Chinese herbal medicines for benign thyroid nodules in adults.

Background: A thyroid nodule is a discrete lesion within the thyroid gland that might be palpable and is ultrasonographically distinct from the surrounding thyroid parenchyma. Thyroid nodules are more common as age increases and occur more frequently in women. Benign thyroid nodules often cause pressure symptoms and cosmetic complaints.

[Clinical analysis of hypoparathyroidism with altered serum muscle enzymes: report of 41 cases].

Objective: To examine the clinical features of hypoparathyroidism (HP) with altered serum muscle enzymes and explore the correlations with age, gender, disease duration, serum total calcium, serum total phosphorus and parathyroid hormone (PTH).

Methods: From January 2005 to October 2011, a total of 41 HP patients at our hospital were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: There were 16 patients with elevated serum muscle enzymes and 25 with normal serum muscle enzymes.

An efficient and high-throughput protocol for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation based on phosphomannose isomerase positive selection in Japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Unlabelled: A number of Agrobacterium-mediated rice transformation systems have been developed and widely used in numerous laboratories and research institutes. However, those systems generally employ antibiotics like kanamycin and hygromycin, or herbicide as selectable agents, and are used for the small-scale experiments. To address high-throughput production of transgenic rice plants via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, and to eliminate public concern on antibiotic markers, we developed a comprehensive efficient protocol, covering from explant preparation to the acquisition of low copy events by real-time PCR analysis before transplant to field, for high-throughput production of transgenic plants of Japonica rice varieties Wanjing97 and Nipponbare using Escherichia coli phosphomannose isomerase gene (pmi) as a selectable marker.