Discovery of alkaloids from the leaves of Isatis indigotica Fortune with neuroprotective activity / 中国天然药物

Seven alkaloids including five undescribed ones (1a/1b, 2, 3 and 5) were obtained from the leaves of Isatis indigotica Fortune. Their structures were established by extensive spectroscopic analyses. The absolute configurations of compounds 1a, 1b, 3 and 5 were determined by comparison of the experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra. Subsequently, the neuroprotective effects of all the isolates against H

Efficacy and Safety of Tiotropium in the Treatment of Severe Persistent Asthma:Meta-analysis / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the efficacy and safety of tiotropium in treatment of severe persistent asthma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Reports of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) describing tiotropium for treatment of severe persistent asthma published from January 1946 to February 2015 were searched in Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed, Ovid Medline, CNKI, and CSJD. The data of the included RCTs were extracted and the data quality was evaluated. Meta-analyses were performed with Revman 5.3 software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Five RCTs including 1433 patients were analyzed. Meta-analysis of the data showed that compared with the placebo group, tiotropium treatment significantly improved the patients' peak forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) [weighted mean difference (WMD): 0.13 L, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.10-0.16 L, P<0.00001], trough FEV1 (WMD: 0.09 L, 95%CI: 0.06-0.12 L, P<0.00001), peak forced vital capacity (FVC) (WMD: 0.10 L, 95%CI: 0.06-0.14 L, P<0.00001), trough FVC (WMD: 0.12 L, 95%CI: 0.08-0.17 L, P<0.00001), morning peak expiratory flow (PEF) (WMD: 9.21 L/min, 95%CI: 4.2-14.23 L/min, P=0.0003), evening PEF (WMD: 22.06 L/min, 95%CI 13.05-31.08 L/min, P<0.00001). The scores of asthma control questionnaire (ACQ) (WMD: 0.01, 95% CI: -0.07-0.09, P=0.86) or asthma quality of life questionnaire (AQLQ)(WMD: 0.06, 95% CI:-0.18-0.06, P=0.33) were not affected by tiotropium. No significant difference with adverse events between tiotropium group and placebo group were reported in these included studies (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Tiotropium for severe persistent asthma treatment can improve FEV1, FVC, and PEF but may not improve the quality of life of the patients. Tiotropium is well tolerated and can be an add-on therapy for severe persistent asthma.</p>

Clinical Analysis of 35 Inpatients with Diffuse Panbronchiolitis in Peking Union Medical College Hospital / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To summarize the clinical features of diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB).</p><p><b>METHOD</b>We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 35 patients who had been admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital from December 1996 to July 2014 due to DPB,which was confirmed basing on the diagnostic criteria proposed in 1998 by a working group of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan or histopathological examination.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The average age of these 35 patients (20 men and 15 women,with a sex ratio of 1.33 to 1) was (42.2<15.6) years,mainly distributed in the 40-49 age group. The average clinical history was (8.4<8.5) years. The main symptoms and signs of DPB included chronic cough (n=35,100%),copious purulent sputum production (n=31,88.6%),exertional dyspnoea (n=24,68.6%),end-inspiratory crackles (n=28,80.0%). Also,26 patients (74.3%) had a history of sinusitis. Cold agglutination test in 15 out of 15 patients were negative. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Haemophilus influenza were isolated from 22 patients (73.3%,22/30),and 26 patients (83.9%,26/31) had hypoxemia. The mean values of forced expiratory volume in the first second/forced vital capacity,residua volume/total lung volume,maximum forced expiratory volume of 50% lung volume,and maximum forced expiratory volume of 25% lung volume were 60.5%,53.8%,25.9%,and 31.2%,respectively. The most common CT findings from this cohort of patients were bronchiectasis and bronchiolitis,with nodular shadows distributed in a centrilobular pattern. Finally,29 patients were misdiagnosed as other conditions such as pulmonary infection and bronchiectasis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>DPB in Chinese populations have different presentations compared to that Japanese populations:for instance,the serum cold agglutination test always shows negative results,which is often inconsistent with the pathogens in sputum. DPB usually is misdiagnosed. Clinicians should take DPB into consideration when patients had pulmonary infection and sinusitis.</p>

Clinical and pathological analysis of 236 patients with primary extranodal lymphoma / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was aimed to analyze the clinical and pathological characteristics of patients with primary extranodal lymphoma (PENL). A total of 236 patients with PENL were enrolled to evaluate the clinical and pathological features. The clinical data of 236 patients with PENL confirmed by pathological and immunohistochemical methods between January 2001 and March 2012 were analyzed retrospectively. The results indicated that: (1)236 patients with PENL accounted for 40.7% of lymphoma over the same period. Median age was 55 years old (from 16 to 91 years old) . There were 153 males and 83 females(ratio 1.8: 1). (2)The common sites of involvement were gastrointestinal tract, nasal cavity, tonsil, mediastinum, skin, spleen, testis, bone and soft tissue, central nervous system, which accounted for 30.1% (71/236), 10.6% (25/236), 8.9% (21/236), 5.9% (14/236), 5.1% (12/236), 4.7% (11/236), 4.2% (10/236) , 4.2% (10/236) , 3.0% (7/236) respectively. (3)Symptoms of PENL did not have special characteristics, however its signs usually manifested with the enlargement or mass of organs, which accounted for 66.9% (158/236) in this study. (4)According to WHO classification of tumours of haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues in 2008, the common pathological type of gastrointestinal lymphoma was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma; the common pathological type of nasal lymphoma was extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma; the common pathological type of tonsillar lymphoma, testicular lymphoma, CNS lymphoma was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. It is concluded that the primary extranodal lymphoma is not rare, it is alert to PENL while organs enlarge or mass forms, so that clinical physician should pay attention to tissue biopsy.

Comparative study on spectrophotometric and visual methods for color stability of denture base resin / 中华口腔医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the relationship between the spectrophotometric and visual methods in evaluating the color stability of denture base resin, and determine the threshold color difference of denture base resin in the spectrophotometric method.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two kinds of denture base resin were respectively fabricated into 33 specimens whose color differences varied from indistinguishable to obvious. Each of the specimens was assessed respectively by 30 human observers and a SP62 spectrophotometer. The results of visual assement were recorded as "indistinguishable change", "light change" or "severe change", while the spectrophotometric color differences (ΔE) were calculated. In each group, a logistic curve was explored to determine the relationship between the color difference (ΔE) and the ratio of "severe change".</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The R squares of logistic curves were 0.93 and 0.94 respectively. The threshold color differences in the spectrophotometric method were 2.87 and 2.82 respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>A high relevance between the spectrophotometric and visual methods in evaluating the color stability of denture base resin was found. The threshold color differences for different color denture base resins were similar.</p>