Objective To study the effect of berberine on the lipid metabolism and the expression of ox-LDL,CD36 and PPAR? in the peritoneal macrophage(PM) and alveolar macrophage(AM) from the type 2 diabetic rats. Methods Sprague-Dauley rats were randomly divided into groups of normal control,high-fat diet,type 2 diabetes and berberine treatment.The levels of blood glucose,insulin and lipid were measured biochemically,the content of ox-LDL in macrophage and the protein expression of CD36 and PPAR? in macrophage were assayed by ELISA,the mRNA expression of CD36 and PPAR? in macrophage was disclosed by RT-PCR. Results Compared with the control group, the levels of glucose,insulin and total cholesterol (TC),triglycerides(TG),low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) in blood were increased significantly(P0.05). The content of ox-LDL,the protein and mRNA expressions of CD36 and PPAR? in PM and AM increased in type 2 diabetic group(P

Objective To observe the effects of gossypol on expressions of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), fibronectin (FN) and 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) in nephridial tissue in rats with diabetes mellitus. Methods Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: normal control, type 2 diabetes and gossypol treatment group . After high-fat feeding for 4 weeks, the later two groups were injected with low dosage strepozotocin (30 mg/kg) intraperitoneally to induce type 2 diabetic rat model. The rats in gossypol treated group were given gossypol at the dosage of 15 mg/kg once per day for 4 weeks by gavage. And since the 5th week, the times of gavages had been changed into once per week at the same dosage and lasted to the 12th week . The levels of blood glucose, total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c) were measured. Additionally, the morphological changes of the kidney were studied by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy respectively. The mRNA expressions of TGF-β1, FN, 11β-HSD and 11β-HSD2 in nephridial tissue were assayed by semi-quantity RT-PCR. The protein expressions of TGF-β1 and FN in nephridial tissue were determined by immunohistochemistry. Results The blood levels of glucose, TC and LDL- c were increased significantly in type 2 diabetic group compared with normal control group(P<0. 01). The volume of glomerulus and the deposition of PAS positive substance in the glomerular interstitium were increased under light microscopy, and the glomerular basal membrane was thicker in type 2 diabetic group than those in normal control group under transmission electron microscopy. The mRNA and protein expressions of TGF-β1 and FN were increased(P<0. 01), and the mRNA expression of 11β-HSD2 was decreased(P<0. 05), while the mRNA expression of 11β-HSD1 was unchanged in type 2 diabetic group compared with normal control group. After the treatment of gossypol, the level of the blood glucose was significantly decreased(P< 0. 01), and the levels of TC, LDL-c showed a trend of decrease but had no statistical differences compared with type 2 diabetic group. The morphology of nephridial tissue was ameliorated in gossypol treatment group. The mRNA and protein expressions of TGF-β1 and FN were decreased(0. 16± 0. 02,0. 22±0. 05 ; 0. 24±0. 06,0. 33±0. 07, P< 0. 05), while the mRNA expressions of 11β-HSD1 and 11β-HSD2 were unchanged compared with type 2 diabetic group. Conclusions Gossypol can relieve the pathologic changes of nephridial tissue, inhibit the expressions of TGF-β1 and FN through decreasing blood glucose of rats with diabetes mellitus.

Objective To evaluate whether or not the 3.0T magnetic resonance (MR) scanner noise has adverse influence on neonatal hearing by using brainstem auditory evoked potentials(BAEP).Methods Forty-nine inpatients who received the MR examination were enrolled in this study from Aug.to Dec.2013,admitted to the Bayi Children's Hospital Affiliated to Beijing Military General Hospital.The Ⅰ,Ⅲ,Ⅴ wave latencies and the inter-peak intervals before and after the MR scan were compared by using SPSS 16.0 software.Results The BAEP results before and after MR examination respectively:(1) The latencies were:left ear Ⅰ wave (1.96 ± 0.22) ms vs (1.95 ± 0.30) ms,right ear Ⅰ wave (1.96 ± 0.22) ms vs (1.97 ± 0.27) ms,respectively; left ear Ⅲ wave (4.79 ± 0.23) ms vs (4.85 ± 0.28) ms,right earlllwave(4.78 ±0.24) ms vs (4.77 ±0.31) ms,respectively;left ear Ⅴ wave (7.10 ±0.24) ms vs (7.12 ±0.33) ms,right ear Ⅴ wave (6.76 ±0.32) ms vs (7.04 ±0.39) ms,respectively(allP ＞0.05).(2) The inter-peak intervals were:left ear Ⅰ-Ⅲ inter-peak interval (2.83 ± 0.23) ms vs (2.86 ± 0.27) ms,right ear Ⅰ-Ⅲ inter-peak interval (2.82 ± 0.24) ms vs (2.80 ± 0.17) ms,respectively ; left ear Ⅲ-Ⅴ inter-peak interval (2.31 ±0.28) ms vs (2.31 ±0.29) ms,right ear Ⅲ-Ⅴ inter-peak interval (2.26 ±0.27) ms vs (2.26 ±0.23) ms,respectively;left ear Ⅰ-Ⅴ inter-peak interval (5.11 ±0.40) ms vs (5.13 ±0.35) ms,right ear Ⅰ-Ⅴ inter-peak interval (5.07 ± 0.39) ms vs (5.07 ± 0.36) ms,respectively(all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion The 3.0T MR may have no adverse influence on neonatal BAEP.

Objective To investigate the clinical outcome and treatment characteristics of viral encephalitis with bilateral thalamic damage so as to improve its prognosis.Methods Twelve cases of viral encephalitis with bilateral thalamic damage were collected during September 2012 to June 2013 by head MRI.These cases were retrospectively studied with the data of medical history,physical examination,laboratory and brain function monitoring and treatment.The relationship between treatment and prognosis was studied during 2 years of follow-up.Results All patients began with the rapid onset,accompanied by fever,coma,and convulsions.Delirium and involuntary movement occurred during the recovery period.Six cases(50.0％) received ventilator assisted ventilation.In the acute phase,electroencephalogram (EEG) showed diffuse slow wave and 4 cases(33.3％) had status epilepticus on EEG.Ten cases discharged from hospital had long-term oral anti epileptic drugs,which lasted 6 months in 3 cases,1 year in 4 cases,and 2 years in 3 cases for maintaining EEG stability.Head MRI indicated white matter demyelination besides the gray matter damage within the thalamus.All 12 patients underwent methylprednisolone impact treatment and 6 cases had effective reversal within 1 week of onset with better tolerance,and the other 6 cases received treatment in subacute stage and 5 of them accelerated recovery and 1 case had sense improvement,but died after giving up therapy.After 3 months courses,8 cases(66.7％) got gross motor and swallowing function recovered to normal,and 3 cases had left unilateral limb movement disorder.After 2 years of follow-up,11 cases had normal motor,intelligence returned to normal in 9 cases,and 2 cases had mild mental retardation.Conclusions Viral encephalitis complicated with bilateral thalamic damage is characterized by acute onset,serious manifestations,idiopathic progress;in the subacute stage it is most likely to develop white matter demyelination.The key to control the disease is to block the inflammatory immune response quickly,and give patients large dose methylprednisolone treatment can effectively curb the progress of the disease.In the sub acute phase,it can promote the recovery,safe and effective.The long-term prognosis will be good with the reasonable treatment at early stage of the disease.

Objective To clone and characterize Profilin encoding genes in Amaranthus spinosus and to analyze the contribution of different amino acids in isoallergens to allergen antigenicity and tertiary structure. Methods The primers were designed according to the core sequences which were obtained by bioinformatic analysis of the known Profilin amino acid sequences, followed by gene cloning from the Ama- ranthus spinosus cDNA pool and subsequent confirmation by double-digestion, colony PCR and DNA sequen- cing. Antigenicity evaluation and tertiary structural modeling of the encoded protein were accomplished by online software MULTIPRED and SWISS-MODEL, respectively. Results Two panallergenic genes, named as PRF7 and PRF23, were acquired from Amaranthus spinosus. Sequence and structure analysis demonstra- ted that there was some discrepancy in tertiary structures of the encoded proteins, besides distinct difference in their amino acid sequences. PRF7 exhibited high homology with panallergen Profilins Q64LH0, with the identities 98%, whereas the homology of PRF23 and Q9XF42 (apple allergen) was 81%. Q64LH0 and PRF23 were modeled as 3nulA (Q42449) and lg5uB (Q9LE18), respectively. PRF23 exhibited distinct0 three dimensional structural difference in certain fragments compared with Q64LH0 and other Profilins. Though the average values of antigenicity displayed no difference between Q64LH0 and PRF23 on whole se- quences, the antigenicity of PRF23 on certain fragments was obviously lower than that of Q64LHO because of the alteration of some amino acids with different characters, implying the cause of lower incidence of hay fe- ver in South China than in North China. Conclusion Based on sequence analysis, antigenicity evaluation and tertiary structural modeling for Q64LH0 and PRF23, we obtained lots of useful information about the contribution of different amino acids to antigenicity and protein structures, thus would facilitate allergen ge- netic improvement by amino acid replacement.

AIM:To investigate the effect of curcumin derivatives B06(B06) on the synthesis of testosterone from type 2 diabetic rats.METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were evenly divided into 5 groups randomly: normal control group (C group), high fat group (H group), high fat treatment group (HT group), diabetes mellitus group (D group) and diabetes treatment group ( DT group) .The rats in the later 4 groups were fed with high fat diet, after 4 weeks of high fat diet feeding, the rats from D group and DT group were injected with low dose of streptozotocin intraperitoneally to induce diabetes mellitus, while the rats in HT group and DT group were gavaged with B06 at the dose of 0.2 mg· kg-1 · d-1 for 8 weeks.The blood glucose was detected by glucometer, blood insulin was assayed by ELISA and the insulin resist-ance index was calculated.The morphology of testes were observed by light and transmission electron microscopy.Serum testosterone and estradiol were measured by radioimmunoassay.The protein expression of steroidogenic acute regulatory pro-tein ( StAR) was detected by immunohistochemistry.The mRNA expression of StAR, cholesterol side-chain cleavage en-zyme (P450scc), cytochrome P450 17A1 (P450c17), cytochrome P450 aromatizing enzyme (P450arom), 3β-hydroxyste-roid dehydrogenase ( HSD) and 17β-HSD was detected by RT-PCR.RESULTS:The levels of blood glucose and insulin resistance index were increased in H group and D group, and serum testosterone was decreased, all of which were reversed after the treatment of B06.Testicular seminiferous tubule was distorted, spermatogenic cells were dropped in H group and D group.In addition, leydig cells were found to have swelling mitochondria in H group and D group, endoplasmic reticu-lum was reduced, and there was karyopyknosis accompany with sparse chromatin, all of which were ameliorated by B06. The protein expression of StAR was decreased in D group.The mRNA expression of StAR and P450scc was decreased in H group and D group, all of which were increased in B06 treatment group.There was no significant difference in the mRNA expression of P450c17, P450arom, 3β-HSD and 17β-HSD.CONCLUSION: B06 may increase serum testosterone and relieve the damage of testes from type 2 diabetic rats.B06 improves metabolic disorder by up-regulating mRNA expression of StAR and P450scc.

Objective To explore sex differences in cognitive and behavioral characteristics in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in different age.Methods The study involved 621 children(503 boys,118 girls) diagnosed with ASD from June 2013 to June 2015.Using raw scores to examine cognitive and behavioral characteristics in children with ASD based on the Psycho-Educational Profile-3rd Edition (PEP-3).The subjects were divided into two groups according age:＜4Y group and ≥ 4Y group.The sex differences of cognitive and behavioral characteristics were analyzed in different age groups.Results No sex differences were found in characteristic motor behaviors (CMB) and characteristic verbal behaviors (CVB) raw scores in ＜4Y group(P＞0.05),while girls with ASD had lower raw scores on CMB and CVB raw scores in ＞4Y group((21.56±7.33) vs (24.09±4.80),(9.79±7.05) vs (13.27±5.75) ; P＜0.05)).Girls with ASD had lower raw scores on cognitive verbal/preverbal (CVP),CMB and CVB in ～ 4Y,～5Y,and ～6Y group (P＜0.05).However,there was no sex difference on CVP,CMB and CVB in ～ 3Y and ～ 7Y group (P＞0.05).Conclusions Characteristic verbal and motor behaviors may not be obvious in girls with ASD in early childhood,which may increase the difficulties of early clinical identification.The development of cognitive ability in girls with ASD is far behind that in boys in the crucial 3-5 years old,as well as social reciprocity and characteristic behaviors.It suggests that the behavior characteristics are closely related to cognitive development.

Objective To improve the prognosis of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a model of structure-based outpatient training course was conducted to explore the intervention effect for children with ASD. Methods 154 children with ASD were included in the present study (aged 1.6-5.5 years). All children were received the inpatient training course. The training course included individual coaching, game, motor, music courses etc. The training course lasted 1 month, 8 hours per day. All children were also received the Psycho-educational Profile-3rd Edition(PEP-3) assessment at the beginning and ending of training. Results Children with ASD scored significant raw scores in cognitive verbal/preverbal (29.08 ± 13.23 vs. 43.27 ± 11.62), expressive language (13.33 ± 10.55 vs. 25.38 ± 11.82), receptive language (15.77 ± 10.64 vs. 27.48 ± 8.42), fine motor (25.97 ± 6.10 vs. 32.64 ± 5.07), gross motor (23.03 ± 5.52 vs. 27.72 ± 2.95), visual-motor imitation (10.65 ± 5.31 vs. 15.44 ± 3.76), affective expression (14.34 ± 4.31 vs. 16.36 ± 3.85), social reciprocity (11.90 ± 4.01 vs. 16.08 ± 4.13), personal self-care (13.39 ± 4.70 vs. 16.98 ± 4.30) and adaptive behaviors (17.8 ± 4.95 vs. 20.33 ± 5.37) (t=5.43-20.70, all P<0.05). Conclusions The model of structure-based inpatient training course is effective program to improve the prognosis of children with ASD .

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the possibility and efficiency of nanoparticle as a new vector in specific gene transference.

METHODSNanoparticle-DNA complex was prepared with Poly-dl-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) bearing anti-sense monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (A-MCP-1), a specific expression gene, and the package efficiency, release progress in vitro, and the size of the complex were determined. The possibility of the new vector was evaluated with genomic DNA PCR by transferring gene into cultured smooth muscle cells (SMC), cationic lipids as a control. For study in vivo, jugular vein-to-artery bypass grafting procedures were performed on 20 New Zealand white rabbits, of which 6 grafts were transferred with nanoparticle-A-MCP-1 (200 microg), 6 with A-MCP-1 (200 microg) by cationic liposome, 4 with LNCX plasmid, and 4 as control. Fourteen days after the grafts were harvested, the expression of A-MCP-1 and its effect on MCP-1 in vein grafts were detected by dot blot, and the morphologic evaluation of grafts was performed.

RESULTSThe package efficiency of the nanoparticle-DNA complex was 0.9%, release progress in vitro lasted 2 weeks, and the size ranged from 150 to 300 nm. SMC genomic DNA PCR showed that A-MCP-1 gene could be successfully transfected into cells by nanoparticle. The study in vivo indicated that A-MCP-1 mRNA was expressed in both local gene delivery groups, nanoparticle and liposome, meanwhile, MCP-1 expression in vein grafts was significantly inhibited and neointimal hyperplasia was notably reduced.

CONCLUSIONNanoparticle can act as a vector to transfect specific gene.

Animals ; Chemokine CCL2 ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; DNA, Antisense ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Drug Carriers ; Gene Expression ; Genetic Therapy ; Genetic Vectors ; Lactic Acid ; Nanotechnology ; Particle Size ; Polyglycolic Acid ; Polymers ; Rabbits ; Transfection

To investigate the effect of multiple factors, including breast-feeding and modes of birth, on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 92 children, aged 2 to 10 years, with a diagnosis of ASD by DSM-5 criteria, along with 84 age-matched typical developing (TD) children as control, were enrolled in this study. The six-item gastrointestinal symptom index (6-GSI) was used for symptomatic survey. The self-made questionnaires were used to collect information on dietary preferences, sleep problems and breast-feeding. Results Constipation from 6-GSI was higher in ASD group than in TD group (P＜0.01). Stratified analysis revealed that total GI symptom scores (P=0.030), fecal odor (P=0.028) and abdominal pain (P=0.022) were higher in ASD children born by c-section than ASD children born vaginally whereas only abdominal pain was higher in TD children born by C-section than TD children born vaginally (P=0.016). ASD children with pick eating had higher scores in diarrhea (P=0.048) and abdominal pain (P=0.013) than those without. ASD children with sleep disorders had higher scores in constipation (P=0.008), diarrhea (P=0.020) and fecal odor (P=0.027) than those without. There was also a significant difference in constipation from 6-GSI between mainly breast-fed children and mainly formula-fed children among all subjects (P=0.026). Conclusion ASD children have more severe constipation than TD children. ASD children with pick eating or with sleep disorders tend to have more GI symptoms, including diarrhea, fecal odor, and abdominal pain, while breastfeeding can alleviate these symptoms.