The recently successful cloning of extracellular calcium sensing receptor (CaR) has revealed its vital role in adjusting and maintaining the homeostasis calcium or even other mineral ion in the body. CaR belongs to the big family of G-protein coupled receptors, and has 1079 amino acids in its structure. CaR is broadly distributed in a variety of tissues, including parathyroid, thyroid C cells, kidney, intestine and bone. So far, three disorders of extracellular calcium homeostasis have been linked with abnormalities of CaR function. Agonists and antagonists of CaR may be proved useful in the treatment of the diseases due to calcium metabolic disorders.

Long non-coding RNAs are important regulators of gene expression.ANRIL which was coded on the Chr9p21.3 loci participates in the pathogenesis of tumor, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus and oth-er diseases.Multiple ANRIL isoforms are tissue-specific.ANRIL mainly functions through Polycomb proteins, while there are also other downstream targets.The mechanism of each isoform and the downstream pathways are hotspots incurrent researches.

Objective To investigate the effect of ultrashortwave diathermy on pulmonary hypertension in patients with chronic cor pulmonale(CCP), and its mechanism. Methods Eighty-seven cases of acute phase CCP were divided into 2 groups: an ultrashortwave treatment group, in which 45 patients were treated with both ultrashortwave diathermy and conventional treatment; and a control group, in which 42 patients received regular treatment. The plasma levels of VEGF, ET-1 and the PaO_2, mPAP and FEV1.0 in the two groups were measured before and after treatment. Results In contrast to the control group, the FEV1.0 and PaO_2 of the experimental group were remar-kably increased, while their VEGF, ET-1 and mPAP were significantly decreased after treatment. VEGF and ET-1 were negatively related to PaO_2, and positively related to mPAP. Conclusions Ultrashortwave therapy is effective in treating pulmonary hypertension in patients with CCP. The mechanism for this may involve the synthesis and release of VEGF and ET-1.

To compare the diagnostic value of high-resolution uhrasonography (HR-US) with nerve conduction study (NCS) in patients with clinically defined carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS),a prospective study was conducted on 37 consecutive patients investigated for sensory hand symptoms. With the clinical diagnosis of CTS as gold standard,NCS showed higher diagnostic sensitivity (80％)than ultrasound (61％) (P =0.047 ).The positive predictive value of HR-US for CTS was 100％.The results indicated that HR-US could be used as a screening method for majority of clinically suspected CTS patients and only for those with negative HR-US results.

BACKGROUND: Within the bone marrow stroma there exists a subset of non-hematopoietic stem cells referred to as marrow stromal cells or mesenchymal stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a group of cells with highly capability of self-renew and potential of multilineage differentiation, these properties make them present a promising prospect for clinical practice. Of particular concern is hepatogenic potential that can be used for liver-directed stem cell therapy and transplantation. However, the culture system has not been developed.OBJECTIVE: To explore whether human MSCs are able to differentiate into functional hepatocyte-like cells with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in vitro.DESIGN : Open study.SETTING: Department of Infectious Disease and Institute of Urology Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University.MATERIALS: The study was performed in the Institute of Urolgoy Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from July 2004 to March 2005. Bone marrow was donated by healthy adult with informed consent. DMEM/F12 medium (Gibco); insulin, transferrin, human epidermal growth factor (EGF); human HGF; monoclonal antibodies against human AFP; FITC-conjugated rabbit anti-mouse IgG (Sigma); human bFGF (Invitrogen); monoclonal antibodies against human CK18 and CK19 (Chemicon); fetal bovine serum (Si jiqin, Hangzhou).METHODS: Bone marrow (10 mL) in this study was aspirated from the iliac crest of healthy donors. MSCs were isolated by density gradient centrifugation in combination with plastic adherence. For hepatic differentiation, the 4th- to 8th-passage human MSCs seeded on 24-well tissue culture plates coated with 0.1% gelatin, at 1×104 MSCs/mL, were serum deprived for 2 days, in DMEM/F12 supplemented with 10 μg/L EGF, 10 μg/L bFGF, 5 mg/L insulin and 5 mg/L transferrin. Differentiation was induced by treating MSCs with differentiation medium, consisting of DMEWF12 supplemented with 10 μg/L bFGF, 20 μg/L HGF, 5 mg/L insulin, 5 mg/L transferrin. Medium changes were performed every three days. MSCs without HGF and bFGF in medium served as the control. In the differentiating period, the concentration of AFP in the suernatant was determined dynamically by radioimmunoassay (RIA). The hepatic surface phenotype including AFP, CK18 and CK19 were identified by immunofluorescent staining at day 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28. Glycogen storage was detected by Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS) staining.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① the morphological changes of induced MSCs; ② the concentration of AFP in the supernatant; ③ the hepatic surface phenotype; ④ glycogen storage.RESULTS: ① After 14 days ofinduction, the fibroblast-like morphology of human MSCs was lost and cells became broadened and fiattened. After prolonged culture, polygonal cells were seen and further matured hepatocyte-like colonies were seen by day 28. ② The concentration of AFP in the supernatant was first detected on day 14, at a concentration of 0.1 μg/mL, and increased to 0.4 μg/mL by day 17, then decreased to 0.3 μg/mL by day 21. ③ Immunofiuorescent staining showed the expression of AFP and CK18 until day 14. The expression of CK19 was detected by day 28. ④ Glycogen storage could be detected by day 21.CONCLUSION: Human bone marrow MSCs are able to differentiate into functional hepatocyte-like cells and may sere as a new source of cells for cell therapy of hepatic diseases.

Objective To develop a HPLC method for determining the content of riparsaponin in Homonoia riparia Lour.Methods The determination was performed on the HYPERSILBDS-C18(200 mm?4.6 mm,5 ?m) with mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-water(75∶25) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min.The detection wavelength was set at 203 nm,the column temperature was 30 ℃,and the column pressure was 10.0 MPa.Results There was a good linear relationship for riparsaponin over the ranges of 5 to 500 ?g/ml(r=0.999 8).The average recovery was 99.44%,and RSD was 0.52%(n=15).Conclusion The method has good reproducibility and high precision.It can be applied in quality control of Homonoia riparia Lour.

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor is recently added to the list of effective lipid-lowering drugs in addition to statins, which can reduce low density lipoprotein cholesterol, treat increased low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) patients. In the past 30 years, the prevalence of dyslipidemia increased significantly. LDL-C characterized dyslipidemia is an important risk factor of ASCVD and a part of metabolic syndrome, which exists before or after or at the same time of the appearance of obesity, diabetes, and glucose intolerance, coronary heart disease and other diseases. Decreasing LDL-C level can significantly reduce the incidence and mortality risk of ASCVD. In this paper, the research on the regulation of dyslipidemia by PCSK9 inhibitors is discussed.

Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a phospholipid that is abundant in eukaryotic plasma membranes,has crucial biological functions.Under cell apoptosis, cells can not generate enough ATP for energy and the concentration of cytoplasmic Ca 2 +increases, resulting in PS eversion.Apoptosis and the clearance of apoptotic cells are essential processes in animal development and homeostasis.For apoptotic cells to be cleared, they must display aneat me signal, most likely PS exposure, which prompts phagocytes to engulf the cells.PS is exposed by the action of scramblase on the cell's surface in biological processes such as apoptosis and platelet activation.Once exposed to the cell surface, PS acts as an eat me signal on dead cells, and creates a scaffold for blood-clotting factors on activated platelets.The molecular identities of the flippase and scramblase that work at plasma membranes have long eluded researchers.Indeed, their identity as well as the mechanism of the PS exposure to the cell surface has only recently been revealed.We describe how PS is exposed in activated platelets and in apoptotic cells, and discuss the clearance of apoptotic cells.

6 score group using Wagner's QRS scoring system. CONCLUSIONS: Serum levels of certain inflammatory markers have some diagnostic value for ACS. The high levels of serum SAA, IL-6 and sCRP are not mainly caused by myocardial death, but by the inflammation in the multifocal unstable plague. [

In recent years, with the rapid development of antitumor targeted drug therapy, the preparation of antitumor liposomes and its targeting research have attracted attention of scholars. Anti-tumor targeted drug treatment requires the drug to reach the tumor site has a relatively high concentration and longer retention time, the tumor cells have a strong cytotoxic activity, while normal cells no significant side effects.The drug has an in vivo distribution and specificity for the target fine action.The preparation methods of liposomes include film dispersion method,reverse evaporation method,ethanol injection method,supercritical reverse phase evaporation method and freeze-drying method. Antitumor targeting liposomes can be divided into active targeting liposomes and passive targeting liposomes. Targeted liposomes can specifically target tumor cells by recognizing specific targets in the tumor tissue,thus enriching tumor cells and killing tumor cells. In this paper,the preparation of anti-tumor liposomes and the progress of its targeting,for future study and application of liposomes provide a reference.