Value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in deep angiomyxoma using a biplane transrectal probe: A case report.

Background: Deep angiomyxoma (DAM) is a very rare tumor type. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is considered the best imaging modality for diagnosing DAM. Computed tomography (CT) is used mainly to assess the invasion range of DAM.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound of a traumatic neuroma of the extrahepatic bile duct: A case report and review of literature.

Background: Traumatic neuromas result from nerve injury after trauma or surgery but rarely occur in the bile duct. However, it is challenging to diagnose traumatic neuromas correctly preoperatively. Although some previous reports have described the imaging features of traumatic neuroma in the bile duct, no features of traumatic neuromas in the bile duct have been identified by using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging before.

Efficacy and Safety of Banxia Formulae for Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Quality Randomized Controlled Trials.

Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of Banxia (Pinellia Tuber) formulae in the treatment of insomnia compared with those of conventional western medicines.

Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy and safety of Banxia formulae in the treatment of insomnia were searched from the following databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Database (VIP), and Wanfang database. The literature collected was from the time when the databases were established to April 2020.

Application of 3S Techniques to Regional Survey of Chinese Materia Medica Resources.

Objective: To explore the application of 3S techniques to regional survey of Chinese materia medica resources, in order to provide technical reference for the fourth national survey of Chinese materia medica resources.

Methods: Based on remote sensing technology, satellite positioning technology and GIS technology, GPS position indicator, SLR camera and related software such as Google Earth, HOLUX ez Tour for Logger and XTTools were used to establish the application model of 3S techniques for the regional survey of Chinese materia medica resources.

Results: The application model established in field survey performed well in pathway expedition and sample plot survey.

Neuroprotective effects of salidroside on focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury involve the nuclear erythroid 2-related factor 2 pathway.

Salidroside, the main active ingredient extracted from Rhodiola crenulata, has been shown to be neuroprotective in ischemic cerebral injury, but the underlying mechanism for this neuroprotection is poorly understood. In the current study, the neuroprotective effect of salidroside on cerebral ischemia-induced oxidative stress and the role of the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway was investigated in a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion. Salidroside (30 mg/kg) reduced infarct size, improved neurological function and histological changes, increased activity of superoxide dismutase and glutathione-S-transferase, and reduced malon-dialdehyde levels after cerebral ischemia and reperfusion.

[Research advances on role of microRNAs in congenital heart diseases].

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs, which mainly regulate gene expression through post-transcriptional process. They are highly conserved, tissue-specific and highly specific in miRNA-binding on 3'-untranslated regions. MicroRNAs have been identified as crucial regulators in myocardial cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, migration of cardiac neural crest cells, cardiac morphogenesis and cardiac patterning processes, which may provide a new insight into the research on developmental mechanism of congenital heart diseases.

Hypoxia-induced up-regulation of aquaporin-1 protein in prostate cancer cells in a p38-dependent manner.

Background/aims: Aquaporin-1 (AQP1) is a glycoprotein that mediates osmotic water transport, its expression has been found to correlate with tumour stage in some tumours. However, the mechanism by which AQP1 protein expression is regulated in tumor cells remains to be fully elucidated. We hypothesized that hypoxia might play an important role in AQP1 induction during tumorigenesis and at the late stages of tumor development.

[Toxicity of cationic liposome Lipofectamine 2000 in human pancreatic cancer Capan-2 cells].

Objective: To investigate the toxicity of cationic liposome Lipofectamine 2000 (Lipo) in human pancreatic cancer Capan-2 cells.

Methods: Capan-2 cells were cultured in the presence of Lipo at toxic concentrations, and the cell growth, apoptosis and cell cycle changes were evaluated by cell counting and flow cytometry.

Results: The concentrations of both Lipo and siRNA affected the transfection efficiency.

Salvianolic acid B protects human endothelial cells from oxidative stress damage: a possible protective role of glucose-regulated protein 78 induction.

Aims: The purposes of the present study were to both evaluate the protective effects of Salvianolic acid B (Sal B) and to determine the possible molecular mechanisms by which Sal B protects endothelial cells from damage caused by oxidative stress.

Methods And Results: Pretreatment with Sal B markedly attenuated H(2)O(2)-induced viability loss, lactate dehydrogenase leakage and apoptosis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The mechanism of Sal B protection was studied using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis coupled with hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Epinephrine increases phosphorylation of MAP-2c in rat pheochromocytoma cells (PC12 Cells) via a protein kinase C- and mitogen activated protein kinase-dependent mechanism.

Adrenoceptors mediate effects of endogenous catecholamines and have been shown to affect the neuronal development. Microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP-2) is an important cytoskeleton protein whose phosphorylation in response to extracellular signal is involved in the regulation of neurite outgrowth and neuronal plasticity. The present study was designed to determine the effect of activation of adrenoceptor by epinephrine on MAP-2 phosphorylation in differentiation PC12 cells and, if so, to explore the mediating mechanism.

[A randomized and case-control clinical study on trimebutine maleate in treating functional dyspepsia coexisting with diarrhea-dominant irritable bowel syndrome].

Objective: To observe the efficacy and adverse drug reaction of trimebutine maleate in treating patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) coexisting with diarrhea dominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D).

Methods: 129 patients were enrolled in this randomized, case-control and prospective study and divided into 3 groups. Group A was treated with trimebutine maleate and bacillus licheniformis, Group B with trimebutine maleate and Group C with bacillus licheniformis.

Down-regulation of brain-pancreas relative protein in diabetic rats and by high glucose in PC12 cells: prevention by calpain inhibitors.

Brain-pancreas relative protein (BPRP) is a novel protein that we found in our laboratory. Previously we demonstrated that it is involved in ischemia and depression. In light of the putative association between diabetes and clinical depression, and the selective expression of BPRP in brain and pancreas, the present study examined whether BPRP levels are affected by induction of diabetes by alloxan injection in rats and exposure to high glucose levels in PC12 cells.

Oxidative stress mediates CoCl(2)-induced prostate tumour cell adhesion: role of protein kinase C and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase.

Cobalt chloride (CoCl(2)), an agent demonstrated to stabilize hypoxia-inducible factor-1, has been associated with various hypoxic responses, and recently, some reports have linked it to increasing tumour malignancy. In this study, we observed the alteration of cell adhesion after CoCl(2) treatment and analysed the potential mechanisms responsible for such adaptations in a prostate cancer cell line PC-3 M cell. We found that CoCl(2 )increased the tumour cell adhesion in a dose-dependent manner, which correlated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation.

Detection, characterization and identification of phenolic acids in Danshen using high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

By using HPLC-diode array detection-electrospray ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS(n)) in negative ion mode, we have analyzed the fragmentation pathways of 11 phenolic acids which were isolated from Danshen. Then the extract of Danshen was analyzed, and a total of 42 phenolic acids, including sixteen new minor constituents, were identified or tentatively identified for the first time. A new solid-phase extraction (SPE) method, new HPLC separation method, new liquid chromatography (LC)-MS and LC-MS(n) (n=3-5) data and proposed fragmentation pathways, LC retention time for phenolic acids are reported.

Effects of glucose, insulin, and supernatant from pancreatic beta-cells on brain-pancreas relative protein in rat hippocampus.

Brain-pancreas relative protein (BPRP) is a novel protein that mainly expresses in brain and pancreas. In our previous study, we found that various stressors significantly decreased the expression of BPRP in pancreas in vivo, accompanied by changes in insulin and glucose levels, and that expression of BPRP in pancreas also decreased significantly in diabetic rats induced by Streptozocin (STZ). All these findings suggest that BPRP may be a glucose or insulin-sensitive protein.

Development of the fingerprints for the quality of the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza and its related preparations by HPLC-DAD and LC-MS(n).

High-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) fingerprints were developed for identification of both lipophilic and hydrophilic components of the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza and four related preparations. These samples were separated with an Agilent Zorbax Extend C(18) reserved-phase column (5 microm, 250 mm x 4.6 mm) by linear gradient elution using water-phosphoric acid (100:0.

Reduction in the in vitro expression of Brain-Pancreas Relative Protein by oxygen and glucose-deprivation.

Brain-Pancreas Relative Protein (BPRP) is a novel protein found in our laboratory. In previous study we observed a significant reduction in BPRP in ischemic brain of rat. Here we undertook this study to explore the possible mediating mechanism by which oxygen and glucose-deprivation culture (OGD), a model of ischemia in vitro, decreased the expression of BPRP in PC12 cells.

Salvianolic acid B, an antioxidant from Salvia miltiorrhiza, prevents Abeta(25-35)-induced reduction in BPRP in PC12 cells.

Several lines of evidence support that beta-amyloid (Abeta)-induced neurotoxicity is mediated through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and elevation of intracellular calcium. Salvianolic acid B (Sal B), the major and most active anti-oxidant from Salvia miltiorrhiza, protects diverse kinds of cells from damage caused by a variety of toxic stimuli. In the present study, we investigated the effects of Sal B against beta-amyloid peptide 25-35 (Abeta(25-35))-induced neurotoxicity, focused mainly on the neurotoxic effects of Abeta(25-35) and the neuroprotective effects of Sal B on the expression of brain-pancreas relative protein (BPRP), which is a new protein and mainly expressed in brain and pancreas.

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of tanshinones in the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza and related traditional chinese medicinal preparations.

Purpose: This paper describes a validated high-performance liquid chromatographic method to quantitate four tanshinones as markers; dihydrotanshinone I, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I and tanshinone IIA for use in the quality control of the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza and its related traditional Chinese medicinal preparations.

Methods: Separation was achieved using a Zorbax Extend C18 reserved-phase column (5microm, 250*4.6mm) at 20 degrees with a gradient mixture of deionized water and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 1.

Simultaneous quantification of six major phenolic acids in the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza and four related traditional Chinese medicinal preparations by HPLC-DAD method.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method was applied to the determination of danshensu, protocatechuic aldehyde, rosmarinic acid, lithospermic acid, salvianolic acid B and salvianolic acid A in the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza and four related traditional Chinese medicinal preparations. The six phenolic acids were simultaneously analyzed with a Zorbax Extend C18 column by gradient elution using 0.026% (v/v) phosphoric acid and acetonitrile as the mobile phase.

Antidepressant effects of curcumin in the forced swim test and olfactory bulbectomy models of depression in rats.

Curcuma longa is a major constituent of Xiaoyao-san, the traditional Chinese medicinal formula, which has been used to effectively manage stress and depression-related disorders in China. Curcumin is the active component of curcuma longa, and we hypothesized that curcumin would have an influence on depressive-like behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to confirm the putative antidepressant effect of chronic administrations of curcumin (1.

Effect of chronic unpredictable mild stress on brain-pancreas relative protein in rat brain and pancreas.

Brain-pancreas relative protein (BPRP) is a novel protein whose biological function remains unknown. Here, we report a possible role of BPRP in male rats exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) to induce depression for 3 weeks. Compared to unstressed rats, those exposed to CUMS showed significantly less weight gain with age, decreased consumption of (and preference for) sucrose without a change in total fluid consumption.

The effects of curcumin on depressive-like behaviors in mice.

Curcuma longa is a major constituent of Xiaoyao-san, the traditional Chinese medicinal formula, which has been used effectively to treat depression-related diseases in China. There is no information available about the antidepressant activity of curcumin, the active component of curcuma longa. In the present study, we analyzed the effects of curcumin on depressive-like behaviors in mice, using two animal models of depression.

GLB prevents tumor metastasis of Lewis lung carcinoma by inhibiting tumor adhesion actions.

Aim: To investigate the inhibitory effect of a new compound of GLB on tumor metastasis in vivo and analyze its actions on tumor cell adhesion to clarify its mechanism.

Methods: The effect of GLB on tumor metastasis was analyzed by Lewis lung carcinoma model. The pathological morphology of lung alveolar was evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin staining.