The prostate -specific antigen ( PSA ) promoter is known to be highly tissue specific. Although its tissue specificity has been confirmed, its efficiency of gene transcription is significantly lower compared to known nonspecific viral promoters. These lower levels of promoter activity therefore pose a problem when developing an efficacious gene vector for prostate cancer gene therapy. Thus, selecting an appropriate therapeutic gene and vector system to carry the gene driven by the PSA promoter ( PSAP ) is important. In the studies described here, a human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV ) -1 -based lentiviral vector carrying either the enhanced green fluorescent protein ( EGFP ) reporter or the diphtheria toxin A ( DTA ) gene was constructed. The results demonstrate that the PSA promoter in a lentiviral vector drives genes in prostate cells with satisfactory efficacy and specificity. The tissue -specific expression of the DTA protein efficiently eradicates LNCaP prostate cells in culture. We also infected prostate cancer cells and control cells carried by nude mice with the EGFP lentiviral vector. Significant numbers of EGFP -positive LNCaP cells were detected in all the mice bearing these tumors, but no EGFP -positive control cells were detected in any other mouse tissue. The high levels of expression in prostate cells, compared with the low levels of background expression in other cells, show that the PSAP -lentiviral vector could be a potential useful tool for gene therapy of metastatic prostate cancer. Cancer Gene Therapy ( 2001 ) 8, 628 -635
Kaempferia parviflora (KP), a health-promoting herb, has been traditionally used for treating a variety of diseases. Pharmacological studies have claimed the various benefits from KP and its main effective methoxyflavones, including cellular metabolism-regulating activity, anticancer activity, vascular relaxation and cardioprotective activity, sexual enhancing activity, neuroprotective activity, antiallergic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative activity, antiosteoarthritis activity, antimicroorganism activity, and transdermal permeable activity. These might be associated with increased mitochondrial functions and activated cGMP-NO signaling pathway. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of KP and its methoxyflavones are still under investigation. The clinical applications of KP and its methoxyflavones may be limited due to their low bioavailability. But promising strategies are on the way. This review will comprehensively discuss the biological activities of KP and its methoxyflavones.
Background: Pain management following cesarean section remains a challenge, with many puerpera suffering from severe acute postoperative pain. And for a second cesarean section the degree of uterine contraction pain is more severe and frequent than that of a primipara. This study investigated the effect of different doses of nalbuphine combined with sufentanil for postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing a second cesarean section.
Methods:We prospectively recruited 168 women with a scarred uterus undergoing elective second cesarean section and they were randomly divided into 4 groups by random number extraction. A single intravenous injection of different doses of nalbuphine was given before the intravenous drip of oxytocin, and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of uterine contraction pain were recorded 10 minutes before intravenous infusion of oxytocin (T1) and 10 minutes (T2), 30 minutes (T3), and 60 minutes (T4) after intravenous infusion of oxytocin. At 4, 8, 12, 24, and 48 hours after patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA), pain intensity was reassessed using the VAS score.Results: One hundred and sixty patients underwent elective second cesarean section in between December 2020 and May 2021 completed the study. The VAS scores of uterine contractions at T1 and T4 were 3 (1.0), while the VAS scores at T2 and T3 were 7 (1.0), 6 (1.0), 5 (1.0), 5 (1.0) and 8 (1.0), 5 (2.0), 3 (1.0), 3 (0.75).The VAS scores at 12 hours after surgery of nalbuphine10mg and sufentanil (NS1), nalbuphine 10 mg and sufentanil 20 mg (NS2) and nalbuphine 30 mg and sufentanil 20 mg (NS3) were lower than sufentanil (S) group (P<0.001). Compared with the S group, total amount of sufentanil and PCIA compression numbers in the NS1, NS2, and NS3 groups at 4-8 and 8-12 hours after surgery decreased (P<0.001), with a more significant decrease in the NS2 and NS3 groups than in the NS1 group (P<0.001). The NS3 group had a significantly higher incidence of dizziness and sleepiness (P=0.02, P=0.001). Compared with the NS2 and NS3 groups, the incidence of respiratory depression in the S group was significantly higher (P=0.001).Conclusions: A single intravenous injection of nalbuphine 20 mg 10 minutes before the infusion of ^ ORCID: 0000-0002-9951-7434. oxytocin combined with sufentanil 2 μg/kg could be safely used for postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing a second cesarean section and could effectively inhibit uterine contractions induced by oxytocin and reduce adverse reactions.
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