Melanoseriskangdingensis (Lactucinae, Cichorieae, Asteraceae), a new species reported from western Sichuan, China.

Melanoseriskangdingensis, a new species native to western Sichuan, China, is firstly described and illustrated, and its conservation status is also assessed. It bears resemblance to M.macrantha and M.bracteata in terms of morphology; however, there are distinguishing characteristics in terms of their leaf structure, presence of bracts, hairiness of involucre, number of florets, and length of both stamen tube and achene's beak.

Two Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Alleviates Drought Stress and Improves Plant Growth in Cinnamomum migao Seedlings.

Cinnamomum migao plants often face different degrees of drought in karst habitats, which can lead to plants' death, especially in the seedling stage. Widespread of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in karst soils have the potential to address this drought, which is a threat to C. migao seedlings. We inoculated C. migao seedlings with spores from Glomus lamellosum and Glomus etunicatum, two AM fungi widely distributed in karst soils, to observe seedling growth response after simulated drought. Our results showed that 40 g of G. lamellosum and G. etunicatum significantly promoted the growth of C. migao seedlings, 120 days after inoculation. Following a 15-day drought treatment, root colonization of the seedlings with G. lamellosum or G. etunicatum had lower the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and increased the accumulation of enzymes and osmotic substances in the seedlings. The relative water content in different organs (roots, stems, and leaves) of the drought-stressed seedlings was higher in plants with G. lamellosum or G. etunicatum than in plants without AM fungi colonization. Our results showed that inoculation with AM fungi was an effective means to improve the drought resistance of C. migao seedlings.

Questionnaire survey about use of an online appointment booking system in one large tertiary public hospital outpatient service center in China.

BACKGROUND: As a part of nationwide healthcare reforms, the Chinese government launched web-based appointment systems (WAS) to provide a solution to problems around outpatient appointments and services. These have been in place in all Chinese public tertiary hospitals since 2009. METHODS: Questionnaires were collected from both patients and doctors in one large tertiary public hospital in Shanghai, China.Data were analyzed to measure their satisfaction and views about the WAS. RESULTS: The 1000 outpatients randomly selected for the survey were least satisfied about the waiting time to see a doctor. Even though the WAS provided a much more convenient booking method, only 17% of patients used it. Of the 197 doctors surveyed, over 90% thought it was necessary to provide alternative forms of appointment booking systems for outpatients. However, about 80% of those doctors who were not associated professors would like to provide an 'on-the-spot' appointment option, which would lead to longer waits for patients. CONCLUSIONS: Patients were least satisfied about the waiting times. To effectively reduce appointment-waiting times is therefore an urgent issue. Despite the benefits of using the WAS, most patients still registered via the usual method of queuing, suggesting that hospitals and health service providers should promote and encourage the use of the WAS. Furthermore, Chinese health providers need to help doctors to take others' opinions or feedback into consideration when treating patients to minimize the gap between patients' and doctors' opinions. These findings may provide useful information for both practitioners and regulators, and improve recognition of this efficient and useful booking system, which may have far-reaching and positive implications for China's ongoing reforms.

[Establishment of animal model of a human lung adenocarcinoma drug-resistant
cell line Anip973/NVB and investigation on mechanism of drug resistance].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Multidrug resistance (MDR) is the main cause of chemotherapeutic failure in lung cancer, and vinorelbine (NVB) is one of the most efficient drugs that threaten non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The current study aims to establish tumor xenografts and investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in the resistance of NVB in lung adenocarcinoma. METHODS: Nude mice were implanted with Anip973 and Anip973/NVB, and tumor-bearing mice were divided into the Anip973 treatment, Anip973 control, Anip973/NVB treatment, and Anip973/NVB control groups, respectively. The current study observes tumor growth, draws growth curves, and calculates inhibitory rates. The morphological changes in cell tumor were observed through the immunohistochemical method using an electron microscope to detect the expressions of MRP3 and Bcl-2 and to investigate the molecular mechanisms of Anip973/NVB cells. RESULTS: The tumor inhibitory rates of the Anip973 and Anip973/NVB cells treated with NVB were 60.00% and 4.65%, respectively, compared with the control group. The growth inhibition in the Anip973/NVB cell transplantation tumor had no significant difference. Apoptosis was observed using TEM when the Anip973 transplantation tumor was treated with NVB. On the other hand, no apoptosis was found in the Anip973/NVB transplantation tumor using TEM. Immunohistochemical staining (SP) shows the positive expressions of Bcl-2 and MRP3 proteins in Anip973/NVB transplantation tumor, which were observed to be higher than those in the Anip973 transplantation tumor. CONCLUSIONS: The overexpression of Bcl-2 and MRP3 might be one of the major mechanisms of the MDR of Anip973/NVB.

High-level transgene expression mediated by the piggyBac transposon enhances transgenic therapeutic effects in cervical cancer xenografts.

The piggyBac (PB) transposon is a recently identified, active and flexible transgene vector, combining the advantages of non-viral gene delivery with genomic integration and persistent transgene expression. In this study, we utilized the PB transposon to carry the herpes simplex thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) and red fluorescent protein (mRFP1) reporter genes into the HeLa cervical cancer cell line or tumor xenografts of cervical cancer. Our data showed that HSV-tk and mRFP1 were expressed in HeLa cells and tumor xenografts three weeks after intratumoral injection. The mRNA and protein levels of HSV-tk and mRFP1 were increased by using the PB transposon vector. Our system also demonstrated that sensitivity of transfected HeLa cells to the pro-drug ganciclovir (GCV) was enhanced in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, our data indicated that the enhanced transgenic therapeutic effect was strongly associated with high-level transgene expression mediated by the PB transposon. Our results suggest that applying the PB transposon in HSV-tk gene delivery and GCV treatment is a promising gene therapy strategy in the treatment of cervical cancer.