Tubulin has been shown to be an effective target for the development of cytotoxic agents against prostate cancer. Previously, we reported that Lx2-32c is an anti-tubulin agent with high binding affinity to tubulin. In this study, we investigated the potential of Lx2-32c to act as an effective cytotoxic agent in the treatment of prostate cancer. MTT assays showed that Lx2-32c was cytotoxic to all tested prostate cancer cell lines. The Lx2-32c-treated cells typically exhibited a rounded morphology associated with the onset of apoptosis, as evidenced by immunocytochemical staining. Human prostate cancer cell lines treated with Lx2-32c arrest in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle and the treatment is associated with an increased ratio of cells in the sub-G0/G1 phase as determined by flow cytometry. Furthermore, expression of the cleaved form of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase in prostate cancer cell lines treated with Lx2-32c was shown by Western blotting assay. Xenograft implants of LNCaP and PC3-derived tumors in nude mice showed that Lx2-32c treatment significant inhibited tumor growth with effects equivalent to those of docetaxel. These findings demonstrate the potential of Lx2-32c as a candidate antitumor agent for the treatment of prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVETo understand the infantile nocturnal sleep-wake pattern developmental trajectory with Actiwatch, which would benefit the clinical assessment of infantile sleep.

METHODThis study was a longitudinal study conducted between 7 Oct, 2009-30 Oct, 2011 in 10 hospitals of 9 cities of China ( Beijing, Xi'an, Qingdao, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing, Huzhou, Xiamen and Liuzhou). Actiwatch was used to track the sleep-wake pattern development trajectory of healthy infants in the first year of life in the home setting. Participating infants were followed up at 10th day and 28th day during the first month, and then monthly from the second to the sixth month after birth, and then at ninth and twelve months of age respectively. Meanwhile, infantile sleep was observed continuously for about 60 hours at each visit. According to the characteristics of repeated measurement data of this study, two-level random effect model was adopted to analyze the trend of infantile nocturnal sleep-wake parameters changing with age, and the gender difference.

RESULTA total of 473 healthy infants were included in this study, among whom 246 (52.0%) were boys, and 227 (48.0%) were girls; 355 (75.1%) infants completed the whole year follow-up survey. With infants' age increasing, the latency of infants' nighttime sleep onset decreased from 66.8 minutes on 10th day to 15.5-18.7 minutes at 6-12 months of age. The number of night wakes also decreased with age, while uninterrupted sleep periods lengthened with age. On the 10th day, there were 3.0 times of nightwaking on average, and the longest continuous sleeping interval lasted for 227.6 minutes on average. At 12-month of age, infants could sleep continuously for 350.9 minutes at most on average, while the number of nightwaking decreased to 1.6 times per night on average. Generally, nighttime sleep efficiency increased from 66.3% on the 10th day to 86.3% at 12-month of age. The differences of sleep-wake patterns between boys and girls presented as boys' nocturnal longest uninterrupted sleep period was 19 minutes shorter(266.6 vs. 285.6 min), and the average nighttime sleep efficiency was 2.2% lower (74.2% vs. 76.4%) compared with girls respectively. And the differences of sleep efficiency between boys and girls reduced gradually along with the growth.

CONCLUSIONDuring the first 6 months after birth, infantile sleep-wake pattern undergo obvious change. The capability of sleep-onset and uninterrupted sleep improved with age, and the sleep efficiency increased.

China ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Longitudinal Studies ; Male ; Sleep ; physiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUNDCollaterals to occluded infarct-related coronary arteries (IRA) have been observed after the onset of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We sought to investigate the impact of early coronary collateralization, as evidenced by angiography, on myocardial reperfusion and outcomes after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

METHODSAcute procedural results, ST-segment resolution (STR), enzymatic infarct size, echocardiographic left ventricular function, and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 6-month follow-up were assessed in 389 patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI for occluded IRA (TIMI flow grade 0 or 1) within 12 hours of symptom-onset. Angiographic coronary collateralization to the occluded IRA at first contrast injection was graded according to the Rentrop scoring system.

RESULTSLow (Rentrop score of 0 or 1) and high (Rentrop score of 2 or 3) coronary collateralization was detected in 329 and 60 patients, respectively. Patients with high collateralization more commonly had prior stable angina and right coronary artery occlusion, but less often had left anterior descending artery occlusion. At baseline, these patients presented with less extent of ST-segment elevation and lower serum levels of creatine kinase myocardial band (CK-MB) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI). Procedural success rate, STR, corrected TIMI flame count, and area under the curve of CK-MB and cTnI measurements after the procedure were similar between patients with high collateralization and those with low collateralization (for all comparisons P > 0.05). There were no differences in left ventricular ejection fraction and rates of MACE at 6 months according to baseline angiographic collaterals to occluded IRA.

CONCLUSIONSIn patients with acute STEMI undergoing primary PCI within 12 hours of symptom-onset, coronary collateralization to the occluded IRA was influenced by clinical and angiographic features. Early recruitment of collaterals limits infarct size at baseline, but has no significant impact on myocardial reperfusion after the procedure and subsequent left ventricular function and clinical outcomes.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Coronary Angiography ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Using phenol-sulfuric acid method and hot-dip method of alcohol-soluble extracts, the contents of polysaccharides and alcohol-soluble extracts in 11 F1 generations of Dendrobium officinale were determined. The results showed that the polysaccharides contents in samples collected in May and February were 32.89%-43.07% and 25.77%-35.25%, respectively, while the extracts contents were 2.81%-4.85% and 7.90%-17.40%, respectively. They were significantly different among families. The content of polysaccharides in offspring could be significantly improved by hybridization between parents with low and high polysaccharides contents, and the hybrid vigor was obvious. Cross breeding was an effective way for breeding new varieties with higher polysaccharides contents. Harvest time would significantly affect the contents of polysaccharides and alcohol-soluble extracts. The contents of polysaccharides in families collected in May were higher than those of polysaccharides in families collected in February, but the extracts content had the opposite variation. The extents of quantitative variation of polysaccharides and alcohol-soluble extracts were different among families, and each family had its own rules. It would be significant in giving full play to their role as the excellent varieties and increasing effectiveness by studying on the quantitative accumulation regularity of polysaccharides and alcohol-soluble extracts in superior families (varieties) of D. officinale to determine the best harvesting time.
Breeding ; China ; Dendrobium ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Polysaccharides ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

Based on randomized block design of experiment, agronomic traits and yields of 14 F1 generations of Dendrobium officinale were determined. The results showed that the differences in agronomic traits and yields among families were significant, and the hybrid vigor was obvious. Families of 6b x 2a, 9 x 66 and 78 x 69 were selected with the remarkable superiority of yields, agronomic traits and product customization. Correlation analysis between agronomic traits and yields showed that plant height, stem diameter, leaf number, blade length and blade width were all significantly correlated with biological yields and economic yields. Among which, stem diameter, leaf number and blade length were the most significant, and an optimal linear regression model could be established. When the number of shoots was fewer than 4.5, both biological yields and economic yields increased with the increasing number of shoots, but it could not much affect yields when the number of shoots was larger than 4.5. Shoots number, stem diameter and leaf index were basic stability when compared biennial traits to annual, which could be used for early selection.
Biomass ; Dendrobium ; genetics ; growth & development ; Hybridization, Genetic ; Plant Leaves ; genetics ; growth & development ; Plant Stems ; genetics ; growth & development ; Quantitative Trait Loci

Telomerase activity and the expression of telomerase subunits (for example, telomerase reverse transcriptase and telomerase associated protein 1 and telomerase RNA component) of peripheral white blood cells were detected in the patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) and the correlation between telomerase activity and the expression of telomerase subunits was observed. In 94 peripheral white blood cells from 18 healthy volunteers and 76 patients with AML, including 31 AML at initial presentation, 24 at relapse and 21 at complete remission, the telomerase activity and telomerase subunits mRNA or RNA were detected by PCR-ELISA and RT-PCR respectively. The results showed that the positive rate of telomerase from patients with AML at initial presentation, at relapse and at complete remission was 74.1%, 79.2% and 4.8% respectively. The positive rate of telomerase reverse transcriptase mRNA from healthy volunteers, AML at initial presentation, AML at relapse and AML at complete remission was 5.6%, 80.6%, 83.3% and 9.5% respectively. The positive rate of telomerase associated protein 1 mRNA and telomerase RNA component in all samples were 100%. It was suggested that the up-regulation of telomerase activity and the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase is correlated closely with the occurrence and relapse of AML, so telomerase activity and the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase may be used to estimate the curative effect and predict relapse of AML. Moreover, the up-regulation of telomerase activity is correlated with the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase significantly.
Carrier Proteins ; metabolism ; Child ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; enzymology ; RNA ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Telomerase ; metabolism