Objective To investigate the effects of dexmedetomidine on the outcome in rats with sepsis. Methods Male SD rats, aged 10-14 weeks, weighing 260-390 g, were used in this study. Sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Ninety rats of successful sepsis model were randomly divided into 3 groups ( n = 30 each) : control group (group C), midasolam group (group M) and dexmedetomidine group (group D). In group C, M and D, normal saline at a rate of 1 ml/h, midazolam at a rate of 0.6 mg·kg-1·h-1 and dexmedetomidine at a rate of 5 μg·kg-1·h-1 were infused iv for 8 h after operation respectively. Ten rats of each group were selected for observation of the survival condition during 24 h after operation. Another 10 rats of each group were selected and blood samples were taken from carotid artery before operation and at 2, 4 and 5 h after operation for measurement of plasma concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6 by ELISA. The remaining 10 rats of each group were selected at 8 h after operation for determination of the renal function. The rats still alive after the determination of cytokines and renal function were killed and spleen tissues were taken for determination of the expression of caspase-3 and ubiquitin by Western blot. Results Compared with group C, the plasma concentration of TNF-α and fractional excretion of sodium (FENa+) were significantly decreased, caspase-3 expression in spleen tissues was down-regulated and abiquitin expression in spleen tissues was up-regulated in group M and D ( P < 0.05), while there were no significant differences in plasma concentration of IL-6 and creatinine clearance rate (Ccr) at 8 h after operation between group M and C and between group D and C ( P > 0.05). The plasma concentration of TNF-α was significantly lower in group D than in group M ( P < 0.05), while there were no significant differences in plasma concentration of IL-6, FE Na+ , Ccr and expression of caspase-3 and ubiquitin in splen tissues between group D and M ( P>0.05). The survival rates during 24 h after operation were 10%, 80% and 90% in group C, M and D respectively. The survival rates during 24 h after operation were signifrcantly higher in group M and D than in group C ( P > 0.05). Conclusion Dexmedetomidine can raise the survival rate during sepsis.

In recent years,thyroid cancer incidence increased year by year,after the effective prevention of iodine deficiency disorders in many countries,which caused widespread attention in academia.Whether is this increasing trend related to the implementation of policy of iodized salt in many countries? Currently,the association between iodine intake and thyroid cancer is unclear.This review article describes the metabolic and nutritional status of iodine,and the epidemiology of thyroid cancer,and further elaborates the relationship and the pathogenesis of iodine and thyroid cancer.

The quantity of adipocytes has a direct impact on the levels of obesity,and the apoptotic factors of preadipocytes are also related to adipositas.The apoptosis of preadipocytes is influenced by many genes and other factors.Findings in the studies on the apoptosis of preadipocytes and its influencing factors have contributed a lot to the researches on obesity and many other diseases.

Objectives To compare the difference of ERG11 partial promoter sequence(-440 ～ -1)between yeast-form and hypha-form of Candida albicans, and the relation between the mutation of ERG11 promoter and the susceptibility of C. albicans to fluconazole. Methods Yeast-form and hypha-form of C. albicans genome DNA were extracted from 4 substrains C. albicans, which were isolated from a single HIV-sero-positive patient. Partial ERG11 promoters of yeast-form and hypha-form of these 4 substrains were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the PCR products were sequenced. Results There was no sequence difference between the yeast-form and the hypha-form of C. albicans in this region. Heterogeneities at position -365, -353, -328, -310, -308, -299, -295, -293, -292, 290, -289 and a single base deletion (-284 delT) were found on one allele of ERG11 promoter region of fluconazole-susceptible substrains. No heterogeneities were observed in dose-dependent fluconazole-susceptible and fluconazole-resistant substrains. Conclusions There is no difference of ERG11 partial promoter sequence between the yeast-form and the hypha-form C. albicans. The mutation of ERG11 promoter may be associated with the resistance of C. albicans to fluconazole.

The self-made high sensitivity and selectivity micro-biosensor was applied to monitor the change of dopamine in cerebral nucleus in rats in vivo. The micro-biosensor was prepared and used to detect dopamine level in vitro and monitor the dynamic change of dopamine in different cerebral nucleus in vivo. The results showed the lowest concentration of dopamine that could be detected by the biosensor was 32.5 nmol/L. Its positive peak was significantly different from that of AA, 5-HTP and E. The biosensor could keep working for monitoring the dopamine concentration in the cerebral tissue for more than 10 h. It was concluded that the microsensor has high sensitivity and selectivity to dopamine and can be used to dynamically monitor the change of dopamine in vivo.
Biosensing Techniques/*instrumentation ; Biosensing Techniques/methods ; Brain Chemistry ; Corpus Striatum/*metabolism ; Dopamine/*analysis ; Microelectrodes ; Monitoring, Physiologic

Objective To investigate whether enteric nervous system(ENS)involve in mediating the effect of short pulse gastric electrical stimulation on c-fos expression in nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS)and hypothalamus.Methods Fifteen Wistar rats were divided into control group,gastric electrical stimulation(GES)group and ENS free group with 5 rats each.A pair of electrodes was implanted on the gastric serosa.In ENS free group,0.5%benzalkonii chloridum was applied on the serosa during the surgery.A set of short pulse GES with frequency of 20 cpm,pulse width of 300 μs and amplitude of 2 mA was applied via the electrodes for 30 rain in the stimulation group and ENS free group.The c-fos expression in NTS/hypothalamus was detected 1 h after the stimulation.Results The number of neuron with c-fos expression was(71.6±7.4)/HP in NTS group and(63.4±10.8)/HP in ENS free group,both were significantly higher than those in control group(36.4±8.6/HP,P＜0.05).The number of neuron with c-fos expression in hypothalamus was higher in GES[(224.2±47.3)/HP]and ENS free groups[(249.1±44.0)/HP]compared with control group[(90.2±47.3)/HP,P＜0.05].There was no significant difference in c-fos expression in NTS/hypothalamus between GES group and ENS free group(P＞0.05).Conclusions Short pulse gastric electrical stimulation significantly increases c-fos expression in NTS/hypothalamus,which suggests that NTS/hypothalamus may participate in mediating the effect of GES on gastric function.This effect may be not mediated by ENS.

Aiming at the issue of motor imagery electroencephalography (EEG) pattern recognition in the research of brain-computer interface (BCI), a power feature method based on discrete wavelet packet decomposition is proposed for the channels C3 and C4. Firstly, a six-border Butterworth filter is used to denoise the two-channel EEG signals. Secondly, two-channel EEG signals are decomposed to five levels using Daubechies wavelet and the fourth level and the fifth level are chosen to reconstruct the signals and compute its power feature. Finally, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is utilized to classify the feature and the Kappa value is utilized to measure the accuracy of the classifier. This method is applied to the standard dataset BCICIV_2b-gdf of BCI Competition 2008, and experimental results show that this method reflect the feature of event-related synchronization and event-related desynchronization obviously and it is an effective way to classify the EEG patterns in the research of BCI.
Brain-Computer Interfaces ; Electroencephalography ; instrumentation ; methods

Ricin is a plant toxin isolated from the seed of the castor plant(Ricinus communis). As a typical II ribosome inactivating protein,ricin consists of two polypeptide chains named ricin toxin A chain(RTA)and ricin toxin B chain(RTB),linked via a disulfide bridge. RTB binds to both glycopro?tein and glycolipid at the surface of the target cell and mediates ricin to be endocytosed and transported retro?gradely to the endoplasmic reticulum. After being reduced and retrotranslocated to the cytosol,RTA mediates its toxicity due to its activity of a RNA N- glycosidases. Aside from its main toxic effect of protein synthesis inhibition,ricin also displays other properties that contribute to its toxicity such as inducing apoptosis,cytokine secreting and peroxidation. Ricin is stable and can be easily isolated. It has many routes of intoxication with no specific antidotes. Due to its natural abundance,remarkable toxicity,and the potential to be used in biological warfare as well as terrorist attacks,ricin has been classified as a Category B biothreat agent. Here we reviewed its history as a biothreat agent,constitu?tion,intoxication mechanism,detection methods and the development of specific antitodes.