AIM: To improve the quality standard of Compound Xilingjiedu Tablets(Flos Lonicerae, Fructus Forsythiae, etc.). METHODS: Fructus Forsythiae、Fructus Arctii and Radix Glycyrrhizae were identified by TLC. The chlorogenic acid content of Flos Lonicerae was determined by HPLC. RESULTS: TLC spot developed were fairly clear. The method of content determination of chlorogenic acid by HPLC was practicable. CONCLUSION: The method is able to control the quality of products effectively.

Objective To explore the effects of applying microsurgical technique in the one-stage urethroplasty for hypospadias with longitudinal preputial island flaps of dorsum penis. Methods Forty-two hypospadias cases with obvious phallocampsis were reviewed. The patients aged from 1 to 19 years (median, 6.4 years). Among them, 6 cases were of coronary suleus type, 28 cases of pe-nis body type, and 8 cases of penis and scrotum type. All patients went through the operative proce-dures by microscope with four-times magnification and microsurgical instruments. Longitudinal prepu-tial island flaps of dorsum penis was employed for the treatment of 33 cases of these patients, and 9 cases underwent longitudinal preputial island flaps of dorsum penis combined scrotal septal pedicle flaps. Results Thirty-eight cases were cured by one-time surgery (90.5%). One case with urethral fistula after operation was cured by surgical repair of urethral fistula. Two cases with urethral meatus stricture after operation and one with urethral stoma stricture were cured by dilatation. Patients were followed for 9 to 52 months (mean, 27 months). Conclusion Use of microsurgical technique with longitudinal preputial island flaps of dorsum penis in one-stage urethroplasty for hypospadias improved the success rate of surgery with few complications.

Miscanthus sinensis Anderss is a perennial C4-grass. It is a promising bioenergy plant, which has been proposed as general feedstock for biomass and lignocellulosic biofuel production. In this study, the flower and leaf buds transcriptomes of Miscanthus sinensis Anderss were sequenced by the platform of Illumina HiSeq 2000. In total 98 326 Unigenes were generated by de novo assembly with an average length of 822 bp and N50 of 1 023 bp. Based on the NR, NT, Swiss-Prot, KEGG, GO and COG databases (Evalue < le-5), 74 134 (75.40%) Unigenes were annotated. A total of 45 507 Unigenes were mapped into different GO terms. In KEGG pathways identification, 36 710 sequences were assigned to 128 KEGG pathways. Sorghum bicolor (37 731, 60.86%), Zea mays (16 258, 26.22%), and Oryza sativa (3 065, 4.94%) showed high similarity to Miscanthus sinensis Anderss. And 24 photosynthesis-related enzyme genes were identified. The result provides a foundation for further characterizing the functional genes in Miscanthus sinensis Anderss.
Biofuels ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Genes, Plant ; Poaceae ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Plant ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, RNA ; Transcriptome

Objective:To investigate the association of FAT atypical cadherin 1 (FAT1) with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods:The retrospective cohort study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 124 patients with ESCC who were admitted to Shanxi Cancer Hospital from January 2011 to December 2015 were collected. There were 85 males and 39 females, aged from 40 to 72 years, with a median age of 60 years. The ESCC tissues surgically removed and adjacent tissues specimens were collected to prepare tissue microarray for immunohistochemical staining. The 5 cases of ESCC tissues and adjacent tissues were analyzed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Observation indicators: (1) the expression of FAT1 protein in ESCC and adjacent tissues; (2) the expression of FAT1 RNA in ESCC and adjacent tissues; (3) the expression of FAT1 protein in ESCC tissues and its association with clinicopathological parameters; (4) follow-up and survival. Follow-up using outpatient examination and telephone interview was conducted to detect survival of patients up to February 13, 2019. The survival time was from surgical date to tumor-related death or endpoint of follow-up. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the t test. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M (range). Count data were described as absolute numbers or percentages, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the chi-square test. Comparison of ordinal data was analyzed using the non parameter rank sum test. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival time, and Log-rank test was used for survival analysis. Results:(1) The expression of FAT1 protein in ESCC and adjacent tissues: of 124 specimens, the 107 cases of ESCC tissues and 93 cases of adjacent tissues were finally obtained because of exfoliative tissues. There were 76 cases of ESCC tissues and corresponding adjacent tissues matched. Results of immuno-histochemical staining showed that FAT1 protein was expressed in both ESCC and adjacent tissues and was brown after staining. FAT1 was located in cytomembrane, with high expression of FAT1 as ≥75 and low expression as <75. The relative expression levels of FAT1 protein in ESCC and adjacent tissues were 68±42 and 77±37, showing a significant difference between ESCC and adjacent tissues ( t=2.380, P<0.05). (2) The expression of FAT1 RNA in ESCC and adjacent tissues: results of qRT-PCR showed that the relative expression levels of FAT1 RNA in 5 cases of ESCC and adjacent tissues were 1.6±0.4 and 2.5±0.3, with a significant difference between them ( t=3.560, P<0.05). (3) The expression of FAT1 protein in ESCC tissues and its association with clinicopathological parameters: of the 107 ESCC patients, 58 cases had high expression of FAT1. There were 42 and 16 cases with high expression of FAT1 in 65 non-drinking patients and 42 drinking patients, respectively, showing a significant difference between them ( χ2=7.229, P<0.05). (4) Follow-up and survival: 96 of 107 ESCC patients were followed up for 38.0?94.9 months, with a median follow-up time of 45.9 months. Survival analysis showed that the survival time of patients with high FAT1 expression was 24 months, versus 22 months of patients with low FAT1 expression, indicating no significant difference between them ( χ2=1.773, P>0.05). Results of subgroup analysis showed that the survival time was 24 months and 21 months of female patients with high and low FAT1 expression, 23 months and 22 months of non-smoking patients with high FAT1 expression and low FAT1 expression, 23 months and 21 months of non-drinking patients with high FAT1 expression and low FAT1 expression, respectively, showing significant differences between them ( χ2=8.769, 12.827, 10.724, P<0.05). Conclusions:The expression of FAT1 in ESCC tissues is low. Female, non-smoking and non-drinking ESCC patients with high FAT1 expression have good survival.

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics of pneumoconiosis through analyzing the data of pneumoconiosis cases in Liuzhou from 2006 to 2018, and to provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control of pneumoconiosis in Liuzhou. Methods The information of pneumoconiosis cases in Liuzhou was collected through the ^“health hazard factors monitoring information system^”, a subsystem of China's disease prevention and control system, and the epidemiological characteristics of pneumoconiosis were statistically analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results A total of 160 cases of pneumoconiosis was collected, mainly stage I silicosis, accounting for 70.0% of total cases (n=112). Most of the cases were from the metal smelting and rolling industry, accounting for 82.5% of total cases (n=132). The occupation of patients was mainly smelting and auxiliary work, sintering, and mining, accounting for 23.13% (n=37), 27.50% (n=44) and 18.13% (n=29) of the total number of pneumoconiosis cases, respectively. Among them, 83.75% (n=134) were from large-scale enterprises. Most of the pneumoconiosis cases had 15 to 35 years of dust exposure, with an average dust exposure of 23.78±10.36 years. The age of onset was mainly concentrated in 45 to 60 years old, and the average age of onset was 55.61±10.28 years. Conclusion The cases of pneumoconiosis in Liuzhou existed in sporadic form in recent years, and the cases were mainly concentrated in large metal smelting enterprises, with smelting and auxiliary workers and sintering workers being the most serious. It is necessary to strengthen the occupational health management of large metal smelting enterprises to effectively prevent and control the occurrence of pneumoconiosis.

Objective:To investigate the expression of miRNA-34b (miR-34b) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues and its effect on proliferation and invasion of human NSCLC A549 cells in vitro.Methods:The specimens of cancer tissues and paracancerous normal epithelial tissues (more than 5 cm from the edge of the tumor) were collected from 40 NSCLC patients in Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital from June 2015 to March 2017. A549 cells were transfected with miR-34b mimics (experimental group) and irrelevant sequences (negative control group), respectively. The expression of miR-34b in tissues and each group of A549 cells was detected by reverse transcription real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The proliferation activity of A549 cells in the experimental group and the negative control group was detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, and the invasion ability of A549 cells in the two groups was detected by Transwell assay.Results:The relative expression of miR-34b in NSCLC tissues was lower than that in paracancerous normal epithelial tissues (0.52±0.06 vs. 1.05±0.17), and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.001). The relative expression of miR-34b in A549 cells of the experimental group was higher than that in the negative control group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.05). MTT assay showed that the cell proliferation ability (absorbance value) of A549 cells in the experimental group was lower than that in the negative control group after cultured for 24 and 48 hours (both P < 0.01). Transwell assay showed that the number of invaded A549 cells in the experimental group was less than that in the negative control group [(49.53±5.03) cells vs. (121.00±12.06) cells, P < 0.01]. Conclusions:The expression of miR-34b is low in NSCLC tissues, and the up-regulation of miR-34b expression can inhibit the proliferation and invasion of NSCLC A549 cells.