AIM:Activin A,a member of transforming growth factor superfamily,is the negative regulator factor in liver regeneration. In this study,the effects of extract of Ginkgo Biloba on hepatic fibrosis and the expression of Activin A in rats with cirrhosis were investigated. METHODS:The experiment was performed at in the Central Laboratory of Wuhan First Hospital from September 2005 to December 2006. ①Thirty-six male SD rats of(160?20) g were randomized into 3 groups:control group,model group and treatment group. ② Except the rats in the control group,others were intraperitoneally injected with 500 mL/L CCl4 for 8 weeks to establish models of hepatic fibrosis. Meanwhile,the extract treatment group was infused with the extract of Ginkgo Biloba(Chinese drugs preparation laboratory of Wuhan First Hospital,detected by Hubeu Wushi Medicine Industry Co.,Ltd. No. 02-391) daily for 8 weeks. ③After administration,all anesthetized rats were sacrificed. Blood samples were collected for the determination of liver function biochemical indexes. Liver tissue samples were used for histopathological examinations. The expression of Activin A was determined by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. RESULTS:All 36 rats were involved in the final analysis. ①The liver function in extract treatment group was significantly improved compared with that in model group. ②The grade of fibrosis in extract treatment group were remarkably lower than that in model group under light microscope. ③The positive staining of Activin A in treatment group was significantly reduced compared with model group. ④The expression of Activin A mRNA in extract treatment group was significantly reduced compared with model group. CONCLUSION:Extract of Ginkgo Biloba can effectively decrease the expression of Activin A in rats with hepatic fibrosis caused by CCl4,and lessen the degree of hepatic fibrosis.

Objective To investigate the best protocol of liver 31 P MR spectroscopy . Methods The 31 P MRS was performed using 1.5T MR scanner,heart/liver surface coil and prone position with Resp/Trigger gate in the normal volunteer and the cases with liver diseases including hepatic cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and benige hepatic tumour. The age ranged From 15 to 58 years old. The related data were processed and compared using several kinds of protocol methods.Results By using the edit skills with Filter, Zero-filling and Curve fitting under the type of J-coupling peak, the curves corresponding with the request and precise data had been obtained for 31 P MRS of the liver. By the simple protocol methods, the 31 P MRS, concentration and ratio of the materials in the liver could be obtained in all cases.Conclusion The process of MR spectroscopy is easy to apply. The requested curves and the accurate data will be obtained by using the editing skill of edit.

Objective: To study the adscription of plasma effective constituents of rat after oral administration of alkaloid fraction of Nelumbo nucifera.Methods: Based on the established HPLC analytical method of plasma effective constituents,analysis and comparison were carried out among HPLC profi les of plasma samples obtained after oral administration of alkaloid fraction of Nelumbo nucifera,blank plasma,alkaloid fraction of Nelumbo nucifera.Results: Sixteen compounds were detected under the method,three of them were architypes of compound contained in alkaloid fraction of Nelumbo nucifera,and the others were metabolites.Through the comparison of the UV spectra,seven metabolites remain essential structure because the max wavelength was same to the architypes’,the other six metabolites’ structure changed greatly.Conclusion: Through the study of the adscription of plasma effective constituents of rat after oral administration of alkaloid fraction of Nelumbo nucifera,the structure of metabolites can be conjectured,which may be helpful to study the ADME and mechanism of action.

Objective To study the chemical constituents in the leaves of Nelumbo nucifera. MethodsCompounds were repeatedly purified by chromatography and structures were elucidated by physicochemical properties and spectroscopic analyses. Results Nine alkaloids were isolated and identified as 2-hydroxy-1-methoxy-6-methyl-6a,7-dehydroaporphine (1),armepavine (2),dehydroroemerine (3),dehydronuciferine (4),2-hydroxy-1-methoxyaporphine (5),liriodenine (6),pronuciferine (7),roemerine (8),and nuciferine (9). Conclusion compound 1 is a new aporphine alkaloid named nelumnucine.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic role of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) in the smear and culture negative tuberculosis.Methods The tuberculosis suspected patients with spu-tum-negative for three times and with hilar or mediastinal lymphadenopathy were randomly divided into 2 groups,study group received EBUS-TBNA and bronchoalveolar lavage group(BAL) examination,control group received BAL examination only.Chi-square test was used to compare their diagnostic sensitivity and negative predictive value.Results Totally 82 patients were included this study,40 patients were in control group and 42 in the study group.In the control group,tuberculosis was confumed in only 8 cases by means of bacteriological examination in the BAL fluid,27 were confirmed by the following surgery ordiagnostic treatment of anti-Tuberculosis,and the other 5 cases were diagnosis as other diseases; In the study group,tuberculosis was confirmed in 28 patients through bacteriological and pathological examination,8 were false negative and the other 6 were diagnosis as non-tuberculosis diseases.The diagnostic sensitivity in the study group was significantly higher than that in control group (77.8％ verus 22.9％,x2 =21.4,P ＜ 0.01 ) ; and the negative predictive value in the EBUS-TBNA group was also significantly higher than that in the BAL group (42.9％ VS 15.6％,x2 =3.97,P =0.046).Complications were similar inthese 2 groups,only 1 case of intervention required puncture site bleeding happened in the study group.Conclusion EBUSTBNA has a higher sensitivity and negative predictive value in the diagnosis of smear and culture negative pulmorary tuberculosis patients with hilar or mediastinal lymph nodes.This technique is a safe method with few complications than the traditional BAL examination.It may play an important role in the diagnosis of smear and culture negative tuberculosis patients.

Objective To compare the clinical and ultrasound features of Klebsiella pneumoniae liver abscess(KPLA) in dia‐betes mellitus(DM ) patients with different levels of HbA1c .Methods Totally 146 patients with diabetes mellitus of Klebsiella pneumoniae liver abscesses(KPLA‐DM )were divided into three groups on the basis of their levels of HbA1c:complete glycemic controlled (HbA1c≤7% );good glycemic controlled (7% < HbA1c≤9% );bad glycemic controlled (HbA1c>9% ) .The patients′characteristics ,clinical features ,ultrasound features and complications among the three groups were compared .Results Compared with patients in complete glycemic controlled group and good glycemic controlled group ,patients in bad glycemic controlled group had lower onset age and longer length of hospital stay(P<0 .05) ,are more susceptible to underlying diseases such as hyperlipoi‐demia and chronic renal failure(P<0 .05) ,had more life‐threatening clinical crisis ,and had higher infection rate(P<0 .05) .KPLA‐DM could be characterized by patchy ,mass like enhancement echoultrasound image .Patients in bad glycemic controlled group al‐so had higher risk of biliary pneumatosis ,hepatic venous thrombosis and gas‐forming pyogenic liver abscess than other two groups (P<0 .05) .Conclusion The ultrasound image of KPLA has characteristics .The occurrence of hepatic venous thrombosis and gas‐forming observed by ultrasound is associated with bad glucose control in KPLA‐DM patients ,which suggests that there may be oth‐er complications such as metastatic infection .

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of conventional MRI combined with DWI in the differential diagnosis of orbital lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD). Methods As a retrospective study, 42 patients were enrolled, including 23 orbital lymphoma and 19 benign orbital LPD confirmed pathologically or clinically. These patients underwent conventional MR, DWI and contrast?enhanced MRI examination of orbit. Qualitative MR imaging features [location, margin, patient ratio of involved quadrants (≥2), signal intensity,“flow void sign”, sinusitis] and quantitative features [ADC and contrast enhanced ratio of the lesion to temporal muscle (CER)] were evaluated. Chi?square test and t test were used for the analysis of qualitative and quantitative features between lymphoma and benign orbital LPD groups, respectively. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was employed to identify the significant variable for predicting malignant LPD. ROC analysis was used to evaluate the ability of the diagnostic models established based on identified variables. Results “Flow void sign”(9 lymphomas and 17 benign LPDs) and sinusitis (5 lymphomas and 13 benign LPDs) were statistically significant (P<0.05). The MR imaging features [location, margin, patient ratio of involved quadrants (≥2), and signal intensity] had no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). Both ADC [(0.79±0.09)×10?3 mm2/s of lymphoma, (1.29±0.35)×10?3 mm2/s of benign LPD] and CER (1.43±0.17 of lymphoma, 1.79±0.31 of benign LPD) between the two groups had significant difference (t=-6.630, -8.257;P<0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that ADC value, CER and“flow void sign”were significant variables for predicting malignant orbital LPD (P<0.05). ROC curve showed that ADC value was the most significant single variable in differentiating orbital LPD [threshold value, 0.74 × 10- 3 mm2/s; areas under ROC curve (AUC), 0.97; sensitivity, 87.0%; specificity, 94.7%]. Combination of ADC and CER could further improve the specificity in differentiating benign from malignant orbital LPD (AUC, 0.90;sensitivity, 78.3%;specificity, 100.0%, accuracy 88.1%). Conclusions ADC, CER and“flow void sign”on T2WI were significant variables for predicting malignant orbital LPD. ADC value was the most significant single variable. Combination of ADC and CER could further improve the specificity in differentiating benign from malignant orbital LPD.

Objective To study the tumor targeting ability and application of farnesylthiosalicylic Acid (FTS) and heptamethine carbocyanine fluorescent dye-mediated near-infrared imagine in living animals, and confirm the inhibitory effect of this compound on growth of tumor cells.Methods Human breast cancer cell line MCF-7, glioma cell line U251 and prostate cancer cell line PC3 were cultured to logarithmic growth phase, and different concentrations of FTS and FTS-IR783 were added, respectively.We observed the inhibitory effect of those two compounds on the growth of tumor cells.Under fluorescence microscopy, specific accumulation of FTS-IR783 in these tumor cells was observed.The tumor cells (1×106) were transplanted subcutaneously into nude mice.These mice were subjected to intraperitoneal injection of FTS-IR783 (10 nmol/mouse) two weeks later.In the in vivo imaging, near infrared fluorescence signal and tumor volume were measured and their correlation was analyzed.Results Compared with FTS, FTS-IR783 significantly inhibited the growth of MCF-7, U251 and PC3 cells in vitro.FTS-IR783 was specifically uptaken by these three kinds of tumor cells, showing strong near infrared fluorescence in cell agglomerates.After subcutaneous injection of FTS-IR783, the correlation between fluorescence intensity and tumor volume was 0.987, 0.998 and 0.971, respectively.Conclusions The compound of FTS conjugated with near infrared fluorescent dye IR-783 can specifically recognize tumor cells, in both in vitro and in vivo imaging.At the same time, the compound can significantly inhibit the growth of tumor cells, and may be expected to become a new potential targeted drug.

Pathology is a subject that studies the etiology,pathogenesis,pathological changes,progression and outcome of diseases.Pathology links the basic research and clinical practice and is an important part of translational medicine.In order to cultivate qualified pathological graduates with solid pathological theories and the abilities of proposing and addressing scientific hypotheses from pathological morphology changes,we employ modularized special training to divide the pathology training courses into morphology learning module,article searching and reading module,project design module,experiment operation module and scientific presentation module.The training contents among these modules are relatively independent but closely connected,and compose a strategy that aims to improve the scientific innovation ability of pathological graduates.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic and staging value of orbital structures quantitative measurement with 3T mag-netic resonance imaging in patients with Graves’ophthalmopathy (GO).Methods Twenty-three GO patients (patient group)and eighteen healthy volunteers (contrast group)were enrolled.Quantitative measurement of orbital structures including exophthalmos values,fatty tissue thickness of the inner side of eye balls,cross-sectional areas of extraocular muscles and signal intensity ratios of extraocular muscles to the ipsilateral temporal muscles (SIR values),and they were compared between two groups.Correlations be-tween the quantitative values and clinical active score (CAS)were accessed.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC)analysis was performed to evaluate the most relevant quantitative parameter and its diagnostic value in discriminating active from inactive GO pa-tients.Results There were significant differences between the GO group and contrast group regarding to all the quantitative parame-ters (P <0.05).Strong correlation was found between SIR values and CAS (r =0.730,P <0.001 ).Significant difference of SIR was found between patients with active GO and inactive GO (P =0.002),and a cut off value of 3.25 might be the critical threshold value,with diagnostic sensitivity of 81.8% and specificity of 83.3% respectively.Conclusion Quantitative measurement of orbital structures with 3T MR imaging could provide assistant in diagnosing and staging of GO.