Photoacoustic imaging is a kind of non-invasive technology without ionizing radiation that can be used to image optical absorbers in tumor tissues according to the principle of "light in and sound out". It has the advantages of high contrast of optical imaging as well as high penetrability of acoustic imaging. However, current researches on photoacoustic imaging are still limited in the laboratory. This technology can be used for detection of cutaneous melanoma in situ and non-melanoma skin cancer, sentinel lymph node imaging, detection and eradication of circulating tumor cells by combining real-time laser ablation technique, and versatile imaging and treatment with the aid of exogenous imaging agents. This review summarizes preclinical experiments about photoacoustic imaging technology in skin tumors, with a view to promoting its clinical application at an early date.

Objective: To investigate the anti asthmatic effects and its mechanism of Yumian Anti asthma Formula (DYA) on asthmatic guinea pigs. Methods: Observe the change of the latent period of asthma inducing of normal guinea pigs and that of them after DYA preventing. Determine the plasma cAMP and cGMP contents. Results: The latent period of asthma inducing was obviously prolonged in guinea pigs prevented by DYA when compared with that of normal guinea pigs and guinea pigs before given DYA ( P

BACKGROUND:Artificial total disc replacement is one treatment of low back pain in recent years, but the report on the effect of disc replacement on lumbar sagittal plane is rare. OBJECTIVE:To analyze the effect of lumbar disc replacement on lumbar lordosis. METHODS:Retrospective analysis of radiographic data of 17 patients who underwent lumbar disc replacement for single segment degenerative disc disease was carried out. Data measurement included preoperative and postoperative lumbar lordosis, diseased segmental lordosis and lumbar intervertebral angle. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Al the 17 patients were fol owed-up for more than 12 months. Lumbar disc replacement was performed at L4-5 segment in three cases and L5-S1 segment in 14 cases. The average diseased segmental lordosis and lumbar lordosis were increased significantly after replacement when compared with those before replacement (P<0.05);the lumbar intervertebral angle was increased after replacement when compared with that before replacement, but the difference was not significant. The results indicate that lumbar disc replacement for the treatment of single segment degenerative disc disease can increase the lumbar lordosis and diseased segmental lordosis, which can help to improve the lumbar sagittal balance. The postoperative lumbar intervertebral angle has no correlation with the implant angle of the prosthesis on the replace segment.

BACKGROUND:Transforaminal endoscopic discectomy needs to dissociate the ligamentum flavum, and if
combined with the continuous dilator and working channel, it can keep the intact ligamentum flavum no matter how smal the incision may be (even 3-5 mm).
OBJECTIVE:To present the technique of interlaminar endoscopic lumbar discectomy with ligamentum flavum splitting.
METHODS:We performed operations on 16 male and 14 female patients by interlaminar endoscopic lumbar
discectomy with ligamentum flavum splitting. The average age of the patients in the study was (48±15) years. The chief complaint before surgery was radiculopathy confined to one leg. The anatomic operative level was L 3-4 in
one case, L 4-5 in 13 cases and L 5-S 1 in 16 cases. The ruptured disc migrated superiorly in four cases and
inferiorly in seven cases, and intraoperative electromyo-graphic monitoring was performed in al surgeries. The
ligamentum flavum was split, and after withdrawing the working channel, the ligamentum flavum could reset itself. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The total operation time was 20-40 minutes, and the fol ow-up period was
(149±108) days. There were no abnormal signals on the intraoperative electromyography in any cases, and the reported symptoms were immediately improved in al patients after the operation. Fol ow-up magneticresonance imaging showed a disappearance of the ruptured disc without defect in the ligamentum flavum. There were no operation-associated complications in al the patients. Interlaminar endoscopic lumbar discectomy with
ligamentum flavum splitting is a feasible approach.

Objective To decrease the incidence of acute rejection in renal allograft recipients by monitoring of cyclosporine A (CsA) concentration at 2-hour after dosing(C2). Methods The CsA C2 and CsA trough concentration(C0) were assayed in renal allograft recipients.All patients were followed up for at least 1 year.The correlation of C0 and C2 monitoring with clinical outcomes was analyzed. Results At 1 week and 1 month post-transplantation,the incidence of acute rejection in patients with C2 in target level was 4.41% and 10.29%, respectively,but the incidence of acute rejection in patients with C2 in lower level was 42.37% and 36.20%,respectively. ConclusionBy reflecting the drug exposure of CsA more accurately,C2 monitoring is beneficial for decreasing the incidence of acute rejection after renal allograft transplantation.

The aim of this study is to develop a synthetic medium suitable for 13C metabolic flux analysis (13C-MFA) of Streptomyces rimosus. The cell growth rate and oxytetracycline production by S. rimosus M4018 were compared when M4018 cells were growth on the optimized chemically defined media with organic nitrogen sources or inorganic nitrogen sources. First, a synthetic medium contained KNO3 as the main nitrogen source was screened, then optimized by a response surface method. Using this new medium, the oxytetracycline yield was increased from 75.2 to 145.6 mg/L. Furthermore, based on the 13C-MFA, we identified that Entner-Doudoroff pathway does not exist in S. rimosus cells cultured in a chemically defined medium with feed of 100% 1-13C labeled glucose. This study is helpful for subsequent 13C-MFA application of S. rimosus.
Carbon Isotopes ; analysis ; Culture Media ; chemistry ; Metabolic Flux Analysis ; Nitrogen ; chemistry ; Oxytetracycline ; biosynthesis ; Streptomyces rimosus ; metabolism

Objective The levels of Thl cytokines(IL-10 and IL-13)and Th2 cytokines(INF-? and TNF-?)were determined in the sera of patients with Schistosomiasis japonica in order to find the relationship between cytokines and severe hepatic fibrosis(HF)in schistosomiasis.Methods A total of 358 patients with advanced Schistosomiasis japonica were examined by ultrasound.68 HBsAg negative patients were chosen randomly as experimental control.Among them,39 patients were found to have mild HF and 29 were severe HF.The sera levels of Thl and Th2 cytokines were determined with ELISA.Results Among these 358 patients,83(23.2%)were HBsAg positive.Neither earlier nor severer hepatic fibrosis was noted in the patients who had been simultaneously infected with HBV than those only infected with schistosomiasis. There was a significant difference between mild[ 1.60(1.30-12.14)ng/L]and severe[ 4.20(1.43- 52.07)ng/L]HF patients in the level of IL-10(Z=-3.907,P0.05)was found in level of IFN-?,between severe[3.12(1.38-66.14)ng/L]and mild[5.87(1.33-216.33)ng/ L]HF subjects.Our observation did not reveal any obvious difference of TNF-? between severe[ 2.48(0.79 -19.86)ng/L]and mild[ 2.28(0.67-15.72)ng/L]HF groups.Conclusions Patients infected with advanced shistosomiasis may become more susceptible to HBV.The results of the present investigation showed that a high level production of IL-13 was associated with severe HF.

A large number of viruses belonging to Genus Hantavirus in Family Bunyaviridae are etiologic agents for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Hantaan (HTN), Seoul (SEO), Belgrade (BEL), Puumala (PUU) serotype viruses are well known causative agents for HFRS in Eurasian continent. Among those viruses Hantaan and Seoul serotypes are well known to cause HFRS in Korea, but there are some sporadic incidence by other than Hantaan or Seoul viruses. Recently we have developed the combined Hantaan-Puumala virus vaccine to prevent world-wide occurring HFRS. This combined vaccine is formalin inactivated, suckling mouse and suckling hamster brain extracts for Hantaan and Puumala viruses, respectively. Protein contents of this purified candidate vaccine is 27 microgram/ml, which contains 1,024 ELISA antigen units to each virus, but content of myelin basic protein which is causing experimental allergic encephalomyelitis is legs than 0.1 ng/ml. Thirty hamsters were given twice at one month interval intra-muscularly and bled on 30 days after each vaccination from retro-orbital sinus vein. Antibody titers were tested against 5 major serotype viruses, Hantaan, Seoul, Belgrade, Puumala and Sin Nombre viruses by IFA and PRNT. The mean IF antibody titers on 30 days after primary shot were 78.4, 68.8, 68.8, 37.9, and 15.6; mean neutralizing antibody titers were 65.4, 12, 6.1, 65.6 and 0.5 against Hantaan, Seoul, Belgrade, Puumala and Sin Nombre viruses, respectively. The mean IF antibody titers on 30 days after booster shot were 686.9, 567.5, 550.4, 516.3, and 430.9; and neutralizing antibody titers were 710.8, 41.9, 24.3, 409.9, and 1.6 against Hantaan, Seoul, Belgrade, Puumala and Sin Nombre viruses, respectively.
Animals ; Antibodies, Neutralizing ; Brain ; Bunyaviridae ; Cricetinae* ; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Formaldehyde ; Hantavirus ; Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Leg ; Mice ; Myelin Basic Protein ; Puumala virus ; Seoul ; Seoul virus ; Sin Nombre virus ; Vaccination ; Veins

OBJECTIVE To study the toxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) on murine macrophage Ana-1 cells and the mechanism.METHODS Ana-1 cells were incubated with ZnO-NP (2.5-160 mg· L-1).Cell viability was investigated by MTT assay.The integrity of cell membrane was investigated by acridine orange-ethidium bromide (AO-EB) staining.The intracellular uptake of ZnO-NP and the percentage of sub-G1 of Ana-1 cells were detected by flow cytometry.Zinc ions were determined by fluorescent probe.The change of cell viability was studied after chelating zinc ions with ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA).RESULTS ZnO-NP 2.5,5,10 and 20 mg· L-1 decreased cell viability of Ana-1 cells (r=0.905,P＜0.05) in a concentration-dependent manner.The cell viability was decreased to 27.9％ after exposure to ZnO-NP 20 mg· L-1.Intracellular uptake of ZnO-NP was increased after Ana-1 cell incubated with ZnO-NP at concentrations ranging from 40 to 160 mg· L-1 (P＜0.05).There were obvious free zinc ions in the cells.EDTA 2.5 mmol· L-1 significantly increased the cell viability decreased by ZnO-NP 20 mg· L-1 (P＜0.05).Chelating free zinc ions significantly mitigated ZnO-NP induced cell toxicity (P＜0.05).CONCLUSION Cytotoxicity and apoptosis of Ana-1 cells induced by ZnO-NP might be related to intracellular uptake of ZnO-NP and release of zinc ions.

Ligustrazine, one of the major effective components of the Chinese traditional medicinal herb Ligusticum Chuanxiong Hort, has been reported plenty of biological activities, such as protect cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, neuroprotection and anti-tumor, et al. Because of its remarkable effects, studies on structural modification of ligustrazine have attracted much attention. Ligustrazine synthetic derivatives reported in recent decades are mainly derived from four primary intermediates (TMP-COOH, TMP-OH, TMP-NH2, HO-TMP-OH). To explore the neuroprotection activitiy of ligustrazine intermediates, six ligustrazine intermediates (2, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13) were synthesized and their protective effects against CoCl2-induced neurotoxicity in differentiated PC12 cells were studied. The target compounds were prepared via different chemical methods, including oxidation, substitution, esterification and amidation without changing the structure nucleus of ligustrazine. Compared with TMP (EC50 = 56.03 micromol x L(-1)), four compounds (2, 5, 12 and 13) exhibited higher activity (EC50 < 50 micromol x L(-1)) respectively, of which, compound 2 displayed the highest protective effect against the damaged PC12 cells (EC50 = 32.86 micromol x L(-1)), but target compounds 8 and 11 appeared lower activity (EC50 > 70 micromol x L(-1)). By structure-activity relationships analysis, the introduction of carboxyl, amino to the side chain of ligustrazine and appropriately increase the proportion of ligustrazine may contribute to enhance its neuroprotective activity, which provides a reference for the design, synthesis and activity screening of relevant series of ligustrazine derivatives in the future.
Animals ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic ; Cobalt ; toxicity ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Neuroprotective Agents ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Neurotoxins ; toxicity ; PC12 Cells ; Pyrazines ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Rats