Human Bone Marrow Derived-Mesenchymal Stem Cells Treatment for Autoimmune Premature Ovarian Insufficiency.

BACKGROUND: Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is a relatively common gynecologic endocrine disorder, which is hypogonadism associated with amenorrhea, increased levels of gonadotropins, and hypoestrogenism. POI resulting from ovarian autoimmunity is a poorly understood clinical condition lacking effective treatments. This study is aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on autoimmune premature ovarian insufficiency. METHODS: In this study, in vivo and in vitro experiments were conducted to clarify the therapeutic effects and possible mechanisms of human bone marrow-derived MSCs (hBMSCs) on autoimmune POI, and to provide an experimental evidence for the treatment of autoimmune POI by hBMSCs. Noteworthy, in this study, we used interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) to induce autoimmune inflammation in human granulosa cell line KGN, simulating the pathophysiological changes of granulosa cells in autoimmune POI, and therefore sought to establish an in vitro cell model of autoimmune POI, which is still lacking in experimental methodology. RESULTS: And we found that, in vitro, co-culture of hBMSCs could promote granulosa cell proliferation, inhibit apoptosis, improve hormone synthesis capacity, and reduce the occurrence of pyroptosis; and in vivo, hBMSCs resulted in improved estrous cycle disorders in autoimmune POI mice, increased serum estradiol, decreased follicle-stimulating hormone, improved ovarian morphology, increased number of primordial and primary follicles, decreased number of atretic follicles, and decreased ovarian granulosa cell apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: hBMSCs have therapeutic effects on autoimmune POI both in vitro and in vivo.

Photodynamic therapy combined with local chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced esophagocardiac carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an effective palliative treatment for gastrointestinal tumors. The aim of this clinical study was to evaluate the efficacy of PDT combined with local chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced esophagocardiac cancer. METHODS: A total of 140 patients with advanced esophagocardiac cancer were divided into two groups: 42 treated with PDT alone and 98 with combination of PDT and local injection of 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu). The light irradiation was carried out through a diffuser fiber at 24 and 48h after intravenous injection of a domestic photosensitizer PSD-007 (Photocarcinorin, 3-5mg/kg b.w.) at 200-400J/cm under endoscope guidance. Local chemotherapy group was carried out by local injection of 5-Fu (250-500mg) prior to PDT. Treatment was repeated 1-4 times. Short-term and long-term follow up were evaluated. RESULTS: Short-term efficacy evaluation showed that the rate of significant remission in PDT combined with local chemotherapy group (41.8%) was significantly higher than that in PDT alone group (21.4%, P<0.05). Long-term follow up (up to 36 months) showed that the mean survival time of combined treatment group was longer than that of PDT group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: PDT is safe and effective for advanced esophagocardiac cancer. Its therapeutic effect can be further improved when combined with local chemotherapy.

A test of homogeneity of Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium across strata.

For genotype data being sampled from several strata with different allele frequencies, it is necessary to verify the assumption of homogeneity of Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium across strata before testing Hardy-Weinberg law across strata. In practice, disequilibrium can be measured via fixation coefficients (ie, ratios of genotypic frequencies) or disequilibrium coefficients (ie, differences of genotypic frequencies). Test for homogeneity of Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium using data from several populations has been derived according to fixation coefficients. In this article, using the likelihood score theory extended to nuisance parameters, we derive a homogeneity score test for comparing disequilibrium coefficients across several independent strata. Simulation results demonstrate that the homogeneity score test performs satisfactorily in the sense that its empirical size seldom exceeds the pre-chosen nominal level by more than 10% even for small sample sizes. Corresponding power and sample size formulae are provided as well. We illustrate our test with a real glyoxalase genotype data set.