OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of Astragalus injection combined with Salmeterol propionate powder inhala-tion on pulmonary function,cytokines and blood rheology indexes of Chronic obsrnctine pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. METHODS:104 COPD patients were divided into observation group and control group according to the randorn number table meth-od,with 52 cases in each group. Control group was given routine symptomatic treatment+Salmeterol propionate powder inhalation 1 dose,bid;observation group was additionally given Astragalus injection 30 ml added into 5% Glucose injection 250 ml,ivgtt, qd,on the basis of control group. Treatment course of 2 groups lasted for 2 weeks. Clinical efficacy,pulmonary function indexes [forced expiratory volume in one second(FEV1),forced vital capacity(FVC),FEV1/FVC],CRP,cytokine [IL-6,IL-8,TNF-α] levels,blood rheology indexes (whole blood high-shear viscosity,whole blood low-shear viscosity,fibrinogen,hematokrit and plasma viscosity),and the occurrence of ADR were observed in 2 groups. RESULTS:The total effective rate of observation group (94.23%)was significantly higher than that of control group(75.00%);compared with before treatment,FEV1,FVC and FEV1/FVC of 2 groups were significantly increased after treatment,and those of observation group were significantly higher than those of control group;CRP,IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α of 2 groups were significantly decreased,and those of observation group were signifi-cantly lower than those of control group. The whole blood high-shear viscosity,whole blood low-shear viscosity,fibrinogen,hema-tocrit and plasma viscosity of observation group were decreased significantly after treatment,and the observation group was signifi-cantly lower than the control group,with statistical significance(P<0.05). No significant ADR was found in 2 groups. CONCLU-SIONS:Astragalus injection combined with Salmeterol propionate powder inhalation is significantly effective for COPD,improves pulmonary function of patients,improves micro inflammatory state and decreases blood rheology indexes with good safety.

Objective The levels of Thl cytokines(IL-10 and IL-13)and Th2 cytokines(INF-? and TNF-?)were determined in the sera of patients with Schistosomiasis japonica in order to find the relationship between cytokines and severe hepatic fibrosis(HF)in schistosomiasis.Methods A total of 358 patients with advanced Schistosomiasis japonica were examined by ultrasound.68 HBsAg negative patients were chosen randomly as experimental control.Among them,39 patients were found to have mild HF and 29 were severe HF.The sera levels of Thl and Th2 cytokines were determined with ELISA.Results Among these 358 patients,83(23.2%)were HBsAg positive.Neither earlier nor severer hepatic fibrosis was noted in the patients who had been simultaneously infected with HBV than those only infected with schistosomiasis. There was a significant difference between mild[ 1.60(1.30-12.14)ng/L]and severe[ 4.20(1.43- 52.07)ng/L]HF patients in the level of IL-10(Z=-3.907,P0.05)was found in level of IFN-?,between severe[3.12(1.38-66.14)ng/L]and mild[5.87(1.33-216.33)ng/ L]HF subjects.Our observation did not reveal any obvious difference of TNF-? between severe[ 2.48(0.79 -19.86)ng/L]and mild[ 2.28(0.67-15.72)ng/L]HF groups.Conclusions Patients infected with advanced shistosomiasis may become more susceptible to HBV.The results of the present investigation showed that a high level production of IL-13 was associated with severe HF.

Objective To construct an expression plasmid carrying the specific siRNA of survivin gene,and to evaluate its silencing effect on the expression of survivin gene and its inhibition effect on the growth of gastric cancer cells.Methods The specific siRNA of survivin gene was designed and synthesized,and an expression plasmid pAdGFP-siRNA was constructed.Gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901 was cuhured and transferred with pAdGFP-siRNA,then the silencing of survivin gene expression and the growth inhibition of cancer cell mediated by pAdGFP-siRNA were identified.Results The growth of gastric cancer cells was inhibited after transferring the pAdGFP-siRNA,with the inhibition rate of 68.2% compared to the control group.Immunohistochemistry showed that the specific siRNA markedly silenced the expression of survivin gene in cancer cells.Conclusions The overexpression of survivin gene in gastric cancer cells results in the high proliferation and the resistance to the chemo- and radio-therapy of the cancer cells.The specific siRNA can markedly silence the expression of survivin gene and inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

The expressions of StAR (steroidogenic acute regulatory protein) mRNA in testes from 7,14,23 and 37 day-old piglets were studied by tissue in situ hybridization. The results indicated that in the testes of piglets, StARmRNA was expressed in Leydig cells of pig testes. The expression level of StARmRNA was lower in 7 days piglets but higher in 14,23,37 days. The results indicated that StAR gene played an important role in steroid biosynthesis.

Objective To observe the relationship between apoptosis of K562 cell induced by iron-deprivation and activation of Caspase-3.Methods K562 cells were treated with desferrioxamine(DFO) in different dosages were collected at different time points.K562 cells were labelled with Annexin V/PI,and then the rate of apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry;The activation of Caspase-3 were detected by colorimetric method with pAN labelled substrate;The active protein of Caspase-3 were analyzed by Western blot.Results When K562 cells were treated with different concentrations of DFO,the apoptosis rate and the activity of Caspase-3 increases gradually.When K562 cells were incubated with DFO(50 ?mol/L and 100 ?mol/L) 24 h later,the enzymatic activity of Caspase-3 increases dramatically more than that of control group,and the difference was significantly(P0.05).All those effect above can be counteracted by equal mole concentration of FeCl_3.Conclusion Iron-deprivation maybe induce the apoptosis of K562 cell by chelating intracellular iron and activing Caspase-3.

Based on the transcriptome database of Salvia miltiorrhiza, specific primers were designed to clone a full-length cDNA of ent-kaurene oxidase synthase (SmKOL) using the RACE strategy. ORF Finder was used to find the open reading frame of SmKOL cDNA, and ClustalW has been performed to analysis the multiple amino acid sequence alignment. Phylogenetic tree has been constructed using MEGA 5.1. The transcription level of SmKOL from the hairy roots induced by elicitor methyl jasmonate (MeJA) was qualifiedby real-time quantitative PCR. The full length of SmKOL cDNA was of 1 884 bp nucleotides encoding 519 amino acids. The molecular weight of the SmKOL protein was about 58.88 kDa with isoelectric point (pI) of 7.62. Results of real-time quantitative PCR analyses indicated that the level of SmKOL mRNA expression in hairy roots was increased by elicitor oMeJA, and reached maximum in 36 h. The full-length cDNA of SmKOL was cloned from S. miltiorrhiza hairy root, which provides a target gene for further studies of its function, gibberellin biosynthesis and regulation of secondary metabolites.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Cloning, Molecular ; Computational Biology ; methods ; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System ; chemistry ; genetics ; Models, Molecular ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; enzymology

The chemical constituents of Poria cocos were studied by means of silica gel, ODS column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 and preparative HPLC. Thirteen compounds were isolated from this plant. By analysis of the ESI-MS and NMR data, the structures of these compounds were determined as tumulosic acid (1), dehydrotumulosic acid (2), 3beta, 5alpha-dihydroxy-ergosta-7, 22-dien-6-one (3), 3beta, 5alpha, 9alpha-trihydroxy-ergosta-7, 22-diene -6-one (4), ergosta-7, 22-diene-3-one (5), 6, 9-epoxy-ergosta-7,22-diene-3-ol (6), ergosta-4,22-diene-3-one (7), 3beta, 5alpha, 6beta-trihydroxyl-ergosta-7,22-diene (8), ergosta-5, 6-epoxy-7,22-dien-3-ol (9), beta-sitosterol (10), ribitol (11), mannitol (12), and oleanic acid 3-O-acetate (13), respectively. Compounds 3-13 were isolated from the P. cocos for the first time.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Organic Chemicals ; analysis ; Poria ; chemistry

Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is a maladaptive response in a variety of organic heart disease(OHD),which is characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction that results from disturbed energy metabolism. SIRT3, a mitochondria-localized sirtuin, regulates global mitochondrial lysine acetylation and preserves mitochondrial function. However, the mechanisms by which SIRT3 regulates cardiac hypertrophy remains to be further elucidated. In this study, we firstly demonstrated that expression of SIRT3 was decreased in AngiotensionⅡ(AngⅡ)-treated cardiomyocytes and in hearts of AngⅡ-induced cardiac hypertrophic mice. In addition, SIRT3 overexpression protected myocytes from hypertrophy, whereas SIRT3 silencing exacerbated Ang II-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.In particular,SIRT3-KO mice exhibited significant cardiac hypertrophy. Mechanistically, we identified NMNAT3 (nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase 3), the rate-limiting enzyme for mitochondrial NAD biosynthesis, as a new target and binding partner of SIRT3.Specifically,SIRT3 physically interacts with and deacety-lates NMNAT3,thereby enhancing the enzyme activity of NMNAT3 and contributing to SIRT3-mediated anti-hypertrophic effects.Moreover,NMNAT3 regulates the activity of SIRT3 via synthesis of mitochon-dria NAD.Taken together,these findings provide mechanistic insights into the negative regulatory role of SIRT3 in cardiac hypertrophy.Sirtuin 3(SIRT3),a mitochondrial deacetylase that may play an impor-tant role in regulating cardiac function and a potential target for CHF

Objective To evaluate the impact of breathing motion on target volume and the factors influencing the set-up errors during tangential whole breast irradiation.Methods From Jan 2003 to Dec 2003,patients with early-stage breast cancer after breast conserving surgery,were selected to be eligible for the study.All patients were immobilized in treatment position by breast beard of Med-Tec 250.The motion of the breast treatment volume was observed on a fluoroscope in different directions under free breathing in 16 patients.The set-up errors in different dimensions during irradiation were measured by weekly portal films (PF) in comparison with digital reconstructed radiographs (DRR) in 11 patients.Results The central lung distance (CLD) variation during free breathing was (2.1?1.2) mm which is greater than the motion to- wards the other directions.By comparing the PF and DRR,the systemic error,random error and overall er- ror in the outer,inner and cranio-caudal directions was 1.9,1.6,2.5 and 2.4,1.7,3.1 and 2.6,2.3, 3.5 mm,respectively.In addition,the discrepancy of the treatment position in cranio-caudal direction and breast volume was most obvious at the beginning 2 weeks with the peak of breast volume at the second week. It decreased gradually during the following 3 weeks.Conclusions This study suggests that the mean value of the motion of the breast target volume during one breathing cycle is less than 2 mm.The set-up errors dur- ing irradiation is the greatest in cranio-caudal direction,suggesting that the fixing precision of the breast board should be further improved.The set-up error during irradiation are most obvious at the beginning two weeks,with the peak of the breast volume in the second week.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of fusion tumor vaccine in tongue cancer treatment.

METHODSHuman macrophages fused with human tongue carcinoma cell line Tca8113 cell. The fusion cells were selected by magnetic cell sorting (MACS) and cultured. The biological properties of fusion cells and anti-tumor immune response in vitro induced by fusions were observed.

RESULTSIn contrast to Tca8113, the fused cells grew significantly slow in vitro. The expression of MHC I, II antigen of the fusion cells which was detected by flow cytometry (FCM) was higher than that of Tca8113. The fused cells significantly increased the proliferation of mixed lymphocyte and induced their cytotoxicity on parental Tca8113.

CONCLUSIONSThe fusion tumor vaccine of macrophages and OSCC cells increase in vitro immunogenicity significantly. This indicates that fusion tumor vaccine could be a new method of anti-tumor immunotherapy, which has important potentials for effective individualized human OSCC vaccine.

Animals ; Cancer Vaccines ; immunology ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; immunology ; Cell Fusion ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Histocompatibility Antigens ; immunology ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Macrophages ; immunology ; Rats ; Tongue Neoplasms ; immunology