Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of liver transplantation (LT) and liver resection (LR) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) and to investigate risk factors affecting prognosis. Materials and Methods: A total of 94 HCC patients with PVTT type I (segmental PVTT) and PVTT type II (lobar PVTT) were involved and divided into LR (n=47) and LT groups (n=47). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared before and after inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Prognostic factors for RFS and OS were explored. Results: Two treatment groups were well-balanced using IPTW. In the entire cohort, LT provided a better prognosis than LR. Among patients with PVTT type I, RFS was better with LT (p=0.039); OS was not different significantly between LT and LR (p=0.093). In subgroup analysis of PVTT type I patients with α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels >200 ng/mL, LT elicited significantly longer median RFS (18.0 months vs. 2.1 months, p=0.022) and relatively longer median OS time (23.6 months vs. 9.8 months, p=0.065). Among patients with PVTT type II, no significant differences in RFS and OS were found between LT and LR (p=0.115 and 0.335, respectively). Multivariate analyses showed treatment allocation (LR), tumor size (>5 cm), AFP and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels to be risk factors of RFS and treatment allocation (LR), AFP and AST as risk factors for OS. Conclusion LT appeared to afford a better prognosis for HCC with PVTT type I than LR, especially in patients with AFP levels >200 ng/mL.

In vivo electroporation of morpholinos (MOs) into the retina of adult zebrafish is an efficient method to study gene function related to retinal disease and regeneration. However, the currently reported methods are complicated with low MO transfer efficiency and high probability to cause collateral damage. The present study was aimed to optimize the existing MO electroporation methods. Two major changes were made to MO electroporation procedure in zebrafish retina. One was to coat the inner side of the electrode with ultrasonic gel. The other was to replace the commonly used round electrode with novel rectangular one. The results showed that the use of ultrasonic gel reduced collateral damage caused by retinal electroporation and simplified the experimental procedure. The rectangular electrode significantly increased transfection efficiency of MO electroporation. In particular, knocking down the expression of Ascl1a in the retina by using our method significantly inhibited the generation of retinal progenitor cells. These results suggest our method is the optimization of the current MO electroporation methods and may be a better alternative for relevant researchers.

Due to the particularity of ginseng cultivation, the soil fertility of cultivated ginseng is seriously depleted, so that the cultivated ginseng land can not be reused in the short term, and the land area available for cultivating ginseng becomes less and less with the growth of ginseng cultivation time. Therefore, in order to effectively manage ginseng cultivation, and achieve the sustainable use of ginseng land, it is necessary to obtain accurate information on the distribution of ginseng planting space. In this study, the object-oriented classification method based on rule set was used to extract ginseng planting area based on the ZY-3 satellite data in Fusong county, Jilin province. Firstly, multi-scale segmentation of ZY-3 remote sensing image in the study area was made, and the optimal segmentation scale was determined on the basis of multi-scale segmentation results. Secondly, a spectral curve according to the different feature type samples was generated. The similarities and differences between ginseng plot and other types of surface features were analyzed, and a rule set based on the results of spectral analysis was established to achieve the final extraction. The results show that the object-oriented classification method based on rule set can effectively extract the ginseng planting plots in the study area, and solve the problem that the extraction result is broken compared with the traditional pixel-based classification method.

The multiple components in Chinese herbal medicines (CHMS) will experience complex absorption and metabolism before entering the blood system. Previous studies often lay emphasis on the components in blood. However, the dynamic and sequential absorption and metabolism process following multi-component oral administration has not been studied. In this study, the in situ closed-loop method combined with LC-MS techniques were employed to study the sequential process of Chuanxiong Rhizoma decoction (RCD). A total of 14 major components were identified in RCD. Among them, ferulic acid, senkyunolide J, senkyunolide I, senkyunolide F, senkyunolide G, and butylidenephthalide were detected in all of the samples, indicating that the six components could be absorbed into blood in prototype. Butylphthalide, E-ligustilide, Z-ligustilide, cnidilide, senkyunolide A and senkyunolide Q were not detected in all the samples, suggesting that the six components may not be absorbed or metabolized before entering the hepatic portal vein. Senkyunolide H could be metabolized by the liver, while senkyunolide M could be metabolized by both liver and intestinal flora. This study clearly demonstrated the changes in the absorption and metabolism process following multi-component oral administration of RCD, so as to convert the static multi-component absorption process into a comprehensive dynamic and continuous absorption and metabolism process.

Authors raised that staging based strategies and practice of integrative medicine (IM) by combining syndrome typing and disease identification, and choosing suitable measures in accordance with different persons and seasonal conditions after more than ten years' clinical practice and researches. Radical operation as prior (as evil eliminating) and strengthening vital qi in perioerative period are best strategy for promoting rapid rehabilitation of early stage prostate cancer patients. Strengthening body resistance to eliminate evil was used in treating advanced prostate cancer patients. For example, a comprehensive treatment program for hormone-dependent patients was combined with endocrinotherapy and Chinese herbs for synergisic efficacy-enhancing actions. In this way, these patients' quality of life (QOL) were improved and time to castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) was delayed, even some patients were clinically cured. There are lack of effective medicines and methods for CRPC patients. Greatly tonifying original qi is mainly used for improving their clinical symptoms and prolonging survivals. Practice has proved staging based strategies and practice of IM has favorable advantages in treating prostate cancer, especially showing prospect in prolonging survival and postponing progression of advanced prostate cancer patients. Besides, it also could provide beneficial considerations and inspiration for combination of syndrome typing and disease identification.
Disease Progression ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant ; diagnosis ; Quality of Life

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of premature rupture of the membrane (PROM) on neonatal complications in premature infants.

METHODSThe registration information of 7684 preterm infants with gestational age <37 weeks were collected from the cooperative units in the task group between January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014. Specially trained personnel from each cooperative units filled in the unified form in a standardized format to record the gender, gestational age, birth weight, PROM, placental abruption, antenatal corticosteroid, Apgar score, amniotic fluid pollution, and complications of the infants. The data were analyzed comparatively between the cases with PROM and those without (control).

RESULTSThe preterm mortality rate was significantly lower but the incidences of ICH, NEC, ROP and BPD were significantly higher in PROM group than in the control group (P<0.05). The 95% confidence interval of the OR value was <1 for mortality, and was >1 for ICH, NEC, ROP and BPD. After adjustment for gestational age, birth weight, gender, mode of delivery, placental abruption, placenta previa, prenatal hormones, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gestational period hypertension and 5-min Apgar score <7, the incidences of NEC, ROP and BPD were significantly different between the two groups (P<0.05) with 95% confidence interval of OR value >1, but the mortality rate and incidence of ICH were not significantly different between the two groups (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONPROM is a risk factor for NEC, ROP and BPD in preterm infants, and adequate intervention of PROM can reduce the incidences of such complications as NEC, ROP and BPD in the infants.

Apgar Score ; Birth Weight ; Female ; Fetal Membranes, Premature Rupture ; pathology ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Newborn, Diseases ; etiology ; Infant, Premature ; Pregnancy ; Risk Factors

Adolescent ; Adult ; Animals ; Bites and Stings ; Dog Diseases ; virology ; Dogs ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nucleocapsid Proteins ; genetics ; Phylogeny ; Post-Exposure Prophylaxis ; Rabies ; prevention & control ; veterinary ; virology ; Rabies Vaccines ; immunology ; Young Adult

Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; immunology ; Atrazine ; analysis ; immunology ; Chromatography, Gas ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Food Contamination ; analysis ; Herbicides ; analysis ; immunology ; Mass Spectrometry

H5 subtype avian influenza (AIV-H5) is a major causative agent of animalloimia a rapid and sensitive molecular biological diagnosis is crucial to the control program of AIV-H5. AIV-H5 real-time fluorescent reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (qRT-LAMP) was established by means of heat treatment of the samples. The sensitivity, specificity and repeatability of this method were assessed and the performance of Calcein,SYBR Green I,HNB,SYTO 81 in colorimetric detection was comparatively analyzed to screen the optimum dye. The results showed the sensitivity of this method was 100 times higher than that of standard real-time fluorescent RT-PCR, and the detection limit was one copy of the gene per reaction. This method had no cross-reactivity with other common avian respiratory tract infectious disease-related pathogens such as IBV and NDV. The present study suggested Calcein was the optimum dye. Small-scale tests suggested this method was reliable for survey monitoring of AIV-H5 on the spot, indicating its potential applications in field investigation.
Animals ; Chickens ; Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus ; genetics ; Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Influenza in Birds ; diagnosis ; virology ; Poultry Diseases ; diagnosis ; virology ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; instrumentation ; methods ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of sub-micro emulsion composition on cellular uptake and disposition of incorporated lipophilic drug.

METHODSSub-micro emulsions containing 10 % oil, 1.2 % lecithin and 2.25 % glycerol were prepared, and the fluorescent agent coumarin 6 was used as a model drug. The effects of oil types, co-surfactants and cationic lipid on uptake and elimination kinetics of 6-coumarin in HeLa cells were studied. The uptake mechanism of sub-micro emulsions was further investigated.

RESULTSOil type and Tweens had no influence on the cellular uptake. Modifications of surfactants with Span series increased the cellular influx, among which Span 20 with hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) value of 8.6 was the best enhancer. The intracellular drug level reached up to (46.09 ± 1.98)ng/μg protein which had significant difference with control group [(38.54 ± 0.34)ng/μg protein]. The positively charged emulsions significantly increased the uptake rate constant and elimination rate constant which were 4 times and 1.5 times of those in anionic groups, respectively. The uptake enhancement was also observed in cationic emulsions, cellular concentrations at plateau were (42.73 ± 0.84)ng/μg protein, which was about 3 times of that in anionic emulsions [(15.71 ± 0.74)ng/μg protein], when extracellular drug concentration kept at 100 ng/ml. Cationic emulsions delivered the payload mainly by direct drug transfer to contacted cells, while the negative ones depended on both drug passive diffusion and clathrin-mediated endocytosis of drug containing oil droplets which accounted for 20% of the intracellular drug.

CONCLUSIONInterfacial characteristic of sub-micro emulsions such as co-surfactants HLB as well as zeta potentials can influence lipophilic drug both in cellular uptake and elimination.

Anions ; Cations ; Coumarins ; pharmacokinetics ; Emulsions ; Endocytosis ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Surface-Active Agents ; pharmacokinetics ; Thiazoles ; pharmacokinetics