Objective To investigate the effects of calycosin, formononetin, calycosin-7-glucoside and ononin on PC 12 cells differentiation. Methods PC 12 cells were cultured and treated with different concentrations of nerve growth factor (NGF), calycosin, formononetin, calycosin-7-glucoside and ononin for 5 days, once a day, 3 times in a row. The neurite outgrowth of PC 12 cells was observed and the expression of β III-tubulin were measured by immunofluorescence. Results Compared with the vehicle group, neurite outgrowth and the expression of β III tubulin in PC 12 cells had not promoted by calycosin, formononetin, calycosin-7-glucoside and ononin (0.01-10.00 μmol/L). Conclusion PC 12 cells differentiation could not be induced by calycosin, formononetin, calycosin-7-glucoside and ononin.

Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are ectopic lymphoid structures in cancers that are largely associated with favourable prognosis. However, the prognostic value of TLSs in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is largely unknown, and the association between tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and TLSs has been rarely explored in OSCC. In this study, associated markers of TLS, including peripheral node address (PNAd) in high endothelial venules, CD20 in B cells and CD3 in T cells, were examined in 168 OSCC patients, and survival analysis was performed between TLS-positive and TLS-negative cohorts. We detected the presence of TILs by staining CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and CD57+ NK cells as well. TLSs appeared as highly organized structures in 45 (26.8%) cases. TLS-positive patients had a better 5-year overall survival (OS) rate (88.9% vs. 56.1%, P < 0.001) and relapse-free survival (RFS) rate (88.9% vs. 63.4%, P = 0.002). Moreover, the presence of TLS was an independent prognostic factor for both the 5-year OS rate (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.784; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.498-9.562) and RFS rate (HR = 3.296; 95% CI, 1.279-8.490) in multivariate analysis. Furthermore, a higher density of CD8+ T cells and CD57+ NK cells was found in TLS-positive sections than in TLS-negative counterparts (P < 0.001), and their combination provided a higher predictive accuracy (AUC = 0.730; 95% CI, 0.654-0.805). In conclusion, our results suggest that TLS is an independent positive prognostic factor for OSCC patients. These findings provide a theoretical basis for the future diagnostic and therapeutic value of TLSs in OSCC treatment.

To analyze the potential limitations of hospital-level research projects management by summarizing its performance status from 2008 to 2011,including but not limited to lack of time for conducting research,insufficient financial funds,inadequate funding application,inadequate supervision.Thus,since 2014,our hospital has adopted some new measurements for projects management,including full-time research,hierarchical management,full mobilization,the establishment of reward and punishment measures,which significantly improved the quality of hospital-level research projects,and the rate of longitudinal follow-up project,research enthusiasm of medical staff,and sustainable development of hospital science and technology.

In 2013 Shanghai took the lead to carry out the specialist standardized training which is common in the international medical education. This paper first gives a picture of the general condition of the standardized training on specialists of obstetrics and gynecology in Shanghai. Then from the perspectives of strategic deployment, department management, clinical skill training and the training of examiners, the paper explores the assessment model in which both the assessment of train-ing process and the scores of the final examination are considered whereas the process assessment is given more weight. This paper is aimed to provide experience and suggestions for the further advance of the specialists standardized training in the field of obstetrics and gynecology.