Dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) causes intestinal histopathology and inflammatory changes consistent with increased gut leakiness in chickens.

1. The clinical severity, histological changes, indicators of gut leakiness and inflammatory cytokine profiles were studied in chickens with dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced intestinal inflammation. 2. The experimental groups (1.25%, 1.5% and 2.5% DSS) showed clinical signs, such as loose stools and weight loss, which increased with additional treatment days and, as expected, the effects of DSS-induced intestinal inflammation were time and dose-dependent. 3. After 10 d, histological manifestations were evident, including goblet cell depletion, mucus layer loss, significantly shorter villi and a thinner total ileal mucosa. 4. The d(-)-lactate value, which was used as a gut leakiness indicator, was significantly increased in the 2.5% DSS group. 5. Expression of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1Beta, tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-10 in the serum significantly increased with DSS treatment. 6. This study indicates that the experimental intestinal inflammation induced by DSS is an ideal model to study the pathogenic mechanisms of intestinal inflammation in chickens and to test the efficacy of therapies.

[Clinical significance of epidermal growth factor receptor and thymidylate synthase expression in primary liver cancer].

Objective: To investigate epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and thymidylate synthase (TS) expression in primary liver cancer, and analyze its clinicopathological features and prognostic significance. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed using EnVision method to detect EGFR and TS expression in 41 cases of liver cancer. Correlation coefficient between EGFR and TS was calculated by Spearman method. Fisher's exact probability method or χ(2) test was used to analyze the clinicopathological features of EGFR and TS. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the survival rate of patients in conjunction with the log-rank test.COX proportional hazard regression model was used to analyze the prognostic factors of patients. ROC curve was used to analyze the predictive accuracy of EGFR and TS for prognosis. Results: The positive rates of EGFR and TS in liver cancer tissues were 34.15% and 39.02%, respectively. There was a positive correlation between EGFR and TS expressions, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). EGFR was associated with tumor size and tissue differentiation (P < 0.05) in HCC patients, whereas TS was associated with tissue differentiation (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in prognostic effect of EGFR on survival rate (P > 0.05). TS prognostic effect on survival rate was statistically significant (P < 0.05). HR of EGFR was 0.210 with 95% CI, 0.052-0.852, P = 0.029; indicating that the risk of death in patients with negative EGFR was 0.210 times higher than that in patients with positive EGFR. HR of TS was 2.496, with 95% CI, 1.325-4.701, P = 0.005, indicating that the risk of death increased by 2.496 times with the same level of EGFR. The area under the EGFR curve was 0.553 and its approximate reference confidence interval was 95% (0.355, 0.751), indicating that EGFR was a risk factor for death and the area under the TS curve was 0.695, and its approximate reference confidence interval was 95% (0.513, 0.878), indicating that TS was a risk factor for death. Conclusion: EGFR and TS were equally expressed in primary liver cancer, and EGFR and TS expressions were positively correlated. EGFR and TS had an effect on the degree of tissue differentiation in patients with liver cancer. EGFR and TS were risk factors for prognosis, and TS may assist EGFR.

Changes in phagocytosis and expression of microglial cells in craniocerebral injury mice models.

The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in phagocytic function and expression quantities of CD11b and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) among microglia cells of craniocerebral injury mice. Modified Feeney method was used to establish the craniocerebral injury mice models. Twenty-one male SPF mice were divided into a control group and a trauma group. The scalp was incised and a bone window was opened in the control group without cerebral injury. In the trauma group, the mice were sacrificed after the craniocerebral injury at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h to make frozen sections of cerebral tissues. The phagocytic rate of microglia cells was observed by using fluorescent microsphere. The changes in the expression quantities of CD11b and TNF-α were detected by enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA). The phagocytic ability of the microglia cells after the craniocerebral injury increased at 1 h after injury compared with that of the control group (P less than 0.01). The expression of surface antigen CD11b of the microglia cells and the expression of TNF-α increased at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after the injury compared with those of the control group (P less than 0.01). The phagocytic ability of the microglia cells increased. The expressions of CD11b and TNF-α were also gradually enhanced in the acute phase after craniocerebral injury, and then gradually decreased to the normal level. The expressions of CD11b and TNF-α indicated a high consistency with the changing trend of the phagocytic ability, suggesting that the microglia cells may participate in the regulation of the inflammatory process of the central nervous system through absorbing apoptotic cells and increasing and secreting inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors.

Transcriptome analysis of the uniparous and multiparous goats ovaries.

Transcriptome analysis of Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat and Dazu black goat generated 38,772,947 and 38,771,668 clean pair end reads, respectively, which were assembled into 72,422 and 80,069 unigenes by Trinity, respectively. For Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat, 26,051 and 10,100 unigenes were assigned to gene ontology (GO) categories and clusters of orthologous groups, respectively. A total of 32,772 unigenes can comment to SWISS-Prot database, and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Pathway database (KEGG) mapped 24,420 unigenes. While annotating the unigenes about Dazu black goats, we found 29,444(45.42%), 11,271 (38.28%), 36,910(56.94%) and 27,766 (42.83%) unigenes were assigned to GO database, COG database, SWISS-Prot database and KEGG database, respectively. In addition, we performed the bioinformatics analysis of gene expression profiling aimed at the ovarian transcriptome difference between Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat and Dazu black goat. We obtained a sequencing depth of over 5.5 million and 5.8 million tags. There were 1,133 DEGs between two species, of which 632 genes upregulated in the Dazu black goat and 501 genes downregulated compared with which in Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat. By annotating the 1,133 DEGs into KEGG database, we found 525 DEGs. And there were 68 DEGs annotated in metabolic pathways, 31 DEGs annotated in ribosome, 28 DEGs annotated in focal adhesion, 27 DEGs annotated in phagosome, 26 DEGs annotated in pathways in cancer, 25 DEGs annotated in ECM-receptor interaction, 23 DEGs annotated in protein digestion and absorption, 20 DEGs annotated in oxidative phosphorylation, 17 DEGs annotated in lysosome, and 16 DEGs annotated in cell adhesion molecules.

[Detection of serum antibody of hepatitis C virus in parturients and their newborns].

Detection of serum antibody of hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) with ELISA kits was performed in 315 parturients and their newborns. The results indicated that some of the infants, born of mothers infected with HCV were also anti-HCV positive, and a high positive rate of abnormal maternal hepato-function harbored a markedly positive rate of anti-HCV both in mother and newborn and bore a positive correlation to the maternal age. These suggest that besides the five routine tests, anti-HCV should better be determined, especially in mothers with abnormal hepato-function. If possible, in such cases HCV-RNA should be examined by using revert nested polymerase chain reaction technique to determine whether a vertical mother-infant transmission exists.

Clinical studies on ultrasound lithotripsy in intrahepatic bile-duct via abdomen.

15 patients with left/right intrahepatic bile-duct calculi received ultrasonic lithotresis via abdomen by using the percutaneous cholecystoscope and ultrasonic lithotresis apparatus. The results indicated that all the surgical manipulations were successful with a residual rate of 6.7%, compared with a residual rate of 78.2% in 23 cases of left/right intrahepatic bile-duct lithiasis treated simultaneously by lithotomy apparatus. The differences between them were statistically significant (u = 4.29, P < 0.01). Among 12 cases undergoing follow-up observation, no side effect due to ultrasonic lithotresis and no residual calculus after 2-4 check-ups with B-mode ultrasound diagnostic set were found and all of their symptoms disappeared except for 1 case.