Cancer stem cells comprise a sub-population with the capacity of self-renewal,self-differentiation and high tumorigenicity.Cancerogenesis,development,relapse and therapeutic resistance are closely related with these cells.The most important characteristics of these cells are the ability to self-renew.So insight into the regulating mechanism of self-renewal in cancer stem cells will be important for the development of novel molecular agents targeted the cancer stem cells.

Aim To apply simple combined models to screen small molecule BDNF-like compounds for potential pharmacotherapy of central nerve degenerative diseases.Methods BDNF-like bioactivities were dentified with effects against apoptosis induced by serum withdrawal in turn in cultured human SH-SY5y cells,rat NIH3T3/trkB cells vs NIH3T3 cells,using MTT technique.Results More than 400 compounds were tested by using these methods.11 of them presented protective effects on apoptosis induced by serum withdrawal in SH-SY5y cells.2 of them also provided selective protection against apoptosis induced in NIH3T3/trkB cells versus in NIH3T3 cells,which were identified as BDNF-like compounds.Further study showed that these 2 compounds could withstand SH-SY5y cell injuries induced by 6-OHDA.Conclusion All the above studies provide a useful series of simple models for BDNF-like drug screen and some compound candidates for further study of neuroprotection.

Objective To investigate the value of combined detection of serum tumor biomarkers including alpha-fetoprotein (AFP),tumor specific growth factor (TSGF),golgi protein 73 (GP73) and osteopontin (OPN) in diagnosis of primmy hepatic carcinoma.Methods AFP,TSGF and GP73 levels were measured by electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay,and OPN levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 122 cases of primary hepatic carcinoma,50 cases of liver benign lesions and 50 cases of healthy control.The biological parameters and the levels of AFP,TSGF,GP73 and OPN were studied.Results The serum levels of AFP,TSGF,GP73 and OPN in primary hepatic carcinoma were higher than those in the liver benign disease group and the normal control group (all P ＜ 0.01).Sex and age of the patients at diagnosis showed no significant association with the levels of the four serum tumor biomarkers in the primary hepatic carcinoma groups (all P ＞ 0.05).But the tumor size,amount,tumor stage,metastasis and recurrence showed significant association with the levels of those in the primary hepatic carcinoma groups (all P ＜ 0.05).The sensitivity,specificity and veracity of serum AFP,TSGF,GP73 and OPN as individual diagnostic marker was only 57.38 ％,68.85 ％,70.49 ％ and 69.67 ％,respectively.The sensitivity of combined detection of AFP and TSGF was 80.33 ％,and that of combined detection of AFP,TSGF and GP73 was 85.25 ％.While,the sensitivity of the four serum tumor markers in combination was 98.36 ％,the accuracy was 95.65 ％.The sensitivity and accuracy of combined detection with the four serum tumor markers were significantly higher than those of the individual markers and other combination detection methods (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Serum markers of AFP,TSGF,GP73 and OPN can serve as a means for diagnosis of primary hepatic carcinoma.Combined detection of the four serum tumor biomarkers can improve the sensitivity,accuracy and the negative predictive value,which is benefit to early diagnosis and interference.

Adolescent ; Amiodarone ; therapeutic use ; Anti-Arrhythmia Agents ; therapeutic use ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Emergency Medical Services ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Prognosis ; Tachycardia, Ventricular ; complications ; pathology ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

The UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometer was used to explore the chemical compositions in safflower. The rapid separation of the compositions was conducted by the UHPLC, following by high resolution full scan and MS2 scan, under the positive and negative ion mode. The chemical formula of compositions were deduced by full scan data in less than 5, then the potential structures were confirmed by the MS2 data. Forty-nine compounds were detected, of which 26 was identified, and 5 compounds was validated by the standard substances.
Carthamus tinctorius ; chemistry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Molecular Structure ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; methods

OBJECTIVESTo explore whether the angiotensin I -converting enzyme (ACE) I/D (insertion/ deletion) polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility to high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) in the Han Chinese.

METHODSOne hundred and forty-seven HAPE-p (HAPE patients) and 193 HAPE-r (HAPE resistants) were enrolled from the Yushu earthquake reconstruction workers in Qinghai province where the altitude is over 3 500 m above sea level. Blood samples were collected from each of the HAPE-p and HAPE-r groups. Information about physiological phenotypes was obtained via fieldwork investigation. The ACE-I/D polymorphism in HAPE-p and HAPE-r was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

RESULTSThe SaO2 was significantly lower while HR was significantly higher in HAPE-p group than those in HAPE-r group. The genotype frequencies of ACE-I/D for II, ID, DD in HAPE-r and HAPE-p groups were 0.430, 0.446, 0.124 and 0.435, 0.469, 0.095, respectively, the allelic frequencies of I and D were 0.650, 0.350 and 0.670, 0.330, respectively. The OR of ID, DD and D alleles relative to II for HAPE was 0.961 (0.610-1.514), 1.322 (0.634-2.758) and 1.080 (0.783-1.489). There was no significant difference of the genotypic and the allelic frequencies in ACE-I/D polymorphism between HAPE-p and HAPE-r groups.

CONCLUSIONSThere is no relation between ACE-I/D polymorphism and HAPE in the Han Chinese.

Alleles ; Altitude ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Pulmonary Edema ; genetics

Chondrocyte dysfunction has been demonstrated to be a major inducer of osteoarthritis(OA). The pathological mechanism of chondrocyte dysfunction is definitely multifactoral, but oxidative stressis regarded as one of the leading causes of apoptosis, autophagy, senescence, and mitochondrial dysfunctionin chondrocytes. Strategies for arresting oxidative stress- induced chondrocyte dysfunction have been considered as potential therapeutic targets for OA. Recently, fork head box O (FoxO) transcription factors have been determined to play a protective role in chondrocytes through the regulation of autophagy and defense against oxidative stress; they also regulate growth, maturation, and matrix synthesis. To explore FoxO' s potential role in the treatment of OA, we first discussed the recent advances in the field of oxidative stress- induced chondrocyte dysfunction and then emphasized the protective role of fox otranscription factors as a potential molecular target for the treatment of OA. Understanding the function of fox otranscription factors will be important in designing next- generation therapies to prevent or reverse the development of OA.

AIM: To investigate the efficacy and safety of low dose mitomycin C (MMC) to prevent haze in trans photorefractive keratectomy (TransPRK) with moderate and high myopia, and to observe the changes of corneal density.METHODS: Sixty-one patients underwent TransPRK with moderate and high myopia.Eyes were divided into research group (0.1g/L MMC for 40s) and control group(0.2g/L MMC for 40s) randomly.There were 21 patients in research group and 40 patients in control group.Cornea epithelial healing time, pain score, visual acuity, manifest refraction, haze and cornea density were analyzed.RESULTS: The epithelial healing time (0.1g/L group: 3.86±1.11d, 0.2g/L group: 4.23±1.27d) and pain score (0.1g/L group: 2.01±0.58, 0.2g/L group: 1.79±0.7) were no significant difference between two groups(P=0.667, P=0.582).It was similar in spherical equivalent at 1mo and 3mo post-operation(0.1g/L group: 0.28±0.25, 0.05±0.23D;0.2g/L group:-0.13±0.17, 0.07±0.22D;P=0.178, P=0.490).The BCVA of control group decreased at 1mo and improved to the same level as pre-operation at 3mo(F=15.847, P<0.001);0.1g/L group showed the same trend, but the changes were no significant difference(F=3.038, P=0.093).There were also no significant difference in Haze between two groups post-operation(z=-0.709, P=0.479;z=-0.478, P=0.633).The change of cornea density was matched with the BCVA (0.1g/L group F=27.399, P=0.001;0.2g/L group F=8.313, P=0.001)and it was similar between two groups.CONCLUSION: The using of low dose MMC to prevent haze in TransPRK with moderate and high myopia is safe and effective.It is therapeutic equivalence to regular dose (0.2g/L).Besides the slit lamp, we can use the corneal density to measure the corneal transparency.

Objective To evaluate the effect of multiplex polymerase chain reaction(Multiple-PCR) in identification of Brucella strains.Methods Six standard Brucella strains (Brucella abortus,Brucella melitensis,Brucella suis,Brucella canis,Brucella ovis,Brucella neotomae) were used as positive controls and Escherichia coli O∶157 and Yersinia enterocolitica O∶9 were used as negative controls.A total of 29 Brucella strains were tested.Brucella strains were amplified by BCSP31-PCR and the species of Brucella with positive results were identified with Multiple-PCR method.Results The results of all 29 amplified Brucella strains were positive with BCSP31-PCR.The identified results of all Brucella strains were positive with Multiple-PCR,including 20 strains of Brucella melitensis,5 isolates of Brucella suis,3 strains of Brucella abortus and 1 strain of Brucella canis.Conclusion Multiple-PCR method is a rapid,specific,simple and low risk method for identification of Brucella species.

In this study,nearly 200 endophytic bacteria were isolated from different part of Huperzia serrata, over 60 bacterium with clear antifungal activity were selected from those cultures.Among them,strain H-6 exhibited the highest antifungal activity which was strongly inhibits the growth of many plant pathogenic fungi such as Sclerotinia scleroliorum,Fusarium graminearumt,Sclerotinia libertiana,Phytophthora capsici Leonia and Sesame fusarium wilt.According to the characteristics of morphology,physiology and biochem- istry tests and the comparison of 16S rDNA sequence,the strain H-6 was similar to the Burkholderia.So strain H-6 was identified as Burkholderia sp.H-6.The results also showed that Burkholderia sp.H-6 was markedly different from Burkholderia cepacia that was applied widely in agriculture as antagonistic bacteria. The medium and culture conditions of the strain all were optimized by single factor and orthogonal experiments.In the investigation of the culture condition,growth was carried out in a basal medium(potato juice)and gradually supplemented with the various ingredients to be investigated.The major ingredients be- ing investigated included carbon sources and nitrogen sources.The optimal antifungal activity production condition is growth in a medium(potato juice with 2.5%mannitol and 0.1%NaNO3),initial pH 4.0 at 28℃.