Objective To analyze the influence of atrial fibrillation(AF) on N‐terminal pro‐brain natriuretic peptide(NT‐proB‐NP) for the assist diagnosis of acute heart failure(AHF) .Methods Totally 457 inpatients with suspected AHF due to acute dysp‐nea and conducting blood NT‐proBNP detection and electrocardiogram(ECG) within 24 h of admission were collected and devided into groups according to whether AHF was diagnosed and complicated with AF identified by ECG on admission ,that was AHF +AF group ,AHF + non AF group ,non AHF + AF group ,non AHF + non AF group .The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was adopted to evaluate the value of NT‐proBNP for diagnosing AHF .Results Among 457 cases ,194 cases (42 .5% ) were diagnosed as AHF and 140 cases (42 .5% ) as AF .The NT‐proBNP level in the AF group was significantly higher than that in the non AF group (4 482 .0 pg/mL vs .1 302 .0 pg/mL ,P < 0 .01) .The NT‐proBNP level had no statistical difference between the AHF + AF group and the AHF + non AF group AF(6 580 .0 pg/mL vs .6 769 .0 pg/mL ,P> 0 .05) .The NT‐proBNP level in the non AHF + AF group was significantly increased compared with the non AHF + non AF group (403 .3 pg/mL vs .2 892 .0 pg/mL ,P< 0 .01) .The area under the curve(AUC) of NT‐proBNP for diagnosing AHF in the AF group and the non AF group was 0 .759(95% CI :0 .677 - 0 .841 ,P < 0 .01) and 0 .931(95% CI :0 .903 - 0 .985 ,P < 0 .01) .Conclusion The NT‐proBNP level in AF patients without AHF is significantly increased ,which might affect the value of NT‐proBNP in the diagnosis of AHF .In the clinical applica‐tion ,whether the patient has AF cardiac rhythm should be paid attention to for better interpretating the detection result of NT‐proBNP .

Mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs), which can be introduced in brain tissue by the strategies of brain parenchyma, blood and neurolymph transplantation, to repair tissue injury and promote functional recovery of neural system, have been considered as the ideal seed cells for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. However, as the special structure exists in the blood-brain barrier, study on correlation between MSCs and blood-brain barrier permeability will make it possible for more MSCs to pass the barrier to perform the treatment. This paper gives a review on the latest research development in the field.

BACKGROUND:COX-2 gene actual y exists in the joint fibroblast-like synoviocytes, it affects osteoarthritis occurrence and development. Understanding the differences of COX-2 gene expression levels at different stages of osteoarthritis synoviocytes has important theoretical significance for the occurrence and development of osteoarthritis, as wel as the role of synoviocytes in this process.
OBJECTIVE:To analyze the difference of COX-2 mRNA at different stages of osteoarthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes.
METHODS:Synovial membrane from 44 osteoarthritis patients and 12 normal cases were selected. Primary cells were cultured to passage 4 fibroblast-like synoviocytes for the use in the experiment. COX-2 mRNA expression in osteoarthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes and normal fibroblast-like synoviocytes was detected using real-time fluorescence quantitative RT-PCR. The relative quantitative analysis was performed using 2-ΔΔCt method.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Expression of COX-2 mRNA in osteoarthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes was significantly higher than that in normal fibroblast-like synoviocytes (P<0.05). The expression levels reached a peak at early osteoarthritis group, with significant differences compared with middle and late osteoarthritis groups (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between middle and later osteoarthritis groups (P>0.05). COX-2 mRNA might be important biological marker for the inflammation in osteoarthritis, and mainly plays a role in early osteoarthritis stage.

Chemical investigation was carried out to study the alkaloids from stems of Nelumbo nucifera and their cytotoxic activities. The constituents were separated by column chromatography, and their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data analyses. The isolated compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities by MTr method. Fifteen compounds were isolated from the total alkaloids extract and identified as asimilobine (1), isococlaurine (2), N-acetylnorarmepavine (3), crykonisine (4), velucryptine (5), pycnarrhine (6), liriodenine (7), nuciferine (8), nornuciferine (9), armepavine (10), N-methylasimilobine (11), coclaurine (12), N-norarmepavine (13), N-methylcoclaurine (14) and lysicamine (15). Compounds 1-7 and 12-15 were isolated from stems of this plant for the first time, and compounds 2-6 were firstly isolated from the family Nelumbonaceae. Compounds 7-10, 13 and 14 showed significant cytotoxic activities against HL-60 carcinoma cell line with inhibitory ratios of 51.36%, 59.09%, 52.51%, 53.93%, 51.43%, and 64.31% at concentration of 1 x 10(-5) mol x L(-1), respectively.
Alkaloids ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Nelumbo ; chemistry ; Plant Stems ; chemistry

Objective To investigate the difference and the correlation of the vowel's phonation threshold pressure and nasalance in normal subjects .Methods The Aeroview (GLOTTAL Enterprises)with the materials /pa/,/pi/,/pu/ was used to obtain phonation threshold pressure values and The NasalviewTM (Tiger Electronics Inc .,Seattle ,Shanghai) with the materials /a/,/i/,/u/was used to obtain nasalance values .A total of 30 subjects (15 males ,15 females ,and aged 19~30) years old received the tests .The results of the vowel's phonation threshold pressure and nasalance gender score difference were compared .Results The PTP gender scores of /a/,/i/,/u/in maleswere4.53±0.70cm,5.21±0.80cm,5.87±1.45cm,andinfemaleswere4.09±0.30cm,4.47±0.30cm, and 4 .77 ± 0 .32 cm ,respectively .There were significant differences between males and females in PTP values (P<0 .05) .The PTP gender score differences showed that males were greater than that of females .There were signifi‐cant differences in different vowels (P<0 .05) .The nasalance gender scores of /a/,/i/,/u/in males were 30 .2 ± 5 . 75% ,38 .8 ± 8 .54% ,26 .5 ± 6 .03% ,and in females w ere32 .4 ± 7 .14% ,40 .5 ± 11 .8% ,and 30 .1 ± 4 .83% ,respec‐tively .There were no significant differences between males and females in nasalance values (P> 0 .05) .The na‐salance gender score differences showed that females were greater than males .There were significant differences in different vowels(P<0 .05) .This study found a weak correlation between PTP and nasalance .Conclusion The relationship between oral pressure and nasal flow cannot be accurately measured by measuring PTP ,and /pa/is a relatively suit‐able material for testing oral pressure .

Objective To investigate the relationsheep between colonic H2 S‐producing enzyme cystathionine‐γ‐lyase(CSE) and colonic motility in a rat model of diabetes mellitus(DM) .Methods To obtained diabetic rat models ,all rats were injected intra‐peritoneally (ip) 1% streptozotocin (STZ ,65 mg/kg) ,type 1 diabetes model was established ,nornmol conditions were observed pe‐riodically .Ten days after treatment ,production of colonic longitudinal smooth muscle strips ,organ bath recordings were used to test the colonic motility ;immunofluorescence and double immunofluorescence lableling method were performed to detect the distribution of CSE;Western blot were performed on rat colonic samples devoid of mucosa and submucosa to detect the expression of CSE .Re‐sults DM rats decreased the colonic motility(P<0 .05);CSE was strongly expressed in the cytosols of the circular and longitudinal smooth muscle cells and the nucleus of the myenteric plexus neurons ;CSE distributed in myenteric neurons in the nucleus of rat ,but the proportion of MP had no difference (P>0 .05);DM rats increased the expression of CSE in the colon devoid of mucosa and sub‐mucosa(P<0 .05) .Conclusion The decrease of colonic motility in diabetic rat may be associated with the increased production of H2 S‐producing enzyme CSE .

Objective To investigate the changes of plasma adrenodullin(ADM) and C-type natriuretic peptide(CNP) level in children with chronic heart failure(CHF) and its clinical implications.Methods Forty-two children with CHF were collected.The patients suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy,congenital heart defects,and other heart diseases.According to a modified scoring system described by Ross and Reithman,16 patients were classified as class Ⅱ,14 as class Ⅲ,and 12 as class Ⅳ.Plasma levels of ADM and CNP were measured by radioimmunoassay assay in these patients and 11 healthy children.Echocardiography was performed to measure left ventricular function and the ratio of E/A.Results Plasma ADM and CNP levels of CHF patients were significantly elevated as compared with those of the control subjects [(218.27?106.53) ng/L vs(74.39?53.99) ng/L,P=0;(190.27?108.38) ng/L vs(92.59?(59.46) ng/L),P0.05).ADM levels were elevated with the advancing severity of CHF determined by a modified scoring system described by Ross.However,the plasma CNP levels in the normal state wasn′t significantly different from those observed in class Ⅱ.Likewise,the plasma CNP level in the class Ⅲ was not significantly different from that observed in class Ⅱ.Conclusions ADM and CNP might play a compensatory and defensive roles in the pathophysiology of the pediatric CHF.ADM may be a biochemical marker for evaluation the severity of the chronic heart failure in children,but also a new prognostic indicator of this syndrome.

Objective To discover the role of interleukin-18(IL-18) and CD_(54) in congestive heart failure(CHF),and evaluate the diagnostic value of IL-18 and CD_(54) in CHF.Methods Blood samples were collected from 52 children with CHF,included 18 cases in classⅡ,17 cases in class Ⅲand 17 cases in class Ⅳ.Fifteen healthy children were normal control group.The levels of IL-18 was(detec-)ted by ELISA method and the expression of CD_(54) was examined by flow cytometry.Results The levels of IL-18 and CD_(54) in CHF were significantly higher than those of control subjects(P0.05),but the levels were respectively significantly higher than that of control subjects(P

Objective We evaluated the molecular epidemiology ofStenotrophomonas maltophilia strains in adult patients in Renji Hospital to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine for better control ofS.maltophilia infections.Methods Nonduplicate clinical isolates of S.maltophilia were collected from Renji Hospital from January 2014 to September 2014.We examined the clonality among the S.maltophilia isolates by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).Antimicrobial resistance pattern was investigated by Kirby-Bauer method and prevalence of toxin genes (Stmpr1,Stmpr2,stmr-1,Smlt3773locus) by PCR.We also studied the biofilm formation of S.maltophilia by semiquantitative biofilm formation test.Results A total of 78 nonduplicate S.maltophilia isolates were analyzed,of which 26 were isolated from surgical intensive care unit,and 53 strains were from male patients.All patients infected by S.maltophilia had received antibiotic therapy before the strains were isolated.At least three kinds of antibiotics were used in 62.8％ of the patients.MLST analysis indicated that 49 isolates were assigned novel STs(STnewl-STnew38),with new combinations of allelic profiles.The largest cluster of isolates was ST23 (6 strains).PFGE showed that there was weak genetic linkage between S.maltophilia strains.The 78 isolates were divided into 58 groups.About 2.6％ (2/78) and 10.3％ (8/78) of these strains were resistant to levofloxacin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole,respectively.All the strains were susceptible to minocycline.The prevalence of virulence genes Stmprl,Stmpr2,snf-1 and Smlt3773 locus was 79.5％ (62/78),93.6％ (73/78),94.9％ (74/78) and 48.7％ (38/78),respectively.Biofilm formation test indicated that the mean ability of biofilm formation was 0.51±0.44 in terms of D492.There was no significant difference between males and females.Conclusions All patients with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection had a history of antibiotic use and male patients were susceptible population.Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolates showed high prevalence of virulence genes.No clonal dissemination was found in the same department of hospital.

A series of 5H-benzo[b] carbazole derivatives were synthesized to find new TopⅡ inhibitors.The substitution pattern at C-9 was discussed.All 16 compounds were tested for their antiproliferative activities against 4 tumor cell lines (SMMC-7721,S1,HCT116,and HeLa) by sulforhodamine B assay.Four compounds were found to inhibit the proliferation of all tested cell lines.And compound 10e displayed the best antiproliferative activity against all 4 tested cell lines with IC50 values of 5.06,4.50,5.29,and 6.32 μmol/L,respectively.