Garcinia plants are one of the rich sources of natural xanthones and benzophenones which have attracted a great deal of attention from the scientists in the fields of chemistry and pharmacology. Recently, many structurally unique constituents with various bioactivities, especially anti-tumor activity, have been isolated from Garcinia plants. This concise review focused on the anti-cancer activity natural products isolated from Chinese Garcinia plants, and the research finding by authors and collaborators over the past several years were cited.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Benzophenones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Garcinia ; chemistry ; classification ; Humans ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Molecular Structure ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; classification ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Terpenes ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Xanthones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology

Objective To investigate the application of hepatitis C virus RNA and antibody detection method in population screening.Methods The colloidal gold rapid test method and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)were adopted to detect hepatitis C virus (HCV)antibodies,and the real-time quantitative PCR (RT-PCR)was adopted to detect HCV-RNA viral load.Results (1)Among 539 samples,266 cases were antibody negative and 263 cases were antibody positive.(2)Among 67 cases in the HCV-RNA viral load <103 IU/mL group,60 cases were HCV antibody positive by ELISA and 30 cases were HCV antibody positive by colloidal gold rapid test.Among 208 cases in the HCV-RNA viral load ≥ 103 IU/mL,199 cases were antibody positive by ELISA,but only 181cases were antibody positive by the colloidal gold rapid method.Other 6 cases of were 2 kinds of antibody negative had the HCV-RNA viral load ≥ 103 IU/mL.(3)208 cases of HCV-RNA viral load ≥ 103 IU/mL sample were divided in-to four groups.GGT,ALT and AST were statistically significantly different P <0.05),while ALB and S/CO values hadno statisti-cal difference (P >0.05).Conclusion In order to reduce the missed diagnosis rate and diagnose hepatitis C as early as possible,the above laboratory detection methods should be jointly applied and the comprehensive analysis should be conducted in population screening.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of circumferential strain and strain rate in estimating the carotid elasticity. Methods Thirty-five consecutive patients of hypertension were enrolled in this study as the patient group and 36 healthy volunteers whose ages were matched with the patient group were included as controls. The intima-media thickness(IMT) of common carotid arteries of both the patients and controls were measured using RF-Data technique of ultrasound vascular measurement and the following traditional parameters reflecting common carotid elasticity were obtained: pulse wave velocity (PWV),arterial compliance (AC). While the new parameters reflecting vascular strain including endovascular longitudinal strain(EN-LS), endovascular circumferential strain(EN-CS), endovascular longitudinal strain rate(EN-LSR) ,endovascular circumferential strain rate(EN-CSR), adventitial longitudinal strain(EP-LS),adventitial circumferential strain ( EP-CS ), adventitial longitudinal strain rate ( EP-LSR ), adventitial circumferential strain rate(EP-CSR) were collected using the technique of X-strain. All the corresponding parameters were compared between hypertensive group and controls. The correlations between elasticity and hemodynamic parameters were analyzed. Results In the hypertension patients,PWV was higher while AC,EN-CS,EN-CSR,EP-CS and EP-CSR were lower than that of the control group( P ＜0.05). No significant differences were detected in the longitudinal strain and strain rate. In the hypertension group,AC correlated positively with PWV, while EN-CS, EN-CSR, EP-CS and EP-CSR correlated negatively with PWV and positively with AC. Conclusions Circumferential strain and strain rate conform well to the mechanical principle and the characteristic anatomic and histological structure of the vessels and may be used to reflect the early changes of the vascular elasticity.

To evaluate the automated segmentation algorithm for detection of intra - retinal layers to process images obtained from ultra- high resolution optical coherence tomography ( OCT ) . Graph theory and the shortest path search based on dynamic programming were applied to automatically segment the 8 intra - retinal layers. We experimentally verified the accuracy and reliability of the algorithm. The results showed that the intra-retinal layer boundaries between automated and manual segmentations matched well. The algorithm successfully segmented the intra- retinal layers in glaucoma, high myopia, and retinitis pigmentosa patients. The proposed automatic segmentation for intra-retinal layers provides a promising tool for quantitative analysis in clinical diagnosis and treatment.

?In allusion to the training requirements of eight-year program medical students, combining with our own experience in teaching this type of the students in ophthalmology, we have done some thinking about the training methods of eight-year program medical students in order to improving their comprehensive abilities of ophthalmology. Several suggestions are made in various aspects, including the study of the basic theory of ophthalmology, the training of doctor - patient communication skills, the training of basic clinical skills, the interest developments in ophthalmology subspecialty areas and the training of basic experiment skills.

Objective:To retrospectively analyze the early mortality and related risk factors in adult patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD).Methods:Adult MHD patients from 2008 to 2018 were enrolled and divided into training data group and validation data group. In training data group, multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of early death within 120 days after hemodialysis and establish a prediction model. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to evaluate the prediction ability of the model.Results:A total of 4 885 patients were included. The cumulative mortality within 120 days was 20.97/100 person years, and that within 365 days was 12.25/100 person years. A total of 3 603 patients in the training data group were analyzed. The following risk factors were correlated with early mortality (all P<0.05), including age at start of dialysis over 60 years old ( OR=1.792), non-chronic glomerulonephritis ( OR=2.214), cardio-cerebrovascular disease ( OR=2.695), plasma albumin less than 35 g/L ( OR=1.358), platelet count less than 120×10 9/L ( OR=2.194), serum creatinine less than 600 μmol/L ( OR=1.652), blood urea nitrogen over 30 mmol/L ( OR=1.887), blood phosphorus less than 1.13 mmol/L ( OR=1.783), pulse pressure over 55 mmHg(1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) ( OR=1.656), low density lipoprotein less than 1.5 mmol/L ( OR=1.873), and blood calcium over 2.5 mmol/L ( OR=1.876). Risk prediction model was established. The other 1 282 cases in the validation data group were verified. The area under ROC curve was 0.810, with sensitivity 85.7%, and specificity 62.5%. Conclusion:The mortality rate of adult MHD patients within 120 days after dialysis is high. The established prediction model can effectively predict the risk of early death.

In the current study, nine flavonoids were isolated and purified from 75% ethanol extract of Selaginella uncinata (Desv.) Spring by column chromatographic techniques over macroporous resin, polyamide, silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 and pre-HPLC. On the basis of their physico-chemical properties and spectroscopic data analyses, these compounds were elucidated as cirsimarin (1), nepitrin (2), apigenin-6-C-α-L-arabinopyranosyl-8-C-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), apigenin-6-C-β-D-glucopyranosyl-8-C-α-L-arabinopyranoside (4), apigenin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), 2,3-dihydroamentoflavone (6), 4'-O-methylamentoflavone (7), 2,3-dihydro-4'-O-methyl-amentoflavone (8), and 2,3,2",3"-tetrahydron-4'-O-methyl-robustaflavone (9). Compounds 1-5 belong to flavonoid glycosides and were isolated from the genus Selaginella for the first time.
Flavonoids ; analysis ; Selaginellaceae ; chemistry

Objective This study aims to evaluate the initial results of a hybrid procedure for treating descending thoracic aortic disease that involves distal aortic arch.It also intends to report our initial experience in performing this procedure.Methods A total of 45 patients(35 males and 10 females) with descending thoracic aortic disease underwent a hybrid procedure,namely,thoracic endovascular aortic repair(TEVAR) combined with supra-arch branch vessel bypass,in our center from April 2009 to August 2014.Right axillary artery to left axillary artery bypass(n =20) or right axillary artery to left common carotid artery and left axillary artery bypass(n =25) were performed.The conditions of all patients were followed up from the 14th month to the 77th month postoperative[mean(38.0 ± 17.1) months].Mortality within 30 days,complications such as endoleak after the hybrid procedure,and stenosis or blockage of the bypass graft during the follow-up period were assessed.Results One case of death and one case of cerebral infarction were reported within 30 days.Two patients underwent open surgery beacuse of endoleak.And a newly formed intimal tear was observed in one patient and the patient underwent a second TEVAR during the follow-up period.Condusion Initial results suggest that the one-stage hybrid procedure is a suitable therapeutic option for thoracic aortic pathologies that involve distal aortic arch.However,this procedure is not recommended for type-B aortic dissection,in which a tear is located in the greater curvature or near the left subclavian artery,because of the high possibility of endoleak occurrence.

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (US-FNAB) for thyroid imaging reported and data system (TI-RADS) 4 class ≤ 10 mm thyroid nodules.Methods The preoperative ultrasound features of patients with thyroid nodule who received USFNAB examination were retrospectively analyzed,the malignant risk of each nodule was evaluated and classified according to TI-RADS.TI-RADS 4a class thyroid nodules and diameter ≤ 10 mm of 365 patients were classified as suspicious nodules and received US-FNAB examination.The nodules were classified as ＜5 mm and 5-10 mm groups.The results of cytologic diagnosis were compared with the pathological diagnosis,and the differences for nodules with different size were analyzed.Results Among 365 TI-RADS 4 class thyroid nodules diagnosed by the cytology,68 nodules were malignant;81 nodules were suspicious of malignancy;193 nodules were benign;6 nodules were unsatisfactory;and 17 nodules were undetermined.According to postoperative pathology or follow-ups,153 nodules were malignant and 212 nodules were benign.The difference between US-FNAB results and pathology was not significant (P ＞ 0.05).Cytologic positive rate and actually malignant rate of the nodules in 5-10 mm group were higher than ＜ 5 mm groups (P ＜ 0.05).The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value,and accuracy of US-FNAB cytological diagnosis of TI-RADS 4 class thyroid nodule were 92.2％,96.2％,94.6％,94.4％and 94.5％,respectively.Conclusion US-FNAB examination is valuable for the diagnosis of TI-RADS 4a class thyroid nodules and improves the preoperative diagnosis.

The glutamate dehydrogenase (EC.1.4.1.4) gene which amplified from the genome of Brevibacterium flavum GDK-9 by polymerase chain reaction was linked with pUCm-T for sequence alignment. Analysis of gdh sequences revealed that the whole sequence is 1927 bp, only one ORF existed, which used ATG as the initiation codon and coded a peptide of 448 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 48 kD. The comparability between the cloned gdh sequence to the reported sequence is high to 99.55%. Only the 1190th base mutation (C→A) lead to the change of amino acid sequence (Thr→Asn), the others are not. The recombinant plasmid pXG was then transformed into E. coli XL-Blue and Brevibacterium flavum GDK-9 which was induced by IPTG. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that there was a clear induced protein band with molecular mass of 48.7 kD on expected position. Standard glutamate fermentations indicated that although the level of GDH increases the intracellular glutamate pool, the level of GDH has no influence on glutamate secretion.