[The relationship between the opening of mitochondrial permeability transition pores of cultured hepatocytes with their apoptoses in a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease model].

Objective: To investigate the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pores of the cultured hepatocytes in a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease model and its relationship with apoptosis of the cells.

Methods: Oleic acid was used to induce cultured L02 hepatocyte steatotic in making a model of NAFLD. The steatotic hepatocytes were detected with oil red O staining; the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pores was observed under a fluorescence microscope.

A correlation between the severity of lung lesions on radiographs and clinical findings in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to quantify lesions on chest radiographs in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and analyze the severity of the lesions with clinical parameters.

Materials And Methods: Two experienced radiologists reviewed chest radiographs of 28 patients with SARS. Each lung was divided into upper, middle, and lower zones.

Matrix metalloproteinase-1 polymorphism in Taiwanese patients with endobronchial tuberculosis.

Endobronchial tuberculosis (TB) often leads to some degree of tracheobronchial stenosis. Because matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play an essential role in tissue remodeling in the airways, we investigated the role of MMP-1 polymorphism in patients with endobronchial TB. One hundred and one cases of pulmonary TB in Taiwanese patients were genotyped for the 1G/2G polymorphism of MMP-1 promoter (-1607 bp).

2,3,4',5-Tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-beta-D-glucoside suppresses matrix metalloproteinase expression and inflammation in atherosclerotic rats.

1. In coronary artery disease, the typical atheromatous plaque consists of a lipid core containing various inflammatory cells and a fibrous cap composed mostly of extracellular matrix. Both matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and inflammation are involved in the initiation of atherosclerotic plaques and plaque instability.

An open-label, randomized comparison of levofloxacin and amoxicillin/clavulanate plus clarithromycin for the treatment of hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia.

Background: Anti-pneumococcal fluoroquinolone has been used to treat community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) frequently because of its broad antimicrobial spectrum.

Methods: This randomized, open-label study was conducted in a tertiary teaching hospital. Eligible patients were randomized to levofloxacin 500 mg IV q24h followed by 500 mg orally q24h or a combination of amoxicillin/clavulanate 500 mg/100 mg IV q8h with oral clarithromycin 500 mg q12h and then oral amoxicillin/clavulanate 250 mg/125 mg q8h with oral clarithromycin 500 mg q12h for 7-14 days.

Ventilator-induced injury augments interleukin-1beta production and neutrophil sequestration in lipopolysaccharide-treated lungs.

Mechanical ventilators are commonly used to support critically ill patients; however, inappropriate ventilator settings might initiate or augment lung injury. To determine whether a large tidal volume (Vt) augments inflammatory responses and neutrophil sequestration in the lungs of rats receiving intratracheal lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Rats received intratracheal instillation of LPS (0.

Self-administered acupressure reduces the symptoms that limit daily activities in bronchiectasis patients: pilot study findings.

Aims And Objectives: To examine and compare the effects of acupressure on the perceived health-related quality of life of the participants with bronchiectasis.

Background: In an attempt to offer comfort, pain control and symptom management, nursing is becoming increasingly involved in offering complementary-alternative medicine as part of its caring-healing focus in comprehensive patient care. Acupressure is one such modality that is being increasingly used by both medical and nursing professionals.

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation of Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome diagnosed by endobronchial ultrasound.

Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome is a disease of hereditary telangiectasia with involvement of multiple visceral organs. Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a frequent clinical manifestation, that may mimic pulmonary mass. In this report, endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) was used in a 64-year-old woman with Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome who had a solitary pulmonary mass associated with clinical evidence of a right-to-left shunt and was able to detect a pulsating hypoechoic mass connected to the right pulmonary artery suggesting of pulmonary AVM.

[The influence of changes in the levels of calcitonin gene-related peptide and neuropeptide Y on cardiac function of severe burn patients during shock stage].

Objective: To investigate the influence of the changes in the levels of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) on cardiac function of severe burn patients during shock stage.

Methods: Sixty severe burn patients with total burn surface area larger than 30% were enrolled as experiment group (E group) , and they received fluid resuscitation and debridement during shock stage. Sixty healthy volunteers were enrolled as control group (C group).

Theoretical prediction of the hydride affinities of various p- and o-quinones in DMSO.

The hydride affinities of 80 various p- and o-quinones in DMSO solution were predicted by using B3LYP/6-311++G (2df,p)//B3LYP/6-31+G* and MP2/6-311++G**//B3LYP/6-31+G* methods, combined with the PCM cluster continuum model for the first time. The results show that the hydride affinity scale of the 80 quinones in DMSO ranges from -47.4 kcal/mol for 9,10-anthraquinone to -124.

The concentration-dependent chemokine release and pro-apoptotic effects of neutrophil-derived alpha-defensin-1 on human bronchial and alveolar epithelial cells.

Defensins play a pivotal role in antimicrobial reactions, inflammatory responses, wound repair, and specific immunity. In inflammatory and infectious lung diseases, alpha-defensins are released from recruited neutrophils, and modulate a variety of lung cell functions. We found that human bronchial and alveolar epithelial cells treated with low and moderate concentrations (5 and 10 micro g/ml) of purified neutrophil-derived alpha-defensin-1 secreted more interleukin (IL)-8 and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 in a dose- and time-dependent manner.

A modified goal-directed protocol improves clinical outcomes in intensive care unit patients with septic shock: a randomized controlled trial.

We evaluated whether a goal-directed protocol, without measurement of central venous oxygen saturation, would improve survival in medical intensive care unit (ICU) patients with septic shock. This is a prospective, controlled study in a 24-bed medical ICU at a tertiary care hospital. From a total of 241 consecutive patients with septic shock, 224 were randomly assigned to receive therapy with or without a written protocol using central venous pressure, mean arterial pressure, and urine output as therapeutic goals.

Neutrophil-derived elastase induces TGF-beta1 secretion in human airway smooth muscle via NF-kappaB pathway.

Neutrophils are infiltrated in airways of individuals with more severe and chronic asthma, with uncertain significance. Airway smooth muscle (ASM), apart from its contractile properties, is critically involved in the pathogenesis of asthma by producing inflammatory mediators. In the present study, we investigated the impact of neutrophil-derived elastase (NE) on ASM in terms of TGF-beta1 release, and we explored the underlying mechanisms.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha induces caspase-independent cell death in human neutrophils via reactive oxidants and associated with calpain activity.

Apoptosis mediated by caspase activation is important in the neutrophil homeostasis and resolution of tissue inflammation. Paradoxically, our previous study demonstrated that broad-spectrum caspase inhibition augmented tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-induced cell death in the human neutrophils. Therefore, we further explored the mechanisms related to the caspase-independent cell death in the neutrophils.

Manual hyperinflation improves alveolar recruitment in difficult-to-wean patients.

Study Objectives: To investigate the effect of manual hyperinflation (MH) in patients with atelectasis associated with ventilation support.

Design: Patients were randomized to either an experimental group or a control group.

Setting: Pulmonary ICUs from two hospitals.

Eosinophils from asthmatics release IL-5 in an autocrine fashion to prevent apoptosis through upregulation of Bcl-2 expression.

Interleukin (IL)-5 plays an important role in maintaining the survival of eosinophils via the specific alpha-subunit of its receptor. Apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death, is thought to represent a mechanism that promotes the resolution of eosinophilic inflammation in asthma. The aim of our present study is to investigate whether IL-5 acts in an autocrine fashion on eosinophil apoptosis in asthmatics.

Persistence of lung inflammation and lung cytokines with high-resolution CT abnormalities during recovery from SARS.

Background: During the acute phase of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), mononuclear cells infiltration, alveolar cell desquamation and hyaline membrane formation have been described, together with dysregulation of plasma cytokine levels. Persistent high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) abnormalities occur in SARS patients up to 40 days after recovery.

Methods: To determine further the time course of recovery of lung inflammation, we investigated the HRCT and inflammatory profiles, and coronavirus persistence in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of 12 patients at recovery at 60 and 90 days.

[Study on the interaction of Pb2+ and bovine serum albumin by fluorescence].

The interaction of Pb2+ and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was studied under conditions similar to those in human bodies by fluorescence spectra. The results indicated that tryptophan and tyrosine, which were located in BSA, had a max fluorescence emission peak at 341 nm with an excitation wavelength of 283 nm. It was shown that Pb2+ had a powerful ability to quench the BSA fluorescence with a mechanism of a static process rather than a dynamic one.

[Study on the genotoxicity of exhausts of diesel engine with ethanol-diesel blending fuel].

Objective: To study the genotoxicity of components of diesel engine exhausts with ethanol-diesel blending fuel. To provide scientific arguments to find more economical and less polluted fuels.

Methods: Ames test, comet assay and GC-MS technique were used to test the genotoxicity and 16 kinds of PAHs on diesel engine exhausts with different proportions of ethanol (E0, E5, E10, E20).

Determination of N-NO bond dissociation energies of N-methyl-N-nitrosobenzenesulfonamides in acetonitrile and application in the mechanism analyses on NO transfer.

The heterolytic and homolytic N-NO bond dissociation energies of seven substituted N-methyl-N-nitrosobenzenesulfonamides (abbreviated as G-MNBS, G = p-OCH(3), p-CH(3), p-H, p-Cl, p-Br, 2,5-2Cl, m-NO(2)) in acetonitrile solution were evaluated for the first time by using titration calorimetry and relative thermodynamic cycles according to Hess' law. The results show that the energetic scales of the heterolytic and homolytic N-NO bond dissociation energies of G-MNBS in acetonitrile solution cover the ranges from 44.3 to 49.

The impact of delirium on the survival of mechanically ventilated patients.

Objectives: To revalidate a means of assessing delirium in intensive care unit patients and to investigate the independent effect of delirium on the mortality of mechanically ventilated patients.

Design: A prospective cohort study.

Setting: A 37-bed medical intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital.

Indeterminate cell histiocytosis: a case report.

Indeterminate cell histiocytosis is a rare neoplasm composed of cells with mixed characteristics of Langerhans cells and non-Langerhans cells. An otherwise healthy, 36-year-old woman presented with asymptomatic generalized papules and nodules that had appeared on all four extremities, the trunk, and cheeks in the previous 6 months. The lesions were firm, painless, non-pruritic, and slightly flesh-yellow or reddish-brown in color.

Sentinel lymphadenectomy for circumscribed cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Background: Sentinel lymphadenectomy has been associated with fewer complications in evaluating regional lymph nodes from melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma. It may also be employed in other malignancies such as localized cutaneous lymphoma. This is the first report demonstrating sentinel lymphadenectomy may be useful on primary cutaneous anaplastic large-cell lymphoma.

[Establishment of high-throughput drug screening cell models based on JAK-STAT signal pathway].

Aim: To discover new drugs which may be applied to diseases of the immune system, hemogenesis system diseases and tumors, several high-throughput drug screening cell models based on JAK-STAT signal pathway have been established.

Methods: Four repeats of STAT DNA binding conserved sequences were synthesized, subcloned into pGL-Luc reporter vector and stably transfected into cell lines in vitro. Cell clones with high copy numbers of STAT binding sites and reporter genes were chosen as high-throughput drug screening cell models.