AIM To establish the HPLC fingerprints of flavonoids in Ziziphi spinosae Semen and to determine the contents of two constituents.METHODS With spinosin as a reference peak,the HPLC fingerprints of ten batches of samples were established.The analysis of methanol extract of flavonoids in Ziziphi spinosae Semen was performed on a 30 ℃ thermostatic Agilent TC-C18column (4.6 mm × 250 mm,5 μm),with the mobile phase comprising of acetonitrile-0.1％ acetic acid flowing at 1 mL/min in a gradient elution manner,and the detection wavelength was set at 280 nm.RESULTS There were ten common peaks in the HPLC fingerprints,eight of which (vicenin-Ⅱ,glucosylvitexin,isospinosin,spinosin,6'-pyridyloylspinosin,6'-p-hydroxybenzoylspinosin,6'-feruloylspinosin and 6'-p-coumaroylspinosin) were identified.Spinosin and 6'-feruloylspinosin showed good linear relationships within the ranges of 15.00-40.00 μg and 5.00-14.00 μg,whose average recoveries (RSDs)were 100.5％ (1.6％) and 100.4％ (1.6％),respectively.CONCLUSION This accurate,simple and reliable method can be used for the quality control of flavonoids in Ziziphi spinosae Semen.

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics and therapy of Nocardia infection, and provide reference for clinical practice.Methods Patients with positive specimen culture of Nocardia from May 2014 to June 2016 were surveyed retrospectively, the body status, clinical features, therapeutic regimen, and prognosis were analyzed.Results A total of 10 cases of Nocardia infection were surveyed, there were 7 males and 3 females;average age was (49.90+13.75) years old.Nocardia infection occurred mostly in population with impaired immune status or underlying diseases, the main infection site was lung, compound sulfamethoxazole was the first choice drug for treatment of infection, amikacin, imipenem/cilastatin and so on were alternative choice according to disease condition, 8 patients all improved after therapy.Conclusion The diagnosis made on the basis of microbiological examination, imaging, and pathological examination, combined with comprehensive judgment according to risk factors of Nocardia infection, patient can be treated timely and rationally, and the prognosis is better.

Objective To prepare a kind of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) and doxorubicin loaded multifunctional polymer microbubbles (MPMBs),and to explore its potential application as an ultrasound(US)/magnetic resonance (MR) imaging contrast agent in vitro.Methods The MPMBs and normal polymer microbubbles (PMBs) were made by double emulsion and freeze-drying methods.The physical property,drug encapsulation efficiency and the drug-loading efficiency of MPMBs were determined,and the release property and US/MR imaging enhancement of MPMBs were observed.Results The MPMBs had a regular shape and narrow size distribution.The drug encapsulation efficiency was (60.20±2.69) ％,and the drug-loading efficiency was (6.02 ± 0.27) ％.The in vitro release experiment showed that ultrasound can promote the release of doxorubicin in MPMBs.US imaging in vitro showed that the enhancement of MPMBs was better than PMBs,and MR imaging in vitro conformed that MPMBs could well enhance MR imaging.Conclusions The MPMBs is a multifunctional contrast agent with the treatment function as well as US/MR dual-mode imaging enhancement effect.

Objective To prepare polyclactic-co-glycolic acid(PLGA) polymer ultrasound contrast agent loading sudan black dye (SB-PLGA) and study the enhancement effect of it on rabbit lymph nodes imaging and as a sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in the feasibility and value of the indicator.Methods SB-PLGA ultrasound contrast agent was made by double emulsion and freeze-drying methods.Thigh subcutaneous rabbit VX2 tumor model of eight lymph nodes were set up with the foot pad subcutaneous injection of contrast agents to get contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging of the popliteal lymph node and the second inguinal lymph node stations.Then the blue stained lymph nodes were resected by popliteal lymph node dissection and the second station lymph nodes were also observed after 30 mins respectively,lymph nodes were examined by frozen sections HE staining in parallel.Results SB-PLGA microbubbles had a tight size distribution.Ultrasound imaging can be significantly enhanced lymph node imaging,the second station lymph node imaging was not obvious.Popliteal lymph node dissection for lymph node staining,30minutes later,frozen sections HE staining were seen within the lymph node contrast agent present in the lymphatic sinus and a large entry of macrophages.Inguinal lymph node dissection showed the second station of lymph nodes no blue staining.Conclusions SB-PLGA ultrasound contrast agent is good for sentinel lymph node imaging and biopsy indicator.Contrast agent retention and accumulation in the lymph nodes by the uptake of macrophages may be associated with the mechanisms of lymph node enhanced imaging.

Objective To investigate the safety and effect of high intensity focused ultrasound ablation(HIFU) on residual liver cancer in patients after radiotherapy. Methods Twenty liver cancer patients with twenty five residual tumors after three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy or stereotactic radiotherapy received HIFU ablation. Liver function and periphery blood cell counts were performed before HIFU and at 1 week after HIFU in all patients. Enhanced MRI and α-fetoprotein (AFP) level were performed before HIFU and at 2 weeks after HIFU to evaluate the effect of HIFU ablation. The survival of all patients was assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Results The mean follow-up time was (12.6 ± 8.0)months. The median survival time and 1-year survival rate were 22 months and 87.5% respectively. No skin burns were observed in all patients. As compared with before HIFU,there were no significant differences in the levels of albumin,alanine transarninase, aspartate transarninase, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, blood red cell counts,blood white cell counts and blood platelet counts at 1 week after HIFU (paired t test, P =0. 156,0. 356,0. 203,0.659,0. 531,0. 519,0. 310,0. 346, respectively). Significant difference in AFP level of 9 patients with AFP＞20 μg/L was observed before HIFU and 2 weeks after HIFU (paired t test, P =0.030). Among 25 residual liver tumors,sixteen with complete ablation and six with ablation volume of ≥80% were observed by enhanced MRI at 2 weeks after HIFU. Conclusions HIFU may be a safe and effective new method to ablate residual liver cancer after three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy or stereotactic radiotherapy.

Objective To explore a novel strategy to repair traumatic soft tissue defects in the head and face by tissue expansion in the early stage.Methods Eighteen patients with traumatic soft tissue defects were treated with thorough debridement leaving the wound unclosed or simply closed with thin split-thickness scalp skin grafting,and adjacent expander implantation in the early stage and expanded flap transposition in the second stage.Results There were 11 male patients and 7 female patients ranging in age from 3.5 to 40 years [mean,(19.4±12.2) years],with average 15 months follow-up (range,3-67 months).The average expansion time was 74.3 days (range,53-96 days).The total of 18 patients with 22 expanders were treated with satisfactory results.All the flaps survived and the skin color,texture and contour well matched to those of the peripheral tissue.Only one complication of infection happened in the 18 cases (5.56％) and total 22 expanders (4.55％),which was similar to the rate reported in the literature.There were no any other complications related to the expander.Conclusions Debridement and tissue expansion in the early stage have been proved a more effective strategy to repair traumatic soft tissue defects in the head and face,which can not only achieve satisfactory color,unbulky and well matched texture similar to normal,but also can avoid unnecessary donor site injuries and does not increase the infection rate of tissue expansion.

Objective To explore the value of color doppler ultrasound in infants with hypothyroidism between 0 to 3 years old before and after treatment .Methods The normal infants ,whose thyroids were examined by two‐dimensional ultrasound and were used by color doppler ultrasound ,were used as control group .The clinically diagnosed infants with transient hyperthyroidism or permanent hyperthyroidism were used as experimental group .The thyroids were examined by multiple ultrasonography before and after the treatment respectively in different periods .The measured values of thyroids were compared each other .Results In in‐fants with transient hyperthyroidism ,the major ultrasonographic findings were atrophy of thyroids before the treatment .Most of these thyroids enlarged ,and a small part of them recovered after the treatment .In infants with permanent hyperthyroidism ,the pri‐mary finding was thyroid agenesis ,and followed by atrophied before the treatment .The thyroid agenesis exist in most cases and few cases recover with normal values after the treatment .Conclusion Color doppler ultrasound can indirectly reflect the thyroid devel‐opment situation in infants .Combined with the advantages of non traumatic and high repeatability ,it can be used as an important auxiliary examination method for clinical diagnosis of hypothyroidism in infants .

Objective To evaluate the internal irradiation biological effects of 125I-UdR chitosan nanoparticles in hepatoma cells.Methods The accumulation and distribution of 125I-UdR-CS-DLN in hepatoma cells HepG2 and human liver tissue cells HL-7702 were observed with a confocal microscopy.The internal irradiation biological effects were evaluated by MTT assay,flow cytometry and single cell gel electrophoresis.The apoptosis of in situ rabbit liver tumor treated with 125I-UdR-CS-DLN was assayed by TUNEL staining technique.Results After 30 min of nano-particle treatment,its accumulation in the cytoplasm of HepG2 cells was significantly greater than that in HL-7702 cells.When the concentrations of 125I-UdR-CS-DLN was higher than 37 kBq/ml,the cell viability of HepG2 was significantly lower than that of lL-7702 at 24 and 48 h post-treatment(t =-4.46-6.31,P＜0.05),and the HepG2 cells were arrested at G1 phase and significantly impaired at G2/M phase.In addition,the degrees of DNA doublestrand break of both cell lines irradiated by 125I-UdR-CS-DLN were significantly higher than those treated with 125I-UdR,and the DNA repair capacity of HepG2 cells was significantly lower than that of HL-7702 cells(OTM:t =2.94,P ＜0.05;TDNA％:t =10.64,P ＜0.01).TUNEL staining showed that cell apoptosis could be induced in the rabbit liver carcinoma by 125I-UdR-CS-DLN but not by 125I-UdR.Conclusions The amount of 125I-UdR-CS-DLN absorbed by hepatoma cells is significantly higher than that of 125I-UdR,which suggests that 125 I-UdR-CS-DLN induces more stronger internal radiation biological effects of apoptosis and DNA damage on hepatoma cells.

Objective To investigate the effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation combining with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene therapy on myocardium rebuilding,angiogene- sis,and heart function improvement in rats with myocardial infarction.Methods SD rat MSCs were isola- ted,cultured in vitro,labeled with BrdU and transfected by Ad.VEGF gene.Four weeks after left anterior descending artery was ligated to created rat myocardial infarction,cardiac function was examined with echocar- diography,rats were randomly divided into four groups (n=10 in each group):GroupⅠ:MSCs/Ad.VEGF implantation;GroupⅡ:MSCs implantation;GroupⅢ:Ad.VEGF injection;GroupⅣ:Control.MSCs dif- ferentiation was observed 4 weeks after transplantation.Immunohistochemistry and angiogenesis were observed. Echocardiography was performed to detect the effects on heart function.Results MSCs labeled with BrdU could be identified in host hearts in groupⅠandⅡ,most of them positively stained with cTnT antibody. Echocardiography indicated that the improvement of the LVEF value in groupⅠwas more significant than that in the other three groups (P＜0.01,respectively).Some cells were incorporated into the coronary capillaries in the infarcted region.The capillary density in groupⅠwas higher than that in the other three groups (P＜0.01,respectively).Conclusion MSCs implantation combining with VEGF gene therapy can obviously re- pair damaged myocardium and enhance the angiogenesis in ischemic heart tissue.

BACKGROUNDCatestatin, a chromogranin A-derived peptide, is a potent antagonist of nicotine-evoked catecholamine release. We know that catecholamine plays an important role in cardiovascular remodeling induced by hypertension, therefore we hypothesized that catestatin would affect target-organ structure during hypertension.

METHODSTwelve spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) were randomized to SHR control group and catestatin group, the normal control group was comprised of six healthy Wistar-Kyoto rats of the same age. Tail-cuff blood pressure and pulse rate were obtained at weeks 1, 4 and 8. At the end of the eight-week period, the heart, abdominal aorta and left kidney were excised and weighed, VG staining was done and the intima-media thickness of vessels and the collagen volume fraction were assessed by an image acquisition and analysis system. The proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was observed by immunohistochemistry, and real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the mRNA levels of proliferative genes including cyclin A, ki67 and PCNA in the abdominal aorta.

RESULTSAll the parameters in SHR observed in the present study increased significantly compared to Wistar Kyoto rats (P < 0.01). With intervention with catestatin, the systolic blood pressure decreased slightly but it was not significantly different from the SHR control, the cardiac mass index and left ventricular mass index both decreased significant ly, the collagen volume fraction decreased by nearly 30% in the heart, by 25% in vessels and by 10% in the kidney, and the intima-media thickness and expression of proliferative genes, including cyclin A, ki67 and PCNA, in the abdominal aorta also decreased significant ly.

CONCLUSIONSThe present study indicated that catestatin could ameliorate proliferating changes of heart, kidney and vessels during hypertension, especially to the deposition of interstitial collagen. Blood pressure was not the main factor to mediate this effect, which suggested that catestatin could become a novel protective factor for hypertensive target organs.

Animals ; Aorta, Abdominal ; drug effects ; pathology ; Blood Pressure ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Chromogranin A ; pharmacology ; Heart Rate ; drug effects ; Hypertension ; drug therapy ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Kidney ; drug effects ; pathology ; Male ; Peptide Fragments ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred SHR ; Rats, Inbred WKY