Objective To explore the effect of pedicle fixation for treatment of thoracolumbar burst fractures in patients with osteoporosis,and to provide more evidence for the treatment.Methods Retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 121 patients with osteoporotic vertebral burst fracture from June 2012 to October 2015.And these patients were divided into two groups according to different operation methods, namely the control group (n=56) who were given short segment fixation and the observation group (n=65) who were given single segment fixation.The visual analogue scale(VAS),Oswestry disability index(ODI),vertebral height,kyphotic angle and bone mineral density of the two groups were analyzed before surgery and 3 days,1 month,3 months and 12 months after surgery.Results The VAS score,ODI score,vertebral height,and Cobb angle of the injured vertebra were significantly improved in both of the two groups,and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).The VAS score of the observation group was better than that of the control group 3 days after surgery with statistically significant difference (P<0.05).But there was no significant difference 3 months,6 months and 12 months after surgery(P>0.05).The ODI score of the observation group was better than that of the control group 3 days and 3 months after surgery with statistically significant difference (P<0.05),and there was no significant difference between the two groups till the end of follow-up.Pedicle fixation at the injured vertebra significantly improved the vertebral height and Cobb angle with statistically significant difference (P<0.05).And the anti-osteoporosis treatment significantly increased the bone mineral density (P<0.05).Conclusion Pedicle fixation at the injured vertebra is useful in pain relief as well as function and anatomical structure restoring.And anti-osteoporosis treatment is necessary for the bone mineral density increase.

Objective To study on the effectiveness of endoscopic ultrasonography(EUS)in detec- ting insulinoma preoperatively.Methods Fifteen patients with clinical and biochemical signs of insulinoma were examined by EUS using a radial-scanning ultrasound endoscope and abdominal ultrasonography,CT, DSA prior to surgery.The outcome was evaluated on the basis of surgery and examination of the resected specimens.Results Fifteen patients with 16 lesions of insulinoma were identified by surgery and pathology. The aceuraey of diagnosis with EUS was 13/15(86.7%),and that with B-US,CT,DSA was 3/15(20%), 5/15(33.3%),9/14(64.3%)respectively.In the 14 lesions identified by EUS,10 lesions were depicted to be hypoechogenic,1 lesion was isoechogenic and 3 lesions were hyperechogenie.All 14 lesions were well demarcated and surrounded by normal pancreatic tissue.The minimum size of the lesion visualized by EUS was 0.5cm.Ten lesions were correctly detected by EUS with size of 0.5～2.0cm.EUS missed diagnosis in 2 lesions not for their small size.EUS falsely indicated a 10mm lesion from two lesions inside the head of pancreas.One lesion outside the pancreatic tail and one lesion in the pancreatic head were missed by EUS in another case.Conclusion EUS is superior in assessing the location of pancreatic insulinoma than other ima- ging methods such as B-US,CT,DSA.

A series of cycloberberine derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their anti-cancer activities in vitro. Among these analogs, compounds 6c, 6e and 6g showed strong inhibition on human HepG2 cells. They afforded a potent effect against DOX-resistant MCF-7 breast cells as well. The primary mechanism showed that cell cycle was blocked at G2/M phase of HepG2 cells treated with 6g using flow cytometry assay. It significantly inhibited the activity of DNA Top I at the concentration of 0.1 mg mL-1. Our results provided a basis for the development of this kind of compounds as novel anti-cancer agents.
Antineoplastic Agents ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Berberine ; analogs & derivatives ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; DNA Topoisomerases, Type I ; metabolism ; Doxorubicin ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; MCF-7 Cells ; Molecular Structure ; Structure-Activity Relationship

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effectiveness of educational interventions in children with chronic illness and their parents.

METHODSFifty children with chronic illness and 75 parents participated in the study. Children who were hospitalized between August 2007 and January 2008 and their parents received educational sessions and those who were hospitalized between February and July 2007 and who did not receive the sessions served as the control group. The content of the educational sessions included knowledge of chronic disease, drugs and self-care, and coping skills. The knowledge level, stressors, coping strategies, and psychological conditions of children with chronic illness and their parents were evaluated before discharge and three months after discharge.

RESULTSAfter educational interventions, the knowledge levels of children and their parents increased and the stressors decreased significantly in the intervention group compared with those in the control group. The children's parents in the intervention group used more active coping strategies (understanding the medical situations through communication with medical staff) than those in the control group. The differences in the medication compliance of children between the two groups were not found.

CONCLUSIONSThe educational interventions may result in an improved knowledge level and decrease stressors in children and their parents, and improve stress coping strategies in parents. There is no evidence that the educational intervention can improve the psychosocial conditions of children and their parents.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Chronic Disease ; psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; psychology ; Male ; Parents ; psychology ; Patient Education as Topic

A simple and cost-effective indirect competitive enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ic-ELISA) was developed to rapidly screen the content of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in lotus seeds, and the results were confirmed by ultra-fast liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry( UFLC-MS/MS). Matrix-matched calibration expressed a good linearity ranging from 0. 171 to 7. 25 µg · L(-1) for AFB, with R2 > 0.978. The medium inhibitory concentration( IC50 ) for AFB1 was 1.29 µg · L(-1), the recovery for AFB1 was 74.73% to 126.9% with RSD < 5%, and the limit of detection (IC10) was 0.128 µg · L(-1). The developed ic-ELSIA method was applied to rapid analysis of AFB, in 20 lotus seeds samples and the results indicated that the contents of AFB, in samples 1-15 were in the range of 1. 19- 115. 3 µg · kg(-1) and in 40% of the samples exceeded the legal limit(5 µg · kg(-1)), while the contamination rate of AFB, in samples 16-20 was 40%. Pearson correlation coefficient(r) reached 0.997 for AFB1 content in the samples detected by ic-ELSIA and UFLC-MS/MS methods. The results proved that the developed ic-ELISA method is simple, sensitive and reliable, and can be used for rapid and high-throughput screening of AFB1 in lotus seeds
Aflatoxin B1 ; analysis ; Drug Contamination ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; methods ; Loteae ; chemistry ; Seeds ; chemistry

OBJECTIVEThe impact of dendritic cells (DCs) and regulatory T cells (Tr) on the pathogenesis of asthma have been investigated over the past decades. As the professional antigen presenting cells, DCs not only prime immune response directing Th0 cells toward different T subtypes but also induce immune tolerance. As an immunoregulator, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has potential to be applied in allergic diseases such as asthma for prevention. Previous study showed that neonatal BCG vaccination could induce Th1/Tr1 development in mice in vivo. To further identify the mechanism of neonatal BCG vaccination on T cell subsets differentiation, the present study was designed to investigate the impact of BCG vaccination on splenic DCs development in neonatal mice.

METHODSNeonatal specific pathogen free (SPF) BALB/c mice (2-3 days) were divided into intraperitoneal BCG-treated group, subcutaneous BCG-treated group and control group; simultaneously adult SPF BALB/c mice (6-8 weeks) were divided into intraperitoneal BCG-treated and control group. The BCG-treated mice were inoculated with 1 x 10(5) CFU BCG, the mice in control group were not inoculated with any vaccine. Four weeks post BCG vaccination, spleen cells were isolated. With flow cytometry, subtype and maturity of splenic DCs were analysed. Moreover, cells were further separated into mononuclear cell by Ficoll solution. The mononuclear cells were stimulated by 1 microg/ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 18 or 10(5) CFU /ml BCG for 48 hours at 37 degrees C in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO2 and cytokines concentration was detected by ELISA.

RESULTS(1) CD11c(+) CD8alpha(+) and CD11c(+) CD8alpha(-) DCs were found in spleen cells of the BALB/c mice. In comparison with the control group, the percent of CD11c(+) CD8alpha(-) DCs in intraperitoneal BCG group significantly declined (P < 0.01) and that of CD11c(+) CD8alpha(+) DCs significantly increased (P < 0.01), there were no significant difference in DC subtypes between intraperitoneal and subcutaneous BCG-vaccinated mice. In contrast, the percent of CD11c(+) CD8alpha(-)DCs markedly increased (P < 0.01) and that of CD11c(+) CD8alpha(+)DCs noticeably reduced (P < 0.01) in adult BCG-vaccinated mice. The percent of CD11c(+)CD8alpha(-)DC was significantly higher and that of CD11c(+) CD8alpha(+)DC was significantly lower in adult-vaccinated BALB/c mice than that of neonatal-vaccinated ones. (2) The expression of costimulatory molecules CD40 on CD11c(+) CD8alpha(-) DCs and CD86 on CD11c(+) CD8alpha(+) DCs in neonatal BCG-treated BALB/c mice was higher than the controls. There were no significant difference in expression of costimulatory molecules on DC between neonatal BCG-vaccinated mice. Compared with the control group, expression of CD40 and MHC-II molecules on CD11c(+) CD8alpha(-) and CD11c(+) CD8alpha(+)DC was significantly higher and that of CD86 was significantly lower in adult BCG-vaccinated mice. The expression of costimulatory molecules on DC had no significant difference between neonatal and adult BCG vaccinated BALB/c mice. (3) As compared with the control mice, concentration of IL-12p70 induced by LPS and IL-10 induced by BCG in vitro from spleen cells culture supernatant was noticeably elevated (P < 0.05) in neonatal BCG-treated BALB/c mice, but that of IL-6 did not change by LPS or BCG stimulation.

CONCLUSION(1) By up-regulating splenic CD8alpha(+)DCs and inducing IL-12p70 and IL-10 production in BALB/c mice, neonatal BCG vaccination promoted Th1/Tr1 development. (2) The effect of BCG vaccination on DC was different between neonates and adult BALB/c mice.

Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; BCG Vaccine ; immunology ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Dendritic Cells ; cytology ; immunology ; metabolism ; Immunophenotyping ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Spleen ; cytology ; immunology ; metabolism

Adult ; Aged ; Endotoxemia ; Endotoxins ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation Mediators ; blood ; Liver Diseases ; blood ; therapy ; Liver, Artificial ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Plasma Exchange ; Serum ; chemistry ; Young Adult

BACKGROUNDThe molecular mechanisms underlying the endometriosis are still not completely understood. In order to test the hypothesis that the approaches in phosphoproteomics might contribute to the identification of key biomarkers to assess disease pathogenesis and drug targets, we carried out a phosphoproteomics analysis of human endometrium.

METHODSA large-scale differential phosphoproteome analysis, using peptide enrichment of titanium dioxide purify and sequential elution from immobilized metal affinity chromatography with linear trap quadrupole-tandem mass spectrometry, was performed in endometrium tissues from 8 women with or without endometriosis.

RESULTSThe phosphorylation profiling of endometrium from endometriosis patients had been obtained, and found that identified 516 proteins were modified at phosphorylation level during endometriosis. Gene ontology annotation analysis showed that these proteins were enriched in cellular processes of binding and catalytic activity. Further pathway analysis showed that ribosome pathway and focal adhesion pathway were the top two pathways, which might be deregulated during the development of endometriosis.

CONCLUSIONSThat large-scale phosphoproteome quantification has been successfully identified in endometrium tissues of women with or without endometriosis will provide new insights to understand the molecular mechanisms of the development of endometriosis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Endometriosis ; metabolism ; Endometrium ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Phosphoproteins ; analysis ; Phosphorylation ; Proteomics ; methods ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Young Adult

BACKGROUNDPrenatal hyperglycaemia may increase metabolic syndrome susceptibility of the offspring. An underlying component of the development of these morbidities is hepatic gluconeogenic molecular dysfunction. We hypothesized that maternal hyperglycaemia will influence her offsprings hepatic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) expression, a key regulator of glucose production in hepatocytes.

METHODWe established maternal hyperglycaemia by streptozotocin injection to induce the maternal hyperglycaemic Wistar rat model. Offspring from the severe hyperglycemia group (SDO) and control group (CO) were monitored until 180 days after birth. Blood pressure, lipid metabolism indicators and insulin resistance (IR) were measured. Hepatic PGC-1α expression was analyzed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. mRNA expression of two key enzymes in gluconeogenesis, glucose-6-phosphatase (G-6-Pase) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), were analyzed and compared.

RESULTSIn the SDO group, PGC-1α expression at protein and mRNA levels were increased, so were expression of G-6-Pase and PEPCK (P < 0.05). The above effects were seen prior to the onset of IR.

CONCLUSIONThe hepatic gluconeogenic molecular dysfunction may contribute to the metabolic morbidities experienced by this population.

Animals ; Female ; Hyperglycemia ; chemically induced ; physiopathology ; Insulin Resistance ; physiology ; Liver ; metabolism ; Male ; Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1-alpha ; Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors ; metabolism ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects ; RNA-Binding Proteins ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Streptozocin ; toxicity ; Transcription Factors

OBJECTIVEBio-active constituents were expected to abstain from Homalomena occuta.

METHODSExtracts from the plant with 95% alcohol were distributed by several solvents and isolated via column chromatography on silica and Saphadex 20-LH gel.

RESULTSThirteen compounds were isolated from this plant. Among them seven natural products were identified via spectral methods as beta-stigmastol(H1) beta-D-Glucopyranoside(3)- stigmast-5-en-3-yl(H2); oplodiol(1); oplopanone(2); homalomenol(3); bullatantriol(4); 1 beta, 4 beta, 7 alpha-trihydroxyeudesmane(5).

CONCLUSIONAll these compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Araceae ; chemistry ; Naphthols ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Sitosterols ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Stigmasterol ; chemistry ; isolation & purification