Cardiac ankyrin repeat protein (CARP) not only serves as an important component of muscle sarcomere in the cytoplasm, but also acts as a transcription co-factor in the nucleus. Previous studies have demonstrated that CARP is up-regulated in some cardiovascular disorders and muscle diseases; however, its role in these diseases remains controversial now. In this review, we will discuss the continued progress in the research related to CARP, including its discovery, structure, and the role it plays in cardiac development and heart diseases.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality around the world. Despite advancements in diagnosis, surgical techniques, and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy over the last decade, the mortality rate is still high and the 5-year survival is a dismal 15%. Fortunately, early detection by low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scans has reduced mortality by 20%; yet, overall, 5-year-survival remains low at less than 20%. Therefore, in order to ameliorate this situation, a thorough understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms is urgently needed. Chemokines and their receptors, crucial microenvironmental factors, play important roles in lung tumor genesis, progression, and metastasis, and exploring the mechanisms of this might bring new insights into early diagnosis and precisely targeted treatment. Consequently, this review will mainly focus on recent advancements on the axes of chemokines and their receptors of lung cancer.

Background: Tumor-derived exosomes were considered to be potential candidates for tumor vaccines because they are abundant in immune-regulating proteins, whereas tumor exosomal miRNAs may induce immune tolerance, thereby having an opposite immune function. Objective: This study was designed to separate exosomal protein and depleted exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs), increasing the immune activity of exosomes for activating dendritic cell/cytokine-induced killer cells (DC/CIKs) against pancreatic cancer (PC). Methods: PC-derived exosomes (PEs) were extracted from cultured PANC-1 cell supernatants and then ruptured; this was followed by ultrafiltered exosome lysates (UELs). DCs were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), PE, and UEL, followed by co-culture with CIKs. The anti-tumor effects of DC/CIKs against PC were evaluated by proliferation and killing rates, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and perforin secretion. Exosomal miRNAs were depleted after lysis and ultrafiltration, while 128 proteins were retained, including several immune-activating proteins. Results: UEL-stimulated DC/CIKs showed a higher killing rate than LPS- and PE-stimulated DC/CIKs. Conclusions: miRNA-depleted exosome proteins may be promising agonists for specifically activating DC/CIKs against PC.

In various studies, metastasis associated with colon cancer 1 (MACC1) has been frequently reported to be abnormally highly expressed in human lung cancer, colon cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Our study focuses on the association of MACC1 expression with gastric cancer (GC). During our experiment, the MACC1 expression was tested in 105 GC samples using an immunohistochemical (IHC) method. The clinical characteristics and prognosis of these patients were summarized. During analysis, MACC1 distribution in GC samples with distant metastasis was higher than that in normal samples and in tumors with no dissemination. Subsequently, a lower 5-year survival rate had a strong correlation with high MACC1 expression. As a consequence, the present results suggest that MACC1 is more frequently expressed in a poor prognosis phenotype of GC and acts as a promising prognostic prediction parameter for GC.

The population genetic data and forensic parameters of 19 X-chromosome short tandem repeat (X-STR) loci in Chinese Uygur ethnic minority are presented. These loci were detected in a sample of 233 (94 males and 139 females) unrelated healthy individuals. We observed 238 alleles at the 19 X-STR loci, with the corresponding gene frequencies spanning the range from 0.0021 to 0.5644. After Bonferroni correction (P>0.0026), there were no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The cumulative power of discrimination in females and males, and the probability of exclusion of the 19 X-STR loci were 0.999 999 999 999 999 999 998 091, 0.999 999 999 999 966, and 0.999 999 986 35, respectively. The cumulative mean exclusion chance was 0.999 999 992 849 in deficiency cases, 0.999 999 999 999 628 in normal trios, and 0.999 999 998 722 in duo cases. The high value of the forensic parameters mentioned above revealed that the novel panel of 19 loci had important values for forensic applications in the Uygur group.

To describe the long-term clinical outcomes of patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) who are on peritoneal dialysis (PD) therapy. We performed a retrospective matched-cohort analysis comparing the clinical outcomes of 30 ADPKD patients with those of 30 non-diabetic patients who had bilateral small kidneys between July 1 2007 and July 31 2014. The patient groups were matched by age, gender, and time of PD initiation. There were no significant differences in the demographic or biochemical parameters, comorbid conditions, residual glomerular filtration rate, or Charlson comorbidity score at the beginning of PD. The median renal volume was 1315 ml for the ADPKD group and 213 ml for the control group. Patients with ADPKD had similar 3-year patient survival (90.6% versus 86.3%, P=0.807) and technique survival (89.2% versus 74.3%, P=0.506) compared with non-ADPKD patients. Also, there was no significant difference in the peritonitis-free survival between the ADPKD and control groups (P=0.22), and rates of peritonitis were similar (0.19 versus 0.21 episodes per patient-year, P=0.26). No differences were observed in the incidence of PD-related complications, such as hernia and dialysate leak. ADPKD is not a contraindication for PD, and a subgroup of ADPKD patients with relatively small kidney volume can be treated using PD.

We have developed a set of chemometric methods to address two critical issues in quality control of a precious traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Dong’e Ejiao (DEEJ). Based on near infrared (NIR) spectra of multiple samples, the genuine manufacturer of DEEJ, e.g. Dong’e Ejiao Co., Ltd., was accurately identified among 21 suppliers by the fingerprint method using Hotelling T², distance to Model X (DModX), and similarity match value (SMV) as discriminate criteria. Soft independent modeling of the class analogy algorithm led to a misjudgment ratio of 6.2%, suggesting that the fingerprint method is more suitable for manufacturer identification. For another important feature related to clinical efficacy of DEEJ, storage time, the partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) method was applied with a satisfactory misjudgment ratio (15.6%) and individual prediction error around 1 year. Our results demonstrate that NIR spectra comprehensively reflect the essential quality information of DEEJ, and with the aid of proper chemometric algorithms, it is able to identify genuine manufacturer and determine accurate storage time. The overall results indicate the promising potential of NIR spectroscopy as an effective quality control tool for DEEJ and other precious TCM products.

The antioxidant activities and total phenolic content of fermented Salvia miltiorrhiza with fungus Geomyces luteus were investigated. The results revealed that G. luteus fermentation could significantly improve the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of S. miltiorrhiza. The main antioxidant constituents were characterized by spectroscopic analysis as salvianolic acids. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantification also showed the enhanced content of salvianolic acid B after fermentation. The present study suggests that G. luteus fermentations are effective in the S. miltiorrhiza salvianolic acids’ enrichment process.

Background: Birch pollen sensitization and associated pollen-food syndrome among Chinese allergic patients have not been investigated. Methods: Sera from 203 allergic patients from the northern part of China and collected during February to July 2014 were investigated. Specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) against birch pollen extract Bet v and major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 were measured using the ADVIA Centaur. The presence of major apple allergen Mal d 1 and soy bean allergen Gly m 4 specific IgE was measured by ImmunoCAP 100. Results: Among the 203 sera, 34 sera (16.7%) had specific IgE to Bet v and of these, 28 sera (82.4%) contained Bet v 1-specific IgE. Among the 28 sera with Bet v 1-specific IgE, 27 sera (96.4%) contained Mal d 1-specific IgE and 22 sera (78.6%) contained Gly m 4-specific IgE. Of the 34 Bet v-positive sera, 6 sera (17.6%) contained no specific IgE for Bet v 1, Mal d 1, or Gly m 4. Almost all Bet v-positive sera were donated during the birch pollen season. Conclusions: The prevalence of birch allergy among patients visiting health care during pollen season can be as high as 16.7% in Tangshan City. The majority of Chinese birch allergic patients are IgE-sensitized to the major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 as well as to the major apple allergen Mal d 1 and soy bean allergen Gly m 4. A relatively high number of patients (17.6%) are IgE-sensitized to birch pollen allergen(s) other than Bet v 1. The high prevalence of specific IgE to Mal d 1 and Gly m 4 among Bet v 1-sensitized patients indicates that pollen-food allergy syndrome could be of clinical relevance in China.

Public excitement over the award of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to the Chinese medical scientist You-you TU for the discovery of a herbal anti-malarial, may mislead the Chinese people into believing that traditional Chinese herbal medi-cine can be used to cure all disease without any ad-verse effects. The aim of this paper is to explain the advantages and disadvantages of herbal traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) objectively.

Taking as a starting point the analysis of the current status of scientific writing and article publication of China’s graduate students, we point out the need for expanded education on these aspects for such new authors. Then, based on the experience of being both an advisor and a journal editor, the author gives advice on how to effectively conduct such education and what roles should be played by a college, an advisor and a journal respectively.