Acupuncture Analgesia ; Animals ; Central Nervous System ; metabolism ; Electroacupuncture ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Pain Threshold ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Diving ; Humans ; Otitis Externa ; prevention & control

Objective To evaluate the perfectibility of colposcopy directed biopsy for the diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial(CIN)through cervial conization by loop electrosurgical excision procedure(LEEP).Methods Biopsy by colposcopy and biopsy after LEEP were analyzed retrospectively in 108 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia to study the related factors of affecting the coincidence rate.Results Comparison of pathological hanges following both LEEP and colposcopy showed that 69 cases were the same,24 upgrade,and 15 downgrade.Conclusion LEEP is a kind of effective and perfect method for the specific diagnosis and treatment of CIN.Colposcopically directed biopsy has its limitations.

Deflazacort (DFZ, a prodrug) is well absorbed and rapidly metabolized into the active metabolite 21-hydroxydeflazacort (21-OH DFZ) after oral administration. The aim of this study is to evaluate the pharmacokinetic properties of 21-OH DFZ in healthy Chinese volunteers after a single and multiple oral administration of DFZ tablets under fed condition. Twelve volunteers (six males and six females) were administered a single dose of 6 mg or 12 mg or 24 mg of DFZ in three different periods separately, according to the 3 x 3 Latin square design. Between each administration period there was a washout period of one week. The multiple-dose study of 12 mg dose DFZ per day for 7 consecutive days was started after a 1 w washout period when the single-dose study completed. The pharmacokinetic parameters of 21-OH DFZ after the single oral administration of 6 mg, 12 mg and 24 mg DFZ tablets were as follows: (37.7 +/- 11.6), (61.5 +/- 17.7) and (123 +/- 23) ng x mL(-1) for C(max); (1.90 +/- 0.32), (1.96 +/- 0.27) and (2.13 +/- 0.34) h for t1/2; (96.6 +/- 25.9), (190 +/- 44) and (422 +/- 107) ng x h x mL(-1) for AUC(0-14 h), respectively. After the multiple dose administration, the mean plasma concentration at steady-state C(av) was (7.00 +/- 1.66) ng x mL(-1) and the degree of plasma concentration fluctuation DF was 7.7 +/- 1.2. The results showed that the pharmacokinetic characteristics of 21-OH DFZ in healthy Chinese volunteers were linear over the dose range of 6 to 24 mg. No significant gender differences were found in the pharmacokinetics of 21-OH DFZ in healthy Chinese volunteers. After the multiple dose administration of 12 mg DFZ for 7 d, no accumulation of 21-OH DFZ in healthy Chinese volunteers was observed.
Administration, Oral ; Area Under Curve ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Female ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Male ; Pregnenediones ; pharmacokinetics ; Tablets

Objective To study the cell vitality and ultra-structure of in vitro cultured fetus chondrocytes exposed to different doses of fluoride.Methods Primary chondrocytes were obtained from articular cartilage of the 24-27 weeks,aborted and dead fetuses.The third generation of primary cultured chondmcytes were exposed to concentrations of 0,10-2,5 × 10-3,10-3,10-4,10-5,10-6,10-7 and 10-8 mol/L fluoride for 24,48 and 72 h.Cell vitality was detected with Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and ultra-structure of chondrocytes was observed by transmission electron microscope.Results The cell vitalities of chondrocytes exposed to doses of fluoride (10-2,5 ×10-3,10-3,10-4,10-5,10-6,10-7 and 10-8 moL/L) for 24,48 and 72 h were(15.04 ± 0.55)％,(62.53 ± 1.03)％,(100.34 ± 5.19)％,(111.40 ± 3.69)％,(121.47 + 6.09)％,(129.95 ± 4.96)％,(121.81 ± 4.97)％,(111.00 ± 1.63)％;(10.35 ± 0.64)％,(35.23 ± 2.41)％,(110.30 ± 2.07)％,(113.66 ± 6.98)％,(120.36 ± 6.23)％,(133.40 ± 5.80)％,(126.06 ± 5.40)％,(115.62 ± 7.33)％; (6.19 ± 0.16)％,(18.44 ± 0.21)％,(120.83 ± 4.93)％,(123.77 ± 4.82)％,(129.09 ± 5.21)％,(140.44 + 4.18)％,(131.99 ± 7.00)％,(124.10 ± 3.68)％,respectively.The cell vitalities of 10-2,5 × 10-3 mol/L fluoride groups were significantly lower than that of the control group (all P ＜ 0.05).The cell vitality of 10-2 mol/L group was significantly lower than that of the 5 × 10-3 mol/L group (P ＜ 0.05).Doses of fluoride (10-2,5 × 10-3 mol/L) could inhibit the cell vitality and promote the apoptosis of chondrocytes in vitro with increasing doses and prolonged time.The cell vitalities of 10-3,10-4,10-5,10-6,10-7,10-8 mol/L of fluoride groups were significantly higher than that of the control group (except the 24 h 10-3 mol/L,P ＜ 0.05).Between 10-4 and 10-3 mol/L groups(the vitalities of 48 h and 72 h were higher,but not significantly); 10-5 and 10-4 mol/L groups (the vitality of 72 h was higher,but not significantly); 10-6 and 10-5 mol/L groups,the cell vitalities were significantly higher than that of the control group(all P ＜ 0.05).Between 10-7 and 10-6 mol/L groups,10-8 and 10-7 mol/L groups (the vitality of 72 h was lower,but not significantly),the cell vitalities were significantly lower than that of the control group(all P ＜ 0.05).Doses of fluoride(10-3-10-8 mol/L) could promote the cell vitality of chondrocytes in vitro with prolonged time.The optimal concentration for the promotion was 10-6 mol/L.The cells of the control group were characterized as regular morphology,the abnormal surface microvillis,abundant cytoplasm and mitochondrial,abundant and slightly expanded rough endoplasmic reticulums and low electron-dense materials.The cells of 10-6 mol/L fluoride group had the following changes,increased and swell mitochondrial,hypertrophy and expanded rough endoplasmic reticulums.The cells of 5 × 10-3 mol/L fluoride group had the following changes,decreased microvillis,invaginated cell membrane,pyknosis and apoptotic body.Conclusion Doses of fluoride (10-3-10-8 mol/L) can promote the proliferation of human chondrocytes cultured in vitro.Doses of fluoride (10-2,5 × 10-3 mol/L) can promote the apoptosis of human chondrocytes cultured in vitro.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was identified as a novel human coronavirus and posed great threat to public health world wide,which calls for the development of effective and safe vaccine urgently. In the study, peptide epitopes tagrgeting spike antigen were predicted based on bioinformatics methods. Nine polypeptides with high scores were synthesized and linked to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH). Female BALB/C mice were immunized with individual polypeptide-KLH, and the total IgG was detected by ELISA as well as the cellular mediated immunity (CMI) was analyzed using ELIs-pot assay. The results showed that an individual peptide of YVDVGPDSVKSACIEVDIQQTFFDKTWPRPIDVSKADGI could induce the highest level of total IgG as well as CMI (high frequency of IFN-γ secretion) against MERS-CoV antigen in mice. Our study identified a promising peptide vaccine candidate against MERS-CoV and provided an experimental support for bioinformatics-based design of peptide vaccine.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; immunology ; Computational Biology ; Coronavirus Infections ; immunology ; prevention & control ; virology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunization ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus ; genetics ; immunology ; Peptides ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology

Objective To investigate the immunogenicity and cross protective effects of two novel HCV DNA vaccines in a mice model.Methods Two self-replicating alphavirus vector-based HCV DNA vaccines, pSCK CE1E2Y and pSCK H155, were constructed based on the genes encoding the structural pro-teins (Core, E1 and E2) and structural and NS3 fusion proteins (Core, E1 , E2 and NS3) of a HCV strain isolated from a Chinese patient (genotype 1b, Hebei strain), respectively.Western blot analysis was per-formed to detect the expression of fusion antigens.The BALB/c mice were intradermally immunized with the recombinant DNA vaccines by using electroporation.The immune responses induced in mice and the cross protective effects of the recombinant DNA vaccines were evaluated.Results The DNA vaccines effectively expressed the target antigens in vitro.The antigen-specific antibody responses and specific T cell immune re-sponses were induced in mice by the immunization of replicative DNA vaccines.However, no effective cross protection was provided by either of the DNA vaccines in the surrogate challenge model based on a recombi-nant heterologous HCV (JFH1, 2a) vaccinia virus strain.Conclusion Although no effective cross protec-tion was observed, both of the two replicative DNA vaccines could induce strong humoral and cellular im-mune responses against multi-target antigens of HCV strains.This study has paved the way for further inves-tigation on the development of novel HCV vaccines.

Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Enoyl-CoA Hydratase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental ; metabolism ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Mice ; Plasmids ; Recombinant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo detect the expression of PSF1 (partner of Sld five 1) in colon cancer specimens, and to explore the effect of RNA interference targeting PSF1 on the proliferation of colon cancer cells and its mechanism.

METHODSExpression level of PSF1 protein in colon cancer specimens was detected by Western blot in 40 patients with colon cancer from May 2004 to December 2006. The short hairpin RNA (shRNA) plasmid targeting PSF1 was transfected into LOVO, HT-29 and HCT116 cells with liposome, then the expression level of PSF1 protein was measured by Western blot, the effect of PSF1 shRNA plasmid transfection on cell proliferation by MTT assay, anchorage-independent growth by soft agar colomy-formation assay, and PSF2, PSF3 and SLD5 mRNA expression by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTSThe relative expression level of PSF1 protein in colon cancer tissues was 0.485±0.113, which was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal mucosa tissues (0.056±0.014, P<0.01). Western blot showed that the expression level of PSF1 protein was significantly decreased in colon cancer cells transfected with PSF1 shRNA plasmid. After PSF1 shRNA plasmid transfection, cell proliferation was significantly suppressed, the soft agar colony-forming rates of LOVO, HT-29 and HCT116 cells were significantly lower than those in control groups (P<0.05), meanwhile the expression levels of PSF2, PSF3 and SLD5 mRNA were significantly decreased (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSPSF1 is significantly up-regulated in colon cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal mucosa tissues. ShRNA plasmid targeting PSF1 can inhibit the expression of PSF1 gene, suppress the proliferation of colon cancer cells, suggesting that it may be a new therapeutic target for colon cancer.

ATP-Binding Cassette Sub-Family B Member 2 ; ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters ; genetics ; metabolism ; Adult ; Aged ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Colonic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Transfection

The study on the Rauvolfia verticillata (Lour.) Baill., which belongs to Apocynaceae, was carried out to look for its chemical constituents and pharmacological activity. The isolation and purification were performed by chromatography on silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 and ODS (octadecyl silane) open column. The structures of obtained compounds were elucidated on the basis of physicochemical properties and spectral analysis. Three indole alkaloids and one acridone alkaloid were isolated from chloroform layer extract and identified as ajmalicine B (1), sandwicine (2), raunescine (3) and 7-hydroxynoracronycine (4) separately. Ajmalicine B (1) is a new compound belonging to indole alkaloid. Compound 4 as an acridone alkaloid was a new type compound isolated from Rauvolfia genus for the first time. We also did some biological activity research on the new type compound (4) to explore other pharmacological activities in addition to antihypertensive activity.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Indole Alkaloids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Intestine, Small ; physiology ; MCF-7 Cells ; Molecular Structure ; Muscle Relaxation ; drug effects ; Muscle, Smooth ; physiology ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rabbits ; Rauwolfia ; chemistry