall,because they may indicate decreased risk of haemorrhage in patients with severe degree of esophageal varices.
ABSTRACT
AIM: To examine COX-2 expression in esophageal carcinoma,and to study relationships between COX-2 expression and clinicopathological features and prognosis of esophageal carcinoma patients.METHODS: 89 paraffin-embedded tissue samples from patients with esophageal carcinoma were collected,its clinicopathological features such as tumour differentiation,depth of invasion,length and site of the tumor,regional lymph node metastases,distant metastasis were recorded.Survival time of 81 cases were also recorded.By SP immunohistochemistry method,the expression of COX-2 in tumor samples was examined.RESULTS: COX-2 expression in esophageal carcinoma was markedly higher than that in nomal esophagus,the expression was higher in less differentiated and deeper invaded cases(P0.05).Cases of esophageal carcinoma with lower COX-2 expression had longer survival time than those with higher COX-2 expression(P