Bone metastasis is a common complication in patients with malignant carcinoma. This process involves interactions between metastatic cancer cells and bone microenvironment. The two common pathological types are osteolytic and osteoblastic metastasis. Damage to the bone is closely associated with tumor growth.

Insulin-like growth factor-Ⅰ can promote the breast cancer formation, development and metastasis. According to the characteristic of insulin-like growth factor pathway, the inhibition of insulin-like growth factor pathway signaling can inhibit the growth and metastasis of breast cancer, which is of great significance for breast cancer prevention and treatment.

OBJECTIVE:To establish HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of calcium lactate and calcium gluconate in compound calcium gluconate oral solution.METHODS:The test was performed on C 18 column with column tem?perature at25℃;the mobile phase was composed of0.025mol/L NaH 2 PO 4 (pH=2.50)with a flow rate of1.0ml/min and sam ple size of20?l;the detection wavelength was210nm.RESULTS:The calibration curves were linear over the range of0.719～46.040mmol/L(r=0.9999)for lactic acid and0.315～20.160mmol/L(r=0.9999)for gluconic acid.The average recovery rates of which were99.0%(RSD=1.65%)and100.5%(RSD=1.36%),respectively.CONCLUSION:This method is fast,simple,accurate,and it can be employed directly without isolation to determine the content of calcium lactate and calcium glu?conate simultaneously and to control the quality of compound calcium gluconate oral solution as well.

BACKGROUND:Insulin-like growth factor 1 is the key factor during cartilage development, which is involved in the growth and reconstruction of condylar cartilage.
OBJECTIVE:To study the effect of insulin-like growth factor 1 on cel apoptosis and the apopotosis-associated factors of Bcl-2, Bax mRNA and protein expressions of rat condylar chondrocytes.
METHODS:The 1-day-old and 28-day-old rat condylar chondrocytes were cultured and identified in vitro. The condylar chondrocytes with different ages were divided into experimental group and control group. After being starved for 24 hours, chondrocytes in the experimental group were incubated with 100μg/L recombined rat insulin-like growth factor 1 for 48 hours, while the chondrocytes in the control group were incubated normal y. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the control group, after being incubated with recombined
insulin-like growth factor 1, the number of condylar chondrocytes was increased with high speed proliferation (P<0.05). Real-time RCR and western blot analysis revealed that the expression levels of Bcl-2 mRNA and protein were increased after added with recombined rat insulin-like growth factor 1, while the expression levels of Bax and protein were decreased (P<0.05). The results indicate that insulin-like growth factor 1 can promote the
proliferation and reduce cel apoptosis of newborn and adolescent rat condylar chondrocytes, which may be mediated by Bcl-2 and Bax.

Objective To observe the effect of ulinastatin on tumor necrosis factor(TNF-α)and interleukin-6(IL-6)in radiation-induced lung injury.Methods Severity-two female SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups as control group,irradiation group and treatment group(administered with Ulinastatin).Rats in irradiation group and treatment group were irradiated with linear accelerator at a single dose of 25 Gy.After irradiation rats in treatment group were injected daily with ulinastatin at a dose of 100000 U-kg-1·d-1 for 7 days through caudal vein while rats in control group and irradiation group were injected with the same volume of saline.Rats were killed at 2 h,4,8 and 24 weeks.Samples of lung tissues were observed by using HE staining.Expression of TNF-α in lung was determined by Western blot and expression of IL-6 in serum was determined by ELISA.Data were analyzed by SPSS software.Results Expressions of TNF-α in lung and IL-6 in serum increased significantly after irradiated in irradiation group compared with control group,and it reached the peak at 4 weeks(q=5.63、6.21,P＜0.01).Though expressions of TNF-α and IL-6 in ffeatment group also increased compared with control group,the difference between irradiation group and treatment group was statistic significantly(q=4.97、7.42,P＜0.01).Conclusions TNF-α and IL-6 play an important role in radiation-induced lung injury.Ulinastatin could suppress the inflammatory response and radiation-induced lung injury effectively by decreasing the levels of TNF-α and IL-6.

Bioactive natural products are the material bases of Chinese materia medica resources. With successful applications of synthetic biology strategies to the researches and productions of taxol, artemisinin and tanshinone, etc, the potential ability of synthetic biology in the sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica resources has been attracted by many researchers. This paper reviews the development of synthetic biology, the opportunities of sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica resources, and the progress of synthetic biology applied to the researches of bioactive natural products. Furthermore, this paper also analyzes how to apply synthetic biology to sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica resources and what the crucial factors are. Production of bioactive natural products with synthetic biology strategies will become a significant approach for the sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica resources.
Artemisinins ; metabolism ; Biosynthetic Pathways ; Biotechnology ; Diterpenes, Abietane ; genetics ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; metabolism ; Escherichia coli ; metabolism ; Ginsenosides ; genetics ; metabolism ; Metabolic Engineering ; methods ; Paclitaxel ; metabolism ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; genetics ; metabolism ; Synthetic Biology

AIM: To determine multifocal visual evoked potential (mVEP) in the prediction of postoperative visual acuity in cataract. METHODS: We examined 30 normal eyes as control and 60 eyes of 52 cataract patients, senile cataract in 27 cases 30 eyes, cataract with glaucoma in 25 cases 30 eyes by mVEP examination. All patients underwent phacoemulsifi-cation (Phaco) and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. After surgery,best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was examined at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months respectively.RESULTS: The mean amplitude and latency in mVEP responses between normal control group were 183±11nV, 95±8ms, and in senile cataract group were 177±10nV, 96± 8ms respectively, there were no significant difference between two groups (P>0.05). The mean amplitude and latency of cataract with glaucoma 138±7nV, 99±6ms were significantly different comparing to both control and senile cataract group (P<0.05). After surgery, the am-plitude and latency were 276±11nV and 93±8ms respec-tively, which did not change significantly comparing to the normal eyes (P<0.05), their visual function got no obvious damage and visual recovery were better (BCVA≥0.8). While those with central amplitude 221±6nV and latency 105±7ms that were significantly deviated from control group (P<0.05), and their visual function were seriously damaged and visual recovery were much poorer (BCVA<0.3).CONCLUSION: mVEP waveform might enable us to evaluate objective visual function detection before cataract surgery. A subject with visual function damage, their mVEP responses to stimulation were severely changed when it compared to controls.

Objective To understand the genetic characterization of HA1 gene of influenza A H3N2 viruses circulated in recent years in Hebei.Methods Viral RNAs of 25 H3N2 strains were extracted and amplified by Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR).The products of PCR were purified and sequenced,and the sequences were analyzed though biometic software.Results Several amino acid substitutions located in antigenic sites or receptor binding sites were found more in the isolates than the current vaccine virus or the isolates from previous year.Amino acid substitution was found in 3,140,142,144,145,158,159,189,192,193,198,204,225,226 and 227 positions in the isolates during 2003-2008,more amino acid substitutions took place in antigenic determinant A,B and receptor binding site (RBS).New phylogenetic branches appeared continuously during 2003-2008.The H3N2 strains of the same year almost clustered in the same group on the phylogenetic tree.Conclusions Amino acid substitutions continuously occurred in the HA1 genes in influenza A H3N2 viruses isolated in Hebei from 2003 to 2008,it is meaningful to pay close attention to the HA1 variation in order to prevent and control influenza.

Aim To evaluate the effects of aspirin on the expression of inflammatory proteins induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL) in human vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs). Methods HUVECs were stimulated with different concentrations of ox-LDL. The expression of inflammatory proteins was detected by Western blot.Intracellular ROS generation was measured by flow cytometry using perexide-sensitive flurscent probe 2′, 7′-dichrofluorescein diacetate(DCFH-DA).Results ① Aspirin inhibited COX-2 expression induced by ox-LDL. Cells were preincubated with 2.5 mmol?L-1, 5 mmol?L-1 of aspirin or without any treatment for 30 min and then stimulated by 0.3 g?L-1 ox-LDL for 16 h, COX-2 expression was reduced by treating of aspirin.COX-2 expression was enhanced after the stimulation with ox-LDL, and aspirin inhibited the increasing.② Aspirin suppressed ICAM-1 expression induced by ox-LDL in HUVECs. ICAM-1 expression was increased by ox-LDL stimulation for 16 h, and aspirin significantly down-regulated the expression. Similar results were obtained by immunofluorescence.③ Aspirin partially reduced ROS production induced by ox-LDL in HUVECs. After stimulation with 0.3 g?L-1 ox-LDL for 16 h, the intracellular level of ROS was increased, however, aspirin failed to fully inhibit the phenomenon.Conclusion Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) aspirin significantly down-regulated the expression of COX-2 and ICAM-1 induced by ox-LDL.The results suggested that aspirin could reduce the inflammation responses mediated by ox-LDL on HUVECs in atherosclerosis.

Objective To investigate the expression and significance of nuclear transcription factor-?B(NF-?B) in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL) and the effect of dexamethasone(DEX) on its expression,to provide the experimental base for corresponding clinical treatment of the ALL,in which NF-?B is taken as a target.Methods 1.The biotin-streptavidin method was used to detect NF-?B P65 protein on 20 childhood ALL patients and 20 healthy children.2.The effect of DEX at clinically relevant dosage on NF-?B P65 protein were also detected by the biotin-streptavidin method.Results 1.The positive expression rate of NF-?B P65 protein in childhood ALL patients was 85.50%,obviously higher than that in normal group(10.0%)(?~2=22.56 P