Progress in the role of endometrial glucose metabolism in embryo implantation / 生理学报

The synthesis and decomposition of glycogen adjust the blood glucose dynamically to maintain the energy supply required by the cells. As the only hormone that lowers blood sugar in the body, insulin can promote glycogen synthesis by activating the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway and increasing glucose transporter translocation, and inhibit gluconeogenesis to lower blood glucose. In the endometrium, glycogen metabolism is active, but gluconeogenesis does not occur. The glycogen metabolism in the endometrium is controlled not only by the classical glucose regulating hormones, but also by the ovarian hormones. The functional activities related to implantation of the endometrium during the implantation window require glucose as energy source. A large amount of glucose is used to synthesize glycogen in the endometrium before implantation, which could meet the increased energy demand for embryo implantation. In diabetes, glycogen metabolism in the endometrium is impaired, which frequently leads to implantation failure and early abortion. This article reviews the glycogen metabolism in the endometrium and discusses its role in embryo implantation, which provide new ideas for embryo implantation research and infertility treatment.

Effect of Valeriana jatamansi extract on fecal UPLC-MS/MS metabolomics in rats with diarrheal irritable bowel syndrome / 中国中药杂志

The purpose of this study was to understand the pharmacodynamic effect of Valeriana jatamansi extract in diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome(IBS-D) rat model induced by maternal separation combined with three kinds of stress, and observe the changes of endogenous metabolites in feces after intervention to find potential biomarkers and related metabolic pathways. The animal model of IBS-D was established by maternal separation combined with restraint, ice swimming and tail clamping. The therapeutic effect of each dose group of V. jatamansi extract was evaluated in terms of abdominal withdrawal reflex pressure threshold, fecal water content and immobility time of forced swimming test. In addition, rat feces were collected for detection of metabolic profiles of small molecular metabolites with UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS platform, so as to find the biomarkers of differential metabolism with multivariate statistical analysis methods such as principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogon partial least squares discrimination analysis(OPLS-DA). The results showed that as compared with the normal group, the threshold of abdominal withdrawal reflex pressure was decreased, the fecal water content was increased, and the immobility time of forced swimming test was prolonged in the model group. The results of fecal metabonomics showed that the levels of 39 metabolites were down-regulated and those of 37 metabolites were up-re-gulated. Further analysis showed that these metabolites were related to bile acid metabolism, unsaturated fatty acid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, ceramide metabolism and other metabolic pathways. This study proved that the extract of V. jatamansi had definite pharmacodynamic effect on IBS-D model rats, and the mechanism was discussed from the perspective of fecal metabonomics.

Deep learning applied to two-dimensional color Doppler flow imaging ultrasound images significantly improves diagnostic performance in the classification of breast masses: a multicenter study / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#The current deep learning diagnosis of breast masses is mainly reflected by the diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions. In China, breast masses are divided into four categories according to the treatment method: inflammatory masses, adenosis, benign tumors, and malignant tumors. These categorizations are important for guiding clinical treatment. In this study, we aimed to develop a convolutional neural network (CNN) for classification of these four breast mass types using ultrasound (US) images.@*METHODS@#Taking breast biopsy or pathological examinations as the reference standard, CNNs were used to establish models for the four-way classification of 3623 breast cancer patients from 13 centers. The patients were randomly divided into training and test groups (n = 1810 vs. n = 1813). Separate models were created for two-dimensional (2D) images only, 2D and color Doppler flow imaging (2D-CDFI), and 2D-CDFI and pulsed wave Doppler (2D-CDFI-PW) images. The performance of these three models was compared using sensitivity, specificity, area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), positive (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV), positive (LR+) and negative likelihood ratios (LR-), and the performance of the 2D model was further compared between masses of different sizes with above statistical indicators, between images from different hospitals with AUC, and with the performance of 37 radiologists.@*RESULTS@#The accuracies of the 2D, 2D-CDFI, and 2D-CDFI-PW models on the test set were 87.9%, 89.2%, and 88.7%, respectively. The AUCs for classification of benign tumors, malignant tumors, inflammatory masses, and adenosis were 0.90, 0.91, 0.90, and 0.89, respectively (95% confidence intervals [CIs], 0.87-0.91, 0.89-0.92, 0.87-0.91, and 0.86-0.90). The 2D-CDFI model showed better accuracy (89.2%) on the test set than the 2D (87.9%) and 2D-CDFI-PW (88.7%) models. The 2D model showed accuracy of 81.7% on breast masses ≤1 cm and 82.3% on breast masses >1 cm; there was a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.001). The accuracy of the CNN classifications for the test set (89.2%) was significantly higher than that of all the radiologists (30%).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The CNN may have high accuracy for classification of US images of breast masses and perform significantly better than human radiologists.@*TRIAL REGISTRATION@#Chictr.org, ChiCTR1900021375; http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=33139.

Research Progress of Granulation Technology for Taste Masking of Pharmaceutical Preparation / 中国实验方剂学杂志

In commonly used oral solid preparations, poor mouthfeel results in poor patient compliance with the drug, which in turn reduces the market competitiveness of the drug. The problem of taste masking of pharmaceutical preparations has always been one of the important problems faced by pharmaceutics. With the increasing demand for the taste of drugs, the methods of masking bad taste of drugs have gradually increased in recent years. By summarizing the relevant literature covering the bad taste of drugs, the commonly used taste masking techniques include the addition of taste masking agents, inclusion techniques, microsphere/microcapsule technology, solid dispersion technology, ion exchange technology and the like. However, in addition to the above taste masking techniques, in the manufacturing process of the solid preparation, the granulation technique also can achieve the shielding of the bad taste of the medicine, and the granulation technique is simple, and can well achieve the effect of masking the bad taste of the medicine. This paper systematically introduces the research progress of granulation technology in drug taste masking, in order to provide reference for the selection of drug taste masking technology. With the increasing demand for drug taste, drug masking technology has been paid more and more attention by the majority of preparation workers, however, there are still some problems, such as imperfect taste evaluation system and low specificity of methods. This series of problems need to be further studied and solved by relevant pharmaceutical researchers.

Effects of baldrinal of Valeriana jatamansi on expression of CRF, TPH1 mRNA and 5-HT in rats with irritable bowel syndrome / 中国中药杂志

This study aimed to investigate the effects of baldrinal of Valeriana jatamansi on the expression of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) and tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1) mRNA and levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in colon of rats with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and to explain its therapeutic mechanism on IBS through 5-HT pathway. Fifty-four male SD rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: blank group, model group, baldrinal high, medium and low dose groups, and pinaverium bromide group, n=9 in each group. The IBS rat models were established by using unpredictable chronic stress for 3 weeks followed by 1-hour acute restraint stress (CAS) after 7 days of rest and independent feeding. CRF expression was detected by IHC-P; TPH1 mRNA expression was detected by using RT-PCR and the 5-HT level was measured by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). The results indicated that the method of chronic stress with acute restrain stress method and independent feeding could lead to the increase in expressions of CRF and TPH1 mRNA and levels of 5-HT in IBS rats(P<0.05). The expressions of CRF, TPH1 mRNA and 5-HT in baldrinal groups were significantly lower than those in model group(P<0.05). The experimental results showed that IBS could result in increase in the expressions of CRF, TPH1 mRNA and levels of 5-HT, and the baldrinal of V. jatamansi could improve the symptoms of IBS by reducing the expressions of CRF, TPH1 mRNA and levels of 5-HT in colon of rats.

Application of HCMV DNA detection in infants' blood, urine and mothers' breast milk in the diagnosis of HCMV infection among infants / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To quantify human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) DNA in the blood and urine of infants of different ages with suspected HCMV infection, and in the breast milk of their mothers, and to evaluate the significance of HCMV DNA detection in the three specimen types in the diagnosis of HCMV infection among infants of different ages.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 170 infants with suspected HCMV infection were divided into groups A (<28 days; n=43) and B (28 days to 5 months; n=127) according to their ages. Blood and urine were collected from the infants, and breast milk was collected from their mothers. The specimens were examined by fluorescence quantitative PCR for detection of HCMV DNA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In group A, HCMV DNA detection rates in blood, urine and breast milk were 65.1%, 18.6% and 93.0% respectively. In group B, HCMV DNA detection rates in blood, urine and breast milk were 64.6%, 92.9% and 72.4% respectively. HCMV DNA detection rate in urine in group B was significantly higher than in group A (P<0.01), however, HCMV DNA detection rate in mothers' breast milk in group B was significantly lower than in group A (P<0.01). Among the 82 infants with positive results for blood and urine, the copy number of HCMV DNA in urine was significantly higher than that in blood.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>HCMV DNA detection rates in urine and breast milk are different among infants of different ages, so use of suitable specimens according to age is of great significance for improving detection rate.</p>

Construction of an infectious clone of pseudorabies virus strain ZJ genome maintained as a bacterial artificial chromosome / 病毒学报

pHA2 plasmid sequence,with Bacterial Artificial Chromosome(BAC) vector and the GFP expression cassette, was introduced into the UL23(TK) gene of Pseudorabies virus(PRV)strain ZJ by homologous recombination,and the recombinant PRV (rPRV-HA2) was confirmed and isolated by plaque purification. The circular genome of rPRV-HA2 was electroporated into Escherichia coli strain DH10B and then the PRV BAC (pPRV) was recovered. The transfection of pPRV into VeroE6 cells resulted in productive infection. The rescued virus isolated following transfection was indistinguishable from rPRV-HA2 in cytopathic effects (CPE) and replication curve in vitro. The growth kinetics of the viruses indicated that partial deletion of TK gene and BAC vector insertion had no effect on the viral titre and plaque size in vitro. The PRV BAC system will enable quick and reliable manipulation of the viral genome for the functional investigation on the PRV genes and the development of PRV vector in vaccine.

Expression of chemokine receptor CXCR4 in colorectal carcinoma and its relationship with clinicopathological parameters / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of chemokine receptor CXCR4 in colorectal carcinoma and its relationship with the clinicopathological parameters, and to reveal the role of CXCL12/CXCR4 in the invasion and metastasis of colorectal carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>CXCR4 expression was studied in 53 colorectal cancer tissues and 27 normal tissues by immunohistochemistry. Its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics of colorectal cancer patients were analyzed. The CXCR4 expression in tumor and normal specimens and its metastatic sites were assessed by RT-PCR and Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Fifty-three colorectal cancer patients,collected from July 2005 to February 2007 in our hospital,were enrolled in this study. CXCR4 was positive in 39 cancer tissue specimens(73.6%) and its high expression rate (in > 50% of cells) was 45.3%. High CXCR4 expression rate was significantly higher in patients with lymph node metastases (N(1)+N(2): 65.4%) than that in those without metastases(N(0) 25.9%). There were also associations between the high CXCR4 expression and the vascular and lymphatic vessel invasions (P<0.01). Meanwhile, there was a rising trend of high expression rate according to American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage and pathologic grade,but no significant difference was found(P>0.05). There were no significant correlation of CXCR4 expression with clinicopathological parameters such as tumor location, tumor size, depth of tumor invasion(P>0.05). In addition, the CXCR4 mRNA expression in primary tumor specimens (n=27) from AJCC stage IIII( patients was significantly higher than that in normal tissues. CXCR4 mRNA expression of liver metastasis specimens(n=5) was significantly higher as compared with the primary colorectal cancer specimens(P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Chemokine receptor CXCR4 is associated with the progression of colorectal carcinoma. High CXCR4 expression is associated with metastasis. The CXCL12-CXCR4 signaling pathway may be a potential novel target of therapy for patients with colorectal cancer.</p>

Pathogenicity of antibody subtypes against pemphigus vulgaris antigen extracellular 1-2 epitopes / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore whether the antibody subtypes against the extracellular 1-2 (EC1-2) epitopes of pemphigus vulgaris antigen (PVA) are related to the pathogenesis of PVA.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>EC1-2 fusion protein, emulsified with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) or aluminum hydroxide hydrate [Al ( OH)3], was used to immunize C57BL/6 mouse. After immunization, the cytokine types, specific antibody titers, and antibody subtypes were detected. Also, a neonatal mice model was used to evaluate the pathogenesis of different antibodies.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Th1 type cytokine interferon gamma (IFNgamma) was elevated in CFA group, while Th 2 type cytokine interleukin-4 (IL-4) was increased in Al (OH)3 group. The antibody subtypes were different in both groups. After the two groups were transferred with antisera separately, the neonatal mice developed erosion on the skin from Al(OH)3 group, with acantholysis histopathologically and bright immuno-fluorescence deposition, which was not seen in CFA group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Different antibody subtypes may contribute to the pathogenesis of disease.</p>