AIM To study whether cyproheptadine(Cyp) affects endocrine functions in reproductive system with gender difference. METHODS Sixty SD rats were randomly distributed into 3 groups according to gender, respectively, and they were administered NS(5 mL*kg-1*d-1), Cyp 2.4, 4.8 mg*kg-1*d-1 accordingly by ig for 14 d or 21 d. The serum levels of luteinizing hormone(LH), follicle stimulating hormone(FSH), testosterone(T), progesterone(P), estrodiol(E2) were measured by radio-immunoassay and the ultrastructure of gonadotropin-releasing hormone(GnRH) cells, gonadotropin cells, Leydig cells, Sertoli cells, luteal cells, granulocytes and so on were observed by electronmicroscopy and microscopy. The calmodulin(CaM) mRNA expression in hypothalamus-pituitary-testis axis(HPTA) was detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS Cyp(2.4 mg*kg-1*d-1×14 d, ig) increased serum LH concentration while decreased serum FSH, P concentrations in female rats. Cyp(4.8 mg*kg-1*d-1×14 d, ig)increased serum LH, T concentrations in males, and increased serum LH concentration while decreased serum FSH, E2 and P concentrations significantly in females. The retrograde changes of ultrastructure were observed in part of gonadotropin and ovary endocrine cells, while a stimulating one in testis endocrine cells. CaM mRNA expression levels were elevated in testis but not in hypothalamus and pituitary in male rats. CONCLUSIONCyp had a negative effect on endocrine function in females, but a positive one in males. The ultrastructure showed relevant changes in target gland. Cyp promoted CaM mRNA expression in testis,which had close connections with Cyp′s stimulative effect in HPTA.

Objective To gather laboratory results automatically.Methods An interface software was developed with Mscomm32 control and PowerBuilder.Result The results of laboratory instruments were input into LIS database automatically.Conclusion Hospital engineer can realize the connection of laboratory instruments with Mscomm32 control and PowerBuilder.

BACKGROUND: Present studies have proved that titanium coating nanotubes cannot only promote the biological activity of the material itself, but also be used as a drug carrier loading antibiotics and growth factors. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the antibacterial properties of vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium dioxide nanotubes in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: The releasing property in vitro of vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium dioxide nanotubes and vancomycin/titanium dioxide nanotubes were detected. And 1010/L Staphylococcus aureus dilution was put onto the commercial titanium, titanium dioxide nanotube and vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium dioxide nanotube, respectively. Twenty-four hours later, the bacterial growth and activity was observed by scanning electron microscope and confocus scanning electron microscope, respectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Scanning electron microscope showed: the number of Staphylococcus aureus was the least on the vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium dioxide nanotube, and the bacterial morphology was destroyed. Confocus scanning electron microscope observed: the number of bacteria and viable bacteria was the least on the vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium dioxide nanotube, and the most on the commercial titanium. Besides, the releasing time of vancomycin from the hydroxyapatite/titaniumdioxide nanotube was up to 18 days, but the releasing time of vancomycin was only 4 hours from the titanium dioxide nanotube. In conclusion, the vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium dioxide nanotube has good antibacterial property and slow-releasing performance.

BACKGROUND:In order to overcome the shortcomings of single materials, antibiotics-loaded hydroxyapatite/titanium composites have attracted people’s attentions.
OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the biocompatibility of vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium nanotubes.
METHODS:Mouse osteoblasts, MC-3T3-E1, were co-cultured with titanium (Cp-T), TiO2nanotubes, and vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium nanotubes, respectively. Cel morphology and growth were observed after 1, 3 and 5 days of co-culture under inverted microscope and scanning electron microscope. The cel proliferation was detected by AO-EB method. The total protein, calcium and alkaline phosphatase levels were detected at 7 and 14 days of co-culture.
RESULTSAND CONCLUSION:The MC-3T3-E1 cels with good viability and morphology adhered wel on the surface of vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium nanotubes compared with those on the surface of pure titanium and TiO2nanotubes under the scanning electron miscroscope. Moreover, there were a large amount of pseudopodia on the surface of composite nanotubes. Compared with the other two groups, the cel number on the surface and the levels of intracelular calcium and alkaline phosphatase were al higher in the vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium nanotubes group. These findings suggest that the vancomycin/hydroxyapatite/titanium nanotubes have good biocompatibility and no cytotoxicity.

ObjectiveTo investigate the mechanism of action of Xiaoyao powder combined with Sijunzi decoction, Artemisia capillaris Thunb. decoction, Longdan Xiegan decoction combined with Xiayuxue decoction, Wupi decoction combined with Sijunzi decoction, and Yiguan decoction in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. MethodsDatabases including TCMSP, TCMID, BATMAN-TCM, and TCM-MESH were used to screen out effective components and predict their targets, and databases including TTD, Drugbank, Disgenet, Liverome, OncoDB.HCC, and GEO were used to investigate HCC-related targets. The drug and disease targets were mapped to obtain the intersecting targets, and the visualization software Cytoscape 3.7.1 was used to construct the core component-intersecting target network and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. The core components and key genes were screened out and a survival analysis was performed in the GEPIA database. The active components and key genes screened out were imported into the DockThor online website for molecular docking. In addition, David database was used to perform gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis of the intersecting targets. ResultsThe analysis showed that 110, 19, 154, 121, and 51 active components, respectively, were obtained for the above five classic prescriptions, and the numbers of drug targets were 7426, 1435, 9544, 6619, and 2427, respectively. Finally 4001 HCC disease targets were screened out. There were 260, 169, 276, 242, and 192 intersecting targets, respectively, between the five prescriptions and the HCC disease targets, and the survival analysis on the GEPIA online website obtained the common hub genes of PIK3CA, SRC, MAPK1, MAPK3 (all P＜0.05) and AKT1 (P＞0.05). Quercetin was the common active component of the five prescriptions, and isobavachin and Kanzonol W were the common active components of Xiaoyao powder combined with Sijunzi decoction, Longdan Xiegan decoction combined with Xiayuxue decoction, and Wupi decoction combined with Sijunzi decoction; the results of molecular docking showed that the above three components had a strong ability of binding to PIK3CA and SRC. GO enrichment analysis showed that these targets were involved in various biological processes including drug response, protein phosphorylation, inflammatory response, and angiogenesis, and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the common pathways involved were cancer pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, Ras signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, hepatitis B pathway, and hepatitis C pathway. ConclusionQuercetin, isoflavone, and Kanzonol W have the potential mechanism of action involving multiple targets and pathways in the treatment of HCC.

[Abstrcat] Objectives To analyze 3 cases of 17q12 microdeletion syndrome diagnosed prenatally, and to demonstrate clinical phenotype of the syndrome in prenatal setting.Methods From January 2013 to July 2017,1 370 women received invasive prenatal diagnosis and chromosome microarray analysis(CMA)in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Among them, 3 fetuses were diagnosed as 17q12 microdeletion syndrome.All 3 cases were low-risk pregnancies.Abnormal structures in fetal kidney were found in all 3 cases, including 1 case of multiple renal cysts,2 cases of bilateral hyperechogenic kidneys.These women accepted invasive prenatal diagnosis followed by karyotyping, parental fluorescence in situ hybridization or CMA validation.Results The second and third trimester ultrasound showed that all 3 fetuses had bilateral renal structural abnormalities, including hyperechogenic kidney, multiple cysts and renal pelvis dilatation. The karyotyping of the 3 fetuses were normal.CMA examination showed that each case had 1.4-1.6 Mb deletion in 17q12 region.Two cases were de novo deletion and 1 case was inherited from the mother who had mild symptoms. The 3 women decided to terminate pregnancies after genetic counseling. Conclusion 17q12 microdeletion syndrome is a recurrent chromosome microdeletion syndrome, and the unique phenotype in prenatal setting is the abnormal structure of bilateral kidneys.A few cases of 17q12 microdeletion syndrome even inherited normally phenotypical parents, and prenatal genetic counseling of 17q12 microdeletion syndrome is relatively difficult.

Objective To investigate the prenatal diagnosis and genetic counseling of fetal nuchal fold (NF) thickening.Methods This study retrospectively analyzed 17 fetuses with increased NF detected by prenatal ultrasound examination in Peking Union Medical College Hospital,Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from December 1,2016 to December 1,2017.All cases were divided into isolated (isolated group) or non-isolated increased NF group (non-isolated group) according to whether the fetus had concomitant ultrasonographic abnormalities or not.Karyotype and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) were performed on all cases.Clinical data,prenatal genetic testing results and pregnancy outcomes were analyzed.Results Of those twelve cases in the isolated group,two were terminated due to the identification of chromosomal abnormalities and pathogenic copy number variations (CNVs) and the fetal autopsy results were consistent with the prenatal diagnosis.The rest 10 pregnancies were all continued including one fetus carrying a variant of unknown significance,which was proved to be a paternal heredity by CMA,and nine without genetic abnormalities and all-these infants were healthy during follow-up.Among the five non-isolated cases,one was diagnosed as trisomy 21 by karyotyping and CMA,and the other four were found to have structural abnormalities under ultrasound scan,but without genetic abnormalities in karyotyping and CMA.And all the five pregnancies were terminated after genetic counseling and three of them chose whole exome sequencing (WES) for further test.One homozygous mutation in CHRNA 1 gene and one de novo mutation in SETD2 gene were found in two cases,respectively,while no abnormality was identified in the other one case.Conclusions Once increased NF were indicated by ultrasound examination,prenatal genetic testing should be offered to the patients,including CMA,regardless of other ultrasonographic abnormalities,and WES should also be offered when necessary.Considering a thickened NF is associated with increased risks of structural defects,a close follow-up with fetal echocardiography and ultrasound is required even the prenatal tests are normal.

Objective: To detect the expression of non-coding RNA snord105b in gastric cancer (GC) tissues, sera and cell lines, and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics of patients with GC as well as its effect on the proliferation of GC cells. Methods: One hundred and twenty pairs of GC tissues and corresponding para-cancerous tissues from patients, who underwent surgery at Department of Surgery, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University between 2016 and 2017, were collected for this study. The presurgical sera samples from GC patients (n=50) and peripheral venous blood samples from healthy donors (n=30), as well as five gastric cancer cell lines (SGC-7901, AGS, MGC-803, BGC-823, HGC-27) and gastric mucosa normal epithelial GES-1 cells were also obtained. qPCR assay was adopted to detect the expression of snord105b in GC tissues, sera and cell lines. The correlation between snord105b and patients’clinicopathological features was investigated. MTS assay was adopted to detect the effect of snord105b silence or over-expressionon in vitro proliferation of four GC cells. Results: qPCR assay demonstrated that the expression of snord105b in GC tissues, sera and cell lines were significantly higher than that of para-cancerous tissues, sera from healthy donors and GES-1 cells (all P< 0.05). Expression level of snord105b was obviously associated with age,tumor size, differentiation and TNM stages of patients (all P<0.05). MTS assay demonstrated that knockdown of snord105b could suppress the proliferation of GC cells (P< 0.05), while forced-expression of snord105b could promote the proliferation of GC cells (P< 0.05). Conclusion: non-coding RNA snord105b aberrantly expressed in GC tissues, sera, and cells, and its expression was obviously correlated with patients’age, tumor size, differentiation and TNM stages. Snord105b could significantly promote the proliferation of GC cells, which may be used as a potential clinical biomaker for early diagnosis and prognosis of GC.

This paper reported a case of severe COVID-19 in the recovery stage with acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated by integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine， with the intention of shedding light on the clinical diagnosis and treatment of similar conditions. The patient， who had acute lymphoblastic leukemia， developed COVID-19 infection during the bone marrow suppression period after chemotherapy. Treatment with western medicine was mainly anti-infection， symptomatic management， and supportive care. During the recovery stage， considering the patient's chemotherapy history and disease progression， the overall syndrome was identified as deficiency of both qi and yin and binding of phlegm and blood. Based on the “state-target” combined treatment strategy， herbal prescriptions were selected and modified to address the “deficiency state”， “disease target”， and “symptom target”. In addition to western medicine， the patient was administered with Shengmai Powder （生脉散） and Compound Zhebei Granules （复方浙贝颗粒） in its modifications to boost qi， nourish yin， and reinforce healthy qi， nourish and cool the blood， ultimately achieving satisfactory therapeutic effects.