Morinda citrifolia L.(noni) has been used as a folk remedy for thousands of years and reported to have a broad range of therapeutic effects.Recent studies of noni have indentified some of its useful pharmacologic compounds and indicated its anti-cancer and anti-oxidation mechanisms.The recent advances in noni researches are reviewed.

Objectives:To compare the susceptibility of serum lipoproteins to oxidation and the effects of high-density lipoprotein on oxidative stress in patients with lipid turbulence.　Methods:VLDL, LDL and HDL were isolated using sequential ultracentrifugation from serum of patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) (n=45), myocardial infarction survivor (MIS) (n=33) , cerebral infarction(CI)(n=33) ,type 2 diabetes mellitus(DM)(n=53) and normal individuals (n=44). The degree of lipid peroxidation was estimated using the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) value and the susceptibilities of lipoproteins to oxidation were assessed by measuring the increased absorbance value at 234 nm due to the conjugated dinene formation. Lipid levels and lipoprotein fractions were measured using standard methods.　Results: VLDL obtained from the patient groups showed significant increase in TBARS values, especially from the patients with MIS (compared with control group, P<0.001). In addition, LDL from MIS and DM groups and HDL from CI and DM groups also showed markedly increase in TBARS content. Significant decrease in lag time was observed in both VLDL and LDL fractions from the four patient groups. However, no change was found in the lag time in HDL fraction from the patient group compared with control group. In addition, HDL from the four patients exhibited significantly decreased inhibitory effects on in vitro oxidation of LDL, with the most significant decrease in HDL from CRF and MIS groups.　 Conclusions:The oxidative modification of lipoproteins in vivo in patients with serum lipid turbulence might be involved in the development of atherosclerosis in these patients.

Objective To examine the expression pattern of miR-135a-5p and miR-135b-5p in seminal plasma as well as the clinical value of their variation in the male patients with infertility.Methods The clinical samples of 5 kinds,including serum,morning urine,pleural effusion,cerebrospinal fluid and seminal plasma,were collected from 30 patients respectively in the Department of Clini-cal Laboratory,Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine from January 2019 to December 2021.In addition,the frozen seminal plasma samples from the patients with non-obstructive azoospermia,asthenozoospermia of 54 cases for each illness statuses,and 54 healthy controls with fertile ability from 2010 to 2019 in Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine and Jinling Hospital were also selected.Fluorescent quantitative RT-qPCR analyses were applied to measure the expression levels of miR-135a-5p and miR-135b-5p in seminal plasma.Receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC)was used to construct the area under the curve(AUCROC)to evalu-ate the ability for discriminating infertility males from healthy controls.Correlation analyses were performed to explore the correlations between the levels of miR-135a-5p and miR-135b-5p in seminal plasma and other semen parameters.Results The concentrations of miR-135a-5p and miR-135b-5p in the samples from five different kinds of body fluid showed significantly difference(H=64.88,P＜0.01 and H=64.7,P＜0.01,respectively).The highest levels were found in serum and seminal plasma,and the lowest levels were in u-rine.The concentrations of miR-135a-5p and miR-135b-5p in seminal plasma were also showed marked difference among the azoosper-mia group,asthenozoospermia group and healthy fertile control group(H=32.14,P＜0.01 and H=21.37,P＜0.01,respectively).Compared to the fertile control group,the levels of miR-135a-5p and miR-135b-5p in seminal plasma were significantly downregulated in azoospermia patients(U=687,P＜0.01 and U=843,P＜0.01,respectively).The contents of the two miRNAs showed no statistical-ly difference between asthenozoospermia patients and healthy fertile controls,but showed markedly difference between the two patients groups(U=635,P＜0.01 and U=779,P＜0.01,respectively).Receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC)analyses results re-vealed that levels of miR-135a-5p and miR-135b-5p in seminal plasma could successfully discriminate the azoospermia patients from fertile controls and asthenozoospermia patients with the AUCROC of 0.764(95％CI:0.675 to 0.854),0.711(95％CI:0.612 to 0.810)and 0.782(95％CI:0.695 to 0.869),and 0.733(95％CI:0.637 to 0.829),respectively.Correlation analyses demonstrated that the concentrations of miR-135a-5p and miR-135b-5p in seminal plasma were significantly associated with sperm concentration,total sperm motility,and percentages of progressive sperm and non-progressive sperm(all with the P-value＜0.01).Conclusion miR-135a-5p and miR-135b-5p are the highly expressed miRNA in seminal plasma,and significantly decreased in azoospermia patients.Both of them may play pivot roles in male infertility.

Objective To analyze the effects of different therapies on patient survival,to explore the related prognostic factors in elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer,and to provide recommendations for the treatment of such patients.Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted on 146 elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer hospitalized from January 2009 to October 2013 in Yixing People's Hospital of Jiangsu Province.Detailed clinical data were recorded,and patients were followed up during the total survival time.Univariate analysis with the Log rank test and multivariate analysis with the COX proportional hazard model were utilized to examine the related prognostic factors in elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer.Results The 1-,2,3-year survival rates of t46 elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer were 33.6 ％,11.0 ％,and 2.1 ％,respectively,and the median survival time was 10.3 months.The Log-rank test showed that Karnofsky (KPS) score,differentiation degree,number of metastatic sites,malignant serous effusion,chemotherapy,and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) were associated with the prognosis of elderly patients with advanced GC (all P＜0.05).Multivariate analysis by the COX proportional hazard model showed that KPS score (HR=1.575,95％ CI:1.094 2.267,P=0.015),differentiation degree (HR=0.499,95％CI:0.340-0.732,P＜0.001),malignant serous effusion (HR=0.516,95％ CI:0.356-0.748,P＜ 0.001),chemotherapy (HR=1.669,95％ CI:1.185 2.351,P=0.003),and TCM (HR=1.793,95％ CI:1.237-2.600,P=0.002) were independent factors related to the prognosis of elderly patients with advanced GC.Conclusions The prognosis of elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer is poor,especially for patients with a low KPS score,a poor differentiation degree,or malignant serous effusion.Chemotherapy and TCM can improve the prognosis.