Expression of galectin-3 in cervical cancer and its clinical significance / 肿瘤

Objective: To evaluate the expression of galectin-3(Gal-3) in cervical cancer tissues and its correlation with clinicopathological and survival variables. Methods: One hundred and seventy-four patients with International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I/II cervical carcinoma undergoing radical surgery were selected, and their cervical cancer tissues were collected. The expression of Gal-3 protein in cancer tissues was semi-quantitatively tested by tissue microarray and immunohistochemical analysis. Then the correlations of the expression of Gal-3 with the clinicopathological parameters, treatment outcomes and the survival of these patients were evaluated. Results: The positive expression rate of Gal-3 was 54.0% (94/ 174) in the cervical cancer tissues. In a univariate analysis, the positive expression of Gal-3 was closely correlated with non-squamous cell carcinoma (P=0.006), lymph vascular-space invasion (LVSI, P=0.048), deep-muscle invasion ( P= 0.001) and pelvic lymph-node metastasis (P<0.001). The multivariate analysis revealed that the expression of Gal-3 was one of the independent risk factors for predicting pelvic lymph-node metastasis. The risk factors including FIGO stage II (P<0.001), LVSI ( P=0.013), positive parametrium invasion (P=0.015), pelvic lymph-node metastasis (P<0.001) and the positive expression of Gal-3 (P=0.013) were significantly correlated with poor overall survival in these patients with cervical cancer. The tumor remission rate was lower in patients with up-regulated expression of Gal-3 (39.7%) than that in patients with down-regulated or invariant expression of Gal-3 (70.0%) after receiving preoperative radiotherapy. Conclusion: Positive expression of Gal-3 protein is a predictive factor for pelvic lymph node metastasis and worse overall survival in patients with cervical cancer. Up-regulated expression of Gal-3 protein may be associated with the resistance to radiotherapy.

Clinical value of monitoring serum cardiac biomarkers in pulmonary thromboembolism-induced myocardial injury / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical value of monitoring the serum cardiac biomarkers in patients with pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and secondary myocardial injury.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The serum cardiac biomarkers including aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alpha-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (HBDH), creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), cardiac tropnin I (cTnI) and myoglobin (Myo) were measured using immunochemiluminescent assays in 36 patients with PTE, who were diagnosed according to imaging findings in the recent 5 years. The measurements in concomitant non-PTE patients free of heart, liver, or kidney diseases were used as the baseline values of the biomarkers. Correlation analysis of the measurements was conducted in relation to the pulmonary embolism area, pulmonary hypertension and mortality rate.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The PTE patients exhibited significantly elevated levels of the serum cardiac biomarkers including AST (56.14-/+15.73 U/L), LDH (303.06-/+94.99 U/L), HBDH (234.67-/+87.86 U/L), CK-MB (26.19-/+12.39 U/L), CK (129.25-/+76.14 U/L), Myo (70.63-/+45.75 ng/ml), and cTnI (0.45-/+0.41 ng/ml) in comparison with the baseline values (P < 0.01). Of these biomarkers, AST and CK-MB showed a significant correlation to the mortality, cTnI was correlated to pulmonary hypertension, and Myo was correlated to pulmonary hypertension and massive pulmonary embolism.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Measurements of these serum cardiac biomarkers may serve as indicators for diagnosis of myocardial injury secondary to PTE. AST, CK-MB, cTnI, and Myo can help assess the prognosis of the patients.</p>

Study on the relationship between airway bacterial infections and acute exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The purpose of this study was to observe the bacterial infections of respiratory tract in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>130 patients with AECOPD in outpatient department, emergency room or in wards were studied prospectively. Patients were divided into different groups according to both Anthonisen's classification and their lung function status. Sputum were cultured together with bacteria positive rate and types of AECOPD as well as the damage degree of lung function were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of 130 sputum samples, 50 showed positive through culture (38.5%) and 60 strains of pathogens were isolated. Predominant pathogens isolated would include Haemophilus parainfluenzae (20/60), Streptococcus pneumoniae (5/60) and Haemophilus influenzae (10/60). Positive rate of bacterial culture in type 1 AECOPD was 55.0%, higher than those of type 2 (38.3%) and type 3 (18.5%)(P = 0.01) and was increasing with the decrease of lung function of patients with AECOPD (P < 0.02).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Positive rate of bacterial culture in patients of type 1 AECOPD was the highest one. Haemophilus parainfluenzae was one of the most important pathogens in AECOPD. There seemed a correlation between positive result of bacterial culture and the severity of COPD.</p>