Tobacco smoking is a global healthcare problem that poses a substantial and costly health burden. Nicotine is the major constituent responsible for the addiction to tobacco. Current strategies helping tobacco smokers have limited utility in increasing rates of smoking cessation, consequently indicating the need for alternative therapies. A novel therapeutic method is vaccination against nicotine. Nicotine vaccine can generate specific antibodies that can sequester nicotine from cigarette smoke in the blood, and prevent its access to the brain and minimize positive reinforcing effects, which may help smokers to stop smoking. The vaccine will have great potential for the treatment of nicotine addiction and for relapse prevention. Here we will review the current status of vaccines against nicotine addiction and discuss the problems associated with the development of nicotine vaccines.

Prediabetes is an abnormal condition between normal glucose metabolism and diabetes mellitus. Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is an indicator of high-risk state of prediabetes. Positive interventions of IGT, including life style changes and pharmacological intervention, can effectively postpone and reduce the development of prediabetes into type 2 diabetes mellitus, suggesting that IGT is a key point of diabetes prevention. Currently, pharmacological intervention for prediabetes is still at early stage. In this review, we summarizes recent clinical and preclinical studies on pharmacological intervention for prediabetes, and studies in the development of animal models with IGT and the application of new techniques. We also discuss the prospects of drugs for diabetes prevention, especially with the traditional Chinese medicine.

This study was aimed to shed light on the biological and pharmaceutical characterization of the complexes of FUS1/hIL-12 double gene with cationic liposome, and to assess such complexes' transfection efficiency, stability and cytotoxicity; for they have the potential for use as drugs in gene therapy of lung cancer. Gel retardation assay, diameter measurement, and surface charge by photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) were employed to select the appropriate ratio of "cationic liposome to DNA" of the double-gene and liposome complexes. The plasmid EGFP and plasmid PVITO2-hIL12-FUS1 mediated by cationic liposome were transfected into A549 lung cancer cells respectively, and the expression levels of EGFP and FUS1 and hIL-12 were determined by inverted fluorescence microscope and immunohistochemical and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) respectively. Agarose gel electrophoresis was performed to detect the stability of the double-gene and liposome complexes, after they were incubated with serum and Dnase I respectively. After the erythrocytes being incubated with the complexes of FUS1/hIL-12 with cationic liposome, the morphology of erythrocyte was observed by microscopy. The result of this study provides a basis for the use of the complexes of FUS1/hIL-12 with cationic liposome in gene therapy of lung cancer.
Cations ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Genetic Therapy ; Humans ; Interleukin-12 ; genetics ; Liposomes ; chemistry ; Lung Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Transfection ; methods ; Tumor Suppressor Proteins ; genetics

Objective:To explore the accuracy and clinical effect of computer navigation system in locating the tunnel position in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.Methods:A retrospective case-control study was conducted to analyze clinical data of 60 patients with ACL rupture treated in Daping Hospital of Army Military Medical University from March 2017 to March 2018, including 44 males and 16 females, aged 15-48 years (mean, 26.3 years). Computer navigation system was used to locate the internal orifice of intra-articular femoral and tibial tunnel in 30 patients (navigation group), and artificial location of intra-articular femoral and tibial tunnel in 30 patients (control group). The operation time and complications of two groups were recorded after operation. The tunnel position was evaluated by CT three-dimensional reconstruction, and the ratio of the tunnel position on the lateral surface of the femoral condyle to the tibial platform was evaluated by the grid method. The proportion sites from the deep posterior edge of lateral intercondylar surface of the femur to the shallow anterior edge (DS) and from the upper edge to the lower edge (HL) were used to represent the position of the femoral tunnel, and the proportion sites of the line connecting the anterior and posterior edge of the tibial plateau were used to represent the tibial tunnel position. The postoperative tunnel position was compared between the two groups. The knee joint stability (Lachman test, pivot shift test) and knee joint function score (Lysholm score, Tegner score) were compared between the two groups before operation and 12 months after operation.Results:All patients were followed up for 12-24 months (mean, 15 months). The operation time was (56.1±8.1)minutes in control group versus (76.0±6.7)minutes in navigation group ( P<0.05). In navigation group, 2 patients had skin edge necrosis at the place where the navigation needle was installed. The proportion of DS in femoral tunnel was (27.2±3.7)% in navigation group versus (33.9±4.4)% in control group ( P<0.05). HL proportion site was (36.6±4.8)% in navigation group versus (38.9±4.9)% in control group ( P<0.05). Proportion of the tibial tunnel at the anterior and posterior edge of the tibial plateau was (44.9±1.8)% in navigation group and (44.7±3.0)% in control group ( P>0.05). Both groups showed significant improvements in Lysholm score, Tegner score, Lachman test and pivot shift test 12 months after operation compared to the preoperative levels ( P<0.05), but the knee joint function score and knee joint stability score had no significant difference between the two groups 12 months after operation ( P>0.05). Conclusions:No significant differences are found between computer navigated and manually navigated ACL reconstruction with regards to knee joint stability, knee joint function, and tibial tunnel localization. However, computer assisted navigation enables the location of the lateral femoral tunnel closer to the anatomical position.