Eurycoma longifolia,also known as Tongkat Ali in Malaysia,as one of traditional herbal medicines,is used for centuries in South-East Asia.With the discovery of anticancer and anti-HIV properties,this herbal medicine has attracted great attention recently.In this review,the following information on E.longifolia,including chemistry,bioactivities,pharmacokinetics,clinical studies,and side effects and safety,was introduced.Our results,to a certain extent,will provide scientific base for commercial utilization and clearance of the Tongkat Ali products with regard to consumers' safety.

Objective To discusse the mechanism and clinical significance of bradycardia -hypotension phenomenon which is caused by vagal reflex during and after the RFCA and present the experience of using appropriate measures to decrease the incidence of this situation. Methods The patients who were suffering from tachyarrhythmias and treated by RFCA were divided into two groups. The groups were as follows:148 patients who were not taken special measures in the early stage were selected in control group;1 540 patients who were taken measures to prevent vasovagal reflex were selected in observation group. Result During the RFCA, the incidence of bradycardia -hypotension phenomenon in control group was 13.5% (20/148), the incidence of bradycardia-hypotension phenomenon in observation group was 5.0%(77/1540) (<0.01) .Conclusions The incidence of bradycardia-hypotension phenomenon caused by vagal reflex during the RFCA is related to catheter irritation to the heart,pressure on the vessels and hypovolemia. The incidence of this phenomenon can be decreased obviously by some measures,such as non-restricted diet before RFCA,discretion rehydration during and after the RFCA and hemostasis with appropriate force after extubation. The key to rescue patients successfully are early detection and timely processing.

A 68?year?old female patient was admitted to the hospital for multiple masses in the mouth and lungs as well as on dorsal hands for more than 20 days without obvious subjective symptoms. No abnormalities were found by physical examination. Dermatological examination showed two bean?sized dark?red nodules on the upper jaw as well as one pigeon egg?sized dark?red nodule on the left dorsal hand, and all the nodules were hard with smooth surfaces and limited mobility. Positron emission tomography?computed tomography (PetCT) revealed multiple metastases to the brain, lymph nodes, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, both kidneys, multiple bones and intermuscular tissues. Pathology of nodules from the upper jaw showed lowly differentiated tumor cells with osteoid matrix, chondroid structures and tumor bone in local areas, and immunohistochemical examination of tumor cells found positive staining for S100(focally), vimentin, CD99, P63 and Ki?67(60%), but negative staining for keratin. A diagnosis of osteosarcoma of the right side of the upper jaw was considered. Pathology of nodules from the dorsal hand revealed no obvious abnormalities in the epidermis, while there was a diffuse infiltration of medium?to large?sized histiocyte?like cells in the whole dermis with cell atypia and irregularly red?stained bone matrix and tumor bone in some regions. Immunopathology showed positive staining for Ki67(60%), and negative staining for CD3, CD10, CD20, Bcl?2, and Bcl?6. A diagnosis of cutaneous metastasis of osteosarcoma was made. The patient refused further treatment and died 6 months after the onset of lesions.

Objective To investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI), blood lipid level and cancer de?tection in prostate biopsy. Methods A total of 214 patients undergoing a prostate biopsy during 2013.2—2014.8 were re?viewed retrospectively. They were divided into prostate cancer and non-cancer groups by biopsy results. The differences of age, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, prostate volume (PV), blood lipid level and BMI were analyzed between two groups. Risk factors for cancer detection of biopsy were also analyzed. Results Compared with non-cancer patients, pros?tate cancer patients were older, had higher level of PSA and BMI, but smaller PV and lower level of HDL-C ( P<0.05). Lo?gistic regression analysis showed that older, higher level of PSA and BMI were risk factors for prostate biopsy positive, but larger PV and higher level of HDL-C were protective factors (P<0.05). Conclusion Comprehensive assessment of BMI and blood lipid levels can provide important reference for prostate cancer screening at early time and establishment of pros?tate biopsy scheme, which also provide significant evidence for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer at early stage for high risk population.

Objective To evaluate the immune effects of virus-like particles ( VLPs) of VP1 pro-teins derived from norovirus GⅠ. 1 and GⅡ. 4 genotypes expressed in Hansenula polymorpha expression sys-tem. Methods SDS-PAGE and Western blot assay were performed to detect the purity of GⅠ. 1 and GⅡ. 4 VP1 proteins after purification. Morphologies of the recombinant VLPs were observed under transmission electron microscopy ( TEM) . Sizes and distributions of the VLPs were analyzed by dynamic light scattering analyzer. BT50(50% of blocking titer) was detected by HBGA (histo-blood group antigen) blocking assay in BALB/c mice immunized with different regimens. Results SDS-PAGE analysis of the purified recombinant GⅠ. 1 and GⅡ. 4 VP1 proteins showed that their purity were greater than 90%. Western blot assay con-firmed the specific bands of VLPs. TEM images showed that the sizes of purified GⅠ. 1 and GⅡ. 4 VP1 VLPs were at a mean diameter of 30-50 nm with clear border and high homogeneity, which was similar to that of wild virus. BT50 significantly increased in the groups, in which Al( OH) 3 was used as adjuvant. Con-clusion Animal studies have shown that administration of GⅠ. 1 and GⅡ. 4 VP1 VLPs in the presence of Al( OH) 3 induces detectable HBGA-blocking antibody, indicating that GⅠ. 1 and GⅡ. 4 VP1 VLPs are promising candidates for norovirus vaccine.

Objective To investigate the clinical utility of keyhole craniotomy for Cholesteatmas in the cerebello-pontine angle region presenting as Trigeminal neuralgia by using keyhole craniotomy. Methods Clinical data of 35 pa-tients with Cholesteatmas in the cerebellopontine angle region presenting as Trigeminal neuralgia was analyzed retrospec-tively. All patients received suboccipital retrosigmoid keyhole craniotomy. Thirty cases who received conventional craniot-omy group were served as control group. A comparative analysis was conducted to assess the difference between these two groups in microsurgical methods, effects and complications. Results All patients were confirmed with MR diagnosis. In keyhole group, all patients had no pain symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia after surgical operation. The symptoms disap-peared immediately in 33 cases and gradually disappeared in 2 cases within one month following keyhole craniotomy. The tumors were totally removed in 25 cases and almost completely in 10 cases. The surgical duration was shorten in key-hole group than in conventional group (126±48 vs. 216±66 min;t=2.536, P<0.05). The amount of bleeding was smaller in keyhole group than in conventional group (91.3±52.2 vs. 186.3±65.4 mL;t=2.163, P<0.05). Postoperative neurologi-cal function was assessed in House-Brackmann. In keyhole group, there were 32 cases in class Ⅰ and 3 in grade Ⅱ. Two patients had hearing loss which was improved gradually in three months. In conventional group, there were 25 cases in class Ⅰ and 5 in grade Ⅱ (χ2=4.158, P<0.05). Postoperative hearing evaluation (AAO-HNS) revealed that there were 33 cases in grade A , and 2 in grade B in the keyhole group, whereas there were 27 cases in grade A and 3 in grade B in the conventional group(χ2=5.167, P<0.05). There were no relapse of tumors and death during 3 month to 5 years follow-up. Conclusions The suboccipital retrosigmoid keyhole craniotomy is a valid choice for Cholesteatmas in the cerebellopontine angle region presenting as Trigeminal neuralgia.

Objective To assess the clinical significance of serum high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in patients undergone prostate biopsy.Methods A total of 273 consecutive patients were enrolled,aged 44-95 years (mean,69 years).All the patients underwent prostate biopsy.The pathological findings showed 96 cases with prostate cancer (PCa) and 177 cases with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH).The difference of hs-CRP level between patients with PCa and those with BPH was analyzed.The positive prostate biopsy rate was compared between the patients with high hs-CRP level and those with normal hs-CRP level.Logistic regression was used to evaluate the effect of factors such as hs-CRP,tPSA,PSA density,prostate volume and age on prostate biopsy.Results The medians (interquartile range) of hs-CRP were 3.22 mg/L (1.22-9.84 mg/L) in patients with PCa and 1.24 mg/L (0.55-2.76 mg/L) in those with BPH,respectively,with significant difference(P＜0.05).The positive prostate biopsy rate in patients with high hs-CRP (＞ 3 mg/L)was 55％ (51/92),higher than that in those with normal hs-CRP (≤ 3 mg/L).The odds ratio of hs-CRP was larger than that of all other factors analyzed including tPSA,prostate volume and age according to the Logistic regression analysis.Conclusions Elevated serum hs-CRP level is associated with increased positive prostate biopsy.Serum hs-CRP acts as an independent factor increasing the positive prostate biopsy rate in patients undergone prostate biopsy.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the therapeutic effect of cervical conization through hysteroscopy in the treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) III.

METHODSSeventy-four patients with CIN III underwent cervical conization through hysteroscopy (TCRC group), and 65 received cold knife conization (CKC group). The operating time, volume of blood loss, concordance rate with pathology, recurrence rate, rate of cervix adhesion and pregnancy rate were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe operating time, mean blood loss, cure rate, and recurrence rate were 15.1∓3.2 min, 12.5∓1.8 ml, 94.6%, and 5.4% in TCRC group, respectively, as compared with those of 25.8∓3.8 min, 21.6∓2.4 ml, 81.5%, and 18.5% in CKC group, all showing significant differences between the two groups (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONCompared with CKC, TCRC has such advantages as less blood loss, shorter operating time, more accurate lesion localization, fewer complications, higher cure rate, and lower recurrence rate without significant adverse effect on pregnancy.

Adult ; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia ; pathology ; surgery ; Cervix Uteri ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; methods ; Hysteroscopy ; Middle Aged ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery

Objective To investigate the prevalence of thyroid nodules and thyroid dysfunction in southern mountainouss areas of Ningxia.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among a representative sample of 10 639 adults in Jingyuan county with a population proportionate sampling method.High-resolution ultrasound was used to examine the thyroid and fasting blood specimens were collected in the morning for measurement of TSH,FT4,FT3.Chi-square test and spearman rank correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis.Results The prevalence of thyroid nodules was 29.08％,the sex-and age-adjusted rate was 27.17％.The prevalence of thyroid nodules was higher in women than in men (32.68％ vs.24.88％,x2=76.029 2,P＜0.001) and age was positively associated with thyroid nodules (r=0.272,P＜0.001).The rate of thyroid dysfunetion,subclinical hypothyroidism,subclinical hyperthyroidism,hypothyroidism,hyperthyroidism were 17.39％,13.00％,0.42％,0.96％,3.01％,respectively.The prevalence of thyroid nodules was higher in abnormal TSH group than in normal TSH group (39.44％ vs.27.24％,x2=95.624 0,P＜0.001).The level of THS,FT3,FT4 in thyroid nodules group differed fromn control group (Z=-9.144,P＜0.001;Z=-6.140,P＜0.001;Z=-1.997,P=0.046).Conclusion The prevalence of thyroid nodules and thyroid dysfunction were higher in southern mountainous areas of Ningxia.The relationship between thyroid nodules and thyroid function needs further research.We should pay attention to the early screening and diagnosis of thyroid nodules in mountainous areas.

Objective To evaluate the immune effects of virus-like particles ( VLPs) assembled from the capsid protein VP1 of a recombinant norovirus ( NoV) GⅡ. 17 genotype. Methods The recombi-nant NoV GⅡ. 17 VP1 VLPs were purified, and then tested by SDS-PAGE and Western blot to analyze the purity. The size, morphology and diameter distribution of the recombinant VLPs were detected by transmis-sion electron microscopy ( TEM) and dynamic light scattering ( DLS) analyzer. The recombinant VP1 VLPs adsorbed by aluminium adjuvant were used to immunize BALB/c mice. Serum samples were collected after immunization. Specific antibody level and neutralizing antibody activity were evaluated with enzyme linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA) and histo-blood group antigen ( HBGA)-VLP blocking test. Cross-reactivity of serum samples with GⅠ. 1 and GⅡ. 4 VP1 VLPs were detected. Moreover, cross-protection against GⅠ. 1 and GⅡ. 4 VP1 VLPs was analyzed. Results The purity of the recombinant NoV GⅡ. 17 VP1 VLP was greater than 90％ and specific bands were detected by Western blot. TEM images and DLS experiments showed that VLPs were 30-50 nm in size with good morphology and uniformity, indicating that the recombi-nant VLPs were similar to the wildtype virus. High titers of specific antibodies were detected in serum sam-ples of the immunized mice. A certain degree of cross-reactions between serum samples and VP1 VLPs of NoV GⅠ. 1 and GⅡ. 4 were observed, but no cross-protection was detected. Conclusion The recombinant GⅡ. 17 VP1 VLPs in combination with aluminum adjuvant can induce higher titers of HBGA blocking anti-bodies in mice, suggesting that it could be used as a candidate target antigen for norovirus vaccine.