Background and purpose:In in vivo and vitro studies, Rhodiola shows anti-cancer effect, but there were few reports about the effects of Rhodiola on growth of breast cancer and its possible mechanism. Methods:Xenograft of Human breast cancer cells MDA-MB-435 in female BALB/c nude mice were treated with and without Rhodiola extracts. The tumor volume and proliferation index (PCNA and Ki67) of the xenograft were studied.Results:After Rhodiola was given to nude mice for 4 weeks, the mean tumor volume was smaller (99.95mm 3 vs. 174.60mm 3 ) compared to untreated group,but there was no statistical significance(P=0.535). The proportion and intensity of cellular Ki-67 staining in Xenografts were decreased as compared to the untreated group, (average H-score 152.8 vs. 86, P=0.014), the same trend could be found for cellular PCNA staining, but there was no statistical significance(242 vs.210,P=0.221).Conclusions:The mechanism of anti-cancer effect of Rhodiola may be partly through inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells in vivo.

This paper reports 17 cases of hypomagnesemic convulsiens of the newhorn that were admitted from Se-Ptember 1981 to January 1983. Only 2 patients were breast-fed.Symptoms and signs of hypomagnesemia are indistinguishable from these of hypocalcemia unless the serum magne-sium is determ ined. Serum magnes iumlevels had been determined in 50 normal children. The average value-2 standard deviation=2.17-2?0.34=1.49mEq/L.We defined hypomagnesemia as the serum magnesium lcvels below 1.48mEg/L. The serum magnesium levels of 17 patients varied from 0.65 to 1.46m Eq/L. Of 10 cases serum calcium le-vel6mg/dl.2.5%MgSO_4 was given intraveno-usly by continuous infusion in a dose of 2-4ml/kg every 12 hours. After the convulsions had been controlled a dose of 25% MgSO_4 was given intramuscul-arly in a dose of 0.4ml/kg twice daily Convulsions usually ceased after 1--4doses of MgSO_4, but the serum magne-sium levels did not rise to normal le-vels until 2-6 days. The convulsions could not be controlled by repeated ad-ministrations of calcium gluconate in 5 patients who had both hypomagnes-emja and hypocalcemia. Only after theadministiation of MgSO_4 did the serum calicum levels rise to the normal level and the convulsions cease.Electrocardjograms recorded in 7 patients all were abnormal but 1 case,so we should pay attention to the inf-luence of magnesium upon the heart.

AIMTo study the protection of casein and protamine against degradation of insulin (INS) by proteolysis enzymes and the effect of these two kinds of protein on the hypoglycemic action of INS solution and enteric-microspheres after administrated orally to rats.

METHODSHPLC was used to determine the remained INS in the solution of alpha-chymotrypsin and trypsin with or without casein or protamine; INS solution and enteric-microspheres were prepared and adiministrated orally to rats together with the absorption enhancer sodium N-[8-(2-hydroxybenzoyl) amino] caprylate (SNAC). At the same time, casein or protamine or both of these two kinds of protein were administrated together in order to study their influence on the hypoglycemic effect of INS and microspheres.

RESULTSCasein had a good protection against degradation of INS by alpha-chymotrypsin, but protamine had no protection effect. However, the degradation of INS by trypsin is concerned, the protection effect of protamine on INS was better that of casein. Both of protamine and casein can increase the hypoglycemic effect of INS solution and enteric-microspheres. Co-administrated these two kinds of protein had a better effect. In addition, co-administrated with SNAC, casein and protamine, INS enteric-microspheres had a longer and more potent hypoglycemic effect than that of the solution.

CONCLUSIONCasein and protamine can increase the stability of INS in the intestinal fluid by the mechanism of competition and combine with proteolysis enzymes, which will benefit to INS oral administration.

Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Caprylates ; Caseins ; pharmacology ; Chymotrypsin ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Insulin ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Male ; Microspheres ; Protamines ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Solutions ; Trypsin ; pharmacology

Fourteen compounds were isolated from the n-butanol fraction of the 95% aqueous ethanol extract of the stems and twigs of Strychnos cathayensis by D101 macroporous resin, silica gel, ODS, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and semipreparative RP-HPLC. Their structures were elucidated as ethyl 4-O-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillate (1), n-butyl 4-O-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillate (2), n-butyl 4-O-(6′-O-syringoyl)-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillate (3), n-butyl 4-O-(6′-O-vanilloyl)-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillate (4), n-butyl 4-O-(6′-O-syringoyl)-β-D-glucopyranosyl-vanillate (5), n-butyl 4-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-syringate (6), methyl 3-methoxy-4-(β-D-allopyranosyloxy) benzoate (7), pseudolaroside B (8), butyl syringate (9), glucosyringic acid (10), methyl syringate (11), methyl 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoate (12), clemochinenoside C (13), and clemoarmanoside A (14), respectively, on the basis of spectroscopic data interpretation and by comparison with literature information. Compounds 1-6 are artificial products of phenolic acid esterified by ethanol or n-butanol. It is noted that the precursors (4-O-(6′-O-syringoyl)-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillic acid and 4-O-(6′-O-vanilloyl)-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillic acid) of compounds 3 and 4 are new compounds. The hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of compounds 1-13 were evaluated in vitro at a concentration of 10 μmol·L^-1. Compounds 1, 2 and 6-10 exhibited potential hepatic protection effects with cell survival rates ranging from 53.6% to 55.5% (acetaminophen, 45.4% at 8 mmol·L^-1). Compound 4 demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity with nitric oxide inhibitory rate of 74.6%. Compounds 3 and 5 showed potential antioxidant activities with malondialdehyde inhibitory rates of 53.2% and 56.1%, respectively.

This paper presents a new method for automatically segmenting brain parenchyma and cerebrospinal fluid in routine single-echo MR images. This method is based on the coupled Markov models. They can model intensity measurement at each voxel site to implement piecewise smoothness constraint, and at the same time, model discontinuities to control the interaction between each pair of the neighboring voxel. The method is to derive the maximum a posteriori estimate of the regions and the boundaries by using Bayesian inference and neighborhood constraints based on Markov random fields (MRFs) models. This method has the following desirable properties: (1) the brain image can be well classified into white matter, grey matter and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and (2) it has a better robustness to noise and intensity inhomogeneity.
Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; Brain ; anatomy & histology ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; methods ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; methods ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Markov Chains ; Models, Statistical

The optometry in physical examinations is conducted manually at present and this method is neither precise nor efficient. After studying the standard logarithmic visual acuity charts which is popular in our country, we have designed an optometry system based on Client/Server Computing Mode. The system's architecture and its working principle are also presented in the article.
Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; Computer Simulation ; Equipment Design ; Humans ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; methods ; Microcomputers ; Optometry ; instrumentation ; methods ; Physical Examination ; instrumentation ; methods ; Software Design

Objective To investigate the expression alteration and significance of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA)by GWAS(Genome-wide association study)between Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)and its adjacent normal esophageal tissues. Methods lncRNA and mRNA differential expression in 6 pairs of ESCC and matched non-cancerous tissues were screened by microarray assay. The target genes were predicted. Finally , GO(Gene Ontology)and Pathway analysis was used for the further research of lncRNA. Results A total of 680 lncRNA and 1472mRNA were differentially expressed at more than two-fold change(P ≤ 0.05,with 161lncRNA and 653mRNA up-regulated,519lncRNA and 819mRNA down-regulated between ESCC and its adjacent normal esophageal tissues. Gene ontology and pathway analysis results suggested that the differentially expressed genes were involved in 11 pathways.Theyare potentially associated with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma ,including post-translational protein modification ,mucin type O-Glycan biosynthesis and sphingolipid metabolism pathways , which mainly related to the changes of molecular function ,cellular components and biological processes. Through cis and trans analysis,a total of 15 differentially expressed lncRNA had cis-and/or trans-regulated target genes in the database,with 13 lncRNA had cis-regulated target genes,3 lncRNA had trans-regulated target genes,and 1 lncRNA had both cis- and trans-regulated target genes. Conclusion Compared with adjacent normal tissues ,a large number of lncRNA were expressed differentially in ESCC in Xinjiang Han people.Aberrantly expressed lncRNA may play important roles in ESCC development and progression through some signaling pathways ,which are of great significance for further search of new targets for the diagnosis and treatment of ESCC.

Objective To investigate the neuroprotective effects of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) expression controlled by five copies of the hypoxia-responsive elements after focal cerebral ischemia .Methods Three groups of rats re-ceived RV-5H-NT3, RV-5H-EGFP or saline injection .Three days after gene transfer , the rats underwent 90 min of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion ( tMCAO) , followed by 1-28 days of reperfusion .Immunohistostaining and western blotting were performed to detect ischemia/hypoxia-regulated expression of NT-3 controlled by HRE . The volume of brain infarction and the apoptosis were analysised by TTC and TUNEL staining .The neurological scoring was determined by neurological behavior tests .Results Three days after tMCAO , brain NT-3 expression was significantly increased in the RV-5HNT3-transduced animals compared with the RV-5H-EGFP or saline group (P<0.05), and brain infarct volume was smaller in the RV-5H-NT3-transduced group than the RV-5H-EGFP or saline group ( P<0.05 ) .The percentage of TUNEL-positive cells was reduced in RV-5 H-NT3-transduced brains compared with the RV-5 HEGFP or saline group 3 and 7 days after tMCAO ( P<0.05 ) .Furthermore , the neurolog-ical status of RV-5H-NT3-transduced rats was better than that of RV-5H-EGFP-or saline-transduced animals from 1 day to 4 weeks after tMCAO ( P<0.05 ) .Conclusions HRE may modulate NT-3 expression in the ischemic brain tissue and that the up-regulated NT-3 may effectively improve neurological status following tMCAO due to de-creased initial damage .

Objective To analyze the correlation between miR-31 and ESCC in expression of miR-31 in the plasma of ESCC in Xinjiang Kazak and Han nationality patients. Methods The plasma samples were collected respectively from patients with ESCC in 20 cases and healthy subjects in 20 cases. The relatively expression of miR-31 was detected by real-time Q-PCR. Results The expression of miR-31 with ESCC were higher than those of the normal control group, which related to the degree of tumor differentiation in Kazak ESCC patients (P < 0.01); the levels of miR-31 relative expression in Kazak were higher than that of Han (P = 0.008, P = 0.027). Conclusion miR-31 may be involved in the occurrence of ESCC in Han and Kazak nationality. miR-31 might be another risk factor in high incidence of ESCC in Kazak than Han nationality.

Objective To construct and identify the recombinant retroviral vector containing five copies of hypoxia responsive elements (5HRE)and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3 ).Methods Using PCR,enzyme digestion and DNA ligase,5HRE and human derived NT-3 were cloned into the retroviral vector plasmid (pLNCX)to construct the recombinant retroviral vector plasmid pLNCX-5HRE-SV40-NT3-IRES-EGFP.The retrovirus RV-5HRE-NT3 was packaged in the PT67 cells,and then it was purified and concentrated by high-speed centrifugation.After infected for 48 h with the concentrated retrovirus,the number of the EGFP positive cells in the NIH 3T3 cells was counted by fluorescence activated cells and sorted to calculate the retrovirus titer.Results The retroviral vector plasmid,pLNCX-5HRE-SV40-NT3-IRES-EGFP,was successfully constructed,and the retrovirus was packaged and defined as RV-5HRE-NT3.After purification and concentration,the retrovirus titer reached 9.1 × 10 6 cfu/mL. Conclusion The recombinant retroviral vector which carried out hypoxia-regulated expression of NT-3 was successfully constructed.It may provide basis for studies on hypoxia-regulated expression of the exogenous genes.