AIM: To investigate the effect of glycyrrhizin(GZ) and glycyrrhefinic acid(GA) on reducing the toxicity of Radix Aconiti Laterlis(RAL) and its mechanisms of action. METHODS: Radix Aconiti Laterlis(RAL),RAL with Radix Glycyrrhizae(RG),RAL with GZ,RAL with GA were boiled for 30 min,respectively.HPLC was used to measure the concentrations of aconitine and hypaconitine in the different decoctions.Meanwhile,the acute toxicity of the above decoctions was determined by oral and intraperitoneal administration in mice respectively. RESULTS: By oral administration,the acute toxicity of the decoctions of RG with RAL and GE with RAL was obviously lower than that of RAL.The acute toxicity of the decoction of GA with RAL was slightly reduced when compared with that of RAL.By intraperitoneal administration,the acute toxicity of GA with RAL was obviously higher than that of RAL.RG significantly restrained the dissolution of alkalines contained in RAL into the decoction.But GA and GZ increased the dissolution of the alkalines. CONCLUSION: By oral administration,RG could reduce the acute toxieity of RAL.Restraint on the dissolution of the toxic alkalines contained in RAL into the decoction may be in part the reasons.But GA and GZ are not the effective components reducing the dissolution of the toxic alkalines.They may combine with the toxic alkalines,postpone the absorption of the combined compounds through gastrointestinal tract,and reduce the acute toxicity of RAL by oral administration.

Fifty cases with chronic rheumatic valvular disease were examined with two dimensional echocardiography to evaluate the valvular pathology preoperatively. The echocardiographic findings were correlated and compared with the operative findings.It was found that 89% of the thickening pattern cases and 75% of the funnel-shaped cases showed thickening of the leaf-lets- All the 28 membranous cases showed diastolic doming and restricted tip motion of the anterior leaflet in different degrees. In the 4 funnel-shaped cases, 3 showed restricted tip and body motion of the leaflets and the 4th case showed stiffness of the leaflet base. 63% of the mitral regurgitation cases were confirmed at operation.It is concluded that preoperative evaluation of the valvular pathology with two dimensional echocardiography is helpful in selection of suitable operative candidates.

Forty-eight cases of atrial septum secundum defect were repaired and followed up with M-mode echocardiography postoperatively for three months to three yaers respectively.All the cases showed a significant reduction of the inner diameter of the right ventricle after operation,and in 23% of the cases, the inner diameter even returned to the normal range. In 92% of the acses, the intervetricular septal paradoxical motion resumed the normal pattern. In most cases, the inner diameter of the left ventricle increased markedly.In 11 cases with repeated follow-up studies, it was found that three months after operation, the interventricular septal paradoxical motion became normal in 7 cases and the motion flattened in three cases. In 18 cases with a 3-year follow-up history, it was found that the recovery of the heart condition showed no relation to the age of the patient. This is likely to suggest that the age factor exerts no influence on the postoperative recovery of the cases having the atrial septal defect repaired.

Objective To evaluate whether the protein SP70 could be used as a serum biomarker for the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods Polyclonal antibody was prepared by immunizing New Zealand rabbit with SPC-A1 cells.Sandwich ELISA was carried out by using newly-prepared polyclonal antibody(PcMb) coating assay plates,monoclonal antibody (McAb) NJ001 and HRP goat antimouse antibody as primary antibody and labeling antibody respectively.After optimizing the experiment conditions,serum from 175 lung cancer patients [ 80 NSCLC adenocarcinoma,70 NSCLC squamous carcinoma and 25 small cell lung cancer ( SCLC) ],25 benign lung disease ( BLD) patients and 300 healthy controls (HC) were examined.CEA,NSE,CYFRA21-1 were measured by ECLIA for comparison.Results Positive rates of NSCLC adenocarcinoma,NSCLC squamous carcinoma,SCLC and BLD were 68.8％,51.4％,16.0％ and 12.0％ respectively,obviously higher than that of HC (7.3％).NSCLC (adenocarcinoma,Squamous carcinoma) had significantly higher positive rate than SCLC (60.7％ υs 16.0％,x2 =17.23,P＜0.05)and BLD(60.7％ υs 12.0％,x2 =20.41,P ＜0.05).Among 68 NSCLC patients who had definite staging,positive rates at early stage ( Ⅰ/Ⅱ,n=30) reached up to 76.7％.Meanwhile,positive rates of CEA,NSE and CYFRA21-1 (32.7％,18.0％ and 37.3％) were significantly lower than the targeting antigen to McAb NJ001 in NSCLC(60.7％ υs 32.7％,x2 =23.63,P ＜0.05;60.7％υs18.0％,x2 =57.22,P＜0.05;60.7％ υs37.3％,x2=16.34,P＜0.05).Conclusions It showed high positive rates of SP70 in the serum of NSCLC patients,which suggested thai SP70 might be a potential valuable biomarker for the diagnosis of NSCLC.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of detection of protein SP70 in differentiating benign and malignant pleural effusion.Methods A case-control study was conducted from July 2011 to February 2012.108 cases of pleural effusion from patients with clinically proven lung cancers and 122 cases of benign pleural effusion were collected.SP70 was detected by Sandwich ELISA,while CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE were measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay for comparison.Meanwhile,protein SP70 on exfoliated cells in pleural effusion was detected by direct immunofluorescence,and was compared with the results of HE staining.The differences between the groups were evaluated by the chisquare test Fisher' s exact test.Results Positive rates of SP70,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE were 72.2％,58.3％,52.8％ and 30.6％ in malignant pleural effusion,obviously higher than benign pleural effusio (9.8％,13.1％,23.0％ and 19.7％).The specificity of SP70,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE were 90.2％,86.9％,77.0％ and 80.3％,NSCLC had significantly higher positive rate than SCLC(74.3％ ＞0.0％,P =0.02 ＜ 0.05),detection of protein SP70 in malignant pleural effusion had significantly higher coincidence rate than HE staining(72.2％ vs 47.2％,x2 =14.03,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Determination of the protein SP70 in pleural effusion and in exfoliated cells,can improve the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion.

OBJECTIVETo explore a new method of alleviating graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT) through selected elimination of mouse alloreactive T cells (ARTC) by Fas-Fas ligand (FasL) passway.

METHODSThe Sca-1(+) early hematopoietic cells (EHCs) were isolated from BALB/c mouse (H-2(d)) bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMC) by using a high gradient magnetic cell sorting system (MACS), then transferred with exogenous mouse FasL (mFasL) gene by retroviral gene transfecting technique. Afterward the transduced EHCs were expanded in vitro for one week followed by coculture with the spleen cells from BAC mouse (H-2(d) x b) as one-way mixed lymphocyte culture (OWMLC) for 6 days, then the cytotoxicity of treated BAC mouse spleen cells against Na(2)(51)CrO(4) labelling spleen cells from BALB/c mouse was observed.

RESULTSThe Sca-1(+) EHCs were successfully isolated by MACS, with a purity of (89.0 +/- 6.1)%. After transferred with exogenous mFasL gene and expanded for one week, the transferred EHCs in the 6 day OWMLC with the spleen cells from BAC mouse at a ratio of five to one resulted in an obvious inhibition of the BAC mouse spleen cells cytotoxicity against the BALB/c mouse spleen cell at different effector/target ratios as compared to the control group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe higher exogenous mFasL-expressing mouse EHCs can deplete ARTC against their own major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens in vitro.

Animals ; Antigens, Ly ; immunology ; Fas Ligand Protein ; Female ; Graft vs Host Disease ; immunology ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; cytology ; immunology ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; genetics ; immunology ; Membrane Proteins ; immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Signal Transduction ; Spleen ; cytology ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; Transfection

Focus on the defects of the extraction method of velocity pulsated signals in the velocity spectrum image of pulsed Doppler ultrasounds (such as the limited data, great amount of work and low reproducibility), we combine the earlier research results and the basic rules of the velocity spectrum image, and employing the visual basics plateau, to design and develop a software to extract the velocity signals from the spectrum image automatically. Compare the mean velocity and RNS between the PIV and the PDU resulting from the method, the correlations are r = 0.93 and r = 0.78 respectively. The study reveals the software increase the amount of valid data, decrease the amount of work and increase reproducibility of the signals extraction. The method may be an effective way to analyse the velocity spectrum image of PDU in clinic.
Arteries ; diagnostic imaging ; Blood Flow Velocity ; physiology ; Humans ; Pulsatile Flow ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Software ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Pulsed ; methods

Cancer cachexia is a complex metabolic syndrome characterized by muscle wasting, fat decomposition, unplanned weight loss, anorexia and immune dysfunction. Cachexia can significantly reduce the efficacy of antitumor therapies and increase treatment-related toxicity on cancer patients. It increases the symptom burden in patients, affects the quality of their life, ultimately shortens patients' survival. Lucubrating the pathogenesis of cachexia is of great significance to provide rationale treatment guidance. Here we reviewed the research progress on pathogenesis of cancer cachexia, including inflammatory response mediated by TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6 and STAT-3 and abnormal nutrition metabolism, as well as mitochondrial dysfunction.