[Psychological stress in the earthquake survivors: the psychological aftermath of the Wenchuan earthquake].

Objective: To investigate the psychological stress in the survivors of the May 12, 2008 Wenchuan earthquake transferred to Guangzhou for treatment, and explore the association between the psychological stress and the physical injuries related to the earthquake to promote both the physical and psychological recoveries of the survivors.

Methods: Fifty-five earthquake survivors, including 27 with 28 without physical injuries, were transferred in our hospital 1 week after the earthquake. The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist-Civilian version (PCL-C) and the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) were used to investigate the psychological stress in these survivors.

[Morphological characteristics of internal carotid artery atherosclerotic lesions in digital subtracted angiography].

Objective: To illustrate the morphological characteristics of atherosclerotic lesions of the internal carotid artery.

Methods: The morphological characteristics of cervicocerebral atherosclerotic lesions in digital subtracted angiography were retrospectively reviewed in 120 cases.

Results: Totally 217 atherosclerotic lesions were detected.

Modification of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene: a portal to transform mesenchymal stem cells into advantageous engineering cells for neuroregeneration and neuroprotection.

Multipotential mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are ideal seed cells for recruiting the loss of neural cells due to their strong proliferative capacity, easy acquisition, and considerable tolerance of genetic modifications. After transduction of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene via recombinant retroviral vectors into the human MSCs, nearly 100% of cells expressed BDNF (which were therefore transformed into BNDF-MSCs) as detected by immunocytochemistry, and the quantity of BDNF in the culture medium was increased by approximately 20,000-fold. In spite of the genomic integration of an exogenous gene, BDNF-MSCs did not present any structural aberration in the chromosomes.

[Cardiomyocyte-like differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells after exposure of 5-azacytidine in vitro].

To investigate the potential of adult mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) derived from human bone marrow to undergo cardiomyogenic differentiation after exposure of 5-azacytidine in vitro. A small bone marrow aspirate was taken from the iliac crest of human volunteers, and hMSCs were isolated by 1.073 g/mL Percoll and cultured in the right cell culturing medium as previously described.