The incidence of malignant melanoma, a highly fatal skin tumor, is on the rise worldwide. Melanomas are highly aggressive and have strong metastatic capability that leads to lethality. Recurrence occurs in patients with distant metastases, even with the latest treatments, and median survival is only a few months. At present, the prevention and treatment of melanoma includes surgical resection, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy. However, these strategies can lead to drug resistance and adverse effects. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have found that natural products have effective anti-melanoma activities, including inhibition of tumor growth, induction of cell apoptosis, inhibition of angiogenesis and metastasis and toxicity to tumor stem cells. In addition, several studies have reported that the combination of natural products and traditional anti-melanoma drugs can enhance the therapeutic efficacy. In this review we summarize the prevention and treatment of melanoma with natural products.

Objective:To investigate the mediating roles of perceived social support and relative deprivation in the relationships between life events and Internet addiction among Chinese college students.Methods:Totally 413 college students (200 males and 213 females,aged 16-21 years),completed the Relative Deprivation Questionnaire,Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check List,Perceived Social Support Scale and Chinese Internet Addiction Scale Revised to measure the level of relative deprivation,life events,perceived social support and Internet addiction.The Bollen-Stine of structural equation modeling and Bootstrap were used to test the mediating effect of perceived social support and relative deprivation on the relationship between life events and Internet addiction.Results:The scores of PSSS were negatively correlated with the scores of ASLEC,RDQ,and CIAS-R (r=0.11-0.36,Ps ＜0.05).The scores of ASLEC,RDQ,and CIAS-R were positively correlated with each other (r=0.14-0.23,Ps ＜ 0.01).Path analyses showed that the ASLEC scores were not associated with the CIAS-R scores directly (β =0.11,P ＞0.05),but indirectly through the mediating roles of the scores of PSSS and RDQ and the chain mediating effect of them among Chinese college students.The structural equation model could be accepted by Bollen-Stine Bootstrap (P ＜0.01).The confidence interval from Bootstrap output of the mediating effects of the scores of PSSS and RDQ and the chain mediating effect of them were (0.010,0.103),(0.002,0.032) and (0.005,0.061) respectively.Conclusion:It suggests that life events could not directly affect Internet addiction,but indirectly lead to Internet addiction through reducing perceived social support and increasing relative deprivation.

Aortic Aneurysm ; etiology ; Bacteremia ; complications ; Child, Preschool ; Humans ; Male ; Staphylococcal Infections ; complications

Female ; Humans ; Liver Failure, Acute ; blood ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood ; Liver Transplantation ; Male ; Thrombelastography ; Whole Blood Coagulation Time

Objective: To investigate the effect of Chinese drugs (CD) that invigorate Spleen to remove Dampness and activate the blood circulation to eliminate Turbid for retarding progression of chronic renal failure (CRF). Methods: Thirty-nine patients with CRF were divided into two groups at random: the 18 patients in group A (the control group) were treated with low protein diet and controlling blood pressure and 21 patients in group B (the treatment group) were treated similarly with that of the control group and additional CD. Levels of serous creatinine (SCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), blood albumin (Alb), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and hemoglobin (Hb) were checked every two months and the rate of progression of CRF was estimated by slope of the creatinine reciprocal (1/SCr) with time (months). Results: Levels of SCr and BUN in group B were lower and HDL higher than those in group A significantly, P<0.05. Mean slopes of the creatinine reciprocal with time in the two groups were markedly different, P<0.01. Conclusion: Additional CD treatment based upon the low protein diet and controlling blood pressure could retard the rate of progression of CRF evidently.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of compound Puerarin on collagen IV of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

METHODSDiabetic nephropathy rats were induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). Rats were allocated randomly to control group (10), diabetes model group (10), Vitamin C group (10), Puerarin group (10), vitamin C plus Puerarin group (10). The study period lasted for 12 weeks. During and after the treatment, the general state, blood glucose levels, glycosylated hemoglobin, blood urea nitrogen, serum collagen IV, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, urinary albumin excretion rate of the 24-hour, and clearance rate of creatinine collagen IV protein were determined by immunohistochemistoche analysis as well as type the gene expression of collagen IV alpha 1 mRNA were determined by in situ hybridization analysis in the kidney tissue of different groups.

RESULTS(1) Diabetes mellitus and renal function lesion occurred in the four groups. (2) Vitamin C and Puerarin could improve the general conditions of diabetic Rats, decrease blood urea nitrogen [(8.68 +/- 0.43), (7.98 +/- 0.47) and (5.76 +/- 0.82) micromol/L, serum creatinine [(74.68 +/- 8.20), (75.52 +/- 7.98) and (58.66 +/- 6.65) mmol/L], and urinary albumin excretion rate of the 24-hour [(18.40 +/- 0.37), (17.24 +/- 0.30) and (9.97 +/- 1.27) mg/24 h x 10(-3)]; increase clearance rate of creatinine [(0.59 +/- 0.21), (0.61 +/- 0.14) and (0.69 +/- 0.32) ml/min], the expression of collage IV absorbance [(111.56 +/- 14.61), (110.78 +/- 9.69) and (95.44 +/- 9.97) ] in the diabetic Rats were significantly inhibited at the same time.

CONCLUSIONThe compound Puerarin might have some functions on preventing ren by inhibiting expression of type IV collagen.

Animals ; Collagen Type IV ; antagonists & inhibitors ; biosynthesis ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Isoflavones ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Phytotherapy ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

PURPOSE: This study differentiates patient and care delays of breast cancer and explores the related factors as well as the associations with the prognosis in Guangzhou, a southern city of China. METHODS: A cohort of female incident breast cancer patients (n=1,551) was recruited from October 2008 to March 2012 and followed up until January 1, 2016 (n=1,374) in the affiliated hospitals of Sun Yat-sen University. The factors associated with patient and care delays were analyzed with multivariable logistic models. Cox proportional hazards regression models were constructed to estimate the impacts of the delays on the prognosis. RESULTS: There were 40.4% patient delay (≥3 months) and 15.5% care delay (≥1 month). The patient delay, but not the care delay, was significantly related to the clinical stage and consequently worsened the prognosis of breast cancer (hazard ratio, 1.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.09 to 1.91 for progression-free survival). The factors related to an increased patient delay included premenopausal status, history of benign breast disease, and less physical examination. CONCLUSION: Patient delay was the main type of delay in Guangzhou and resulted in higher clinical stage and poor prognosis of breast cancer. Screening for breast cancer among premenopausal women may be an effective way to reduce this delay.
Breast Diseases ; Breast Neoplasms ; Breast ; China ; Cohort Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Mass Screening ; Physical Examination ; Prognosis ; Solar System

Objective:To compare the long-term prognosis of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with ostial/shaft lesions of unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA).Methods:A total of 259 patients with isolated ostial/midshaft lesions of ULMCA who received PCI or CABG in our hospital from 2003-01 to 2009-07 were enrolled.The patients were divided into 2 groups:PCI group,n=149 patients who received drug-eluting stents (DES) implantation and CABG group,n=110.The end points were all cause death,myocardial infarction (MI) and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) which included cardiac death,non-fetal MI,stroke,repeated revascularization and the composite events death.Results:The median follow-up period was 7.1 years (inter quartile range 5.3-8.2 years) in all patients.Before multivariate adjusting,the following parameters were similar between PCI group and CABG group:all cause death (12.7％ vs 29.7％),P=-0.096;non-fatal MI (14.8％ vs 8.5％),P=0.844;stroke (9.3％ vs 6.3％),P=0.904;repeated revascularization (26.8％ vs 19.0％),P=0.234;composite events of cardiac death/stroke/MI (18.9％ vs 20.3％),P=0.224 and MACCE occurrence (37.5％ vs 34.2％),P=0.946.With adjusted variations,the trend was similar to pre-adjustment.Conclusion:During the maximum 8.2 years follow-up period,PCI and CABG had the similar efficacy and safety in patients with ostial/shaft lesions of ULMCA.

Objective To explore the clinical characteristics of patients with inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.Methods The clinical characteristics,electrocardiogram,serum chemistry and diagnostic methods were retrospectively investigated in 5 patients with inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.Results The electrocardiograms of all patients were abnormal.with prominent left ventricular voltage and ST-T changes.One male patient with clinicopathological features of early onset,muscle weakness,ventricular preexcitation,elevations of two Serum proteins and intracytoplasmic vacuoles containing autophagic material and glycogen in biceps brachill muscle cells was diagnosed Danon's disease.Mitochondrial cardiomyopathy was diagnosed in one male patient with early onset,short PR interval and biopsy findings of ragged-red fibers in biceps brachill muscle.Three patients were diagnosed as Fabry's disease with clinical characteristics including pain and acroparesthesias,angiokeratoma and decrease of α-galactosidaseA activity.Conclusion Some of the rare inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy misht easily be clinically misdiagnosed as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,systemic and careful case history inquiring and specific relevant examinations would help to make the right diagnosis in these patients.

Objective:To systematically evaluate the methodological quality and reporting quality of randomized controlled tri-als(RCT)on the treatment of BPH with traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),in order to provide some methodological reference for clinical practice and research.Methods:We searched CNKI,VIP,Wanfang Data and PubMed for RCTs on the treatment of BPH with TCM published in China from January 2013 to November 2023.Two researchers screened the literature separately,and evaluated the methodological and reporting quality of the RCTs based on the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool and CONSORT TCM compound.Results:Totally,88 RCTs were included in this study.In terms of methodological quality,according to the Cochrane bias risk assess-ment tool,27 biases in the process of randomization were identified as of low-risk and the other 61 of a certain risk.Among the alloca-tion-related biases deviating from the established interventions,76 were of low risk,10 of a certain risk and 2 of high risk;among the compliance-related biases deviating from the established interventions,76 were of low risk and 12 of a certain risk;among the biases due to missing outcome data,86 were of low risk and 2 of a certain risk,while all the biases due to outcome measurement were of low risk;and among the biases from selective reporting,65 were of low-risk,2 of a certain risk and 21 of high-risk.In terms of reporting quality,according to the evaluation criteria of consort TCM compound,appropriate key words were used in 1 RCT(0.01％),the ran-dom assignment sequence method described in 27(30.68％),the details of assignment limitation given in 5(5.68％),assignment concealment mentioned in 3(3.41％),the blind method and assignment concealment employed in 3(3.41％),fall-offs recorded in 10(11.36％),adverse events reported in 38(43.18％),and limitations of the trials analyzed in 18(20.45％).All the RCTs lacked complete intervention measures,subject flow chart,clinical trial registration and research schemes.Conclusion:At present,the methodological quality and reporting quality of RCTs on the treatment of BPH with TCM are generally low,with the main problems of incomplete experimental designs,lack of detailed description of randomized and blind methods,and insufficient TCM symptom eval-uation of outcome indicators.Researchers should be cautious in adopting and applying the results reported,follow the CONSORT state-ment in design,registration,implement and reporting of the scheme,fully consider the clinical characteristics of TCM in the treatment of BPH,and reasonably design and report the evaluation indicators.