Paridis Rhizoma is a rare Chinese herbal medicine with variety of medicinal values. In recent years, the demand for Paridis Rhizoma has increased gradually. Artificial cultivation has met difficulties, while exploitation of wild resources was caught in a vicious circle and has overdrawn seriously. So it is of great significance to enhance the protection of Paridis Rhizoma, carry out basic research, in order to solve problems in seeding breeding, promote artificial cultivation to meet the market need and achieve sustainable development and supply. This article reviewed the status qua of seedling breeding of Paridis Rhizoma, including seed breeding, tuber breeding and tissue culture, with a purpose to standardize planting of resource conservation and utilization of Paridis Rhizoma.

This is a case study of a 58-year-old lady with metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who suffered a left neck of femur fracture. Unfortunately, there was an unexpected and rapid cancer progression, requiring her goals of care to transit from rehabilitation after her fracture to palliation. The case brings to light the need for family physicians to be poised to manage cancer patients at the end of life in the community, and work together with other stakeholders to deliver compassionate and supportive care.

[Summary] The relationship between the state of cognition and hypertension in 155 type 2 diabetic patients was studied.The results showed that significant difference in the state of cognition was found in patients with or without hypertension,so as to those with poorly or well controlled hypertension (P＜0.05).Systolic blood pressure,pulse pressure,mean arterial blood pressure,and duration of hypertension were negatively correlated with multiple cognitive domains,suggesting that proper control of blood pressure may have a protective effect on cognitive function in type 2 diabetic patients.

Objective To investigate the radiation dose and image quality of spectral and conventional CT scan in neck.Methods Sixty patients with enhanced neck CT scan were analyzed retrospectively.The 30 patients with spectral CT scan were included in spectral CT group,and the 30 patients with conventional CT scan were included in conventional CT group.The tube voltage,tube current and rotation speed of the spectral CT group were fast switching with 80 and 140 kVp,630 mA and 0.5 s,respectively.The scanning parameters of conventional CT group were 120 kVp,auto tube current (100 to 600 mA),and 0.6 s,respectively.The objective evaluation [noise and (contrast to noise ratio) CNR] and subjective scores in the upper,middle and lower neck were evaluated.The radiation dose was also evaluated in the two groups.The independent-samples t test was used in comparison of the radiation dose.The independent-samples t test and the rank sum test were used to compare the objective and subjective image quality.Results The CT dose index of spectral and conventional scan in the neck were 17.77 mGy and (17.26±2.18) mGy,respectively without significant difference (t=-1.26,P=0.218).The noises of 65 keV images in upper,middle and lower neck were (4.5 ± 0.8),(4.5 ± 0.9),(5.2 ± 1.0) HU,and the noises of conventional CT images in above-mentioned regions were (4.5± 1.1),(4.1± 1.0),(5.0± 1.7) HU.There was no significant differences (t=0.102,-1.362,-0.621;P＞0.05).The subjective scores of 65 keV images in upper,middle and lower neck were (4.1 ± 0.3),(4.7 ± 0.5),(3.8 ± 0.7),while the subjective scores of conventional CT images in associated region were (4.1±0.4),(4.6 ±0.5),(3.5 ±0.6),wihtout significant differences (Z=-0.286,-0.531,-1.568;P＞0.05).The noises of 55 keV images in upper,middle and lower neck were (5.4±0.9),(5.6± 1.1),(6.6± 1.6) HU,which were significantly higher than noise of conventional images (t=-3.614,-5.560,-3.784;P＜0.05).The subjective scores of 55 keV images in upper and middle neck were (3.7±0.5),(4.2±0.4),which were significantly lower than those of conventional images (Z=-2.541,-3.136;P＜0.05).The subjective score of 55 keV images in lower neck was (3.3±0.8),which was no significant difference in comparison with conventional image (Z=-1.318,P＞0.05).There was no significant difference between the CNR of conventional images and CNR of spectral images with 65 keV and 55 keV in upper,middle and lower neck (P＞0.05).Conclusion The radiation dose and the image quality of spectral CT scan are same to the conventional CT scan in the neck,the 65 keV monochromatic images can be used routinely.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of low-dose dopamine adjuvant therapy on inflammatory factors and prognosis in preterm infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). METHODS: A total of 100 preterm infants with NEC from June 2017 to June 2019 were enrolled and divided into a dopamine treatment group and a conventional treatment group using a random number table, with 50 infants in each group. The infants in the conventional treatment group were given symptomatic treatment, and those in the dopamine treatment group were given low-dose dopamine adjuvant therapy in addition to the conventional treatment. ELISA was used to measure the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-8 (IL-8). The two groups were compared in terms of time to relief of clinical symptoms, fasting time, treatment outcome, prognosis, and adverse reactions. RESULTS: Both groups had significant reductions in the levels of CRP, TNF-α, and IL-8 after treatment, and the dopamine treatment group had significantly lower levels of these markers than the conventional treatment group after treatment (P<0.05). Compared with the conventional treatment group, the dopamine treatment group had significantly shorter time to defecation improvement, time to relief of abdominal distension and diarrhea, and fasting time (P<0.05), a significantly higher response rate (P<0.05), and a significantly lower surgery rate (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the mortality rate and incidence of adverse events between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS Low-dose dopamine adjuvant therapy can effectively improve the levels of inflammatory factors and clinical symptoms in preterm infants with NEC and has good safety, and therefore, it holds promise for clinical application.

ObjectiveTo investigate the CT findings of thymic epithelial tumors (TETs).Methods The CT images of 133 cases with TETs confirmed pathologically were reviewed retrospectively.The TETs were reclassified according to WHO 2004 Classification System.The CT features of different histopathological types of TETs were analyzed.The frequencies of demonstrating these CT features were compared between different types using Chi-square exact test.ResultsType A(9/10,90.0％),AB(15/17,88.2％),B1 (10/13,76.9％ ),and B2( 31/46,67.4％ ) tumors were more likely to have spherical or oval shapes and smooth contours on CT.TETs with irregular or lobular contours were mostly seen in type B3 (21/30,70.0％ )and thymic carcinoma (15/17,88.2％ ).TETs with cyst and necrosis formation were common in type A(6/10,60％ ),B3 ( 19/30,63.3％ ) and thymic carcinoma ( 15/17,88.2％ ).Calcification was more frequently seen in type B2 and B3 (32/76,42.1％ ) than any other type ofTETs (8/57,14.0％ ;x2 =12.20,P ＜ 0.01 ).Type A,AB,B3 and thymic carcinoma had higher prevalence of significant enhancement (39/74,52.7％) than type B1 and B2 (8/57,13.6％;x2=22.01,P＜0.01).ConclusionAccording to WHO 2004 histologic classification system,different types of TET have corresponding CT features.CT has showed the potentiality in differentiating histological subtypes of TETs.

Objective To integrate urine strip chemistry analysis with urine sedimental analysis and set up the criteria for urine microscopy review following automated urine analysis.Methods A total of 1 714 urine samples were collected from Peking Union Medical College Hospital from November 2008 to October 2010.Out of 1 714 samples, 1 300 samples were used for the establishment of review criteria, and 214 samples were used for criteria verification.The other 200 samples from healthy donors were used to set up the normal reference range of fully automated urine sedimental analyzer UF-1000i.RBC,WBC,PRO and CAST in all the samples were measured by Siemens Bayer Clinitek 500 urine strip chemistry analyzer, Sysmex UF-1000i urine sedimental analyzer and microscopic examination.Based on the different laboratory automation in urine analysis, four microscopic review protocols were defined: (1) Protocol 1: based on chemistry results only, microscopy review was performed when any of WBC, RBC and PRO was positive; (2) Protocol 2: based on fully automated sedimental analyzer only,microscopy review was performed when any of WBC, RBC and CAST was over the upper limit of the reference range; (3) Protocol 3: All the results of urine chemistry analyzer and sedimental analyzer were integrated.If two WBC results were different between two systems (in one system WBC was positive or over the upper limit of the reference range but in another system WBC was negative or within the reference range), and any of RBC, PRO/CAST was positive or over the upper limit, microscopic review was performed; (4) Protocol 4: if any of WBC, RBC, PRO/CAST was different between two systems, microscopic review was performed.Review criteria were performed with Sysmex Laboman UriAccess 3.0 software.Results The reference ranges of UF-1000i parameters were RBC 0-7.5/μl (male), 0-15.9/μl (female); WBC 0-11.6/μl (male), 0-12.7/μl (female); Epithelial cell were 0-6.5/μl (male), 0-21.4/μl (female); CAST 0-1.3/μl.The results of microscopic examination revealed that positive samples were 47.46% (617/1 300) and negative samples were 52.54% (683/1 300). Among positive samples, majority showed the presence of RBC (60.13%,371/617), followed by CAST (8.43%,52/617).The false negative rates of four protocols were 8.38% (109/1 300), 4.69% (61/1 300), 0.62% (8/1 300) and 0.54% (7/1 300), respectively.The review rates were 47.85% (622/1 300), 59.38% (772/1 300), 72.85% (947/1 300) and 52.23% (679/1 300), respectively.Although there were false negative cases in protocol 4, all the patients had normal serum creatine level.In those 214 patients for verification, the false negative rate using protocol 4 was zero, the review rates were 53.74% (115/214).Conclusions Protocol 4 shows lest false negative rate and lower review rate.Importantly, there was no patients with serious renal function abnormality missed using protocol 4.Therefore, protocol 4 is an ideal criteria for microscopy review following automated urine analysis.

BACKGROUNDSurface modification by ion implantation-deposition is well established in materials science and can be an effective way to improve biocompatibility. The aim of this study is to evaluate the chemical composition of a modified titanium (Ti) surface after zinc (Zn) ion implantation and deposition and examine the effect of the modification on the formation of cellular focal adhesion plaques in vitro.

METHODScp-Ti discs were modified with Zn ion implantation and deposition via PIIID. The chemical composition of the surface modification was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The formation of focal adhesion plaques on the modified Ti was investigated with human osteoblast-like MG-63 cells that were seeded onto the Ti surfaces and quantified by morphometric analysis under a confocal microscope.

RESULTSXPS data revealed that the modified Zn-Ti surface consisted of Ti, oxygen, Zn, and carbon. In addition, Gaussian fitting of the spectra indicated that the modified surface contained titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. After 6 hours of MG-63 cell culture, there were significantly more focal adhesion plaques on the modified surfaces than observed on the nonmodified Ti (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONZn ion implantation and deposition greatly improved the biocompatibility of Ti for the growth of MG-63 cells.

Cell Adhesion ; drug effects ; Cell Line ; Humans ; Osteoblasts ; cytology ; drug effects ; Photoelectron Spectroscopy ; Titanium ; pharmacology ; Zinc Oxide ; pharmacology

A simple and quick method is described for the determination of ferulic acid, senkyunolide I, senkyunolide H, senkyunolide A and ligustilide in rhizomes of Ligusticum chuanxiong. The 5 active ingredients in the sample was extracted using 40% ethanol and analyzed by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Chromatography separation was performed using Agilent 1100 series HPLC system with a Symmetry C18 column and gradient elution with a mixture of three solvents : solvent A, acetonitrile, solvent B, methanol and solvent C, 1% aqueous acetic acid, 0 min to 5 min A: B: C 20: 40: 40, 5 min to 30 min A: B: C 60 to 100 : 0 : 40 to 0. The effluent was monitored using a VWD detector set at 321 nm (0-4.3 min) and 275 nm (4.31-30 min). The flow rate was set at 1 mL x min(-1) and the injection volume was 10 microL. The column temperature was maintained at 35 degrees C. The calibration curve was linear (r > or = 0.99) over the tested ranges. The average recovery was 94.44%-103.1% (n = 6). The method has been successfully applied to the analysis in different harvest periods of L. chuanxiong samples. In this paper, single-factor randomized block design to study the 5 components content of L. chuanxiong on ten collecting stages. For the L. chuanxiong collected from April 15th to May 30rd, the content of 5 ingredients increased primarily, and then decreased. Determine the appropriate harvest time has important significance to the promotion of the quality of L. chuanxiong.
4-Butyrolactone ; analogs & derivatives ; analysis ; Acetic Acid ; chemistry ; Acetonitriles ; chemistry ; Benzofurans ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Coumaric Acids ; analysis ; Ligusticum ; chemistry ; Methanol ; chemistry ; Solvents ; chemistry ; Time Factors

The effect and underlying mechanism of Bu-Shen-An-Tai recipe on ovarian apoptosis in mice with controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) implantation dysfunction were studied.The COH implantation dysfunction model in mice was established by intraperitoneal injection of 7.5 IU pregnant mare's serum gonadotrophin (PMSG),followed by 7.5 IU human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) 48 h later.Then the female mice were mated with male at a ratio of 2:l in the same cage at 6:00 p.m.The female mice from normal group were injected intraperitoneally with normal saline and mated at the corresponding time.Day 1 of pregnancy was recorded by examining its vaginal smears at 8:00 a.m.of the next day.Fifty successfully pregnant mice were equally randomly divided into 5 groups:normal control pregnant group (NC),COH implantation dysfunction model group (COH),low dosage of Bu-Shen-An-Tai recipe group (LOW),middle dosage of Bu-Shen-An-Tai recipe group (MID) and high dosage of Bu-Shen-An-Tai recipe group (HIGH).Then from day 1,the mice in different groups were respectively intragastrically given corresponding treatments at 9:00 a.m.for 5 consecutive days.The concentrations of 17β-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) were determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA).The ultrastructural changes of ovarian tissues were observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM).The histopathological changes of ovarian tissues were observed by HE staining.The number of atretic follicles and pregnant corpus luteum were also recorded.TUNEL was applied to measure apoptotic cells of ovarian tissues.Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression of apoptosis-related factors like Bax,Bcl-2 and cleaved-caspase-3 in ovarian tissue of mice.The results showed that ovarian weight,the concentrations of E2 and P4,the number of atretic follicles and pregnant corpus luteum,as well as the apoptosis of granulosa cells were significantly increased in the COH group.The ultrastructures of ovarian tissues in the COH group showed that chromatin in granulosa cells was increased,agglutinated,aggregated or crescent-shaped.The focal cavitation and the typical apoptotic bodies could be seen in granulosa cells in the late stage of apoptosis.After the treatment with different doses of Bu-Shen-An-Tai recipe,the ultrastructural changes of ovarian granulosa cells apoptosis were dramatically improved and even disappeared under TEM.Visible mitochondria and mitochondrial cristae were increased and vacuoles were significantly reduced.The lipid dropltes were shown in a circluar or oval shape.The protein expression levels of Bax and cleaved-caspase-3 were decreased,and the expression of Bcl-2 protein was increased after treatment.It was concluded that Bu-Shen-An-Tai recipe can inhibit the apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells,probably by up-regulating the protein expression of Bcl-2 and down-regulating Bax and cleaved-caspase-3,which contributes to the formation and maintenance of ovarian corpus luteum.It's helpful to promote the embryonic implantation,to reduce embryo loss and ultimately to improve the success rate of pregnancy.