The bioreactor production of recombinant Lateolabrax japonicus growth hormone (rljGH) expressed intracellularly by Pichia pastoris was investigated. A strategy of feeding methanol at the exponential rate was established and the effect of specific growth rate on the rljGH production was examined. The results indicated that the average specific production rate increased and the rljGH production duration decreased as the specific growth rate increased. The maximum specific rljGH production (0.58 mg/g WCW) was achieved at a specific growth rate of 0.029/h. The effect of supplementing ammonium sulfate, peptone and yeast ex- tract on the rljGH production was further investigated. The results indicated that the effects of ammonium sulfate and peptone were not significant. Supplementing yeast extract of 2.5 g/L was advantageous for the rljGH production. The duration of the rljGH production was increased to 23 h from 17 h and the fermenta- tion stability of run-to-run could be improved.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Fluorescence ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; isolation & purification ; Paraffin Embedding ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; diagnosis ; microbiology ; Young Adult

The main treatment strategies for chronic pancreatitis in young patients include therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP) intervention and surgical intervention. Therapeutic ERCP intervention is performed much more extensively for its minimally invasive nature, but a part of patients are referred to surgery at last. Historical and follow-up data of 21 young patients with chronic pancreatitis undergoing duodenum-preserving total pancreatic head resection were analyzed to evaluate the outcomes of therapeutic ERCP intervention and surgical intervention in this study. The surgical complications of repeated therapeutic ERCP intervention and surgical intervention were 38% and 19% respectively. During the first therapeutic ERCP intervention to surgical intervention, 2 patients developed diabetes, 5 patients developed steatorrhea, and 5 patients developed pancreatic type B pain. During the follow-up of surgical intervention, 1 new case of diabetes occurred, 1 case of steatorrhea recovered, and 4 cases of pancreatic type B pain were completely relieved. In a part of young patients with chronic pancreatitis, surgical intervention was more effective than therapeutic ERCP intervention on delaying the progression of the disease and relieving the symptoms.

Objective To assess the clinical application of contrast-enhanced MR angiography using three-dimensional(3D)time-resolved imaging of contrast kinetics(CE-MRA 3D-TRICKS).Methods TRICKS is a high temporal resolution(2—6s)MR angiographic technique using a short TR(2.8— 4.0 ms)and TE(0.9—1.3 ms),partial echo sampling and the central part of the k-space being updated more frequently than the peripheral part of the k-space.Pre-contrast mask 3D images are first acquired and 15--20 sequential 3D images following bolus injection of Gd-DTPA are then acquired.Results Thirty patients underwent contrast-enhanced MR angiography using TRICKS.Twelve vertebral arteries were well displayed on TRICKS.Seven of them showed normal,bilateral vertebral artery stenosis was shown in 1 case, and unilateral vertebral artery stenosis was shown in 4 wth aecompaning ipsilateral carotid artery bifurcation stenosis in one case.Bilateral renal artery showed normal in 4 cases,and the artery in transplanted kidney showed normal in one case and stenosis in another case.The cerebral artery showed normal in 2 cases, sagittal sinus thrombosis was detected in one case and intracranial arteriovenous malformation in one case. Pulmonary artery displayed normal in 3 cases,pulmonary artery thrombosis was seen in one case and pulmonary sequestration's abnormal feeding artery and draining vein was revealed in one case.The feeding artery in left lower limb fibrolipoma was showed in one case.The radial-ulnar artery artificial fistula stenosis was seen in one case,and left antebrachium hemangioma was showed in one case.Conclusion TRICKS can clearly delineate the whole body vascular system and can reveal any vascular abnormality.It is convenient and with high successful rate,which make it the first method of choice in displaying vascular abnormality.

Sulfur fumigation (SF) is a universal phenomenon in primary processing of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in modern times. In the process, fumigation, sulfur or both of them act on the TCMs. Some active components of TCMs change quantitatively or qualitatively during the processing. At the same time, the sulfur dioxide and heavy metal would remain and cause a serious influence on quality and future development of TCM. This article reviews the chemical compositions change after SF to study the change law and their influence on quality. This article provide references for SF in TCMs' processing for a better and safer quality.
Drug Contamination ; Fumigation ; methods ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Quality Control ; Sulfur ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

Infestation, moldy and other phenomenon in the processing and storage of Chinese herbal medicines is a problem that faced in the production of Chinese traditional medicine. The low productivity of traditional processing methods can not guarantee the quality of Chinese herbal medicines. Sulfur fumigation is the first choice of grassroots to process the Chinese herbal medicine with its low cost and easy operation. Sulfur fumigation can solve some problems in the processing and storage of Chinese herbal medicines, but modern pharmacological studies show that long-term use of Chinese traditional medicine which is fumigated by sulfur can cause some serious harm to human liver, kidney and other organs. This paper conducts a review about the application history of sulfur fumigation, its influence to the quality of Chinese herbal medicines as well as domestic and foreign limits to sulfur quantity, and a brief introduction of the status of modern processing technologies in the processing of food and some Chinese herbal medicines, the problems ex- isting in the Chinese herbal medicines processing, which can provide a reference basis for the further research, development and application of investigating alternative technologies of sulfur fumigation.
Fumigation ; adverse effects ; methods ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Quality Control ; Social Control, Formal ; Sulfur ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

OBJECTIVETo supply basis for the establishment of quality standard of Cryptolepis buchanaii.

METHODCharacters of crude drugs, microscopic characteristic as well as UV spectrum of the herb were studied.

RESULTLaticifers were found in the cortex and pith of the stem; much papillary non-glandular hair was found covering the stomata in the sub-cuticle of the leaf.

CONCLUSIONThe results can be employed as the basis for identifying the herb.

Cryptolepis ; anatomy & histology ; cytology ; Drug Contamination ; Pharmacognosy ; Plant Leaves ; anatomy & histology ; cytology ; Plant Stems ; anatomy & histology ; cytology ; Plants, Medicinal ; anatomy & histology ; cytology ; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet

Objective To describe the epidemiological and serological features on a family associated outbreak caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) infection occurred in Beijing in August 2007.Methods Mutual exposure of the family members was investigated and retrospective medical record was reviewed for the hospitalized patients.Serum antibodies to MP were measured and chest X-rays were taken for all the family members.Results This family consisted of 5 members,with fixed members as the boy (13 years old ),his father (43 years old) and mother (44 years old),grandmother (64 years old) and uncle (32 years old ) who was involved in taking care of the sick boy and his father.During 23 days of the event,four of all the five family members were ill.Three (boy,father and uncle) had radiographic pneumonia,whose paired sera all showed a ≥ fourfold increase in antibody titer,and two of them were confnrmed by chest X-ray on day 2 after onset of fever.The grandmother suffered from bronchitis,with positive(PA) serum antibody to MR Serum MP-IgG from the father and uncle was positive,3 days and 2 days after the onset of fever.The chances of contact between grandmother with the boy and uncle with the father were both only in the hospital wards.Only the mother remained asymptomatic,with her serum MP-IgM (-)and MP-IgG ( + )for which the blood sample was collected 37 days after close contact with the boy.The longest time of exposure to the patients was between mother and the boy but only the mother did not increase her total workload or feeling for fatigue.Conclusion Results of MP-IgG from post-infection did not completely defend against the repeated MP infection.Combined risk factors as index patients with severe cough,prolonged close contact,poorly ventilation of the environment,and family members with excessive fatigue might work as the causes of this family MP outbreak.

This study was purposed to explore the expression of p57kip2 in the bone marrow of patients with de novo myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and its role in MDS pathogenesis, as well as the relationship between the expression of p57kip2 and SDF-1/CXCR4 signal. The expression of p57kip2 and CXCR4 in 67 de novo MDS patients was measured by real-time quantitative PCR. The percentage of CD34(+) cells in the bone marrow from MDS patients was measured by flow cytometry. 18 healthy volunteers were recruited for control. The effect of SDF-1 on p57kip2 expression in bone marrow mononuclear cell (BMMNC) from MDS or normal controls was investigated in vitro, and difference between them was compared. The results showed that low-risk MDS and high-risk MDS displayed a significant reduction of p57kip2 mRNA expression in BMMNC compared with that in control group (P < 0.001) and there was a negative correlation between p57kip2 expression and percentage of CD34(+) (r = -0.458, P < 0.001); the patients with abnormal karyotype showed lower expression of p57kip2 gene, compared to patients with normal karyotype (P = 0.045). Although the expression of CXCR4 had no difference between MDS patients and normal controls, a positive correlation between p57kip2 and CXCR4 in MDS patients was still found (r = 0.609, P < 0.001). Moreover, SDF-1 increased p57kip2 expression in normal BMMNC in dose-dependent manner, but BMMNC from MDS patients showed no response to SDF-1. SDF-1-induced p57 expression was blocked by AMD3100. It is concluded that the low expression of p57 gene in MDS may play a role in the pathogenesis of MDS. Furthermore, SDF-1-induced p57kip2 expression in BMMNC, and the decreasing response of BMMNC to SDF-1 may contribute to the low expression of p57kip2 in MDS patients.
Case-Control Studies ; Chemokine CXCL12 ; metabolism ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p57 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; genetics ; metabolism ; Receptors, CXCR4 ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the correlation between the expressions of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and insulin in pancreatic cancer.

METHODSHIF-1α and insulin expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in the center and the edge of pancreatic adenocarcinoma specimens of 65 cases. Western blot was used to detect HIF-1α expression and insulin level in the center and the edge of pancreatic adenocarcinoma specimens of 28 cases. The relationship between HIF-1α expression and insulin level in the pancreatic cancer was analyzed.

RESULTSThe results of immunohistochemistry and Western blot showed that HIF-1α protein expression was high in both the center and the edge of pancreatic cancers (P > 0.05), and insulin level was significantly higher at the edge of specimen than that in the center (P < 0.05). HIF-1α protein and insulin levels were positively correlated at the edge of cancer tissue (r = 0.374, P < 0.05), but no significant correlation between them in the center of cancerous tissue (r = -0.145, P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONInsulin may promote the local invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer by up-regulating HIF-1α.

Adenocarcinoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Adult ; Aged ; Blotting, Western ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Insulin ; metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology