[Prognostic analysis of 76 cases with adenoid cystic carcinoma in salivary gland].

Objective: To investigate the prognosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) in salivary gland and its influencing factors.

Methods: Clinical and following-up data of 76 patients with ACC in salivary glands were reviewed. Major gland tumors represented 35.

Baicalin improves survival in a murine model of polymicrobial sepsis via suppressing inflammatory response and lymphocyte apoptosis.

Background: An imbalance between overwhelming inflammation and lymphocyte apoptosis is the main cause of high mortality in patients with sepsis. Baicalin, the main active ingredient of the Scutellaria root, exerts anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and even antibacterial properties in inflammatory and infectious diseases. However, the therapeutic effect of baicalin on polymicrobial sepsis remains unknown.

Combined effects of a neutrophil elastase inhibitor (sivelestat sodium) and a free radical scavenger (edaravone) on lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in rats.

Objective And Design: The present study aimed to investigate the combined effects of a neutrophil elastase inhibitor, sivelestat sodium, with a free radical scavenger, edaravone, on lipolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI).

Materials And Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized and instilled intratracheally with 2 mg/kg LPS. Sivelestat sodium (10 mg/kg, i.

Nitric oxide and ATP-sensitive potassium channels mediate lipopolysaccharide-induced depression of central respiratory-like activity in brain slices.

Infection may result in early abnormalities in respiratory movement, and the mechanism may involve central and peripheral factors. Peripheral mechanisms include lung injury and alterations in electrolytes and body temperature, but the central mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, brainstem slices harvested from rats were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide at different doses.

Cdt1p, through its interaction with Mcm6p, is required for the formation, nuclear accumulation and chromatin loading of the MCM complex.

Regulation of DNA replication initiation is essential for the faithful inheritance of genetic information. Replication initiation is a multi-step process involving many factors including ORC, Cdt1p, Mcm2-7p and other proteins that bind to replication origins to form a pre-replicative complex (pre-RC). As a prerequisite for pre-RC assembly, Cdt1p and the Mcm2-7p heterohexameric complex accumulate in the nucleus in G1 phase in an interdependent manner in budding yeast.

Structural insights into the Cdt1-mediated MCM2-7 chromatin loading.

Initiation of DNA replication in eukaryotes is exquisitely regulated to ensure that DNA replication occurs exactly once in each cell division. A conserved and essential step for the initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication is the loading of the mini-chromosome maintenance 2-7 (MCM2-7) helicase onto chromatin at replication origins by Cdt1. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of this event, we determined the structure of the human Cdt1-Mcm6 binding domains, the Cdt1(410-440)/MCM6(708-821) complex by NMR.

Remote ischemic preconditioning protects neurocognitive function of rats following cerebral hypoperfusion.

Background: Protection of remote ischemic preconditioning on neurocognitive function caused by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion has been investigated in rats.

Material/methods: Thirty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups - control group (Group C, n=12), bilateral carotid arteries occlusion group (Group B, n=12) and remote ischemic precondition group (Group P, n=12). In Group P, remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) was performed on the right femoral artery with 3 cycles (10 min) of occlusion/perfusion.

Anatomic study of popliteus complex of the knee in a Chinese population.

This study explored the anatomic relationship of the popliteus complex (PC) and collected anatomic data of PC in a Chinese population. The anatomic study was performed using 81 formalin-fixed knees. The femoral attachment of the popliteus tendon could be classified into three types with respect to femoral attachment of the lateral collateral ligament.

Anatomic study of fabella and its surrounding structures in a Chinese population.

Purpose: To explore the anatomic features of the fabella and its relationship with the common peroneal nerve and the fabellofibular ligament, so as to provide anatomical evidence for clinical diagnosis and treatment of fabella diseases in a Chinese population.

Methods: Sixty-one formalin-fixed knee specimens were obtained for anatomic dissection. Structural features of the fabella were investigated by radiological and histological tests.

The impact of weather conditions on Culex pipiens and Culex restuans (Diptera: Culicidae) abundance: a case study in Peel Region.

Mosquito populations are sensitive to long-term variations in climate and short-term variations in weather. Mosquito abundance is a key determinant of outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile virus (WNV). In this work, the short-term impact of weather conditions (temperature and precipitation) on Culex pipiens L.

Hydrogen-rich saline protects against renal ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

Background: Recently it has been demonstrated that hydrogen, as a novel antioxidant, can selectively reduce hydroxyl radicals (·OH) and peroxynitrite anion (ONOO-) in vitro and exert therapeutic antioxidant activity in many diseases. This study was designed to investigate the effect of hydrogen-rich saline on renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats.

Methods: A rat model of renal I/R injury was induced by 45-min occlusion of the bilateral renal pedicles and 24-h reperfusion.

Vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation is influenced by let-7d microRNA and its interaction with KRAS.

Background: Several microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to regulate cardiovascular biological and pathological processes through inhibiting the translation of certain RNA transcripts. However, little is known about the association between miRNAs and vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation. The aim was to investigate the role of miRNAs in VSMC growth and the potential mechanism.

Identification of novel factors involved in or regulating initiation of DNA replication by a genome-wide phenotypic screen in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

DNA replication in eukaryotic cells is tightly regulated to ensure faithful inheritance of the genetic material. While the replicators, replication origins and many replication-initiation proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been identified and extensively studied, the detailed mechanism that controls the initiation of DNA replication is still not well understood. It is likely that some factors involved in or regulating the initiation of DNA replication have not been discovered.

Far3p domains involved in the interactions of Far proteins and pheromone-induced cell cycle arrest in budding yeast.

Far3p (factor arrest), a protein that interacts with Far7-11p, is required for the pheromone-mediated cell cycle arrest in G1 phase. We used a combination of computational and experimental strategies to identify the Far3p self-association, to map the Far3p domains that interact with Far3p itself and with other Far proteins, and to reveal the importance of the two coiled-coil motifs of Far3p in the integrity and function of the Far complex. We show that Far3p self-associates through its central region and its C-terminal coiled-coil domain, that the amino acid 61-100 region of Far3p interacts with Far7p, and that the Far3p N-terminal coiled-coil domain interacts with Far9p and Far10p.

WS1 gene mutation analysis of Wolfram syndrome in a Chinese patient and a systematic review of literatures.

Wolfram syndrome is a rare hereditary disease characterized by diabetes mellitus and optic atrophy. The outcome of this disease is always poor. WFS1 gene mutation is the main cause of this disease.

ATP-dependent pre-replicative complex assembly is facilitated by Adk1p in budding yeast.

Pre-replicative complex (pre-RC) assembly is a critical part of the mechanism that controls the initiation of DNA replication, and ATP binding and hydrolysis by multiple pre-RC proteins are essential for pre-RC assembly and activation. Here, we demonstrate that Adk1p (adenylate kinase 1 protein) plays an important role in pre-RC assembly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Isolated from a genetic screen, adk1(G20S) cells with a mutation within the nucleotide-binding site were defective in replication initiation.

Association between inflammatory genetic polymorphism and acute lung injury after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Background: Recently, single nucleotide polymorphisms were proposed as potentially new predictors for perioperative risks, such as myocardial infarction and organ dysfunction. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether IL-6 -572C/G, IL-10 -1082A/G, and TNF-alpha -308G/A were associated with acute lung injury after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Material/methods: One hundred patients with acute lung injury at 24 hours after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and 112 patients without acute lung injury as controls were included.

Ctf4p facilitates Mcm10p to promote DNA replication in budding yeast.

Ctf4p (chromosome transmission fidelity) has been reported to function in DNA metabolism and sister chromatid cohesion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this study, a ctf4(S143F) mutant was isolated from a yeast genetic screen to identify replication-initiation proteins. The ctf4(S143F) mutant exhibits plasmid maintenance defects which can be suppressed by the addition of multiple origins to the plasmid, like other known replication-initiation mutants.

The anthracenedione compound bostrycin induces mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Bostrycin is an anthracenedione with phytotoxic and antibacterial activity that belongs to the large family of quinones. We have isolated bostrycin from the secondary metabolites of a mangrove endophytic fungus, no. 1403, collected from the South China Sea.

Serum miR-146a and miR-223 as potential new biomarkers for sepsis.

Objective: Current biomarkers cannot completely distinguish sepsis from systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) caused by other non-infectious diseases. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are promising biomarkers for several diseases, but their correlation with sepsis is not totally clarified.

Methods: Seven miRNAs related to inflammation or infection were included in the present study.

Safety and efficacy of transcatheter closure of large patent ductus arteriosus in adults with a self-expandable occluder.

Most occurrences of large patent ductus arteriosus (PDAs) of > or =10 mm have been surgically closed, and transcatheter closure of these large PDAs was only reported in a few case reports. The present study reviewed our experience in transcatheter closure of such large PDAs with a Chinese self-expandable occluder, which is similar to but much cheaper than the Amplatzer occluder. From July 2000 to January 2008, 23 patients underwent transcatheter closure of large PDA > or =10 mm with this kind of occluder.

[Neck treatment strategy for pathologically node positive tongue squamous cell carcinoma.].

Objective: To analyze the related factors of neck recurrence and regularity of cervical lymph nodes metastasis of pathologically node positive (pN+) tongue squamous cell carcinoma(SCC) and explore the neck treatment strategy for pN+ tongue SCC.

Methods: Clinical and follow-up data of 138 patients with pN+ oral tongue SCC from Jan. 1991 to Dec.

[QTL for seed germination rate and related physiological traits of Brassica napus L].

One hundred and eighty-three recombinant inbred lines from the cross between GH06 and P174 were used for genetic analysis of seed germination rate and physiological trait analysis of Brassica napus L. Composite interval mapping (CIM) was applied to identify QTL associated with seed germination rate (GR) of the seeds that stored for two years (STY), one year (SOY), and fresh seeds (FS), respectively. The activity of lipases, seed conductivity, reducing sugar content, total sugar content, and root vitality of STY and FS were investigated.