Lignans with NO inhibitory activity from Tinospora sinensis / 中国天然药物

Two new lignan glucosides, tinsinlignans A and B (1 and 2), two new oxyneolignans, tinsinlignans C and D (3 and 4), along with one known analogue (5), were isolated from the stems of Tinospora sinensis. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated based on analysis of spectroscopic data, and the absolute configuration of 1 was determined through electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculation based on the time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). Compounds 1-4 were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on nitric oxide (NO) production induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in murine RAW264.7 macrophage cells and compounds 1 and 2 exhibited moderate inhibitory activities with IC

Clinical characteristics and therapy of pan-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infection / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze clinical characteristics and therapy of pan-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (PDRAB) infection and explore the methods for effective therapy and prevention of this infection.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Nine hospitalized patients with PDRAB infection confirmed by pathogen and susceptibility testing were analyzed for the risk factors and the treatment outcomes were assessed by case analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>PDRAB infections occurred mainly in patients with severe complications, most of whom had complications by diabetes or hypertension or damaged mucosal integrity due to mechanical ventilation, surgery and catheterization. The polymyxin sensitivity were 100% for these infections, but all the bacteria identified showed a antimicrobial resistance rates of 100%. The majority of the infections were acquired during hospitalization occurring mainly in the lungs; all the patients had prolonged hospitalization and received antibiotic treatments with high proportions of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents especially third-generation cephalosporins and quinolones. Exclusive or sequential use of carbapenems and sulbactam in combination with quinolone or aminoglycoside produced favorable effects.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The prevalence of hospital-acquired pan-resistance of PDRAB infections increased significantly in recent years, particularly in patients with high risk factors. The widespread use of broad-spectrum antibiotics may have some relevance to drug resistant occurrence. The application of carbapenems or sulbactam, or their sequential use, in combination with other agents may produce good effects.</p>

Homology analysis of the epidemiological strains of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and the strains isolated from the nasal fossa of the medical staff and inpatients / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relation between the epidemiological strains of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the strains isolated from the nasal fossa of the medical staff and inpatients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The MRSA strains were isolated from the nasal fossa of the medical staff and inpatients in the Department of Neurosurgery. The genes of the isolated strains were amplified by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Three and 12 MRSA strains were isolated from the nasal fossa of the medical staff and patients who were hospitalized for more than 1 week, respectively, and RAPD assay revealed high homology between the isolated strains.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Cross infection can be present between the medical staff, inpatients, and the infected patients.</p>

Establishment of high-throughput drug screening cell models based on JAK-STAT signal pathway / 药学学报

<p><b>AIM</b>To discover new drugs which may be applied to diseases of the immune system, hemogenesis system diseases and tumors, several high-throughput drug screening cell models based on JAK-STAT signal pathway have been established.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Four repeats of STAT DNA binding conserved sequences were synthesized, subcloned into pGL-Luc reporter vector and stably transfected into cell lines in vitro. Cell clones with high copy numbers of STAT binding sites and reporter genes were chosen as high-throughput drug screening cell models. The cell models were tested with known anti-allergic drugs and anti-tumor drugs by determining luciferase activity. The reaction was performed in 96 well micro-plates with a final volume of 50 microL.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The cell models by performing rapid fluorescence assay were shown to be highly sensitive and stable after testing with cytokine and drugs. The modification of the expression plasmid simplified this method and made it more practical. It also provided good linear correlation, wide range of assay, highly sensitive and good reproducibility.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The method can be performed by high-throughput drug screening for effective extraction of Chinese traditional herbs.</p>

Screening of proteins interacting with Dishevelled2 in mouse 11.5dpc embryo library / 生物工程学报

Dishevelled proteins are multifunctional and highly conserved. These proteins are also required for the specification of cell fate and polarity by secreted Wnt proteins. To investigate the molecular mechanism of Dishevelled in mediating Wnt signal transduction, a mouse 11.5dpc embryo library was screened by yeast-two-hybrid system to find mouse Dishevelled2 DEP domain and C-terminal interacting proteins. 15 possitive clones were identified from 4.1 x 10(6) transformants. The DNA sequences of the positive AD/library plasmids were determined. The BLAST results revealed that one of the positive clones contained N-terminus cDNA fragments (amino acids 6-122) of Gli3 protein. The interaction between Dv12 and Gli3 detected by yeast two-hybrid system suggests that Gli3 might play a role in some biological processes with Dishevelled.