Objective To screen out the effective constituents with estrogenic action in Fructus psoraleae. Methods Fructus psoraleae was separated by using systemic solvent distillation method, and the effective fraction was screened out by the experiment of increasing the uterine weight in mice. Then the petroleum fraction was separated by sil; ca gel chromatrography and the effective constituent was screened by the experiment of increasing the uterine weight in mice. Results High-dose(5g/kg) of the petroleum fraction showed obvious estrogenic action (P

Objective To prepare 18F-5-fluoro-N-(2-(diethylamino) ethyl) picolinamide (18F-5-FPN) and evaluate its binding affinity with melanin.Methods 5-bromo-N-(2-(diethylamino) ethyl)picolinamide (precursor) was synthesized and the structure was characterized by ultraviolet (UV),nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry.18F-5-FPN was prepared with FX-XN module through nucleophilic substitution reaction.The product was purified and identified by HPLC.The binding specificity of 18F-5-FPN with melanin was demonstrated by in vitro study of cellular uptake,and in vivo static PET imaging of pigmented B16F10 and amelanotic A375m allografts.Biodistribution study was performed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of 18F-5-FPN in vivo.Two-sample t test was used for data analysis.Results The structure of precursor was characterized by UV,1H NMR,13C NMR and mass spectrometry.18 F-5-FPN was successfully prepared with radiochemical yield of 5％-8％,radiochemical purity ＞95％ and the specific activity of 100-120 GBq/μmol.The cell uptake study showed that the uptakes of 18F-5-FPN in B16F10 cells at 30,60 and 120 min ((9.80±0.46) ％,(10.34±0.32) ％,(7.27±0.26)％) were significantly higher than those in A375m cells ((1.36±0.14)％,(1.75±0.12)％,(1.54±0.09)％;t =30.3,46.8,38.4,all P＜0.05),and the optimal uptakes were observed at 60 min for both cells.In static PET imaging,the tumors in B16F10-bearing mice were clearly visible with the uptake value of (18.20±3.21) ％ID/g and the T/B ratio of 19.17±10.03 at 1 h postinjection,while no tumor uptake was seen in A375m-bearing mice.The main clearance pathway of 18F-5-FPN was the renal system,which cleared the unbound tracer rapidly.Conclusions 18F-5-FPN can specifically target the melanin in vitro and in vivo with favorable pharmacokinetics and good T/B ratio.18F-5-FPN may be an ideal molecular probe for diagnosis of malignant melanoma.

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) was one of the most important crops in the world next to wheat, rice, maize, soybean and barley. Using the callus derived from immature inflorescence as the recipients, we efficiently transformed sorghum varieties 115, ICS21B and 5-27 with the insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cry1Ab gene carried in the T-DNA of binary vectors which contained hygromycin resistance gene and gus gene via Agrobacterium tumefaciens. After gradient selection with hygromycin, a total of 21 independent transgenic plant lines, 52 transgenic plants were regenerated, and the average stably transformation efficiency was 1.9%. The integration and transcription of cry1Ab gene in transgenic sorghum was confirmed by PCR analysis, Southern blotting and RT-PCR analysis. The Bt proteins were expressed in most transgenic plants with different level from plant to plant by Western blotting and ELISA assay. According to insect bioassay in laboratory, the transgenic plants with a relatively high level of Bt gene expression displayed insect-resistance to pink rice borer (Sesamina inferens).
Agrobacterium tumefaciens ; genetics ; metabolism ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Endotoxins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Hemolysin Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Pest Control, Biological ; Plants, Genetically Modified ; genetics ; Sorghum ; genetics ; Transformation, Genetic

Objective To study the clinical efficacy of Bushen Huoxue decoction in the treatment of varicocele infertility and its influence on epididymis function and sperm vitality. Methods A total of 98 patients with varicocele infertility who were treated in our hospital from August 2016 to July 2018 were selected. The patients were randomly divided into control group of 49 cases and study group of 49 cases. The patients in the control group were treated with Maizhiling plus Wuzi Yanzong pill; the patients in the study group were treated with Bushen Huoxue decoction. After 12 weeks of treatment, the clinical efficacy of the patients was evaluated. The semen quality (including semen volume, sperm density, sperm motility, forward-moving sperm), sex hormones, and seminal plasma neutral α-glucosidase in the two groups were compared before and after treatment. After the end of treatment, the patients were followed up for 3 months to observe the pregnancy of the patients' spouse. Results After treatment, the total effective rate of the study group was87.76％, and the total effective rate of the control group was 69.39％. The semen quality, sex hormone and neutral α-glucosidase levels in the study group were better than those in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Bushen Huoxue decoction has a significant clinical effect in treating varicocele infertility. It can improve the semen quality, improve testosterone level and seminal plasma neutral α-glucosidase level, and improve the fertility of patients with varicocele.It is worthy of clinical promotion.

Objective:To analyze the clinical and pathological features of asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) .Methods:A retrospective analysis was carried out in terms of the clinical characteristics and pathological data in 30 patients with asymptomatic PHPT and 86 patients with typical PHPT hospitalized in the Department of Endocrinology and General Surgery of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital from Jan. 2013 to Dec. 2018. There were 7 males (23.3%) and 23 females (76.7%) , with a male to female ratio of 1:3.3. The average age was 56.9±13.3 years. In typical PHPT group, there were 32 males (37.2%) and 54 females (62.8%) , with the average age of 46.4±17.0 years. Bone metabolism indicators included bone density and bone biochemical markers (parathyroid hormone, 25-hydroxyvitamin D and alkaline phosphatase) . The t test was used to compare normally distributed variables, the Mann-Whitney rank sum test was used to compare skewed distributed variables, and the χ 2 test was used to compare enumeration data. Results:The median serum parathyroid hormone and alkaline phosphatase were 144.2 (108.1, 207.0) pg/ml and 80.0 (53.7, 105.5) IU/L respectively, the average serum concentration of calcium was 2.80±0.20 mmol/L, which were significantly lower than those of the classic group ( P<0.05) . The median serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was 12.14 (7.87, 14.38) ng/ml, which was higher than that of the classic group ( P<0.001) . Ten patients (33.3%) developed osteoporosis, and the incidence was lower than that of the classic group ( P< 0.001) . The median tumor weight was 0.80 (0.25, 1.98) g, significantly smaller than that in the classical group ( P=0.003) . There were 26 cases (86.7%, including 2 atypical parathyroid adenomas) of parathyroid adenomas and 4 cases (13.3%) of hyperplasia. Conclusions:The asymptomatic PHPT has the same sex ratio as the classic type, mainly female, but the average age is significantly higher than that in the classic type. Although asymptomatic PHPT in this study are all benign lesions, abnormal bone biochemical indicators, especially vitamin D deficiency, are common, which also lead to osteoporosis.

Objective:To explore the feasibility of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) aided semi-quantitative analysis in 11C-Pittsburgh compound B (PIB) β-amyloid (Aβ) PET imaging acquired by hybrid PET/MR, and evaluate its possibility in assisting the diagnosis or differential diagnosis for cognitive impairment. Methods:From January 2018 to September 2019, 13 Alzheimer′s disease (AD) patients (4 males, 9 females; age (59.2±5.8) years) and 10 vascular cognitive disorders (VCD) patients (9 males, 1 female; age (59.5±11.5) years) who underwent 11C-PIB PET/MR in PET center of Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology were retrospectively analyzed. The standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) of eight key brain regions (cerebral white matter, striatum, thalamus, posterior cingulate gyrus, frontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, lateral temporal cortex and occipital cortex) to cerebellum cortex were obtained by manual delineation and SPM-aided semi-automatic segmentation with the help of synchronous three-dimensional T 1 weighted imaging (3D T 1WI). Pearson correlation analysis was carried out on the SUVR obtained by the two methods. Independent-sample t test and paired t test were used to analyze the data. Results:There was no significant difference between AD group and VCD group in age and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score (19.7±4.7 vs 21.7±3.8; t values: 0.095 and 1.098, both P>0.05). Except thalamus( r=0.179, P=0.413), there were good correlations between SUVR obtained by segmentation and delineation in the other 7 key regions ( r values: 0.678-0.893, all P<0.05). The SUVR of 8 key regions obtained by the two methods in AD group was significantly higher than that in VCD group (1.519-2.055 vs 1.105-1.618; t values: 2.799-11.582, all P<0.01). The SUVR of striatum (1.942±0.205), posterior cingulate gyrus (1.915±0.249), frontal lobe (1.983±0.264), parietal lobe (2.008±0.296) and temporal cortex (1.931±0.254) in AD group was significantly higher than that of cerebral white matter (1.746±0.192; t values: 3.793-6.992, all P<0.01). But in VCD group, there was no region with the SUVR higher than that of cerebral white matter. Conclusions:Hybrid PET/MR can acquire the PET and MRI images synchronously, which can realize the accurate brain segmentation and obtain the semi-quantitative data of key brain regions aided by SPM. The method can analyze the characteristics and differences of amyloid imaging in AD and VCD, which is expected to provide an accurate imaging analysis method for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of cognitive disorders.

Objective:To explore the diagnostic value of 68Ga-fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) PET for the restaging of patients with colorectal cancer and its impact on treatment strategy. Methods:Patients with colorectal cancer who underwent 68Ga-FAPI PET imaging in the PET Center of Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology from June 2020 to June 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. PET images were evaluated by 3 experienced imaging physicians. Biopsy or postoperative pathology, clinical and imaging follow-up results were as the gold standard. The diagnostic value of PET was compared with conventional imaging (CT/MR), and the impact of 68Ga-FAPI PET on guiding treatment was evaluated. χ2 test and Fisher exact test were used to compare the differences between groups. Results:A total of 33 patients were included (17 males, 16 females, age (52.8±12.3) years), of which 24 were finally diagnosed as recurrence/metastases/progression. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 68Ga-FAPI PET in detecting recurrence/metastases/progression of colorectal cancer were 93.9%(31/33), 100%(24/24), 7/9, 92.3%(24/26) and 7/7, respectively. Its accuracy, sensitivity and negative predictive value were significantly higher than those of conventional imaging (64.5%(20/31), 56.5%(13/23) and 7/17; χ2 values: 8.549 and 10.786, all P<0.05). Compared with the clinical or pathological stage before examination, 68Ga-FAPI PET led upstaging to stage Ⅳ in 12 patients (50.0%, 12/24). Of the 31 patients who were correctly diagnosed by 68Ga-FAPI PET, the treatment regimen of 22 patients (71.0%) was changed because of 68Ga-FAPI PET imaging. Conclusion:68Ga-FAPI PET has good diagnostic performance in the restaging of colorectal cancer, which is helpful to further guide clinical treatment strategy.

Objective:To investigate the value of serum miR-143 level combined with MRI in predicting the early response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in cervical cancer.Methods:A total of 85 patients with pathologically confirmed cervical cancer underwent conventional MRI, intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI), and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) before CCRT. The biopsy tissues and serum samples were collected. The differential expression of miRNA in the biopsy tissues was determined by microarray chip. The expression level of miR-143 in the serum samples was analyzed by qRT-PCR. All patients were divided into the non-residual and residual tumor groups according to post-treatment MRI. Pre-treatment clinical factors, MRI parameters and miR-143 between two groups were statistically analyzed by the univariate and multivariate analyses. The optimal thresholds and predictive performance for post-treatment incidence of residual tumors were estimated by drawing the ROC curve.Results:At one month after CCRT, there were 52 patients in the non-residual tumor group and 33 patients in the residual tumor group. In the residual tumor group, pre-treatment FIGO staging, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), D and V e were significantly higher (all P<0.05), whereas K trans value was significantly lower ( P<0.001) when compared to those in the non-residual tumor group. The miRNA array analysis showed that there were 16 miRNAs with differential expression levels between two groups (all P<0.05). Among them, the increase of miR-143 was the most significant in the residual tumor group. Compared with the residual tumor group, the expression level of serum miR-143 was significantly down-regulated in the non-residual tumor group ( P=0.002). Compared with the SiHa cells, the expression level of miR-143 in the SiHa-R cells was significantly up-regulated ( P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that only miR-143, D, K trans and V e were the independent prognostic factors. The combination of multi-parametric MRI and miR-143 exhibited the highest predictive performance (AUC=0.975), with a sensitivity of 84.8% and a specificity of 96.2%. Conclusion:The combination of multi-parametric MRI with miR-143 further improves the predictive performance for residual tumors after CCRT, which contributes to the personalized treatment of cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer patients who are positive for hormone receptor typically exhibit a favorable prognosis. It is controversial whether chemotherapy is necessary for them after surgery. Our study aimed to establish a multigene model to predict the relapse of hormone receptor-positive early-stage Chinese breast cancer after surgery and direct individualized application of chemotherapy in breast cancer patients after surgery. METHODS: In this study, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between relapse and nonrelapse breast cancer groups based on RNA sequencing. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to identify potential relapse-relevant pathways. CIBERSORT and Microenvironment Cell Populations-counter algorithms were used to analyze immune infiltration. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression, log-rank tests, and multiple Cox regression were performed to identify prognostic signatures. A predictive model was developed and validated based on Kaplan-Meier analysis, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). RESULTS: A total of 234 out of 487 patients were enrolled in this study, and 1588 DEGs were identified between the relapse and nonrelapse groups. GSEA results showed that immune-related pathways were enriched in the nonrelapse group, whereas cell cycle- and metabolism-relevant pathways were enriched in the relapse group. A predictive model was developed using three genes ( CKMT1B , SMR3B , and OR11M1P ) generated from the LASSO regression. The model stratified breast cancer patients into high- and low-risk subgroups with significantly different prognostic statuses, and our model was independent of other clinical factors. Time-dependent ROC showed high predictive performance of the model. CONCLUSIONS A multigene model was established from RNA-sequencing data to direct risk classification and predict relapse of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in Chinese patients. Utilization of the model could provide individualized evaluation of chemotherapy after surgery for breast cancer patients.
Humans ; Female ; Breast Neoplasms/genetics* ; East Asian People ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/genetics* ; Breast ; Algorithms ; Chronic Disease ; Prognosis ; Tumor Microenvironment