Objective:To investigate the difference of accuracy between magnetic induction Freehand-3D ultrasound and two-dimensional ultrasound in measuring the volume of thyroid model.Methods:Forty thyroid models were established using porcine liver, and the Archimedes procedure was set as gold standard in the measurement of the volume of each model. The accuracy of measurement of the porcine thyroid model volume between two-dimensional ultrasound and magnetic induction Freehand-3D ultrasound were compared.Results:There were no significant differences in the accuracy of measurements of thyroid model volume among two-dimensional ultrasound, magnetic induction Freehand-3D ultrasound and Archimedes procedure (all P>0.05). Compared with the Archimedes procedure, magnetic induction Freehand-3D ultrasonic method showed higher correlation coefficient of the measurement of thyroid model volume ( r=0.998). Bland-Altman analysis showed the lower measure error with a relative error of 3.42% and range of -9.57% to 12.07%. And the limits of agreement were (-1.253, 0.999) in the magnetic induction Freehand-3D ultrasonic measurement. Conclusions:Compared with two-dimensional ultrasound, the magnetic induction Freehand-3D ultrasound show higher accuracy in the measurement of the volume of the thyroid model.

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To investigate the effects of tanshinone IIA ( Tan IIA) on proliferation, apoptosis and its mo-lecular mechanism in human hepatoma HepG2 cells under hypoxic condition.METHODS:Hypoxia model was established by treatment with cobalt chloride ( CoCl2 ) .The cells were divided into normoxia control group, hypoxia control group and hypoxia combined at different concentrations of Tan IIA groups.After HepG2 cells were incubated with different concentra-tions of Tan IIA (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0 and 10.0 mg/L) for 24 h, 48 h and 72 h under hypoxic condition, the cell prolifer-ation was determined by MTT assay.After Tan IIA was added to the media at different concentrations for 24 h and 48 h, the apoptotic cells were observed by Hoechst 33258 staining.The protein levels of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) , vascular endothelial growth factor ( VEGF) and wild-type P53 were detected by Western blotting after cultured with different concentrations of Tan IIA for 48 h.RESULTS:Tan IIA inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner.Tan IIA induced the typical morphology of apoptotic cells and increased the apoptotic rate in a dose-and time-dependent manner after treatment with 1.0 mg/L~5.0 mg/L for 24 h and 48 h under hypoxic condition. The protein levels of HIF-1αand VEGF were weakly expressed in HepG2 cells under normoxia but up-regulated after incu-bated under hypoxia for 48 h.The protein expression of HIF-1αand VEGF were decreased with the increase in the concen-tration of Tan IIA under hypoxia.The protein expression of wild-type P53 was increased with the increase in the concentra-tions of Tan IIA under hypoxia.CONCLUSION:Tan IIA significantly inhibits the proliferation and induces the apoptosis of human hepatoma HepG2 cells under hypoxia, which may be related to the down-regulation of HIF-1αand VEGF and up-regulation of wild-type P53.

Objective To explore the role of viral infection in the development of drug eruption in patients with HIV infection, and to evaluate the efficacy of antiviral treatment. Methods This study enrolled 87 HIV-positive patients, including 11 with and 76 without drug eruption, all of whom received highly active antiretroviral therapy(HAART). Clinical data on, baseline CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts and CD4/CD8 ratio in these subjects were retrospectively analyzed. Results The severity of drug eruption was mild in the 11 HIV-positive patients, with a mean latency period of (14.00 ± 8.10)(range, 8 - 34)days. Of the 11 patients with drug eruption, 7 had liver function impairment, which was not in accordance with the severity of skin lesions. Drug eruption was controlled in all the 11 patients after anti-anaphylactic treatment without withdrawal of antiviral drugs. Compared with 75 HIV-positive patients without drug eruption, the 11 HIV-positive patients with drug eruption showed significantly increased baseline CD4 + T cell counts (493.00 ± 245.68 (range, 42 - 810)/μl vs. 347.81 ± 167.00 (range, 11 - 814)/μl, t = 647.50, P < 0.05), but decreased proportion of patients with baseline CD4+ T cell counts below the lower limit of normal(3/11 vs. 48/75(64.00%), X2 = 3.95, P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between 10 patients with drug eruption and 69 patients without drug eruption in the baseline CD8+ T cell count(1472.30 ± 858.55/μl vs. 1356.59 ± 684.06/μl, P > 0.05), CD4/CD8 ratio(0.40 ± 0.27 vs. 0.29 ± 0.16, P > 0.05), or percentage of patients with a CD4/CD8 ratio below the lower limit of normal (9/10 vs. 68/69 (98.55%), P >0.05). Conclusions The latency period of drug eruption seems to be long in HIV-positive patients receiving HAART, and mild drug eruption can be complicated by liver function impairment in the patients. Relatively high CD4 + counts may be a risk factor for the development and aggravation of drug eruption in HIV-positive patients.

Aim To investigate the mechanism of demethylation on adenosine (ADO )and homocysteine (HCY)-induced apoptosis in human hepatoma HepG2 cells .Methods HepG 2 cells were treated with differ-ent concentrations of ADO (1.0、2.0、4.0 mol · L-1 ) alone or in combination with HCY for 6h,12h and 24h,5-aza-2-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-CdR)as a positive control.Cell viabilities were assessed by CCK8 assay. Cell apoptosis was observed by AnnexinV-FITC/PI staining.The mitochondrial membrane potentials(ΔΨ) were measured by flow cytometry.The mRNA and pro-tein expressions of caspase-3,caspase-8,caspase-9, MDM-2,p53,Cytochrome C,DNMT1,DNMT3a,DN-MT3 b were detected by RT-qPCR and Western blot re-spectively.Results ADO alone or in combination with HCY significantly reduced the viability of HepG2 cells in a dose and time-dependent manner.The apoptotic rates of HepG2 cells after combination treatment with ADO and HCY at 1 .0,2.0,4.0 mol · L-1 for 24 h were (1 8.63 ± 1.25 )%,(29.42 ±2.37 )% and (42.47 ±3.09 )%,compared with the control group (1.30 ±0.82 )%,P <0.01;and the mitochondrial membrane potentials were decreased from 674.15 ± 82.8%(black control group)to (428.38 ±54.5)%, (297.78 ±30.5)%,(74.45 ±5.73)%,P<0.01, respectively.The expressions of caspase-3,caspase-8, caspase-9,MDM-2,p53,Cytochrome C were up-regula-ted and MDM-2 were down-regulated after combination treatment of ADO and HCY.The mRNA expressions of DNMT1 ,DNMT3 a and DNMT3 b were down-regulated after combination treatment with ADO and HCY or 5-Aza-CdR alone.Conclusion Combination treatment of ADO and HCY can cause cellular methylation chan-ges.The effects of demethylation of ADO and HCY may activate p53 gene and mitochondrial pathway, which at last leads to HepG2 cell apoptosis.

Objective To explore the feasibility of the application of music test materials in acceptable noise level (ANL) test.Methods We chose Mandarin proficiency test material,Mandarin music and accompaniment music to produce ANL test materials.The background noise was babble noise.A total of 40 normal hearing young people conduct ANL tests.Results The most comfortable loudness (MCL) obtained under the Mandarin short text test material,Mandarin music test material and accompaniment music test material were 39.10±7.43,43.85±9.53 and 44.10±10.83 dB,respectively.The maximum background noise level (BNL) were 37.91±8.65,44.52±11.23,43.65±12.89 dB HL,ANL values were 0.98±4.90,-0.90±3.78,0.45±4.65 dB S/N,respectively.The MCL and BNL values of Mandarin music test materials and accompaniment music test materials were higher than those of Mandarin short text test materials (P＜0.05),but there was no significant difference between MCL and BNL values in Mandarin music test materials and accompaniment music test materials (P ＞ 0.05).There was no significant difference in ANL among the three test materials (P＞0.05).Conclusion The music test material can be applied to the acceptable noise level test.The MCL value and the BNL value were higher under the music test material,which indicating that the acceptance of the music is higher in normal hearing people,whether or not the music test material containing lyrics has no effect on the ANL test results.

Objective To analyze the clinical efficacy and safety of tegafur combined with oxaliplatin and gemcitabine combined with cisplatin in the treatment of advanced triple negative breast cancer.Methods Seventy-eight female patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer who has afailed treatment with anthracycline/taxanes from January 1,2012 to December 31,2015 in PLA 309 Hospital were randomly divided into SOX group (38 cases) and GP group (40 cases) by computer generated random numbers.Results The objective response rates of SOX group and GP group were 31.5％ (12/38) and 32.5％ (13/40),and the disease control rates were 65.8％ (25/38) and 70.0％ (28/40),respectively.There was no significant difference between the two groups (P value was 1.000 and 0.809).The median progression-free survival time of GP group and SOX group was 6.6 and 5.5 months respectively,and there was a significant difference between the two groups (P=0.044).Adverse reactions in both groups included bone marrow suppression,gastrointestinal reactions and so on.The incidence rate of digestive tract reaction was 23.7％ (9/38) in SOX group and 27.5％ (11/40) in GP group.There was no significant difference between the two groups (P=0.699).The incidence rate of bone marrow suppression was 28.9％ (11/38) and 30.0％ (12/40),respectively.There was no significant difference between the two groups (P =0.920).Conclusion Tegafur combined with oxaliplatin and gemcitabine combined with cisplatin are effective drugs for the treatment of metastatic triple negative breast cancer,and the adverse reactions are tolerable.

Objective:To assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome(MS) and its relationship with hyperuricemia(HUA) in perimenopausal women in Anning city, Yunnan province.Methods:This is a cross-sectional survey. In May 2021, a multi-stage stratified sampling method was used to collect demographics and clinical data [ethnicity, living community, height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides(TG), serum uric acid, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol(HDL-C), alanine transaminase(ALT), etc] in a total of 6 721 perimenopausal women aged 45-60 years.Results:A total of 6 721 perimenopausal women were included in this study. The prevalences of MS and HUA were 14.05%(95% CI 13.22%-14.88%) and 6.46%(95% CI 5.88%-7.07%), respectively. The average age, HDL-C, urea, direct bilirubin, and albumin levels in the perimenstrual HUA population were lower than those in the non-HUA population while the levels of TG, ALT, heart rate, body mass index(BMI), and creatinine were higher(all P<0.05). The prevalence of HUA in perimenopausal women with ethnic minorities and family history of chronic diseases was higher than that in Han nationality and without family history of chronic diseases. The prevalence of MS in perimenopausal women was increased with the increase of serum uric acid( Z=-15.313 8, P<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression model showed that HUA was positively correlated with MS( OR=1.526, 95% CI 1.192-1.954) after adjusting for covariates such as BMI and ethnicity, and the incidence of MS in perimenopausal women in HUA group was 1.526 folds higher than that in non-hyperuricemia group. Conclusion:HUA is highly positively correlated with MS in perimenopausal women. The management of uric acid level in perimenopausal women should be strengthened.

As a new beer fermentation technology, high temperature and high gravity fermentation has brought many benefits to brewery industry, but there are also a series of problems such as the decrease of yeast flocculation ability at the end of fermentation and the high concentration of higher alcohols. To increase yeast flocculation ability and reduce the production of higher alcohols in high temperature and high gravity fermentation of beer, BAT2 was replaced by the FLO5 expression cassette to obtain the mutant strain S6-BF2. Real-time quantitative PCR showed that the relative transcriptional level of FLO5 in S6-BF2 improved 17.8 times compared with that in S6. The flocculation ability of mutant S6-BF2 heightened by 63% compared to that of the original strain S6, and the concentration of higher alcohols decreased from 175.58 mg/L to 159.58 mg/L in high temperature and high gravity fermentation of beer. Moreover, the activity of mitochondrial branched-chain amino acid transferase was repressed, resulting in the production of higher alcohols of 142.13 mg/L, reduced by 18.4% compared to that of the original strain S6, meanwhile, the flocculation ability of mutant S6-BF2B1 kept unchanged compared to the mutant S6-BF2. The determination result of flavor compounds showed that the higher alcohols/ester ratio in beer was reasonable. This research has suggested an effective strategy for enhancing yeast flocculation ability and decreasing production of higher alcohols in high-temperature and high-gravity brewing.
Beer ; Fermentation ; Hypergravity ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins ; Temperature ; Transaminases

Objective Effect of hawthorn and melanoidins on the in-vitro growth of Bifidobacterium and E.coli. Methods According to methods of the Chinese pharmacopoeia (2015),the charred hawthorn was prepared. The melanoidins in charred hawthorn were separated and purified by the macroporous resin extraction process. Ultraviolet spectrophotometry was used to detect melanoidins. The gas chromatography was used to detect the effects of hawthorn, charred hawthorn and melanoidins on the content of the acetic acid in Bifidobacterium and E.coli during growth, stable and decay period. Results In the early stage, the effects of hawthorn and charred hawthorn on bacteria were greater than melanoidins. In the middle and late stage, melanoidins inhibited the growth and metabolism of E.coli by changing the generation of acetic acid, and contributed to that of Bifidobacterium and also promoted the generation of acetic acid and regulate the intestinal flora. Conclusion Hawthorn, charred hawthorn and melanoidins all promote digestion by promoting the growth and metabolism of intestinal flora. Among them, charred hawthorn has a better effect on intestinal flora.

A quantitative method for clopidogrel using online-SPE tandem LC-MS/MS was developed and fully validated according to the well-established FDA guidelines. The method achieves adequate sensitivity for pharmacokinetic studies, with lower limit of quantifications (LLOQs) as low as 10 pg/mL. Chromatographic separations were performed on reversed phase columns Kromasil Eternity-2.5-C18-UHPLC for both methods. Positive electrospray ionization in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was employed for signal detection and a deuterated analogue (clopidogrel-d 4) was used as internal standard (IS). Adjustments in sample preparation, including introduction of an online-SPE system proved to be the most effective method to solve the analyte back-conversion in clinical samples. Pooled clinical samples (two levels) were prepared and successfully used as real-sample quality control (QC) in the validation of back-conversion testing under different conditions. The result showed that the real samples were stable in room temperature for 24 h. Linearity, precision, extraction recovery, matrix effect on spiked QC samples and stability tests on both spiked QCs and real sample QCs stored in different conditions met the acceptance criteria. This online-SPE method was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of 75 mg single dose clopidogrel tablets in 48 healthy male subjects.