OsRacD belonging to rice Rho family of the small GTP binding proteins,is a pivotal gene involved in rice photoperiod fertility conversion of photoperiod sensitive genic male sterile rice,which influences rice fertility via controlling the pollen tube growth.T20N site-directed mutation was introduced into its highly conserved G1 motif by PCR-mediated method to mimic its GDP-binding state based on the sequences alignment and conserved domains analysis.The prokaryotic expression vector of OsRacD and T20N-OsRacD were constructed,and the His6 tag fused proteins were expressed and purified from E.coli.After identified by Western blot,the GTP hydrolysis activities were detected.The results showed that the GTPase activities of T20N-OsRacD were significantly reduced comparing with that of OsRacD,suggested that OsRacD and T20N-OsRacD have different biochemical characteristics.

The diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer are being improved due to the popularized screening of prostate specific antigen. Advanced prostate cancer, in spite of its response to androgen deprivation therapy, may finally develop into castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and shorten the overall survival of the patients. Many efforts have been made by worldwide researchers for new approaches to the management of CRPC, including new hormonal therapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and bone metastasis-targeted therapy. This paper reviews the emerging agents undergoing clinical evaluation and drugs that have received approval for the treatment of CRPC in order to provide doctors and patients with more treatment options for CRPC and improve the overall survival rate and quality of life of the patients.
Androgen Antagonists ; Bone Neoplasms ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Male ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; blood ; Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant ; therapy ; Quality of Life

Objective To explore the potential risk factors of schistosomiasis transmission so as to provide evidence for setting up the surveillance scheme of schistosomiasis prevention and control. Methods The schistosome infection of local inhabitants, mobile population and stock from endemic areas were investigated from 2002 to 2007 by using IHA or ELISA technique. The historical endemic reports of Chongqing City and the schistosomiasis cases, and the plants imported from schistosomiasis endemic areas and Oncomelania snails were investigated. The behavior of local inhabitants was also investigated. Results The investigated people included 5 112 local inhabitants, 1 455 mobile people from schistosomiasis endemic areas and 1 744 residents returned from the endemic areas. The sero-positive rates of them were 0.57%, 1.44% and 0.86%, respectively. Eighteen cases of imported schistosomiasis were found. There were many plants and stock imported from the schistosomiasis endemic areas. No imported snail was found. The farming of local inhabitants depended on the cattle chiefly. The rate of the harmless lavatories was 14.88%. The local residents had the habit of water contact. Conclusion There are potential risk factors for schistosomiasis transmission in the Three Gorges Reservoir areas. The local residents have potential risk behavior of getting infection of Schistosoma japonicum. The surveillance should be emphasized on the mobile population, imported plants and stock from endemic areas.

The silent cerebral infarct is an clinic symptom that is so slight or transitory as to be easily neglected. There are only neural symptoms and signs,but irresponsible infarct focus can be seen on image. The risk factors of silent cerebral infarct may be the same as those of symptomatic cerebral infarct. Such infarct is likely to influence the course, clinic symptom and prognosis of acute cerebral infarct and may foretell symptomatic cerebral infarct and deteriorate into pseudo-global paralysis or multi-infarcted dementia. Therefore elder who suffer from hypertension or diabetes and experience vertigo, headache, language barrier but without apparent signs and symptoms should receive cerebral CT or MRI. Minor or third-degree precautionary measures can be taken as a chief therapy for cerebral infarct. Alternatively vitamines B_6,B_(12) and folic acid can be supplied to reduce the chance of hyperhomocysteinemia. Headache is the initial symptom in silent brain infarct. Magnesium is effective when dehydration does not work.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a key transcription factor on hypoxia responses in mammalian tissues. HIF-1 plays as a positive factor in solid tumor and leads to hypoxia-driven responses that enhance its downstream gene expression for tumor growth and survival. LXY6099 was obtained by the structural modification and optimization of manassantin A (MA) as a high potent HIF-1 inhibitor. Antitumor activity of LXY6099 was observed in this study. LXY6099 with an IC50 value of 2.46 x 10(-10) mol x L(-1) showed more sensitive inhibition activity to HIF-1 than that of MA detected by reporter gene assay (> 100 folds). It showed strong inhibition on the growth of human solid tumor cell lines. Furthermore, LXY6099 exhibited significant antitumor activity against established human tumor xenografts in nu/nu mice with treatment of MX-1 breast cancer. Thus, LXY6099 as a novel HIF-1 inhibitor could be further developed into anti-cancer agents.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Heterografts ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 ; metabolism ; Lignans ; pharmacology ; Mice, Nude

The purpose of this study is to explore the feasibility of wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) modified liposome as a vehicle for ophthalmic administration. Liposome loaded with 5-carboxyfluorescein (FAM) was prepared by lipid film hydration method. WGA was thiolated and then conjugated to the surface of the liposome via polyethylene glycol linker to constitute the WGA-modified and FAM-loaded liposome (WGA-LS/FAM). The amount of thiol groups on each WGA molecule was determined, and the bioactivity of WGA was estimated after it was modified to the surface of liposome. The physical and chemical features of the WGA-modified liposome were characterized and the ocular bioadhesive performance was evaluated in rats. The result showed that each thiolated WGA molecule was conjugated with 1.32 thiol groups. WGA-LS/FAM had a mean size of (97.40 +/- 1.39) nm, with a polydispersity index of 0.23 +/- 0.01. The entrapment efficacy of FAM was about (2.95 +/- 0.21)%, and only 4% of FAM leaked out of the liposome in 24 h. Erythrocyte agglutination test indicated that after modification WGA preserved the binding activity to glycoprotein. The in vivo ocular elimination of WGA-LS/FAM fitted first-order kinetics, and the elimination rate was significantly slower than that of the unmodified liposome, demonstrating WGA-modified liposome is bioadhesive and suitable for ophthalmic administration.
Absorption, Physicochemical ; Adhesiveness ; Administration, Ophthalmic ; Animals ; Drug Carriers ; Eye ; metabolism ; Fluoresceins ; chemistry ; Liposomes ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; pharmacokinetics ; Male ; Particle Size ; Polyethylene Glycols ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Wheat Germ Agglutinins ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; pharmacokinetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of augmentative locking compression plate combined with bone graft in treating aseptic femoral shaft nonunion after intramedullary nailing.

METHODSTwenty-one cases with aseptic femoral shaft nonunion after intramedullary nailing from January 2007 to January 2013 were treated,including 18 males and 3 females with a mean age of 37.7 years (ranged from 23 to 64 years). The mean period of nonunion after surgery was 23.9 months (ranged from 9 to 62 months). According to Weber-Cech classification,10 of those 21 cases were hypertrophic nonunion,7 were atrophic, and 4 had oligotrophic fracture nonunion. All patients retained the original intramedullary nail, and applied with augmentation plating of 6 to 8 holes locking compression plate, unicortical fixation with 2 to 3 locking screws in the proximal or distal end, with simultaneous autologous iliac bone grafting. After treatment,all patients were allowed to partial weight-bearing until full weight-bearing according to the radiological results. All patients were followed up and were evaluated with clinical and imaging results.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up from 8 to 24 months, averaged (13.5±3.5) months,which showed clinical union at 4 to 8 months, averaged (6.0±1.0) months and radiological solid union at 7 to 12 months, averaged (9.1±1.5) months. No such complications as infection,hardware loosening or breaking were found.

CONCLUSIONAugmentative locking compression plate(LCP) combined with bone graft for aseptic femoral shaft nonunion after intramedullary nail has a satisfied clinical efficacy. It's an useful and simple method.

Adult ; Bone Nails ; adverse effects ; Bone Plates ; Bone Transplantation ; Female ; Femoral Fractures ; complications ; surgery ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary ; adverse effects ; Fractures, Ununited ; complications ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; etiology ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

To study the impact of five different origin processing methods, namely natural drying, drying in baking shop, drying by microwave heating, drying in drum and drying with sulphur fumigation, on the quality of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos from Donghai cultivation base in Jiangsu Province, with the contents of chlorogenic acid and galuteolin and the similarity in HPLC fingerprints as the evaluation indicators. The results showed that different origin processing methods had significant impact on the content of chlorogenic acid and the similarity in HPLC fingerprints, but with no significant difference on the content of galuteolin. By means of drying by microwave heating and drying in drum, the samples showed higher contents of chlorogenic acid, respectively 3.67% and 3.39%. The similarities of HPLC fingerprints were 0.815 and 0.793, respectively. By means of the drying in baking shop and the drying with sulphur fumigation, the contents of chlorogenic acid in the samples were 2. 87% and 2. 53% , respectively. The similarities of HPLC fingerprints were 0.964 and 0.765, respectively. The lowest content of chlorogenic acid in naturally dried samples was 1.92%. The similarity of HPLC fingerprints was 0.940. According to the findings as well as the internal control standards for Lonicerae Japonicae Flos herbs of Jiangsu Kanion Pharmaceutical Co. , Ltd. , the optimum processing method for Lonicerae Japonicae Flos from Donghai cultivation base was the drying in baking shop. This study provided a theoretical basis for determining the processing method for Lonicerae Japonicae Flos from Donghai cultivation base of Jiangsu Province.
China ; Desiccation ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Lonicera ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Quality Control

BACKGROUND:Xenogeneic ligament is readily available, which has ligament scaffold structure and is conducive to tissue ingrowth and creeping substitution. After processing, the xenogeneic ligament, with the presence of good growth scaffold function, can be completely eliminated antigenicity that can cause immune rejection. OBJECTIVE:To study the feasibility of biological xenogeneic ligament graft instead of alogeneic ligament graft for reconstruction of goat anterior cruciate ligament. METHODS: Twenty-four healthy adult goats were randomly divided into A, B, C groups, and then, the left knee joints of goats were removed to establish animal models of anterior cruciate ligament injury in the three groups. After the establishment of the tibia and femoral bone tunnel, groups A, B, C were respectively transplanted with biological xenogeneic ligament graft combined with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels, biological xenogeneic ligament graft alone, and alogenic ligament. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: After implantation, no rejection but good biocompatibility was found in the group A, in which, the transplanted ligament as a functional scaffold for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, and new tissues in-grew and replaced the scaffold under intraarticular environment to form the new ligament with good bone tendon healing. However, there were no differences in histology, immune response, biomechanical findings between groups A and C. Additionaly, in the group A, the host tissues were found to grow into the scaffold and establish a micro-circulation. These findings indicate that xenogeneic ligament combined with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels can accelerate the establishment of micro-circulation and promote the growth of ligaments, especialy improve the ligament revascularization significantly, but has no influence on the biological characteristics of the ligament.

Objective To master the epidemic prevalence and the risk factors of brucellosis in animals and human,and to provide a basis for making prevention strategies and measures to brucellosis in Chongqing Municipality.Methods Qijiang and Wansheng district of Chongqing Munipality were selected as investigation points.Feeding status of goats in feedlots was investigated,and blood samples of goats were collected for laboratory testing.Epidemiological survey in employees on feedlots,family members closely exposed with goats,and other focus groups such as stockbreeding and veterinary was conducted,and blood samples was collected for laboratory testing according to the principle of informed consent.Clinical features of infested persons were investigated.Blood samples were screened by plate agglutination test (RBPT) and tube agglutination test (SAT).Results A total of 582 households in the two districts were investigated.The number of positive households was 40 households.The positive rate of the households was 6.87％.A total of 20 105 goat blood samples were tested.Of them,989 blood samples tested positive.The positive rate was 4.92％.A total of 337 blood samples of the risk population from 22 towns of the two districts were tested.Of them,45 samples were positive,and the positive rate was 13.35％.Eleven people were active patients of brucellosis.The epidemic sites were distributed in 16 towns,which accounted for 73.73％.The difference of the positive rates between the two districts was not significant (x2 =0.37,P ＞ 0.05).The positive rate of brucellosis among male and female was 11.57％ (28/242) and 17.89％ (17/95),respectively.The age of brucellosis infection distributed from 2 years old to 83 years old.One preschool child and 3 students were identified positive.The positive rate of brucellosis among feeder was the highest,which accounted for 31.75％ (40/125).The difference of positive rate of brucellosis among different professions was significant (x2 =63.40,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions There is not a brucellosis case among animals or people reported in Chongqing non epidemic areas of brucellosis,but there are lots of infection.Surveillance and prevention of brucellosis should be strengthened in Chongqing.