AIM To investigate the curative effects of Kuntai Capsules (Coptidis Rhizoma,Scutellariae Radix,Asini Corii Colla,etc.) on rat model for primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) caused by 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD).METHODS Seventy-five weaned 21-day old rats were divided equally into five groups randomly:control group,model group,low-,medium-,and high-dosage Kuntain group.Except the control group was given sesame oil rats,other four groups were given intraperitoneal injection of VCD solution.According to vaginal smear of rats,eight rats in each group were selected,the levels of FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone),LH (leuteinizing hormone),E2 (estradiol) and AMH (anti-Mullerian hormone) were measured,and morphological changes of ovary and uterus were observed.RESULTS Compared to the control group,FSH level in rats' serum of the model group significantly increased while AMH and E2 levels significantly decreased,and LH level rose;Kuntai Capsules significantly decreased FSH level while increased AMH level;The wet weight of rats' ovary in the model group was lighter than that in the control group.The ovary weight of Kuntai Capsules low-dosage group was increased;the number of follicles at all levels and corpora lutea of rats in the model group were decreased.After the treatment with Kuntai Capsules,the number of follicles at all levels and corpora lutea were increased;light microscopy manifested decreased uterine glands of the tube wall,reduced glandular cavity.After the treatment with Kuntai Capsules,the number of uterine glands increased and the gland cavity expanded.CONCLUSION Kuntai Capsules may slowdown the functional decline rate of ovarian.

Nonalcoholic fatty pancreatic disease (NAFPD) is defined as pancreatic fat deposition associated with obesity in the absence of significant drinking, and its pathogenesis remains unclear. NAFPD is closely associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), type 2 diabetes, pancreatitis, pancreatic tumor, and pancreatic fistula after pancreaticoduodenal surgery and can promote the spread of pancreatic cancer cells and result in the early death of patients with pancreatic cancer. The diagnosis and evaluation of NAFPD mainly rely on pathological biopsy and imaging examination, but their clinical application is limited by detection techniques and diagnostic level. Major prevention and treatment methods for NAFPD include a reduction in body weight, bariatric surgery, and pharmacotherapy. Since there are few articles on NAFPD and it is not taken seriously in clinical practice, there are significant differences in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of this disease. Therefore, this article elaborates on the current status of research on NAFPD and the advances in its diagnosis and treatment.

Objective To investigate the 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging features of thoracolumbar tuberculosis.Methods Nine-ty-eight patients with thoracolumbar vertebral column destruction receiving 18F-FDG PET/CT examination in our hospital from May 2005 to January 2017 were selected as the study subjects and divided into the tuberculosis(TB) group (n=27) and non-TB group (n=71) according to the result of pathology examination and follow-up.The 18F-FDG PET/CT signs were compared between the two groups,and the binary classification Logistic regression was used to screen out the signs with statistical significance.Results Forty-two lesions and 114 lesions were detected in the TB group and non-TB group respectively.The incidence rates of continuous vertebral body involvement,intervertebral disc lesion,vertebral body compression fractures,cold abscess," radioactive cold area",high lesion SUVmax and slightly higher SUVmax sign in the TB group were higher than those in the non-TB group(P＜ 0.05) The binary classification Logistic regression analysis results showed that continuous vertebral involvement,intervertebral disc lesion,vertebral body compression fractures,cold abscess and "radioactive cold area" were the independent factors for diagnosis of thoracolumbar TB(P＜0.05).The sensitivity,specificity,positive prediction value,negative predictionvalue and Youden index in the combination of continuous vertebral involvement + intervertebral disc lesion were 71.4％,81.6％,58.8％,88.6％,53.0％,respectively.Conclusion For the diagnosis of thoracolumbar TB,the combination of continuous vertebral involvement + intervertebral disc lesion has the highest diagnostic value.

In order to study effects of ginseng on the metabolism of drug belong to CYP3A4 substrate, screening of pregnane X receptor activation from ginsenosides was performed by reporter assay. Based on PXR-CYP3A stable translation cell lines, 13 ginsenosides were screened for pregnane X receptor activation by reporter assays, and RIF as the positive control. The effect of ginsenosides Rg1 onCYP3A4 mRNA expression was also investigated by RT-PCR. The PXR-CYP3A stable translation cell lines had good response to RIF, and the EC50 is 2.51 micro mol x L(-1). When the condition of final concentration was 10 micromol x L(-1), ginsenoside F2 and protopanaxatriol had moderate inductive effects on PXR. Panaxotriol, Rg2, pseudoginsenoside F11, Rg1, ginsenoside and Rb3 had inhibitory effects on PXR. Ginsenoside Rf1, Rg3, Rh2 and protopanaxdiol had no obvious effects on PXR. Rg1 down-regulated CYP3A4 mRNA expression in a concentration-dependent manner. Activation of pregnane X receptor by ginsenosides may influence the metabolism of drug belong to CYP3A4 substrate, and cause ginseng-drug interactions.

We analyzed the whole genome coding sequence of Volvariella volvacea to study the pattern utilization of codons by Codon W 1.4.2. As results, 24 optimal codons were identified. Moreover, the frequency of codons usage was calculated by CUSP program. We compared the frequency of codons usage of V. volvacea with other organisms including 6 modal value species (Homo sapiens, Saccharomys cerevisiae, Arabidopsis thalian, Mus musculus, Danio rerio and Drosophila melanogaster) and 4 edible fungi (Coprinopsis cinerea, Agaricus bisporus, Lentinula edodes and Pleurotus ostreatus). We found that there were less differences in 3 edible fungi (excluding Pleurotus ostreatus) than 6 modal value species, comparing with the frequency of codons usage of V. volvacea. With software SPSS16.0, cluster analysis which showed differences in the size of codon bias, reflects the evolutionary relationships between species, which can be used as a reference of evolutionary relationships of species. This was the first time for analysis the codon preference among the whole coding sequences of edible fungi, serving as theoretical basis to apply genetic engineering of V. volvacea.
Agaricales ; genetics ; Animals ; Arabidopsis ; genetics ; Cluster Analysis ; Codon ; DNA, Fungal ; genetics ; Drosophila melanogaster ; genetics ; Humans ; Mice ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; Software ; Volvariella ; genetics ; Zebrafish ; genetics

Objective To explore the difference in efficacy between multiparametric MRI (Mp-MRI) based on prostate imaging reporting and data system version 2 (PI-RADS v2) and abbreviated biparametric MRI (Bp-MRI) in detecting prostate cancer (PCa) and clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa), and to evaluate the consistency of image interpretation between different readers. Methods The imaging, pathological and clinical data of patients with prostatic Mp-MRI in our hospital from February 2015 to June 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. At the beginning, 250 patients were randomly selected. Two radiologists visually evaluated the images of those patients using two 5-point scoring schemes based on Mp-MRI and Bp-MRI. The remaining cases were independently proceeded by one of the radiologists using two schemes respectively. Weighted Kappa test was used to assess the consistency of the results interpreted by the two radiologists. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the efficiency of the two scoring schemes in detecting PCa and csPCa, and with Z test to investigate whether there was any difference in detection efficiency between the two schemes. Results Nine hundred and seventy eight patients were eventually enrolled in the study. The results of the consistency assessment showed that there was good agreement between the two radiologists, whether using Mp-MRI or Bp-MRI, with the weighted Kappa coefficient of 0.800 and 0.812, respectively. The ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of PCa detected by Mp-MRI and Bp-MRI was 0.873 and 0.879, respectively, and the AUC of csPCa detected was 0.922 and 0.932, respectively. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference between the AUC of PCa and csPCa detected by the two schemes (P>0.05). Conclusion The Bp-MRI scoring scheme has good stability in the evaluation of benign and malignant prostate, and its detection efficiency of PCa or csPCa is not lower than that of standard Mp-MRI based on PI-RADS v2.

Objective:To discuss the effective of artesunate in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Methods:Using prospective method, the 43 cases of confirmed COVID-19 patients in Nanning Fourth People's Hospital from January 22nd to February 15th in 2020 were enrolled and divided into routine treatment group ( n = 25) and artesunate treatment group ( n = 18) by odd-even rule after admission. According to the guidelines, the routine treatment group was recommended to receive lopinavir/ritonavir 500 mg + α-aerosolized interferon 500×10 4 U, twice daily; the artesunate treatment group was given artesunate 60 mg, twice daily besides the routine treatment, for 10 days in both groups. During the treatment period, the pharynx swab test of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) nucleic acid was carried out every 2 days, and the routine blood test, liver and kidney functions, blood coagulation function and myocardial enzymes were re-examined. Chest CT was checked every 3 days after the treatment, and re-examined every 5 days after the condition was improved. The routine blood test and biochemical results of two groups were observed, and the efficacy evaluation was performed by monitoring the time for significant improvement of symptoms, negative conversion time of throat swab virus nucleic acid, lung lesion absorption time, adverse drug reactions and the length of hospital stay of the two groups. Results:There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of gender, age, body weight, routine blood test and biochemical results before treatment. In artesunate treatment group, the time for significant improvement of symptoms (days: 3.33±1.91 vs. 4.84±2.19), negative conversion time of 2019-nCoV nucleic acid (days: 4.72±2.16 vs. 6.68±3.76), lung lesion absorption starting time (days: 5.39±2.36 vs. 7.48±3.78), lung lesion absorption greater than 70% time (days: 14.11±4.16 vs. 17.04±4.42) and the length of hospital stay (days: 16.56±3.71 vs. 18.04±3.97) were significantly shorter than those in routine treatment group, with significant differences (all P < 0.05). The incidence of adverse drug reactions in two groups had no significant difference (72.2% vs. 80.0%, P > 0.05). Conclusion:Artesunate can shorten the treatment time of COVID-19, improve prognosis and eliminate pathogens, with fewer adverse reactions and a good application prospect.

Objective:Distribution and antibiotic resistance of pathogen isolated from children with intra-abdominal infection (IAI) associated sepsis in the intensive care unit (ICU) were analyzed to provide a reference for the empirical anti-infective treatment of IAI in children.Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the data of 116 children with culture-positive IAI-associated sepsis admitted to Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine from January 2019 to December 2021. Clinical isolation and drug resistance analysis were conducted based on different years of onset, locations of onset, and primary diseases.Results:A total of 186 strains of pathogens causing children with IAI-associated sepsis in ICU were collected. The distribution and antibiotic resistance of pathogen were as follows: the percentages of gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, and fungi were 53.2%, 40.9%, and 5.9%, respectively; the top four strains were Enterococcus faecium, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterococcus faecalis, accounting for 57.0% of all isolates; Enterococcus faecium(19.9%) and Enterococcus faecalis (10.2%) were the dominating gram-positive bacteria; Escherichia coli (13.4%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.4%) were more common gram-negative bacteria; Fungi were dominated by Candida albicans (3.8%).Fifty-seven strains of gram-positive bacteria were detected in 61 children with infectious diseases, mainly Enterococcus faecium (28 strains). There were 53 gram-negative strains, mainly Klebsiella pneumoniae (21 strains). Thirty-two strains of gram-positive bacteria were detected in 40 children with digestive tract malformation, and Enterococcus faecalis (six strains) were the most common. There were 14 gram-negative strains, mainly Escherichia coli (six strains). In 13 children with malignant tumors of digestive system, nine strains of gram-positive bacteria were cultured, and Enterococcus faecium (four strains) was the most common. There were eight gram-negative strains, mainly Escherichia coli (four strains).In the 46 community-acquired IAI patients,30 gram-positive isolates were cultured,mainly including Enterococcus faecium (12 strains), Staphylococcus epidermidis (seven strains), and Viridans streptococci (six strains); Forty gram-negative isolates mainly contained Escherichia coli (16 strains), Klebsiella pneumoniae (14 strains), and Enterobacter cloacae (five strains). In the 70 hospital-associated IAI patients, 69 gram-positive isolates such as Enterococcus faecium (25 strains), Enterococcus faecalis (17 strains), Enterococcus gallinarum (eight strains), and Staphylococcus aureus (seven strains) were cultured;Tirty-six gram-negative isolates were dominated by Klebsiella pneumoniae (11 strains), Escherichia coli (nine strains), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (four strains), and Acinetobacter baumannii (four strains). The mixed infection rate of clinical pathogens was up to 46.6%, and the overall resistance rate was 43.4%, in which gram-negative bacteria had high sensitivity to piperacillin/tazobactam, cefoperazone/sulbactam, imipenem, and tigecycline.The detection rates of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases were 36.0% and 24.6%, respectively, with 100% sensitivity to tigecycline. Gram-positive bacteria showed 100% sensitivity to vancomycin, linezolid, and tigecycline. Conclusion:Pathogen isolated from children with IAI-associated sepsis in ICU were dominated by Enterococcus faecium, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterococcus faecalis,respectively. Before confirmation of pathogenic bacteria, antibacterial agents can be selected according to the infection type. It is important to note that a single broad-spectrum antibacterial agent or combination medication can be considered the initial empirical choice due to the large variety of pathogens, high rates of mixed infections, and high overall resistance.

Receptors, Purinergic ; Signal Transduction/physiology*