FDG-PET has played a significant role in the clinical management of lung cancer since it can efficiently visualize the functional metabolic changes of normal and pathological tissues in human body. It has been used more and more widely in many aspects of lung cancer management including diagnosis, staging, target volume delineation for radiotherapy plan, treatment response inspection, and recurrence detection. However, the false positive led by benign and inflammation somehow decreases its diagnostic specificity of lung cancer. The diagnostic methods for lung cancer consist of visual interpretation and semi-quantitative analysis based on static imaging and quantitative analysis based on dynamic imaging. This article briefly reviews the current trends, challenges and foreground of this imaging modality in the field of clinical management of lung cancer.

Objective To evaluate the factors affecting the measurement of lung tumor activity concentration (AC) with FDG-PET. Methods High count Monte-Carlo simulations,based on VIP-Man (marked VHP atlas) added with spherical lung tumors of different diameter and activity,were performed to generate the essentially noiseless projection data for PET. The factors related with the measurement of tumor AC were evaluated. Results Using the maximum value in the tumor region of interest (ROI) generally resulted in the over-estimation of AC,and the degree of over-estimation would also increase as the noise became severer. For the small tumors with low AC,the proper partial volume correction was needed. Drawing ROI after post-reconstruction filtering could improve the reproducibility of AC measurement compared with no filtering first. Conclusion The accuracy and reliability of AC measurement depends strongly on factors including tumor size,post-reconstruction filter,noise level,ROI definition,PVE correction,etc.

Objective To evaluate the effect of dexmedetomidine on noise-induced hearing loss in guinea pigs.Methods Twenty-four adult male guinea pigs,aged 3 months,weighing 400-500 g,were randomly divided into 3 groups (n =8 each) using a random number table:dexmedetomdine group (group D),noise-induced hearing loss group (group N) and dexmedetomidine + noise-induced hearing loss group (group DN).A loading dose of dexmedetomidine 5 μg/kg was infused over 5 min,followed by 135 min of infusion at a rate of 10 μg· kg-1 · h-1.The equal volume of normal saline was infused in group N.Groups N and DN were exposed to noise of 4 kHz center frequency and 118-122 dB SPL for 120 min starting from 20 min of administration.Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and cochlear blood flow (COBF) were recorded before administration and every 5 min during drug administration.The changing rate of COBF was calculated.Arterial blood samples were collected for determination of plasma concentration of noradrenaline (NE) by high performance liquid chromatography at 20 and 140 min of administration.Auditory brainstem response (ABR) threshold was recorded before administration and at 1 and 72 h and 10 days after the end of administration.Results Compared with group N,MAP was significantly decreased,the changing rate of COBF was increased at 5-10 min and 30-140 min of administration,ABR threshold was decreased at 1 and 72 h and 10 days after the end of administration,and the plasma concentration of NE was decreased at 140 min of administration in D + N group (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Dexmedetomidine can attenuate noise-induced hearing loss in guinea pigs possibly through inhibiting activation of sympathetic nerves and increasing COBF.

This paper studied the HPLC and NIRS fingerprints of Chrysanthemum with different processing methods, including directly drying, drying after steamed, and drying after fried. The method of discriminant analysis of TQ software was used to analysis the NIRS fingerprint of Chrysanthemum with three different processing methods, and the results were consistent with HPLC fingerprint similarity analysis. NIRS and HPLC fingerprints were of different characteristics, and the combination of the two methods can quickly and accurately identify Chrysanthemum with different processing methods.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Chrysanthemum ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared ; methods

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a highly effective anti-tumor method. However, when laser radiation was used to ablate tumors, it usually triggers a series of inflammatory reactions, promoting the further development of tumors and affecting the effect of anti-tumor therapy. Therefore, it is an effective method to improve the anti-tumor effect by suppressing the inflammatory response through the precise targeted delivery of anti-inflammatory drug while realizing the photothermal treatment of tumors. To this end, the redox-responsive linker 3,3'-dithiodipropionic acid was used to bond the classic hydrophobic anti-inflammatory drug 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (18β-GA) and the hydrophilic fragment methoxy-polyethylene glycol (mPEG-NH₂) to obtain redox-responsive amphiphilic polymer PEG-DA-GA in this study. Then, photothermal agent IR-780 was encapsulated to prepare redox-responsive polymer micelle PDG/IR-780 NPs. The PDG/IR-780 NPs exhibited uniform particle size of 80.2 ± 5.3 nm and the polydispersity index (PDI) was 0.215 ± 0.079. All animal experiments followed the ethical requirements formulated by the Ethics Committee of Sichuan University. The results showed that PDG/IR-780 NPs could respond to the abundant glutathione (GSH) in tumor cells to promote the disintegration of nanoparticle and the release of 18β-GA, thus significantly improved the killing efficiency on 4T1 cells, when compared with the non-redox-responsive control PSG/IR-780 NPs. When the concentration of 18β-GA was 50 μg·mL^-1, the cell viability of 4T1 cells in the PDG/IR-780 NPs group was only (19.29 ± 1.80) %, which was significantly lower than the result of in PSG/IR-780 NPs group (29.30 ± 1.37) %. The results of frozen sections of tumor tissues showed that the designed PDG NPs can promote the tumor-targeted distribution of drugs compared with the free drug group. Eventually, PDG/IR-780 NPs achieved wonderful anti-tumor efficacy on 4T1 triple-negative breast cancer model, revealing the new possibility of the combined therapy strategy of photothermal and anti-inflammatory therapy.

Objective To explore the expressions and significance of miRNA - 101,enhancer of ZESTE homo-log 2(EZH2)and transforming growth factor(TGF)- β1 in the kidneys with complete uniateral ureteral obstruction (CUUO). Methods Thirty male SD rats,(6 ± 1)weeks old,weighted(150 ± 10)g,were divided into sham group, 7 - day group with CUUO and 14 - day group with CUUO by using random number table method,10 rats in each group. The obstructed kidney samples were collected in 7 and 14 days,respectively,for detecting the expression of miRNA -101 by real time - polymerase chain reaction(RT - PCR)and TGF - β1 and EZH2 protein by Western blot,immuno-histochemistry and hematoxylin - eosin staining. Their correlated expressions were analyzed. Results RT - PCR results showed that the expressions of miRNA - 101 in sham group and 7 - day group with CUUO were(12. 69 ± 1. 60)times and(3. 74 ± 1. 24)times which were higher than those of 14 - day group with CUUO,respectively,there was a signifi-cant difference among these 3 groups(P ﹤ 0. 05). The expressions of TGF - β1 and EZH2 proteins were 1. 14 ± 0. 12, 1. 04 ± 0. 14,0. 76 ± 0. 18 and 1. 04 ± 0. 04,0. 89 ± 0. 03,0. 73 ± 0. 02 in 14 - day group with CUUO,7 - day group with CUUO and sham group,respectively. There was a negative correlation between miRNA - 101 with EZH2( r =- 0. 92,P ﹤ 0. 05),and negative correlation with TGF - β1(r = - 0. 63,P ﹤ 0. 05),and positive correlation between EZH2 and TGF - β1(r = 0. 67,P ﹤ 0. 05);the expressions of miRNA - 101,EZH2 and TGF - β1 were associated with each other in obstruction renal in different time periods. Conclusions With the extension of obstruction time, miRNA - 101 expression decreased,EZH2 and TGF - β1 expression increased,evidently,which indicates that the de-velopment of renal interstitial fibrosis may be affected through regulating EZH2 expression of renal obstruction through miRNA - 101 in the young rats.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI)in differentiating non-metastatic from metastatic mesorectal lymph nodes in rectal cancer.Methods IVIM-DWI and DCE-MRI were performed preoperatively in 38 patients with histologically proven rectal carcinoma.The short axis diameter,short-to-long axis diameter ratio,four IVIM-based parameters (ADC,D,D? and f) and six DEC-MRI semi-quantitative parameters (Slope,Maxslope,CER,Washout,TTP,iAUC90 and iAUC180 )were compared between the metastatic (n=28)and non-metastatic (n=27)lymph nodes.Results There were significant statistical significances between the metastatic and non-metastatic lymph nodes in mean short axis diameter (8.87 mm±2.829 mm vs 6.83 mm±1.075 mm),D value[(0.824±0.1 13)× 10 -3 mm2/s vs (1.033±0.244)× 10 -3 mm2/s],CER(1.588 ±0.664 vs 1.054 ±0.41 9),iAUC90 (22.89 ± 9.83 vs 13.59 ± 5.34)and iAUC1 80 (49.38±20.1 9 vs 30.31 ± 1 1.67)(P ≤0.001).The short-to-long axis diameter ratio,ADC,D? ,f,Slope,Maxslope,Washout and TTP values did not show significant differences between the two groups(P >0.05).The respectively optimal cut-off value (area under the curve,sensitivity and specificity)for distinguishing metastatic from non-metastatic lymph nodes were as follows:short axis diameter=7.1 mm(0.744,64.2%,85.1%),D=0.906×10 -3 mm2/s (0.821,81.5%,75.0%),CER=1.05(0.749,85.7%,62.9%), iAUC90 =13.42(0.780,85.7%,62.9%),iAUC180 =49.65 (0.770, 50.0%,100%)respecyively.Conclusion Both IVIM-DWI and DCE-MRI are useful for differentiating non-metastatic from metastatic mesorectal lymph nodes in rectal cancer.

Lu Dangshen, a traditional authentic medicinal material of Codonopsis Radix is mainly produced in Shangdang (Changzhi) area of Shanxi Province. Baitiao Dangshen is mainly produced in Gansu Province. Codonopsis Radix contains many kinds of components such as phenylpropanoids, polyalkynes, alkaloids, terpenes, fatty acids, flavonoids, and so on. At present, the effect of producing areas on its chemical compositions has not been systematically studied. This study analyzed the differences of metabolites among Codonopsis pilosula from different producing areas by UPLC-HRMS. PCA, OPLS-DA coupled with Thermo mzcloud online and local databases were used to compare the overall differences of metabolites among Codonopsis pilosula from different producing areas, and the chemical constituents were identified to further screen and find out the different metabolites and analyze the metabolic pathways by information retrieval in HMDB, PubChem, Chemspider and KEGG databases. The results showed that 72 differential metabolites were identified in this study. There were 15 kinds of up-regulated and 57 kinds of down-regulated metabolites of Lu Dangshen compared with Baitiao Dangshen. The top 30 metabolic pathways were analyzed by KEGG enrichment, and the most important metabolic pathways were phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, which was demonstrated that phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway and related intermediate metabolites could be used as the characteristics of distinguishing Lu Dangshen from different habitats of Codonopsis pilosula. The present study provided a basis for analyzing the influence of producing areas on the chemical components of Codonopsis pilosula and reasonably evaluating the quality of Codonopsis Radix, and also provided a new idea for expounding the authenticity of Lu Dangshen.

The clinical application of Chinese patent medicines has suffered sever problems and required guidelines for clinical practices. Currently, the expert consensus method is more suitable for formulating clinical practice guidelines of Chinese patent medicines than the evidence-based method. However, there remain problems in the application of the expert consensus method. This study proposed a derivative expert consensus method--a method for formulating clinical practice guidelines of common Chinese patent medicines based on clinical practices, and introduced the method in terms of research thought, methodology and implementation procedure.
Evidence-Based Medicine ; standards ; Humans ; Nonprescription Drugs ; standards

Using the absorbent resin, silica gel and ODS column chromatography as well as semi-preparative HPLC, ten compounds were isolated from 70% ethanol extract of tubers of Dioscorea zingiberensis C. H. Wright, and their structures were elucidated as trigoneoside XIIIa (1), parvifloside (2), trigoneoside IVa (3), deltoside (4), protobioside (5), lilioglycoside k (6), zingiberensis newsaponin I (7), deltonin (8), prosapogenin A of dioscin (9), and trillin (10) on the basis of NMR and MS spectral data analysis. Among these compounds, 1, 3, 5 and 6 were isolated from this plant for the first time. In the screening test on platelet aggregation, compounds 7 and 8 exhibited induction effect on platelet aggregation, while compound 9 exhibited significant inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation in vitro.
Animals ; Dioscorea ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Male ; Mass Spectrometry ; Molecular Structure ; Platelet Aggregation ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Saponins ; chemistry ; pharmacology