Tanshinone Ⅱ A is effective to treat a great variety of diseases,and recently its potential anticancer activity has attracted great attention.While studies in vitro indicate that tanshinone Ⅱ A is toxic in a number of cell types and affects differentiation and apoptosis,but anticancer effects in vivo remain to be elucidated.Tanshinone Ⅱ A varies widely in production quality,method of administration (oral,intravenous,subcutaneous,and so on),usage and dosage.Tanshinone Ⅱ A s limited hydrophilicity,poor intestinal absorption,low oral efficacy,and other pharmacologic characteristics have impacted both its usage and elucidation of efficacy and mechanisms in vivo,which are the focus of future research.

BACKGROUND: With the continuous development of materials science, magnesium alloy vascular stent materials have become a hot research. Because of the mechanical properties and biocompatibility of commercial magnesium alloy, it is difficult to meet the requirements of vascular stents. Therefore, effective measures to improve the sten's surface properties and comprehensive performance become the focus of research.OBJECTIVE: To study the histology and surface modification of vascular stents in rapidly solidified Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy.Methods: The low-zinc Mg-2Zn-0.2Y alloy with good mechanical properties and corrosion resistance was selected as the basic material, and Nd and Zn elements were added to refine the alloy stents. After the microstructure of the stent was extruded, the surface modification of the stent was completed and the comprehensive properties of the alloy were improved. The new magnesium alloy for the stent was obtained and the stent surface was modified. The metallographic microstructure, scanning electron microscopy and radiological analysis were used to study the microstructure and mechanical properties of the prepared stents. The mechanical properties of the stents were investigated by hardness and tensile tests.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Metallographic microstructure results showed that: when Y elements were not added, the second phase of the magnesium alloy was rod-shaped, and there were a few granules embedded in the matrix. After addition of 0.5% Y elements, in the second phase of the magnesium alloy stent, the shafts were significantly reduced in number, and granules were increased in number and evenly distributed in the body. After the addition of 1% Y,the second phase number increased, a large number of dendrites were visible in the grains, and discontinuous rods existed in the second phase. After the addition of 1.5% Y, the second phase was rod-shaped, with mixture of large and local dendrites in the alloy. (2) X-ray diffraction test results: Mn-Zn-0.5Nd alloy and Mn-Zn-1.0Nd alloy contained the same phases (Mg4Zn7 and (Nd, Y) 2Zn17 phase). When the concentration of Nd increased to 1%, the new MgZn2 phase appeared in the alloy. (3) SEM & EDS test results of modified magnesium alloy showed that after magnesium alloy modification, the second phase contained Zn, Nd and Y elements, and their contents were very close. EDS analysis showed that after the addition of Zr elements, the level of Zn elements in the lamellar second phase decreased significantly, and the level of Nd and Y elements increased, indicating a more stable performance. (4) Micro-hardness test results showed that with the increasing of the content of magnesium alloy, the alloy microhardness increased. (5)Tensile test results showed that the tensile strength and yield strength of the Mg-Zn-Y-0.5Nd-Zr stent were significantly higher than those of Mg-Zn-Y-0.5Nd, Mg-Zn-Y-1.0Nd,Mg-Zn-Y-1.0Nd-Zr stents (P < 0.05); and the elongation at break of Mg-Zn-Y-0.5Nd-Zr and Mg-Zn-Y-1.0Nd-Zr stents was significantly higher than that of Mg-Zn-Y-1.0Nd and Mg-Zn-Y-0.5Nd stents (P < 0.05). To conclude, with Mg-2Zn-0.2Y as core materials, the material modification could be completed by the addition of Nd and Zn elements, and the surface modification could be implemented by extruding and refining the stent microstructure. The modified material has excellent properties.

In order to study the effect of magnetic action on the rabbit tests, we fed the rabbit with magnetized water and embedded the small magnetic disc at "guanyuan point". Five months later, the total sperm number as well as the sperm number per 100 mg in epididymal tail of the experimental group significantly increased than those of the control group. The observation by light microscope and scanning electron microscope showed more increased spermatogone, spermatoblast and sperm in the experimental group than in the control. This study indicates that drinking magnetized water and embedding magnet disc at "guanyuan point" have a spermatogenic effect

OBJECTIVE To study the methods and curative effects of reconstruction of oropharyngeal defects after resection of tonsillar cancer. METHODS Nineteen patients with tonsillar cancer underwent operation. The choice of surgical procedure was decided on the size of the lesions. The tumor was resected through the hyoid approach and mandibular swing approach. Surgical defects were repaired immediately with tongue flap, temporalis myofascial flap, pectoralis major myocutaneous flap. RESULTS The functions of respiration, chewing, deglutition, and speech were restored satisfied in all patients. Partial necrosis of the pectoralis major myocutaneous flap occurred in one patient, and mild difficulty of open mouth in 3 patients after repaired with temporalis myofascial flap. CONCLUSION Choosing what is optimum from multiple feasible surgical methods is prerequisite for better oropharyngeal function and quality of life in patients with tonsillar cancer.

To study the effect of genistein on the proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts(CF), CFs were cultured from neonatal rat hearts, DNA synthesis of the cells was determined by incorporation of ［3H］TdR into DNA, the cell cycle was measured by flow cytometric analysis. Genistein(0.5－50 μmol*L-1) attenuated 2.5% fetal calf serum-induced proliferation of CF in concentration-dependent manner. Genistein(50 μmol*L-1) arrested CF cell progression at G2/M phase. The results suggest that genistein be a potential substance for treatment of cardiac fibrosis.

Objective To discuss the surgical method and efficacy of adult Dandy-Walker syndrome ( DWS) through retrospective anal-ysis and literature review .Methods There were 3 cases of adult DWS in our hospital from August 2010 to August 2011.One case of them was given posterior cranial fossa cyst peritoneal shunt , and the surgery adopted ordinary high voltage shunt .Case 2 was given left side of the lateral ventricle peritoneal shunt , and the surgery adopted ordinary high voltage shunt .Case 3 was given posterior cranial fossa cyst peritoneal shunt combined with left side of the lateral ventricle peritoneal shunt , and the surgery adopted double-end high voltage shunt .The two ends of the shunt were respectively linked with the diverter valve and abdominal cavity drainage tube through T -branch pipe .Results Among the 3 patients, there was 1 case failed to ease the headache symptoms , and it was relieved one month later .The preoperative symptoms of the oth-er 2 cases disappeared immediately after the surgery .During the 4 years of follow-up,preoperative symptoms of the 3 patients disappeared , and there was no positive signs .Conclusion For adult patients with symptomatic DWS ,shunt surgery can eliminate symptoms ,relieve the tension of the posterior fossa cyst ,achieve good curative effect , and there was no surgical complication .

Objective To investigate the correlation of plasma interleukin ( IL)-17 level and IL-17 receptor (IL-17R) expression in the thymus of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG).Methods The blood samples of 63 patients (38 with glucocorticoid treatment, 25 with thymus removal) who admitted to Henan Provincial People′s Hospital between 2010 and 2014 were collected at three different stages: pre-treatment, 1 week post-treatment and 1 month post-treatment.The blood samples of 42 healthy controls were also collected.Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to evaluate the levels of IL-17 in plasma.Twenty-five thymus tissues from MG patients and another 12 thymus tissues from patients with congenital heart disease who had surgery therapy were also collected.Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to evaluate the mRNA levels of IL-17R.The possible correlation between the expression of IL-17 and IL-17R with MG was analyzed.Results Before treatment, the levels of IL-17 in the plasma were much higher in all the MG patients ( both ocular and generalized) when compared to the healthy controls ( controls (3.2 ±0.7) pg/ml, MG patients (8.5 ±1.7) pg/ml, t =2.450, P <0.01; generalized type patients (9.7 ±1.4) pg/ml, t =2.532, P <0.01).In the patients with glucocorticoid treatment, IL-17 levels began to reduce after 1 week treatment and a statistically significant difference was found when compared to the pre-treatment samples (pre-treatment (8.3 ±1.2) pg/ml, 1 week after treatment (6.3 ±0.7) pg/ml, t=2.052, P<0.05) and healthy controls (t =1.933, P<0.05).One month after the glucocorticoid treatment, the levels of IL-17 decreased to the normal level (1 month after treatment (3.9 ±0.6) pg/ml, t=2.630, P <0.01, compared to the pre-treatment; t =1.395, P >0.05, compared to the healthy controls).In the surgery therapy cases, the IL-17 levels were also reduced after the thymus removal ( pre-surgery (8.8 ±1.4) pg/ml, 1 week after surgery (5.3 ±0.7) pg/ml, t=1.950, P<0.05;1 month after surgery (3.0 ±0.4) pg/ml, t=2.683, P<0.01).In the thymus tissues of the MG patients, the mRNA levels of IL-17R were much higher than that of the controls ( relative level 2.31 folds, t =2.682, P <0.01).Meanwhile, a positive correlation was found between the plasma IL-17 levels and the relative IL-17R levels in thymus tissues ( r =0.945 4, P <0.01 ).Furthermore, IL-17 was positively correlated with quantitative myasthenia gravis scores (QMGS) either pre-treatment (r =0.798 1, P <0.01) or post-treatment (r=0.906 5, P<0.01).And IL-17R was positively correlated with QMGS pre-treatment (r=0.775 5, P<0.01).Conclusions IL-17 is increased in the plasma of MG patients (both ocular and generalized) , and is decreased upon the glucocorticoid treatment or surgery therapy, suggesting that it can be used as a parameter to determine the therapeutic effects.IL-17R is increased in the thymus tissues of MG patients, suggesting that it can potentially be used as a pathological diagnosis parameter.

Objective To observe and analyze the clinical efficacy of amitriptyline combined with domperidone in the treatment of functional dyspepsia ( FD) .Methods 156 patients with FD were selected as the study subjects , and they were randomly divided into the observation group and the control group ,78 cases in each group .The patients in the control group were treated with domperidone ,and the patients in the observation group were given amitriptyline combined with domperidone .The changes of clinical symptoms scores and the occurrence of adverse reactions were observed before and after treatment in both two groups ,and the clinical curative effect was compared .Results After treatment,the total effective rate of the observation group was 93.59％,which was significantly higher than 76.92％of the control group,and there was significant difference between the two groups (χ2 =10.59,P<0.01).The early satiety,postprandial bloating,nausea and vomiting,epigastric distending pain,belching and other clinical symptoms scores in two groups were significantly reduced ( tobservation group =21.95,33.78,42.12,37.58,42.64, tcontrol group =17.54,8.88,16.43,10.98,15.06,all P<0.01),and the clinical symptoms of the observation group improved more significantly (t=9.89,9.79,8.47,9.99,18.52,all P<0.01).The incidence rate of adverse reactions in the obser-vation group was 16.67％,which in the control group was 23.08％,the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (χ2 =1.09,P>0.05).After the treatment,the adverse reactions disappeared spontaneously . Conclusion Compared with the use of domperidone alone , the clinical efficacy of amitriptyline combined with domperidone in the treatment of FD patients is significant with good safety ,and is conducive to improve the clinical symptoms of patients ,increase the efficacy and worthy of clinical application .

BACKGROUNDTo observe the protective effect of hepatitis E virus (HEV) ORF2 recombinant protein expressed in prokaryote cell cynomolgus macaques (cynos) against challenging with wild-type HEV.

METHODSCynos were immunized with HEV ORF2 recombinant protein and then challenged with wild-type HEV, the unimmunized cynos were used as control. Blood samples were collected and tested to see if there were dynamic changes of ALT and antibody to HEV before and after challenge with wild-type HEV.

RESULTSAll the five unimmunized cynos re-presented hepatitis 3 weeks after challenging with wild-type HEV. However, all the five immunized cynos showed no hepatitis and pathological changes.

CONCLUSIONSCynos can be efficiently protected by immunization with HEV ORF2 recombinant protein against wild-type HEV. This protein can be a promising candidate for HEV vaccine.

Animals ; Female ; Hepatitis Antibodies ; blood ; Hepatitis E ; immunology ; prevention & control ; Hepatitis E virus ; immunology ; Macaca mulatta ; Male ; Recombinant Proteins ; immunology ; Viral Proteins ; immunology