Objective;To explore the mechanism ofSimiaosan drug-containing serum on prevention and treatment of renal fibrosis.Methods Human renal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) were divided into blank group, model group, control group, and drug-containing serum high dosage group, medium dosage group and low dosage group. The expressions of CTGF and BMP-7 were determined by real-time PCR assay and immunocytochemistry.Results After the HK-2 cell was induced by uric acid (UA), the expression of CTGF significantly increased (P<0.05), the expression of BMP-7 significantly decreased (P<0.05). After intervened bySimiaosan, the expression of CTGF significantly decreased (P<0.05), the expression of BMP-7 significantly increased (P<0.05) and present dosage dependent.Conclusion Reducing the expression of CTGF and up-regulation the expression of BMP-7 and controlling epithelial-myofibroblast transdifferentiation may be the mechanism ofSimiaosan on prevention and treatment of renal fibrosis.

Objective: To explore the tongue epithelial cell apoptosis quantitatively to analysis tongue demonstration change mechanism of perimenopausal syndrome by Chaihu Shugan Decoction. Methods: Patients with perimenopausal syndrome 60 cases, divided into kidney yin deficiency (30 cases), deficiency of both kidney yin and yang (30 cases), 30 healthy cases in normal group. The treatment course lasted for 2 months. The flow cytometry was used to detect the tongue epithelial cell apoptosis. Results: The tongue epithelial cell apoptosis rate of perimenopausal syndrome patients was higher than that in the normal group (P

Objective To explore the correlation of traditional Chinese medical syndrome elements with plasma connective tissue growth factor ( CTGF) and platelet-derived growth factor ( PDGF) in early liver cirrhosis induced by type B hepatitis. Methods The distribution of traditional Chinese medical syndrome elements in early liver cirrhosis induced by type B hepatitis was analyzed, plasma contents of CTGF and PDGF were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA) , and the correlation of syndrome elements with CTGF and PDGF was discriminated. Results ( 1) The distribution of traditional Chinese medical syndrome elements in early liver cirrhosis induced by type B hepatitis showed as follows: the syndrome elements involved the viscera of liver and spleen, and the pathogenesis was characterized as dampness, heat, qi stagnation, and yin deficiency. ( 2) CTGF was closely related with spleen, gallbladder and dampness, with OR value being 1.598, 1.567, 2.797, respectively. PDGF was closely related with heat, with OR value being 1.134. Conclusion Early liver cirrhosis induced by type B hepatitis mainly affects the viscera of liver and spleen, the pathogenesis is characterized by dampness, heat, qi stagnation, and yin deficiency. The patients with higher CTGF are apt to show the pathological changes of spleen, gallbladder, dampness, and have the syndrome el-ements of spleen, gallbladder, dampness. The patients with higher PDGF are apt to show the pathological changes of heat, and have the syndrome element of heat.

BACKGROUNDTo evaluate the effects and toxicities of topotecan combined with cisplatin in the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

METHODSTwenty-six patients with SCLC diagnosed by pathologic or cytologic examination were treated with topotecan 1.25 mg/(m²*d) on days 1-5 and cisplatin 25 mg/(m²*d) on days 1-3. The chemotherapy was repeated every 21 days as a cycle.

RESULTSOut of 26 evaluable patients, 3 achieved complete response and 11 achieved partial response with an overall response rate of 53.8%. The response rates were 75.0% and 35.7% in 12 previously untreated patients and 14 patients with prior chemotherapy, respectively. In addition, one of eight refractory patients and two of five patients with brain metastasis got partial responses. The median survival period was 27 weeks and one-year survival rate was 38.5%. Myelosuppression was the major dose-limiting toxicity.

CONCLUSIONSTopotecan combined with cisplatin is effective for SCLC and it toxicity is tolerable.

Simplified dose calculation model with high computation efficiency is often used to generate the dose matrices for beamlets in the inverse planning of the intensity modulate radiation therapy. It is likely that this simplification could degrade the quality of the final treatment plans. This paper is aimed at testing the influence of such simplification in dose calculations of beamlets and accordingly proposing methods to avoid severe degradation of the plans. Two simulation instances were adopted. The primary dose calculation model without involvment of scattering effect was used to generate the dose matrices of beamlets. The differential convolution superposition dose calculation model that well accounts for scattering effect was used to calculate the final dose distributions for given intensity profiles. It is found that the simplification in dose matrices of beamlets degrades the dose levels in the edge area of the targets, however, the degradation could be diminished or even avoided by adding a suitable margin around the targets or by using the multiple-shifted-beamlet-matrices (MSBM) method that was proposed in our previous paper.
Humans ; Radiometry ; methods ; Radiotherapy Dosage ; Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Radiotherapy, Conformal ; methods ; Scattering, Radiation

Balancing the risks and benefits of organophosphate pesticides(OPs)on human and environmental health relies partly on their accurate measurement.A highly sensitive fluorescence anti-quenching multi-residue bio-barcode immunoassay was developed to detect OPs(triazophos,parathion,and chlorpyrifos)in apples,turnips,cabbages,and rice.Gold nanoparticles were functionalized with monoclonal antibodies against the tested OPs.DNA oligonucleotides were complementarily hybridized with an RNA fluorescent label for signal amplification.The detection signals were generated by DNA-RNA hybridization and ribonuclease H dissociation of the fluorophore.The resulting fluorescence signal en-ables multiplexed quantification of triazophos,parathion,and chlorpyrifos residues over the concen-tration range of 0.01-25,0.01-50,and 0.1-50 ng/mL with limits of detection of 0.014,0.011,and 0.126 ng/mL,respectively.The mean recovery ranged between 80.3％and 110.8％with relative standard deviations of 7.3％-17.6％,which correlate well with results obtained by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS).The proposed bio-barcode immunoassay is stable,reproducible and reliable,and is able to detect low residual levels of multi-residue OPs in agricultural products.

【Objective】 To explore the relationship between the methylation level of CNR1 and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in order to provide a theoretical basis for the etiology of ASD. 【Methods】 A case-control study was conducted, recruiting 30 children with ASD from the Child Development and Behavior Research Center of Harbin Medical University and a rehabilitation facility, and 30 matched typically developed children from June 2017 to December 2018. The methylation levels of CNR1 in peripheral blood were measured by the Agena MassArray^® Mass Spectrometry System. A univariate conditional Logistic regression model was used to analyze the potential association between the methylation level of CNR1 and the risk of ASD with adjustment for age, BMI, body fat percentage and body fat. The correlations between the methylation level of CNR1 and the score of Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) were evaluated by Pearson/Spearman correlation analysis. 【Results】 The methylation levels of the average methylation (t=2.224), CpG_3.4 (Z=2.187), CpG_9.10.11 (t=2.308), and CpG_28.29 (t=2.943) of the CNR1 promoter region in ASD children were significantly higher than controls (P<0.05). The methylation levels of the average methylation (OR=1.117, 95%CI: 1.003 - 1.245), CpG_9.10.11 (OR= 1.072, 95%CI:1.006 - 1.142), and CpG_28.29 (OR=1.078, 95%CI: 1.018 - 1.141) of the CNR1 promoter region were positively correlated with the risk of ASD (P<0.05). The methylation level of CpG_28.29 in ASD children was positively correlated with the scores of social motivation in SRS (r=0.421, P<0.05). 【Conclusions】 The methylation levels of CNR1 in peripheral blood are abnormal in ASD children and might be correlated with the risk of ASD and social function. The underlying mechanism needs to be further explored.

Stroma surrounding the tumor cells plays crucial roles for tumor progression. However, little is known about the factors that maintain the symbiosis between stroma and tumor cells. In this study, we found that the transcriptional regulator-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) was frequently activated in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which was a potent facilitator of tumor malignancy, and formed forward feedback loop with platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) both in CAFs and tumor cells. Importantly, PAFR/Stat3 axis connected intercellular signaling crosstalk between CAFs and cancer cells and drove mutual transcriptional programming of these two types of cells. Two central Stat3-related cytokine signaling molecules-interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-11 played the critical role in the process of PAFR/Stat3 axis-mediated communication between tumor and CAFs. Pharmacological inhibition of PAFR and Stat3 activities effectively reduced tumor progression using CAFs/tumor co-culture xenograft model. Our study reveals that PAFR/Stat3 axis enhances the interaction between tumor and its associated stroma and suggests that targeting this axis can be an effective therapeutic strategy against tumor malignancy.

Among current novel druggable targets, protein–protein interactions (PPIs) are of considerable and growing interest. Diacylglycerol kinase α (DGKα) interacts with focal adhesion kinase (FAK) band 4.1-ezrin-radixin-moesin (FERM) domain to induce the phosphorylation of FAK Tyr397 site and promotes the malignant progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells. Chrysin is a multi-functional bioactive flavonoid, and possesses potential anticancer activity, whereas little is known about the anticancer activity and exact molecular mechanisms of chrysin in ESCC treatment. In this study, we found that chrysin significantly disrupted the DGKα/FAK signalosome to inhibit FAK-controlled signaling pathways and the malignant progression of ESCC cells both in vitro and in vivo, whereas produced no toxicity to the normal cells. Molecular validation specifically demonstrated that Asp435 site in the catalytic domain of DGKα contributed to chrysin-mediated inhibition of the assembly of DGKα/FAK complex. This study has illustrated DGKα/FAK complex as a target of chrysin for the first time, and provided a direction for the development of natural products-derived PPIs inhibitors in tumor treatment.