ABSTRACT
@#Esophageal cancer (EC) is the eighth dangerous cancer in the world. As the global population ages, the management of elderly patients with EC poses a challenge as they have many aging-associated diseases and physiological changes. In addition, the data on the tolerability of cancer treatment and the use of combined therapies in the patients to guide their treatment are limited. In this paper, we reviewed the literatures and discussed the effect of surgical resection and the potential complications of elderly patients. We reviewed the basic principles of combined therapy and the potential benefits of chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for patients and focused on the management of elderly patients with EC as well as the role of comprehensive assessment for aging to provide treatment options for elderly patients.
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Background: Penthorum chinense Pursh (P. chinense) is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) plant, which has long been used for the prevention and treatment of hepatic diseases. This study aimed to genetically characterize the varieties of P. chinense from different geographic localities of China by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR technique and verified with inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. Results: The P. chinense samples were collected from nine different geographic localities. Previously improved RAPD and ISSR markers were utilized for genetic analysis using DNA amplification. The genetic relationship dendrogram was obtained by conducting cluster analysis to the similarity coefficient of improved RAPD and ISSR markers. Improved RAPD yielded 185 scorable amplified products, of which 68.6% of the bands were polymorphic, with an average amplification of 9.25 bands per primer. The ISSR markers revealed 156 alleles with 7.8 bands per primers, where 59.7% bands were polymorphic. Furthermore, the similarity coefficient ranges of RAPD and ISSR markers were 0.710.91 and 0.660.89, respectively. Conclusions: This study indicated that improved RAPD and ISSR methods are useful tools for evaluating the genetic diversity and characterizing P. chinense. Our findings can provide the theoretical basis for cultivar identification, standardization, and molecular-assisted breeding of P. chinense for medicinal use.
Subject(s)
Plants, Medicinal/genetics , Magnoliopsida/genetics , Polymorphism, Genetic , Genetic Variation , Genetic Markers , China , DNA, Plant/genetics , Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique , Microsatellite Repeats , Medicine, Chinese TraditionalABSTRACT
Objective@#To provide some references of using miniscrew implants in clinical orthodontic treatment, the bone thickness of maxilla and mandible of different vertical facial type in adults with cone-beam CT (CBCT) was measured.@*Methods @#57 scanned patients were selected as subjects. Among them, 20 were included in the high-angle group, 22 in the normal-angle group, and 15 in the low-angle group. On volumetric images, we measured the buccal and palatal cortical bone thickness of maxilla, the buccal cortical bone thickness of mandible from canine to the second molar teeth at heights of 4.0 mm from cemento-enamel junction (CEJ). The mean of cortical bone thickness was compared between three groups.@*Results @#There were statistical differences among three different vertical facial groups in the cortical bone thickness (P<0.05). The high-angle group has the thinnest cortical bone while the low-angle group has the thickest.@*Conclusion @#Clinicians should be aware of the probability of thin cortical bone plates and the risk of miniscrew implant failures at maxillary posterior miniscrew implant sites in high-angle patients.
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Objective To investigate the effects of platelet-derived growth factor(POGF),basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF)and epidermal growth factor(EGF)on the proliferation,migration and phenotypie modulation of airway smooth muscle cells(ASMCs)in vitro.Methods Cultured human ASMCs were stimulated with PDGF.bFGF,EGF or DMEM(control).Cell pmliferation was detected by BrdU incorporation and cell count.Cell migration was measured using Boyden's chamber.Reverse transcription-poly-merase chain reaction(RT-PCR)and Western blot analysis were used for the detection of sm-α-actin and sm-MHC mRNA and protein expression in ASMCs.Resuits The mitotic index(%BrdU-positive per total number of cells)of ASMCs stimulated with PDGF.bFGF and EGF were significantly higher than those in control(P<0.001 or P<0.05).And the cell number of ASMCs stimulated with PDGF,bFGF and EGFwere also significantly higher than those in control(P<0.05).The number of migrating cells treated with PDGF,bFGF and EGF were higher than that in eontrol(P<0.05).The expressions of sm-α-actin mRNA treated with bFGF and EGF were significantly lower than those in control.but it was higher than control when treated with PDGF.The expressions of sm-MHC mRNA treated with bFGF and EGF were significantly lower than those in control,but it was higher than control when treated with PDGF(P<0.01 orP<0.05).Theexpressions of sm-α-actin protein treated with bFGF and EGF were significantly lower than those in control,but it was higher than control when treated with PDGF(P<0.05).The expressions of sm-MHC protein treated with bFGF and EGF were significantly lower than those in control.but it was higher than control when treated with PDGF(P<0.05).Conclusion PDGF,bFGF and EGF can directly induce ASMCs,proliferation and migration in vitro;and meanwhile,the expressions of cells,contractive phenotype increased treated with PDGF and decreased treated with bFGF and EGF.
ABSTRACT
In order to investigate the effects of puerarin on pulmonary vascular remodeling and protein kinase C-α (PKC-α) in chronic exposure smoke rats, 54 male Wistar rats were randomly di- vided into 7 groups: control group (C group), smoke exposure groups (S4w group, Saw group), puer- arin groups (P4w group, P8w group), propylene glycol control groups (PC4w group,PC8w group). Rats were exposed to cigarette smoke or air for 4 to 8 weeks. Rats in puerarin groups also received puer- arin. To evaluate vascular remodeling, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SM-actin) staining was used to count the percentage of completely muscularised vessels to intraacinar pulmonary arteries (CMA/IAPA) which was determined by morphometric analysis of histological sections. Pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell (PASMC) apoptosis was detected by in situ end labeling technique (TUNEL), and proliferation by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) staining. Reverse transcrip- tion-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analysis were done to detect the PKC-α mRNA and protein expression in pulmonary arteries. The results showed that in cigarette smoke-exposed rats the percentage of CMA/IAPA and α-SM-actin expres- sion were increased greatly, PASMC apoptosis was increased and proliferation was markedly in- creased; Apoptosis indices (AI) and proliferation indices (PI) were higher than in C group; AI and PI were correlated with vascular remodeling indices; The expression of PKC-ct mRNA and protein in pulmonary arteries was significantly higher than in C group. In rats treated with puerarin, the per- eentage of CMA/IAPA and cell proliferation was reduced, whereas PASMC apoptosis was increased; The expression levels of PKC-α mRNA and protein were lower than in smoke exposure rats. There was no difference among all these data between S groups and PC groups. These findings suggested that cigarette smoke-induced pulmonary vascular remodeling was most likely an effect of the imbal- ance of PASMC proliferation and apoptosis. Puerarin appears to be able to reduce cell proliferation and vascular remodeling possibly through PKC signaling transduction pathway.