Platelet-activating factor antagonist WEB-2170 inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced, but not antiprogestin-induced, preterm cervical ripening in timed-pregnant rats

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the platelet-activating factor antagonist WEB-2170 inhibits preterm cervical ripening induced by lipopolysaccharide or by antiprogestin RU 486. STUDY DESIGN: Timed-pregnant rats were killed on day 16 after treatment with (1) WEB-2170, lipopolysaccharide, lipopolysaccharide plus WEB-2170, or vehicle control and (2) with WEB-2170, RU 486, RU 486 plus WEB-2170, or vehicle control. Cervical ripening was assessed by light-induced fluorescence and resistance to stretch. Statistics were assessed by 1-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey-test (P <.05). RESULTS: Light-induced fluorescence and resistance to stretch were significantly lower in the lipopolysaccharide-treated and in the RU486-treated animals compared with vehicle control (lipopolysaccharide:light-induced fluorescence, 7.0+/-0.6 vs 12.8+/-0.8 [P=.001]; resistance to stretch, 0.41+/-0.03 N/mm vs 0.54+/-0.04 N/mm [P <.05]; RU486:light-induced fluorescence, 9.6+/-0.6 vs 11.7+/-0.6 [P <.05]; resistance to stretch, 0.28+/-0.06 N/mm vs 0.61+/-0.02 N/mm [P <.001]). Compared with vehicle control, WEB-2170 alone did not alter cervical light-induced fluorescence or resistance to stretch. Although WEB-2170 significantly blocked cervical ripening after lipopolysaccharide administration (light-induced fluorescence, 11.3+/-1.3 [P <.05]; resistance to stretch, 0.61+/-0.04 [P <.01]), WEB-2170 did not inhibit the RU 486-induced cervical ripening. CONCLUSION: Although infection-related cervical ripening is inhibited by platelet-activating factor antagonists, the physiologic process of cervical ripening appears to be unaffected. Platelet-activating factor inhibition may be of clinical value in the infection-related pathologic processes that are responsible for premature cervical ripening.     

Therapeutic approaches for targeting receptor tyrosine kinase like orphan receptor-1 in cancer cells

Introduction: There is a high expression of receptor tyrosine kinase like orphan receptor-1 (ROR-1), a tyrosine kinase receptor, in various tumor-cell types. ROR-1 is involved in many key processes in cancer including proliferation, survival and metastasis. Hence, ROR-1 is an attractive and promising therapeutic target. There are many therapeutic approaches that target ROR-1 and these include specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), modified T cells (CART cell), miRNAs and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI).

Areas covered: This review examines ROR-1 structure and function, immunotherapeutic strategies including specific chimeric antigen receptor (CARs) T cells and miRNAs and other targeted approaches such as the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Expert opinion: Chimeric antibodies, CARs T cells, bi-specific T cell engagers (BiTEs), miRNAs and TKIs are used to target the ROR-1 marker on cancer cell lines. By selecting the most favorable therapeutic approaches regarding ROR-1 in vivo, anti-ROR-1 antibodies or CAR T cells can be also used for diagnosis of ROR-1⁺ cancer cells in new technologies such as biosensors. Moreover, ROR-1 targeted combination therapy with other cancer biomarkers could be considered a novel therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment.     

螺旋CT血管造影对颅内脑膜瘤诊断的应用

目的：拓宽螺旋CT血管造影（CTA）检查范围，探索颅内脑膜瘤新的影像检查方式。方法：应用改进后CTA检查56例颅内脑膜瘤，将CTA注药方式由原来的单向单流程1次延迟，改为单向双流程2次延迟，然后，应用表面遮蔽法（SSD），最大密度投影法（MIP）和多平面重组（MPR），3种软件对原始扫描数据进行图像的工作站后处理。结果：所有血供丰富的脑膜瘤均获得颅骨，血管，肿瘤同时显示的三维立体图像，血管重建显示脑膜瘤染色，及脑膜瘤与周围血管的关系。颅骨重建可示脑膜瘤对邻近颅骨的影响。结论：对颅内脑膜瘤的诊断，CTA在肿瘤的定性，定位、大外观血供等方面均能为临床提供有实用价值的诊断依据。并可为神经外科提供全面术前影像信息。     

Emergence of a novel Shigella flexneri serotype 4s strain that evolved from a serotype X variant in China

This paper describes the first isolation of a new Shigella flexneri serotype, designated 4s, in Beijing, China. Genotypic and phenotypic profiling suggests that this isolate is a clone of the S. flexneri serotype X variant reference strain. Of particular concern is the multidrug resistance exhibited by this isolate.     

A system for symptom assessment in advanced palliative home healthcare using digital pens

Symptom control is one of the most important components of delivering effective palliative care, and adequate symptom assessment is a prerequisite for good symptom control. Patients receiving treatment in palliative home healthcare is geographically separated from the caregivers making symptom control a challenge, a challenge that could be met by the use of information and communication technology. Technologies of today offer different ways for patients to assess their symptoms at home and send the assessments to the healthcare provider. Examples are the use of a PC, a touch-tone telephone, and a digital pen, which require different kinds of infrastructure in the patient's home, and which differ in strengths and weaknesses. As part of an ongoing quality assurance work within the hospital-based home care clinic at Link?ping University Hospital, the project has designed, developed and implemented an IT-support system for pain assessments for patients at home using digital pen and mobile Internet technology. A questionnaire study indicated that pain assessment using digital pens was accepted by patients and that problems mainly arose from the use of the visual-analogue scale.     

Chinese clinical guidelines for continuous glucose monitoring (2018 edition)

Blood glucose monitoring is an important part of diabetes management. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology has become an effective complement to conventional blood glucose monitoring methods and has been widely applied in clinical practice. The indications for its use, the accuracy of the generated data, the interpretation of the CGM results, and the application of the results must be standardized. In December 2009, the Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS) drafted and published the first Chinese Clinical Guideline for Continuous Glucose Monitoring (2009 edition), providing a basis for the standardization of CGM in clinical application. Based on the updates of international guidelines and the increasing evidence of domestic studies, it is necessary to revise the latest CGM guidelines in China so that the recent clinical evidence can be effectively translated into clinical benefit for diabetic patients. To this end, the CDS revised the Chinese Clinical Guideline for Continuous Glucose Monitoring (2012 Edition) based on the most recent evidence from international and domestic studies.     

Extracting the small vibrations of a vessel wall

Cardiac and vascular diseases are among the main causes of mortality. Diagnosis of these diseases in the early stages can be very helpful for their treatments. One of the effects of atherosclerosis is the reduction of vessel wall vibrations. Echocardiography images cannot show these vibrations, due to their lack of resolution. In this study a new model for vessel simulation in an ultrasonic system is proposed that can be used for RF signal generation for imaging vessel wall layers. To extract the high frequency vibrations, at the first stage large motion of the vessel wall due to heartbeat is removed from RF signals using continuous wavelet transform and then these simulated vibrations are estimated by calculating the phase difference between Hilbert transforms of signals. This method may be used to detect the areas with atherosclerotic plaque non-invasively and with a respectable spatial resolution. The proposed method has been used for real data from the inferior wall of the aorta and the anterior wall of the hepatic vein to evaluate the efficiency of this method for real ultrasound data.     

肾血管性高血压临床和血管造影诊断95例分析

对９５例肾血管性高血压（ＲＶＨ）临床和血管造影结果对照分析，大动脉炎（ＡＡ）组和肾动脉纤维肌性结构不良（ＦＭＤ）组发病年龄明显低于动脉粥样硬化（ＡＳ）组。ＡＳ组高血压病程长于ＦＭＤ组和ＡＡ组，但无统计学意义。ＡＡ组腹部血管杂音检出多于ＦＭＤ组和ＡＳ组，ＦＭＤ组血钾水平明显低于ＡＡ组和ＡＳ组。ＡＡ组８１．４％侵犯胸腹主动脉。５２．５％侵犯双肾动脉。ＦＭＤ组无一例侵犯胸腹主动脉，８２．５％系单侧肾动脉病变，其中右肾动脉５５．６％。ＡＳ组７７．７％侵犯胸腹主动脉，肾动脉病变以单测为主。ＡＡ组计９０支肾动脉病变，５８．９％位于肾动脉近心段，病变特点以局限性狭窄（６７．８％）和闭塞（１７．７％）为主。ＦＭＤ组计３３支肾动脉病变，４８．５％位于肾动脉中远段，２７．３％呈典型串珠样损害。ＡＳ组计１０支肾动脉病变，４支（４０％）系开口处狭窄，４支（４０％）呈完全闭塞。