Some Chinese herbs have been used to prevent and treat diseases, and are also used as common food ingredients. These Chinese herbs are potential resource for research and development of new drugs. Leek roots is a typical medicine of food and medicine continuum. It has a long history of medicinal applications and edible food in China. In this paper, the origin, biological active components, pharmacological action and clinical application of leek roots were introduced. We hope that this review will contribute to the development of leek roots for pharmaceutical research and clinical applications, as well as related health products.

Objective:To investigate the clinically relevant factors of progressive disease (PD) after neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced gastric cancer.Methods:From Jun 2011 to Mar 2016, 569 patients with locally advanced gastric cancer(cT3/4N0/+ M0) admitted to the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University were retrospectively analyzed .Results:All 569 patients completed neoadjuvant therapy, 59 patients (10.4%) had PD. Univariate analysis showed that tumor size (χ 2=10.091, P=0.001), pathological type (χ 2=4.110, P=0.043), Borrmann type (χ 2=91.941, P=0.001), pre-treatment cT stage (χ 2=7.980, P=0.005) were associated with PD after neoadjuvant therapy for gastric cancer. The results of multi-factor regression analysis showed that pathological type, Borrmann type, pre-treatment cT stage were independent factors influencing the occurrence of PD after neoadjuvant therapy for advanced gastric cancer. The overall survival and progression-free suruival time of patients with PD is significantly shorter than that of patients without PD . Conclusion:The pathological type, Borrmann typing and pre-treatment cT stage are the influencing factors for the occurrence of PD after neoadjuvant treatment in advanced gastric cancer, and the prognosis of PD patients is poor.

Objective:To investigate the clinical value of systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) based on peripheral blood neutrophils, lymphocytes and platelets counts in predicting the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer after radical resection.Methods:From January 1, 2012 to January 1, 2015, the data of 2 273 patients with gastric cancer who underwent radical surgery at the Third Department of Surgery of the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University were retrospectively analyzed. SII value was calculated according to the formula (SII=neutrophil cell count (×10 9/L)×platelet cell count (×10 9/L)/lymphocyte count (×10 9/L)). According to receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), the optimal cut-off value of SII was determined and the patients were divided into high SII group and low SII group. Chi-square test was used to compare the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of the two groups. Kaplan-Meier method was applied to draw survival curve, log-rank test was used for univariate survival analysis, and Cox regression model was used for multivariate survival analysis. The ROC of preoperative SII, pathological TNM stage and their combination for predicting prognosis and recurrence were drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC) values were calculated to compare the predictive power of the three. Results:According to the ROC, the optimal cut-off value of SII was 589.5, and there were 1 180 cases (51.91%) in the high SII (SII≥589.5) group and 1 093 cases (48.09%) in the low SII (SII<589.5) group. Compared with those of the low SII group, the maximum diameter of gastric cancer in the high SII group was mostly ≥5 cm (49.04%, 536/1 093 vs. 56.27%, 664/1 180), the histological types were mostly poorly differentiated to undifferentiated (55.63%, 608/1 093 vs. 61.19%, 722/1 180), the depth of tumor invasion was mainly from T4a to T4b (45.11%, 493/1 093 vs. 54.837%, 647/1 180), and the rate of lymph node metastasis, pathological TNM stage, rate of vascular infiltration, incidence of nerve invasion, Ki-67 expression level, serum carcinoembryonic antigen level and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 level in the high SII group were all higher than those in the low SII group (67.70%, 740/1 093 vs. 80.68%, 952/1 180; 57.64%, 630/1 093 vs. 71.10%, 839/1 180; 55.54%, 607/1 093 vs. 67.03%, 791/1 180; 53.89%, 589/1 093 vs. 64.32%, 759/1 180; 45.29%, 495/1 093 vs. 56.69%, 669/1 180; 56.91%, 622/1 093 vs. 63.20%, 734/1 180; 53.25%, 582/1 093 vs. 57.97%, 684/1 180), and the differences were statistically significant ( χ2=8.842, 11.097, 7.225, 21.467, 50.200, 44.984, 31.687, 25.594, 29.549, 6.612 and 5.119, all P<0.05). The 5-year overall survival rate and disease-free survival rate of the low SII group were 75.66% and 67.61%, respectively, which were both higher than those of the high SII group, (24.92% and 23.31%, respectivily), the differences were statistically significant ( χ2=620.700 and 413.00, both P<0.01). The results of multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that tumor histological type, depth of invasion, pathological TNM stage, vascular invasion and preoperative SII were independent risk factors for postoperative prognosis and recurrence of patients with gastric cancer (odds ratios were 4.126, 2.255, 5.123, 3.826, 6.126, 4.683, 2.472, 5.224, 4.416, 6.212, respectively; 95% confidence interval 2.123 to 9.721, 1.632 to 7.427, 3.325 to 10.211, 2.321 to 9.322, 4.127 to 13.782, 2.561 to 9.418, 1.322 to 6.289, 3.315 to 11.526, 2.213 to 9.382, 4.474 to 13.541; all P<0.05). The predictive power of preoperative SII (AUC=0.842, 0.815) and pathological TNM stage (AUC=0.881, 0.827) for the 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival of patients with gastric cancer after radical resection was similar, however the predictive power of combination of the two (AUC=0.943, 0.895) was higher than that of preoperative SII and pathological TNM stage alone. Conclusions:Preoperative SII is an independent risk factor for the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer after radical resection, combined with parthological TNM stage can be used as an indicator to predict the prognosis and recurrence of patients.

Objective: To establish a set of rules for autoverification of blood analysis, in order to provide a way to validate autoverification rules for different analytical systems, which can ensure the accuracy of test results as well as shorten turnaround time (TAT) of test reports. Methods: A total of 34 629 EDTA-K2 anticoagulated blood samples were collected from multicenter cooperative units including the First Hospital of Jinlin University during January 2017 to November 2017. These samples included: 3 478 cases in Autoverification Establishment Group, including 288 cases for Delta check rules; 5 362 cases in Autoverification Validation Group, including 2 494 cases for Delta check; 25 789 cases in Clinical Application Trial Group. All these samples were analyzed for blood routine tests using Sysmex XN series automatic blood analyzers.Blood smears, staining and microscopic examination were done for each sample; then the clinical information, instrument parameters, test results and microscopic results were summarized; screening and determination of autoverification conditions including parameters and cutoff values were done using statistical analysis. The autoverification rules were input into Sysmex Laboman software and undergone stage Ⅰ validation using simulated data, and stage Ⅱ validation for post-analytical samples successively. True negative, false negative, true positive, false positive, autoverification pass rate and passing accuracy were calculated. Autoverification rules were applied to autoverification blood routine results and missed detection rates were validated, and also data of autoverification pass rate and TAT were obtained. Results: (1)The selected autoverification conditions and cutoff values included 43 rules involving WBC, RBC, PLT, Delta check and abnormal characteristics. (2)Validation of 3 190 cases in Autoverification Establishment Group showed the false negative rate was 1.94%(62/3 190)(P<0.001), autoverification pass rate was 76.74%, passing accuracy was 97.47%; Validation of 2 868 cases in Autoverification Validation Group, the false negative rate was 3.38%(97/2 868)(P=0.002), autoverification pass rate was 42.26%, passing accuracy was 92.00%; Validation of Delta check on 288 cases in Autoverification Establishment Group and 2 494 cases in Autoverification Validation Group showed the false negative rates were respectively 1.39% and 2.61%(P<0.001). (3)Three hospitals adopted these rules of autoverification for 25 789 blood routine samples, and found that the average TAT of blood routine test reports were shortened by 24min, 32min and 7min respectively, the rate of samples reported within 30min were elevated by 33%, 53% and 7%. The autoverification pass rates were 72%-74%. Conclusions The application of this set of 43 autoverification rules in blood sample analysis can ensure test quality while shortenTAT and improve work efficiency. It is worth pointing out that for the same analytical systems in this research, validation is necessary before application of this set of rules, and periodic validation is required during application to make necessary adjustment; for different analytical systems, as this research provide a way to establish autoverification rules for blood routine tests.Clinical labs may establish their own suitable autoverification rules on the basis of technological parameters. (Chin J Lab Med, 2018, 41: 601-607)

Bioethanol is one of the most promising and representative biofuel products. Photosynthetic production of ethanol using CO₂ and solar energy based on cyanobacteria is of great significance for research and application, due to the potential to reduce CO₂ emission and to provide renewable energy simultaneously. Here we review the history and updated development of cyanobacteria cell factories for ethanol photosynthetic production, the progress and problems in pathway optimization, chassis selection, and metabolic engineering strategies, and finally indicate the future development in this area.

Objective To observe the characteristics of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) for leakage point in acute central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).Methods A total of 21 acute CSC patients (21 eyes) were enrolled in this retrospective study,including 17 men (17 eyes) and 4 women (5 eyes).The mean age was (47.3±8.8) years (range 35-66 years).The mean duration was (1.6±0.8) months (range 0.5-3.0 months).All patients were underwent mydriatic fundus photography,SD-OCT examination and fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA).SD-OCT and FFA images were carefully compared to observe the SD-OCT examination characteristics of fluorescence leakage point.Results 21/21 eyes had one fluorescein leakage point.In addition to serous retinal detachment,leakage point in the SD-OCT examination showed retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) protrusion in 10 eyes (47.6 ％),RPE detachment in 7 eyes (33.3 ％),highly reflective areas suggesting fibrinous exudate in the subretinal space in 3 eyes (14.3 ％),and RPE defect in 1 eye (4.8 ％).Conclusion The SD-OCT characteristics of acute CSC include RPE protrusion,RPE detachment,highly reflective areas suggesting fibrinous exudate in the subretinal space and RPE defect.

To study the roles of glucosylglycerol phosphate synthase (Ggps) in glucosylglycerol (GG) and glycerol biosynthesis, we over-expressed Ggps from either Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 or Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 in a Synechocystis strain with a high GG titer, and determined the GG and glycerol accumulation in the resultant mutants grown under different NaCl-stress conditions. Ion chromatography results revealed that GG yield was not improved, but glycerol production was significantly enhanced by over-expression of Ggps from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (6803ggpS). In addition, increasing the NaCl concentration of medium from 600 to 900 mmol/L led to a further 75% increase of glycerol accumulation in the mutant strain with 6803ggpS over-expression. These findings show the role of ggpS in driving the carbon flux to the glycerol biosynthesis pathway, and will be helpful for further improvement of GG and glycerol production in Synechocystis.
Bacterial Proteins ; metabolism ; Culture Media ; Glucosides ; biosynthesis ; Glucosyltransferases ; metabolism ; Glycerol ; metabolism ; Industrial Microbiology ; Sodium Chloride ; Synechococcus ; enzymology ; Synechocystis ; enzymology ; metabolism

For more economical and efficient DNA clonging, pFL-XS-T, a Biobrick-T vector was constructed based on pMD18-T vector, carrying clonging regions of XbaⅠ-XcmⅠ-XcmⅠ-SpeⅠ. The results revealed that PCR products could be conveniently inserted into pFL-XS-T vevtor digested by XcmⅠby means of TA cloning. The positive frequency of recombination can meet the experimental requirements and all the plasmids obtained meet Biobrick standard. Moreover, the pFL-XS-T is compatible with other Biobrick parts, and serves as a vector for functional DNA fragments screening.
Cloning, Molecular ; DNA ; Genetic Vectors ; Plasmids ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Synthetic Biology

Objective:To detect precancerous lesions of gastric cancer and biopsy tissue vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)and mutant p53 gene(mtp53)expression,to explore the development of clinical significance of VEGF and mutant p53 gene in gastric cancer.Methods:19 cases by endoscopic biopsies of normal gastric tissues,22 cases of intestinal metaplasia,47 cases of gastro-intestinal mucosal dysplasia, 54 cases of gastric cancer samples by immunohistochemical staining to detect the expression levels of VEGF and mtp53′s.Results: The expression levels of VEGF, mtp53 in normal gastric mucosa, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia, and gradually increased gastric cancer was the law.mtp53 of VEGF expression in gastric carcinoma and compared with normal gastric tissue,intestinal metaplasia was significantly higher(P<0.05),but with atypical hyperplasia was no significant difference(P>0.05). Conclusion: The abnormal expression of VEGF and mutant p53 may be related to the degree of deterioration of the stomach tissue lesions related.

Deproteinized calf blood injection is composed of small protein-free molecules extracted from fresh calf blood. The pre-vious studies showed that it can improve metabolic balance by increasing glucose and oxygen uptake to enhance energy metabolism. In recent years, due to the expanding clinical applications of deproteinized calf blood injection, new observation results and ideas contin-ued to emerge. However, the reports of adverse reactions and excessive applications were also gradually increased. In order to provide reference for the promotion of reasonable clinical application, the paper reviewed the latest development in the studies on the clinical application of deproteinized calf blood injection.