Aim To study on the diuretic effect of a phenylphthalazines compound PU1424 and its influence on electrolyte balance, glucose and lipid metabolism, hepatic and renal functions.Methods Male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into solvent control group,PU1424 treated group and HCTZ treated group.Urine was collected per 6 h and blood samples were collected at the end of drug administration.Urinary osmolality was measured by Freezing Point Osmometer;urea concentration was measured by Urea Detection Kit;ion level, blood glucose level, blood lipid level, hepatic and renal function were analyzed by Automatic Biochemical Analyzer.Results Compared to the solvent control group, and urine output of rats treated with PU1424 and HCTZ was increased as 1.52 times and 1.78 times and water intake increased as 1.42 times and 1.56 times respectively.Urine osmolalities were decreased as 61.5% and 50.4% of the control group, and urine urea concentration was decreased as 57.1% and 56.8% of the control group.Urinary electrolytes were decreased by administration of PU1424 and HCTZ compared to the intact plasma electrolytes.The blood glucose levels and blood lipid levels of rats treated with PU1424 had no changes, while the blood glucose and total cholesterol were increased by administration of HCTZ.The urea nitrogen, creatinine, alkaline phosphatase and total protein were intact by administration of PU1424 and HCTZ except the alanine/straw ration increased by HCTZ.Conclusion New diuretic candidate compound PU1424 displays significant diuretic effect with electrolyte balance, blood glucose level, blood lipid level, hepatic and renal function intact.

OBJECTIVETo explore the diagnostic value of combined modified Alvarado scores (MAS) and computed tomography imaging in the pathological types of acute appendicitis in adults.

METHODSClinical data of a total of 396 adult patients with acute appendicitis confirmed by surgery and pathology were analyzed retrospectively from June 2007 to July 2010. Case-control study was used to investigate the MAS. CT signs were studied in 115 patients who underwent preoperative CT scan. Univariable analysis was performed using each indicator among different pathological types. Discriminant classification was formed by applying significant variables identified from univariable analysis and a Fisher discriminant function was created.

RESULTSTwenty three variables were statistically significant among different pathological types after univariable analysis(P<0.05) and were selected for discriminant analysis. Six variables including temperature(X1), leucocyte count(X2), the proportion of neutrophil(X3), MAS points(X4), periappendiceal fat stranding(X5), and extraluminal air(X6) were enrolled. The discriminant function equation was Y1=0.012X1+0.041X2+0.069X3-0.039X4+2.653X5+1.418X6, Y2=0.327X1+0.041X2-0.034X3-0.140X4-1.114X5+2.982X6. The accuracy was 76.5%(88/115) in retrospective assessment and 77.8%(21/27) in prospective assessment.

CONCLUSIONThe combined use of MAS and CT imaging signs is useful in identifying the pathological types of acute appendicitis in adults, so it is helpful in choosing reasonable therapeutic option for surgeons.

Acute Disease ; Appendicitis ; diagnosis ; Case-Control Studies ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo establish an effective method for the identification of Herba Epimedii.

METHODThe HPLC fingerprints of 8 officinal species including 5 species recorded in 'Chinese Pharmacopoeia', which are Epimedium brevicornu, E. sagittatum, E. pubescens, E. koreanum and E. wushanense, and the other 3 species, E. acuminatum, E. myrianthum and E. leptorrhizum, recorded in 'Guizhou Quality Criteria for Traditional Chinese Medical Material and Nationality Medical Material', and of other 24 species in genus Epimedium in China as well had been analyzed and some fingerprinting features for the identification had been pointed out.

RESULT AND CONCLUSIONThe fingerprinting features of E. koreanum are rather different from others and can be used for the species identification. There are some common fingerprinting features in the most samples of E. brevicornu, E. acuminatum and E. myrianthum, respectively, and these features are seldom found in the samples of other species. The HPLC fingerprints of E. pubescens and E. leptorrhizum appear steadily among all samples of the species respectively, but it is difficult to distinguish the spcecies from other species with the HPLC fingerprints only. The HPLC fingerprints of E. sagittatum and E. wushanense vary greatly within the species. It is also showed that the quality of Herba Epimedii varied significantly according to the HPLC features.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Epimedium ; chemistry ; classification

Researches on taxonomy, resources, cultivation, quality, chemicals and processing of Herba Epimedii in last ten years were reviewed. The taxonomy of Chinese species in "Flora of China (Vo1.29)" (published in 2001) and "The genus Epimedium and other herbaceous Berberidaceae" (published in 2002) were mainly introduced and commented. The quality evaluation of raw material of Herba Epimedii, and effects of distribution, growing time and medicinal part on the quality were summarized.
China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Ecosystem ; Epimedium ; chemistry ; classification ; growth & development ; Flavonoids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; classification ; growth & development ; Seasons

OBJECTIVETo achieve the quality control of Herba Epimedii, and to evaluate the quality of medical materials of the 8 official species including the 5 species recorded in 'Chinese Pharmacopoeia' including Epimedium brevicornum, E. sagittatum, E. pubescens, E. koreanum and E. wushanense, and the 3 other species (E. acuminatum, E. myrianthum, E. leptorrhizum) recorded in 'Guizhou Quality Criteria for Traditional Chinese Medical Material and Nationality Medical Material', and E. pseudowushanuse (new species) which is used as E. wushanense for a long time.

METHODThe contents of icariin and total flavonoids of 102 samples of 9 officinal species of Herba Epimedii were determined by HPLC and UV, respectively.

RESULT AND CONCLUSIONThe contents of icariin in about 30% of the samples of the 5 species recorded in 'Chinese Pharmacopoeia' were lower than 0.5%, which is acceptable quality recorded in 'Chinese Pharmacopoeia'. Refering the literatures, we suggested the total contents of epimedin A, B, C and icariin (epi-medium multi-glycosides, ABCI) should be established as a new standard instead of the content of icariin. The content of total flavonoids, not less than 5.0%, and ABCI, not less than 1.3%, could be used to evaluate the quality of the above medical materials efficiently.

Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; standards ; Epimedium ; chemistry ; classification ; Flavonoids ; analysis ; Flavonols ; analysis ; Pharmacognosy ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; classification ; Quality Control ; Reproducibility of Results ; Seasons ; Species Specificity

OBJECTIVETo observe the role of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in tracing rhesus bone marrow stromal cells (rBMSCs) during tissue-engineered bone formation in vivo.

METHODSAd5.CMV-GFP was amplified by infecting QBI-293A cells, and the bone marrow was harvested from the ilium of adult male rhesus to obtain rBMSCs, which were cultured and passaged in vitro. GFP was transfected into the third-passage rBMSCs via adenovirus vector and the labeled cells were inoculated into absorbable HA scaffold and cultured for 3 days, with untransfected rBMSCs as control, before the cell-matrix compounds were implanted into the latissimus dorsi muscles of rhesus. Samples were harvested at 6 week and embedded in paraform, and ground sections of the bone tissue were prepared to observe green fluorescence under laser scanning confocal microscope. Propidium iodide staining of the sections was also performed for observation.

RESULTSThe rBMSCs grew well after GFP transfection, and green fluorescence could be seen 24 h after the transfection and became stronger till 48 h, with a positive transfection rate beyond 80%. Six weeks after cell implantation, the rBMSCs labeled by GFP-emitted green fluorescence were detected in the bone tissue under laser scanning confocal microscope.

CONCLUSIONGFP can effectively trace BMSCs during bone tissue engineering, and the transplanted BMSCs constitute the main source of bone-forming cells in bone tissue engineering.

Animals ; Bone Substitutes ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Macaca mulatta ; Male ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Tissue Engineering ; methods ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the value of modified acute physiologic and chronic health score (APACHE II score) in predicting postoperative complications in patients with acute obstructing colorectal carcinoma.

METHODSPostoperative complications in 92 patients with acute obstructing colorectal carcinoma were evaluated by APACHE II score and modified APACHE II score (severe organ dysfunction and immune damage in chronic health indicators were replaced by the duration and degree of obstruction, which were considered as the severity of intestinal obstruction). The sensitivity, specificity, and Youden index were compared with regard to complication prediction. Receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted to calculate area under the curve(AUC).

RESULTSTwenty-five patients developed postoperative complications including 3 deaths. The APACHE-II score(13.72±4.24), modified APACHE II score (19.28±4.92), intestinal obstruction severity score (5.56±2.20) were significantly higher in patients with complications than those in patients without complications (10.58±3.44, 14.69±3.73, 4.10±1.52, all P<0.01). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, Youden index, and AUC were 0.640, 0.940, 0.859, 0.580, and 0.839 for the modified APACHE-II score with 20 being the optimal cut-off point, respectively, and were 0.560, 0.896, 0.804, 0.456, and 0.784 for APACHE-II (14 was the optimal cut-off point), respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe modified APACHE-II score system with the intestinal obstruction severity score is a better prediction method for the occurrence of postoperative complications in patients with acute obstructing colorectal carcinoma.

APACHE ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Area Under Curve ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; complications ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Intestinal Obstruction ; etiology ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVETo discuss the experience with three-dimensional reconstruction technique in initial clinical application in gastrocnemius muscle flap surgery.

METHODFrom 2007 to 2008, 7 patients received gastrocnemius muscle flap surgeries to repair the wounds. Preoperative CT angiography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed after injection of the contrast media for individualized three-dimensional gastrocnemius muscle flap reconstruction using Amira4.1 software. According to the size of the defect in the wound, individualized three-dimensional gastrocnemius muscle flap was designed and harvested from the posterior leg.

RESULTSIndividualized three-dimensional reconstruction of the gastrocnemius flap was performed in 7 cases, and the reconstructed flaps clearly displayed the blood vessels, skin and the adjacent three-dimensional structures. In 6 cases the main perforating branched and trunk of the blood vessels in the designed flap were consistent with the surgical findings; in 1 case, the perforating branches failed to be clearly displayed in the designed flap, and surgical examination identified perforating branches with an average diameter of 0.5 mm (minimally 0.3 mm). The flaps survived in all the 7 cases.

CONCLUSIONSThree-dimensional reconstruction of the gastrocnemius flap based on the lower limb CT angiography or MRI allows three-dimensional observation of the anatomy of the flap and accurate marking of the extent of the flap to be harvested, therefore avoiding intraoperative injuries to the blood vessels to better survival of the flaps.

Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; methods ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Muscle, Skeletal ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Preoperative Period ; Surgical Flaps ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo explore the influence of obesity on surgical procedure and short-term surgical outcome in patients with gastric carcinoma.

METHODSA total of 426 patients with gastric carcinoma underwent laparotomy in our hospital during January 2006 and June 2008. All the patients were divided into obesity group and non-obesity group according to body mass index (BMI). The thickness of subcutaneous fat (SCF), abdominal anterior-posterior diameter (APD) and transverse diameter (TD) at the umbilicus level were measured by abdominal CT. Furthermore, the surgical data and postoperative conditions including short-term outcome were reviewed and compared between two groups.

RESULTSThe incidence of obesity was 29.8% in gastric carcinoma patients. Mean values of SCF thickness, APD and TD in obesity group and non-obesity group were (21.8+/-7.1) mm vs (14.4+/-7.5) mm, (223.2+/-24.6) mm vs (181.8+/-23.5) mm and (323.6+/-23.8) mm vs (285.8+/-24.4) mm (P=0.000). Longer operative time (P=0.007) and less amount of dissected lymph nodes were found in obesity group as compared to non-obesity group (P=0.000). Also, obesity group lasted a longer postoperative period of fever (P=0.000) and experienced more post-operative complications (P=0.005) than non-obesity group did.

CONCLUSIONSAbdominal CT scan may display the abdominal shape of gastric carcinoma patients, hence, it is useful to evaluate the difficulty of surgical procedure. These patients may involve in complicated surgical procedure and worse short-term outcome due to obese abdominal shape. Therefore, perioperative management should be emphasized for these patients.

Abdomen ; surgery ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Body Mass Index ; Female ; Gastroplasty ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Obesity ; Stomach Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome

Stem cell growth factor (SCGF) is an early-acting hematopoitic cytokine that has two isoforms including hSCGF with full length molecules and hSCGFbeta, 78 amino acids of which lost in the conserved calcium-dependent carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD). It has been demonstrated that hSCGFbeta is strictly species-specific in regulating he-matopoiesis. This study was aimed to explore whether human SCGF can exert synergistic stimulatory effect on heterogenous murine CFU-GM progenitor. Firstly, hSCGF cDNA was amplified from human fetal liver cDNA library by using two-step PCR. The hSCGF mature peptide coding sequence was subsequently placed at downstream of glutathione S-transferase (GST) sequence in GST gene fusion expression vector. The results indicated that there existed an additional 60 kD protein compared with mock BL21 when the cells hosting recombinant plasmid were induced with IPTG at 37 degrees C. SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated that the GST-hSCGF fusion protein mainly existed in insoluble form. When induced at low temperature (28 degrees C), the recombinant protein was mostly soluble. The GST-fusion recombinant protein was subsequently purified by using affinity chromatography. The clonogenic assay revealed that, unlike hSCGFbeta, hSCGF had the granulocyte/macrophage promoting activity (GPA) for murine bone marrow GM progenitor. It is concluded that, in contrast to human SCGFbeta, the intact molecular hSCGF may have no species specificity, implying that CRD domain in human SCGFbeta does not directly bind to corresponding SCGF receptor, but may have certain biological function.
Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Hematopoiesis ; genetics ; Humans ; Species Specificity ; Stem Cell Factor ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification