Objective： To study the clinical therapy and prognosis in children with transient congenital hypothyroidism （CH）. Methods： Fifty-seven children with CH diagnosed after neonatal screening were treated with low-dosa...Objective： To study the clinical therapy and prognosis in children with transient congenital hypothyroidism （CH）. Methods： Fifty-seven children with CH diagnosed after neonatal screening were treated with low-dosage levothyroxine （L-T4）. Follow-up evaluation included the determination of TT3, TT4 and TSH serum levels and the assessment of thyroid gland morphology, bone age, growth development and development quotients （DQ）. A full check-up was performed at age 2, when the affected children first discontinued the L-T4 treatment for 1 month, and one year later. Development quotients were compared with a control group of 29 healthy peers. Results： The initial L-T4 dosage administered was 3.21-5.81μg/（kg·d） with an average of （16.25±3.87）μg/d. Mean duration of therapy was （28.09±9.56） months. No significant difference was found between study group and control group in the DQ test （average score （106.58±14.40） vs （102.4±8.6）, P〉0.05） and 96.49% of the CH children achieved a test score above 85. Bone age, 99mTc scans and ultrasonographic findings were all normal, and evaluation of physical development was normal too, as were the serum levels of TT3, TT4 and TSH after one year of follow-up. Conclusion： AL-T4 dosage of 3.21-5.81μg/（kg·d） was found sufficient for the treatment of transient CH. The treated children showed satisfactory overall mental and physical development at age 2. So it is possible for CH children to stop taking medicine if their laboratory findings and physical development are all normal after regular treatment and 2-3 years of follow-up.展开更多
Thyroid hormones def ine basal metabolism throughout the body, particularly in the intestine and viscera. Gastrointestinal manifestations of dysthyroidism are numerous and involve all portions of the tract. Thyroid ho...Thyroid hormones def ine basal metabolism throughout the body, particularly in the intestine and viscera. Gastrointestinal manifestations of dysthyroidism are numerous and involve all portions of the tract. Thyroid hormone action on motility has been widely studied, but more complex pathophysiologic mechanisms have been indicated by some studies although these are not fully understood. Both thyroid hormone excess and def iciency can have similar digestive manifestations, such as diarrhea, although the mechanism is different in each situation. The liver is the most affected organ in both hypo-and hyperthyroidism. Specifi c digestive diseases may be associated with autoimmune thyroid processes, such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Grave's disease. Among them, celiac sprue and primary biliary cirrhosis are the most frequent although a clear common mechanism has never been proven. Overall, thyroid-related digestive manifestations were described decades ago but studies are still needed in order to conf irm old concepts or elucidate undiscovered mechanisms. All practitioners must be aware of digestive symptoms due to dysthyroidism in order to avoid misdiagnosis of rare but potentially lethal situations.展开更多
The HIV-1 LTR controls the expression of HIV-1 viral genes and thus is critical for viral propagation and pathology. Numerous host factors have been shown to participate in the regulation of the LTR promoter. Among th...The HIV-1 LTR controls the expression of HIV-1 viral genes and thus is critical for viral propagation and pathology. Numerous host factors have been shown to participate in the regulation of the LTR promoter. Among them is the thyroid hormone (T3) receptor (TR). TR has been shown to bind to the critical region of the promoter that contain the NFbB and Sp1 binding sites. Interestingly, earlier transient transfection studies in tissue culture cells have yielded contradicting conclusions on the role of TR in LTR regulation, likely due to the use of different cell types and/or lack of proper chromatin organization. Here, using the frog oocyte as a model system that allows replication-coupled chromatin assembly, mimicking that in somatic cells, we demonstrate that unliganded heterodimers of TR and RXR (9-cis retinoic acid receptor) repress LTR while the addition of T3 relieves the repression and further activates the promoter. More importantly, we show that chromatin and unliganded TR/RXR synergize to repress the promoter in a histone deacetylase-dependent manner.展开更多
AIM： It is known that thyroid hormones alter the bile acid metabolism in humans, however the effect on individual enzymes has been difficult to elucidate. This is mainly due to the lack of human liver cell lines prod...AIM： It is known that thyroid hormones alter the bile acid metabolism in humans, however the effect on individual enzymes has been difficult to elucidate. This is mainly due to the lack of human liver cell lines producing bile acids. We used cultures of primary human hepatocytes to study the effects of triiodothyronine （T3） on bile acid synthesis.METHODS： Primary hepatocytes were isolated from liver tissue obtained from three different patients undergoing liver resection due to underlying malignancy. The hepatocytes were cultured under serum-free conditions and treated from d 1 to d 5 with culture containing 0.1 - 1000 nmol/L of T3. Bile acid formation and mRNA levels of key enzymes were analysed. RESULTS： The lowest concentration of T3 decreased cholic acid （CA） formation to 43%-53% of controls and chenodeoxycholic acid （CDCA） to 52%-75% of controls on d 5. The highest dose further decreased CA formation to 16%-48% of controls while CDCA formation remained at 50%-117% of controls. Expression of mRNA levels of cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase （CYP7A1） and sterol 12α-hydroxylase （CYPSB1） dose-dependently decreased. Sterol 27-hydroxylase （CYP27A1） levels also decreased, but not to the same extent. CONCLUSION： T3 dose-dependently decreased total bile acid formation in parallel with decreased expression of CYP7A1 and CYP8B1. CA formation is inhibited to a higher degree than CDCA, resulting in a marked decrease in the CA/CDCA ratio.展开更多
The effects of two kinds of heat treatments T4(solution treatment) and T6(aging treatment) on the corrosion behaviors of Mg-3Zn magnesium alloy were studied by electrochemical measurements and scanning electron micros...The effects of two kinds of heat treatments T4(solution treatment) and T6(aging treatment) on the corrosion behaviors of Mg-3Zn magnesium alloy were studied by electrochemical measurements and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) .It is found that zinc element enriches along grain boundaries to exhibit a network microstructure for both T4-and T6-treated alloy.For T6 treatment,larger MgZn particles form mainly on grain boundary and fine MgZn particles precipitate on matrix.Compared with cast alloy,T4 treatment could decrease the amounts of MgZn particles,and decrease the zinc content of zinc-rich net-segregation.Electrochemical measurements show that T4 treatment increases the corrosion resistance while T6 treatment decreases the corrosion resistance of Mn-3Zn alloy.展开更多
AIM： To study predictive factors of thyroid dysfunction associated with interferon-alpha （IFNa） therapy in chronic hepatitis C （CHC） and to describe its long-term evolution in a large population without previous ...AIM： To study predictive factors of thyroid dysfunction associated with interferon-alpha （IFNa） therapy in chronic hepatitis C （CHC） and to describe its long-term evolution in a large population without previous thyroid dysfunction. METHODS： We performed a follow-up of thyroid function and detection of thyroid antibodies in 301 patients treated for CHC with IFNα from 1999 to 2004. RESULTS： Thyroid disorder developed in 30/301 （10%） patients with a mean delay of 6 ± 3.75 mo： 13 patients had hyperthyroidism, 11 had hypothyroidism, and 6 had biphasic evolution. During a mean follow-up of 41.59 ± 15.39 mo, 9 patients with hyperthyroidism, 3 with hypothyroidism, and 4 with biphasic evolution normalized thyroid function in 7.88 ± 5.46 mo. Recovery rate of dysthyroidism was not modified by treatment discontinuation, but was better for patients with negative thyroid antibodies before antiviral treatment （P = 0.02）. Women had significantly more dysthyroidism （P = 0.05）. Positive thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin antibodies were more frequent before antiviral treatment in patients who developed dysthyroidism （P 〈 0.0003 and P = 0.0003, respectively）. In a multivariate model, low fibrosis was found to be a predictive factor of dysthyroidism （P = 0.039）.CONCLUSION： In this monocentric population of CHC, dysthyroidism, especially hyperthyroidism, developed in 10% of patients, Low fibrosis was found to be a predictive factor of dysthyroidism, Thyroid disorder recovered in 16/30 patients （53%） and recovery was better in the non-autoimrnune form,展开更多
The purpose of this research was to study the pharmacokinetics and the bioavailability of recombinant human parathyroid hormone [rhPTH （1-34）] in Rhesus monkeys after single and multiple subcutaneous administration....The purpose of this research was to study the pharmacokinetics and the bioavailability of recombinant human parathyroid hormone [rhPTH （1-34）] in Rhesus monkeys after single and multiple subcutaneous administration. An immunoradiometric assay （IRMA） was used to determine the plasma drug concentration of rhFFH （1-34） after giving single dose of 10, 20 and 40 ug/kg and daily dose of 40 ug/kg for 7 d by subcutaneous administration, and intravenous injection of 20 ug/kg in Rhesus monkeys. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by noncompartmental analysis. The drug plasma level quantitation range was from 0.027 to 2.22 ng/mL. The intra- and inter-assay precision （CV） of analysis were less than 15%, and the average recovery was about 93.0% ± 8.6% - 116.5% ± 14.0%. After subcutaneous administration of rhPTH（1-34） at dose of 10, 20 and 40 ug/kg, the average Tmax was 0.67, 0.5 and 0.83 h, Cmax were 1.85 ± 0.05, 3.23 ± 0.25 and 7.15 ± 1.19 ng/mL, the AUC（0-∞） were 3.4 ± 0.6, 10.7 ± 1.3 and 12.6 ± 1.5 ng/h/mL, and terminal-phase elimination T1/2 were 0.72 ± 0.10, 1.15 ± 0.10 and 1.03 ± 0.06 h, respectively. The absolute bioavailability of rhPTH （1-34） was 46.96% after subcutaneous administration of 20 ug/kg. There was no evidence of accumulation during systemic exposure of rhPTH （1-34） upon multiple dosing in Rhesus monkeys. The IRMA assay method provide reasonable sensitivity and specificity for the pharrnacokinetic study of rhPTH （1-34） after subcutaneous or intravenous administration in Rhesus monkeys. The pharmacokinetic characteristic of rhPTH （1-34） in monkeys shows linear relationship with the dose administered subcutaneously.展开更多
AIM: To assess the role of thyroid disease as a risk for fractures in Crohn's patients.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1998 to 2000. The study group consisted of 210 patients with Crohn's d...AIM: To assess the role of thyroid disease as a risk for fractures in Crohn's patients.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1998 to 2000. The study group consisted of 210 patients with Crohn's disease. A group of 206 patients without inflammatory bowel disease served as controls. Primary outcome was thyroid disorder. Secondary outcomes included use of steroids, immunosuppressive medications, surgery and incidence of fracture.RESULTS: The prevalence of hyperthyroidism was similar in both groups. However, the prevalence of hypothyroidism was lower in Crohn's patients (3.8 % vs 8.2 %, P=0.05).Within the Crohn's group, the use of immunosuppressive agents (0 % vs11 %), steroid usage (12.5 % vs37 %), small bowel surgery (12.5 % vs 28 %) and large bowel surgery (12.5 % vs27 %) were lower in the hypothyroid subset as compared to the euthyroid subset. Seven (3.4 %) Crohn'spatients suffered fracture, all of whom were euthyroid.CONCLUSION: Thyroid disorder was not found to be associated with Crohn's disease and was not found to increase the risk for fractures. Therefore, screening for thyroid disease is not a necessary component in the management of Crohn's disease.展开更多
AIM： To determine which baseline factors of chronic hepatitis B patients are predictive of virological response to Peginterferon α-2b therapy. METHODS： A total of 21 HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B （CriB） pati...AIM： To determine which baseline factors of chronic hepatitis B patients are predictive of virological response to Peginterferon α-2b therapy. METHODS： A total of 21 HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B （CriB） patients treated with Peginterferon α-2b were recruited. They were treated with Peginterferon α-2b （0.5-1.0 μg/kg per week） for 24 wk and followed up for 24 wk. Clinical and laboratory data of the patients were determined at pretreatment and at week 12, at 24 during treatment, and at week 48 during follow up. RESULTS： Ten patients achieved a virological response at the end of treatment. Their baseline serum alanine aminotransferase （ALT）, thyroid-stimulating hormone （TSH）, and total thyroxin （TT4） levels were significantly different from those who failed treatment. The positive predictive values （PPV） and negative predictive values （NPV） of ALT, TSH, and TT4 were 75% and 89 %, 75% and 89 %, and 75% and 75%, respectively. Moreover, combinations of the baseline ALT and TT4, ALT and TSH, TT4 and TSH levels had much higher PPV and NPV （86% and 88%, 89% and 100%, 83% and 100%, respectively）.CONCLUSION： Baseline serum ALT, TSH, and TT4 levels, especially in combination, have high predictive values of virological response to Peginterferon α-2b in HBeAg-positive CriB patients.展开更多
Anuran metamorphosis involves systematic transformations of individual organs in a thyroid hormone (TH)-dependent manner. Morphological and cellular studies have shown that the removal of larval or- gans/tissues such ...Anuran metamorphosis involves systematic transformations of individual organs in a thyroid hormone (TH)-dependent manner. Morphological and cellular studies have shown that the removal of larval or- gans/tissues such the tail and the tadpole intestinal epithelium is through programmed cell death or apop- tosis. Recent molecular investigations suggest that TH regulates metamorphosis by regulating target gene expression through thyroid hormone receptors (TRs), which are DNA-binding transcription factors. Cloning and characterization of TH response genes show that diverse groups of early response genes are induced by TH. The products of these TH response genes are believed to directly or indirectly affect the expression and/or functions of cell death genes, which are conserved at both sequence and function levels in different animal species. A major challenge for future research lies at determining the signaling pathways leading to the activation of apoptotic processes and whether different death genes are involved in the regulation of apoptosis in different tissues/organs to effect tissue-specific transformations.展开更多
Ubiquitous on earth,bacteriophages are the most abundant entities in every ecosystem,but human knowledge about them is still limited compared with that about other forms of organisms.To enrich human knowledge and prom...Ubiquitous on earth,bacteriophages are the most abundant entities in every ecosystem,but human knowledge about them is still limited compared with that about other forms of organisms.To enrich human knowledge and promote the utilization of bacteriophages,it is necessary to isolate and characterize as many as possible different bacteriophages.Here we describe the isolation of a T4-like bacteriophage IME08 and a rapid method for its genetic characterization.With this method we easily cloned a few random fragments of the bacteriophage genome.Sequence analysis of these random clones showed that bacteriophage IME08 shared the highest sequence similarity with T4-like Enterobacteria phage T4（94%identity）,JS98（95% identity）,JS10（95%identity） and RB14（94%identity） respectively,which suggested that IME08 belonged to T4-like bacteriophage genus.展开更多
文摘Objective： To study the clinical therapy and prognosis in children with transient congenital hypothyroidism （CH）. Methods： Fifty-seven children with CH diagnosed after neonatal screening were treated with low-dosage levothyroxine （L-T4）. Follow-up evaluation included the determination of TT3, TT4 and TSH serum levels and the assessment of thyroid gland morphology, bone age, growth development and development quotients （DQ）. A full check-up was performed at age 2, when the affected children first discontinued the L-T4 treatment for 1 month, and one year later. Development quotients were compared with a control group of 29 healthy peers. Results： The initial L-T4 dosage administered was 3.21-5.81μg/（kg·d） with an average of （16.25±3.87）μg/d. Mean duration of therapy was （28.09±9.56） months. No significant difference was found between study group and control group in the DQ test （average score （106.58±14.40） vs （102.4±8.6）, P〉0.05） and 96.49% of the CH children achieved a test score above 85. Bone age, 99mTc scans and ultrasonographic findings were all normal, and evaluation of physical development was normal too, as were the serum levels of TT3, TT4 and TSH after one year of follow-up. Conclusion： AL-T4 dosage of 3.21-5.81μg/（kg·d） was found sufficient for the treatment of transient CH. The treated children showed satisfactory overall mental and physical development at age 2. So it is possible for CH children to stop taking medicine if their laboratory findings and physical development are all normal after regular treatment and 2-3 years of follow-up.
文摘Thyroid hormones def ine basal metabolism throughout the body, particularly in the intestine and viscera. Gastrointestinal manifestations of dysthyroidism are numerous and involve all portions of the tract. Thyroid hormone action on motility has been widely studied, but more complex pathophysiologic mechanisms have been indicated by some studies although these are not fully understood. Both thyroid hormone excess and def iciency can have similar digestive manifestations, such as diarrhea, although the mechanism is different in each situation. The liver is the most affected organ in both hypo-and hyperthyroidism. Specifi c digestive diseases may be associated with autoimmune thyroid processes, such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Grave's disease. Among them, celiac sprue and primary biliary cirrhosis are the most frequent although a clear common mechanism has never been proven. Overall, thyroid-related digestive manifestations were described decades ago but studies are still needed in order to conf irm old concepts or elucidate undiscovered mechanisms. All practitioners must be aware of digestive symptoms due to dysthyroidism in order to avoid misdiagnosis of rare but potentially lethal situations.
文摘The HIV-1 LTR controls the expression of HIV-1 viral genes and thus is critical for viral propagation and pathology. Numerous host factors have been shown to participate in the regulation of the LTR promoter. Among them is the thyroid hormone (T3) receptor (TR). TR has been shown to bind to the critical region of the promoter that contain the NFbB and Sp1 binding sites. Interestingly, earlier transient transfection studies in tissue culture cells have yielded contradicting conclusions on the role of TR in LTR regulation, likely due to the use of different cell types and/or lack of proper chromatin organization. Here, using the frog oocyte as a model system that allows replication-coupled chromatin assembly, mimicking that in somatic cells, we demonstrate that unliganded heterodimers of TR and RXR (9-cis retinoic acid receptor) repress LTR while the addition of T3 relieves the repression and further activates the promoter. More importantly, we show that chromatin and unliganded TR/RXR synergize to repress the promoter in a histone deacetylase-dependent manner.
基金the Swedish Research Council, the Karolinska Institute and the Swedish Society for Medical Research
文摘AIM： It is known that thyroid hormones alter the bile acid metabolism in humans, however the effect on individual enzymes has been difficult to elucidate. This is mainly due to the lack of human liver cell lines producing bile acids. We used cultures of primary human hepatocytes to study the effects of triiodothyronine （T3） on bile acid synthesis.METHODS： Primary hepatocytes were isolated from liver tissue obtained from three different patients undergoing liver resection due to underlying malignancy. The hepatocytes were cultured under serum-free conditions and treated from d 1 to d 5 with culture containing 0.1 - 1000 nmol/L of T3. Bile acid formation and mRNA levels of key enzymes were analysed. RESULTS： The lowest concentration of T3 decreased cholic acid （CA） formation to 43%-53% of controls and chenodeoxycholic acid （CDCA） to 52%-75% of controls on d 5. The highest dose further decreased CA formation to 16%-48% of controls while CDCA formation remained at 50%-117% of controls. Expression of mRNA levels of cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase （CYP7A1） and sterol 12α-hydroxylase （CYPSB1） dose-dependently decreased. Sterol 27-hydroxylase （CYP27A1） levels also decreased, but not to the same extent. CONCLUSION： T3 dose-dependently decreased total bile acid formation in parallel with decreased expression of CYP7A1 and CYP8B1. CA formation is inhibited to a higher degree than CDCA, resulting in a marked decrease in the CA/CDCA ratio.
基金Project(2007CB613705)supported by the National Basic Research Program of China
文摘The effects of two kinds of heat treatments T4(solution treatment) and T6(aging treatment) on the corrosion behaviors of Mg-3Zn magnesium alloy were studied by electrochemical measurements and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) .It is found that zinc element enriches along grain boundaries to exhibit a network microstructure for both T4-and T6-treated alloy.For T6 treatment,larger MgZn particles form mainly on grain boundary and fine MgZn particles precipitate on matrix.Compared with cast alloy,T4 treatment could decrease the amounts of MgZn particles,and decrease the zinc content of zinc-rich net-segregation.Electrochemical measurements show that T4 treatment increases the corrosion resistance while T6 treatment decreases the corrosion resistance of Mn-3Zn alloy.
文摘AIM： To study predictive factors of thyroid dysfunction associated with interferon-alpha （IFNa） therapy in chronic hepatitis C （CHC） and to describe its long-term evolution in a large population without previous thyroid dysfunction. METHODS： We performed a follow-up of thyroid function and detection of thyroid antibodies in 301 patients treated for CHC with IFNα from 1999 to 2004. RESULTS： Thyroid disorder developed in 30/301 （10%） patients with a mean delay of 6 ± 3.75 mo： 13 patients had hyperthyroidism, 11 had hypothyroidism, and 6 had biphasic evolution. During a mean follow-up of 41.59 ± 15.39 mo, 9 patients with hyperthyroidism, 3 with hypothyroidism, and 4 with biphasic evolution normalized thyroid function in 7.88 ± 5.46 mo. Recovery rate of dysthyroidism was not modified by treatment discontinuation, but was better for patients with negative thyroid antibodies before antiviral treatment （P = 0.02）. Women had significantly more dysthyroidism （P = 0.05）. Positive thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin antibodies were more frequent before antiviral treatment in patients who developed dysthyroidism （P 〈 0.0003 and P = 0.0003, respectively）. In a multivariate model, low fibrosis was found to be a predictive factor of dysthyroidism （P = 0.039）.CONCLUSION： In this monocentric population of CHC, dysthyroidism, especially hyperthyroidism, developed in 10% of patients, Low fibrosis was found to be a predictive factor of dysthyroidism, Thyroid disorder recovered in 16/30 patients （53%） and recovery was better in the non-autoimrnune form,
文摘The purpose of this research was to study the pharmacokinetics and the bioavailability of recombinant human parathyroid hormone [rhPTH （1-34）] in Rhesus monkeys after single and multiple subcutaneous administration. An immunoradiometric assay （IRMA） was used to determine the plasma drug concentration of rhFFH （1-34） after giving single dose of 10, 20 and 40 ug/kg and daily dose of 40 ug/kg for 7 d by subcutaneous administration, and intravenous injection of 20 ug/kg in Rhesus monkeys. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by noncompartmental analysis. The drug plasma level quantitation range was from 0.027 to 2.22 ng/mL. The intra- and inter-assay precision （CV） of analysis were less than 15%, and the average recovery was about 93.0% ± 8.6% - 116.5% ± 14.0%. After subcutaneous administration of rhPTH（1-34） at dose of 10, 20 and 40 ug/kg, the average Tmax was 0.67, 0.5 and 0.83 h, Cmax were 1.85 ± 0.05, 3.23 ± 0.25 and 7.15 ± 1.19 ng/mL, the AUC（0-∞） were 3.4 ± 0.6, 10.7 ± 1.3 and 12.6 ± 1.5 ng/h/mL, and terminal-phase elimination T1/2 were 0.72 ± 0.10, 1.15 ± 0.10 and 1.03 ± 0.06 h, respectively. The absolute bioavailability of rhPTH （1-34） was 46.96% after subcutaneous administration of 20 ug/kg. There was no evidence of accumulation during systemic exposure of rhPTH （1-34） upon multiple dosing in Rhesus monkeys. The IRMA assay method provide reasonable sensitivity and specificity for the pharrnacokinetic study of rhPTH （1-34） after subcutaneous or intravenous administration in Rhesus monkeys. The pharmacokinetic characteristic of rhPTH （1-34） in monkeys shows linear relationship with the dose administered subcutaneously.
文摘AIM: To assess the role of thyroid disease as a risk for fractures in Crohn's patients.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1998 to 2000. The study group consisted of 210 patients with Crohn's disease. A group of 206 patients without inflammatory bowel disease served as controls. Primary outcome was thyroid disorder. Secondary outcomes included use of steroids, immunosuppressive medications, surgery and incidence of fracture.RESULTS: The prevalence of hyperthyroidism was similar in both groups. However, the prevalence of hypothyroidism was lower in Crohn's patients (3.8 % vs 8.2 %, P=0.05).Within the Crohn's group, the use of immunosuppressive agents (0 % vs11 %), steroid usage (12.5 % vs37 %), small bowel surgery (12.5 % vs 28 %) and large bowel surgery (12.5 % vs27 %) were lower in the hypothyroid subset as compared to the euthyroid subset. Seven (3.4 %) Crohn'spatients suffered fracture, all of whom were euthyroid.CONCLUSION: Thyroid disorder was not found to be associated with Crohn's disease and was not found to increase the risk for fractures. Therefore, screening for thyroid disease is not a necessary component in the management of Crohn's disease.
基金Supported by"973"Program No.2007CB512800National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.30771905+1 种基金Mega-projects of Science Research,No.008ZX10002-008Beijing Municipal Science&Technology Commission,No. D08050700650803
文摘AIM： To determine which baseline factors of chronic hepatitis B patients are predictive of virological response to Peginterferon α-2b therapy. METHODS： A total of 21 HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B （CriB） patients treated with Peginterferon α-2b were recruited. They were treated with Peginterferon α-2b （0.5-1.0 μg/kg per week） for 24 wk and followed up for 24 wk. Clinical and laboratory data of the patients were determined at pretreatment and at week 12, at 24 during treatment, and at week 48 during follow up. RESULTS： Ten patients achieved a virological response at the end of treatment. Their baseline serum alanine aminotransferase （ALT）, thyroid-stimulating hormone （TSH）, and total thyroxin （TT4） levels were significantly different from those who failed treatment. The positive predictive values （PPV） and negative predictive values （NPV） of ALT, TSH, and TT4 were 75% and 89 %, 75% and 89 %, and 75% and 75%, respectively. Moreover, combinations of the baseline ALT and TT4, ALT and TSH, TT4 and TSH levels had much higher PPV and NPV （86% and 88%, 89% and 100%, 83% and 100%, respectively）.CONCLUSION： Baseline serum ALT, TSH, and TT4 levels, especially in combination, have high predictive values of virological response to Peginterferon α-2b in HBeAg-positive CriB patients.
文摘Anuran metamorphosis involves systematic transformations of individual organs in a thyroid hormone (TH)-dependent manner. Morphological and cellular studies have shown that the removal of larval or- gans/tissues such the tail and the tadpole intestinal epithelium is through programmed cell death or apop- tosis. Recent molecular investigations suggest that TH regulates metamorphosis by regulating target gene expression through thyroid hormone receptors (TRs), which are DNA-binding transcription factors. Cloning and characterization of TH response genes show that diverse groups of early response genes are induced by TH. The products of these TH response genes are believed to directly or indirectly affect the expression and/or functions of cell death genes, which are conserved at both sequence and function levels in different animal species. A major challenge for future research lies at determining the signaling pathways leading to the activation of apoptotic processes and whether different death genes are involved in the regulation of apoptosis in different tissues/organs to effect tissue-specific transformations.
文摘Ubiquitous on earth,bacteriophages are the most abundant entities in every ecosystem,but human knowledge about them is still limited compared with that about other forms of organisms.To enrich human knowledge and promote the utilization of bacteriophages,it is necessary to isolate and characterize as many as possible different bacteriophages.Here we describe the isolation of a T4-like bacteriophage IME08 and a rapid method for its genetic characterization.With this method we easily cloned a few random fragments of the bacteriophage genome.Sequence analysis of these random clones showed that bacteriophage IME08 shared the highest sequence similarity with T4-like Enterobacteria phage T4（94%identity）,JS98（95% identity）,JS10（95%identity） and RB14（94%identity） respectively,which suggested that IME08 belonged to T4-like bacteriophage genus.
