Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of arrhythmia in clinic. At present, the therapies of AF by western medicine are fewer with obvious side effects. It is expected to improve the curative effect and reduce side effects by the combination of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and western medicine. The research progresses of Chinese materia medica (CMM) treatment for AF were summarized, and the biological molecular network was carried out for the analysis of blood components of ginsenoside from the key CMM Panax ginseng in AF treatment. The blood components of ginsenoside in network analysis including targets searching, network construction, and GO biological processes analysis were selected to explore the possible mechanism in treating AF. It indicated that the possible mechanism might be related to apoptosis regulation, cell membrane potassium ion flow, and so on.

OBJECTIVETo study the clinicopathologic features and immunophenotype of placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) and epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT).

METHODSDuring the period from 1959 to 2005, a total of 1012 cases of gestational trophoblastic disease were diagnosed in Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital. Six cases of PSTT and a case of ETT were retrieved from the archives of Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital. Immunohistochemical study for cytokeratin 18, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), human placental lactogen (hPL), Mel-CAM (CD146), placental-like alkaline phosphatase (PLAP), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), inhibin-alpha and proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were performed. The morphologic features and immunohistochemical findings were compared with those of the controlled group which consisted of 20 cases of early gestational villi with decidua basalis and 20 cases of hydatidiform moles with implantation site.

RESULTSThe mean age of patients with PSTT was 32.4, while the age of patients with ETT was 36. Major clinical findings included irregular vaginal bleeding and amenorrhea. Preoperative serum hCG level varied from normal to moderately elevated. Serum testosterone level was raised in 1 case. Uterine curettage could achieve an accurate pathologic diagnosis in 60% of cases. ETT involved mainly the lower uterine segment and endocervix. Histologically, PSTT cells permeated between the myometrial fibers and vessels either individually or connecting in cords or sheets in a manner reminiscent of the implantation site reaction. ETT composed of a relatively uniform population of mononuclear trophoblastic cells, clumping together in nests as the cell islets associating with eosinophilic, fibrillary and hyaline material and necrotic debris, forming a "geographic map" like pattern. Immunohistochemical study for hPL, hCG, Mel-CAM (CD146) and PLAP was most helpful for the differential diagnosis. The duration of follow-up varied from 14 months to 19 years. One case of PSTT developed metastasis in pancreas, 5 months after the operation. The remaining patients survived without tumor recurrence.

CONCLUSIONSPSTT is a tumor of implantation site intermediate trophoblasts while ETT differentiates towards chorionic-type intermediate trophoblasts. The different pathologic features and immunophenotype observed were closely related with the difference in tumor cell differentiation. An accurate pathologic diagnosis of the uterine curettage material is important for the clinical management. According to the limited follow-up data available, the clinical behavior of ETT is seemed similar to that of PSTT.

Adult ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; metabolism ; CD146 Antigen ; metabolism ; Chorionic Gonadotropin ; metabolism ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; methods ; Immunohistochemistry ; Isoenzymes ; metabolism ; Middle Aged ; Placental Lactogen ; metabolism ; Pregnancy ; Prognosis ; Trophoblastic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Trophoblastic Tumor, Placental Site ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Uterine Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery

Avascular necrosis is a progressively devastating disease and primarily affects weight-bearing joints. The hip is the most commonly affected joint. In early stage, nonoperative (including pharmacologic intervention and biophysical treatments) and operative modalities for protecting hip joint have become the main therapeutic methods. However there is still no satisfied mothod with reasonable effect. According to the treatment of the avascular necrosis of the femoral head of the pre-collapse stage, core decompression with modification of technique is still one of the safest and most commonly employed procedures. Recently there have been attempts to enhance the effect of core decompression with use of various growth and differentiation factors. Which is the hot spot of current research. Early diagnosis is the key to the treatment of the avascular necrosis of the femoral head. Comprehensive treatment which is based on the core decompression is still the main treatment of today.
Biophysical Phenomena ; Femur Head Necrosis ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; surgery ; therapy ; Humans ; Weight-Bearing

ObjectiveTo adapt to the dynamic multidimensional changes in traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） constitution， the paths of improving the quality of life through TCM constitution intervention are proposed from a configuration perspective. MethodsFive hundred and nine subjects were included in the study， all of whom voluntarily participated in and completed TCM constitution interventions， and completed 60-item Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire （CCMQ） （including 9 subscales： neutral type， qi deficient type， yang deficient type， yin deficient type， phlegm-dampness type， damp-heat type， blood stasis type， qi stagnation type， and special constitution type） to evaluate the TCM constitution， and the Short Form Health Questionnaire （SF-36） in Chinese version （including overall， physical component scores （PCS）， and mental component scores （MCS）） before and 6 months after the intervention to evaluate the quality of life. The necessary condition analysis （NCA） and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis （fsQCA） were used to explore the necessary conditions and advantage configurations for improving the overall， physical and mental quality of life of TCM constitution dimension changes. ResultsThe results of NCA showed that the changes in the scores of neutral type and qi stagnation type can serve as necessary conditions for improving the SF-36 overall quality of life scores （P＜0.05）. The changes in the scores of neutral type and blood stasis type can serve as necessary conditions for improving PCS scores. The changes in scores of the other 7 types can serve as necessary conditions for improving MCS scores. The fsQCA results showed that the necessary consistency of a change in a particular physical subscale score alone did not reach to a necessary condition for a change in SF-36 total score， PCS score， and MCS score （consistency ＜ 0.9 for all）， so the results of NCA were considered. The results of configuration analysis found that 6 configurations were included in increasing the overall quality of life scores and PCS scores， and 7 in increasing the MCS scores， with overall consistency ＞ 0.7. Improving the overall quality of life scores required a focus on lowering the qi deficient type scores， or reducing the yang deficient type scores while increasing the neutral type scores； reducing the scores of phlegm-dampness type and qi stagnation type is beneficial for improving the PCS scores； increasing the neutral type scores and reducing the scores of deficient type， yang deficient type， phlegm-dampness type， and stagnation type is beneficial for increasing MCS scores. ConclusionTCM constitution interventions can improve physical， mental and overall quality of life， and its improvement in the mental domain of quality of life is closely related to the paths of overall quality of life. In order to improve the quality of life， in addition to increasing the tendency of the neutral type， more focused and targeted measures should also be taken to decrease the degrees of qi deficient type， yang deficient type， qi stagnation type， and phlegm-dampness type.

With the development of mass spectrometry technologies and bioinformatics analysis algorithms, disease research-driven human proteome project (HPP) is advancing rapidly. Protein biomarkers play critical roles in clinical applications and the biomarker discovery strategies and methods have become one of research hotspots. Feature selection and machine learning methods have good effects on solving the "dimensionality" and "sparsity" problems of proteomics data, which have been widely used in the discovery of protein biomarkers. Here, we systematically review the strategy of protein biomarker discovery and the frequently-used machine learning methods. Also, the review illustrates the prospects and limitations of deep learning in this field. It is aimed at providing a valuable reference for corresponding researchers.
Algorithms ; Biomarkers ; Humans ; Machine Learning ; Mass Spectrometry ; Proteomics

Anniversaries and Special Events ; Congresses as Topic ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Learning ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Physicians

Objective: To investigate the accuracy of MRI measurement of early cervical carcinoma invasion depth of stroma. Methods: Preoperative MRI data, including T2WI, DCE-MRI and DWI of 66 early cervical cancer patients were retrospectively analyzed. The maximum depth of cervical interstitial invasion was measured on MRI. The tumors were divided into infiltrating type (including deep infiltrating and two-way infiltrating)and intraluminal growth type. The consistency of MRI measurements and pathological results were analyzed, and the difference values of the maximum depth of cervical interstitial invasion measured by 3 kinds of MRI and pathological results were compared. Results: Among 66 patients, deep infiltrating was observed in 31 cases, two-way infiltrating in 17 and intraluminal growth type carcinoma in 18 cases. The maximum depth of cervical stromal infiltration measured on T2WI, DCE-MRI and DWI were all moderately consistent with pathological results (ICC=0.66, 0.57 and 0.60, all P<0.05). No statistical difference of the difference of MRI and pathological results was found (F=5.95, all P>0.05). MRI measurement of invasive tumors, especially for those with deep infiltrating had superior consistent with pathological results than that of intraluminal growth tumors. Conclusion: MRI has good accuracy in measuring the depth of interstitial invasion of early cervical cancer, for tumors with deep infiltrating is better than for intraluminal growth type tumors.

Objective: To establish the quantitative analysis of multi-components by single marker (QAMS) method to determine the content of chlorogenic acid, aesculetin, isochlorogenic acid B, and isochlorogenic acid A in Cichorii Herba (chicory). Methods: Selecting aesculetin as the internal reference substance, the relative correction factors (RCF) of chlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acid B and isochlorogenic acid A were established respectively, and then the contents of the three constituents were calculated by RCF, to achieve the quality of chicory through QAMS. At the same time, the external standard method was used to determine the content of four constituents in chicory and compare the difference between calculated values and measured values, so as to verify the construction method for accuracy, applicability, and repeatability. Results: No significant difference was observed in chlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acid B, and isochlorogenic acid A from eight batches of chicory in the quantitative results by these two methods. The validated QAMS method had good precision, reproducibility, and reliability. Conclusion: The established QAMS method is suitable and feasible for the quality control of chicory.

Objective: To study the liposoluble constituents from the rhizome of Dioscoreae hypoglaucae. Methods: The chemical constituents were isolated and purified by chromatographys and the structures were analyzed and identified by physicochemical properties and spectroscopic data. Results: Thirteen compounds including three diarylheptonoids and other types were isolated from the rhizome of D. hypoglaucae, and their structures were elucidated as tsaokoarylone (1), 1,7-bis (4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,6-heptabien-3-one (2), 1,7-bis (4-hydroxyp henyl)-1,4,6-heptatrien-3-one (3), emodin (4), 7-hydroxy-2,6-dimethoxy-1,4- phenanthrenequinone (5), diosgenin (6), ruscogenin (7), kaempferol (8), 3S-6,8-dyhydroxy-3-phenyl-3,4-dihydroisocoumarins (9), 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (10), β-sitosterol (11), stigmasterol (12), and hexacosanoic acid (13). Conclusion: Compounds 4, 5, 7, 8, 12 and 13 are isolated from the rhizome of D. hypoglaucae for the first time. Compounds 1 and 10 are isolated from the species of Dioscoreaceae for the first time.

Objective: To study the relationships between HPLC fingerprint of Cichorium intybus extract and the uric acid lowering efficacy and to reveal the material basis of C. intybus. Methods: Quail were used in the experiment and high purine diet was used to induce hyperuricemia; In addition, the quail were administered with C. intybus water extract. The partial least squares (PLS) method was used to study the spectrum-effect relationships and to find out the material basis of uric acid lowering efficacy. Results: The aerial part of C. intybus has good uric acid lowering effect, and the contribution of various components in C. intybus with uric acid lowering effect was determined according to the variable importance in projection value. Among them, chlorogenic acid, chicory acid, and peaks of 3,6,7, and 8 have lager contribution degree than others. Conclusion: The PLS analysis on the spectrum-effect relationships indicates that uric acid lowering effect of C. intybus is related to the various components in C. intybus.