Progress of imaging diagnosis of gouty arthritis / 中华全科医师杂志

The incidence of metabolic rheumatism gout has been increasing with a trend of more younger patients and atypical symptoms. Typical gout is easy to be diagnosed, but it is difficult for atypical cases. Finding uric acid crystal in articular fluid by polarizing light microscope is a gold standard of diagnosis, but it is an invasive diagnostic method and difficult to be widely used. The patients need further imaging examination for assistance of diagnosis and guide of follow-up treatment. This article reviews the research progress of different imaging methods used for diagnosis of gouty arthritis.

Cloning of cDNAs encoding skin antimicrobial peptide precursors from Chinese brown frogs, Rana chensinensis and determination of antimicrobial, anticancer and hemolysis activity / 生物工程学报

Amphibian skin antimicrobial peptides exhibit a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterium and cytotoxic activity responsible for inhibiting the growth of cancer cells. In this present study, six cDNAs encoding antimicrobial peptide precursors were cloned from the skin of Chinese brown frog, Rana chensinensis by RT-PCR and 3'-RACE procedure and identified as preprotemporin-1CEa, preprotemporin-1CEb, preprotemporin-1CEc, preprobrevinin-1CEa, preprobrevinin-1CEb, and preprochensinin-1, respectively. The nucleotide sequences of cDNA encoding 59-65 amino acid composed of 289-315 bp. Preprotemporin-1CEa, preprotemporin-1CEb and preprotemporin-1CEc are members of temporin family, which usually are short, hydrophobic, and C-terminally alpha-amidated antimicrobial peptides. Preprobrevinin-1CEa and preprobrevinin-1CEb were identified as the members of the brevinin-1 family of antimicrobial peptides since both peptides contain "RANA box" that it's responsible for forming Cys-bridged cyclic heptapeptides at the C-terminal region of peptide. The nucleotide acid sequence and the deduced amino acid Sequence of preprochensinin-1 were not found to be identity with any known amphibian skin defensive peptides, so, preprochensinin-1 was identified as a novel peptide precursor. Four of bioactive peptides: temporin-1CEa, temporin-1CEb, brevinin-1CEa and chensinin-1 were synthesized to investigate their antimicrobial, anticancer and haemolysis activities. The results showed that all of the synthesized antimicrobial peptides in this study inhibited the growth of the Gram-positive bacterium, and exhibited the anticancer activity against the growth of MCF-7 cells and HeLa cells. Analysis of the R. chensinensis bioactive peptides and their gene expression will be beneficial for preservation of this species.