Interleukin-18 is an inactive precursor which lacks a signal peptide,it has a role inregulating retinal pathological angiogenesis.It also inhibits experimental choroidal neovascularization (CNV)via interferon-γand thrombospondin-1.Currently little is known about its mechanisms of inhibition forCNV,may be speculated to be due to effects of anti-angiogenesis,down-regulates vascular permeability andlower vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels via directly acting on the vascular endothelial celland epithelial cells.Exogenous administration of mature recombinant interleukin-18 has no adverse effect onretinal pigment epithelial cell viability.In addition,the anti-VEGF role of interleukin-18 is tested to be safeand effective for humans.Interleukin-18 alone or in combination with anti-VEGF shows to be a goodprospect for improving the prognosis of experimental CNV.However,more large clinical studies arerequired to confirm the exact efficacy of interleukin-18 for CNV.

Objective To study the spectrum structure of X-ray and simplify the description method of it. Methods By the general program of Monte Carlo Geant4 to study X-ray spectrum structure and angular distribution of X-ray energy spectrum. Results The results of percentage depth doses and profile curves at different depths of any radiation fields in water phantom calculated by Monte Carlo Geant4 were consistent with the measurements. Conclusions In radiotherapy, X-ray with same nominal energy have very similar dosimetry characteristics, this indicates they have very similar energy spectrum and angular distribution of spectrum. the differences of dosimetric details reflect the different details of the X-ray spectrum structure and angular distribution of X-ray energy spectrum. These studies have very important significances to rapidly build precise virtual source modeling for Monte Carlo calculation based on dose curves measurements in water phantom.

ObjectiveTo analyze the effects of high-order scattered X-ray in dose calculation in radiotherapy,to resolve the problem of correcting the dose contribution of secondary and high-order scattering X-ray to the primary scattered X ray,and to provide a support for photon fast dose calculation method of Monte Carlo.MethodsBy the theory of cross-section in interaction between X-ray with material and Monte Carlo calculating results,to analysis the relative importance of primary scattered X-ray,secondary and high-order scattered of X-ray in dose calculation.ResultsThe contribution of secondary and high-order scattered X-ray to dose calculation was very small,it can be corrected to the primary scattered X-ray with a correction factor.ConclusionsThe results show that we can obtain a precise dose calculation for radiotherapy by only to tracking the contribution of primary X-rays and primary scattering X-ray,so,to establishing the database for primary scattering X-ray by Monte Carlo methods is important for fast dose calculation of Monte Carlo method.

Objective:To compare the bioactivities of Taohua anti-diarrhea granula prepared by two different methods based on biothermo-kinetics study.Methods:The coarse and fine powder preparations of Taohua decoction were prepared.Microcalorimetry was used to obtain the metabolic curves and biothermo-kinetic parameters of Escherichia coli(E.coli)growth after treated by the two preparations to evaluate their bioactivities.Results:The values of growth rate constant k and maximum heat-out power Pm declined with the concentration increase of the 2 preparations;meanwhile,the values of peak time of the highest peak tm and growth inhibitory ratio I increased with the concentration increase of the two preparations.The results showed that the growth of E.coli was inhibited and the inhibitory effect was strengthened with the concentration increase of the two preparations.The IC50 was 35.9 mg/ml for the coarse powder preparation and 31.4 mg/ml for the fine powder preparation.Aggregate analysis of the metabolic curves and biothermo-kinetic parameters of E.coli indicated that the fine powder preparation of Taohua decoction had stronger inhibitory action against E.coli growth than the traditional coarse powder preparation.Conclusion:Microcalorimetry can be used to examine the bioactivity differences of the fine and coarse preparations of Taohua decoction.Superfine comminution may increase the inhibitory action of Taohua decoction.

Objective:To investigate the effects of Qingxin Yangshen Chinese herbs on ?-adrenoceptor in cardiocytes of stress rats.Methods:Adopting the method of radoligand binding,the affinity of ?-adrenoceptor of experimental myocardium cells and density were analyzed.Meanwhile,RT-PCR was used to test mRNA of ?-adrenoceptor of myocardium cells.To observe the effect of Qingxin Yangshen Fang on ?-adrenoceptor of myocardium cells of stress rats,and the Zhusha Anshen Pills and Propranololas the control groups.Results:All the three groups above can increase the affinity of ?-adrenoceptor of experimental myocardium cells,promote its sensitivity and notably inhibit the decrease of density of receptors and control down-regulation of expression of ?1-ARmRNA induced by stress,and regulate up the expression of ?2-ARmRNA.Conclusion:The Chinese herbs of Qingxin Yangshen had the effect of acceptor inhibiting and can regulate the changes of ?-adrenoceptor of myocardium cells induced by stress.

Objective To establish the characteristic biothermokinetic methods in different extract fractions of Radix Isatis using Escherichia coli as model bacteria under biothermodynamics. MethodsMicrocalorimetry was used to obtain the characteristic metabolic growth power-time curves and biothermodynamic parameters of bacteria affected by different extract fractions of Radix Isatis, and evaluate the differences among the different extract fractions of Radix Isatis. Results Different extracting fractions of Radix Isatis could inhibit or promote the growth and metabolism of E. coli in different levels. Water-extract fractions and residues could promote its growth while organic solvent extract fractions did the opposite. Furthermore, with the decline of the solvent polarity, the inhibiting rate of organic solvent extract fraction was decreased and the generation time of bacteria was prolonged. There were steady and distinct differences among the different extract fractions in the characteristic metabolic growth power-time curves, such as the maximum power value's decrease and peak time's delay of water-extract fraction and residue, the specific power enhancement in later stage of organic solvent extract fraction. ConclusionMicrocalorimetry is a new and useful mean for the study on the biothermodynamic parameters and characteristics of Radix Isatis which can be helpful to investigate the other models using microcalorimetry.

Objective To explore the value of improved elasticity scores in differentiating malignant and benign breast lesions. Methods A prospective study was done in 394 patients with 508 breast lesions confirmed by pathology and the elastographic images of the lesions were evaluated by using old and improved elasticity scores respectively. Results The elastographic images of the lesions could be evaluated and classified in all patients by improved elasticity scores but could not be evaluated and classified in 82 lesions by old elasticity scores. The accuracy of ultrasonic elastography for diagnosing benign and malignant breast lesions was 88.8% and 78.1%, respectively by old elasticity scores and improved elasticity scores. Conclusions The elastographic images of breast lesions were accurately evaluated by using improved elasticity scores, and the use of improved elasticity scores is helpful to reduce the biopsy which is not necessary.

Objective To detect the changes of cerebral perfusion in patients with MELAs syndrome by using MR perfusion technique.Methods Thirteen patients with MELAS syndrome and 13 controls with normal neurological conditions were scanned with the sequence of flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery exempting separate T1 measurement(FAIREST).Their rCBF values were obtained in regions of bilateral basilar nuclei and thalami,as well as bilateral temporal lobes and occipital lobes.Regression analysis was carried out to determine the effect of location and side on the measurement of rCBF in controls.One-way ANOVA was conducted to compare rCBF values among the control group.the lesion ROIs and normal ROIs of the MELAS syndrome group.Results The values of rCBF were 0.83±0.23,1.17±0.30.0.93±0.28,and 1.11±0.25 for the left basilar ganglia,thalamus,temporal lobe,and occipital lobe respectively,while they were 0.77±0.15,1.03±0.34,1.06±0.23,and 1.09±0.23 for the right basilar ganglia,thalamus,temporal lobe.and occipital lobe respectively.Regression analysis revealed no effect of location and side on the rCBF (P＞0.05).The rCBF value for control group was 1.00±0.28,while it was 1.01±0.31 for the normal ROIs and 1.95±0.43 for the lesion ROIs in the MELAS syndrome group(F=54.99.P＜0.01).The rCBF of the lesion ROIs in the MELAS syndrome group was significantly higher than the normal ROIs and the control group.Conclusion CBF maps can reveal changes of cerebral blood flow in patients with ietal MELAS,which suggests increased perfusion in the stroke-like lesions.

Hyoscyamine 6 beta-hydroxylase (H6H) is the last rate-limiting enzyme directly catalyzing the formation of scopolamine in tropane alkaloids (TAs) biosynthesis pathway. It is the primary target gene in the genetic modification of TAs metabolic pathway. Full-length cDNA and gDNA sequences of a novel H6H gene were cloned from Datura arborea (DaH6H, GenBank accession numbers for cDNA and gDNA are KR006981 and KR006983, respectively). Nucleotide sequence analysis reveals an open reading frame of 1375 bp encoding 347 amino acids in the cDNA of DaH6H, while the gDNA of DaH6H contains four exons and three introns, with the highest similarity to the gDNA of H6H from D. stramonium. DaH6H also exhibited the most identity of 90.5% with DsH6H in amino acids and harbored conserved 2-oxoglutarate binding motif and two iron binding motifs. The expression level of DaH6H was highest in the mature leaf, followed by the secondary root, and with no expression in the primary root based on qPCR analysis. Its expression was inhibited by MeJA. DaH6H was expressed in E. coli and a 39 kD recombinant protein was detected in SDS-PAGE. Comparison of the contents of scopolamine and hyoscyamine in various TAs-producing plants revealed that D. arborea was one of the rare scopolamine predominant plants. Cloning of DaH6H gene will allow more research in the molecular regulatory mechanism of TAs biosynthesis in distinct plants and provide a new candidate gene for scopolamine metabolic engineering.