人附睾蛋白4在卵巢癌中的应用进展

卵巢癌是妇科常见的恶性肿瘤,其死亡率居妇科恶性肿瘤之首,早期发现有助于提高患者的五年生存率。人附睾蛋白(HE4)属于蛋白酶抑制剂家族,是一种新的卵巢癌肿瘤标志物。HE4在卵巢癌组织中及患者血清中处于高表达状态。研究表明在早期诊断方面HE4比糖类抗原125(CA125)有更高的灵敏度和特异度,在疾病的治疗过程中可以预测肿瘤细胞减灭术的满意度及患者对铂类的反应,在卵巢癌的复发及预后的监测中HE4也有很大的临床应用价值。     

Exploring the expression bar code of SAA variants for gastric cancer detection

We reported an integrated platform to explore serum protein variant pattern in cancer and its utility as a new class of biomarker panel for diagnosis. On the model study of serum amyloid A (SAA), we employed nanoprobe‐based affinity mass spectrometry for enrichment, identification and quantitation of SAA variants from serum of 105 gastric cancer patients in comparison with 54 gastritis patients, 54 controls, and 120 patients from other cancer. The result revealed surprisingly heterogeneous and most comprehensive SAA bar code to date, which comprises 24 SAA variants including SAA1‐ and SAA2‐encoded products, polymorphic isoforms, N‐terminal–truncated forms, and three novel SAA oxidized isotypes, in which the variant‐specific peptide sequence were also confirmed by LC‐MS/MS. A diagnostic model was developed for dimension reduction and computational classification of the 24 SAA‐variant bar code, providing good discrimination (AUC = 0.85 ± 3.2E?3) for differentiating gastric cancer group from gastritis and normal groups (sensitivity, 0.76; specificity, 0.81) and was validated with external validation cohort (sensitivity, 0.71; specificity, 0.74). Our platform not only shed light on the occurrence and modification extent of under‐represented serum protein variants in cancer, but also suggested a new concept of diagnostic platform by serum protein variant profile.     

超声弹性成像与超声造影对肝肿瘤的诊断效果对比

目的:分析超声弹性成像与超声造影对肝肿瘤的诊断效果。方法:收集我院2015年3月至2016年3月收治的肝肿瘤患者76例,术前均行超声弹性成像和超声造影检查,比较超声弹性成像和超声造影与病理诊断(黄金标准)的结果。结果:超声弹性成像与病理检查结果比较无统计学差异(P0.05);超声造影与病理检查结果无统计学差异(P0.05);超声弹性成像和超声造影的敏感性、特异性、准确性无统计学差异(P0.05)。结论:超声弹性成像、超声造影对肝肿瘤诊断中均有重要价值,建议二者联合检测,提高肝肿瘤检出准确率。     

Simultaneous bilateral posteromedial tibial epiphysis stress fractures in a healthy young man: A case report

We present a compelling case of simultaneous, bilateral tibial stress fractures occurring in a unique epiphyseal and posterior location, with unclear aetiology. An overweight, Caucasian male in his late 20s developed synchronous bilateral medial knee pain following an intense 10-day training regimen. His radiographies were normal, but MRI revealed almost identical bilateral stress fracture lines in the posteromedial tibial epiphyses. Bone mineral densitometry and a full metabolic and hormonal panel were performed to further investigate potential underlying metabolic bone disease. He was found to have normal bone mineral densitometry and low Vitamin D serum values. Symptomatology greatly improved with activity modification. There were no further complaints and complications at 12 months’ follow-up. Diagnosis can be challenging and the treating physician should be acquainted with the basic science of stress fractures and main discriminating clinical, biochemical and radiological characteristics from insufficiency fractures, to avoid pitfalls in treatment decision.     

Trypanosoma evansi: A comparison of PCR and parasitological diagnostic tests in experimentally infected mice

Trypanosoma evansi is the causative agent of equine trypanosomosis, disease that affects horse’s productivity and health. Parasitological and molecular methods are mostly used to detect the infection. The aim of this work was evaluate PCR sensitivity to detect T. evansi using the primers 21/22-mer, ITS1, ESAG 6/7 and TBR 1/2 designed from repetitive (multicopies) genomic sequences. The results were compare with two parasitological tests in mice, micro-haematocrite centrifugation technique and direct microscopic examination. The results shows (a) that the minimum amount of DNA from blood of highly parasitaemic mice that was detectable by PCR was 0.001 ng, using the ESAG6/7 and TBR1/2 primer, (b) using TBR1/2 primer for parasites purified could detect 0.000001 ng and (c) in the prepatent period PCR detect the presence of parasites earlier than parasitological techniques. Nevertheless, the percentage of detection for PCR varies depending on primer employed with 60% and 66% for ITS1 and 21/22-mer, and 80% for ESAG6/7 and TBR1/2. Consequently, TBR1/2 and ESAG6/7 were the best primers to monitor T. evansi infections in mice. For epidemiological application, such comparative evaluation should be made for detection of T. evansi in livestock such as horses.     

Metabolomic analysis of human disease and its application to the eye

Metabolomics, the analysis of the metabolite profile in body fluids or tissues, is being applied to the analysis of a number of different diseases as well as being used in following responses to therapy. While genomics involves the study of gene expression and proteomics the expression of proteins, metabolomics investigates the consequences of the activity of these genes and proteins. There is good reason to think that metabolomics will find particular utility in the investigation of inflammation, given the multi-layered responses to infection and damage that are seen. This may be particularly relevant to eye disease, which may have tissue specific and systemic components. Metabolomic analysis can inform us about ocular or other body fluids and can therefore provide new information on pathways and processes involved in these responses. In this review, we explore the metabolic consequences of disease, in particular ocular conditions, and why the data may be usefully and uniquely assessed using the multiplexed analysis inherent in the metabolomic approach.     

Multi-sensor plant imaging: Towards the development of a stress-catalogue

Agricultural production is limited by a wide range of abiotic (e.g. drought, waterlogging) and biotic (pests, diseases and weeds) stresses. The impact of these stresses can be minimized by appropriate management actions such as irrigation or chemical pesticide application. However, further optimization requires the ability to diagnose and quantify the different stresses at an early stage. Particularly valuable information of plant stress responses is provided by plant imaging, i.e. non-contact sensing with spatial resolving power: (i) thermal imaging, detecting changes in transpiration rate and (ii) fluorescence imaging monitoring alterations in photosynthesis and other physiological processes. These can be supplemented by conventional video imagery for study of growth. An efficient early warning system would need to discriminate between different stressors. Given the wide range of sensors, and the association of specific plant physiological responses with changes at particular wavelengths, this goal seems within reach. This is based on the organization of the individual sensor results in a matrix that identifies specific signatures for multiple stress types. In this report, we first review the diagnostic effectiveness of different individual imaging techniques and then extend this to the multi-sensor stress-identification approach.     

A fluorescence polarization assay using an engineered human respiratory syncytial virus F protein as a direct screening platform

Probe electrospray ionization (PESI) is one of the most promising methods in biochemical analysis because it enables us to analyze biological samples very quickly without any special pretreatment. Moreover, due to the small size of the needle tip, this method has advantages such as low invasiveness to the samples, making it possible to analyze the biological profiles of organs or tissues in living animal in situ. In this study, we performed a real-time analysis of living mice that delineates the differences in lipid composition of hepatocytes between normal and steatotic mice. In steatotic mice, the number of peaks and the ion abundance for triacylglycerols were much higher compared with those of control mice. All mice used in this study tolerated the procedure well and survived for more than a month until sacrificed for further analysis. To test a potential for medical diagnosis, human tumor tissues were also measured and we obtained discriminative results judged as useful for diagnostics. These results pave the way into the application of PESI to the in vivo analysis of biological molecules.