Objective; To investigate the immunolocalization and significance of Notch-2 expression in the process of dental pulp repair after injury. Methods: An experimental animal model of injury-induced pulpitis was established to observe the time-sequenced alteration of the expression of Notch-2. Results: Three days post-operation, weak positive staining of Notch-2 was observed in pulp mesenchyme cells and pulp fibroblasts but not in vascular endothelial cells or odontoblasts. Five days post-operation, strong Notch-2 reactivity was found in subodontoblasts as well as newly bom capillary endothelial cells. Seven days after cavity preparation, Notch-2 staining became weaker in pulp mesenchyme cells and capillary endothelial cells, but stronger positive staining was found in odontoblasts. Two weeks post-operation, weak Notch-2 staining was seen in pulp mesenchyme cells and subodontoblastic layer cells and was absent from odontoblasts. Notch-2 immunoreactivity was completely absent in intact rat dental pulp. Conclusion: Notch-2 is strikingly up-regulated in dental pulp mesenchyme cells in the early days after dental injury and then shows progressively up-regulation in odontoblasts. Properly regulated activation of Notch signaling pathway is important for controlling cell fate and maintaining the correct balance among cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis during dental pulp repair process.

OBJECTIVETo clarify the related factors of marginal bone loss (MBL) around tissue level implants in the posterior part of the mandible.

METHODSA total of 116 tissue level implants were implanted in the mandibular posterior region of 76 patients. Patients' information, including general characteristics, implant characteristics, implant site characteristics, and prosthesis characteristics, was recorded. Their cone beam computed tomography data were measured immediately after implant placement, 3 months later, and 3 and 12 months after prosthesis loading. The measurement of MBL was conducted by One Volume Viewer software. SPSS 20.0 was used for statistic analysis.

RESULTSSmoking, cortical bone thickness (CBT), collum angle (CA), and implant local sanitation showed significant differences with body mass loss (P<0.05). No significant differences were found among sex, age, length of implant, diameter of implants, implant systems, bone height, prosthesis type, and MBL (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe risk factors that caused MBL were smoking, thicker CBT, larger CA, and poor implant local sanitation. Among them, poor implant local sanitation had the highest correlation with MBL.

Alveolar Bone Loss ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Dental Implants ; adverse effects ; Dental Prosthesis Design ; Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mandible ; Mandibular Prosthesis ; statistics & numerical data ; Oral Hygiene ; Postoperative Complications ; Smoking ; adverse effects ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To establish the determination methods for 5-HMF during the processing of polygonatums by HPLC and GC-MS. Methods:The contents of 5-HMF during the processing of three species of polygonatum were determined by HPLC and GC-MS, and the correlation curve of the processing time and the contents was established to study the change regularity of 5-HMF during the processing. Results:The contents of 5-HMF in the three species of polygonatum processed by steamed and stewed methods reached the peak value in 16h or so. The 5-HMF contents in the three species of polygonatum showed significant difference in the order of Polygo-natum cyrtonema Hua>Polygonatum kingianum Coll. et Hemsl. >Polygonatum. sibiricum Red. After the processing, the content of 5-HMF was increased, and the increase in stewed method was more notable than that in steamed method. Conclusion: The study pro-vides theoretical basis for the further study on the processing of polygonatum.

Objective To investigate the efficiency of ultrasound microbubble-mediated HGF gene transfer on liver fibrosis in rats. Methods The eukaryotic expression vector pMD18-T/HGF was constructed. The rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: normal group, model group, low dose group,middle dose group and high dose group. The rat liver fibrosis were induced. At day 14 after treatment, the rats were sacrificed, the ALT lever were evaluated, pathological evaluation of liver fibrosis were made,immunohistochemical evaluation of HGF protein expressions were observed, HGF mRNA expression were detected by RT-PCR. Results Liver 1function after the treatment showed that the treatment groups were better than model group ( P ＜ 0. 05). The difference between low dose group and normal group showed significant difference ( P ＜0.05), and the difference between middle/high dose groups and normal group showed no significant ( P ＞0. 05). Pathological results showed that the treatment groups could reduce liver fibrosis;treatment groups had the positive HGF expression by immunohistochemistry and the expression level increased with the increasement of the treatment dose ( P ＜0.05). RT-PCR showed HGF mRNA expression in the treatment groups were higher than in model group ( P ＜0.05). Conclusions Ultrasound microbubbles which carrying HGF can inhibit the process of hepatic fibrosis.

Objective To investigate the effects of hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO)exposure on Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 mRNA ex-pressions in both internal carotid artery (ICA)and basal artery (BA)in rabbits.Methods Twenty-four healthy adult New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into 2 groups:HBO group and the control group,with each group consisted of 12 animals.The rab-bits in the HBO group were exposed to HBO at 2.2 ATA for 60 minutes each day for 3 successive days.The rabbits in the control group were normally fed without any treatment.Real-time PCR was used to detect Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 mRNA expressions in both ICA and BA in 2 groups.Results HBO significantly decreased the Caspase-3 mRNA expression [(0.038 ±0.006 )vs .(1.000 ± 0.225)]and increased the Bcl-2 mRNA expression [(1.877 ±0.1 69)vs .(1.000 ±0.364)].In ICA,HBO similarly decreased the Caspase-3 mRNA expression [(0.41 9±0.091)vs .(1.000 ±0.1 75)]and increased the Bcl-2 mRNA expression [(1.269 ±0.270) vs .(1.000±0.1 1 7)]in BA.All the differences mentioned above were of statistical significance (P <0.01).Conclusion HBO ex-erts an inhibition effect on apoptosis in cerebral vascular endothelial cells.The mechanism may be related to inhibiting the expres-sion of Caspase-3 mRNA and promoting the expression of Bcl-2 mRNA.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of a two-step infusion therapy with meropenem against noso-comial multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Methods 112 elderly patients with nosocomial multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were randomized into two groups:two-step infusion therapy group ( rapid first-step infusion in 30 minutes and slow second-step infusion in 2.5 hours) and traditional 30 minutes infusion therapy group.The antibiotic clinical efficacy and bacteriological efficacy were observed between two groups .Results The clinical efficacy of observation group and control group were 82.2%(46/56) vs 57.1%(32/56).The difference was statistically significant(χ2 =10.185,P<0.05);The bacteriological efficacy of observation group and control group were 75.0%(42/56) vs 46.4%(26/56),The difference was statistically significant (χ2 =10.265,P<0.05). Conclusion The clinical efficacy and bacteriological efficacy of two-step infusion therapy with meropenem against nosocomial multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmo -nary disease were superior to the traditional therapy .

This study was aimed to investigate the effects of high-dose strictosamide injection on cardiovascular sys-tem of anesthetized beagle dogs and to examine the inhibition of strictosamide on ion channels in vitro. Indexes such as changes of systolic blood pressure (Sys), diastolic blood pressure (Dia), mean blood pressure (MBP), heart rate (HR), PR, QRS, QT, QTcb and QTcv at different time points before and after strictosamide injection in dogs were monitored by the polygraph system. The inhibition of strictosamide at different concentrations on hERG potassium channel in CHO-hERG cells and Nav1.5 sodium channel in HEK-293-Nav1.5 cells were measured by whole-cell patch-clamp method. The results showed that compared with the blank control group, Sys, Dia, MBP and HR were obviously declined 15 min after medication in the strictosamide (60, 18 mg·kg-1) group and the vehicle-control group (containing tween-80) (P < 0.05). After medication, all indexes were recovered. Compared to the vehicle-control group, there were no significant differences at different time points in each medication groups. Compared with the blank control group and before medication, the QT interval, QTcb and QTcv were significantly prolonged 15 min af-ter medication in the strictosamide (60, 18, 6 mg·kg-1) group and the vehicle-control group (P< 0.05). When medi-cation stopped, indexes were recovered at certain level. Compared with the vehicle-control group, there were no sig-nificant differences of QT interval, QTcb and QTcv of each medication group at different time points (P> 0.05). The inhibition of strictosamide on hERG potassium channel and Nav1.5 sodium channel were weak with IC50 values of 560.8 μM and > 900 μM, respectively, which were far greater than the positive controls. It was concluded that sin-gle, high-dose intravenous injection of strictosamide may lead to a lower blood pressure, a slower heart rate and a prolongation on the QT interval in beagle dogs, which returned to basal levels when medication stopped. It was spec-ulated that the reduction of blood pressure and the slowing of heart rate were related to tween-80 contained in the vehicle control group. No significant inhibitory effects were detected on hERG potassium channel and Nav1.5 sodium channel in vitro, which suggested that other mechanisms may be involved in strictosamide-induced QT interval pro-longation in animals.

With the development of modern computing technology and medical physics,radiotherapy has made great progress.The theoretical basis of radiobiology seems to lag behind the clinical application of radiotherapy,which hampers the further improvement of treatment efficacy and the optimization of treatment modality.In this paper,some emerging challenges of precision radiotherapy technology to the traditional theory of radiobiology,such as radiosensitivity,dose-response curve and survival curve,linear-quadratic model,4Rs theory,as well as the interaction between cancer and microenvironment,radiation-induced second primary cancers (RISPC),will be discussed.The interplay between precision radiotherapy and traditional radiobiology theories will be addressed with the aim to potentially solve some of the challenging problems.

Larotaxel, a new taxane compound prepared by partial synthesis from 10-deacetyl baccatin Ⅲ, is active against tumors. In this research, a selective LC–MS method was developed and validated for the study of degradation kinetics of larotaxel, which was carried out in aqueous solutions with different pH (1.5, 3.0, 5.0, 6.5, 7.4, 9.0, 10 and 11.0) and temperature (0, 25, 37 and 45 °C). The linear range was 0.5–25μg/mL, the intra-and inter-day precisions were less than 7.0%, and accuracy ranged from 97.4–104.5% for each analyte. The observed rate obtained by measuring the remaining intact larotaxel was shown to follow first-order kinetics. The activation energies for degradation were 126.7 and 87.01 kJ/mol at pH 1.5 and 11, respectively. Although larotaxel was stable in pH 5, 6.5 and 7.4 buffers at 37 °C for 24 h during our study, increasing or decreasing the pH of the solutions would decrease its stabilities. Moreover, three main degradation products in alkaline condition were separated by HPLC and identified by Q–TOF–MS. The three degradation products were confirmed as 10-deacetyl larotaxel, 7, 8-cyclopropyl baccatin Ⅲ and 10-deacetyl-7, 8-cyclopropyl baccatin Ⅲ.

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of modulated medium frequency current therapy (MMFCT) combined with infrared therapy on patients of acute facial neuritis. Methods A total of forty-six patients with acute facial neuritis were divided into two groups (observation group and control group) randomly and medially. Every patient received medication. Meanwhile, observation group received MMFCT and infrared therapy. Before the treatment, and after two and four weeks of treatment, Portmann scale were used to evaluate the autonomic movements of the facial expression muscles on both sides. After 4 weeks of treatment, the outcome was evaluated by House-Brackmann facial nerve grading system. Results There were no significant differences in Portmann scales before treatment between two groups. Portmann scales were higher in observation group than those of control group after two and four weeks of treatment (P<0.05). With the duration of treatment, Portmann scales were increased successively in two groups. The significant difference was found in multiple comparisons between groups. After 4 weeks of treatment, the efficacy was significant in the observation group, compared with control group, the difference was significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Modulated medium frequency current therapy combined with infrared therapy have a better effect than isolated medication.