Objective To investigate the effects of overexpression of Mash-1 gene on functional recovery and neural differentiation of embryonic stem cells in spinal cord injury mice. Methods CE3 cell line with overexpression of Mash-1 gene was generated with murine stem cell virus. Spinal cord injury model was established with forceps compression in 4-week-old KM mice. Normal saline (model group, n=12), CE3 cells with or without overexpression Mash-1 gene (CE3-Mash-1 and CE3 groups, n=12 respectively) were transplanted into the ar-eas of injury 3 days after injury. They were assessed with the Basso Mouse Scale (BMS) 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after injury. 6 mice from each group were sacrificed 14 and 28 days after injury respectively. The spinal cord area remained were observed with HE stained, and the expression of Oct3/4, nestin,β-tubulin III and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) were detected with immunofluorescence in the injured spinal cord in the CE3 and CE3-Mash-1 groups. Results The score of BMS significantly improved in CE3 and CE3-Mash-1 groups com-pared with that of the model group (F>84.471, P<0.05), with the more area of spinal cord remained (F>49.990, P<0.05). There were less Oct3/4 positive cells in the CE3-Mash-1 group than CE3 group (t=5.439, P<0.001), with more nestin (t=-7.536, P<0.001) andβ-tubulin III (t=-9.941, P<0.001) positive cells. However, there was no significant difference in GFAP positive cells between CE3-Mash-1 and CE3 groups (t=1.701, P>0.05). Conclusion Overexpression of Mash-1 gene promotes CE3 cells to differentiate into neurons in spinal cord injury mice, and improve the motor function recovery.

To observe the effects of Yiqi Huayu Decoction, a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in lumbar nerve root and soleus of rats after lumbar nerve root compression injury.

To observe the effects of Yiqi Huayu Recipe, a Chinese compound herbal medicine, on apoptosis of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and expression of caspase-3 in rats after lumbar nerve root compression injury.

Transplantation of embryonic stem cells could promote nerve repair by providing nutrients to the injured spinal cord, or differentiating into remyelinating oligodendrocytes or neurons integrating with the host neurons, which has a bright future in the treatment of spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the role of bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) in culturing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and the related signal pathways.

METHODSWe amplified the mature peptide of BMP4 from the placenta through RT-PCR, and IgK secretion peptide was ligated to the N-terminal of BMP4 mature peptide. The recombinant plasmid pPYCAG-IgK-BMP4 was transfected into 293T cells and screened with puromycin, and the positive clones for expressing BMP4 were verified by cell immunofluorescence and Western blotting. To test the bioactivity of BMP4, iPSCs were cultured in the medium supplemented with leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) plus the supernatant containing BMP4, and the cell phenotype, cell differentiation capacity into lineages of the 3 germ layers and expression levels of pluripotency-associated genes were investigated.

RESULTSSmad1 was phosphorylated by BMP4 from the culture medium. iPSCs cultured in the medium supplemented with LIF plus the supernatant containing BMP4 for 3 passages maintained the phenotype of stem cells with the expression levels of pluripotency-associated genes not affected. These iPSCs also maintained the capacity to differentiate into cell lineages of the 3 germ layers.

CONCLUSIONBMP4 can be efficiently expressed in mammalian cells to maintain the multipotent differentiation capacity of the iPSCs in in vitro culture.

Animals ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 ; genetics ; Cell Differentiation ; genetics ; Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Gene Expression ; HEK293 Cells ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains ; genetics ; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ; cytology ; Mice

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of mobile phone use with sleep disorder and unhealthy eating behavior among college students of a medical university in Guangzhou. METHODS: Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire (MPIQ), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire Revised 21 Item (TFEQ-R21) were used to survey 2122 undergraduates of the medical university. One-sample t test, One-way ANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Age, body mass index (BMI), phone use before sleep, phone use frequency, sleep quality (assessed by total PSQI score) and the dimension scores of TFEQ-R21 for uncontrolled eating, cognitive restraint, and emotional eating were all significantly correlated with the total score of MPIQ ( < 0.05). Phone use before sleep, high frequency of mobile phone use, poor sleep quality and emotional eating were associated with high MPIQ scores, while lower cognitive restraint and emotional eating tendency were correlated with lower scores of MPIQ. Bivariate analysis revealed that age (=0.088, < 0.001), BMI (=0.055, < 0.05), PSQI scores (=0.204, < 0.001), TFEQ-UE scores (=0.199, < 0.001), TFEQ-CR scores (=-0.076, < 0.001), TFEQ-EE scores (=0.170, < 0.001), phone use before sleep (=0.429, < 0.001), and phone use frequency (=0.316, < 0.001) were all significantly correlated with MPIQ scores; multiple linear regression analysis showed that model 4 incorporating the scores of TFEQ-UE, TFEQ-CR, and TFEQ-EE explained up to 21.8% of the main effect (adjusted R= 21.5%). CONCLUSIONS Mobile phone overuse is associated with poor sleep quality and unhealthy eating behaviors, and education and interventions for mobile phone use is essential among college students.
Cell Phone ; Feeding Behavior ; Humans ; Sleep Wake Disorders ; Students ; Universities

OBJECTIVE: To test the validity and reliability of the Chinese version of Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire (MPIQ) in college students. METHODS: We assessed the degree of phone dependence using the MPIQ among 2122 college students. One month later, 60 students were randomly selected for assessment with the MPIQ, and the ROC curve was generated to evaluate the true positive rate (sensitivity) and false positive rate at different cutoff values to determine the optimal cutoff score of the MPIQ. RESULTS: Among 98.9% of the participants who finished all the items, their MPIQ scores show a positive skew distribution and a one-factor structure. The load scores of the items ranged from 0.54 to 0.77. The Cronbach's α coefficient and the Spearman Brown split reliability were 0.84 and 0.83, respectively, the correlation coefficients between the items and total score ranged from 0.54 to 0.76, and the test-retest reliability was 0.48 ( < 0.001). At the optimal cut-off score of 32, the sensitivity and the specificity of the MPIQ were 0.634 and 0.652, respectively. CONCLUSIONS At the optimal cut-off score of 32, the MPIQ has good validity and reliability for assessing phone dependence among college students.
Cell Phone ; Humans ; Reproducibility of Results ; Students ; Surveys and Questionnaires