Objective To examine the association between the insertion/deletion polymorphism in intron 4 of ecNOS gene (ecNOS4b/a) and diabetic nephropathy (DN) in the Han people of Tianjin, China. Methods The genotypes of ecNOS4b/a polymorphism were detected by PCR-minisatellite DNA detection technique. 70 healthy volunteers, 48 patients with type 2 diabetes without DN, 35 patients with type 2 diabetes and DN without chronic renal failure (CRF), 45 patients with DN in type 2 diabetes with CRF, and 58 patients with non-DN CRF were investigated. Results (1) One case (a female DN patient without CRF) with a rare genotype, the heterozygote of 447 bp and 420 bp, was found. (2) The frequency of allele a in type 2 diabetes without DN group was higher than that in control nonsignificantly (x2 = 1. 672, P = 0. 196) . (3) The frequency of allele a in DN group was lower than that in type 2 diabetes without DN group nonsignificantly (x2 = 1. 082, P = 0. 298). (4) The allele frequencies were similar between the DN without CRF group and the DN with CRF group (Continuity correction x2 = 0. 002, P = 0. 967). (5) The frequency of allele a in DN with CRF group was lower than that in non-DN CRF group significantly (x2=4. 360, P = 0. 037). Conclusions (1) Allele a is not a risk factor of DN in the Han people of Tianjin; (2) The frequency of allele a is lower in the Han people of Tianjin than that in Japanese(4. 3% vs 10. 1% , x2 = 4. 898, P = 0. 027); (3)There are different roles of ecNOS in DN-induced CRF and non-DN CRF.

Objective:Using a diagnostic test research,to explore the reliability and validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)on screening of depressive disorders in general hospital,and to determine the cut points for depressions with different severities.Methods:Three hundred and nineteen help-seekers (n =319)con-sulting the outpatient department of psychiatry in a general hospital were collected continuously.Among them,80 were people without any psychiatric diagnosis,239 were patients with mental disorders.All of subjects were asked to fulfill PHQ-9,and were assessed by psychiatrist with Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) and Hamilton rating scale for depression.M.I.N.I.was gold standard to diagnose depressive disorder,HRSD was used to assess the illness severity.Result:Factor analysis showed good structure validity of PHQ-9.46 patients were diagnosed depressive disorders.The area under the receiver operator characteristic analysis (ROC)of PHQ-9 was 0.94 (95%CI:0.91 -0.97)for depressive disorders.With 15 as the critical value for depression screening,the sen-sitivity was 0.83 and specificity was 0.90,respectively.By the result of HRSD as the standard to rank different lev-els of depression,the cut points of PHQ-9 for mild,moderate,and severe depression was 6,12,and 15.The consis-tency between results of PHQ-9 (with cut points of 6,12,15)and HRSD was moderate (with kappa =0.49).The kappa between results of PHQ-9 (with recommended cut points of 5,10,and 15)and HRSD was 0.46.Cronbach αcoefficient of PHQ-9 was 0.892.Conclusion:It suggests that PHQ-9 has satisfying reliability and validity,and is applicable for screening depression and assessment of its severity of outpatients in general hospital.The recommen-ded cut points of PHQ-9 are applicable to depressive outpatients in general hospital in China.

The chemical constituents of Vaccinium bracteatum were studied by means of macroporous resin, ODS column chromatography and preparative HPLC. Eleven compounds were isolated from this plant. By using ESI-MS and NMR, the structures of the eleven compounds were determined as 10-O-trans-p-coumaroyl-6alpha-hydroxyl-dihydromonotropein (1), 10-O-cis-p-coumaroyl -6alpha-hydroxyl-dihydromonotropein (2), vaccinoside (3), 10-O-cis-p-coumaroyl monotropein (4), isolariciresinol-9-O-beta-D-xyloside (5), tectoridin (6), vicenin-3 (7), quercetin-3-O-alpha-L-rhamnoside (8), quercetin-3-O-alpha-L-arabinopyranoside (9), quercetin-3-O-beta-D-galactopyranoside (10), and quercetin-3-O-beta-D-glucuronide (11), respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 are new, and compounds 4, 6 and 7 are isolated from the genus Vaccinium for the first time.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Molecular Structure ; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization ; Vaccinium ; chemistry

Objective To investigate the cause of low rate for dementia diagnosiss in out-patient clinic.Methods All outpatients between September 15,2009 and December 25,2009 were screened by IQCODE,MMSE and neuropsychological examination.Diagnosis of dementia and its subtype were confirmed according to DSM-IV-TR,NINCDS-ADRDA,and NINDS-AIREN criteria.The caregivers of dementia patients were interviewed with questionnaire.Results There were 8,042 outpatients in the period and 1716 patients completed IQCODE,317 completed MMSE,72 completed a set of neuropsychological test.41 patients were diagnosed as dementia which composed of 23 cases of AD (56.1％),12 cases of vascular dementia(29.3％),2 cases of mixed dementia(4.9％),4 cases of other types of dementia(9.7％),and the prevalence of dementia at age of over 55 years was 1.8％ in out-patient clinics.Among the patients,18 cases were mild dementia (43.9％),19 moderate dementia (46.3 ％ ) and 4 severe dementia (9.8 ％).Four patients(9.8 ％ ) were diagnosed as dementia by case history,15 patients(36.5％) were diagnosed as dementia by clinic doctors,while 22 patients (53.7％) were diagnosed as dementia in the survey.35 caregivers finished questionaire,and 10 caregivers(28.6％) had no knowledge about dementia,22(62.8％) caregivers had a few knowledge and 3(8.6％) caregivers had lots of knowledge.19 (46.3％) dementia patients went to see a doctor with cognitive impairment and 22 (53.7 ％) with other symptoms.The reasons for delay in seeing a doctor included that caregivers considered the impairment of cognition as a result of normal aging (54.3％),patients rejected to see a doctor(14.3％),caregivers considered no treatment for dementia (5.7 ％),and there was economic reason ( 2.9％),inconvenient (8.5 ％) and others ( 14.3 ％).Conclusions The visiting rate of dementia patients in china is very low and many demented patients do not receive early diagnosis and treatment.Patients' delay may contribute to the lack of knowledge of caregivers,and to doctor's ignore of the cognitive impairment.

Objective To study the relationship of Dll-1/Notch signal transduction pathway with the pathological characteristics of colorectal cancer and the effect on proliferation and apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells. Methods We assessed Notchl and Dll-1 protein levels in 63 cases of colorectal cancer and adjacent normal tissue by Western blotting.SW480 cells were treated with DAPT (γ-secretase inhibitor) at different treating times.MTT assay and flow cytometry were used to measure the proliferation and apoptosis of SW480 cells,seperately.The expression of the intracellular domain of Notch (NICD),Hes-1 and Bcl-2 were measured by Western blotting.Statistical methods were used including independent samples t test,paired sample t test and single factor analysis of variance. Results Notch1 and Dll-1 protein level increased in colorectal cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal mucosa,the mean values were 1.75-fold and 2.21-fold,respectively(t =2.554,P =0.012 and t =3.565,P =0.005).Also we found that the overexpression of Notch1 and Dl1-1 was related to the differentiation( t =2.463,P =0.017 and t =2.390,P=0.019),staging(t =2.675,P =0.007 and t =2.310,P =0.021) and lymph nodes metastasis(t =2.229,P =0.021 and t =2.210,P =0.023) of colorectal cancer.Treating SW480 cell with Notch pathway inhibitor (γ-secretase inhibitor,DAPT) resulted in growth inhibition,apoptosis induction and there was downregulation of NICD and Bcl-2 expression along with the treating time. Conclusions Overexpression of Notch1 and Dll-1 is related to the pathological characteristics of colorectal cancer.Blockade of Notch1 signal pathway may inhibit cell proliferation and induce cell apoptosis of colorectal cancer,as well as inhibit the expression of Bcl-2.

Choristoma ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Thyroid Gland ; pathology ; Tracheal Diseases

Objective: To study the artificial planting technique of Centella asiatica. Methods: The yield and the total content of asiaticoside and madecassoside in C.asiatica were used as evaluating indicators. And the influences of different factors such as soil type, planting density, base fertilizer, fertilization, and shading degree on planting effect were investigated. Results: C.asiatica was suitable to be planted in peat soil/perlite (1∶1), the planting density was 20 cm × 20 cm, the base fertilizer was organic fertilizer/ compound fertilizer (1∶1) and its consumption was 7.5 g/m2, urea (18 g/m2) was applied after 4 months and compound fertilizer (45 g/m2) was applied after 5 months, the appropriate shading degree was 75%. Conclusion: The research results could be used to establish the GAP planting base of C.asiatica.

Objective To explore the network structure of genes and microRNA(miRNA) at the system level and to study topological characteristics of survival rate related molecules by means of survival analysis.Methods Regulatory networks were established with genes of hepatocellular carcinoma( HCC) and with the expression profiling data of miRNA. Survival knowledge in nodes was studied.Results All the nodes in gene co-expression networks conformed to power-law distribution.In a network, high-degree nodes were called Hub, which enriched more survival related genes than lower degree ones.Conclusion Hub nodes in gene regulatory networks promise to be potential features for molecular subtyping.

Mr. ZENG Tian-zhi, one of the first generation students of CHENG Dan-an in Chengjiang School of acupuncture and Moxibustion, integrated traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine even if just began to study medicine from his mid-life. He has practiced medicine in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hong Kong. He founded the Medical School of Science Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Hong Kong to teach students, impart professional knowledge, write and publish monographs, and carried forward acupuncture with all his life. The medical learning way, medical ethics, medical achievement and experience of Mr. ZENG, and the Scientific Acupuncture Therapeutics will bring a light to the inheritance and development of Chengjiang School and can be reference for the modern medical physicians.
Acupuncture ; education ; history ; Acupuncture Therapy ; history ; methods ; China ; History, 20th Century ; Humans

Objective To investigate the sensitivity of tumor cells to photodynamic therapy(PDT), and to select the optimal photo-dose and photo density for PDT to the cultured cells. Methods Cells of SHEE and SHEEC cell lines were divided into 21 groups randomly,after 24 h inoculation, the cells accreted on paries of culture capsule completely, we replaced M199 complete culture solution with 30 μg/rnl Photofrin-Ⅱ solution 100 μl and then replacd with M199 complete culture solution without Photofiin-Ⅱ after 150 min of incubation in Photofrin-Ⅱ. Within 15 min,we dealed the cells with PDT using Photofrin-Diomed 630 under three different power densities:25 raW/cm~2,50 mW/cm~2 and 100 mW/cm~2 for 10 s,20 9,30 s,50 s, 100 s, 150 s and 200 s respectively,and then continue for 24 h culture. We examined the inhibiting effect on cell line SHEE and SHEEC under PDT by the method of CCK-8. Results There was no significant difference in the inhibition ratio with same power density of PDT between cell line SHEE and SHEEC under the concentration of 30 μg/ml Photofrin-Ⅱ. However, the inhibition ratio increased with the raising of photo-dose of PDT,but there was a platform stage after the 2.5～30 J/cm~ 2 photo-dose. Conclu-sion The difference for photodynamic sensitivity between human immortalization esophageal epithelial cell line SHEE and the malignant transformation cell line SHEEC is not significant. The targeting of PDT to malignant tumor cell may not be involved in the photosensitivity for tumor cell.