Search

To assess the effects between MPL and JAK2V617F on the thrombosis risk and peripheral blood cell counts in patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET), we identified eligible studies from PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. Seven studies were ultimately included in this meta-analysis. All studies reported the peripheral blood cell counts of ET patients, and three of them reported the eligible thrombotic events. In comparing the effect of MPL versus JAK2V617F on thrombosis, 1257 ET patients (73 MPL + and 1184 JAK2V617F +) were included. MPL-positive (MPL +) ET patients had a higher risk of thrombosis than JAK2V617F-positive (JAK2V617F +) ET patients [RR = 1.80 (1.08–3.01), P = 0.025]. And 3453 ET patients (138 MPL + and 3315 JAK2V617F +) were included in the comparison of peripheral blood cell counts. Platelet counts of MPL + ET patients were higher than that of JAK2V617F + ET patients [WMD = 81.18 (31.77–130.60), P = 0.001]. MPL + ET patients had lower hemoglobin [WMD = − 11.66 (− 14.32 to − 9.00), P = 0.000] and white blood cell counts [WMD = − 1.01 (− 1.47 to − 0.56), P = 0.000] than JAK2V617F + ET patients. These findings indicate that the MPL mutation is a high-risk factor for thrombosis in ET patients, and it may be rational to include MPL mutation in the revised IPSET as a criterion for thrombosis prediction scores. And given the differences in peripheral blood, it is necessary to further study whether MPL + ET patients differ from JAK2V617F + ET patients in bleeding and survival.

We explored the mechanisms and molecular targets of Ejiao Siwu Decoction (EJSW) for treating primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) using network pharmacology and molecular docking. Active compounds of EJSW were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) and high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) and their targets were obtained from HERB and SwissTargetPrediction, and ITP targets were obtained from Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) and GeneCards. STRING and Cytoscape were used for protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses by WebGestalt yielded a gene-pathway network, Autodock molecular docking was applied to screen targets and active compounds, and cytokines were detected using a cytometric bead array (CBA) human inflammation kit. We identified 14 compounds and 129 targets, and 1,726 ITP targets. RAC-alpha serine/threonine-protein kinase (AKT1), tumour necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-6 (IL6), caspase-3 (CASP3) and tumour suppressor protein (TP53) were core targets (nodes and edges). Functional annotation identified cofactor binding and coenzyme binding, and 20 significantly enriched pathways. Active compounds of EJSW were successfully docked with ITP targets. Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) were upregulated in ITP patients, vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and vascular endothelial growth factor D (VEGF-D) were downregulated, and EJSW treatment reversed these trends. EJSW may regulate key ITP targets based on the in silico analyses, and protect vascular integrity through AGE-RAGE signalling, complement and coagulation cascades, and VEGF signalling by downregulating TNF-α, IL-1β and other inflammatory factors.

BACKGROUND X-linked agammaglobulinemia is a primary immunodeficiency disease caused by gene mutations of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK). We found a new mutation point and summarized the correlation analysis and performed a literature review. CASE SUMMARY The proband was a 5-year-old boy. He was admitted to our hospital due to a recurrent cough and a fever that had persisted for a month. He had a history of multiple respiratory infections and sinusitis. There was no immunodeficiency or recurrent infection history among his family members. Agammaglobulinemia was characterized as follows: Immunoglobulin (Ig) A, 90.0 mg/dL (90-450 mg/dL); IgG, 20.0 mg/dL (800-1800 mg/dL); and IgM, 18.0 mg/dL (60-280 mg/dL). Notably, the assessment of IgG subtypes revealed the following very low levels: Subtype 1, 0.26 g/L (3.62-12.28 g/L); subtype 2, 0.10 g/L (0.57-2.9 g/L); subtype 3, 0.009 g/L (0.129-0.789 g/L); and subtype 4, 0.003 g/L (0.013-1.446 g/L). Cellular immunological test results were as follows: CD3, 74.6% (50%-84.0%); CD4, 47.3% (27.0%-51.0%); and CD8, 24.9% (15.0%-44.0%). A de novo hemizygous deletion in BTK was detected: c.902_c.904delAAG/p.E301del. Transcript levels of the mutant BTK were similar to those of the wild-type gene, though overexpression resulted in markedly reduced levels of mutant BTK (9.49% ± 1.58%), relative to the wild-type BTK (75.8% ± 2.98%, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION This case of X-linked agammaglobulinemia was attributed to a de novo hemizygous deletion mutation in BTK (c.902_c.904delAAG/p.E301del). The mutation resulted in markedly reduced BTK protein stability in vitro.

Ruxolitinib is a targeted drug to treat myelofibrosis (MF). Ruxolitinib has significant advantages in spleen reduction and increasing 5-year overall survival (OS), and ruxolitinib-based combinations might provide more benefits than ruxolitinib monotherapy. In this review, we focus on the data of ruxolitinib-based combinations therapies and treatment-related adverse events (AEs) and safety. We analyzed and summarized the data of ruxolitinib-based combinations. Ruxolitinib combined with prednisone + thalidomide + danazol (TPD), panobinostat, pracinostat, azacytidine, or hydroxyurea has well reduced spleen. Ruxolitinib combined with danazol or TPD had well therapies in improvement of hemoglobin (Hgb) and platelets (PLT). Most ruxolitinib-based combinations therapies showed a superior benefit on reduced treatment-related AEs than ruxolitinib monotherapy. Treatment-related AEs and dose modification affect the safety and tolerability of ruxolitinib-based combinations. Genetic testing before treatment is recommended. To provide better clinical guidance, comparisons of these randomized controlled trials with the trials of ruxolitinib alone are necessary. This review suggests that the clinical application of ruxolitinib-based combinations is worth waiting for.

To analyze the overall survival (OS) of elderly acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients treated with oral arsenic-containing Qinghuang Powder (青黄散, QHP) or low-intensity chemotherapy (LIC). Forty-two elderly AML patients treated with intravenous or subcutaneous LIC (1 month for each course, at least 3 courses) or oral QHP (3 months for each course, at least 2 courses) were retrospectively analyzed from January 2015 to December 2017. The main endpoints of analysis were OS and 1-, 2-, 3-year OS rates of patients, respectively. And the adverse reactions induding bone marrow suppression, digestive tract discomfort and myocardia injury were observed. Out of 42 elderly AML patients, 22 received LIC treatment and 20 received QHP treatment, according to patients’ preference. There was no significant difference on OS between LIC and QHP patients (13.0 months vs. 13.5 months, >0.05). There was no significant difference on OS rates between LIC and QHP groups at 1 year (59.1% vs. 70.0%), 2 years (13.6% vs. 15%), and 3 years (4.6% vs. 5.0%, all >0.05). Furthermore, there was no significant difference of OS on prognosis stratification of performance status > 2 (12 months vs. 12 months), age> 75 year-old (12.0 months vs. 12.5 months), hematopoietic stem cell transplant comorbidity index >2 (12 months vs. 13 months), poor cytogenetics (12 months vs. 8 months), and diagnosis of secondary AML (10 months vs. 14 months) between LIC and QHP patients (>0.05). QHP may be an alternative treatment for elderly AML patients refusing LIC therapy.

To investigate the relation of blood arsenic concentration (BAC) with clinical effect and safety of arsenic-containing Qinghuang Powder (青黄散, QHP) in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Totally 163 patients with MDS were orally treated with QHP for 2 courses of treatment, 3 months as 1 course. The BACs of patients were detected by atomic fluorescence spectrophotometry at 1, 3, and 6 months during the treatment, and the effective rate, hematological improvement and safety in patients after treatment with QHP were analyzed. After 2 courses of treatment, the total effective rate was 89.6% (146/163), with 31.3% (51/163) of hematological improvement and 58.3% (95/163) of stable disease. The hemoglobin increased from 73.48 ± 19.30 g/L to 80.39 ± 26.56 g/L (P 0.05). Among 46 patients previously depended on blood transfusion, 28.3% (13/46) completely got rid of blood transfusion and 21.7% (10/46) reduced the volume of blood transfusion by more than 50% after treatment. The BACs were significantly increased in patients treated for 1 month with 32.17 ± 18.04 μ g/L (P 0.05). The adverse reactions of digestive tract during the treatment were mild abdominal pain and diarrhea in 14 cases (8.6%), and no patients discontinued the treatment. The BACs of patients with gastrointestinal adverse reactions were significantly lower than those without gastrointestinal adverse reactions (22.39 ± 10.38 vs. 37.89 ± 11.84, μ g/L, P

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a practical medicine based on thousands of years of medical practice in China. Arsenic dispensing powder (ADP) has been used as a treatment for MDS patients with a superior efficacy on anemia at Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed MDS patients that received ADP treatment in the past 9 years and confirmed that ADP improves patients’ anemia and prolongs overall survival in intermediate-risk MDS patients. Then, we used the MDS transgenic mice model and cell line to explore the drug mechanism. In normal and MDS cells, ADP does not show cellular toxicity but promotes differentiation. In mouse MDS models, we observed that ADP showed significant efficacy on promoting erythropoiesis. In the BFU-E and CFU-E assays, ADP could promote erythropoiesis not only in normal clones but also in MDS clones. Mechanistically, we found that ADP could downregulate HIF1A in MDS clones through upregulation of VHL, P53 and MDM2, which is involved in two parallel pathways to downregulate HIF1A. We also confirmed that ADP upregulates GATA factors in normal clones. Thus, our clinical and experimental studies indicate that ADP is a promising drug to promote erythropoiesis in both MDS and normal clones with a superior outcome than current regular therapies. ADP promotes erythropoiesis in myelodysplastic syndromes via downregulation of HIF1A and upregulation of GATA factors.

Additional sex combs like 1 (ASXL1) mutations are one of the most common molecular biological abnormalities in patients with primary myelofibrosis (PMF), and the effect of these mutations on prognosis remains controversial. Hence, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the prognostic value and clinical characteristics of ASXL1 mutations in PMF patients. Eligible studies were systematically searched from PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. We extracted the hazard ratios (HRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of overall survival (OS) and leukemia-free survival (LFS), the number of patients transformed to acute leukemia, and clinical characteristics to carry out a meta-analysis by fixed effect model or random effect model according to the heterogeneity between studies. A total of 4501 PMF patients from 16 cohorts of 14 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The results revealed that ASXL1 mutations might predict a shorter OS (HR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.79–2.94, P P = 0.0003; the rate of acute leukemia transformation: OR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.50–2.83, P

To investigate the relationship between gene mutations and response to Compound Qinghuang Powder (复方青黄散, CQHP) in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Forty-three MDS patients were genotyped by ultra-deep targeted sequencing and the clinical data of patients were collected and the relationship between them was analyzed. Up to 41.86% of patients harbored genet mutations, in most cases with more than one mutation. The most common mutations were in SF3B1, U2AF1, ASXL1, and DNMT3A. After treatment with CQHP, about 88.00% of patients no longer required blood transfusion, or needed half of prior transfusions. CQHP is an effective treatment for patients with MDS, especially those with gene mutations in SF3B1, DNMT3A, U2AF1, and/or ASXL1.

To explore the effect of Qinghuang Powder (QHP,(青黄散)combined with Bupi Yishen Decoction (BPYS, 补脾益肾方) on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients with refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia (RCMD) and determine the change of DNA methylation in MDS-RCMD patients after the treatment of Chinese medicine formula. All 308 MDS-RCMD patients were treated with QHP combined with BPYS for 2 months at least, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), hemoglobin (Hb), platelets (PLT), primitive bone marrow cells and chromosome karyotype were chosen as the main evaluation indexes to analyze the treatment effect according to criteria from the MDS International Working Group. Then 43 bone marrow samples from 15 MDS-RCMD patients and 28 healthy donors were obtained for the examination of DNA methylation. Gene Ontology (GO) and Pathway analysis were applied to analyze the methylation data. The overall MDS response rate to QHP was 61.68% (190/360) including hematologic improvement-neutrophil (HI-N) or hematologic improvement-erythroid (HI-E) or hematologic improvement-platelet (HI-P). Patients with anemia had a better response rate than patients with neutropenia or thrombocypenia (55.88% vs 31.54% or 55.88% vs. 36.9%). The DNA methylation microarray analysis disclosed that 4,257 hypermethylated genes were demethylated upon the treatment with QHP and BPYS. GO analysis and Pathway analysis showed that these demethylated genes were involved in a lot of tumor-related pathways and functions. QHP combined with BPYS could effectively treat MDS-RCMD patients through hematologic improvement (HI-N, HI-P or HI-E) and PLT and RBC transfusion independence due to the demethylation, thereby providing another choice for the treatment of patients with MDS-RCMD.

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women worldwide. Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been identified as an etiological factor for cervical cancer. Data on the prevalence and subtype distribution of HPV infection in Jiangxi Province are incomplete. In this study, we investigated HPV subtype distribution and prevalence in Jiangxi Province between August 1, 2010, and December 31, 2015. A total of 71,435 individuals ranging in age from 16 to 77 years were recruited. Cervicovaginal swabs were collected from each participant, and HPV screening was performed. Our results showed that the HPV prevalence was 22.49% in Jiangxi Province. Overall, 14.99% of individuals were positive for a single HPV type, and 7.49% were positive for multiple types. The most frequently detected low-risk genotypes were HPV-6, and high-risk genotypes were HPV-16, -18, -33, -52, and -58. The prevalence and type distribution of HPV infection exhibits regional and age differences; Yingtan had the highest incidence for high-risk HPV infection (32.00%), and peaks in the frequencies of HPV infections were seen for patients under 20 and over 60 years of age. In conclusion, we present data showing that the HPV prevalence varies significantly with age and regions in Jiangxi Province. These results can serve as valuable reference to guide Jiangxi cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination programs. Keywords: Human papillomavirus, Jiangxi Province, Subtypes, Age

Qinghuang Powder (, QHP), an oral arsenic, has become an effective drug in the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences for many years, and the action mechanism of the compound or active ingredient As2S2 of QHP has been elucidated. Considering the relatively safety, chemotherapy-free and convenient oral profile, QHP is widely used in the clinical treatment for MDS patients, especially for elderly patients. In this review, the authors document the efficacy and safety of oral arsenic-containing compound QHP in the treatment of MDS, with a special focus on the association of efficacy of QHP with the cytogenetics, prognostic risk, DNA methylation, gene mutation, blood arsenic concentration, mechanism of action of As2S2 and the countermeasures against adverse reactions of gastrointestinal tract.

ObjectivesIn this study, we aim to evaluate the effect of urban and rural resident medical insurance scheme (URRMI) on the utilisation of medical services by urban and rural residents in the four pilot provinces.Setting and participantsThe sample used in this study is 13 305 individuals, including 2620 in the treatment group and 10 685 in the control group, from the 2011 and 2015 surveys of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.Outcome measuresPropensity score matching and difference-in-differences regression approach (PSM-DID) is used in the study. First, we match the baseline data by using kernel matching. Then, the average treatment effect of the four outcome variables are analysed by using the DID model. Finally, the robustness of the PSM-DID estimation is tested by simple model and radius matching.ResultsKernel matching have improved the overall balance after matching. The URRMI policy has significantly reduced the need-but-not outpatient care and significantly increased outpatient care cost and inpatient care cost for rural residents, with DID value of −0.271, 0.090 and 0.256, respectively. After robustness test, the DID competing results of four outcome variables are consistent.ConclusionsURRMI has a limited effect on the utilisation of medical and health services by all residents, but the effect on rural residents is obvious. The government should establish a unified or income-matching payment standard to prevent, control the use of medical insurance funds and increase its efforts to implement URRMI integration in more regions to improve overall fundraising levels.

The quality of oil determines the status and life of the devices. However, most Chinese vessels have not equipped with on-line oil quality testing facilities. Therefore, a special on-line oil quality monitoring system for vessels is designed to real-time monitor of oil pollution change. An alarm signal or control signal based on the monitoring results is sent, which supports the purifier automatically and water, particles and gases are removed from the oil to maintain a good oil quality. The system is developed and implemented in the vessel corporation and has a good prospect of application. The application of this system will promote the process of the intelligent device management.

Minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamformer is a better target detection method, which provided high-resolution and anti-interference abilities. But the nice features will be degraded significantly for a fast bearing-rate target. Because the eigenvalue of longtime integral correlation matrix will spread, the signal and interference are no longer clearly identified by the eigenvectors. A beam domain MVDR and motion compensation arithmetic is given in this paper. The motion effect can be compensated by tracking the signal bearing change using real time estimated beam domain covariance matrix. The detection ability of moving target can be improved.

In the salvage process, data about the shape of shipwreck, sink sitting posture, buried degree and other related information should be required in order to develop salvage program. Three-dimensional imaging sonar is used to provide such data for salvage work by underwater acoustic detection and three-dimensional imaging technology. An application example is described and the results show the effectiveness.

Glutamate decarboxylase (GAD, EC 4.1.1.15) has been suggested to be a key, regulatory point in the biosynthesis of γ-aminobutyrate (GABA) and in the utilization of citric acid through GABA shunt pathway. In this study we discovered two GAD genes, named as CsGAD1 and CsGAD2, in citrus genome database and then successfully cloned. Both CsGAD1 and CsGAD2 have a putative pyridoxal 5-phosphate binding domain in the middle region and a putative calmodulin-binding domain at the carboxyl terminus. Gene structure analysis showed that much difference exists in the size of exons and introns or in cis-regulatory elements in promoter region between the two GAD genes. Gene expression indicated that CsGAD1 transcript was predominantly expressed in flower and CsGAD2 transcript was predominantly expressed in fruit juice sacs; in the ripening fruit, CsGAD1 transcript level was at least 2-time higher than CsGAD2 transcript level. Moreover, CsGAD1 transcript level was increased significantly along with the increase of GAD activity and accompanied by a significant decrease of titratable acid (TA), suggesting that it is CsGAD1 rather than CsGAD2 plays a role in the citric acid utilization during fruit ripening. In addition, injection of abscisic acid and foliar spray of K2SO4 significantly increased the TA content of Satsuma mandarin, and significantly decreased GAD activity as well as CsGAD1 transcript, further suggesting the important role of CsGAD1 in the citrate utilization of citrus fruit.

ObjectiveThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the characteristics and determinants of inappropriate admission to hospital of elderly people in rural China.DesignA cross-sectional study of a comparison between the elderly and non-elderly groups of people.SettingThe survey was conducted on the largest county-level general hospitals in four counties in central and western China.ParticipantsA total of 652 rural patients admitted in hospitals were surveyed, who were divided into two groups according to age: elderly group (n=230, age ≥60 years) and non-elderly group (n=422, age Primary measuresThe Chinese version of the appropriateness evaluation protocol was used to evaluate the inappropriate admission rates. The interactive regression models based on the relationship of age (elderly and non-elderly) with other factors and binary logistic regression models were used in the analysis of the specific factors and determinants of the inappropriate admission of elderly people.ResultThe inappropriate admission rate for the rural elderly was 30%, which was lower than that of the non-elderly people (40.8%). Compared with the non-elderly group, women in the elderly group (OR=0.33, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.73) had a lower incidence of inappropriate admission, and elderly people with chronic diseases (OR=3.33, 95% CI 1.23 to 9.04) were more prone to being inappropriately admitted than non-elderly people with chronic diseases. The binary logistic regression analysis shows that county, age (OR=0.94. 95% CI 0.90 to 0.99), gender (OR=0.49, 95% CI 0.25 to 2.98), department and response to doctor’s admission request were the determinants of the inappropriate admission of elderly patients.ConclusionThe inappropriate admission rate of elderly people in rural China was high. We found that gender and chronic disease are the specific factors that were specific to non-elderly people. County, age, gender, department and response to a doctor’s admission request had substantial influence on the inappropriate admission of the elderly in rural China.

The reliability of the production line is closely linked to the operating status of the device. In order to ensure the reliability of equipment operation, this paper puts forward the visual modeling of the intelligent monitoring in the production line based on UML modeling. On the basis of the system analysis, a modeling which provides a unified visualization for all stages of the design and the realization of the system is built by the UML modeling language and includes the use-case model, and static class structure model and system dynamic structure model. Moreover the paper raise a specific business process, which is greatly shortened the cycle of developing system, improves the reliability of production systems and utilization of capacity and provides a reliable guarantee for automatic production.

In order to realize the goal of one-stop operation service in the petrochemical industry, according to the integrated device operation and maintenance mode of the domestic large and complex petrochemical industry units, integrated and comprehensive service system of operation and maintenance of petrochemical units is designed. Three subsystems of operation and maintenance management, preventive maintenance, maintenance emergency response are designed into an integrated and comprehensive service system. The system has the characteristics of being integrated, open, easy to extend and maintain. The system is developed and implemented in the petrochemical corporation and has a good prospect of application.

The 21st century is the century of quality. The core of product competitiveness depends on the quality. One of the important issues in the manufacture is how to manufacture high quality products, which cannot only satisfy the demand of users, but also win the competition and make more living space. The existing modern advanced manufacturing modes are summarized and a new mode of advanced manufacturing technology, trusted manufacturing (TM) is put forward. The concept of TM is defined. And differences among TM, concurrent engineering and lean manufacturing are discussed. The system architecture of TM and its features are also proposed. In the end, the goal of TM and the application prospect of TM are described.

Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) system supports a large number of users to explore a virtual world and interact with each other through networks, so one of the key issues in the design of scalable CVE systems is the partitioning problem. Existing partitioning algorithms in CVE systems based on multiple-server architecture, in our opinion, hardly consider the communication character of virtual environment. In this paper, we propose a new partitioning method based on area of interest (AOI) model matching to improve the quality of partitioning. The experimental results show preliminarily that our partitioning approach based on AOI model matching does decrease the traffic among the servers in the system and improve the partitioning performance.

Objective To observe the clinical effectiveness of Qinghuang Powder (青黄散, QHP) combined with Bupi Yishen Decoction (补脾益肾汤, BPYS) in treating myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and its relationship with France, America, and Britain (FAB) type, international prognosis scaling system (IPSS) risk, and chromosome karyotype.

Chinese arsenic drugs have been applied in Chinese medicine for several centuries. Beginning from 1970s, arsenic containing drugs have been generally used for the treatment of malignant hematologic diseases including acute promyelocytic leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, and multiple myeloma. No matter what ingredients of arsenic drugs were applied, either arsenic trioxide, arsenic disulfide, or arsenic containing Chinese herbal compositions including Qinghuang Powder and Realgar-Indigo naturalis formula, they all provided the distinct approaches for the management of malignant hematologic diseases, and good clinical efficacy was obtained with mild adverse reactions. Moreover, the mechanisms of action have been continually elucidated.

To observe the clinical efficacy of Chinese drugs combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and to investigate the prognostic relevance of the main parameters in AML treated with integrative medicine.Forty AML patients hospitalized at the authors hospital were treated with Chinese drugs and chemotherapy. The routine examination, immunophenotype and karyotype analyses were carried out. The clinical efficacy was observed and the prognostic factors were analyzed.(1) Clinical efficacy: Twenty patients had complete remission (CR), with the CR rate being 50.0%. Among these patients, the CR rate was 73.9% (17/23) in de novo AML and 17.6% (3/17) in secondary or refractory AML, respectively. The median disease free survival (DFS) was 6 months (2-32 months) and median overall survival (OS) was 7 months (1-36 months). (2) Analysis of prognostic factors: Aging (60 years) and hepatosplenomegaly or extramedullary leukemia did not affect the treatment outcome. Patients with lower white blood cell (WBC) counts (4.0x10(9)/L) had a significantly higher CR rate (P0.01). Secondary or refractory AML was associated with a lower CR rate and shorter OS (P0.01,P0.05). Expression of CD34 was an adverse factor for obtaining CR (P0.05) and survival in both DFS and OS (P0.05,P0.01). The expression of CD56 was significantly associated with a lower CR rate (P0.05), but did not affect DFS and OS. Twenty-three (57.5%) out of 40 cases had chromosomal abnormalities. The CR rate was decreased and both DFS and OS shortened stepwise from the cases with favorable cytogenetics to those with intermediate and unfavorable cytogenetics (P0.01).The combined treatment of Chinese drugs with chemotherapy has a predominant effect in de novo AML. Secondary or refractory AML, expression of CD34 and CD56, and unfavorable cytogenetics were the main factors of poor prognosis in AML.

ATP-citrate lyase (ACL, EC4.1.3.8) catalyzes citrate to oxaloacetate and acetyl-CoA in the cell cytosol, and has important roles in normal plant growth and in the biosynthesis of some secondary metabolites. We identified three ACL genes, CitACLα1, CitACLα2, and CitACLβ1, in the citrus genome database. Both CitACLα1 and CitACLα2 encode putative ACL α subunits with 82.5 % amino acid identity, whereas CitACLβ1 encodes a putative ACL β subunit. Gene structure analysis showed that CitACLα1 and CitACLα2 had 12 exons and 11 introns, and CitACLβ1 had 16 exons and 15 introns. CitACLα1 and CitACLβ1 were predominantly expressed in flower, and CitACLα2 was predominantly expressed in stem and fibrous roots. As fruits ripen, the transcript levels of CitACLα1, CitACLβ1, and/or CitACLα2 in cultivars ‘Niuher’ and ‘Owari’ increased, accompanied by significant decreases in citrate content, while their transcript levels decreased significantly in ‘Egan No. 1’ and ‘Iyokan’, although citrate content also decreased. In ‘HB pummelo’, in which acid content increased as fruit ripened, and in acid-free pummelo, transcript levels of CitACLα2, CitACLβ1, and/or CitACLα1 increased. Moreover, mild drought stress and ABA treatment significantly increased citrate contents in fruits. Transcript levels of the three genes were significantly reduced by mild drought stress, and the transcript level of only CitACLβ1 was significantly reduced by ABA treatment. Taken together, these data indicate that the effects of ACL on citrate use during fruit ripening depends on the cultivar, and the reduction in ACL gene expression may be attributed to citrate increases under mild drought stress or ABA treatment.

Objective To observe the effects of Fuzheng Kangbai Granule (FZKBG) on immune function and survival time in minimal residual leukemia (MRL) model mice and explore its mechanism.

Ionic liquids (ILs) as “green solvents” provided an effective and efficient procedure for Knoevenagel condensation reactions. It is applicable for a large range of aldehydes, ketones with active methylene compounds. ILs can significantly promote the reaction rates. High yields and selectivity of products have been observed. ILs can be recycled and reused. In this paper, the recent achievements of Knoevenagel condensation reactions promoted by ILs are reviewed.