Objective To assess the value of 18F-FDG PET/CT in clinical classification,monitoring of chemotherapeutic response and surveillance of histopathological transformation of Castleman's disease (CD).Methods Fourteen pathologically diagnosed CD patients (7 males,7 females; mean age:(45.64±14.30) years) were retrospectively reviewed.18F-FDG PET/CT was performed before chemotherapy in all patients and 4 of 14 patients were reexamined after the treatment.The study parameters included histopathological results,sites,number and highest SUVmax of the lesions.Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for data analysis.Results Of all the 12 patients without histopathological transformation,one or more enlarged and metabolically active lymph nodes were found in each patient (SUVmax =3.94± 1.44,range:1.9-6.8),including 2 unicentric CD (UCD) and 10 multicentric CD (MCD).There was no statistically significant difference of SUVmam between UCD and MCD (4.55±3.18 vs 3.82±1.14; Z=0.22,P＞0.05).There was also no significant difference of SUVmax among different pathological types (hyaline-vascular CD (4/12):3.56±0.96,plasma cell CD (6/12):4.73±1.41,mixed CD (2/12):2.30±0.57; x2 =4.74,P＞0.05).For the 4 patients with follow-up PET/CT after chemotherapy,the lesion activity was normalized in 3 patients and clearly reduced in 1 patient.The SUVmax of 2 patients with histopathological transformation (10.85±2.05) was significantly higher than that without transformation (3.94± 1.44; Z=-2.19,P＜0.05).Conclusion 18F-FDG PET/CT may play an important role in clinical classification,monitoring of chemotherapeutic response and surveillance of histopathological transformation of CD.

Pulsed field gel electrophoresis(PFGE)is a new type technique of gel electrophoresis which can be used to separate large DNA molecules.It has been widely applied to the karyotype analysis,identification of species groups,genetic orientation and genetic analysis for fungi.This article describes the principle,development and general manipulative procedure of PFGE,and elaborates the application in the molecular research of fungi.

Objective: To determine the rate of lymph node metastases in women with endometrial carci-noma and to compare the pattern of lymphatic spread of endometrial carcinoma with that of cervical carcino-ma. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the lymphatic spread in 104 patients with endometrial carcinoma and 253 patients with cervical carcinoma. All of the patients underwent a complete pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy from caudal to the median circumflex to the level of renal vessels. Results: The incidence of lymphatic metastases in the endometrial carcinoma group was higher than that in the cervical carcinoma group (22.1% vs 16.2 %). The pathologic grade (G_1: 12.1%; G_2: 21.4%; G_3: 34.5%) and depth of myometrial in-vasion (≤1/2: 11.9%; >1/2: 29%) were correlated with lymph node metastasis. The rates of para-aortic node involvement, pelvic lymph node involvement and involvement of both were 4.3%, 34.8% and 60.9% in the en-dometrial carcinoma group and 0%, 68.3% and 31.7% in the cervical carcinoma group. The rates of obturator node involvement were 73.9% and 70.7%, respectively; the rates of suprainguinal node involvement were 8.7% and 7.3%, respectively. Compared with cervical carcinoma, endometrial carcinoma showed higher rate of para-aortic and sacral node involvement (65.2% vs 31.7%, and 21.7% vs 17.1%) and lower rate of extamal iliac node involvement (17.4% vs 41.5%). Conclusion: Compared with cervical carcinoma, endometrial carcino-ma has a distinct lymphatic spread pattern and can directly metastasize to both pelvic lymph nodes and pa-ra-aortic lymph nodes with pelvic lymph node metastases being dominant. Positive lymph nodes are common-ly seen in cases of all pathological grades.

Puff-balls is a very distinctive macro-fungi in biodiversity.It is used to be a styptic,repellent and alexipharmic in China.This paper simply summarizes the puffball′s taxonomy in the fungi and its distribution in the world; and emphasizes on its composition,food uses,medical uses,herbalism studies and progress of researches on clinical applications.And it points out the patent prospect and current problems of the puff-balls.

Objective To investigate the children's body environmental Se and T-2 toxin level in their staple food in Kaschin-Beck disease(KBD)relative active regions in Aba state of Sichuan province in 2008.Methods We took X-ray photograph of the right hand on children aged 7-13 years in 48 villages from 11 counties in Aba state.The relative active regions of KBD were chosen according to the X-ray result and historical status of KBD.The children's urine and hair,drinking water and their staple food werr sampled.Selenium contents in urine,hair,water and food samples were determined by naphthalene fluorescence,and T-2 toxin in staple food samples were detected by ELISA kits.Results In 2145 X-ray films,66 films were positive,and the children's KBD positive rate was 3.08%(66/2145).The KBD positive rate was respectively 10.98%(29/264)and 8.52%(19/223)in Maerkang county,Jinchuan county and it was 0.75%(3/400)in Rangtang county,historically serious endemic area.The selenium content in urine of children aged 7-13 years in Maerkang county,Jinchuan county and Rangtang county was (10.41±4.67), (10.11±3.65), (8.42±2.68)μg/g Cr, respectively, there was no statistical difference among three counties(F=0.901, P>0.05). The selenium content in hair of children aged 7-13 years in Maerkang county[(0.18±0.04)mg/kg] was lower than that in Jinchuan county[(0.21±0.04)mg/kg, P<0.05].The selenium content in water in Jinchuan county [(0.225±0.124 )μg/L ] was lower than that in Maerkang county and Rangtang county[(0.320±0.092), (0.339±0.105)μg/L, all P<0.05]. The selenium content in staple food in Jinchuan county(0.0033 mg/kg) was lower than that in Maerkang county and Rangtang county(0.0258,0.0137mg/kg, Z=-6.146,-3.042, all P<0.017). The T-2 toxin level in flour in three counties was 19.60,17.95,26.25 ng/g,respectively,there was no statistical difference among three counties(X2=5.623, P>0.05).The T-2 toxin level in grain Maerkang county (10.72 ng/g) was higher than that in Jinchuan county and Rangtang county (3.74,3.30 ng/g, Z=-6.315,-4.407,all P<0.017). T-2 toxin contamination in flour was more severe than that in grain (Z=-6.690,-5.493,-3.676, all P<0.05). Conclusions In 3 relative active KBD regions of Aba state,the children's selenium nutritional status and the T-2 toxin contamination level in their staple food is consistent with the distribution of KBD.

Objective To investigate the usefulness of 99Tcm-MDP whole body bone scintigraphy (WBBS) in patients with synovitis,acne,pustulosis,hyperostosis,osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome.Methods 99Tcm- MDP WBBS was performed in 25 patients (6 males,19 females,mean age =(55.1 ±9.8) years)with SAPHO syndrome.Bone lesions were classified into five categories:anterior chest wall,spine,mandible,sacroiliac joint,and limbs.The typical scintigraphic manifestations of SAPHO syndrome were summarized and compared to other radiological imaging data.Results Among 25 patients,32％ of cases (8/25)were associated with skin lesion; 48％ ( 12/25 ) were pathologically diagnosed with chronic nonspecific bone inflammation by bone biopsy.On 99Tcm-MDP WBBS,abnormal metabolic foci at anterior chest wall were found in all cases,most of which located in the sternocostoclavicular region (96％,24/25 ),including sternoclavicular joints (60％,15/25),first costosternal junctions (48％,12/25),and manubriosternal junctions (44％,11/25 ).Only 20％ of the patients (5/25) demonstrated the typical scintigraphic characteristic:“bull's head” sign.The second most frequent part was spine (44％,11/25).Appendicular skeleton was affected in 16％ (4/25) patients.WBBS also demonstrated additional skeletal lesions in 68％ (17/25 ) of the patients,mainly in first costosternal junctions (7 patients),sternoclavicular joints (6 patients),manubriosternal junctions (5 patients) and spine (4 patients).Conclusions Abnormal metabolic foci in sternocostoclavicular region and other imaging manifestations on 99Tcm- MDP WBBS can be used to diagnose,differentiate,and localize the insidious lesion and evaluate the lesion activity in patients with SAPHO syndrome.

L9 (3(4)) orthogonal experiment was used to design the extraction technology of compound Clematidis Radix spray. Weight coefficients of active ingredients and dry extract rate were solved by information entropy. Support vector machine (SVM) was established and the model parameters were optimized through the genetic algorithm. Grid search algorithm was used for optimization of extraction technology of Clematidis Radix spray. The optimal extraction technology was to extract Clematidis Radix spray in water with 6 times the weight of herbal medicine for 3 times, with 2 h once. Bias of value between real and predicted by SVM was 1.23%. SVM was compared with traditional intuitive analysis of orthogonal design. It indicates that the new method used to optimize the extraction parameters of compound Clematidis Radix spray is more accurate and reliable.
Clematis ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Support Vector Machine ; Technology, Pharmaceutical

Objective To construct the bp26 deletion mutant of Brucella vaccine strain M5-90 (M5-90Δbp26),to compare its immunogenicity with parental strain(M5-90),and to develope a new candidate vaccine strain of Brucella melitensis with reduced virulence that can be used to distinguish vaccinated livestock from infected animals.Methods Mutant vaccine strain of Brucella melitensis was constructed by conventional molecular biology techniques then the genetic stability of mutant M5-90Δbp26 was tested and its conventional bacteriological nature was identified; 1.0 × 109 CFU/2 ml doses of M5-90Δbp26 strain and the parental strain were used to vaccinate 3 sheep; sera were analyzed for reactivity against BP26 by Western blotting and for agglutination activity; to analyze the virulence of mutant and parental strain,mice were injected with 1.0 × 106,6.0 × 106 and 2.0 × 107 CFU/0.2 ml doses of M5-90 and M5-90Δbp26,respectively,and clinical symptoms were monitored and the death of mice was recorded.Results The M5-90Δbp26 was successfully generated and reversion was not observed in 15 generations.The size of PCR products was 629 bp while the parental strain was 1279 bp.The sequence analysis showed a 650 bp missing in M5-90Δbp26.The conventional bacteria identification tests confirmed that the mutant was depth variant strain,including mono-specific antiserum M type transformed into R,and the BK2 phage based splitting assay converted from the positive to the negative.Western blotting showed the purified BP26 protein was recognized by the serum against the parental strain while not by the serum against M5-90Δbp26 strain.Agglutination test showed the level of the serum antibody induced by M5-90Δbp26 strain(1:50) was significantly lower than that of serum induced by parental strain(＞ 1:800).Virulence test showed that M5-90Δbp26 strain was less virulent than parental strain.Conclusions M5-90Δbp26 has been successfully constructed.M5-90Δbp26 of Brucella melitensis has the characteristic of reduced virulence and has a potential as brucellosis candidate vaccine strain permitting serological discrimination between diseased and vaccinated livestock.

Objective To investigate whether the bilateral nipple discharge with the background of hypothyroidism and pituitary tumor causes intraductal neoplasm. Methods Clinical data of 222 bilateral nipple discharge patients with hypothyroidism or pituitary tumor undergoing mammary ductoseopy (MDS) examination were analyzed. Those diagnosed as intraductal papilloma received surgery and pathological exam. 158 cases with inflammatory comedomastitis diagnosed by MDS received milk duct washing with gentamycin, dexamethasone and corresponding medical treatment. Results Among the 222 cases, 158 cases(71.17%) were diagnosed as inflammatory comedomastitis by MDS, 64 cases (28.83%) were diagnosed as intraduetal papilloma (64/222) by MDS and received operation,59 cases were pathologically diagnosed as intraductal papilloma,the other 5 cases were pathologically diagnosed as mammary duct ectasia. The pathological coincidence was 92.2% and no breast cancer was observed. 68.10% of inflammatory comedomastitis cases suffered from breast pain. There were no significant difference in the disease distribution of the ethnic groups. During pre-menopause period, the incidence of period neoplasia is higher in pituitary tumor than hypothyroidism; However, during the post-menopause the situation was vice versa. The color of niplle discharge is mostly milk-like in patients with pituitary tumor, while serous in patients with hypothyroidism. 71.19% of duct papilloma locate at the branch of the main duct. Conclusion The bilateral nipple discharge with hypothyroidism or pituitary are usually concomitant with intraduetal lesions. Mammary ductosopy is helpful to discover intraduetal neoplasia.