Hepatitis B is a serious infectious disease worldwide, and hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the direct cause of this disease. In recent years, as an essential part of its evolutionary process, HBV mutation has been extensively studied domestically and globally. However, the study on the conserved sequences in HBV sequences is still in its infancy. In this study, we applied multiple EM for motif elicitation (MEME) algorithm to discover HBV motif and proposed a new metric, conservative index (CI), to carry out phylogenetic analysis based on HBV sequences. Then, the constructed phylogenetic tree was subjected to reliability assessment. The results demonstrated that the new metric CI combined with the MEME algorithm can effectively help to discover motifs in HBV sequences and construct a phylogenetic tree based on them and to analyze the evolutionary relationship between HBV sequences; in addition, the possible ancestral sequences of samples may be obtained by conservative analysis. The proposed method is valuable for the exploratory study on large HBV sequence data sets.
Computational Biology ; Conserved Sequence ; Evolution, Molecular ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; Humans ; Nucleotide Motifs ; Phylogeny ; Reproducibility of Results

Animals ; Glutamine ; blood ; metabolism ; Male ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; physiology ; Physical Exertion ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sleep Deprivation ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Thymus Gland ; metabolism ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect and mechanisim of zoledronate sodium on periprosthetic osteolysis in rat induced by polyethylene particles.

METHODSTotal 30 adult male SD rats, weighting from 250 to 300 g, were selected and randomly divided into three groups: blank control group, model control group and zoledronate sodium group respectively, 10 animals for each group. No treatment was performed in the blank control group. In model control group and zoledronate sodium group, the modle of periprosthetic osteolysis in rats were made by implanting polyethylene particles and titanium rods into their right femurs. After operation, rats in zoledronate sodium group were administered with zoledronate sodium (0.1 mg/kg each week) through subcutaneous injection for 8 weeks, then the blood was obtained and all experimental animals were sacrificed to get the right femur specimens. The femur BMD, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, serum TRACP5b and CTX-I were detected.

RESULTSCompared with the model control group, the femur BMD was increased, while IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α were all decreased in zoledronate sodium group; the serum TRACP5b and CTX-I level were both reduced in zoledronate sodium group.

CONCLUSIONThe zoledronate sodium could effectively inhibit periprosthetic osteolysis in rats induced by polyethylene particles, which might be realized by inhibiting the activity of osteoclasts and the expression of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α. It provides a new method to treat periprosthetic osteolysis of the artificial joint prosthesis.

Animals ; Bone Density ; drug effects ; Collagen Type I ; analysis ; Cytokines ; analysis ; Diphosphonates ; therapeutic use ; Imidazoles ; therapeutic use ; Joint Prosthesis ; Male ; Osteolysis ; drug therapy ; Peptides ; analysis ; Polyethylene ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Adenocarcinoma ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Adult ; Aged ; Bronchoscopy ; methods ; Cooking ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Exposure ; Retrospective Studies

Objective To develop a spectrophotometry in tetra component complex system of A1-CAS-CTMAB-OP for the determination of aluminum in floured food.Methods The sample was processed by combustion and the content of aluminum in foods was determined by spectrophotometry with Al-CAS-CTMAB-OP as color system.Results A linear relationship between the aluminum content and absorbency was in the range of 0.04～0.32 ?g/ml with the regression equation equating to A =3.551 2x-0.005 34,the correlation coefficient was 0.997 6,the detection limit was 0.001 4 ?g/ml and the recovery rate was in the rang of 98.6%～ 103.2%.Conclusion This method has been applied successfully to determine the aluminum in floured food for its special features, such as simple,rapid and accuracy.

Objective To study the imaging manifestati ons and diagnostic evaluation of rounded atelectasis.Methods Imaging manifestation of round atelectasis in 4 c ases confirmed by pathology with complete clinical data,plain chest radiographs and CT were analysed.Results The lesions in 4 cases appeared as circular or el liptic masses with clear boundary,2.6～6.5 cm in diameter,located at subpleura o f lower lobule of lung,accompanied with pleural thickening.There was a acute angl e between the tumor and thickened pleura.The lucency of the lung adjacent to tum or incneased.The cordike structures consisted of blood vessels and bronchil ente red into tumors,which made the lateral boundary of tumor to hilum of lung obscur ed.“comet tail sign”and “air-brochogram sign”were seen in 3 cases.Conclusion The round atelectasis is of typical findings o n plain chest films and CT scans which play a very important role in diagnosis a nd differential diagnosis.

Hepatitis B is one of the most serious global threats to human health. Phylogenetic analysis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) can reveal the evolutionary relationship between HBV sequences and thus provide a basis for the prediction and treatment of hepatitis B and other aspects. In this study, we performed sequence analyses on the HBV sequences of five clinical HBV samples and the HBV sequences retrieved from the GenBank, EMBL, and DDBJ to construct a phylogenetic tree and analyze sequence structures. The experimental results revealed that the C gene of one cloned sequence had a recombinant structure of HBV B/ C subtype. Moreover, the phylogenetic results proved the existence of a newly found subtype HBV/B6 in Xishuangbanna of Yunnan Province, China. The experimental conclusion represents certain value for phylogenetic studies of HBV in Yunnan ethnic minority groups.
DNA, Recombinant ; genetics ; Genes, Viral ; genetics ; Genotyping Techniques ; Hepatitis B virus ; classification ; genetics ; Humans ; Phylogeny

OBJECTIVETo study the impact of IFN-gamma on liver fibrosis and its possible mechanism. Thirty healthy male SD rats were randomly divided into two groups: fibrosis model group, IFN-gamma treatment group. Experimental liver fibrosis was induced by subcutaneous injection of CCl4. After 12-week-treatment, serum hyalurnic acid and TGF-beta1 was examined, histopathological changes and degrees of fibrosis were observed by optical microscopy. Meanwhile, the expression of TGF-beta1, TbetaR- I and Smad2/3 proteins was detected by immunohistochemistry and quantified by using computerized image analysis.

RESULTS(1) Pathological observation of hepatic specimens: histological examination showed that there were significant difference between normal group and fibrosis model group by comparing with the degrees of inflammation and fibrosis (P < 0.05). And the difference between fibrosis model group and IFN-gamma treatment group was significant (P < 0.05). (2) Changes of the hepatic fibrosis index (serum HA and TGF-beta1): the levels of serum HA, TGF-beta1 in fibrosis model group were higher than IFN-gamma treatment groups (P < 0.05). (3) Changes of gene protein levels about TGF-beta1/Smad: the expressions of TGF-beta1, TbetaR- I and Smad2/3 in rat hepatic tissue were detected with immunohistochemistry techniques. The expressions of the three items in model group were higher than normal group (P < 0.01). The difference between model group and IFN-gamma treatment group was significant (P < 0.05);

CONCLUSIONIFN-gamma treatment group had significant results on treating experimental hepatic fibrosis. By the way of inhibiting expressions of TGF-beta1, TbetaR- I, Smad2/3, IFN-gamma treatment group exerted its anti-fibrosis effect.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; therapeutic use ; Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Liver Cirrhosis ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Smad2 Protein ; genetics ; metabolism ; Smad3 Protein ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the methods and clinical significance of breast cancer treated with photodynamic.Methods From June to December in 2005,photodynamic therapy was used in 12 cases confirmed intramammary lymph node metastasis before operation and 15 cases confirmed chest wall recur- rences by means of lymph node imaging.Results The intramammary lymph node metastasis whose diameter between 0.5～1.0cm measured by lymph node imaging preoperatively completely disappeared when rechecked 3 months postoperatively.Chest wall recurrence regions of breast cancer whose diameter less than 1.0 cm completely remitted.Conclusion Photodynamic therapy is helpful to eliminate the intramammary lymph node metastasis and to cure the postoperative chest wall recurrence of breast cancer.

The drugs such as sildenafil adulterated in herbal products and dietary supplements may endanger human health. The number of the new modified derivatives is increasing recently. Based on Q-TOF-MS, a new sildenafil analogue was found. It was isolated and purified by preparative liquid chromatography. Its structure was determined by NMR, as 1-[4-propoxy-3-(6, 7-dihydro-1-methyl-7-oxo-3-propyl-1H-pyrazolo[4, 3-d] pyrimidin-5-yl)phenylsulfonyl]-4-methylpiperazine. Compared with sildenafil, the ethoxy group of the benzene ring moiety was moved to the propoxy group, which had not been reported in China. The mass spectrometric behavior pattern of the structure type was summarized, which can greatly accelerate the structural analysis of novel analogues.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Dietary Supplements ; analysis ; Drug Contamination ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Molecular Structure ; Piperazines ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Sildenafil Citrate ; chemistry ; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization