Objective To observe the anti-osteoporotic activity of representative phenolic glycosides (curculigoside, curculigine A, orcinol glucoside and orcinol rhamnoside) in Curculigo orchioides on osteoblasts in neonatal rat calvaria and on osteoclasts induced by myelomonocytes.Methods The proliferation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts were determined by MTT assay. The alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of osteoblasts and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) of osteoclasts were detected by using p-PNPP-Na method. The mineralized nodule formation was determined by alizarin red-s (AR-S) staining. TRAP-positive multinucleated cells were counted through TRAP staining. The cytoskeleton of osteoblasts and F-actin ring of osteoclasts were labeled with rhodamine-conjugated phalloidin, and observed under confocal laser scanning microscope. The areas of osteoclastic bone resorption pit in co-culture of osteoblasts and osteoclasts were determined using computer image process. Results Curculigoside (10-9 mol/L and 10-8mol/L) significantly promoted the proliferation of osteoblasts and inhibited the TRAP activity of osteoclasts at the concentration of 10-7-10-5 mol/L (P<0.05). Curculigoside, orcinol glucoside and orcinol rhamnoside significantly decreased the number of osteoclasts (P<0.05). Curculigoside (10-10mol/L), curculigine A (10-9mol/L), orcinol glucoside (10-9mol/L) and orcinol rhamnoside (10-9mol/L) significantly increased the ALP activity and bone mineralized nodule formation of osteoblasts (P<0.01), reduced the injury of cytoskeleton of osteoblast induced by 1, 25-(OH)2-VD3, decreased the pit area formed by osteoclasts, and destroyed F-actin cytoskeleton structure and pseudopodia of osteoclasts. Conclusion Curculigoside, curculigine A, orcinol glucoside and orcinol rhamnoside, phenolic glycosides extracted from Curculigo orchioides, can promote osteoblastic bone formation and inhibit osteoclastic bone resorption, demonstrating a significant anti-osteoporotic activity.

Phytoestrogens, which can bind with estrogen receptor and produce estrogen-like effects, are a kind of nonsteroidal compound in plant. Phytoestrogens chemically include isoflavones, coumarins, lignans and other compounds. Phytoestrogens are selective estrogen receptor modulator, and have therapeutical effects on breast cancer, prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, menopausal symptoms, osteoporosis and other disease, however, do not produce stimulatory hyperplasia effects on uterus, mammary glands and other tissues and organs with positive estrogen receptor. Long-term exposure or excessive use of phytoestrogens maybe affects male reproductive system and hematopoietic function of fetus. Some questions need to be further studied, such as evaluation criteria on biological activity, adverse effects, and action mechanism of phytoestrogen. This review covers plant sources, chemical structure, pharmacological activity and safety of phytoestrogens. It will provide a useful reference for intensive research and rational utilization the phytoestrogens.
Animals ; Humans ; Phytoestrogens ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Phytotherapy ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo identify suitable hydroxyl polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OH-PAHs) for co-evaluation of internal exposure level of PAHs by simultaneous determination of a variety of OH-PAHs in urine.

METHODSThe 24-h individual particulate matter and morning urine samples of 112 subjects were collected during June 2011. PAHs carried by individual particulate matter samples and OH-PAHs in urine samples were detected by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

RESULTSSeven OH-PAHs were detected in urine samples, among which 1-hydroxy-naphthalene (1-OHNap) concentration was the highest [(20.54 ± 28.94) µmol/mol Cr], while 1-hydroxy-pyrene (1-OHP) concentration was the lowest [(0.73 ± 0.63) µmol/mol Cr]. The concentrations of these seven OH-PAHs decreased in the following order: 1-hydroxy-naphthalene (1-OHNap) > 9-hydroxy-fluorene (9-OHFlu) > 2-hydroxy-naphthalene (2-OHNap) > 3-hydroxy-fluorene (3-OHFlu) > 2-hydroxy-fluorene (2-OHFlu) > 6-hydroxy-chrysene (6-OHChr) > 1-hydroxy-pyrene (1-OHP). The effects of gender and smoking upon the contents of OH-PAHs in urine samples were not significant. There was a good correlation between total hydroxy-naphthalene (ΣOHNap) and 1-OHNap (r = 0.948), and a good correlation was also showed between total hydroxy-fluorene (ΣOHFlu) and 9-OHFlu (r = 0.975). Naphthalene carried by atmospheric particulate matters demonstrated better correlation with 1-OHNap than 2-OHNap, while fluorene carried by atmospheric particulate matters showed better correlation with 9-OHFlu than 3-OHFlu and 2-OHFlu. The correlation coefficients of ΣOHNap, ΣOHFlu and 6-OHChr with 1-OHP were 0.427, 0.543 and 0.655, respectively, and the correlations were not strong.

CONCLUSIONIt cannot reflect internal exposure level of PAHs to use 1-OHP as the only biomarker, while 1-OHNap and 9-OHFlu can be well predictive of the exposure levels of corresponding total OH-PAHs, suggesting that simultaneous determination of 1-OHNap, 9-OHFlu and 1-OHP can be more accurate and comprehensive in evaluating the internal exposure level of PAHs.

Aged ; Air Pollutants ; analysis ; urine ; China ; Environmental Monitoring ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Hydroxyl Radical ; analysis ; urine ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ; analysis ; urine

THE causes of Cushing's syndrome are mainly divided into adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) dependent and independent. ACTH dependent hypercortisolism represents excess ACTH se-creting by the pituitary or tumor outside the pituitary; and the latter one is also called as ectopic ACTH syndrome. Thorax is the most common location of causative lesions for ectopic ACTH syndrome, and the size of lesion is too small to be detected in some cases.1, 2 Cryptococcal pneumonia usually occurs in immunocompromised patients and excess cortisol production can theoretically produce a state of immunodeficiency. Development of cryptococcal pneumonia concomitant with Cushing syndrome (CS) was rare. Here, we report a case of pulmonary nodule in a patient with CS differentiated with ectopic ACTH-producing tumor. Cryptococcal pneumonia was diagnosed following lung resection.
ACTH Syndrome, Ectopic ; Cushing Syndrome ; Humans ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Solitary Pulmonary Nodule ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Male ; SARS Virus ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; epidemiology ; virology

OBJECTIVESTo investigate the engraftment, survival and graft-versus host disease (GVHD) after transplantation of unrelated cord blood for the treatment of childhood and adult hematological malignancies.

METHODSSeventeen patients (13 children and 4 adults) with hematological malignancies were enrolled in this study. Twelve patients were transplanted with one unit and 5 with 2 units of cord blood. There were HLA-matched in 6 and HLA-mismatched at 1 approximately 2 loci in 11 patients. Ten patients were transplanted at stable status, 7 at advanced stage of leukemia. Conditioning regimens were BU/CY for 13 and CY/TBI for 3 patients. Most patients received additional ATG at a dose of 15 approximately 20 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1) for 3 days. CsA, mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and methylprednisolone were used for GVHD prophylaxis.

RESULTSFourteen patients survived more than 40 days after transplantation were evaluated for engraftment. At day 60 after UCBT, 86% and 71% of the patients showed neutrophil and platelet engraftment, respectively. The time for an absolute neutrophil count > or = 0.5 x 10(9)/L was (21.0 +/- 1.3) days and platelet > or = 20 x 10(9)/L was (39.0 +/- 10.3) days. Four patients developed grade II acute GVHD and 2 chronic GVHD. Of the 17 patients, 11 were still alive and 8 of them were in event-free status. For the 10 patients transplanted at stable status, 2 year overall survival is 90%, and event-free survival (EFS) 70%. However, for the 7 patients transplanted at advanced stage of leukemia, only 2 survived without relapse. Of the 4 adult patients, 2 had sustained engraftment and survived for 18 and 14 months, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSHLA-matched or 1 approximately 2 loci-mismatched UCBT is a feasible procedure to cure a significant proportion of children or adults with leukemia, especially if performed in a favourable phase of disease. Two units of CBT can be used for adult patients if the cell number of one unit is not enough.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation ; adverse effects ; Female ; Graft vs Host Disease ; etiology ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; immunology ; mortality ; therapy ; Histocompatibility Testing ; Humans ; Male ; Survival Analysis ; Survival Rate ; Transplantation Conditioning

BACKGROUNDTo find out the timing of serologic responses after illness onset and distribution of IgG antibody to SARS-CoV in SARS cases of transmission chain or non-transmission chain.

METHODSThe IgG and IgM antibodies to SARS-CoV were tested by indirect ELISA in serum samples from 301 clinically diagnosed SARS cases.

RESULTSTotally 158 SARS cases were involved in 15 chains of transmission. The positive rates of SARS-CoV IgG in those chains were 85.70%-100.00% and the overall rate was 94.30% (149/158). The chain of transmission could spread to four generations, but the SARS cases were reduced with increase of generations. There was no significant difference among positive rates of SARS-CoV IgG for generations, Chi square=5.11, P greater than 0.05. The positive rate of SARS-CoV IgG in cases who were not in chain of transmission was 12.59%(18/143) which was statistically significantly different from that of cases in chain of transmission, Chi square=199.64, P less than 0.001. During days 0-7,8-14,15-21,22-30 after onset, the cumulated positive rate of SARS-CoV IgG was 16.67%, 40.00%, 70.00% and 93.10%, respectively, then was kept at the level above 90% and lasted for 217 days. The cumulated positive rate of SARS-CoV IgM during days 0-7 after onset was the same to that of IgG. During days 8-14, 55.17% of cases had seroconversion for IgM which reached a peak (86.96%) during days 21-30. Then the rate rapidly declined.

CONCLUSIONMore than 94% of cases with SARS could produce IgG antibody when they were infected by SARS-CoV. Detecting SARS-CoV IgG could provide a diagnostic evidence for case confirmation. SARS-CoV IgG appeared as early as 7 days after onset and reached the peak at about weeks 4. Then the high rate of antibody was maintained for more than 6 months.

Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Disease Transmission, Infectious ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Immunoglobulin M ; blood ; SARS Virus ; immunology ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; immunology ; transmission

OBJECTIVETo isolate and characterize the side population cells (SP cells) in the lung adenocarcinomas cell line A549.

METHODSThe protein expression of ABCG2 in human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 was detected by immunohistochemistry. SP and NSP cells in the cell line A549 were isolated by FACS, and their differentiation was analysed. ABCG2 expression in the two cell subsets was detected by RT-PCR. The cell growth curves, cell division indexes, cell cycles, plate clone formation tests, migration and invasion assays, chemotherapeutic susceptibility tests, tests of the intracellular drug levels, and the tumor cell implantation experiments on nude mice were applied to study the biological properties of the two cell subsets. The expression of ABCG2 in the transplanted tumor in nude mice was detected by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR.

RESULTSThe positive rate of ABCG2 expression in the A549 cells by immunohistochemistry was 2.13%. SP and NSP cells were isolated by FACS. The SP cells could produce both SP and NSP cells, while NSP cells only produced NSP cells. SP cells expressed ABCG2, but NSP cells did not. The proliferation and migration abilities of the two cell subsets were similar, but the invasion and tumorigenic ability of SP cells was significantly higher than that of NSP cells. The susceptibilities to DDP and its intracellular levels of the two cell subsets were similar, but the susceptibilities to 5-FU, VP16, NVB and GEM and their intracellular levels of NSP cells were significantly higher than those of the SP cells.

CONCLUSIONSSP cells in the human lung adenocarcinomas cell line A549 is enriched with tumor stem cells. An effective way to get lung adenocarcinomas stem cells is to isolate SP cells by FACS.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters ; metabolism ; Adenocarcinoma ; pathology ; Animals ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ; metabolism ; Fluorouracil ; metabolism ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; pathology ; Mice, Nude ; Neoplasm Proteins ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; drug effects ; Side-Population Cells

OBJECTIVETo study the epidemic situation and dominant strain of influenza in children with acute respiratory infection (ARI) during Flu season from Oct. 2005 to Mar. 2006 in Taiyuan.

METHODSMadin-darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell culture and hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay were used to isolate and identify type A influenza viruses (H1N1 and H3N2) and B influenza viruses from clinical samples collected from outpatients who visited the Department of Pediatric because of ARI from Oct. 2005 to Mar. 2006. Oct. 2005 and Mar. 2006, we collected 415 blood samples from children and adults to detect the influenza virus antibody titers by HI test to exclude respiratory diseases.

RESULTS7 strains of H1N1 were isolated from 87 clinical specimens, with a positive rate of H1N1 as 8.04%. Out of 415 blood samples being collected, the positive rates and the geometric mean titer of H1N1 antibody Mar. 2006 were significantly higher in 0-3, 3-7 and 7-18 year-olds than Oct.2005.

CONCLUSIONH1N1 epidemic influenza did occur among children in winter and spring of 2005--2006 in Taiyuan city.

Adolescent ; Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Cell Line ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Dogs ; Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests ; Humans ; Infant ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype ; isolation & purification ; Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype ; isolation & purification ; Influenza B virus ; isolation & purification ; Influenza, Human ; epidemiology ; Population Surveillance

Objective: To evaluate clinical characteristics and prognosis of primary myelofibrosis (PMF) patients with thrombocytopenia in varied degrees. Methods: Clinical features and survival data of 1 305 Chinese patients with PMF were retrospectively analyzed. The prognostic value of thrombocytopenia in patients with PMF was evaluated. Results: 320 subjects (47%) presented severe thrombocytopenia (PLT<50×10(9)/L), 198 ones (15.2%) mild thrombocytopenia [PLT (50-99)×10(9)/L] and 787 ones (60.3%) without thrombocytopenia (PLT ≥ 100×10(9)/L). The more severe the thrombocytopenia, the higher the proportions of HGB<100 g/L, WBC<4×10(9)/L, circulating blasts ≥ 3%, abnormal karyotype and unfavourable cytogenetics (P<0.001, P<0.001, P=0.004, P<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively) were observed in this cohort of patients. The more severe the thrombocytopenia, the lower the proportion of JAK2V617F positive (P<0.001) was also noticed. Platelet count was positively correlated with splenomegaly, HGB and WBC (P<0.001, correlation coefficients were 0.131, 0.445 and 0.156, respectively). Platelet count was negative correlated with constitutional symptoms and circulating blasts (P=0.009, P=0.045, respectively; correlation coefficients were -0.096 and -0.056, respectively). The median survival of patients with severe thrombocytopenia, mild thrombocytopenia and without thrombocytopenia were 32, 67 and 89 months, respectively (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis identified thrombocytopenia in varied degrees (HR=1.693, 95%CI 1.320-2.173, P<0.001) and Dynamic Internation Prognostic Scoring System(DIPSS) prognostic model (HR=2.051, 95%CI 1.511-2.784, P<0.001) as independent risk factors for survival. Conclusion: PMF patients with severe thrombocytopenia frequently displayed anemia, leucopenia, circulating blasts and short survival, so active treatment measures should be taken especially in these patients.
Humans ; Primary Myelofibrosis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Thrombocytopenia