BACKGROUND:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by a multi-cause,multi-stage and multi-focus process of tumor progression.Its prognosis is poor and early diagnosis is of utmost importance.This study was und...BACKGROUND:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by a multi-cause,multi-stage and multi-focus process of tumor progression.Its prognosis is poor and early diagnosis is of utmost importance.This study was undertaken to investigate the dynamic expression of oncofetal antigen glypican-3 (GPC-3) and GPC-3 mRNA in hepatocarcinogenesis and to explore their early diagnostic value for HCC.METHODS:A hepatoma model was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats with 0.05% 2-fluorenylacetamide and confirmed by hematoxylin and eosin staining and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) expression.Total RNA was purified and transcribed into cDNA by reverse transcription.Fragments of the GPC-3 gene were amplified by nested RT-PCR,and confirmed by sequencing.GPC-3 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry,Western blotting or ELISA.RESULTS:Positive GPC-3 expression showed as brown granule-like staining localized in the cytoplasm.Histological examination of hepatocytes revealed three morphological stages of granule-like degeneration,atypical hyperplasia (precancerous),and cancer formation,with a progressive increase of liver total RNA and GGT expression.The incidence of liver GPC-3 mRNA and GPC-3,and serum GPC-3 was 100%,100% and 77.8% in the HCC group,100%,100%,and 66.7% in the precancerous group,83.3%,83.3%,and 38.9% in the degeneration group,and no expression in the liver or blood of the control group,respectively.There was a positive correlation between liver GPC-3 mRNA and total RNA level (r=0.475,P<0.05) or liver GPC-3 (r=1.0,P<0.001) or serum GPC-3 (r= 0.994,P<0.001).CONCLUSION:Abnormal oncofetal antigen GPC-3 and GPC-3 mRNA expression in hepatocarcinogenesis may be promising molecular markers for early diagnosis of HCC.展开更多
The event of mutations in the surface antigen gene of hepatitis B virus(HBV) results in undetectable hepatitis B surface antigen with positive/negative anti-hepatitis B core(anti-HBc) antibody status in serum and this...The event of mutations in the surface antigen gene of hepatitis B virus(HBV) results in undetectable hepatitis B surface antigen with positive/negative anti-hepatitis B core(anti-HBc) antibody status in serum and this phenomenon is named occult hepatitis B infection(OBI). The presence of anti-HBc antibody in serum is an important key for OBI tracking, although about 20% of OBI cases are negative for anti-HBc antibody. The diagnosis of OBI is mainly based on polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and real-time PCR assays. However, real-time PCR is a more reliable method than PCR. OBI is a great issue for the public health problem and a challenge for the clinical entity worldwide. The persistence of OBI may lead to the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. With regard to OBI complications, the screening of HBV DNA by the highly sensitive molecular means should be implemented for:(1) patients with a previous history of chronic or acute HBV infection;(2) patients co-infected with hepatitis C virus/human immunodeficiency virus;(3) patients undergoing chemotherapy or anti-CD20 therapy;(4) recipients of organ transplant;(5) blood donors;(6) organ transplant donors;(7) thalassemia and hemophilia patients;(8) health care workers;(9) patients with liver related disease(cryptogenic);(10) hemodialysis patients;(11) patients undergoing lamivudine or interferon therapy; and(12) children in time of HBV vaccination especially in highly endemic areas of HBV. Active HBV vaccination should be implemented for the close relatives of patients who are negative for OBI markers. Thus, the goal of this review is to evaluate the rate of OBI with a focus on status of high risk groups in different regions of the world.展开更多
Since the discovery of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in 1983, numerous detection methods for the presence of the bacterium have been developed. Each one of them has been associated with advantages and disadvantages....Since the discovery of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in 1983, numerous detection methods for the presence of the bacterium have been developed. Each one of them has been associated with advantages and disadvantages. Noninvasive tests such as serology, <sup>13</sup>C urea breath test (UBT) and stool antigen tests are usually preferred by the clinicians. Serology has its own limitation especially in endemic areas while <sup>13</sup>C UBT is technically very demanding. The stool antigen detection method, although specific, is usually associated with poor sensitivity. The <sup>13</sup>C UBT is believed to be specific, but with present revelation of the fact that stomach is colonized by many other urease producing bacteria makes it questionable. Histology, culture, rapid urease test and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are the tests which are carried out on antral biopsies collected by invasive means. Histology has been proposed to be very sensitive and specific but the question is how by simply looking the morphology of the bacteria in the microscope, one can claim that the curved bacterium is exclusively H. pylori. Rapid urease test (RUT), the doctor’s test, is also challenged because the presence of other urease producing bacteria in the stomach cannot be denied. Moreover, RUT has been reported with poor sensitivity specially, when density of the bacterium is low. Isolation of H. pylori is essential to investigate its growth requirements, antibiotic susceptibility testing, studying virulence factor to develop vaccine and many more explorations. It has also got several disadvantages i.e., special condition for transporting, media, incubation and few days waiting for the colonies to appear, apart from the speed essentially needed to process the specimens. Till date, majority of the microbiological laboratories in the world are not equipped and trained to isolate such fastidious bacterium. The option left is PCR methods to detect H. pylori’s DNA in gastric mucosa, gastric juice, saliva, dental plaques展开更多
AIM:To evaluate the diagnostic value of cancer-testis antigen(CTA) mRNA in peripheral blood samples from hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients.METHODS:Peripheral blood samples were taken from 90 patients with HCC bef...AIM:To evaluate the diagnostic value of cancer-testis antigen(CTA) mRNA in peripheral blood samples from hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients.METHODS:Peripheral blood samples were taken from 90 patients with HCC before operation.Expression of melanoma antigen-1(MAGE-1),synovial sarcoma X breakpoint-1(SSX-1),and cancer-testis-associated protein of 11 kDa(CTp11) mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC) was tested by nested reverse transcriptspolymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Serum α-fetoprotein(AFP) in these patients was also determined.RESULTS:The positive rate of MAGE-1,SSX-1 and CTp11 transcripts was 37.7%,34.4%,31.1% in PBMC samples,and 74.4%,73.3%,62.2% in their resected tumor samples,respectively.The positive rate for at least one of the transcripts of three CTA genes was 66.7% in PBMC samples and 91.1% in their resected tumor samples.MAGE-1,SSX-1 and/or CTp11 mRNA were not detected in the PBMC of those patients from whom the resected tumor samples were MAGE-1,SSX-1 and/or CTp11 mRNA negative,nor in the PBMC samples from 20 healthy donors and 10 cirrhotic patients.Among the 90 patients,the serum AFP in 44 patients met the general diagnostic standard(AFP > 400 μg/L) for HCC,and was negative(AFP ≤ 20 μg/L) or positive with a low concentration(20 μg/L < AFP ≤ 400 μg/L) in the other patients.The positive rate for at least one of the transcripts of three CTA genes in PBMC samples from the AFP negative or positive patients with a low concentration was 69.2% and 45.0%,respectively.Of the 90 patients,71(78.9%) were diagnosed as HCC by nested RT-PCR and serum AFP.Although the positive rate for at least one of the transcripts of three CTA genes in PBMC samples from 53 patients at TNM stage or was obviously higher than that in PBMC samples from 37 patients at stage or(77.9% vs 51.4%,P = 0.010),the CTA mRNA was detected in 41.7% and 56.0% of PBMC samples from HCC patients at stages andrespectively.CONCLUSION:Detecting MAGE-1,SSX-1 and CTp11 mRNA in PBMC improves the total diagnostic rate of HCC.展开更多
AIM： To examine the relationships between pre-diag- nostic biomarkers and colorectal cancer risk and assess their relevance in predictive models.METHODS： A nested case-control study was designed to include all first...AIM： To examine the relationships between pre-diag- nostic biomarkers and colorectal cancer risk and assess their relevance in predictive models.METHODS： A nested case-control study was designed to include all first primary incident colorectal cancer cases diagnosed between inclusion in the SUpplemen- tation en VItamines et Min^raux AntioXydants cohort in 1994 and the end of follow-up in 2007. Cases （n = 50） were matched with two randomly selected con- trols （n = 100）. Conditional logistic regression models were used to investigate the associations between pre- diagnostic levels of hs-CRP, adiponectin, leptin, soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 （sVCAM-1）, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-I, E-selectin, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and colorectal cancer risk. Area under the receiver operating curves （AUC） and relative integrated discrimination improvement （RIDI） statistics were used to assess the discriminatory poten- tial of the models. RESULTS： Plasma adiponectin level was associated with decreased colorectal cancer risk （P for linear trend -- 0.03）. Quartiles of sVCAM-1 were associated with increased colorectal cancer risk （P for linear trend = 0.02）. No association was observed with any of the other biomarkers. Compared to standard models with known risk factors, those including both adiponectin and sVCAM-1 had substantially improved performance for colorectal cancer risk prediction （P for AUC improve- ment = 0.01, RIDI = 26.5%）. CONCLUSION： These results suggest that pre-diag- nostic plasma adiponectin and sVCAM-1 levels are as- sociated with decreased and increased colorectal cancer risk, respectively. These relationships must be confirmed in large validation studies.展开更多
OpenMP is able to develop multithreaded programs with lower cost as a promising way to quickly parallelize a great number of serial programs. However, there are many difficulties when developing OpenMP multithreaded p...OpenMP is able to develop multithreaded programs with lower cost as a promising way to quickly parallelize a great number of serial programs. However, there are many difficulties when developing OpenMP multithreaded programs. Most importantly, the performance of OpenMP programs cannot be guar- anteed, which has greatly affected the application of OpenMP. This paper examines several factors that af- fect the execution performance of OpenMP programs, including loop transformation, scheduling strategy, the number of threads, and nested parallelism. The results show that one of the key reasons for perform- ance degradation is load imbalance, which can be corrected by reasonable use of these key factors to im- prove the execution performance of OpenMP programs.展开更多
基金supported by grants-in-aid from the Projects of Medical Science (H200925)the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province,China (BK2008187)
文摘BACKGROUND:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by a multi-cause,multi-stage and multi-focus process of tumor progression.Its prognosis is poor and early diagnosis is of utmost importance.This study was undertaken to investigate the dynamic expression of oncofetal antigen glypican-3 (GPC-3) and GPC-3 mRNA in hepatocarcinogenesis and to explore their early diagnostic value for HCC.METHODS:A hepatoma model was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats with 0.05% 2-fluorenylacetamide and confirmed by hematoxylin and eosin staining and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) expression.Total RNA was purified and transcribed into cDNA by reverse transcription.Fragments of the GPC-3 gene were amplified by nested RT-PCR,and confirmed by sequencing.GPC-3 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry,Western blotting or ELISA.RESULTS:Positive GPC-3 expression showed as brown granule-like staining localized in the cytoplasm.Histological examination of hepatocytes revealed three morphological stages of granule-like degeneration,atypical hyperplasia (precancerous),and cancer formation,with a progressive increase of liver total RNA and GGT expression.The incidence of liver GPC-3 mRNA and GPC-3,and serum GPC-3 was 100%,100% and 77.8% in the HCC group,100%,100%,and 66.7% in the precancerous group,83.3%,83.3%,and 38.9% in the degeneration group,and no expression in the liver or blood of the control group,respectively.There was a positive correlation between liver GPC-3 mRNA and total RNA level (r=0.475,P<0.05) or liver GPC-3 (r=1.0,P<0.001) or serum GPC-3 (r= 0.994,P<0.001).CONCLUSION:Abnormal oncofetal antigen GPC-3 and GPC-3 mRNA expression in hepatocarcinogenesis may be promising molecular markers for early diagnosis of HCC.
文摘The event of mutations in the surface antigen gene of hepatitis B virus(HBV) results in undetectable hepatitis B surface antigen with positive/negative anti-hepatitis B core(anti-HBc) antibody status in serum and this phenomenon is named occult hepatitis B infection(OBI). The presence of anti-HBc antibody in serum is an important key for OBI tracking, although about 20% of OBI cases are negative for anti-HBc antibody. The diagnosis of OBI is mainly based on polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and real-time PCR assays. However, real-time PCR is a more reliable method than PCR. OBI is a great issue for the public health problem and a challenge for the clinical entity worldwide. The persistence of OBI may lead to the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. With regard to OBI complications, the screening of HBV DNA by the highly sensitive molecular means should be implemented for:(1) patients with a previous history of chronic or acute HBV infection;(2) patients co-infected with hepatitis C virus/human immunodeficiency virus;(3) patients undergoing chemotherapy or anti-CD20 therapy;(4) recipients of organ transplant;(5) blood donors;(6) organ transplant donors;(7) thalassemia and hemophilia patients;(8) health care workers;(9) patients with liver related disease(cryptogenic);(10) hemodialysis patients;(11) patients undergoing lamivudine or interferon therapy; and(12) children in time of HBV vaccination especially in highly endemic areas of HBV. Active HBV vaccination should be implemented for the close relatives of patients who are negative for OBI markers. Thus, the goal of this review is to evaluate the rate of OBI with a focus on status of high risk groups in different regions of the world.
基金Supported by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research,New Delhi,India in the form of Senior Research Fellowship awarded to Patel SK
文摘Since the discovery of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in 1983, numerous detection methods for the presence of the bacterium have been developed. Each one of them has been associated with advantages and disadvantages. Noninvasive tests such as serology, <sup>13</sup>C urea breath test (UBT) and stool antigen tests are usually preferred by the clinicians. Serology has its own limitation especially in endemic areas while <sup>13</sup>C UBT is technically very demanding. The stool antigen detection method, although specific, is usually associated with poor sensitivity. The <sup>13</sup>C UBT is believed to be specific, but with present revelation of the fact that stomach is colonized by many other urease producing bacteria makes it questionable. Histology, culture, rapid urease test and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are the tests which are carried out on antral biopsies collected by invasive means. Histology has been proposed to be very sensitive and specific but the question is how by simply looking the morphology of the bacteria in the microscope, one can claim that the curved bacterium is exclusively H. pylori. Rapid urease test (RUT), the doctor’s test, is also challenged because the presence of other urease producing bacteria in the stomach cannot be denied. Moreover, RUT has been reported with poor sensitivity specially, when density of the bacterium is low. Isolation of H. pylori is essential to investigate its growth requirements, antibiotic susceptibility testing, studying virulence factor to develop vaccine and many more explorations. It has also got several disadvantages i.e., special condition for transporting, media, incubation and few days waiting for the colonies to appear, apart from the speed essentially needed to process the specimens. Till date, majority of the microbiological laboratories in the world are not equipped and trained to isolate such fastidious bacterium. The option left is PCR methods to detect H. pylori’s DNA in gastric mucosa, gastric juice, saliva, dental plaques
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China,No 30200271
文摘AIM:To evaluate the diagnostic value of cancer-testis antigen(CTA) mRNA in peripheral blood samples from hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients.METHODS:Peripheral blood samples were taken from 90 patients with HCC before operation.Expression of melanoma antigen-1(MAGE-1),synovial sarcoma X breakpoint-1(SSX-1),and cancer-testis-associated protein of 11 kDa(CTp11) mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC) was tested by nested reverse transcriptspolymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Serum α-fetoprotein(AFP) in these patients was also determined.RESULTS:The positive rate of MAGE-1,SSX-1 and CTp11 transcripts was 37.7%,34.4%,31.1% in PBMC samples,and 74.4%,73.3%,62.2% in their resected tumor samples,respectively.The positive rate for at least one of the transcripts of three CTA genes was 66.7% in PBMC samples and 91.1% in their resected tumor samples.MAGE-1,SSX-1 and/or CTp11 mRNA were not detected in the PBMC of those patients from whom the resected tumor samples were MAGE-1,SSX-1 and/or CTp11 mRNA negative,nor in the PBMC samples from 20 healthy donors and 10 cirrhotic patients.Among the 90 patients,the serum AFP in 44 patients met the general diagnostic standard(AFP > 400 μg/L) for HCC,and was negative(AFP ≤ 20 μg/L) or positive with a low concentration(20 μg/L < AFP ≤ 400 μg/L) in the other patients.The positive rate for at least one of the transcripts of three CTA genes in PBMC samples from the AFP negative or positive patients with a low concentration was 69.2% and 45.0%,respectively.Of the 90 patients,71(78.9%) were diagnosed as HCC by nested RT-PCR and serum AFP.Although the positive rate for at least one of the transcripts of three CTA genes in PBMC samples from 53 patients at TNM stage or was obviously higher than that in PBMC samples from 37 patients at stage or(77.9% vs 51.4%,P = 0.010),the CTA mRNA was detected in 41.7% and 56.0% of PBMC samples from HCC patients at stages andrespectively.CONCLUSION:Detecting MAGE-1,SSX-1 and CTp11 mRNA in PBMC improves the total diagnostic rate of HCC.
基金Supported by A grant from the French National Cancer Institute (Institut National du Cancer), No. INCa 2007-1-SPC-3
文摘AIM： To examine the relationships between pre-diag- nostic biomarkers and colorectal cancer risk and assess their relevance in predictive models.METHODS： A nested case-control study was designed to include all first primary incident colorectal cancer cases diagnosed between inclusion in the SUpplemen- tation en VItamines et Min^raux AntioXydants cohort in 1994 and the end of follow-up in 2007. Cases （n = 50） were matched with two randomly selected con- trols （n = 100）. Conditional logistic regression models were used to investigate the associations between pre- diagnostic levels of hs-CRP, adiponectin, leptin, soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 （sVCAM-1）, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-I, E-selectin, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and colorectal cancer risk. Area under the receiver operating curves （AUC） and relative integrated discrimination improvement （RIDI） statistics were used to assess the discriminatory poten- tial of the models. RESULTS： Plasma adiponectin level was associated with decreased colorectal cancer risk （P for linear trend -- 0.03）. Quartiles of sVCAM-1 were associated with increased colorectal cancer risk （P for linear trend = 0.02）. No association was observed with any of the other biomarkers. Compared to standard models with known risk factors, those including both adiponectin and sVCAM-1 had substantially improved performance for colorectal cancer risk prediction （P for AUC improve- ment = 0.01, RIDI = 26.5%）. CONCLUSION： These results suggest that pre-diag- nostic plasma adiponectin and sVCAM-1 levels are as- sociated with decreased and increased colorectal cancer risk, respectively. These relationships must be confirmed in large validation studies.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 69933202) and by the Intel Corporation
文摘OpenMP is able to develop multithreaded programs with lower cost as a promising way to quickly parallelize a great number of serial programs. However, there are many difficulties when developing OpenMP multithreaded programs. Most importantly, the performance of OpenMP programs cannot be guar- anteed, which has greatly affected the application of OpenMP. This paper examines several factors that af- fect the execution performance of OpenMP programs, including loop transformation, scheduling strategy, the number of threads, and nested parallelism. The results show that one of the key reasons for perform- ance degradation is load imbalance, which can be corrected by reasonable use of these key factors to im- prove the execution performance of OpenMP programs.
