In order to investigate the role of placental isoferritin (PLF) in pathogenesis of preeclampsia and/or intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and its earlier predictive value, a prospective double-blinded study was performed. In 120 initial normal pregnant women at earlier third trimester (from 24 to 34 weeks), plasma placental isoferritin and nitric oxide (NO) metabolites (nitrite/nitrate) (NO₂⁻/NO₃⁻) were examined by using ELISA and Criess assay respectively. The out-come of pregnancies and birth weight of their infants were followed up. The receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) and predictive values of PLF predicting the outcome of pregnancy with IUGR, pre-eclampsia were analyzed. Results showed that in 120 initial normal pregnant women, IUGR occurred in 15 pregnant women (IUGR group) and pre-eclampsia in 19 (pre-eclampsia group), and the remaining 86 had normal pregnancy (normal group). The levels of plasma placental isoferritin were significantly decreased in IUGR group (260.01±58.95) μg/ml and pre-eclampsia group (285.31±53.73) μg/ml as compared with those in normal group (775.62±89.32) μg/ml at earlier third trimester (bothP<0.01). The levels of plasma NO were significantly increased in IUGR group (61.57±46.22) μmol/L and pre-eclampsia group (58.37±30.52) μmol/L as compared with those in the normal group (35.29±24.46) μmol/L (bothP<0.01). There was no significant difference in plasma placental isoferritin and NO levels between IUGR group and pre-eclampsic group (bothP>0.05). The plasma placental isoferritin was negatively correlated with NO levels (r=0.329,P<0.01). The areas under ROC of PLF predicting IUGR and pre-eclampsia were 0.977 and 0.905 respectively. At the cut point of 400 μg/ml PLF level, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and Kappa index of PLF levels predicting the outcome of pregnancy with pre-eclampsia were 100%, 85.15%, 55.88%, 100% and 0.645 respectively. At the cut point of 390 μg/ml PLF level, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and Kappa index of PLF levels predicting the outcome of pregnancy with IUGR were 100%, 81.9%, 44.12%, 100% and 0.663 respectively. It was concluded that the decrease of plasma placental isoferritin levels at earlier third trimester was associated with IUGR and/or pre-eclampsia, and the endothelial cell damage may be one of its mechanisms. The plasma PLF level can be used as an earlier predictor for screening of IUGR and/or pre-eclampsia.

In order to observe neuronal toxical effect of Levodopa and investigate if using Levodopa together with Ginkgo Bilobar Extract (EGb) would be an workable method to treat Parkinson disease, rat models of Parkinson disease (PD) were made by injecting 6-OHDA stereotaxically to right side of the mesencephic ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). Rotational behavioral observation, TUNEL, immunocytochemistry, Nissl’s body staining were performed to measure the difference between group treated by Levodopa (50 mg/kg every day for 3 days, 5 days, 7 days, L-dopa group) and group treated by Levodopa combined with EGb (100 mg/kg every day, E-D group). The results showed that in the L-dopa group, the numbers of apoptosis of substantial nigra, rings of rotational behavior were more than those in the E-D group (P<0.05). The numbers of Nissl’s cells in L-dopa group were fewer than in E-D group (P<0.05). The results suggested that Levodopa had neur toxic effect and EGb may decrease the toxicity of levodopa. The combined use of EGb with Levodopa may be a workable method to treat PD and may be better than using Levodopa alone.

To explore the effect of technetium-99 conjugated with methylene diphosphonate (⁹⁹Tc-MDP) on IgM-RF, IgG-RF and IgA-RF (RFs) 47 cases were selected for study, including 33 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 15 patients with joint pain/arthritis. After⁹⁹Tc-MDP for drips model being given to the patients by intravenous drip 0.2 g daily for 5 days, the injection A and B models of⁹⁹Tc-MDP were used to the patients by intravenous injection one set daily for 10 days, that was one course of treatment. The next course started after 10 days. Each case used it from 2 to 4 courses of treatment. The RFs in serum were determined by the method of enzymelinked immunoabsorption assay (ELISA) before and after 2 and 4 courses of treatment. In the patients with RA, the concentrations of IgM-RF were 296.2±108.4, IU/ml, 189.5±92.3 IU/ml and 107.8±72.5 IU/ml; the concentrations of IgG-RF were 325.6±126.2 IU/ml, 209.7±98.2 IU/ml and 160.2±80.8 IU/ml; the concentrations of IgA-RF were 330.4±136.3 IU/ml, 210.7±89.2 IU/ml and 148.8±72.2 IU/ml before and after 2 and 4 courses of treatment, respectively. The concentrations of the above RFs were significantly lower after 2 and 4 courses than those before treatment (P<0.05 andP<0.01). There was no significant difference in RFs concentrations in the patients with joint pain/arthritis before and after use of⁹⁹Tc-MDP. In the patients with positive RFs before treatment, the RFs concentrations were decreased significantly after 2 and 4 courses of treatment (P<0.05 andP<0.01). There was no obvious change of RFs concentrations in the patients with negative RFs after treatment of⁹⁹Tc-MDP. It was concluded that⁹⁹Tc-MDP could obviously reduce the abnormally high concentrations of RFs, but not influence the normal RFs, which indicated that⁹⁹Tc-MDP has an important effect on controlling the activities of RA.

To investigate the effect of HBx on expression of survivin in hepatoma cells and mechanisms of inhibition of apoptosis on hepatoma cells induced by HBx, the expression plasmid pHAHBx encoding full length of HBx was transfected into HepG2 cells and the transformed cells were identified by RT-PCR. The expression of survivin both in HepG2 cells and HBx-transfected cells was examined with RT-PCR. The nude mice model of hepatoma was established by injecting HepG2 cells and HBx-transfected cells into the flank of nude mice subcutaneously. The expression level of survivin both in HepG2 formed tumors and HBx-transfected cell-formed tumors in nude mice was examined with Western-blot. The TUNEL assay was used to detect the apoptotic cells of tumor tissues in nude mice after intraabdominal chemotherapy with adriamycin. The results indicated that the amplification of survivin in HBx-transfected HepG2 cells was up-regulated when compared with that in non-transfected cells. Western-blot showed that the tumor cells expressing HBx in nude mice had a positive band of survivin expression and the tumor cells without HBx expression had no positive band. The result of TUNEL assay showed that there were less apoptotic cells in tumor tissues expressing HBx than that in control group cells. It was concluded that HBx could upregulate the expression of survivin in hepatic carcinoma cells which can inhibit apoptosis of hepatic carcinoma cells induced by adriamycin.