[Clinical application of different sedation regimen in patients with septic shock].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluated the 3 sedation regimen for patients with septic shock. METHODS: The randomized controlled trial wan conducted. Forty-five patients with septic shock were assigned to 3 groups (midazolam group, propofol group, and dexmedetomidine group) randomly. The basic characteristics of patients, the duration of mechanical ventilation, the length of stay in the ICU, the death rate for 28 days and the regulatory cell (Treg) in peripheral blood were observed. The control group for Treg test was consisted of 20 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the groups in the death rate for 28 days and the duration of mechanical ventilation. The length of stay in the ICU in dexmedetomidine group was shorter than that in midazolam group(15.21±5.55 vs.19.67±5.7 days, P<0.05). The Treg of 3 groups was higher than that of control group (11.82±4.93 vs.3.69±1.71, 11.30±3.42 vs. 3.69±1.71, 12.83±6.17 vs. 3.69±1.71) at the first day of ICU. The Treg after 3 ICU days in dexmedetomidine group and the Treg after 5 ICU days in propofol group and in midazolam group have no difference with control group. CONCLUSION: For the patients with septic shock, dexmedetomidine could decrease the length of stay in the ICU and the duration of immune suppression.

MiR-335 functions as a tumor suppressor and regulates survivin expression in osteosarcoma.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown that miR-335 plays an anti-tumor role in several types of cancer. However, whether it is able to regulate the tumorigenesis of osteosarcoma (OS) has not been fully investigated. The present study was designed to study its potential role in regulating apoptosis of OS cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression of miR-335 in a total of 18 paired OS tumor tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues was measured by Real-time PCR, and its different expression in OS cell lines was also measured. The effect of miR-335 on apoptosis was measured by MTT assay, caspase-3 activity assay and TUNEL assay. The effect of survivin inhibition on apoptosis of OS cells was determined by MTT assay and western blot. Luciferase reporter assay and western blot were conducted to confirm the relationship between miR-335 and the 3'UTR of survivin mRNA. RESULTS: MiR-335 expression was found to be significantly downregulated in OS tumor tissues and OS cell lines. Overexpression of miR-335 led to decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis. MiR-335 directly targeted the 3'UTR of survivin mRNA and suppressed survivin gene expression, and inhibition of survivin exhibited similar effects to miR-335 overexpression. CONCLUSIONS: MiR-335 might function as a tumor suppressor in OS, and downregulation of miR-335 in OS cells contributes to the decreased apoptotic potential of OS cells through derepression of survivin.

Analysis of 85Kr: a comparison at the 10 -14 level using micro-liter samples.

The isotopic abundance of (85)Kr in the atmosphere, currently at the level of 10(-11), has increased by orders of magnitude since the dawn of nuclear age. With a half-life of 10.76 years, (85)Kr is of great interest as tracers for environmental samples such as air, groundwater and ice. Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA) is an emerging method for the analysis of rare krypton isotopes at isotopic abundance levels as low as 10(-14) using krypton gas samples of a few micro-liters. Both the reliability and reproducibility of the method are examined in the present study by an inter-comparison among different instruments. The (85)Kr/Kr ratios of 12 samples, in the range of 10(-13) to 10(-10), are measured independently in three laboratories: a low-level counting laboratory in Bern, Switzerland, and two ATTA laboratories, one in Hefei, China, and another in Argonne, USA. The results are in agreement at the precision level of 5%.

Normalization of the single atom counting rate in an atom trap.

The single atom counting rate of a rare isotope and the loading rate of another stable isotope with an abundance over 10 orders of magnitude larger are measured in one atom trap. The linear correlation between the measured counting/loading rates is examined to determine the (84)Kr/(82)Kr and (85)Kr/(83)Kr ratios of a Kr gas sample. Experiments show that the relative uncertainty is reduced to 1.3% when the single atom counting rate of (85)Kr is normalized by the measured (83)Kr loading rate. The measurement of the normalized single atom counting rate can be used to determine extremely low (10(-16)-10(-11)) isotope abundance. This normalization method is robust and can also be applied in other atomic systems.

Histopathology and immunohistochemistry of peripheral T cell lymphomas: a proposal for their classification.

Based on the results of histological and immunohistochemical observations of a large number of peripheral T cell lymphomas from China, England, Germany and Japan, histological and cytological morphology were correlated with immunophenotype, aetiological association with HTLV-1, and clinical behaviour to produce a working classification of the T cell lymphomas. This classification, based mainly on cytological criteria, divides the peripheral T cell lymphomas into tumours of low grade and high grade malignancy. Adult T cell lymphoma/leukaemia (ATLL) is caused by HTLV-1 and belongs chiefly to the high grade category. Some tumours are characterised by an admixture of other cells (epithelioid cells, follicular dendritic cells, etc) and structures (high endothelial venules, follicles), which may indicate the secretion of lymphokines by the tumour cells. Clear cells seem to be specific for T cell lymphomas and may occur in various types of peripheral T cell lymphoma.

Phenotypic expression of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in China.

Monoclonal antibodies were used to label malignant lymphomas obtained from 57 patients. On the basis of morphologic criteria, 18 lymphomas were the B-cell type, 10 were the T-cell type, and 6 were histiocytic; for 23 the type could not be determined. After monoclonal antibody labeling, 18 lymphomas of B-cell lineage were confirmed, 16 of the T-cell type were demonstrated, 6 were true histiocytic, and 17 were the null cell (non-T, non-B) type. Of the 16 lymphomas of T-cell lineage, 6 were lymphoblastic and 10 were the peripheral type. The percentages of cell types in the non-Hodgkin's lymphomas were as follows: B-cell, 31.5%; T-cell, 28%; null cell, 29%; and histiocytic, 10%. Of the 16 lymphomas of T-cell origin, 15 belonged to helper T-cell subsets (Leu1+, Leu4+, and Leu3a+), and the la marker was positive in all 16. Of the 18 B-cell lymphomas, 14 were kappa-positive and 4 were lambda-positive. Eleven were both B1- and kappa-positive, and 1 was kappa-positive but B1-negative. In the 4 cases that were lambda-positive, 2 were both lambda- and B1-positive. The results indicate that Leu4, Leu2a, Leu3a, and B1 are the most important markers to differentiate T-cell and B-cell lymphomas for pathologic classification. The findings also show a higher percentage of T-cell neoplasm in China as compared to that in Western countries.