The effect of retinoic acid (RA) on renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) is important. Notch signaling is known to play an important role in the pathological injury of RIF. This study summarized recent research progress of the effect of RA on RIF and Notch signaling. Interruption of Notch signaling by RA might be a potential anti-fibrotic strategy in RIF.

Objective To explore the relationship between expression of p27 and cyclin D1 protein in keratinocyte－ derived tumors. Methods Expression of p27 and cyclin D1 protein was determined in various keratinocyte－ derived tumors by immunohistochemistry techniques. Results Significantly higher expression of p27 was found in both Bowen′ s disease and actinic keratosis(AK) than that in basal cell carcinoma(BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma(SCC)（ P

Objective To evaluate the clinical application of 3 D ultrasound in the diagnosis of bladder diseases. Methods In 21 patients with bladder disease,3 D images were studied with a Voluson 530D diagnostic system.At first,the two dimensional images of lesions were collected,then defined 3 D volumes of interest were stored,reconstructed and analyzed. Results 3 D ultrasound provided a clear stereoscopic view and depicted the appearance of the 21 bladder diseases,displayed the internal structures,and showed invasive depth within and outside the bladder wall and also metastasis of the adjacent organs. Conclusions 3 D ultrasound can clearly demonstrate the morphologic characteristics and internal structures of the bladder disease and provide much more reliable information for the diagnosis of diseases.

Objective To establish a rat model of persistent intestinal mucosal injury.Methods The rat model of persistent intestinal mucosal injury was induced by intraperitoneal injection of methotrexate.The food intake and body weight of all the rats were recorded.Pathological changes were observed using HE staining, the level of D-lactate and diam-ine oxidase in plasma, and myeloperoxidase and malondiadehyde in the intestinal tissue were measured by biochemistry. Results After modeling, the rat body weight and food intake were decreased.On day 4, the scores of mucosal damage, the levels of plasma D-lactate, DAO, MPO and MDA were significantly increased (P<0.05).On day 5, the intestinal damages of rats began to restore, and there was no significant difference among groups on day 6.The symptoms after the secondary injection were similar to those after the first injection, and the rats recovered gradually at day 12.Conclusions Intestinal mucosal injury in rats induced by 20 mg/kg MTX is an acute injury process, the course only lasts for 4-5 days. Intermittent injections twice of 10 mg/kg MTX can cause persistent intestinal mucosal injury in rats.This persistent injury model is more suitable for nutritional therapy evaluation in medium-and long-term studies of nutritional therapy.

Objective To evaluate the effects of peptide-based enteral nutrition (PBEN) on inflammatory response and immune function in rats with intestinal mucositis.Methods 48 Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (all n =8):basal feed group (BFG),PBEN group (PBENG),intact protein enteral nutrition group (IPENG),methotrexate (MTX) + BFG,MTX + PBENG,and MTX + IPENG.The rats in MTX + BFG,MTX + PENG,and MTX + IPENG were intraperitoneal injected with MTX 10 mg/kg on day 0 and day 6 to induce sustained intestinal injury.From day 1,BFG and MTX + BFG were fed with basal feed,PBENG and MTX + PBENG with PBEN,IPENG and MTX + IPENG with IPEN.The daily energy intake of each rat was 1.80 kJ/g body weight.All the rats were sacrificed on day 11.The pathological changes of intestinal tissue were observed with HE staining,the levels of tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO),nitric oxide (NO),inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS),the thymus index and spleen gland index of intestinal tissue were measured using colorimetry,and the serum levels of immunoglobulins IgG,IgA,and IgM were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results There were no significant differences among BFG,PBENG,and IPENG in each index.Serious injury of intestinal mucosa was observed in MTX groups.Significant differences were noted in all indexes between MTX + BFG and BFG (all P ＜0.05).The mucosal damage score (Chiu score) and the level of MPO and iNOS in MTX + PBENG were significantly lower than those in MTX + BFG [2.3 ± 0.69vs.2.96 ± 0.75,P =0.003 ; (2.30 ± 0.42) U/g tissue vs.(2.98 ± 0.23) U/g tissue,P =0.040 ; (0.37 ±0.06) U/mg prot vs.(0.44 ±0.10) U/rag prot,P =0.030] ; the serum levels of IgG and IgA were significantly higher than those in MTX + BFG (P =0.015,P =0.021) ; however,the levels of NO and IgM were not significantly different between the 2 groups (P =0.597,P =0.160).There were no statistically significant differences between MTX + IPENG and MTX + BFG in terms of the indexes (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion PBEN can reduce the inflammation response and improve the immune function in intestinal mucositis rat.

Objective To explore the relationship of molecular biology characteristic and the treatment outcome,and influence factors of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).Methods The clinicopathological data of 103 IBC patients who were treated with NAC from January 2005 to June 2013 were analyzed retrospectively.Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of estrogen receptor (ER),progesteron receptor (PR),human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) and E-cadherin.The treatment outcome were evaluated.Results In 103 IBC patients,ER negative was 48 patients,PR negative was 51 patients,HER-2 positive was 45 patients,E-cadherin positive was 66 patients.The effective rate of chemotherapy was 72.8％ (75/103).The effective rate of chemotherapy in taxane-based group was significantly higher than that in anthracycline-based group [80.6％ (50/62) vs.61.0％(25/41)],and there was significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).The effective rate of chemotherapy in ER,PR,E-cadherin negative patients was significantly higher than that in ER,PR,E-cadherin positive patients [83.3％ (40/48) vs.63.6％ (35/55),82.4％ (42/51) vs.63.5％ (33/52),83.8％ (31/37) vs.66.7％ (44/66)],and there was significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).The effective rate of chemotherapy in taxane-based group with E-cadherin positive patients was significantly higher than that in anthracycline-based group with E-cadherin positive patients [77.5％ (31/40) vs.50.0％ (13/26)] (P ＜0.05).No correlation existed between the expression of HER-2 and the treatment outcome of chemotherapy (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion ER,PR and E-cadherin negative patients with IBC is chemosensitive to NAC.The positive expression of E-cadherin may be an important factor of chemotherapy resistance.For the patients with E-cadherin positive,taxane-based chemotherapy regimen can achieve a better effective rate.

A retrospective analysis was performed among 8 patients with unilateral intraarticular calcaneal fracture, who were selected from the Department of Orthopaedics in Yangpu District Central Hospital of Shanghai. They were treated with the injectable bone graft MIIG[R] X3 combined with percutaneous reduction by leverage and axial fixation from June 2005 to November 2006. After treatment, the function of affected feet was evaluated according to the ankle-hindfoot score of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (totally 100 points). All the patients were rechecked with X-ray films periodically to observe the reaction between the materials and the host, the healing of fracture, the pain of limbs and joint motion. Eight patients were all followed up, the complication rate reached 12.5% (1/8), the improvement of Bohler angle excelled 18° to 25°, and that of Gissane angle exceeded 30° to 35°. Among the included patients, 6 cases achieved excellent effect and 2 cases good. All developed the bone union. None of all had complications, such as necrosis of skin, hematoma and deep infection.

Recently, the droplet microfluidic system attracts interests due to its high throughput and low cost to detect and screen. The picoliter micro-droplets from droplet microfluidics are uniform with respect to the size and shape, and could be used as monodispensed micro-reactors for encapsulation and detection of single cell or its metabolites. Therefore, it is indispensable to characterize micro-droplet and its application from droplet microfluidic system. We first constructed the custom-designed droplet microfluidic system for generating micro-droplets, and then used the micro-droplets to encapsulate important amino acids such as glutamic acid, phenylalanine, tryptophan or tyrosine to test the droplets' properties, including the stability, diffusivity and bio-compatibility for investigating its application for amino acid detection and sorting. The custom-designed droplet microfluidic system could generate the uniformed micro-droplets with a controllable size between 20 to 50 microm. The micro-droplets could be stable for more than 20 h without cross-contamination or fusion each other. The throughput of detection and sorting of the system is about 600 micro-droplets per minute. This study provides a high-throughput platform for the analysis and screening of amino acid-producing microorganisms.
Amino Acids ; isolation & purification ; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques ; Microfluidics ; instrumentation

OBJECTIVETo study the chemical constituents in bark of Dictamnus dasycarpus.

METHODIsolation and purification were carried out on silica gel column chromatography, prepared thin layer chromatography and sephadex LH - 20, et al. The structures were identified by spectral analysis.

RESULTTwelve compounds were obtained from bark of D. dasycarpus and the structures were determined as dictamnine (I), fraxinellone (II), skimmianine (III), gamma-fagarine (IV ), beta-sitosterol (V), obacunone (VI), limonin disophenol (VII), fraxinellonone (VIII), wogonin (IX), rutevin (X), kihadinin B (XI), dasycarine (XII).

CONCLUSIONCompounds IX and XI were isolated from genus Dictamnus for the first time, and compound VIII was isolated from the species for the first time.

Alkaloids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Dictamnus ; chemistry ; Flavanones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Limonins ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Molecular Structure ; Plant Bark ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

ObjectiveTo study the effect of adaptive group psychological training on mental quality and emotion of soldiers.MethodsA total of 48 soldiers ( experiment group) received group psychological training and read a textbook,Mental Quality Training for soldiers,for 3 months,and the other 45 soldiers served as control group.Armyman mental quality inventory (AMQI),self-rating depression scale (SDS) and state-trait anxiety inventory(STAI) were employed to evaluate the mental quality and emotion of soldiers before and after training.All data were analyzed by paired-sample t test.Results ①As compared with pre-training,the AMQI scores of training group increased significantly in bravery ( 71.50 ± 9.59 ),self-confidence ( 68.24 ± 8.36 ),aptitude ( 74.54 ± 10.81 ),loyalty(75.29 ± 8.08 ) and general score ( 359.07 ± 20.30 ) (P ＜ 0.05,P ＜ 0.01 ) ; and no significant difference were found in those of control group(P ＞ 0.05 ).②When compared with pre-training,the scores of SDS (39.00 ±8.38),SAI(40.14 ±9.92),TAI(41.16 ±7.47) and STAI(81.30 ± 12.52) of training group decreased significantly (P ＜ 0.05,P＜ 0.01 ) ; and no significant difference was found in those of control group(P ＞0.05 ).ConclusionGroup psychological training can improve mental quality of soldiers,which is helpful to relax anxiety and depression of soldiers.