Prevalence of dislipidemia is increasing rapidly in China and there has been a growing interest in Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of hyperlipidemia both inside and outside China. In this article, lipids regulating effects of 9 herbs or their extracts and 5 herbal formulae which have been published in English-language literature are reviewed. Although evidence from animals and humans consistently supports the therapeutic activities of these Chinese herbal medicines, few multi-center large-scale clinical trials have been conducted to confirm the efficacy and evaluate their safety.

Objective To construct lentiviral vectors containing peptide P1-GFP fusion genes.Umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells were infected with lentivirus carrying peptide P1 and GFP fusion genes.To inject the targeted umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells into mice and to detect GFP expression in the spleen.Methods Umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells were cultured with adhered tissues of umbilical cord smaller than 1 mm3 . Lentiviral vector containing P1-GFP fusion genes with engineering technology was constructed and infected the umbilical cord derive mesenchymal stem cells.Targeted umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells were intravenously injected in the mouse tail vein and after 18 hours GFP expression was detected with immunohistochamical staining of the spleen tissues.Results Harvested umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells grew well in culture medium. Green fluorescence on umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells were observed under fluorescence microscope at 18 hours after infected with lentivirus.Green fluorescence intensity of umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells was increasing over time and reached a peak at 72 hours.Umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells highly expressed CD105 (90.0%)/CD44 (98%) and CD73 (85.0%)/CD90 (98.5%) molecules.GFP expression was detected in the spleen after intravenous injection of targeted umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells in the mice 18 hours later.GFP expressing cells intimately contacted with lymphocytes.Conclusions Targeted umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells contain P1-GFP fusion genes are constructed.Targeted umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells can be targeted to mouse spleen and intimately contact with lymphocytes after intravenous injection.Our results lay the groundwork for further studies.

Objective To investigatethe relationship between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms and clinicopathological characteristics, p53 expression, and survival of Chinese patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma. Methods A total of 3882 patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma, 970 matched patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and 970 matched patients with gastric cardia adenocarcinoma were included to compare the incidence of GERD symptoms. Patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma were divided into two groups according to the presence and absence of GERD symptoms. The differences in clinicopathological characteristics and p53 expression between the two groups were compared by chi-square test, and the differences in survival between the two groups were compared by landmark analysis. Results The incidence of GERD symptoms increased successively in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, esophageal adenocarcinoma, and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma. In patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma, the proportions of male, less than 65 years old, lower thoracic tumors, tumors without squamous cell carcinoma, poorly differentiation, early tumors (stage 0-I), and p53-positive tumors in the group with GERD symptoms were higher than those in the group without GERD symptoms; moreover, the long-term survival (≥15 years) was better. Conclusion GERD symptom is an important clinical sign of esophageal adenocarcinoma. It is closely related to specific clinicopathological characteristics, p53 overexpression, and good long-term prognosis.