OBJECTIVE:To provide reference for AIDS vaccine R&D in China through investigating AIDS vaccine patent ap-proval in America. METHODS:By combining keywords as HIV vaccine(s),AIDS vaccine(s) and Vaccine of HIV(AIDS) and classification number as A61K,A61P and C12P,related patents were retrieved from Thomson Innovation platform during Jan. 1981-Mar. 2015,and then analyzed in respects of patent data,patent approval trend,R&D ability,patent technology field distribu-tion,etc. RESULTS:A total of 1 272 patents were retrieved,including 405 valid patents. From 1985 to 2014,there were three stages for the change of AIDS vaccine application quantity,which were slow rise,fast rise and slow decline period;on the whole, the trend was on the rise. The main players were Duke University,United States Department of Health and Human Services,Pas-teur Institute,Connaught Laboratories Limited and Merck Group. AIDS vaccine R&D focused on pharmaceutical preparation,thera-peutic activity of medicinal preparations,microorganism,enzyme,etc. American scientific research institutions focused more on pharmaceutical preparation and peptide study. CONCLUSIONS:Though the AIDS vaccine field develops slowly,the future is still promising. In this field,America has stronger patent advantage and scientific research strength. AIDS vaccine R&D concentrates on pharmaceutical preparation,therapeutic activity of medicinal preparations and composition.

Objective To explore the change of plasma orexin-A levels in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD).Methods Lung function test and blood gas analysis were performed in 15 obese COPD patients,20 COPD patients without obesity,20 obese controls and 20 normal healthy adults(control group).In both obese COPD group and obese group,the body mass index(BMI)was higher than 25 and there was no significant difference in BMI.The plasma was deproteinized by chromatography,and the plasma orexin-A levels were determined by radioimmunoassay.Results The plasma orexin-A levels in the obese COPD group[(8.82?1.90)ng/L]and the non-obese COPD group[(8.69?1.84)ng/L]were significantly higher than those in the obese group[(7.18?1.45)ng/L(P 0.05).Plasma orexin-A levels in patients with COPD correlated negatively with partial pressure of oxygen(PaO_2)(r = -0.527 ,P

To compare the chemical change of Paeoniae Radix Alba (PRA) after vinegar-baking processing, as well as the effect of vinegar types exerted on the processing, 1H NMR-based metabolomic approach combined with multivariate statistical analysis was used to investigate the different metabolites between the raw and two vinegar-baked PRA. More than thirty metabolites were identified in the 1H NMR spectrum of PRA, and the multivariate statistical analysis showed that raw and two vinegar-baked PRA could be separated obviously. After vinegar-baking, the contents of isoleucine, lactate, alanine, arginine, albiflorin, and 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF) elevated, while those of sucrose, paeoniflorin and its analogues (calculated by benzoate) decreased. The chemical compositions of two vinegar-baked PRA were also different. Shanxi vinegar- baked PRA showed higher levels of leucine, isoleucine, valine, and albiflorin, while rice vinegar-baked PRA contained more sucrose and paeoniflorin's analogues (calculated by benzoate). And the chemical changes in Shanxi vinegar-baked PRA were greater than those of rice vinegar-baked PRA. The results revealed the chemical differences between raw and vinegar-baked PRA, as well as the influence of vinegar type on processing, in a holistic manner, the results obtained suggested that the correlations between the chemical change and the drug action after processing, as well as the vinegar type used in processing, should be further studied.

As an important kind of plant secondary metabolites and widely distributed in the plant kingdom, triter-penoid saponins have a variety of biological activities. The constitution and content of triterpenoid saponin are deter-mined by some key enzymes and their expressing level in triterpenoid saponins biosynthesis pathway. So, it is very important to illuminate the molecular mechanism of triterpenoid saponins biosynthetic pathway. In recent years, illu-mination of the entire biosynthetic pathway especially the confirmation and cloning of the key enzymes, such as squa-lene synthase, squalene epoxidase, cytochrome P450 monooxygenase and UDP-glycosyltransferase, had become one of the hot spots by many scholars. In this paper, the entire biosynthetic pathway and some kinds of key enzymes in-volved in the synthesis of carbon skeleton, and its oxidation, and glycation were reviewed for further demonstrating the biosynthetic pathway of triterpenoid saponins and providing a theoretical basis for artificial biosynthesis.

Objective Taking the total amino-acid, total flavones, chlorogenic acid, and volatile oil in Chrysanthemum morifolium as index to investigate the internal quality which relates to collection periods and processing methvods in order to compare the quality of species from oringinal habitats. Methods The contents of colorogenic acid in C. morifolium was analyzed by HPLC; the content of total flavones and amino-acid in C. morifolium were measured by spectrophotometery; and the volatile oil obtained by steam distilation extraction was weighted. Results The every indexes of viviparious chrysanthemum except chlorogenic acid was the best among various flowering periods so the viviparious chrysanthemum can be used as the first-class tea. The common tea produced by half-booming and full-booming flowers with higher yield and appropriate index. The machine processing is fast and suitable for the production to a large-scale. Conclusion The quality of C. morifolium planted in Ruicheng, Shanxi Province is equal to that in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province, which depends on the collecting periods and processing methods, so does the volatile oil rather than the evironment of the habitat.

The association of spontaneous intracranial hypotension with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis is rare. We report here a case of extensive cerebral venous sinus thrombosis involving three sinuses following spontaneous intracranial hypotension. The patient presented no other thrombotic risk factors except for spontaneous intracranial hypotension. This case adds to the evidence that spontaneous intracranial hypotension is a risk factor for cerebral venous sinus thrombosis.

Objective To package the recombinant lentivirus containing HIV-1 Vpr gene and detect the effect of Vpr protein expression on the latent infection and lyric replication of KSHV.Methods The fragment of Vpr gene from expression plasmid pCI-neo-Vpr was cloned into the lentivirus vector pHAGE-CMV-MCS-IzsGreen,then the recombinant plasmid pHAGE-Vpr,package vector psPAX2 and envelope vector pMD2.G were cotransfected into 293T cells.GFP expression was observed by fluorescent microscopy.Culture media of 293T cells were harvested and filtered through 0.45 μm filter.After 293T cells were infected by a series of diluted lentivirus,the virus titer was checked by observing GFP expression.Vpr mRNA transcripts in 293T cells were detected by RT-PCR.Then BCBL-1 cells were infected by the recombinant lentivirus with 1 MOI,GFP expression was observed by fluorescent microscopy,and the mRNA transcripts and protein expression of Vpr in BCBL-1 cells were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot.Meanwhile,the mRNA transcripts and protein expression of KSHV lytic cycle gene Rta were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot,respectively.Results The recombinant lentivirus carrying HIV-1 Vpr was packaged successfully with the virus titer of 4 × 107 TU/ml.After infected with lentivirus,BCBL-1 cells could express GFP,and the exact band of Vpr was detectable by RT-PCR and Western blot.Moreover,the expression of KSHV Rta mRNA and protein were downregulated by Vpr protein.Conclusion Overexpression of HIV-1 Vpr mediated by the recombinant lentivirus could inhibit KSHV lytic replication and enhance KSHV latent infection.

Objective To evaluate clinical value of MGFA classification and QMG score on pre-dicting late extubation after thymectomy for myasthenia gravis(MG).Methods Total of 61 patients with MG received extended thymectomy from January 2007 to February 2012 were enrolled.Patients were divided into two groups:normal extubation group contained the other 47 patients without pro-longed postoperative mechanical ventilation and delayed extubation group included 14 patients with prolonged postoperative mechanical ventilation.The following factors were evaluated:gender,age, weight,MGFA classification,QMG score,history of steroid hormones or anticholinesterase drugs be-fore operation,the function of liver and kidney before operation,preoperative electrolyte,preoperative hemoglobin content,etc.Receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC)was plotted,and the predictive value, sensitivity and specificity of preoperative MGFA clinical classification and QMG score predicting postoperative ventilation in MG were calculated.Results Fourteen patients(22.95%)de-veloped breathing support after the anaesthetic or endotracheal intubation again in 48 hours.the area under ROC curve(AUC)for preoperative MGFA clinical classification predicting postoperative ventila-tion was 0.723 in MG,it had the sensitivity of 78.5% and specificity of 63.8%.The AUC for QMG score predicting postoperative ventilation was 0.866,the QMG score threshold value of 8.5 had the sensitivity of 78.6% and specificity of 87.2%.Conclusion MGFA classification and QMG score can predict late extubation after thymectomy in patients with myasthenia gravis.

Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus and Hedysarum polybotrys belong to different genera, but have similar drug efficacy in traditional Chinese medicine theory, and H. polybotrys was used as the legal A. membranaceus var. mongholicus previously. In this study, similarities and differences between them were analyzed via their ITS/ITS2 fragments information. The ITS (internal transcribed spacer) regions were amplified using polymerase chain reaction and then sequenced in two-way. The alignment lengths of ITS regions were 616 bp, in which 508 loci were consistent, and 103 loci were different, accounting for 82.47% and 16.72% of the total ITS nucleotides in length, respectively. As genotype determines phenotype, 1HNMR-based metabolomic approach was further used to reveal the chemical similarities and differences between them. Thirty-four metabolites were identified in the 1H NMR spectra, and twenty-seven metabolites were the common components. Amino acids, carbohydrates and other primary metabolites were similar, while a large difference existed in the flavonoids and astragalosides. This study suggests that A. membranaceus var. mongholicus and H. polybotrys show similarities and differences from molecular and chemical perspectives, which has laid a foundation for elucidating the effective material basis of drug with similar efficacy and resources utilization.

1H NMR-based metabolomic approach combined with multivariate statistical analysis was used to evaluate the quality of 21 Farfarae Flos (FF) samples from different growth regions. Principal component analysis showed that wild and cultivated FF could be separated clearly, suggesting a big chemical difference existed between them. Supervised PLS-DA analysis indicated that the wild samples showed higher levels of secondary metabolites, such as bauer-7-ene-3β, 16α-diol, chlorogenic acid, rutin, 7-(3'-ethylcrotonoyloxy)-1α-(2'-methyl-butyryloxy)-3, 14-dehydro-Z-notonipetranone (EMDNT), tussilagone, β-sitosterol and sitosterone. This is consistent with traditional experience that the quality of wild samples are better than that of cultivated ones. The content of pyrrolizidine alkaloids senkirkine also differed greatly among samples from different habitats. The Pearson correlation analysis showed that senkirkine is positively correlated with 4, 5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,4-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, rutin, kampferol analogues, to a statistically significant extent. The correlation between the toxic compounds and the bioactive components in FF should be further studied.