Objective:To determine the motion detection uncertainty of the real-time CybeRay ? imaging system and patient intrafractional motion with thermoplastic mask-based immobilization. Methods:Real-time CybeRay ? imaging system was used for irradiation and treatment for head phantom and patients with brain tumors. All patients were immobilized with thermoplastic masks. Real-time imaging was delivered using kilovoltage projection images during radiotherapy. The detected patient motion data was collected from 5 head phantom measurements and 27 treatment fractions of 9 brain tumor patients admitted to Kaifeng Cancer Hospital. The accuracy and uncertainty of the motion monitoring system were determined. Results:The mean and standard deviation (SD) of the detected motion in the X, Y, and Z directions for phantom were (-0.02±0.41) mm, (-0.05±0.22) mm and (0.01±0.35) mm, respectively. The detected motion in the X, Y and Z directions for patents were (-0.13±0.48) mm, (-0.05±0.48) mm and (0.11±0.36) mm, respectively. After removing the motion detection uncertainty, the actual intrafractional motion of patients were (-0.11±0.25) mm, (0±0.43) mm and (0.10±0.08) mm in three directions, respectively. Conclusions:The uncertainty of real-time imaging-based motion monitoring system of CybeRay ? is less than 0.5 mm. It is feasible to apply thermoplastic masks for brain tumor patients in clinical practice, which can provide steady immobilization and limit the SD of patient intrafractional motion within 0.5 mm. Real-time imaging-based motion monitoring system of CybeRay ? is accurate for patient motion monitoring during frameless stereotactic radiosurgery/radiotherapy.

Objective To prepare and identify rabbit anti-cyclin dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) antibody. Methods The recombinant pET21a (+)/CDK6 was successfully constructed, then the recombinant plasmid was transformed into E.coli BL21 (DE3) competent cells and was induced by isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) for protein expression, which was detected by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. The expressed protein was purified by nickel-chelating nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) agarose and then analyzed by SDS-PAGE. Japanese white rabbits were immunized with purified CDK6 protein for many times every two weeks. The blood was collected at 0, 2, 4 and 6 weeks after immunization, and serum was separated from blood. The titer was detected by indirect ELISA. Western blot analysis, immunofluorescence assay and immunohistochemistry were employed to determine the specificity. Results High purity CDK6 protein and high specificity of rabbit anti-CDK6 antibody were successfully prepared. The titer of CDK6 rabbit serum antibody reached 1:30 000 after immunization, which could specifically recognize the CDK6 protein expressed in cervical cancer cell line and cervical cancer tissues. Conclusion The high titer and specificity of rabbit anti-CDK6 antibody is successfully prepared.
Animals ; Female ; Humans ; Rabbits ; Antibodies ; Antibody Specificity ; Blotting, Western ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 6 ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. It is urgent to develop new drugs to improve the prognosis of ESCC patients. Here, we found benzydamine, a locally acting non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, had potent cytotoxic effect on ESCC cells. Benzydamine could suppress ESCC proliferation in vivo and in vitro. In terms of mechanism, CDK2 was identified as a target of benzydamine by molecular docking, pull-down assay and in vitro kinase assay. Specifically, benzydamine inhibited the growth of ESCC cells by inhibiting CDK2 activity and affecting downstream phosphorylation of MCM2, c-Myc and Rb, resulting in cell cycle arrest. Our study illustrates that benzydamine inhibits the growth of ESCC cells by downregulating the CDK2 pathway.
Humans ; Benzydamine ; Esophageal Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma/drug therapy* ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Phosphorylation ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Apoptosis ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 2

【Objective】 To discuss the repair effect of lyophilized platelet lysate (PL) products on articular cartilage injury model of rats. 【Methods】 A total of 25 SD rats were injected with typeⅡcollagenase at the right knuckle articular cavity respectively on day 1, 3 and 5 of experiment, and the modeling conditions were observed 14 days after the last injection of collagenase. The SD rats with successful modeling were randomly divided into three groups, and were injected with lyophilized PL [Group A, 1 mL/(mouse·time)], PL [Group B, 1 mL/(mouse·time)], and normal saline[Group C, 1 mL/(mouse·time)]. The above three substances were injected with corresponding drugs on day 0, 7, 14 and 21 of experiment based on the grouping conditions, and the changes of knee joint diameters of the rats from the three groups were observed and compared. On day 14 and 28, one rat in each group was randomly killed and two knuckle articular cavities of each were taken for tissue sampling, using hematoxylin-eosin staining (HE) and immunohistochemistry. 【Results】 After 14 days of modeling by injection of type Ⅱ collagenase, the proportion of successful modeling in rats was 84% (21/25), with the knee joint diameter (mm) before and after modeling at 12.84±1.14 vs 14.11±1.17(P<0.01). On day 14, 21 and 28, groups A and B were superior to group C in the knee joint diameter and activity improvement (P<0.05), with 13.33±1.16 vs 13.37±1.08 vs 14.21±1.08, 13.10±1.09 vs 13.01±1.04 vs 14.09±1.09 and 12.38±1.08 vs 12.51±1.03 vs 14.01±1.07, respectively. Histological observation showed that group A and B were superior to group C in the production and arrangement of chondrocytes and the positive expression of type Ⅱ collagen, and there was no significant difference between group A and group B. 【Conclusion】 The lyophilized PL has similar therapeutic effect to PL in the treatment and repair of articular cartilage injury, and is worthy of clinical application.

【Objective】 To study the therapeutic effect of autologous platelet-rich plasma(PRP) on joint injury. 【Methods】 Selected patients with joint injury treated in the Department of Transfusion Medicine of General Hospital of Southern Theatre Command of PLA from 2019 to 2020 were enrolled as the research objects, including 5 patients with shoulder joint injury, 34 patients with knee joint injury and 9 patients with ankle joint injury. All patients were treated with PRP injection at the injury site. The functional score and VAS score before and after treatment were compared. 【Results】 After 6 months of treatment, the CMS score and VAS of 5 patients with shoulder joint injury after treatment were (83.00±5.39) and (1.60±0.40), better than those before treatment (60.00±7.58)and (4.20±0.49)(P<0.05); The Lysholm knee score and VAS of 34 patients with knee joint injury after treatment were (80.73±2.43) and (2.07±0.24), better than those before treatment(50.30±2.96) and (4.28±0.33) (P<0.05); The AOFAS Ankle Hindfoot Scale and VAS of 9 patients with ankle joint injury after treatment were (68.44±4.59) and (2.56±0.53), better than those before treatment (42.67±4.57) and (4.89±0.63) (P<0.05). 【Conclusion】 For common joint injury sites, the clinical effect of using PRP injection is significant, which can effectively relieve pain and improve motor function, which is worthy of clinical application.

Determining effective traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments for specific disease conditions or particular patient groups is a difficult issue that necessitates investigation because of the complicated personalized manifestations in real-world patients and the individualized combination therapies prescribed in clinical settings. In this study, a multistage analysis method that integrates propensity case matching, complex network analysis, and herb set enrichment analysis was proposed to identify effective herb prescriptions for particular diseases (e.g., insomnia). First, propensity case matching was applied to match clinical cases. Then, core network extraction and herb set enrichment were combined to detect core effective herb prescriptions. Effectiveness-based mutual information was used to detect strong herb-symptom relationships. This method was applied on a TCM clinical data set with 955 patients collected from well-designed observational studies. Results revealed that groups of herb prescriptions with higher effectiveness rates (76.9% vs. 42.8% for matched samples; 94.2% vs. 84.9% for all samples) compared with the original prescriptions were found. Particular patient groups with symptom manifestations were also identified to help investigate the indications of the effective herb prescriptions.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Propensity Score ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; drug therapy ; Young Adult

To conduct the characterization of its pharmacokinetics in rats of nifedipine sustained-release pellets and to study the relationship between the pellets and CYP3A4 activity. A gradient HPLC method was developed to simultaneously determine 6β-hydroxycortisol and hydrocortisone. CYP3A4 activity of rats was quantified by urinary ratio of 6β-hydroxycortisol/hydrocortisone after intravenous injection of hydrocortisone as a biomarker. HPLC method was also developed to quantify the drug concentration in plasma of rats, and the studies of pharmacokinetics were performed after oral administration of single dose of two formulations: Nifedipine matrix sustained-release pellets and nifedipine tablet(using as control). The results showed that the ratio of ten rats was 0. 271±0. 129. cmax of nifedipine sustained-release pellets decreases by nearly 70%, tmax significantly increased by 400% and t1/2 and MRT significantly increased by 230% compared to control. Nifedipine sustained-release pellets had a significant sustained-release property compared to the control and CYP3A4 activity affected its pharmacokinetics behavior.

Objective · To compare the efficacy and prognostic factors of HCAG regimen with traditional IA regimen in the treatment of newly diagnosed elderly acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Methods · Forty-one patients with AML (aged 55-71 years) were randomly divided into two groups (Group HCAG and Group IA) between 2014 and 2016 for induction and consolidation therapy. Multivariate analysis was applied to identify prognostic factors for relapse-free survival (RFS). Results · A total of 29 patients (70.7%) achieved complete remission (CR). The estimated 2-year overall survival (OS) was 66.8% in Group HCAG and 75.4% in Group IA (P=0.913). The estimated 2-year RFS was 61.8% in Group HCAG and 49.1% in Group IA (P=0.411). Age remained as the unfavorable prognostic factor, leading to significant differences in OS and RFS. In addition, RFS was influenced by cytogenetic/molecular risk stratification. Conclusion · Although HCAG seemed not to particularly benefit the group, the dose reduction of anthracyclines may be applied in elderly patients with comparable short-time outcome. Furthermore, the introduction of homoharringtonine resulted in an improvement of treatment response for more than 20% compared with CAG regimen.

BACKGROUNDHuman myxovirus resistant protein A (MxA), encoded by the myxovirus resistance 1 (Mx1) gene, is an interferon (IFN)-triggered dynamin-like multi-domain GTPase involved in innate immune responses against viral infections. Recent studies suggest that MxA is associated with several human cancers and may be a tumor suppressor and a promising biomarker for IFN therapy. Mx1 gene mutations in the coding region for MxA have been discovered in many types of cancer, suggesting potential biological associations between mutations in MxA protein and corresponding cancers. In this study, we performed a systematic analysis based on the crystal structures of MxA and elucidated how these mutations specifically affect the structure and therefore the function of MxA protein.

METHODSCancer-associated Mx1 mutations were collected and screened from the COSMIC database. Twenty-two unique mutations that cause single amino acid alterations in the MxA protein were chosen for the analysis. Amino acid sequence alignment was performed using Clustal W to check the conservation level of mutation sites in Mx proteins and dynamins. Structural analysis of the mutants was carried out with Coot. Structural models of selected mutants were generated by the SWISS-MODEL server for comparison with the corresponding non-mutated structures. All structural figures were generated using PyMOL.

RESULTSWe analyzed the conservation level of the single-point mutation sites and mapped them on different domains of MxA. Through individual structural analysis, we found that some mutations severely affect the stability and function of MxA either by disrupting the intra-/inter-molecular interactions supported by the original residues or by incurring unfavorable configuration alterations, whereas other mutations lead to gentle or no interference to the protein stability and function because of positions or polarity features. The potential clinical value of the mutations that lead to drastic influence on MxA protein is also assessed.

CONCLUSIONSAmong all of the reported tumor-associated single-point mutations, seven of them notably affect the structure and function of MxA and therefore deserve more attention with respect to potential clinical applications. Our research provides an example for systematic analysis and consequence evaluation of single-point mutations on a given cancer-related protein.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ; genetics ; Crystallography, X-Ray ; Databases, Genetic ; Humans ; Myxovirus Resistance Proteins ; genetics ; Neoplasm Proteins ; genetics ; Neoplasms ; genetics ; Point Mutation ; Protein Domains ; genetics ; Protein Folding ; Sequence Alignment ; Stereoisomerism ; Structure-Activity Relationship

OBJECTIVETo study the CPS-II mechanism underlying the pathological process of elevated blood ammonia leading to liver injury.

METHODSAn in vitro hyperammonemia hepatocyte cell model was constructed by exposure to various concentrations of NH4Cl. The subsequent changes to cellular morphology were observed by microscopy. to cell apoptosis were determined by flow cytometry, and to mRNA and protein expression of CPS-II were examined by real-time PCR and western blotting, respectively.

RESULTSExposure to NH₄Cl led to dose-dependent morphological damage, apoptosis and necrosis of the hepatocytes. The apoptosis rate was significantly higher for the high-dose group than for the control (no exposure) group (24.7% ± 2.39% vs. 4.1% ± 0.78%, q =8.06, P less than 0.05). Expression of the CPS-II mRNA was significantly elevated in response to NH₄Cl exposure (vs. the control group; F=191.881, P < 0.05).The CPS-II mRNA expression level increased with increasing NH₄Cl concentration (grey values: 1.040 ± 0.045, 1.641 ± 0.123, 2.285 ± 0.167 and 3.347 ± 0.124, respectively). The CPS-II protein expression level was also significantly enhanced in response to the NH₄Cl exposures (CPS-II protein and internal GAPDH grey value ratios: 0.099 ± 0.0130, 0.143 ± 0.025, 0.161 ± 0.036 and 0.223 ± 0.042, respectively; t=3.825, 3.968 and 6.908, P less than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONCPS-II mRNA and protein expression levels become elevated with increase in the NH₄Cl concentrations, suggesting that in addition to the urea cycle, CPS-II may play an important role in the ammonia metabolism under the condition of hyperammonemia.

Ammonia ; Apoptosis ; Hepatocytes ; Humans ; Hyperammonemia ; Liver ; RNA, Messenger ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Somatostatin