The study is to develop a method to determine 3 batches leaves of Nauclea officinalis and stems of N. officinalis by HPLC. The differences between strictosamide contents and fingerprints was compared, then chromatographic peak of fingerprints was validated with the assistance of LC-MS. The strictosamide contents in stems of N. officinalis were higher than leaves of N. officinalis. The main chemical composition in leaves of N. officinalis and stems of N. officinalis were alkaloid which revealed by LC-MS. There are 7 chemical compositions were same between them, but the chemical composition in leaves of N. officinalis is more than stems of N. officinalis. This provides a scientific basis for the development of the potential medicinal value of leaves of N. officinalis and the sustainable utilization of N. officinalis.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Molecular Structure ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; Rubiaceae ; chemistry ; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization

OBJECTIVETo study the psychology of infertility patients from the perspective of economic sociology so as to prevent the patients from medical frauds in seeking medical treatment.

METHODWe investigated 902 infertility patients of the Third Hospital of Peking University from September 2005 to January 2006 using a randomized questionnaire.

RESULTSOf the total number, 84.4% had education below college level; the majority had a low monthly family income, 36.6% below Y1,000, 19.7% from Y1,000 to Y2,000, 16.5% from Y2,000 to Y3,000, 7.8% from Y3,000 to Y4,000 and 19.4% above Y4,000; 88.7% had a strong desire for a child; 60.3% were psychologically stressed. As for the advertisements for the treatment of infertility, 50.2% of the patients disbelieved them, 6.2% wanted to have a try and about 43.6% accepted them to be true. Regarding the treatment in individual hospitals, 55.2% disbelieved in it, 5.8% wanted to try it and about 39.0% believed in it.

CONCLUSIONInfertility patients of low economic status usually have a lower educational level but a higher desire for children, and therefore are more likely to be the victims of medical frauds and more psychologically stressed. It calls for our attention how to provide them with medical help.

Educational Status ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; economics ; psychology ; therapy ; Male ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires

A reasonable method for the quality control of tablets of Ginkgo biloba leaves was established in this paper. The total flavonol glycosides and terpene lactones of G. biloba tablets were quantified by HPLC. Totally, 16 batches of the commercially available tablets of G. biloba leaves were determined. Among of them, 2 batches were unqualified in the content of total flavonol glycosides, and 3 batches were unqualified in the content of terpene lactones. A validated HPLC fingerprint method was established to evaluate the commercially available tablets of G. biloba leaves with the assistance of LC-MS. Sixteen batches showed the similarity of 0.763-0.989. There were 31 fingerprint chromatogram peaks were identified as flavonoids compositions by LC-MS. This provides a research idea for the quality control of tablets of G. biloba leaves.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Ginkgo biloba ; chemistry ; Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Quality Control ; Tablets ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo detect the expression profile of NK ligands in acute leukemia cell lines and investigate the differential expression pattern between acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

METHODSUsing quantitative real-time PCR, 23 NK ligands (MICA, MICB, ULBP-1, ULBP-2, ULBP-3, ULBP-4, HLA-E, HLA-G, CD48, NBTA, HLA-F, LLT-1, PVR, Nectin2, CD72, CD80, ICAM-1, LFA-3, CRACC, Fas, DR4, DR5, TNFR1) were detected in 6 acute leukemia cell lines, including 3 ALL cell lines (CEM, Jurkat T, Reh) and 3 AML cell lines (HL-60, KG-1a, NB4), respectively. Independent-samples t test analysis was performed to determine statistical significance.

RESULTSUsing β-actin as reference gene, the relative expression results showed that the expression of 4 NK ligands between ALL and AML is significantly different. Specifically, the level of ULBP-2 is higher in ALL (CEM: 1, Jurkat T: 0.617, Reh: 0.246) than that in AML (HL-60: 0.000, KG-1a: 0.003, NB4: 0.000)(P = 0.047). However, the expressions of CD48, PVR(PVR-1, PVR-2) and DR4 is higher in AML (HL-60: 13.987, 4.403, 10.334, 8.711; KG-1a: 5.387, 2.900, 7.315, 4.512; NB4: 7.763, 3.248, 7.049, 6.127) than that in ALL (CEM: 1, 1, 1, 1; Jurkat T: 2.035, 1.553, 3.888, 0.449; Reh: 1.559, 0.000, 0.000, 1.304) (P = 0.044, 0.014, 0.014, 0.011). And there're no significant differences between the rest 19 NK ligands.

CONCLUSIONSULBP-2, CD48, PVR and DR4 might play an important role in the distinct mechanisms in leukemogenesis between ALL and AML and could be potential targets for diagnosis and treatment.

Acute Disease ; Antigens, CD ; genetics ; metabolism ; CD48 Antigen ; Cell Line, Tumor ; GPI-Linked Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Leukemia ; genetics ; metabolism ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; genetics ; metabolism ; Ligands ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; genetics ; metabolism ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand ; genetics ; metabolism ; Receptors, Virus ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo compare the actions of local thermotherapy with rabdosia liquid and repeated perfusion of mitomycin C for the postoperative prophylaxis of superficial urinary bladder carcinoma.

METHODSIn the prospective non-randomized contemporary controlled study, 123 patients were divided into 2 groups. The patients in group A received local thermotherapy with rabdosia liquid starting from 1-2 months after operation, once tri-monthly for one year. Those in group B received intravesical perfusion of mitomycin C, starting from 2 weeks after operation, once weekly, six times in total, thereafter once monthly for one year. The recurrence rate, disease free interval, and adverse reaction after operation were observed.

RESULTSThe follow-up lasted for 10-45 months with the average of 28.6 +/- 5.8 months. The recurrence rates in group A and B were 5.0% and 14.3%, respectively. Significant difference was shown when compared by Kaplan-Meier analysis of disease free interval and the recurrence rate between the two groups (P < 0.05). The occurrence rates of cystitis, hematuria, vesical contracture, urethral stricture were 28.3%, 5.0%, 1.7%, 1.7%, respectively in group A, 25.4%, 4.8%, 0%, 0%, respectively in group B, showing no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe effect of local thermotherapy with rabdosia liquid is reliable in preventing the recurrence of superficial urinary bladder transitional cell carcinoma.

Adult ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell ; prevention & control ; surgery ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperthermia, Induced ; Isodon ; chemistry ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; prevention & control ; Phytotherapy ; Postoperative Period ; Prospective Studies ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; prevention & control ; surgery

This study was purposed to investigate the therapeutic effects of early transfusion of immunized donor lymphocytes after haploidentical transplantation by means of mouse model of nonmyeloablative haploidentical bone marrow transplantation. CB6F1 female mouse was served as recipient and C57BL/6 male mouse was served as donor. Each CB6F1 female mouse was subjected to intravenous transfusion with 1×10(6) erythroleukemia (EL9611) cells at day 4 before transplantation, followed with intraperitoneal injection of Ara-C (0.015 g) respectively at day 2 and day 1, then conditioned for BMT with TBI (450 cGy) at day 1 before transplantation. After conditioning (day 0), each of recipients was transplanted with 6×10(7) mixture of bone marrow and spleen cells from the C57BL/6 mice, and was infused with 6 × 10(7) immunized donor lymphocytes at day 15 after transplantation. All treated animals were evaluated for survival, development of leukemia and aGVHD. The donor CD3(+) cell chimerism and sex determining region Y gene (SRY)in recipients were monitored periodically after transplantation. The results showed tht all mice with only inoculation of 10(6) EL9611 cells survived for 15 ± 1 days (n = 4); all mice of other groups obtained the varying degrees of implantation. SRY could be detected at day 30 and 60 after transplantation. The chimerism of donor CD3(+) cells in mixed bone marrow transplantation (MT) group at day 14, 30 and 60 respectively reached 17.95% ± 12.03%, 37.34% ± 2.78% and 47.06% ± 6.1%. In donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) group it reached 69.78% ± 12.62%, 75% ± 15.97%, 83.41% ± 16.07% at day 30, 45 and 60 after transplantation. The mice of MT and DLI group survived for 66.66 ± 1.47 days and 78.2 ± 7.82 days. It is concluded that the high tumor burden before transplantation can affect donor cell engraftment and prognosis.Early post-transplanted infusion of immunized lymphocytes from donor can help to improve the therapeutic efficacy and survival.
Animals ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; methods ; Female ; Haplotypes ; Leukemia, Erythroblastic, Acute ; therapy ; Lymphocyte Transfusion ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Tissue Donors ; Transplantation Conditioning ; methods ; Transplantation, Homologous

At present, the modernization of Chinese medicine preparations (CMPs) is still a challenging task. The 3 typical Chinese medicine materials (CMMs) used for preparing CMPs are the powders, extracts, and components of Chinese medicine and their properties of CMMs are important for designing CMPs. Basing on our long term research, we have established a property system for CMMs according to the state of CMMs under an exactly condition and according to the interaction characteristics between substances. The property system could be divided into 5 categories: material composition, spatial structure, body property, surface property, physicochemical properties, and they could also be divided into 18 subcategories. Furthermore, we also established the corresponding index and characterization system, where the 61 indexes and characterization techniques were systematically summarized. At last, we hope that the article will promote the modernization of CMPs.

Blood Glucose ; analysis ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia ; diagnosis ; etiology ; pathology ; Male ; Somatostatinoma ; complications ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the association between vasectomy and prostate cancer.

METHODSWe searched comprehensively the databases, CBMDisc, CMCC, CMAC, CNKI (from 1978 to January 6, 2009), and PubMed (from 1965 to January 6, 2009) using the key words "vasectomy" and "prostate cancer", screened the retrieved literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, performed a Meta-analysis with the software RevMan 4.2 after identification of the relevant data, and calculated the overall pooled OR (95% CI) as well as that of the association of prostate cancer with <20 and > or =20 yr vasectomy.

RESULTSA total of 20 088 cases and 232 506 controls in 27 reports (7 cohort and 20 case-control studies) were included in this investigation. The overall pooled OR (95% CI) was 1.10 (0.97-1.24), and those of <20 and > or =20 yr vasectomy were 0.94 (0.83-1.06) and 1.05 (0.90-1.23), respectively.

CONCLUSIONNo existing literature show any positive association between vasectomy and prostate cancer.

Humans ; Male ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Risk Factors ; Vasectomy ; adverse effects

OBJECTIVETo provide materials for the study of the function of ESC42 protein specifically expressed in the human epididymis.

METHODSThe ESC42 gene was amplified from the human epididymis cDNA library by PCR and then cloned into prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-4T-1, expressed and purified by recombinant DNA techniques. The specificity of ESC42 protein was identified by Western blot and MALDI-TOF-MS. The database was searched by Ms-Fit.

RESULTSThe recombinant plasmid expressed a Mr 38 x 10(3) fusion protein in E. coli at a level of 30% of the total protein, and the purity was as high as 99%. The ESC42 protein was identified by ESC42 monoclonal antibody and its molecular weight was 11 978.12, tested by MALDI-TOF-MS. The peptide mass fingerprint analysis showed that the coverage rate of the sequence reached 48% with 100% matching. The motif scan in Prosite database reveal that ESC42 belonged to the beta-defensin family and had antibacterial activity.

CONCLUSIONObtaining high purity of rhESC42 protein may lay a foundation for the study of its functions.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; immunology ; Cloning, Molecular ; Defensins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Epididymis ; metabolism ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; Gene Library ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Plasmids ; genetics ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; immunology