Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the major complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which results in a high risk of mortality. Thus, the cardiovascular safety of new anti-diabetic agents has become an important prob?lem with wide concern. There are two classes of incretine-based medications: glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor (DPP-4I). It has been demonstrated that GLP-1RA and DPP-4I possesse beneficial actions in both animal models of cardiovascular dysfunction and patients with ischemic heart diseases. However, their effects on the cardiovascular system in diabetic patients with heart diseases are still uncertain. Here, we sys?tematically reviewed the effects of GLP-1RA and DPP-4I on cardiovascular system to provide more evidence of incretin-based therapy application for diabetes and complications.

BACKGROUND:Soft tissue releasing is a major means of correcting knee flexion contracture, and the soft tissue releasing methods are different for different knee joint diseases and degrees of deformity. Ideal soft tissue balance can gain a clear functional recovery and deformity correction from severe knee flexion contracture after total knee arthroplasty.
OBJECTIVE:To study the proper handling of knee flexion contracture and soft tissue releasing in total knee arthroplasty.
METHODS:Twenty-six cases of knee deformity in 20 ° to 60 ° receiving primary total knee arthroplasty were retrospectively studies. Steps of soft tissue releasing and residue deformity after each step were recorded. Postoperative fol ow-up was 12 months on average.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The 26 cases were recovered from knee flexion deformity after soft tissue release. Posterior capsular release was carried out in al cases to different extents, and the flexion deformity and postoperative range were corrected and greatly improved, respectively. These indicate that the posterior capsular release and lateral col ateral ligament release can correct most of the flexion deformity, but increasing the distal femoral osteotomy is not necessary.

Surgical treatment is the treatment of choice for gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST).A consensus on the surgical principle of GIST has been made based on the 10-year experience,which effectively guided the standardized treatment of GIST.Laparoscopic and gastrointestinal endoscopic techniques were applied in the treatment of GIST,and promote the development of the diagnosis and treatment of GIST.Laparoscopic treatment has become one of the main treatment methods for GIST.Furthermore,multi-disciplinary treatment for GIST is gradually adopted in clinical practice.In this article,the prospect of surgical treatment of GIST is introduced based on a 10-year experience.

BACKGROUND: The neurological basis for learning and memory is the high plasticity of central nervous system, and special rehabilitative training is necessary in the process of the functional recombination of central nervous system.OBJECTIVE: To observe the capability of rehabilitative training in differentiating learning ability and memory maintaining of one-trial passive avoidance response, and its correlation with the kinetic properties of Nmethyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor channel of contralateral hippocampal neuron in rats with cerebral infarction.DESIGN: A randomized control animal trial.SETTING: Department of Rehabilitative Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College.MATERIALS: The experiment was carried out in the central laboratory of Luzhou Medical College between March 2000 and February 2002. Twentyfour male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups with 8 rats in each: free movement after cerebral infarction group (model group), rehabilitative training after cerebral infarction group (rehabilitation group) and normal group.METHODS: ① Model establishment: Rats in the model group and rehabilitation group were made into models of infarction of right middle cerebral artery, and those in the normal group were not given any treatment. ②Rehabilitative training: After 4 days, only the rats in the rehabilitation group were trained with rolling-cage exerciser, screen exerciser and balance exerciser for 4 weeks. ③ Learning and memory tests: The learning and memory performances of all the rats were tested at 35 days postoperatively. The Y-maze test was applied to mainly observe the needed number f training for the rats to reach 9/10 correct response (for running to dark arm), and the multi-functional conditioned reflex box to observe the stayed duration on the diving board (step-through latency). ④ The single channel current property of NMDA receptor in hippocampal neurons was recorded with cell adhesion after learning and memory tests.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① training times needed for the rats to grasp the structure of the maze in each group; ② step-through latency in each group; ③ single channel current property of NMDA receptor in each group.RESULTS: All the 24 rats were involved in the analysis of results. ① The training times needed for the rats to grasp the structure of the maze in the rehabilitation group and normal group were significantly different from that in the model group [(68.02±11.67), (57.62±10.31), (107.07±16.32) times, P ＜0.05], and there was no significant difference between the rehabilitation group and normal group (P＞0.05). ② The medians of step-through latency before shock in the rehabilitation group and normal group were significantly different from that in the model group (286.7 s, 298.4 s, 126.7 s, P ＞0.05), and there was no significant difference between the rehabilitation group and normal group (P＞0.05). ③ The 35 pS short open NMDA receptor channel mainly existed in the hippocampal neurons of rats in the rehabilitation group, the open proportion was 0.099±0.007. The duration and proportion of 20 pS short and long open and the 35 pS short open NMDA receptor channels in the hippocampal neurons of rats were not significantly different from those in the normal group (P＞0.05). In the model group, 20 pS open channel was mainly observed, and the durations of 20 pS short and long open channels were obviously shorter than those in the rehabilitation group, the open proportion of 35 pS short open channel was 0.036t0.04, which was lower than that in the rehabilitation group,but no 35 pS long open channel was observed.CONCLUSION: Rehabilitative training accelerates the recovery of the learning and memory abilities of rats with cerebral infarction by changing the NMDA receptor channel properties of contralateral hippocampal neurons.

Mitochondria play an important role in energy ( ATP ) production through oxidative phosphorylation pathway and the regulation of cell death by apoptosis. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the pathophysiology of a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Glaucoma as a neurodegenerative disorder, mitochondrial oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of glaucoma and the damage of RGCs has received close attention in recent years. ln this article, we reviewed the current evidences and recent advances in the relationship between mitochondrial oxidative stress and the RGCs apoptosis.

Objective　To obtain staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) mutant with normal antigenicity but low toxicity. Methods　Using PCR technique, normal SEB (SEB-N) gene which was amplified from S. aureus S6B. SEB mutant gene (SEB-M) was prepared from the same strain, but one nucleotide in SEB gene was changed from asparagine (N23) to serine (S23). SEB-N and SEB-M were cloned into procaryotic expression vector pTrc99A then and transferred into E. coli JM109. SEB-N and SEB-M which were cloned into plasmid were sequenced directly by dideoxynucleotide method. The crude expressed proteins were identified by double agar immunodiffusion. The level of IL-2 in supernatants of mouse splenocytes stimulated by crude expressed proteins was determined by ELISA. Results　SEB-N and SEB-M were obtained through PCR. The sequence of SEB-N was changed with non site-directed mutagenesis, threonine at the residue 150 of SEB-N was replaced with alanine (ACT→GCT, T150A). As being expected, at the residue 23 of SEB-M, serine substituted for asparagine (AAT→AGT, N23S) with site-directed mutagenesis. Double agar immunodiffusion showed obvious precipitin line with anti-SEB by both crude SEB-N and SEB-M mutant proteins could produce, but not by non-recombinant strain. ELISA demonstrated that the level of IL-2 in supernatant of mouse splenocytes stimulated by natural SEB protein (containing equal amount of JM109P crude protein) was 40 times as much as that stimulated by SEB-M and 12.5 times as much as that stimulated by SEB-N. Conclusions　We obtained two recombinant strains which produced T150A and N23S mutant SEB protein. The mutant proteins showed binding ability to anti-SEB as the normal protein. However, their biological activity as superantigen decreased sharply. We consider that it is promising for further study of molecular adjuvant or superantigen vaccine.

It is important to analyze the epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR) mutation before makingstrategyonnon-small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC) patients scheduled to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor ( TKI) therapy .Digital PCR is a new generation of molecular diagnostic technique that provides ultra-highersensitive, specific and absolute nucleic acid quantification based on its unique principle.The application of digital PCR indetecting circulate tumor DNA can be the truly tumorliquid biopsy, helps to acquire the accurate EGFR mutation status from peripheral blood and screen out the most appropriate patients for TKI therapy.This breakthrough technology will also contribute to tumor surveillance and drug resistance monitoring.

As a new biomarker and a member of transforming growth factor super family,growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is increased in some pathological situations,and plays a positive role.Increasing evidence from animals and clinical trials has indicated that GDF-15 is a promising biomarker to be used for diagnosis,screening,risk stratification and prognosis evaluation in acute coronary syndrome,heart failure and pulmonary vascular diseases.However,there are still numerous challenges and problems need to be resolved in the future,such as appropriate cut-off value in diagnosis and risk stratification in different cardiovascular diseases,improvement in sensitivity and specificity,and combinational application with other biomarkers.

OBJECTIVE: How to promote the generation of neural stem cells (NSCs) and induce them differentiate into the goal cell type has been the focus of neuroscience. In this article, we review the adjustment of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) to the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs. DATA SOURCES: A computer-based online search of Medline database was undertaken to identify the related articles published in English from January 1998 to March 2006 by using the keywords of "bFGF, EGF, nerve stem cells". At the same time, Chinese relevant articles were searched in China National Knowledge Infrastruction published between January 2000 and March 2006 with the same keywords in Chinese. STUDY SELECTION: The data were selected firstly to look over the citations of every literature. Inclusive criteria: Articles related to the effect of bFGF and EGF on the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs. Exclusive criteria: Duplicate research or Meta analysis. DATA EXTRACTION: A total of 78 related articles were collected, of which 32 accorded with the inclusive criteria and 46 with duplicate or old contents literatures were eliminated. Among the 32 literatures, 8 involved in the research status of NSCs, 10 about the effect of bFGF on the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs and the mechanism, 4 involved in the effect of EGF on the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs and the mechanism, respectively, 8 related to the effect of bFGF and EGF together, and 5 related to the comparison of the effect of bFGF and EGF. DATA SYNTHESIS: ①NSCs are self-renewed, and can differentiate into different stem cells and mature tissue cells in different microenvironment. Many cytokines in the microenvironment play essential roles in the differentiation direction of NSCs. ②bFGF has strong improvement effect on the proliferation of NSCs and can activate the potential regeneration capacity of neuronal precursor cell in distinct areas of central nervous system, proliferation and differentiation of cells present bFGF concentration dependent. ③EGF can improve the growth of NSCs, and promote them differentiate into neuron and glial cells; its effect of facilitating cell proliferation also presents concentration dependent. ④To elevate the efficacy of proliferation and differentiation of NSCs, allied application of bFGF and EGF is usual in NSCs culture. ⑤There is not a unified cognition to the effect difference of bFGF and EGF. CONCLUSION: bFGF and EGF have powerful effect to improve the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs; therefore, both of them are important neural somatomedin. Moreover, their effects present concentration dependent.

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of recombinant human interferon alpha -2b combined with Loop electro-sugical excision procedure( LEEP)in the treatment of cervical ectopic columnar epithelium with chronic cervicitis. Methods:The med-ical records of 68 cases of cervical ectopic columnar epithelium with chronic cervicitis in our hospital from April 2012 to April 2014 treated with LEEP were analyzed retrospectively. The control group(30 cases)was treated with LEEP combined with 5-day postopera-tive oral administration of antibiotics to prevent infection,and the treatment group(38 cases)was given recombinant human interferon alpha -2b through vagina additionally,every other day for 20 days every month after menstrua. After 6 courses of treatment,the clinical efficacy,vaginal bleeding time,vaginal discharge duration,wound healing time and HPV persistent infection were compared between the two groups. Results:The cure rate of the control group was 66. 67%,while that of the treatment group was 92. 11%,and the difference was significant(P<0. 05). Totally 19 cases in the control group were with wound healing(accounted for 63. 33%),while that in the treatment group was 32 cases(accounted for 84. 21%),the difference was significant(P<0. 05). And the vaginal bleeding time,vaginal discharge duration,and wound healing time of the treatment group were all significantly shorter than those of the control group(P<0. 05). After the treatment,the HPV persistent infection rate in the control group was 16. 67%,while that in the treatment group was 0%,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0. 05). The two groups during the treatment process had no obvious adverse reactions,indicating high drug safety. Conclusion:Recombinant human interferon alpha-2b combined with LEEP in the treat-ment of cervical ectopic columnar epithelium is safe and effective,which can effectively shorten the wound healing time,vaginal bleed-ing time and vaginal discharge duration,and is worthy of promotion in clinics.