Inflammatory bowel disease(IBD),including ulcerative colitis(UC)and Crohn’s disease(CD),is characterized by chronic non-specific inflammation of intestinal tract,which is incurable and easily relapsing. Recently,the role of gut microbiota in IBD has become a hot spot of study. This article reviewed the advances in study on intestinal microbiota in intestinal homeostasis and IBD.

Objective The purpose of our research was to quantitative study the degeneration of lumbar intervertebral discs by using T2 mapping technology at 3.0T MR and research the correlation of biomechanics and lumbar disc degeneration.Methods 34 patients with low back pain or sciatica were enrolled.The correlation of T2 values of lumbar intervertebral discs and Pfirrmann grading,disc location,patient ages were analyzed.T2 values before and after loading were also analyzed.Results T2 values of nucleus pulposus were correlation with Pfirrmann scoring,disc location and,patient ages.Conclusion (1 )T2 mapping provides a non-invasive and quantitative way to diagnose lumbar discs degeneration.(2)The change of external pressure load can affect the T2 values of the intervertebral disc.

Objective To study the effect of the Aiyishu injection combined with chemotherapy for middle and advanced cancer patients in the near future curative effect and survival quality.Methods 127 middle and advanced cancer patients were randomly divided into two groups,71 cases in therapeutic group and 56 cases in control group.The therapeutic group and control group both choose the same sickness plants and combined chemotherapy plan of pathology,therapeutic group added the Aiyishu injection 40 ml to drip. The treatment course lasted 14 days,with 3～4 courses,Simple chemotherapy was used in the control group. Results In the therapeutic group,there were 3 cases of complete response(CR),23 cases,of partial response (PR),the rate of response is 36.62 %(26/71).In the control group,there was 1 case of complete response(CR), 10 cases of partial response(PR),the rate of response is 19.64 %(11/56).There was significant difference be- tween the two groups(P0.05),whereas it declined significantly in the control group after chemotherapy(P

Objective:To investigate the effects of icaritin(ICT)on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of rat bone mar-row stromal cells(rBMSCs).Methods:rBMSCs were cultured from the bone marrow of SD rats and identified by multilineage differ-entiation assays.3,6 and 9 days after the treatment of rBMSCs of passage 4 by ICT at 1 0 -9 ,1 0 -8 ,1 0 -7 ,1 0 -6 and 1 0 -5 mol/L re-spectively,the proliferation and differentiation of the cells were examined by cck-8 and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)activity assay kit respectively.The calcium nodule formation was observed by alizarin red(AR)staining 21 days after 1 0 -9 mol/L ICT treatment. Results:Primary rBMSCs showed the typical spindle-like shape with attachment growth.rBMSCs could be induced to osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation.The proliferation of rBMSCs was inhibited but ALP activity was enhanced by ICT.1 0 -9 mol/L ICT in-cresed calcium nodule formation.Conclusion:ICT can dose-dependently inhibit the proliferation,but promote the osteogenic differ-entiation of rBMSCs.

Objective To evaluate the tolerance and safety of sorafenib for elderly patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.Methods Forty cases with advanced renal cell carcinoma were enrolled,26 were males and 14 were females,the average age was 70 years.Recurrence or metastasis was found in 32 patients who had received nephrectomy,22 of the 32 cases had received cytokine therapy before recurrence or metastasis.Primary renal lesions of 8 cases could not be resected,so patients get renal tumor biopsy.Pathological type of all patients was clear cell carcinoma.KPS of all the patients were ≥70 points.Sorafenib was used as first-line treatment,with 400 mg twice per day,until intolerance or disease progression occurred.Results The average treatment time was 7.5 months (3-18 months),CR 0 case,PR 6 cases,SD 29 cases,PD 5 cases.The overall objective response rate and disease control rate were 15.0% (6/40)and 87.5%(35/40),respectively.The median follow-up period was 11 months.The adverse reaction included hand-foot skin reaction(70.0%),alopecia (62.5%),rash(52.5%),diarrhea(37.5%),loss of appetite(32.5%),fatigue(27.5%).Most adverse reactions occurred around the second week after drug therapy initiation,their duration did not equal.And most of these adverse reactions could be released by symptomatic treatment,they did not affect the treatment.Conclusions The types of adverse reactions of sorafenib for elderly patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma are similar to those reported in the literature.Generally the degree of adverse reactions is minor,with good tolerance and safety.

Background:In recent years, the incidence of ulcerative colitis (UC) has increased year by year in China, and the number of elderly patients with UC is growing significantly.However, the difference in clinical characteristics between elderly and non-elderly UC patients was not fully clarified.Aims:To investigate the difference in clinical characteristics between elderly and non-elderly UC patients.Methods:A total of 163 UC patients admitted from Jan.2012 to Jun.2015 at the Affiliated Jiangyin Hospital of Southeast University Medical College were retrospectively recruited and divided into elderly group (no less than 60-year-old, n=32) and non-elderly group (less than 60-year-old, n=131) according to the age of onset.The clinical data were collected, and the general conditions, clinical manifestations and extent of the disease were compared between the two groups.Results:There were no significant differences in gender, family history of inflammatory bowel disease, history of smoking and appendectomy between elderly and non-elderly groups (P>0.05).Hematochezia and mucous bloody stool were less prevalent in elderly group than in non-elderly group (P<0.05), and the prevalence of abdominal pain, diarrhea and weight loss was comparable between the two groups (P>0.05).More extraintestinal manifestations were seen in non-elderly group, but the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05).Lesions in elderly group mainly located in left hemicolon, while pancolitis was predominant in non-elderly group (P<0.05).Conclusions:In elderly patients with UC, hematochezia and mucous bloody stool are not frequently seen, and the disease is not extensive and mainly located in left hemicolon.

Cow's milk allergy is mainly observed in infants and young children. Most allergic reactions affect the skin, followed by the gastrointestinal and respiratory systems. Conventional diagnosis is based on po-sitive allergy studies and evaluation of parameters including IgE and IgG1 levels, acute allergic skin response and anaphylactic shock reactions. We developed a cell membrane chromatographic (CMC) method based on human mast cells (HMC-1) for screening potential allergens in infant formula milk powders (IFMP). HMC-1 cell membranes were extracted and mixed with silica to prepare cell membrane chromatography columns (10 mm × 2 mm i.d., 5 mm). Under the conditions of 0.2 mL/min flow rate and 214 nm detection wavelength, human breast milk showed no retention. However, IFMP showed clear retention. The retained fractions were collected and analyzed through matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Four major milk proteins, i.e., α-casein, β-casein, α-lactalbumin, and β-lactoglobulin A, were identified. Furthermore, these proteins and β-lacto-globulin B showed clear retention on HMC-1/CMC columns. To test the degranulation effects of the five proteins, histamine and β-hexosaminidase release assays were carried out. All five proteins induced HMC-1 cells to release histamine and β-hexosaminidase. Also, we established a reversed phase liquid chromatographic (RPLC) method for the determination of the five proteins in IFMP and the results showed that 90％ proteins in IFMP were α-casein and β-casein. We concluded that cow's milk proteins may be potential allergens and caseins cause more β-casein allergic risk than other proteins. This con-clusion was consistent with other studies.

BACKGROUND:More and more studies employ CD44 as a specific marker of colorectal cancer stem cells. Oct4 is a transcription factor of embryonic stem cells, and it has been discovered recently that there is a higher expression in primary colorectal carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the quantity, location and distribution of CD44+/Oct4+cells in primary colorectal carcinoma.
METHODS:A total y of 108 cases of human colorectal carcinoma and 18 cases of normal mucosa, 18 cases of adenoma were col ected and made into three tissue microarrays, each containing of 48 dots. The locations of CD44+/Oct4+cells were detected by double-label immunohistochemical staining and hematoxylin-eosin staining. The morphologic features of them were investigated on hematoxylin-eosin staining at the same position. 
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The results of double-label immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that there were no CD44+/Oct4+cells in normal intestine mucosa and a very smal amount of CD44+/Oct4+cells in adenoma, and double-positive cells could also be seen in colorectal carcinoma. The number of CD44+/Oct4+cells was rare and the cells were scattered or distributed focal y along the basement of gland basal side. The cells with scarce cytoplasm were square, and its nucleus was oval or high cylindrical, deeply stained and homogeneous. The quantity of CD44+/Oct4+cells was negatively correlated with the differentiation of colorectal cancer (r=-0.579, P<0.01), and was associated with the depth of tumor invasion (r=0.236, P<0.05). These findings indicate that CD44+/Oct4+cells may be colorectal cancer stem cells.

Recent years, the incidence and mortality of prostate cancer have increased dramatically in China. At earlier stages, most diagnosed prostate cancers are responsive to androgen depletion treatment, yet, nearly all patients will eventually progress to metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC), which still has no effective therapeutic method or drug to deal with. 11'-Deoxyverticillin A (C42) belongs to the family of epipolythiodioxopiperazines (ETPs), an interesting class of fungal toxins that inhibit farnesyl transferase. Compounds holding such a property have been explored as putative anticancer agents. In this study, using PC3M cells, an AIPC cell line, we investigated the effect of the compound on apoptosis and explored the underlying mechanism. It revealed that C42 markedly enhanced the activity of caspase-3/7 and increased the accumulation of the cleaved PARP, all of which are the markers of apoptosis. It also revealed that C42 either decreased cell viability or inhibited the growth of PC3M cells. Moreover, we observed that the loss of cell viability and cell growth inhibition induced by C42 were both time- and dosage dependent. Taken together, we indicated that C42 can induce caspase-dependent apoptosis in AIPC cells, and the results presented here will broaden our knowledge about the molecular mechanisms by which C42 exerts its anticancer activity, and future work in this direction may provide valuable information in the development of these compounds into effective cancer therapeutic strategies against androgen-independent prostate cancer.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Caspase 7 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Disulfides ; pharmacology ; Farnesyltranstransferase ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Humans ; Male ; Mycotoxins ; pharmacology ; Piperazines ; pharmacology ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; pathology