Pterostilbene,a dimethyl ester derivative of resveratrol with antioxidant and antiproliferative properties,has been shown to inhibit a variety of primary tumors and act as a potential chemopreventive agent in carcinogenesis.The anticancer mechanisms of pterostilbene include inducing tumor cell apoptosis,causing cell cycle arrest,blocking tumor cell growth and proliferation signal transduction.Pterostilbene is expected to develop to a new generation of anticancer drug,and will be paid more attention in the future.

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of peritoneal and retroperitoneal edema in patients with decompensated cirrhosis(DCC). Methods Forty-four patients were identified with DCC on the basis of clinic and laboratory examinations, except the cases with mesenteric,omental and retroperitoneal edema caused by inflammatory and malignant diseases. The diagnosis of edema depended upon hyperdensity in peritoneal and retroperitoneal. The degree of edema was divided into minor, middle, and sever types based on the extent of edema. Ascites, varices, serum albumin(ALB) levels, and hyaluronicacid(HA) levels were also documented. Correlations between the laboratory and CT findings were analyzed. Results The severity of peritoneal edema was correlated with decreasing serum ALB( r s =0.708 8, P 0.05). Conclusion CT findings of the edema in peritoneal and retroperitoneal may indicate the severity of the liver cirrhosis.

Objective To investigate the actions of PAR1 agonists and thrombin on the secretion of monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 from human lung epithelial cells. Methods A549 cells were cultured in a 12-well culture plate. The challenge was performed by addition of various concentrations of PAR1 agonist peptides SFLLR and its reverse peptides RLLFS, thrombin or thrombin inhibitor named hirudin into each well, respectively. After 2 h or 16 h, the reactions were terminated by removal of the supernatant from each well. A sandwich ELISA was used to determine the levels of MCP-1 in supernatants. Results Following 16 h incubation, SFLLR could induce concentration-dependent secretion of MCP-1. The maximum release of MCP-1 was nearly 12-fold more than baseline release. The reverse PAR1 agonists had little effects on MCP-1 release. Thrombin could induce concentration-dependent secretion of MCP-1. As low as 3 000 U/L thrombin could induce MCP-1 release from epithelial cells, and the maximum of accumulated release of MCP-1 was observed with 10 000 U/L thrombin, which was 5-fold more than baseline release. Thrombin inhibitor hirudin could inhibit thrombin induced secretion of MCP-1. The time course showed that the actions of PAR1 agonist peptides SFLLR and thrombin initiated at 2 h and reached their peak at 16 h. Conclusion PAR1 agonist peptides and thrombin are potent secretogogue of MCP-1 release from cultured human lung epithelial cells, and PAR1 antagonists and thrombin inhibitor may possess the ability to inhibit airway inflammation.

Objective To investigate the etiology and prevention of venous thrombosis (VT) following laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Methods A retrospective analysis on clinical records of 12 cases of VT following 258 cases of LC in this hospital from January 2002 to June 2004 was carried out. Results [WTBZ]The operation time was 17~58 min (mean, 38 min), and the intraoperative blood loss was 15~100 ml (mean, 45 ml). In 11 cases of superficial vein thrombosis, on a treatment for 6~8 days the symptoms of redness, swelling, heat, and pain vanished. Re-examinations of color Doppler ultrasonography revealed disappearance of thrombosis, and an anticoagulation therapy with Warfarin was given. Follow-ups for 6~12 months found no recurrence. In 1 case of deep femoral vein thrombosis accompanying pulmonary embolism, an anticoagulation therapy was employed for 4 months and a follow-up for 6 months showed no recurrence. Conclusions The development of VT following LC is correlated to patients' high-risk factors, carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum, and anesthesia administration. Emphasis should be on active countermeasures during peri-operative period.

AIM: Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) as polyphenic morphogen can induce the formation of bone and cartilage. This study investigates the effect of BMP on articular cartilage regeneration after periosteal graft. METHODS: Experiments were performed at the Animal Laboratory (absl-3) of Weifang People's Hospital from September 2006 to January 2007. Sixteen New Zealand white rabbits (32 knees) (2.5-3.0 kg) were divided into experimental and control groups randomly, each 8 rabbits (16 knees). The 3.5 mm in diameter of full-thickness articular cartilage defect was made on femoral intercondylar fossa in all rabbits, and 3.5 mm in diameter of periosteum was cut out from the anteromedial part of the upper tibial bone. In the experimental group, the cartilage defect was covered with periosteum, into which 20 ?g BMP and 20% Pluronic were injected. In the control group, the cartilage defect was covered with periosteum, into which the same dosages of 9 g/L saline and 20% Pluronic were injected. All the rabbits were sacrificed in 4, 8 and 12 weeks postoperatively. Motion of joint, conjunction of repair tissue and perienchyma were examined macroscopically. Haematoxylin-eosin staining and toluidine blue staining were used to observe the characteristics of repair tissues. Histological scores on samples in each group were measured by Wakitani score standard at different time points with light microscope. Ultramicrostructure of transplanted tissues was observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). RESULTS: Sixteen rabbits were included in the final analysis. Macroscopic observation: 4 weeks after the surgery, the defect was covered with tissue like cartage in the experimental group, and with periosteum in the control group. 8 weeks after the surgery, the surface of the defect was smooth, with boundary unclear in the experimental group. In the control group, the outcome was the opposite. In 12 weeks, cartilage had formed in the experimental group, and tissue like cartilage began to happen in control one. Histological observation: 4 weeks after the surgery, the defect was filled with cells and matrix with abundant proliferation of periosteal cambium layer in the experimental group, and slight proliferation in the control group. 8 weeks after the surgery, the periosteum in the experimental group became fibrocartilage with little hyaline cartilage. Just little fibrocartilage with on hyaline one was detected in the control group. In 12 weeks, the repair tissue in the experimental group approached to normal cartilage. Just fibrous tissue with little fibrocartilage was detected in the control group. Regenerative repair of cartilage defect was better in the experimental group than in the control group (P

Objective To probe into the preventive effect of Xinhuang tablet dissolved in vinegar on phlebitis caused by Doxorubicin? Methods The self-control study was performed in 30 patients treated by doxorubicin? In the initial course,33%magnesium sulfate by wet dressings was externally applied on the skin along the vein until completion of transfusion of chemotherapeutic drugs? In the second course,Xinhuang tablet dissolved in vinegar was used on the skin along the vein until completion of transfusion?The phlebitis rate by magnesium sulfate by wet dressings was compared to that by Xinhuang tablet dissolved in vinegar? Result The phlebitis rate in the initial course was 83?3% while 36?7% in the second course(P<0?01)? Conclusions Xinhuang tablet dissolved in vinegar applied on the skin may be of use for the prevention of phlebitis? It may reduce the damage and improve the quality of the life?

Animals ; Inflammation ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction/metabolism* ; Myocardium/metabolism* ; Oxidative Stress ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Diffusion tensor imaging technology can provide information on the white matter of the brain, which can be used to explore changes in brain tissue structure, but it lacks the specific description of the microstructure information of brain tissue. The neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging make up for its shortcomings. But in order to accurately estimate the brain microstructure, a large number of diffusion gradients are needed, and the calculation is complex and time-consuming through maximum likelihood fitting. Therefore, this paper proposes a kind of microstructure parameters estimation method based on the proximal gradient network, which further avoids the classic fitting paradigm. The method can accurately estimate the parameters while reducing the number of diffusion gradients, and achieve the purpose of imaging quality better than the neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging model and accelerated microstructure imaging via convex optimization model.
Brain/diagnostic imaging* ; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging ; Neurites ; White Matter

The existing mazes are mainly used to study the learning and memory of animals. However, there is still a lack of corresponding maze and method in the aspect of the observation and test of aquatic animal robots. For this purpose, the authors have developed a three-dimensional water maze combined with bilayer multi-channel which equips with stratified lines and tick marks. This device is a rectangular structure composed of one square bottom and four rectangular side walls, and the channels of every side wall are composed of one upper channel and two lower channels. The center of the upper channels is in the vertical center line of every side wall, and the two uper channels of adjacent side walls are at 90° degrees with each other, and the two lower channels of adjacent side walls are at 45° degrees with each other. There are stratified lines and tick marks on the side wall to test the spatial location and movement trajectories of aquatic animals. The carp robot was put into the water maze for the underwater experimental detection. The success rates of left and right steering at 135, 90 and 45 degrees as well as forward motion of the carp robots ( = 10) were over 60%. This study showed that the device could be used to observe and test the motion of the carp robot.

Discriminative common vector (DCV) is an effective method that was proposed for the small sample size problems of face recognition. There is the same problem in brain-computer interface (BCI). Using directly the linear discriminative analysis (LDA) could result in errors because of the singularity of the within-class matrix of data. In our studies, we used the DCV method from the common vector theory in the within-class scatter matrix of data of all classes, and then applied eigenvalue decomposition to the common vectors to obtain the final projected vectors. Then we used kernel discriminative common vector (KDCV) with different kernel. Three data sets that include BCI Competition I data set, Competition II data set IV, and a data set collected by ourselves were used in the experiments. The experiment results of 93%, 77% and 97% showed that this feature extraction method could be used well in the classification of imagine data in BCI.
Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; Brain-Computer Interfaces ; Discriminant Analysis ; Electroencephalography ; Face ; anatomy & histology ; Humans ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods ; Principal Component Analysis ; Sample Size ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; User-Computer Interface