Objective: To study the effect of Baihuzhuifeng Pills (BHZFP) on interleukin 1?(IL 1?) secreted by synoviocytes in adjuvant arthritis (AA) rats. Methods: Synovium of knee joints from AA rats were digested by collagenase and tripsin to prepare DSSC(digested synovial single cells). The content of the supernatant fluid was assayed by the radioimmunoassay. Results: BHZFP down regulated IL 1? productions of DSSC.Conclusion: It is suggested that BHZFP be probably inhibit the over proliferation of synoviocyte in AA rats by diminishing IL 1? secretion.

Objective To analyze the anatomic changes and dosimetric variations of patients with head-and-neck cancer during intensity-modulated radiotherapy and to assess the necessity of re-planning the treatment course.Methods Twenty-one nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were selected to receive the second CT scan in the course of intensity-modulated radiotherapy,targets and organs at risk were re-contoured on the new CT images with the help of deformable registration software.Actual dose distribution delivered by the original treatment plan was calculated on the second CT image,and then the volume and doses of targets and organs at risk were compared between the planning CT and second CT.Results The volume of patient's head-and-neck outlines and GTVnd decreased significantly,the volume of cord and brainstem didn't change much,while the volume of left and right parotids decreased significantly by (24.23 ± 12.15)％ and (25.82± 10.46)％,respectively.The parameters D95％ and Dmean of PGTVnx kept stable,but the parameters D1cc of spinal cord PRV and brainstem PRV increased by (8.12± 10.32)％ and (14.60±18.85)％ respectively.The mean dose of the left and right parotids increased significantly by (27.43±17.67)％ and (26.76±12.46)％,respectively.Conclusion The anatomical changes of patients undergoing intensity-modulated radiotherapy will cause significant dosimetric variations of the cord,brainstem and parotids,so it's meaningful and necessary to re-design the treatment plan in the course of radiotherapy.Repeat CT imaging and replanning during the course of IMRT is essential to ensure adequate doses to target volumes and safe doses to normal tissue.

Objective To analyze the impact of dose calculation resolution on Gamma pass rate for planar dose distribution verification of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT),and to find out the appropriate calculation resolution value with specific applied criteria.Methods 25 IMRT plans were selected for the planar dose verification.The Gamma pass rates with 3 mm/3％,2 mm/2％ and 1 mm/1％ criteria were compared and analyzed.The planar dose distributions were calculatedand exported from TPS with different resolutions of 0.5,1,2,3,4 and 5 mm.The pass rates of Gamma analysis between the computed dose distributions with different resolutions and the dose distributions measured by Mapcheck device were compared and analyzed.Results The average Gamma pass rates of all the 225 fields decreased with the increment of calculation resolution.When the pass rates of Gamma analysis were calculated using 3 mm/3％ criteria,the gamma pass rate with 1 mm and 0.5 mm calculation resolution were (98.3±1.3)％ and (98.3±1.2)％,respectively.The results were almost the same and the difference wasn't statistically significant (P＞0.05).The gamma pass rates with greater than or equal to3 mm calculation resolution were significantly less than the pass rate with 0.5 mm calculation resolution (P＜0.05).When the pass rates of Gamma analysis were calculated using 2 mm/2％ criteria,all the pass rates with greater than 0.5 mm calculation resolution were significantly less than the pass rate with 0.5 mm calculation resolution (P＜0.05).Conclusions The Gamma pass rates of planar dose verification reduce significantly with the increment of calculation resolution.In order to reduce the effect of calculation resolution on Gamma pass rate,the lower calculation resolution should be used.When using the 3 mm/3％ criteria for the Gamma analysis,1 mm calculation resolution is recommended.When using the 2 mn/2％ criteria for the Gamma analysis,0.5 mm calculation resolution is recommended.The appropriate calculation resolution will ensure the reliability of planar dose verification.

Aim To investigate the protective effects of total triterpenoid from Prunella vulgaris L. ( TTP) on CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis in rats and its mecha-nism. Methods Rat liver fibrosis was induced by 50% CCl4 twice a week for 12 weeks. From the 5th week, all the therapeutic groups were treated with the TTP(25, 50, 100 mg·kg-1 ) and the colchicine (0. 1 mg· kg-1 ) respectively once a day for 8 weeks. At the end of the twelfth week, the levels of ALT, AST, HA, PCⅢ, CⅣ, MDA, SOD, GSH-Px, Hyp were measured . HE and Masson staining were used to evalu-late the degree of hepatic fibrosis. The mRNA expres-sion ofα-SMA, procollagen I, Smad2, Smad3, Smad7 in liver was detected by RT-PCR, and the p-ERK pro-tein expression was evaluated by Western blot. Results Compared with the model group, TTP(25, 50, 100 mg·kg-1 ) not only reduced serum content of ALT, AST, HA, PCⅢ, CⅣand Hyp, MDA in liver tissue, improved the morphologic changes of hepatic fibrosis, but also increased SOD and GSH-Px activity. Moreo-ver, it decreased the α-SMA, procollagen I, Smad2, Smad3 mRNA expression and increased Smad7 mRNA expression in liver tissues obviously. Furthermore, TTP reduced the protein expression of p-ERK. Conclusions TTP can protect rats from CCl4-induced liver fibro-sis. The mechanism of this process may involve inhibi-ting the expression of p-ERK and interference with TGF-β1/Smad signal transduction pathway.

Objective To establish a rapid,specific and sensitive TaqMan real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR assay for detection of murine polyomavirus ( MPyV) .Methods The specific primers and TaqMan probe were designed based on genome sequence of MPyV.The primers amplified a 69 bp fragment.After optimizing the reaction system and reaction condition, the standard curve was plotted by detecting recombinant plasmid standards.The specificity, sensitivity and reproducibility of this method were evaluated.In addition, samples of lungs, spleens and feces obtained from experimentally infected mice and 86 clinical samples were used to validate the efficacy of this real-time PCR assay.Results The specificity assay showed that this assay could specifically detect MPyV and the sensitivity for MPyV was about 100 copies/well.The coefficients of variation ( CV) of both intra-assay and inter-assay were less than 1.13%.All of the samples from experimentally infected mice were positive for MPyV and 3 out of 86 clinical samples were positive by this TaqMan-PCR detection with a positive rate of 3.5%.Conclusions The real-time fluorescence quantitative TaqMan-PCR assay established in this study has high specificity, sensitivity and stability.It can be used for clinical diagnosis, routine detection and epidemiological investigation of murine polyomavirus infections.

AIM: To study protective effects of the extract from Toona sinensis seeds on gastric mucosal injury in experimental mice. METHODS: The mice were given 200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg of Toona sinensis seeds every day for 2 weeks and ethanol or aspirin was used to induce gastric mucosa injury model. The gastric mucosal injury index and injury inhibition rate were calculated, the levels of SOD, MDA in serum and the contents of ET-1, PGE

Liquid chromatography-multiple-reaction monitoring (LC-MRM) has been widely recognized as the golden standard for multiple components-targeted quantitative analysis of complicated matrices,with extensive applications for analysis in such fields as chemical drugs, traditional Chinese medicines and foods.Unfortunately, when facing the task of quantitatively analyzing trace chemical components in complex matrices, MRM suffers dramatically from the background noise or matrix interference, leading to undesirable sensitivity and selectivity in terms of the lower limits of quantification (LOQ) and detection (LOD).In recent years, MRM cubed (MRM3), also known as MS3 scan, has received much attention because of its unique ability to significantly improve detection selectivity and sensitivity attributing to the successive ion filtering function, enabling LC-MRM3 as an emerging analytical tool.In this review,our attention is devoted to: 1) the illustration of the principle for MRM3; 2) parameter settings; and 3) the application progress of LC-MRM3 in such fields as the pursuit of biomarkers, pharmaceutical analysis, forensic analysis, toxicological analysis, food chemistry, and environmental analysis, aiming to provide a promising analytical tool of LC-MRM3 advantageous in the quantification analysis of trace chemical components in complex matrices.

Objective:To study the roles of resveratrol in reducing neuroinflammation and improving neurobehavioral functions after germinal matrix hemorrhage (GMH) in neonatal rat model.Methods:GMH model was established intraparenchymally injecting bacterial collagenase in 7-day-old SD rats. 108 rats were randomly assigned into 18 groups (6 in each group), including 4 sham groups, GMH (12 h, 24 h, 72 h, 7 d) groups, 3 GMH+vehicle (dimethylsulfoxide, DMSO) groups, 5 GMH+resveratrol (10 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, 1 000 mg/kg) groups and 2 GMH+resveratrol+EX527 (SIRT1 inhibitor) groups. Negative geotaxis and righting reflex tests were used to evaluate the short-term neurobehavior. Water maze, foot fault and Rotor-Rod tests were used to assess the long-term neurobehavior. Immunofluorescence was used to quantify the IL-1β and MPO positive cells (inflammatory markers) in peri-hematoma area. Western blot was used to evaluate the expression of relevant proteins in the brain.Results:Endogenous sirtuin-1(SIRT1) decreased to the lowest level at 24 h and then increased gradually. Phosphorylated NF-κB increased at 12 h, peaked at 72 h and returned to normal level at 7 d after GMH. Compared with the control group and other doses groups, GMH treated with resveratrol (100 mg/kg) had higher short-term behavioral scores at 48 h and 72 h. Compared with the control group, the resveratrol (100 mg/kg) group also had higher scores in water maze, foot fault and Rotor-Rod tests 22 days later. Immunofluorescence showed less positive IL-1β and MPO cells around hematoma in GMH+resveratrol group than both GMH+vehicle group and GMH+resveratrol+EX527 group. Western blot indicated that IL-1, TNF-α and IL-6 expressions were decreased in GMH+resveratrol group and Ex527 could offset the effects of resveratrol.Conclusions:Resveratrol (optimal dose: 100 mg/kg) can improve the short-term and long-term neurobehavioral functions of neonatal GMH rats. It can reduce GMH cells with positive inflammatory markers around the hematoma, possibly via inhibition of the SIRT1/NF-κB pathway. Resveratrol may be promising for the treatment of GMH patients.

Objective To evaluate the performance of progressive optimization algorithm-based Auto-Planning module in automated volumetric-modulated arc therapy(VMAT)planning for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods Thirteen treated VMAT plans of nasopharyngeal carcinoma were re-planed with Auto-Planning module. Only one cycle of automated optimization of the Auto-Planning module was performed for each plan without any manual intervention. The dosimetric parameters of the automated treatment plans were compared with those of the manual plans. Paired t-test was used for statistical analysis. The time required for automated planning using the Auto-Planning module was also measured. Results All plans generated with the Auto-Planning module met the routine dosimetric requirements and were acceptable for clinical use. The homogeneity index of targets was superior in the automated plans than in manual plans(P= 0.000).In addition,the automated plans had significantly improved protection for some organs at risk than the manual plans. The mean dose to the left and right parotids were reduced by 7.75 Gy(P=0.000)and 5.79 Gy(P=0.000)in the automated plans,respectively. Furthermore,the V60(0.58% vs. 3.12%,P=0.000)and Dmean(34.11 Gy vs. 40.78 Gy,P= 0.000)of the mandible were also significantly lower with Auto-Planning than with manual planning. Conclusions Auto-Planning module can improve the overall quality and consistency of treatment plans,and reduce the workload and time of treatment planning,resulting in substantially enhanced treatment planning efficiency.

As a ligand-dependent transcription factor,retinoid-associated orphan receptor γt(RORyt)that controls T helper(Th)17 cell differentiation and interleukin(IL)-17 expression plays a critical role in the pro-gression of several inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.An emerging novel approach to the therapy of these diseases thus involves controlling the transcriptional capacity of RORyt to decrease Th17 cell development and IL-17 production.Several RORyt inhibitors including both antagonists and inverse agonists have been discovered to regulate the transcriptional activity of RORyt by binding to orthosteric-or allosteric-binding sites in the ligand-binding domain.Some of small-molecule inhibitors have entered clinical evaluations.Therefore,in current review,the role of RORyt in Th17 regulation and Th17-related inflammatory and autoimmune diseases was highlighted.Notably,the recently developed RORyt inhibitors were summarized,with an emphasis on their optimization from lead compounds,ef-ficacy,toxicity,mechanisms of action,and clinical trials.The limitations of current development in this area were also discussed to facilitate future research.