Objective To investigate the feasibility of gene delivery to the ischemic myocardium of rabbits by ultrasound-mediated destruction of microbubbles. Methods A ligation model of left circumflex branch coronary artery was established in 48 rabbits. Three days after ligation, the mixture of gene and microbubbles was infused into the vein of rabbits with or without simultaneous ultrasound. Additional controls included ultrasound of microbubbles that did not contain gene, gene alone, gene plus ultrasound,and blank control. Rabbits were killed after two weeks and examined for the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF). Results The hearts of five rabbits that underwent ultrasound-mediated destruction of microbubbles containing gene showed VEGF expression in ischemic myocardium.None of the control animals showed VEGF expression. Conclusions Ultrasound-mediated destruction of microbubbles is a promising method for the delivery of bioactive agents to the heart.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship of the expression of thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) in nasal polyps tissues and the Th2 inflammatory response. METHOD: Sixty patients with nasal polyps were collect ed. The immunohistochemical staining method was used to detect the expression of TSLP in nasal polyps tissues and ELISA method to the expression of IL-4, IL-5, IFN-gamma, IL-13 and analyzed the correlation between them. RESULT: The expression of TSLP in nasal polyp tissues was higher than that in normal inferior turbinate mucosa (P < 0.05). The expression level of IL-4, IL-5, IFN-gamma and IL-13 in nasal polyps tissues were significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.05). TSLP staining was a statistically significant positive correlation with IL-4, IL5 and IL-13 (r = 0.475, 0.594 and 0.582, respectively, P < 0.01), while inverse correlation with IFN-gamma (r = -0.614, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION The high expression of TSLP might promote T cell differentiation towards Th2, and participated in the occurrence/development of nasal polyps, aggravated the nose Th2 inflammatory response.
Adult ; Cytokines ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; metabolism ; Interleukin-13 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-4 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-5 ; metabolism ; Male ; Nasal Polyps ; immunology ; metabolism ; Th2 Cells ; immunology ; Young Adult

Objective To establish a sensitive, rapid and simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of amphotericin B (AraB) and itraconazole (ITZ) in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Methods Solid-phase extraction (SPE) was involved in sample preparation in this method, followed by reverse-phase separation under two different chromatographic systems. Results The tinearity for both AraB and ITZ ranged from 5 ng/mL to 100 ng/mL and the inter-day and intra-day RSD were both below 7.6% at the concentrations of 20,50 and 100 ng/mL. Conclusions The method we established has been applied to the therapeutic drug monitoring on cryptococcal-meningitis-infected patients who were given comedication of these two drugs.

Object To determine the contents of schisantherin A, deoxyschizandrin, schisandrin B and schisandrin C in the stems and fruits of Schisandra rudriflora (Franch ) Rehd. et Wils , which were collected from different areas Methods An HPLC method was set up: Column, Sphereclone, ODS (250 mm?4 6 mm, 5 ?m); mobil phase, A: H 2O, B: MeOH; gradient elution was with 70% B from 0-4 min, 70%-100% B from 4-54 min; the flow rate was 0 4 mL/min; the column temperature was 25 ℃ and the DAD detector was used at 254 nm Results The contents of schisantherin A, deoxyschizandrin, schisandrin B and schisandrin C in S. rubriflora were 0.026%-0.083%, 0.007%-0.945%, 0.002%-0.121%, 0.010%-0.038%, respectively. Deoxyschizandrin exists widely in S. rubriflora and its content is higher in fruits than that in stems Conclusion Deoxyschizandrin is the main active lignan in the fruits of S rubriflora

Objective To study the effects of ultrasound mediated microbubbles destruction on endothelial cells transfected with lipofectamine DNA complexes.Methods One hour after addition of pIRES2 EGFP hVEGF gene and lipofectamine,endothelial cells on 6 well plates were exposed to ultrasound for 30 s,60 s,or 90 s in the presence(10 ?l,100 ?l,500 ?l) or absence of ultrasound contrast agent.The transducer (Sonos 5500,S3, 1.3 MHz,MI 1.0 ) was submerged in water and held at a distance of 1 cm.Expression of the marker gene EGFP was observed by fluorescent microscopy 2 days later.Results Ultrasound treatment of endothelial cells on plates for 30 s and 60 s yielded significant increase in transfection rates without damaging the cells,but 90 s treatment killed most of the cells.Ultrasound contrast agent was able to significantly increase endothelial cells transfection rate by enhancing cavitation effects at a concentration of 100 ?l,and damaged most cells when applied at a concentration of 500 ?l.Conclusions Ultrasound mediated destruction of microbubbles enhances gene expression after lipofectamine mediated transfection of endothelial cells in vitro; and it may represent an improved avenue for therapeutic gene delivery in vivo.

AIM　To study the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of clinafloxacin in rats. METHODS　The drug concentration was determined by HPLC. The main pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained by 3P87 program. An RP-C18 was used as the stationary phase. The mobile phase was a mixture of acetonitrile-0.05 mol*L-1 citric acid triethylamine (pH 2.5) (20∶80). The flow rate was 1.0 mL*min-1. The UV absorbance detector was set at 300 nm. RESULTS　A good linearity was obtained from 0.03-20 μg*mL-1 of clinafloxacin in rat plasma with γ=0.9998. The plasma concentration-time curve of clinafloxacin conformed to one compartment open model. After ig administration of 50 mg*kg-1 and 100 mg*kg-1 dose of clinafloxacin in six rats, mean Cmax and AUC values increased in proportion to dose. Mean T1/2 appeared to be independent of dose. Mean AUC was 65±6 and 27±4 μg*h*mL-1 respectively after iv and ig adminostration of 100 mg*kg-1 dose. The extent of bioavailability (F) of clinafloxacin was 42%. CONCLUSION　The results of the pharmacokinetic study of clinafloxacin showed that it exhibited first order kinetic characteristics and the bioavailability is low.

BACKGROUNDMalignant pleural effusion is usually caused by lung cancer, and tumor markers may be helpful to its differential diagnosis. The aim of this study is to explore the clinical value of serum and pleural effusion pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP), neuron specific enolase (NSE), cyto- keratin fragment 19 (CYFRA21-1) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in differential diagnosis and histological typing of malignant pleural effusion caused by lung cancer.

METHODSAccording to histological type of primary tumor, 99 patients with malignant pleural effusion caused by lung cancer were divided into small cell lung cancer (SCLC) group, adenocarcinoma group and squamous cell carcinoma group, with 37 patients with benign pleural effusion and 35 healthy persons as controls. Diagnostic value of serum and pleural effusion ProGRP , NSE, CYFRA21-1 and CEA was evaluated for each group.

RESULTSThe levels of ProGRP, NSE, CYFRA21-1 and CEA in serum and pleural effusion of all the malignant groups were significantly higher than those in the control groups (P < 0.01). In the SCLC group, detection of pleural effusion ProGRP showed the highest Youden index and accuracy. In the adenocarcinoma group and squamous cell carcinoma group, combined detection of pleural effusion CEA+CYFRA21-1 (on parallel test) showed the highest Youden index and accuracy.

CONCLUSIONSDetection of pleural effusion tumor markers ProGRP, CYFRA21-1, NSE and CEA is of great clinical value in differential diagnosis and histological typing of malignant pleural effusion. Pleural effusion ProGRP is the optimal tumor marker for malignant pleural effusion caused by SCLC. Pleural effusion CEA+CYFRA21-1 (on parallel test) is a good auxiliary diagnosis index for malignant pleural effusion caused by adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

A total of 189 stool samples from swine with diarrhea, collected in various porcine farms in the central region of China were tested for porcine enteric caliciviruses (PEC) member porcine sapoviruses (SaV) by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification using primers designed to detect porcine SaV. Selected amplicons were sequenced to establish phylogenetic relationships with reference strains. Porcine SaV were detected in 12.70% (24/189) of the samples. Phylogenetic studies based on partial RNA polymerase gene sequences indicated that the field strains of viruses isolated in China were closely related (75.6 88.3% identity) to the porcine SaV Cowden reference strain. These results provide evidence that caliciviruses of the genus sapovirus circulate in piglets in China, but further studies are needed to clarify their importance as cause of diarrhea. This is the first report of PEC in China.

Objective:To observe the incidence of infection related complications after percutaneous nephrolithotripsy.Methods:One hundred and forty-two patients with renal calculi who were treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2017 to December 2018 were divided into control group (71 cases) and experimental group (71 cases) by random number method. Among them, the control group was treated with common sheath, the experimental group was treated with negative pressure lithotomy, and the patients were followed up for 1 year after the operation to count the recurrence. The patients in the two groups were compared in terms of perioperative indexes, intraoperative complication rate, postoperative complication rate, recurrence rate in 1 year′s follow-up and quality of life in 1 year′s follow-up.Results:The operation time in two groups had no significant difference ( P>0.05). The amount of bleeding in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group [(12.15 ± 1.06) ml vs. (13.03 ± 1.17) ml], the length of hospitalization was significantly shorter than that in the control group [(5.13 ± 0.67) d vs. (6.02 ± 0.78) d], and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.01). The incidence of intraoperative complications in two groups had no significant difference ( P>0.05). The incidence of postoperative complications in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group [1.41%(1/71) vs. 11.27%(8/71)], the recurrence rate in the follow-up period of 1 year was significantly lower than that in the control group [1.14%(1/71) vs. 9.86%(7/71)], and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). The scores of postoperative World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionaire BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) of the two groups had no significant difference ( P>0.05). At 1 year′s follow-up, the scores of WHOQOL-BREF in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group ( P<0.01). Conclusions:With the help of vacuum lithotripsy in percutaneous nephrolithotripsy, but the incidence of postoperative complications can be significantly reduced, the length of stay can be shortened, the follow-up recurrence can be reduced, and the quality of life can be improved.

Recently, liposomes have been widely used in cancer therapeutics, but their anti-tumor effects are suboptimal due to limited tumor penetration. To solve this problem, researchers have made significant efforts to optimize liposomal diameters and potentials, but little attention has been paid to liposomal membrane rigidity. Herein, we sought to demonstrate the effects of cholesterol-tuned liposomal membrane rigidity on tumor penetration and anti-tumor effects. In this study, liposomes composed of hydrogenated soybean phospholipids (HSPC), 1,2-distearoyl--glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine--[methoxy(polyethylene glycol)-2000] (DSPE-PEG) and different concentrations of cholesterol were prepared. It was revealed that liposomal membrane rigidity decreased with the addition of cholesterol. Moderate cholesterol content conferred excellent diffusivity to liposomes in simulated diffusion medium, while excessive cholesterol limited the diffusion process. We concluded that the differences of the diffusion rates likely stemmed from the alterations in liposomal membrane rigidity, with moderate rigidity leading to improved diffusion. Next, the tumor penetration and the anti-tumor effects were analyzed. The results showed that liposomes with moderate rigidity gained excellent tumor penetration and enhanced anti-tumor effects. These findings illustrate a feasible and effective way to improve tumor penetration and therapeutic efficacy of liposomes by changing the cholesterol content, and highlight the importance of liposomal membrane rigidity.