The application of human embryonic stem cell(hES cell) contributes a lot to the disease treatment,and shows a great potentiality especially in organ transplantation and tissue engineering.Although hES cell therapy has not reached clinical application,some newly achieved results are encouraging.This review mainly presents results recently published in applying hES cell for disease treatment.

ObjectiveTo explore more effective and lower expensive approach for aplastic anemia(AA).Methods A prospective,randomized clinical trial was conducted to determine whether the outcome of AA patients treated with the combination of securinine plus anisodamini dripping in bone marrow(therapy group)was better than that with anisodamini alone dripping in vein(control group).Results The cure remission rate(83.3%) and the response rate(94.4%) of therapy group were significantly higher than that of control group(11%,55.6%, P

Objective To explore the feasibility of establishing the model of chronic blliary(pancreatitis) by incompletely ligaturing common bile duct.Methods Fifty Wistar rats were randomly(divided) into three groups: control group,experimental control group and model group.The rats in model group were exposed the root of common bile duct to enter duodenum using the dissolubility bowel line to ligating a needle with common bile duct,then drew out the needle,closing the abdominal cavity.The rats in experiment control group were opened the abdominal cavity and dissociated common bile duct,then closing the abdominal cavity.Results Compared with control group,the serum bilirubin and(amylase) of blood in model group were increased in 3 days and 14 days respectively and fibrotic(proliferation) of pancreatic tissues were found in 30 days.In model group,23% of rats developed(pancreatic) pseudocyst.Conclusions Incompletely ligating the common bile duct of Wistar rats could(induce) chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic fibrosis in 30 days.Strictures of common biliary duct may play a key role in chronic biliary pancreatitis.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a commonly encountered degenerative disease in clinic which gets widespread attention due to its high incidence and disability. The biomechanics is a relatively cause of KOA. This paper reviewed the biomechanics from the aspects of articular stability, adduct torque, gait and alignment.

ObjectiveTo quantitatively assess the texture of carotid soft plaques in patients with or without cerebral infarction using acoustic radiation force imaging(ARFI).MethodsA total of 71 patients with carotid soft plaques were divided into two groups:group A including 31 patients with cerebral infarction and group B including 40 patients without cerebral infarction.ARFI was used to measure the shear wave velocities(SWV) of each soft plaque of the two groups.The results of two groups were compared.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve was drawn to assess the diagnostic accuracy.ResultsThe value of SWV between two groups were significantly different ( P =0.027).The sensitivity and specificity of SWV (AUC =0.667,cut-off value =1.262 m/s) in predicting cerebral infarction was 67.7％ and 70.0％ respectively.ConclusionsThe texture of carotid soft plaques can be evaluated quantitatively using ARFI which was strongly related with cerebral infarction.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of prenatal ultrasound for fetal structural abnormalities.Methods The clinical data of 3 101 fetus with structural malformations, diagnosed by prenatal ultrasound and confi rmed after induced labor, and 856 cases of missed diagnosis were analyzed. All these data were collected in Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Tangshan City from January 2010 to June 2014. The types and number of fetal structural abnormalities were recorded. The rates of detection and missed diagnosis for the fetal structural abnormalities were calculated and the reasons for missed diagnosis were analyzed.ResultsA total of 3101 cases (4 171 positions) were diagnosed as fetal structural abnormalities by prenatal ultrasound. The detection rate was 11.51‰ (3 101/269 501). There were 856 cases (947 positions) of fetal structural abnormalities were missed, and the missed diagnosis rate was 3.18‰ (856/269 501). The incidence of fetal structural abmormalities was 14.68‰ (3 957/269 501). In terms of anatomy systems, the top five were cardiovascular system abnormalities (851 cases), the central nervous system abnormalities (691 cases), facial abnormalities (562 cases), urinary system abnormalities (476 cases), and respiratory system abnormalities (134 cases). In terms of single abnormalities, the top five were cleft lip and palate (549 cases), ventricular septal defect (519 cases), hydronephrosis (331 cases), spina bifi da (212 cases), and atrial-ventricular septal defect (163 cases). The top five of missed deformities were polydactylia/symphysodactylia (285 cases), ear deformities (108 cases), hypospadias (93 cases), foot abnormalities (92cases), and ventricular septal defect (52 cases).Conclusions There is a high detection rate for fetal structural abnormalities with prenatal ultrasound. Prenatal ultrasound is an indispensable means for the diagnosis of fetal malformation, but it also has some limitations. There is a high rate of missed diagnosis for polydactylia/symphysodactylia, microtia, and hypospadias.

Octapeptin has strong antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii, while it also has activity against some Gram-positive bacteria. This study used natural octapeptin A3 and B3 as lead compounds for structural modification. Twenty-one peptide derivatives (including A3 and B3) containing eight amino acid residues were prepared by solid-phase synthesis, and evaluated for antibacterial activity and renal cytotoxicity. Among them, three compounds 6, 7 and 17 exhibited broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and significantly enhanced the activity for Gram-positive bacteria while maintaining the activity of Gram-negative bacteria. Several compounds improved the activity for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Compound 7 was active against all test strains and had relatively low renal cytotoxicity. The results provide a basis for the further development of novel polypeptide antibiotics.

Inosine 5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) is a key enzyme catalyzing the rate-limiting step of de novo nucleotide synthesis in vivo. In recent years, it has become a therapeutic target for anti-virus, anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, anti-parasitic and other diseases. IMPDH inhibitors have been shown to inhibit viral prolife-ration in host cells by depleting guanosine 5′-monophosphate (GMP), the raw material required for viral replication in host cells, with broad-spectrum antiviral properties. In order to find novel anti-coronavirus drugs, this study screened 22 potential IMPDH inhibitors from 70 000 natural small molecule libraries based on IMPDH protein structure using molecular docking and ROC calculation for virtual screening. With ribavirin as the positive control drug, Huh7 cell and H460 cell models were used to verify the anti-coronavirus HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43 activities of 22 selected target compounds. Among them, compounds 11, 12, 15 and 16 showed inhibitory activity against coronavirus HCoV-229E. The compounds 4, 12, 13 and 15 showed inhibitory activities against coronavirus HCoV-OC43. 12 and 15 showed significant inhibitory activity against both two coronaviruses, and their efficacy was similar to ribavirin at the same dose, which can be further studied as a lead compound for IMPDH inhibitors.

Objective To express a recombinant protein TFPR1 ( the functional region of the snake venom proteins from Trimeresurus flavoviridis) in Pichia pastoris expression system. Methods The target gene was codon-optimized and synthesized according to the sequence of the conserved structural do-main of triflin and then cloned into the Pichia pastoris expression vector pPICZαA to construct the recombi-nant expression plasmid pPICZαA-TFPR1. The recombinant plasmid pPICZαA-TFPR1 was electroporated into the yeast strain X33. The transformed strains carrying expression plasmid were screened out with Zeocin and then induced by methanol to express the recombinant protein TFPR1. ELISA was performed for the screening of positive clones. SDS-PAGE and Western blot were used for further identification of the ex-pressed products. Results The recombinant plasmid pPICZαA-TFPR1 was successfully constructed. The recombinant protein TFPR1 was expressed in a secreted form at a molecular weight of 16×103. Conclusion The recombinant protein TFPR1 was successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris expression system, which laid a foundation for further researches on its biological function and application as an adjuvant.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: High-fat diets contribute to pancreatic fibrogenesis, but the pathogenesis remains unclear. This study investigated the role of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) in high-fat diet-induced pancreatic fibrosis in rats. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were fed a high-fat diet or standard normal chow for 20 weeks. Pancreatic fibrosis was determined by Sirius red staining. Immunohistochemical staining, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to identify NF-kappaB-associated genes or protein expressions. RESULTS: Inflammation, fat deposition, pancreatic stellate cell activation and fibrosis were observed in the pancreases of the high-fat diet group. NF-kappaB subunit p65 (NF-kappaB/p65) expression was localized to the nucleus, and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) was over-expressed. Pancreatic gene expression levels of NF-kappaB/p65, ICAM-1 and tumor necrosis factor alpha were all elevated significantly in rats fed a high-fat diet compared with control rats. Western blotting also revealed significantly increased levels of ICAM-1 and nuclear NF-kappaB/p65 in rats fed high-fat diets comparison with control rats. CONCLUSIONS: NF-kappaB is involved in high-fat diet-related pancreatic fibrosis.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Diet, High-Fat ; Fibrosis ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; Male ; NF-kappa B ; Pancreas ; Pancreatic Stellate Cells ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha