astaxanthin is an effective antioxidant and natural pigment which has wide application. Phaffia rhodozyma is a good source of astaxantin, but wild strain has limited use in industry because of low production level of astaxanthin. Several mutants of Phaffia rhodozyma were obtained by exerting mutagen N-methyl-N-nitro-N -nitrosoguanidine. The growth curve suggested that pigments were mainly produced in the middle and latter periods of log phase. The pigments were extracted from Phaffia rhodozyma and analysed by esterification, thin layer chromatography and absorption spectrometry. It was proved that astaxanthin, astaxanthin diester and ?-carotene were the major components of the pigments produced by Phaffia rhodozyma. We also studied the pigments producing phase of Phaffia rhodozyma. and founded that astaxanthin was stable to light under butylated hydroxytoluene coexistance.

Adult ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Leiomyomatosis ; pathology ; surgery ; Sarcoma, Endometrial Stromal ; pathology ; Uterine Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Uterus ; blood supply ; Vascular Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery

AIMTo establish a method for determinate of the inhibitory activity of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril by high performance capillary electrophoresis.

METHODSThe characteristic absorptive wavelength of hippuric acid determined by ultraviolet spectrophotometer is 228 nm. The method employed a melted capillary column, 50 mmol.L-1 phosphoric acid (pH 8.3) buffer solution, inject pressure 4.8 kPa, inject time 3 s, separation voltage 20 kV and detection wavelength 228 nm.

RESULTSThe reactant and resultant was separated completed within 7 min. IC50 of captopril was 0.019 mumol.L-1. Captopril is a competitive inhibitor, which was proved by enzyme reaction dynamics.

CONCLUSIONThe method was shown to be accurate, simple and rapid and can be used for determination of the inhibitory activity of captopril.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Captopril ; pharmacology ; Electrophoresis, Capillary ; methods ; Hippurates ; analysis ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; metabolism

Objective To discuss the value of diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) and 18F-FDG-PET/CT in assessing the early therapeutic effect of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for VX2 sarcomas in experimental rabbits. Methods VX2 sarcoma was inoculated at bilateral hind limbs in 14 New Zealand white rabbits to establish the animal models. The implanted VX2 tumor on one hind leg was treated with ultrasound-guided percutaneous RFA (study group), while no RFA was given to the VX2 tumor on the contralateral hind leg (control group). DWI-MRI was performed at 2 days after RFA, and 18F-FDG-PET/CT examination was employed at 3 days after RFA. The mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and standard uptake value (SUV) of the untreated tumor and the ablated tumor were separately calculated. Taking the pathologic result as the gold standard, the consistency of DWI-MRI, PET/CT as well as the combination of DWI-MRI and PET/CT with the clinical diagnosis was separately evaluated by Kappa test. Results Before RFA, DWI-MRI demonstrated that the VX2 tumor was characterized by hypo-intensity signal on T1 and hyper-intensity signal on T2 with ring-shaped enhancement on T1-weighted image; PET/CT showed that the tumor had nodular or ring-shaped 18F-FDG accumulation. After RFA, DWI-MRI revealed that the VX2 tumor was manifested as hyper-intensity signal on T1 and slight higher density on T1 with slight enhancement on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted image; PET/CT showed lowered accumulation of 18F-FDG. The mean ADC value of the ablated tumor was (1.52 ± 0.24) × 10-3 mm2/s, which was obviously higher than that of the un-ablated tumor, that was (1.09 ± 0.12) × 10-3 mm2/s, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05). The mean SUV value of the ablated tumor was (0.6 ± 0.3), which was significantly lower than that of the ablated tumor (9.6 ± 3.2, P<0.05). No significant difference in sensitivity, specificity and accuracy existed between DWI-MRI and pathology as well as between PET/CT and pathology, the Kappa value being 0.357 and 0.428 respectively (P>0.05). The Kappa value of the consistency between combination of DWI-MRI with PET/CT and pathology was 0.786, which was significantly different from the result by simple DWI-MRI or simple PET/CT evaluation (P< 0.05). Conclusion Both ADC value of DWI-MRI and SUV value of PET/CT are useful indexes for evaluating the early therapeutic effect of RFA. Both DWI-MRI and PET/CT have their respective advantages, nevertheless, combination use of both can effectively improve the evaluation of curative effect for VX2 tumor after RFA in experimental rabbits.

20?10~9/L.The proteinuria decreased or disappeared.The antinuclear antibody decreased or became negative.The level of complement was increased.The following complications were ob- served:septicemia in 2 patients,cytomegalovirus infection in 2 patients,renal toxicity in 1 patient,acute left heart failure in 3 patients and cardiac arrhythmia in 3 patients.There was no transplantation related mortality. Conclusion APBSCT may improve the disease activity and the immunological markers in SLE.It is a valid therapy for refractory SLE,but the long-term effects need to be observed.

OBJECTIVE: Logistic regression analysis (LRA), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and a neural network (NN) are commonly used statistical models in computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) systems for breast ultrasonography (US). The aim of this study was to clarify the diagnostic ability of the use of these statistical models for future applications of CAD systems, such as three-dimensional (3D) power Doppler imaging, vascularity evaluation and the differentiation of a solid mass. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A database that contained 3D power Doppler imaging pairs of non-harmonic and tissue harmonic images for 97 benign and 86 malignant solid tumors was utilized. The virtual organ computer-aided analysis-imaging program was used to analyze the stored volumes of the 183 solid breast tumors. LRA, an SVM and NN were employed in comparative analyses for the characterization of benign and malignant solid breast masses from the database. RESULTS: The values of area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, referred to as Az values for the use of non-harmonic 3D power Doppler US with LRA, SVM and NN were 0.9341, 0.9185 and 0.9086, respectively. The Az values for the use of harmonic 3D power Doppler US with LRA, SVM and NN were 0.9286, 0.8979 and 0.9009, respectively. The Az values of six ROC curves for the use of LRA, SVM and NN for non-harmonic or harmonic 3D power Doppler imaging were similar. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic performances of these three models (LRA, SVM and NN) are not different as demonstrated by ROC curve analysis. Depending on user emphasis for the use of ROC curve findings, the use of LRA appears to provide better sensitivity as compared to the other statistical models.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; *Artificial Intelligence ; Breast Neoplasms/*ultrasonography ; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional/*statistics & numerical data ; Logistic Models ; Middle Aged ; *Neural Networks (Computer) ; Predictive Value of Tests ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography, Doppler/*statistics & numerical data ; Ultrasonography, Mammary/*statistics & numerical data

Computerized literature searches are performed for articles of the mechanism of cupping therapy in the past 10 years. The mechanism of action of local negative pressure applied to human body is studied in terms of specific changes in local tissue structure, stretch to the nerve and muscle, increasing blood circulation and causing autohemolysis. This paper aims to explain the mechanism of cupping therapy according to modern science.
Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods

OBJECTIVETo detect the differentially expressed genes in human polycystic kidney by cDNA microarray.

METHODSThe PCR products of 8398 genes were spotted onto a chip in array. Both mRNAs isolated from polycystic kidney tissue and normal kidney tissue were reversely transcribed to cDNAs with the incorporation of fluorescent dUTP (Cy5-dUTP and Cy3-dUTP) for preparing the hybridization probes. The mixed probes were hybridized to the cDNA microarray. Then the cDNA microarray was scanned for the fluorescent signals and the display of differences between the 2 tissues. IGF1 mRNA, one of the up regulated genes was detected by in situ hybridization technique in the two tissues to validate the result from cDNA microarray.

RESULTSThe result indicated that the expressions of 263 genes were up regulated while the expressions of 94 genes were down regulated in the polycystic kidney tissue among the 8398 target genes. Bioinformatical analysis of those genes had been performed. The up-regulated genes were mainly the ones of oncogene, cellular skeleton and movement, apoptosis related protein, cell signal transduction protein, and cytokine. The down regulated genes were mainly the ones of anti-oncogene, DNA binding and transcription factors, cell signal transduction protein, and metabolism protein. The IGF1 mRNA expression detected by in situ hybridization was consequently consistent with the cDNA microarray.

CONCLUSIONcDNA microarray is an effective and quick method for studying differential expressed genes. Three hundred and fifty-seven differentially expressed genes with different functions were revealed in the polycystic kidney tissue, which may play some roles in the progression of polycystic kidney.

Carbocyanines ; chemistry ; Computational Biology ; DNA, Complementary ; chemistry ; genetics ; Fluorescent Dyes ; chemistry ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; genetics ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; methods ; Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant ; genetics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods

The complex field cure instrument is a new medical instrument with which an experiment was carried out. Rats were continuously irradiated by the complex field for 90 days, with a day's total dose of 285.9 M.T.G. while other rats weren't irradiated for control group. The animals were respectively killed at 7d, 14d, 30d, 60d and 90d, and their blood samples were taken for cell and humoral immune analysis. The results show that values of lymphocyte transform rate, soluble receptor (SIL-2R), total hemolytic complement levels (CH50) and immunoglobulin (A.G.) after irradiation are more than those of the control group having proved that the instrument may improve immune function of rats.
Animals ; Female ; Immunoglobulin A ; blood ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Immunoglobulins ; blood ; Lymphocyte Activation ; Lymphocyte Count ; Male ; Physical Therapy Modalities ; instrumentation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, Interleukin-2 ; blood ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo develop a GC-FID method to determine borneol's concentration in mouse tissues, and to investigate the tissue distribution after intravenous and intranasal administrations of borneol.

METHODMouse brains, hearts, livers, spleens, lungs and kidneys were collected at 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60, 90, 120 min after administration of borneol with the dose of 30.0 mg x kg(-1). The drug in tissues was extracted with ethyl acetate, and borneol's concentration detected by GC, with octadecane as the internal standard.

RESULTThe calibration curve showed a good linear relationship. Extraction recoveries, inter-day and intra-day precisions and stability were in conformity with the analytical requirements of biological samples. Borneol was mainly distributed in most tissues, more in heart, brain and kidney, and less in liver, spleen and lung.

CONCLUSIONThe established GC-FID method is applicable for content determination of borneol in tissues. After intravenous and intranasal administrations in mice, borneol is mainly distributed in abundant blood-supply tissues. After intranasal administration, brain tissues showed the highest target coefficient and target effectiveness.

Administration, Intranasal ; methods ; Administration, Intravenous ; methods ; Animals ; Bornanes ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Female ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Tissue Distribution