Determination of the reticulocyte hemoglobin content (CHr) provides an early measure of functional iron deficiency because reticulocytes are the earliest erythrocytes released into blood and circulate for only 1 to 2 days. The CHr in 78 patients undergoing bone marrow examination was measured to assess its clinical utility for the diagnosis of iron deficiency. Twenty-eight patients were iron deficient, based on the lack of stainable iron in the aspirate. The diagnostic power of CHr is limited in patients with high mean cellular volume (MCV) or red cell disorders such as thalassemia. However, when patients with MCV more than 100 fL are excluded, receiver operator curve analysis of CHr, ferritin, transferrin saturation, and MCV demonstrates that CHr has the highest overall sensitivity and specificity of these peripheral blood tests for predicting the absence of bone marrow iron stores. (Blood. 2002; 99:1489-1491)

These findings can improve knowledge about the characteristics of patients with fatal outcomes and the use of antiviral drug for SFTS.

Purpose: Cytokeratin 10 (CK10) was found to be expressed differently in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines with different metastatic potentials in our previous research.The aim of this study was to assess the value of CK10 alone or in combination with cytokeratin 19 (CK19) in predicting tumor recurrence after curative resection in HCC patients. Experimental Design: CK10 expression in stepwise metastatic HCC cell lines and tumor tissues from 50 HCC patients was investigated using immunofluorescence assay, quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR, and Western blot analyses. Tumor tissue microarrays of 300 HCC patients who underwent curative resection between 1997 and 2000 were used to detect the expressions of CK10 and CK19. Clinicopathologic data for these patients were evaluated. The prognostic significance was assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival estimates and log-rank tests. Results: CK10 was overexpressed in the high metastatic HCC cell line and in tumor tissues of recurrent patients. Both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that CK10 was a significant predictor for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival, and that CK19 was a significant predictor for OS. CK10 expression was correlated with poor prognosis regardless of a-fetoprotein, tumor-node-metastasis stage, and vascular invasion. The 7-year OS and diseasefree survival rates in CK10 + and/or CK19 + patients were 30.0% and 37.6%, respectively, which were significantly lower than that of CK10 -/CK19 -patients (56.1% and 60.0%, respectively;Conclusion: CK10 is associated with HCC invasiveness. CK10 alone, or in combination with CK19, can be a novel predictor for poor prognosis of HCC patients after curative resection.Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent tumor types; its incidence and mortality rates have increased in recent years (1).The high rate of recurrence or metastases after curative resection has hindered improvements in HCC survival (2, 3). Molecular signatures that define the risk of recurrence and metastatic potential of HCC have been difficult to identify. Such markers would allow appropriate therapeutic regimens to be applied earlier in the disease course. Although several prognostic biomarkers in HCC have been reported recently (4 -7), there still remains a lack of ideal biomarkers available that can be widely used in clinical settings (8, 9). Cytokeratins are typical epithelial cell markers expressed in a tissue-specific and differentiation-dependent manner. It has been reported that cytokeratins were extensively present in many malignant epithelial cells (10 -13) and tended to be altered in association with increases in metastatic ability and malignancy (14). Several cytokeratins were proven to be present in HCC (15,16) and relate with poor prognosis and metastatic potential (17 -22).In our previous research, cytokeratin 10 (CK10) expression was detected by in vitro phage display and proteomics technology in MHCC97-H but not in MHCC97-L, two human HCC cell lines created at ...

Using an ethnobotanical approach in combination with in vivo-guided fractionation as a means for lead discovery, cryptolepine was isolated as an antihyperglycemic component of Cryptolepis sanguinolenta. Two syntheses of cryptolepine, including an unambiguous synthesis, are reported. The hydroiodide, hydrochloride, and hydrotrifluoromethanesulfonate (hydrotriflate) salts of cryptolepine were synthesized, and a comparison of their spectral properties and their in vitro activities in a 3T3-L1 glucose transport assay is made. Cryptolepine and its salt forms lower blood glucose in rodent models of type II diabetes. While a number of bioactivities have been reported for cryptolepine, this is the first report that cryptolepine possesses antihyperglycemic properties.

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Cryptolepine (1) is a rare example of a natural product whose synthesis was reported prior to its isolation from nature. In the previous paper we reported the discovery of cryptolepine's antihyperglycemic properties. As part of a medicinal chemistry program designed to optimize natural product lead structures originating from our ethnobotanical and ethnomedical field research, a series of substituted and heterosubstituted cryptolepine analogues was synthesized. Antihyperglycemic activity was measured in vitro and in an NIDDM mouse model to generate the first structure-bioactivity study about the cryptolepine nucleus.

The expression of aromatase by breast cancer cells and the role of locally produced estrogen in the stimulation of tumor growth has been controversial. The present study was performed to determine the site of aromatization in human breast cancers, using both immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization. The functional significance of locally produced estrogens on growth of the tumor was addressed by measuring aromatase activity and a marker of proliferation (PCNA score). In addition, histocultures of some tumors were carried out to investigate whether testosterone aromatization could stimulate tumor proliferation. Of the 19 tumors investigated, 10 (52.6%) showed significant immunoreactivity to antiaromatase antibody in the cytoplasm of tumor epithelial cells and in surrounding stromal cells. The presence of aromatase mRNA detected by ISH was also located in tumor epithelial cells and stromal cell, and the pattern of expression was the same as with immunocytochemistry. In the ten tumors that showed immunoreaction to aromatase, the average aromatase activity measured in cryosections was 286.5 +/- 18.6 (SE) fmol estrogen/mg protein.h, whereas in nine tumors with weak aromatase immunoreaction, the enzyme activity was 154.7 +/- 19.3 (SE) fmol estrogen/mg protein-h (P < 0.05). The mean PCNA score was 33.8 +/- 5.1 (SE)% in strongly stained tumors and 20.8 +/- 2.0 (SE)% in weakly stained tumors (P < 0.05). Aromatase activity level and PCNA score were significantly correlated. In histoculture of four tumors, estradiol increased the incorporation of [3H]-thymidine into DNA. In two of these tumors, aromatase activity was high and [3H]-thymidine incorporation into DNA was also stimulated by testosterone. In the other two tumors that had low aromatase activity, no such stimulation occurred with testosterone. The results indicate that aromatase is expressed mainly in tumor epithelial cells and that sufficient amounts of estrogen are synthesized by the tumor to produce a proliferative response. It is concluded that estrogen synthesis by cancer cells could play a important role in promoting growth in a significant proportion of breast tumors.

Background To combat the COVID-19 pandemic, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPI) were implemented worldwide, which impacted a broad spectrum of acute respiratory infections (ARI). Methods Etiologically diagnostic data from 142 559 cases with ARIs, who were tested for eight viral pathogens (influenza virus, IFV; respiratory syncytial virus, RSV; human parainfluenza virus, HPIV; human adenovirus; human metapneumovirus; human coronavirus, HCoV; human bocavirus, HBoV, and human rhinovirus, HRV) between 2012 and 2021, were analyzed to assess the changes of respiratory infections in China during the first COVID-19 pandemic year compared to pre-pandemic years. Results Test positive rates of all respiratory viruses decreased during 2020, compared to the average levels during 2012−2019, with changes ranging from -17·2% for RSV to -87·6% for IFV. Sharp decreases mostly occurred between February and August when massive NPIs remained active, although HRV rebounded to the historical level during the summer. While IFV and HMPV were consistently suppressed year round, RSV, HPIV, HCoV, HRV HBov resurged and went beyond historical levels during September, 2020−January, 2021, after NPIs were largely relaxed and schools reopened. Resurgence was more prominent among children younger than 18 years and in Northern China. These observations remain valid after accounting for seasonality and long-term trend of each virus. Conclusions Activities of respiratory viral infections were reduced substantially in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, and massive NPIs were likely the main driver. Lifting of NPIs can lead to resurgence of viral infections, particularly in children.