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.     

Detection of glaucomatous damage using multifocal ERG

The first‐order kernel analysis in multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) using low contrast stimulation is suggested as a way to detect the inner retinal responses in animal studies. In this case report, this protocol is applied to human patients with glaucoma to demonstrate the possibility of using mfERG as a tool to detect glaucomatous damage. Two patients with glaucoma were recruited and had mfERG measurements with the 103‐scaled hexagonal stimulus pattern at low (50 per cent) contrast. Their responses were analysed and compared with those from normal subjects with the mfERG measured under the same condition. In the normal subjects, there were obvious oscillatory components on the ascending and descending limbs of the first‐order kernel response to 50 per cent contrast. In the glaucomatous patients, the oscillatory component on the descending limb was obviously diminished. In addition, this component was significantly diminished in the quadrant with a glaucomatous visual field defect. This suggests that the low‐contrast stimulation condition in mERG measurement may provide a good way to detect glaucomatous damage and this may help in clinical diagnosis of glaucoma.     

中医药对外教育新模式的构建及探索

教育全球化进程的加速,给中医对外教育的发展带来机遇和挑战,构建和探索中医对外教育新模式势在必行,以进一步拓展中医药对外教育和推进中医药走向世界。     

喉癌患者术后的适应性研究

喉癌是头颈部最常见的恶性肿瘤,目前手术仍是治疗喉癌的主要手段.通过对喉癌术后患者的适应状态、适应测量及影响适应的因素进行综述,提出对喉癌术后适应干预的研究应该针对患者的年龄与性别、个性特征提供不同的应对、治疗方式、术后时间、社会支持和信息等方面知识.     

免疫荧光检测人乳头状瘤病毒新技术

利用过氧化氢的氧化作用参与抗原抗体反应,使细胞的膜通透性增强,利于荧光标记抗体染液渗入,从而更快速、广泛地接触抗原,更有效的抗原抗体的嵌合交联。新技术的应用,增强了染色效果,缩短了实验时间,简化了操作,提高了阳性检出率,使实验准确性提高,为临床确诊、疗效观察及预后提供了可靠依据。     

Novel azapeptide inhibitors of cathepsins B and K. Structural background to increased specificity for cathepsin B

Abstract: We have designed and synthesized a new series of azapeptides which act as potential inhibitors of cathepsin B and/or cathepsin K. Their structures are based upon the inhibitory sites of natural cysteine protease inhibitors, cystatins. For the synthesized azapeptides, the equilibrium constants for dissociation of inhibitor–enzyme complex, K_i, were determined. Comparison of these values indicated that all of the azainhibitors act much stronger toward cathepsin B. Z‐Arg‐Leu‐His‐Agly‐Ile‐Val‐OMe ( 7 ) proved to be approximately 500 times more potent for cathepsin B than for cathepsin K. To be able to explain the obtained experimental values we used the molecular dynamics procedures to analyze the interactions between cathepsin B and compound 7 . We also determined the structure of the most potent and selective cathepsin B azainhibitor by means of NMR studies and theoretical calculations. In this report, we describe SAR studies of azapeptide inhibitors indicating the influence of the conformational flexibility of the examined compounds on inhibition of cathepsins B and K.     

磁共振血管成像技术与高压注射器匹配的应用探讨

目的 探讨磁共振血管成像技术与高压注射器应用的匹配问题.方法 本组68例,年龄36岁-85岁,平均60岁,其中男53例,女15例.使用德国西门子1.0T超导磁共振成像仪及德国Ulich高压注射器和北陆的造影剂GD-DTPA静脉团注.结果 动脉显影良好64例(94%),3例患者血管显影欠佳(4.4%),1例患者出现药液渗漏失败(1.4%),所有检查病人均无出现不适.结论 正确熟练掌握高压注射器,使3D-CE-MRA成像扫描时间和团注速度相匹配,是获得高质量图像的重要环节,也是3D MRA检查成功的关键之一.