Objective To clone and sequence the cDNA encoding phenylalanine ammonia-lyase(PAL)gene from Astragalus membranaceus.Methods RT-PCR and RACE Techniques were used to clone a phenylalanine ammonia-lyase gene from A.membranaceus roots with the total RNA as the template.Results The cloned gene named as AmPAL and the Genbank registry number is EF567076.Squence analysis showed that the full-length of AmPAL cDNA was 2 650 bp,including a 2 154 bp open reading frame(ORF).AmPAL was a new number of PAL family that consisted of 718 amino acids with prediated mole-cular weight of 7.805?104 and isoelectric point(PI)of 5.96.At the same time,AmPAL had the homo-logy with PAL of known leguminous plants and shared above 80% identity of amino acid sequences.Conclusion It is the first report that a novel PAL gene is cloned from A.membranaceus.This work lays a foundation for regulating phenylpropanoid pathway of medical plant with AmPAL.

Objective To analyze the airflow characteristics and investigate the relationship of the structure and the function of nasal cavity by the three?dimensional reconstruction of nasal airway of patients with structural abnormalities(nasal septum deviation)and healthy people and the estab?lishment of finite element model by computer. Methods On the basis of CT imaging of the nasal cavity in patients with structural abnormalities(na?sal septum deviation,n=20)and healthy people(n=20),three?dimensional reconstruction of nasal airway was conducted by resurfacing finite ele?ment subdivision to simulate the characteristics of airflow in nasal cavity. Results The airflow mainly went through the commodious side of the nose in patients with nasal septum deviation and the maximum fluence appeared in the middle part of meatus nasi communis. The airway pressure de?creased most significantly in the most flank?curvature part of nasal septum deviation,accounting approximately 79.65%of the total pressure. In healthy people,the bilateral airflow was affected by nasal cycle and was mainly characterized by one nasal cavity,and the maximum fluence was ob?served in the middle and the inferior part of meatus nasi communis. The airway pressure decreased most significantly in limen nasi,accounting ap?proximately 58.78%of the total pressure. Conclusion Numerical modeling of nasal cavity can be used to analyze the relationship between the nasal structural abnormalities and the airflow characteristics,which is a scientific method to analyze the association of nasal structure and function with dis?ease and can be used for pre?and post?operative individual evaluation of operative therapeutic regimen targeting at optimizing airway and altering air?flow distribution.

Objective To evaluate the accuracy of 99mTcO4- gastrointestinal imaging in the diagnosis of Meckel’s diverticulum in children. Methods The clinical data of 99mTcO4-imaging, surgery and pathological results of 95 children with gastrointestinal bleeding were retrospectively analyzed. Results Forty-four cases of 95 patients had positive ifnding of 99mTcO4-ectopic gastric mucous membrane imaging, and positive rate was 46.3%. In the positve cases 52.3%cases (23/44) were diagnosed of intestinal heterotopic gastric mucosa, 47.7%cases (21/44) were suspected of intestinal heterotopic gastric mucosa. The sex ratio (males to females) was 7.8:1. Thirty-seven positive cases underwent operation;among them, 35 cases were found to have Meckel’s diverticulum and 1 case had duplication of the digestive tract;Diverticulum lesion was not found in 1 case. The samples of 35 cases diagnosed surgically of Meckel’s diverticulum were examined by pathologic histology. All 35 cases were conifrmed as Meckel’s diverticulum and ectopic gastric mucosa epithelium, including 2 cases with ulcer formation, 1 case with small patches of pancreatic tissue, 1 case with ileocecal junction of suppurative enteritis and 1 case with chronic appendicitis. Conclusions 99mTcO4-radionuclide imaging technique is of high value for the non-invasive diagnosis of children’s Meckel’s diverticulum.

Objective To investigate the protective effect of standard dose prednisone(starting dose about 0.4 mg/kg bw) combined with glutamine(2 g/d) for Graves' ophthalmopathy(GO) after 131I treatment.Methods The prospective randomized controlled trial was performed and included 116 consecutive patients with mild-to-moderate GO or no active GO after 131I treatment,but with high risk factors.The experimental group(59 cases) started to take oral prednisone(0.44 ± 0.13)mg/kg at 2 d atter theatment,meanwhile replenishing glutamine,and prednisone was gradually decreased by 5mg per 2 weeks and stopped until 2 months;the control group(57 cases) received the initial dose prednisone(0.43± 0.14)mg/kg without replenishing glutamine,and the rest was same as the experimental group.The GO change and prednisone adverse reactions in 2,4,6 months after treatment were evalua ted in the two groups.Results The baseline characteristics had no significant difference between the two groups.In comparison of the experimental group and control group after 6-month treatment,the CAS score was (2.8 ± 0.8 vs.3.5 ± 0.9),exophthalmos degree was (19.6±8.1)mm vs.(21.7±3.0)mm,eyelid width was (11.3±2.9)mm vs.(13.8±3.1)mm,the improvement degree in the experimental group except for degree was superior to the control group (P＜0.01).No new onset GO or deterioation oc curred in the two groups;the experimental group had 42 cases(71.2 ％) of GO improvement and 17 cases(28.8 ％) of stability,while the control group had 39 cases(68.4％) of GO improvement and 18 cases(31.6％) of stability,and the curative effects had no sttis-tical difference between the two groups(P＞0.05).The side effects in the control group were more than those in the experimental group(63.1％ vs.30.5％,P＜0.05).the body mass increase was more obvious [(3.8±1.8) kg vs.(1.4±1.2)kg,P＜0.01],and SBP and DBP in the two groups were slightly increased[(10±4)mm Hg vs.(9±5)mm Hg P＞0.05].Conclusion Using the initial dose of oral prednisone(about 0.4 mg/kg) for 2 months and simultaneously replenishing glutamine (2 g/d)can effectively improve mild-moderate GO,and effectively reduce the adverse reactions of GC.However it is needed to extend the follow-up time to assess whether it can truly prevent the deterioration of GO,and to conduct a further study for the role of glutamine.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and their receptor in nasal inverted papillomas (NIP) and to clarify the function of VEGF in the occurrence of NIPs and the correlation with malignant phenotype. METHOD: VEGF and its receptor (flk-1), expression were examined by immunohistochemistry using LSAB method in sections of NIP from 48 patients and squamous carcinoma from 8 patients. RESULT: All the epithelium together with the adjacent vascular and stroma,expressed increased positive staining of VEGF and flk-1 with the degree of atypical hyperplasia in epithelium. The VEGF/flk-1 expression in epithelium was significantly stronger in severe atypical hyperplasia than that in mild atypical hyperplasia, and same in mild atypical hyperplasia than in NIPs (P<0.01). CONCLUSION VEGF/flk-1 participate in the growth of NIPs. The enhanced VEGF/flk-1 in the epithelium may be identified as one of the parameters in judging malignant transformation of NIPs.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nose Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Papilloma, Inverted ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Prognosis ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; genetics ; metabolism ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 ; genetics ; metabolism

Methods:Two thousand standard sections images werre collected from 2 000 clinical retrospective pediatric hip ultrasound videos from January 2019 to January 2021. All standard sections were annotated by the annotation team through the self-designed software based on Python 3.6 environment for image cross-media data annotation and manual review standardization process with unified standards. Among them, 1 753 were randomly selected for training the deep learning system, and the remaining 247 were used for testing the system. Further, 200 standard sections were randomly selected from the test set, and 8 clinicians independently completed the film reading annotation. The 8 independent results were then compared with the AI results.Results:The testing set consists of 247 patients. Compared with the clinician's measurements, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of diagnosing hip joint maturity was 0.865, the sensitivity was 76.19%, and the specificity was 96.9%. The AUC of AI system interpretation under Graf detailed typing was 0.575, the sensitivity was 25.90%, the specificity was 89.10%. The 95% LoA of α-angle determined by Bland-Altman method, of -4.7051° to 6.5948° ( Bias -0.94, P<0.001), compared with clinicians' measurements. The 95% LoA of β-angle, of -7.7191 to 6.8777 ( Bias -0.42, P=0.077). Compared with those from 8 clinicians, the results of AI system interpretation were more stable, and the β-angle effect was more prominent. Conclusion:The AI system can quickly and accurately measure the Graf correlation index of standard DDH ultrasonic standard diagnosis plane.

High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a nuclear protein that can bind to DNA and act as a co-factor for gene transcription. When released into extracellular fluid, it plays a proinflammatory role by acting as a damage-associated molecular pattern molecule (DAMP) (also known as an alarmin) to initiate innate immune responses by activating multiple cell surface receptors such as the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) and toll-like receptors (TLRs), TLR2, TLR4 or TLR9. This proinflammatory role is now considered to be important in the pathogenesis of a wide range of kidney diseases whether they result from hemodynamic changes, renal tubular epithelial cell apoptosis, kidney tissue fibrosis or inflammation. This review summarizes our current understanding of the role of HMGB1 in kidney diseases and how the HMGB1-mediated signaling pathway may constitute a new strategy for the treatment of kidney diseases.