A new benzaldehyde from residue left over rectification of star anise oil / 中草药

Objective: To stuey the the chemical constituents from the residue left over the rectification of star anise oil (essential oil from Anisi Stellati Fructus). Methods: Two compounds were isolated from the residue left over the rectification of star anise oil by various chromatographic techniques, such as silica gel, and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. Results: Their structures were elucidated on the basis of chemical and spectral data. A new compound was identified to be 4-hydroxy-3-(3-methylbut-3-en-2-yl) benzaldehyde (2), along with a known compound (E)-1,4-bis (4-methoxyphenyl) but-3-en-2-one (1). Conclusion: NMR data of compound 1 are first reported and compound 2 is new one.

DNA barcoding and its utility in commonly-used medicinal snakes / 中国中药杂志

Identification accuracy of traditional Chinese medicine is crucial for the traditional Chinese medicine research, production and application. DNA barcoding based on the mitochondrial gene coding for cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), are more and more used for identification of traditional Chinese medicine. Using universal barcoding primers to sequence, we discussed the feasibility of DNA barcoding method for identification commonly-used medicinal snakes (a total of 109 samples belonging to 19 species 15 genera 6 families). The phylogenetic trees using Neighbor-joining were constructed. The results indicated that the mean content of G + C(46.5%) was lower than that of A + T (53.5%). As calculated by Kimera-2-parameter model, the mean intraspecies genetic distance of Trimeresurus albolabris, Ptyas dhumnades and Lycodon rufozonatus was greater than 2%. Further phylogenetic relationship results suggested that identification of one sample of T. albolabris was erroneous. The identification of some samples of P. dhumnades was also not correct, namely originally P. korros was identified as P. dhumnades. Factors influence on intraspecific genetic distance difference of L. rufozonatus need to be studied further. Therefore, DNA barcoding for identification of medicinal snakes is feasible, and greatly complements the morphological classification method. It is necessary to further study in identification of traditional Chinese medicine.

Clinical features and correlation research of fever in systemic lupus erythematosus patients / 中华风湿病学杂志

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical features of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with fever and find out the related factors.MethodsData was collected by the same methods in the past ten years in fifteen hospitals in Jiangsu province and then the data wereretrospectively analyzed.The potentially possible risk factors of fever in SLE were selected and then analyzed by chi-square test,Wilcoxon rank sum test and Logistic regression analysis.ResultsAll 1762 patients were investigated.Seven hundred and twenty-nine had active fever.Age at hospitalization,initially treated patients,photosensitivity,serositis,nervous system involvement,generalized lymphadenopathy/hepatosplenomegaly,white blood cell count (WBC),haemoglobin (HB),erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR),C-reaction protein (CRP),alanine aminotransferase(ALT),albumin(ALB),serum creatinine (Scr),complement C3,anti-dsDNA antibodies positive rate,anti-Sm antibodies positive rate,SLEDAI score and past therapies were factors associatedwith SLE fever.Logistic regression analysis showed that abnormal WBC count (OR=1.396,95％CI 1.114-1.711,P=0.004),CRP(OR=1.005,95％CI 1.002-1.009,P=0.002),ALT(OR=1.003,95％CI 1.001-1.005,P=0.005),Scr (OR=0.997,95％CI0.995-0.999,P=0.007),HB (OR=0.986,95％CI 0.981-0.992,P=0.000),age (OR =0.984,95％ CI 0.974-0.993,P=0.001 ) and past usage of cyclophosphamide (CTX) (OR =0.557,95％CI 0.382-0.813,P=0.002) were correlated with SLE fever.ConclusionFever is one of the most common clinical manifestations of SLE patients.Leucopenia,elevated CRP levels,liver function abnormalities,anemia,younger age are risk factors for SLE fever,while renal impairment and past usage of CTX are protective factors.

Computational Analysis of miRNA and Target mRNA Interactions: Combined Effects of The Quantity and Quality of Their Binding Sites / 生物化学与生物物理进展

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act by binding to complementary sites on target messenger RNA (mRNA) to induce mRNA degradation and/or translational repression. To investigate the influence of miRNAs at transcript levels, two human miRNAs (miR-1 and miR-124) were transfected into HeLa cells and microarrays used to examine changes in the mRNA profile showed that many genes were downregulated and that the fold decreases in levels of these target mRNAs differed remarkably. Features depicting interactions between miRNAs and their respective target mRNAs, such as the number of putative binding sites, the strength of complementary matches and the degree of stabilization of the binding duplex, were extracted and analyzed. It was found that, for a given target mRNA, both the quality and quantity of miRNA binding sites significantly affected its degree of destabilization. To delineate these types of interactions, a simple statistical model was proposed, which considers the combined effects of both the quality and quantity of miRNA binding sites on the degradation levels of target mRNAs. The analysis provides insights into how any animal miRNA might interact with its target mRNA. It will help us in designing more accurate methods for predicting miRNA targets and should improve understanding of the origins of miRNAs.

Outside digestive tract lip shape fistula stopping up method / 国际外科学杂志

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of external obturation with cotton ball in treatment of digestive tract lip shape fistula. Methods A prospevtive randomixed controllde study was conducted in 30 patients with digestive tract lip shape fistula admitted from January 2001 to November 2007,which were divided into experimental group ( 15 patienets) and control griup ( 15 patjients). The control group received traditional fistula mouth continuous drainage,with fastomg or part enteral nutrition and parenteral nutrition. The experimernal group received external obturatiion with cotton ball,with controling spills of oineteatinal fluid and resuming normal eating and activetes, The patients general information, fistuala mouth sixe, volume, weight, albumin, determinstic operation time, postoperative complications, hospital, signficantly reduced fistula, flow, postoperative compared between the two groups. Results Compared with the control group , significantly redced fistula, flow, postoperative complivations and cost, increased wdighe and albumin,as well as shortened operation time and hospital stay were found oin the experimetal grou. Conclusin External obturation with cotton ball is safe effective methde in treatment of digestive tract lip shape fistula, obviusly shortening the course of disease, redcing patients'cost and pain, and rapidly improving patients nutritional status.

Computational Analysis of miRNA and Target mRNA Interactions:Combined Effects of The Quantity and Quality of Their Binding Sites / 生物化学与生物物理进展

MicroRNAs(miRNAs) act by binding to complementary sites on target messenger RNA(mRNA) to induce mRNA degradation and/or translational repression.To investigate the influence of miRNAs at transcript levels,two human miRNAs(miR-1 and miR-124) were transfected into HeLa cells and microarrays used to examine changes in the mRNA profile showed that many genes were downregulated and that the fold decreases in levels of these target mRNAs differed remarkably.Features depicting interactions between miRNAs and their respective target mRNAs,such as the number of putative binding sites,the strength of complementary matches and the degree of stabilization of the binding duplex,were extracted and analyzed.It was found that,for a given target mRNA,both the quality and quantity of miRNA binding sites significantly affected its degree of destabilization.To delineate these types of interactions,a simple statistical model was proposed,which considers the combined effects of both the quality and quantity of miRNA binding sites on the degradation levels of target mRNAs.The analysis provides insights into how any animal miRNA might interact with its target mRNA.It will help us in designing more accurate methods for predicting miRNA targets and should improve understanding of the origins of miRNAs.

Clinical analysis of six cases with juvenile primary fibromyalgia syndrome / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the clinical features of juvenile primary fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and to evaluate outcome after treatment.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Six patients with juvenile primary FMS were registered in department of rheumatology and their clinical data were assessed, including degree of pain (visual analog scale, VAS), fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, arthrodynia, subjective joint swelling, abdominal pain, irritable bowel symptoms, urinary urgency, dysmenorrhea, morning stiffness, paresthesias, illness changes with weather, feeling worse with exercise, laboratory examination and outcome of treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Abdominal pain was the first symptom in 5 of the cases with juvenile primary FMS, diffuse aching and left knee pain were the first symptoms in one patient. All the 6 patients were misdiagnosed prior to their rheumatological evaluation. Diffuse aching, fatigue, sleep disturbances, illness changes with weather and feeling worse with exercise existed in all the 6 patients (100%), the mean pain score was 8.8 and the mean initial tender points (TP) count was 13.7. Arthrodynia, subjective joint swelling, abdominal pain, irritable bowel symptoms and urinary urgency existed in 5 of the 6 patients (83%). Dysmenorrhea existed in 4 (67%), depression in 3 (50%), morning stiffness in 2 (33%), paresthesias in 2 (33%) and anxiety in 2 (33%), respectively. The results of laboratory examination were normal and the outcomes of treatment were good.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Juvenile primary FMS may not be a rare disease and the clinicians should pay more attention to it for avoiding misdiagnosis.</p>