Multi-Scale Attention 3D Convolutional Network for Multimodal Gesture Recognition.

Gesture recognition is an important direction in computer vision research. Information from the hands is crucial in this task. However, current methods consistently achieve attention on hand regions based on estimated keypoints, which will significantly increase both time and complexity, and may lose position information of the hand due to wrong keypoint estimations. Moreover, for dynamic gesture recognition, it is not enough to consider only the attention in the spatial dimension. This paper proposes a multi-scale attention 3D convolutional network for gesture recognition, with a fusion of multimodal data. The proposed network achieves attention mechanisms both locally and globally. The local attention leverages the hand information extracted by the hand detector to focus on the hand region, and reduces the interference of gesture-irrelevant factors. Global attention is achieved in both the human-posture context and the channel context through a dual spatiotemporal attention module. Furthermore, to make full use of the differences between different modalities of data, we designed a multimodal fusion scheme to fuse the features of RGB and depth data. The proposed method is evaluated using the Chalearn LAP Isolated Gesture Dataset and the Briareo Dataset. Experiments on these two datasets prove the effectiveness of our network and show it outperforms many state-of-the-art methods.

Identification and clinical course of 166 pediatric cardiac tumors.

The aim of this study was to investigate the pathological classifications, clinical features, and natural history of pediatric cardiac tumors to provide a basis for the selection of an appropriate therapeutic method. The medical records of in- or outpatients with cardiac tumors at four hospitals were classified to analyze various types of tumor growth locations, clinical manifestations, surgical indications, and long-term follow-up results. There were 166 patients, including 158 with primary cardiac tumors, six with metastatic cardiac tumors, and two with unclassified cardiac tumors. Among the 158 cases of primary cardiac tumor, 150 were benign and eight were malignant. The rhabdomyoma, fibroma, and myxoma are the most common types of benign cardiac tumors. The major clinical manifestations of cardiac tumors include outflow tract obstruction, arrhythmia, dyspnea, pericardial effusion, heart failure, and seizures. Among the 59 patients who underwent surgery, 49 had primary benign cardiac tumors, eight had primary malignant tumors, and two had malignant metastatic tumors. Post-surgery, nine of the patients had residual tumor tissues that did not significantly affect their hemodynamics. Following surgery, there were two cases of recurrence and nine deaths, including four of benign and five of malignant tumors with mortality rates of 8.2 and 50.0 %, respectively. Of the remaining 107 cases of patients who did not undergo surgery, five (4.7 %) died. CONCLUSION: The primary benign cardiac tumors are the predominant pediatric cardiac tumors, of which rhabdomyoma, fibroma, and myxoma are the most common types. If severe symptoms are nonexistent and the hemodynamics is unaffected, most of the patients can survive in the long term despite the tumors. What is known: • Pediatric cardiac tumors are rare and are predominantly primary and benign. • The symptoms of heart failure, arrhythmia, and outflow obstruction are the most severe complications of cardiac tumors. What is new: • The rhabdomyoma, fibroma, and myxoma are the most common types of primary benign cardiac tumors. • If severe symptoms are not present and the hemodynamics are unaffected, most of the patients can survive in the long term despite the tumors.

Case report: Sequential therapy with dupilumab and baricitinib for severe alopecia areata with atopic dermatitis in children.

An 8-year-old female child presented with patchy hair loss for 1 year, accompanied by eyebrow loss for 6 months. Microscopic examination of the hair confirmed the features of active stage alopecia areata, with a Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score of 70%. The diagnosis was severe alopecia areata. The patient had a history of atopic dermatitis since infancy, with recurrent episodes of scattered papules and pruritus for 8 years. Initial treatment involved subcutaneous injections of dupilumab 300mg every 2 weeks for 6 months, resulting in a reduction of SALT score to 20% and improvement of atopic dermatitis symptoms. Discontinuation of Dupilumab and initiation of daily oral Baricitinib at a dose of 2mg for a duration of 5 months. According to the SALT score evaluation, the severity of hair loss was less than 10% and there was significant regrowth of hair. No significant adverse reactions were observed during the treatment period.

Inhibitory effect of dexamethasone on expression of cysteine-rich 61 protein in airway epithelial cells of allergic mouse models.

In order to study whether cysteine-rich 61 protein (cyr61) is involved in the pathogenesis of asthma and its relation to airway inflammation, the effect of dexamethasone (Dxm) on the expression of cyr61 in the lung tissues of asthmatic mice was investigated. Forty BALB/c mice were divided into asthma group (n=15), control group (n=10) and Dxm group (n=15). The asthma group was sensitized and challenged by ovalbumin (OVA). The mice in Dxm group were intraperitoneally administered with Dxm after OVA challenge. The expression of cyr61 in the lung tissues was detected by using immunohistochemistry, and that of eotaxin protein in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The number of inflammatory cells in BALF was also analyzed. The results showed that the cyr61 expression was highest in asthma group (P<0.05), followed by Dxm group (P<0.05) and control group. The cyr61 had a positive correlation with the total nucleated cells (r=0.867, P<0.05), especially eosinophils (r=0.856, P<0.05), and eotaxin level (r=0.983, P<0.05) in the BALF. Our findings suggested that cyr61 is expressed in airway epithelial cells and has a positive correlation with eotaxin and number of airway infiltrating eosinophils.

Interleukin (IL)-4 induces production of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractants (CINCs) and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 in lungs of asthmatic rats.

The present study aimed to examine the effect of interleukin (IL)-4 on neutrophil chemotaxis in airway inflammation in asthmatic rats and the possible mechanism. Male Wistar rats were intranasally instilled with recombinant rat (rr) IL-4 (rrIL-4) at different doses [2, 4 or 8 µg/animal, dissolved in 200 µL normal saline (NS)] or rrIL-4 at 4 µg/animal (dissolved in 200 µL NS). NS (200 µL) and LPS (6 mg/kg/animal, dissolved in 200 µL NS) were intranasally given respectively in the negative and positive control groups. Moreover, the asthmatic lung inflammation was induced in rats which were then intranasally treated with rrIL-4 (4 µg/animal) or LPS (6 mg/kg/animal). The normal rats treated with different doses of rrIL-4 and those asthmatic rats were sacrificed 6 h later. And animals instilled with rrIL-4 at 4 µg were sacrificed 6, 12 or 24 h later. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lungs were harvested for detection of leukocyte counts by Wright-Giemsa staining and lung histopathology by haematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. The levels of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC)-1 and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 in BALF were determined by ELISA. Real-time PCR was used to measure the mRNA expression of CINCs (CINC-1, CINC-2α, CINC-2ß, CINC-3) and ICAM-1 in lung tissues. The results showed that the intranasal instillation of IL-4 did not induce a recruitment of neutrophils in BALF in rats. However, IL-4 could increase the CINC-1 level in BALF in a dose-dependent manner at 6 h. But the mRNA expression levels of CINC-1, CINC-2α, CINC-2ß, CINC-3 were not significantly increased in lungs of IL-4-treated rats relative to NS negative control group. Moreover, IL-4 was found to augment the mRNA expression of ICAM-1 in lungs and the ICAM-1 level in BALF at 6 h. However, the increase in CINC-1 and ICAM-1 levels in BALF of IL-4-treated asthmatic rats was not significantly different from that in untreated asthmatic rats. These findings indicate that IL-4 does not directly recruit neutrophils in the rat lungs, but it may contribute to airway neutrophilia through up-regulation of CINC-1 and ICAM-1.

The effect of the PERMA model-based positive psychological intervention on the quality of life of patients with breast cancer.

Objective: This research focused on exploring the impact of the PERMA model-based positive psychological intervention according to the negative emotions and quality of life of individuals with breast cancer. Methods: A total of 82 individuals with breast cancer from our hospital were categorized into two groups randomly; the control group and the observation group (41 affected individuals each). The individuals in the control group underwent routine nursing intervention, while the ones in the observation group underwent PERMA nursing as per routine nursing intervention. Self-rating anxiety and depression scales along with Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast were employed for the evaluation and analysis of patient status in both groups before and after the intervention. Results: Following the intervention, the observation group's scores on self-rating anxiety and depression scales were considerably lower when compared with those in the control group (P < 0.001), and the physical, social, family, emotional, and functional statuses, along with additional attention and the total score of quality of Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast in the observation group were considerably lower in comparison with those in the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The PERMA model-based positive psychological intervention program can ease the anxiety and depression of individuals with breast cancer, improve their quality of life, and has a good prospect of clinical application.

Active disturbance rejection control for non-minimum phase systems under plant reconstruction.

Active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) for non-minimum phase (NMP) systems is a challenging problem due to the conflict between stability and feedback tuning. The key point on this issue is to avoid heavy feedback tuning for robustness enhancement. We perform plant reconstruction to obtain an explicit expression of internal disturbance, such that it can be reduced by cascade compensation. Then, a new ADRC scheme is developed based on plant reconstruction and the internal stability criterion for ADRC system is derived. The stability conditions provide guidelines on the design of the cascade compensator and disturbance observer. It also indicates that the cascade compensation contributes to the robust stability of NMP systems. Simulation results of two typical NMP systems are provided to show the efficacy of the proposed ADRC scheme. Physical realizability is also demonstrated through experiments on a motion NMP system.

Risk profile of bevacizumab in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Severe adverse events (AEs) have been reported in cancer patients treated with bevacizumab. Currently, safety of bevacizumab in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not clear. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the risk profile of bevacizumab in NSCLC patients. METHODS: Relevant trials were identified by searching databases and conference proceedings. Data on treatment-related deaths and grade 3 or 4 AEs were extracted and pooled to calculate relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for bevacizumab compared with chemotherapy alone. RESULTS: A total of 2210 patients were included in the analysis. Compared with chemotherapy alone, high-dosage (15 mg/kg) bevacizumab was associated with an increased risk of treatment-related deaths (RR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.18-3.52), but not for low-dosage (7.5 mg/kg) group (RR = 1.20, 95% CI = 0.60-2.41). In addition, treatment with bevacizumab was associated with several grade 3 or 4 AEs in patients with NSCLC, especially in high-dosage bevacizumab group. CONCLUSION: The use of the bevacizumab increases the risk of treatment-related deaths and several grade 3 or 4 AEs in patient with NSCLC. The risk may be dose-dependent. Close monitoring and adequate management are recommended to decrease severe AEs.

Comparison of leukotriene receptor antagonists in addition to inhaled corticosteroid and inhaled corticosteroid alone in the treatment of adolescents and adults with bronchial asthma: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRA) have been recommended as treatment for persistent asthma. It is not clear whether oral LTRA in combination with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) confers any additional benefit over ICS alone. OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis was conducted to review the evidence for the benefits and risks of ICS-LTRA in comparison to ICS alone in bronchial asthma. METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, and CINAHL databases were searched for studies published through Aug 20, 2011. Studies comparing ICS-LTRA and ICS and those comparing ICS-LTRA and high-dose ICS were examined separately. Studies were pooled to yield odds ratios (ORs) or weighted mean differences (WMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Eight trials in which ICS-LTRA was compared with the same dose of ICS and five in which ICS-LTRA was compared with high-dose ICS were identified. In adults with mild to moderate asthma, the combination of ICS-LTRA improves the control of asthma when compared with same dose of ICS as monotherapy. The effects of ICS-LTRA therapy are similar to those of high-dose ICS in asthma control, but high-dose ICS is superior to ICS-LTRA with regard to improvement in some pulmonary function indices. CONCLUSIONS: In adults with mild to moderate asthma, though the effects were minimal, the combination of ICS-LTRA is recommended, when comparing its effects with the same dose ICS as monotherapy. The relative merits of ICS-LTRA and high-dose ICS therapy are uncertain and more research is needed.

The Serial Mediation of the Association between Breakfast Skipping and Suicidality by Weight Status and Depressive Symptoms: Findings from the National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys of the United States.

BACKGROUND: The evidence is limited for the dose-response association between breakfast skipping and suicidality. The underlying pathway from breakfast skipping to suicidality has also rarely been explored in previous studies. METHODS: The data of Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBSs) of the United States from 2011 to 2019 were used with a sample size of 74,074. The male: female ratio was nearly 1:1. Binary logistic regression models with complex sampling design were adopted to show the effect of breakfast skipping on weight status, depressive symptoms, and suicidality. Serial mediation was used to explore the association between breakfast skipping and suicidality by overweight/obesity and depressive symptoms. FINDINGS: The weighted prevalence rates (95% confidence interval) of suicidal ideation, suicide plan, suicide attempt, and medically serious suicide attempt for skipping breakfast totally (0 times/week) were 25.6% (24.4-26.8%), 21.7% (20.5-22.9%), 14.2% (13.0-15.3%), and 5.3% (4.6-5.9%). Breakfast skipping was significantly associated with increased risk of suicidal ideation, suicide plan, suicide attempt, and medically serious suicide attempt. There was statistical significance for the linear dose-response association between breakfast skipping and overweight/obesity, depressive symptoms, and suicidality regardless of sex and age. A serial mediation with effect sizes between 39.68% and 51.30% for the association between breakfast skipping and suicidality by overweight/obesity and depressive symptoms was found in this study. CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasizes the hazards of breakfast skipping, which could increase the risk of suicidality among adolescents. Overweight/obesity and depressive symptoms as the mediating factors for the association between breakfast skipping and suicidality should also be with more attention.

Innovative use of concentrated growth factors combined with corticosteroids to treat discoid lupus erythematosus alopecia: A case report.

Alopecia for patients with discoid lupus erythematosus can sometimes be a refractory condition, where mixed infiltrates of T lymphocytes and histiocytes leads to destruction of hair follicles, which might cause permanent scarring. Early diagnosis and timely treatment can achieve hair regeneration and prevent further disease progression. Concentrated growth factor, a novel autologous plasma extract, contains various growth factors that could promote tissue regeneration. In this article, we report a case of cell growth factor combined with corticosteroids for the treatment of discoid lupus erythematosus alopecia. This case study concludes with satisfactory clinical effect.

The Diagnostic Value of Serum Ferritin for Telogen Effluvium: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the relationship between serum ferritin levels and telogen effluvium. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 193 telogen effluvium patients and 104 female androgenetic alopecia patients were included. We collected the test result of serum ferritin levels, compared with the results of 183 healthy subjects. Receiver Operator Characteristic curves were generated to assess the potential diagnostic value of serum ferritin in telogen effluvium patients. RESULTS: The serum ferritin in telogen effluvium patients were significantly lower than that in the healthy control group (P = 0.000) or female androgenetic alopecia patients (P =0.000). Patients with lower serum ferritin levels got high odds to have telogen effluvium. The areas under the Receiver Operator Characteristic curve of serum ferritin levels were 0.735 and 0.645 for distinguishing telogen effluvium patients from healthy control subjects or female androgenetic alopecia patients. CONCLUSION: Serum ferritin could be a potential biomarker for clinical diagnosis of telogen effluvium.

Spiking neural networks for cortical neuronal spike train decoding.

Recent investigation of cortical coding and computation indicates that temporal coding is probably a more biologically plausible scheme used by neurons than the rate coding used commonly in most published work. We propose and demonstrate in this letter that spiking neural networks (SNN), consisting of spiking neurons that propagate information by the timing of spikes, are a better alternative to the coding scheme based on spike frequency (histogram) alone. The SNN model analyzes cortical neural spike trains directly without losing temporal information for generating more reliable motor command for cortically controlled prosthetics. In this letter, we compared the temporal pattern classification result from the SNN approach with results generated from firing-rate-based approaches: conventional artificial neural networks, support vector machines, and linear regression. The results show that the SNN algorithm can achieve higher classification accuracy and identify the spiking activity related to movement control earlier than the other methods. Both are desirable characteristics for fast neural information processing and reliable control command pattern recognition for neuroprosthetic applications.

[Association of JMJD3, MMP-2 and VEGF expressions with clinicopathological features of invasive ductal breast carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To examine the expressions of JMJD3, matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in invasive ductal breast carcinoma, their association with the clinicopathological features of the patients and the effect of JMJD3 overexpression on proliferation and MMP-2 and VEGF expressions in breast cancer cells. METHODS: The protein and mRNA expressions of JMJD3, MMP-2, and VEGF in invasive ductal breast carcinoma and paired adjacent tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR, respectively, and their correlation with the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to evaluate the correlation of JMJD3, MMP-2 and VEGF expression levels with the survival of the patients. In breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells transfected with a JMJD3-expression plasmid, the expression of Ki67 was examined immunohistochemically, the cell proliferation was assessed with CCK8 assay, and the mRNA expressions of MMP-2 and VEGF were detected with RT-PCR. RESULTS: Breast cancer tissues had significantly lower JMJD3 expression and higher MMP-2 and VEGF expressions at both the mRNA and protein levels than the adjacent tissue (P < 0.05). The positivity rates of JMJD3, MMP-2 and VEGF in breast cancer tissues were significantly correlated with tumor diameter, differentiation, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and molecular subtypes (P < 0.05). KaplanMeier analysis showed that JMJD3 expression level was positively while MMP-2 and VEGF were inversely correlated with the disease-free survival time of the patients (P < 0.05). Cox regression analysis identified JMJD3, MMP-2, VEGF and tumor differentiation as independent prognostic factors of breast cancer. Spearman correlation analysis suggested a negative correlation of JMJD3 with MMP2 (r=-0.569, P < 0.05) and VEGF (r=-0.533, P < 0.05) and a positive correlation between MMP2 and VEGF (r=0.923, P < 0.05). In MDA-MB-231 cells, overexpression of JMJD3 inhibited the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells and the expression of MMP-2 and VEGF. CONCLUSIONS: The expressions of JMJD3, MMP-2 and VEGF in invasive ductal breast carcinoma are closely correlated to tumor proliferation, invasion, metastasis and prognosis and can be used for prognostic evaluation of breast cancer.

Multi-stage surgery combined with radiotherapy for treatment of giant anterior chest wall keloid: A case report.

RATIONALE: Giant keloids often have indications for surgical resection, but postoperative reconstruction of the skin and high recurrence of keloids are a challenge for clinical treatment. This article reports a rare successful treatment of a giant keloid in the anterior chest wall by multistage surgery combined with radiotherapy, which is why this case is meaningful. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 66-year-old woman presented a giant keloid with ulcerations and severe itching on the anterior chest wall. She had a history of keloid disease for more than 10 years, and had been treated by multiple operations, with no success. DIAGNOSES: The patient was diagnosed as keloid based on her history and symptoms. Histopathology findings supported our diagnosis. INTERVENTIONS: We successfully excised the keloid after 5 operations and 2 rounds of electron-beam radiotherapy, which was applied at 24 hours after the 4th and 5th operation. OUTCOMES: There was no sign of recurrence over the follow-up period of 24 months. LESSONS: The combination of multistage surgery and radiotherapy presents as a good choice for the treatment of giant keloids.

Apelin­13 ameliorates metabolic and cardiovascular disorders in a rat model of type 2 diabetes with a high­fat diet.

Apelin has been reported to be associated with multiple physiological processes in the cardiovascular system. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of Apelin­13 administration on cardiac function, hyperglycemia, insulin resistance (IR), dyslipidemia, endothelial function, inflammation and glucose metabolism in type 2 diabetic Goto­Kakizaki (GK) rats, and compare the protective effects of Apelin­13 with metformin or atorvastatin. In the present study, type 2 diabetes was induced in male Goto­Kakizaki (GK) rats fed with high­fat diet (HFD). Simultaneously, the rats were treated with metformin (350 mg/kg/d, by gavage), atorvastatin (50 mg/kg/d, by gavage) or Apelin­13 (200 µg/kg/d, intraperitoneal injection) once daily for 4 consecutive weeks. Hemodynamic parameters were examined by RM6240BD multi­channel physiological signal monitoring. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting insulin (FINS), homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA­IR), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein­cholesterol (HDL­C), low density lipoprotein­cholesterol (LDL­C), endothelin­1 (ET­1), nitric oxide (NO), constitutive nitric oxide synthase (cNOS) activity, tumor necrosis factor­α (TNF­α), leptin and Apelin­12 levels were measured. Western blotting was performed to determine the levels of Apelin­12, glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) and phosphorylated (p)­5'adenosine monophosphate­activated protein kinase (AMPK) α2. It was demonstrated that Apelin­13 decreased heart rate, left ventricular end­diastolic pressure, FPG, FINS, HOMA­IR, TC, TG, LDL­C, ET­1, TNF­α and leptin, whereas it increased the rise and fall of maximum rate of left ventricular pressure, HDL­C, NO, cNOS activity and Apelin­12 compared with the GK­HFD group. In addition, GLUT4 and p­AMPKα2 levels in myocardial tissues were elevated by administration of Apelin­13. This protective effect of Apelin­13 was comparable to that of metformin or atorvastatin. Overall, the present study demonstrated that administration ofApelin­13 may be a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Expression of interleukin-17 in lung and peripheral blood of asthmatic rats and the influence of dexamethasone.

The expression of interleukin-17 (IL-17) in lung and peripheral blood of asthmatic rats and the influence of dexamethasone, and the role of IL-17 in the pathogenesis of asthma were investigated. Thirty Sprague-Dawley (SD) adult rats were randomly divided into three groups (n=10 in each group): normal group, asthmatic group, and dexamethasone-interfered group. Rat asthmatic model was established by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 10% ovalbumin (OVA) and challenge with 1% OVA via inhalation. Rats in dexamethasone-interfered group were pretreated with dexamethasone (2 mg/kg, i.p.) 30 min before each challenge. The expression of IL-17 protein in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was detected by ELISA. The expression of IL-17 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and BALF cells was semi-quantitatively detected by RT-PCR. The expression of IL-17 protein in serum and BALF of asthmatic rats was significantly elevated as compared with normal rats and dexamethasone-interfered rats (P<0.01), and there was significant difference between normal rats and dexamethasone-interfered rats (P<0.05). The expression of IL-17 mRNA in PBMC and BALF cells of asthmatic rats was markedly increased as compared with normal rats and dexamethasone-interfered rats (P<0.01), and significant difference was found between normal rats and dexamethasone-interfered rats (P<0.05). It was concluded that the expression of IL-17 was increased significantly in asthmatic rats and could be inhibited partly by dexamethasone, suggesting that IL-17 might play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma as an inflammation regulation factor.

Expression of leukemia inhibitory factor in airway epithelial tissue of asthmatic rats.

In order to investigate the expression of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in airway epithelial tissues of normal and asthmatic rats, the influence of dexamethasone and the role of LIF in pathogenesis of asthma, 30 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (10 for each group): normal group, asthma model group, and dexamethasone-interfered group. In asthma model group and dexamethasone-interfered group, asthma rat models were established by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 10% ovalbumin (OVA) and challenge with 1% OVA via inhalation. Rats in dexamethasone-interfered group were pretreated with dexamethasone (2 mg/kg, i.p) 30 min before each challenge. The expression of LIF protein in lung was detected by immunohistochemistry. The results showed that LIF protein was mainly expressed in cytoplasm of bronchial epithelial cells. The expression of LIF protein in the airway epithelial tissue of asthma model group was significantly higher than that in normal group and dexamethasone-interfered group (P<0.01), but there was no significant difference between normal group and dexamethasone-interfered group (P>0.05). It was concluded that the expression of LIF was increased significantly in the airway epithelial tissue of the asthma rats, and dexamethasone could down-regulate the expression of LIF. It was suggested that LIF might play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma as an inflammation regulator.

[Liposarcoma of the pleura: clinical characteristics].

OBJECTIVE: Primary liposarcoma of the pleura is extremely rare. The first case report in China was described. METHODS: The clinical data of a case of primary liposarcoma of the pleura diagnosed in this hospital were reported, and the pertinent literature was reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 17 cases of primary liposarcomas of the pleura, including the case reported herein, had been described in international literature. Primary pleural liposarcomas occur predominantly in males and older patients, and the myxoid histological subtype is common. The most common symptoms are chest pain and shortness of breath. Radiographic and surgical evaluation are important for its diagnosis. Surgical resection with adjuvant radiation therapy is recommended for the disease. CONCLUSION: More data are required for the treatment and prognostic evaluation of the primary liposarcoma of the pleura.

Transcription activity of ectogenic human carcinoembryonic antigen promoter in lung adenocarcinoma cells A549.

The transcription activity of ectogenic human carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) promoter in lung adenocarcinoma cells A549 was investigated for the further gene-targeting therapy. The reporter gene green fluorescent protein (GFP) driven by CEA promoter and human cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter were relatively constructed and named plasmid pCEA-EGFP and pCMV-GFP respectively. The intensity of fluorescence was detected by fluorescence microscope and flow cytometry analysis after the pCEA-GFP and pSNAV-GFP plasmids were transfected into A549 cells through liposome respectively. The results showed (4.08+/-0.63) % of the A549 cells transfected with pCEA-AFP plasmid expressed, significantly lower than that of the A549 cells transfected with pCMV-GFP [(43.27+/-3.54) %]. It was suggested that ectogenic human CEA promoter in lung adenocarcinoma cells A549 was weakly expressed. The distinct specificity of CEA promoter in CEA high expression cells was regarded as a tool in selective gene therapy, but the transcription activity of ectogenic human CEA promoter was needed to increase in the future.