Objective To investigate the causes and treatment of postoperative nonunion of the intercondylar fracture of humerus. Methods Twenty-six patients suffering from postoperative nonunion of the intercondylar fracture of humerus, 14 males and 12 females, were analyzed in this study. Four cases underwent total elbow arthroplasty(TEA), and the other 22 received refixation and autografting, 4 of whom healed only after 2 operations. The causes of postoperative nonunion were analyzed. Results This group had 28 unstable fixations, 16 postoperative plaster external fixations and 21 significant bone defects. On average, they had a follow-up of 11.4 months (4 to 41 months). In the 4 TEA cases, the average flexion was 112° (90° to 130°) and the extension 18° (0 to 35°). Their average MEPS score was 85(80 to 90 points). The other 22 cases achieved bone union ultimately, with an average flexion of 97.7°± 10. 0° (70° to 110°),an average extension of 30. 9°± 12.8°(0 to 60°), and an average motion arc of 66. 8°± 10. 5° (50° to 90°).Their average MEPS score was 81.4 ± 11. 1 points (65 to 100 points). Conclusions Inadequate internal fixation, elbow stiffness due to plaster external fixation and significant bone defects are the main causes for postoperative nonunion of the intercondylar fracture of humerus. 90-90 plate fixation and parallel plate fixation, together with constructive bone grafting, can achieve bone union in most cases, though the motion arc of the elbow is still unsatisfactory.

The investigation on the chemical constituents of Anabasis aphylla L. was carried out by using various chromatographies, such as silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 and RP-C18 column chromatography. Further detailed investigation on the fraction of the ethanol extract of Anabasis aphylla L. yielded one new compound p-acetyl-phenol 1-O-beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1-->2)-beta-D-glucopyranoside (1), together with five known compounds: piceine (2), isorhamnetin (3), quercetin (4), rutin (5) and isorhamnetin-3-rutinoside (6). Their structures were elucidated by spectral analysis such as NMR and MS. Among these compounds, compounds 2-6 were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Objective To discuss causes and treatment outcomes of radial nerve injury related to hinged external fixators applied to the elbow,enhance understanding of the injury and thereby reduce its clinical incidence.Methods The study involved five cases who experienced radial nerve injury in the wake of application of unilateral hinged external fixators to the elbow.Exploration and neurolysis was perfomed at 3-12 weeks after injury since no signs of nerve recovery.Afterwards,follow-up was made for all cases.Results Causes of radial nerve injury were as follows:proximal humerus Schanz screws stretched and compressed radial nerve by tethering soft tissues into cicatricial bands in two cases; distal humerus Schanz screws compressed radial nerve by tethering soft tissues adjacent to radial nerve to cicatricial bands in one case; distal humerus Schanz screws compressed radial nerve in motion of the elbow by tethering thickened intermuscular septa and further forcing the enlargement of muscle force in two cases.Forces of muscles supplied by radius nerve reached fourth or fifth rank at postoperative one-year follow-up.Conclusions Radial nerve is vulnerable in the application of unilateral hinged external fixators to the elbow due to its special path and relative stability.Accordingly,injury to radial nerve can be reduced and even avoided by knowing its anatomy features and standardizing the operation in use of external fixators.Exploration and treatment immediately after the confirmation of radial nerve injury can achieve good prognosis.

Objective To study the chemical constituents from the aerial parts of Anabasis aphylla.Methods The chemical constituents were isolated and purified by silica gel column and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography.Spectroscopic methods such as MS and NMR spectra were used for the structural identification.Results A new caffeate ester, named eicosyl-(Z)-caffeate (1), along with fourteen known compounds was isolated from the EtOAc part.Conclusion Compound 1 is a new compound and compounds 2-13 are isolated from the plants of Anabasis L.for the first time.

Objective To explore the multiple risk factors for family lifestyle of children with congenital heart defects (CHDs) in Shaanxi Province, China. children and their parents. The univariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyze the influence of risk factors related to parents' lifestyle on CHDs. Results Several possible risk factors were found for CHDs, including fever (OR=4.465, P=0.017), pesticides contact (OR=2.234, P=0.083), passive smoking during pregnancy (OR=20.529, P=0.007) and father's smoking (OR=3.342, P=0.005); fever (OR=2.428, P=0.012) and passive smoking during pregnancy (OR=1.201, P=0.037) were also correlated with ventricular sepal defect (VSD). Conclusion Fever, pesticides contact and passive smoking are associated with CHDs during pregnancy. We should focus our attention on health care during pregnancy to avoid the above-mentioned risk factors and call on parents to hold on to a good healthy lifestyle.

Pichia pastoris is one of the most important systems used in the field of molecular biology for the expression of recombinant proteins. The system has advantages of high expression, high stability, high secretion, easy high-density fermentation and low cost. Many factors affect the expression of recombinant protein, such as gene copy number, codon usage preference, type of promoter, molecular chaperones, glycosylation, signal peptide and fermentation process. In this review, research advances of the above aspects are summarized, which lay a foundation for improving the expression of recombinant proteins in P. pastoris.
Fermentation ; Gene Dosage ; Glycosylation ; Molecular Chaperones ; Pichia ; metabolism ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Protein Sorting Signals ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis

Lanosterol synthase is encoded by the erg7 gene and catalyzes the cyclization of 2, 3-oxidosqualene, which is a rate-limiting step of the inherent mevalonate (MVA)/ergosterol metabolic pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The intermediate 2, 3-oxidosqualene is also the precursor of triterpenoids. Therefore, the cyclization of 2, 3-oxidosqualene is the key branch point of ergosterol and triterpenoids biosynthesis. Down-regulation of 2, 3-oxidosqualene metabolic flux to ergosterol in S. cerevisiae may redirect the metabolic flux toward the triterpenoid synthetic pathway reconstructed by the synthetic biology approach. To construct erg7 knockout cassette harboring the loxP-Marker-loxP element, long primers were designed, which were homologous to the sequences of both erg7 ORF and plasmid pUG66. The cassette was transformed into diploid wild strain INVSc1 by LiAc/SS Carrier DNA/PEG method and then erg7 gene haploid deficient mutant was obtained by homologous recombination. The results of semiquantitative PCR and real-time quantitative PCR revealed that erg7 expression level in erg7 gene haploid deficient mutant is one time lower than that in wild strain. The results of TLC and HPLC showed that the ergosterol content in deficient mutant decreased to 42% of that in wild strain.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; DNA Primers ; Down-Regulation ; Ergosterol ; metabolism ; Haploidy ; Intramolecular Transferases ; genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; Squalene ; analogs & derivatives ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo construct the murine CCL21 eukaryotic expression plasmid, and to investigate the chemotactic function of its products.

METHODSMurine CCL21 cDNA was amplified by RT-PCR from murine total RNA, and was inserted into eukaryotic expression plasmid pcDNA3.1 after confirmation of sequencing. The recombinant CCL21 plasmid was transferred into mouse forestomach carcinoma (MFC) cells and the chemotactic function of expressed products was detected by chemotaxis assay.

RESULTGene sequencing, gel electrophoresis of PCR products and restrictive digestion proved the successful construction of CCL21, and its expression was confirmed by Western Blot. The transfected tumor cells had a significant chemotactic function to DC.

CONCLUSIONThe recombinant murine CCL21 eukaryotic expression plasmid has been successfully constructed, and its expression products in tumor cells have a marked chemotactic function to DC.

Animals ; Base Sequence ; Chemokine CCL21 ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Chemotaxis, Leukocyte ; Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; Dendritic Cells ; drug effects ; immunology ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Plasmids ; genetics ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Stomach Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Transfection ; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Objective: To establish analytical method for the determination of vanadium ( V ), chromium ( Cr ), nickel ( Ni ), selenium ( Se ) and arsenic ( As ) in calcium based toothpastes by microwave digestion-inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry ( ICP-MS/MS ). Methods: The 21 calcium based toothpaste samples from supermarkets and shops in the urban areas of Hangzhou were digested by 6 mL HNO3 and 1 mL H2O2 in microwave digestion system. Then He-SQ mode and O2-MS/MS mode of ICP-MS/MS were respectively used for the determination of Ni and V, Cr, Se, As. Indium ( In ) was used as internal standard for calibration. Results: Good linear relationships were obtained for these five elements from 1.0 to 32.0 μg/L, with the correlation coefficients ranged from 0.999 3 to 1.000 0. The detection limits of the method ranged from 0.000 25 to 0.006 08 mg/kg. The recovery rates of standard spiking were 80.7%-105.7% when set at 0.4, 0.8 and 1.6 mg/kg, the recovery of standard reference material was 102.2%, and the relative standard deviations were 2.6%-4.8%. The concentrations of V, Cr, Ni, Se and As in 21 calcium based toothpaste samples were 0.024-1.935 mg/kg, 0.085-5.759 mg/kg, 0.090-3.673 mg/kg, <0.002 72-0.016 mg/kg and <0.006 08-0.321 mg/kg. Conclusion Microwave digestion-ICP-MS/MS can effectively reduce the interferences of polyatomic ions and doubly charged ions from the matrix, which is suitable for the determination of V, Cr, Ni, Se and As in calcium based toothpaste.

Objective To compare the effect of coronoid fixation combined with lateral collateral ligament repair versus hinged external fixator in treatment of elbow varus posteromedial rotational instability.Methods This retrospective cohort research included 34 patients with elbow varus posteromedial rotational instability operated between January 2011 and June 2015.All patients had coronoid process fractures of O'Driscoll type Ⅱ[(six with subtype 1,24 with subtype 2 and four with subtype 3).Fifteen of the 34 patients were operated by coronoid fixation combined with lateral collateral ligament repair (Group A) and other 19 patients were operated by coronoid fixation combined with placing hinged external fixator (Group B).Interval between injury and operation,operation time and blood loss were recorded.At final follow-up,elbow range of motion,Mayo elbow performance score (MEPS) and Hastings and Graham heterotopic ossification classification were measured.Results There were no significant differences in the interval between injury and operation,operation time and blood loss between the two groups (P ＞0.05).Median period of follow-up was 30 months in Group A and 40 months in Group B.Last follow-up showed flexion of the affected elbow in Group B [145° (135°-150°)] was better than that in Group A [140° (130°-145°)] (P ＜ 0.05),while between-group differences were insignificant in elbow extension,elbow extension-flexion,forearm pronation-supination and heterotopic ossification classification (P ＞ 0.05).MEPS in Group A scored 100 in 10 patients,90 in three,85 in one and 70 in one;MEPS in Group B scored 100 in 13 patients,90 in one,85 in four and 80 in one.There was no significant difference in MEPS between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion For treating elbow varus posteromedial rotational instability,either lateral collateral ligament repair or hinged external fixation after anatomic reduction and coronoid fixation can achieve good results.