Abnormal proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) plays an important role in several pathological processes of cardiovascular diseases. In this study, the effects of XCT790, a potent and selective inverse agonist of estrogen-related receptor alpha (ERRalpha), on rat VSMCs proliferation and related signal pathways were investigated. The proliferative activity of VSMCs was determined by CCK-8 assay. The mRNA levels of ERRalpha, PGC-1alpha, OPN and MCAD were assayed by RT-PCR. The protein levels of ERRalpha, ERK2 and p-ERK1/2 were evaluated by Western blotting. ELISA was used to assess the protein expression of VEGF. The results showed that XCT790 (5-20 micromol x L(-1)) inhibited rat VSMCs proliferation, and the expression of ERRalpha and its target genes, as well as p-ERK1/2, were also inhibited. XCT790 inhibited VSMCs proliferation in a dose-dependent manner at the dose range from 5 to 20 micromol x L(-1) and in a time-dependent manner at the dose range from 10 to 20 micromol x L(-1). These findings demonstrate that XCT790 inhibits rat VSMCs proliferation by down-regulating the gene level of ERRalpha and thus inhibiting the ERK signal pathway, suggesting that ERRalpha may be a novel potential target for therapeutic approaches to inhibit VSMCs proliferation, which plays an important role in several cardiovascular diseases.

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the new management model of the hospital pharmacy established by application of vender managed inventory (VMI) model. METHODS:Concerned about the implementation of VMI model,its effects and prob-lems,new management model of hospital pharmacy were described after the hospital cooperated with two suppliers. The hospital is mainly in charge of the management and application of pharmaceutical staff and equipment,drug capital flow,and the selection and optimization of drug use list;focus on the training of pharmaceutical talents;improve drug quality management,pharmaceuti-cal administration,pharmaceutical care and rational drug use. Two suppliers are mainly in charge of drug logistics,and the alloca-tion of servicer,software and hardware(as automatic medicine dispensing machine);share logistic cost of supply chain. Drug in-formation flow was established by both hospital and supplier. RESULTS:After cooperation,pharmaceutical staff,related equip-ment and inventory cost(floating capital decreased by 10 million yuan each month)were decreased,and the efficiency of distribu-tion improved;the error rate of drug dispensing in outpatient pharmacy were decreased (decreasing from 0.39‰ to 0.12‰) after the establishment of automatic pharmacy. The establishment of early warning system for abnormal patients flowrate in pharmacy window shortened the time of getting medicine,and improved service level and satisfactory degree of patients (increasing from 84.91% to 93.62%). CONCLUSIONS:New management model of hospital pharmacy based on VMI model provides reference for public hospital reform and hospital-enterprise cooperation under New Medical Reform.

Objective To investigate the level of IL-2+ IFN-γ+ TNF-α+ multifunctional Th1 cell in peripheral blood and hydro-thorax of the TB patients and its clinical significance .Methods 49 patients with tuberculosis(TB) including 14 cases of tuberculous pleurisy and 27 individuals with latent TB infection were selected and 66 healthy individuals were selected as the controls .PMA and ionomycin were adopted to stimulate mononuclear cells in whole blood and pleural effusion .The secretion status of CD4+ T cells cy-tokines was detected by using the intracellular cytokine staining and the flow cytometric analysis .Results According to the differ-ent cytokines generated by CD4+ T cells ,which were divided into 7 cell subgroups :IL-2+ IFN-γ+ TNF-α+ ,IL-2+ IFN-γ+ ,IL-2+TNF-α+ ,IFN-γ+ TNF-α+ ,IL-2+ ,TNF-α+ and IFN-γ+ cell subgroups .The proportion of peripheral blood IL-2+ IFN-γ+ TNF-α+multifunctional Th1 cells in the TB patients was significantly lower than that in the healthy controls and the individuals with latent TB infection(P<0 .01) ,the expression levels of IL-2+ IFN-γ+ cells and IFN-γ+ TNF-α+ cells were significantly lower than those in the individuals with latent TB infection and the healthy controls (P<0 .05);TNF-α+ cells was higher than that in the healthy con-trols and the individuals with latent TB infection (P<0 .05) .The other subgroups had no obvious change .The response level of IL-2+ IFN-γ+ TNF-α+ multifunctional Th1 cells in the pleural effusion mononuclear cells (PEMC) was higher than that in the peripher-al blood mononuclear cells(P<0 .05);IL-2+ cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was lower than that in PEMC (P<0 .01) .Conclusion The response of non-specific Th1 cells is related with the clinical outcome of TB infection ,IL-2+ IFN-γ+TNF-α+ multifunctional Th1 cells plays a certain role in the protective immunoreaction of TB .

Objective This study was to evaluate the usefulness of the model of end-stage liver disease (MELD) score in comparison with the Child-Pugh classification to predict postoperative mortality and short-term survival in liver transplant patients. MethodsMELD score and Child-Pugh score were computed for each patient according to the original formula on admission day. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were made using the cut-off points calculated by Youden index. ResultsSix out of 40 patients died within three months, MELD scores and Child-Pugh scores for non-survivors (32.2?8.0, 12.3?2.0) were higher than those for survivors (13.4?6, 9.12?2.31) significantly (P

Objective:To explore the effects of BCR-ABL downstream pathway inhibitors, such as RAF inhibitor SB590885, JAK inhibitor AZD1480, PI3K-mTOR double target inhibitor BEZ235 on chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cells, and the effect of BEZ235 on the proliferation, apoptosis of CML cells and the sensitivity of imatinib in vitro.Methods:K562 cells were treated with different concentrations of the drugs. MTS method was applied to detect the proliferation inhibition rate of K562 cells, and 50% inhibitory concentration (IC 50) of all drugs for 48 h was calculated. The cell apoptosis rate was tested by using flow cytometry with Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining. The cell cycle was tested by using flow cytometry with PI staining. K562 cells, imatinib-resistant and T315I-mutant human CML KBM7R cells and imatinib-resistant CML primary cells of patients were treated with different concentrations of the drugs. MTS method was used to test the proliferation inhibition of cells, and IC 50 of all drugs for 48 h was evaluated. KBM7R cells or primary cells of CML patients were treated with 1.0 μmol/L BEZ235, 1.0 μmol/L imatinib or the combination of both, respectively. Flow cytometry with PI staining was used to detect the cell cycle of KBM7R cells. Flow cytometry with Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining was used to detect the cell apoptosis rate in CML primary cells. The expressions of p-AKT, cleaved Caspase-3 and Cyclin D1 proteins were detected by using Western blot. Results:SB590885, AZD1480 and BEZ235 could inhibit the proliferation of K562 cells, and the IC 50 after the treatment of K562 cells for 48 h was (11.49±3.14), (4.83±1.26) and (0.37±0.21) μmol/L, respectively. SB590885, AZD1480 and BEZ235 could promote the apoptosis of K562 cells. The cell apoptosis rates were increased compared with the control group without drug treatment (all P < 0.01). SB590885 and BEZ235 induced G 0/G 1 block (both P < 0.05). AZD1480 induced G 2/M block ( P < 0.05). BEZ235 could inhibit the proliferation of K562 cells, KBM7R cells and CML primary cells, and their IC 50 for 48 h was (0.37±0.21), (0.43±0.27) and (0.49±0.24) μmol/L, respectively. Compared with imatinib alone, the different concentrations of imatinib combined with 0.2 μmol/L BEZ235 could increase the proliferation inhibition of K562 cells, KBM7R cells and CML primary cells, and could reduce the IC 50 of imatinib. After the treatment of imatinib alone and combination with BEZ235 for 48 h, the imatinib IC 50 of K562 cells was (0.14±0.05) and (0.09± 0.04) μmol/L ( t = 1.531, P = 0.249), the imatinib IC 50 of KBM7R cells was (3.93±2.29) and (0.44±0.22) μmol/L ( t = 2.837, P = 0.047), the imatinib IC 50 of the primary cells was (3.12±1.53) and (0.39±0.23) μmol/L ( t = 3.925, P = 0.042). The cell apoptotic rate of the primary cells was (4.9±1.4)%, (13.1±3.2)%, (8.8±2.0)% and (40.6±6.0)%, respectively in the control group without drug treatment, 1.0 μmol/L BEZ235, 1.0 μmol/L imatinib and the combination of 1.0 μmol/L BEZ235 and 1.0 μmol/L imatinib after the treatment of 24 h ( F = 71.031, P < 0.01). Compared with imatinib alone, the expressions of p-AKT and Cyclin D1 proteins were decreased, and the expression of cleaved Caspase-3 protein was increased after the treatment of KBM7R cells for 12 h in the combination group of both BEZ235 and imatinib. Conclusions:BCR-ABL downstream pathway inhibitors can effectively inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of K562 cells. BEZ235 can inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of K562 cells, imatinib-resistant and T315I-mutant human KBM7R cells and imatinib-resistant CML primary cells of patients, which has a synergistic effect to imatinib.