Objective To investigate CT findings in gastric stromal tumors(GST).Methods Both plain and enhanced spiral CT findings in 46 cases with gastric stromal tumor were retrospectively analyzed.In all patients,diagnosis was confirmed with immunohistochemical markers.CT features were retrospectively studied and summarized.Statistical analysis of the shape,growth pattern,necrosis and enhancement patterns was performed with X2 test in 43 cases with single gastric stromal tumor.Results Of the 46 GST patients,43 patients had single GST and multiple GST was detected in 3 cases.In the 43 cases with single GST,tumors were found in the gastric body in 24 cases,gastric fundus in 16 cases,and in the gastric antrum in 3 cases.GST mostly grow along the vertical plane of gastric wall,with a large size but local attachment.The tumor size was less than 5era in diameter in 14 cases.Of them,ten cases had a regular shape,10 cases showed homogeneous enhancement,and 4 cases exhibited central necrosis,7 tumors showed intra-luminal growth and 5 tumors showed extra-luminal growth,while the other 2 cases involved both intra and extra lumina.Twenty-nine cases had tumors larger than 5cm in diameter.Of them,24 cases had irregular shape,27 cases showed inhomogeneous enhancement,24 cases had central necrosis,5 tumors showed intra-luminal growth and 9 tumors showed extra-luminal growth,while 15 cases involved both intra and extra lumina.The tumor size of GST closely was related to the shape,growth pattern,necrosis and the inhomogeneous enhancement patterns of the GST(P<0.05).The enhancement of the tumor was more intense in venous phase and delayed phase.Five cases showed septal enhancement,4 tumors exhibited marked enhancement in arterial phase with up to 60 HU.Conclusions CT can precisely display the location,shape and size of gastric stromal tumors.It is very helpful to provide useful information for early diagnosis and evaluation.

The potential biodegradation of crude oil was assessed based on the development of a fermentative process with a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa which produced 15.4 g/L rhamnolipids when cultured in a basal mineral medium using glycerol as a sole carbon source. However, neither cell growth nor rhamnolipid production was observed in the comparative culture system using crude oil as the sole carbon source instead. As rhamnolipid, an effective biosurfactant, has been reported to stimulate the biodegradation of hydrocarbons, 1 g/L glycerol or 0.22 g/L rhamnolipid was initially added into the medium to facilitate the biodegradation of crude oil. In both situations, more than 58% of crude oil was degraded and further converted into accumulated cell biomass and rhamnolipids. These results suggest that Pseudomonas aeruginosa could degrade most of crude oil with direct or indirect addition of rhamnolipid. And this conclusion was further supported by another adsorption experiment, where the adsorption capacity of crude oil by killed cell biomass was negligible in comparison with the biologic activities of live cell biomass.
Biodegradation, Environmental ; Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Glycolipids ; pharmacology ; Petroleum ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; drug effects ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Water Pollutants, Chemical ; metabolism ; Water Purification ; methods

Objective To evaluate the treatment efficacy of leukocyte reduction in hyperleukocytic acute myeloid leukemia (HAML) patients with leukostasis grading score (LGS).Methods The data of 54 HAML patients were analyzed retrospectively.The relationship between LGS and leukocyte stasis symptoms or early mortality was observed, and the impact of leukapheresis on LGS was analyzed.Results Among 54 patients with HAML, there were 1 case of M1, 16 cases of M2, 10 cases of M4, 20 cases of M5 and 7 cases of unclassified AML.Based on clinical symptoms and LGS system, 3 cases were LGS 0, 15 cases LGS 1, 17 cases LGS 2, and 19 cases LGS 3.In patients with LGS ≤ 2, the rates of type Ⅰ respiratory failure, central nevers system (CNS) symptoms and early mortality caused by leukostasis were significantly lower than those in patients with LGS 3 (P ＜ 0.05).The LGS of HAML patients was reduced by leukocyte reduction therapy (P ＜ 0.000 1).The LGS of HAML patients treated by leukapheresis and low dose chemotherapy was improved significantly than that of patients treated without leukapheresis (P =0.008).Among 37 cases receiving induction chemotherapy, 20 cases reached complete remission (CR) after the first cycle of induction chemotherapy.CR rate of patients with LGS ≤ 2 was no significantly different compared with that of patients with LGS 3 (P =0.703).Conclusions LGS can be used to evaluate the degree and the improvement status of leukostasis after treatment in HAML patients.The early death often occurres in patients with high LGS.Leukapheresis combined with low-dose chemotherapy can effectively improve the LGS of HAML patients.

Objective To investigate the clinical feature and antibiotic resistance profile of K.pneumoniae isolates from patients for better management of K.pneumoniae infections.Methods Nonduplicate K.pneumoniae strains were collected from January to December in 2015.K.pneumoniae strains were identified by VITEK 2-Compact 60 and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility by KirbyBauer method.Results A total of 753 strains ofK.pneumoniae were included,most (40.9％,308/753) of which were isolated from sputum,followed by urine (18.2％,137/753).Most of the strains were from old patients at least 60 years of age (40.8％,307/753),and primarily from intensive care units (16.7％,126/753) and Department of Respiratory Medicine (13.7％,103/753).Respiratory tract infection was found in 144 patients,of which 71.5％ (103/144) were due to K.pneumoniae.More than half of the K.pneumoniae strains were resistant to piperacillin (66.3 ％),cefazolin (60.8 ％) and cefitroxime (59.4 ％).Only a few strain were resistant to imipenem (2.4 ％) and meropenem (2.0).ESBLs were produced in 410 (54.4 ％) of the 753 strains,and 29 (3.9 ％) strains were carbapenem-resistant,492 (65.3 ％) strains were resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents.Conclusions Clinical K.pneumoniae isolates are highly resistant to most of the antimicrobial agents tested.The strains were mostly isolated from sputum and urine,and positive for ESBLs.MDR K.pneumoniae sWains are emerging.K.pneumoniae isolates are still very susceptible to carbapenems in vitro.

In this study, Professor Yan Zhenghua's recipes for treating heart diseases were collected to determine the frequency and association rules among drugs by such data mining methods as apriori algorithm and complex system entropy cluster and summarize Pro- fessor Yan Zhenghua's medication experience in treating heart diseases. The results indicated that frequently used drugs included Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Parched Ziziphi Spinosae Semen, Polygoni Multiflori Caulis, Ostreae Concha, Poria; frequently used drug combinations included "Ostreae Concha, Draconis Os", "Polygoni Multiflori Caulis, Parched Ziziphi Spinosae Semen" , and "Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Parched Ziziphi Spinosae Semen". The drug combinations with the confidence of 1 included "Dalbergiae Odoriferae Lignum-->Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma", "Allii Macrostemonis Bulbus-->Parched Ziziphi Spinosae Semen", "Draconis Os-->Ostreae Concha", and "Salviae Miltiorrhizac Radix et Rhizoma, Draconis Os-->Ostreae Concha". The core drug combinations included" Chrysanthemi Flos-Gastrodiae Rhizoma-Tribuli Fructus", "Dipsaci Radix-Taxillus sutchuenensis-Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix", and "Margaritifera Concha-Polygoni Multiflori Caulis-Platycladi Semen-Draconis Os".
Drug Interactions ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; history ; therapeutic use ; Entropy ; Heart Diseases ; drug therapy ; history ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans

OBJECTIVETo observe the efficacy and safety of Qizhi Jiangtang Capsule (QJC) in treating stage 3b diabetic kidney disease (DKD) patients with macroalbuminuria.

METHODSPatients who conformed to the diagnostic criteria of stage 3b DKD were randomly assigned to two groups according to random digital table, the experiment group and the control group, 84 in each group. All patients received a two-week elution period, and then were treated with basic Western therapy. Patients in the experiment group took QJC, 5 pills per time, 3 times a day, while those in the control group took Valsartan Capsule 160 mg each time, once daily. The observation period of follow-ups was limited within 6 months, and the time points were set as the baseline, 1st month, 3rd month, and 6th month. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBS), 24 h urine protein quantitative (24 h UPQ), plasma albumin (ALB), and serum creatinine (SCr) were detected and recorded, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated. The occurrence of hypoglycemic reaction, coagulation disorder, gastrointestinal tract reaction, allergy, hyperkalemia, doubling of creatinine, and overall adverse events were observed and recorded at same time.

RESULTSFinally 81 patients in the experiment group and 80 patients in the control group were effectively included. Compared with the baseline level, SBP and DBS obviously decreased in the control group at month 1 of treatment (P < 0.05), and more significantly decreased at month 6 of treatment (P < 0.01). SBP at month 1, 3, and 6 of follow-ups; DBS at month 6 of follow-ups was lower in the control group than in the experiment group (P < 0.05). At month 1, 3, and 6 of follow-ups, 24 h UPQ of the experiment group was significantly lower than the baseline level (P < 0.01). It was also significantly lower than the level of the control group at the same time point (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in 24 h UPQ at month 1, 3, and 6 of follow-ups between the control group and the baseline level (P > 0.05). ALB of the experiment group showed an increasing trend. It was significantly higher than the baseline level at month 6 (P < 0.05), which was also higher than that of the control group at same period (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the ALB level in the control group (P > 0.05). SCr of two groups showed an increasing trend. SCr of the experiment group was significantly higher at month 1, 3, and 6 follow-ups than the baseline level (P < 0.05). But the increment of SCr was higher in the control group than in the experimental group, and obviously higher than the baseline levels (P < 0.05). eGFR of both groups showed a decreasing trend. The decrement was higher in the control group than in the experimental group (P < 0.05). The proportion of progression of renal functions at month 1, 3, and 6 of follow-ups in the experimental group was 0.0% (0 case), 9.55% (8 cases), and 21.4% (18 cases), while they were 8.3% (7 cases), 21.4% (18 cases), and 40.5% (34 cases) in the control group. There was no statistical difference in the proportion of progression of renal functions between the two groups at month 3 and 6 of follow-ups (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between two groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONQJC could effectively reduce urinary protein of patients with stage 3b DKD, and delay the progression of renal functions.

Adult ; Albumins ; analysis ; Albuminuria ; drug therapy ; Blood Pressure ; drug effects ; Creatinine ; blood ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Tetrazoles ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome ; Valine ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Valsartan

Objective To investigate the associations of variants in signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4) in Chinese Han population with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods The study was performed in 228 RA cases and 228 controls. Haplotypes from the HapMap database Chinese population were used to select tag-single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (r2=0.9) in STAT4 gene. Twenty-three SNPs located in STAT4 gene were examined by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) was tested by a chi-square and Fisherˊs analysis. Differences in genotypes of the STAT4 polymorphism variants were evaluated using a Chi-square test. All statistical analyses were done with Haploview 4.1 software. Results Significant difference was detected in three SNPs (rs11685878, rs129888 and rs16833437) in allele frequencies analysis (χ2=6.014 8, 4.024 8, 5.539 1, P<0.05). Association was detected for three SNPs (rs11685878, rs16833437 and rs12988825) in genotype analysis ( χ2=6.814 9, 6.098 7, 6.691 7, P<0.05). Conclusion STAT4 may associate with susceptibility in Chinese Han population.

Prostate cancer is one of the common malignant tumors of male urogenital system, and the incidence of prostate cancer in China has increased significantly in the past decade. At present, endocrine therapy based on androgen blockade is the main method of clinical treatment except radical surgery and radiotherapy/chemotherapy for prostate cancer. However, the clinical benefit can only be obtained in the early stage of treatment, and nearly 90% of patients will develop to the castration resistance, and among them, nearly 90% of patients will have bone metastasis. The quality of life decreases sharply with the progression of disease for patients. In addition to the androgen signal pathway, studies have shown that many other oncogenic signal pathways have involved in the development of castration resistance, including classic cancer signaling pathways, immune and inflammatory signaling pathways, etc. Understanding the mechanism of androgen independent signal pathway in the formation of castration resistance will help to understand the off-target effect of androgen blocking therapy and introduce new treatment targets or strategies to get rid of the "no drug available" dilemma for clinical treatment of castration resistance.

Objective To study whether carbon dioxide used to establish pneumoperitoneum has an influence on port-site and intraperitoneal implantation and metastasis of tumor cells. Methods R 15 hepatic cancer cells were injected into 30 Wistar rats’ peritoneal cavities 1 hour before operation, then the 30 Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: gasless group, helium group and carbon dioxide group. The suspension was exposed to the gas environment for 2 hours, all animals were killed after 28 days and the port-site and intraperitoneal implantation and metastasis of tumor cells were examined.Results On port-site, intestinal serous coat, mesentery, greater omentum and diaphragm, the weights of tumor cells, in carbon dioxide group were (326.7?230.3) mg, (626.2?215.9) mg, (476.2?204.8) mg,(2 536.5?906.7) mg and (384.5?149.9) mg respectively; in helium group were (235.6?107.3) mg, (414.2?148.4) mg, (261.8?92.6) mg, (1 633.4?247.3) mg and(220.0?57.9) mg; in gasless group were (145.0?42.4) mg, (221.5?108.2) mg, (212.5?109.6) mg, (797.5?335.9) mg and 113.0 mg.The weights of carbon dioxide group showed a significant increase, compared with helium group and gasless group (P 0.05). Conclusion The insufflation of carbon dioxide promotes intraperitoneal tumor implantation and growth compared with helium and gaslessness in a rat model.

To establish a LC-MS/MS method to determine the concentrations of liquiritin, glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhetinic acid, amygdalin, amygdalin prunasin, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and methylephedrine of Maxing Shigan decoction in rat plasma, and study the differences on their pharmacokinetic process in normal rats and RSV pneumonia model rats. After normal rats and RSV pneumonia model rats were orally administered with Maxing Shigan decoction, the blood was collected from retinal vein plexus of different time points. Specifically, tetrahydropalmatine was taken as internal standard for determining ephedrine, while chloramphenicol was taken as internal standard for determining other components. After plasma samples were pre-treated as the above, the supernatant was dried with nitrogen blowing concentrator and then redissolved with methylalcohol. The chromatography was eluted with mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid solution in a gradient manner. ESI sources were adopted to scan ingredients in ephedra in a positive ion scanning mode and other ingredientsin a negative ion scanning mode. The multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) method was developed the plasma concentration of each active component. The pharmacokinetic parameters of each group were calculated by using Win-Nonlin 4.1 software and put into the statistical analysis. The result showed the plasma concentration of the eight active ingredients, i.e., liquiritin, glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhetinic acid, amygdalin, amygdalin prunasin, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and methylephedrine within the ranges of 1.04-1040, 1.04-1040, 0.89-445, 1.05-4200, 1.25-2490, 0.3-480, 0.3-480, 0.3-480 microg x L(-1), with a good linearity and satisfactory precision, recovery and stability in the above ingredients. After modeling, except for glycyrrhetinic acid whose pharmacokinetic parameters were lacked due to the data missing, all of the rest components showed significant higher Cmax, AUC(0-1) and lower clearance rate (CL) than that of the normal group, indicating the increase in absorption in rats in the pathological state by reducing the clearance rate. The method is accurate and sensitive and so can be used to determine the plasma concentrations of the eight active ingredients in Maxing Shigan decoction. RSV pneumonia-infected rats absorbed more ingredients in Maxing Shigan decoction.
Animals ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacokinetics ; Male ; Pneumonia, Viral ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry