Threatened abortion is a common disease of obstetrics and gynecology and one of the diseases responding specifically to traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）. The China Association of Chinese Medicine organized experts in TCM obstetrics and gynecology， Western medicine obstetrics and gynecology， and pharmacology to deeply discuss the advantages of TCM and integrated Chinese and Western medicine treatment as well as the medication plans for threatened abortion. After discussion， the experts concluded that chromosome， endocrine， and immune abnormalities were the key factors for the occurrence of threatened abortion， and the Qi and blood disorders in thoroughfare and conception vessels were the core pathogenesis. In the treatment of threatened abortion， TCM has advantages in preventing miscarriages， alleviating clinical symptoms and TCM syndromes， relieving anxiety， regulating reproductive endocrine and immune abnormalities， personalized and diversified treatment， enhancing efficiency and reducing toxicity， and preventing the disease before occurrence. The difficulty in diagnosis and treatment of threatened abortion with traditional Chinese and Western medicine lies in identifying the predictors of abortion caused by maternal factors and the treatment of thrombophilia. Recurrent abortion is the breakthrough point of treatment with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine. It is urgent to carry out high-quality evidence-based medicine research in the future to improve the modern diagnosis and treatment of threatened abortion with TCM.

Quercetin is a kind of typical flavonoid, mainly found in various vegetables, fruits and Chinese herbs that are consumed daily, with the functions of anti-oxidation, anti-tumor, prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Quercetin is a natural compound with defined anti-tumor activity. Due to its low bioavailability and poor water solubility, quercetin has limitations in clinical application. The quercetin derivatives with good solubility, high bioavailability, metabolic stability, and low toxicity have been obtained through modification of quercetin structure. In recent years, a large number of quercetin ethers, esters, complexes, C-4 carbonyloxy substituted derivatives, A,B-ring modified compounds and other derivatives have been synthesized and tested for in vitro anticancer activity. The quercetin derivatives with anti-tumor activity synthesized in the last 5 years were reviewed in this paper.
Biological Availability ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; Oxidation-Reduction ; Quercetin ; Solubility

A 21-year-old male was hospitalized for recurrent swelling of lower limbs (lymphedema) for 1 year and worsening of it for 1 week.Physical examination revealed several smooth,firm enlarged lymph nodes of the neck,groin without apparent tenderness measuring about 1 cm in diameter.Cardiac and pulmonary auscultation showed no obvious abnormality.The abdomen was soft on palpation without tenderness or rebound tenderness.Skin examination revealed swelling of both lower limbs,especially the left lower limb,as well as scattered irregularly sized,dark erythematous patches with a wood-like consistency on the swollen lower limbs,with high temperature but no tenderness.Elevated peripheral eosinophil count was observed before and after admission,with the eosinophil percentage higher than 70％.Vascular ultrasonography showed thrombosis in the right anterior tibial artery,left dorsal artery of foot and lower portion of the left great saphenous vein.Multiple enlarged lymph nodes were found by computed tomography in the mediastinal,bilateral axillary,retroperitoneal regions and around the abdominal aorta.Lymph node and bone marrow biopsies showed eosinophilia.Histopathology of lesions on the extensor aspect of the left medial thigh and left lateral malleolus showed massive eosinophilic infiltration and lymphatic dilation in the dermis,as well as eosinophil emboli in some lumens.The FIP1L1-PDGFRA fusion gene was undetected.A diagnosis of idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome was finally made.The symptoms rapidly regressed after glucocorticoid treatment.

Objective To assess the effect of 5-azacytidine (5-AZ) on the expressions of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and β-myosin heavy chain (β-MHC) genes in cultured rat bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs). Methods Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and adult rat BMSCs were isolated and cultured. BMSCs were incubated with 5-AZ and (or) myocardiocytes culture medium. RT-PCR was used to measure the expressions of cardiac ANP and β-MHC genes. Results Normally cultured rat BMSCs didn't express cardiac ANP or β-MHC. After inducing by 5-AZ, rat BMSCs expressed ANP or β-MHC. The myocardiocytes culture medium enhanced expression of β-MHC, but didn't affect the expression of ANP. Conclusions The 5-AZ induces the rat BMSCs to express either cardiac ANP or β-MHC, and the former could be enhanced by cardiomyocytes culture medium.

Aim To study the effects of telmisartan upon serum calcineurin.Methods 92 male SD rats with the same age were randomly divided into control group (N), sham operation group (S), 2K1C+distilled water group (K) and 2K1C+telmisartan group (T).S rats were performed the open-abdomen surgery without being restricted any renal artery, but the K and the T rats were restricted their left renal artery. Beginning from the third week after the surgery, the K rats started to be treated with the intragastric infusion of distilled water 10 ml·(kg·d)~(-1) , while the T rats with telmisartan 10 mg·(kg·d)~(-1) .And after being treated for 2, 4 and 8 weeks, rats were respectively measured the systolic blood pressure (SBP), the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of the abdominal aorta. Before and after the operation, ultrasonography with probe of 7.5 MHz was used to obtain the structure and functional indexes, such as IVSd, IVSs, LVPWd, and serum calcineurin were evaluated by ELISA and colorimetric assay kit.Result Compared with the S group and the N group, ① the results of blood pressure (SBP, DBP) were significantly higher in K group (all P <0.01), after use of telmisartan, blood pressure was significantly reduced(P <0.01);② the thickness of interventricular septal and left ventricular posterior wall at the end of diastolic and systolic were significantly higher in K group (all P <0.01), after use of telmisartan, the thickness of those declined(all P <0.01);③ the level and activity of serum calcineurin were significantly higher in K group (all P <0.01), after use of telmisartan, the level and activity of calcineurin significantly fell(P <0.01).Conclusion The serum calcineurin of artery was also raised in the left ventricular remodeling. Telmisartan ameliorates ventricular remodeling effectively, which may be associated with decreasing the expression of artery serum calcineurin.

The renin-angiotension system (RAS) plays an important role in cardiovascular and renal physiology and diseases. Recent discoveries of prorenin and prorenin receptor add new contents to RAS. Renin and prorenin binding to the prorenin receptor not only target and facilitate angiotensin generation but also lead to activation of prorenin receptor signal transduction pathways, which is distinct from classical RAS signaling. In this paper, the construction, function and signal trasduction of prorenin, prorenin receptor and handle region peptide are reviewed.

Objective To determine whether the supplementation of thyroid hormone(TH)improves β-adrenoceptors(β-AR)density and expression of peripheral blood lymphocyte in elderly patients with chronic heart failure(CHF). Methods A total of 42 elderly patients with advanced CHF(NYHA classⅢorⅣ)due to dilated cardiomyopathy(DCM)or ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM)were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group.Low-dose L-thyroxine(LT50)was added to the treatment group,both groups had routine anti-heart-failure treatment.Before and after 1 month of treatment,125I-Pindolol radioligand binding assay was used to measure β-AR in peripheral lymphocytes.Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)was used to measure β1-AR expression in peripheral lymphocytes. Results The density and expression of β-AR of lymphocytes in patients with CHF due to ICM or DCM were lower than those in normal health people.and the serum TH level in patients with CHF was lower than that in normal health people.The L-T4 administration induced an up-regulation of β-AR density and expression in peripheral lymphocytes. Conclusions Thyroxine administration induces an up-regulation of β-AR density and expression in peripharal lymphocytes.

Objective To explore the changes of elasticity in the large arteries and its clinical significance of sublingual administration of nitroglycerin in patients with elevated PWV,and mild and moderate essential hypertension.Methods Totally,779 patients with mild and moderate hypertension and PWV more than 1400 cm/s were selected and divided into four groups,one with simple hypertension,the second one with only one risk factor for it,the third one with two risk factors,and the fourth one with three risk factors or damage in their target organs.Sublingual administration of 0.5 mg nitroglycerin was administered and blood pressure and PWV were measured for all of them.and data were statistically compared and analyzed by groups and before and after nitroglycerin administration.Results Systolic blood pressure decreased to(135±20)mm Hg from(149±15)mm Hg,pulse pressure decreased to(50±11)mm Hg from(59±12)mm Hg,PwV decreased to(1329±288)cm/s from(1688±378)cm/s,respectively,after nitroglycerin treatment for hypertensive patients(t=3.036,2.473,3.885,all P＜0.05).Improvement of elasticity of the large arteries in them after nitroglycerin treatment inversely correlated with the number of risk factors for hypertension they had,with 89.1 percent,74.3 percent,72.6percent and 44.0 percent of improvement in PWV,respectively for those with simple hypertension,only one risk factor.two risk factors and three risk factors or with damage in target organs.Conclusions Systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure significantly correlated with elasticity of the large arteries in hypertensive patients,and their stifiness improved after sublingual administration of nitroglycerin due to decrease in systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure.The more risk factors the hypertensive patients had,the poorer elasticity of their large arteries and less sensitive to nitroglycerin treatment were.

Because cardiomyocytes have extremely low capacity to cell proliferation, cell transplantation has recently attracted muchattention as a new method to improve the damaged heart function and structure. Cellular cardiomyoplasty refers to the implantation ofdifferent kinds of cells besides autologous cardiomyocytes into the myocardium to reinforce its structure and function. Presently, fetaland neonatal cardiomyocytes, hematopoietic stem cells, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, skeletal myoblasts, endothelial stem cells, hepatic stem cells and neural stem cells have been used to repair the damaged heart in animal experiment. This article overviewstype, outcome, advantage, disadvantage, and problems of seed cells used for cellular cardiomyoplasty.

BACKGROUND:It is shown in past researches that total saponin of ginseng has the effect of promoting multiplication of bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells in vitro, and promoting secretion of bone marrow hemotopoietic factors, however there has been little researches on the effect of multiplication of bone marrow stromal cells.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on pig's bone marrow stromal cells multiplication in vitro.DESIGN: A controlled observation.SETTING:Department of Cardiology and Department of Dermotology,First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University; Department of Pharmacology, Nanjing Medical University.MATERIALS: The experiment was conducted at the Cardiovascular Pharmaceutical Laboratory of Nanjing Medical University from January 2002 to February 2003. The experimental pigs ahd the powder of ginsenoside Rg1were chosen METHODS :The bone marrow stromal cells cultured in vitro were divided as control and experimental groups. For experimental group insenoside Rg1 in different concentrations (10-7,5×10-7,10-6,5×104 mol/L)were added for induction culture, and for control group the media of the same volume was added. The multiplication conditions of bone marrow stromal cells were respectively detected by fibroblast colony forming in vitro, tritiated thymidine {[3H]TdR} incorporation and MTT.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① The effect of ginsenoside Rgl on the fibroblast colony forming units of bone marrow stromal cells in vitro. ②The effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on [3H]TdR incorporation of bone marrow stromal cells. ③ The effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on bone marrow stromal cells multiplication detected by MTT.RESULTS:① The effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on the fibroblast colony forming units of bone marrow stromal cells in vitro: The numbers of units in experimental group were all higher than that in control group (P ＜ 0.05-P ＜ 0.01),especially obvious in (5-50)×10-7 mol/L experimental group, reaching peak in the concentration being 10-6 mol/L. ② The effect of ginseno side Rg1 on [3H]TdR incorporation of bone marrow stromalcells: As the concentration of ginsenoside Rg1 was 10-6 mol/L, the [3H]TdR incorporation efficiency of bone marrow stromal cells was obviously higher that that in control group (P ＜ 0.05-P ＜ 0.01), and the effect was enhanced as the dosage increased. ③ The effect of ginsenoside Rgl on bone marrow stromal cells multiplication detected by MTT: The value of absorbance in experimental group was obviously higher than that in control group (P ＜ 0.05-P ＜ 0.01), and it was dose-dependent. CONCLUSION: Ginsenoside Rg1 had an effect of multiplication on pig's bone marrow stromal cells in vitro, and it was dose-dependent.