[Effect analysis on endoscopic transnasal resection of epidural cholesteatoma at paracentral skull base]

Objective: To indicate the clinical features of endoscopic transnasal resection of epidural cholesteatoma at paracentral skull base and to analyze its efficacy. Methods: The total excision rate, postoperative complications and postoperative curative effect of 7 patients (4 males and 3 females, aging from 32 to 63 years old) who underwent middle skull base surgery for epidural cholesteatoma resection under transnasal endoscope at Tianjin Huanhu Hospital between August 2017 and August 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were followed up for 6 to 36 months. The postoperative MRI, clinical symptoms and recurrence were reviewed. Descriptive statistical methods were used for analysis. Results: Among the 7 patients, there were total resection (complete resection of cyst contents and capsule) in 4 patients, near-total resection (complete resection of cyst contents, incomplete resection of cyst capsule) in 1 patient, and subtotal resection (incomplete resection of cyst contents and capsule) in 2 patients. The clinical symptoms of all patients were improved postoperatively with 1 patient who had no clinical symptoms. One case had postoperative cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, which was cured after lumbar drainage and nasal iodoform gauge packing. Up to now, 7 patients (including patients with partial resection) had no recurrence. Conclusion: Endoscopic transnasal approaches may be effectively used for resection of epidural cholesteatoma in the paracentral skull base in carefully selected cases.

[Analysis on endoscopic endonasal approach combined with the frontotemporal orbitozygomatic approach under the microscope for skull base tumor with intra and extra-cranial involvement]

Objective: To evaluate the application of combination use of endoscopic endonasal approach combined with the frontotemporal orbitozygomatic approach microscopically in skull base tumor with intra and extra-cranial involvement. Methods: A total of 7 patients (4 males and 3 females, aging from 27 to 65 years old, with a medium age of 48) undergone complicated skull base surgeries via endoscopic endonasal approach combined with the frontotemporal orbitozygomatic approach microscopically from May 2016 to January 2018 were reviewed respectively. The patients included 2 cases of recurrent invasive pituitary adenoma, 3 cases of basal skull meningiomas, 1 case of clivus chondrosarcoma, and 1 case of recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The lesion extensively infiltrated nasal cavity, extending to the paranasal sinus, bilateral cavernous sinus, sellar region, suprasellar, superior clivus, temporal lobe, pterygopalatine fossa, infratemporal fossa and important intracranial vessels. All the 7 patients were treated under general anesthesia by endoscopic endonasal approach combined with frontotemporal orbitozygomatic approach under the microscope. Total excision rate, intraoperative and postoperative complications and postoperative curative effect were observed. All of them were followed up for 6 to 12 months. The Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) was used to evaluate the prognosis. Result: Total tumor removal was performed in 5 cases, subtotal removel in 2 cases. There was no complication during the operation. Postoperative severe complications occurred in 2 cases, including 1 case of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea and intracranial infection, which was cured by lumbar cistern drainage and intrathecal injection; 1 case occurred oculomotor nerve paralysis, which recovered during follow-up. Postoperative complications occurred in 1 case of trochlear nerve dysfunction, 2 cases of facial numbness, and 1 case of tinnitus. During follow-up, all patients recovered to varying degrees. There was no bleeding and death after the operation. No tumor recurred during the follow-up period. All patients were recovered well with GOS grade Ⅳ-Ⅴ. Conclusions: Endoscopic transnasal approach combined with microscopic frontotemporal orbitozygomatic approach can remove tumors in one stage, reduce surgical complications and improve surgical effect. It has good application prospects and is suitable for excising complex intracranial and extracranial communicating tumors of widely involving sellar, clivus and petrous apex area.

[Clinical analysis of brain abscess after endoscopic repairment of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea]

Objective: To explore the clinical characteristics of the complication of brain abscesses after cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea repairment. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 149 patients undergone endoscopic repairment of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea from October 2007 to October 2017 in Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Tianjin HuanHu Hospital. The clinical characteristics and treating methods of 3 brain abscess cases were analyzed. Results: Of the 149 patients accepted the endoscopic repairment of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, 3 cases were complicated with postoperative brain abscesses, which showed as frontal lobe abscess by strengthened head MRI. The incidence of abscess was 2.0%. Abscess formation time was within 10 d after surgery. One case was treated with antibiotic and reducing intracranial pressure, while other 2 cases were treated with puncture drainage. After following-up of 1 to 24 months, these 3 cases had no recurrence of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea or abscess. Conclusions: The complication of brain abscess formation after endoscopic repairment of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea is more common in frontal lobe, which may take place within 7-10 d postoperatively. Conservative treatment is the first choice. Under the condition of obvious symptoms and pus cavity fusion, puncture drainage can be performed.

[The fMRI research of vestibular migraine neural pathways]

Objective:To investigate the abnormal functional response of neural pathways of vestibular migraine (VM) patients, located the functional area, and inferred the possible mechanism. Method:Twenty patients of VM, 20 of migraine without aura (MwoA), and 20 of healthy controls (HC), underwent whole-brain blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI during ear irrigation with cold water. We chose the stimulation image and the diapause stimulation image. Analyses explored functional area with BOLD signal change of the three groups. Result:We observed task-positive BOLD signal change in cortical and subcortical pattern in response to ear irrigation of all participants. Such as parietal lobe, temporal lobe, insular lobe, cingulate gyrus, thalamus, caudate nucleus, optic radiation, precuneus. VM patients showed a significantly task-negative in thalamic and fusiform gyrus in comparison with the other groups (P<0.05). Conclusion:fMRI could response the respective functional area objectively. We inferred the possible mechanism of VM was abnormal activation of thalamus and fusiform gyrus, produced crossing between the vestibular sensory pathway conduction and the pain conduction.

Development of SCAR Markers and an SYBR Green Assay to Detect Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici in Infected Wheat Leaves

Stripe rust, caused by the pathogenic fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is an important disease of wheat worldwide. A rapid and reliable detection of the pathogen in latent infected wheat leaves is useful for accurate and early forecast of outbreaks and timely application of fungicides for managing the disease. Using the previously reported primer pair Bt2a/Bt2b, a 362-bp amplicon was obtained from P. striiformis f. sp. tritici and a 486-bp amplicon was obtained from both P. triticina (the leaf rust pathogen) and P. graminis f. sp. tritici (the stem rust pathogen). Based on the sequence of the 362-bp fragment, two pairs of sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) primers were designed. PSTF117/PSTR363 produced a 274-bp amplicon and TF114/TR323 produced a 180-bp amplicon from P. striiformis f. sp. tritici, whereas they did not produce any amplicon from P. triticina, P. graminis f. sp. tritici, or any other wheat-infecting fungi. The detection limit of PSTF117/PSTR363 was 1 pg/µl and TF114/TR323 was 100 fg/µl. Both SCAR markers could be detected in wheat leaves 9 h post inoculation. An SYBR Green RT-PCR method was also developed to detect P. striiformis f. sp. tritici in infected leaves with the detection limit of 1.0 fg DNA from asymptomatic leaf samples of 6 h after inoculation. These methods should be useful for rapid diagnosis and accurate detection of P. striiformis f. sp. tritici in infected wheat leaves for timely control of the disease.

Exploring the binding features of polybrominated diphenyl ethers as estrogen receptor antagonists: docking studies

The polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) accumulating in nature are known to be endocrine-disrupting compounds. Of first concern are those interacting with and altering activity of the human estrogen receptor alpha (hERalpha). In this study a docking study was carried out to explore the binding modes of PBDE compounds as hERalpha antagonists. It was found that some of the PBDE compounds with antiestrogenic activity extended into the channel of the estrogen receptor (ER), which is usually occupied by the alkylamine side chain of the ER antagonists raloxifene (RAL) and 4-hydroxytamoxifen (OHT), while most PBDE compounds without antiestrogenic activity adopted binding modes similar to that of ER agonist 17beta-estradiol (E2), located in the binding cavity and which did not protrude into the channel. The present study suggests that pose comparison based on docking is useful for discriminating whether or not PBDE compounds have antiestrogenic activity. Knowing the binding modes of compounds in hERalpha can help to screen out antiestrogenic compounds and further develop descriptive and predictive models in ecotoxicology.

Three-dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship (3D-QSAR) analysis for in vitro toxicity of chlorophenols to HepG2 cells

In the present paper, comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA) were applied to investigate two 3D-QSAR models for the cytotoxicity of chlorophenols. These models have evaluated the intensity of chlorophenols' toxicity on HepG2 cells in vitro. The CoMFA model has both high consistency and predictability. The contribution of the electrostatic field to biological activity is greater than that of the steric field. The CoMSIA model used in this study includes two fields, one is hydrophobic field, and the other is electrostatic field. The relative contribution of them is 0.789:0.211. Consisted with the CoMFA model, the CoMSIA electrostatic filed also plays a dominant role. The CoMFA and CoMSIA contour maps significantly elucidated that the electrostatic field is more important than the other fields and might be one of the reasons resulting in potential reactive mechanism involved in cell proliferation inhibition.

A11 Tetramer-assisted characterization of Rta-specific CD8+ T-cell responses in healthy virus carriers

HLA Class I-restricted CD8(+) T-cell responses are believed to play an important role in controlling Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, which has been consistently associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Immediate early transactivator Rta of EBV has been shown to be associated with the reactivation of EBV from latency and drive the lytic cascade of EBV and comprise an important target for EBV-specific cellular cytotoxicity. Furthermore, BRLF1 is specifically expressed in NPC tumor cells. The protein product of BRLF1, Rta, could then be considered as a NPC tumor antigen. Therefore, cellular immunity against Rta represents a very important part of the immunity against NPC, as they should prevent the replication of EBV. In the present study, Rta-specific CD8(+) T-cell responses in healthy virus carriers were characterized by using A1101 tetramer containing the known Rta epitope ATIGTAMYK (134-142). We clearly showed A1101/ATIGTAMYK tetramer-reactive CD8(+) T cells in the circulation of healthy virus carriers, ranging from 2.13 to 9.03%. We then studied the expression of perforin and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) secretion in these Rta-specific T cells. Our study demonstrated that Rta-specific T cells are capable of IFN-gamma production and nearly 90% of the Rta-specific CD8(+) T cells expressed perforin. Presumably, these are the cells that play an important role in determining the initiation of the lytic cycle or the clearance of EBV.

Associations of HLA microsatellites with rheumatoid arthritis in Singaporean Chinese

Rheumatoid arthritis in Singaporean Chinese has previously been shown to be associated with the DRB1*0405, DRB1*1001 haplotypes and to the DRB1*0901 haplotype when the former two were removed. The present paper focused on eight HLA associated microsatellite markers (TNFa, TNFd, D6S273, TAP1CA, DQCAR, DQCARII, D6S2222, D6S2223) and their allelic associations with Chinese RA. 60 RA patients and 75 healthy controls were studied. It appeared that DQCARII*194/DRB1*0405/TNFa*117 was part of the extended haplotype predisposed to RA, whereas DRB1*0901/D6S273*128 contributed to susceptibility to RA to a lesser degree in Singaporean Chinese. Additionally, a negative association with DQCAR*186/DRB1*0301/D6S273*122/TNFd*124 was observed. No association with disease development was observed in this study.

Development of quantitative structure activity relationships in toxicity prediction of complex mixtures

AIM

To predict the toxicity of mixtures of halogenated benzenes (narcotics).

METHODS

Acute toxicity test of single chemicals and mixtures was performed using Photobacterium phosphoreum. Partition coefficients of mixtures were calculated by a special equation. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) studies were carried out based on results of toxicity tests, n-octanol/water partition coefficient (Kow), and partition coefficient of mixtures (Kmix).

RESULTS

1) There was a good relationship between toxicity and lgKow for single compounds. 2) QSAR analysis showed a perfect correlation between the calculated Kmix and the mixture toxicity for binary mixtures. 3) Using the QSAR model of binary mixtures, the toxicity of other related mixtures containing different composition and fraction was predicted very well.

CONCLUSION

The toxicity of halogenated benzene mixtures (narcotics) was predicted by QSAR. This kind of study is helpful for assessing the toxicity of narcotic mixtures.

[Isolation and cytological identification of a desynaptic variant in rice]

A sterile variant was found from the population of a japonica rice variety Lunhui 422. Cytological investigation was conducted in meiosis. It is showed that the sterility was caused by desynapsis. As there were 8.69 bivalents in average occurred to be desynaptic, moreover, the most number of the desynaptic bivalents reached 12 at post diakinsis. It can be considered that the desynaptic variation is a complete desynapsis found in rice so far.

HLA microsatellite associations with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Singaporean Chinese

Singaporean Chinese with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) have previously been shown to be associated with the DRB1*0301 haplotype and the joint occurrence of DRB1*0301/*0901 and DRB1*0301/*04. The present study extended previous HLA associations by investigating the HLA region using four microsatellites (TNFa, D6S273, TAP1, DQCARII). Seventy-five IDDM patients and 80 healthy controls were studied. TNFa*3 (RR = 2.26), TNFa*12 (RR = 3.30), TAP1*9 (RR = 2.55) showed increased frequencies while TNFa*11 (RR = 0.29), TAP1*4 (RR = 0.50) showed decreased frequencies in patients compared to controls. Linkage analysis suggested that the positive associations of TNFa*3 and TAP1*9 were secondary to that of DRB1*0301. However, TNFa*12 appeared to provide additional risks to IDDM besides the DRB1*0301 haplotype, whereas TNFa*11 and TAP1*4 conferred an independent protective effect against IDDM. Our findings reinforce the notion that susceptibility to and protection against IDDM may include TNF region. In the present study, TNFa*12 seemed to be the primary association in the DRB1*0405 haplotype and may play an independent role in the pathogenesis of IDDM through TNF-alpha function.

HLA microsatellite associations with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Singaporean Chinese

Singaporean Chinese with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) have previously been shown to be associated with the DRB1*0301 haplotype and the joint occurrence of DRB1*0301/*0901 and DRB1*0301/*04. The present study extended previous HLA associations by investigating the HLA region using four microsatellites (TNFa, D6S273, TAP1, DQCARII). Seventy-five IDDM patients and 80 healthy controls were studied. TNFa*3 (RR = 2.26), TNFa*12 (RR = 3.30), TAP1*9 (RR = 2.55) showed increased frequencies while TNFa*11 (RR = 0.29), TAP1*4 (RR = 0.50) showed decreased frequencies in patients compared to controls. Linkage analysis suggested that the positive associations of TNFa*3 and TAP1*9 were secondary to that of DRB1*0301. However, TNFa*12 appeared to provide additional risks to IDDM besides the DRB1*0301 haplotype, whereas TNFa*11 and TAP1*4 conferred an independent protective effect against IDDM. Our findings reinforce the notion that susceptibility to and protection against IDDM may include TNF region. In the present study, TNFa*12 seemed to be the primary association in the DRB1*0405 haplotype and may play an independent role in the pathogenesis of IDDM through TNF-alpha function.

Cytological identification of an isotetrasomic in rice and its application to centromere mapping

The aneuploid with isochromosome or telochromosome is ideal material for exploring the position of centromere in lingkage map. For obtaining these aneuploids in rice, the primary trisomics from triplo-1 to triplo-12 and the aneuploids derived from a triploid of indica rice variety Zhongxian 3037 were carefully investigated. From the offsprings of triplo-10, a primary trisomic of chromosome 10 of the variety, an isotetrasomic "triplo-10-1" was obtained. Cytological investigation revealed that a pair of extra isochromosomes of triplo-10-1 were come from the short arm of chromosome 10. In the offsprings of the isotetrasomic, a secondary trisomic "triplo-10-2", in which the extra- chromosome was an isochromosome derived from the short arm of chromosome 10, was identified. With the isotetrasomic, secondary trisomic, primary trisomic and diploid of variety Zhongxian 3037, different molecular markers were used for exploring the position of the centromere of chromosome 10. Based on the DNA dosage effect, it was verified that the molecular markers G1125, G333 and L169 were located on the short arm, G1084 and other 16 available molecular markers were on the long arm of chromosome 10. So the centromere of chromosome 10 was located somewhere between G1125 and G1084 according to the RFLP linkage map given by Kurata et al[1]. The distance from G1125 to G1084 was about 3.2 cM.

Protective effect of puerarin against myocardial reperfusion injury. Myocardial metabolism and ultrastructure

To ascertain the beneficial effect of puerarin on the myocardium against reperfusion injury, studies on myocardial metabolism and ultrastructure were made. Twelve dogs divided into two equal groups were placed on moderate hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass, and their hearts were subjected to 140 minutes cold cardioplegic arrest and 60 minute reperfusion. In the control group, the hearts were perfused with crystalloid cardioplegic solution (CPS) every 20 minutes during arrest. In the treated group, the hearts received CPS containing puerarin (2 mg/kg). Myocardial oxygen consumption, lactate production, creatine phosphokinase (CPK) release, water content and ultrastructural alterations were determined before ischemia, during cardiac arrest and at reperfusion. The results showed that intermittent infusion of CPS containing puerarin significantly decreased myocardial lactate production during ischemia, as well as myocardial oxygen consumption, CPK release and water content during reperfusion. Under electronmicroscopy, the degree of ischemic damage judged by a scoring method was less pronounced in the puerarin group than in the control. The authors conclude that puerarin has protective effects on the function of hearts that have undergone long periods of arrest and reperfusion.

The protective effect of puerarin against myocardial reperfusion injury. Study on cardiac function

In order to find out if puerarin could protect the hearts from myocardial reperfusion injury after cardiac arrest, twelve dogs divided into two equal groups were placed on moderately hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass and their hearts were subjected to 140 min of cold cardioplegic arrest and 60 min of reperfusion. In the control group, the hearts were perfused with a crystalloid cardioplegic solution (CPS) through the aortic root every 20 min during arrest. In the treated group, the hearts received CPS containing puerarin (2 mg/kg). Cardiac hemodynamic variables were monitored throughout the experiments. Left ventricular function curves were formed before ischemia and after 60 min of reperfusion. The results showed that the recovery of left ventricular function in the treated group was significantly better than that in the controls (81 +/- 11% versus 39 +/- 7%, P less than 0.01). Compared with preischemic values, the increase of coronary blood flow (CBF) at cardiac arrest in the puerarin-treated group was higher than that in the control group (214 +/- 11 versus 177 +/- 4 ml/min, P less than 0.01). The data indicate that puerarin has protective effects on the cardiac function after prolonged arrest and reperfusion.

Functional studies in the human submandibular duct cell line, HSG-PA, suggest a second salivary gland receptor subtype for nucleotides

Extracellular nucleotides, acting through P2 purinoceptors, have been implicated in the regulation of ion transporting epithelia, including salivary gland acini. Multiple P2 purinoceptor subtypes have been suggested, including P2X, P2Y and P2U (or nucleotide) subtypes, as well as the P2Z subtype found in rat parotid acinar cells. We investigated responses to ATP, ATP analogs and UTP in transformed human submandibular gland duct cells (HSG-PA), in order to compare duct cell purinoreceptors with those in acinar cells. ATP, UTP and some ATP analogs increased, with different potencies, inositol phosphate accumulation, calcium mobilization and potassium efflux. Nucleotide-stimulated calcium mobilization occurred in the absence of, but was enhanced by, extracellular calcium, and maximal potassium efflux required extracellular calcium. UTP and ATP demonstrated equal potencies of about 1 microM and similar efficacies in eliciting these responses, and identical rank orders of potency for stimulating calcium mobilization and potassium efflux were obtained: UTP = ATP greater than ATP gamma S greater than ADP greater than ADP beta S, with alpha,beta-methylene-ATP and 2-methylthio-ATP having little or no effect. Agents reported to block nucleotide effects in parotid acini were ineffective in HSG-PA cells, and experiments in Mg(++)- and Ca(++)-free medium did not indicate that a form of ATP other than MgATP was the active species at the HSG-PA purinoceptor. The extracellular nucleotide effects were not altered by pertussis toxin. These results indicate the presence of a P2U or nucleotide receptor subtype in HSG-PA submandibular duct cells distinguishable from the P2Z purinoceptor of rat parotid acinar cells, suggesting involvement of multiple nucleotide receptor subtypes in salivary gland regulation.