OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine combined with systemic chemotherapy and/or regional arterial perfusion for pancreatic cancer with liver metastases (PCLM).

METHODSWe retrospectively selected 292 patients with PCLM who were treated by Chinese herbal medicine combined with systemic chemotherapy and/or regional arterial perfusion at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital from January 2001 to December 2010. All patients were assigned to the Western medicine treatment group (157 cases) and the integrative medicine treatment group (135 cases). Patients in the Western medicine treatment group were treated with gemcitabine (GEM)-based chemotherapy, and partial of them received regional arterial perfusion. Those in the integrative medicine treatment group additionally took Chinese herbs of clearing heat and eliminating mass for at least 4 weeks. The median survival time (MST) , adverse reactions and the incidence of complications were observed.

RESULTSThere was no statistical significance in general data between the two groups (P > 0.05). There was statistical difference in MST between the two groups (4.8 months vs 5.5 months, P < 0.05). No death occurred during chemotherapy or regional arterial perfusion. All toxic or adverse reactions were tolerable.

CONCLUSIONChinese herbal medicine combined with systemic chemotherapy and/or regional arterial perfusion was effective and safe, and it could be optimally selected as palliative therapy for PCLM.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Complementary Therapies ; methods ; Deoxycytidine ; analogs & derivatives ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; secondary ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Retrospective Studies

Objective: The current study was designed to investigate the relationship between bcl-2 expression and apoptosis of lung cancer cells in vitro. Methods:Lung cancer cell lines with different expression of bcl-2 were cocultured with tumor infiltrating lymphocyte(TIL) isolated from fresh tumor samples,and JAM test was performed to evaluate apoptosis of cancer cells. Immunohistochemistry and TUNEL assay were used to determine bcl-2 expression and apoptosis of tissue sections of lung cancers respectively. Results: As shown in JAM test, apoptosis increased with the elevation of TIL in coculturing assay in bcl-2 negative cancer cell lines, but in one of bcl-2 positive cell lines it remained stable. Conclusions: Lung cancer cells with bcl-2 expression may antagonize apoptosis, which may account for their immune evasion mechanism.

Objective To explore the safety and efficacy of Solitaire AB double stents in acute occlusions in bifurcation of cerebral artery (including the ends of internal carotid artery and middle cerebral artery M1 segment).Methods The clinical and imaging data of six cases treated with the double stent retriever technique using the Solitaire AB system in Wuhan No.1 Hospital from January to November 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.And the therapeutic effect and postoperative complications of them were analyzed.Results One patient took the double stents directly,whereas five patients were treated with double stent-retriever thrombectomy after the failure of single stent thrombectomy.All of the six patients achieved recanalization successfully (modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (mTICI) 3 in five patients,mTICI 2b in one).All patients had no intracranial hemorrhage immediately after thrombectomy.In the 24 hours,7 days and 2 weeks,the median NIHSS score was 10 (3-17),3 (1-15) and 1 (0-15),respectively.During perioperative period,one patient had asymptomatic cerebral hemorrhage,one died of symptomatic cerebral hemorrhage within 48 hours,and one was complicated with pulmonary infection.Five patients were followed up by outpatient visit,and four patients showed good outcome (modified Rankin Scale score ≤2).Conclusion In the emergency revascularization of acute cerebral artery occlusion at arterial bifurcation,double stent-retriever is better at increasing the efficacy of thrombectomy and is safe compared with single stent mechanical thrombectomy.

Background: Circulating endometrial cells (CECs) have been reported to be present in the peripheral blood of women with endometriosis (EM), providing clear and specific evidence of the presence of ectopic lesions. In this study, we established a method with a high detection rate of CECs, assessed the diagnostic value of CECs for EM and compared with serum CA125, and proposed a hypothesis for the pathogenesis of EM from the new perspective of CECs. Methods: The participants were enrolled prospectively from October 2015 to July 2016. The peripheral blood samples were collected from 59 participants, and the blood cells were isolated for immunofluorescence staining via microfluidic chips. The cells that were positive for vimentin/cytokeratin and estrogen/progesterone receptor and negative for CD45 were identified as CECs. The serum CA125 level was tested with electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Results: The detection rate of CECs reached 89.5% (17/19) in the EM group, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (15.0% [6/40], P < 0.001) and was independent of menstrual cycle phases. Furthermore, a positive CEC assay detected 4/5 cases of Stage Ⅰ–Ⅱ EM. In contrast, a positive CA125 test had limited value in detecting EM (13/19, 68.4%) and detected only one case of Stage Ⅰ–Ⅱ EM. Conclusion: CECs are promising biomarkers for EM with great potential for a noninvasive diagnostic assay.

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether the variants A(-6)G and A(-20)C of angiotensinogen (AGT) gene are involved in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension in Kazakans.

METHODST his case control study recruited 125 subjects with hypertension and 74 normotensive subjects from Kazakans of Xinjiang. Genomic DNA from leukocytes was analyzed for genetic variants A(-6)G and A(-20)C in 5' upstream core promoter of AGT gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and automatic sequencing.

RESULTS(1)There were only A(-6)G and A(-20)C variants in the -164 to +73 region of Kazakans' AGT gene. (2) The distributions of genotypes AA, AG, GG at locus -6 of AGT gene showed significant difference between the hypertensive group (0.39, 0.45, 0.16) and the normotensive group (0.49, 0.49, 0.02; Chi2=8.56, P=0.014). There were evident differences in the frequencies of the -6A and the -6G allele of the two groups (0.62, 0.38 and 0.73, 0.27; Chi2=5.35, P=0.021). (3) No significant difference was observed in the distribution of genotypes AA, AC, CC at locus -20 of AGT gene between the hypertensive group (0.69, 0.26, 0.05) and the normotensive group (0.65, 0.32, 0.03; Chi2=2.42, P=0.30). There was no distinct difference in the frequencies of the -20A allele and the -20C allele of the two groups (0.82, 0.18 and 0.82, 0.18; Chi2=0, P=0.99). (4) No significant difference was found at the levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure between the groups corresponding to genotypes at the loci -6 and -20 of AGT gene.

CONCLUSIONThe results suggest that the polymorphism of A(-6)G in 5' upstream core promoter of the AGT gene may be involved in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension in Kazakans, while the A(-20)C variant may not play an important role in the etiology of essential hypertension in Kazakans.

5' Flanking Region ; genetics ; Adult ; Alleles ; Angiotensinogen ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Blood Pressure ; physiology ; Case-Control Studies ; China ; DNA ; chemistry ; genetics ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Hypertension ; genetics ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; genetics

This study was aimed at understanding the detection rate,drug resistance characteristics,virulence characteris-tics,multi-locus sequence typing,and other molecular epidemic and pathogenic characteristics of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in children in Guangdong Province from 2020 to 2022.Anal swabs or stool samples of suspected infection cases in children from 2020 to 2022 were collected from two hospitals in Guangzhou,Guangdong Province.Campylobacter was isolated and cultured through the filtration method,and identified with a microbial mass spectrometry system;antibiotic resist-ance was analyzed with the agar dilution method;bacterial genome nucleic acids were extracted,and whole-genome sequencing was conducted;and drug resistance genes,virulence genes,multi-locus sequence typing,and phylogenetic analysis based on whole-genome single nucleotide polymorphisms were analyzed from whole-genome sequencing results.First,53 strains of Campy-lobacter were detected through continuous routine monitoring in this study,with a positive detection rate of 2.94％.Among them,Campylobacter jejuni accounted for 81.13％(43/53)and Campylobacter coli accounted for 18.87％(10/53).In addition,16 strains of Campylobacter were screened through multi-pathogen surveillance,including 11 strains of Campylobacter jejuni and 5 strains of Campylobacter coli.Drug resistance ex-periments and whole genome sequencing were conducted on 46 Campylobacter isolates,including 33 isolates of Campylobacter jejuni and 13 isolates of Campylobacter coli.The resistance rate of Campylobacter to erythromycin,a widely used clinical treatment,was21.73％(10/46);that to tetracycline was 80.43％(37/46);those to the quinolone antibiotics nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin were 76.08％(35/46)and 71.73％(33/46)respectively;and that to chloramphenicol was lowest,at 2.17％(1/46).The drug resistance rate was generally higher for Campylobacter coli than Campylobacter jejuni,and the differences in the indicators of erythromycin,gentamicin,streptomycin,telithromycin,and clindamycin were statistically significant.A total of 30 isolates of multidrug-resistant Campylobacter were detected,including nine multidrug-resistant phenotypes.Whole-ge-nome sequence analysis indicated that 46 Campylobacter isolates carried antibiotic resistance genes for antibiotics such as quino-lones,tetracyclines,β-lactams,and aminoglycosides,and carried 128 virulence factor genes in five categories.All 46 isolates of Campylobacter were identified as 35 ST type through MLST typing,and phylogenetic analysis indicated no obvious dominant ST type.Campylobacter coli had more SNPs than Campylobacter jejuni.In conclusion,the positive detection rate of Campy-lobacter in Guangzhou City,Guangdong Province stabilized from 2020 to 2022,and the detection rate of Campylobacter jejuni was higher than that of Campylobacter coli.Campylobacter isolates were resistant to tetracyclines and quinolone,and showed a wide spectrum of multi-drug resistance,which was relatively severe among Campylobacter coli.Resistance genes and drug-resistant phenotypes were correlated and had predictive significance.The virulence genes of Campylobacter jejuni were more a-bundant than those of Campylobacter coli,possibly because of the higher detection rate and pathogenicity of Campylobacter jejuni.The phylogenetic tree showed clear branches with high genetic diversity and no clearly dominant clonal group.

OBJECTIVETo construct a co-culture system for bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSC) and multiple myeloma (MM) cells, and to investigate the effects of co-cultured BMMSC on the migrating and homing of multiple myeloma cells.

METHODSThe BMMSC from the transgenic mice with green fluorescent protein (GFP) fetal bone were cultured by adherent screening. A co-culture system of BMMSC and MM cell line XG-7 cells was constracted, the proliferation and apoptosis of cells were determined by trypan blue exclusion and Annexin V/PI, respectively, MDC staining was employed to detect the autophagy. The moving direction distribution of molecule in BMMSC and XG-7 cells labeled with PE-CD138 in co-culture process were observed dinamically by confocal microscopy.

RESULTSAfter co-culture with GFP-BMMSC, the resistance of XG-7 cells to apoptosis and autophagy were enhanced; at the same time, their proliferation increased. Apoptosis rates of XG-7 cells directly and indirectly co-cultured with BMMSC were (6.23 ± 0.12)% and (6.97 ± 0.03)% respectively, which were lower than that of XG-7 cells cultured alone (17.90 ± 1.46)% (P < 0. 01). There was low level of autophagy in XG-7 cells co-cultured with BMMSC. XG-7 cells are highly polarized and contained a specialized membrane domain with specific protein and lipid components to contact with BMMSC under confocal microscope. After methyl-β-cyclodextrin treatment, the molecules were normally enriched in the specialized domain.

CONCLUSIONBMMSC can protect XG-7 cells from apoptosis and autophagy, and obviously promote the proliferation of XG-7 cells, and can influence the migrating and homing of multiple myeloma cells.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Autophagy ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement ; Coculture Techniques ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Mice ; Mice, Transgenic ; Multiple Myeloma ; pathology

In this study, ecological factors, occurrence records, the essential oil components content were used to predict the potential geographical distribution and quality division of Mentha haplocalyx in China based on the MaxEnt modeling and geographic information system(GIS). The AUC of ROC curve was above 0.950,indicating that the predictive results with the maximum model were highly precise. The results showed that the main environmental factors determining the potential distribution were annual average precipitation (the contribution rate, 45.87%), mean temperature of wettest quarter (11.92%), mean temperature of warmest quarter (7.84%), average monthly precipitation of May (6.80%), standard deviation of seasonal temperature variation (4.42%), mean temperature of the coldest quarter (3.47%) and altitude (2.92%). The environmental variables in the highly potential areas were determined as annual average precipitation around [530,1 465] mm, mean temperature of wettest quarter around [24.5,29] ℃, mean temperature of the warmest quarter around [25.5,29] ℃, average monthly precipitation of May around [67,133] mm, standard deviation of temperature seasonal change around [8 333,9 643], mean temperature of the coldest quarter around [1.7,8.3] ℃ and the altitude around [0,165] mm. The best quality distribution of M. haplocalyx was mainly located in Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Zhejiang and Heilongjiang. The zoning results basically coincide with the actual situation. The quality division of M. haplocalyx can be used for providing a scientific basis for selection of artificial planting base and guidance of its production.

Eight heterocyclic compounds and twelve phenolic glycosides were separated from the water extract of Dendrobium officinale flowers through chromatographic techniques, such as Diaion HP-20 macroporous adsorption resin column chromatography(CC), silica gel CC, ODS CC, Sephadex LH-20 CC, and preparative high performance liquid chromatography(PHPLC). According to the spectroscopic analyses(MS, ~1H-NMR, and ~(13)C-NMR) and optical rotation data, the compounds were identified as dendrofurfural A(1), 2'-deoxyadenosine(2), 4-[2-formyl-5-(hydroxymethyl)-1H-pyrrol-1-yl] butanoic acid(3), 4-[2-formyl-5-(methoxymethyl)-1H-pyrrol-1-yl] butanoic acid(4), 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-5-(methoxymethyl)-1H-pyrrole-2-carbaldehyde(5), 5-(methoxymethyl)-1H-pyrrole-2-carbaldehyde(6), methyl 5-(hydroxymethyl)-furan-2-carboxylate(7),(S)-5-hydroxymethyl-5H-furan-2-one(8), 2-methoxyphenyl-1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside(9), arbutin(10), isotachioside(11), 2,6-dimethoxy-4-hydroxyphenol-1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside(12), orcinol glucoside(13), tachioside(14), gastrodin(15), 4-O-β-D-glucopyranosylvanillyl alcohol(16), 2,6-dimethoxy-4-hydroxymethylphenol-1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside(17), icariside D_2(18), 4-formylphenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside(19), and vanillin-4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside(20). Among them, compound 1 is a new furfural benzyl alcohol condensate, with the skeleton first found in Dendrobium. Compounds 2-9, 11, 13, and 19 are reported from Dendrobium for the first time, and compounds 14 and 18 are reported for the first time from D. officinale. Compounds 11 and 14 showed moderate DPPH radical scavenging capacity, and compounds 11-14 demonstrated potent ABTS radical scavenging capacity, possessing antioxidant activity.
Dendrobium ; Butyric Acid ; Glycosides/analysis* ; Phenols/analysis* ; Heterocyclic Compounds ; Flowers/chemistry*

Objective To evaluate the effect of applying sitting posture corrector on improving reading and writing posture of elementary school students， and provide scientific evidence for prevention and control of myopia in children and adolescents. Methods One elementary school each in urban and suburban areas of Shanghai was selected using a convenience sampling strategy. Furthermore， two classes each in Grade 3 and 4 were selected as the intervention group （282 students were included in the study）， and the other two classes each in Grades 3 and 4 were selected as the control group （294 students were included in the study）. Students in the intervention group used the sitting posture corrector in the classrooms for 4 months （from September 2020 to January 2021）， while those in the control group did not use the sitting posture corrector. Relevant data were collected before and after the intervention through a self-administered questionnaire and visual examination. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square test and generalized estimating equation. Results Before the intervention， 13.5% （38/282） of students in the intervention group and 12.2% （36/294） in the control group had good reading and writing posture （ χ ² = 0.195， P >0.659）. After the intervention， 18.4% （52/282） of students in the intervention group had good reading and writing posture， which was higher than that （11.2%， 33/294） in the control group （ χ ²=5.957， P =0.015）. Before and after the intervention， there was no significant differences in the prevalence of myopia between students in the intervention and control groups （all P >0.05）. Generalized estimating equation analysis showed that students in the intervention group were 1.502 times more likely to have good reading and writing posture than those in the control group after the intervention （ P =0.043）. Conclusion Applying sitting posture corrector in schools could improve students' reading and writing posture.