Objective To explore the value of dual energy CT imaging in the diagnosis of gouty tophus deposition.Methods Sixty-five cases of patients with gout treated in this hospital between December 2012 to December 2015 were selected.Another 65 cases of patients(rheumatoid arthritis,degenerative osteoarthritis and unexplained leg pain) were selected as control group.The re sults of dual energy CT imaging between two group were compared.Three experienced clinicians who didn't understand the imaging results were selected.They had a medical history and physical examination in patients with gout.The differences between clinical evaluation and imaging results were compared.Results Dual energy CT imaging showed that there were no tophi deposition in con trol group;the topi deposition in wrist joint,knee joint and ankle joint were 6.06％oo (33/34),100.00％ (22/22) and 96.49％ (55/57) in gout group.Dual energy CT imaging detected a total of 545 parts of tophus deposition.It was 4.36 times of the result of clinical evaluation(125 parts).Conclusion Dual energy CT imaging shows the advantages of simple noninvasive,high accuracy and low rate of misdiagnosis in diagnosing gout nodules.

Objective:To evaluate high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) genotyping and viral load in predicting CIN (cervical intraepi-thelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 2 or worse in a Chinese rural area population with limited health resources. Methods:We performed a population-based prospective study and enrolled 2,257 women aged 35 to 64 years from three rural screening sites of Jiangxi prov-ince. We conducted a hybrid capture (HC-2) assay to predict viral load. A HC-2 relative light unit (RLU) threshold of 10 was set to differ-entiate samples between low (<10) and high (≥10) viral loads. We also carried out a HybriMax test to detect different hrHPV geno-types in the samples. Women exhibiting positive HC-2 or HybriMax results underwent colposcopy and colposcopically directed biopsy. Women with negative or positive hrHPV test results but with normal biopsy or CIN1 were followed-up for 24 months without interven-tion (n=2,211). We used histopathological findings as outcome. Results:Of the 2,211 women, 1,636 provided complete follow-up data. Of the 132 women with a high viral load, 4 (3.03%) developed CIN2+in the same period. The relative risk (RR) of CIN2+for HC-2 posi-tivity at baseline was 42.24 (95%CI=4.76-375.2). Of the 159 women who were positive for HPV16 or HPV18 upon screening, 4 (2.52%) progressed to CIN2+(RR=33.06, 95%CI=3.72-293.9). The 2-year cumulative incidence rates of CIN2+did not significantly differ be-tween the high viral load group and the HPV16/18 group. Conclusion:The risks of CIN2+progression were higher among women with a high viral load or HPV16/18 positivity than among women with negative hrHPV. Increasing the HC-2 cut-off value to 10 RLU or using HPV16/18 positivity may be similarly used to triage hrHPV-positive women for immediate colposcopy and comprehensive follow-up.Both approaches were equally predictive of the CIN2+risk in rural area. Increasing the HC-2 cut-off value to 10 RLU may also help allo-cate health resources effectively.

To efficiently produce non-specific nuclease (NU) of Serratia marcescens through recombinant overexpression approach and to characterize the purified NU. The nuclease gene was amplified from the genomic DNA of Serratia marcescens by PCR and fused into vector pMAL-c4X with maltose binding protein (MBP) tag. The recombinant vector verified by DNA sequencing was transformed into Escherichia coli BL21. The expressed MBP-NU was purified through the amylose resin and its catalytic characters were analyzed. The results showed the NU gene had 97% identities with the reported S. marcescens nuclease gene and intracellularly expressed in E. coli BL21. The optimal expression conditions were 37 degrees C, 0.75 mmol/L IPTG with 1.5 h induction. The purified MBP-NU exhibited non-specific nuclease activity, able to degrade various nucleic acids, including RNA, single-stranded DNA and double-stranded DNA that was circular or linear. Its optimal temperature was 37 degrees C and optimal pH 8.0. From 1 L culture broth 10.8 mg NU could be purified with a specific activity of 1.11x10(6) U/mg. The catalytic activity of NU was not inhibited by reagents such as EDTA (0.5 mmol/L), PMSF (1 mmol/L) and KCl (150 mmol/L) commonly used in protein purification.
Base Sequence ; Endodeoxyribonucleases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Endoribonucleases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Maltose-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Serratia marcescens ; enzymology

Cytoplasmic male sterility is an important way to utilize wheat heterosis. The purpose of thisstudy was to identify cytoplasmic type of three wheat male sterile lines. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) marker technique was used to analyze the wheat mitochondrial DNA. We isolated mitochondria by differential centrifugation and density gradient ultracentrifugation. The results show that the extracted mitochondrial DNA was pure. It was suitable for PCR and genetic analysis. We got 4 pairs of specific primers from 64 primers combinations. Primer E1/M7 amplified 3 specific fragments in ms(Kots)-90-110. Primer E4/M2 generated 2 specific fragments in ms(Ven)-90-110. Primer E7/M6 amplified 2 specific fragments in ms(S)-90-110. Primer E6/M4 produced 2 specific fragments in ms(Kots)-90-110. Four specific primers could be used to identify three cytoplasmic types of Aegilops kotschyi, Ae. ventricosa and Triticum spelta. It provided the molecular basis to further study the mechanism of wheat cytoplasmic male sterility.
Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis ; methods ; Cytoplasm ; metabolism ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; genetics ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Genotype ; Plant Infertility ; genetics ; Triticum ; genetics

Objective To investigate the effect of apatinib on the migration ability of nasopharyngeal carcinoma NPC cells after X-ray irradiation and involved protein expressions. Methods The migration abilities of human immortalized nasopharyngeal epithelial cells ( NP69) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells ( CNE-1, CNE-2 ) treated with different concentrations of apatinib ( 0, 5, 10 and 15 μmol/L) were compared by wound healing assay. The effect of apatinib on the activity of NPC cells was detected by CCK-8 for determining the suitable intervention concentration of apatinib. Then NPC cells were divided into control group, apatinib group (15 μmol/L), X-ray irradiation group and apatinib combined with X-ray irradiation group, and the migration ability of each group was compared by wound healing assay. The expressions of pVEGFR2, pSTAT3, STAT3, MMP-9 and EMT related proteins were detected by western blot. Results Compared with the NP69, the migration abilities of CNE-1 and CNE-2 were significantly enhanced ( t=-5. 759, -16. 578, P<0. 05) . Compared with the control group ( 0 μmol/L) , the migration ability of NPC cells after treatment with apatinib(5, 10 and 15 μmol/L) was significantly decreased in a concentration dependent manner ( t=2. 804-13. 362, P<0. 05) . Compared with the X-ray irradiation group, the wound healing rate of NPC cells in the apatinib combined with X-ray irradiation group was decreased ( t=5. 932, 2. 791, P<0. 05) , indicating that apatinib can significantly inhibit the migration of NPC cells after X-ray irradiation. Western blot assay showed that the expressions of pVEGFR2 and pSTAT3 were significantly decreased in NPC cells treated with apatinib, meanwhile, the expression of MMP-9 protein was significantly decreased, and the EMT-related protein was changed. Conclusions Apatinib inhibits migration of X-ray irradiated NPC cells by inhibiting EMT through down-regulating VEGFR2/STAT3/MMP-9 signaling pathway.

Objective:To analyze the prognosis and influencing factors of different radiotherapy modes in patients with brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to explore the best benefit population with radiotherapy boost under different prognostic scores.Methods:634 patients with brain metastasis from NSCLC admitted to the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from 2013 to 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. According to different radiotherapy modes, they were divided into three groups: no radiotherapy group ( n=330), whole-brain radiotherapy group (WBRT)( n=127) and whole-brain radiotherapy combined with boost group (WBRT+ boost)( n=177). The intracranial progression-free survival (iPFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method. The multivariate prognostic factors were analyzed by the Cox models. Results:The median iPFS and OS of all patients were 6.9 months and 9.0 months, respectively. In the no radiotherapy, WBRT and WBRT+ boost groups, the 1-year iPFS was 15.1%, 16.3% and 40.2%( P=0.002), and the 1-year OS was 33.7%, 38.2% and 48.1%( P<0.001), respectively. Multivariate survival analysis demonstrated that different radiotherapy modes were the independent factors affecting iPFS and OS. Subgroup analysis revealed that for patients with 1-3 brain metastases, the 1-year OS and iPFS in the WBRT+ boost group were better than those of WBRT alone ( P=0.026, P=0.044) when GPA score was 2.5-4.0; the 1-year OS and iPFSin the WBRT+ boost group were better than those of WBRT alone ( P=0.036, P=0.049) when there was no targeted therapy; for patients with ≥4 brain metastases, the 1-year iPFS in the WBRT+ boost group was better than that of WBRT alone ( P=0.019, P=0.012) when GPA score was 2.5-4.0 and there was no targeted therapy. When the GPA score was 0-2 or there was targeted therapy, the 1-year OS and iPFS in the WBRT+ boost group were better than those of WBRT alone, but the difference was not statistically significant (all P>0.05). Conclusions:Radiotherapy can significantly improve the iPFS and OS of NSCLC patients with brain metastases. When the number of brain metastases is 1-3, GPA score is 2.5-4.0 or no targeted therapy, boost may improve the iPFS and OS; when the number of brain metastases is more than 4, GPA score is 2.5-4.0 or no targeted therapy, boost may only bring iPFS benefit; when GPA score is 0-2 or targeted therapy, boost may not benefit significantly.

Objective:To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of HEMO-FISS-QoL(HF-QoL) questionnaire (HF-QoL-C) in the Chinese population with hemorrhoids.Methods:From November 2021 to November 2022, a self-constructed general information questionnaire, HF-QoL-C, and the 36-item short form health survey (SF-36), Goligher classification, and Giordano severity of hemorrhoid symptom questionnaire (GSQ) were used to conduct a questionnaire survey on 760 hemorrhoid patients in the anorectal department of six hospitals. The data was analyzed for reliability and validity using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 26.0 software.Results:The Cronbach's α coefficient of HF-QoL-C and its dimension ranged from 0.831 to 0.960, and the split coefficient was 0.832-0.915. Four common factors were extracted through principal component exploratory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated acceptable structural validity( χ2/ df=8.152, RSMEA=0.097, CFI=0.881, IFI=0.881, NFI=0.867). HF-QoL-C was correlated with SF36 and GSQ( r=-0.694, 0.501, both P<0.01). There were differences in the total score and dimensional scores of HF-QoL-C between surgical and drug treated patients, different grades of Goligher classification for hemorrhoidal disease, and different ranges of hemorrhoid prolapse (all P<0.001). No ceiling effect was found in the total score and the scores of each dimension(0.3%-2.0%). There was a floor effect in both psychological function and sexual activity dimensions (16.7%, 35.1%). Conclusion:HF-QoL-C has good reliability and validity, which can be used to measure the quality of life of Chinese hemorrhoid patients.

Chest trauma is one of the most common injuries. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) as a common complication of chest trauma seriously affects the quality of patients′ life and even leads to death. Although there are some consensus and guidelines on the prevention and treatment of VTE at home and abroad, the current literatures lack specificity considering the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of VTE in patients with chest trauma have their own characteristics, especially for those with blunt trauma. Accordingly, China Chest Injury Research Society and editorial board of Chinese Journal of Traumatology organized relevant domestic experts to jointly formulate the Chinese expert consensus on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of chest trauma venous thromboembolism associated with chest trauma (2022 version). This consensus provides expert recommendations of different levels as academic guidance in terms of the characteristics, clinical manifestations, risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of chest trauma-related VTE, so as to offer a reference for clinical application.

Cadinanes are a class of bicyclic sesquiterpenes with complex stereochemistry and broad pharmacological activities, such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and hypoglycemic activities. To date, structurally diverse and bioactive cadinane sesquiterpenes have been isolated and identified from a variety of plants and microorganisms. Moreover, deeper understandings on cadinane sesquiterpene synthases have been made. This article categorized the 124 new cadinanes which were published in the literatures in the past four years (2017-2020) into five structural types, and presented their pharmacological activities. We also illustrated the elucidation of the biosynthetic pathways for typical cadinanes, summarized the research progress on cadinane sesquiterpene synthases. Finally, current challenges and future prospects were proposed and discussed.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; Polycyclic Sesquiterpenes ; Sesquiterpenes

The objective is to deal with brain effective connectivity among epilepsy electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded by use of depth electrodes in the cerebral cortex of patients suffering from refractory epilepsy during their epileptic seizures. The Wiener-Granger Causality Index (WGCI) is a well-known effective measure that can be useful to detect causal relations of interdependence in these kinds of EEG signals. It is based on the linear autoregressive model, and the issue of the estimation of the model parameters plays an important role in the calculation accuracy and robustness of WGCI to do research on brain effective connectivity. Focusing on this issue, a modified Akaike's information criterion algorithm is introduced in the computation of the WGCI to estimate the orders involved in the underlying models and in order to advance the performance of WGCI to detect brain effective connectivity. Experimental results support the interesting performance of the proposed algorithm to characterize the information flow both in a linear stochastic system and a physiology-based model.