Objective To study the clinical and pathologic features,histological criteria and pathologic factors contributing to diagnosis of mixed epithelial and mesenchymal tumors(mixed m?llerian tumors,MMT)of the uterus.Methods A retrospective study of 102 cases of MMT of the uterus (74 adenofibromas including 9 recurrent cases,3 atypical polypoid adenomyomas,2 carcinofibromas,10 adenosareomas and 13 carcinosarcomas)was undertaken.Clinical records,gross features and tissue slices were reviewed.The follow-up data were analysed.Results The most common symptom was vaginal bleeding.Clinical signs included pelvic mass,uterine polyps,and enlarged uterus.Benign MMT usually presented as exophytic polypoid masses extending into the uterine cavity or protruding through the external os,often broad-based,lobulated and papillary.It was hard to distinguish low-grade malignant MMT from the benign ones by gross appearance.High-grade malignant MMT had the common gross features of carcinoma and sarcoma.Histologically,MMT showed a biphasic differentiation of mesenchymal and epithelial components.MMT were classified according to whether these elements were benign or malignant.Nine cases of adenofibroma without unique features for the diagnosis of adenosarcoma recurred at postoperative intervals of 3 to 96 months.Recurrent tumors were almost always confined to the original site.Conclusions Uterine MMT tumors according to WHO diagnostic criteria are not rare.The differential diagnosis depends on a multifactorial analysis.The recurrent adenofibromas may be a kind of borderline tumors with benign appearances and malignant behavior.

Objective To establish a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for determining phenytoin concentration in epilepsy patients' plasma,and compare this method with chemiluminescence microparticle immunoassay (CMIA),and to evaluate the consistency of the two methods.Methods HPLC and CMIA methods were applied to determine the plasma concentration of phenytoin in 60 epileptic patients,respectively.The difference of results was analyzed by two-side paired t-test,and then the correlation and consistency of the two methods were investigated with Passing-Bablok regression and Bland-Altman method.Results There was no significant difference between the results of the two methods (P ＞0.05).The regression equation of the determination results by HPLC (Y) and CMIA (X) was Y=0.992 9X +0.143 7 (R2 =0.992 6,n =60),which indicated the correlation of the two methods was good.Bland-Altman analysis showed that the consistency of the two methods for determining was good.Conclusion HPLC and CMIA method in monitoring plasma concentration of phenytoin have good correlation and consistency.Both methods can be used for therapeutic drug monitoring of phenytoin.

Puerariae Lobatae Radix, also known as Gegen, is a root derived from Pueraria lobata. Based on field investigation and the developmental anatomy of root tuber, we have elucidated the relationship between the growth of root tuber and the anomalous structure. The results of analysis showed that the root system of P. lobata was developed from seed and adventitious root and there existed root tuber, adventitious root and conductive root according to morphology and function. The root tuber was developed from adventitious root, its secondary structure conformed to the secondary structure of dicotyledon's root. With the development of root, the secondary phloem of root tuber appeared abnormal vascular tissue, which was distributed like ring in the outside of secondary vascular tissue. The root tuber might have 4-6 concentric circular permutation abnormal vascular tissuelobate, and was formed by the internal development of abnormal vascular tissue. The xylem and phloem of abnormal vascular tissue were the main body of the root tuber. The results reveal the abnormal anatomical structure development of P. lobata, also provides the theoretical basis for reasonable harvest medicinal parts and promoting sustainable utilization of resources of P. lobata.
Plant Roots ; anatomy & histology ; growth & development ; Plant Tubers ; anatomy & histology ; growth & development ; Pueraria ; anatomy & histology ; growth & development

Fuzi is a medicine used for rescuing from collapse by restoring yang as well as a famous toxic traditional Chinese medicine. In order to ensure the efficacy and safe medication, Fuzi has mostly been applied after being processed. There have been different Fuzi processing methods recorded by doctors of previous generations. Besides, there have also been differences in Fuzi processing methods recorded in modern pharmacopeia and ancient medical books. In this study, the authors traced back to medical books between the Han Dynasty and the period of Republic of China, and summarized Fuzi processing methods collected in ancient and modern literatures. According to the results, Fuzi processing methods and using methods have changed along with the evolution of dynasties, with differences in ancient and modern processing methods. Before the Tang Dynasty, Fuzi had been mostly processed and soaked. From Tang to Ming Dynasties, Fuzi had been mostly processed, soaked and stir-fried. During the Qing Dynasty, Fuzi had been mostly soaked and boiled. In the modem times, Fuzi is mostly processed by being boiled and soaked. Before the Tang Dynasty, a whole piece of Fuzi herbs or their fragments had been applied in medicines; Whereas their fragments are primarily used in the modern times. Because different processing methods have great impacts on the toxicity of Fuzi, it is suggested to study Fuzi processing methods.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; history ; methods ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; History, 15th Century ; History, 16th Century ; History, 17th Century ; History, 18th Century ; History, 19th Century ; History, Ancient ; History, Medieval ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history ; methods ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry

OBJECTIVEHigh altitue pulmonary edema (HAPE) impacts seriously people's health at high altitude. Screening of susceptibility genes for HAPE will be used for the evaluation and protection of susceptible people.

METHODSWe performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using Affymetrix SNP array 6.0 in 23 HAPE patients and 17 healthy controls. GO and Pathway analysis softwares were used to analyze and draw gene network.

RESULTSThirty-nine SNPs were found to be significantly different between case and control groups (P < 10(-4)). GO and Pathway analysis of 27 genes around the 39 SNPs indicated that these genes mainly participate in the regulating of cell proliferation, regulation of nitrogen compound metabolic process and G-protein coupled receptor protein signaling pathway and so on.

CONCLUSIONIt suggests that these SNPs and genes found in this study may be associated with the susceptibility of HAPE.

Adult ; Altitude Sickness ; genetics ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the autophagy activity between rat bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) neural differentiation in order to explore the mechanism involve in this process.

METHODSBMSCs were passed by 3 generation, then was induced with the revulsant 2% (DMSO) + 200 µmol/L (BHA), NSE expression was detected by immunocytochemical stain, the mRNA expression of autophagy associated genes L3B, Beclinl, Atg5, Atg7, Atg10 were detected by RT-PCR, the autophagy protein LC3B was examined by Western blot and flow cytometry analysis.

RESULTSBMSCs were passed by 3 generation, the purity of BMSCs could reach more than 90%, the morphology of cells were like fibroblasts, after the revulsant 2% DMSO + 200 µmol/L BRA induced, cells were extended long neurites, like nerve cells, positive rate of NSE staining was (83±5) %, RT-PCR results showed that the expression of autophagy associated genes LC3B, Beclinl, Atg5, Atg7 Atg0 were rised after BMSCs neural differentiation, Western blot analysis showed that the LC3B-II protein expression was increased after neural differentiation and the MFI of L3B was highten by flow cytometry.

CONCLUSIONAutophagy is increased after rat BMSC neural differentiation.

Animals ; Autophagy ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Flow Cytometry ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Neurons ; cytology ; Rats

The applicator therapy is a unique method to treat infant diarrhea in traditional Chinese medicines and widely applied in clinical practice. Currently, many researchers have proved the rationality of the therapy based on the traditional Chinese medicine mechanism and on the data from clinical practice, but its action mechanism is uncertain at present. In this study, with the assistance of pediatric practitioners, the automated ribosomal intergenic-spacer analysis (ARISA) was adopted to study the effect of the adjuvant therapy with Dingguier umbilical paste on intestinal flora of diarrhea infants, in which Dingguier umbilical paste served as the adjuvant therapy in oral traditional Chinese medicines and fecal samples of infants with different diarrhea symptoms were collected and used as the study materials. The results showed that the adjuvant therapy had a significant effect on the shift of intestinal flora, which was associated with the decrease in the similarity difference to the normal control group and the increase in the number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) shared with the normal control group. Additionally, adjuvant therapy with Dingguier umbilical paste also showed long action duration and increased OTUs number. These results indicated that Dingguier umbilical paste has the effect in restoring the micro-ecosystem of unbalanced intestinal bacteria. Intestinal flora may be one of major targets for the applicator therapy for the infant diarrhea, but not for the single oral traditional Chinese medicine for infant diarrhea.
Adjuvants, Pharmaceutic ; therapeutic use ; Diarrhea ; drug therapy ; microbiology ; Feces ; microbiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Intestines ; drug effects ; microbiology ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Ointments ; Treatment Outcome ; Umbilicus

With reverse transcriptase PCR, the transcripton of copper homeostasis relative gene Afe0329 in Acidithiobacillus ferrooxians standard strain ATCC23270 was investigated. The further analysis of genes in this transcripton was analyzed employed by Vector NTI, Blast, TMHMM Server, PSORTb software and so on. From the DNA of different strains, the transcripton of Afe0329 was amplified using special primer pairs to identify the universality of it in the genome of A.ferrooxidans strains. The results showed that gene Afe0330 and Afe0331 were cotranscribed with Afe0329, and they were in a single transcripton. Gene Afe0329 was supported to express a P1b3-type ATPase which is a heavy metal ion pumping transmembrane protein, protein AFE0330 which expressed by gene Afe0330 was a cytoplasmic protein, no significant ho- mologous sequences of Afe0330 or Afe0331 had been obtained by Blast analysis. And the transcripton of Afe0329 was universal in genome of A. ferrooxidans strains.

The Notch signaling pathway has been implicated in the regulation of cell-fate decisions such as differentiation of embryo stem cells and neural stem cells into neurons. We cultured human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in vitro and induced hMSCs to differentiate into neural cells by beta-mercaptoethanol (beta-ME), DMSO and 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole (BHA). Immunocytochemistry was utilized to detect neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and Nissl body, and flow cytometry was used to determine cell growth phases. The expressions of signal molecules involved in the Notch pathway such as Notch1, Jagged 1 (JAG1), presenilin 1 (PS1) and hairy and enhancer of split 1(HES1) were observed by RT-PCR and immunofluorescent techniques. The results were as follows: (1) Before induction, the percentage of hMSCs at G(0)/G(1) was 58.5%, and the percentage at S+G(2)/M was 41.5%. After induction, the percentage of hMSCs at G(0)/G(1) increased to 73.1%, 76.2% and 78.1%, respectively on days 2, 4 and 6, and the percentage at S+G(2)/M decreased to 26.8%, 24.8% and 21.9%, respectively; The percentage of NSE-positive cells reached (77+/-0.35) %; Nisslos staining was positive in cytoplasm. (2) Notch1 and JAG1 were both expressed in hMSCs before and after induction, but the mRNA expressions of both Notch1 and JAG1, detected by RT-PCR, decreased obviously after induction(P<0.05). Notch1 mRNA/beta-actin was 1.157, 0.815, 0.756 and 0.570, and JAG1 mRNA/beta-actin was 0.437, 0.350, 0.314 and 0.362, respectively, on days 0, 2, 4 and 6 after induction. The Notch pathway activation participant PS1 mRNA and Notch pathway target gene HES1 mRNA also decreased apparently after induction (P<0.05), and their mRNA/beta-actin was 0.990, 0.449, 0.441, 0.454 and 0.370, 0.256, 0.266, 0.240 on days 0, 2, 4 and 6, respectively. These observations indicate that the expressions of Notch signal molecules were suppressed when hMSCs were induced to differentiate into neural cells. Based on these findings, we propose that low level of Notch signaling activation may contribute to neural cell differentiation.
Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors ; genetics ; Calcium-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Differentiation ; Flow Cytometry ; Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; genetics ; Jagged-1 Protein ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Neurons ; cytology ; Receptor, Notch1 ; genetics ; Receptors, Notch ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Serrate-Jagged Proteins ; Signal Transduction ; Transcription Factor HES-1

Animals ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; Depression/drug therapy* ; Fluoxetine ; Mice ; Stress, Psychological ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation