OBJECTIVETo explain the essence of pungent-hot herb property express according to in vivo and in vitro studies on its effect on calmodulin on the base of the observation of the adjustment in hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad axis functions of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata, Curculiginis Rhizoma, Cinnamomi Cortex and bitter-cold herb Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex in rats under the state of yang deficiency.

METHODThe yang-deficient model was duplicated by intramuscularly injecting hydrocortisone sodium succinate powder injection. After the intervention with Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata, Curculiginis Rhizoma, Cinnamomi Cortex and bitter-cold herb Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex for seven days, TSH, T3, T4, 17-OHCS, COR, T, E2 of hypothalamus-pituitary-target gland axis and other relevant indexes were detected. The calmodulin expression in livers and L02 cells cultured in vitro was detected by using Western blot.

RESULTPungent-hot herbs Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata, Curculiginis Rhizoma, Cinnamomi Cortex can significantly correct indicators of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad axis and calmodulin, whereas the bitter-cold herb Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex showed no obvious effect.

CONCLUSIONThe pungent-hot herb property expression may be closely related to calmodulin.

Animals ; Calmodulin ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Gonads ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Yang Deficiency ; drug therapy ; metabolism

Objective To analyze the status and trends for the prevalence，morbidity，mortality， and DALY of tuberculosis ( TB) in China from 1990 to 2017，so as to provide scientific basis for TB pre- vention and control． Methods From 1990 to 2017 in China，the United States，India，Japan，and the global，the TB ( standardized) prevalence，( standardized) morbidity，( standardized) mortality，and ( standardized) DALY rates were obtained from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation ( IHME) web- site，and comparative analysis of changes in these indicators with years were carried out． Ｒesults In 2017， the prevalence，morbidity，mortality，and DALY rate of TB in China were higher in the high-age group than in the low-age group． The prevalence，morbidity，mortality，and DALY rates were all higher for males than females． The prevalence was 29 641. 59/100 000 and 28 803. 26/100 000 for male and female，respectively． The male and female mortality rates were 72. 23/100 000 and 44. 85/100 000． The male and female mortali- ty rates were 3. 85/100 000 and 1. 67/100 000，and the DALY rate of male and female were 156. 95/100 000 and 84. 73/100 000． From 1990 to 2017，the prevalence of TB decreased from 32 178. 39/100 000 in 1990 to 29 231. 80/100 000 in 2017，the morbidity rate of TB decreased from 141. 83/100 000 in 1990 to 58. 83/100 000 in 2017，the mortality rate of TB decreased from 13. 82/100 000 in1990 to 2. 78/100 000 in 2017，and the DALY rate of TB decreased from 582. 87/100 000 in 1990 to 121. 60/100 000 in 2017． Conclusions The burden of TB in China declined markedly from 1990 to 2017． Although some progress has been made in the prevention and treatment of TB in China，but there is still a certain gap compared with de- veloped countries． It is still necessary to further reduce the morbidity rate and mortality rate of TB．

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the feasibility of endoscopic surgery using the low-temperature plasma radiofrequency for nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (NA).

METHODSThe clinical data of 4 patients treated between December 2005 and August 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. The tumor in one patient was at stage I and three patients were at stage II, all these patients were treated by endoscopic surgery using the low-temperature plasma radiofrequency under controlled hypotension anesthesia. Preoperative angiography and embolisation were underwent in all patients. Bipolar coagulation was used to help hemostasis during operation.

RESULTSThe tumor in all 4 patients was completely removed. The operation time was 60, 80, 110, 90 min respectively. The blood loss was 250, 250, 320, 280 ml respectively. Neither blood transfusion nor complications were encountered perioperatively. Follow-up ranged from 6 months to 4 years, none of the patients recurred.

CONCLUSIONSEndoscopic surgery using low-temperature plasma radiofrequency for nasopharyngeal angiofibroma has many advantages such as less bleeding and total tumor removal. It is a minimally invasive surgical method for nasopharyngeal angiofibroma.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Angiofibroma ; surgery ; Catheter Ablation ; methods ; Endoscopy ; Humans ; Hypothermia, Induced ; Male ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; surgery ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo assess the efficiency of mattress-type micro sensitive monitor (MMSM) in sleep monitoring.

METHODSForty patients diagnosed as obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) by polysomnography (PSG) were randomly chosen, then received MMSM examination within 2 - 5 days. The results of both methods were compared, using the respiratory disturbance index, sleep efficiency, and obstructive factors as indicators.

RESULTSAll 40 patients were diagnosed as OSAHS, which were consistent with the results of PSG. There was no statistical difference when comparing the apnea hypopnea index (AHI, x(-) ± s, 35.6 ± 21.3 and 37.6 ± 18.8, respectively) and the ratio of rapid eyes movement (REM) stage (15.0 ± 4.5)% and (15.8 ± 6.3)%, respectively (t were 1.867 and 1.014, P > 0.01). Some statistical sense was found when patients'deep sleep, shallow sleep and sleep efficiency were compared (P < 0.01). According to the severity diagnosed by PSG, patients with mild, moderate and severe OSAHS were 11, 7 and 22 cases, respectively, Comparing by MMSM, 2, 19 and 19 cases, respectively. Among seventeen volunteers diagnosed by PSG as normal subjects, 2 of them were diagnosed as mild OSAHS. The sensitivity of MMSM was 100.0% and the specificity was 88.2%.

CONCLUSIONSWith regard to the diagnosis of OSAHS, MMSM is well consistent with PSG. The MMSM can be applied clinically as a monitor technique.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polysomnography ; instrumentation ; methods ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; diagnosis ; physiopathology

BACKGROUNDChronic liver disease causes aberrant formation of fibrous tissue that impedes normal liver function, ultimately resulting in liver cirrhosis. Iron uptake can occur within the hepatic parenchyma or within the various nodules that form in a cirrhotic liver, termed siderotic nodules (SN). We aimed to investigate the diagnostic performance of susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) for detection of SN in patients with liver cirrhosis, and to evaluate the potential of SN numbers for assessing the degree of hepatic iron deposition, liver function, and liver fibrosis stage.

METHODSNinety-one patients with chronic liver cirrhosis, who underwent megnetic resonance imagine (MRI) scanning in our department between November 2010 and April 2011, were included in the study. A 3.0T MRI scanner was used to acquire T1WI, T2WI, T2WI, and SWI images. The number of nodules, signal intensity ratio (SIR), and contrast noise ratio (CNR) were recorded and analyzed by chi-square and ANOVA statistical tests. Correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the correlations between the number of SN and Child-Pugh classification, ferritin and hyaluronic acid levels.

RESULTSThe sensitivity of SWI, T1WI, T2WI, and T2 WI for detecting SN was 62.5%, 12.1%, 24.2% and 41.8%, respectively. SWI detected significantly more nodules than routine T1WI, T2WI, and T2 WI procedures (P < 0.05). The SIR was the lowest in SWI (0.361 ± 0.209), as compared to T1WI (0.852 ± 0.163), T2WI (0.584 ± 0.172), and T2 WI (0.497 ± 0.196). The CNR was the highest in SWI (13.932 ± 5.637), as compared to T1WI (9.147 ± 5.785), T2WI (9.771 ± 5.490), and T2 WI (11.491 ± 4.573). The correlation coefficients of the number of SN with ferritin, Child-Pugh classification, and hyaluronic acid levels were 0.672, -0.055, and 0.163, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThe sensitivity and contrast of SWI for detecting SN in patients with liver cirrhosis are higher than conventional MRI. The number of SN can help to assess the degree of iron deposition in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Adult ; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Female ; Ferritins ; blood ; Humans ; Hyaluronic Acid ; blood ; Liver ; pathology ; Liver Cirrhosis ; blood ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Objective To introduce an optimized practical method of making and detecting pipettes for microinjection.Methods Transfer pipette was made from hard glass capillary. We softened the hard glass capillary by rotating it in a spirit-lamp flame,then moved out from the flame and quickly pulled it into two transfer pipettes.After broken by a grinding wheel,the tip of the pipette was fire-polished by quickly touching the flame to make a fine opening.A hard glass capillary (1.0 mm,ouside diametre)was pulled into two holding pipettes by pipette Puller.The pipette shoulder was broken at desired position with a grinding wheel,then the fine pipette tip opening was heated by a microforge and shrinked into a diameter -15 μm.Injection pipette could be made directly from a capillary with filament by Puller.The solution loaded injection pipette and holding pipette were assembled into the micromanipulator and could be checked before use.We transfered both pipettes into the zygotes media drop,touched the holding pipette with the tip of the injection pipette to make a "suitable"opening.Then we switched injection pipette to the mineral oil and applied injection pressure through the injector to check whether the solution could come out of the tip smoothly and at a proper speed.It could be further verified by pronucleus microinjection of zygotes.Results The results showed that the method introduced in this paper could produce suitable pipettes for zygote microinjection.In particular,the method of detecting the opening of the injection pipette was helpful for achieving high efficiency of zygote microinjection.Conclusion The method introduced here to make and detect pipettes for microinjection is very helpful for establishing a standard microinjection manipulation procedure and improving the efficiency of zygote microinjection.

To clone human interleukin-26 (hIL-26) and express it in E. coli efficiently. Two pairs of primers were synthesized according to the hIL-26 gene reported on GenBank. The hIL-26 gene was cloned by nest PCR following the first round RT-PCR from human peripherial blood monocytes total RNA, and then the PCR product was cloned into pMD18-T vector. Colony PCR, restriction analysis and sequence analysis showed that the gene cloned was the same as the reported hIL-26. The recombinant was cut with BamHI and EcoR I to obtain the hIL-26 fragment, and then the fragment was inserted into pBV220 which was cut with the same enzymes. The recombinant expression vector was induced to express hIL-26 at 42 degrees C, SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the recombinant protein accounted for up to 20% of the whole protein of E. coli, and the protein was also confirmed by Western blotting. Purity of the protein was found to be above 90% after purified with molecular sieve. After renaturalized with glutathione buffer, the promoting effect of it on the production of IFN-y in PBMC was detected by RT-PCR. A recombinant bacterial strain for expressing hIL-26 with biological activity was constructed successfully.
Cloning, Molecular ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Interleukins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

This study demonstrates efficacy of a novel polyamidoamine dendrimers (PAMAM dendrimers) with pentaerythritol derivatives as the core (G5 PD dendrimer) in deliver of the cytosine deaminase (CD) gene and EGFP gene fusion plasmid into different tumor cell lines to induce apoptosis. The physical and chemical properties of G5 PD dendrimers in terms of DNA complexation, particulate properties and transfection efficiencies were investigated and compared with commercial gene vectors PEI 25 kDa. The optimum ratio of G5 PD dendrimer complexed with plasmid DNA was 0.2:1, and the particle size of the complex was (100±5) nm. Compared with the commercial gene carriers PEI, G5 PD dendrimer exhibited a higher transfection efficiency at the weight ratio of 1:1 in three different cell lines, given the fact that PEI are different from PAMAM dendrimers in terms of molecular structure. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity assays of the cell lines transfected with G5 PD dendrimer/pCD-EGFP-N1 followed by exposure to various concentrations of 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) also showed that the transfected cell lines could generate a very low amount of 5-FC to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in a short period of time, which indicating the high expression level of CD gene in the cell line. These results indicate that the CD/5FC system of G5 PD dendrimer has an excellent efficacy in gene delivery.

Aim To analyze the genotype-phenotype characteristics of voltage-gated potassium channels (Kv) associated genetic epilepsy and evaluate the efficacy of anti-seizure medications(ASMs). Methods PubMed database was searched and patients meeting the inclusion criteria were included for analysis. We divided the patients into “benign”, “encephalopathic” and other phenotypes according to the clinical characteristics. We performed descriptive statistical analysis of patients' mutated genes, clinical phenotype and drug efficacy, and used logistic regression to explore the influencing factors of treatment outcome. Results Data of 474 children were included for analysis. There were significant differences among different phenotypes in mutated genes, source of mutations and so on. In terms of clinical characteristics, there were also significant differences between patients with different phenotypes in age of onset, combined developmental delay and so on. In terms of monotherapy, phenobarbital was the most common treatment choice for children with “benign” phenotype, and sodium channel blockers (SCBs) were the most common treatment choice for children with “encephalopathy” phenotype, and the efficacy of SCBs monotherapy was superior to that of other ASMs. Multivariate Logistic analysis of the children receiving monotherapy showed that whether the children were combined with developmental delay and whether SCBs were used were significant factors influencing the efficacy of drug therapy. Conclusions Patients with the “benign” and “encephalopathic” phenotypes differ in several aspects of genetic variation, clinical characteristics, and drug selection. These results suggest that SCBs may be one of the recommended options for monotherapy.

In this study, formulas containing Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Carthami Flos in the database of Dictionary of Chinese Medicine Prescription (DCMP) were extracted by using traditional Chinese medicine inheritance support system (TCMISS). The drugs pairs and formula composition rules were analyzed with data mining methods, such as association rules, improved mutual information method and complex system entropy clustering. Totally 39 formulas were included in this study and involved 280 Chinese medicines. The top 5 Chinese medicines most frequently used were Danggui (Angelica sinensis), Chuanxiong (Ligusticum chuanxiong), Xiangfu (Cyperi Rhizoma), Baishao(Radix Paeoniae Alba), Taoren(Prunus persica) and Shengdihuang (Radix Rehmanniae Recens). Six core medicinal pairs were obtained through clustering analysis, namely Danshen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma)-Xiangfu (Cyperi Rhizoma)-Honghua (Carthami Flos), Danshen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma)-Baishao (Radix Paeoniae Alba)-Honghua (Carthami Flos), Danshen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma)-Danggui (A. sinensis)-Xiagnfu (Cyperi Rhizoma)-Honghua (Carthami Flos), Danshen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma)-Danggui (A. sinensis)-Baishao (Radix Paeoniae Alba)-Honghua (Carthami Flos), Honghua (Carthami Flos)-Danshen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma)-Baishao (Radix Paeoniae Alba)-Danggui (A. sinensis), Danshen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma)-Baishao (Radix Paeoniae Alba)-Honghua (Carthami Flos)-Danggui (A. sinensis). The support degree was set at 11 (38.46%), with a confidence coefficient of 80%, and then 38 associated pairs were screened. These results suggested that Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Carthami Flos is often combined with herbs for activating blood and promoting circulation of qi to treat gynecopathy, stasis blood pain syndrome, stroke and other syndromes.