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Arctium lappa, commonly called burdock, has a long medicinal and edible history. It has recently gained increasing attention because of its economic value. In this study, we obtained the complete chloroplast genome of A. lappa by Illumina Hiseq. The complete chloroplast genome of A. lappa is a typical circular structure with 152 708 bp in length. The GC content in the whole chloroplast genome of A. lappa is 37.7%. A total of 37 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 87 protein-coding genes were successfully annotated. And the chloroplast genome contains 113 unique genes, 19 of which are duplicated in the inverted repeat. The distribution of 39 simple sequence repeats was analysed, and most of them are in the large single-copy (LSC) sequence. An inversion comprising 16 genes was found in the LSC region, which is 26 283 bp long. We performed multiple sequence alignments using 72 common protein-coding genes of 29 species and constructed a Maximum Parsimony (MP) tree. The MP phylogenetic result shows that A. lappa grouped together with Carthamus tinctorius, Centaurea diffusa, and Saussurea involucrata. The chloroplast genome of A. lappa is a valuable resource for further studies in Asteraceae. Key words: Arctium lappa, chloroplast genome, molecular structure, phylogenetic relationship. L'Arctium lappa, ou grande bardane, est connue depuis longtemps comme plante medicinale et comestible. Elle a recemment suscite une attention croissante en raison de sa valeur economique. Dans cette etude, les auteurs ont decode le genome chloroplastique complet de l'A lappa par sequencage Illumina Hiseq. Le genome chloroplastique complet de l A. lappa presente une structure circulaire typique comprenant 152 708 pb. Le contenu en GC est de 37,7 %. Au total, 37 genes d'ARNt, 8 genes d'ARNr et 87 genes codant pour des proteines ont ete annotes. Le genome chloroplastique compte 113 genes uniques, dont 19 sont dupliques au sein de la region inversee repetee. La distribution de 39 microsatellites a ete analysee et la plupart se trouvent au sein de la grande region a simple copie (LSC). Une inversion comprenant 16 genes et mesurant 26 283 pb a ete detectee au sein de la region LSC. Les auteurs ont realise des alignements multiples sur 72 genes communs codant pour des proteines chez 29 especes et produit un arbre phylogenetique par une approche de parcimonie maximale (MP). Le resultat de cette analyse phylogenetique a montre que l'A. lappa appartenait au meme groupe que le Carthamus tinctorius, le Centaurea diffusa et le Saussurea involucrata. Le genome chloroplastique de l'A. lappa constitue une ressource utile pour de futures etudes chez les Asteraceae. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : Arctium lappa, genome chloroplastique, structure moleculaire, relation phylogenetique., Introduction Arctium lappa, a biennial herb of Asteraceae, is commonly known as a medicinal plant in many parts of the world, and it has been used as a therapeutic plant [...]

Background: Oviductus ranae, a valuable traditional Chinese medicine, is the dehydrated oviduct of Rana temporaria chensinensis. It is commonly used as an important tonicto replenish the kidney essence and relieve [...]

Abstract Background Intraperitoneal (i.p.) models that accurately mimic the feature behavior of human ovarian cancer are required to investigate the pathology and therapeutics of the disease. However, established i.p. models which are well-characterized and reliable are few. The purposes of this study are to establish a representative mice i.p. model of the disease and to analyze the consequent pathology. Methods Fresh tumor cells fiom the ascites of patient were injected into female NOD/SCID mice intraperitoneally. Histology, Cytogenetic, immunohistochemistry,tumor markers of CA125,AFP, CA-199 and CEA were used to analyze the model. Results The mice developed marked abdominal distention within 6 months after inoculated with tumor cells from a patient with epithelial ovarian carcinoma. The mice developed clinically evident intraperitoneal tumors and massive ascites containing numerous tumor cells in clumps. CA125 level in our model was high in both serum and ascites supernatants, while levels of other tumor markers, such as AFP, CA-199 and CEA, were normal. Cytogenetic analysis and immunohistochemical staining confirmed its characteristics resembling human epithelial ovarian tumor. Conclusions The model described in this paper accurately mimics the features of ovarian tumor, which may be useful for evaluation of new therapeutics.

Abstract Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection plays an etiological role in the development of cervical dysplasia and cancer. Amplification of human telomerase gene (hTERC) and over expression of telomerase were found to be associated with cervical tumorigenesis. This study was performed to analyze genomic amplification of hTERC gene, telomerase activity in association with HPV infection in different stages of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cervical cancer. We were studying the role of hTERC in the progression of uterine cervical dysplasia to invasive cancer, and proposed an adjunct method for cervical cancer screening. Methods Exfoliated cervical cells were collected from 114 patients with non neoplastic lesion (NNL, n=27), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN1, n=26, CIN2, n=16, CIN3, n=24) and cervical carcinoma (CA, n=21), and analyzed for amplification of hTERC with two-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probe and HPV-DNA with Hybrid Capture 2. From these patients, 53 were taken biopsy to analyze telomerase activity by telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) and expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), with immunohistochemistry (IHC). All biopsies were clinically confirmed by phathologists. Results Amplification of hTERC was significantly associated with the histologic diagnoses (p Conclusions hTERC ampliffication can be detected with FISH technique on exfoliated cervical cells. Amplification of hTERC and HPV infection are associated with more progressive CIN3 and CA. The testing of hTERC amplification might be a supplementary to cytology screening and HPV test, especially high-risk patients. Virtual slides The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1857134686755648.

More than 30 Ligularia Cass. (Asteraceae) species have long been used in folk medicine in China. Morphological features and common DNA regions are both not ideal to identify Ligularia species. As some Ligularia species contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are hazardous to human and animal health and are involved in metabolic toxification in the liver, it is important to find a better way to distinguish these species. Here, we report complete chloroplast (CP) genomes of six Ligularia species, L. intermedia, L. jaluensis, L. mongolica, L. hodgsonii, L. veitchiana, and L. fischeri, obtained through high-throughput Illumina sequencing technology. These CP genomes showed typical circular tetramerous structure and their sizes range from 151,118 to 151,253 bp. The GC content of each CP genome is 37.5%. Every CP genome contains 134 genes, including 87 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, eight rRNA genes, and two pseudogenes (ycf1 and rps19). From the mVISTA, there were no potential coding or non-coding regions to distinguish these six Ligularia species, but the maximum likelihood tree of the six Ligularia species and other related species showed that the whole CP genome can be used as a super-barcode to identify these six Ligularia species. This study provides invaluable data for species identification, allowing for future studies on phylogenetic evolution and safe medical applications of Ligularia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing image quality with radiation dose is a goal with every diagnostic procedure requiring radiation. Our institution compared the dosing of (99m)Tc-labeled succimer, commonly referred to as dimercaptosuccinic acid ((99m)Tc-DMSA), to pediatric patients using 2 methods of calculation, body surface area (BSA, the method we used from 2009 to 2010) and body weight (BW, the method we used in 2011). METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted in a 230-bed inpatient, tertiary-care academic pediatric hospital to obtain objective data on patients under the age of 17 y who received a renal nuclear medicine procedure with (99m)Tc-DMSA using a 300,000-count parallel image and four 150,000-count pinhole images. Data collection included patient age, sex, height, weight, calculated activity, assayed activity, administered activity, residual syringe activity, imaging time, and notable patient or equipment factors affecting the procedure. RESULTS: Calculated activities based on BSA were higher than calculated activities based on BW. (99m)Tc-DMSA adsorption to the plastic syringes was significant, with a range of 3%-82%. Because of the adsorption, an average of 23.7 MBq (SD, ±31 MBq) was added to the patients' calculated dose when the order was placed. Therefore, assayed activities were significantly higher than calculated activities in both groups. Administered activity correlations to BSA and BW calculations were 0.75 and 0.83, respectively. Administered activities from BSA and BW groups were outside the American College of Radiology (ACR)-recommended guidelines 59% and 45% of the time, respectively. Overall, children less than 2 y old were above the ACR recommendations 80% of the time. There was a poor correlation between administered activity and total imaging time (r = 0.23). Average imaging time overall for 5 planar views was 14.8 min (±7.1 min). Patients receiving less than the ACR-recommended administered activities (<1.85 MBq/kg) had an average increase in imaging time of 4.5 min (±3.4 min). CONCLUSION: The activity administered to patients was significantly affected by the amount of (99m)Tc-DMSA activity adsorbed to the syringe. Syringe residual should be considered when standardizing (99m)Tc-DMSA imaging protocols and calculating patient dose. Although (99m)Tc-DMSA adsorption was variable, the administered activities correlated with calculated activities. In all but one of our patients, the total imaging time was far less than recommended by the ACR and European Association of Nuclear Medicine guidelines. The study indicates that using the BW calculation of 3.7 MBq/kg resulted in a range of administered activity of 1.85-2.59 MBq/kg. (99m)Tc-DMSA dosing of 3.7 MBq/kg for pinhole imaging should be appropriate for most studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlabelled: It has been widely reported that (99m)Tc-succimer adsorbs to plastic syringes significantly (up to 50%), often resulting in a lower administered dose than intended or inaccurate dosing. This adsorption rate is especially problematic in the pediatric population. To improve (99m)Tc-succimer dosing, we compared the adsorption of (99m)Tc-succimer with 2 types of syringes: silicone-coated syringes with nonlatex rubber on the plunger and inert nonreactive syringes with no silicone coating and no rubber on the plunger., Methods: (99m)Tc-succimer kits were compounded according to the manufacturer's instructions. (99m)Tc-succimer doses (37-185 MBq) were drawn into 3-mL (silicone-coated or inert nonreactive) syringes in a 1-mL volume. Thirty min, 1 h, 2 h, and 4 h later, the syringes were assayed in a dose calibrator and assayed again after being emptied and rinsed with saline. In addition, we examined the data collected from 129 (99m)Tc-succimer doses administered in a pediatric department, in which 52 were dispensed in silicone-coated syringes and 77 were dispensed in inert nonreactive syringes. The doses were assayed immediately before and after injection. The syringes were flushed with normal saline., Results: The labeling efficiency of the (99m)Tc-succimer kits was more than 95%. Residual activity left in the inert nonreactive syringes was 0.73% (SD, ±0.18%), which was significantly lower than the activity left in the silicone-coated syringes, 20.9% (SD, ±5.6%; P < 0.0001). The extent of adsorption did not change significantly between 30 min and 4 h of incubation. The clinical data showed that the residual activity was 30.6% (SD, ±12.5%) from doses dispensed in silicone-coated syringes and 6.38% (SD, ±2.95%) from doses dispensed in inert nonreactive syringes (P < 0.001)., Conclusion: The inert nonreactive syringes had significantly less residual of (99m)Tc-succimer than silicone-based syringes, making it possible to accurately administer calculated doses of (99m)Tc-succimer to pediatric patients., (© 2015 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.)