Aim To investigate the effects of iptakalim(IPT),a novel K_(ATP) opener,on the functions of endothelin system in human pulmonary artery endothelial cells.Methods Primary cultured human pulmonary artery endothelial cells were incubated with different concentrations iptakalim for 24 h.The levels of ET-1 in medium were observed by radioimmunoassay.Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)was performed to analyze the expression of ET-1 and ECE.Results When endothelial cells were incubated with IPT at concentrations above 10 μmol·L~(-1),the levels of ET-1 release in medium and the levels of ET-1 mRNA were significantly inhibited.When endothelial cells were incubated with IPT at concentrations above 1 μmol·L~(-1),the levels of ECE mRNA were significantly inhibited.Conclusions IPT can inhibit the expression of ET-1 and ECE mRNA from human pulmonary artery endothelial cells, thus it inhibits the secretion of ET-1 from endothelial cells. Iptakalim may serve as a promising candidate drug to treat pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Radiation pneumonitis is one of the most common complications during radiotherapy of thoracic tumors. It impacts the quality of life of the patients and has life-threatening danger. However, there is a lack of drugs for prevention and treatment of this disease. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of Liangxue Jiedu Huoxue Decoction, a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, in prevention of radiation pneumonitis. Design, setting, participants and interventions: A prospective randomized clinical study was conducted. A total of 100 patients diagnosed with lung cancer from Department of Radiotherapy, Chinese PLA General Hospital, who were planning to receive radiotherapy, were randomly assigned into treatment group and control group, with 50 patients in each group. In the treatment group 3 cases were lost to follow-up and one case was excluded, while in the control group 6 cases were lost to follow-up and 2 cases were excluded. Patients in the treatment group were treated with Liangxue Jiedu Huoxue Decoction in addition to radiotherapy, while patients in the control group were treated with radiotherapy alone. Main outcome measures: The incidence rates of radiation pneumonitis in the two groups were calculated. Acute radiation injury scoring criteria by Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), clinical-radiographic-physiologic (CRP) score system, and Karnofsky Performance Status Scale (KPS) were used to evaluate the status of the patients. Results: The incidence rate of radiation pneumonitis was lower in the treatment group than in the control group (13.04% versus 33.33%, P<0.05). According to the RTOG scale, the extent of lung injury was improved in the treatment group as compared with that in the control group (P<0.05). The CRP score in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). The KPS score in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Liangxue Jiedu Huoxue Decoction can decrease the incidence rate of radiation pneumonitis, reduce the extent of the lung injury, alleviate the symptoms of radiation pneumonitis, and improve life quality of the patients.

Objective To analyze the projects on the infectious disease epidemiology sponsored by the National Natural Sci?ence Foundation of China(NSFC),explore the hotspot and development trend,and offer a reference for researchers in this field. Methods Based on the NSFC database,the projects on the infectious disease epidemiology(H2609)sponsored from 1987 to 2014 were analyzed. The changes of fund numbers,amounts and research fields were described. Results During the study period,NSFC sponsored 373 projects,including 228 general projects(61.1%),78 youth projects(20.9%)and 67 other projects(18.0%). The average amount of the grant was 358.2 thousand Yuan(20 thousand?8 million). The main sponsored re?search fields were mechanisms of pathogen and immunity(36.2%)and population?based epidemiological studies(33.0%). The top three diseases were hepatitis,HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Conclusion The amount of funding on researches of infectious disease epidemiology has increased continuously,which has played an important role in training scientific talents in the field of prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Based on photon counting mode,a multi-channel continuous-wave(CW) diffuse optical tomography(DOT) system is designed for galactophore inspection.For the acquisition of dynamic information,the instrument adopts the non-intermittent counters to achieve the function of width-adjustable moving gate.The width of the moving gate can be changed from 50 microseconds to about 10 seconds,and correspondingly the total temporal span of the measurement ranges from several milliseconds to tens seconds,depending on the preset gate number.The data transfer as well as the system control is through the universal serial bus(USB) 2.0 technique,with which the system can readily extended for a variety of applications requiring different spatial resolution.

Abstract: Neurotensin receptor-1 (NTR1), which can stimulate the intracellular cascade signal pathway, belongs to the large superfamily of G-protein coupled receptors. NTR1 is related to the occurrence and development of several kinds of diseases. In order to screen the inhibitors for the cancers associated with NTR1 protein, we established a CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) cell line in which human neurotensin receptor-1 was highly expressed. The method is to construct the recombinant plasmid which was lysed with the hNTR1 gene and transfect it into CHO cells. After selected with G418, the cell line was evaluated by Western blotting analysis and calcium flux assays. Through the calcium flux assays on FlexStation 3, we got the EC50 value of neurotensin peptide which is the natural NTR1 agonist, and the IC 50 value of SR48692 which is the known NTR1 antagonist. The established human CHO/NTR1 cell line can be used to study the profile of NTR1 biological activity and further screen of NTR1 antagonists and agonists.

0.05). There were 17 cases with sli g ht adverse reactions. Conclusion The herbal decoction L iangxue Huayu Formula is e ffective in the 6-month observation period for the wet AMD cases through sta bilizing the conditions of retinal hemorrhage, exudation, and accumulated damage with low incidence of untoward reactions. It's a safe method for treatment.

Background and purpose:The greastest diameter of cervical cancer with stage Ⅰ_(b2) disease was more than 4 cm in diameter. surgery as the fi rst priority was diffi cult in these patients, bleeding was the most frequent adverse effect. This article studied the effect of the cervical cancer with stage Ⅰ_(b2) disease underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabin plus cisplatinum(DDP). Methods:23 cases (A groups) stage Ⅰ_(b2) cervical cancer were treated with gemcitabin 1.5 g/m2 iv infusion at d1, plus cisplatinum(DDP) 20 mg/m2 iv infusion at d1-3. The interval between the two cycles was two weeks.19 cases (B groups) were treated with cisplatinum(DDP) 20 mg/m2 iv infusion at d1-3,plus VCR 1.5 g/m2 iv infusion at d1, and BLM 10 mg/m2 im at d1-3, The interval between the two cycles was three weeks. The assessment for clinical effect and side effect were conducted for the patients with completion of at least two cycles of chemotherapy. Results:42 cases were enrolled in this trial. There was signifi cant(P=0.004) difference between the two groups with the shrinkage of the greatest diameter after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The main toxicities were myelosuppression. There was signifi cant (P

The matching algorithm based on mutual information, which has the advantages of high speed, good automation and superion accuracy, is widely used in medical image registration. In this paper are presented the basic conception of mutual information, the transform model, the insert value algorithm, the optimization algorithm and the strategy in computing mutual information. Furthermore, we introduce some efficient methods for solving the problems in registration technique based on mutual information, and look forward to the future research work.
Algorithms ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Medical Informatics ; methods ; Registries

Objective To study the expression of thymic stromal lymphopoietin(TSLP) and the activation of DCs in OVA-induced murine asthma model, and investigate the effects and underlying mecha-nisms of TSLP on lung inflammation. Methods Thirty BALB/c mice were randomly divided into control group, OVA group and TSLP neutralizing antibody treated group. The asthma model was evaluated by airway responsiveness and histological analysis of lung tissues ; The levels of TSLP mRNA in lungs were determined by quantitative real-time PCR; The expression of TSLP in lungs were determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot; The expression of CD40, CD80, CD86 in BALF was detected by FACS. Results Both the histological analysis of lung tissues and the airway responsiveness were all consistent with the characteris-tic of murine asthma model. The expression of TSLP and TSLP mRNA in the OVA group was significantly in-creased compared with blank group. The expression of CD40, CD80, CD86 in BALF from OVA group was increased significantly compared with the control group. Furthermore, treating mice with TSLP neutralizing antibody reduced the expression of CD40, CD80, CD86 on dendritic cells, and IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 in the OVA group. Conclusion Our study indicate that TSLP was highly expressed in the bronchial epithelia of murine asthma model, via upregulation of CD40, CD80, CD86, induce DCs to active CD4~+ T cells and pro-duce type 2 responses, so that aggravating the lung inflammation of asthma. Blocking TSLP is capable of in-hibiting the production of Th2 cytokines, thus presents a promising strategy for the treatment of asthma.