Purpose There is no agreement for contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules. This paper aims to evaluate the diagnostic value of the conventional and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in the diagnosis of thyroid nodule by meta analysis. Materials and Methods Literature search was performed in PubMed, CNKI and Wanfang databases to identify relevant English and Chinese literatures by using pathological results as the gold standard from January 1990 to September 2014. The quality of each selected study was evaluated by QUADAS. The pooled weighted sensitivity, specificity and the corresponding 95% CI were calculated. Summary receiver operating characteristic curves (SROC), area under curve (AUC) and the Q* index were also calculated. Results A total of 14 literatures (1970 nodules) were included, the pooled weighted sensitivity and specificity of conventional ultrasonography were 0.74 and 0.70; those of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography were 0.86 and 0.82. The AUC by using the two methods were 0.84 and 0.93, respectively, and the Q* index were 0.77 and 0.86, respectively. Conclusion In the diagnosis of thyroid nodule, the accuracy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is better than conventional ultrasound; however, both of them have high clinical value in the diagnosis of thyroid nodule, thus they are helpful in avoidance of unnecessary surgical treatment in patients with thyroid disease.

Azacitidine ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Daunorubicin ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase ; metabolism

With the development of functional genomics, high throughput analysis of genes’ function has been the mainstream of research, and exogenous gene's over expression via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is the most commonly used method in gene functional analysis.The versatile plant expression vector cassette named pBHT-5 was constructed by the method of site-specific mutagenesis based on pBI121. First of all, the restriction enzyme SfiI recognition site in trfA gene (X00713) which was relevant to plasmid replication and stability was replaced without changing its amino acid composition. And then the SfiIA,SfiIB sites were added between promoter CaMV35s and terminator NOS. The versatile plant expression vector cassette can be directly used to construct plant expression vector containing the full-length genes cloned by Clontech SMARTTM technology, which will raise the efficiency of vector construction. The result will provide basis of new genes’ high throughput screening and functional analysis, then get the new genes functioning in plant osmotic stress resistance.

Esophageal Diseases ; complications ; Esophagus ; pathology ; Female ; Foreign Bodies ; complications ; Hematoma ; complications ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pharyngeal Diseases ; complications ; Pharynx ; pathology

Ginseng saponins are a type of important active substances in the ginseng genus plants. They have notable pharmacological activities of antineoplastic, neuroprotective, and hepatoprotective activities, which have been drawn more attention to obtain minor ginsenosides by all kinds of methods. In this review, we discussed the latest progress for enrichment of minor ginsenosides by biological transformation of major ginsenosides. At the same time, we have a brief outlook of the research at bioconversion of ginseng saponins.
Bacteria ; metabolism ; Biotransformation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Ginsenosides ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Panax ; chemistry ; metabolism

Objective:To investigate the best preservation conditions of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide( NT-proBNP) and provide detection references with stable performance for detection kits.Methods: ELISA was used to quantitatively detect the changes in NT-proBNP contents in various preservation solutions.The effects of basic buffer system, preservative Proclin300 and antibiotics on the preservation of NT-proBNP were analyzed using univariate analysis.The combination of various factors was then optimized using orthogonal experiments, to identify the best preservation system for NT-proBNP.Results: The univariate analysis determined that the basic buffer system for NT-proBNP was 0.02 mol/L phosphate buffered saline(PBS) at pH7.2,the addition of pre-servative Proclin300 could extend the preservation time of NT-proBNP at 37℃ by one day, the combined addition of penicillin and streptomycin prolonged the preservation time of NT-proBNP by one day compared with individually adding penicillin or streptomycin.The orthogonal experiments identified a preservation solution for NT-proBNP as 20%calf serum,1/1 000 Proclin300,120 U/ml penicillin and 80 U/ml streptomycin in a basic buffer system of 0.02 mol/L PBS at pH7.2.This solution was used to preserve an NT-proBNP reference sample at 37℃.Seven days later,the calibrated fixed-value of the sample at 37℃was only 1.3%lower than that at 4℃.Conclusion:Optimized NT-proBNP serum preservation solution could preserve NT-proBNP standard sample at 37℃ for seven days.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of continuously detecting serum and pelvic drainage fluid C-reactive protein (CRP) and drainage fluid matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in the early diagnosis of anastomotic leakage after anterior resection of low rectal cancer.Methods The levels of CRP and MMP-9 in serum and pelvic drainage fluid were measured on postoperative 1,3,5,7 d in 158 patients with low rectal cancer anterior resection.The patients were divided into the anastomotic group (n=9) and non-anastomotic leakage group (n=149).The differences in the detection values between the two groups were compared and analyzed statistically.Results Among 158 cases,anastomotic leakage occurred in 9 cases.The correlation analysis of serum and drainage fluid CRP detection value and postoperative days (POD) in the two groups showed the POD 3,POD 5 and POD 7 difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).The ROC curve analysis showed that the accuracy of the serum and drainage fluid CRP continuous detection for diagnosing the anastomotic leakage on postoperative 3 d was middle,which on postoperative 5,7 d was higher.The patients with CRP detection value ＞ 128.23 mg/L and drainage fluid CRP ＞89.93 mg/L on postoperative 5 d and those with CRP detection value＞113.71 mg/L and drainage fluid CRP＞81.75 mg/L on postoperative 7 d developed the anastomotic leakage.The drainage fluid MMP-9 detection value had no statistical difference between the anastomotic leakage group and the non-anastomotic leakage group (P＞0.05).Conclusion Continuous detection of serum and drainage fluid CRP level can be used for early diagnosing postoperative anastomotic leakage in low rectal cancer anterior resection.The drainage fluid MMP-9 continuous detection has no relation with early diagnosis of anastomotic leakage after low rectal cancer anterior resection.

The focus of microbiologists has moved to the rare actinomycetes.For selective isolation of rare actinomycetes that all play the important role in bioactive compounds,the approaches which involve the methods using gellan gum and flooding solution、 rehydration-centrifugation(RC)、 extremely high frequency radiation(EHF)、 bacteriophage and sucrose-gradient centrifugation were introduced in this paper.

Objective To study the changes of serum interleukin(IL)-4,IL-12 and correlation with cellular immunity in children with asthma of different stages.Methods Fifty asthmatic children were randomly selected, including 30 cases in attack stage (group A) and 20 cases in remission stage (group R). At the same time, 22 healthy children were studied as normal controls (group N).The levels of IL-12 and IL-4 ,T cells subgroups and erythrocyte immunity were detected.Results 1.Serum IL-12 levels were (24.44? 13.26 ),(42.30?12.65),(44.68?28.28) ng/L in group A, R and N,respectively. There was significant difference in three groups (F=8.92 P