OBJECTIVE To study the protective effect of Orychophragmus violaceus(OV)seed against acute hepatotoxicity induced by the traditional Chinese Medicine Cortex Dictamni in mice. METHODS Twenty-five mice were randomly divided into 5 groups:control group,Cortex Dictamni group(70 g · kg-1)and OV seed groups(36,54 and 72 g · kg-1). OV Seed groups were orally adminis?tered with the aqueous extract of OV seed for 4 consecutive days while the other groups were ig given water. On the 4th day,Cortex Dictamni group and OV seed groups were ig given the aqueous extract of Cortex Dictamni,and normal control group was ig given water. Twenty-four hours later,all the mice had their blood and liver samples taken after anesthesia. The serum chemical parameters were measured, including glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT),glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and lactate dehydrogenase(LDH),as well as malondialdehyde(MDA),glutathione(GSH)and oxidized glutathione(GSSG)levels in the liver. GSH/GSSG ratio was calculated. Histopathologic changes in the liver were observed and the area was calculated after HE staining. RESULTS Compared with normal control group,Cortex Dictamni(70 g · kg-1)increased the serum GOT,GPT and LDH levels by 500, 140 and 40 fold(P<0.01). OV seed reduced serum GOT,GPT and LDH levels increased by Cortex Dictamni(P<0.05,P<0.01),by as much as 62%,75% and 99% for GPT,70%,82% and 98% for GOT,and 55%,75%and 96%for LDH,respectively. The level of MDA and the ratio of GSH/GSSG in Cortex Dictamni group were 1.39 ± 0.58 and(3.53 ± 1.27)μmol · g-1,a 10-fold increase and 40%decline compared with normal control group(P<0.01). OV seed of 72 g·kg-1 lowered the level of MDA by 22%(P<0.05),and OV seed(36,54 and 72 g · kg-1)increased the GSH/GSSG ratio by 47%,42%and 54%(P<0.05). Histopathologic results showed that OV seed alleviated the liver damage induced by Cortex Dictamni from(64.1±8.5)%to(37.5±7.1)%and (20.0±0.8)%(P<0.01). CONCLUSION OV seed can effectively protect mice from the acute hepatotoxicity induced by Cortex Dictamni.

Objective To improve the diagnostic accuracy of pulmonary mucormycosis(PM) by investigating imaging appearances of PM,including CT and PET-CT.Methods A retrospective analysis of unenhanced MSCT(n=14),dynamic enhanced MSCT(n=10) and 18F-FDG PET-CT(n=3) examinations was conducted in 14 patients with surgically and pathologically proven PM.Results CT findings:13 patients had multiple patchy consolidation.Nine had thick-walled cavitiess(n=26) and 4 had pulmonary embolism,1 had solitary irregular masses,3 had adjacent bronchus invasion,4 had pleural effusion,14 had no mediastinal adenopathy.All the patients after renal transplantation had varied ground-glass opacifications and interlobular septal thickenings.The solid portion of lesions had strong enhancement with CT attenduation of (25±8) HU.PET-CT findings:3 cases were found with homogeneously or inhomogeneously increased 18F-FDG uptake(SUVmax 6.2,4.6,3.6).Conclusions PM presents with widespread but lacked specific imaging features.A suggestive diagnosis could be made in some patients with imaging appearances of multiple thick-walled cavities,rapid changes,and complicated with pulmonary embolism or invaded bronchus and sleevelet sign.

Objective To investigate the character of aquaporin-1(AQP-1)expression in adrenal gland in diabetes mellitus and evaluate adrenal gland damage and function alterations by DWI with multiple b values. Methods Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly selected by computer and randomized into 2 groups:untreated controls(n=10)and diabetes(DM)(n=10). Rats in diabetes group were fed with high-sucrose and high-fat diet, controls were fed with common diet. After fed with high-sucrose and high-fat diet for 4 weeks, rats in diabetes group were injected with streptozotocin(STZ). Forty days after diabetes induction with streptozotocin(STZ), MR imaging was performed in a 7.0 T scanner. Venous blood from the tails was collected before MRI scan to measure blood glucose, blood glucose more than 16.7 mmol/L wasregarded as diabetic status. All the rats underwent DWI with 18 b values(0 to 4500 s/mm2). Maps of pure diffusion coefficients(D), pseudo-diffusion coefficients(D*)and ultra-high ADC(ADCuh)were acquired. Rats were sacrificed after MRI scan for adrenal gland histopathology, AQP-1 immunohistochemistry analysis and AQP-1 optical density(OD)measurements. Student t test was used to compare the difference of D*, D, ADCuh and OD of AQP-1 between two groups. Results Eight diabetic animals developed hyperglycemia(two rats died during the modeling process). MRI scan was performed in all of the 18 rats. Signal intensity of D*map, D map and ADCuh map decreased gradually. ADCuh increased significantly in DM animals(0.24 ± 0.06) × 10-3mm2/s compared with control animals(0.18 ± 0.07) × 10-3 mm2/s(P<0.05), whereas there was no significant difference found between the two groups in their respective D*and D values(P>0.05). There was a noticeable increase in the AQP-1 labeling in the adrenal cell membrane and cytoplasm in DM animals compared with control animals. DM rats showed an increased OD value of AQP-1 in adrenal gland compared with the control animals(P<0.05). Conclusions We found significantly higher AQP-1 expression in adrenal gland in DM animals compared with controls. Ultra-high b-Values DWI may work as a useful way for noninvasive evaluation the change of adrenal function in DM.

Objective To compare the diagnostic value of DWI and ultrasound elastography(UE) in staging hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis B(CHB). Methods Fifteen healthy volunteers (control group) and 69 patients with CHB (disease duration more than 1 year) (patient group) were prospectively recruited. All of the subjects underwent DWI and UE experiments twice with the interval of less than 3 days. Liver ADC and shear wave velocity(SWV) values were obtained for subsequent analysis. Sixty?nine patients who had biopsy were grouped according to their pathological grading of fibrosis, from S0 to S4. One?way ANOVA was used to compare the ADC and SWV values between the five different fibrosis groups and control group. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlations between the ADC and SWV values and those staging factors. Finally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to compare the diagnostic performance of ADC and SWV values in discriminating different stages of hepatic fibrosis. Results Based on the pathological results, the 69 patients were reclassified to five subgroups with 11, 13, 12, 15 and 18 patients in the S0, S1, S2, S3 and S4 groups respectively. ADC values were(1.39±0.09)×10-3,(1.39±0.08)×10-3,(1.38±0.10)×10-3,(1.20±0.06)×10-3,(1.12±0.07)×10-3 and(1.01±0.07)×10-3mm2/s for the control group and stages S0 to S4 respectively.SWV values were(1.17±0.07),(1.16±0.08),(1.23±0.10),(1.48±0.14),(1.85±0.14)and(1.97±0.12)m/s for stages S0 to S4 and the control group respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed among them (P<0.01). Both ADC (r=-0.894,P<0.01) and SWV (r=0.904,P<0.01) values were highly correlated with the stages of liver fibrosis. The area under ROC(AUC) for predicting fibrosis stages (≥S1, ≥S2, ≥S3 and S4) with ADC values was 0.893, 0.991, 0.966 and 0.952 respectively. Accordingly, the AUC for SWV values were 0.937, 0.993, 0.994 and 0.914. Conclusions The two imaging methods of DWI and UE showed good and similar diagnostic performance in discriminating the different stages of hepatic fibrosis.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of ADC histogram obtained from MR DW imaging for stage ⅠB cervical cancer. Methods Seventy three patients diagnosed by cervical smear screening as cervical cancer without priortreatment were included prospectively in the patient group, and staged according to the international federation of gynecology and obstetrics (FIGO) staging system. Forty three patients with uterine leiomyoma detected by gynecologic examination, ultrasonography or CT and with negative result of cervical smear screening who were scheduled for hysterectomy were included prospectively in the control group. The patients of both groups underwent routine pelvic MR sequences, dynamic contrast enhanced imaging and DWI before hysterectomy. ADC histograms of the entire tumor and cervix volume were generated by post-processing software. Features of ADC histogram for the 2 groups were observed. Histogram parameters such as mean ADC (ADCmean), median ADC (ADCmedian), the 25th percentile of ADC (ADC_25th), the 75th percentile of ADC (ADC_75th), skewness and kurtosis were recorded. Student's t test or Mann-Whitney U test depending on homogeneity of variance was employed for the comparison of
those parameters. ROC analysis was employed for assessing the diagnostic performance of ADC histogram in distinguishing the 2 groups. Results Thirty five patients in the patient group were staged as FIGO IB. Five patients in the control group ended up with pathologic findings of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3. Therefore 38 patients in the control group were investigated. ADC histograms of the patient group were mostly skewed positively, while the curves were largely skewed negatively. ADCmean, ADCmedian, ADC_25th, ADC_75th, skewness and kurtosis for the IB stage patient group were (1.10±0.21)×10-3mm2/s, (1.05±0.21)× 10-3 mm2/s, (0.90 ± 0.19) × 10-3mm2/s, (1.26 ± 0.23) × 10-3mm2/s, 0.83 (median) and 1.25 (median) respectively. ADCmean, ADCmedian, ADC_25th, ADC_75th, skewness and kurtosis for the control group were (1.62 ± 0.25)×10-3mm2/s, (1.64±0.24)×10-3mm2/s, (1.42±0.24)×10-3mm2/s, (1.84±0.27)×10-3mm2/s,-0.11(median) and 0.29 (median) respectively. All parameters showed statistically different (t values were -9.693,- 11.117, -10.255, and -9.988 for ADCmean, ADCmedian, ADC_25th and ADC_75th respectively;Z values were -6.360 and -4.445 for skewness and kurtosis respectively; P< 0.01). ROC analysis indicated that ADCmedian had the highest diagnostic accuracy for differentiating the 2 groups, with the area under the curve being 0.97, a cutoff value of 1.21×10-3mm2/s, and a sensitivity of 95.6%and a specificity of 89.3%. Conclusion ADC histogram of DWI may be valuable for diagnosing stage IB cervical cancer by distinguishing stage IB cervical cancer from normal cervix or cervical benign lesions.

Objective To improve the quality standard of compound Chaihu tea. Methods Pupleuri Radix, Puerariae Lobatae Radix and Forsythiae Fructus were identified by thin layer chromatography (TLC).HPLC method was used to determine the content of puerarin.The determination was performed on a Shimadzu VP-ODS-C18column (250 mm×4.6 mm,5μm) with the mobile phase of methanol-0.2% H3PO4(23:77).The flow rate was 1.0 mL·min-1, the column temperature was set at 30 ℃ and the detection wavelength was 250 nm. Results The TLC spots were clear and well-separated without negative interference.The good linear correlation existed within the range of 1.340 8-56.632 8μg· mL-1 for puerarin (r=0.999 9, n=6) and the average recovery was 102.98% with RSD being 1.48% (n=6). Conclusion The method is simple and accurate.It can be used for quality control of compound Chaihu tea.

Objective To evaluate the rehabilitating effect of hyperbaric oxygen on visual pathway lesions with blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Methods Sixteen patients with visual pathway lesions (the study group) and twelve healthy volunteers (the control group) were assessed using BOLD-fMRI and DTI. After hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the patients in the study group were again assessed using BOLD-fMRI and DTI. The activated regions of the BOLD-fMRI scan and the fractional anisotropy (FA) value determined from the DTI were calculated. Results Before hyperbaric oxygen treatment, there were significant differences between control and study groups in their BOLD-fMRI activated regions and the FA values of their radiation optics (P≤0.01). After hyperbaric oxygen treatment, there were no significant differences. Conclusion Combining BOLD-fMRI with DT1 could be used to evaluate the rehabilitation effect of hy-perbaric oxygen treatment in patients with visual pathway lesions.

Rotavirus is the leading causal agent of severe acute gastroenteritis in children aged <5 years. A specific pharmacologic agent for the treatment of rotavirus-infected children is lacking. In China, only the Luo Tewei oral vaccine (Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products, Shanghai, China), which is produced from Lanzhou lamb rotavirus vaccine (LLR), is available. Studies have hypothesized that the genotype of LLR is G10P[12], To identify the genotype of LLR by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, we showed that the VP7 and VP4 genotypes of LLR were G10 and P[15], respectively, based on sequencing, alignment and phylogenetic analyses. In conclusion, we identified the genotype of rotavirus strain LLR to be G10P[15].
China ; Genotype ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Rotavirus ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Rotavirus Infections ; virology ; Rotavirus Vaccines ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Viral Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics

Group-A rotaviruses are recognized as the most common cause of acute diarrhea. Phylogenetic analyses of the VP7 genes of rotaviruses circulating in Nanjing (China) could aid in the development of rotavirus vaccines. A total of 908 stool specimens were collected from patients suffering from acute diarrhea in Nanjing between October 2012 and December 2013, and were tested further for rotaviruses. Fifty rotavirus isolates selected randomly were typed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using serotype-specific primers for G genotyping. VP7 genes of 19 G9 strains were sequenced for further genetic characterization. Among the 908 stool specimens examined during the surveillance period, 103 (11.34%) were rotavirus-positive. G9 was the most predominant genotype (78.0%), followed by G2, G1 and G3. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of the VP7 genes of serotype G9 rotaviruses revealed these strains to comprise two lineages (G9-VI, G9-III) and to be dominated by the G9-VI lineage (which belonged to a unique subcluster of Japanese and Chinese G9 strains). Amino-acid sequences of the four antigenic regions (A, B, C or F) were variant among a portion of strains, which may have contributed to the prevalence of G9 rotaviruses in this area.
Adult ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Antigens, Viral ; chemistry ; genetics ; Capsid Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; China ; Evolution, Molecular ; Humans ; Infant ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation ; Phylogeny ; Rotavirus ; genetics ; immunology ; physiology ; Serogroup

Objective: The occurrence of intramyocardial hemorrhage (IMH) and microvascular obstruction (MVO) in myocardial infarction (MI), known as severe ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI), has been associated with adverse remodeling. APT102, a soluble human recombinant ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase-1, can hydrolyze extracellular nucleotides to attenuate their prothrombotic and proinflammatory effects. The purpose of this study was to temporally evaluate the therapeutic effect of APT102 on IRI in rats and to elucidate the evolution of IRI in the acute stage using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI). Materials and Methods: Fifty-four rats with MI, induced by ligation of the origin of the left anterior descending coronary artery for 60 minutes, were randomly divided into the APT102 (n = 27) or control (n = 27) group. Intravenous infusion of APT102 (0.3 mg/kg) or placebo was administered 15 minutes before reperfusion, and then 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, and on day 4 after reperfusion. CMRI was performed at 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, and on day 5 post-reperfusion using a 7T system and the hearts were collected for histopathological examination. Cardiac function was quantified using cine imaging and IMH/edema using T2 mapping, and infarct/MVO using late gadolinium enhancement. Results: The extent of infarction (p < 0.001), edema (p < 0.001), IMH (p = 0.013), and MVO (p = 0.049) was less severe in the APT102 group than in the control group. IMH size at 48 hours was significantly greater than that at 24 hours, 72 hours, and 5 days after reperfusion (all p < 0.001). The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was significantly greater in the APT102 group than in the control group (p = 0.006). There was a negative correlation between LVEF and IMH (r = -0.294, p = 0.010) and a positive correlation between IMH and MVO (r = 0.392, p < 0.001). Conclusion APT102 can significantly alleviate damage to the ischemic myocardium and microvasculature. IMH size peaked at 48 hours post reperfusion and IMH is a downstream consequence of MVO. IMH may be a potential therapeutic target to prevent adverse remodeling in MI.