Nine triterpenes compounds were isolated from the male flowers of Eucommia ulmoides by recrystallization and chromatographic techniques over silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and RP-18 gel. Their chemical structures were identified on the basis of spectral analysis and as 3-oxo-12-en-ursane-28-O-α-L-arabinofuranosyl (1 --> 6) -β-D-glucopyranoside (1), 2α, 3β-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid(28 --> 1) -β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (2), ursolic acid (3), α-amyrin (4), uvaol (5), ursolic acid acetate (6), 3-O-acetate oleanoic acid (7), betulinic acid (8), and betulinol (9). Compound 1 was a new compound, and compounds 2, 4-7 were isolated from the Eucommiu genus for the first time. Cytotoxic activity was tested for all the compounds against K562 and HepG2 cells. The results showed that only compound 3, exhibited cytotoxic activity.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Eucommiaceae ; chemistry ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Triterpenes ; analysis ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo analyze the mortality trends and disease burden of malignant tumors in rural area of Feicheng city from 2000 to 2010, and to provide basic information for the prevention and treatment of malignant tumors in this area.

METHODSThe data of cancer mortality from 2000 to 2010 from Feicheng Cancer Registry database were checked. Mortality rate, standardized mortality rate, potential years of life Iost (PYLL), standardized potential years of life lost (SPYLL), average years of life lost (AYLL) and other indexes were calculated and analyzed. The trend of the standardized rates transformed by the natural logarithm over time was assessed by Prais-Winsten regression method in which the errors was assumed to follow a first-order autoregressive process. STATA 12.0 was used to analyze the data.

RESULTSIn average, the crude mortality rate was 199.67 per 100 000 (264.69 per 100 000 in males and 137.24 per 100 000 in females), and the standardized mortality rate was 157.00 per 100 000 (200.49 per 100 000 in males and 101.31 per 100 000 in females). There were no significant changes in the trends of all standardized rates. For males, the mortality rates of lung and colorectal cancers increased significantly, and for females, the rates of lung and breast cancers had increased trend while the rate of esophageal cancer showed a downward trend. There were no statistically significant changes in other main malignant tumors. During 2000 to 2010, the PYLL of malignant tumors in Feicheng was 183 685.0 person-years, and PYLL rate was 23.3 per 1000. The SPYLL was 153 091.0 person-years, SPYLL rate was 19.4 per 1000, and AYLL was 14.8 years.

CONCLUSIONSThere are no obvious changes in the trends of standardized mortality rates in rural area of Feicheng over the past 11 years. For males, the mortality of lung cancer and colorectal cancer is increasing, and for females, the rates of lung and breast cancers have an increasing trend while the rate of esophageal cancer shows a decreasing trend. The prevention and control of digestive malignant tumors, lung cancer and breast cancer are getting seriously important and should be the focal point in this issue.

Breast Neoplasms ; mortality ; China ; epidemiology ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; mortality ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; mortality ; Female ; Humans ; Life Expectancy ; trends ; Lung Neoplasms ; mortality ; Male ; Neoplasms ; mortality ; Rural Population

OBJECTIVETo investigate the injury effect of high frequency electrocoagulation (HFE) by ultrafine-needle on the cutaneous capillary hemangiomas by histopathologic study of cock comb.

METHODS32 male cocks were randomly divided into 4 groups with 8 animals in each group. 3 experimental groups received HFE with different power (6W, 8W, 10W) on the cock comb. Specimens were taken from cock combs for histologic study immediately after treatment and 7, 14, 21, 28 days later.

RESULTSAfter treatment, the cock combs turned pale and followed with scar formation. The shape of combs changed a lot after high power treatment. Immediately after treatment, the capillary number in the experimental groups decreased markedly under light microscope, compared with that in control group (P < 0.05). After that, the capillary number in experimental group increased. 7 days after treatment, the capillary number in experimental groups was still significantly lower than that in control groups (P < 0.01), but not markedly different between the three experiment groups (P > 0.05). Collagen formation also increased after treatment (P < 0.05), which was higher in experimental groups with high power (P < 0.05, correlation coefficient r > 0.5).

CONCLUSIONSHFE with ultrafine needle can effectively decrease the capillary number in cock comb. The 6W treatment is mini-invasive and will not destroy the comb shape with good cosmetic results. The technique may be used for the treatment of cutaneous capillary hemangioma.

Animals ; Capillaries ; pathology ; surgery ; Chickens ; Disease Models, Animal ; Electrocoagulation ; methods ; Hemangioma, Capillary ; pathology ; surgery ; Male ; Random Allocation ; Skin Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of percutaneous balloon kyphoplasty as a new therapy for patients with painful osteoporotic vertebral compressive fractures of the lumbar and thoracic spine.

METHODSA retrospective analysis was conducted in 38 consecutive patients (28 females, 10 males), whose ages ranged from 56 to 82 years (mean age 72 years). The symptom- and sign-positive spinal segment was identified by MRI. The time between onset of symptoms and surgical intervention ranged from 2 days to 1 year. 62 segments (36 thoracic, 26 lumbar) were treated in this cohort. The pain score estimated by Visual Analog Scale and activity degree were assessed immediately after operation and at 1-, 6-, and 12-month postoperative follow-up. Preoperative and postoperative anterior, midline vertebral heights in fractured vertebrae were measured on lateral radiographs to evaluate the effect of the procedure.

RESULTSThe method achieved a swift pain relief associated with an evidently increased weight-bearing ability. The pain score was reduced from 8.2 to 2.4 points. The anterior and midline vertebral heights in 62 fractured vertebral bodies increased up to 82.76%+/-26.84%, 88.82%+/-21.75% and the wedge decreased from 15 to 8 degrees. This effect persisted at least over a period of two years. The procedure did not induce narrowing of the spinal canal and no severe complications occurred.

CONCLUSIONSBalloon kyphoplasty can result in immediate clinical improvement of mobility and pain relief, increase vertebral body height, and quickly return patient's activity. The short-term results are approved excellent, and the long-term results need further judgment.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; diagnostic imaging ; injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteoporosis ; complications ; diagnostic imaging ; Pain Measurement ; Radiography ; Spinal Fractures ; diagnostic imaging ; etiology ; surgery ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; diagnostic imaging ; injuries ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome

Melamine (Tripolycyanamide) and its derivatives have recently become a public concern on food safety. To better understand melamine and its major derivative cyanuric acid.literature on their chemical properties, metabolism, biological effects, relevant toxicology studies, and the detection methods is reviewed. Studies indicate that the acute toxicity of melamine and cyanuric acid is low. In mammalian, these compounds are hardly metabolized in vivo and are rapidly eliminated in the urine. When used in large dosage,these compounds demonstrate marked renal toxicity,as well as toxic effect towards heart. The renal toxicity is exemplified by the calculi formation, acute renal failure, and subsequently induced carcinomas of the urinary bladder. Among the tested species, male cats and rats are more prone to be affected by the compounds. The HPLC/MS/MS is becoming the mainstay of the detection methods. Despite of the achieved knowledge on melamine and cyanuric acid, further research is warranted to unveil the mechanism of underlying susceptibility of kidney, to develop better analytic methods,and to explore possible biomarkers for better clinical diagnosis.
Animals ; Carcinogens ; toxicity ; Cats ; Female ; Kidney Diseases ; chemically induced ; Male ; Rats ; Species Specificity ; Triazines ; toxicity ; Ureteral Calculi ; chemically induced

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical results of modified Sutherland pelvic osteotomy for developmental dysplasia of hip (DDH).

METHODSSutherland pelvic osteotomy were performed in 10 patients (11 hips) with DDH. Among them, there were 3 male (3 hips) and 7 female (8 hips) patients, aged (32 ± 8) years. During operation, arthroscopes were performed additionally to remove the existing hyperplasia tissue in the fossae ovalis and trimming acetabulum and glenoid labrum, thus to insure the better match between the femoral head and the realigned acetabulum. The change of imaging indexes were acquired by comparing the preoperative X-ray with the postoperative X-ray. The change of hip function and life quality were acknowledged according to contrast and analysis Harris hip score and Short Form 12-items Health Survey (SF-12) before and after osteotomy.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up for a mean of (5.2 ± 2.3) years, the osteotomy were all union in 3 months. The acetabular head index was 71 ± 8 before operation, and 86 ± 4 after operation. The pre- and post-operative centre edge angle were (7 ± 9)° and (33 ± 9)°, sharp angle were (48 ± 4)° and (37 ± 5)°, acetabular index angle were (24 ± 8)° and (11 ± 5)° respectively. The average Harris score improved from 42 ± 13 preoperatively to 90 ± 5 postoperatively, with 100% excellent and good results. Every domains of SF-12 was improved in the different extents postoperatively, the improvement of physical component summary was more conspicuous than mental component summary. The imaging indexes, Harris and SF-12 were all improved with significant difference (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe modified Sutherland pelvic osteotomy is effective. It could increase the load bearing capacity of hip, and improve the quality of life.

Adult ; Arthroscopy ; Female ; Hip Dislocation, Congenital ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Osteotomy ; methods ; Pelvic Bones ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome

The rol genes on pRiA4 plasmid of Agrobacterium rhizogenes are potent genes that promote secondary metabolism. Molecular breeding of Atropa belladonna can be conducted by introducing rol genes to increase tropane alkaloids (TAs) content in A. belladonna. In this study, the rolB gene was overexpressed in A. belladonna plants to study the effect of rolB gene on the biosynthesis of TAs. The phenotype, TAs content and expression levels of key enzyme genes in the pathway of TAs biosynthesis of transgenic A. belladonna were analyzed. The results showed that transgenic A. belladonna had developed root system, enlarged leaves, increased leaf fresh weight, deepened leaf color, enlarged flowers, changed flower shape, reduced pistil height and decreased pollen vitality. The content of TAs in the stems of transgenic A. belladonna was significantly higher than that of the control, and the contents of scopolamine, anisodamine, hyoscyamine can reach 2.11-2.91, 1.23-2.37 and 4.88-5.20 times of the control, respectively. Compared with the control group, the expressions of key enzymes putrescine N-methyltransferase (PMT), type III polyketide synthase (PYKS), tropinone reductase I (TRI), aromatic amino acid aminotransferase 4 (ArAT4), UDP-glycosyltransferase 1 (UGT1) and hyoscyamine 6-β-hydroxylase (H6H) in the TAs biosynthesis pathway were up-regulated, and the expression of tropinone reductase II (TRII) as a metabolic shunting gene was down-regulated. The results indicated that rolB gene enhanced TAs synthesis ability in roots and accumulation in stems of A. belladonna by enhancing metabolic flow of TAs synthesis pathway and weakening the metabolic shunt of competing pathway. This study laid a foundation for molecular breeding of A. belladonna with high-yield TAs content using rolB gene.

Objective To investigate the expression of free fatty acid receptor GPR40 and evaluate the possible function of GPR40 in the adult monkey hippocampus after ischemia. Methods According to the post-ischemic adult monkey model of Yamashima, a total of 24 adult monkeys were randomly divided into 4 groups: sham-operated group (control) and post-ischemic day 4, 9, 15 (d4, d9,d15). The expression of free fatty acid receptor GPR40 was detected at the protein level by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry in the adult monkey hippocampus. Results Immunoblotting analysis showed the expression of GPR40 was decreased in CA1 and increased in DG after ischemia (posfischemic group vs control, P＞0.05). Immunohistochemistry data revealed that the double stained cells of GPR40 and NeuN were also decreased by 50% (d15) in CA1 and had no significant changes in DG after ischemia. Interestingly, the co-labeled cells of GPR40 and GFAP were increased 2.5 folds (d4) in post-ischemic SGZ. Conclusions There is the different expression of GPR40 in adult monkey hippocampal CA1 and DG regions after ischemia. Co-labeled cells of GPR40 and GFAP are increased in post-ischemic SGZ, which indicates that polyunsaturated free fatty acid such as DHA, a ligand of GPR40, may alleviate neuronal injury in post-ischemic hippocampus.

Tropane alkaloids (TAs) are a class of anticholinergic drugs widely used in clinical practice and mainly extracted from plant, among which Atopa belladonna is the main commercial drug source. It is of great industrial value to obtain TAs in large quantities by plant metabolic engineering. In TAs pathway, cytochrome oxidase CYP82M3 catalyze the synthesis of tropinone and then tropinone reductase I (TRI) compete with TRII for tropinone to form tropine leading to the TAs synthesis (drainage). In this study, based on the "increasing flow and drainage" metabolic engineering strategy, two genes, namely HnCYP82M3 and DsTRI from Hyoscyamus niger and Datura stramonium, respectively, were overexpressed in the hair roots of A. belladonna, with a view to promote the TAs accumulation. The HnCYP82M3 gene was cloned from the root of H. niger, and it encoded amino acid with 91.7% sequence identity with AbCYP82M3 from A. belladonna. Overexpression of HnCYP82M3 alone did not affect the content of TAs in hair roots of A. belladonna, indicating that CYP82M3 was not a key enzyme in TAs biosynthesis. Simultaneous overexpression of HnCYP82M3 and DsTRI greatly promoted the accumulation of the three TAs, and the contents of hyoscyamine, anisodamine and scopolamine were 4.97 times, 2.83 times and 2.19 times that of the control, respectively, and the increase amplitude was greater than that of single overexpression of DsTRI. This study showed that the "increasing flow and drainage" strategy of enzyme genes co-expression at branch points was a promising metabolic engineering method to effectively improve the biosynthesis of TAs in A. belladonna, and laid a theoretical and technical foundation for the large-scale industrial acquisition of TAs.

PURPOSE: To explore the influence of S100 calcium binding protein A4 (S100A4) knockout (KO) on methionine-choline-deficient (MCD) diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: S100A4 KO mice (n=20) and their wild-type (WT) counterparts (n=20) were randomly divided into KO/MCD, Ko/methionine-choline-sufficient (MCS), WT/MCD, and WT/MCS groups. After 8 weeks of feeding, blood lipid and liver function-related indexes were measured. HE, Oil Red O, and Masson stainings were used to observe the changes of liver histopathology. Additionally, expressions of S100A4 and proinflammatory and profibrogenic cytokines were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot, while hepatocyte apoptosis was revealed by TUNEL staining. RESULTS: Serum levels of aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, triglyceride, and total cholesterol in mice were increased after 8-week MCD feeding, and hepatocytes performed varying balloon-like changes with increased inflammatory cell infiltration and collagen fibers; however, these effects were improved in mice of KO/MCD group. Meanwhile, total NAFLD activity scores and fibrosis were lower compared to WT+MCD group. Compared to WT/MCS group, S100A4 expression in liver tissue of WT/MCD group was enhanced. The expression of proinflammatory (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6) and profibrogenic cytokines (TGF-β1, COL1A1, α-SMA) in MCD-induced NAFLD mice were increased, as well as apoptotic index (AI). For MCD group, the expressions of proinflammatory and profibrogenic cytokines and AI in KO mice were lower than those of WT mice. CONCLUSION: S100A4 was detected to be upregulated in NAFLD, while S100A4 KO alleviated liver fibrosis and inflammation, in addition to inhibiting hepatocyte apoptosis.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Blotting, Western ; Calcium ; Carrier Proteins ; Cholesterol ; Collagen ; Cytokines ; Fibrosis ; Hepatocytes ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Inflammation ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Mice* ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* ; Triglycerides