Objective To observe the effects of gypenosides(GP) on cardiac dysfunction induced by adriamycin in rats and to investigate the therapeutic mechanism.Methods Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 5 groups:control group,adriamycin(ADR) group,low-,moderate-and high-dose GP groups.The low-,moderate-and high-dose GP groups received GP 100,200 and 400 mg? kg-1? d-1 for five days respectively.Meanwhile,the purified water was given to rats of control group and adriamycin groups.On the sixth day,adriamycin(10 mg? kg-1) was given intraperitoneally(ip) to all the groups except the control rats.At the twenty-fourth hour after administration of adriamycin,the cardiac functions such as left ventricular systolic pressure(LVSP),maximal rates of increase and decrease of left ventricular pressure(? dp/dtmax),as well as the activities of cardiac ATPase,succinic dehydrogenase(SDH) and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase(SERCA2a) were measured.Results The impairment of heart function induced by adriamycin was relieved and the activities of cardiac ATPase,SDH and SERCA2a were obviously increased after GP treatment.Conclusion GP have protective effects on cardiac dysfunction induced by adriamycin in rats,and the mechanism may be related to the increase of activities of cardiac ATPase,SDH and SERCA2a.

Objective To investigate the correlation between ABCD2 scores and vertebrobasilar artery stenosis in patients with posterior circulation transient ischemic attack (TIA).Methods The patients with posterior circulation TIA who performed cerebral angiography were enrolled in the study,and their ABCD2 scores and imaging data were analyzed.Results A total of 108 patients with posterior circulation TIA were enrolled.There were significant differences in the main trunk stenosis degree of vertebrobasilar artery with different ABCD2 scores in patients with posterior circulation TIA (P =0.005).The overall degree of stenosis increased with the increase of ABCD2 score (P =0.000).After adjustment for other vascular risk factors,ABCD2 score had significant predictive ability for whether had posterior circulation stenosis (odds ratio [OR]1.771,95％ confidence interval [CI] 1.234-2.542; P =0.002) and moderate to severe stenosis (OR 2.083,95％ CI 1.336-3.176; P =0.001).Its receiver operating characteristic area under the curve was 0.693(95％ CI 0.586-0.800) and 0.755 (95％ CI 0.661-0.849) respectively.When the ABCD2 score was ≥3,the sensitivity and specificity of predicting posterior circulation stenosis were 62.6％ (95％ CI 53.4％-71.7％) and 70.6％ (95％ CI62.0％-79.1％) respectively,and the sensitivity and specificity of predicting posterior circulation stenosis ＞ 50％ were 78.7％ (95％ CI 70.9％-86.4％) and 67.5％ (95％ CI58.7％-76.3％) respectively.Conclusions In patients with posterior circulation TIA,the stenosis degree of vertebrobasilar arterial trunk increases with the increase of ABCD2 score.In a certain extent,ABCD2 score may predict whether the main trunk of the posterior circulation has stenosis and whether has moderate to severe stenosis.

Objective To determine the role of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2) in aldosterone-induced rat mesangial cells (RMCs) proliferation. Methods RMCs were obtained from intact glomeruli of 4- to 6-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats and characterized according to published methods. RMCs between passages 5 and passages 10 were used. Protein levels of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in RMCs were analyzed by Western blotting. The cells were divided into the following groups: control group, PD98059 (10 (μmol/L) group, eplerenone (1 μmol/L) group, aldosterone (100 nmol/L) group, aldosterone (100 nmol/L) +PD98059 (10 μmol/L) group, aldosterone (100 nmol/L)+eplerenone (1 μmol/L) group. ERK1/2 activity was measured by Western blotting. Cell proliferation of RMCs was evaluated by [3H]-thymidine uptake measurements.Results MR protein expression in RMCs was confirmed by Western blotting. Aldosterone activated ERK1/2, and the maximal ERK1/2 activation induced by aldosterone was at a concentration of 100 nmol/L. Aldosterone (100 nmol/L)-induced activation of ERK1/2 peaked at 10 minutes (P＜0.05).Pretreatment with a selective MR antagonist eplerenone (1 μmol/L) significantly attenuated aldosterone-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Aldosterone (100 nmol/L) treatment for 30 hours increased [3H]-thymidine incorporation of RMCs (135% ±8% of controls, P ＜0.05). Cellular proliferation induced by aldosterone could be prevented by pretreatment with eplerenone or an ERK (MEK) inhibitor PD988059. Conclusion Aldosterone induces RMCs proliferation through MR and ERK1/2 activation, which may contribute to the pathogenesis of glomerular mesangial injury.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Diseases ; epidemiology ; Young Adult

China ; Humans ; Pneumoconiosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Quality Control ; Radiography, Thoracic ; X-Ray Film

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Humans ; Male ; Pneumoconiosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Tin ; toxicity

Objective To compare the clinical efficacy and angiographic outcomes of balloon dilation angioplasty,balloon-expandable stent implantation and self-expanding stent implantation in the treatment of intracranial arterial stenosis.Methods The patients with intracranial arterial stenosis who met the indications of surgical intervention treated with balloon dilatation angioplasty and stent placement were selected from Nanjing Stroke Registry Program.According to the different interventional procedures,the patients were divided into the balloon expandable stenting goup,the self-expanding stents group and the balloon dilatation angioplasty group.The success rate of surgery,the perioperative complication rate and the significant residual stenosis rate were compared among the three groups.The clinical and angiographic assessments were performed through 1-,3-,6-,12- and 24-month regular outpatient or inpatient follow-up after procedure.The incidences of ischemic stroke and/or death and restenosis within 2 years were compared.Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to analyze the risk factors for recurrent ischemic stroke and/or death and restenosis.Results A total of 183 patients with 192 stenoses performed balloon dilatation angioplasty or stenting,in which 92 were in the balloon expandable stenting goup,42 were in the self-expanding stents goup and 49 in the balloon dilatation angioplasty group.Their preoperative stenosis rates were 80.2 ±12.8％ 、76.3 ± 11.9％ and 89.7 ± 10.2％,respectively (F =15.863,P =0.000).There were no significant differences in other baseline data.The success rates of surgery in the balloon expandable stenting group,self-expanding stents group and balloon dilatation angioplasty group were 96.7％,95.2％ and 91.8％,respectively (x2 =1.646,P =0.439).The perioperative complication rates were 6.5％,14.3％ and 10.2％,respectively (Fisher exact test,P=0.334).The imaging follow-up showed that the restenosis rate in the balloon dilatation angioplasty group was 48.5％.Although it was high than 27.7％ in the balloon expandable stenting group and 34.8％ in the self-expanding stents group,there were no significant differences (x2 =4.176,P =0.124).Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis showed that balloon dilatation angioplasty was an independent risk factor for restenosis after procedure (hazard ratio 2.490,95％ confidence interval 1.247- 4.969,P=0.010).Conclusions Compared to the balloon expandable stenting,the balloon dilatation angioplasty is more likely to have restenosis,but it is not associated with the risks of postoperative recurrent ischemic stroke and/or death.

China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Occupational Diseases ; epidemiology ; Occupational Health ; Rural Population ; statistics & numerical data

Adult ; Antimony ; adverse effects ; Dust ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Exposure ; adverse effects ; Young Adult

Adult ; China ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mining ; Rural Population ; Silicosis ; mortality