Anti-breast Cancer Effect of Ononin and Its Mechanism in Vitro / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the anti-breast cancer effect of ononin and its mechanism in vitro. METHODS: After treating with different concentration of ononin, the MCF-7 cells viability was determined by MTS, EdU and Hoechst were used to measure the proliferative ability and apoptotic rate of MCF-7, respectively. The invasion and migration of MCF-7 were determined by Transwell assays. The protein expression including PCNA, apoptosis-related proteins (Bax and Bcl-2) and MMP-9 were evaluated by Western-blotting. RESULTS: Ononin inhibited the cells viability of MCF-7 in a dose-and time-dependent manner. The EdU positive cells were decreased, Hoechst positive cells were increased, invasive and migration cells were decreased after treating with ononin in MCF-7. Moreover, ononin up-regulated Bax expression and down-regulated Bcl-2, PCNA as well as MMP-9 expression. CONCLUSION: Ononin could inhibit the MCF-7 cells proliferation, promote cells apoptosis, decrease cells invasion and migration, which may involve the regulative effect on PCNA, Bax /Bcl-2 and MMP-9 expression.

Recent advances in the discovery and development of adenovirus inhibitors / 药学学报

Adenovirus is a common cause of infection in children and adults with acute respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract and urinary tract. It can cause serious and even fatal infections in patients with low immune function. Therefore, it poses a great threat to human health. Currently, there are no specific anti-adenoviral drugs in market. With in-depth investigation of the pathogenic mechanism and biological characteristics of adenovirus, and the rapid development of drug screening technology, new generation of anti-adenovirus drug targets and related inhibitors have been discovered, providing new options for treatment. This review selects the representative case studies in recent years and summarizes the advances in anti-adenoviral medicinal chemistry.

Prediction of spontaneous preterm birth by cervical length changes in twin pregnancies / 中国实用妇科与产科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the predictive value of cervical length（CL）changes in spontaneous preterm birth（SPTB）in twin pregnancies in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.METHODS: A retrospective analysis was made of 166 cases of twin pregnant women who underwent transvaginal ultrasound to measure CL during the second trimester of pregnancy（20~25 weeks）and the third trimester of pregnancy（28~32 weeks）from January 2014 to December 2017 in the Third Hospital of Peking University and Tongzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Beijing.Evaluate the predictive value of CL changes in SPTB before 32 and 34 weeks.The area under the receiver-operating characteristics（ROC）curve was compared by bootstrap method.Assessment of the value of CL in the third trimester of pregnancy and CL in the second trimester of pregnancy alone in predicting SPTB before 32 and 34 weeks.RESULTS: Of the 166 cases,90 were full-term delivery and 76 were premature delivery.The median CL of mid and late pregnancy was 34 mm and 29 mm respectively,and it was 35.5 mm and 31 mm,and in full-term delivery.32.5 mm and21 mm in premature delivery,respectively.There were significant differences among the three groups（All P25 mm and CL shortening≥ 20%,it can better predict preterm birth before 32 weeks.

Progress on AIDS drug targets and small molecule inhibitors / 药学学报

The difficulty to eradicate the HIV-1, off-target effects together with the rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant strains have created an urgent need for more potent and less toxic therapies against other targets of HIV virus. From the point of view of medicinal chemistry, we summarizes and discusses current endeavours towards the discovery and development of novel inhibitors with various scaffolds or distinct mechanisms of action, and also provides examples illustrating new methodologies in medicinal chemistry that contribute to the identification of novel antiretroviral agents.

Pharmacodynamic mechanism of modified Ganlu Yaoyu San intreatment of rheumatoid arthritis based on MAPK signaling pathway / 中国中药杂志

According to the findings, modified Ganlu Yaoyu San has a good anti-inflammatory activity, and can significantly alleviate the degree of arthritis. Its therapeutic effect for rheumatoid arthritis may be related to the regulation of MAPK pathway of synovial cells. In the study, the rat adjuvant arthritis(AA) model was established to further investigate the pharmacodynamic mechanism for regulating MAPK pathway of synovial cells. Enzyme-linked immune assay was used to determine the serum TNF-α level of AA rats administered with drug for two weeks, synovial tissue protein kinases ERK1/2 and p38 content were determined by immunohistochemistry, synovial tissue JNK1, ERK1, p38 gene(mRNA) expression were detected with fluorescence quantitative PCR(RT-PCR) method. According to the results, after administration for two weeks, the levels of serum TNF-α of AA rat was significantly decreased(P<0.05). After administration for four weeks, the protein expressions of p38 and ERK1/2 in synovial tissue were reduced(P<0.05 or P<0.01), the gene expressions of JNK1, p38 and ERK1 in knee joint synovial tissue were reduced(P<0.05 or P<0.01). In conclusion, modified Ganlu Yaoyu San can effectively treat rheumatoid arthritis. Its mechanism might be related to the reduction of TNF-α levels in serum, protein expression of p38 and ERK1/2 in synovial tissue, and JNK1, p38 and ERK1 gene expressions, and regulation of MAPK pathway.

Medication rules for prescriptions containing Pterocephali Herba based on data mining / 中国中药杂志

This study was aimed to discuss and analyze the medication rules for prescriptions containing Pterocephali Herba in Chinese Medical Encyclopedia - Tibetan Medicine, Tibetan Medicine Prescription Modern Research and Clinical Application, and Interpretation of Common Tibetan Medicines based on the collection of Pterocephali Herba and by using the "Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance Support system(V2.0.1)",with the use of association rules, apriori algorithm and other data mining methods. The frequency of single drug, the frequency of drug combination, the association rule and the combination of core drugs were analyzed. Through collection of the prescriptions, a total of 215 prescriptions were included, involving a total of 376 herbs. Through the "frequency statistics", the prescriptions containing Pterocephali Herba were commonly used to treat cold fever, distemper virus and arthritis. The highest frequently (frequency≥15) used drugs were Corydalis Herba, Lagotidis Herba, and Gentianae Macrophyllae Radix, et al. The most frequently used drug combinations were "Pterocephali Herba, Corydalis Herba","Pterocephali Herba, Lagotidis Herba", and "Pterocephali Herba, Gentianae Macrophyllae Radix" et al. The prescriptions containing Pterocephali Herba were used to primarily treat disease for Tourette syndrome caused by the dampness heat toxin, fever, arthritis etc, such as pestilent toxicity, pneumonia and influenza, rheumatoid arthritis etc. The drugs in the prescriptions mostly had the effects of heat-clearing and detoxifying, anti-inflammatory, dispelling wind and dampness, often in compatible use with heat-clearing drugs. The drug use was concentrated and reflected the clear thought of prescription statutes.

Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic study on antipyreticeffects of coptisine on endotoxin-induced pyrexia of rats / 中国药理学通报

Aim To establish the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic(PK-PD) modeling to characterize the antipyretic effects of coptisine, an active component in coptis chinensis on rats.Methods Nine healthy male Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups, each with three.The rats in the first group were injected intravenously with lipopolysaccharide(LPS,100 μg·kg-1) alone.The second and third group rats were given coptisine high-dose(3.87 mg·kg-1) and coptisine low-dose(1.93 mg·kg-1) by tail vein injection at 30 min after LPS injection, respectively.Body temperature was measured at different time points, and blood samples from tail vein were collected simultaneously.The blood concentration of coptisine was determined by ultra performance liquid chromatography.Monolix software was used to model PK-PD of coptisine mean plasma concentration and temperature effects,by population computation with non-covariates.Besides.the model with advantage was selected by the fitting goodness.Results Coptisine could inhibit body temperature of endotoxin-induced fever in rats significantly.Two-compartment linear elimination model was used to describe the final PK model.Gaussian function, an input function of body temperature changes, which was used to depict PD model, the PK and PD models were connected by the Emax model.At last, the final model was fitted better;the fitting results indicated that the EC50 of antipyretic effect of coptisine was 89.7 μg·L-1, and the Emax was 1.88℃.Conclusions Coptisine has a powerful anti-pyretic effect on endotoxin-induced pyrexia of rats with high potency, Low in vivo distribution and quick clearance.

Content Determination of Oleanolic Acid and Ursolic Acid from Different Medicinal Parts in Tibetan Medi-cine Pterocephalus hookeri by UPLC-PDA / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To establish the method for the determination of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid in different medicinal parts of Tibetan medicine Pteocephalus hookeri,and compare the differences among the different parts. METHODS:The contents of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid from different medicinal parts(whole plant,aerial part,underground part)of P. hookeri were de-termined by UPLC-PDA. The separation was performed on Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column(150 mm×2.1 mm,1.8 μm)with mobile phase consisted of methanol-0.1 mol/L ammonium acetate(88:12,V/V)at the flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The detection wavelength was set at 210 nm,and column temperature was 30 ℃. The sample size was 5 μL. RESULTS:The linear ranges of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid were 10.65-1065 μg/mL (r=0.9996) and 18.8-1880 μg/mL (r=0.9994),separately. The recoveries were 96.95%(RSD=1.24%,n=9) and 98.12%(RSD=2.13%,n=9),separately. RSDs of precision,stability and reproducibility tests were all less than 3%. The contents of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid from different medicinal parts in P. hookeri were in de-scending order of aerial part>whole plant>underground part;the average total content of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid from whole plants was 0.35%,the aerial part reached 0.56% and underground part was 0.09%. CONCLUSIONS:The method is rapid, accurate and reproducible,and it is suitable for the content determination of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid in different medicinal parts of Tibetan medicine P. hookeri. The contents of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid from aerial part of P. hookeri are higher than whole plant and underground part. It is suggested to use aerial parts of medicine.

Study on the Active Components Targets of Tibetan Medicine Pterocephalus hookeri in Anti-rheumatoid Ar-thritis Based on Network Pharmacology / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To explore the multi-component,multi-target,multi-channel mechanism of Tibetan medicine Ptero-cephalus hookeri in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS:The selected target compounds (10 chemical struc-tures of P. hookeri)were imported and stored by related software;target prediction and filtering were conducted by PharmMapper and DrugBank databases. The pathways of targets were acquired and analyzed by MAS 3.0 database. Finally P. hookeriactive com-ponent-targeting-pathwaynetwork was constructed by Cytoscape 3.4.0 software. RESULTS:The target information obtained in the PharmMapper database were compared with that of the DrugBank database for inflammation-related drugs,26 potential targets for the treatment of RA were obtained,in which MAPK14,RXRA,ALB,PDE4D,VDR may be the main potential target gene group in the treatment of RA. 57 functional pathways were obtained after 26 functional targets were annotated by pathway. In addition to 27 RA-related pathways,30 other pathways such as endocrine regulation and immune were involved. CONCLUSIONS:Base on the study of network pharmacology,P. hookeri plays the role in the treatment of RA by acting on inflammation,immune,endo-crine and related targets and pathways.

The correlation study on syndrome differentiation of rheumatoid arthritis and joint high frequency ultrasound performance / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the differential effect of joint ultrasound on the syndrome differentiation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by observing the high frequency ultrasound performances among inactive stage and different syndromes in active stage.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 83 RA patients in the active stage were assigned to the dampness heat syndrome group (DHS, 59 cases)and the cold dampness syndrome group (CDS, 24 cases) according to Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome typing. Besides, 20 RA patients in the remission stage were recruited as the control group (abbreviated as the remission group). By using high frequency ultrasound and power Doppler ultrasound technology, a comparative observation of synovitis, tenosynovitis, synovial blood flow, and bone erosion in the 2nd-5th metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints, proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints, wrist joints, knee joints, the second and the fifth metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints (a total of 24 joints) was performed in all patients. Correlation analyses were performed between the ultrasound performance, laboratory indices, and the disease activity. Ultrasound data of each RA patient were analyzed by their total scores. Χ2 test was used for enumeration data. The measurement data was expressed as x ± s. One-way ANOVA was used for data of normal distribution, while non- parametric test was used for data of non-normal distribution. Correlation analysis of two variables was performed for clinical indicators and ultrasound indicators. Its significance was detected using Pearson correlation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the remission group, the severity degree of synovitis, tenosynovitis, synovial blood flow, and bone erosion significantly increased in the DHS group (P < 0.01). There was statistical difference in ESR, CRP, anti-CCP, DAS28 score, and the positive rate of RF (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). There was statistical difference in the severity degree of synovitis and synovial blood flow, and DAS28 score in the CDS group (P < 0.05). Compared with the CDS group, there was statistical difference in the four ultrasound indices (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), ESR, CRP, anti-CCP, DAS28 score, and the positive rate of RF in the DHS group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). There was no statistical difference in G, IgG, IgA, or IgM among the three groups (P > 0.05). There existed positive correlation between ESR and the synovitis degree, synovial blood flow, and bone erosion in the DHS group (r = 0.444, 0.397, 0.486, P < 0.05).There existed positive correlation between ESR and the synovitis degree, bone erosion, and synovial blood flow in the DHS group (r = 0.378, 0.270, P < 0.05). There existed positive correlation between the DAS28 score and the synovitis degree and synovial blood flow in the DHS group (r = 0.304, 0.351, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The inflammation degree was the most severe in RA patients of DHS. High frequency ultrasound could provide better evidence for Chinese medical syndrome differentiation of RA patients.</p>

Impact of intervention on tobacco related knowledge, attitudes and practice of smokers / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the impact of intervention on tobacco related knowledge, attitudes and practice of smokers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>An observational study was conducted among the smokers seeking counsel at smoking cessation clinic in our hospital from October 2008 to August 2013. First, a face to face counsel and mental intervention for more than 30 minutes was given to smoker, then 4 interventions through telephone call for 15-20 minutes for each time were conducted 1 week later, 1 month later, 3 months later and 6 months later, respectively. The controls were smokers receiving health examination in our hospital. No interventions were conducted among them. The tobacco related knowledge, attitudes and practice at baseline survey and follow up 1 year later were compared between intervention group and control group.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The intervention group included 414 smokers and the control group included 213 smokers. Intentional analysis indicated that the awareness/acceptance rates of 5 items about tobacco related knowledge and attitudes at follow up 1 year later was higher than those at baseline survey in intervention group. The smoking cessation rate was 27.3% in intervention group and 4.7% in control group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the smoking cessation rate was positively correlated with intervention, female, highly nicotine dependence and positive change of tobacco related knowledge and attitudes (smoking can cause heart disease, all kinds of tobacco advertisements should be prohibited, smoking waste money and restaurant should be smoking free) with OR (95% CI): 2.85 (2.00-4.07), 3.34 (1.23-9.07), 2.78 (1.64-4.72), 2.30 (1.03-5.15), 5.33 (1.47-19.32), 6.32 (1.56-25.62) and 10.47 (2.25-48.84), respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The awareness rate of tobacco related harm was high among the smokers seeking counsel at smoking cessation clinic. Systematic smoking cessation intervention can improve smokers' tobacco related knowledge and attitudes and increase smoking cessation rate.</p>

Predictors for 'successful quitting smoking' among males carried out in a smoking cessation clinic / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the predictors for 'quitting' among male smokers in a smoking cessation clinic.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The target population consisted of smokers who volunteered to seek treatment for cessation at our clinic in Beijing. Smokers received face-to-face counseling and psychological intervention at the first visit by trained physicians and standardized telephone discussion, was carried out with counselors at 1 week, 1/3/6 months a follow-up study. The main outcomes would involve 'successful quitting' at the 7-day point, continuous quit rates at 3 and 6 months as well as the predictors of 'quitting'.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>From October 2008 to December 2012, we collected 355 eligible male smokers among whom 255 had completed the 6-month follow-up program. Results from the analysis (n = 255) showed that the quitting rates at the 7-day point and 3 months were 34.9% and 25.5%, while the rates were 25.1% and 18.3% among the 355 smokers who had the intention for treatment. Data from the stepwise logistic regression model analysis showed that lower exhaled CO level at the first visit, higher perceived confidence in quitting, lower expenditure on cigarettes and had diagnosed tobacco-related chronic diseases by physicians, were important predictors for quitting smoking. The main reasons of failure to quit were addiction of tobacco cigarette, craving for cigarettes to relieve pressure from work, peer influence from other smokers, lack of mental preparation and perseverance to quit, etc.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Smokers who smoked less cigarettes, had higher perceived confidence in quitting and had physician-diagnosed tobacco-related chronic diseases seemed easier to quit. Regular follow-up intervention services for smokers should be established to enhance the motivation for quitting so as to create a favorable environment for the smokers.</p>

Effectiveness of Varenicline with counseling programs on smoking cessation in a targeted clinical setting in China / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effectiveness of Varenicline for smoking cessation in a community-based smoking-cessation-clinic (SCC) in Chinese smokers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A prospective observational study was conducted in Beijing, China. 799 smokers (762 men and 37 women) were assessed on data gathered from structured questionnaires at baseline and follow up programs at 1, 3 and 6 months. Trained physician counselors provided free individual counseling and follow-up interviews with brief counseling for all the subjects. 272 subjects were additionally prescribed Varenicline according to their own choice and reported data were compared to those without Varenicline. Outcomes were self-reported, regarding the 7-day point prevalence on abstinence rate and continuous abstinence rates at 1, 3 and 6 month follow-up periods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>At 6-month and by intention-to-treat, the 7-day point prevalence on abstinence rate with Varenicline and counseling, was significantly higher than the group with counseling only (34.6% versus 23.1%; OR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.27-2.42;P < 0.001). The 3-month continuous abstinence rate at 6 month was higher in the group with Varenicline(31.3% versus 18.2% ;OR = 2.04, 95% CI:1.46-2.86;P < 0.001). Varenicline also showed better outcomes at 1 and 3 month follow-up.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Varenicline prescription in the smoking cessation clinic appeared to be effective that doubled the rates of quitting among Chinese smokers in the practice at a community-based SCC.</p>

Effect of sanshui baihu decoction on the proliferation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes and its secretion of IL-6 and IL-17 / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of Sanshui Baihu Decoction (SBD) containing serum on the proliferation of in vitro cultured fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) derived from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) and its secretion of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-17, and to explore the pharmacological mechanism of SBD.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The FLS obtained from cultured RA and OA patients' synovial tissue were cultured and passaged in vitro in a routine way. The cultured medium was changed to DMEM with 20% SBD containing serum and cultured for 72 h after cultured for 3 to 6 generations. The proliferation rate of FLS was detected by MTT assay. Levels of IL-6 and IL-17 in the supernatant were detected by ELISA. Leflunomide and saline containing serum were used as positive and negative control respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>SBD containing serum significantly inhibited the proliferation of RA-FLS and OA-FLS, and decreased the secretion of IL-17 in RA-FLS. Its inhibition efficiency of SBD was equivalent to that of Leflunomide. No obvious inhibition on the secretion of IL-6 in RA-FLS was observed. It had no significant effect on the secretion of IL-17 and IL-6 in OA-FLS.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>SBD could inhibit the proliferation of FLS and the secretion of IL-17 in RA-FLS, which might be one of its pharmacological mechanisms for treating RA.</p>

Study design and the preliminary results on the modes of smoking cessation in general hospitals / 中华流行病学杂志

To study the intervention programs on smoking cessation in a general hospital and to evaluate its effects of the programs. Four methods including: a) the intervention through specialists in the smoking cessation clinic, b) short-time intervention in the out-patient department,c) free medical intervention, d) group intervention, were adopted for different smokers, with health counseling, psychological intervention and drug treatment. Intervention effect was evaluated by standard methods. During the 20-month period of the project, we treated 690 cases and 402 completed 6-month follow-up. Preliminary results in 402 cases showed that the three methods of smoking cessation interventions could reduce the amount of cigarette smoking and increase the quitting rate. Motivation to quit smoking, intervention methods and intensity of intervention seemed cessation clinic (31.6%) and in the group intervention (30.9%) was higher than short-time intervention in free medical events (15.1%). The successful rate of smoking cessation depended on the motivation of quitters, and the attitude, methods and intervention skills of the physicians.Therefore, it is necessary to explore and develop smoking cessation service models suitable to national context and individual intervention methods in China.

Effects of psychological intervention, auricular acupuncture and smoking cessation medication on cigarette smoking behavior in soldiers: a pilot randomized controlled trial / 中华健康管理学杂志

Objective To evaluate the effects of different smoking cessation interventions on cigarette consumption for young soldiers.Methods Sixty-eight soldiers were prospectively investigated in this randomly controlled clinical trial and assigned to the psychological intervention group,auricular acupuncture group,and smoking cessation medication group.Results All the participants showed significant reduction(33.3％ to 73.9％)in post-treatment cigarette consumption.The highest quit rate was found at 7 days,although this declining trend was faded over time.One-year follow-up indicated a 6-month quit rate of 16.7％,23.8％ and 30.4％ in three groups,respectively.Conclusion Psychological intervention,auricular acupuncture and smoking cessation medication may be effective methods of reducing cigarette consumption and improving quit rate in young soldiers.

Auricular acupuncture for insomnia: a randomized controlled trial / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To investigate the effect of auricular acupuncture therapy (AAT) and standardized acupoints on sleep parameters among people with insomnia. Methods A single-blind,randomized pilot study where the treatment group AAT on active points and the control group received AAT on sham points during a 4-week treatment period. Participants were recruited from the Acupuncture Outpatient Clinics in the General Hospital of People' s Liberation Army. In all, 125 patients were included in the study, with 63 in treatment group and 62 in control group. Sleep parameters were obtained by using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results (1)Significant improvement in the PSQI total score and seven components score including sleep quality,time on falling asleep, sleeping time, efficiency and disorder of sleep, hypnotic and daytime functional disorder after treatment in both treatment group and control group (P＜0.01). (2) After treatment, there was a statistically significant difference seen in the PSQI total score and six components score (P＜0.01) except for hypnotic between the two groups. There were statistically significant differences in the rank differential value of total score and seven components of two groups (P＜0.01). (3) There were statistically significant differences in the mean rank of PSQI seven components using Mann-Whitney test (P＜0.01). Conclusion Evidence was found to support the hypothesis that AAT played an effective role in improving the quantity and quality of sleep in those subjects with insomnia. A standardized AAT might help the treatment of insomnia, especially when combined with other treatments as psychological and behavioral therapies.

Study on standardization of thread-embedding technique: elucidation on the establishment of the national standard standardized manipulation of acupuncture and moxibustion, part X, thread-embedding / 中国针灸

To facilitate actualizing the national standard Standardized Manipulation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Part X, Thread-Embedding and answer some questions that may arise during practice, overall ideas and principles, the process and basis for its establishment, the main contents and their related research results, especially some disputed questions and the way to solve, as well as the end-results are explained in detail in this paper.

Biochemical pathways in the antiatherosclerotic effect of berberine / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>This study investigated the inhibitory effect of berberine (BBR) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression via the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling cascade pathways in human peripheral blood monocytes (PBMC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>PBMC from whole blood were isolated and cultured for up to 24 hours after division into 5 groups treated with LPS, LPS + BBR 25 micromol/L, LPS + BBR 50 micromol/L or LPS + BBR 100 micromol/L and untreated. Monocytes were extracted for RT-PCR and Western blot analyses to examine COX-2 mRNA and protein activated expression of p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (p38MAPK), Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) signalling pathways.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>COX-2 mRNA and protein expression decreased to a minimum at 12 hours after BBR treatment (P < 0.05). With the increasing concentration of BBR treatment, the COX-2 expression decreased progressively (P < 0.01). With BBR treatment for 6, 12 or 24 hours at three doses, ERK1/2 protein expression was significantly inhibited. For the JNK pathway, only with the treatment of BBR at the concentration of 100 micromol/L was JNK protein expression inhibited compared with the LPS stimulation group (P < 0.01). Irrespective of the BBR concentration, no difference was shown between the BBR group and the LPS group for p38MAPK protein expression. Human monocytes COX-2 mRNA, by RT-PCR, and protein expression, by Western blot analysis, were inhibited when incubated with PD98059, SP600125 and SB203580 (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Berberine inhibits COX-2 expression via the ERK1/2 signalling pathway and, possibly, at a high dosage via the JNK pathway. P38MAPK may have no relationship with the effect of BBR in PBMC. Berberine inhibited COX-2 mRNA and protein expression in a dose dependent manner and suppressed COX-2 expression to a minimal level after 12 hours of berberine treatment.</p>

Diagnostic value of confocal laser endomicroscopy in predicting the grading of gastric intestinal metaplasia / 中华消化杂志

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of confocal laser endomicroscopy(CLE)for the assessment of the grading of gastric intestinal metaplasia(GIM)in vivo.Methods Patients with known GIM underwent CLE(Pentax EC-3870K).The presence of GIM was indentified immediately by the endoscopist during the procedure.The updated Sydney Classifycation System as reference,GIM was subdivided as mild,moderate and severe according to the area of intestinal metaplasia glands and the number of goblet cells.The histological evaluation remained the gold standard for the final diagnosis of GIM.The presence of the dysplasia and the expression of the Ki67 were examined.Results A total of 151 GIM positive areas were found in 58 patients with mild in 92,moderate in 34.and severe in 25 by CLE. One hundred and forty-six GIM areas were examined histopathologically with positive rate of 96.7%(mild in 82,moderate in 36 and severe in 28).The sensitivity and specificity of CLE were 90.2%and 73.9%in diagnosis of mild GIM,69.4 oA and 92.2%in moderate GIM,71.4% and 95.9%in severe GIM.The kappa coefficient of CLE criteria and the histopathological grading for mild,moderate and severe GIM were 0.65,0.63 and 0.70,respectively.The more severe the GIM,the higher the ratio of incomplete GIM,the ratio of dysplasia and the stronger expression of Ki67.Conclusions CLE may offer an instant and reliable diagnosis for GIM with high accuracy.It is helpful in grading of GIM.