The biologically active constituents in Gynostemma pentaphyllum are dammarane-type glycosides,called gypenosides.They are believed to be the highest contents of this herb,easy to obtain,and mainly active in anti-tumor,controlling the blood glucose,lipid-lowering,cardiovascular protection,etc.The saponins may change into sub-glucoside after hydrolysis,for the intemal acetal glucoside structure is vulnerable to acid,alkali,and enzyme degradation.Through searching the literatures in recent years,this paper summarized the chemical constituents in the hydrolyzed products of gypenosides,for providing references to discover novel and more active lead compounds.

Co2EDTA-DMAP.HCl.

Objective:To explore effects of early long-term exercise training on learning and memory impairment induced by recurrent seizures in neonatal rats.Method:Eighteen Sprague-Dawley rats at postnatal days 8 (P8) were randomly divided into control group (CONT),convulsion group (EXP1),and convulsion plus physical exercise group (EXP2)(Six in each group).Rats were fed for 1 day before the study.From P9,rats in EXP1 and EXP2 were subjected to flurothyl induced recurrent seizures 30min daily for 7 days.The rats of EXP2 were physical exercise from P16 to P57.The rats in control group were placed into the container for an equal amount of time to their counterpart without exposing to flurothyl.On P58-P64,subjects of the three groups were tested with Morris water maze.Result:①Place navigation test:there were significant differences among three groups [F=429.90,P＜0.05],day [F=282.30,P＜0.05],interaction [F=12.71,P＜0.05] by repeated two-way ANOVA analysis.Compared with CONT group,the escape latency in EXP1 was longer (P＜0.05).Compared with EXP1,the escape latency in EXP2 was shorter (P＜ 0.05).②Spatial probe test:Compared with CONT group,the frequency of passing through the platform in EXP1 was much less (P＜0.05).While compared with EXP1,the frequency of passing through the platform in EXP2 was much more (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion:Physical exercise could significantly reduce the escape latency time and increase the number of crossing the platform in the recurrent seizure group,which may be due to the improvement of learning and memory ability of convulsive rats by physical exercise.

Objective Using an in vivo adeno-associated virus(AAV)-mediated gene transfer technique,this study was designed to evaluate the protective effects of human osteoprotegerin(OPG)transgene against joint destruction in collagen induced arthritis(CIA)model.MethodsAfter CIA was established in the Sprague-Dawley rats,the experimental animals were treated with PBS or rAAV-EGFP or rAAV-hOPG (100μl/d)intra-articular injection 25 days after arthritis induction for 10 days.Paraffin-embedded joints were then analyzed histologically.The joint destruction was evaluated by Larsen Score.The protein expression of OPG,IL-1,MMP-3 was identified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results Suecessful trans-gene expression was confirmed by the detection of OPG by ELISA and positive fluorescence of the frozen joint section. Image analysis revealed that the expression of OPG significantly protected against joint destruction by 30% compared with the CIA group. Conclusion OPG gene transfer mediated by rAAV effectively protects against bone destruction induced by CIA model. Those data suggest that gene transferring using rAAV-OPG may be a feasible and effective therapeutic approach to treat or prevent joint destruction in inflammatory arthritis.

Objective This study was designed to investigate the expression changes of osteopro-tegerin (OPG), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA in collagen induced arthritis(CIA) rats. Methods After CIA was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats, the experimental animals were treated with PBS or rAAV-EGFP or rAAV-hOPG (100 μl/day) intra-articular injection for 10 days. Messenger RNAs (mRNAs) were obtained from CIA synovium 40days after first immun-ization. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR) were carried out to detect the mRNA encoding OPG, TRAP, VEGF and β-actin, which acted as inner control. The genes detected clearly by RT-PCR were quantified using real-time PCR. Results The expression of all genes was confirmed by specific single bands in RT-PCR. Real-time PCR showed that the expression levels of TRAP and VEGF were increased, whereas those of OPG mRNA were decreased in CIA group compared with normal controls. The intra-articular gene transduction markedly increased the gene copies of OPG by 128.21% (P<0.01). The expression change of OPG in synovium also caused the decrease of the expression levels of TRAP and VEGF by 58.79% (P<0.01)and 17.85% (P>0.05) respectively, however, the expression change of VEGF was not statistically significant. Conclusion OPG gene mediated by rAAV can be successfully tranfered to knee joint synovium in vivo. The results of this study suggest that gene transfer using rAAV-OPG may be a feasible and effective therapeutic approach to treat or prevent joint destruction in inflammatory arthritis.

Objective To examine the distribution,volume and glucose-uptake activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adults and investigate their correlations with metabolic indicators.Methods 18F-flurodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT was used to analyze the distribution,volume and glucose-uptake activity of BAT.The clinical and metabolic differences between BAT positive group (n =121) and BAT negative group (n=257) were compared.The influences of metabolic indicators (fast blood glucose (FBG),triglyceride (TG),total cholesterol (TC),high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C),low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C),uric acid (UA)) on the distribution,volume and activity of BAT were investigated.Logistic regression analysis,two-sample t test,x2 test and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data.Results The distribution,volume and glucose-uptake activity of BAT were found to be significantly higher in subjects being tested in colder seasons than those who were tested in warmer seasons:2.91％ (87/2 991) vs 1.68％(34/2018),(433±402) vs (329±298) ml,(212±183) vs (169±145) g (x2=7.66,t values:3.36 and 2.98,all P＜0.05).The female proportion was significantly higher in BAT positive group than that in BAT negative group:68.60％ (83/121) vs 31.91％ (82/257) (x2 =16.10,P＜0.01).The average levels of age,body mass index (BMI),FBG,TG,TC,LDL-C and UA in BAT positive group were significantly low-er than those in BAT negative group:(41.30±10.90) vs (48.70±9.60) years,(21.30±2.40) vs (24.50± 3.10) kg/m2,(4.56±0.74) vs (5.34±1.33) mmol/L,(0.94±0.36) vs (2.06±1.64) mmol/L,(4.42± 0.79) vs (4.88±0.87) mmol/L,(1.99±0.58) vs (3.10±0.77) mmol/L,(285.11±70.00) vs (347.70± 101.10) μmol/L (t values:from-6.25 to-2.94,all P＜0.01).Logistic regression analysis revealed that season,gender,age,BMI,FBG,TG and LDL-C levels were all independent influencing factors of BAT distribution in adults (odds ratios:5.36,2.06,0.95,0.79,0.49,0.23,0.02;P＜0.01 or P＜0.05).Among BAT positive adults,gender and FBG levels were found to be strongly affected by the volume and glucose-uptake activity of BAT (β values:0.28,-0.21,both P＜0.05).Conclusions The distribution,volume and glucose-uptake activity of BAT in adults are associated with multiple metabolic indicators including BMI,levels of glucose,lipid and UA.The distribution of BAT is affected by gender,age,season,BMI,blood glucose,and blood lipids.

Objective:To investigate the value of radiomics signatures based on 18F-FDG PET/CT for predicting molecular classification and Ki-67 expression of breast cancer. Methods:A total of 134 female patients ((55.4±13.3) years) who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT examination and were diagnosed with breast cancer by pathology in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from April 2016 to May 2023 were retrospectively enrolled. LIFEx software was used to extract radiomics features and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm and independent-sample t test were used to screen potentially meaningful features and calculate the radiomics score, which were considered as radiomics models. Clinical characteristics were selected by supervised logistic regression and clinical models were established. Radiomics features and clinical characteristics were incorporated to logistic regression analysis to establish combined models. ROC curves were drawn and the differences among AUCs were analyzed by Delong test. Results:Among 134 patients, 22 were with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), 47 were human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) over-expression type, 37 were Luminal A type and the rest 28 were Luminal B type. The expression of Ki-67 was high in 85 patients, and was low in the rest 49 patients. The AUCs (95% CI) of the combined models for predicting TNBC, HER2 overexpression type, Luminal A type and Ki-67 expression were 0.843(0.770-0.900), 0.808(0.723-0.876), 0.825(0.711-0.908) and 0.836(0.762-0.894), respectively, which were higher than those of clinical models ( z values: 1.97-3.06, all P<0.05). Conclusion:The predictive model combining radiomics signatures based on 18F-FDG PET/CT and clinical characteristics can well predict the molecular classification and Ki-67 expression level of breast cancer.

Objective To investigate the current situation in Chinese rheumatologic physicians' clinical diagnosis and evaluation of Takayasu's arteritis (TA).Methods Nineteen rheumatology experts and three vascular surgery specialists in China were invited to make the nationwide investigation for the first time about the diagnosis and disease activity evaluation of TA in China,through the questionnaire survey on the internet.Weighted average was used to calculate the average scores of corresponding problems.Results Chinese experts mainly adopted 1990 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for clinical diagnosis of TA.In details,symptoms of age,limb claudication and amaurosis,signs including pulselessness or pulse weakening,vascular bruits,increasing bilateral pulse pressure and hypertension and acute phase reactants (APR) were critical to the clinical diagnosis of TA.Besides,noninvasive imaging examinations,such as computed tomography angiography (CTA),magnetic resonance angiography (MRA),vascular ultrasonography,and positron emission tomography (PET) were also of great importance.In the aspect of disease activity assessment,Chinese experts mainly used Kerr scoring tool.APR and noninvasive radiological examinations were considered with vital value.Some TA patients with carotid artery involvement were recommended using vascular ultrasonography,while others with pulmonary artery and thoracic/abdominal aorta trunk involvement were preferred CTA other than MRA.Conclusions APR and noninvasive imaging examinations were thought with great help to make clinical diagnosis and evaluation of TA for Chinese physicians.