[Current situation and problem on evidence based obstetrics and gynecology in China].
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China↗
Biomedical subjects
Fang Fang
Publications and source records attributed to Fang Fang.
[Application of chemical ecology in controlling marine fouling organisms].
Many marine organisms can produce secondary metabolites beneficial to the protection of marine environments against fouling, and thus, applying chemo-ecological methods to extract the natural antifoulants from marine organisms to resolve the problems relevant to marine fouling is a new thinking in resent years. Its aim is to search for high efficient and non-toxic antifoulants to replace the existing chemically synthetic ones which are unfortunately found to have widespread toxic effects on marine environment. Although we know few about the antifouling mechanisms of secondary metabolites, many natural products have been proved to have antifouling activity. Therefore, basic and applied researches on the ecological roles of these natural compounds, their action mechanisms, coating compatibility, controlled release, and field test are required in the future.
Animals↗
[Determining the primary site of metastatic adenocarcinoma in serous fluid: a cytological study].
OBJECTIVE: To explore cytological parameters that may identify the primary sites of metastatic adenocarcinomas in serous fluid. METHODS: Serous fluid specimens from 89 cases of metastatic adenocarcinomas (40 metastatic adenocarcinomas of lung, 6 metastatic adenocarcinomas of breast, 21 metastatic ovary adenocarcinomas, 22 metastatic gastrointestinal and pancreatic adenocarcinomas) were studied by using multiple morphologic parameters. Immunocytochemical S-P method was used to detect the expression of CA125, CA199, SPB and TTF-1 in 75 cases. RESULTS: Metastatic adenocarcinomas of different primary sites displayed certain different morphologic features, including the total amount of tumor cells, size of clusters, ratio of clusters over single cells, configuration of tumor clusters and the background of the smear. Cell clusters of small to medium sizes represented 95% and 100% in the metastatic adenocarcinomas of lung and breast, respectively. Most of the ovarian metastatic adenocarcinomas (85.7%) presented some large cell clusters and larger amount of cells, whereas certain metastatic gastrointestinal and pancreatic adenocarcinomas (45.5%) presented smaller number of cells and predominantly to be single cell in distribution (40.9%). Psammoma bodies were found in metastatic adenocarcinomas of lung and ovary. SPB and TTF-1 expression supported the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of pulmonary origin. CA125 expression supported an ovarian origin. Although CA199 was seen in all groups of metastatic adenocarcinomas, nevertheless, its appearance in tumor cells in ascitic fluid specimens supported gastrointestinal and pancreatic origins. CONCLUSION: Morpho-logic features of the cytological smear, immunohistochemical staining and clinical history are equally important in determining the primary sites of metastatic adenocarcinomas in serous fluid.
Adenocarcinoma↗
Biochemical prevention and treatment of viral infections - a new paradigm in medicine for infectious diseases.
For two centuries, vaccination has been the dominating approach to develop prophylaxis against viral infections through immunological prevention. However, vaccines are not always possible to make, are ineffective for many viral infections, and also carry certain risk for a small, yet significant portion of the population. In the recent years, FDA's approval and subsequent market acceptance of Synagis, a monoclonal antibody indicated for prevention and treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has heralded a new era for viral infection prevention and treatment. This emerging paradigm, herein designated "Biochemical Prevention and Treatment", currently involves two aspects: (1) preventing viral entry via passive transfer of specific protein-based anti-viral molecules or host cell receptor blockers; (2) inhibiting viral amplification by targeting the viral mRNA with anti-sense DNA, ribozyme, or RNA interference (RNAi). This article summarizes the current status of this field.
Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
Strong influence of test patterns on the perception of motion aftereffect and position.
In a completely linear system, the behavior of a square wave pattern can be predicted by its sinusoidal components. However, we observed a complete breakdown of the linear system prediction in the perception of the motion aftereffect (MAE). The duration of the MAE was measured following a one-minute adaptation to a rotating radial grating. Three different luminance patterns were used for both the adaptation and test stimulus: (1) sine wave, (2) square wave, and (3) complex grating with the same Fourier amplitude spectrum as the square wave, but with randomized phases. The sine wave stimulus generated the highest magnitude MAE, followed by the random-phase complex grating, and lastly the square wave grating. To test whether the square wave grating is a weak adaptor or a weak test for the MAE, we performed a cross adaptation experiment in which the sine wave, square wave, and complex gratings were paired in seven ways. Results show that the strength of the MAE critically depended on the test pattern. Regardless of the adaptor, MAE strength is in a decreasing order with the test pattern as sine wave grating, complex grating, and square wave grating. Further experiments ruled out the possibility that differential MAEs between these conditions are due to different peak contrasts in these patterns. Additionally, the MAE from a square wave grating as the test pattern is not accompanied by a significant concurrent shift in the apparent position. Linear system theory cannot predict the magnitude of the MAE using complex gratings. The spatial features of a test stimulus, such as position reliability or luminance uniformity, strongly influence the magnitude of MAE. Sharp edges and local luminance uniformity can greatly reduce MAE.
Adaptation, Ocular↗
New potential calcium channel modulators: design and synthesis of compounds containing two pyridine, pyrimidine, pyridone, quinoline and acridine units under microwave irradiation.
The synthesis of bifunctional pyridine, pyrimidine, pyridone, quinoline and acridine derivatives was investigated using dialdehyde as a precursor. A rapid and efficient method was developed for the synthesis of a range of bifunctional monocyclic, bicyclic and tricyclic products related to 1,4-DHPs with the aim of finding new classes of biologically active compounds.
Acridines↗
Stabilized structure from motion without disparity induces disparity adaptation.
3D structures can be perceived based on the patterns of 2D motion signals. With orthographic projection of a 3D stimulus onto a 2D plane, the kinetic information can give a vivid impression of depth, but the depth order is intrinsically ambiguous, resulting in bistable or even multistable interpretations. For example, an orthographic projection of dots on the surface of a rotating cylinder is perceived as a rotating cylinder with ambiguous direction of rotation. We show that the bistable rotation can be stabilized by adding information, not to the dots themselves, but to their spatial context. More interestingly, the stabilized bistable motion can generate consistent rotation aftereffects. The rotation aftereffect can only be observed when the adapting and test stimuli are presented at the same stereo depth and the same retinal location, and it is not due to attentional tracking. The observed rotation aftereffect is likely due to direction-contingent disparity adaptation, implying that stimuli with kinetic depth may have activated neurons sensitive to different disparities, even though the stimuli have zero relative disparity. Stereo depth and kinetic depth may be supported by a common neural mechanism at an early stage in the visual system.
Adaptation, Ocular↗
Alternative farnesoid structures induce different conformational outcomes upon the Drosophila ortholog of the retinoid X receptor, ultraspiracle.
In view of recent studies that the ligand-binding pocket of the Drosophila melanogaster nuclear hormone receptor, ultraspiracle (dUSP), is a necessary component of dUSP-dependent transcriptional activation by methyl epoxyfarnesoate, we have assessed qualitative differences in the effect of farnesoid and dodecanoid compounds on receptor conformation and transcriptional activation. Farnesoids possessing terminal alcohol, aldehyde, acid, ester and/or epoxide moieties induced different changes in the local environment of the ligand-binding pocket, as monitored by the change each induced in the fluorescence of the two tryptophan residues existing in dUSP (that are situated 10 residues apart on the alpha-helix 5 that forms one lining of ligand-binding pocket). Similarly, each compound differed in the extent that it promoted an increase in anisotropy (dimerization state) of the receptor. Dodecanoid derivatives were much weaker in causing such effects. Methyl expoxyfarnesoate (insect juvenile hormone III) exhibited the greatest biological activity to increase transcription of a DR12JHECore reporter construct in transfected Sf9 cells, even though it did not exert the most suppression of USP fluorescence nor exert the greatest increase in USP anisotropy. In a comparison of farnesoid derivatives possessing the three side branches either as all methyl groups (JH III), or one of the side branches as ethyl (JH II), or two of the side branches as ethyl (JH I), the JH III and JH I were more similar to each other in the fluorescence suppression and in vivo morphogenetic activity than either was to JH II, evidencing that dUSP does not sense JH II as a structural 'intermediate' between JH III and JH I. Ligand-binding domains of vertebrate retinoid X receptors respond to agonists by repositioning alpha-helix 12 to the edge of a hydrophobic groove, and there with the groove jointly forms a coactivator binding surface. When alpha-helix 12 in dUSP was mutated to place two signaling tryptophan residues its C-terminus, fluorescence signaling indicated that upon dUSP binding of methyl epoxyfarnesoate, the alpha-helix 12 was repositioned differently than what occurred upon binding of non-JH farnesoids. These leads on alternative ligand-induced conformations that dUSP can adopt provide a foundation for commercial development of synthetic molecules that induce specific dUSP conformations, and for identification of in vivo conditions under which endogenous molecules may exert these conformational outcomes to this receptor.
Animals↗
Tuning of PID controllers for boiler-turbine units.
A simple two-by-two model for a boiler-turbine unit is demonstrated in this paper. The model can capture the essential dynamics of a unit. The design of a coordinated controller is discussed based on this model. A PID control structure is derived, and a tuning procedure is proposed. The examples show that the method is easy to apply and can achieve acceptable performance.
Journal Article↗
A mutation found in the promoter region of the human survivin gene is correlated to overexpression of survivin in cancer cells.
Survivin, a unique antiapoptotic factor, plays an important role in cell cycle regulation. Numerous clinical studies have shown that survivin is markedly overexpressed in most common types of cancer, suggesting that transcriptional deregulation is a major mechanism involved in aberrant expression of survivin in cancers. In this study, we have identified several polymorphisms in the survivin gene promoter. One of these polymorphisms is located at CDE/CHR repressor elements and appears to be a common mutation with high frequency among cancer cell lines compared to normal cell line controls. The presence of the mutation was correlated in these cell lines with increased survivin expression at the both mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, gel mobility shift analysis and transcriptional analysis showed the mutation changed cell cycle-dependent transcription by modifying the binding motif of the CDE/CHR repressor. These results indicate that the high level of survivin in some cancers is, at least in part, due to a genetic defect in the promoter region of the human survivin gene, which causes derepression of survivin transcription apparently due to the mutated CDE/CHR repressor binding motifs.
Base Sequence↗
Inactivated SARS-CoV vaccine prepared from whole virus induces a high level of neutralizing antibodies in BALB/c mice.
We tested the ability of inactivated SARS-CoV vaccine to induce neutralizing antibodies in BALB/c mice. The inactivated vaccine was prepared by SARS-CoV virus propagation in Vero cells, with subsequent beta-propiolactone inactivation and Sepharose 4FF column chromatography purification. One hundred forty BALB/c female mice were divided into seven groups of 20 mice each. Of the seven groups, three groups were inoculated with 0.1, 1, and 3 microg of the vaccine without adjuvant while three other groups were inoculated at the same three dosages of vaccine with aluminum hydroxide as adjuvant, respectively. The remaining group was set up as a blank control. Each mouse was inoculated twice at an interval of 3 weeks. One week after the second immunization, mice sera were collected to detect serum neutralizing antibodies. An assay for determining neutralizing antibody titers was developed. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) higher dosages of vaccine induced higher levels of neutralizing antibody titer; (2) the level of neutralizing antibodies induced by the inoculation with aluminum hydroxide adjuvant was slightly higher than that without adjuvant, but the difference was not statistically significant.
Aluminum Hydroxide↗
A mutation found in the promoter region of the human survivin gene is correlated to overexpression of survivin in cancer cells.
Survivin, a unique antiapoptotic factor, plays an important role in cell cycle regulation. Numerous clinical studies have shown that survivin is markedly overexpressed in most common types of cancer, suggesting that transcriptional deregulation is a major mechanism involved in aberrant expression of survivin in cancers. In this study, we have identified several polymorphisms in the survivin gene promoter. One of these polymorphisms is located at CDE/CHR repressor elements, and appears to be a common mutation with high frequency among cancer cell lines compared to normal cell line controls. The presence of the mutation was correlated in these cell lines with increased survivin expression at the both mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, gel mobility shift analysis and transcriptional analysis showed the mutation changed cell cycle-dependent transcription by modifying the binding motif of the CDE/CHR repressor. These results indicate that the high level of survivin in some cancers is, at least in part, due to a genetic defect in the promoter region of the human survivin gene, which causes derepression of survivin transcription apparently due to the mutated CDE/CHR repressor binding motifs.
Base Sequence↗
A case of condyloma acuminata with giant and multiple lesions on the vulva and breast: successfully treated with surgical operations.
We report a case of a 24-year-old female patient with a history of giant and multiple lesions of condylomata acuminata on the vulva and breasts which were treated by surgical excision.
Adult↗
[Clinicopathologic analysis of organizing pneumonia in elderly autopsies].
OBJECTIVE: To study the clinicopathologic characteristics of organizing pneumonia of the autopsies in elder and to analyze the possible underlying etiologic factors. METHODS: Ninety-five cases of organizing pneumonia were found from 635 elderly autopsy reports of the Beijing Hospital since 1980. The morphologic and imaginal features were analyzed. RESULTS: The foci of organizing pneumonia in our series were often small, patchy, scattered and adjacent to other lung lesion. There were, however, some variations in cases with different underlying conditions. The conditions associated with organizing pneumonia, as detected in our series, were: (1) 36 cases with suppurative inflammation, lung abscesses and chronic relapsing pneumonia; (2) 17 cases with fungal or viral infection; (3) 16 cases with aspiration pneumonia; (4) 5 cases with radiation pneumonia. We observed that it was not uncommon for organizing pneumonia coexisting with atelectasis and chronic pleuritis. The image of organizing pneumonia was varied. CONCLUSIONS: Organizing pneumonia is a common finding in autopsies of the elder. It occurs in association with many diseases and the basic pathologic changes are similar. All of which represent secondary phenomenon. Possible etiologic factors include infection (due to bacteria, fungi or virus), aspiration and radiation. The possibility of organizing pneumonia should be considered if the shadow of lung is undisappeared in imagin.
Aged↗
[Diagnosis of childhood narcolepsy and significance of HLA in its diagnosis].
OBJECTIVE: Narcolepsy is a lifelong sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, and features of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, such as cataplexy, sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations. The present study aimed to investigate the diagnostic basis of childhood narcolepsy and possible role of HLA Class II alleles in the onset of this disease. METHODS: The clinical data of 40 narcoleptic children were analyzed. All patients received Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) and they were analyzed in combination with clinical features. Polymerase chain reaction/sequence specific primers (PCR/SSP) methods were used to detect the HLA-DRB1 and DQB1 alleles. RESULTS: Narcolepsy was diagnosed in 40 children. The age range was 3 to 14 years (mean 8.5 +/- 2.5 years), 29 were male and 11 female. Their mean course of disease was 6.5 months, 14 patients (30%) were less than 3 months old, 21 patients (52%) were less than 6 months old. All the patients had excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy appeared in 37 cases, hypnagogic hallucination in 22 and sleep paralysis in 6. Mean sleep latency on MSLT was less than 5 min, the average number of sleep-onset rapid eye movement (SOREM) was 4.33 +/- 0.26 episodes (2-5 episodes), the latency of SOREM episodes were 4.0 +/- 1.8 min (0.25-4.9 min). Thirty-five patients were DRB1 1501 and DQB1 0602 positive (Pc < 0.01), 2 were DRB1 1502 and DQB1 0601 positive, while 3 were DRB1 15 and DQB1 6 negative. CONCLUSIONS: Some pediatric patients with narcolepsy were different from adult patients in that the pediatric cases had a sudden onset and shorter disease course. Diagnosis of this disease was based on the clinical manifestations, MSLT and absence of any medical or psychiatric disorder that could account for the symptoms. The authors demonstrated that DRB1 1501 and DQB1 0602 were susceptibility genes for narcolepsy and those who were DRB1 15 negative could not be excluded.
Adolescent↗
[Diagnosis and treatment of methylmalonic acidemia in 14 cases].
OBJECTIVE: Methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) is one of the most common disorders of congenital organic acid metabolism. This study aimed at exploring the clinical characteristics and treatment of the disease to help improve our understanding of it. METHODS: The clinical data of 14 patients with MMA admitted to our hospital between January 2002 and July 2003 were analyzed and the diagnoses were confirmed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The patients consisted of 4 males and 10 females, whose age of onset ranged from birth to 9 years with 7 cases younger than 1 month (50%) and 10 cases younger than 1 year (71%). RESULTS: The main clinical manifestations were lethargy (6 cases), developmental retardation or regradation (7 cases), convulsion (6 cases), recurrent vomiting (4 cases), difficulty with feeding (4 cases), muscular dystonia (5 cases with hypotonia, 3 with hypertonia) and yellowish hair (4 cases), etc. Some cases were also presented with hair loss, hepatomegaly, ataxic or stiff gait, and motor weakness with muscular atrophy. The laboratory findings showed metabolic acidosis in 6 cases, hyperammonemia in 5 cases, ketonuria in 4 cases and remarkable elevation of urinary methylmalonic acid concentration in all cases. Some abnormalities in globus pallidus and cerebral white matter as well as diffuse cerebral atrophy were noted by the brain CT and MRI in 5 respective cases, while 4 cases did not receive neuroradiological examinations. Peripheral neuropathies were found by electromyography in 2 patients and bilateral optic nerve atrophy was detected by eyeground examination in 1 child. Three patients died before the diagnoses were made. Of the 11 survivals, 10 children have received therapy of vitamin B12 (VitB12) and supplementation of L-carnitine with restricted-protein diet. The follow-up for a period ranging from 3 months to 1.5 year (mean 8.5 months) of 7 cases with medical therapy showed a favorable outcome without any symptoms in 1 case and apparent improvement in 4 cases (the diffuse cerebral atrophy in MRI completely recovered in one case), however, 2 patients died from severe metabolic acidosis. CONCLUSIONS: The main clinical features of MMA include lethargy, developmental retardation or regradation, convulsion, recurrent vomiting, difficulty with feeding, muscular dystonia, yellowish hair, metabolic acidosis, hyperammonemia and ketonuria, etc. Urine organic acids analysis with GC/MS is critical to the early diagnosis of MMA. Early diagnosis and appropriate long-term treatment are essential to improve the prognosis of the disease.
Acidosis↗
[The expression of migration inhibitory factor in peripheral blood mononuclear cell and its correlation with disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus].
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the change of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) and serum MIF and its correlation with disease active index in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: MIF mRNA expression of PBMC and serum MIF in patients with active and inactive SLE was measured by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. The correlations of serum MIF with SLE disease active index, serum ds-DNA antibody, ANA, C3, C4 and IgG were examined. RESULTS: There was marked increase in MIF mRNA expression of PBMC and serum MIF in patients with SLE than that in normal volunteers (P < 0.01). Level of MIF in patients with active SLE was higher than that with inactive SLE (P < 0.01). There were significant correlation between the blood MIF concentration, MIF mRNA expression and SLE disease active index, ds-DNA antibody, C3, C4 and IgG, but no significant different was observed between the blood MIF and antinuclear antibody. CONCLUSIONS: MIF mRNA expression in PBMC and serum MIF concentration is significantly increased in patients with SLE and correlates with SLE disease activity. Serum MIF levels may be a useful parameter for monitoring disease active in patients with SLE.
Adolescent↗
[Xanthones from Tibetan medicine Halenia elliptica and their antioxidant activity].
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the xanthones from Tibetan medicine Halenia elliptica and their antioxidant activity. METHODS: Column chromatography over normal phase silica gel, reversed phase silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and recrystallization techniques were used to isolate and purify constituents from Halenia elliptica. Infrared spectrometry, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry were used to identify the structure of compounds. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by measuring the content of malondialdehyde product in mice liver cell microsomal induced by ferrous-cysteine. RESULTS: Eight xanthones (compound I-VIII) were isolated and identified from the ethyl acetate extract of Halenia elliptica, among which 1,7-dihydroxy-2,3,5-trimethoxyxanthone was a novel compound. Compound I, III at 10 microg/ml and 100 microg/ml could inhibit the production of malondialdehyde in mouse liver microsomes in vitro. CONCLUSION: Eight xanthones were isolated and they have certain antioxidant activity.
Antioxidants↗