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Unconjugated estriol (uE3) is one of the main naturally occurring estrogens that plays an important role in growth and development of the fetus. Usually, the level of uE3 is very low in men and non-pregnant women, but in pregnant women, the level of estriol has been found to be quite high. Therefore, the combination of uE3, AFP, and hCG is now widely used for Down Syndrome screening as a triple marker. Here, we developed a superparamagnetic lateral flow immunochromatographic assay to quantitatively detect uE3. The detection limit of this assay was 0.86 nmol/L and the linear range for the determination of uE3 was from 1 to 100 nmol/L. The detection time was 15 min and the assay had very low cross-reactivity with estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), and progesterone. The coefficient of variation (CV) of intra- and inter-assay ranged from 5% to 13%. The magnetic signals were stable under 37 °C within 7 d. Moreover, the concentrations of uE3 measured by lateral flow immunochromatographic assay in 230 serum samples collected from pregnant women at the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital had a good correlation with those measured by time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay (R = 0.946).

To explore the effect of ginkgo leaf extract (GLE) on vascular endothelial function (VEF) in patients with early stage diabetic nephropathy (DN).Sixty-four patients were randomized equally by a randomzing digital table into two groups, the treated group and the control group. They were all treated for 8 weeks with conventional therapy for diabetes, but GLE tablets were given to the treated group additionally. Changes in VEF were estimated before and after treatment by ultrasonic examination of the brachial artery. In the meantime, changes in plasma levels of the von Willebrand factor (vWF), nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) were observed as well.The brachial arterial endothelium dependent dilating function in the treated group increased from 4.91+/-2.31% before treatment to 6.78+/-3.89% after treatment (P0.05), while the level of vWF decreased from 182.05+/-64.13% to 128.56+/-48.98%, and that of NO increased from 50.16+/-24.64 micromol/L to 70.65+/-28.71 micromol/L (P0.01). However, these indexes were not significantly changed in the control group after treatment (P0.05).GLE could decrease the plasma level of vWF, raise the plasma NO level and improve the endothelium dependent vascular dilating function in DN patients.

A computerized adiabatic calorimeter for heat capacity measurements in the temperature range 80–400 K has been constructed. The sample cell of the calorimeter, which is about 50 cm3 in internal volume, is equipped with a platinum resistance thermometer and surrounded by an adiabatic shield and a guard shield. Two sets of 6-junction chromel-copel thermocouples are mounted between the cell and the shields to indicate the temperature differences between them. The adiabatic conditions of the cell are automatically controlled by two sets of temperature controller. The reliability of the calorimeter was verified through heat capacity measurements on the standard reference material α-Al2O3. The results agreed well with those of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS): within 0.2% throughout the whole temperature region. The heat capacities of high-purity graphite and polystyrene were precisely measured in the interval 260–370 K by using the above-mentioned calorimeter. The results were tabulated and plo...