OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the efficacy of Probiotics in the treatment of ulcerative colitis(UC).METHODS:The recent pertinent literature about the use of Probiotics in the treatment of UC was retrieved from PubMed and Medline and the methodology and literature quality were evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria for the quality of literature of evidence-based medicine.RESULTS & CONCLUSION:The majority of the studies showed that Probiotics are of positive value for the remission of the US at acute stage and maintaining of remission induction of drugs in the treatment of UC.Strictly designed and randomized controlled trials(RCTs)remain to be done to tackle the problems encountered by the micro-ecological preparations as a new therapy in the treatment of UC.

OBJECTIVE:To prepare anti-microbicide contraceptive gel and establish its quality control method. METHODS: The gel was prepared with octoxynol and policresulen as main ingredients and HPMC as matrix. The content of octoxynol in the gel was determined by HPLC,and the content of policresulen in the gel was determined by titration method. RESULTS:Prepared gel was well-proportioned and of good viscidity and its identification and test were up to the standard. The linear rang of octoxynol was 250～1 500 mg?L-1(r=0.999 6)with an average recovery of 100.84%(RSD=0.74%,n=9). The average labeled amount of policresulen was 106.64%(n=3). CONCLUSION:This preparation is feasible and stable in quality,and the quality control method is simple and accurate.

Objective To evaluate the accuracy of multi-detector spiral CT (MSCT) semiautomated volumetric measurement of right lobes and its value in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Methods Fifty-six donors underwent four phases MSCT. Pre-operative liver volumes of two measurements [IQQA(R)-liver semi-automated (Vs) and manual volume (Vm) measurements] in portal vein phase were compared with intra-operative measurement (Vio) by means of water displacement. Results Correlation analysis and Bland-Altman tests were used for statistical analysis.Results Pre-operative measurements of grafts resulted in a mean Vs, Vm, Vio of (818. 60 ± 161.43)cm3 , (880. 16 ± 169. 92) cm3 and (669. 84 ± 141.37) cm3 respectively. All corresponding pre-and intra-operative data were correlated significantly with each other. There was a good correlation between Vs and Vio(r= 0. 778, P＜0. 05), so did Vm and Vio(r= 0. 746, P＜0. 05). The equations of linear regression were Vio = Vs × 0. 681 + 112. 26, and Vio = Vm × 0. 620 + 123. 81 respectively. Exact 95 % CIs and the extent of concordance were 121.57-175. 95 cm3, -354. 135-56. 62 cm3 for semiautomated measurements, and 180. 09-240. 56 cm3 , - 438. 66-18. 01 cm3 for manual measurements,respectively. Conclusion Semi-automated method for the volumetric measurements of the right liver lobes in LDLT is more accurate than the manual method.

Objective To investigate the effect of triptolide (TP) on the expression of hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) under hypoxia. Methods (1) HUVECs were treated with 0, 40, 80, 160 and 320 nmol/L TP (named with hypoxia group, TP40 group, TP80 group, TP160 group and TP320 group, respectively) under the hypoxic condition (37℃, 5%CO2, 1%O2, 94%N2) for culturing 12 hours. Meanwhile, cells cultured under normoxia condition (without TP added) were set as the normoxia group. Western blot assay was used to detect the expression of HIF1αin each group. (2) The cells were divided into normal control group, hypoxia group and TP80 group. The immunofluorescence method was performed to detect the localization of HIF1α in cells. (3) Expressions of VEGF were detected by Western blot assay in TP80 group and hypoxia group. (4) The cells were divided into hypoxia group, TP80 group, TP80+KF20 group (80 nmol/L TP and 20μmol/L KC7F2), and TP80+KF30 group (80 nmol/L TP and 30 μmol/L KC7F2). After 12-hour culturing, Western blot assay was used to detect the expressions of HIF1α and VEGF in each group. Results (1) Under the normoxia condition, no HIF1α was detected in HUVECs. The expression level of HIF1αwas significantly increased in TP80 group than that in hypoxia group (P<0.05), while there was no significant change in expression of hypoxia HIF1αin TP160 group and TP320 group compared with that of hypoxic group. (2) The immunofluorescence result showed that HIF1α was mainly expressed in the nucleus. (3) The expression of VEGF was significantly increased in TP80 group than that in hypoxia group (P < 0.05). (4) After the intervention of KC7F2, HIF1αand VEGF expression levels were significantly decreased in the TP80+KF20 group and the TP80+KF30 group than those in the TP80 group (P<0.05). Conclusion TP can improve the expression of HIF1αand VEGF to accelerate the proliferation of endothelial cells under hypoxia condition.

Objective To genotype Trichosporon spp. with rDNA-ITSAGSl-RFLP analysis followed by cluster analysis, and attempt to apply this method to rapid species identification of human pathogenic Trichosporon spp.. Methods Fourteen strains of Trichosporon, which belonged to 8 species, were collected. The rDNA-ITS/IGSl regions were amplified by PCR and sequenced. Simultaneously, the amplicons were digested separately with restriction enzymes, including Hae III, Hha I , Hae IH and Hha I , Hinf I , Msp I and Taq I . Results The 8 species of Trichosporon could be classified into 4 subgroups with rDNA-ITS-RFLP, while inter-species identification of all the 14 strains from 8 species of Trichosporon could be realized with rDNA-IGSl-RFLP. Also, those genotypes of T. asahii which had relative long phylogenic distance could even be discriminated with rDNA-IGSl-RFLP. Conclusion The rDNA-ITS/IGSl-RFLP analysis is expected to be used in rapid interspecific identification of genus Trichosporon.

Objective To develop a PCR-RFLP method to rapidly identify filamentous fungi causing deep infection. Methods Universal fungal primers were used to amplify the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus Bavus, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus nidulans, Scedosporium apiospermum and Fusarium moniliforme followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with restrictive endonucleases Hha I, Hae III, Hinf I, Taq I and Msp I. Then, 22 clinical and 2 environmental fungal isolates were identified with the developed PCR-RFLP method. Results The RFLP analysis of PCR products with restrictive endonucleases Hha I and Hinf I allowed discrimination of 8 filamentous fungi causing invasive infection, and it took only 1 day to carry out the whole procedure from DNA extraction to PCR and restriction digestion. The identification results of 22 clinical strains and 2 environmental isolates with this PCR-RFLP method were completely consistent with those with conventional morphological method. Conclusion PCR-RFLP analysis is an efficient method for rapid identification of cultured filamentous fungi.

Objective To investigate the difference of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and fraction of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation(fALFF) between Alzheimer's disease (AD)patients and normal aging (NA) controls by voxel-based analysis.Methods Thirty-one AD patients and 44 NA controls were enrolled in the study.Blood oxygen level dependent functional (BOLD) EPI data were obtained during resting-state by using 32-channel head coil.Data were realigned,normalized and then smoothed with 8 mm FWHM kernel.Resting-state fMRI toolkit(version 1.6) was used to generate ALFF and fALFF images.Independent two sample t-test was performed with SPM5 to compare ALFF and fALFF of AD and NA controls.Pearson correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between MMSE score and ALFF,fALFF parameters.The significance level was set to be uncorrected O.001 on the voxel level and 0.05 on the cluster level.Results AD patients showed increased ALFF in left temporal lobe (0.492 ±0.119) and right cingulated cortex (0.434 ± 0.093) of AD patients,which were 0.443 ± 0.068 and 0.380 ±0.081 in NA controls (t =2.658,2.227,P ＜ 0.05).Decreased fALFF was found in bilateral posterior cingulate cortices (1.167 ± 0.203) and increased fALFF was found in bilateral temporal lobes (left 1.226 ±0.127,right 1.146 ±0.214) with left side dominance,which were 1.453 ±0.269,1.134 ±0.088,1.014 ± O.132 in NA controls (t =5.001,3.695,3.285,P ＜ 0.05).Bilateral temporal ALFF and fALFF correlated with MMSE positively (r =0.768—0.909,P ＜ 0.05) with left dominance.Conclusion AD patients showed increased resting-state functional MRI changes correlated with MMSE score in the temporal lobes with left dominance,which indicated left temporal lobe may be the best location for the observation of disease progression in AD patients.

Objective To summarize the diagnostic efficacy of ADC value for differentiation of benign and malignant lymph nodes on diffusion MRI with Meta-analysis. Methods Published papers on differentiation of benign and malignant lymph nodes with ADC value were searched and reviewed.Quality evaluation was performed for the eligible papers before data extraction.Test for heterogeneity was performed first,then appropriate model was selected to calculate the weighted mean difference,sensitivity,specificity,positive likelihood ratio,negative likelihood ratio,diagnostic odds ratio,pretest and posttest probability.The potential of ADC value for differentiation of benign and malignant lymph nodes was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively.Results Fifteen papers including 735 cases and 1963 lymph nodes were selected.According to Meta-regression analysis,subgroup analysis and robust analysis,two studies with benign lymph nodes in patients with benign lesion and one study using chemical shift saturation technique were excluded because of their impact on the robustness of the pooled results. The weighted mean difference (WMD) between malignant and benign lymph nodes was -0.355 × 10-3mm2/s[95％ confidence interval (CI):-0.423 ×10-3- -0.288 × 10-3 mm2/s].Although the cutoff of ADC value for differentiation in each study was different,the diagnostic efficacy was stable,the pooled sensitivity,specificity,positive likelihood ratio,negative likelihood ratio,diagnostic odds ratio and area under summarized receiver operator's curve were 0.87 (95％ CI:0.79-0.92),0.87 (95％ CI:0.82-0.90),6.5 (95％ CI:4.7-9.2),0.15 (95％ CI:0.09-0.25 ),43 ( 95％ CI:21-87 ),0.93 ( 95 ％ CI:0.90-0.95 ).The posttest malignancy probability of benign lymph node indicated by ADC was 6％,while that of malignant lymph node was 72％.Conclusion The ADC value can be used to differentiate benign and malignant lymph nodes with good sensitivity and specificity noninvasively.

Objective To investigate the voxel-based correlation of mini-mental state examination(MMSE) score with apparent diffusion coefficients(ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) derived from diffusion tensor imaging(DTI) in the patients with Alzheimer disease. Methods 12 patients aged (70.0± 10.5) years and 16 normal control aged (66.5±6.7) years were enrolled in this study.DTI was performed based on sequence and 32-channel head coils.ADC and FA images were calculated and normalized to the same space and smoothed with 8 mm Gaussian Kernel. With statistical parameter mapping software SPM5 package,the independent two sample t-test with general linear model were performed to detect ADC and FA differences between AD patients and normal control.Correlation analysis was performed between MMSE score and FA or ADC. Results AD patients showed elevated ADC value and decreased FA value in bilateral temporal lobe and anterior cingulate,which was more pronounced in the left than in the right.There was elevation of ADC value but no FA decrease in bilateral posterior cingulate.The abnormal ADC area was larger than that of FA.There was negative correlation between MMSE score and ADC of the right hippocampus(r=-0.9474,P=0.0232) and a tendency towards positive correlation between MMSE score and FA of the right hippocampus(r=0.5414,P=0.5853). Conclusions ADC value may be more sensitive than FA value in DTI. Right temporal lobe microstructure involvement is less severe,but has a stronger relationship with neuropsyehological abnormality.

Objective To estimate the application value of colony PCR in the detection of pathogenic filamentous fungi. Methods Colony PCR was established and performed to amplify the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of 19 species (strains) of filamentous fungus followed by sequencing analysis. At the same time, DNA extracts from 8 of the 19 species of filamentous fungus were subjected to conventional PCR. Hha I and Hinf I endonucleases were used for restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the conventional and colony PCR products. Comparison analysis was carried out between the colony and conventional PCR. Results Of the 19 strains, 16(84.2%) yielded positive results by colony PCR; sequence analysis of the PCR products of ITS region revealed a 96% - 100% similarity with the reference sequence (NCBI database)of corresponding fungi. The amplification product length and RFLP profile of these products from the 8 species of filamentous fungus, except for those from Aspergillus nidulans, were consistent between the colony and conventional PCR. Conclusions Compared with conventional PCR, colony PCR-based detection of filamentous fungi is easy to operate, time and labor-saving, with high accuracy and reliability, and can be applied to the rapid identification of filamentous fungi.