The exploration of a compound cone-beam CT contrast agent for diagnosis of human extracted cracked tooth.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the use of sodium iodide (NaI), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethyl alcohol, and ethyl acetate as cone-beam CT (CBCT) contrast agents for diagnosing cracked teeth. The optimal delay time for detecting the number of crack lines beyond the dentino-enamel junction (Nd), the number of cracks extending from the occlusal surface to the pulp cavity (Np), and the depth of the crack lines was explored. Methods: 14 human extracted cracked teeth were collected, 12 were used for enhanced scanning, and 2 were used for exploring the characteristic of crack lines. The teeth were scanned in 3 CBCT enhanced scanning (ES) modes: ES1 using meglumine diatrizoate (MD); ES2 using NaI and DMSO, ES3 using NaI, DMSO, ethyl alcohol and ethyl acetate. Three delay times (15mins, 30mins, and 60mins) were set for scanning. Nd, Np, and depth of crack lines were evaluated. Results: There were totally 24 crack lines on 12 cracked teeth. Nd was 10 in ES1 at 60mins, 24 in ES2 at 60mins and 24 in ES3 at 15mins. Np was 1 in ES1 at 60mins, 10 in ES2 at 60mins and 21 in ES3 at 60mins, and there were significantly different among them (p < 0.01). The average depth presented on ES3 was significantly deeper than ES1 and ES2 (p < 0.01). Conclusion: NaI, DMSO, ethyl alcohol and ethyl acetate show potential as contrast agents for enhanced CBCT scanning in diagnosis of cracked teeth and their depth in vivo. A delay time of 15 min is necessary to confirm the existence of crack lines, while a longer delay time is required to ascertain if these crack lines extend to the pulp cavity.

hUC-MSCs therapy for Crohn's disease: efficacy in TNBS-induced colitis in rats and pilot clinical study.

BACKGROUND: The use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has recently emerged as a promising new therapeutic strategy for many diseases including perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease (CD). Whether hUC-MSCs can promote the healing of luminal ulcer in CD has not been studied so far. METHODS: The model of TNBS-induced colitis in rats was used to confirm the efficacy of hUC-MSCs in the treatment of CD. Then, seventeen CD patients refractory to or unsuitable for currently available therapies were enrolled and received once submucosal local injection through colonoscopy combined with once intravenous drip on the next day. All patients received a 24-week follow-up. Clinical and laboratory assessments were monitored at baseline, week 4, 8, 12, and 24. Endoscopic evaluations were conducted at baseline and week 12. Mucosal specimens were obtained at the margin of lesions by endoscopy biopsies and used for RNA sequencing. Two hUC-MSCs co-culture systems were established in vitro, one with the mucosa specimens and the other with M1 macrophages induced from THP1. The expressions of genes representing inflammation (TNFα, IL-6, and IL-1ß) and intestinal barrier function (ZO1, CLAUDIN1, and CDH1) were tested by RT-PCR. FINDINGS: hUC-MSCs treatment increased body weight and decreased disease activity index (DAI), colon macroscopic damage index (CMDI), and histopathological score (HPS) of rats with TNBS-induced colitis. The results of the clinical study also showed that this mode of hUC-MSCs application was associated with regression of intestinal ulceration. Eight patients (47%) got endoscopic responses (SES-CD improvement of ≥50% from baseline) and three patients (17.65%) got mucosal healing (SES-CD is zero), with a parallel improvement of clinical and laboratory parameters without serious adverse events. RNA sequencing showed hUC-MSCs therapy was associated with an upregulation of transcripts linked to intestinal epithelial barrier integrity and a downregulation of inflammatory signaling pathways in the intestinal mucosa, especially the TNF signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, and TLR signaling pathway. RNA expression of intestinal epithelial tight junction protein (ZO1, CLAUDIN1, and CDH1), and the RNA expression of major intestinal inflammatory factors in CD (IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNFα, p < 0.001 for all) were improved significantly. Moreover, hUC-MSCs could attenuate the polarization of M1 macrophage induced from THP1, thereby decreasing the mRNA expression of IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNFα significantly (p < 0.05 for all). TSG-6 expression was evaluated in hUC-MSCs culture supernatant after treatment with TNFα, IFNγ, and LPS for 48 h. And hUC-MSCs could inhibit the phosphorylation of JAK/STAT1 in the intestinal mucosa of CD patients. INTERPRETATION: hUC-MSCs transplantation alleviated TNBS-induced colitis in rats. In this pilot clinical study, preliminary data suggested that this approach to administering hUC-MSCs might have potential for clinical efficacy and manageable safety in treating refractory CD, potentially providing hope for better outcomes. No serious adverse events were observed. FUNDING: This work was funded by General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 82270639), the Scientific research project of Shanghai Municipal Health Committee (Grant No. 202240001), Specialty Feature Construction Project of Shanghai Pudong New Area Health Commission (Grant No. PWZzb2022-05), Shanghai East Hospital Youth Research and Cultivation Foundation program (Grant No. DFPY2022015), Peak Disciplines (Type IV) of Institutions of Higher Learning in Shanghai, Technology Development Project of Pudong Science, Technology and Economic Commission of Shanghai (Grant No. PKJ2021-Y08), Key Disciplines Group Construction Project of Shanghai Pudong New Area Health Commission (Grant No. PWZxq2022-06), Medical discipline Construction Project of Pudong Health Committee of Shanghai (Grant No. PWYgf2021-02) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 82300604).

Exploring the potential of ChatGPT as an adjunct for generating diagnosis based on chief complaint and cone beam CT radiologic findings.

AIM: This study aimed to assess the performance of OpenAI's ChatGPT in generating diagnosis based on chief complaint and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) radiologic findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 102 CBCT reports (48 with dental diseases (DD) and 54 with neoplastic/cystic diseases (N/CD)) were collected. ChatGPT was provided with chief complaint and CBCT radiologic findings. Diagnostic outputs from ChatGPT were scored based on five-point Likert scale. For diagnosis accuracy, the scoring was based on the accuracy of chief complaint related diagnosis and chief complaint unrelated diagnoses (1-5 points); for diagnosis completeness, the scoring was based on how many accurate diagnoses included in ChatGPT's output for one case (1-5 points); for text quality, the scoring was based on how many text errors included in ChatGPT's output for one case (1-5 points). For 54 N/CD cases, the consistence of the diagnosis generated by ChatGPT with pathological diagnosis was also calculated. The constitution of text errors in ChatGPT's outputs was evaluated. RESULTS: After subjective ratings by expert reviewers on a five-point Likert scale, the final score of diagnosis accuracy, diagnosis completeness and text quality of ChatGPT was 3.7, 4.5 and 4.6 for the 102 cases. For diagnostic accuracy, it performed significantly better on N/CD (3.8/5) compared to DD (3.6/5). For 54 N/CD cases, 21(38.9%) cases have first diagnosis completely consistent with pathological diagnosis. No text errors were observed in 88.7% of all the 390 text items. CONCLUSION: ChatGPT showed potential in generating radiographic diagnosis based on chief complaint and radiologic findings. However, the performance of ChatGPT varied with task complexity, necessitating professional oversight due to a certain error rate.

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy makes acid reflux symptoms worse or better?: a prospective short-term observational study in patients with morbid obesity.

BACKGROUND: Gastroesophageal reflux symptom (GERS) occur frequently in obese patients. Although some surgeons avoid laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) in these patients for fear of postoperative exacerbation of GERS, this notion is not supported by sufficient medical evidence. OBJECTIVES: This prospective study aimed to evaluate the impact of LSG on GERS. SETTING: Shanghai East Hospital, Shanghai, China. METHODS: Seventy-five LSG candidates were enrolled between April 2020 and October 2021. Only patients with completed preoperative and 6-month postoperative evaluation of GERS with the Reflux Symptom Score (RSS) and the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life index were included. Each patient's characteristics, including sex, age, drinking and smoking history, body mass index (BMI) at the time of surgery, recent BMI, comorbidities, glucose and lipid metabolism-related laboratory results, and uric acid and sex hormone levels were obtained. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients (33.8 ± 9.1 years) were finally included in our study. The mean preoperative BMI was 36.4 ± 6.8 kg/m2. Preoperative GERS were reported in 32 (49.2%) patients (RSS > 13), and 26 of them (81.3%) had dramatic remission at 6 months postoperatively. Four patients (12.1%) developed de novo GERS postoperatively, which were well-controlled with oral proton pump inhibitors. Furthermore, GERS were significantly correlated with preoperative BMI; the risk of developing new or worsening GERS postoperatively was positively associated with preoperative insulin resistance. CONCLUSIONS: A low incidence of de novo GERS and significant alleviation in preoperative GERS occurred in most obese patients after LSG. A patient with preoperative insulin resistance may not be suitable for LSG surgery owing to the increased risk of new or worsening of GERS postoperatively.

Patterns of stress distribution of endodontically treated molar under different types of loading using finite element models-the exploring of mechanism of vertical root fracture.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to explore the mechanism of vertical root fracture (VRF) using three-dimensional finite element models (FEMs). METHODS: An endodontically treated mandibular first molar with a subtle VRF was collected and scanned with cone beam CT (CBCT). Three finite element analysis models were created: Model 1 had the actual endodontically treated root canal size; Model 2 had the same root canal size as the contralateral homonymous tooth; and Model 3 had the root canal size expanded by 1 mm based on Model 1. Different types of loading were performed on these 3 FEMs. The stress distribution on the cervical, middle, and apical planes was analyzed, and the maximum stress on the root canal wall was calculated and compared. RESULTS: In Model 1, the maximum stress around the root canal wall occurred in the cervical part of the mesial root under vertical masticatory force and in the middle part of the mesial root under buccal and lingual lateral masticatory forces. Additionally, there was a stress change zone in a bucco-lingual direction that corresponded with the actual fracture line. In Model 2, the maximum stress around the root canal was in the cervical part of the mesial root under both vertical and buccal lateral masticatory forces. For Model 3, the stress distribution was similar to that of Model 1, but greater under buccal lateral masticatory force and occlusal trauma force. In all three models, the maximum stress around the root canal wall was in the middle part of the distal root under occlusal trauma force. CONCLUSIONS: The uneven stress around the root canal in the middle part (presented as a stress change zone in a bucco-lingual direction) may be the cause of VRFs.

Diagnosis of in vivo vertical root fracture using deep learning on cone-beam CT images.

OBJECTIVES: Evaluating the diagnostic efficiency of deep learning models to diagnose vertical root fracture in vivo on cone-beam CT (CBCT) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The CBCT images of 276 teeth (138 VRF teeth and 138 non-VRF teeth) were enrolled and analyzed retrospectively. The diagnostic results of these teeth were confirmed by two chief radiologists. There were two experimental groups: auto-selection group and manual selection group. A total of 552 regions of interest of teeth were cropped in manual selection group and 1118 regions of interest of teeth were cropped in auto-selection group. Three deep learning networks (ResNet50, VGG19 and DenseNet169) were used for diagnosis (3:1 for training and testing). The diagnostic efficiencies (accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC)) of three networks were calculated in two experiment groups. Meanwhile, 552 teeth images in manual selection group were diagnosed by a radiologist. The diagnostic efficiencies of the three deep learning network models in two experiment groups and the radiologist were calculated. RESULTS: In manual selection group, ResNet50 presented highest accuracy and sensitivity for diagnosing VRF teeth. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and AUC was 97.8%, 97.0%, 98.5%, and 0.99, the radiologist presented accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity as 95.3%, 96.4 and 94.2%. In auto-selection group, ResNet50 presented highest accuracy and sensitivity for diagnosing VRF teeth, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and AUC was 91.4%, 92.1%, 90.7% and 0.96. CONCLUSION: In manual selection group, ResNet50 presented higher diagnostic efficiency in diagnosis of in vivo VRF teeth than VGG19, DensenNet169 and radiologist with 2 years of experience. In auto-selection group, Resnet50 also presented higher diagnostic efficiency in diagnosis of in vivo VRF teeth than VGG19 and DensenNet169. This makes it a promising auxiliary diagnostic technique to screen for VRF teeth.

Exploring the use of enhanced cone-beam CT technique to diagnose vertical root fracture.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the feasibility of using sodium iodide (NaI)+dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)+ethyl alcohol+ethyl acetate as a cone-beam CT (CBCT) contrast agent in the diagnosis of vertical root fracture (VRF). METHODS: 21 endodontically treated VRF teeth of 21 patients were collected in this study. All these 21 teeth were confirmed subtle fracture lines under transillumination, the number and position of fracture lines were recorded. All these patients had CBCT routine scanning (RS1) before extraction. After extraction, the teeth was performed micro-CT scanning and 3 in vitro CBCT scanning: CBCT routine scanning in vitro(RS2), CBCT enhanced scanning using meglumine diatrizoate (MD) as contrast agent(ES1); and CBCT enhanced scanning using NaI+DMSO+ethyl alcohol+ethyl acetate as contrast agent(ES2). The number of fracture lines was evaluated on all the 5 scanning modes and the accuracy of diagnosis was calculated. RESULTS: In all, there were 43 fracture lines on the 21 teeth. The accuracy of detection of fracture lines of CBCT RS1, RS2, ES1, ES2 and micro-CT was 0%, 20.9% (9/43), 11.6% (5/43), 93% (40/43) and 95.3% (41/43) respectively. Significant differences were found between ES2 vs. RS2, ES2 vs. ES1 (p < 0.01); however, no significant difference was found between ES2 vs. micro-CT (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: CBCT enhanced scanning using NaI+DMSO+ethyl alcohol+ethyl acetate as contrast agent could be a prospective technique in the diagnosis of VRF.

Clinical and genetic features of Chinese pediatric patients with severe congenital protein C deficiency who first presented with purpura fulminans: A case series study and literature review.

INTRODUCTION: Purpura fulminans (PF) is a hematological emergency that can be caused by severe congenital protein C (PC) deficiency. It has been rarely reported in the Chinese population. We aimed to characterize the clinical and genetic features of Chinese pediatric patients with severe congenital PC deficiency who first presented with PF. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve pediatric patients were diagnosed with severe congenital PC deficiency with PF, which was diagnosed based on our hospital records and previous reports from 1988 to July 2021 in China. We evaluated the clinical and genetic features of these patients. RESULTS: Nine patients (9/12, 75%) had onsets that were observed within the first 48 h after birth. Six patients had a family history of thromboembolism. There was no consanguinity. Other symptoms were intracranial thrombosis or hemorrhage (4, 33.3%), ocular lesions (2, 16.7%), gastrointestinal hemorrhage (2, 16.7%) and kidney infarction before birth (1, 8.3%). All but one of the patients (one case not detected) had a plasma PC activity of <10%. The genetic study indicated that in the eight patients with inherited PC deficiency, two were homozygous, five were compound heterozygous and one was heterozygous for PC deficiency. CONCLUSION: This is the first and largest case series of Chinese pediatric patients with severe congenital PC deficiency who first presented with PF. It has been shown that treatment with both fresh frozen plasma and anticoagulants is recommended when PC concentrate is not easily available, especially in developing countries.

IL36 indicating good prognosis in human Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background and Aim: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the leading cause of cancer death in men before the age of 60 years in China. Interleukin (IL)36 played important roles in antitumor immune responses, but its role in HCC is still unknown. We aimed to explore the correlation between IL36 and prognosis of HCC patients. Methods: The expression of IL36 was measured by Immunohistochemistry (IHC), serum Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and flow cytometry (FCM). Chi-square test was performed to analyze the relationship between IL36 expression and clinical parameters of HCC patients. The correlation between IL36 expression and prognosis of HCC patients was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis. Results: The IL36 expression in HCC tumor samples was lower than that in paired peri-tumor samples; the analyses suggested that there was no correlation between IL36 expression and age, gender, and tumor size, but tight relationship between IL36 expression and liver cirrhosis, metastasis and some other clinical parameters. The results of Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated positive expression of IL36 could induce high survival rate of patients. The detection of IL36 with ELISA suggested that expression of IL36 in serum was the highest in patients of HCC, other than the chronic hepatitis patients and the healthy. The result of FCM suggested the expression of IL36 was higher in CD4+ T cells than other immune cells. Conclusions: There is a close relationship between the expression of IL36 and the prognosis of HCC, higher expression of IL36 suggested better prognosis and longer survival of HCC.

Clinical characterization and prognosis of T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with high CRLF2 gene expression in children.

It has been reported that overexpression of the CRLF2 gene is associated with poor outcomes in pediatric B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), but the incidence rates, clinical characteristics and outcomes of CRLF2 gene overexpression in pediatric T cell ALL (T-ALL) have not been systematically analyzed. In this study, CRLF2 mRNA expression levels and clinical and laboratory parameters in 63 pediatric T-ALL patients were detected at the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and Children's Hospital of Xianyang between February 2015 and June 2018. The patients were treated according to the modified St. Jude TXV ALL protocol, and early treatment responses (bone marrow smear and MRD level) and prognoses in the enrolled patients were assessed. CRLF2 overexpression was detected in 21/63 (33.33%) patients. Statistical differences were not found for clinical or laboratory parameters (including sex, age, initial WBC count, incidence mediastinal involvement, abnormal karyotype and fusion genes) between patients with high CRLF2 expression and patients with low expression of CRLF2 (P>0.05). One patient died of tumor lysis syndrome and renal failure, and the treatment response was monitored on day 19 (TP1) of remission in 62 patients. One patient quit treatment because of family decisions, and 61 patients underwent treatment response evaluation on day 46 (TP2) of remission. Significant differences were not found between patients with high CRLF2 expression and patients with low CRLF2 expression in terms of the treatment responses at TP1 or TP2 (P>0.05). Following October 2018, 12 patients among the 61 evaluable patients relapsed (relapse rate: 19.67%), 3 patients died from chemotherapy, and the treatment-related mortality (TRM) rate was 4.92%. Secondary tumors occurred in 1 patient. The 3-year prospective EFS rate was 54.1±11.2% and 77.7±6.6% for the 61 evaluable patients and 58 patients without TRM. Patients with low CRLF2 expression had longer EFS durations than patients with high CRLF2 expression (61 evaluable patients: 35.91± 2.38 months vs 23.43± 2.57 months; 58 patients without TRM: 37.86± 2.08 months vs 24.55±2.43 months, P<0.05). CRLF2 expression levels were also monitored in 13 patients at TP1 and TP2, and the MRD level did not vary with the CRLF2 expression level. Our data suggest that clinical features, laboratory findings and treatment responses in the pediatric T-ALL population do not vary based on the overexpression of CRLF2 but that CRLF2 overexpression can contribute to a high risk of relapse in pediatric T-ALL. Thus, CRLF2 expression levels should not be used as biomarkers for monitoring MRD.

[E-cadherin Expression in Children with Acute Leukemia and Its Clinical Significance].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation of E-cadherin expression level with the clinical characterastics in children with acute leukemia (AL), and to explore the possible regulatory mechanism. METHODS: Real-time quantitative RT-PCR was applied to detect the expression level of E-cadherin in bone marrow samples from 135 child patients diagnosed as AL, and its relevance with clinical indicators was statistically analyzed. The expression levels of E-cadherin, ß-catenin, and Akt/p-Akt were detected by using Western blot. The bone marrow samples from 22 children with non-malignant hematological diseases were used as controls. RESULTS: The expression level of E-cadherin significantly decreased in newly diagnosed patients with all 3 types of AL as compared with bone marrow samples from control group (P<0.01). In B-ALL group, compared with standard risk group, E-cadherin expression level significantly decreased in intermediate risk group (P<0.05). Moreover,the expression level of E-cadherin mRNA was also reduced in splenomegaly group (P<0.01). However, the correlation of E-cadherin level with clinical characteristics was not found in T-ALL and AML (P>0.05). The expression level of E-cadherin in the patients from Common-B-ALL group was higher than B-ALL patients with other immunophenotypes (P<0.01), while no significant difference was found among patients grouped by FAB classification. By the correlation analysis of measured data, lower E-cadherin expression level was found to be related with high WBC count and serum lactic dehydrogenase level (LDH) (r=-0.419, r=-0.269), but with low blood platelet count in B-ALL (r=0.335). In T-ALL, expression of E-cadherin was found to be negatively correlated with LDH and percentage of immature cells in the bone marrow (r=-0.567, r=-0.557). In addition, the lower expression of E-cadherin was also found to be related with WBC count and percentage of immature cells in the bone marrow in newly diagnosed AML patients (r=-0.368, r=-0.391). Compared with control group, the expression of E-cadherin was down-regulated significantly (P<0.01), while ß-catenin, Akt significantly was up-regulated in 3 types of AL patients (P<0.01). The expression of p-Akt and p-Akt/Akt was up-regulated significantly in T-ALL (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Lower expression of E-cadherin is related factor of unfavourable prognosis in children with acute leukemia. The expression deficiency or down-regulation of E-cadherin may activate Wnt/ß-catenin and PI3K/ Akt signaling pathways to promote the genesis and progress of haematological malignancies, thus resulting in a series of malignant biological behaviors in cells. E-cadherin may be a new prognostic indicator for pediatric acute leukemia, thus to guide individualized hemotherapy.

Theoretical study of high-efficiency organic dyes with the introduction of different auxiliary heterocyclic acceptors based on IQ1 toward dye-sensitized solar cells.

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are currently the most widely developed low-cost photovoltaic devices. A series of D-A-π-A metal-free organic dyes based on IQ1 were designed and theoretically characterized by introducing different auxiliary acceptors. The results show that the introduction of auxiliary heterocyclic acceptors could effectively tune the photoelectronic properties. In addition, all designed dyes exhibit better optoelectronic properties than IQ1. In particular, dye PIAQ not only has excellent light harvesting capability over the entire visible region and a portion of the near-infrared region, wider light harvesting efficiency (LHE) curve and larger maximum short-circuit current density (JSCmax), but also has narrower energy gap (HOMO-LUMO), larger shift of the conduction band energy level (ΔECB) and lower injection and regeneration driving force. Therefore, the designed sensitizers might have outstanding properties and could be promising candidates for improving DSSCs performance.

[Expression of ß-integrin family members in children with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia].

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of ß-integrin family members in children with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and their significance. METHODS: Quantitative real-time PCR analyses were performed to assess the expression levels of ß-integrin family members in bone marrow samples from 22 children with newly-diagnosed T-ALL and 21 controls (16 children with non-malignant hematologic disease and 5 healthy donors with bone marrow transplantation). Jurkat cells were treated with integrin inhibitor arginine-glycine-aspartate (Arg-Gly-Asp, RGD) peptide. The cell viability and apoptosis rate were determined by CCK8 assay and flow cytometry respectively. RESULTS: The mRNA levels of integrins ß2, ß3, and ß5 were significantly lower in children with T-ALL than in controls (P<0.05). In T-ALL patients, high integrin ß3 expression was associated with lower white blood cell counts (<100×109/L), minimal residual disease (MRD) positivity, and day 33 bone marrow negative remission (P<0.05). In T-ALL patients, higher integrin ß5 expression was associated with relapse of T-ALL (P<0.05). Based on survival curve analysis, higher integrin ß3 expression was related to lower event-free survival and overall survival rates. RGD peptide treatment inhibited the proliferation of Jurkat cells and increased their apoptosis rate (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: ß-Integrin may play a role in the occurrence and development of T-ALL by affecting cell proliferation and apoptosis. The expression of integrin ß5 is closely related to the risk of relapse of T-ALL. The expression of integrin ß3 is closely related the treatment response and prognosis of T-ALL.

Frightening music triggers rapid changes in brain monoamine receptors: a pilot PET study.

UNLABELLED: Frightening music can rapidly arouse emotions in listeners that mimic those from actual life-threatening experiences. However, studies of the underlying mechanism for perceiving danger created by music are limited. METHODS: We investigated monoamine receptor changes induced by frightening music using (11)C-N-methyl-spiperone ((11)C-NMSP) PET. Ten healthy male volunteers were included, and their psychophysiologic changes were evaluated. RESULTS: Compared with the baseline condition, listening to frightening music caused a significant decrease in (11)C-NMSP in the right and left caudate nuclei, right limbic region, and right paralimbic region; a particularly significant decrease in the right anterior cingulate cortex; but an increase in the right frontal occipital and left temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex. CONCLUSION: Transient fright triggers rapid changes in monoamine receptors, which decrease in the limbic and paralimbic regions but increase in the cerebral cortex.

Molecular imaging in therapeutic efficacy assessment of targeted therapy for nonsmall cell lung cancer.

Membrane distillation is a thermally driven membrane process for seawater desalination and purification at moderate temperatures and pressures. A hydrophobic micro-porous membrane is used in this process, which separates hot and cold water, allowing water vapor to pass through; while restricting the movement of liquid water, due to its hydrophobic nature. This paper provides an experimental investigation of heat and mass transfer in tubular membrane module for water desalination. Different operating parameters have been examined to determine the mass transport mechanism of water vapor. Based on the experimental results, the effects of operating parameters on permeate flux and the heat transfer analysis have been presented and discussed in details.

[Molecular mechanism of tetramethylpyrazine to induce human promyelocytic HL-60 leukemia cells differentiation].

OBJECTIVE: To study the molecular mechanism of tetramethylpyrazine to induce human promyelocytic HL-60 leukemia cells differentiation. METHOD: The cell proliferation was determined by MTT. The differentiation of the cells was detected by NBT reduction test. Cellular morphology was observed by Wright's staining. Cell cycle distribution and the distribution of CD11b, CD14 were detected by flow cytometry. Then RT-PCR and Western blot assay were employed to detect the expressions of c-myc, p27, CDK2 and cyclinE1 in HL-60 cells after exposure to TMP. RESULT: TMP inhibited the proliferation in a dose and time dependent manner. TMP at the concentration of 200 mg x L(-1) to 300 mg x L(-1) induced unterminal differentiation of HL-60 cell and synergistically blocked the cell cycle progression of HL-60 cells in G0/G1 phase. The expression of c-myc was down-regulated as well as the protein expression of cyclin E and CDK2, while the mRNA and protein expression of P27 were remarkably up-regulated. CONCLUSION: Small doses of TMP induces differentiation of HL-60 cells throughout the cell cyde, as detected by a slower rate of accumulation in G0/G1, possibly by regulating the expression and activity of G1/S phase-related molecules.

Glycogen synthase kinase-3ß inhibition induces nuclear factor-κB-mediated apoptosis in pediatric acute lymphocyte leukemia cells.

BACKGROUND: Molecular therapies that target genetic abnormalities in leukemic cells and their affected signaling pathways have been emerging in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK-3ß) has recently been found to positively regulate the activity of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). Here, we investigated the relationship between GSK-3ß inhibition and NF-κB in apoptosis of pediatric primary leukemia cells obtained from 39 newly diagnosed ALL children in China. METHODS: Bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMC) were isolated by density gradient centrifugation from the heparinized aspirates of children with ALL. We used immunofluorescence staining to detect nuclear GSK-3ß in these cells. After treatment with chemically distinct GSK-3ß inhibitors in vitro, NF-κB transcriptional activity was identified by means of western blotting and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). NF-κB-mediated apoptosis was detected by Annexin V-PE/7-AAD double-staining flow cytometry. The expression level of the survivin gene was detected by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: GSK-3ß significantly accumulates in the nuclei of ALL cells than in the nuclei of control cells. Cell death induced by GSK-3ß inhibition in ALL cells was mediated by a downregulation of NF-κB p65 transcriptional activity. GSK-3ß inhibition significantly decreased the expression of the NF-κB target gene survivin. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that inhibition of GSK-3ß downregulates the NF-κB activation pathway, leading to suppression of the expression of an NF-κB-regulated gene and promotion of apoptosis in ALL cells in vitro. Furthermore, our findings suggest that GSK-3ß or NF-κB is a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of pediatric ALL.