Objective To evaluate the effects of Radix Astr agali combined with prednisone and i mmunosuppressant for primary nephrotic syndrome (PNS)in adults and to compare the effects o f Radix Astragali in various prepata tions for PNS.Methods Randomized controlled trials were a pplied for systemic reviews.Electr onic and manual retrieve of Medline,Embase,Cochrane Library,CBMdisc a nd CEBM/CCD and relevant medical jou rnals in China were applied to search the RCTs of Radix Astragali,non -specific treatment,glucocorticoids and i mmunosuppresants for PNS,and the RCTs were analysed with RevMan 4.1.Results There were 14randomized controlled trials with 524cases involved.Meta-analysis showed that Radix Astragali could in crease the therapeutic effect of pre dnisone and immunosuppressant for PNS and re-duce its recurrence.Radix Astragali also had an effect in decreasing 24-hour proteinuria content and the pla sma levels of total cholesterol and albumin.There were no differences between single injection and compound decoction.Asymmetry showed in"Funnel plot"may be related to publication bias,l ow quality of methodology and small -size in sample.Conclusion Radix Astragali and its prescriptio n may become a prospect therapy for PN S and its recurrence and the com-bination of traditional Chinese med icine and western medicine can be more effective for PNS.The dedinite effect of Radix Astragali for PNS will be further con firmed by multiple -center,large -s ample randomized controlled trial.

To evaluate the visual performance of the patients with traumatic corneal astigmatism, after the treatment of topography guided off-flap epipolis laser in situ keratomileusi (off-flap Epi-LASlK).
●METHODS: This prospective clinical study was comprised of 21 eyes of 21 patients with irregular corneal astigmatism caused by trauma, they were treated by off-flap Epi - LASlK from July 2012 to December 2013. The data included uncorrected visual acuity ( UCVA), best spectacle - corrected visual acuity ( BSCVA ), contrast sensitivity 1, 6mo before and after surgery; the healing area percentage of corneal epithelia, the healing time of corneal epithelia and pain score at 3d after surgery.
●RESULTS: Postoperative 1mo both UCVA and BSCVA were improved significantly than that before surgery (t =15. 703, 4. 351, P< 0. 05); Compared with the 1mo after surgery, UCVA at 6mo after surgery raised significantly (t= 6. 867, P <0. 05). There was no statistical significance between 6 and 1mo after surgery about BSCVA (t= 1. 497, P = 0. 140 ). After surgery, mean spherical equivalent (SE) was reduced from -2. 43±3. 02D to -0. 23±0. 49D (P<0. 05), and the mean cylinder was reduced from -1. 86± 2. 23D to - 0. 46 ± 1. 03D (P< 0. 05). Postoperative 1mo,4 kinds of spatial frequency and contrast sensitivity had no significant difference compared with the preoperative (P>0. 05 ). Postoperative 6mo except the 3c/ d spatial frequency, the remaining 3 spatial frequency contrast sensitivity compared with those before operation were significantly improved ( P < 0. 05 ). The healing area percentage of corneal epithelia was 92. 46% ±8. 24% (80% -100%) at 3d after surgery; The healing time of corneal epithelia was 3. 50 ± 1. 56d; Pain scores at 3 and 7d after surgery was 1. 54±1. 32 and 0. 04±0. 64, respectively.
●CONCLUSlON: Topography-guided off-flap Epi-LASlK is safe and effective in treating the patients with traumatic corneal irregular astigmatism. The operation can improve both the contrast sensitivity and the visual performance.

Objective: To explore the structural domains of the CENP-E protein that interact with Mps1 protein.Methods: Two recombinant vectors named pEGFP-CENPE2(containing 674-1085 amino acids of CENP-E protein) and pEGFP-CENPE 3(containing 1200~2134 amino acids of CENP-E protein) were transfected into human embryo kidney 293(HEK293) cells respectively.The respective energy transfer efficiency(Ef) between either EGFP-CENPE2 and Mps1,or EGFP-CENPE3 and Mps1 were detected by FRET through selective photobleaching of the acceptors.Results: Both recombinant proteins expressed in HEK293 cells transfected by the recombinant plasmids were found to co-localize with the Mps1 protein as confirmed by confocal microscopy.The Ef between EGFP-CENPE3 and Mps1 protein was [(12.63?0.48)%,n=30] and that between EGFP-CENPE3 and Mps1 protein was [(3.17?0.21)%,n=30] as revealed by the results from FRET,the result of FRET was confirmed by co-Immunoprecipitate(CO-IP) method.When compared with that between the control and Mps1,the Ef between EGFP-CENPE3 and Mps1 was significantly higher(p

Objective To study the efficacy of late course accelerated fractionation(LCAF) radio- therapy in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC).The end-po s were local control,radiation-in- duced complications,factors influencing survival.Methods From December 1995 to April 1998,178 NPC patients were admitted for radiation treatment.The radiation beam used was ~(60)Co?or 6 MV X-ray.For the first two-thirds of the treatment,two daily fractions of 1.2 Gy were given to the primary lesion ,with an interval of≥6 hours,5 days per week to a total dose of 48 Gy/40 fractions,over a period of 4 weeks.For the last one third of the treatment,i.e.beginning from the 5th week,an accelerated hyperfractionation schedule was carried out.The dose per fraction was increased to 1.5 Gy,2 fractions per day with an interval of≥6 hours,the total dose for this part of the protocol was 30 Gy/20 fractions over 2 weeks.Thus the total dose was 78 Gy in 60 fractions in 6 weeks.Results All patients completed the treatment.Acute mucosi- tis:none in 2 patients,Grade 1 in 43,Grade 2 in 78,Grade 3 in 52,and Grade 4 in 3 patients.Local control rate:the 5-year nasopharyngeal local control rate was 87.7%,and the cervical lymph node local control rate was 85.7%.The 5-year distant metastasis rate was 26.1%,and 5-year survivals was 67.9%. Sixteen patients had radiation-induced cranial nerve palsy.Conclusions With this treatment schedule, patient's tolerance is good,local control and 5 year survivals are better than control groups of conventional fractionation and hyperfractionation radiotherapy.Radiation-related late complication does not increase.Ran- domized clinical trials are being carried out to further confirm the efficacy of LCAF for nasopharyngeal carci- noma.

0.05).The effective rates of patients with recurrence or metastasis were respectively 92%(12/13) and 7/9.The rate of acute radiation reaction of the rectum between the treatment group and control group were respectively 46%(13/28)and 80%(24/30),with a significant difference(P0.05),while the rate of severe bone marrow depression between two groups showed a significant difference(0 and 13%,P 0.05).Conclusion The therapeutic effect of 3DCRT is similar to that of traditional radiotherapy in the treatment of cervical carcinoma,but the former treatment method has a lower rate of acute complications.

AlM:To discuss the protective effect ofα-mangostin on retinal light damage in mice.METHODS:Totally 30 Balb/c mice, aged 6~8wk, were randomly divided into the control group, light-exposure group and α-mangostin group. Every group contained 10 mice. Mice of α-mangostin group were treated with alpha-mangostin at the dose of 30mg/( kg · d ) body weight by intragastric administration daily for 7d, and then exposed to white light at the 5th d. The light-exposure group and α-mangostin group were exposed to 5 000 ± 200lx white light-emmiting diodes (LEDs) for continuously 1h to establish the mice model of retinal light damage. Flash -electroretinograme was recorded 72h after light exposure. The changes in retinal morphology of mice were observed by light microscopy. Retinas were extracted to detect the malondialdhyde ( MDA ) content change of the retinal homogenate.RESULTS: Flash-electroretinogram ( F-ERG ) showed that retinal dysfunction was less severe in α-mangostin group than in light-exposure group ( P<0. 05 ). Light microscopy test showed that retina structural damage was less severe in α-mangostin group than in light-exposure group (P<0. 05). The level of MDA in retinal tissue of α-mangostin group was significantly lower when compared with light-exposure group (P<0. 05).CONCLUSlON: α-mangostin inhibits lipid peroxidation induced by light damage and protect retina against light damage.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid cancer stem cells are essential to the recurrence and metastasis of thyroid carcinoma. Leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) shows a downward trend in a variety of malignant tumors, and its overexpression can inhibit the recurrence and metastasis of malignant tumors. OBJECTIVE:To explore the effect of LIFR on the stemness maintenance and lung metastasis of thyroid cancer stem cells in vivo. METHODS: Primary thyroid cancer cells TCLM were isolated from the lung metastases of a metastatic thyroid cancer patient. Serum-free suspension culture was used to form tumor cell balls. Flow cytometry was used to screen CD133+phenotype of metastatic thyroid cancer stem cell subpopulation TCLM-S. The overexpressed recombinant lentiviral plasmid containing LIFR and its negative control containing the empty plasmid were infected into thyroid cancer stem cells TCLM-S at the ratio of virus/cell number=20, and screened with 2.0 mg/L puromycin to construct TCLM-SLIFRand TCLM-Scontrolstem cells which stably expressed LIFR and its control. Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of LIFR in TCLM-SLIFRand TCLM-Scontrolstem cells. Flow cytometry was used to detect the percentage of CD133+phenotype cell subsets, western blot assay was used to detect the expression of tumor stemness related factors SOX2, Oct4, Nanog and tumor invasion and metastasis related proteins E-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-7 in TCLM-SLIFRand TCLM-Scontrol stem cells. TCLM-SLIFRand TCLM-Scontrolstem cells were respectively injected into BALB/c nude mice by tail vein, and the lung metastasis model of thyroid cancer stem cells was constructed. The effect of LIFR overexpression on lung metastasis was observed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with TCLM-Scontrolcells, the expression of LIFR in TCLM-SLIFRcells was significantly increased, the proportion of CD133+phenotype stem cell subsets was significantly decreased, the expression of SOX2, Oct4 and Nanog were significantly decreased, the expression of E-cadherin was significantly increased, and the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-7 was significantly decreased. Moreover, the number of lung metastasis in nude mice given TCLM-SLIFRcells was significantly decreased as compared with those given TCLM-Scontrol cells.To conclude,LIFR overexpression can decrease the stemness and ability of lung metastasis in vivo.

Action Potentials ; drug effects ; Calcium Channel Blockers ; pharmacology ; Cinnarizine ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Heart Atria ; Humans ; Isoproterenol ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Microelectrodes ; Purkinje Fibers ; drug effects ; physiology

This study was purpose to investigate the effects of CD147 on the invasiveness of leukemia cells U937. The experiments were divided into 4 groups: control group, LPS group, CD147mAb group and LPS+CD147 mAb group. Cells were treated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or anti-CD147 monoclonal antibody, and the expression of CD147 and MMP-2, -9, the invasive potential of the cells in vitro and ex vivo, as well as the invasion of the implanted tumors in SCID mice were analysed by RT-PCR, FCM, gel zymography and invasion test in vitro respectively. The results showed that the expression of CD147 was elevated by the induction of LPS, and the enhanced expression of CD147 on U937 cells increased the production and secretion of MMP-2 and MMP-9 as measured by reverse transcription-PCR and gel zymography. An increased number of LPS-induced cells invading through a reconstituted basement membrane were observed by invasion assays. These responses were down-regulated after blocking CD147 with anti-CD147 antibody. At 30 days after intravenous injection of LPS pretreated U937 cells to SCID mice human U937 cells were found in the bone marrow and lung of the mice, indicating the invasion of the tumor cells. And overexpressions of CD147, MMP-2 and MMP-9 were found in the lung tissue of the mice injected with LPS-treated but not anti-CD147 antibody treated tumor cells. It is concluded that overexpression of CD147 on U937 cells may increase the secretion and activation of MMP-2 and MMP-9 and thus promote the invasiveness of the tumor cells.
Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; pharmacology ; Basigin ; genetics ; immunology ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Mice, SCID ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; U937 Cells

OBJECTIVETo study the chemical constituents from the roots and rhizome of Cynanchum atratum.

METHODThe chemical constituents were isolated and repeatedly purified by silica gel chromatography and the structures were elucidated by the NMR spectra and physicochemical properties.

RESULTTwelve compounds were obtained and nine of them were identified as 2, 4-dihyroxyacetophe none (1), 2, 6-dihyroxyacetophenone (2), 4-hydroxybenzenemethanol (3), benzoic acid (4), beta-amyrin acetate (5), palmitic acid (6), beta-sitosterol (7), beta-daucosterol (8), glaucogenin C-3-O-alpha-D-oleandropyranosyl-(1 --> 4)-beta-D-digitoxopyranosyl-(1 -->4)-alpha-D-oleandropyranoside (9).

CONCLUSIONSeven compounds were obtained from C. atratum for the first time.

Benzoic Acid ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Chromatography, Gel ; Cynanchum ; chemistry ; Oleanolic Acid ; analogs & derivatives ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Palmitic Acid ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Silica Gel ; Silicon Dioxide