Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important global public health concern and a major cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. Many studies have shown that different genotypes and subtypes have significant differences in pathogenicity, thus affecting the disease progression and prognosis of infected individuals. So far, a total of 10 HBV genotypes and more than 40 subtypes have been reported across the world, and these subtypes have shown distinct distribution characteristics. In the present review, we systematically summarized the current situation on the global distribution of HBV genotypes.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the survival trends and patterns of failure in patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy over the last 20 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight hundred and eight patients diagnosed with stage II NPC between January 1990 and December 2012 were involved in this retrospective cohort study. All patients were treated with RT. According to the main imaging techniques and RT technology, we categorized these patients into four calendar periods: 1990-1996, 1997-2002, 2003-2007, and 2008-2012. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional relapse-free survival (LRFS), and distant metastasis–free survival (DMFS) were served as the clinical outcome. RESULTS: After a median follow-up period of 84.7 months, we observed increasing trends in survival and disease control. The 3- and 5-year OS rates increased from 87.1% and 78.7% in the first calendar period to 97.4% and 94.5% in the last calendar period, respectively (p<0.001). Additionally, significant increasing trends could be seen in the PFS and LRFS during the four calendar periods. In the subgroup analysis, the LRFS in patients older than 50 years at diagnosis showed greater improvement than younger patients. However, the rate of distant metastasis was stable and relatively low, as the 5-year DMFS ranged from 90.5% to 94.7% among the four calendar periods. CONCLUSION: The survival rates in patients with stage II NPC showed increasing trends from 1990 to 2012. The advance of RT provided excellent locoregional control and enhanced OS.
Cohort Studies ; Diagnosis ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of Ca-NFAT signaling pathway in Ph-ALL drug resistance mediated by bone marrow stromal cells. METHODS: The transcription level of NFAT mRNA in Sup-B15 cells and Ph ALL primary cells was detected by polymerase chain reaction. The expression of P-glycoprotein in Sup-B15 cells was detected by flow cytometry. The change of NFAT protein in Sup-B15 cells was detected by Western blot. AnnexinV/7-AAD was used to label cells. Flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis; Fluo 3-AM dye was used to label cells, and flow cytometry used to detect changes of Ca concentration in leukemia cells. RESULTS NFAT expression could be detected in both Sup-B15 and Ph ALL primary cells; P-glycoprotein could not be detected by flow cytometry; CAS could significantly inhibit NFAT protein expression in clinically applied drug concentrations (2.5, 5 μmol/L); Clinically applied concentration of CAS (2.5, 5 μmol / L) has no significant effect on the apoptosis of Sup-B15 cells, while higher concentration of CAS (10 μmol / L) could induce apoptosis of Sup-B15 cells. Bone marrow stromal cells OP9 could, decrease the sensitivity of Sup-B15 cells and Ph ALL primary cells to imatinib (IM); After co-culture with bone were marrow stromal cells, the Ca concentration in Sup-B15 cells was enhanced, the levels of NFAT protein and nullear protein in sup-B15 cells also were enhanced. The addition of CAS in co-culture system could inlibit the Ca-NFAT signaling pathway, reduce the protective effect of OP9 on Sup-B15 cells.Conclution:The Ca-NFAT sigualing pathway, contributes to the survival of Ph ALL cells. Bone marrow stromal cells can mediate the resistance of Ph ALL cells to IM by activating Ca-NFAT signaling pathway.
Bone Marrow Cells ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Humans ; Imatinib Mesylate ; Mesenchymal Stem Cells ; NFATC Transcription Factors ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; Signal Transduction

Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS / MS) in childhood asthma and healthy control, aiming to find the potential markers of EBC in children with asthma, and provide a scientific reference for its pathogenesis and early screening. EBC samples were collected from 21 asthmatic children (age (8. 2 ±1. 6) years) and 17 healthy children ( age (8. 1 ±1. 3) years). GC-MS / MS was used to obtain the full scan data of chemical components. Cluster analysis was performed on the two groups of metabolites by principal component analysis (PCA), and potential biomarkers were found using Metaboanalyst 3. 0 attributable metabolic pathways. The results showed that the EBC metabolic maps of asthmatic group and normal group were very different, and eight endogenous potential biomarkers were identified, suggesting that starch and sucrose metabolism, lysine degradation, aminoglycan nucleoside metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism may play important roles in the development of asthma in children.

In order to explore the correlation between the medicinal properties，efficacy and application in the same genetic relationship，explain the scientific connotation of the medicinal properties and effects of traditional Chinese medicines(TCM)，promote the academic development of the theory of traditional Chinese medicines，and provide reference for the research and development of the traditional Chinese medicines of a same genus. In this paper, a literature study of ancient and modern works of Chinese herbal medicine was conducted to investigate the correlation between the properties, meridians tropism, efficacy and application of Alpinia officinarum， A. katsumadai， Galangae Fructus and Alpinae Oxyphyllae Fructus, four kinds of Alpinia Chinese medicines．The results showed that the similar properties of these four kinds of Alpinia Chinese medicines included that they were acrid, warm,and mainly getting into the spleen and stomach channels; the similar efficacies included that dispelling cold，relieving pain，warming stomach，anti-nausea，anti-diarrheal，reinforcing spleen to promote digestion and other effects; in application aspects, the similarities were that they were all mainly used in treatment of catching cold or spleen deficiency induced by abdominal pain，vomiting，diarrhea,diet indigestion, etc. indicating that phylogenetic relationship was closely related with the herbal properties, efficacy and application. It is an effective way to explore，collate and research traditional Chinese medicine by using plant phylogenetic relationships in exploring the internal relations and laws of TCM theories，material bases, pharmacological effects and clinical applications, also with a strong maneuverability to explain their scientific connotation.

PURPOSE: The measuring Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA is an important predictor of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study evaluated the predictive value of pretreatment serum amyloid A (SAA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) comparing with EBV DNA in patients with NPC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In an observational study of 419 non-metastatic NPC patients, we prospectively evaluated the prognostic effects of pretreatment SAA, CRP, and EBV DNA on survival. The primary end-point was progress-free survival (PFS). RESULTS: The median level of SAA and CRP was 4.28 mg/L and 1.88 mg/L, respectively. For the high-SAA group (> 4.28 mg/L) versus the low-SAA (≤ 4.28 mg/L) group and the high-CRP group (> 1.88 mg/L) versus the low-CRP (≤ 1.88 mg/L) group, the 5-year PFS was 64.5% versus 73.1% (p=0.013) and 65.2% versus 73.3% (p=0.064), respectively. EBV DNA detection showed a superior predictive result, the 5-year PFS in the EBV DNA ≥ 1,500 copies/mL group was obviously different than the EBV DNA < 1,500 copies/mL group (62.2% versus 77.8%, p < 0.001). Multifactorial Cox regression analysis confirmed that in the PFS, the independent prognostic factors were including EBV DNA (hazard ratio [HR], 1.788; p=0.009), tumour stage (HR, 1.903; p=0.021), and node stage (HR, 1.498; p=0.049), but the SAA and CRP were not included in the independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: The results of SAA and CRP had a certain relationship with the prognosis of NPC, and the prognosis of patients with high level of SAA and CRP were poor. However, the predictive ability of SAA and CRP was lower than that of EBV DNA.
C-Reactive Protein* ; DNA* ; Herpesvirus 4, Human* ; Humans ; Observational Study ; Prognosis ; Prospective Studies* ; Serum Amyloid A Protein* ; Survival Analysis

The protective effect of different polar fractions of Carbonized Rubiae Radix et Rhizoma (cRRR) against ox-LDL-induced damage to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was investigated by MTT assay, and the components were identified by using UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. According to the study, ethyl acetate extract and n-butanol extract could increase cell viability (P<0.01), while petroleum ether extract had no influence, and water extract could even inhibit the cell viability to some degree. Moreover, 32 compounds in four polar fractions were analyzed, including 31 quinones and their glycosides, and one rubiprasins C. Petroleum ether extract, ethyl acetate extract, n-butanol extract and water extract contained 23, 32, 26, 15 compounds, respectively. According to cell experiments in vitro, active fractions were ethyl acetate extract and n-butanol extract. The results could provide scientific references for further studies on effective material basic of cRRR, and lay a foundation for studies on the relationship between efficacies and materials.

In order to explore the effect on chemical constituents after carbonized, the changes of chemical constituents in raw and carbonized Rubiae Radix et Rhizoma were analyzed by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. The research also used principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) for data statistics to find out the main differences on components before and after carbonized. The accurate m/z values of Q-TOF-MS and Q-TOF-MS-MS fragments were applied to identify the structures. The results showed that 6 more discrepant constituents were existed between raw and carbonized Rubiae Radix et Rhizoma. Three constituents were selected as the main discrepant components according to the peak area (276 nm) and identified, as lucidin, xanthopurpurin and 1,3,6-trihydroxy-2-methylanthraquinone. After carbonized, contents of xanthopurpurin and 1,3,6-trihydroxy-2-methylanthraquinone were observably increasing, while lucidin was obviously decreasing. They could be used as the chemical markers for the differentiation between raw and carbonized Rubiae Radix et Rhizoma. The results of this experiment played an important role in the study of processing principle of carbonized Rubiae Radix et Rhizoma. It also provided important evidences for the interpretation of effective material based on carbonized Rubiae Radix et Rhizoma.

OBJECTIVEThe effect of the silica nanoparticles (SNs) on lungs injury in rats was investigated to evaluate the toxicity and possible mechanisms for SNs.

METHODSMale Wistar rats were instilled intratracheally with 1 mL of saline containing 6.25, 12.5, and 25.0 mg of SNs or 25.0 mg of microscale SiO2 particles suspensions for 30 d, were then sacrificed. Histopathological and ultrastructural change in lungs, and chemical components in the urine excretions were investigated by light microscope, TEM and EDS. MDA, NO and hydroxyproline (Hyp) in lung homogenates were quantified by spectrophotometry. Contents of TNF-α, TGF-β1, IL-1β, and MMP-2 in lung tissue were determined by immunohistochemistry staining.

RESULTSThere is massive excretion of Si substance in urine. The SNs lead pulmonary lesions of rise in lung/body coefficients, lung inflammation, damaged alveoli, granuloma nodules formation, and collagen metabolized perturbation, and lung tissue damage is milder than those of microscale SiO2 particles. The SNs also cause increase lipid peroxidation and high expression of cytokines.

CONCLUSIONThe SNs result into pulmonary fibrosis by means of increase lipid peroxidation and high expression of cytokines. Milder effect of the SNs on pulmonary fibrosis comparing to microscale SiO2 particles is contributed to its elimination from urine due to their ultrafine particle size.

Air Pollutants ; toxicity ; Animals ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Lung ; drug effects ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Male ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Nanoparticles ; toxicity ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; pathology ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Silicon Dioxide ; toxicity ; Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms ; Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission ; Urine ; chemistry

Objective To study the non-fastidous antibiotic-resistance bacteria pollution in tap water from a neighborhood in Tianjin.Methods Tap water samples were collected and bacteria were isolated by R2A agar,and 16S rRNA gene sequence for the identification of bacteria isolates was used.Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method.Results Among the 39 non-fastidous bacteria isolates,the resistance rate of antibioticresistance bacteria was 79.49％,including Enterococcus,Staphylococcus,Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas.Some bacteria (28.21％) showed resistance against only one antibiotic.The others (51.28％) were multiple resistant bacteria.Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole resistance was most prevalent (53.85％),and sulfamethoxazole resistance was also widely distributed (28.21％).Conclusion Tap water from this neighborhood is heavily polluted by non-fastidous antibioticresistantance bacteria,which deserves more attention.