OBJECTIVE: To review the research on the anti-tumor effect of Dendrobium officinale at home and abroad in recent years. METHODS: Literatures about the anti-tumor effect of Dendrobium officinale in recent years were searched. The anti-tumor ingredients, pharmacological actions and clinical application of Dendrobium officinale were analyzed and summarize briefly. RESULTS: The polysaccharide and stilbenes in Dendrobium officinale showed anti-tumor effect. CONCLUSION: Dendrobium candidum may be applied to treat tumor clinically and be a candidate of the research and development of anti-tumor drugs.

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the condition and characteristics of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) of anti-infective agents and provide reference for the prevention and treatment of anti-infective agents related DILI. METHODS:Based on retrospective analysis,a total of 572 DILI reports of anti-infective agents were collected from PLA ADR monitoring center during 2009 to 2013, and then analyzed statistically in terms of patient’s age and gender,main diagonosis,categories of DILI-inducing drugs,type,route of administration,occurrence time,lab indicator,DILI types and clinical manifestations,the application of liver protective drugs,out-comes,etc. RESULTS:Among 572 DILI cases,there were 412 cases(72.03%)of male patients and 160 cases(27.97%)of female patients,and average age of the patients was(44.54±23.75)years old. ADRs were related to 57 kinds of anti-infective agents in 6 cat-egories. Rifampin was the most frequent in suspected drugs,followed by isoniazid,moxifloxacin,fluconazole,azithromycin,cefurox-ime, cefoperazone/sulbactam, levofloxacin, cefoxitin and voriconazole. Intravenous infusion was the main administration route (74.48%). The occurrence time of ADRs was mainly within two weeks (86.19%). Hepatocellular damage (93.33%) was the main type in 360 cases of ADR for evaluation of liver injury types. The majority of cases(82.17%)were cured or improved after drug with-drawal and symptomatic treatment. CONCLUSIONS:Cephalosporin,fluoroquinolones,antituberculosis and antifungal drugs might be the common agents which caused liver injury. Hepatocellular damage is the most frequent type. Most of patients have a favourable prognosis. Clinical medical staffs should strengthen the awareness of DILI caused by anti-infective agents and ehance the prevetion of it.

Objective To investigate the feasibility of new criteria for evaluating the radiotherapeutic effect on esophageal cancer by barium meal (BM) combined with CT scans.Methods A total of 189 patients who were diagnosed with esophageal cancer (confirmed by biopsy) from January 2004 to December 2010 were enrolled as subjects.All patients underwent BM and CT scans before and after radiotherapy.The maximal esophageal wall thickness (EWT) and changes in the volumes of regional lymph nodes measured by CT scans were analyzed.New criteria for evaluating the short-term radiotherapeutic effect on esophageal cancer was studied considering the analysis results as well as the BM-based criteria for evaluating short-term radiotherapeutic effect and follow-up results.Results The BM-based evaluation criteria were still useful,but had certain limitations.There were 115 patients who had regional lymph node metastasis as detected by CT scans before radiotherapy,and they were divided into complete remission (CR) group and partial remission (PR) group according to BM results after radiotherapy; the local control rate (LCR) of CR group was significantly higher than that of PR group,but there was no significant difference in survival rate (SR) between the two groups.There were 65 patients who had no regional lymph node metastasis,and they were also divided into CR group and PR group according to BM results after radiotherapy;the LCR and SR of CR group were significantly higher than those of PR group.In summary,the patients who had a CR as evaluated by BM and had the maximal EWT of ≤ 1.20 cm and the volumes of residual lymph nodes of ≤ 1.00 cm3 on CT were defined as CR ; the patients who had a PR as evaluated by BM or had the maximal EWT of ＞ 1.20 cm or those who had a CR evaluated by BM and had the maximal EWT of ≤ 1.20 cm and the volumes of residual lymph nodes of ＞ 1.00 cm3 on CT were defined as PR.The cases evaluated by BM as no remission (NR) or showing metastasis were defined as NR or progressive disease.There were significant differences in LCR and SR between the CR group and PR group determined by the new criteria.Conclusions Simply using BM to evaluate the short-term radiotherapeutic effect on esophageal cancer has certain limitations; instead,the evaluation based on both BM and CT scans is more accurate.

Adult ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; metabolism ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Cyclophosphamide ; therapeutic use ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Doxorubicin ; therapeutic use ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leukocyte Common Antigens ; metabolism ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Mucin-1 ; metabolism ; Prednisone ; therapeutic use ; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; metabolism ; Vincristine ; therapeutic use

Dalbergiae Odoriferae Lignum as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Flavonoid compounds are main chemical constituents of Dalbergiae Odoriferae Lignum, which exert anti-inflammatory property. However, the underlying anti-inflammatory mechanisms of flavonoid compounds are incompletely understood. It has been reported that isoliquiritigenin, liquiritigenin, naringenin and butein possess anti-inflammatory property. The purpose of this study is to illuminate the anti-inflammatory mechanism of flavonoid compounds based on the protein interaction network (PIN) analysis on molecular network level. 130 targets of the main medicinal ingredients of flavonoid compounds were gained though database retrieval. A protein interaction network of flavonoid compounds was constructed with 589 nodes and 216 interactions. By a graph theoretic clustering algorithm Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE), 26 modules were identified and analyzed by Gene ontology (GO) enrichment. Two modules were associated with anti-inflammatory actions. The most interesting finding of this study was that the anti-inflammatory effect of flavonoid compounds may be partly attributable to inhibite FOS, PTGS2 expression, inhibite of IL-1beta release, and block the MAPK pathway and toll-like receptor pathway.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Dalbergia ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Flavonoids ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Protein Binding ; drug effects ; Protein Interaction Maps ; drug effects ; Proteins ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the effect of euphorbiasteroid on inducing the apoptosis of HL-60 cells and demonstrate whether the Fas/FasL signaling pathway is involved in the induction of apoptosis. Methods HL-60 cells were treated with dose of 2.5,10,40 μg/ml of euphorbiasteroid in vitro for 24 h respectively.After that,cell counting Kit-8 was used to detect cell proliferation.The morphology of HL-60 cells were observed under light and fluorescent microscopy.The early cell apoptosis was detected by using flow cytometry with Annexin Ⅴ-FITC /PI double staining.The expressions of Fas,FasL,caspase-8 and caspase-3 mRNA were analyzed by the method of RT-PCR.The activities of caspase-8 and caspase-3 were examined by chromatometry.Results Compared with 1640 control group,HL-60 cell proliferation was inhibited significant-ly by euphorbiasteroid.The inhibition rates were (34.9 ±3.7)%,(54.6 ±5.2)% and (61.3 ±4.3)%respectively.Moreover,HL-60 cells exhibited typical morphological features.Early cell apoptosis rates of HL-60 cells were (23.4 ±3.1)%,(35.7 ±4.3)% and (53.2 ±3.9)% respectively.Furthermore,the expressions of Fas,FasL,caspase-3 and caspase-8 mRNA were up-regulated significantly after euphorbiasteroid administration in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.01 ).After treated with euphorbiasteroid,the activities of caspase-8 and caspase-3 were significantly enhanced (P<0.01 ).Conclusion The up-regulation effect of euphorbiasteroid on Fas/FasL signaling pathway might contribute to the apoptosis of HL-60 cells.

Objective To analyze the etiology of fever of unknown origin (FUO).Methods A total of 372 patients with FUO who hospitalized in Capital Medical University Affiliated Beijing Friendship Hospital were retrospectively analyzed from January 2003 to August 2013.All the patients were divided into two groups:group A (January 2003-December 2007) and group B (January 2008-August 2013).Diagnosis rate,duration of hospitalization (days) and time to diagnosis between the two groups were artificially compared.Results Of the 372 FUO cases,336 were positively diagnosed with a diagnosis rate of 90.3％.Infectious diseases were still the primary causes of FUO (60.2％),including 72 cases (32.1％) of tuberculosis.Connective tissue diseases accounted for 12.9％ of the FUO cases,malignancies were 8.3％,and miscellaneous diseases were 8.9％.Yet thirty six patients (9.7％) could not be confirmed until they were discharged from hospital.The duration of fever in patients with malignancies was longer than that with infectious diseases [60.0 (30.0,90.0) days vs 30.0 (20.0,60.0) days,P =0.003].Time to diagnosis of connective tissue disease and malignancies was longer than infectious diseases [(12.0 (7.3,18.8) days and 11.0 (7.0,18.0) vs 5.0 (3.0,8.0) days,both P values =0.000].The duration of hospitalization in group A was longer than that of group B [17.0(12.0,30.0) days vs 14.0(10.0,20.0) days,P =0.000].The diagnosis rate and time to diagnosis of group A were similar with those of group B.The proportion of connective tissue diseases in group A was higher than group B(18.1％ vs 9.2％,x2 =6.201,P =0.013).The proportion of infectious disease,malignancies and miscellaneous diseases was not significantly different between the two groups.Conclusions Infectious diseases are the major causes of FUO,and the most common cause is tuberculosis.Connective tissue diseases and malignancies are the second and third causes of FUO.The duration of fever and time to diagnosis are significantly different between the different origins.

Objective To observe the effects of Weipixiao on the ultrastructure of gastric mucosa capillaries in rats with precancerous lesions of gastric cancer ( PLGC). Methods The rats were randomized into six groups, including normal group, model group, Vatacoenayme Tablets group ( 0.2 g·kg-1·d-1) , and high-, middle-, and low- dose Weipixiao groups ( 15, 7.5, and 3.75 g·kg-1·d-1 respectively) . The rats received spontaneous intake of N-methyl-N’-nitro-nitrosoguanidine ( MNNG, 200 μg/mL) solution combined with irregular diet and intragastric administration of purgative herbs Xiao Chengqi Decoction ( 2 mL, containing 1 g/mL crude drug) for 18 weeks to induce spleen-deficiency PLGC. The pathological changes in gastric mucosa and the ultrastructure of gastric mucosa capillaries were observed under the transmission electron microscope. Results The model has been established successfully. Transmission electron microscopy results in the model group showed as severely swollen endothelial cells of gastric mucosa capillaries, severely-narrowing or even blocked vascular lumens, rough and discontinuous basement membrane, and swollen, degenerated or even absent pericytes. And the ultrastructure of gastric mucosa capillaries in high-, middle-, and low- dose Weipixiao groups were improved to some degrees, the effect of low-dose Weipixiao group being the best. Conclusion The improvement of the mucosal microcirculation of spleen-deficiency PLGC rats may be one of the pathohistological mechanisms of Weipixiao for spleen-deficiency PLGC.

Objective To investigate the parameters of diffusion?weighted magnetic resonance imaging ( DWMRI) for prediction of the efficacy of chemoradiotherapy ( CRT) for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma ( ESCC) , to determine the optimal time point and threshold for prediction, and to provide a basis for clinical practice. Methods From 2010 to 2011, 38 patients with ESCC were consecutively enrolled as subjects. All patients received three?dimensional conformal radiotherapy with 60 Gy in 30 fractions for 6 weeks. They also received concurrent or consolidation chemotherapy ( FP or TP scheme ) as adjuvant treatment. Patients received DWMRI scans before radiotherapy and at weeks 1?6 during radiotherapy. The apparent diffusion coefficient ( ADC ) values and tumor lengths obtained from serial DWMRI scans were recorded and analyzed. Comparison was made by paired t test. Repeated measurements were analyzed by analysis of variance ( ANOVA) and multivariate ANOVA. The prognosis was predicted by the Logistic model. The effectiveness analysis and threshold screening were performed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results In all patients, 20(52?6%) had complete response (CR) and 18(47?4%) had partial response ( PR) . There were no significant differences in the ADC values before radiotherapy and at weeks 1?6 during radiotherapy between patients with CR and PR ( 1?82 vs. 1?42;1?92 vs. 1?49;2?06 vs. 1?67;2?35 vs. 1?79;2?62 vs. 2?11;2?71 vs. 2?18;2?96 vs. 2?28×10-3 mm2/s;P=0?006,0?003,0?012, 0?001,0?003,0?008,0?002) . The ADC value at third week during radiotherapy was the only independent prognostic factor for short?term treatment outcomes in patients with ESCC ( OR=0?134, P=0?007) . These results were also supported by the multivariate ANOVA analyses. The analysis of the ROC curve showed that at the third week during radiotherapy, the area under the ADC curve was the largest ( A z=0?857) and the diagnostic effectiveness was the best;the threshold value, sensitivity, and specificity were 2?02×10-3 mm2/s, 80?0%, and 92?9%, respectively. Eight patients who had tumor out of control or recurrence within 1 year after treatment had the ADC curve fall down at the end of the fifth week and the reduction of tumor length substantially slow down from the fifth week. Conclusions DWMRI is an effective imaging approach for monitoring tumor response to CRT in patients with ESCC. The ADC value at the end of the third week during radiotherapy may be the optimal time point for prediction of treatment outcomes. The reduction in the ADC value or non?reduction in tumor length at the end of the treatment indicates a high risk of recurrence.

DNA barcoding method was conducted for the authentication of pollen materials due to difficulty of discriminating pollen materials bearing morphological similarity. In this study, a specific focus was to identify cattail pollen (Puhuang) and pine pollen (Songhuafen) samples from their adulterants which are frequently mixed-together. Regions of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) from 60 samples were sequenced, and new primers for cattail pollen were designed according to the sequence information. The results from the NJ trees showed that the species of pine pollen, Puhuang and their adulterants can be classified as obvious monophyly. Therefore, we propose to adapt DNA barcoding methodology to accurately distinguish cattail pollen, pine pollen and their adulterant materials. It is a great help for drug regulatory agency to supervise the quality of medicinal materials.
China ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Pinus ; classification ; genetics ; Pollen ; classification ; genetics ; Quality Control ; Typhaceae ; classification ; genetics