Lipid extract from completely sporoderm‐broken germinating Ganoderma sinensis spores elicits potent antitumor immune responses in human macrophages

Ganoderma sinensis has been used widely in Oriental countries for the prevention and treatment of various diseases including cancer. Previous studies have shown that the lipid extract from Ganoderma exhibits direct cytotoxicity against tumor cells. Here, it is reported that the lipid extract from germinating G. sinensis spores, at lower concentrations that have no direct tumoricidal activity, induce potent antitumor immune responses in human monocytes/macrophages. Upon stimulation with the lipid extract, monocytes/macrophages exhibited markedly increased production of proinflammatory cytokines and surface expression of costimulatory molecules. Conditioned medium from stimulated cells effectively suppressed the growth of tumor cells. Apparently, the lipid extract triggered macrophage activation via a mechanism different from that associated with LPS. Moreover, it was observed that the lipid extract could partially re‐establish the antitumor activity of the immunosuppressive tumor‐associated macrophages. These results indicated that in addition to its direct tumoricidal activity, the lipid extract from G. sinensis spores could exert antitumor activity by stimulating the activation of human monocytes/macrophages. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kindergarten children's representation and understanding of written number symbols

Two samples of kindergarten children's representation and understanding of written number symbols were examined in two time points in one academic year. About 85% of Chinese five year olds (mean = 5 years 10 months) were able to use conventional number symbols to represent the quantity of 30 or larger. At the end of the kindergarten year, 94% of Chinese six year olds (mean = 6 years 4 months) were able to use conventional number symbols to represent the quantity of 100 or larger. Some Chinese six year olds had problems in representing written addition and subtraction tasks. Children's ability to represent written number symbols, ability to represent written addition and subtraction formula and their performance on written addition and subtraction were closely related. The performance of children in a university-affiliated childcare center was better than that of the center serving working-class families in Time 1, but the performance reversed at the end of the kindergarten year.     

美国的医保"强制险"——美国立法打通医保资金瓶颈

美国作为世界上经济最发达的国家,2005年其医疗卫生的总支出已占GDP的16%,高居全球之首,但是美国迄今尚有15.2%的人群没有医疗保险。如何解决这个问题,最近,马萨诸塞州出台了新措施:通过立法强制未参保人群参保。这种做法或许会对中国当前正在进行的医疗卫生体制改革有所启发。     

增强子Ⅰ对乙型肝炎病毒DNA疫苗免疫应答的影响

目的研究乙型肝炎病毒(HBV)自身增强子Ⅰ(enhancerⅠ,ENHⅠ)对HBVDNA疫苗免疫应答的影响。方法采用PCR法以HBVadr亚型全基因DNA序列为模板分别扩增表面抗原(HBsAg)和HBsAg-ENHⅠ基因片段,重组到载体VR1012中,构建两种HBVDNA疫苗,转染COS-7细胞及HepG2细胞并免疫BALB/c小鼠。采用蛋白印迹、ELISA、ELISPOT等方法检测其在COS-7和HepG2细胞内的表达及小鼠的体液及细胞免疫应答效果。结果转染的HepG2和COS-7细胞均表达HBsAg;连接ENHⅠ的HBVDNA疫苗转染HepG2细胞后HBsAg表达量明显升高,两种疫苗转染COS-7细胞表达HBsAg无明显差异;免疫小鼠后第2周产生HBsAb及HBsAg特异性细胞毒T淋巴细胞(CTL),两种疫苗免疫产生的HBsAb及HBsAg特异性CTL无明显差异。结论ENHⅠ可使HBVDNA疫苗转染HepG2细胞表达HBsAg明显增加,对转染COS-7细胞表达HBsAg及接种BALB/c小鼠引起的免疫应答无明显影响。     

HPLC法测定欣康胶囊中次乌头碱含量

目的测定欣康胶囊中次乌头碱的含量。方法采用反相高效液相法,以C18为固定相,甲醇-水-三乙胺(75∶25∶0.05)为流动相,检测波长为232nm。结果平均回收率为94.65%,RSD为3.54%。结论方法简便,准确。     

用逆转录—聚合酶链反应法对类胰岛素生长因子cDNA的扩增

逆转录-聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)法是将PCR方法与逆转录法结合应用,可快速高效地扩增某一基因的全cDNA。类胰岛素生长因子-I(IGF-I)在人染色体中只有一个基因,全长超过45kb,并有内含子,其cDNA却只有几百个bp,为了表达得到IGF-I,本文利用RT-PCR方法,从胎肝提出的混合mRNA中,筛选并扩增了IGF-I的cDNA。经过分子克隆与测序,证明不需制备胎肝cDNA库,即可快速获得IGF-I的cDNA。     

Comparison of 180° and 360° acquisition for myocardial perfusion SPECT with compensation for attenuation, detector response, and scatter: Monte Carlo and mathematical observer results

BACKGROUND: The optimal projection data acquisition strategy for myocardial perfusion (MP) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) remains controversial. METHODS: We compared MP SPECT using 180 degrees and 360 degrees projection data obtained with the same acquisition time, reconstructed either with filtered back projection (FBP) or the iterative ordered-subsets expectation maximization (OS-EM) algorithm with various combinations of attenuation, detector response, and scatter compensation using mathematical observers and a myocardial defect detection task. We used Monte Carlo-simulated projection data from a population of 3-dimensional nurbs-based cardiac-torso (NCAT) phantoms with ranges of variability in patient anatomy, organ uptake, defect location, defect size, and noise level based on clinical data. Projection data from 180 degrees and 360 degrees acquisitions were generated by assuming the same acquisition time. After iterative or FBP reconstruction, standard postprocessing methods were applied. For each acquisition and reconstruction method, we optimized the number of iterations and cut-off frequency of the Butterworth filter using the Channelized Hotelling Observer methodology. The optimum set of parameters was that which gave the maximum area under the curve. RESULTS: For both acquisition protocols, OS-EM with compensations provided better performance than FBP or OS-EM without compensation. For FBP, the optimized 180 degrees acquisition provided a statistically significant increase in AUC as compared with optimized 360 degrees acquisition. For OS-EM, the AUCs for 180 degrees were slightly larger than for 360 degrees acquisitions when comparing images reconstructed with the same compensations. However, the differences were smaller and not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: With optimized reconstruction and filtering parameters, 180 degrees acquisition provided a statistically significant improvement over 360 degrees acquisition for FBP reconstruction. However, for OS-EM the differences were small and not statistically significant.     

Bayesian estimation of a random effects heteroscedastic probit model

Summary Bayesian analysis is given of a random effects binary probit model that allows for heteroscedasticity. Real and simulated examples illustrate the approach and show that ignoring heteroscedasticity when it exists may lead to biased estimates and poor prediction. The computation is carried out by an efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling scheme that generates the parameters in blocks. We use the Bayes factor, cross‐validation of the predictive density, the deviance information criterion and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves for model comparison.     

第2代(温控)射频消融子宫内膜切除术

目的探讨第2代（温度控制）射频消融子宫内膜切除术的疗效、安全性和可行性。方法2004年9月-2006年2月由上海市4家医院联合开展一项多中心、前瞻性研究,完成功能性子宫出血温控射频消融子宫内膜切除术81例。在超声监护下,射频治疗以温度控制模式输出功率50 W、温度设定85℃,按照两侧宫角、宫底、宫体、下段部位顺序射频消融子宫内膜。每个治疗点治疗时间为4 min。结果81例术后随访4-17个月。术后6个月随访70例,其中闭经48.6%（34/70）,点滴状月经41.4%（29/70）,少量月经10%（7/70）,总有效率为100%（70/70）。术后12个月随访67例,其中闭经56.7%（38/67）,点滴状月经29.9%（20/67例）,少量月经9.0%（6/67）,正常月经量3.0%（2/67）,月经量过多1.5%（1/67）,总有效率98.5%（66/67）。结论温控射频消融子宫内膜切除术不仅使患者的异常子宫出血在保留子宫的情况下得到有效的治疗,同时具有操作方便、治疗时间短、并发症少、术后恢复快等特点。     

唇香草中挥发油的理化性质研究

目的：研究维吾尔药唇香草中挥发油成分的理化性质．方法：采用化学检识、薄层层析法(TLC)、紫外光谱法对唇香草中挥发油成分进行定性分析。结果：唇香草挥发油中含有酚类、醛类、内醇类等不饱和化合物，唇香草中挥发油的薄层层析图谱、紫外光谱图具有明显特征。结论：化学检识、TLC、紫外光谱法可作为控制唇香草内在质量的方法，此方法简便、重现性好。