Background. Tacrolimus (TAC) combined with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) has been suggested to play a critical role in the reversal of C4d-positive acute humoral rejection (AHR) in renal ...transplantation, but the efficacy of using only TAC–MMF without immunoadsorption or plasmapheresis has not been investigated. On the other hand, Chinese recipients of renal grafts usually need lower doses of immunosuppressants, and their optimal treatment for acute humoral rejection has not been established. Methods. Since 1999, we have used TAC–MMF to treat steroid-resistant acute rejection (AR). C4d staining was retrospectively performed in 32 patients with steroid-resistant AR, and the treatments of 19 patients with C4d-positive steroid-resistant AR were investigated. Results. Thirteen of 19 patients received TAC–MMF treatment only; 11 episodes of rejection in them were reversed (7 completely, 4 partially) and only 2 recipients lost their graft. Another 6 patients received immunoadsorption also. One of them failed to be converted to TAC-MMF and lost her graft. Four of 5 patients treated with immunoadsorption and TAC–MMF recovered (3 completely, 1 partially), but 3 of them had severe pneumonia, a complication rate statistically higher than in patients treated with only TAC–MMF (P<0.05). AR occurring during the first two weeks after transplantation had a statistically better outcome than that occurring later (P = 0.003). Conclusion. Our study suggests that the combination of TAC and MMF is a potentially safe and economic treatment for most Chinese renal allograft recipients with C4d-positive steroid-resistant AR, especially for rejections developing within the first two weeks after transplantation.
Supercritical carbon dioxide was used as a reaction medium to synthesize statistically random (i.e., no specific correlation between the location of the monomers on the polymer) copolymers of ...tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) and vinyl acetate (VAc) with similar molar mass and 11.6−63.3 mol % TFE content. The solubility of the copolymers at 25 °C in CO2 reduced after reaching a maximum value at a TFE molar concentration of 19.3 mol %. The 46.7 mol % TFE copolymer only dissolved in CO2 at elevated temperatures, whereas the 63.3 mol % TFE copolymer did not dissolve in CO2 even at temperatures in excess of 144 °C and pressures of 210 MPa. The molecular modeling results show that the interaction of CO2 with acetate side group was not affected by presence of fluorine in the polymer backbone; therefore, the enhanced solubility of the semifluorinated copolymers is attributable to the enhanced binding between CO2 and the semifluorinated backbone of the copolymer when the CO2 molecule can access both the fluorinated (Lewis base) and hydrogenated (Lewis acid) parts of the backbone simultaneously.
To campare the effect and tolerance beween intensified myeloablative conditioning regime (IMCR) without antithymocyte globulin (ATG) and myeloablative conditioning regime (MCR) for single-unit ...unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantation (sUCBT) in hematological malignancies.
The clinical data of 190 patients with hematological malignancies undergoing sUCBT between April 2000 and December 2013 at Department of Hematology, Anhui Provincial Hospital were retrospectively analyzed, of whom 156 received IMCR without ATG (IMCR group), including 79 patient receiving total body irradiation (TBI)/cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C)/cyclophosphamide (CY) regime, 47 receiving fludarabine (Flu)/busulfan (Bu)/CY regime, and 30 receiving Ara-C/Bu/CY regime, and all of the 156 received a combination of cyclosporine A (CsA) and mycophelonate mofetil (MMF) for the prophylaxis of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD); the remaining 34 patients received MCR (MCR group), 30 patients receiving Bu/CY regime, and 4 receiving TBI/CY regime, a
The
αT3-1 cells are immortalized anterior pituitary gonadotropes which express gonadotropin-
α subunit gene. These cells contain receptors for gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) as well as for ...luteinizing hormone (LH) which can also bind human choriogonadotropin (hCG). Like GnRH, LH and hCG can upregulate the expression of gonadotropin-
α subunit gene. While 0.1–1.0 ng/ml hCG can upregulate, higher concentrations have no effect. However, these higher hCG concentrations can act in a synergistic manner with GnRH to increase the steady state mRNA and protein levels of gonadotropin-
α subunit. The synergism between hCG and GnRH was mimicked by LH but not by other hormones in the glycoprotein hormone family or
α or
β subunits of hCG, suggesting that the synergism is hormone specific and requires the conformation of native hormone. The hCG induced increase in gonadotropin-
α subunit mRNA levels was due to a significant increase in the half-life of gonadotropin-
α subunit transcripts from 7.8±1.0 h in the controls to 16.5±3.8 h after treatment with hCG. The GnRH induced increase in gonadotropin-
α subunit mRNA levels was due to both a significant increase in the half-life to 26.2±3.0 h as well as a significant increase in the transcription rate of the gene (159.0±7.7% of the control). A greater increase in gonadotropin-
α subunit mRNA levels following a combined treatment with GnRH and hCG was due to a further increase in half-life to 37.6±3.1 h as well as a greater increase in the transcription rate of the gene (295.1±24.2% of the control) as compared to the treatment with GnRH alone. In summary, we conclude that LH and hCG can independently and synergistically act with GnRH to increase the expression of gonadotropin-
α subunit gene by transcriptional as well as by post-transcriptional mechanisms in
αT3-1 cells. These effects may be important for the increase of LH levels during the preovulatory surge.
Aims Hypertension is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Endothelial cells (ECs) exert important functions in the regulation of blood pressure. A novel gene, IC53, as an ...isoform of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-binding protein gene C53, is mainly expressed in vascular ECs and is upregulated in the failing heart of rats. Overexpression of IC53 promotes proliferation of ECs. To examine whether IC53 plays a role in the regulation of vascular tone and blood pressure, we constructed a transgenic (tg) mouse model of the IC53 gene and studied its phenotypes relevant to vascular function. Methods and results IC53 cDNA was cloned from a human aorta cDNA library. Using the endothelium-specific VE-cadherin promoter, we constructed tg mice in which IC53 was specifically overexpressed in vascular endothelia and found that the tg mice exhibit elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) in contrast to the wild-type (wt) controls. Further studies revealed impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation, reduced nitric oxide (NO) production and decreased endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) expression, and activity in the tg mice. Inhibition of IC53 in human umbilical vein ECs induces upregulation of eNOS activity. Conclusion Our results indicate that IC53 participates in the regulation of vascular homeostasis. Endothelium-specific overexpression of IC53 is associated with elevated SBP, which may be in part attributed to the downregulation of eNOS signalling.
The period length is usually much larger than the cavity effective length in a low energy superconducting linac. The long drifts between cavities will not only decrease the acceptance of the linac, ...but also lead to possible instability. The linac will be more sensitive to mismatch and other perturbations. From the longitudinal motion equation, the function which describes the parametric resonance is deduced and the relation between the instability region and the cavity filling factor is discussed. It indicates that if the zero current phase advance per period is kept below 90 degree , instability driven by parametric resonance will never occur. The space charge effect will enhance the instability, so that a stricter limitation on the phase advance per cell is required. From the numerical simulation results for two different schemes of Injector-I of the C-ADS driver linac, one can find that even with just three cells in the unstable region, significant emittance growth can be observed. Further investigations show that it is apt to produce halo particles under resonance, and the machine becomes more sensitive to errors and mismatches. Therefore, it is important to keep all cells in the stable region throughout the linac of very high beam power to minimize beam losses.
This paper is concerned with the generalized nonlinear second-order equation. By the direct construction method, all of the first-order multipliers of the equation are obtained, and the corresponding ...complete conservation laws （CLs） of such equations are provided. Furthermore, the integrability of the equation is considered in terms of the conservation laws. In addition, the relationship of multipliers and symmetries of the equations is investigated.
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