Repression of linc01555 up-regulates angiomotin-p130 via the microRNA-122-5p/clic1 axis to impact vasculogenic mimicry-mediated chemotherapy resistance in small cell lung cancer

Long non-coding ribonucleic acid 01555 (linc01555) is a brand-new long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that acts a carcinogenic function in various cancers. However, its role in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is uncertain. This research was to figure out the role of linc01555 in cisplatin (DDP) resistance of SCLC cells and its possible latent mechanism. After establishment of the resistant sub-strain H446/DDP or DMS-53/DDP, detection of linc01555, microRNA (miR)-122-5p and CLICl was done in the H446/DDP or DMS-53/DDP cell line. After intervention, cell biological functions were determined, as well as tube formation ability. The detection of angiomotin (Amot)-p130 and the validation of the regulatory mechanism were performed. Furthermore, tumor xenografts were applied in nude mice to evaluate the effect of linc01555 on DDP resistance in SCLC in vivo. Linc01555 was elevated in SCLC tissues and cells, and in H446/DDP cells or DMS-53/DDP vs. its parental cells; Restraining linc01555 or elevating miR-122-5p repressed the proliferation and metastasis of H446/DDP or DMS-53/DDP cells and vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formation. CLIC1 mediated miR-122-5p to influence the occurrence and development of SCLC. Linc01555 competitively combined with miR-122-5p, which targeted CLIC1. Refrained linc01555 elevated Amot-p130 via the miR-122-5p/CLIC1 axis. Reduced linc01555 refrained tumor growth and DDP resistance in vivo.In short, linc01555 may cause changes in DDP resistance via miR-122-5p/CLIC1 in SCLC. The finding may offer drug targets for SCLC resistance.

[QARS1 gene related glutaminyl-tRNA synthetase deficiency syndrome: report of three cases and a review of literature]

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of QARS1 gene related glutaminyl-tRNA synthetase deficiency. Methods: To summarize and analyze the clinical manifestations, imaging, laboratory examination, genetic variant characteristics and treatment of three patients from the Fujian Medical University Affiliated Union Hospital, the 900th Hospital of People's Liberation Army, the First Medical Center of People's Liberation Army General Hsopital carrying compound heterozygous variations in QARS1 gene with a long-term follow-up in China. A literature search was conducted using Wanfang, Weipu, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Pubmed databases with the keywords "QARS", "QARS1" and "glutaminyl-tRNA Synthetase"(up to December 2019). Results: Case 1, a female 53 days of age, was admitted to the Fujian Medical University Affiliated Union Hospital for treatment because of the complaint of repetitive seizures for one month after birth and fever for one day. The seizure occurred within the first 2 hours of life with multiple forms and often had a status as persisted from hours to days. The seizures were resistant to many anti-epilepsy drugs (AED) and ketogenic diet but later controlled by clonazepam. However, she died at the age of seven years. Case 2 (younger brother of case 1), a one-hour-old boy, was hospitalized because of seizures after birth for 1 hour. Intrauterine growth retardation was discovered during late-pregnancy. The boy presented seizures and microcephaly immediately after birth, and his epilepsy was pharmacoresisitant. Case 3, an 8-month-old girl, was admitted due to recurrent convulsions for nearly two months. The girl had mild developmental retardation and hypotonia after birth. The infantile spasm was observed at her age of 6 months and disappeared under treatment with Vitamin B6, vigabatrin combined with adreno-cortico-tropic-hormone and magnesium sulfate. However, the seizure pattern turned to tonic seizures later. She was seizures free now with clobazam and zonisamide treatment. All of them manifested as a syndrome composed of severe global developmental retardation, progressive microcephaly, hypotonia from the very beginning, mild hypoproteinemia and diffuse brain atrophy. Genetic studies revealed compound heterozygous variations of QARS1 gene which were not reported previously. A review of the literature reported a total of 22 patients from 18 unrelated families all over the world. Except for 5 cases without epilepsy,all the patients shared very similar clinical manifestations as classic pentalogy. The recommended effective treatment for epilepsy has not been reported yet. Conclusions: Glutaminyl-tRNA synthetase deficiency caused by QARS1 gene variations manifested as a clinical syndrome's pentalogy, characterized by microcephaly, cerebral atrophy, intractable early-onset epileptic encephalopathy, global developmental retardation and severe muscle hypotonia.

Research Progress of Metabolomics in Forensic Pathology

Abstract

Metabolomics is an interdisciplinary subject that rose in the post-genomic era, which focuses on quantitative study of the response of living organisms to outside stimulation and pathophysiological changes, as well as multiple dynamic response of the level of in vivo metabolites caused by genetic mutation. It is extensively used in basic research of system biology, materia medica, clinical medicine, etc. In the forensic field, metabolomics mainly focuses on forensic toxicology, but with the generalization of certain techniques, it's foreseeable that metabolomics has a broad research prospect in forensic pathology. This article summarizes the major analysis techniques and methods of metabolomics, describes the research status of metabolomic techniques in the field of forensic pathology application research, including postmortem interval and death cause. Moreover, this article summarizes and discusses the potential applicable areas, in order to provide reference for relative research and application.

RP11‑284F21.9 promotes lung carcinoma proliferation and invasion via the regulation of miR‑627‑3p/CCAR1

Lung carcinoma is a prominent cause of mortality among patients with cancer. Previous studies have reported the vital role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the malignant progression of lung cancer. lncRNA RP11-284F21.9 was originally identified to be expressed in lung carcinoma, but its specific function remains unknown. Therefore, the present study aimed to elucidate the role of lncRNA RP11-284F21.9 in lung carcinoma progression. The expression of RP11-284F21.9 in lung cell lines and tissues was measured using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. The endogenous expression of RP11-284F21.9 was silenced using RNA interference, and cell viabilities were measured with a Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. The invasion and apoptosis of cells were determined via Transwell assays and flow cytometry, respectively. The protein expression levels were measured by western blotting. An increased expression of RP11-284F21.9 was identified in both lung carcinoma tissues and cells. Knockdown of RP11-284F21.9 in lung carcinoma cells inhibited cell proliferation and invasion, but promoted cell apoptosis. The present study identified the existence of a direct interaction between RP11-284F21.9 and microRNA (miRNA/miR)-627-3p. Mechanistically, it was demonstrated that RP11-284F21.9 promoted the proliferation and invasiveness of lung carcinoma cells, in part, via the regulation of miR-627-3p. Furthermore, cell division cycle and apoptosis regulator 1 (CCAR1) was identified as a target gene of miR-627-3p. The in vivo tumor growth assay also demonstrated that the knockdown of RP11-284F21.9 suppressed tumor growth, upregulated miR-627-3p and downregulated CCAR1 in the xenograft model of nude mice. Thus, the present findings indicated the tumor promoting functions of RP11-284F21.9 in the progression of lung carcinoma, and provided a novel lncRNA/miRNA axis as a target for the management of lung cancer.

Application of Convolutional Neural Network in Identifying Different Levels of Isokinetic Exercise Efforts

Objective To develop a convolutional neural network （CNN） that can identify isokinetic knee exercises moment of force-time diagrams under different levels of efforts. Methods The 200 healthy young volunteers performed concentric isokinetic right knee flexion-extension reciprocating exercises with maximal effort as well as half the effort at angular velocities of 30°/s and 60°/s twice, respectively, with an interval of 45 min. The moment of force-time diagrams were collected. The 200 subjects were randomly divided into the training set （140 subjects） and the testing set （60 subjects）. The moment of force-time diagrams from subjects in the training set were used to train CNN model, and then the fully trained model was used to predict types of curves from the testing set. Random sampling of subjects along with subsequent development of models were performed 3 times. Results Under the circumstances of isokinetic knee exercises with maximal effort and half the effort, 2 400 moment of force-time diagrams were produced, respectively. Classification accuracy rates of the CNN models after the 3 trainings were 91.11%, 90.49% and 92.08%, respectively, and the average accuracy rate was 91.23%. Conclusion The CNN models developed in this study have a good effect on differentiating isokinetic moment of force-time diagrams of maximal effort exercises from those made with half the effort, which can contribute to identifying levels of efforts exerted by subjects during isokinetic knee exercises.

Metformin inhibits metastatic breast cancer progression and improves chemosensitivity by inducing vessel normalization via PDGF-B downregulation

Background

Vascular maturity and functionality are closely associated with tumor progression and chemosensitivity. The antidiabetic agent metformin has shown its ability to inhibit tumor angiogenesis in metastatic breast cancer models. However, it remains unclear if or how metformin remodels the abnormal vasculature of metastatic breast cancer, while inhibiting angiogenesis.

Methods

Metastatic breast cancer models were constructed to compare microvessel density (MVD), vascular maturity and function, lung metastasis and chemosensitivity in metformin-treated or untreated mice. Protein array assay and transcriptome sequencing were performed for genetic screening. Lentiviral shRNA-PDGF-B transfection was used for observing the contribution of PDGF-B knockdown to metformin’s vascular effects.

Results

Metastatic breast cancers were characterized by an excessively angiogenic, immature and morphologically abnormal vasculature. Compared to control, metformin significantly reduced MVD, leakage and hypoxia, and increased vascular mural cells coverage and perfusion, namely, “vessel normalization”. Metformin at human blood concentrations had no direct effect on the migration and proliferation of cancer cells. Based on that, reduced lung metastasis of the primary tumor and improved chemosensitization by metformin were assumed to be mediated via metformin’s vascular effects. Further results of genetic screening and in vivo experiments showed that the downregulation of platelet-derived growth factor B (PDGF-B) greatly contributed to the metformin-induced vessel normalization.

Conclusions

These findings provide pre-clinical evidences for the vascular mechanism of metformin-induced metastasis inhibition and the chemosensitization of metastatic breast cancers.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-019-1211-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Difference Analysis Based on 16S rRNA Sequencing of Different Soil Bacterial Communities

Abstract

Objective To study the structure and differences of bacterial communities in different soils, and to explore the effectiveness of 16S rRNA sequencing in identification of different soil. Methods Soil samples from 7 places in Shanghai were collected, then bacterial genomic DNA were extracted from them. The fragments of hypervariable region from 16S rRNA sequences were sequenced with high-throughput sequencing techniques. The results were quantified or visualized with bioinformatics software. The differences in diversity and abundance among the three kinds of bacterial communities in soil samples from grassland, forests and beaches were compared and analyzed. Results The statistical differences that existed among the alpha diversity indexes of bacterial communities in soil samples of grassland, forests and beaches had statistical significance. The relative abundance and diversity of bacterial communities in these three kinds of soil were significantly different. Grassland soil had higher Acidobacteria abundance, forest soil had higher Proteobacteria abundance, beach soil had higher Actinobacteria abundance. However, the differences in soil bacterial communities in artificial grasslands, natural grasslands and industrial district grasslands did not have statistical significance. Conclusion 16S rRNA sequencing can effectively distinguish different soils. This method may be able to provide clues for first crime scene inference in criminal cases.

Forensic Analysis of 24 Cases of Long-term Antipsychotics Use-Induced Sudden Unexpected Deaths

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the forensic characteristics of 24 psychiatric patients who died of long-term use of psychotropic drugs.

METHODS

Cases of sudden death of psychiatric patients from 2011 to 2016 were collected. The forensic characteristics of these sudden deaths were retrospectively analyzed by systematic investigation plus results of autopsy and toxics （drugs）.

RESULTS

Among the 24 psychiatric patients who died of long-term use of psychotropic substances, the ratio of male to female was 1.7∶1, and the average age was （59.0±8.8） years. Fifteen patients had clear disease durations （14.4±8.2） years, and other the nine were known to have disease durations of over 3 years. The death time of 62.5% of patients was the daytime in working days, and 91.7% of the patients died at home. Most patients complained different degrees of physical discomfort before death. Patients with schizophrenia （20 cases） were the most common, followed by depression （4 cases）. All patients had the history of taking psychotropic drugs, with clozapine and chlorpromazine being the mostly detected ones. The causes of death were mainly circulatory diseases （15 cases）, with the most common being myocarditis （11 cases） followed by pneumonia （4 cases）.

CONCLUSIONS

Critical attention should be paid to the risk of antipsychotics-induced sudden unexpected deaths for psychiatric patients, particularly for those with schizophrenia.

[Research Progress of CircRNA and Its Application Prospect in Forensic Medicine]

Circular RNA （circRNA） is a type of noncoding RNA with tissue specificity and high stability, which forms a closed continuous loop and is abundantly expressed in tissue cells. According to recent research, the regulatory function of circRNA elucidating in the occurrence and development of disease shows a potential for diagnosing clinical disease and revealing disease mechanism. This paper reviews the biological characteristics, analysis methods of circRNA and its research progress in clinical application as biomarker, and outlooks its application in the field of forensic medicine.

AmotP130 regulates Rho GTPase and decreases breast cancer cell mobility

Angiomotin (Amot) is a newly discovered, multifunctional protein that is involved in cell migration and angiogenesis. However, the role of its isoform, AmotP130, in the regulation of cytoskeleton and metastasis of breast cancer, is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of AmotP130 in the reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and the changes of morphology in breast cancer cells through the Rho pathway that influences the invasion and migration of cells. The results suggested that AmotP130 suppressed the invasion ability through remodelling the cytoskeleton of breast cancer cells, including the actin fibre organization and focal adhesion protein turnover. Global transcriptome changes in breast cancer cells following knockdown of AmotP130 identified pathways related with the cytoskeleton and cell motility that involved the Rho GTPase family. From database analyses, changes in the Rho GTPase family of proteins were identified as possible prognostic factors in patients with breast cancer. We have been suggested that AmotP130 suppressed the invasion ability through remodelling of the cytoskeleton of breast cancer cells, involving regulation of the Rho pathway. The cytoskeleton-related pathway components may provide novel, clinically therapeutic targets for breast cancer treatment.

The efficiency and safety of trastuzumab and lapatinib added to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in Her2-positive breast cancer patients: a randomized meta-analysis

Background

The addition of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2) therapies to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) during treatment of Her2-positive breast cancer has been proposed as an effective way to improve the prognosis. However, the treatment outcomes of adding trastuzumab, lapatinib, or both to NAC were not unequivocal in randomized clinical trials. Based on these data, a meta-analysis was performed.

Objective

The main objective was to evaluate the efficiency and safety of trastuzumab and lapatinib added to NAC for treatment of Her2-positive breast cancer.

Methods

ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed were searched for randomized clinical trials that compared trastuzumab, lapatinib, or both, added to NAC. The main endpoint was a pathologically complete response (pCR) rate, in breast only or in breast and lymph nodes. The drug safety and the influence of hormone-receptor status, comparing the clinical response and the rate of breast conservation, were evaluated.

Results

A total of eight publications were included in the primary analysis, designed as two or three subgroups. The cumulative cases were 2,349 and the analyses of all the clinical trials showed that the pCR rate was significantly higher in the group receiving trastuzumab than that in the group with lapatinib, either in breast only (P=0.001) or in breast and lymph nodes (P=0.0001). Similar results could be seen in comparisons of the combination versus trastuzumab group. Further studies of subgroups divided into hormone receptor-positive or-negative patients showed that the addition of trastuzumab or dual Her2-targeted therapy significantly improved the pCR rate in patients who were hormone-insensitive. Regarding the toxic effects, we found more grade 3 and 4 toxic effects, such as diarrhea, skin disorder, and hepatic biochemical changes in the lapatinib and combination groups. No temporally significant differences were found when the clinical response and the rate of breast conservation in the groups were analyzed.

Conclusion

The combination of trastuzumab and lapatinib was superior to single-agent treatment for improved pCR rate. However, combination treatment was not effective in improving the rate of breast conservation. Furthermore, a higher risk for toxicity was associated with combined administration.

Efficacy and safety of icotinib as first-line therapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

Background and objective

Several clinical trials have proven that icotinib hydrochloride, a novel epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)–tyrosine kinase inhibitor, exhibits encouraging efficacy and tolerability in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who failed previous chemotherapy. This study was performed to assess the efficacy and toxicity of icotinib as first-line therapy for patients with advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma with EGFR-sensitive mutation.

Patients and methods

Thirty-five patients with advanced NSCLC with EGFR-sensitive mutation who were sequentially admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University from March 2012 to March 2014 were enrolled into our retrospective research. All patients were administered icotinib as first-line treatment. The tumor responses were evaluated using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST, version 1.1).

Results

Among the 35 patients, the tumor objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate were 62.9% (22/35) and 88.6% (31/35), respectively. The median progression-free survival was 11.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 10.2–11.8 months), and median overall survival was 21.0 months (95% CI: 20.1–21.9 months). The most common drug-related toxicities were rashes (eleven patients) and diarrhea (nine patients), but these were generally manageable and reversible.

Conclusion

Icotinib monotherapy is effective and tolerable as first-line treatment for patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma with EGFR-sensitive mutation.

Utility of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists for prevention of chemotherapy-induced ovarian damage in premenopausal women with breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Premature ovarian failure and infertility following chemotherapy are major concerns for premenopausal women with breast cancer. A potential ovarian function preservation strategy is administration of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists during adjuvant chemotherapy; however, studies of the clinical efficacy of GnRH agonists to protect chemotherapy-induced ovarian damage have shown mixed results.

Objective

This meta-analysis study was designed to estimate the efficacy of GnRH agonists administered concurrently with chemotherapy to prevent chemotherapy-induced ovarian damage in premenopausal women with breast cancer.

Methods

Electronic literature databases (PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library databases searching, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Web of Science, and the Wanfang Data) were searched for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published until September 2015. Only RCTs that examined the effect of GnRH agonists for chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure in premenopausal women with breast cancer were selected. The rate of spontaneous resumption of menses and spontaneous pregnancy were collected. All data were analyzed by RevMan 5.3 (Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark) and Stata 12.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA).

Results

Eleven RCTs with a total of 1,062 participants (GnRH agonists administered concurrently with chemotherapy, n=541; chemotherapy alone, n=521) were included in the meta-analysis. A significantly greater number of women treated with GnRH agonist experienced spontaneous resumption of menses after the adjuvant chemotherapy, yielding a pooled odds ratio of 2.57 (versus chemotherapy alone, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.65, 4.01; P<0.0001). A subgroup analysis showed that addition of GnRH agonists significantly improved the resumption of menses rate in patients who were hormone-insensitive. However, the two treatment groups experienced similar spontaneous pregnancy (odds ratio =0.177; 95% CI=0.92, 1.40; P=0.09).

Conclusion

GnRH agonists cotreatment with chemotherapy in premenopausal women with breast cancer plays a beneficial role in resumption of ovarian function, with a higher rate of resumption of menses. However, treatment with GnRH agonists does not appear to exhibit its protective effects in fertility.

Ipsilateral breast metastasis from a pulmonary adenocarcinoma: a case report and a focused review of the literature

Metastases to the breast from extramammary malignancies are extremely rare. Ruling out the diagnosis of primary breast tumor is important in order to decide on clinical management and predict prognosis. We report a case of metastasis to the breast from a pulmonary adenocarcinoma, with extensive micropapillary component, diagnosed concomitantly with the primary tumor. A 52 year-old female patient presented with mammary gland tingling and dyspnea accompanied with fatigued of 4 months duration and a nodular shadows in the front of the upper lobe was found on a chest computed tomography (CT) scan. The original clinical diagnosis was right breast cancer with lung and bone metastasis, or breast and lung double primary cancers. In addition,on physical examination a poorly defined mass was noted in the upper outer quadrant of the right breast. The patient underwent thoracocentesis and breast biopsy. By imageology, cytology, histology and immunohistochemistry, we diagnosed primary lung cancer with metastases to the right breast and bone. The metastatic anatomic sites demonstrated histologically extensive micropapillary component, which is recently recognized as an important prognostic factor. The patient was administered 4 cycles of cisplatin and docetaxel, although no clinical response was seen, the patient is still alive 9 months after diagnosis. The result of immunohistochemistry is a useful supplement in differential diagnosis.

RNA-binding domain of the key structural protein P7 for the Rice dwarf virus particle assembly

The Rice dwarf virus (RDV) P7 structural protein is the key protein in the RDV particle assembly. The P7 protein was digested partially or completely by Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease and/or Pseudomonas fragi Asp-N protease. The molecular mass and the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the polypeptide fragments of the P7 protein were determined by SDS-PAGE and the Edman degradation method, respectively. Then the polypeptides were located in the deduced amino acid sequence of the RDV P7 protein based on the nucleotide sequence information, with the knowledge of the specific cleavage sites of the Staphylococcus aureus V8 and Pseudomonas fragi Asp-N protease, and the two RNA-binding domains in the P7 protein were identified. Domain 1 was located in the residue 128-249 containing 122 amino acids and domain 2 was located in the residue 325-355 containing 31 amino acids. Thus, these two domains may play an important role in the virus particle assembly by contributing to the packaging of viral dsRNAs inside the particles. The two domains may be novel RNA-binding domains, because no amino acid sequences highly similar to the conservative sequences of known dsRNA-binding domains reported so far. The similarity between the motif of domain 1 and the motif of the DNA-binding protein suggests that the DNA-binding activity of the RDV P7 protein may be due to this sequence. The similarity between the motif of domain 1 and the motif of the RNA polymerase domain suggests that the P7 protein may also play a role in RNA synthesis, besides its function in the assembly and subsequent packaging of viral dsRNA into core particles.

Accumulation of pathogenesis-related type-5 like proteins in phytoplasma-infected garland chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum coronarium

Soluble proteins extracted from leaves, apical shoots, axillary shoots, and stems of garland chrysanthemum plants infected by onion yellows phytoplasma were analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Computerized matching analysis revealed that at least six soluble proteins were accumulated specifically in phytoplasma-infected garland chrysanthemum. N-terminal amino acids sequences of these soluble proteins, determined by Edman degradation, shared high sequence similarities with those of pathogenesis-related type-5 (PR-5) proteins such as tobacco thaumatin-like protein. Accumulation of these six proteins was also found in garland chrysanthemum plants infected by other phytoplasmas. These results demonstrate that phytoplasmal infection induces the accumulation of PR-5 like proteins in garland chrysanthemum plants.

[Experimental study of mechanism and measures of prevention and treatment of hypothermal vasoconstriction]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the mechanism and to explore the measures of prevention and treatment of hypothermal vasoconstriction.

METHODS

By the techniques of endothelial cell culture and scanning electron microscopy, and vasomotor functional test of isolated vascular vessels, the relation of hypothermal vasoconstriction and the release of endothelium-derived contractile and vasodilative factors were observed.

RESULTS

Hypothermia obviously induced vasoconstriction of isolated vascular vessels, whether endothelium was intact or removed, the lower the temperature, the higher the vascular tension. Removal of endothelium could decrease the effect of vasoconstriction by hypothermia. The conditioned medium of bovine aortic endothelial cell could induce significantly vasoconstriction of isolated rat common neck arterial ring in hypothermia. It indicated that the bovine aortic endothelial cells secreted contractile factors into the medium. Reheating to 37 degrees C or vasodilator or reheating plus vasodilator did not obviously influence the hypothermia-induced vasoconstriction within 2 hours. When reheating to 50 degrees C, vascular tension was decreased, but only changed in range of 28% to 42%.

CONCLUSION

Hypothermia vasoconstriction is relative to vasoconstrictor factors secreted by endothelium. Reheating to 37 degrees C or vasodilator does not antagonize the constriction of vascular vessels. Reheating to 50 degrees C only partially eliminates the constrict effect of blood vessels, so the prevention of hypothermia vasoconstriction should be emphasized.

[The foundation of the injury model on cultured human fetal lung fibroblasts and its immunohistochemistry research]

Cultured human fetal lung Fbs was first used to study the relationship between wound age and the change of cFn synthesized by Fbs in Vitro. A sterilized injector was applied to scrap the cultured confluent Fbs and a "wound" was obtained. Fbs around the wound was seen to change from a stationary stage to an active stage. Using the method of immunochemistry and image analysis system (IAS), cFn synthesized by Fbs around the wound was observed at once, 30 min, 1 h, 3 h and 6 h after injury. It was found that cFn began to change 1 h after injury and increased continually within 6 h. It suggests that the change of cFn synthesized by Fbs is time-dependent after injury and this approach breaks a new path in the study on estimation of wound age.

[Clinical significance of changes in ophthalmic arterial flow in pregnancy induced hypertension monitored by color Doppler imaging]

Ophthalmic arterial flow parameters were measured by color doppler imaging in 30 cases of healthy non-pregnant women, 30 cases of normal pregnancy and 37 cases of pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH), together with left ventricular output determination. An elevation of 2nd peak, B/A ratio and all parameters but RI was recognized as the characteristics of ophthalmic arterial flow spectrum in PIH. A positive correlation was observed between these changes and severity of PIH. All parameters returned to normal as PIH was controlled either after treatment or after delivery. Ophthalmic arterial flow monitoring might be useful in diagnosis of PIH (sensitivity 82%, specificity 98%). and for prognosis of PIH.

A new family of fucose-containing gangliosides isolated from human senile cataracts

Gangliosides were isolated from human cataracts by solvent extraction, silicic acid chromatography, thin-layer chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography. A total of 11 resorcinol-positive bands were revealed by thin-layer chromatography. Bands 1, 5 and 7 were partially identified as hematoside. GM1 ganglioside and disialoganglioside by gas-liquid chromatography as the O-trimethylsilylated methylglycosides. In addition to galactose and glucose, fucose was found to be present in seven ganglioside fractions (bands 3, 4, 6 and 8-11). All these fucolipids contained N-acetylglucosamine in addition to sialic acid. Fucogangliosides G-3, G-4 and G-6 contained a 2:1 molar ratio of galactose to glucose, while G-8 had a galactose/glucose molar ratio of 1:1. Long-chain fatty acids constituted 60-77% of the total normal fatty acids in N-acetylgalactosamine-containing gangliosides, whereas the fucogangliosides contained primarily palmitate, although significant amounts of long-chain acids were also detected. The major long-chain base of the fucoganglioside was sphinganine (dihydrosphinogosine). The role of fucose-containing gangliosides in maintaining adhesions between lens membranes in cataracts is discussed with reference to glycosphingolipids in other tissues.

The presence of ceramide hydrolase and synthetase in pig lens epithelium

An enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of ceramide and its degradation to sphingosine and fatty acid has been found in pig lens epithelium. The enzyme has been partially purified fivefold by subcellular fractionation. It is activated by Triton X-100 and sodium cholate. The pH optimum for both hydrolase and synthetase has occurred at alkaline range. The enzymatic hydrolysis of ceramide has an apparent Km of 1.0 x 10(-4) M, and its reverse reaction (via the free-acid pathway) has an apparent Km of 8.2 X 10(-5) M and 2.45 X 10(-4) M for palmitic acid and sphingosine, respectively. The hydrolysis of ceramide by this enzyme was stimulated approximately 75% in the presence of fatty acid-free bovine serum albumin at the concentration of 3.33 X 10(-5) M.

Isolation and partial characterization of fucose- and N-acetylglucosamine-containing neutral glycosphingolipids from human senile cataracts

Five neutral glycosphingolipids were isolated from human cataracts using silicic acid column chromatography and preparative thin-layer chromatography. Three of these glycolipids were partially identified by gas-liquid chromatography as glucosylceramide, lactosylceramide, and trihexosylceramide. Two glucosamine-containing glycosphingolipids (one of which contained fucose) were also detected. One of these two lipids contained galactose, glucose, N-acetylglucosamine in the molar ratio of 2:1:1, while the other contained fucose, galactose, glucose, and N-acetylglucosamine with the molar ratio of 1:2:1:1. Dihydrosphingosine (sphinganine) was the major long-chain base detected in all these fractions. The fatty acids of these neutral glycosphingolipids were variable in chain length, although the majority of them were greater than 20 carbons. This represents the first time whereby a family of neutral glycosphingolipids has been detected in human cataracts. This is also the first demonstration of the existence of a neutral fucolipid in the lenses of any species.