Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Despite its wide uses for more than 100 years, knowledge about mechanism of action and therapeutic issues of aspirin are still under discussion. The use of aspirin has been changed from an analgesic, anti-pyretic and anti-inflammatory agent to an anti-thrombotic agent, especially in secondary prevention of cardiovascular events. Aspirin has reduced the risk of cardiovascular events by 25%. However, the phenomenon of "aspirin resistance" has been described that in 5%-60% of patients aspirin may not achieve adequate efficacy of suppressing platelet activity. The convinced causes of this phenomenon are still unknown. It is probably due to drugs interaction, inadequate dosage and so on. By far the existing studies of aspirin are insufficient to explain all phenomena of aspirin resistance. And the results are not always uniform about the same research. Therefore, the characteristics in different population with aspirin resistance may account for the complexity. It is unrealistic to elucidate all aspirin resistance by only one pathway. More studies are required to investigate the mechanisms in different population respectively. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine and the trait of cardiovascular disease, which often relapses and has a long history, aspirin resistance should be considered as collaterals disease. It can be treated with aspirin and traditional Chinese drugs which have the power to strengthen body resistance, reduce phlegm, remove blood stasis and toxic materials from meridians. The problem of aspirin resistance might be solved by this way, because the traditional Chinese medicine has the superiority of selecting appropriate therapeutic methods based on syndrome differentiation for different population and regulating the whole body's function. Subsequently, cardiovascular disease might be effectively prevented.

Objective To investigate the expression level of virulence-associated genes in promastigotes and amastigotes of different Leishmania spp.. Methods Total RNA was extracted from the promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania donovani, L. infantum, L. tropica, L. major and L. mexicana, and relevant strains. According to the reported gene sequences in GenBank, primers were designed in relation to the virulence-associated genes [GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase (GDPMP), 3′a2rel-related protein (A2rel), beta-galactofuranosyl transferase (LPG1), lipophosphoglycan biosynthetic protein (LPG2), kinetoplast membrane protein 11 (KMP-11), cpc gene for cysteine proteinase (CPC), hydrophilic acylated surface protein (HASPB1), cathepsin L-like cysteine protease (CPB2), cathepsin L-like cysteine proteinase lmcpb2.8 (CPB2.8), Mr 100 000 heat shock protein (CLP b)], and control genes (alpha tubulin gene and GAPDH). Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was performed to detect expression level of these genes in promastigotes and amastigotes of different Leishmania spp. Results There was a significant difference in the expression profiles of the genes among the promastigotes and amastigotes of different Leishmania spp. The HASPB1 was detected in the amastigotes of all strains and promastigotes of L. donovani, the GDPMP, LPG1, LPG2, CPB2.8, CPB2, CPC, A2rel and CLP b were expressed in the promastigotes and/or amastigotes of the specific Leishmania spp, respectively. None of the stains carried the KMP-11 gene, whereas the amastigotes of L. donovani SC10 strain and L. major 5ASKH strain possessed CPC. Conclusion The expression profile of the virulence-associated genes shows species-specific and stage-specific differences.

Objective: To compare sleep condition and mental ac tivity among short sleeper, insomniacs and normal sleeper Method: Subjects were grouped as normal sleeper, short sleeper (according to ICSD cri teria) and insomniacs All of them were measured with MMPI, self-made questionn a ire on emotion at bedtime Psychophysiological arousal and polysomnogram over n i ght were also recorded Results: Sleep latency was longer in sh o rt sleeper than normal The total spent asleep and sleep efficiency of short sl e eper had no different from those of insomniacs The awake time, A/TSA and funct i on of daytime of short sleeper were as good as normal The result of MMPI showe d , short sleeper had lower scores in Hypochondria, Depression, Conversion Hysteri a and Psychasthenia than insomniacs, higher scores in Hypomania than insomniacs or normal control They were also less anxious than insomniacs at bedtime, had s maller correlation coefficient between daytime psychophysiological arousal and s leep condition than insomniacs had Conclusion: Short sleeper h a s longer sleep latency, but quality of their sleep, their personality and emotio n at bedtime are more close to normal sleeper

Objective: to compare clinical effect of cognitive-behavior therapy and pharmacological treatment on chronic insomnia Method:48 patients with chronic insomnia were divided into 4 groups, receiving treatments of cognitive-behavior therapy, medication, placebo,and cognitive-behavior plus medication separately All of the subjects were assessed with polysomnogram over night and sleep diary Result:the three active treatments were more effective than placebo at post-treatment assessment On the eighth day of treatments, medication group and combined group showed improvement, sleep latencies were 20 min and 27 min, sleep efficacy were 80% and 82%, total sleep time were 381 min and 356 min, which were better than the results before treatments At the end of 8 weeks, cognitive-behavior group showed improvement in the above three indexes At the end of 8 months' follow-up, cognitive-behavior group still showed better effect in sleep latency 26 min, sleep efficacy 80%, total sleep time 378 min than those of 8 weeks While the indexes of the medication group and combined group could not maintain the effect of treatment Conclusion:medication shows a short-term effect on chronic insomnia, cognitive-behavior therapy shows long-term effect

Objective:To compare the sleep behaviors and the coping styles between chronic insomniacs and normal sleepers.Methods:The self-made questionnaire of sleep behaviors (including the irrational beliefs and attitudes toward sleep, the dysfunctional sleep behaviors and anxiety on evening),the coping styles and the internal-external locus of control(I-E) score were administered to 62 chronic insomniacs and 62 normal sleeper matched by age and sex.Results:The irrational beliefs and attitudes toward sleep, the dysfunctional sleep behaviors, the anxiety on evening, and the scores of I-E and of the self-blame in coping style were higher in the chronic insomniacs than in normal controls. The scores of problem-solving of the chronic insomniacs were lower than that of the normal controls. Regression analysis indicated the irrational beliefs about sleep and the dysfunctional sleep behaviors were associated with problem-solving and I-E scores.Conclusions:Chronic insomnia group has irrational beliefs and attitudes toward sleep, they have more dysfunctional sleep behaviors and higher anxiety on evening. Their ability of problem-solving is impaired and they incline to attribute their fate to external control.

Objective To explore the protein profile and identify developmentally regulated proteins of the promastigotes and axenic amastigotes with comparative proteomics technique.Methods The total proteins of promas-tigotes and axenic amastigotes of Leishmania donovani SC6 strain were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis(2-DE) in a broad pH range(3-10) , and the gel was stained with Coomassie blue.The images were analyzed by PDQuest 1.0 software, and the major developmentally regulated proteins were identified by electrospray mass spectrometry.Results Approximately 700 protein spots were revealed in equivalent proteins of the promastigotes and axenic amastigotes separated by 2-DE, among which more than 90% protein spots showed equivalent quantity and distribution, with 6 proteins up-regulated and 3 proteins down-regulated in axenic amastigotes compared with promastigotes.Five of the 6 up-regulated proteins were with known function, respectively ascribed as Reiske iron-sulfur protein precursor, ?-tubulin, peroxidoxin 1, dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase precursor, and mannose-1-phosphate guanyltransferase.Two of the 3 down-regulated proteins were identified as heat shock protein 70 and ?-tubulin.The functions of the developmentally regulated proteins were related to the carbohydrate/energy metabolism, stress response, or formation of cell membrane/cytoskeleton.Conclusion The findings demonstrate the differences in protein expression profiles between promastigotes and amastigotes.

BACKGROUND: Microglial cells are prominently involved in certain neurologic diseases such as Parkinson disease and Alzeheimer disease. In vitro primary culture is commonly used in studies on the functions of microglia.However, these classical culture methods have some defects including complex procedures and low out-put.OBJECTIVE: To establish a simplified high-output primary culture of microglia.DESIGN: An explorative experiment with microglial cells as the single sample.SETTING: Department of Neurology, Affiliated Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology.MATERIALS: The study was finished at the Central Laboratory of Union Hospital from April to October 2004. Microglial cells were obtained from 10 newborn(one day) male Kunming mice that were selected.METHODS: The author' s culture method was based on McCarthy method, we developed a new culture method and made some improvements,including the increased cell density for primary culture and nutritional deprivation. The microlglial cells were isolated with low-concentration trypsin-EDTA(ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid) digestion and immunochemically labeled with MAC-1 antibody, so as to measure the output and purity of microglia.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Morphologic features of microglial cells, observed with inverted microscope; ② Purity and activity of microglia cultured with these two methods, were measured immunohistochemically.RESULTS: For microglia cultured with McCarthy method, the culture cycle was 20 days and the output was 2 × l05 cells per flask with a purity of 95% -97%. The new method shortened the culture cycle to 15 days and the output reached 1 × 106 cells per flask with a purity of 96-98%. Cell purity and activity had no significant difference between these two culture methods.CONCLUSION: The new method has a similar purity and activity with classical method; however, it may simplify procedures, shorten cycle, and increase output, and therefore can be a useful method for studies on microglia function and for nerve repair.

Objective To investigate the proliferation of rat bone marrow endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in the culture under different concentrations of TGF-?1 in order to optimize the culture conditions. Methods EPCs harvested from bone marrow by flushing fresh rat femur and tibia were isolated by density gradient centrifugation. The isolated cells were further purified and enriched by fast adhere to fibronectin coated dish. Flow cytometry was applied to enrich the cells positive to CD34, CD133 and VEGFR-2. EPCs were expanded in M199 medium in presence of different concentrations of TGF-?1 (10-300 pg/ml). Total cell output was recorded; and the expressions of CD34, CD133, and VEGFR-2 at different cell passages were analyzed through flow cytometer. Results Fast adhere cell group showed significantly higher positive proportion of CD34, CD133, and VEGFR-2 than unsorted cells (P

Objective To analyse the relationship between catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) activity and affective disorders, and explore the biological mechanism of the etiology of affective disorders.Methods The activities of erythrocytes COMT from 112 affective disorders and 120 normal control were measured with high performance liquid chromatography, all examined data were tested by SPSS 11.0v.Results COMT activity frequency distribution of patients group and control group are at the range of 2～23nmol/ml RBC/hr and 7～28nmol/ml RBC/hr respectively. The average activity of COMT in patients group and control group were (11.0±3.8) nmol/ml RBC/hr and (16.1±4.3) nmol/ml RBC/hr representatively. COMT activity in male and female patient were (11.2±3.7) nmol/ml RBC/hr and (10.6± 4.0) nmol/ml RBC/hr., male and female in control group were (16.5 ±4.6) nmol/ml RBC/hr and (15.4±3.9) nmol/ml RBC/hr, there were significant difference between patients group and control group and also between male and female (P <0.001).conclusion The activity of erythrocytes COMT in affective disorders is lower than normal population and suggested that the lower COMT activity of erythrocytes is associated with affective disorders.