Objective To investigate the expressions of cell phenotypes CD_8 and CD_(28) of peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with colorectal cancer. Method CD_8 and CD_(28) of cell phenotypes were measured by flow cytometry in 50 patients with colorectal cancer (cancer group) and 30 nontumorous patients (control group). Results The expression of CD_8 in cancer group was significantly higher than that in control group [(32.24±8.38)% vs (22.18±7.55)%](P < 0.01). CD_(28) and CD_8~+/CD_(28)~+ were much lower than those in control group [(52.03±10.94)% vs (60.60±7.98)%,12.18±4.28 vs 16.38±4.94](P<0.01). CD_8~+/CD_(28)~+ in Dukes D stage patients were significantly lower than that in Dukes B stage patients (P<0.05). CD_(28) and CD_8~+/CD_(28)~+ in lymph node metastasis patients were much lower than those in lymph node negative patients (P < 0.01). CD_(28) and CD_8~+/CD_(28)~+ in serosa involved patients were lower than those in no serosa involved patients (P < 0.01). Conclusions The expressions of cell phenotypes CD_8 and CD_(28) of peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with colorectal cancer are closely related to biological characteristics of the tumor. The assays of cell phenotypes CD_8 and CD_(28) might be useful for evaluating the immunal statement and prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer.

Objective To explore the morphometric and functional alterations of amygdale and hippocampus in patients with depression by anatomical and functional MRI, and try to reveal the pattern and pathogenesis of the changes in depression. Methods Sixty patients (divided equally into mild, moderate and major groups according to patient′s scores of HAMD) and 20 healthy control groups were scanned using T1WI and fMRI. The outlines of hippocampus and amygdale were drawn manually by observer and the volumes were calculated and normalized subsequently. Functional MRI was processed using SPM5 and individual activation map was got subsequently. Dunnett-t test and Pearson correlation analysis were separately used to analyze the morphometric and functional changes and the correlations between cerebral changes and clinical severity. Results The hippocampal volumes of control groups were 2296±202 left for left side and 2283±199 for right side. The hippocampal volumes of depressive patients were smaller than those of control groups, especially for the major group (left 1978±176,Dunnett-t=-10.0,P<0.01,right 1981±171,Dunnett-t=-9.2,P<0.01). The moderate group showed moderate reduced volume(left 2127±180,Dunnett-t=-3.0,P<0.05,right 2135±183,Dunnett-t=-3.0,P<0.05), while the mild ones showed slightly decreased volume (left 2207±189,Dunnett-t=-1.4,P>0.05,right 2210±191,Dunnett-t=-1.6,P>0.05). The amygdale′s volumes of control groups was 1762±185,the right was 1749±182, while those in patient group reduced along with the patient′s condition, i.e., the mild groups (left 1992±200,Dunnett-t=4.8,P<0.01,right 1989±191, Dunnett-t=5.0,P<0.001), the moderate groups (left 1889±192, Dunnett-t=2.8,P<0.05,right 1896±195,Dunnett-t=2.8,P<0.05), and the major groups (left 1539±178,Dunnett-t=-6.8,P<0.01,right 1543±180,Dunnett-t=-7.0,P<0.01).For fMRI study, patient group demonstrated more activation of the amygdale and hippocampus under the stimulations of negative images than controls. Furthermore, the strengthens of activation decreased along with the patient′s condition, i.e., the major ones showed the weakest activation among the patients, though it was higher than that of control group. In patient group, both the volumes and activations of hippocampus and amygdale showed significant negative correlations with HAMD scores(r=-0.80--0.90,P＜0.05). Conclusion The hippocampal volumes of depressive patients reduced, which may be due to the change of the amygdale, and the amygdale′s volumes were changed along with the patient′s condition. There were more activation in the amygdale and hippocampus of depressive patients under the stimulations of negative images.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the chemical constituents of an endophytic fungus, Nodulisporium sp. A4, from the medicinal plant Aquilaria sinensis and search for antitumor natural products.

METHODThe fungus was cultured in liquid medium and extracted with EtOAc. The compounds were isolated by various chromatographic methods (silica gel, reverse silica gel, Sephadex-LH20, preparative TLC and so on) and recrystallization. Structural elucidation was conducted by extensive analysis of spectroscopic data as well as by comparison with literature reports. The antitumor activity of isolated compounds was tested by MTT method in vitro.

RESULTSeven compounds were isolated and identified from the broth culture, their structures were determined to be 5-methyl-2-vinyltetrahydrofuran-3-ol (1), 6-methyl-2-(5-methyl-5-vinyltetrahydrofuran-2-yl) hept-5-en-2-ol (2), 6alpha-hydroxycyclonerolidol (3), rel-(1S,4S, 5R,7R,10R)-10-desmethyl-1-methyl-11-eudesmene (4), tyrosol (5), 8-methoxynaphthalen-1-ol (6), and 1,8-dimethoxynaphthalene (7). Three compounds were isolated and identified from the mycelia as ergosterol (8), ergosterol peroxide (9), and cerevisterol (10). The in vitro pharmalogical evaluation results displayed that compounds 3 and 4 showed 89.1%, 44.2% and 82.3%, 79.8% inhibition against tumor cell lines SF268 and NCI-H460 at 100 mg x L(-1), respectively.

CONCLUSIONCompound 1 was a new natural product, compounds 2, 3, 7 and 10 were reported from the genus Nodulisporium sp. for the first time. Compounds 3 and 4 exhibited weak inhibitory effects on the proliferation of tumor cell lines SF268 and NCI-H460.

Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Endophytes ; chemistry ; Humans ; Organic Chemicals ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Thymelaeaceae ; microbiology ; Xylariales ; chemistry

Echinomycin is a small-molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 DNA-binding activity, which plays a crucial role in ovarian ovulation in mammalians. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha-mediated endothelin (ET)-2 expressions contributed to ovarian ovulation in response to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) during gonadotropin-induced superuvulation. By real-time RT-PCR analysis, ET-2 mRNA level was found to significantly decrease in the ovaries after echinomycin treatment, while HIF-1alpha mRNA and protein expression was not obviously changed. Further analysis also showed that these changes of ET-2 mRNA were consistent with HIF-1 activity in the ovaires, which is similar with HIF-1alpha and ET-2 expression in the granulosa cells with gonadotropin and echinomycin treatments. The results of HIF-1alpha and ET-2 expression in the granulosa cells transfected with cis-element oligodeoxynucleotide (dsODN) under gonadotropin treatment further indicated HIF-1alpha directly mediated the transcriptional activation of ET-2 during gonadotropin-induced superuvulation. Taken together, these results demonstrated that HIF-1alpha-mediated ET-2 transcriptional activation is one of the important mechanisms regulating gonadotropin-induced mammalian ovulatory precess in vivo.
Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Chorionic Gonadotropin/*pharmacology ; Echinomycin/*pharmacology ; Endothelin-2/genetics/*metabolism ; Female ; Gonadotropins, Equine/*pharmacology ; Granulosa Cells/drug effects/metabolism ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit/*antagonists & inhibitors/genetics/metabolism/physiology ; Oligonucleotides/genetics ; Ovary/cytology/drug effects/physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Superovulation/*drug effects ; Transcriptional Activation

Objective:Serum soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) is a useful biomarker of bacterial infection. However, the diagnostic value of sTREM-1 of alveolar fluid in pulmonary infection is still unclear. This article aimed to explore the value of sTREM-1 of alveolar fluid in the early diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) by systematic review of relevant literatures.Methods:CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, PubMed/Medline and Embase databases were retrieved. Articles on diagnosis of VAP by sTREM-1 before June 30, 2019 were collected. QUADAS-2 scale provided by Cochrane Collaboration Network was used to evaluate the quality of diagnostic experiments. RevMan 5.3 and Stata 13.0 software were used to complete Meta-analysis. The levels of sTREM-1 between VAP and non-VAP patients were analyzed by Meta-analysis, and then diagnostic test Meta-analysis was conducted. Heterogeneity, sensitivity and publication bias were analyzed.Results:A total of 24 articles were enrolled. QUADAS-2 scale indicated that the selected literature had low bias and high clinical adaptability. ① In Meta-analysis of sTREM-1 level in alveolar fluid, 20 articles were selected and found to have high heterogeneity ( I2 = 94.4%, P = 0.000). The random effects models were used for Meta-analysis. It was indicated that the sTREM-1 level in alveolar fluid of VAP group was significantly higher than that of non-VAP group with significant difference [standardized mean difference ( SMD) was 1.47, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was 1.00-1.95, Z = 6.14, P = 0.000]. By subgroup analysis and Meta-regression analysis, no source of heterogeneity was found. Sensitivity analysis suggested that the results of this Meta-analysis were robust and credible, and Begg funnel plot analysis showed that there was no significant publication bias ( Z = 1.46, P = 0.143). ② A total of 18 articles were included in the Meta-analysis of diagnostic experiments. Deek funnel plot showed publication bias ( P = 0.012). The combined sensitivity was 0.87 (95% CI was 0.81-0.91), specificity was 0.80 (95% CI was 0.73-0.86), and diagnostic odds ratio ( DOR) was 26 (95% CI was 13-50). Subgroup analysis of three different sources of alveolar fluid (bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, endotracheal aspiration fluid and exhaled ventilator condensate) showed that STREM-1 had a certain value in early diagnosis of VAP. The I2 of combined DOR was 35.4%, and I2 of sensitivity was 79.46%, I2 of specificity was 77.61%, suggesting heterogeneity in the selected literature. Subgroup analysis found that nationality, subject design, sample source, sample size and diagnostic "gold criteria" were related to heterogeneity, but not age. The area under synthetic receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve (AUC) was 0.90 (95% CI was 0.87-0.92). Conclusions:The detection of sTREM-1 level in alveolar fluid can be used for the early diagnosis of VAP with high sensitivity and specificity. If combined with other biomarkers, it may have more diagnostic value.