"Mirror-image" manipulation of curdione stereoisomer scaffolds by chemical and biological approaches: development of a sesquiterpenoid library.

The sesquiterpenoid curdione is one of the main bioactive components in the essential oil of Rhizoma Curcumae (Curcuma wenyujin, Curcuma phaeocaulis, and Curcuma kwangsiensis), which has been clinically used for the treatment of cancer in mainland China. Recently it was reported that natural curdione could be hydroxylated by Aspergillus niger and transferred to its corresponding curcumalactones under acidic conditions. Based on this study, the development of a sesquiterpenoid library through the "mirror-image" manipulation of bioactive (non)natural curdione scaffolds by chemical and biological approaches is presented herein.

[Expression of chemokine receptor CXCR7 in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines].

Objective: To investigate the expression status of CXCR7 in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines.

Methods: The expression status of CXCR7 was detected in 35 primary gastric cancer tissues and matched adjacent tissues by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. The correlation of CXCR7 expression with the clinicopathological parameters and risk factors of gastric cancer was analyzed.

Decreased expression of gastrokine 1 in gastric mucosa of gastric cancer patients.

Aim: To investigate the expression of gastrokine 1 (GKN1) in normal gastric mucosa, precancerous lesions and gastric cancer tissues, and to analyse its correlations with tumour site and pathological pattern.

Methods: Thirty gastric cancer patients (12 cases of diffuse type and 18 cases of intestinal type), 13 atrophic gastritis patients and 15 healthy volunteers with almost normal gastric mucosa (superficial gastritis) were enrolled in this study. Helicobacter pylori (H.

Effect of alcohol extract of Acanthus ilicifolius L. on anti-duck hepatitis B virus and protection of liver.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Acanthus ilicifolius L. is an important medicinal mangrove plant. It is popularly used for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant activity and hepatoprotective effects.

[Expression of Toll-like receptor 7 in gastric cancer cell lines and effects of TLR7 agonist on proliferation and apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells in vitro].

Objective: To investigate the expression of Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) in gastric cancer cell lines and the effect of imiquimod, a TLR7 agonist, on the proliferation and apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells.

Methods: The protein expression levels of TLR7 were detected with Western blotting in 3 human gastric cancer cell lines (SGC-7901, HGC-27 and MKN-28). The cell line expressing the highest TLR7 level was exposed to different doses of imiquimod for 12-72 h and the cell viability was assessed with MTT assay.

Efficacy, quality of life, and acceptability outcomes of atypical antipsychotic augmentation treatment for treatment-resistant depression: protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a debilitating and costly mental disorder. Although commercially available antidepressants have proliferated over the last 20 years, a substantial number of patients either do not respond adequately to these drugs or are unable to tolerate their adverse effects. One common approach has been to augment conventional antidepressants with an adjunctive agent, but the optimal selection of atypical antipsychotic agents for adjunctive treatment of treatment-resistant depression (TRD) remains controversial.

Study of beam transverse properties of a thermionic electron gun for application to a compact THz free electron laser.

A novel thermionic electron gun adopted for use in a high power THz free electron laser (FEL) is proposed in this paper. By optimization of the structural and radiofrequency (RF) parameters, the physical design of the gun is performed using dynamic calculations. Velocity bunching is used to minimize the bunch's energy spread, and the dynamic calculation results indicate that high quality beams can be provided.

[Effect of type 2 diabetes with hypertension on cognitive function-a study on elderly living in the communities of Beijing].

Objective: To study the effects of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) with hypertension on cognitive function in those community-based elderly who were aged 60 and over, in Beijing.

Methods: 82 patients with T2DM, 142 patients with both T2DM and hypertension and 277 normal controls were investigated in this study. Both methods as: the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE)were used to determine cognitive change.

Effect of Diazoxide Preconditioning on Cultured Rat Myocardium Microvascular Endothelial Cells against Apoptosis and Relation of PI3K/Akt Pathway.

Background: Anti-apoptotic mechanism for cell protection on reperfusion may provide a new method to reduce reperfusion injury.

Aims: The aim of the present study is to explore the effect of mitochondrial ATP sensitive potassium channel (Mito-KATP) opener diazoxide (DZ) preconditioning on hypoxia/reoxygen (H/R) injury of rat myocardium microvascular endothelial cells (MMECs) against apoptosis and relation of PI3K/Akt pathway.

Study Design: Animal experimentation.

Peptides used in the delivery of small noncoding RNA.

RNA interference (RNAi) is an endogenous process in which small noncoding RNAs, including small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs), post-transcriptionally regulate gene expressions. In general, siRNA and miRNA/miRNA mimics are similar in nature and activity except their origin and specificity. Although both siRNAs and miRNAs have been extensively studied as novel therapeutics for a wide range of diseases, the large molecular weight, anionic surface charges, instability in blood circulation, and intracellular trafficking to the RISC after cellular uptake have hindered the translation of these RNAs from bench to clinic.

Successful endoscopic treatment of an intestinal diospyrobezoar migrated from the stomach.

Diospyrobezoars are a rare cause of small intestinal obstruction. A 78-year-old man, with a history of persimmons ingestion and gastrectomy, presented with upper abdominal pain and weight loss. The upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed a huge bezoar in the stomach.

Efficacy and tolerability of antidepressants in the treatment of adolescents and young adults with depression and substance use disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aims: To measure the effectiveness of antidepressants for adolescents and young adults with co-occurring depression and substance use disorder.

Design, Setting And Participants: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials. A comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science and PsychINFO was conducted (from 1970 to 2013).

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors versus tricyclic antidepressants in young patients: a meta-analysis of efficacy and acceptability.

Purpose: A meta-analysis comparing the efficacy and acceptability of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) versus tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) in depressed children, adolescents, and young adults was performed.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search of the PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science, and PsycINFO databases was conducted from 1970 to December 2013. Only clinical trials that randomly assigned one SSRI or TCA to patients aged 7 to 25 years who met the diagnostic criteria for unipolar depressive disorder were included.

Expression of G protein-coupled estrogen receptor in irritable bowel syndrome and its clinical significance.

Objectives: Estrogen is suggested to participate in pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but expression of G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) in the colon of IBS patients has never been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of GPER and classical estrogen receptors in the colon of IBS patients and healthy controls.

Methods: Colonic biopsies were obtained by endoscopy from patients with IBS (n=46) and healthy subjects (n=13).

The survival predictive significance of HOXC6 and HOXC8 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background & Aim: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), a common disease in China, is mainly treated surgically. We established a prospective database of patients with esophageal cancer between January 2000 and December 2010, including 486 subjects with ESCC who underwent surgical treatment. In this study, we explored the prognostic significance of the expressions of HOXC6 and HOXC8, responsible for embryonic development, by studying the specimens collected from clinical subjects during strict follow-up periods.

SORL1 genetic variants modulate risk of amnestic mild cognitive impairment in northern Han Chinese.

The neuronal sortilin-related receptor (SORL1) has been reported to modulate the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a variety of populations, but replication studies have been inconsistent. Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is characterized by episodic memory impairment and represents the prodromal stage of AD. However, the relationship between SORL1 and aMCI remains unclear.

Recognition of multiple imbalanced cancer types based on DNA microarray data using ensemble classifiers.

DNA microarray technology can measure the activities of tens of thousands of genes simultaneously, which provides an efficient way to diagnose cancer at the molecular level. Although this strategy has attracted significant research attention, most studies neglect an important problem, namely, that most DNA microarray datasets are skewed, which causes traditional learning algorithms to produce inaccurate results. Some studies have considered this problem, yet they merely focus on binary-class problem.

[Thyroid hormone inhibits the growth of pancreatic cancer xenograft in nude mice].

Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effect of thyroid hormone in nude mice bearing human pancreatic cancer xenograft.

Methods: A BALB/c nude mouse model bearing pancreatic cancer was established with human pancreatic cancer cell line Bx-PC3. The mouse models were divided randomly into 5 groups, namely the control group treated with distilled water, high and low concentrations of thyroid hormone (T3) groups, and high and low concentration of propylthiouracil (PTU) groups.

Development of cholesteryl peptide micelles for siRNA delivery.

Despite the rapid progress in the siRNA field, developing a safe and efficient delivery system of siRNA remains to be an obstacle in the therapeutical application of siRNA. The purpose of this study is to develop an efficient peptide-based siRNA delivery system for cancer therapy. To this end, cholesterol was conjugated to a series of peptides composed of lysine and histidine residues.

Improvement of working memory after stenting for cervicocerebral artery stenosis.

Objective: To investigate the working memory of patients with cervicocerebral artery stenosis and its change after stenting.

Methods: 35 patients with cervicocerebral artery stenosis (≥50% with related symptoms of cerebral ischemia, or ≥70% with or without related symptoms of cerebral ischemia) underwent endovascular stenting. Working memory of all 35 patients before and within 3 weeks of stenting was evaluated by memory quotient (MQ) scores.

Magnetic field calculation for a 10 MeV positron emission tomography cyclotron.

The magnetic field calculation and correction for a 10 MeV positron emission tomography cyclotron is presented. 3D TOSCA analysis results are compared with the measured data, and the calculation error is used to calibrate the B-H curve to obtain a very precise finite element method estimator, which is used to predict the correction of the magnet pole for achieving the isochronous field. The isochronous field error is approximated with the effects of a set of standard patches.

The pattern element scale: a brief tool of traditional medical subtyping for dementia.

Background. Syndromes are defined by traditional Chinese medicine as consisting of different pattern elements. Few scales have been designed for differentiating pattern elements of dementia and have shown major flaws.

Prelog and anti-Prelog stereoselectivity of two ketoreductases from Candida glabrata.

Two ketoreductases from Candida glabrata were used for the asymmetric reduction of prochiral substituted acetophenones displayed different enantiopreference toward para-, meta-substituted and ortho-halogen substituted acetophenones with excellent enantioselectivity. Homology modeling and docking analysis were in conformity with this interested enantiopreference obtained from experimental tests. The reduction of a series of other substituted aryl ketones was also investigated using the two ketoreductases.