Objective To investigate the role of APRIL in SW480 cell line.Methods The CRC model was established in the nude mice,all the mice were divided into 3 groups,the mice were separately treated with APRIL siRNA,pGC-vector and PBS solution.The APRIL mRNA was detected by RT-PCR and the APRIL protein was surveyed by the way of immunohis-tochemistry (IHC).The proteins of TIMP-3,Syndecan-1and MMP-9 also were assessed by IHC.Results ①Tumor mass in the group of nude mice injected with PBS (2.15±0.30 g)was significantly higher than the injection APRIL siRNA group (0.95±0.15 g,P<0.05),and was not statistically significant (P>0.05)compared with the injection of empty vector group (2.20±0.25 g).②APRIL mRNA/18S rRNA ratio (2.48±0.25)in the group of mice injected with PBS was signifi-cantly higher than the injection APRIL siRNA group (0.39±0.15,P<0.05),and was not statistically significant (P>0.05)compared with the injection of empty vector group (2.51±0.30).③SW480 cells injected with APRIL siRNA signifi-cantly inhibited invasion and metastasis.TIMP-3 Allred scores in three groups were 7.70±0.35,1.10±0.16 and 1.15± 0.12,Syndecan-1 protein was 7.80±0.30,1.05±0.20 and 1.10±0.22 MMP-9 protein was 1.20 ±0.10,8.00±0.25 and 8.20±0.20,respectively.Conlusion APRIL was closely connected with the growth and metabasis of CRC.

Objective To investigate the change of the content of polysaccharides in crude and processed Fructus Corni,thus to approach the process mechanism of Fructus Corni.Methods The content of polysaccharides in the crude and processed Fructus Corni was determined by phenol-sulfuric acid method.Results After processing with wine,the content of polysaccharides of Fructus Corni decreased from 10.12 %(content of total polysaccharidesbeing 51.41 %) to 5.91 %(content of total polysaccharidesbeing 53.10 %),decreased by 41.60 %as compared with that in the crude Fructus Corni.Conclusion After processing with wine,the content of polysaccharides decreases markedly.The results provide certain evidence for approaching the process mechanism of Fructus Corni.

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effects of low-dose heparin on sepsis. Methods Seventy-nine sepsis patients were randomly divided into tow groups: beparin treatment group (n=37) and routine treatment group(n =42). The 7-day and 28-day mortality, the days in ICU and the length of stay, the changes of oxygenation index, the days of mechanical ventilation and the rates of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), acute renal failure (ARF), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome(MODS) were observed. The levels of APTT, PT and platelet (PLT) count were determined before and after treatment in two groups. Results The rates of DIC, ARF and MODS in beparin group decreased significantly after therapy: rate of BIC, 15.4% vs 38. 7% (P=0.03) ; rate of ARF, 25.0% vs51.9% (P=0.04); rate of MODS, 26.3% vs50.0% (P=0.04). In heparin group, the 28-day mortality was statistically reduced (15.4% vs 32.4%, P = 0. 03). The differences between beparin group and routine group were not statistically significant in the 7-day mortality (7. 7% vs 12. 9% ,P =0. 08) ,the days in ICU(Z =0. 281 ,P =0. 779,rank sum test) ,the length of stay (Z = 0. 562, P = 0. 574, rank sum test), the oxygenation index (P = 0. 82), the days of mechanical ventilation [(126.07±166.21)h vs (179.27±221.7)h,P=0.28] and the rate of ARDS (44.0% vs 46.2% ,P= 0. 88). The differences in APTT, PT and PLT were not significant between the two groups. Conclusion Low-dose beparin can decrease the mortality rate of sepsis and improve the prognosis of patients. It is a safe promising therapy in sepsis patients without severe side effects.

Biopartitioning micellar chromatography (BMC) is a potentially high throughput and low cost alternative for in vitro prediction of drug absorption, which can mimic the drug partitioning process in biological systems. In this paper, a data set of 56 compounds representing acidic, basic, neutral and amphoteric drugs from various structure classes with human oral absorption (HOA) data available were employed to show the effect of acidity of drugs in oral absorption prediction. HOA was reciprocally correlated to the negative value of the capacity factor (kBMC) determined by BMC at pH 7.4 and 6.5. The relationships between kBMC and the corresponding HOA values of all compounds were rather poor, but the correlations were improved when the acidity of drugs was taken into consideration. Moreover, the proposed models allowed obtaining of good predictive values for both highly and poorly absorbed compounds. It is demonstrated that the constructed models derived from compounds with the same kind of charge property are of more practically meaningful and rigorous.

Objective To observe the effect of Yingliu mixture combined with methimazole on autoantibodies and traditional Chinese medical syndromes of patients with Graves’ disease ( GD) . Methods A randomized, paralleled and controlled trial was carried out in 92 GD patients. The patients were evenly randomized into treatment group and control group, and were separately treated with Yingliu mixture combined with methimazole, and methimazole. The treatment for both groups lasted 12 weeks, and forty patients in each group completed the whole treatment. The changes of thyroid function, thyroid autoantibodies, and traditional Chinese medical syndrome scores were observed before and after treatment, and the clinical efficacy was also evaluated. Results (1) After treatment for 12 weeks, serum levels of thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), thyroglobulin antibody ( TGAb) and thyrotrophin receptor antibody ( TRAb) were decreased, and thyroid stimulating hormone ( TSH) was increased obviously in both groups after treatment ( P<0.01 compared with those before treatment) . The treatment group has better effect on improving TGAb and TRAb than the control group ( P<0.05). ( 2) Compared with those before treatment, the total scores of clinical symptoms and signs were decreased in the two groups at different time points of treatment course ( P<0.001) , and the decrease value in the treatment group was larger than that in the control group ( P<0.05) . ( 3) The total effective rate of the treatment group was 92.50%, higher than 82.50% of the control group ( P<0.05) . Conclusion Yingliu mixture combined with methimazole is effective on improving thyroid function, decreasing autoantibodies levels and relieving clinical symptoms and signs, and has better effect than methimazole alone for the treatment of GD.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the frequency of the nucleophosmin (NPM1) gene and the CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α gene (CEBPA) through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array in pediatric patients with cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) and explore the clinical significances of these mutations.

METHODBetween August 2009 and December 2012, 30 children (<16 years old) with newly diagnosed CN-AML were included. The clinical characteristics were analyzed in these patients. PCR combined with direct sequencing was used to detect NPM1, CEBPA gene mutations. All the data were statistically analyzed using SPSS17.0 software.

RESULTThe gene mutations were detected in each of the 30 patients. NPM1 mutation was positive in three patients (10%) with type A mutation, while CEBPA mutation was positive in two patients (6.7%) with double mutations (TAD, bZIP) . Besides, FLT3/ITD mutation was positive in three patients. Patients with NPM1 or FLT3/ITD had a significantly elevated diagnostic WBC count with a median diagnostic WBC count of 102.80×10(9)/L compared with 18.56×10(9)/L for the patients without mutations(t = 2.353, P = 0.043), as well as the marrow blast percentage (94.0% vs. 80.0%, t = 3.804, P = 0.002). The complete remission was achieved in all the 3 patients with NPM1 mutations and 2 patients with CEBPA mutations. All the patients with these mutations also achieved 2-year event-free survival (EFS) and 2-year overall survival (OS), while 2-year EFS and 2-year OS of the other patients were (40.1 ± 11.2)% and (51.8 ± 10.9)% (P = 0.044, 0.091, respectively).

CONCLUSIONNPM1 and CEBPA mutations may indicate a favorable prognosis in pediatric CN-AML.

Adolescent ; CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Genotype ; Humans ; Infant ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; genetics ; mortality ; pathology ; Male ; Mutation ; Nuclear Proteins ; genetics ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3 ; genetics

Chicoric acid， a hydroxycinnamic acid with the molecular formula C₂₂H₁₈O₁₂， is an important active ingredient in Taraxacum mongolicum， Echinacea purpurea， Cichorium intybus and other natural plants， and it helps plants protect themselves from insects and infection from viruses， bacteria， fungi， and nematodes. Modern pharmacological research suggests that chicoric acid has significant bioactivities such as anti-inflammatory， antioxidant， immune-regulating， antibacterial， antiviral and anti-tumor properties. The first reported bioactivity of chicoric acid is its inhibitory effect on human immunodeficiency virus （HIV）. With the development and application of molecular biology and related technologies， the inhibitory activities of chicoric acid on other viruses as well as its mechanism of action have been frequently reported. Another study indicates that chicoric acid has significant inhibitory effects on different pathogenic bacteria. This paper summarized the research progress on the antiviral and antibacterial effects of chicoric acid through a comprehensive review of relevant literature in China and abroad in the past 20 years. Studies have shown that chicoric acid has significant inhibitory activities against various viruses such as HIV， hepatitis B virus （HBV）， respiratory syncytial virus （RSV）， and herpes simplex virus （HSV）， as well as different pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus， Yersinia enterocolitica and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This study is expected to provide references for in-depth research on chicoric acid against pathogenic microorganisms and antiviral and antibacterial study of traditional Chinese medicine.

RNF20, an E3 ligase critical for monoubiquitination of histone H2B at lysine 120 (H2Bub), has been implicated in the regulation of various cellar processes; however, its physiological roles in adipocytes remain poorly characterized. Here, we report that the adipocyte-specific knockout of Rnf20 (ASKO) in mice led to progressive fat loss, organomegaly and hyperinsulinemia. Despite signs of hyperinsulinemia, normal insulin sensitivity and improved glucose tolerance were observed in the young and aged CD-fed ASKO mice. In addition, high-fat diet-fed ASKO mice developed severe liver steatosis. Moreover, we observed that the ASKO mice were extremely sensitive to a cold environment due to decreased expression levels of brown adipose tissue (BAT) selective genes, including uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1), and impaired mitochondrial functions. Significantly decreased levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (Pparγ) were observed in the gonadal white adipose tissues (gWAT) from the ASKO mice, suggesting that Rnf20 regulates adipogenesis, at least in part, through Pparγ. Rosiglitazone-treated ASKO mice exhibited increased fat mass compared to that of the non-treated ASKO mice. Collectively, our results illustrate the critical role of RNF20 in control of white and brown adipose tissue development and physiological function.