唐代亡故宫女墓志铭文的文化意蕴

唐代亡故宫女的墓志铭文是一种特殊的文化载体,有着特殊的书写方式与格式。墓志铭文首先录宫女的姓氏籍贯,次录宫女的性格、职位、品阶,再录宫女的卒时、葬所,最后以“铭”文结束。这种程式化的书写方式跟唐代后宫的丧葬制度、等级制度、管理制度息息相关,体现出古代后宫制度对于妇女残害的事实。

潘祖同墓志铭拓片初考

依据安徽省歙县大阜村一份保存完整的潘祖同的墓志铭拓片,梳理了潘世恩后裔的一些详细世系,介绍了藏书家潘祖同的生平履历。

Establishment and Application of a Real-time PCR Method for Detecting stx2 Gene in Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia coli(STEC)

[Objective] This study aimed to establish a real-time PCR method for de- tecting stx2 gene in Shiga toxin-producing E. coli （STEC）. [Method] According to the known STEC stx2 gene sequences published in GenBank, PCR primers and probes were designed based on the conserved region to construct recombinant plasmid as a positive template, thus optimizing the reaction conditions and establishing the real- time PCR method. [Result] A standard curve was established based on the opti- mized real-time PCR system, indicting a good linear correlation between the initial template concentration and Ct value, with the correlation coefficient F^e of above 0.995. The established method had a good specificity, without non-specific amplifica- tion for 10 non-STEC intestinal bacterial strains; the detection limit of initial template was 1.0x102 copies/μI, indicating a high sensitivity; furthermore, the coefficients of variation within and among batches were lower than 1% and 5% respectively, sug- gesting a good repeatability. [Conclusion] In this study, a real-time PCR method was successfully established for detecting STEC stx2 gene, which provided technical means for rapid detection of STEC in samples.

RRAS:A key regulator and an important prognostic biomarker in biliary atresia

AIM:To characterize the differentially expressed gene profiles in livers from biliary atresia (BA) patients including,ascertain genes,functional categories and pathways that play a central role in the pathogenesis of BA,and identify the novel prognostic markers for BA.METHODS:Liver tissue samples from control patients,neonatal cholestasis patients,and BA patients at the age of < 60 d,60-90 d,and > 90 d were pooled for DNA microarray analysis.Bioinformatics analysis was performed using,series test cluster of gene ontology,and Pathway-Finder software.Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was performed to confirm changes in selected genes.Relation between RRAS gene expression and prognosis of 40 BA patients was analyzed in a 2-year follow-up study.RESULTS:The 4 identified significant gene expression profiles could confidently separate BA liver tissue from normal and other diseased liver tissues.The included genes were mainly involved in inflammation response and reconstruction of cellular matrix.The significant pathways associated with BA were primarily involved in autoimmune response,activation of T lymphocytes and its related cytokines.The RRAS,POMC,SLC26A6 and STX3 genes were important regulatory modules in pathogenesis of BA.The expression of RRAS was negatively correlated with the elimination rate of jaundice and positively correlated with the occurrence rate of cholangitis.CONCLUSION:Autoimmune response mediated by T lymphocytes may play a vital role in the pathogenesis of BA.The RRAS gene is an important regulatory module in the pathogenesis of BA,which may serve as a novel prognostic marker for BA.

Freshwater Cyanophages

Cyanophages are double-stranded DNA viruses that infect cyanobacteria, and they can be found in both freshwater and marine environments. They have a complex pattem of host ranges and play important roles in controlling cyanobacteria population. Unlike marine cyanophages, for which there have been a number of recent investigations, very little attention has been paid to freshwater cyanophages. This review summarizes the taxonomy and morphology, host range, distribution, seasonal dynamics, and complete genomes of freshwater cyanophages, as well as diagnostic markers that can be used to identify them.

NAT2＊6A, a haplotype of the N-acetyltransferase 2 gene, is an important biomarker for risk of anti-tuberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity in Japanese patients with tuberculosis

AIM: To investigate an association between N -acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2 )-haplotypes/diplotypes and adverse effects in Japanese pulmonary tuberculosis patients. METHODS: We studied 100 patients with pulmonary TB treated with anti-TB drugs including INH. The frequencies and distributions of single nucleotide polymorphisms, haplotypes, and diplotypes of NAT2 were determined by the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism method, and the results were compared between TB patients with and without adverse effect, using multivariate logistic regression analysis.RESULTS: Statistical analysis revealed that the frequency of a variant haplotype, NAT2*6A , was signifi cantly increased in TB patients with hepatotoxicity, compared with those without hepatotoxicity [P = 0.001, odds ratio (OR) = 3.535]. By contrast, the frequency of a wild-type (major) haplotype, "NAT2*4", was signif icantly lower in TB patients with hepatotoxicity than those without hepatotoxicity (P < 0.001, OR = 0.265). There was no association between NAT2-haplotypes and skin rash or eosinophilia. CONCLUSION: The present study shows that NAT2 is one of the determinants of anti-TB drug-induced hepatotoxicity. Moreover, the haplotypes, NAT2*4 and NAT2*6A, are useful new biomarkers for predicting anti- TB drug-induced hepatotoxicity.

Epidemiology and gene markers of ulcerative colitis in the Chinese

Inflammatory bowel disease （IBD） includes two similar yet distinct conditions called ulcerative colitis （UC） and Crohn＇s disease （CD）. These diseases affect the digestive system and cause the inflammation of intestinal tissue, form sores and bleed easily. Most children with IBD are diagnosed in late childhood and adolescence. However, both UC and CD have been reported as early as in infancy. Most information pertaining to the epidemiology of IBD is based upon adult studies. Symptoms include abdominal pain, cramping, fatigue and diarrhea. Genetic factors play a significant role in determining IBD susceptibility. Epidemiological data support a genetic contribution to the pathogenesis of IBD. Recently, numerous new genes have been identified as being involved in the genetic susceptibility to IBD： TNF- 308A, CARD15 （NOD2）, MIF-173, N-acetyltransferase 2 （NAT2）, NKG2D （natural killer cell 2D）, STAT6 （signal transducer and activator of transcription 6）, CTLA-4 （cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4）, MICA-MICB （major histocompatibility complex A and B）, HLA-DRB1, HLA class-Ⅱ, IL-18, IL-4, MICA-A5, CD14, TI R4, Fas-670, p53 and NF-kB. The characterization of these novel genes has the potential to identify therapeutic agents and aid clinical assessment of phenotype and prognosis in patients with IBD （UC and CD）.

MicroRNAs in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is a lethal cancer for which the only chance of long-term survival belongs to the patient with localized disease in whom a potentially curative resection can be done. Therefore, biomarkers for early detection and new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. miRNAs are a recently discovered class of small endogenous non-coding RNAs of about 22 nucleotides that have gained attention for their role in downregulation of mRNA expression at the post-transcriptional level. miRNAs regulate proteins involved in critical cellular processes such as differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. Evidence suggests that deregulated miRNA expression is involved in carcinogenesis at many sites, including the pancreas. Aberrant expression of miRNAs may upregulate the expression of oncogenes or downregulate the expression of tumor suppressor genes, as well as play a role in other mechanisms of carcinogenesis. The purpose of this review is to summarize our knowledge of deregulated miRNA expression in pancreatic cancer and discuss the implication for potential translation of this knowledge into clinical practice.

Correlation between Expression of P38 MAPK-Signaling and uPA in Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVE To study the expression of phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase （p-p38） and uPA and the correlation of their expression with breast cancer clinicopathological characteristics, and to investigate the role of the p38MAPK-signaling pathway in regulating uPA expression in breast cancer cells.METHODS Immunohistochemistry （S-P） was used to test the expression of p-p38 and uPA in 60 specimens of breast cancer tissues. Western blots were adopted to detect expression of the p-p38 and uPA proteins in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells, and uPA expression after treatment with SB203580, a specific inhibitor of p38 MAPK.RESULTS The positive rate of the p-p38 protein and uPA protein expression in the breast cancer tissues was 56.7% and 60.0%,respectively. The expression of p-p38 was positively related to the expression of uPA （r = 0.316, P 〈 0.05）. The expression of p-p38 and uPA was related to lymph node metastasis and the TNM stage （P 〈 0.05）, but it was not related to the patient＇s age or tumor size （P 〉 0.05）. The expression of p-p38 and uPA in MDA- MB-231 cells was higher than that in MCF-7 cells. SB203580 inhibited the p38 MAPK pathway and reduced uPA protein expression.CONCLUSION The p38 MAPK-signaling pathway promotes breast cancer malignant progression by up-regulating uPA expression ,and it may be an important process in breast cancer invasion and metastasis.

Associations Between Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Gene Mutation and Serum Tumor Markers in Advanced Lung Adenocarcinomas: A Retrospective Study

Objective To investigate the associations between epidermal growth factor receptor （EGFR） gene mutations and serum tumor markers in advanced lung adenocarcinomas. Methods We investigated the association between EGFR gene mutations and clinical features, including serum tumor marker levels, in 97 advanced lung adenocarcinomas patients who did not undergo the treatment of EGlaR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. EGFR gene mutation was detected by real-time PCR at exons 18, 19, 20, and 21. Serum tumor marker concentrations were analyzed by chemiluminescence assay kit at the same time. Results EGFR gene mutations were detected in 42 （43%） advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients. Gender （P=0.003）, smoking status （P=0.001）, and abnormal serum status of carcinoembryonic antigen （CEA, P=0.028） were significantly associated with EGFR gene mutation incidence. Multivariate analysis showed the abnormal CEA level in serum was independently associated with the incidence of EGFR gene mutation （P=0.046） with an odds ratio of 2.613 （95% Ch 1.018-6.710）. However, receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve analysis revealed CEA was not an ideal predictive marker for EGFR gene mutation status in advanced lung adenocarcinoma （the area under the ROC curve was 0.608, P=0.069）. Conclusions EGFR gene mutation status is significantly associated with serum CEA status in advanced lung adenocarcinmoas. However, serum CEA is not an ideal predictor for EGFR mutation.

Identification of TM9SF2 as a Candidate of the Cell Surface Marker Common to Breast Carcinoma Cells

OBJECTIVE We aimed identification of cell surface molecules, which might serve as diagnostic biomarkers or useful targets for therapies, in breast cancer. METHODS We developed unique DNA microarray coupled with spherical self-organizing map （sSOM） analysis to characterize cells and tissues by the cell surface markers. In the microarray 1,797 probes for human genes coding membrane bound proteins were spotted. With this microarray the gene expression profiles of eight breast carcinoma cell lines were compared to identify the genes that were commonly expressed in breast carcinomas but not in normal cells. RESULTS The gene expression profiles of sSOM from the eight breast carcinoma cell lines were successfully distinguished from that of normal breast tissue derived cells suggesting the presence of genes of interest, sSOMon the data extensively filtered revealed several candidate genes, of which expression was significant in carcinoma cells but low in normal cells. Finally, TM9SF2 was nominated through validations of PCR procedures together with CD24 and ErbB3, which are known breast carcinoma markers. TMgSF2 expression was further confirmed by immunological staining. Interestingly, TMgSF2 was found to be expressed in all the cell lines evaluated while CD24 and ErbB3 were not in all of the carcinoma cells, supporting their relationship in sSOM. Although physiological significance of TMgSF2 is unknown yet, siRNA treatment significantly inhibited the growth of MDA- MB-231 cells. CONCLUSION We propose TM9SF2 as a novel and useful diagnostic marker as well as a potential molecular target specific to breast carcinoma cells covering wide range of breast cancer.

Transcribed single nucleotide polymorphism: Ideal markers for detecting gene imprinting by 5' nuclease assay

Objective: To establish a novel approach for quick and highly efficient verification of human gene imprinting. Methods: A pair of dye-labelled probes, 5' nuclease assay was combined with RT-PCR to determine the genotype of a transcribed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs705(C>T) of a known imprinted gene, small nuclear ribonucleotide protein N (SNRPN), on both genomic DNA and cDNA of human lym-phoblast cell lines. Results: Allele discrimination showed a clear monoallelic expression pattern of SNRPN, which was confirmed by RT-PCR based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLPs). Pedigree analysis verified the paternal origin of expressed allele, which was in consistency with previous report. Conclusion: Transcribed SNP is an ideal marker for detecting gene imprinting by 5' nuclease assay. This approach also may be used to discover differential allele expression of non-imprinted genes, finding out gene cis-acting functional polymorphism.

Visual attention and clustering-based automatic selection of landmarks using single camera

An improved method with better selection capability using a single camera was presented in comparison with previous method. To improve performance, two methods were applied to landmark selection in an unfamiliar indoor environment. First, a modified visual attention method was proposed to automatically select a candidate region as a more useful landmark. In visual attention, candidate landmark regions were selected with different characteristics of ambient color and intensity in the image. Then, the more useful landmarks were selected by combining the candidate regions using clustering. As generally implemented, automatic landmark selection by vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM) results in many useless landmarks, because the features of images are distinguished from the surrounding environment but detected repeatedly. These useless landmarks create a serious problem for the SLAM system because they complicate data association. To address this, a method was proposed in which the robot initially collected landmarks through automatic detection while traversing the entire area where the robot performed SLAM, and then, the robot selected only those landmarks that exhibited high rarity through clustering, which enhanced the system performance. Experimental results show that this method of automatic landmark selection results in selection of a high-rarity landmark. The average error of the performance of SLAM decreases 52% compared with conventional methods and the accuracy of data associations increases.

唐淮南大长公主墓志所反映的唐代历史问题

淮南大长公主墓志是目前发现的形体最大、铭文最长的一盒唐代公主墓志,具有重要的历史和文物研究价值。本文在对淮南公主墓志考证的基础上,对墓志中记载的太平公主、唐睿宗李旦等重要历史人物及著名音乐家王长通的有关史事进行了梳理论证,对墓志所反映的武则天"以周代唐"的重大历史事件以及唐代的礼仪风俗、宗教活动、音乐文化等也进行了较充分的论述。

Discovery and validation of prognostic markers in gastric cancer by genome-wide expression profiling

AIM: To develop a prognostic gene set that can predict patient overall survival status based on the whole genome expression analysis. METHODS: Using Illumina HumanWG-6 BeadChip followed by semi-supervised analysis, we analyzed the expression of 47 296 transcripts in two batches of gastric cancer patients who underwent surgical resection. Thirty-nine samples in the first batch were used as the training set to discover candidate markers correlated to overall survival, and thirty-three samples in the second batch were used for validation. RESULTS: A panel of ten genes were identified as prognostic marker in the first batch samples and classified patients into a lowand a high-risk group with significantly different survival times (P = 0.000047). This prognostic marker was then verified in an independent validation sample batch (P = 0.0009). By comparing with the traditional Tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system, this ten-gene prognostic marker showed consistent prognosis results. It was the only independent prognostic value by multivariate Cox regression analysis (P = 0.007). Interestingly, six of these ten genes are ribosomal proteins, suggesting a possible association between the deregulation of ribosome related gene expression and the poor prognosis. CONCLUSION: A ten-gene marker correlated with overall prognosis, including 6 ribosomal proteins, was identified and verified, which may complement the predictive value of TNM staging system.

Construction of a Normalized Full-Length cDNA Library of Cephalopod Amphioctopus fangsiao and Development of Microsatellite Markers

Amphioctopus fangsiao is one of the most economically important species and has been considered to be a candidate for aquaculture. In order to facilitate its fine-scale genetic analyses, we constructed a normalized full-length library successfully and developed a set of microsatellite markers in this study. The normalized full-length library had a storage capacity of 6.9×105 independent clones. The recombination efficiency was 95% and the average size of inserted fragments was longer than 1000 bp. A total of 3440 high quality ESTs were obtained, which were assembled into 1803 unigenes. Of these unigenes, 450(25%) were assigned into 33 Gene Ontology terms, 576(31.9%) into 153 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways, and 275(15.3%) into 22 Clusters of Orthologous Groups. Seventy-six polymorphic microsatellite markers were identified. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 4 to 17, and the observed and expected heterozygosities varied between 0.167 and 0.967 and between 0.326 and 0.944, respectively. Twelve loci were significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction and no linkage disequilibrium was found between different loci. This study provided not only a useful resource for the isolation of the functional genes, but also a set of informative microsatellites for the assessment of population structure and conservation genetics of A. fangsiao.

Iron homeostasis and H63D mutations in alcoholics with and without liver disease

MM： To evaluate the prevalence of HFE gene mutation and indices of disturbed iron homeostasis in alcoholics with and without liver disease. METHODS： One hundred and fifty-three heavy drinkers （defined as alcohol consumption 〉 80 g/d for at least 5 years） were included in the study. These comprised 78 patients with liver disease [liver disease alcoholics （LDA）] in whom the presence of liver disease was confirmed by liver biopsy or clinical evidence of hepatic decompensation, and 75 subjects with no evidence of liver disease, determined by normal liver tests on two occasions [non-liver disease alcoholics （NLDA）], were consecutively enrolled. Serum markers of iron status and HFE C282Y and H63D mutations were determined. HFE genotyping was compared with data obtained in healthy blood donors from the same geographical area. RESULTS： Gender ratio was similar in both study groups. LDA patients were older than NLDA patients （52 ± 10 years vs 48 ± 11 years, P = 0.03）. One third and one fifth of the study population had serum transferrin saturation （TS） greater than 45% and 60% respectively. Serum iron levels were similar in both groups. However, LDA patients had higher TS （51 ± 27 vs 36 ± 13, P 〈 0.001） and ferritin levels （559 ± 607 ng/mL vs 159 ± 122 ng/mL, P 〈 0.001）, and lower total iron binding capacity （TIBC） （241 ± 88 μg/dL vs 279 ± 40 μg/dL, P = 0.001）. The odds ratio for having liver disease with TS greater than 45% was 2.20 （95% confidence interval （CI）： 1.37-3.54）. There was no difference in C282Y allelic frequency between the two groups. However, H63D was more frequent in LDA patients （0.25 vs 0.16, P = 0.03）. LDA patients had a greater probability of carrying at least one HFE mutation than NLDA patients （49.5% vs 31.6%, P = 0.02）. The odds ratio for LDA in patients with H63D mutation was 1.57 （95% CI： 1.02-2.40）. CONCLUSION： The present study confirms the presence of iron overload in alcoholics, which was more severe in the subset of subjects with liver disease, in parallel with an increased frequency of H63D HFE mutation.

Proteome-based biomarkers in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer,as a highly malignant cancer and the fourth cause of cancer-related death in world,is characterized by dismal prognosis,due to rapid disease progression,highly invasive tumour phenotype,and resistance to chemotherapy.Despite significant advances in treatment of the disease during the past decade,the survival rate is little improved.A contributory factor to the poor outcome is the lack of appropriate sensitive and specific biomarkers for early diagnosis.Furthermore,biomarkers for targeting,directing and assessing therapeutic intervention,as well as for detection of residual or recurrent cancer are also needed.Thus,the identification of adequate biomarkers in pancreatic cancer is of extreme importance.Recently,accompanying the development of proteomic technology and devices,more and more potential biomarkers have appeared and are being reported.In this review,we provide an overview of the role of proteome-based biomarkers in pancreatic cancer,including tissue,serum,juice,urine and cell lines.We also discuss the possible mechanism and prospects in the future.That information hopefully might be helpful for further research in the field.

A robust statistical procedure to discover expression biomarkers using microarray genomic expression data

Microarray has become increasingly popular biotechnology in biological and medical researches, and has been widely applied in classification of treatment subtypes using expression patterns of biomarkers. We developed a statistical procedure to identify expression biomarkers for treatment subtype classification by constructing an F-statistic based on Henderson method Ⅲ. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to examine the robustness and efficiency of the proposed method. Simulation results showed that our method could provide satisfying power of identifying differentially expressed genes （DEGs） with false discovery rate （FDR） lower than the given type I error rate. In addition, we analyzed a leukemia dataset collected from 38 leukemia patients with 27 samples diagnosed as acute lymphoblastic leukemia （ALL） and 11 samples as acute myeloid leukemia （AML）. We compared our results with those from the methods of significance analysis of microarray （SAM） and microarray analysis of variance （MAANOVA）. Among these three methods, only expression biomarkers identified by our method can precisely identify the three human acute leukemia subtypes.

Quantitative proteomic analysis for high-throughput screening of differential glycoproteins in hepatocellular carcinoma serum

Objective： Hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Novel serum biomarkers are required to increase the sensitivity and specificity of serum screening for early HCC diagnosis. This study employed a quantitative proteomic strategy to analyze the differential expression of serum glycoproteins between HCC and normal control serum samples. Methods： Lectin affinity chromatography （LAC） was used to enrich glycoproteins from the serum samples. Quantitative mass spectrometric analysis combined with stable isotope dimethyl labeling and 2D liquid chromatography （LC） separations were performed to examine the differential levels of the detected proteins between HCC and control serum samples. Western blot was used to analyze the differential expression levels of the three serum proteins. Results： A total of 2,280 protein groups were identified in the serum samples from HCC patients by using the 2D LC-MS/MS method. Up to 36 proteins were up-regulated in the HCC serum, whereas 19 proteins were down-regulated. Three differential glycoproteins, namely, fibrinogen gamma chain （FGG）, FOS-like antigen 2 （FOSL2）, and a-l, 6-mannosylglycoprotein 6-^-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase B （MGATSB） were validated by Western blot. All these three proteins were up-regulated in the HCC serum samples. Conclusion： A quantitative glycoproteomic method was established and proven useful to determine potential novel biomarkers for HCC.