OBJECTIVETo compare the therapeutic effect of Astragalus and Angelica Mixture (AAM) on treating CKD patients according to different CKD primary diseases, staging and TCM syndromes.

METHODSA multicentre, open-label, and self control clinical design was used, and thirty-two patients in line with inclusive criteria were recruited. Based on maintaining their previous basic CKD treatment, patients additionally took AAM (Astragalus and Angelica each 30 g), once a day, three months consisted of one therapeutic course. Serum creatinine (SCr), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eG- FR), 24 h urinary total protein (UTP), plasma albumin (ALB), hemoglobin (Hb), and changes of TCM syndrome factor integrals were compared before treatment, at the end of month 1, 2, and 3. The differences in the aforesaid indices were compared between CKD patients with different CKD primary diseases (chronic glomerulonephritis, chronic renal tubulointerstitial disease, hypertensive renal damage), different CKD stages (CKD 3 and CKD 4), and patients of qi-blood deficiency syndrome (QBDS) and non-QBDS.

RESULTSAAM could improve 78.12% (25/32) patients' renal function. Compared with before treatment, SCr decreased (12.08% +/- 10.11%), eGFR increased (21.14% +/- 18.55%), and ALB increased (2.76% +/- 1.97%) at the end of 3-month treatment (all P < 0.05). As for TCM syndrome factor integrals, compared with before treatment, the integrals for qi deficiency syndrome, blood deficiency syndrome, and yin deficiency syndrome decreased, while the integrals for dampness heat syndrome and turbid-toxin syndrome increased (all P < 0.05). There was no obvious difference in all indices except the integral for hypertensive renal damage patients of yin deficiency syndrome (P > 0.05). The SCr decreasing percent was 19.82% +/- 8.30% for patients of non-QBDS and 5.24% +/- 10.75% for patients of QBDS. The latter was higher with statistical difference (P < 0.05). As for TCM syndrome factor integrals, the integral differences of qi deficiency and blood deficiency were obviously higher in patients of QBDS, when compared with patients of non-QBDS (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAAM could improve the renal function of CKD patients, elevate their ALB levels, and ameliorate associated qi deficiency syndrome, blood deficiency syndrome, and yin deficiency syndrome, especially for CKD patients of QBDS.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Angelica ; Astragalus Plant ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; drug therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Yin Deficiency ; drug therapy ; Young Adult

Objective To explore the potential mechanisms of carcinogenesis for human eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 alpha 2(EEF1A2).Methods Specific inhibition of EEF1A2 with siRNA was achieved in human pancreatic cancer cell line,BxPC-3,which usually expresses high level of EEF1A2.The changes of EEF1A2 expression were determined by Western blot.The effect of siRNA in suppressing the proliferation of BxPC-3 cells was determined by MTT assay,and its role in inducing BxPC-3 cell apoptosis evaluated by flow cytometry,TUNEL and transmission electron micro- scope.Results The sequence-specific siRNA effectively suppressed the expression of both EEF1A2 mRNA and protein.Specific inhibition of EEF1A2 with siRNA in pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC-3 could suppress proliferation and induce apoptosis.Conclusion The oncogenicity of EEF1A2 may be related to its role in suppressing the apoptosis and promoting the growth of pancreatic cancer cells.

Objective To explore the detection methods for cognitive dysfunction of the major depression in Elderly and analyze their clinical significance.Methods Using matched-pairs study,42 patients with seniie de- pressive disorders(experimental group)and 42 normal aged people(control group)were examined with auditory e- voked potential P300(event related potential,ERP-P300)and SECF,respectively.Results It was found that the scores with registration,span,recall,classification and total score of the subjects in the experimental group were sig- nificantly lower than those in the control group(P

Baculoviridae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Phylogeny ; Viral Proteins ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo identify clinical and laboratory abnormalities and genetic defect of Fechtner syndrome in a Chinese family.

METHODSThe characteristic morphological features of platelets and leukocytes were examined on blood smears with Wright's-Giemsa staining and ultrastructure of platelet and leukocyte were investigated under electron microscope. Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood of the proband and 9 members of his family. All the exons and exon-intron boundaries of the MYH9 gene were amplified by PCR followed by direct sequencing.

RESULTSPatients presented the characteristic clinical features including macrothrombocytopenia, leukocyte inclusions and/or hereditary nephritis. A heterozygous C to T mutation was found in the proband and three members of his family at nucleotide 5981 in exon 40 of MYH9 gene, resulting in a nonsense mutation which encoded truncated protein due to premature termination at the Arg 1933 codon.

CONCLUSIONIt is the first report of a Chinese family with Fechtner syndrome. The Arg (CGA) 1933--> stop (TGA) nonsense mutation in MYH9 gene is a causative genetic defect.

Adult ; Codon, Nonsense ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Exons ; genetics ; Humans ; Inclusion Bodies ; genetics ; Male ; Molecular Motor Proteins ; genetics ; Myosin Heavy Chains ; genetics ; Nephritis, Hereditary ; genetics ; Pedigree ; Syndrome ; Thrombocytopenia ; genetics

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; GTP-Binding Proteins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Transglutaminases ; metabolism

Objective: To analyze the clinical and laboratory abnormalities of two patients with α1-antitrypsin (α1-AT) Pittsburgh in a family and review the literatures. Methods: Both plasma clotting time and factor activities were performed using clotting or substrate methods. Platelet aggregation was evaluated using an optical aggregometer. The serum protein electrophoresis was performed on Sebia HYDRASYS by using Agarose gel. The exons of α1-AT were amplified by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and then sequenced and compared with NCBI GenBank records. Results: The proband had several ruptures of corpus luteum and bleeding after operation, while her daughter had no bleeding history. Both of them showed prolonged coagulation tests which could not be corrected by mixing with the normal plasma. They also showed low levels of plasma coagulation factors, undetected protein C and S activity and abnormal bands of α1-globulin. The results of gene sequencing demonstrated that they were heterozygous for g.T17132G (p.Met358Arg) mutation of α1-antitrypsin gene (NG_008290.1) . Conclusions Comparing with the data of previously reported cases, our results confirmed the obvious abnormality of coagulation test and the discrepancy of bleeding tendency of α1-antitrypsin Pittsburgh patients, and suggested that the rupture of corpus luteum would be a specific characteristic in women of child-bearing age.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of nano-hydroxyapatite(nano-HAP)on the proliferation and activity of rat dental papilla cells(RDPCs)in vitro, and to evaluate the feasibility of using nano-hydroxyapatite(nano-HAP)as dental papilla cell scaffold in dental tissue engineering. METHODS: RDPCs cultured with the porous nano-HAP in vitro served as the experimental group, and the routine culture of RDPCs in flasks served as the control. Scanning electronic microscope was used to observe the growth and adherence of the RDPCs to nano-HAP. Cell proliferation, cellular protein content, and alkaline phosphatase(ALP) were detected to assess the cellular activities. RESULTS: RDPCs proliferated well, and adhered to the outer and inner surface of the nano-HAP scaffold. Compared with the control group, cells in the experimental group presented higher proliferation on 6 d and 8 d and higher cellular protein content on 6 d and 9 d. No significant difference was detected in the ALP activity in the 2 groups. CONCLUSION RDPCs seeded into nano-HAP grow better and have more vigorous cellular activity, suggesting that nano-HAP has excellent biocompatibility with dental papilla cells, and it can serve as a promising scaffold for dental tissue engineering.
Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Biocompatible Materials ; pharmacology ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Dental Papilla ; cytology ; ultrastructure ; Durapatite ; pharmacology ; Microscopy, Electron ; Nanoparticles ; Nanotechnology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tissue Engineering ; methods ; Tissue Scaffolds

Objective To report the first family of cerebral autosomal recessive arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy(CARASIL)in China,and to explore its clinicopathological characteristics.Methods The clinical,imaging and pathological findings of the two patients were studied, and the sequence of the exons from 2 to 6 on Notch 3 in the chromosome 19 was detected.Results Two siblings were born from consanguineous parents.The ages at onset were 25 and 20 years old,respectively. Clinically,both of the patients were characterized by alopecia,acute lumbago,progressive intellectual deterioration,ataxia,pseudobulbar palsy and pyramidal tract signs.MRI demonstrated diffuse leucoencephalopathy and multiple subcortical infarcts on both hemisphere.The sural nerve biopsy on the elder sister demonstrated concentric thickening of vascular wall,narrowing of the lumen and mild fibrous proliferation of the intima.There were no amyloid,PAS granular deposition and uhrastructural granular osmiophilic material on the vascular wall.No mutation of exons from 2 to 6 on Notch 3 in the chromosome 19 was found by direct sequence.Conclusion The clinicopathological findings of the two patients fulfill the diagnostic criteria based on Fukutake.

This study was aimed to screen the cell cDNA expression library of multiple myeloma HMy2 (MM HMy2) by using "serological analysis of cDNA expression library (SEREX)" technique. The obtained 30 positive clones were all sequenced, and analyzed by BLAST (basic local alignment search tool). The results indicated that 6 known genes and 12 new MM-associated genes were obtained, part of which sequences were spliced by EST (expressed sequence tag) splicing. 6 known genes such as for ring finger protein 167, KLF10, TPT1 protein, p02 protein, cDNA FLJ46859 fis, DNMT1 methyltrasferase etc. have been demonstrated a certain relationship with other tumor's formation, progress and prognosis. The structures and functions of the new genes preliminarily analyzed and predicted by means of bioinformatics showed that MMSA-3, MMSA-8 and MMSA-11 encoding 215, 160 and 122 amino acid residues respectively had the full open reading frames (ORF). All the new genes might be located at euchromosomes but MMSA-1 at sex chromosome. MMSA-4 was highly similar to the protein controlling the transcription of tumor antigen, MMSA-5 might take part in cell phagocytosis, MMSA-7 might inactivated NF-kappaB, and MMSA-12 might be a lymphocytic cytoplasmic protein. The specificity of new genes such as MMSA-3 and MMSA-7 were higher, by a preliminary analysis using CrELISA. It is concluded that tumor antigens screened by this study can be used for early immunological diagnosis, surveillance of minor residual foci, assessment of prognosis, and preparation of tumor vaccine and so on.
Antigens, Neoplasm ; genetics ; immunology ; Cloning, Molecular ; Computational Biology ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Gene Library ; Humans ; Multiple Myeloma ; genetics ; immunology ; Tumor Cells, Cultured