In order to efficiently control the quality of the Tibetan medicine Gentianae Szechenyii Flos, the quality standard was established in this study. The tests of water content, total ash and ethanol-soluble extractives of the crude drugs were carried out based on the methods recorded in appendix of Chinese Pharmacopeia (2010 edition, volume 1). The TLC method was established by using reference drug and gentiournoside A as reference substance, and a mixture of ethyl acetate-methanol-water-formic acid (7: 1.5: 1: 0.2) as the developing solvent system on silica gel G TLC plate. The content of gentiournoside A was assayed by HPLC on a Ultimate XB-C18 (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 μm) column, using methanol-water (0.02% phosphoric acid) (52:48) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL x min(-1). The column temperature is 25 degrees C and the detection wavelength is at 240 nm. As a result, gentiournoside A and the other constituents were separated and presented the same fluorescence light comparing with the reference substance on TLC detected under the UV light(366 nm). The methodology validation for the assay of gentiournoside A showed that it was in a good linear correlation in the range of 10.01-400.32 mg x L(-1) with the regression equation of Y = 1 539.5X - 33.339 (r = 0.999 7), and the average recovery was 99.68% (RSD 1.92%). The mass fractions of gentiournoside A, water content, ethanol-soluble extractives of 19 batches samples were varied in the ranges of 14.48-31.51 mg x g(-1), 11.25% -12.74% and 24.21% - 31.60%, respectively, and total ash was 4.64% - 6.12% detected from 10 batches samples. The recommended standards of quantitative indexes are that the mass fractions of gentiournoside A and extractives are not less than 15.0 mg x g(-1) (1.5%) and 21.0%, respectively; the water and total ash are not more than 13.0% and 6.0%, respectively.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Chromatography, Thin Layer ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; standards ; Flowers ; chemistry ; Gentiana ; chemistry ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; Quality Control

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of ischemic postconditioning (IPostC) on pneumocyte apoptosis after lung ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

METHODSAdult male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups based upon the intervention (n = 8): control group (C), lung ischemic reperfusion group (LIR), LIR+ IPostC group (IPostC). At the end of the experiment, blood specimens drawn from the arteria carotis were tested for the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and myeloperoxidase (MPO); the pneumocyte apoptosis index (AI) was achieved by tennrminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end abeling (TUNEL); the expression of Bcl-2, Bax protein in lung tissue was accessed by quantitative immunohistochemistry (MHC) and Bcl-2, Bax mRNA by RT-PCR.

RESULTSIPostC could significantly attenuate the MDA level, MPO activity and improve SOD activity in blood serum which was comparable to I/R and significantly reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells compared with I/R group, expressed as Al (% total nuclei) from (39.0 +/- 3.46) to (8.0 +/- 0.88) (P < 0.01). The protein and mRNA expression of Bcl-2 and Bax showed that IPO significantly attenuated the ischemia/reperfusion-upregulated expression of Bax protein but improved the expression of Bcl-2 that improved the Bcl-2/Bax ratio (P < 0.01) .

CONCLUSIONIPostC may attenuate pneumocyte apoptosis in LIRI by up-regulating expression of Bcl-2/Bax ratio and by inhibiting oxidant generation and neutrophils filtration.

Alveolar Epithelial Cells ; cytology ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Ischemic Postconditioning ; Lung ; metabolism ; pathology ; Lung Injury ; physiopathology ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; physiopathology ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of Compound Tongtu Granule (CTG) on intestinal permeability in elderly sepsis patients.

METHODSEighty elderly sepsis patients were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group by randomized double blinded method, 40 in each group. On the basis of conventional antiseptic treatment program, patients in the experimental group took CTG, while those in the control group took placebos. The dosage for CTG or placebos was 14.3 g each package, one package each time, twice daily for 14 successive days. Patients' abdominal symptoms and signs, levels of serum inflammatory factors (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and procalcitonin), levels of plasma endotoxin, and the intestinal permeability (IP, represented by urinary lactulose/mannitol excretion rate) were compared between the two groups before and after treatment.

RESULTSAfter 14-day treatment, patients in the experimental group had improved abdominal symptoms, increased frequency of defecation, significantly decreased levels of plasma endotoxin and IP, when compared with the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONCTG could improve the intestinal barrier function in elderly sepsis patients.

Aged ; C-Reactive Protein ; metabolism ; Calcitonin ; metabolism ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide ; Defecation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Endotoxins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Intestines ; metabolism ; Permeability ; Protein Precursors ; metabolism ; Sepsis ; drug therapy ; physiopathology

Animals ; Hydrogen Sulfide ; metabolism ; Hypertension, Portal ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo improve the diagnosis and treatment of paratesticular embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (PER).

METHODSWe retrospectively studied the clinical data of 5 cases of PER treated from 1997 to 2009 and reviewed the relevant literature, focusing on its clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment.

RESULTSThe 5 cases of PER, 2 involving the spermatic cord, 2 the testis and 1 the tunica vaginalis, were all treated by radical orchiectomy. Pathologically, 2 cases were classified as stage I, 1 as stage II and 2 as stage IV. Postoperatively, 2 of the patients received chemotherapy and the other 3 refused adjunctive therapy. The patients were followed up for 6, 12, 18 and 28 months, respectively. Four of them remained free from relapse and metastasis, and 1 stage IV patient died of multiple metastasis at 6 months.

CONCLUSIONEarly diagnosis, radical orchiectomy and adjunctive chemo- or radio-therapy are effective means to the treatment of PER.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Neoplasm Staging ; Retrospective Studies ; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Embryonal ; Testicular Neoplasms

OBJECTIVETo screen childhood ALL related microRNAs (miRNAs), analyze association of miRNAs expression profiles with prognosis and relapse in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and explore new indicator for predicting relapse and prognosis.

METHODSmiRNAs expression profile was analyzed by gene chip in 49 newly diagnosed childhood ALL and 12 primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) cases (as control group). Abnormal expression of miRNAs was verified by qRT-PCR. The correlation of miRNAs expression pattern with indicators predicting early prednisone response and relapse within a year was analyzed.

RESULTSSpecific expression of miRNAs profiles associated with prednisone response and early relapse in childhood ALL was identified. Eight miRNAs (miR-18a, miR-532, miR-218, miR-625, miR-193a, miR-638, miR-550 and miR-633) could distinguish prednisone sensitive from insensitive. The early relapse of newly diagnosed patients with either high-risk or non-high-risk clinical types had some characteristics of abnormal expression of miRNAs, including miR-7, miR-216 and let-7i upregulated, while miR-486, miR-191, miR-150, miR-487 and miR-342 downregulated.

CONCLUSIONSThe initial screening reveals miRNAs differentially expressed from normal in ALL suggesting the potential roles of them in leukemogenesis. MiRNAs expression signatures may be useful for predicting prognosis and relapse in childhood ALL and directing personalized treatment.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; diagnosis ; genetics ; pathology ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Transcriptome

Objective To observe the concentration of the anti-HBs of children boosted with hepatitis A and B combined vaccine for 3 dosages, and to provide the basis for the implementation of hepatitis B booster immunization. Methods In September 2009 in Yuhuan by employing the cluster sampling method, 123 children, ranging from 6 to 9 years old, who had completed the basic immunization by 0-1-6 procedure without hepatitis B vaccine boosted and without anti-HBs were selected. In the year of 2011 (after 1 year of inoculation) and 2015 (5 years after inoculation), the venous blood samples were collected to determine the concentration of anti-HBs. Results Boosted with hepatitis A and B combined vaccine for 3 times, the anti-HBs of 102 subjects was tested in the next year, of which the anti-HBs of 82 subjects was detected again in the later 5 years. The results suggested that the positive rates of antibody enhanced were 92.16% after 1 year and 78.05% after 5 years, respectively. The average concentration of anti-HBs of these 82 subjects was 2.95 mIU/mL before inoculation, 141.76 mIU/mL one year later and 72.13 mIU/mL 5 years later and there was statistically significant difference among them (P <0.05) . The difference was not statistically significant between subjects with different years of birth (P>0.05) . Moreover, the interaction was existed between the year of blood detection and year of birth (P <0.05) . Conclusion To children aged 6-9 years old whose anti-HBs were negative after the primary immunization of hepatitis B, booster immunization with 3 dosages of hepatitis A and B combined vaccine shows good immune effect against hepatitis B virus.

PURPOSE: To compare the diagnostic efficiency of ⁶⁸Gallium labelled prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography (⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for staging the lymph node metastases (LNMs) in the prostate cancer.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A broad search of scientific databases including PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Database, and Chinese Biomedicine Literature Database (updated prior to November 1st, 2018) was conducted systematically by two reviewers. In this paper, we evaluated the methodological quality of each included article independently and performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to reveal the summary of the diagnostic performance of ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET and MRI in properly identifying LNMs of intermediate- and/or high-risk prostate cancer.RESULTS: Thirteen eligible articles comprising 1,597 patients were included. For LNMs detection, the pooled sensitivity and specificity of ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET were 0.65 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.49–0.79) and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.88–0.97), respectively, while the corresponding values of MRI were 0.41 (95% CI: 0.26–0.57) and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.86–0.95). The area under the symmetric receiver-operating characteristic (SROC) curve for ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET and MRI were 0.92 and 0.83, respectively.CONCLUSIONS: In intermediate- or high-risk pre-treatment prostate cancer, ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET had a higher sensitivity and a slightly different specificity in probing the LNMs when comparing with MRI. Moreover, the area under the SROC curve indicated that ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET was a more effective weapon for predicting the LNMs prior to radical surgery.

OBJECTIVEKawasaki disease (KD) is a form of acute multi-systemic vasculitis with unknown etiology. It is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children due to the frequent occurrence of coronary artery lesions (CALs). Recently, a C allele of rs28493229 (G/C) in inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate 3-kinase C (ITPKC) gene was found to significantly increase the risk for KD/CALs in Japanese population. It is important to confirm such finding in Chinese population to enable prognosis and personalized therapy for KD.

METHODSA case-control study was performed. The patient group has included 206 unrelated patients with KD, and the control group included 285 age, gender and ethnically matched children who never had KD. Genotyping of rs28493229 was performed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and DNA sequencing. The allele, genotype and C allele carrier frequencies were compared between the two groups, patients with or without CALs, and patients who were resistant or responsive to (intravenous immunoglobulin, IVIG) treatment.

RESULTSFrequency of the C allele of rs28493229 was significantly lower in both groups than that in the Japanese population (P< 0.01). No significant difference was detected between the two groups in terms of allele, genotype and C carrier of rs28493229 frequencies. Such frequencies were also similar between patients with or without CALs, resistant or responsive to IVIG treatment.

CONCLUSIONOur study has failed to prove any association between rs28493229 and KD/CALs in Chinese patients, which indicated that the C allele of rs28493229 may not be used as a molecular marker for determining KD susceptibility, prognosis and effect of treatment. The much lower frequency of C allele does not support its significance in the occurrence of KD/CALs in Chinese population. It is still necessary to find functional SNPs in ITPKC gene which is associated with KD/CALs in Chinese population.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins, Intravenous ; therapeutic use ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; genetics ; therapy ; Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUNDThe currently available polysomnography (PSG) equipments and operating personnel are facing increasing pressure, such situation may result in the problem that a large number of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients cannot receive timely diagnosis and treatment, we sought to develop a nomogram quantifying the risk of OSA for a better decision of using PSG, based on the clinical syndromes and the demographic and anthropometric characteristics.

METHODSThe nomogram was constructed through an ordinal logistic regression procedure. Predictive accuracy and performance characteristics were assessed with the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics and calibration plots, respectively. Decision curve analyses were applied to assess the net benefit of the nomogram.

RESULTSAmong the 401 patients, 73 (18.2%) were diagnosed and grouped as the none OSA (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] <5), 67 (16.7%) the mild OSA (5 ≤ AHI < 15), 82 (20.4%) the moderate OSA (15 ≤ AHI < 30), and 179 (44.6%) the severe OSA (AHI ≥ 30). The multivariable analysis suggested the significant factors were duration of disease, smoking status, difficulty of falling asleep, lack of energy, and waist circumference. A nomogram was created for the prediction of OSA using these clinical parameters and was internally validated using bootstrapping method. The discrimination accuracies of the nomogram for any OSA, moderate-severe OSA, and severe OSA were 83.8%, 79.9%, and 80.5%, respectively, which indicated good calibration. Decision curve analysis showed that using nomogram could reduce the unnecessary polysomnography (PSG) by 10% without increasing the false negatives.

CONCLUSIONSThe established clinical nomogram provides high accuracy in predicting the individual risk of OSA. This tool may help physicians better make decisions on PSG arrangement for the patients referred to sleep centers.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Multivariate Analysis ; Polysomnography ; utilization ; ROC Curve ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; diagnosis