Icariin is one of the key active components of Epimedium species, which is most widely applied to supplement the kidney in traditional Chinese medicine. Scientific research has found that icariin possesses extensive therapeutic effects such as protecting neurons from injury, promoting growth of neuronal synapse, improving sexual dysfunction and bone morphogenesis, as well as anti-inflammation, anti-tumor and anti-depression functions. Considering that molecular mechanism is the fundamental basis for pharmaceutical efficacy of icariin, in this article, the authors retrospectively retrieved 122 scientific papers recorded in the PubMed database with "icariin" in the title from January 1, 1995 to January 5, 2011. It was found that icariin has been closely highlighted in the intervention of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signal pathways, inhibition of phosphodiesterase 5, and regulation of nuclear receptors. Besides, the authors also discussed the main orientation for molecular mechanism of icariin in future research.

Cryptosporidium spp.are protozoan parasites that infect the epithelial cells of the gstrointestinal tract of hosts.In humans,cryptosporidiosis is usually a self-limiting infection in immunocompetent individuals,but severe diarrhea and dissemination to extra-intestinal sites can occur in high-risk individuals,such as the very young,the elderly,immunedeficiency individuals,particularly in HIV-positive patients.So far,molecular epidemiological data have confirmed the presence of 30 species and over 40 genotypes with genus Cryptosporidium,with 21 species and genotypes being found in humans.The majority of human cryptosporidiosis cases are responsible for C.hominis and C.parvum.Human cases caused by C.meleagridis,C.ubiquitum,C.felis and C.canis have been increasing.Besides that,with data accumulation of molecular epidemiology of human cryptosporidiosis,some more Cryptosporidium species and genotypes were newly identified in humans.This paper mainly reviews epidemiology status of these new emerging Cryptosporidium species and genotypes in humans.

Objective To analyze clinical features and prognosis of primary intestinal T cell lymphoma (ITCL)which was misdiagnosed as Crohn′s disease (CD),and summarized the key points of differentiation between ITCL and CD.Methods From January 2003 to January 2014,clinical data of patients with ITCL once misdiagnosed as CD were retrospectively analyzed,which included demographic,clinical,pathological and prognostic data.The data of 177 patients diagnosed as CD from January 2012 to January 2014 were collected. The demographic,clinical,pathological and prognostic data of these two groups were analyzed and compared. The continuous variables were compared with t test or Mann-WhitneyU test,and the differences of classification variables between two groups were analyzed by Chi-square test or Fisher exact probability method.Results A
total of 18 patients (17 males and one female)with ITCL misdiagnosed as CD were enrolled in the study,and the median age at diagnosis was 38.5 (28.8 to 42.5)years and the median duration of diagnosis was 6.00 (3.75 to 13.25)months.The common primary symptoms were abdominal pain (12/18),diarrhea (13/18)and anemia (13/18).Intestinal perforation was primary symptom in two cases (2/18).However,B symptoms of lymphoma was observed in 16 patients,which included fever in 13 patients,weight loss in 16 patients and night sweat in one patient.One or more serious complications appeared in 12 patients,which included intestinal perforation in nine patients,severe gastrointestinal bleeding in seven patients and intestinal obstruction in two patients.In 177 patients with CD,104 patients were male (58.8%),and the median age at diagnosis was 22.0 (18.0 to 29.0) years.The primary symptoms were abdominal pain (88.7%,157/177),diarrhea (55.9%,99/177),anemia (63.8%,113/177),fever (33.3%,59/177)and weight loss (59.9%,106/177).During the disease course,30 patients (16.9%)had intestinal perforation (mainly chronic),12 patients (6.8%)had intestinal obstruction and seven patients (4.0%)had severe gastrointestinal bleeding.Compared to CD patients,male patients were more common in ITCL (χ2 =8.837,P <0.01),age at diagnosis was older (χ2 =314.5,P <0.01),the disease course was shorter (U=385.0,P <0.01),weight loss (χ2 =5.867,P <0.05)and fever (χ2 =10.609,P <0.01)were more common in clinical symptoms and intestinal perforation and severe gastrointestinal bleeding were more common in complications (χ2 =9.185,24.908,both P <0.01).The lesions of ITCL were multiple lesions, small bowel involved in eight cases,colon involved in 14 cases and one case with esophagus involved.Under endoscopy examination,most lesions appeared as ulcerations and were segmentally distributed.Compared to CD, lymphocyte proliferation was more common in the intestinal histopathological findings of ITCL (17/18 vs 19.7%(35/177);χ2 =42.844,P <0.01)and granuloma was rare (0 vs 42.8%(76/177),χ2 =12.665,P <0.01). Among 18 patients with ITCL,nine received chemotherapy and the median survival time was two months. Conclusions Primary ITCL had non-specific symptoms and was easily misdiagnosed as CD.More attention should be paid to the differential diagnosis of the two disease.

To observe the effects of icariin, psoralen and oleanolic acid, the three active ingredients of Yinyanghuo (Herba Epimedii Brevicornus), Buguzhi (Fructus Psoraleae) and Nuzhenzi (Fructus Ligustri Lucidi), respectively, on gene expression profile of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) from rats with corticosterone-induced osteoporosis.

This report concerns a 4-month-old infant with progressive prominent and redness of his left eye since birth. This report concerns a 4-month-old infant with progressive prominent redness of his left eye since birth. Angiography revealed a congenital pial arteriovenous fistula between the temporal branch of the left posterior cerebral artery and left cavernous sinus through the sphenoparietal sinus, a condition not reported in the literature. The fistula was successfully occluded with two micro-coils by vertebrobasilar approach.
Arteriovenous Fistula/*diagnosis/therapy ; *Cavernous Sinus/radiography ; Embolization, Therapeutic/methods ; Humans ; Infant ; Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations/*diagnosis/therapy ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Posterior Cerebral Artery ; Temporal Lobe/blood supply

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided coil embolization combined with endoscopic cyanoacrylate injection for gastric fundal varices with large spontaneous shunt.Methods:Data of 24 patients with gastric fundal varices with large spontaneous shunt (the smallest diameter was 5-15 mm) treated by EUS-guided coil embolization combined with endoscopic cyanoacrylate injection in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from December 2016 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The short-term efficacy (the rates of technical success, five-day rebleeding and six-week mortality) and long-term efficacy (the rates of one-year rebleeding, one-year mortality and three-year mortality) and safety (ectopic embolism) were evaluated.Results:The technical success rate was 91.7% (22/24), and the five-day rebleeding rate was 0 (0/22). Computed tomography angiography of portal vein reexamined 2 days after the treatment showed embolism of splenic vein in 1 patient (4.5%). The median follow-up time was 14.9 months (ranging 1.0-48.6 months) and 2 patients were lost during follow-up. The six-week mortality was 0 (0/20), and the one-year rebleeding rate was 35.0% (7/20). Among 12 patients who underwent endoscopy in the follow-up, 5 had aggravation of esophageal varices, and 5 had aggravation of portal hypertension gastropathy. The one-year and three-year mortalities were 5.0% (1/20) and 20.0% (4/20), respectively, neither of which was related to such events as bleeding or ectopic embolism.Conclusion:EUS-guided coil embolization combined with endoscopic cyanoacrylate injection for gastric fundal varices with large spontaneous shunt is effective and safe in short term, with a low rate of ectopic embolism. Long-term efficacy and safety need to be further confirmed.

Objective To analyze the genetic etiology of a fetus with growth restriction,short long bones,small head circumference and enhanced kidney echoes,and explore the clinical significance of nonsense mutations in the NIPBL gene.Methods The clinical data of the fetus and his/her parents were collected.The variation sites of the NIPBL gene were verified by the chromosome karyotype a-nalysis of amniotic fluid,copy number variation detection in the human genome(CNV-seq),whole exome sequencing(WES)and Sanger sequencing.The databases such as China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI),Wanfang Data,Wanfang Medical,and Pubmed were searched to further analyze the relationship between clinical symptoms and gene mutation sites in the fetus.Results The sequencing results showed that there was c.4555A>T heterozygous mutation in exon 21 of the NIPBL gene in the fetus,and that the same mutation was not detected in his/her parents.The above variation had not been included in databases such as Human Exon Data-base(ExAC),1000 genomes(1000G)and Genome Aggregation Database(gnomAD),and were comprehensively judged as harmful variation.Conclusion The detection of the nonsense variation,c.4555A>T(p.Lys1519?),in the NIPBL gene may provide experi-mental evidence for the prenatal diagnosis and fertility in this family.

Mycobacterium (M.) vaccae is a fast-growing species of saprophytic bacteria that is widely distributed. To understand the host immune responses induced by M. vaccae isolated from bovine submaxillary lymph nodes, C57BL/6 mice were infected with reference strain M. vaccae Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and isolated M. vaccae using intraperitoneal injections. Comparison of the bacterial replication and organ pathology between M. vaccae and M. vaccae BCG revealed that M. vaccae was more malignant than M. vaccae in mice. We also demonstrated that serum from the M. vaccae-infected mice contained a higher expression level of gamma-interferon (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor alpha, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-12, IL-10 and transforming growth factor beta than did the other groups, especially after week 4. Furthermore, when the numbers of CD3⁺CD4⁺IFN-γ⁺ and CD3⁺CD4⁺IL4⁺ cells in the infected mice were observed by flow cytometry, we found that a powerful T helper 1 (Th1) response was induced by M. vaccae infection, which was associated with the emergence of CD3⁺CD4⁺IFN-γ⁺ cells. However, the Th1 response declined over time, which was associated with appearance of the CD4⁺CD25⁺FoxP3⁺ and CD4⁺CD25⁺CD152⁺Treg cell reaction. In addition, a strong Th2 response was found. Finally, we found that M. vaccae infection increased the production of type I IFNs, which was associated with a reduced Th1 response.
Animals ; Bacillus ; Bacteria ; Chemokine CCL2 ; Flow Cytometry ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Interferon-gamma ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-12 ; Interleukins ; Lymph Nodes ; Mice* ; Mycobacterium bovis ; Mycobacterium* ; Pathology ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Objective To explore the effect of tea polyphenols on the growth of human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) subgenes-immortalized human cervical epithelial cells (H8 cells).Methods Cultured H8 cells were divided into 5 groups to be treated with 0 (control group),6.25,12.5,25 and 50 mg/L tea polyphenols respectively for 24,36,and 48 hours,and then cell counting kit-8 (CCK8)assay was performed to detect cell proliferation.After 24 hours of incubation,flow cytometry was conducted to detect cell apoptosis and cell cycle,and fluorescence microscopy to observe the morphology of apoptotic cells.Results After incubation with tea polyphenols at different concentrations for 24,36 and 48 hours,the proliferation of H8 cells was inhibited,and 12.5 mg/L tea polyphenols could inhibit the relative growth rate of H8 cells in a time-dependent manner.Flow cytometry showed that there was a significant difference in cell apoptosis rate among the 6.25-,12.5-,25-,50-mg/L tea polyphenols groups and the control group (52.62％ ± 0.62％,52.22％ ± 0.72％,42.52％ ± 0.90％,45.96％ ± 2.11％,29.96％ ± 0.70％ respectively,F =272.0,P ＜ 0.05).Moreover,all the tea polyphenol groups showed significantly increased cell apoptosis rate compared with the control group (all P ＜ 0.05).Fluorescence microscopy showed karyopyknosis,nuclear fragmentation and other typical apoptotic morphological changes in H8 cells in tea polyphenols groups.There were significant differences in the percentage of cells in G1,G2 phase and cell proliferation index among the 5 groups (all P ＜ 0.05).Compared with the control group,the 6.25-,12.5-,25-mg/L tea polyphenols groups showed significantly increased percentage of cells in G1 phase (55.96％ ± 0.72％,54.12％ ± 3.20％,65.30％ ± 1.51％ respectively,all P ＜ 0.05),but significantly decreased percentage of cells in G2 phase (3.17 ± 1.82％,4.94 ± 1.46％,4.65 ± 4.26％ respectively,all P ＜ 0.05) and lower cell proliferation index(0.44 ± 0.01,0.46 ± 0.02,0.36 ± 0.01 respectively,all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Tea polyphenols can inhibit the proliferation of H8 cells,induce cell apoptosis,and block cell cycle progression.