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American Association of Fujian Meducal University Alumni
2006
Edited by: Minggui Pan, Yi-Wu Huang, Fan Lin
Published by:
Newsletter, Issue 1,
Inside the issue:
People serving the 4th Term New scientific discoveries by alumni
Visiting
from FJMU
Clinical medicine in review Books and Pomes
Tips for sharing
Scholars
From the Editor
Dear friends, we are starting this newsletter with hope that it will
become a vehicle for providing useful and entertaining information. We would like this
newsletter to be a forum for all alumni and friends to participate and to have fun. We
anticipate to generating one issue every three months. If you have anything you think
useful or entertaining please email us. If you have recent scientific or clinical publications
please send us an abstract. We like things listed above and beyond. Just make it fun. The
newsletter will be placed in the AAFMUA website and achieved.
People Serving in the Fourth Term of AAFMUA:
A general conference was held on March 26th 2006 in New York. More than sixty people
attended, including two counselors from the Consulate General of the P.R.C. in New York. Dr.
Ruoqing Huang, the re-elected president of AAFMUA, hosted the conference and introduced the
people who will serve the leadership of the fourth term for the organization. They are: Dr.
Tongchuan Li, Honorary President and Director of Professor Shen Yunying Foundation of
AAFMUA; Dr. Minggui Pan, Executive Vice President; as well as Vice Presidents, Drs. Yishun
Lin, Yiwu Huang, Defu Zeng, Zao-dung Ling, Ronglan Zheng. The responsibility of each VP
and the names of complete leadership team of the fourth term AAFMA have been posted in our
website (www.aafmua.org).
Visiting Scholars from FMU:
1. Dr. Chengxiong He, Vice President of Fujian Provincial Hospital of Dermatovenereology
and Professor of FJMU has successfully completed his three month hospital management
training in New York University. Dr. He is a graduate of Class 1982 and came to the
States as an exchange scholar. During his stay in New York, he also visited Cornell
University Medical College and attended Dermatology grand round with the help of
AAFMUA. He was also invited to attend AAFMUA general conference in NYC. Dr. He
has returned to Fuzhou on April 9, 2006.
2. With the great efforts of our alumni and Guest professors who sponsor 12 postdoctoral
fellows or PhD students from FJMU. They are Fang Fang (in Dr. Shidu Yan’s lab,
Columbia University); Chun Wang (Dr. Shifang Yan’s Lab, Columbia University); Chao
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Hui and Yuangui Zhu (Dr. Zao-dung Lin’s Lab, Rush University), Xuwei Yang (Dr. Ke
Zhang’s Lab, UCLA), Liangdi Xie (Dr. Kehe Ruan’s Lab, Univ.of Texas); Fangping Yan
and Jin Lin (Dr. Zhenmin Lei’s Lab, Univ. of Louisville); Nainong Li and Chen Ying
(Dr. Defu Zeng’s Lab, City of Hope National Medical Center), Gongbiao Lin ( Dr. Renjiang Lin City of Hope National Medical Center); and Lu Lu (Dr. Delong Liu’s Lab, New
York Medical College).
New Scientific Discoveries Made by Our Alumni:
Dr. Kun Ping Lu, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, published
a major discovery in the journal Nature. The discovery centered on the role
of a gene, Pin1, which he cloned a few years ago, in Alzheimer’s disease. Part
of the Abstract copied as below.
The prolyl isomerase Pin1 regulates amyloid precursor protein processing
and amyloid- production
(Nature 440, 528-534 (23 March 2006)
Here we show that Pin1 has profound effects on APP processing and A production. We
find that Pin1 binds to the phosphorylated Thr 668-Pro motif in APP and accelerates its
isomerization by over 1,000-fold, regulating the APP intracellular domain between two
conformations, as visualized by NMR. Whereas Pin1 overexpression reduces A secretion
from cell cultures, knockout of Pin1 increases its secretion. Pin1 knockout alone or in
combination with overexpression of mutant APP in mice increases amyloidogenic APP
processing and selectively elevates insoluble A 42 (a major toxic species) in brains in an
age-dependent manner, with A 42 being prominently localized to multivesicular bodies of
neurons, as shown in Alzheimer's disease before plaque pathology. Thus, Pin1-catalysed
prolyl isomerization is a novel mechanism to regulate APP processing and A production,
and its deregulation may link both tangle and plaque pathologies. These findings provide
new insight into the pathogenesis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Literature Country, the Past?
From《舒婷诗集》
四月的黄昏
四月的黄昏里
流曳着一组组绿色的旋律
在峡谷低回
在天空游移
要是灵魂里溢满了回响
又何必苦苦寻觅
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要歌唱你就歌唱吧, 但请
轻轻, 轻轻, 温柔地
四月的黄昏
仿佛一段失而复得的记忆
也许有一个约会
至今尚未如期
也许有一次热恋
而不能相许
要哭泣你就哭泣吧, 让泪水
流啊, 流啊, 默默地
Don’t we all have a piece of memory like this?
After all, we are no longer the youth we used to be.
Books:
I recently read “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, a book about human
evolution over the past several million years to its current state.
Quite interesting.
Clinical Medicine in Review:
1. Current Update on Treatment of H. Pylori and Dyspepsia.
By Wen Biao Zhang, M.D. Kaiser Permanente Medical Center Fresno
Summary
• Dyspepsia may be caused by peptic ulcer disease, nonulcer dyspepsia, gastroesophageal
reflux disease, gallstones, gastric cancer, and
gastroparesis.
• The majority of patients with dyspepsia have no structural lesion to explain their
symptoms (nonulcer dyspepsia).
• The prevalence of H. pylori infection in patients with nonulcer dyspepsia is only slightly
increased compared with that in asymptomatic individuals.
• The clinical benefit of eradication of H. pylori in patients with nonulcer dyspepsia is
modest, if any.
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• Decision-analytic models demonstrate that testing for and treatment of H. pylori in a
patient with dyspepsia js cost-effective.
• The optimal management strategy in a patient with dyspepsia is unknown.
• Asymptomatic individuals should not be tested for H. pylori infection.
Two physicians who discovered the relationship between H. Pylori and peptic ulcer won
Nobel Prize in medicine in 2005.
2. FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION BIOPSY OF THE PANCREAS
By Fan Lin, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Geisinger Medical Center
ABSTRACT
Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) has become the method of choice in establishing a
tissue diagnosis for pancreatic lesions being clinically and radiologically suspected for a
malignancy prior to surgical intervention and/or chemotherapy. FNAB has been proven to
be a safe and accurate procedure, and is frequently done under computed tomography
(CT) or endoscopic ultrasound guidance.
An average diagnostic sensitivity of
approximately 85% and specificity of approaching 100% are usually obtained. Overall
accuracy of FNAB of the pancreas increases with experience. This article reviews
indications, popular techniques, and complications of FNAB of the pancreas. Advantages
and disadvantages of each technique are compared. Diagnostic criteria for ductal
adenocarcinoma and its variants, which account for approximately 90% of the total
malignant tumors of the pancreas, are described in detail. Benign conditions and other
neoplasms found in the pancreas that potentially mimic ductal adenocarcinoma, such as
pancreatitis, pancreatic endocrine tumors, solid pseudo-papillary tumor of the pancreas,
acinic cell carcinoma and metastases, are discussed. A diagnostic approach to cystic lesions
is delineated. Immnohistochemical markers and special stains that may add some
diagnostic value in the distinction of pancreatic lesions are addressed.
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Lin F and Staerkel G: Cytologic criteria for well-differentiated adenocarcinoma
of pancreas in fine needle aspiration specimens. Cancer Cytopathol 2003; 99:44-50.
2.
Lin F and Staerkel G: Fine needle aspiration biopsy of pancreatic
adenocarcinoma. Handbooks of Immunohistochemistry and In Situ Hybridization of
Human Carcinomas, Volume 3: Molecular Genetics, Liver Carcinoma, and Pancreatic
Carcinoma. Chapter 16, p 397-406. Edited by M.A. Hayat, Elsevier Science/Academic
Press, U.S.A., 2005.
*due to the space, only abstract is presented here. For people who are interested in the full
article, please contact Dr. Fan Lin directly at:
Fan Lin, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, MC 01-31
Geisinger Medical Center
100 N. Academy Ave.
Danville, PA 17822
Tel: 570-271-6333
Fax: 570-271-5916
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Flin1@geisinger.edu
Pancreatic cancer is still one of the most difficult to treat cancers with little progress made over
the past decade.
Tips for sharing:
(Contributed by Ruoqing Huang)
1. Credit Card
Nowadays, almost everyone carries one or more than one credit cards. Which one should you
carry? I would like to recommend one credit card, Citi Dividend platinum select card issued
by Citibank, which I have used for three years and it works pretty well for me. The features this
card has are as follows: Earn cash back on everything: a full 5% cash back on purchases at
supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations, plus 1% on all other purchases ($300 reward limit
per year per card, however, you can apply for two cards if you need it). Earn unlimited cash back
by shopping within the Citi Dividend Merchant Network. No annual fee. There is no trick, no
“up to…% cash back” trick. If you spend quite a lot of money on gas station and supermarket,
as I do, this card probably will work very well for you. You can use this card to pay for all your
bills when possible and get more rewards. This card also has other free protection features: Citi
Identity Theft Solutions; $0 Liability on unauthorized purchases Secure (This is very
important feature you may need it); free online account management. If you are interested in
this card and would like to have more information you can go to www.citibankcards.com or
you can type Citi Dividend platinum select card in Google then search.
2. Online Savings Accounts
In recent years many banks, either traditional banks or online banks have online banking account
services, which offer much higher interest rate for customers. For example, citibank’s regular
savings account offers around 1% interest rate while its eSavings account offers 4.5% API. The
account is also insured by FDIC as traditional accounts are and usually benefited by online
fraud protection. I have opened online banking accounts for years and they have been working
very well. Two established banks recently offers very competitive e-savings account interest
rates with some benefits other online banking services do not provide: HSBC, 4.8% APY (Hong
Kong Shanghai Bank www.hsbcdirect.com ), Citibank, 4.5% APY (www.direct.citibank.com
). These two national banks provides nationwide as well as worldwide services, and also offer
you ATM and bank branch services which are not offered by other banks. If you are interested in
online banking accounts and would like to have more information you can go to the above two
banks webs or go to www.bankrate.com for more complete online banking information and
availability in your areas. Please get more details regarding the availability, requirements and
bank policy before you open your account. In my personal experience, these accounts are safe
and easily managed online.
3. Webs You May Be Interested In
Some websites provides useful discount information. www.dealsea.com and
www.eDealinfo.com are two webs which provide daily discount information. Some discounts
are quite deep. I’ve personally found that Dell computer information is quite useful. If you are
going to purchase a computer soon you can spend 1 or 2 minutes each day to check these two
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webs (information is similar among them). Each month Dell issues some very good discount
offers valid only within certain period of time. Last year I purchased a Laptop with a $750
coupon for a $1500 or more laptop purchase (that was a 50% discount) and my friends also
purchased computers with the deep discount coupons they offered (ranging from 35 to 50%
discount). These discounts usually offer in the first 10 days of the month although not always so.
The prices we paid for the computers are still very good in comparison to the current prices of
the same models in Dell, and the computers we purchased from Dell are very good in Quality.
www.bankrate.com not only provides banking information but also mortgage rate information.
If you need a mortgage it would be a good idea for you to visit it and have a comparison.
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Do you know?
There is a Message Board in AAFMUA’s website. In this message board anyone may
create a forum with a specific topic. For example, you may create a forum where anyone
interested can exchange messages about movie release, or fashion, or jobs or anything. In
another word, you create a chat room or joint in a chat room with a topic so long you
want to. Care to give it a try?
A journal article link: Protection of Human Subjects in Clinical Research by Yishun Lin:
Protection of Human Subjects in Clinical Research: History and Recently Development
in the US, Journal of Fujian Medical University (Social Science Edition), 2005; 6(1): 99,
(Chinese Version).