Correlation between inflammatory cytokines and liver cancer stem cell markers in DEN-induced liver cancer rats.

OBJECTIVE: To study the association of inflammatory factors and hepatocarcinoma stem cells of induced liver cancer rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 30 SD male healthy rats were selected. 10 rats were given water as normal control group. 10 rats only were implemented laparotomy as sham operation group. The remaining 10 rats were the liver cancer model group and treated with diethylnitrosamine (DEN) to induce liver cancer. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the related inflammatory factors in HCC tissues, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), transforming growth factor-ß1 (TGF-ß), human interleukin-1α (IL-1α), human interleukin 1ß (IL-1ß) and levels of hepatocarcinoma stem cells indicators CD90, CD133, Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between inflammatory factors and hepatocarcinoma stem cells markers CD90 and CD133. RESULTS: The expression levels of IL-6, MCP-1 and TGF-ß of HCC tissues in liver cancer model group were significantly higher than those in the control group and the sham operation group. The expression levels of CD90 and CD133 of tissues in the liver cancer model group were significantly higher than those in the control group and the sham operation group. The differences were statistically significant (p<0.001). By inhibiting related inflammatory factors, the growth, migration and invasion of liver cancer cells were significantly inhibited, and apoptosis was promoted. Correlation analysis results showed that the expression changes of IL-6, MCP-1 and TGF-ß were significantly positively correlated with CD90 up-regulation (p<0.05), while the expression changes of IL-6, MCP-1 and TGF-ß were significantly positively correlated with CD133 up-regulation (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The inflammatory factors IL-6, MCP-1 and TGF-ß are closely related to hepatocarcinoma stem cells, which play an important role in promoting the occurrence and deterioration of liver cancer.

Changes in hematological parameters in α-thalassemia individuals co-inherited with erythroid Krüppel-like factor mutations.

Phenotypic variations in α-thalassemia mainly depend on the defective α-globin gene number. Genetic modifiers of the phenotype of Hemoglobin H (HbH) disease were poorly reported, apart from ß-thalassemia allele that was identified ameliorating the severity of α-thalassemia. Because erythroid Krüppel-like factor (KLF1) mutations can modulate the red blood phenotype, we evaluated its effect on the α-thalassemia phenotype. Overall, we identified 72 subjects with five different KLF1 heterozygous mutations in 1468 individuals, including 65 out of 432 α-thalassemia carriers with fetal hemoglobin (HbF) levels ≥1%, 0 out of 310 carriers with HbF levels <1% and 7 out of 726 HbH disease patients. We firstly established the link between KLF1 mutations and relatively elevated hemoglobin A2 (HbA2 ) and HbF levels, along with lower mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) values in a group of α-thalassemia carriers. However, we concluded that KLF1 mutations were not significantly linked to HbH disease severity. On the basis of HBA or HBB genotype and gender, clinical severity of patients with HbH disease was correctly predicted in 73.3% cases. It may improve the screening and diagnostic assessment of α-thalassemia.

Utilization of urban sewage sludge: Chinese perspectives.

PURPOSE: Urbanization and industrialization in China has resulted in a dramatic increase in the volume of wastewater and sewage sludge produced from wastewater treatment plants. Problems associated with sewage sludge have attracted increasing attention from the public and urban planners. How to manage sludge in an economically and environmentally acceptable manner is one of the critical issues that modern societies are facing. METHODS: Sludge treatment systems consist of thickening, dewatering, and several different alternative main treatments (anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion, drying, composting, and incineration). Agricultural application, landfill, and incineration are the principal disposal methods for sewage sludge in China. However, sewage sludge disposal in the future should focus on resource recovery, reducing environmental impacts and saving economic costs. RESULTS: The reuse of biosolids in all scenarios can be environmentally beneficial and cost-effective. Anaerobic digestion followed by land application is the preferable options due to low economic and energy costs and material reuse. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to formulate a standard suitable for the utilization of sewage sludge in China.

The occurrence of diabetic ketoacidosis in adults.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the occurrence of DKA in Chinese adults. METHODS AND PATIENTS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of adults presenting with DKA in a tertiary referral center from January 1992 to December 1997. We classified these patients into 3 groups: type 1, type 2 and new-onset diabetes. Clinical features and follow-up treatment were analyzed. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty patients with 141 episodes of DKA were included; 77 episodes (54.6%) were classified as being caused by type 2, 32 (22.7%) by type 1 and 32 (22.7%) by new-onset DM. The average age of type 2 patients was significantly higher. Of the 25 new-onset patients with follow-up for at least 12 months, 11 were not taking insulin. Of these 11 patients, 6 had a family history of DM and 5 had BMI greater than 26.4 kg/m2. The fasting plasma C-peptide values at various times of follow-up varied from 2.3 to 9.5 ng/ml in 6 of the 11 DKA-onset patients. CONCLUSION: In type 2 patients, the occurrence of DKA is usually associated with old age and another severe illness. "DKA-onset type 2 DM" reported in African-Americans and in Japanese is also observed in Chinese.

Usefulness of molecular testing in Huntington's disease.

BACKGROUND: Uncertainty in diagnosing Huntington's disease (HD) may occur in the absence of a family history or typical movement disorders. HD is characterized by a progressive disturbance of typical movement disorders (i.e., chorea, athetosis), psychiatric symptoms (i.e., depression, insomnia, anxiety, suspiciousness), and cognitive deterioration, in the absence of a dominant family history of similar disorders. Often, some of these symptoms are missing, which makes the diagnosis difficult. In recent years molecular testing has become the gold standard for diagnosing HD. Diagnostic accuracy for HD on genetic screening of patients and their families is important. We evaluated a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique for the detection of CAG trinucleotide repeats in the Huntington IT15 gene on chromosome 4 for the diagnosis of HD. METHODS: A segment of the Huntington gene was amplified by PCR using the primers HD-1 and HD-3 flanking the CAG repeat sequence. Genomic PCR was performed on DNA extracted from the peripheral leukocytes of 12 patients from three unrelated families. One family had no documented history of movement or mental disorders, while the other two did. These two, therefore, required pre-symptomatic testing and exclusion of diagnosis in a seemingly symptomatic case. RESULTS: We successfully identified four subjects with expansion of CAG trinucleotide repeats in Huntington gene IT15 on chromosome 4. Movement disorder was present in three of these subjects. One was the sister of subject 4, who was asymptomatic. A sister of subject 9 was ruled out from having HD by PCR despite having depression symptoms, which are frequently seen in HD patients. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic testing is of prime importance in the establishment of an accurate diagnosis of Huntington's disease, especially in "sporadic" cases and presymptomatic family members, and for the exclusion of HD in family members with equivocal symptoms.

Rate of 14CO2 production from variously labeled forms of [14C]glucose in human breast invasive ductal carcinoma tissues.

To establish possible cancerous aggressiveness between the metabolism of variously labeled [14C]glucose in the human breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) tissues, we measured the rates of 14CO2 production from those tissues by using radiorespirometry, expressing the results as initial velocity (V) in nanomoles of 14CO2 min-1 g-1 of fresh tissues. The Vc data were compared with results of the SBR system, which grades up from I to III. Vc,1 values measured with [1-14C]glucose increased from 1.99-2.82 for SBR I to 3.90-4.09 for SBR II, finally reaching 4.83-7.04 for SBR III, thus matching clearly the increase of IDC cancerous aggressiveness. Conversely, data obtained from [3,4-14C]glucose and [6-14C]glucose decreased with increasing cancer stage: i.e., with [3,4-14C]glucose, Vc,3,4 values were 5.79-9.34 for SBR I, 4.45-4.84 for SBR II, and 2.35-1.90 for SBR III; with [6-14C]glucose, the corresponding Vc,6 values were 1.34-1.90, 1.33-1.41, and 0.72-0.79. The Vn,1/Vn,6 ratios were close to unity for normal tissues and for noncancerous tissues surrounding SBRI tumors. For cancerous tissues, however, the Vc,1/Vc,6 ratios were 1.5, 2.9, and 6.1-9.8 in IDC tissues graded as SBR I, II, and III, respectively. The results suggest the possible use of radiorespirometry as a tool to assess IDC aggressiveness.

A proposed estimate of the tumor aggressiveness of human breast cancer using radiorespirometry.

The relationships between carcinomatous aggressiveness and the glucolytic metabolism, namely the rate of 14CO2 production from [U-14C] glucose, are obtained from human breast tissues using radiorespirometry. The values are estimated as the initial velocity (V) expressed in eta 14CO2 x min-1 x g-1 of fresh tissues by [U-14C] glucose metabolism. The aggressiveness of the breast carcinomatous is diagnosed by the SBR grade system. As two control normal tissues, (V) are 0.86 to 0.90 from non-cancer patients. In carcinomatous tissues (Vc), there is an increase from 1.53 to 3.14, but in the corresponding surrounding non-cancer tissues (Vn) these show a decrease from 2.20 to 0.22 for SBR I, SNR II to SBR III. The ratio between (Vc) and (Vn) are found, according to carcinomatous aggressiveness, as 1.45 to 1.54, 1.69, 2.35 to 2.86 and 4.82 to 10.38 respectively for SBR I, lobular carcinoma, SBR II and SBR III; while the ratio is 1.04 for the normal tissue which come from non-cancer patients. The above results suggest the possibility of assessing the carcinomatous aggressiveness by radiorespirometry before a histopathological diagnosis, even in a lower aggressiveness as in SBR I cases which are difficult to diagnose and manage.

Genetic polymorphism and Parkinson's disease in Taiwan: study of debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase (CYP2D6).

Debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase (CYP2D6) is one of the cytochrome P450 enzyme families that catalyze the breakdown of a variety of exogenous and endogenous compounds. Previous reports have suggested that genetic polymorphisms of debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase are associated with susceptibility to Parkinson's disease (PD) in Caucasians. To determine if CYP2D6 also confers susceptibility to PD in Chinese patients, we carried out a study of genetic association using three polymorphic markers of the CYP2D6 gene, 188C/T, 1934G/A (mutant B), and 4268G/C. No differences of allele or genotype frequencies of these three polymorphisms were detected upon comparison of primary PD patients (n=53) with normal controls (n=94). The 1934A allele (mutant B), which accounts for the majority of poor metabolizers in Caucasians, is extremely rare in Chinese. Our data do not support the suggestion that the CYP2D6 gene is related to PD susceptibility in Chinese.

Effectiveness of low-dose ASA in prevention of secondary ischemic stroke, the ASA Study Group in Taiwan.

This randomized double-blind controlled study was carried out to investigate the effect of 100 mg acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) per day on the secondary prevention of ischemic stroke. Patients who suffered a first ischemic stroke from 13 participating hospitals were enrolled. They were independent or only partially dependent in activities of daily living and all had received brain CT for diagnosis. Eligible patients were randomly allocated to the 100 mg ASA or the nicametate citrate (a vasodilator) groups, and trial medications were started within three to six weeks after the onset of stroke. The primary end point was cerebral reinfarction, and intracranial hemorrhage was classified as an adverse event. Four hundred and sixty-six patients participated in this study; and 222 cases (136 males and 86 females) were allocated to the ASA group while 244 cases (150 males and 94 females) were assigned to the nicametate group. No significant difference in baseline characteristics between the two groups was observed. Cerebral reinfarction developed 6.3% (14/222) in the ASA group and 11.9% (29/244) in the nicametate group. According to the Cox's proportional hazards model, the estimated risk ratio (ASA group vs. nicametate group) was 0.538, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.284-1.019. The result was of borderline statistical significance. The risk for cerebral reinfarction was reduced by almost 50% among those who took 100 mg ASA versus those who took nicametate.

[Discussion on the elimination of measles based on the 45-year-incidence data in Inner Mongolia].

Measles incidence data collected since 1950 in Inner Mongolia is analyzed in this paper. The following characteristics have been noticed after measles vaccine was widely used: (1) the incidence and the mortality of measles kept decreasing, (2) The epidemic still occasionally appeared at low incidence level; (3) the proportion of cases in older children increased; (4) the peak month of the disease occurrence postponed; (5) the differences of incidence among districts depending on the implementation of vaccine and immunization. Since the goal of poliomyolitis eradication is given priority to and should be achieved, measles eradication program should not be overemphasized.

[Analysis on poliomyelitis cases in Inner Mongolia in 1990-1993].

Out of 97 AFP cases, 68 were confirmed polio in Inner Mongolia in 1990-1993, in which 44.12% were diagnosed according to laboratory results. In this period, 13 strains of polio virus were isolated and identified from the stool samples of 62 AFP cases. The etiological results suggested that there was no dominant strain of polio virus in the whole region. Serological results showed that the positive rates of IgM antibody against polio virus were 75%, 26% and 0% in 1990, 1991, 1993 respectively which seemed to have a declining trend.

Multiobject recognition in a multichannel joint-transform correlator.

A multichannel joint-transform correlator that incorporates a Dammann grating as a beam splitter is described. The Dammann grating splits a single incident beam into a two-dimensional array of equal-intensity beams, which form several channels for correlation. Each channel contains both a single target and a single reference. Optical experimental results are presented.

Relationship between periventricular lucencies on computed tomographic scans and vascular dementia.

We evaluated 48 consecutive patients with periventricular lucencies (PVL) on CT scan of brain to determine the clinical significance of this finding. Twenty-one (43.7%) patients were demented; 27 (56.3%) patients had no dementia but had various other diseases. PVL were frequently associated with hypertension and previous stroke. We used a PVL scoring system to evaluate the degree of PVL. When the score was greater than 3.5, the sensitivity and specificity in separating vascular dementia from other diseases with PVL were 78% and 67% respectively (Kappa = 0.42). We conclude that although mild PVL may be a frequent but non-specific finding in patients with hypertension or previous stroke, moderate and severe PVL should raise the possibility of vascular dementia.

Levo-praziquantel versus praziquantel in experimental and clinical treatment of schistosomiasis japonica.

Levo-praziquantel is the left isomer of racemic praziquantel. Animal experiments showed that it is an active component of schistosomicidal activity, while dextro-praziquantel is almost ineffective. Clinical trials in three endemic areas of Schistosomiasis japonica indicated that the therapeutic efficacy of levo-praziquantel is superior to racemic praziquantel. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic activities of the stereoselectivity of praziquantel isomers (enantiomers) are discussed.

Evaluation of 110 consecutive patients with dementias: a prospective study.

We prospectively investigated 131 consecutive cases (both in- and outpatients) of suspected dementia to evaluate the relative frequency of different types of dementia in Chinese patients. Dementia was confirmed in 110 cases (84.0%). In contrast to the Western series, vascular dementia (39.1%) was slightly more frequent than the Alzheimer's disease (36.4%). Twelve cases (10.9%) of potentially treatable dementia were found. Careful clinical observation was the most useful part of the evaluation. CT scan of brain was the most useful laboratory test.

Impact of demented patients on their family members and care-givers in Taiwan.

A standardized questionnaire was sent to family members or care-givers of 105 patients with dementia; 68 were returned. Eighty-eight percent of the patients were cared for at home by their spouses or adult children. The adverse impacts of dementia on patient family's economy, relations among family members, and social life are recognized. The majority of the subjects had only limited understanding of dementia. Having medical insurance helps the family in caring for the demented patients, emotionally and socially, but not financially. A better social welfare system, as well as health insurance, is recommended.

Spinal cord proliferative sparganosis in Taiwan: a case report.

A 43-year-old woman suffered from low back pain and bilateral footdrop. A cisternal myelogram unexpected revealed multiple filing defects in the spinal canal extending from the lower cervical region to the caudal equina. Diagnostic exploration revealed numerous cystic organisms adhering to the spinal cord and nerve roots. Histopathological examination showed these organisms to be proliferative sparganum cestode larvae. Although these cestode larval infections have been reported a dozen times in humans from various parts of the world, this is probably the first reported case of spinal cord infection.