To observe the changes of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin-4 (IL-4), factors related to T helper 1/T helper 2 (Th1/Th2), in airway inflammation in an asthmatic model of mice and the effects of Pingchuan Formula (PCF), a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

Aim To investigate the apoptosis mechanism of human gastric cancer cell SGC-7901 induced by Omphalia lapidescens protein pPeOp.Methods CCK-8 and flow cytometry were used to detect the inhibitory effect of different concentrations of pPeOp(30, 60, 90 mg·L-1) on SGC-7901.The mRNA and protein expression of TNF-R1, Fas/FasL, Bcl-2, caspase-3 and caspase-8 were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot.Results SGC-7901 cells were treated with different concentrations of pPeOp(30, 60, 90 mg·L-1) for 24 h.CCK-8 test showed that there was no significant difference between PVP group and the control group.The survival rate of the 5-Fu group was(53.71±7.34)% (P<0.05).The survival rates of pPeOp group(30, 60, 90 mg·L-1) were(80.95±6.25)%, (53.48±5.70)% and(44.61±6.50)%(r=0.984,P=0.016),respectively.Flow cytometry showed that the apoptosis rate of PVP group had no significant difference with control group, and the apoptosis rate of 5-Fu group was about(39.30±3.34)%(P<0.05).The apoptotic rates of pPeOp group(30, 60, 90 mg·L-1) were(10.90±1.25)%, (28.80±2.70)% and (32.00±3.50)%,respectively(P<0.05).The mRNA and protein expression levels of Bcl-2 were down-regulated,whereas the expression of TNF-R1, Fas/FasL, caspase-3 and caspase-8 were significantly up-regulated(P<0.05).Conclusions pPeOp can significantly inhibit the proliferation of gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901 and induce apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner.Death receptor pathway and mitochondrial pathway may be related to pPeOp-induced apoptosis of gastric cancer SGC-7901.

ABSTRACT:Objective To investigate changes in the neutrophils in rats with D-galactosamine (D-GalN)-induced acute liver failure (ALF)and to explore the therapeutic effect of interventions treatment of neutrophils on ALF.Methods Liver function,the expressions of inflammatory cytokines TNF-αand IL-1β,and the changes of neutrophils in the peripheral blood and the liver were observed in rats with D-GalN (intraperitoneal injection)-induced ALF.SD rats were randomly divided into three groups when treated with intervention of neutrophils:control group,ALF group (intraperitoneal injection of D-GalN),and treatment group (intravenous injection of anti-PMN serum via tail vein 24 h before modeling).Biochemical analysis was used to detect serum ALT,AST, TBIL and blood ammonia.Hematology analyzer was applied to analyze the number and percentage of peripheral blood neutrophils.The number of neutrophils in the liver was evaluated by immunohistochemistry.Liver RT-PCR was adopted to detect the mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines TNF-αand IL-1β.Results We found that 6 h after D-GalN injection,serum ALT,AST,TBIL and blood ammonia in ALF rats were significantly increased (P <0.05).The mRNA expression levels of inflammatory cytokines TNF-αand IL-1βin the liver reached the peak at 6 h after modeling (P <0.001),and it was still notably higher at 24 h than before modeling (P <0.001 ).The number and percentage of peripheral blood neutrophils and the number of neutrophils in the liver were all markedly increased 12 h after modeling (P <0.001 ),and the increase continued at least until 24 h (P <0.001 ).24 h after intravenous injection of anti-PMN serum via tail vein,ALF rats had a distinct decrease in the number of peripheral blood neutrophils and neutrophils in the liver 24 h after modeling (P <0.001).Meanwhile,serum ALT,AST,TBIL and blood ammonia were all greatly decreased compared with those in ALF group (P <0.05);a significant reduction of hepatocyte apoptosis was observed.Also,the expressions of TNF-α and IL-1β in the liver were remarkably decreased after treatment (P <0.05).Conclusion Neutrophils accumulated in peripheral blood and liver of rats with D-GalN-induced ALF.The treatment of anti-PMN serum may have a therapeutic effect on liver function and immune microenvironment in ALF rats.

Objective To investigate the safety and therapeutic effects ot a novel multi-layer flat-plate bioartificial liver (BAL) for patients with liver failure.Methods Thirty-eight patients with liver failure from Dec.2010 to Dec.2011 were treated with a novel BAL based on multi-layer flatplate bioreactor and the co-cultured cells of the porcine hepatocytes and mesenchymal stem cells.A total of 48 treatments was performed,4 h each time.The clinical signs and symptoms,liver function,ammonia,coagulation function and complete blood count were evaluated before,during and after the treatment.DNA in the collected PBMCs was extracted for PCR with PERV specific primers and the porcine specific primer Sus scrofa cytochrome B.The RT activity was detected as well.Levels of xenoantibodies (IgG,IgM) were determined by using ELISA kit. Titers of complement were quantified by CH50 kit.Results All treatment procedures were completed successfully without any adverse reaction. All samples presented negative PERV DNA and RT activity. The levels of antibodies were similar before and after treatment.Treatment was associated with a temporary decline in levels of complement,and then the levels were recovered quickly.The clinical symptoms such as acratia,anorexia and abdominal distension were improved.The stage of hepatic encephalopathy in 16 patients was decreased. The liver function and ammonia was reduced disproportionately. Seven patients in all were bridged to liver transplantation,2 patients died and 2 patients gave up the treatment,and the others were turned better.After the outcome judgment according to the standard developed by the Artificial Liver Group,and Chinese Association of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases,there were 9 patients with clinical healing,25 patients with improvement and 4 patients with no effect,and the cure-improvement rate was 89.5％.Conclusion The novel multi-layer flat-plate BAL could be used as a safe and effective therapy for patients with liver failure.

Ganoderma lucidum is a mushroom widely used for its edible and medicinal properties. Primary bioactive constituents of G. lucidum are ganoderic triterpenoids (GTs), which exhibit important pharmacological activity. Abscisic acid (ABA), a plant hormone, is associated with plant growth, development, and stress responses. ABA can also affect the growth, metabolism, and physiological activities of different fungi and participates in the regulation of the tetracyclic triterpenes of some plants. Our findings indicated that ABA treatment promoted GT accumulation by regulating the gene expression levels (squalene synthase (sqs), 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (hmgr), and lanosterol synthase (ls)), and also activated cytosolic Ca²⁺ channels. Furthermore, under ABA mediation, exogenous Ca²⁺ donors and inhibitors directly affected the cytosolic Ca²⁺ concentration and related gene expression in Ca²⁺ signaling. Our study also revealed that ABA-mediated cytosolic Ca²⁺ played a crucial regulatory role in GT biosynthesis, accompanied by antioxidant defense modulation with increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity, and the resistance ability of O₂^•- and glutathione (GSH) contents.
Reishi/metabolism* ; Triterpenes/metabolism* ; Abscisic Acid/metabolism* ; Antioxidants/metabolism*

OBJECTIVES: Glioma is the most common intracranial primary tumor in central nervous system. Glioma grading possesses important guiding significance for the selection of clinical treatment and follow-up plan, and the assessment of prognosis. This study aims to explore the feasibility of logistic regression model based on radiomics to predict glioma grading. METHODS: Retrospective analysis was performed on 146 glioma patients with confirmed pathological diagnosis from January, 2012 to December, 2018. A total of 41 radiomics features were extracted from contrast-enhanced T RESULTS: A total of 5 imaging features selected by LASSO were used to establish a logistic regression model for predicting glioma grading. The model showed good discrimination with AUC value of 0.919. Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed no significant difference between the calibration curve and the ideal curve ( CONCLUSIONS The logistic regression model using radiomics exhibits a relatively high accuracy for predicting glioma grading, which may serve as a complementary tool for preoperative prediction of giloma grading.
Brain Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging* ; Glioma/diagnostic imaging* ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; ROC Curve ; Retrospective Studies

To explore the feasibility and efficacy of artificial neural network for differentiating high-grade glioma and low-grade glioma using image information.
 Methods: A total of 130 glioma patients with confirmed pathological diagnosis were selected retrospectively from 2012 to 2017. Forty one imaging features were extracted from each subjects based on 2-dimension magnetic resonance T1 weighted imaging with contrast-enhancement. An artificial neural network model was created and optimized according to the performance of feature selection. The training dataset was randomly selected half of the whole dataset, and the other half dataset was used to verify the performance of the neural network for glioma grading. The training-verification process was repeated for 100 times and the performance was averaged.
 Results: A total of 5 imaging features were selected as the ultimate input features for the neural network. The mean accuracy of the neural network for glioma grading was 90.32%, with a mean sensitivity at 87.86% and a mean specificity at 92.49%. The area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.9486.
 Conclusion: As a technique of artificial intelligence, neural network can reach a relatively high accuracy for the grading of glioma and provide a non-invasive and promising computer-aided diagnostic process for the pre-operative grading of glioma.
Brain Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Glioma ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neoplasm Grading ; Neural Networks, Computer ; ROC Curve ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Herein, a strategy is proposed for the simultaneous determination of primary coumarins in Peucedani Radix (Chinese name: Qianhu). The methodology consists of three consecutive steps: 1) Semi-preparative LC in combination with a home-made automated fraction collection module to fragment the universal metabolome standard into ten fractions (Frs. I-X); 2) LC-accurate MS/MS and quantitative H NMR spectroscopy conducted in parallel to acquire the qualitative and quantitative data of each fraction; 3) Robust identification and quantification of components by use of LC coupled to multiple reaction monitoring. In this final step, the most significant fractions (Frs. III-X) were pooled to serve as the pseudo-mixed standard solution. Meticulous online parameter optimization was performed to obtain the optimal parameters, including ion transitions and collision energies. Concerns were particularly paid onto pursuing the parameters being capable of monitoring -specific isomers, notably praeruptorin E 3'-isovaleryl-4'-angeloylkhellactone. The quantitative performance of the method was validated according to diverse assays. Eleven primary coumarins (-) were unambiguously identified and absolutely quantified, even though no external reference compound was used. Above all, the integrated strategy not only provides a feasible pipeline for the quality assessment of Peucedani Radix, but more importantly, shows the potential for authentic compound-free quantitative evaluation of traditional Chinese medicines.

Long-term primary culture of mammalian cells has been always difficult due to unavoidable senescence. Conventional methods for generating immortalized cell lines usually require manipulation of genome which leads to change of important biological and genetic characteristics. Recently, conditional reprogramming (CR) emerges as a novel next generation tool for long-term culture of primary epithelium cells derived from almost all origins without alteration of genetic background of primary cells. CR co-cultures primary cells with inactivated mouse 3T3-J2 fibroblasts in the presence of RHO-related protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor Y-27632, enabling primary cells to acquire stem-like characteristics while retain their ability to fully differentiate. With only a few years' development, CR shows broad prospects in applications in varied areas including disease modeling, regenerative medicine, drug evaluation, drug discovery as well as precision medicine. This review is thus to comprehensively summarize and assess current progress in understanding mechanism of CR and its wide applications, highlighting the value of CR in both basic and translational researches and discussing the challenges faced with CR.