The Chinese version of the Caregiver Difficulties Scale: Psychometric evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Evaluating caregiver burden and its health impact is an essential component of long-term care plan for children with disabilities; the Caregiver Difficulties Scale (CDS) has high conceptual sensitivity. The aim of this study was to adapt the CDS to Chinese and investigates the psychometric properties of this tool. METHODS: The study was carried out among caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (n = 194). The CDS, Caregivers Burden Inventory (CBI) and World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) were used for data collection. Twenty experts were consulted to evaluate the content validity of the scale. The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to measure the construct validity of CDS. The Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated among CDS, CBI and WHOQOL-BREF to examine the convergent validity and discriminant validity. The reliability was evaluated by examining internal consistency and test-retest reliability. RESULTS: The result of expert consultation showed that the S-CVI was 0.894 and the I-CVI ranged from 0.70 to 1.00. The fit indices showed that the original correlated four-factor model of CDS was adequate: χ2 = 268.397; df = 243; χ2 /df = 1.105; RMSEA = 0.023; CFI = 0.985; NNFI = 0.869; TLI = 0.982; IFI = 0.986. The score of CDS was positively strong associated with the scores of CBI (r = +0.764); negatively correlating with the scores of WHOQOL-BREF (r = -0.627). The Cronbach's alpha was 0.840; intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) value was 0.843. CONCLUSIONS: The Chinese version of the CDS is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate burden for caregivers of children with CP in China.

Analysis of chemical components of Changtong oral liquid by UHPLC-Orbitrap HRMS / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To identify the chemical components of Changtong oral liquid （CTOL），and to provide reference for the basic research and secondary development of its pharmacological substances. METHODS UHPLC-Orbitrap HRMS technique was adopted. CTOL sample was separated on a Hypersil Gold column with mobile phase consisted of 0.1% formic acid （containing 5 mmol/L ammonium formate）-acetonitrile （gradient elution）. The eluent was detected in positive and negative ion modes using an electrospray ionization source. The data was processed by Xcalibur 4.3 and Compound Discoverer 3.3 software. The primary and secondary mass spectra data of each compound were collected. The unknown compounds were identified according to the mass spectrometry library of the instrument and the network databases mzCloud，mzVault，etc. Through matching with the pharmacology database and analysis platform of the traditional Chinese medicine system，the chemical components could be attributed to the traditional Chinese medicine. RESULTS Fifty-three chemical components were identified and analyzed from CTOL，such as 24 flavonoids，8 quinones，5 phenylpropanoids，4 sugars and glycosides，5 organic acids，3 amino acids，1 alkaloid，1 phenolic and 2 other compounds. Among them，12 components were derived from Salvia miltiorrhiza，9 from Citrus aurantium，7 from Rheum palmatum，4 from Angelica sinensis，1 from Magnolia officinalis，16 from Glycyrrhiza uralensis，and 4 from many kinds of medicinal materials. CONCLUSIONS CTOL mainly contains flavonoids，quinones and phenylpropanoid compounds，and its chemical components mainly come from G. uralensis，S. miltiorrhiza and C. aurantium.

Delphinidin induces autophagy in HER-2+ breast cancer cells via inhibition of AKT/mTOR pathway / 中南大学学报(医学版)

Objective:To explore the effect of delphinidin on breast cancer and the underlying mechanisms.Methods:Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) positive breast cancer cells MDA-MB-453 were treated by delphinidin.Proliferation of MDA-MB-453 cells was detected by CCK-8 after 48 h.TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay and Western blot were used to explore apoptotic status for MDA-MB-453 cells.Fluorescence dot assay,immunofluorescence,and Western blot were used to identify autophagy in breast cancer cells.Results:Delphinidin suppressed proliferation of MDA-MB-453 cells.Delphinidin increased the number of TUNEL positive cells.Delphinidin downregulated the expression of caspase-3 and caspase-9,while upregulated the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 in a dose-dependent manner.Delphinidin enhanced the number of GFP-LC3 punctate dots,LC3 immunofluorescence dots and the expression of LC3-Ⅱ and ATG5.Delphinidin inhibited the expression of proteins in mTOR signaling pathway,induding AKT,mTOR,eIF4E and p70s6k.Conclusion:Delphinidin induced apoptosis and autophagy by inhibition of AKT/mTOR pathway in HER positive breast cancer cells.

Progress of the relationship between autophagy and breast cancer chemotherapy resistance / 基础医学与临床

The therapy to different type of breast cancer has resulted in chemoresistance which is induced by auto-phagy.Autophagy, to tumor’s generation, is a double edged sword, and it can result to chemoresistance and auto-phagic cell death through interaction with apoptosis in breast cancer chemotherapy.However, autophagy may be unrelated to chemoresistance.It will be a key research point to further explore the relationship and mechanism be-tween autophagy and chemoresistance.

Clinical efficacy of 0.1% pranoprofen in treatment of dry eye patients: a multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Dry eye is a multifactorial disease of the tears and the ocular surface. This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, pranoprofen, in the treatment of dry eye.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>It is a prospective, multi-center, randomized, controlled, parallel group study. One hundred and fifteen patients with mild to moderate dry eye disease (55-60 in each treatment group) participated in this multi-center study. Patients were randomly administered with eyedrops containing 0.1% pranoprofen (PRA) plus 0.1% sodium hyaluronate (SH) or SH only, three times daily for 28 days, followed by a 1-week after treatment observation. Dry eye symptom score (DESS), fluorescein corneal staining (FLCS), tear break-up time (TBUT), and Shirmer 1 tear test (ST1, without anesthesia) were evaluated or conducted before treatment and at each study visit. Conjunctival impression cytology was taken from the patients treated with PRA plus SH before and after treatment and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect the changes of human leukocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Patients treated with PRA plus SH showed gradual improvements of DESS, FLCS, and TBUT. Between-group comparisons of FLCS and TBUT have statistically significant differences from day 14. Good tolerance with no severe adverse events was found in both groups. Patients treated with PRA plus SH had a reduced expression level of HLA-DR and were statistically different after 28 days of therapy.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The application of PRA at a dose of 0.1% was well tolerated and benefited to the patients with mild to moderate dry eye disease. The underlying mechanism of its efficacy may be associated with the reduction of inflammatory factors of conjunctival epithelial cells.</p>

[Effect of N, P, K on rhizome yield and diosgenin content of Dioscorea zingiberensis].

OBJECTIVE: A field experiment was conducted to investigate the different effects of various applying ratios of nitrogen (N), potassium (K) and phosphate (P) on diosgenin content and Rhizoma yield of Dioscorea zingiberensis. METHOD: Experiment was conducted with both one factor and orthogonal design, and data was analyzed statistically on SPSS 11. 5. RESULTS: Compared with the control groups,the yield of rhizome was significantly increased by N (P < 0.01), K (P < 0.01) , P (P <0.05). The content of diosgenin has no obvious increase (P > 0.05) by individual application of N, P and K, while changed significantly (P < 0.05) by the combination of proper levels of N, P, K. CONCLUSION: The degree of effect on diosgenin content was ranged with N > K > P, while on output of dioscorea rhizome was K > N > P, and the combination of N, K, P2 was superior to others.

Sulfation techniques of Bletilla striata polysaccharide by orthogonal design / 中草药

Objective To optimize the sulfation-conditions of Bletilla striata polysaccharide (BSPS). Methods BSPS was sulfated with chlorsulfonic acid-pyridine. Reagent proportion, reaction temperature, and reaction time were selected with substitution degree and yield as index by L_9(3~4) orthogonal design. Results Results showed that the condition with 6∶1 volume ratio of pyridine and chlorine sulfonic acid, reaction temperature of 85 ℃, reaction time of 2 h was the optimum. Conclusion The optimal method for sulfation of BSPS is feasible, and it provides valuable parameters for further enlarged test.