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This paper defines five criteria and identifies 21 indicators for the modernization level of a province or a city in modern China. It collects raw index data from 31 provinces in China, between 2007 and 2017, and introduces formula for its dimensionless processing. An improved entropy method (IEM) is proposed for the evaluation of the modernization in urban areas, based on the five criteria and 21 indicators. A practical study was implemented in Anhui province employing the said IEM. The results demonstrate that the IEM is being effective in evaluating the modernization level in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ougan (Citrus reticulata cv. Suavissima) flavedo extract (OFE) exhibited potential anti-tumor effects with unclear underlying mechanisms. This study aims to evaluate the potential anti-metastatic activities of OFE on human ovarian cancer cells, and investigate its inhibitory effect on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Methods: Ougan fruits were harvested. Flavedo tissues were separated and made into freeze-dried powder. Then OFE were extracted from the powder. The components of OFE were identified by the high performance liquid chromatography system with a detection wavelength of 280 nm for flavanones and 330 nm for polymethoxylated flavones. Cell viability was assessed by Sulforhodamine B assay. The effects on cancer cell migration and motility were evaluated by wound-healing and transwell assays. The mechanisms of action were investigated by examining the modulation by OFE on EMT-related signaling pathways at the concentrations of 4 µg/mL and 20 µg/mL, using qRT-PCR and western blot analyses. Results: Non-cytotoxic concentrations of OFE significantly suppressed the cellular migration (4 µg/mL, P = 0.005 vs. control group; 20 µg/mL, P = 0.003 vs. control group) and motility (4 µg/mL, P< 0.001 vs. control group; 20 µg/mL, P < 0.001 vs. control group) of SKOV3 cells, and inhibited transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-induced E-cadherin loss (4 µg/mL, P= 0.002 vs. control group; 20 µg/mL, P = 0.001 vs. control group) and mesenchymal marker upregulation, e.g., N-cadherin (4 µg/mL, P = 0.027 vs. control group; 20 µg/mL, P= 0.013 vs. control group), vimentin (4 µg/mL, P = 0.036 vs. control group; 20 µg/mL, P= 0.015 vs. control group) and fibronectin (4 µg/mL, P< 0.001 vs. control group; 20 µg/mL, P < 0.001 vs. control group). Conclusions: The anti-metastatic ability of OFE inhibited EMT by interfering with the canonical TGF-β1-SMAD-Snail/Slug axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractHantaan virus (HTNV), the prototype member of the Hantavirusgenus in the family Bunyaviridae, causes hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), which is characterized by capillary leakage, hemorrhage, and renal injury, and is an important public health problem in China. Some kinds of immune cells, particularly CD8+T cells, are involved in the pathogenesis of Hantavirus infection. The nucleocapsid protein (NP) of the Hantavirus is the most conserved structural protein and the most abundant viral protein produced during infection. It is one of the important target antigens that induce the CD8+T-cell response. In this study, we examined the CD8+T-cell response to HTNV NP C-terminal polypeptides. We synthesized 23 overlapping C-terminal polypeptides and detected the antigen-specific CD8+T cell response in 15 patients with HFRS. The results demonstrated that there were NP-specific T-cell responses in bulk cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 9 of 15 patients. The peptide 51 (aa 301–315: SPSSIWVFAGAPDRC), peptide 60 (aa 355–369: LRKKSSFYQSYLRRT), and peptide 70 (aa 415–429: DVKVKEISNQEPLKL) induced strong CD8+T-cell responses. Among them, peptide 70 induced CTL responses in donors 7, 9, and 11, and the strongest responses were seen in donor 11. Depletion of CD8+T cells from PBMCs completely abrogated the peptide-specific T-cell response, while depletion of CD4+T cells did not diminish the number of IFN-γ spot-forming cells. These data suggest that infection with HTNV results in CTL responses to immunodominant regions on the NP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this comment.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has a distinctive geographical distribution in China, especially southern China. There are several risk factors for NPC, such as Epstein-Barr virus, genetics, and environmental exposures. Although the incidence of eye metastasis (EM) is lower than metastasis in other body parts, it often indicates poor prognosis.We assessed several serum biomarkers for their ability to predict EM in NPC. Patients with NPC were selected (n = 963), and were separated into two groups, EM and no eye metastasis. Ten factors were analyzed in both groups including triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, alkaline phosphatase, alpha fetoprotein, carbohydrate antigen-199, cancer antigen-153, apolipoproteins AI, apolipoprotein B, and cytokeratin fragment 19 (CYFRA21-1). Independent t tests, binary logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic curves were used to assess the data.The EM group had significantly higher CYFRA21-1 and lower TG compared with the no eye metastasis group. Areas under the curve for CYFRA21-1, TG and CYFRA21-1/TG were 0.966, 0.771, and 0.976, respectively. The corresponding cut-off values were 12.12 ng/ml, 0.41 mmol/L, and 13.5. The sensitivity and specificity of CYFRA21-1/TG were 100% and 92.2%, respectively.The increased ratio of CYFRA21-1 to TG can be an accurate method to detect EM in patients with NPC.

Objective: To evaluate the protective effects of salvianolate on percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) related myocardial injury or myocardial infarction after elective PCI in non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) patients., Methods: A total of 149 patients with NSTE-ACS who underwent elective PCI were enrolled. The patients were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to the salvianolate group (74 cases) or the control group (75 cases). After exclusion criteria of coronary angiography, 60 patients with PCI therapy remained in the salvianolate group and 68 in the control group. The incidence and the severity of PCI related myocardial injury or myocardial infarction, in addition to major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) during 1 year follow-up after PCI were studied between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the independent factors for PCI related myocardial injury or myocardial infarction after elective PCI., Results: Compared with the control group, salvianolate treatment reduced the incidence of PCI related severe myocardial injury or myocardial infarction (11.7% vs. 26.5%, P=0.035). The rate of MACEs or all-cause death within 1 month or 1 year after the procedure was not significantly different between the two groups., Conclusions: Periprocedural treatment with salvianolate reduces the incidence of PCI related severe myocardial injury or myocardial infarction, although it does not influence clinical prognosis. [Chinese clinical trial registry: ChiCTR1800016992].

Rubus chingii Hu, a member of the rosaceae family, is extensively distributed in China and Japan. Its unripe fruits (Fupenzi in Chinese) have a long history of use as an herbal tonic in traditional Chinese medicine for treating various diseases commonly associated with kidney deficiency, and they are still in use today. Phytochemical investigations on the fruits and leaves of R. chingii indicate the presence of terpenoids, flavonoids, steroids, alkaloids, phenylpropanoids, phenolics, and organic acids. Extracts or active substances from this plant are reported to have various pharmacological properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antifungal, antithrombotic, antiosteoporotic, hypoglycemic, and central nervous system-regulating effects. This review provides up-to-date information on the botanical characterizations, traditional usages, chemical constituents, pharmacological activities, toxicity, and quality control of R. chingii. Possible directions for future research are also briefly proposed. This review aims to supply fundamental data for the further study of R. chingii and contribute to the development of its clinical use., (Copyright © 2020 China Pharmaceutical University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This paper defines five criteria and identifies 21 indicators for the modernization level of a province or a city in modern China. It collects raw index data from 31 provinces in China, between 2007 and 2017, and introduces formula for its dimensionless processing. An improved entropy method (IEM) is proposed for the evaluation of the modernization in urban areas, based on the five criteria and 21 indicators. A practical study was implemented in Anhui province employing the said IEM. The results demonstrate that the IEM is being effective in evaluating the modernization level in urban areas.

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of chronic renal failure (CRF) patients suffering from tuberculosis., Methods: Clinical materials from CRF inpatients in our department suffering from tuberculosis from 1997 to 2003 were investigated and compared with similar data from tuberculosis patients without CRF in Chongqing City (China) during the same period., Results: Of the 1,498 tested CRF inpatients, 71 suffered from tuberculosis, more than half of which suffered from atypical type V tuberculosis (lesion spot uncertain). The incidence of tuberculosis in the CRF inpatients (4740/100,000) was significantly higher than that in Chongqing City (151/100,000; P<.001). We found an inverse association between renal function and tuberculosis; the worse the renal function, the higher the tuberculosis incidence. CRF patients suffering from tuberculosis had fewer positive antituberculosis-antibody and purified protein-derivative tests (12.7% and 15.5%, respectively) than did tuberculosis patients without CRF (72.1% and 58.1%, respectively; P<.05). In CRF patients with tuberculosis, the two-thirds dosage antituberculosis drug treatment was effective. Twelve cases had good outcome after a 1-year course of antituberculosis treatment and then kidney transplantation. In contrast, 4 patients who received less than half a year of antituberculosis treatment died after kidney transplantation, in association with relapsed tuberculosis., Conclusion: CRF patients are susceptible to tuberculosis, especially to atypical tuberculosis outside the lung. Thus, antituberculosis treatment might be necessary in CRF patients found to be suffering from chronic fevers of unknown origin. Furthermore, it appears to be safe for patients with CRF plus tuberculosis to receive kidney transplantation after 1 year of antituberculosis treatment.