[Expressing poliovirus (type I) and hepatitis A virus antigens by recombinant vaccinia virus]

A recombinant vaccinia virus expressing PV-I and HAV antigens was constructed. Dot blot and Southern blot confirmed that the recombinant virus genome contained PV-I cDNA and HAV cDNA chimeric fragment. The result of IF indicated that PV-I antigen and HAV antigen were successfully expressed in the mammalian cells infected with the recombinant virus. The expressed PV-I and HAV antigen showed one band which had both PV-I and HAV antigenicities in Western blot. The band was about 120,000(MW). When guinea pigs were immunized with the recombinant virus, PV-I and HAV neutralizing antibodies were induced. The result indicated that the recombinant virus constructed here had bi-valence of PV-I and HAV antigen as well as PV-I and HAV immunogenecities.

Comparison of thickness and distensibility in the carotid artery and descending thoracic aorta: in vivo ultrasound assessment

Early atherosclerotic changes in the carotid artery and thoracic aorta have been examined by high-frequency ultrasound measuring of intimal-medial thickness and stiffness. Whether changes in stiffness and thickness occur in parallel and whether the determinants of stiffness and thickness in the two vessels are similar is unknown. To examine the relation between ultrasonographic measures of atherosclerosis in the carotid and the thoracic aorta, 146 patients aged 20 to 84 years (mean 54 years) were studied by both transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and carotid duplex scanning. From two-dimensionally derived M-mode recordings of the thoracic aorta and high-frequency B-mode imaging of the common carotid, the intimal-medial thickness was measured along with diastolic and systolic diameters for calculation of stiffness. Interobserver and intraobserver variability of carotid and aortic intimal-medial thickness and diameter were low. There was a good relation between carotid and aortic intimal-medial thickness (r = 0.69; p=0.0001). Age was the major independent determinant of thickness in both vessels. Carotid and aortic stiffness, as measured by Peterson's elastic modulus, were less closely related (r=0.51; p=0.0001). Age was the only independent predictor of stiffness in both vessels. In conclusion, structural ultrasonographic manifestations of early atherosclerosis in the carotid artery and thoracic aorta are closely related. Large population studies measuring only carotid intimal-medial two-thickness may reflect atherosclerotic changes occurring throughout the vascular bed.

[Determination of paeonol in carbonized bark of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. by HPLC]

The contents of paeonol in prepared pieces of carbonized bark of Paeonia suf fruticosa were determined by HPLC. The result shows that the contents of paeonol decrease with the rise of temperature and the extension of time in processing.

[The reversing effect of HPV-16 E6E7 gene antisense plasmid on the HPV-16 positive human cervical carcinoma cells]

Antisense reconstruct, p16as E6E7Neo, harboring HPV-16E6E7 gene of which the expression is regulatable by dexamethasone was constructed. Calcium phosphate mediated transfection was employed to transduce this antisense reconstruct into HPV-16 positive CasKi cell line and HPV negative C-33A cell line (both derived from human cervical carcinoma) respectively. After dexamethasone was added into the culture medium to induce the expression of E6E7 antisense gene, the malignity of CasKi cells were reversed, while the growth characteristics and malignity of C-33A cells were unchanged. The results show that the reversing effect on CasKi cell is specific and mediated by inhibition of expression of E6E7 gene. It also demonstrated a more profound pathogenic role of HPV-16 E6E7 gene in the tumorogenesis of cervical carcinoma and provides a possibility for gene therapy of this tumor.

The treatment of pain in bone metastasis of cancer with the analgesic decoction of cancer and the acupoint therapeutic apparatus

The pain in 286 cases of bone metastasis of cancer was treated with an analgesic decoction of herbal drugs in combination with the Acupoint Therapeutic Apparatus that generated low frequency electric impulses into the acupoints. This series of patients comprised 104 cases of medium pain and 182 cases of severe pain, which was practically or completely relieved in 17 or 29 minutes respectively after the treatment; the total effective rate was 74.2% for 212 cases, and the duration of analgesic effect lasted 2.7 hours to 5.2 hours, averaging 3.6 hours. The cases that needed considerable dosages of analgesic tablets or sedatives markedly reduced their requests of such drugs. Determination of bone marrow stem cells indicated that the herbal treatment produced effects of promoting and protecting the stem cells. The rate of lymphocyte transformation was 45-76% before the treatment and rose to 57-96% after the treatment, demonstrating an increase of 15.2%, which was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The analgesic effect of the decoction was not correlated to the age and sex of the patients or the variety of cancer, except that it was not effective for uterine carcinoma. The main side effects included nausea, vomiting, somnolence, and numbness of the tongue.

Is the pulmonary venous-transmitral A-wave duration difference altered by age and hypertension?

We have demonstrated that the pulmonary venous and transmitral atrial duration, and the difference between the 2 are independent of age and not influenced by hypertension, but have a high interobserver variability and range of variability. Enthusiasm for this parameter with the currently available recording techniques must be tempered by the high variability in this measurement.

Application of a fiber-speckle hologram to fiber sensing

A sensitive fiber-speckle field sensor using a Ce:Fe-doped LiNbO(3) photorefractive fiber hologram is introduced. We have shown that the sensitivity of this photorefractive fiber specklegram sensor can be of the order of 0.05 µm. The proposed system would offer the widespread use of practical fiber-sensing applications.

Transesophageal echocardiographic assessment of the effects of age, gender, and hypertension on thoracic aortic wall size, thickness, and stiffness

Aging is associated with progressive arterial stiffening and widening of the pulse pressure, resulting in a high prevalence of systolic hypertension. The contribution of increased aortic thickness to this process and to essential hypertension has been poorly characterized. With transesophageal echocardiography, aortic thickness and diameter can be measured. Thus, the influence of aging, gender, and hypertension on the geometry and stiffness of the descending thoracic aorta in humans can be determined in vivo. In 83 patients undergoing transesophageal echocardiography for clinical indications, recordings of the descending thoracic aorta were made. There were 53 normotensive subjects (33 men and 20 women, mean age 46 years, range 14 to 79 years) and 25 hypertensive subjects (8 men and 17 women, mean age 67 years, range 50 to 80 years). Measurements of diastolic and systolic aortic thickness and aortic diameter were made, and three measures of the elastic properties of the aorta were calculated: (1) Peterson's elastic modulus, (2) Young's modulus, and (3) the stiffness index (beta). Aortic thickness averaged 1.1 +/- 0.1 mm in both normotensive men and women. Normotensive women had a significantly greater thickness/diameter ratio than men (0.06 +/- 0.01 vs 0.05 +/- 0.01, p < 0.01), but there were no differences in stiffness between men and women. Age was highly positively correlated with thickness (r = 0.74, p < 0.001), diameter (r = 0.67, p < 0.001), beta (r = 0.79, p < 0.001), Peterson's modulus (r = 0.78, p < 0.001), and Young's modulus (r = 0.81, p < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Synthesis and characterization of a biotinylated organophosphorus ester for detection and affinity purification of a brain serine esterase: neuropathy target esterase

We have synthesized a novel stable precursor, saligenin phosphorotrichloridate, which, on reaction with N-monobiotinyldiamines, generates a series of biotinylated covalent inhibitors of serine esterases. A homologue designated S9B [1-(saligenin cyclic phospho)-9-biotinyldiaminononane] was selected to allow detection and rapid isolation of neuropathy target esterase (NTE). This enzyme is the primary target site for those organophosphorus esters (OPs) which cause delayed neuropathy. NTE comprises about 0.03% of the total protein in brain microsomal fractions and has resisted purification attempts over many years. S9B is a potent progressive inhibitor of NTE esteratic activity (second-order rate constant 1.4 x 10(7) M-1.min-1). Incubation of S9B with brain microsomes led to specific covalent labelling of NTE as determined by detection of a biotinylated 155 kDa polypeptide on Western blots. Specificity of S9B labelling was further demonstrated by inhibition with the neuropathic OP mipafox. Biotinyl-NTE in SDS-solubilized S9B-labelled microsomes was adsorbed on to avidin-Sepharose and subsequently eluted, yielding a fraction enriched approx. 1000-fold in NTE by a single step with recoveries of 30%. Essentially pure NTE was obtained after separation from two endogenous biotinylated polypeptides (120 and 70 kDa) in avidin-Sepharose eluates by preparative SDS/PAGE. Other biotinylated saligenin phosphoramidates derived from the same precursor may be useful for detection and isolation of other serine esterases and proteinases.

[The investigation on drug resistance to N. gonorrhoeae in Benxi district]

The sensitivity of 95 strains of N. gonorrhoeae to antibiotics was determined. In 1990, among 18 strains of N. gonorrhoeae, 7 (38.90%) were resistant to Penicillin G, 3 (16.66%) to Gentamicin, 8 (44.44%) Kanamycin, 8 (44.44%) Midecamycin. In 1992, among 77 strains of N. gonorrhoeae, 61 (79.22%) were resistant to Penicillin G, 38 (49.35%) to Gentamicin, 62 (80.52%) to Kanamycin, 54 (70.13%) to Midecamycin, 56 (72.72%) to Ampicillin 60 (77.92%) to Erythromycin, 22 (28.57%) to Cefazolin, 18 (23.37%) to Cefotaxime. The results showed that Cefazolin and Cefotaxime were the most effective antibiotics, Gentamicin was the next.

[Study on compound levonorgestrel microspheres]

Levonorgestrel (LNG) and estradiol (E2) were mixed in the ratio of 5:2 by weight. Compound LNG gelatin-microspheres were prepared by phase-separation method, natural biodegradable gelatin being used as the core material. The experimental conditions were optimized, the mean diameter of the microspheres obtained being 10-40 microns, and the rate of encapsulation 65-75%. Storage observations and acceleration tests of the compound LNG gelatin-microsphere injection prepared showed that the microspheres have good stability. The thermal degradation activation energy of the injection was determined to be 134.4 kJ/mol, based on differential scanning colorimetry (DSC). T1/2 values for dissolution in vitro of LNG and E2 from the compound LNG gelatin-microsphere injection and from the unencapsulated injection showed significant difference (P < 0.01), indicating that the microspheres have good sustained release action. Effects of the pure LNG microsphere injection and compound LNG microsphere injection on the mouse ovary were compared histologically. The results showed that the compound LNG microsphere injection reduced some of the side effects such as ovary congestion. This points out that the compound dosage form can clinically alleviate the irregular bleeding caused by the administration of LNG alone.

Acetylator phenotyping via analysis of four caffeine metabolites in human urine by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography with multiwavelength detection

The simultaneous analysis of 5-acetylamino-6-formylamino-3-methyluracil (AFMU), 5-acetylamino-6-amino-3-methyluracil (AAMU), 1-methylxanthine (1X) and 1-methyluric acid (1U), the four urinary metabolites of caffeine employed for acetylator phenotyping in man, by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) is reported. Using on-column fast scanning multiwavelength detection is shown to permit unambiguous identification of AAMU, AFMU, 1X and 1U in the three-dimensional electropherograms obtained with both direct urine injection or application of extracted urine. The phenotype status of a number of healthy volunteers, some with known acetylator status, were determined using peak height ratios of AFMU/1X, (AFMU + AAMU)/1X and compared to those obtained by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) employing the AFMU/1X peak height ratio. Another set of MECC data was obtained after deliberate conversion of AFMU to AAMU, the results being expressed by AAMU/1X,AAMU/(1U + 1X) or AAMU/(AAMU + 1U + 1X) ratios. The data suggest that most reliable data are obtained when phenotyping is conducted under conditions of complete conversion of AFMU to AAMU. Phenotyping employing caffeine and analysis of its urinary metabolites by MECC is shown to be simple and, with automated instruments, potentially suitable for routine use and large-scale population analysis. The agreement of MECC data obtained from three different instruments demonstrates the high level of maturity of this emerging technology.

[Phospholipid components of danggui]

This paper deals with the phospholipid components in Danggui (Angelica sinensis and Levisticum officinale) by using thin-layer chromatographic scanning and the corrective method of absorbance proportional coefficient. Seven known and two unknown phospholipid components were separated and determined. The authors have compared the composition of phospholipids for six Danggui samples.

[Photodynamic therapy of zinc sulfonated phthalocyanine on murine transplanted tumors, its tissue distribution, and damaging effect on DNA of cancer cell]

Zinc sulfonated phthalocyanine (ZnSPc) 10 mg.kg-1 was injected iv into mice bearing S-180 and RA795 lung carcinoma, after 24 h tumor site were irradiated with red light. In mice bearing S-180, tumor regression rate was 31.8-43.5%, tumor growth inhibition rate was 57.4%. The highest concentration was in tumor tissue 24 h after injection of this dye, on d 5 it still retained relatively highest concentration. However, in most other tissues the dye was not detected at this time, disappearance of ZnSPc from plasma was rapid, it showed an open two compartment model, t1/2 alpha 135.8 min, t1/2 beta 70.1 h, Vd 1.92 x 10(-3) L. In blood, most ZnSPc was bound with plasma protein, the peak light absorption showed blue shift. ZnSPc 2.5 micrograms.ml-1 plus light, percent of DNA double strands greatly decreased, this indicated that DNA was one of target sites for ZnSPc photodynamic action.

Determination of hydroxy and peroxy acid derivatives of uroporphyrin in the plasma of patients with congenital erythropoietic porphyria by high-performance liquid chromatography

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the determination of hydroxy and peroxy acid derivatives of uroporphyrin in the plasma of patients with congenital erythropoietic porphyria. The porphyrins were extracted from the plasma with 20% trichloroacetic acid-dimethyl sulphoxide (1:1, v/v). The supernatant after centrifugation was chromatographed on a Hypersil-ODS column by gradient elution with 9% (v/v) acetonitrile in 1 M ammonium acetate buffer (pH 5.16) (solvent A) and 10% (v/v) acetonitrile in methanol (solvent B) as the gradient mixture. The method was also suitable for the preparative isolation of the porphyrins.

Establishment of human myeloma cell line KM-2R and its preliminary application to human-human hybridoma research

The authors report the establishment of a human myeloma cell line--KM-2R--and its preliminary use in human-human hybridoma research. KM-2R cells are resistant to both 6-TG and ouabain. Their doubling time is about 30 h. They have a modal chromosome number of 81-85. Using ELISA and immunodiffusion techniques, gamma-heavy and kappa-light chains were detected in the concentrated cell culture supernatant. KM-2R cells are sensitive to HAT medium. When fusing with normal human spleen cells, tonsil cells, and B lymphoblasts transformed by EB virus, fusion frequencies of 20-60% resulted.

High-performance liquid chromatographic assays for protoporphyrinogen oxidase and ferrochelatase in human leucocytes

Rapid, sensitive and specific high-performance liquid chromatographic assays are described for protoporphyrinogen oxidase and ferrochelatase in human leucocytes. The enzyme reaction products were separated and quantitated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The optimal pH for the protoporphyrinogen oxidase assay was 8.6 and the Michaelis constant for protoporphyrinogen IX was 9.78 +/- 0.96 microM (mean +/- S.D.). The mean (+/- S.D.) activity of protoporphyrinogen oxidase in fourteen apparently healthy subjects was 0.146 +/- 0.023 nmol protoporphyrin IX per min per mg protein. In one patient with variegate porphyria, the activity was 0.028 nmol protoporphyrin IX per min per mg protein. The optimal pH for ferrochelatase was 7.4 and with protoporphyrin and Zn2+ as substrates, the Michaelis constants were 1.49 and 8.33 microM, respectively. The mean activity of ferrochelatase in ten control subjects was 0.24 nM Zn-protoporphyrin or 2.05 nM Zn-mesoporphyrin formed per h per mg protein.

Identification of peroxyacetic acid uroporphyrin I in the urine of patients with congenital erythropoietic porphyria by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry

A new porphyrin, peroxyacetic acid uroporphyrin I, has been isolated from the urine of patients with congenital erythropoietic porphyria by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography. The porphyrin was characterized by high resolution mass spectrometry and by typical chemical reactions of a peroxyacid.