The course of medical English fundamental reading carefully chooses reading materials from original English medical textbooks as the course materials, aiming at imparting the skills for reading biomedical English literature, and meeting the reading needs of medical undergraduates. In conducting this course, formative assessment is adopted, the frame of which is the theoretical model developed by Professor Wen Qiufang. There are three key phases in this model: setting up goals, eliciting learning evidence, and providing feedback. Three ways are employed to assess the course (symposium records, reflective journals and quizzes), which confirms that this model of formative assessment has improved the effectiveness of the course.

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As a new interdisciplinary course, the current paper writing course for medical postgraduates exhibits certaln disadvantages. For example, the course does not well target the learners' needs because of the absence of the needs analysis before class;English or biomedical teachers fall to combine English with medicine, thus unable to provide ideal courses. As textbooks are an important means to improve the quality of the course, one way to reform the course is to compile high-quality textbooks by interdisciplinary talents. Meanwhile, the compiling process should be guided by needs analysis as well as the teaching and editing experiences. In addition, the textbooks need to be con-tinuously improved in teaching practice.

A gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method has been developed and fully validated for the simultaneous determination of natural borneol (NB) and its metabolite, camphor, in rat plasma. Following a single liquid-liquid extraction, the analytes were separated using an HP-5MS capillary column (0.25 mm ? 30 m ? 0.25μm) and analyzed by MS in the selected ion monitoring mode. Selected ion monitor (m/z) of borneol, camphor and internal standard was 95, 95 and 128, respectively. Linearity, accuracy, precision and extraction recovery of the analytes were all satisfactory. The method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic studies of NB after oral administration to Wistar rats.

Objective To explore the effects of the Chinese medicine, modified Erchen decoction, on the serum lipid spectrum of ApoE-/-mice, and to explore its possible anti-atherosclerotic mechanism.Methods Forty-four male 7-8-week old ApoE-/-mice were used in this experiment.ApoE-/-mouse models of atherosclerosis were generated by high-cholesterol diet for 4 weeks.And then, they were given simvastatin or modified Erchen decoction by gavage.The body weight of mice was recorded every week, The mice were sacrificed after treated with the drugs for 8 weeks continuously, and the plasma lipid was determined by enzymatic method.The aortic valves and arches were stained with oil red O to depict atherosclerotic plaques and liver structural changes of the mice were examined by pathology.Results Modified Erchen decoction lowered plasma lipid ( including TCHOL and LDL-C ) significantly ( P<0.01 ) .The body weight was increased in the mice of all groups, but it was more pronounced in the mice of model group than in the blank and modified Erchen decoction groups.The serum CHOL and LDL-C levels were significantly lowered in the modified Erchen decoction group (P<0.01).The area of atherosclerotic plaques in the aortic wall was significantly reduced in the mice of modified Erchen decoction group as shown by oil red O staining.The pathological changes of hepatocytes were less severe and the structure of hepatic lobules was better preserved in the mice of modified Erchen decoction group.Conclusions The Chinese medicin modified Erchen decoction can effectively reduce serum lipids, regulate lipid metabolism, and ameliorate the process of atherosclerosis in ApoE-/-mice.

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristic of Chinese autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) patients.Methods All clinical data of 81 patients with a diagnosis of AIP in Shanghai Changhai Hospital from February 2005 to May 2012 were analyzed.Results The sex ratio was 7.1∶1 and the mean age was (57± 12) years old in 81 patients with AIP.Obstructive jaundice was the initial symptom in 51.9％ (42/81) patients.In patient receiving CT,focal and diffuse type accounted for 45 and 35 patients.respectively,and pseudocyst was the main manifestation in 1 patient,biliary tract was involved in 59(72.8％ ) patients,dilatation of main pancreatic duct was observed in 5 ( 11.1％ ) patients.In patients receiving PET-CT,diffuse increased Flourine-18 FDG uptake by the pancreas was found in 11 patients,focal increased uptake in 2patients,and significant extra-pancreatic uptake was found in 5 patients.The positive rate of serum IgG4,CA19-9,ss DNA,anti-nuclear antibody and ds-DNA antibody was 94.6％ (53/81),54.4％ (37/68),14.3％ (4/28),10.7％ (3/28),7.1％ (2/28),respectively.The pathological findings of H-E staining and IgG4 immunohistochemical analysis in 20 patients were consistent with lymphoplasmacytic sclerosing pancreatitis.Conclusions Type 1 AIP is the main subtype of AIP in China.Combining clinical symptoms,extra-pancreatic manifestations,imaging or nuclear medicine findings,serology,cytology or histology can effectively increase the correct diagnosis rate of AIP.

With globalization of biomedicine,Chinese postgraduates in medical colleges are facing increasing challenges.Writing and publishing research papers in English have become an essential requirement for their graduation and career development,but for non-native English speakers,having a good command of English for academic purposes (EAP) is of special difficulty.In China,lack of self-written textbooks is a bottleneck that restricts the teaching of EAP.Therefore,guided by EAP theories,this study carries out in-depth demand analysis for graduate students in medical colleges and universities,and designs a textbook framework with genre analysis theory.Based on self-established corpus finally completed an EAP writing textbook for postgraduates of biomedicine.This textbook and the writing and research process can provide implications for construction of EAP textbooks in other principles,thus promoting the all-round development of postgraduate education in China.

The many-banded krait, Bungarus multicinctus, has been recorded as the animal resource of JinQianBaiHuaShe in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Characterization of its venoms classified chief phyla of modern animal neurotoxins. However, the evolutionary origin and diversification of its neurotoxins as well as biosynthesis of its active compounds remain largely unknown due to the lack of its high-quality genome. Here, we present the 1.58 Gbp genome of B. multicinctus assembled into 18 chromosomes with contig/scaffold N50 of 7.53 Mbp/149.8 Mbp. Major bungarotoxin-coding genes were clustered within genome by family and found to be associated with ancient local duplications. The truncation of glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor in the 3'-terminal of a LY6E paralog released modern three-finger toxins (3FTxs) from membrane tethering before the Colubroidea divergence. Subsequent expansion and mutations diversified and recruited these 3FTxs. After the cobra/krait divergence, the modern unit-B of β-bungarotoxin emerged with an extra cysteine residue. A subsequent point substitution in unit-A enabled the β-bungarotoxin covalent linkage. The B. multicinctus gene expression, chromatin topological organization, and histone modification characteristics were featured by transcriptome, proteome, chromatin conformation capture sequencing, and ChIP-seq. The results highlighted that venom production was under a sophisticated regulation. Our findings provide new insights into snake neurotoxin research, meanwhile will facilitate antivenom development, toxin-driven drug discovery and the quality control of JinQianBaiHuaShe.