Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of neutrophil S100A8/A9 in induced sputum in children with bronchial asthma. Methods A total of 108 cases of bronchial asthma patients in the FourthAffiliated Hospital of Nanchang University were involved in the study form October 2014 to October 2015. According to the severity of the disease, the patients were divided into mild group (n=40), moderate group (n=36) and severe group (n=32). Twenty health children were taken as control group at the same period. All the patients were treated with budesonide aerosol for three months, and the control group was received aerosol inhalation for normal saline (NS). The ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC, FEV1%) were used to evaluate the pulmonary function in two groups. The asthma control questionnaire (AcQ-5) score was used to estimate the asthma control effects. The expression level of neutrophil S100A8/A9 mRNA in induced sputum was detected by real-time PCR. The correlation of S100A8/A9 mRNA, AcQ-5 score and FEV1%was analyzed. Results Before the treatment, the FEV1%decreased, while the AcQ-5 score and express level of S100A8/A9 mRNA significantly increased with the severity of disease (all P<0.01). Three months after treatment, asthma was completely controlled in 60 patients, partial controlled in 31 cases and uncontrolled in 17 cases. With the improvement of the therapeutic efficacy, the FEV1%significantly decreased, while the express level of S100A8/A9 mRNA significantly increased (all P < 0.01). The express level of S100A8/A9 mRNA in induced sputum neutrophils was negatively correlated with FEV1%(r=-0.327 and-0.406 respectively, P<0.05), which was positively correlated with ACQ-5 score (r=0.704 and 0.817, P<0.05). Conclusion The level of S100A8/A9 expression in induced sputum neutrophil is positively correlated with the severity of asthma, which can be used as clinical indicators of the severity and the efficacy of asthma.

Ten compounds were isolated and purified from the dichloromethane fraction of Trichosanthes tricuspidata roots by silica gel and ODS column chromatographies. Their chemical structures were identified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties as well as the spectral data. These isolated compounds were elucidated as khekadaengoside O(1), a new hexanorcucurbitane glycoside, together with nine known compounds, including khekadaengoside C-E, K(2-5), cucurbitacin J-2-O-β-glucopyranoside(6), cucurbitacin K-2-O-β-glucopyranoside(7), cucurbitacin B, J, K(8-10). In addition, the anti-tumor activity of compounds 1-10 were evaluated in hepatocellular carcinoma BEL-7402 cell line. Among them, compounds 8-10 showed potent antitumor activity.

To investigate the chemical constituents of Physalis minima L. , compounds were isolated by chromatographic methods from Physalis minima L. . Their structures were determined on the basis of spectral analysis. Five compounds were isolated and identified as Withaphysalin P(I), 14, 18-di-O-acetylwithaphysalin C(II), Withaphysalin Q(III), Withaphysalin 1(IV)and Withaphysalin 2(V). Compounds IV and V are new compounds, orderly named as Withaphysalin T and Withaphysalin U.

Objective To understand the frequency distribution of causes to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of chronic cough.Methods Patients were recruited according to the inclusion criteria:chronic cough more than 8 weeks;normal X-ray appearance;coughing symptoms as the main or only symptom.Disease history was referred and physical examination was conducted,according to the diagnosis criteria of chronic cough causeoriented processes.If laboratory examination results are missing for a patient,empirical treatment will be combined as a treatment for this patient.Finally,the curative effect and the cause of disease will be analyzed.Results Seventy-nine patients were followed up.Twenty-eight,12,22,10,and 7 patients respectively were suspected of having CVA,EB,UACS,AC and GERC,among whom,23,9,14,9 and 4 were confirmed for their diagnosis,and 84.1％,75.0％,63.6％,90.0％,and 57.1％ of them received effective targeted therapies,accounting for 29.1％,11.4％,24.1％,11.4％,and 6.3％ respectively of all patients.The overall response rate was 74.7％.Conclusion The diagnosis and treatment of chronic cough with combinational cause-oriented diagnostic process and empirical therapy produce high effective rate with low cost.In addition,it could help understand the local frequency distribution of causes of chronic cough.It may be worth wide clinical application.