OBJECTIVETo investigate the chemical constituents of the dried sorophore of cultured Cordyceps militaris.

METHODCompounds were isolated and purified by macroporous adsorption resin and silica gel column chromatography. Their chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of physicochemical properties and spectral data (IR, FAB-MS, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR).

RESULTNine compounds were isolated and identified as: ergosta-4, 6, 8 (14)-tetraen-3-one (1), citrostadienol (2), tetracosanoic acid 2, 3-dihydroxypropyl ester (3), ergosterol (4), ergosterol peroxide (5), ergosta-7, 22-dien-3beta, 5alpha, 6beta-triol (6), cordycepin (7), adenosine (8), N-(2-hydroxyethyl) adenosine (9), respectively.

CONCLUSIONCompounds 1-3, 6, 9 were separated from the sorophore of cultured C. militaris for the first time.

Cordyceps ; chemistry ; Culture Techniques ; Fruiting Bodies, Fungal ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo investigate the feasibility and short-term outcomes of total laparoscopic sigmoid and rectal surgery combined with transanal endoscopic microsurgery(TEM).

METHODSThe clinical data of 26 patients with colorectal carcinoma treated by total laparoscopic surgery with TEM between May 2010 and May 2011 in the Shanghai Ruijin Hospital were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSAll the 26 operations were successfully accomplished laparoscopically. There was no conversion to open procedure. No diverting ileostomy was made. The mean operative time was (151.6±25.9) min. The mean blood loss was (200.2±114.7) ml. The mean time to first flatus was (2.0±0.5) d. The mean tumor size was (3.0±0.7) cm and all resection margins were negative. The mean number of lymph nodes harvested was (12.9±2.2). Six patients developed postoperative anastomotic leakage, all of who had tumors in the lower rectum. There were no ureteral injury, intestinal obstruction, or pulmonary infection.

CONCLUSIONSTotal laparoscopic sigmoid and rectal surgery combined with TEM is a safe and feasible minimally invasive surgery. It is an improvement by combining laparoscopic skills with the concept of natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery.

Adult ; Aged ; Anal Canal ; surgery ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; surgery ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of di-( 2-ethylhexyl) phthalate( DEHP) on the expression of the key genes involved in glucose and lipid metabolism,and explore the toxicity of DEHP on the glucose and lipid metabolism in HepG2 cells cultured in vitro. METHODS: HepG2 cells in logarithmic growth phase were divided into DEHP exposure group and control group. The exposure group was exposed to DEHP with different final concentrations( 5,10,50,100,500 and1 000 μmol / L),and the control group was exposed to dimethyl sulfoxide of corresponding concentrations. After 24 hours of DEHP exposure,real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction( Q-PCR) was applied to detect the level of mRNA transcription of peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor α( PPARα), which is an endogenous marker indicating the success of DEHP exposure. In addition,the level of mRNA transcription of key genes involved in glucose and lipid metabolism were also measured by Q-PCR,including glucose-6-phosphatase( G-6-Pase),phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase( PEPCK),stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase 1( SCD1),fatty acid synthase,sterol regulatory elementbinding protein 1c and acetyl Co A carboxylase 1. P ≤0. 008 was considered as statistical significance. RESULTS: After DEHP exposure,the mRNA transcription level of PPARα was significantly elevated in all exposure groups( P < 0. 008)except for 5 μmol / L DEHP exposure group,which indicated the successful establishment of DEHP exposure model. The mRNA transcription level of G-6-Pase was significantly increased in 100 and 500 μmol / L DEHP exposure groups( P ≤0. 008) when compared with the controls; the PEPCK mRNA transcription level of showed no significant differences between the 6 DEHP exposure groups and their corresponding control groups( P > 0. 008). The mRNA transcription level of SCD1 was significantly down-regulated in 100 μmol / L DEHP exposure group( P < 0. 008) when compared with its control. The mRNA transcription level of other key genes involved in the lipid metabolism were not significantly altered after DEHP exposure( P > 0. 008). CONCLUSION: The effect of DEHP on glucose metabolism was mainly manifested by promoting G-6-Pase gene expression,which is the rate-limiting enzyme for gluconeogenesis. The effect of DEHP on the lipid metabolism of HepG2 cells was limited.

Gut microbiome sequencing studies have great potential to translate microbial analysis outcomes into human health research. Sequencing strategies of 16S amplicon and whole-metagenome shotgun (WMS) are two main methods in microbiome research with respective advantages. However, how sample heterogeneity, sequencers and library preparation protocols affect the sequencing reproducibility of gut microbiome needs further investigation. This study aims to provide a reference for the selection of sequencing technologies by comparing differences in microbial composition from different sampling sites. The results of three widely adopted sequencers showed that the technical repetition correlation (r= 0. 94) was high in WMS method, while the biological repetition correlation (r = 0. 69) was low. Bray-Curtis distance identified that dissimilarity from biological replicates was larger than that of technical replicates (P<0. 001). In addition, dissimilarity and specific taxonomic profiles were observed between 16S and WMS datasets. Our results imply that homogenization is a necessary step before sample DNA extraction. The sequencers contributed less to taxonomic variation than the library preparation protocols. We developed an empirical Bayes approach that " borrowed information" in calculations and analyzed batch effect parameters using standardized data and prior distributions of (non-) parameters, which may improve population comparability between 16S and WMS and provide a basis for further application to fusion analysis of published 16S and microbial datasets.