ObjectiveTo evaluate the consistency of HER2 gene status before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer by FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) and IHC (immunohistochemistry) techniques,and analyze the factor of the difference in the result and the feasibility of HER2 gene tested by FISH in the neoadjuvant chemotherapy breast cancer patients.Methods FISH and IHC for HER2 gene expression status was performed on the archival paraffin-embedded sections of breast cancer tissues before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy from 135 Chinese female patients,x2 test of paired comparison of enumeration data and Kappa analysis were used to compare the difference and consistency of this two techniques.ResultsThe detection rate of HER2 status in punctured cancer tissues before neoadjuvant chemotherapy by FISH and HER2 did not show statistical difference in our research while the opposite result were showed in cancer tissues after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Moreover,the two techniques of HER2 test were less concordant in patients accepted taxanes neoadjuvant chemotherapy than CAF treatment.ConclusionsThe consistency of FISH and IHC techniques of cancer tissues before neoadjuvant chemotherapy gained advantage compared to the ones after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy especially taxanes should take the test of HER2 gene status by FISH technique.

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of Yiqi Wenyang Huoxue Lishui principle (YWHL, a therapeutic principle with Chinese medicine for reinforcing Qi warming Yang, activating blood circulation and promoting urination) on some neuroendocrine factors in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).

METHODSForty-nine patients of CHF with heart function of grade III-IV were randomly divided into 2 groups. The 29 cases in the treated group were treated with YWHL and the 20 cases in the control group treated with captopril. Changes of angiotensin II (AT II), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), endothelin (ET), nitric oxide (NO) and alpha-granule membrance protein -140 (GMP-140) were observed.

RESULTSAfter treatment, plasma level of AT II, ANP, ET, and NO lowered in both groups with insignificant difference, but the GMP-140 reduced more significantly in the treated group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONYWHL showed a regulatory effect of neuroendicrine system partially similar to that of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, it possibly can improve the ventricular remodeling and would be beneficial to prevent the thrombus formation and improve heart failure by means of inhibiting platelet activity.

Adult ; Aged ; Angiotensin II ; blood ; Atrial Natriuretic Factor ; blood ; Coronary Disease ; complications ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Heart Failure ; drug therapy ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neurosecretory Systems ; drug effects ; P-Selectin ; blood ; Phytotherapy

Acupuncture Points ; Administration, Cutaneous ; Asthma ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Moxibustion

A cellulase high-yield strain was identified and named as Trichoderma longibrachiatum SSL by ITS sequence identification. The endoglucanase1 gene (eg1) encoding endo-l,4-?-D-glucanase I was ampli-fied by RT-PCR method, which including 1386 bp and encoding 461 amino acid. Sequence analysis showed that: This gene has a more 90% homology with the T. longibrachiatum eg1 gene. The eg1 gene encoding the mature peptide was inserted into the Pichia pastoris expression vector pPIC9K, which resulted in construc-tion of the recombinant expression plasmid, pPIC9k-eg1. The pPIC9k-eg1 was then introduced into the host Pichia pastoris GS115. After the induction of methanol, extracellular recombinant endoglucanase I from the supernatant of the recombinant Pichia pastoris strain reached 73 U/mL. A clear strengthening of the protein bands, whose molecular weight is about 58 kD, appeared in the SDS-PAGE.

OBJECTIVETo study the curative effect of Zhiyang Pingfu Liquid (ZPL) in treating epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors (EGFRIs) associated adverse reactions of the skin.

METHODSAll 54 patients with pathologically confirmed malignant tumor had EGFRIs induced adverse reactions of the skin to various degrees. ZPL was externally applied for them all, once or twice per day, 14 days consisting of one therapeutic course. Changes of adverse skin reactions, time for symptoms relief, adverse skin reaction types suitable for ZPL were observed before and after treatment.

RESULTSEGFRIs associated skin adverse reactions were improved to various degrees after they used ZPL. The shortest symptoms relief time was 1 day while the longest was 12 days, with an average of 6.93 days and the median time 7 days. Compared with before treatment, itching, rash/scaling, acne/acneform eruptions were obviously improved (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONZPL could alleviate EGFRls associated adverse skin reactions, especially showed better effect on itching, rash/scaling, acne/acneform eruptions.

Antineoplastic Agents ; adverse effects ; Biomedical Research ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Exanthema ; chemically induced ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Pruritus ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Skin ; drug effects ; Skin Diseases ; drug therapy

OBJECTIVEA large body of experimental and clinical observations indicates that disturbances in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and impaired cerebrovascular autoregulation are important in the pathogenesis of germinal matrix-intraventricular hemorrhage (GMH-IVH) and periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), the 2 most important forms of brain injury in pretmature infants. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been used recently to estimate CBF in human newborns. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the correlation of NIRS estimations and cerebral blood flow in newborn piglets, which in turn may help provide the ideal NIRS estimation reflecting the changes of cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular autoregulation.

METHODSTen newborn piglets, aged 1 - 3 days, were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: normal control group (n = 6) and hypotension group (n = 4). Hypotension was induced by withdrawing blood from an arterial catheter. We NIRS was used to determine quantitative changes in cerebral concentrations of oxygenated hemoglobin (DeltaHbO(2)) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (DeltaHHb), then calculated NIRS estimations DeltatHb (DeltaHbO(2)+DeltaHHb) and DeltaHbD (DeltaHbO(2)-DeltaHHb). Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was determined by colored microspheres, and mean artery blood pressure (MABP) measured by arterial catheter pressure transducer was recorded simultaneously. Linear regression methods were used to analyze the relationships between NIRS estimations, CBF measured by micropheres, and MABP.

RESULTSThe correlation of NIRS estimations and CBF was quantitated by calculating coherence scores. A coherence of 1.0 indicates perfect correlation, a coherence of 0 indicates a complete lack of correlation. In the norm group, the experimental study showed strong correlations beween DeltaHbD, DeltatHb and changes in global CBF (GCBF), cerebral cortex CBF (CBFc), coherence scores r(1a) = 0.409, r(1b) = 0.440, r(2a) = 0.394 and r(2b) = 0.400, respectively, P < 0.05. In the hypotension group, the decrease of CBF was significant when the MABP dropped to 35 mm Hg (P < 0.05). With the decreasing MABP, there was a notable increase of DeltaHHb (P < 0.01), a modest increase (P < 0.05) at the beginning and then a marked fall (P < 0.01) of DeltaHbO(2) and DeltatHb was noted when the MABP dropped to 35 mm Hg. DeltaHbD decreased in parallel with the decline in CBF determined by colored microspheres, DeltaHbD varied with CBF during hypotensive episodes. Notably, there was a very strong correlations between DeltaHbD and changes in CBF (coherence scores GCBF r(3a) = 0.890, CBFc r(3b) = 0.887, P < 0.01); Importantly, decreases in DeltatHb did not correlate significantly with decreases in CBF during hypotension (coherence scores GCBF r(4a) = 0.395, CBFc r(4b) = 0.375, P > 0.05). Concordant changes (correlation coefficient > 0.5) in DeltaHbD, CBF and MABP, consistent with impaired cerebrovascular autoregulation, were observed in newborn piglets when MABP was less than 35 mm Hg. When MABP was more than 35 mm Hg, newborn piglets with intact cerebrovascular autoregulation in which CBF are maintained constant despite alternations in MABP have shown inconsistent changes in DeltaHbD, CBF and MABP (correlation coefficient < 0.5).

CONCLUSIONDeltaHbD signal is more sensitive to changes in CBF than DeltatHb signal, in terms of cerebral hemodynamic changes both in normal and hypotensive conditions, while DeltatHb in normal condition. The lower limit of CBF autoregulation in newborn piglets aged 1 - 3 days was 35 mm Hg, and correlation between NIRS estimation (DeltaHbD) and MABP could be used to identify cerebrovascular autoregulation in newborn piglets.

Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Blood Flow Velocity ; drug effects ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; physiology ; Homeostasis ; Hypotension ; physiopathology ; Oxygen ; metabolism ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared ; methods ; Swine

Silica gel column chromatography was used for the isolation and purification of the chemical constituents of the pericarp of Illicium macranthum. From dichloromethane-EtOAc (1:1) fraction and EtOAc fraction of the methanol extracts, eleven compounds were identified on the basis of chemical and spectral data. Two new compounds were elucidated to be 6-deoxyneomajucin (1) and 2-oxo-6-deoxyneomajucin (2), along with nine known compounds 6-deoxypseudoanisatin (3), pseudoanisatin (4), anisatin (5), pseudomajucin (6), protocatecheuic acid (7), shikimic acid (8), shikimic acid methylester (9), beta-sitosterol (10) and daucosterol (11). Compounds 1 and 2 are new majucin-type sesquiterpene lactones.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Illicium ; chemistry ; Lactones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Molecular Structure ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Sesquiterpenes ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Shikimic Acid ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Sitosterols ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Spiro Compounds ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

A fragment containing amino acid residues 561～578 of HSV-2 glycoprotein G(gG2) was obtained by PCR assembling technique,and doubly cloned into vector pET-KDO.The recombinant plasmid was transformed to BL21(DE3)plysS.Fusion protein,of molecular weight about 39kDa was highly expressed by induction of IPTG.Western blot result showed the fusion protein had good antigenicity.After putification and digestion,the purity reached 95%.The digested purified protein was analysed by ELISA and showed good sensitivity and specificity.The recombinant protein should be useful for type-specific serodiagnosis of HSV-2.

Objective The primary purposes of this article were to examine the distributions and correlation between conditions of sleep and the quality of life,so as to explore the risk factors of abnormal sleep among elderly in the rural areas of Anhui province.Methods Elderly who aged 60 years or more (n= 1680) were randomly selected from rural areas in Anhui province.Conditions of sleep and quality of life of the subjects were assessed independently,using the pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQ1) scale and SF-36 scale.A generalized logistic model analysis was performed,using sleep-related factors as explanatory variables.Results The average PSQI score was 7.43 + 4.13.Persons whose sleep conditions were graded as well,common or poor were accounted for 29.4%,24.3%,46.3%,respectively.Sex and sleep quality were different in terms of quality of life among all the factors (P＜0.05).Men had better quality than women,and poor sleepers had poorer quality of life as compared to the one with better conditions.Factors as being married/living alone/economically independent,having better social function,often eating meat or wheat were significant predictors for having good sleep conditions.However,factors as better education received,living alone,with poor vitality/general health,having chronic diseases (back pain,coronary heart or stomach disease),less meat intake,rice as major foods etc.were predictors for poorer sleeping condition.Conclusion Our data showed that it was unsatisfactory on the quality of sleep among the rural elderly in Anhui province.Conditions on general,health and nutrition should be improved in order to prevent the poor sleep condition.

OBJECTIVETo verify the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with auricle cutting method for treatment of blood stasis-type psoriasis.

METHODSFifty-six cases of blood stasis-type psoriasis were randomly divided into a combined therapy group, a auricle cutting group, an acupuncture group and a control group, 14 cases in each one. Based on regular treatment of TCM decoction in four groups, the combined therapy group was treated with acupuncture and auricle cutting method, and the auricle cutting group was treated with sham-acupuncture and auricle cutting, and the acupuncture group was treated with acupuncture and sham auricle cutting, and the control group was treated with sham-acupuncture and sham auricle cutting. The acupuncture was applied at Dazhui (GV 14), Feishu (BL 13), Ganshu (BL 18) and Geshu (BL 17), etc., and manipulated with routine technique; in the sham acupuncture, the needle was inserted into dermis layer so that the needles could be swung without being dropped out. In the auricle cutting, erbeixin (P1) of unilateral auricle was selected and cut by Chan needle to perform bloodletting; in the sham auricle cutting, the neighborhood approximately 0.5 cm next to erbeixin (P) of auricle was selected as cutting area. The treatment was given once a day, seven days as a treatment session for totally two sessions. Psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) before and after treatment was observed and efficacy of each group was compared.

RESULTSThe effective rate was 57.1% (8/14) in the combined therapy group, which was superior to 14.3% (2/14) in the auricle cutting group, 7.1% (1/14) in the acupuncture group and 0.0% (0/14) in the control group (all P < 0.05). The scores of PASI were all decreased in each group after the treatment (all P < 0.05), which was the most significant in the combined therapy group (all P < 0.05). After factorial analysis, the main effect was P < 0.05 in the auricle cutting, P < 0.05 in the acupuncture and P < 0.05 in interaction effect of combined therapy.

CONCLUSIONThe scores of PASI of blood stasis-type psoriasis could be effectively reduced by acupuncture, auricle cutting method and TCM decoction, among which the interaction effect of auricle cutting and acupuncture combined with TCM decoction is the most significant.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Bloodletting ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Ear ; blood supply ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Psoriasis ; blood ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult