A Correlational Study on Cerebral Microbleeds and Carotid Atherosclerosis in Patients with Ischemic Stroke.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between cerebral microbleeds and carotid atherosclerosis in patients with ischemic stroke. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients with ischemic stroke treated in a hospital in China from 2016 to 2017 were enrolled in the study. Based on the results from susceptibility-weighted imaging, the patients were divided into cerebral microbleed and noncerebral microbleed groups. The degree of carotid atherosclerosis was assessed with carotid intima-media thickness (CIMB) and Crouse score of carotid plaque. The details of patients' demographic information, cerebrovascular disease-related risk factors, carotid atherosclerosis indices, cerebral microbleed distribution, and grading were recorded, compared, and analyzed. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis of the 198 patients showed that CIMB and Crouse score were significantly correlated with the occurrence of cerebral microbleeds. The CIMB thickening group (P = .03) and the plaque group (P = .01) were more susceptible to cerebral microbleeds. In the distribution of cerebral microbleed sites, Crouse scores were the highest in the mixed group and showed a statistically significant difference (P < .01). As the degree of carotid atherosclerosis increased, the average number of cerebral microbleeds also increased (P < .01). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the carotid atherosclerosis indices showed a statistically significant difference. The CIMB value combined with the Crouse score was the best indicator (P < .01). CONCLUSION: In patients with ischemic stroke, cerebral microbleeds are closely related to carotid atherosclerosis. Active control of carotid atherosclerosis is important to prevent cerebral microbleeds in patients with ischemic stroke.

Postoperative iodine-125 interstitial brachytherapy for the early stages of minor salivary gland carcinomas of the lip and buccal mucosa with positive or close margins.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to present our preliminary exploration of safety and efficacy of postoperative low-dose-rate brachytherapy for the early clinical stages of minor salivary gland carcinomas of the lip and buccal mucosa. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with the early stages of minor salivary gland carcinomas of the lip and buccal mucosa received postoperative 125 I seed interstitial brachytherapy from March 2005 to May 2015. Actuarial likelihood estimates for local control, overall survival, and disease-free survival were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: The actuarial 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year local control rates were 94.7%, 82.9%, and 82.9%, respectively. The actuarial 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year overall survival rates were 93.3%, 93.3%, and 77.8%, respectively. No patient experienced toxicity above grade 2. CONCLUSION: Postoperative 125 I seed interstitial brachytherapy is an alternative to radical surgery for early stages of minor salivary gland carcinomas of the lip and buccal mucosa, which offers satisfactory cosmetic and functional outcomes. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 572-577, 2017.

[Effect of bivalent alkaline earth fluorides introduction on thermal stability and spectroscopic properties of Er3+/Tm3+ /Yb3+ co-doped oxyfluorogermanate glasses].

Transparent Er3+/Tm3+ /Yb3+ co-doped oxyfluorogermanate glasses alone containing MgF2, CaF2, SrF2 or BaF2 and nano-glass-ceramics only containing BaF2 were prepared. The thermal stabilities and the up-conversion emission properties of the samples were investigated. Analyses of absorbance spectra reveal that the UV cutoff band moves slightly to shortwave band with the doping bivalent cation mass increasing. The results show that the emission color can be adjusted by changing the alkaline earth cation species in the glass matrixes, especially as Mg2+ is concerned, and the emission intensity can increase notably by heating the glass containing alkaline-earth fluoride into glass ceramic containing alkaline-earth fluoride nanocrystals or increasing the content of bivalent alkaline earth fluorides.

Functional expression of guinea pig growth hormone receptor and its mutants in mammalian cells.

The cDNA of guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) growth hormone receptor (gpGHR) was cloned using RT-PCR in our laboratory. By sequence alignment, substitutions of amino acids conserved in other mammalian GHRs were found. For example, histidine-168 and tyrosine-332 equivalent to positions 170 and 333 in other mammalian GHRs, which were considered to be necessary for the dimerization of GHR and the specific GH-stimulated functions respectively, were replaced by tyrosine and serine in gpGHR. Here, we report the functional expression of gpGHR and its mutants, gpGHRY168H and gpGHRS332Y, in COS-7 cells and/or Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. It was shown that the COS-7 cells transfected with pcDNA3-gpGHR possessed high affinity to bovine GH [K(a) = 1.3 x10(9) (mol/L)(-1)] and a protein band with molecular weight around 92 kD was detected by anti-mouse GHR monoclonal antibody (mAb263). When CHO cells were transfected with the expression vectors, pcDNA3-gpGHR, pcDNA3-gpGHRY168H and pcDNA3-gpGHRS332Y, the gpGHR and its mutants were expressed and the ligand binding, phosphorylation of JAK2, protein synthesis, and lipogenesis were studied. It was found that the mutation of serine to tyrosine at position 332 greatly increased the GH-stimulated protein synthesis and the phosphorylation of JAK2, while the mutation of tyrosine to histidine at position 168 increased the protein synthesis and decreased the phosphorylation of JAK2 only weakly. However, both mutations decreased the GH-stimulated lipogenesis. Thus, our study provides the experimental evidence that gpGHR may mediate the metabolic actions of GH and the substitutions of some conserved amino acids in gpGHR result in the changes of post-binding signaling.

Effects of Divalent Cations and Disulfide Bond Reducing Agents on Specific Binding of Growth Hormone to Liver Membrane Receptors from Snakehead Fish (Ophiocephalus argus, Cantor).

Divalent cations, Ca(2 ), Mg(2 ) and Mn(2 ) enhance the binding of bream growth hormone (brGH) to snakehead fish liver membrane, and their optimum concentration was found to be 8 12 mmol/L, at which Ca(2 ), Mg(2 ) and Mn(2 ) could increase, respectively, the specific binding to 230%, 180%, and 200%, compared with the binding in the absence of ions. The Eadie-Scatchard plot was used for the dynamic analysis of the Ca(2 ) binding site. A low affinity Ca(2 ) binding site was found in the GH-receptor complex with K(m)=0.384 mmol/L, and the affinity constant (K(a)) was increased from 1.045x10(9) L.mol(-1) to 1.295x10(9) L.mol(-1) by the addition of 10 mmol/L CaCl(2). The effects of disulfide bond reducing agents, DTT and ME, on (125)I-brGH binding to growth hormone receptor (GHR) on snakehead fish liver memebrane were also analyzed. The addition of 0.1 20 mmol/L DTT or 0.01% 1% ME to the radioreceptor assay system caused a significant dose dependent increase in the specific binding for (125)I-brGH. In the presence of 0.8 mmol/L DTT or 0.08% ME, the specific binding of (125)I-brGH was increased from 10.2% to 15.5% and 13.2% respectively, and the affinity constant was also increased from 1.265x10(9) L.mol(-1) to 2.185x10(9) L.mol(-1) and 1.625x10(9) L.mol(-1), respectively but no changes in the binding capacity were observed. Further studies showed that the effects of reductants on the specific binding of brGH were due in part to the ligand itself and in part to GHR. In addition, it was observed that one of the three disulfide bonds of brGH could be reduced by 0.8 mmol/L DTT.

cDNA Cloning of the Guinea Pig Growth Hormone Receptor.

cDNA cloning and 1 899 bp sequence of growth hormone receptor (GHR) from guinea pig liver are described. The guinea pig GHR consists of 610 amino acids. The structural feature and homology comparison of guinea pig GHR are also reported.

cDNA Cloning of the Cytoplasmic Domain of Growth Hormone Receptor from guinea Pig and Homology Comparison.

The evolutionary position of guinea pig has not been unequivocally clarified, and it appears to show abnormalities in GH response. The cDNA of GHR cytoplasmic domain from guinea pig was cloned and sequenced. By homology comparison, it was found that the sequence we obtained was different markedly from that of rat or mouse. The results provided not only the molecular biology evidence for clarifying the evolutionary position of guinea pig, but also a basis to determine the complete cDNA sequence of GHR from guinea pig and to understand its cytoplasmic signal transduction.