Adult ; Colonic Neoplasms ; genetics ; DNA, Neoplasm ; genetics ; Female ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Male ; Microsatellite Instability ; Middle Aged ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Rectal Neoplasms ; genetics

Objective To determine the changes of cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) ?-endorphin(?-EP) and C-reactive protein(CRP) in children with central nervous system(CNS) infection.Methods Sixty-five children suffered from CNS infection were determined the plasma and CSF ?-EP and CRP concentration during the acute and recovering stage with radioimmunoassay, which included 48 viral encephalitis, 12 purulent meningitis and 5 tuberculou meningitis,and 24 non-CNS disease children were as control group.Results The concentrations of plasma and CSF ?-EP of every experimental group were obviously higher than those of control group during the early stage of CNS infection and these were obviously lower during the recovering stage. The serum concentration of CRP during acute stage was significantly higher than that during recovering stage. No change of serum and CSF CRP concentration was determined during either the acute or recovering stage in the other two experimental groups.Conclusions Determining the plasma and CSF ?-EP is mea-(ningful) in early diagnosis of CNS infection,and determining the serum CRP at the same time may be helpful in differentiating septic and inseptic infection.

BACKGROUNDTp15, Tp17, Tp45, and Tp47 are outer-membrane proteins found in Treponema pallidum, the etiologic agent of syphilis. These proteins are potent antigens and are potential markers for the serological detection of syphilis. The present study analyzed antibodies to these protein antigens (TP-IgM and TP-IgG) in human serum and investigated the expression of these antibodies during different stages of syphilis.

METHODSSerum samples were collected from 69 subjects (male 45, female 24) diagnosed with syphilis and analyzed by Western blotting for the expression of IgM and IgG against the four protein antigens. Expression levels of the target antibodies were compared during the same stage of syphilis as well as between different stages of this disease.

RESULTSIn subjects with primary syphilis, the positive rate of Tp45 IgM was higher than that of other TP-IgM. Tp15 IgM was detected only in subjects with tertiary syphilis. Similarly, the seroprevalence of Tp45 IgG in primary syphilis was higher than for other TP-IgG. No target TP-IgM was detected in subjects with latent syphilis. In subjects with secondary syphilis, the expression level of Tp15 IgG (138.73 ± 20.16) was higher than for other target TP-IgG. In subjects with tertiary syphilis, all target TP-IgG were detected. In subjects with tertiary or latent syphilis, the expression levels of Tp45 IgG (121.33 ± 11.04 and 110.10 ± 40.19, respectively) were higher than those of other target TP-IgG. The expression levels of all Tp-IgM were similar before or after anti-syphilis treatment. In comparison, the expression levels of all TP-IgG decreased compared with the pre-treatment levels, and this decrease was statistically significant (both P < 0.05) for Tp17 IgG and Tp47 IgG.

CONCLUSIONSAfter Treponema pallidum infection, Tp45 IgM appeared first and Tp15 IgM occurred during later stages. The positive rates of all TP-IgG increased with the duration of this disease. Anti-syphilis treatment reduced the expression levels of Tp17 IgG and Tp47 IgG. Larger-scale studies are required to further validate the value of Tp15, Tp17, Tp45, and Tp47 as markers for the early detection of primary and latent syphilis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antibodies, Bacterial ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Immunoglobulin M ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Syphilis ; diagnosis ; Treponema pallidum ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between simian acquired immunodeficiency syndromn (SAIDS) and autoimmunity in simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected monkeys.

METHODSIndirect immunofluorescence assays were performed to detect plasma or serum autoantibodies in SIV-infected monkeys. The heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, and lymph node of BALB/c mice, a strain of endothelial cell ECV304, and granulocytes were used as target antigens. These results were compared with HE stained slides of SIV-infected monkeys.

RESULTSThe levels of various autoantibodies, including anti-lymphocyte autoantibodies, anti-endothelial cell autoantibodies, and anti-granulocyte antibodies, increased after SIV infection in monkeys. Moreover, pathological examinations showed injuries in the lymphoid tissue and vascular pathological changes in cerebral cortex, submucosa of gastrointestinal tract, interstitial capillaries of myocardium, nephron of the kidney, and sinusoid cell of liver.

CONCLUSIONThe increased autoantibodies and the pathological changes of tissues and organs confirm the existence of autoimmunity in SIV-infected monkeys.

Animals ; Autoantibodies ; blood ; Autoimmunity ; Endothelial Cells ; immunology ; Granulocytes ; immunology ; Lymphocytes ; immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; immunology ; pathology ; Simian Immunodeficiency Virus

In this paper， the name， origin， quality evaluation， producing area and processing methods of Platycodonis Radix used in the famous classical formulas are researched by consulting related materia medicas， prescription books and medical books of the past dynasties. It was found that Platycodonis Radix was the correct name in the materia medicas of the past dynasties， which was named for its "roots are strong but the stems are straight". Its dominant base of the past dynasties was Platycodon grandiflorus， and since the Ming and Qing dynasties， Hexian county of Anhui has been respected as the representative authentic producing area. In modern times， it has been concluded that the quality of Platycodonis Radix is best if the body is dry， thick and uniform， solid， white in color， and bitter in taste. In ancient times， the processing methods of Platycodonis Radix were mainly removing the reed head and floating skin， rice simmering and drying， and slicing and micro-frying. In modern times， its processing methods have been mainly simplified to peeling and cutting into thick slices. Therefore， it is recommended to use the dry roots of P. grandiflorus and its raw products in the famous classical formulas.

This study was aimed to detect the expression level of cmtm 5 (CKLF-like MARVEL transmembrane domain containing member 5) gene in the bone marrow cells from patients with multiple myeloma (MM), and to investigate the correlation between the expression level of cmtm5 and various clinical characteristics. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RQ-RT-PCR) was used to measure the expression levels of cmtm5 gene in the bone marrow cells collected from MM patients, and the MM cell lines, namely, RPMI8226 and CZ1 cells. The normal donor marrow specimens were used as the reference. The ratio of cmtm5 copy number to abl (Abelson murine leukemia viral oncogene homolog) gene copy number was used for indicating the expression level. The results showed that the expression level of cmtm5 gene was significantly down-regulated in bone marrow cells of 51 untreated or relapsed/refractory MM patient as compared to those of normal donor marrow cells (0.047+/-0.062 for the untreated or relapsed/refractory MM patients versus 0.255+/-0.333 for the normal, p<0.01). According to the International Staging System (ISS), the cmtm5 expression level in marrow cells of patients in ISS III stage was significantly lower than that in patients in ISS I stage (0.034+/-0.034 for the ISS III stage versus 0.103+/-0.109 for ISSI stage, p<0.01). Similarly, lower expression levels of cmtm5 gene were also found in two human MM cell lines (0.014+/-0.009 for RPMI8226 cells and 0.004+/-0.006 for CZ1 cells). After the MM patients were effectively treated, their expression levels of cmtm5 gene significantly increased (0.020+/-0.005 for the untreated patients versus 0.227+/-0.038 for the effectively treated patients, p<0.01). A significant negative correlation was observed between the expression level of cmtm5 gene and the number of bone marrow plasma cells (r=-0.307, p<0.05). However, the correlation was not found between the expression level of cmtm5 gene and the clinical characteristics, such as gender, age, hemoglobin level, or M-protein level, etc. It is concluded that the expression level of cmtm5 gene is abnormally lower in the bone marrow cells from the MM patients, and are associated with ISS stages. Furthermore, the expression level of cmtm5 gene is negatively correlated with the number of bone marrow abnormal plasma cells in MM patients, which suggests that the abnormally lower expression of cmtm5 may be involved in the pathogenesis of the MM patients.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Bone Marrow Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Case-Control Studies ; Chemokines ; genetics ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; MARVEL Domain-Containing Proteins ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neoplasm Staging ; Tumor Suppressor Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Young Adult

Dao-di herbs are an important part of clinical medicine in traditional Chinese medicine. They are also precious wealth left to human beings from history, which contain deep traditional Chinese cultural connotations and play an important role in supporting and serving the Chinese medicine business. The relevant policy documents introduced by various national ministries and commissions have many contents and requirements related to the promotion of Dao-di herbs protection and industrial development. Due to the Dao-di herbs industry has a series of characteristics, such as a long chain, many involved links, long cycles, multiple production entities, multiple locations, and various types, the high-quality development of the industry has put forward higher requirements on the linkage between upstream and downstream, production entities, traceability of the whole process and information sharing. This article takes Dao-di herbs certification work as an application scenario and entry point, and discusses it from the perspective of block chain and information technology. It proposes the following work ideas: establish multi-party consensus from the macro-organizational management, business, and operational technical levels, and unblock channels for data and information, to achieve institutionalization of certification; establish certification-related standards and specifications to achieve certification standardization; build a certification hardware system to achieve certification networking; build a certification software system to develop functions for specific information content such as identity, origin, production, production process, quality, product and brand of authentic medicinal material production interactively, and realize certification programmatic; data security and sharing of related production activities to achieve socialization of certification. Make full use of modern technologies such as blockchain, the internet of things, big data and information technology, and through the joint participation of management, production, use and the public, the whole process information of Daodi herbs is integrated to form an interconnected information sharing application mode, thus, to serve and promote the high-quality development of Dao-di herbs industry.
Blockchain ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Plants, Medicinal ; Technology

Medicinal Polyporus umbellatus is the dry sclerotia of P. umbellatus, with the effect of diuresis; Armillaria mellea is a parasitic fungus which can infect plants up to 300 genera, with sedative, anticonvulsant and some other biological activities. As the medicinal value of P. umbellatus and A. mellea is increasingly wide concerned, the market quantity demanded of them is gradually increased and the demand outstrips the supply. The symbiotic A. mellea and P. umbellatus are both the medicinal and edible fungi with diverse activities, including hypoglycemic action, improve immunity and antitumor and so on. The growth of the sclerotia forming from the mycelium of P. umbellatus is related to the infection of the symbiotic A. mellea and their secondary products. In this study, by comparing the chemical constituents of the mycelium and sclerotia of P. umbellatus and A. mellea, we found that they all produced steroids and nitrogen-containing heterocycles. The sclerotia of P. umbellatus and A. mellea also produced triterpenes secondary metabolites. In addition, the mycelium and infected sclerotia of P. umbellatus mainly produced different steroids, and the sclerotia produced some other special secondary metabolites, such as long-chain fatty acids, ceramides, phenol and so on. By analyzing above all kinds of differences, speculated that these may be caused by the infection of the symbiotic A. mellea which mainly produced sesquiterpenes, diterpenes and other secondary metabolites. The contents and types of compounds of P. umbellatus and A. mellea are closely related to their symbiosis and reproduction, therefore, many symbiosis mechanisms should be found by utilizing more molecular biology technology to elucidate this complex symbiotic infection and provide scientific basis for improving the yield and quality of P. umbellatus and A. mellea.

Qizhu, the dried rhizome of Atractylodes macrocephala in Compositae family, is the representative wild variety of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (Baizhu) with modern excellent quality. Through textual research of materia medica works and modern studies, the medication methods between Qizhu and ancient Baizhu were systematically compared. Focusing on seven key issues, this paper systematically summarized the medicinal history, characters, cultivation and other related contents of Qizhu, in order to provide a basis of Qizhu in the recovery and development of its own Daodi-status, and further serve the industrial development of this herb. The name, harvesting time, processing method and other issues had undergone a relatively complicated evolution process. At present, acknowledged points are as following：①The distribution areas of Qizhu include southern areas of the Yangtze River in Anhui province and its surrounding regions. ②Harvesting time is late October. ③Qizhu can be dried in the shade or micro-hot dried after being wrapped with absorbent paper, later it can be divided into two commercial specifications. ④In addition to cutting, there is still a lack of other processing methods. ⑤The superior characters of Qizhu contain white, less oil, fragrant smell and sweet taste and so on. ⑥The history of Qizhu as a genuine medicinal material can be traced back to the Ming dynasty.

Imported medicinal materials are an important part of Chinese medicinal resources. To be specific, about 10% of the around 600 commonly used Chinese medicinal materials are from abroad, and the introduction of foreign medicinal materials has promoted the development of Chinese medicine. Amid the advancement of reform and opening up and the "Belt and Road" Initiative, major headway has been made in the cross-border trade in China, bringing opportunities for the import of medicinal materials from border ports. However, for a long time, there is a lack of systematic investigation on the types of exotic medicinal materials at border ports. In the fourth national census of traditional Chinese medicine resources, National Resource Center for Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, together with several organizations, investigated the nearly 40 border ports, Chinese medicinal material markets, and border trade markets in 6 provinces/autonomous regions in China for the first time and recorded the types, sources, circulation, and the transaction characteristics of imported medicinal materials. Moreover, they invited experts to identify the origins of the collected 237 medicinal materials. In addition, the status quo and the problems of the medicinal materials were summarized. This study is expected to lay a basis for clarifying the market and origins of imported medicinal materials as well as the scientific research on and supervision of them.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Materia Medica ; Records ; Censuses ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal