Apoptosis is an organized suicide program which is evolutionally conserved from yeast to mammals. Research on yeast apoptosis has made rapid progress, though it remained unrecognized until recent years. Initial observations show that yeast can be induced to undergo apoptosis and a number of conserved pro- and antiapoptotic proteins have been identified in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast has been validated as a model organism to investigate mechanisms of apoptosis. Recently, yeast has also been used as a model to study apoptosis-related disease, such as Huntington's disease and Parkinson′s disease. The feasibility, the advantages and the perspectives of yeast model for apoptosis research are reviewed.

Donguibogam was introduced from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) instead of the local representa-tive work of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). It is also the concrete manifestation of theories of different schools of doctors according to Dr. Xu Jun's medical thoughts. In this paper, from Dr. Xu's advocacy to Taoism and the concept of aftercare spirit, the exploration was made on health cultivation for different body constitu-tions. According to the health cultivation effects of the medicinals and edible food, the focus was made on the sys-tematic collation and induction of more than 1 400 kinds of herbs contained in the soup liquid from papers in three volumes. The medicinals were divided into eight categories, which were benefiting qi, nourishing yin, tonifying yang, clearing heat and promoting dieresis, drying dampness and resolving phlegm, promoting blood circulation for remov-ing blood stasis, dispersing stagnated liver qi, nourishing blood for hemostasis. Donguibogam specified the health cultivation concept from the correspondence between the body constitution and the medicinal performance. It has a certain guiding significance to the current health cultivation.

Filamentous fungi can secrete large amounts of proteins, glycosylate proteins and grow faster than plant, insect or mammalian cells. With the advances in fungal molecular genetics, strain improvement, and especially fungal genomics, filamentous fungi are developed as microbial cell factories for the production of heterologous proteins. This review focuses on recent developments of filamentous fungi as production hosts, such as protein quality control mechanisms, the secretion pathways, protein modification, strain stability, and most importantly the application of functional genomics in protein expression. At the same time, the strategies for improving heterologous protein production were also discussed in details.
Biotechnology ; methods ; trends ; Cloning, Molecular ; Fermentation ; genetics ; physiology ; Fungi ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Engineering ; Protein Processing, Post-Translational ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of endovascular treatment for intracranial venous sinus thrombosis based on individual condition. Methods Twelve patients with intracranial venous sinus thrombosis were treated with endovascular management according to the severity and course of disease after they failed to respond to anticoagulant therapy. The clinical signs and symptoms,cerebrospinal fluid pressure and arteriovenous circulation time were observed and followed up (including MRV). Intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombus maceration were carried out in all 12 patients,while intravenous thrombolysis, mechanical thrombus maceration in combination with intra-arterial thrombolysis were employed in 3. After the treatment, anticoagulant therapy was carried out for 6 months.The patients were followed up for 12 to 24 months. Results Of the twelve patients, clinical signs and symptoms included slight headache (2 cases), mild hemiplegia (1 case), ambiopia or blurred vision (3 cases). The cerebrospinal fluid pressure returned to under 26 cm H2O (1 cm H2O =0.098 kPa)following treatment from 28 to 38 cm H2O [ mean (32. 4 ±3.0) cm H2O] in preoperative measurement and the arteriovenous circulation time returned to below 10 s in all patients following treatment. Neither recurrence of thrombosis nor new symptoms of neurologic dysfunction was observed. No procedure-related intracranial or systemic hemorrhagic complications occurred both during and after the operation with the exception of a subcutaneous bleeding at the venopuncture site. Conclusion Endovascular treatment is effective and safe for patients with intracranial venous sinus thrombosis.

Objective To report 2 cases of Epstein-Barr virus-associated cutaneous lymphoproliferative disease (LPD) and to evaluate their relationship with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (CAEBV) infection.Methods The clinical data on, laboratory examination findings in, treatment and therapeutic response of 2cases of LPD were analyzed. Results Both the patients had chronic intermittent fever, lymphadenopathy, recurrent lesions including papules, papulovesicles, necrosis and variola-like scar in light-exposed and unexposed areas. Pathologically, there was a dermal infiltrate of pleomorphic lymphoid cells with the involvement of perivascular area and some subcutaneous tissue. Immunohistochemical staining showed that most of the infiltrating lymphoid cells were positive for CD8, PCR revealed no TCR-γ gene rearrangement, and in situ hybridization for EBV was positive. The copy of EBV DNA was above the normal range in the peripheral blood from both patients. Clinical status was improved after glucocorticoid treatment. Conclusion The biologic behavior of LPD appears to be a chronic and indolent course and is closely associated with CAEBV.

Purpose To quantitatively evaluate the severity of brain damage in the acute phase of CO poisoning using intravoxel incoherent motion imaging.Materials and Methods MRI scans were performed in 26 patients with CO intoxication of acute stage and 18 healthy controls with matched age and gender.The difference of D value,D* value and f value in different ROIs between the poisoning and the control groups were compared,and the best cut-off values were determined.The correlation between the consciousness state and the D value as well as f value in the vulnerable area of the brain (globus pallidus) was analyzed.Results Compared with control group,the D and F value of the poisoning group were decreased in multiple ROIs,of which statistical significance was observed in the f values in the centrum semiovale,globus pallidus and thalamus,and the D values in the centrum semiovale,lateral ventricle,globus pallidus and corpus callosum splenium (P＜0.05).The best cut-off value,sensitivity and specificity were as follows:fcs=51％,77％,73％;fga=61％,77％,83％;ft=80％,85％,64％;D,=0.69×10-3 mm2/s,85％,83％;Dlv=0.65× 10-3 mm2/s,73％,89％;Dga=0.68× 10-3 mm2/s,62％,83％;Dccs=0.70× 10-3mm2/s,81％,89％.The disturbance of consciousness was positively correlated with decrease of D value and f value (rD=0.828,rf=0.745,P＜0.05).Conclusion The D and f values of intravoxel incoherent motion imaging can quantitatively evaluate the brain damage severity in acute CO poisoning.

Objective：To explore the distribution of personality disorder tendency of outpatients in psychological counseling departments.Methods：Systematic sampling was used to get the sample population from Shanghai Psychological Counseling Center.The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire(PDQ~(+4))was administered to 1402 clients to screen personality disorders.Results：The subscales for different type of personality disorder(PD)and total score of PDQ~(+4) were higher than normal sample(e.g.total score of PDQ~(+4):client(38.23±17.04)vs.normal sample(22.79±14.10),P<0.001).The score of borderline subscales in female clients were higher than that of males [borderline:female(4.25±2.48)vs.male(3.97±2.41),P<0.05],the score of antisocial,paranoid and schizotypal subscales in male clients were higher than that of females [antisocial:female(1.31)vs.male(1.71),P<0.001;paranoid:female(2.75)vs.male(3.02),P<0.01;schizotypal:female(3.31)vs.male(3.56),P<0.05].Age stratification showed that the subscales for different type of PD of PDQ~(+4) were decreased with age [e.g.,total score of PDQ~(+4):18～24 years(41.73)vs.25～34 years(39.46)vs.35～44 years(33.88)vs.≥ 45 years(30.64),Ps<0.001],the positive rate of PDQ~(+4) subscales of obsessive-compulsive(58.5%)and avoidant PDs(54.0%)were higher than others,followed by borderline PD(44.4%).Factor analysis was used for the score of PDQ~(+4),factor 1 to 3 corresponded to cluster C,B and A personality disorders respectively,and the total variance explained 67%. Conclusion：There are different rates of personality deviation between psychological counseling clients and normal sample in China.Some traits of personality disorders can be improved with the increasing of age.The abstracted factors by factor analysis are very consistent with what originally proposed in the theory of personality disorder.It should be paid attention to PD tendency of clients during psychological counseling.

BACKGROUND: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can grow in host myocardium, differentiate under myocardial condition, improve cardiac function. However, biological characteristics of BMSC differentiation are still unclear presently.OBJECTIVE: To study the expression and electrophysiological characteristics of BMSC/n vitro connexin-43 following 5-azacitidine (5-aza) treatment.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: The cytological in vitro controlled study was perormed at the Heart Center, Hebei Provincial People's Hospital from July 2007 to February 2009.MATERIALS: A total of 24 male pigs aged 2 months were purchased from Exparimental Animal Center, Hebei Medical University.METHODS: Bilateral femoral bone marrow was obtained from pigs under sterile condition. BMSCs were harvested by Percoll density gradient in vitro. At passage 2, BMSCs were treated with 10 μmol/L 5-aza, and incubated in DMeM without inductor 24 hours later. Indices were measured I, 2, 3 weeks following induction. A control group was set up, which was not treated with 5-azacitidine. Following bone marrow extraction, experimental pigs were anesthetized to obtain ventricular muscle. Normal ventricular muscle cells were isolated and cultured by tissue block enzyme digestion method.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Expression of connexin-43 was measured by immunohistochemical staining (ABC method). Ito current density and action potential were determined by patch clamp technique.RESULTS: At 1 and 2 weeks following 5-aza induction, some BMSCs were positive for connexin-43, with the presence of brown particles surrounding nuclei. At 3 weeks, positive rate of connexin-43 was 95%. The area with large cell density was presented with similar structure to normal myocardium. At +80 mV, compared with normal myocardial cells, Ito current density was significantly reduced in BMSCs following 1 and 2 weeks and in the control group (P < 0.05). Ito current density was significantly increased to a normal levels in BMSCs 3 weeks following induction (P > 0.05). No action potential was detected in BMSCs following 1 and 2 weeks of 5-aza, and action potential could be determined 3 weeks following induction, which was identical to normal myocardial cells.CONCLUSION: Through induced by 5-aza for three weeks, BMSCs have the similar expression of connexin-43 and electrophysiological characteristics as normal myocardium.

Objective To develop a HPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of aconitine and study thein vitro metabolic stability of aconitine in dog tissue homogenates.Methods The chromatographic separation was performed on a C18 column.The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and water with 0.2％ formic acid and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate.A triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization interface source was used for the quantitative determination in the positive selective reaction monitor mode.Aconitine was incubated with dog tissue homogenates and samples were withdrawn at different time points and precipitated by acetonitrile with internal standards citalopram.Results Aconitine showed good linear relationship over the range from 5 to 500 ng/ml.The recoveries of aconitine were between 85.73％ and 92.12％ at three QC concentration levels.The intra- and inter-day precisions were 5.32％ - 8.95％ and 5.45％ - 8.86％,respectively.After incubation,about 20％ of aconitine were cleared in the liver and small intestine,and t1/2 were 460.6 and 521.3 min,respectively.But none was metabolized in the stomach and kidney.Conclusion These results demonstrated that aconitine was mainly metabolized in the liver and small intestine at a slow rate.

AIM:To determine the effect of rhBMP2 on the migration of human breast cancer cells MCF-7. METHODS:MCF-7 was induced by rhBMP2 (30 ?g/L) for 24 h. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to observe the changes in cell morphology. Cell migration and invasion abilities were assayed by scratch healing and transwell experiments. RESULTS:The formation of lamellipodia and cell polarity together with increased cell length were observed in the cells treated with rhBMP2,whereas lamellipodia of cells in control group were not obvious and the majority of cells tended to be rounder with shorter cell diameter. Compared to control group,scratch healing and transwell experiments showed that the migration and invasion capacity of rhBMP2-induced MCF-7 cells was markedly enhanced. CONCLUSION:rhBMP2 induces human breast cancer cell MCF-7 to present the phenotype of migration and enhances the invasion capacity.