Population dynamics of Phaius flavus in southeast China: Reproductive strategies and plants conservation.

Because of species diversity and troubling conservation status in the wild, Orchidaceae has been one of the taxa with most concern in population ecological research for a long time. Although Orchidaceae is a group with high adaptability, they have become endangered for complex and various reasons such as the germination? difficulty and habitat loss, which makes it difficult to develop an accurate protection strategy. Phaius flavus is a terrestrial orchid which used to be widely distributed in central and southern Asia; however, large populations are difficult to find in the wild. Thus, the aim of this study was to provide a new perspective for conserving endangered P. flavus by investigating the mechanisms of its population decline; we established time-specific life and fertility tables, age pyramids, survival curves, and mortality curves for this plant and then conducted Leslie matrix model. We found that both of the populations from Wuhu Mount (WM) and Luohan Mount (LM) showed declining trends and exhibited pot-shaped age pyramids, low net reproductive rates, and negative intrinsic growth rates. The population from the Beikengding Mount (BM) showed a stable status with a bell-shaped age pyramid. However, it has a significant risk of decline because of the low net reproductive rate and intrinsic growth rate. This study use time-specific life and fertility tables, age pyramids, survival curves, and mortality curves, showed that the population decline of P. flavus could be attributed to 1) the shortage of seedlings caused by the low germination rate in the wild and 2) the loss of adult individuals caused by anthropogenic disturbances. To protect this species from extinction in these areas, we suggest that human activities in these habitats should be strictly forbidden and ex situ conservation of this plant in botanical gardens is also necessary.

Clinical effects of expanded super-thin perforator flaps in the shoulder, neck, and chest in reconstruction of extensive burn scars in the face / 中华烧伤杂志

Objective@#To explore the clinical effects and key techniques of expanded super-thin perforator flaps in the shoulder, neck, and chest in reconstruction of extensive burn scars in the face.@*Methods@#From January 2008 to November 2018, 22 patients with extensive burn scars in the face were admitted to the Department of Plastic Surgery of Dongguan Kanghua Hospital and the Department of Plastic Surgery of Dermatology Hospital of Southern Medical University, with 3 males and 19 females, aged from 4 to 48 years. There were 16 cases of type Ⅱ and 6 cases of type Ⅲ in facial scars. Before the first stage of expansion surgery, Doppler blood flow survey meter or multi-slice CT was used to locate the perforator vessels. One to four expanders with rated capacity ranged from 100 to 600 mL were placed in the patients. We gave 20% to 30% of the rated capacity of expander intro-operation and common injection with 10% to 15% of the rated capacity of expander per week post-operation until the volume reached 1.5 to 2.5 times of the rated capacity of expander during the past 3 to 4 months. At the second stage of surgery, the perforators were located again before surgery with the same method. The size of defects after the excision of facial scars ranged from 6 cm×4 cm to 18 cm×16 cm. With perforators used as nutrient vessels, narrow pedicle flaps or random flaps ranging from 6 cm×6 cm to 22 cm×18 cm were elevated as rotating or advancing to reconstruct the defects. The donor sites were sutured directly. Some of the flaps needed stage Ⅲ operation for cutting the pedicle. The survival of flaps, post-operation complications, and follow-up were assessed.@*Results@#All flaps of 22 patients survived. All the donor sites were closed simultaneously. One patient underwent an additional surgery for 5 cm×4 cm necrosis on distal part of flap caused by subcutaneous hematoma. Two patients with epidermis blister on the flaps were healed by themselves after dressing change. Due to rapid expansion, blood capillary proliferation appeared on the central part of the flap in 3 cases, after slowing down the expansion speed properly, which had no impact on flap transfer. No ischemia or venous congestion phenomenon were observed in the other flaps. During follow-up of 5 to 48 months, the flaps of patients showed no significant bloated appearance, with good complexion and texture, and even could reproduce facial fine-grained expressions naturally.@*Conclusions@#For the reconstruction of extensive burn scars in the face, expanded super-thin perforator flaps can not only acquire large and thin flaps with high matching degree surface skin defect, but also reproduce facial fine-grained expressions. It is a simple and safe method which conforms to the facial aesthetic standard.

[Molecular Characteristics and Clinical Features of Adults with NUP98 Fusions in Acute Myeloid Leukemia].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the molecular characteristics and clinical features of patients with nucleoporin 98 (NUP98) fusion gene positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the impact of coexistence of NUP98 fusion genes and other prognosis-related genes. METHODS: Samples of bone marrow or peripheral blood were collected from the adult patients with de novo AML and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in our hospital from July 1st, 2014 to March 1st, 2017. NUP98 fusuion genes and their karyotype were detected by PCR. The AML patients with chromosome 11p15 rearrangement or NUP98 fusion genes were studied as the research group and the remaining AMLs in this period as the control group. Meanwhile, the control AML group was divided into low-risk, medium-risk and high-risk groups respectively. Through comparison, analyzing the hematological characteristics, CR rates, the frequency of coexpression with other prognosis-related genes, and over all survival were done between these NUP98 fusion gene positive AMLs and control. RESULTS: A total of 197 AML patients participated in this study, including 16 (8.1%) having NUP98 fusion genes and the first case of positive NUP98-topoisomerase1 (TOP1) fusion gene. The NUP98 positive AMLs were mainly M2 and M5 in FAB classifications. Fms-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3)- internal tandem duplication (ITD)(FLT3-ITD) occurred [31.25% (5/16)] and mortality [80.00% (4/5)] of the patients with NUP98 positive AMLs, higher than control group [occurred: 9.95% (19/181), mortality: 42.11% (8/19) , P<0.05]. The CR rate of the study group induced chemotherapy was 78.57%, higher than the control group and the middle, high and middle rick control group. The median overall survival (OS) and leukemia free survival (LFS) of the patients with NUP98 positive AMLs were 13 months and 5 months, respectively. CONCLUSION: NUP98 fusion positive AMLs have high level of coexistence with other prognostic-related genes, especially FLT3-ITD, leading to poor prognosis, short survival.

Late-onset Hemochromatosis: Co-inheritance of ß-thalassemia and Hereditary Hemochromatosis in a Chinese Family: A Case Report and Epidemiological Analysis of Diverse Populations.

Hereditary hemochromatosis and ß-thalassemia can both result in the inappropriately low production of the hormone hepcidin, which leads to an increase in intestinal absorption and excessive iron deposition in the parenchymal cells. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no reports on the coexistence of the two disorders in China. We herein report a case in a Chinese who presented with late-onset hepatic cirrhosis with hereditary hemochromatosis and ß-thalassemia. We analyzed the pedigree of the two disorders and the iron status in his family members. Our case supports that a heterozygous H63D mutation can interact with ß-thalassemia, leading to late-onset hemochromatosis.

Anti-colorectal cancer effects of tripolinolate A from Tripolium vulgare / 中国天然药物

Tripolinolate A (TLA) is recently identified as a new compound from a halophyte plant Tripolium vulgare and has been shown to have significant in vitro activity against the proliferation of colorectal cancer and glioma cells. This study was designed to further investigate the effects of TLA on the proliferation of human normal cells, and the apoptosis and cell cycle in colorectal cancer cells, and the growth of tumors in the colorectal cancer-bearing animals. The data obtained from this study demonstrated that: 1) TLA had much less cytotoxicity in the human normal cells than the colorectal cancer cells; 2) TLA remarkably induced apoptosis in the human colorectal cancer cells and blocked cell cycle at G/M phase, and 3) TLA had significant anti-colorectal cancer activity in the tumor-bearing animals.

Value of levator shortening for correction of high supratarsal fold after cosmetic upper blepharoplasty / 中华医学美学美容杂志

Objective To correct the high supratarsal fold after cosmetic upper blepharoplasty is a challenge because of the shortage of both upper eyelid skin and fat.Levator shortening has been a procedure of choice selected by the surgeons to correct this condition.Methods Under local anesthesia, the desired crease was marked according to the characteristics of eyelid anatomy and aesthetic consideration for Asian women.The incision was made through the marked new skin crease and the old incision with surrounding scar tissue was incised.The adhesion between the skin and the levator aponeurosis was completely released.The levator aponeurosis was then divided above the tarsal plate.It could be shortened and then reattached to the tarsal plate depending on the amount of the upper eyelid skin and the degree of the ptosis.The skin incision was then closed to form new but lowered fold.Results Between 2003 to 2015, a total of 34 Chinese women underwent bilateral levator shortening for correction of high supratarsal fold after previous unsatisfactory upper blepharoplasty by other surgeons.There were no surgical complications postoperatively in this series and 32 patients (94.1%) were satisfactory for the outcome of the proper height of the supratarsal fold with at least 1 month follow-up.Only one patient (2.9%) required surgical revision for asymmetry of supratarsal folds and one patient (2.9%) for correction of deepened supratarsal fold.Conclusions The levator shortening can be an effective procedure to correct high supratarsal fold after unsatisfactory upper blepharoplasty in Asian women.It is especially useful to correct such a condition where there is shortage of the eyelid skin combined with the eyelid ptosis.

Green alga Ulva pertusa--a new source of bioactive compounds with antialgal activity.

We tested the effects of solvent fractions (FA, FB, FC, and FD), which partitioned by liquid-liquid extraction from the methanol extract of Ulva pertusa, on the growth of red tide microalgae (Karenia mikimitoi, Skeletonema costatum, Alexandrium tamarense, Heterosigma akashiwo, Prorocentrum donghaiense), and FA, FB, and FC exhibited significantly antialgal activity. The chemical constituent analysis showed the existence of bioactive compounds such as phenols and alkaloids. Further, four solvent fractions were applied to silica gel column and repeated preparative TLC to produce 13 samples and their purity qualified as thin-layer chromatographic grade. Among these purified samples, FA111, FB411, FC411, FD111, and FD211 exhibited stronger antialgal activity. Furthermore, their functional groups were analyzed by colorimetric methods and UV spectra data. FD111 and FD211 were temptatively identified as alkaloids; the others were initially identified as phenolic acids. This is a preliminary study and the structure identification of these purified samples requires further investigation. While concentration of these purified samples in this algae was very small, they showed excellent effects against red tide microalgae.

Expression of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in keloid / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND:Macrophage migration inhibitory factor is involved in the process of a variety of diseases, and plays a very important role in the tumor, autoimmune diseases, inflammation, angiogenesis, fibrotic diseases and so on. These biological characteristics are similar to keloids. OBJECTIVE: To compare the distribution and number of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in normal skin, hypertrophic scar and keloid. METHODS: We colected 40 clinical pathological scar specimens after surgery, including 20 hypertrophic scars and 20 keloids. Another 10 samples of the normal skin were used as control group. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemistry staining were performed to test the expression of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in pathological scars and normal skin. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Macrophage migration inhibitory factor was positively expressed in the normal skin, hypertrophic scar and keloid, and the expression of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in keloid was significantly higher than that in hypertrophic scar and normal skin (P < 0.01). It means that the abnormal infiltration of macrophage migration inhibitory factor may be associated with the formation of keloid.

A trifunctional enzyme with glutathione S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activity.

Superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione reductase (GR) play crucial roles in balancing the production and decomposition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in living organisms. These enzymes act cooperatively and synergistically to scavenge ROS, as not one of them can singlehandedly clear all forms of ROS. In order to imitate the synergy of the enzymes, we designed and generated a recombinant protein, which comprises of a Schistosoma japonicum GST (SjGST) and a bifunctional 35-mer peptide with SOD and GPX activities. The engineered protein demonstrated SOD, GPX and GST activities simultaneously. This trifunctional enzyme with SOD, GPX and GST activities is expected to be the best ROS scavenger.