This paper reviews progresses made in China from 2011 in areas of "Synthetic Biology" supported by State Basic Research 973 Program. Till the end of 2014, 9 "synthetic biology" projects have been initiated with emphasis on "microbial manufactures" with the 973 Funding Program. Combined with the very recent launch of one project on "mammalian cell synthetic biology" and another on "plant synthetic biology", Chinese "synthetic biology" research reflects its focus on "manufactures" while not giving up efforts on "synthetic biology" of complex systems.
Animals ; China ; Plants ; Synthetic Biology

This paper reviews the research and commercialization progresses of biobased polymeric materials including polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polylactides (PLA), poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) and its monomer succinate, and CO2 copolymer poly (propylene carbonate), especially these efforts made in China.
Bioengineering ; Butylene Glycols ; China ; Polyesters ; Polyhydroxyalkanoates ; Polymers ; Propane ; analogs & derivatives ; Succinic Acid

Objective To identity bacteria of bacteroides group by PCR.Method The universal primers were designed according to the sequence of 16S rRNA,then 13 strains bacteroides and the other non-bacteroides were amplified by PCR. PCR products were then sequenced and analyzed by Blast.Results Thirteen strains of bacteroides were amplified, and the non-bacteroides were not amplified. The pairs of primers had highly specificity.Comparing the gene sequences of the 13 strains,bacteroides with corresponding standard 16S rRNA sequences,the homology was from 81% to 100%.Conclusion The established PCR assay could specially amplify bacteroides and had good sensitivity with 100 genomes/ml.

In recent 20 years,liver transplantation has been rapidly developed in China,and the number of cases and patient outcomes have continued to improve.However,many problems emerged,such as mismatch of donor source and unbalanced distribution system,the research achievements lacking of innovation and core competitiveness,and clinical study level lags behind.In order to solve the problems mentioned above,the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University has carried out a series of work,such as expanding the donor pool,improving clinical technologies,and strengthening basic researches.

Objective To study on postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder at home and abroad,and to provide new idea of diagnosis,evaluation and treatment on postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder.Method A search using Medline,Embase,EBSCO,Cochrane Library,Web of Science (ISI),Pubmed databases and Google Scholar was carried out using the key words:obsessive compulsive disorder (and derivatives),perinatal,pregnancy,postnatal,postpartum,mothers (and derivatives),anxiety disorders and subtypes. These articles and their references were reviewed.Results Twenty-seven papers were incorporated,but no Chinese paper.The life prevalence of postpartum OCD was 2.3％-11.0％.The most common obsessions were aggressive,contamination and miscellaneous,and compulsion for washing/cleaning and checking.Cognitive behavioural therapy and SSRIs have been suggested as a fist-line treatment of postpartum OCD.Conclusion OCD is more prevalent in the postpartum period.The evidence that OCD in the postpartum period presents a distinctive clinical picture with specific symptomatology and course is more compelling.Collaborative,international,prospective studies that take into account the methodological and definitional issues raised in this review are necessary to provide clarification.

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the pharmacokinetic profiles of baicalin(a constituent in Sanhuang decoction) in rats.METHODS:Blood samples were collected as schedule from rats after intragastrically administration of Sanhuang decoction, then the content of baicalin was determined by HPLC and the chief pharmacokinetic parameters were computed.RE SU1TS:The chief pharmacokinetic parameters of baicalin in rats were as follows:t_(max1)=(15?4.23) min;t_(max2)=(6.8?0.54) h;C_(max1) =(4.49?1.56)?g?mL~(-1);C_(max2)=(3.25?1.23)?g?mL~(-1);AUC =(35.52?12.35)?g?h?mL ~(-1);t_(12)=(5.12?0.23)h;CL=(3.86?0.91) 1?h~(-1).CONCLUSION:The method is simple in sample treatment,rapid and accurate,specific and sensitive,and it can be used as a means for the monitoring of the serum concentration of baicalin containing Chinese patent medicines and so as to provide reference for clinical rational drug use.

Objective To observe the clinical effect of gemcitabine combined with nedaplatin concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy in treatment of advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods Seventy-six advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were divided into observation group(38 cases)and control group(38 cases)by radom digits table.The patients in observation group were treated with gemcitabine combined with nedaplatin concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.The patients in control group were treated with fluorouracil combined with cisplatin concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.The clinical effect and adverse reaction were compared between two groups.Results The total effective rate in observation group was 84.2％(32/38),which significantly higher than that in control group[60.5％(23/38)](P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in 1 year overall survival rate between two groups[89.5％ (34/38)vs.76.3％(29/38)](P ＞ 0.05).The rate of gastrointestinal reactions and oral ulcers in observation group were 42.1％(16/38)and 7.9％(3/38),which significantly lower than those in control group[73.7％ (28/38),31.6％(12/38)](P ＜ 0.05).The rate of bone marrow suppression between two groups had no significant difference[31.6％(12/38)vs.23.7％(9/38)](P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Gemcitabine combined with nedaplatin concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy in treatment of advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma can enhance the clinical effect,and decrease the adverse reaction,which can be applied in clinic.

Objective To investigate the significance of Th 17 cells, Treg cells and Th17/Treg cell-associated cytokines in the development of tuberculous pleurisy through detecting the expressions of Th 17 cells and Treg cells (CD4+CD25+Foxp3+) in CD4+T cells, analyzing concentrations of IL-17, IL-23, IL-6 and TGF-βin serum of patients with tuberculous pleurisy and healthy controls and measuring levels of IL -17, IL-23, IL-6 and TGF-βin hydrothorax of patients with tuberculous pleurisy .Methods Flow cytometry was used to detect expressions of Th 17 and Treg cells in peripheral blood of patients with tuberculous pleurisy and healthy controls.ELISA method was performed for quantitative detection of concentrations of IL -17, IL-23, IL-6 and TGF-βin serum and hydrothorax .Differences and correlations between the above measured data were analyzed by the statistical software SPSS 17.0.Results Compared with the healthy control group , the expressions of Th17 cells in peripheral blood of the patients were significantly increased (1.02%±0.20%vs.0.89%±0.13%, P=0.002<0.05), while the expressions of Treg cells were significantly decreased (4.64%±0.77%vs.5.10%±0.90%, P=0.000<0.05).Correspondingly, the ratio of Th17/Treg cells (0.25±0.07) in the patients were significantly higher than that in the healthy controls (0.17±0.05, P=0.000<0.05).Concentrations of IL-17, IL-23 and IL-6 in peripheral blood and in hydrothorax of the pa-tients were (17.49±3.94) ng/L, (90.42±23.06) ng/L, (4.54±1.02) ng/L and (26.13±5.98) ng/L, (122.26±31.71) ng/L, (5.31±0.74) ng/L respectively, which were remarkably higher than the levels of IL-17 (14.45±3.81) ng/L, IL-23 (77.55±20.26) ng/L and IL-6 (4.26±0.91) ng/L in control group. In tuberculous pleurisy group , concentrations of IL-17, IL-23 and IL-6 in hydrothorax were significantly higher than those in peripheral blood with P values of 0.000, 0.000 and 0.003.There was no difference be-tween IL-6 levels in peripheral blood from patients and IL-6 levels in peripheral blood from the healthy con-trols, P=0.274.In comparison with the control group , TGF-βlevels in peripheral blood and in hydrothorax of the patients were significantly decreased (3.95 ng/L±0.79 ng/L, 3.12 ng/L±0.77 ng/L vs.3.32 ng/L ±0.80 ng/L) .In tuberculous pleurisy patients , the expression of Th17 cells in peripheral blood was nega-tively correlated with Treg cells in peripheral blood (r=-0.684, P=0.000<0.05), but was positively relat-ed to the levels of IL-17, IL-23 and IL-6 (r=0.479, 0.441, 0.326, P=0.013, 0.015, 0.017).TGF-βlevel had significantly positive correlations with Treg cells in the peripheral blood of the patients (r=0.297, P=0.024), but no significant correlation with Th17 cells was found (r=0.091, P=0.659).Conclusion Th17/Treg cell-associated cytokines might regulate the expressions of Th 17 and Treg cells and inflammatory reaction.Changes of Th17 cells, Treg cells and related cytokines might be important immunopathological mechanisms for tuberculous pleurisy .

BACKGROUND: Neurasthenia is commonly believed attributing to the complex influence of psychological, social and biological factors.OBJECTIVE: To probe the correlation of neurasthenia with personality,life events and the positive rate of serum Epstein-Barr (EB) virus.DESIGN: Case-controlled observation and prospective paired analysis.SETTING: Mental Health Institute of Second Xiangya Hospital Affiliated to Central South University.PARTICIPANTS: From May to October 2000, patients with neurasthenia,selected from the Clinical Ward of Mental Health Institute of Second Xiangya Hospital Affiliated to Central South University for medical treatment,19 males and 11 females, with mean age of (27±8), the course of disease ranged from 0.5 to 20 years with the average of 4.0 years, enrolled in this study. According to 1:1 paired principle, 30 matched volenteers, their relatives, or students of Xiangya Hospital were randomly selected as controls.Two groups were matched in age, sex and education, patients with psychological and physical disease were excluded. All participants were given written informed consent.METHODS: The level of serum EB virus IgG and IgM of two groups were determined by using ELISA methods. Blood samples were colleted before and after treatment in experimental group, while blood samples were only collected once in control group. Patients in experimental group were given routine medication and integrative psychotherapy according to their state of illness, and Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ) were filled in before and after treatment (including four dimensionalities: neuroticism, psychoticism, extroversion/introvision and lie, amongst which higher scores for extroversion/introvision dimensionality represented extroversion and lower dimensionality represented introvision; higher scores of neuroticism dimensionality suggested anxiety and worry. Higher scores for psychoticism suggested solitude and inadaptability to the outer environment), life events scale (including the total score for life events, positive events value and negative events value), and symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90) (consists of 10 factors scored of 0-4, representing non-symptom to severer symptom) were used to assess the clinical symptom. EPQ and SCL-90 were adopted on patients at four months after treatment for self-comparison. EPQ and life events scale were taken on healthy controls, the scores compared with that of experimental group before treatment.for EPQ, the total scores for SCL-90 and positive rate of EB virus in patients with neurasthenia before and after treatment.RESULTS: Totally 27 patients were followed up at 4 months after treatment, and 3 cases lost due to long distance from hospital, thereby 27 cases in experimental group and 30 cases in control group were remained in the roticism in neurasthenia group was significantly higher than that of control group (57.59±10.79, 40.58±8.68, t=6.536, P ＜ 0.01), scores of extroversion/introvision were obviously lower than that of control group (46.31 ±10.79, 53.50±11.28, t=3.203, P ＜ 0.01). In neurasthenic group, scores for neuroticism was obviously decreased after treatment in contrast to before events scale: The total scores and negative scores in neurasthenia group was significantly higher than that of control group (19.73±17.25, 18.93 tal scores for SCL-90: The total scores for SCL-90 was obviously declined after treatment comparing to that of before treatment in neurasthenia of EB virus IgG and IgM: The positive rate in neurasthenia group was significantly higher than that of control group (76.67% vs 26.67% );and positive rate of serum EB virus were proved to be two important pathogenic factors for neurasthenic patients.CONCLUSION: Patients with neurasthenia possess susceptible personality, such as neuroticism and introvision, and commonly experienced negative life events before illness. Moreover the positive rate of EB virus in neurasthenic patients is higher, which might be associated with the higher glucocorticoidinduced EB virus activation under stress state.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) barrier membrane in guided periodontal tissue regeneration(GTR) . Methods:Nine patients with Ⅱ～Ⅲ furcation lesions were treated by guided tissue regeneration using ePTFE membrane. The membrane was retrieved 5 weeks after operation and examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) . Results:Large amount of lymphocytes were found on the external upper surfaces of ePTFE, with a little bacteria. The external lower surface of ePTFE was full of fibrocytes, red blood cells and lymphocytes.Conclusion:ePTFE membrane is biocompatible and can close the primary wound over a barrier which stops the downgrowth of junctional epithelium at the early stage of periodontal tissue repair after operation.