LC-Q-TOF-MS and LC-IT-MS in positive and negative ion mode were applied to simultaneously characterize the constituents in Suanzaoren tang. Analysis was performed on an Agilent Zorbax SB-C18, Rapid Resolution HT column(4.6 mmx 50 mm, 1. 8 micro m) with gradient elution of acetonitrile(A) -aqueous solution containing 0. 05% formic acid(B) at a flow rate of 0. 6 mL min(-1) and the column temperature was 30 degreesC. By comparing MS fragmentation, accurate molecular weight, literature date and standard compounds information, a total of48 compounds were successfully identified or speculated. The origins of these compounds were assigned to the corresponding Chinese medicine. Thirty-one compounds were reported in Suanzaoren tang for the first time. LC-Q-TOF-MS combined with LC-IT-MS is a simple and rapid tool for the identification of constituents of Suanzaoren tang, and the results could provide evidence for the research on quality combined and effective constituents of Suanzaoren tang.
Chromatography, Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Mass Spectrometry ; Organic Chemicals ; analysis

Objective To summarize our experience in prevention and treatment of stricture after esopageal burns in the past thirty years.Methods There were 168 cases in this series.Of them,158 cases underwent surgical management in this study.Modified intraluminal stenting was used in 34 cases, colon interposition without resection of strictured esophagus in 77 cases,gastric transposion with resection of the stricture in 27,repair of cervical stricture with platysma myocutaneous flap in 22,and miscellane- ous operation in 12.Eleven cases experienced operation twice or more at our department.Results Twenty-nine cases recovered after treatment with intraluminal stenting,and 5 re-experienced stricture after stent removal.One of the 5 cases with failed stent responded to bougienage,and the remaining 4 cases re- quired esophageal reconstruction later.Of the 77 colon interpositions,5 cases died postoperatively,and complications of cervical anastomotic fistula occurred in 14 cases,anastomotic stenosis in 4,and abdomi- nal incision dehiscence in 2 cases.In the 27 cases with gastric transpositions,postoperative complications of anastomotic stricture occurred in 2 cases and empyema in 1 patient.There was a cervical leak in 3 ca- ses of the 22 cases treated with the repair of cervical esopageal or anastomotic stricture with a platysma myocutaneous flap.In the 12 cases treated with miscellaneous operation,one died of intestinal obstruc- tion.All the survivors had regular diet after discharge.Conclusions Intraluminal stenting can prevent the formation of caustic esophageal stricture.The location of the cicatricial esophagus dictates whether to perform concomitant esophagectomy during esophageal reconstruction.Platysma myocutaneous flap repair is an excellent method for the treatment of severe cervical esophageal or anastomotic stricture.

OBJECTIVETo explore family risk factors of overweight and obesity focusing on parental characteristics, feeding practice and lifestyle.

METHODSFive kindergartens were selected randomly from two of all the six urban districts in Beijing. The body height and weight of all the children in the 5 kindergartens were measured in light clothing and without shoes. Information on parental characteristics, dietary habits, lifestyle, and feeding practice was collected from 1173 families by parental self-report questionnaires in the 5 kindergartens. Overweight and obesity were defined according to sex- and age-specific body mass index (BMI) cut-points proposed by the International Obesity Task Force. Correlations and multivariate regression analysis was used to explore risk factors of child overweight and obesity.

RESULTSThe prevalence of overweight and obesity was 6.9% and 4.1%, respectively, among the sample children. Significantly more overweight and obese children were from obese families (15.2%) than they were from non-obese families (7.5%). Significant associations could be observed between children and parents' characteristics for BMI, frequency of eating in restaurant, television-watching hours, and physical activity hours. Parental obesity, low maternal education level and television watching for > 2 h/d were risk factors of child overweight and obesity after adjusting for sex, age, family income, and kindergarten.

CONCLUSIONSChild overweight and obesity were influenced by family environment. Strategies for prevention should include identified family risk factors.

Body Height ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Child, Preschool ; Exercise ; Feeding Behavior ; Humans ; Life Style ; Multivariate Analysis ; Obesity ; epidemiology ; Overweight ; epidemiology ; Parents ; Prevalence ; Regression Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Television

OBJECTIVETo observe the experience and the outcome of pharyngo-colonic anastomosis for esophageal reconstruction in diffuse corrosive esophageal stricture involving hypopharynx.

METHODSThis retrospective report reviews the experience and results of 14 patients who underwent esophageal reconstruction by pharyngo-colonic anastomosis without resection of intra thoracic stricture esophagus. The left half colonic segment was pulled up to the neck through the substernal space in all patients.

RESULTSThere was no operative or hospital death. Postoperative complications include cervical anastomotic fistula in four patients, rupture of the abdominal incision in 1. The length of follow-up ranged from half year to 10 years with an average of 4 years. Anastomotic stenosis occurred in 2 patients. One case improved after dilatation and the other one healed by plastic operation. One patient began to vomit after diet in seven months later with barium swallowing the abdominal colon graft was redundant and this patient was cured with side by side between the colon and the stomach.

CONCLUSIONThe successful reconstruction for hypo-pharyngo-esophageal stricture requires a correct and larger hypopharyngeal opening and a good anastomotic technique. From our experience this procedure is shown to be safe and effective.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Anastomosis, Surgical ; Burns ; complications ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Colon ; surgery ; Esophageal Stenosis ; etiology ; surgery ; Esophagoplasty ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Pharynx ; surgery ; Retrospective Studies

Correlated firings among neurons have been extensively investigated; however, previous studies on retinal ganglion cell (RGC) population activities were mainly based on analyzing the correlated activities between the entire spike trains. In the present study, the correlation properties were explored based on burst-like activities and solitary spikes separately. The results indicate that: (1) burst-like activities were more correlated with other neurons' activities; (2) burst-like spikes correlated with their neighboring neurons represented a smaller receptive field than that of correlated solitary spikes. These results suggest that correlated burst-like spikes should be more efficient in signal transmission, and could encode more detailed spatial information.
Action Potentials ; Animals ; Computer Simulation ; Darkness ; Electrophysiology ; In Vitro Techniques ; Light ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Postsynaptic Potential Summation ; Rana catesbeiana ; physiology ; surgery ; Retina ; physiology ; Retinal Ganglion Cells ; physiology ; Retinal Neurons ; physiology ; Signal Transduction

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the feasibility and curative effect of thymectomy for myasthenia gravis (MG) by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) through right anterior-lateral approach.

METHODSFifty-six patients of MG were treated with thoracoscopic thymectomy and mediastinal fat dissection through right anterior-lateral approach from August 2001 to October 2007. The feasibility, safety, complication and remission for MG were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSFifty-five operations were completed by VATS. The mean operative time and blood loss were (96.2 +/- 52.1) min and (68.7 +/- 21.4) ml, respectively. The brachiocephalic vein injury by the electric coagulator occurred in two cases and one of them performed thoracotomy for homeostasis, the other performed ligation. The postoperative pathology showed hyperplasia in 38 cases, atrophy in 5 cases, thymoma in 12 cases and cyst of thymus in 1 case. And the operative complication included one myasthenia crisis (1.8%) at the third day and one death (1.8%) at the eighth day because of postoperative hemorrhage. The average length of stay was (7.9 +/- 2.9) d. All cases were followed up from one to seventy months. Eight (14.3%) of complete remission, 39 cases (69.6%) of partial remission and 7 cases (12.5%) of no change were found. The total effective rate was 83.9%.

CONCLUSIONSThoracoscopic thymectomy through right anterior lateral approach is technically feasible, safe and minimally invasive. It has a high remission rate for MG.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Feasibility Studies ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myasthenia Gravis ; surgery ; Retrospective Studies ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Thymectomy ; methods ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo explore operative effect of lumbar intervertebral disc herniation accompanying with lumbar instability.

METHODSForm June 2000 to June 2006, 46 patients of lumbar intervertebral disc herniation accompanying with lumbar instability were treated with decompression through posterior approach, diskectomy, spinal fusion and vertebral pedicle internal fixation. Including 33 males and 13 females,the age was from 37 to 68 years with an average of 48 years. The course of disease was from 4 months to 20 years with an average of 3.5 years. There were simple segment in 21 cases, double segments in 22 cases, three segments in 3 cases.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up for 12-45 months with an average of 25 months. All cases got solid fusion and clinical symptom improved obviously. According to clinical standard to evaluation, 32 cases obtained excellent result, 8 good, 6 fair. The rate of excellent and good was 86.9%.

CONCLUSIONDiskectomy, spinal fusion and internal fixation can obtain satisfactory clinical effect for lumbar intervertebral disc herniation accompanying with lumbar instability.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; surgery ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Spinal Fusion ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the inhibitory effects of antisense oligonucleotides to different sequences on VEGF gene expression by human hepatoma cells.

METHODSSMMC7721 cells were cultured under normoxic or hypoxic conditions for 24 h, followed by being transfected with different antisense oligonucleotides (A06513 to cap structure, A06514 to translation initiation, A06515 to Exon-3 and A06516 to translation terminal). The total RNAs from the cells were extracted and the VEGF expression were examined with RT-PCR. The relative concentrations of VEGF transcripts in SMMC772 cells from different groups were determined using GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) cDNA as internal standard.

RESULTSIn response to the hypoxic challenge, SMMC7721 cells upregulated VEGF mRNA; Comparative to the control (no oligonucleotides), A06513, A06514, A06515, and A06516 had obvious sequence-specific inhibitory effect on VEGF gene expression, with the ratio of VEGF over GAPDH of 0.49+/-0.08, 0.71+/-0.12, 0.72+/-0.11 and 0.86+/-0.12, respectively (F=12.21, P< 0.05). A06513 showed the strongest inhibitory effect (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe antisense oligonucleotides complementary to VEGF cap structure, may become a potential alternative for antisense gene therapy of HCC.

Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; genetics ; therapy ; Oligonucleotides, Antisense ; pharmacology ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical and genetic characteristics of 7 patients from 5 families with 17a-hydroxylase/17,20 lyase deficiency (17OHD) and the CYP17A1 mutation in Chinese.

METHODSClinical features and laboratory data were collected from 5 families with 17OHD. PCR direct sequencing was performed to screen the mutation of CYP17A1 gene of the patients. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP) and sequencing were performed to screen the mutations of CYP17A1 gene in 288 healthy individuals from Shandong province.

RESULTSSeven patients (5 of them were 46,XX; 2 were 46,XY) had typical clinical presentation of sexual infantilism, hypertension and hypokalemia. Hormone profile indicated decreased plasma cortisol and sex hormones, and elevated blood adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH). TAC329AA and H373L in exon 6 and D487_F489del in exon 8 were identified from the patients. One heterozygote for D487_F489del was identified in 288 healthy controls.

CONCLUSIONThe TAC329AA and D487_F489del of the CYP17A1 gene were the most frequent mutations in Chinese with 17OHD.There might be certain frequency of heterozygotes for D487_F489del in Chinese population.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Exons ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Humans ; Hypertension ; genetics ; Hypokalemia ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation ; Pedigree ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sexual Infantilism ; genetics ; metabolism ; Steroid 17-alpha-Hydroxylase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Steroid 21-Hydroxylase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the associations of lipoprotein lipase (LPL)gene Hind Ⅲ polymorphisms with hypertension combined with obesity and their lipids metabolism.Methods 326 subjects of hypertension combined with obesity and 326 healthy subjects were arranged to take questionnaires survey,physical examinations and blood biochemical tests.The LPL gene Hind Ⅲ polymorphisms were detected by PCR -RFLP.Regression analysis was used in this study. Results H +was the dominant allele in both groups.There was no significant difference among H +H +,H +H -, H -H -genotypes of LPL gene between the two groups (P >0.05).In the hypertension combined with obesity group, H +H +genotype had significantly higher triglyceride (TG),total cholesterol (TC)levels than H +H -/H -H -genotypes (P <0.05 )while no significantly different density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC)level (P >0.05 ).The results of conditional logistic regression analysis showed that high fasting blood glucose (FBG,adjusted OR =21.56, 95%CI:7.49 ~62.1 1 ),highTG(adjusted OR =7.5 1 ,95 % CI:4.20 ~1 3.43 ),lowHDLC(adjusted OR =2.67 ,95% CI:1.53 ~4.66),high uric acid (UA,adjusted OR =3.36 ,95% CI:1.55 ~7.29)and hypertension family history (adjusted OR =2.07,95% CI:1.21 ~3.55)were the main influencing factors of the hypertension combined with obesity (all P <0.05).Conclusion LPL Hind Ⅲ polymorphism is significantly associated with the lipids metabolism of the hypertension combined with obesity,but it is not an assured independent risk factor for hypertension combined with obesity.