Objective To investigate the efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in diagnosing liver, gallbladder, spleen and renal diseases. Methods 27 patients with liver diseases, 30 patients with gallbladder diseases, 5 patients with renal diseases, 5 patients with renal trauma and 6 patients with spleen disease were examined by CEUS. Results There were 3 cases of primary hepatocellular carcinomas, 4 cases of metastatic hepatic carcinomas, 4 cases of liver abscess, 10 cases of hepatic hemangiomas and 3 cases of liver repture with active bleeding. The diagnostic coincidence rate of CEUS was 90%. 30 patients with gallbladder polyposis were diagnosed by CEUS, and the diagnostic coincidence rate was 100%. 5 cases with renal diaseses included 1 of renal abscess, 1 of renal column hypertrophy and 3 of renal hemangioma. In 5 cases with renal trauma, there were 3 cases with renal contusion and 2 cases with renal rupture and active bleeding. The coincidence rate was 61%. In 6 cases with spleen diseases, there were 1 case with splenic infraction, 1 case with splenic abscess and 4 cases with splenic rupture and hemorrhage. The coincidence rate was 100%. Conclusion CEUS has great value of clinical application in diagnosis of liver, gallbladder, spleen and renal diseases.

Amniotic epithelial cells (AECs) have been expected to be a good cell source for stem cell-based cardiac repair. Activin A signaling is required for cardiac differentiation in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs), and bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) is an important regulator that controls stem cell fates. Previous study has established an efficient protocol to generate cardiomyocytes from human ESCs via induction with Activin A and BMP-4. The aim of present study was to test the hypothesis that Activin A and BMP-4 could also induce AECs to differentiate into cardiomyocytes in vitro. Human AECs (hAECs) were isolated from human term placenta by trypsin digestion according to the previous reports. Freshly isolated hAECs were examined to detect the expression of cytokeratin 19 by immunocytochemistry. High-density undifferentiated hAECs at passage 1 were sequential treated with 100 ng/ ml human recombinant Actvin A and 10 ng/ml BMP-4. The expression of cardiac-specific genes was examined before and after in vitro induction of cellular differentiation. Freshly isolated hAEC could express cytokeratin 19, the specific marker of epithelial cells. The data showed that hAECs treated with Activin A and BMP-4 were able to express cardiac-specific genes, including Nkx2.5 and alpha-actinin. Our results demonstrated that Activin A and BMP-4 could induce cardiomyocyte differentiation of hAECs, which might be a novel approach to induce differentiation of AECs into cardiomyocytes-like cells.
Activins ; pharmacology ; Amnion ; cytology ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 ; pharmacology ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Epithelial Cells ; cytology ; Humans ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; cytology ; Recombinant Proteins ; pharmacology

Objective To diagnose crossed cerebellar diaschisis (CCD) after supratentorial cerebral infarction with intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) magnetic resonance imaging. Methods From May, 2016 to May, 2017, 120 patients with unilateral supratentorial cerebral infarction were divided as CCD positive and CCD negative, and investigated with IVIM. Results The cerebral infarction volume (CIV) was more in CCD positive patients than in CCD negative patients in acute and chronic phase (t>13.943, P<0.05). The apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) was significantly different between affected and unaffected lateral cerebellar in CCD positive patients (t=11.413, P<0.05), and it was significantly different between CCD positive and negative patients in unaffected lateral cerebellar (t=10.026, P<0.05). Conclusion CIV and ADC can be the indexes of IVIM to evaluate the cerebral perfusion in patients with cerebral infarction.

Liquid biopsies have made a great progress in malignant tumors research.Circulating tumor cells,circulating tumor DNA and exosomes can be regarded as biomarkers to be applied in diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer,monitoring progress dynamically,estimating prognosis and drug resistance in chemotherapy,which can help doctors provide patients with individual treatment to realize precision medicine in epithelial ovarian cancer.

Bladder cancer （BCa） is the most common malignant tumor of the urinary system， and its incidence is increasing year by year. At present， for all patients with resectable non-metastatic muscle-invasive BCa， radical cystectomy + bilateral pelvic lymph node dissection is strongly recommended， but they still face the risk of recurrence， metastasis and death. In recent years， the proportion of patients with advanced and metastatic BCa is increasing among patients with newly diagnosed BCa. Although current treatment models are diverse， they often struggle to achieve significant efficacy due to their low effectiveness and adverse effects， resulting in low survival rates for patients with advanced and metastatic BCa. Therefore， the treatment of BCa still faces great challenges， and there is an urgent need to discover an effective new antitumor drug. With the improvement of medical standards， traditional Chinese medicine has shown great advantages in the treatment of BCa. Traditional Chinese medicine is mild and easy to accept， and can inhibit tumor progression through a multi-pathway， multi-way and multi-target manner， so as to exert its anticancer effect. Taraxaci Herba is a medicinal and food homologous plant， which has many biological activities， such as antibacterial， anti-inflammatory， anti-oxidation， anti-tumor， protecting liver and gallbladder， reducing blood sugar and enhancing immunity， and it has shown a clear anticancer effect in breast cancer， liver cancer， gastric cancer， tongue cancer and lung cancer. By reviewing previous studies worldwide， this article summarizes the mechanism of Taraxaci Herba extract in inducing autophagy and apoptosis， inhibiting cell migration and invasion， regulating cell cycle and proliferation， regulating cell metabolism， inhibiting tumor angiogenesis， combining the effects of chemotherapeutic drugs， and regulating the transduction of related signal pathways. On this basis， this study systematically elaborates on the potential mechanism of Taraxaci Herba against BCa， in order to provide a theoretical basis for the research and treatment of BCa.