On the basis of the Uncaria transcriptome, specific primers were designed for UrSTR. The full-length cDNA of UrSTR (GeneBank: OL310251) was 1 541 bp, encoding 345 amino acid residues, and the promoter region sequence of UrSTR (GeneBank: OL310252) was 1 179 bp. Phylogenetic tree is revealed that UrSTR had a closest relationship with STR from Ophiorrhiza pumila and Ophiorrhiza japonica. Localization of UrSTR protein is revealed located in the vacuole membrane. Plant-care analysis indicated that the promoter region sequence of UrSTR, covering multiple light, stress and hormone-response cis-regulatory elements, and verified transcriptional activity. The results of SDS-PAGE show that pET-28a-UrSTR recombinant protein was successfully expressed, and the size was anticipated. The UrSTR prokaryotic expression system needs to be optimized in the later stage. The research lays the foundation for further purification to study its structure and functional characterization of the UrSTR protein.

Aim The effect of tetrandrine on TGF-?1 mRNA expression in glomerulosclerosis rat was observed. Methods The rats were randomly divided into four groups, such as the normal control group (sham operative rat), glomerulosclerosis model group,tetrandrine group and amlodipine group. The expression of TGF-?1 mRNA was analyzed by Northern blot hybridization. Results The expressions of TGF-?1 mRNA in two treating groups were much lower than untreated model group. There were no difference between these two treating groups. Conclusion Tetrandrine can decrease the expression of TGF-?1 mRNA in glomerulosclerosis rat induced by unilateral renctomy plus adriamycin.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of EUS in patients with chronic abdominal pain of suspected pancreatic origin.Methods The EUS findings and related clinical data of 106 patients with chronic abdominal pain of suspected pancreatic origin(excluding the patients with suspected pancreatic malignancies)from 1991 to 2004 in PUMCH were retrospectively analyzed.Results(1)The principal dis- ease interpreting the chronic abdominal pain of suspected pancreatic origin(excluding pancreatic malignan- cies)was chronic pancreatitis(CP)(57.5%),the following contributions were other pancreatic diseases (18.9%)and unknown diseases(11.3%).(2)The sensitivity and specificity of EUS for diagnosing CP was 95.1% and 64.4% respectively,the positive predictive value(PPV)and negative predictive value (NPV)was 78.4% and 90.6% respectively.(3)Abhormalities of pancreatic parenchyma structure based on EUS were the main findings(90.2%)in patients with CP and non-homogeneous echo pattern combined with hyper echoic dots or calcification was the predominant feature(52.5%).The value of isolated inhomo- geneity and focal enhanced eehogenicity for diagnosing CP were limited(P＞0.05).Abnormalities of pan- ereatic ductal system were presented in 63.9% of patients with CP and dilation of pancreatic duct was the major feature(34.4%).CP with focal mass(inflammatory pseudotumor)was usually presented as hypo e- choic mass in the pancreatic head based on EUS(90%),which was similar to the EUS feature of pancreatic cancer.(4)The general accordant rate based on EUS with ERCP or BT-PABA were 77.8% and 70.4% re- spectively,and the correct rate based on combine diagnosis were 100% and 95.2%.Conclusion CP is the main source of chronic abdominal pain of suspected pancreatic origin(excluding pancreatic malignancies). EUS has good sensitivity but inadequate specificity for diagnosing CP,while ERCP may be more sensitive than EUS for detecting pancreatic ductal lesions.Pancreatic parenchymal abnormalities contribute the major EUS features of CP but the value of isolated inhomogeneity and focal enhanced echogenicity for diagnosing CP are limited.

0.05).ConclusionThe neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy can improve the sphincter-saving rate,probably can improve the resection rate and reduce the recurrence rate for the middle-lower rectal carcinoma.

Objective To investigate the clinical features and management of pancreatic disease- associated portal hypertension.Methods A retrospective analysis was carried out in patients with portal hypertension complicating with pancreatic diseases in our hospital from January 1986 to April 2005. Medical records of these patients were reviewed,including data of demographics,etiologies,venous involvement,clinical presentation,laboratory tests,imaging studies,therapeutic modalities and out- comes.Results There were 59 cases of portal hypertension resulted from pancreatic diseases in our hos- pital,accounting for 4% of all portal hypertension in 19 years.The underlying pancreatic diseases were chronic pancreatitis(21 cases,35.6%),pancreatic carcinoma(20 cases,33.9%),acute pancreatitis (8 cases,13.6%),pancreatic pseudocyst(3 cases,5.1%).Of the 40 patients whose venous involve ment was identified,splenic vein obstruction occurred in 27 cases(67.5%),followed by portal vein obstruction(16 cases,40.0%).Mild or moderate splenomegaly was present in 48 cases(81.4%),with leukocytopenia as the most common manifestation of the 31 cases(52.5%)of concomitant hyper- splenism.Forty-five patients(76.3%)developed gastroesophageal varices(including 35 isolated gastric varices),among them,19 had bled(32.2%).Conservative treatment was effective in controlling acute bleeding,but could not prevent re-bleeding.Splenectomy was performed in 18 patients,mainly because of gastrointestinal hemorrhage.No postoperative bleeding occurred in the period of follow-up from 8 months to 9 years.Conclusions Pancreatic diseases may compromise portal vein and its tributaries, leading to generalized or regional portal hypertension.Pharmacological therapy can effectively control acute variceal bleeding,while surgical treatment is the appropriate procedure of choice in case of hemor- rhage recurrence.

Aged ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Skeletal/physiology* ; Vibration

In recent 10 years, clinical trials of Chinese medicine and pharmacy (cMP) at clinicalTrials.gov.(USA) are gradually increasing. In order to analyze features of CMP clinical register, ClinicalTrials.gov register database were comprehensively retrieved in this study. Included clinical trials were input one item after another using EXCEL. A final of 348 CMP clinical trials were included. Results showed that China occupied the first place in CMP clinical register, followed by USA. CMP clinical trials, sponsored mainly by colleges/universities and hospitals, mostly covered interventional studies on evaluating safety/effectiveness of CMP. The proportions of studies, sponsored by mainland China and companies, recruitment trials and multi-center clinical trials in interventional trials were increasing. The proportions of studies sponsored by Hong Kong and Taiwan, research completed trials, unclear research status, phase III clinical trials, and published research trials in interventional trials were decreasing. Published ratios of CMP clinical trials were quite low. There were more missing types and higher proportions in trial register information.
Biomedical Research ; China ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Databases, Factual ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; United States

Objective To investigate the changes of quantitative parameters of dynamic enhanced CT in non-small cell lung cancer before and after targeted therapy,and compare them with the traditional evaluation criteria,in order to find the parameters which can be exploited for timely,objective evaluation of the effect of targeted therapy.Methods The study included 21 patients with targeted therapy who had received dynamic enhanced CT before and after treatment.Enhancement time-density curves were obtained based on the CT values of the lesion at individual time points,and the functional indices:peak height (PH),the time to peak height (Tp),the ratio of PH of the mass to aorta (M/A) and perfusion value were calculated.The effects of the treatment on these indices were evaluated and compared with the effect of the treatment on lesion diameter. Results Twenty-one patients had 33 rechecking results. There was a statistically significant agreement between lesion diameter-based treatment evaluation and perfusion-based treatment evaluation ( U =8.761,P ＜ 0.01 ). The perfusion value decreased in patients with disease regression[before treatment:(0.28 ±0.11 ) ml · min-1 · ml-1,after targeted therapy(0.18 ±0.09) ml ·min-1 · ml-1,t =- 3.2722,P =0.0042],but increased in patients with disease progression[before treatment(0.21 ±0.08) ml · min-1 · ml-1,after targeted therapy:(0.34 ±0.11 ) ml · min-1 · ml-1,t =2.6064,P =0.0403].Conclusions On dynamic enhanced CT in non-small cell lung cancer patients after targeted therapy,perfusion value changed in the same trend as the diameter of tumor.The effectiveness of targeted therapy may be evaluated by perfusion value changes.

BACKGROUND: As a cytokine highly expressed in internal organs, visfatin could be used as a biomarker of systemic inflammation response for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, but few studies have reported the use of visfatin in severe pneumonia. The present study was undertaken to determine the plasma levels of visfatin in patients with severe pneumonia. METHODS: A total of 70 patients, including 40 patients with severe pneumonia (group A) and 30 patients with non severe pneumonia (group B) who had been admitted to the ICU from June 2009 to June 2010, were enrolled in this prospective study. And another 30 healthy physical examinees served as healthy controls (group C). Patients were excluded if they suffered from severe diseases of the heart, brain and kidney, cancers, autoimmune diseases, or received special treatment in the latest month. The plasma levels of visfatin, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α were measured by ELISA, while the level of CRP was determined by immuneturbidimetry, and the routine blood test was performed. Blood gas analysis and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) were performed in patients with pneumonia. Comparisons between the groups were conducted by Student's t test, ANOVA or nonparametric test. Correlation analysis was carried out by Pearson's correlation test or Spearman's rank-order correlation test. RESULTS: The plasma level of visfatin in group A was significantly higher than that in groups B and C (P<0.001), and the level of visfatin in group B was significantly higher than that in group C (P<0.001). The plasma level of visfatin was positively correlated with CRP, TNF-α, APACHE II and PMN％ in patients with severe pneumonia (rho=0.653, r=0.554, r=0.558, r=0.484, respectively, P<0.05 for all), while it was negatively correlated with PaO2 and PaO2/FiO2 (rho=?0.422, r=?0.543, respectively, P<0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Visfatin may be involved in the systematic inflammation response in patients with severe pneumonia as a pro-inflammatory cytokine, and it is valuable in assessing the severity of pneumonia..

International clinical trials register is one of the global measures to realize transparency in clinical trials and also one of a powerful measure to improve the quality of clinical trials. Many scholars studying the quality of TCM clinical trials find that they are poor in quality and lack transparency. Furthermore, they find that TCM clinical trial registry has many problems. We must base on the successful experiences of WHO and international clinical trial registry to establish technical specifications for registry of traditional Chinese medicine clinical study of their own. Then, it can effectively improve the overall level of TCM clinical studies. We have suggested some concrete and feasible measures to establish technical specifications for registry of traditional Chinese medicine clinical study of their own based on the problems of TCM clinical trial registry.
Biomedical Research ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; standards ; Registries