Objective To investigate the relationship of attentional orientation,sensory disorder or magnitude estimation with cross-over effect in the line bisection of hemispatial neglect patients and to evaluate the influences of the length of lines and cueing on the performance of line bisection of neglect patients.Methods Fifteen patients with hemispatial neglect and 15 age and education-level-matched healthy controls underwent line bisection experiment.in which difierent types of cues and difierent length of bisected lines were given to observe their effects on the deviation.Analyses of variance (ANOVAs)were used to analyze the data in each group.Results When the lengths of lines were 4,6,8,10,12 cm,percentages of line bisection deviation(%)without cue were-5.71±5.13,-2.48±8.83,-1.18±10.90.0.43±8.12,2.17±7.04 respectively.The experiment showed that deviation was related to the length of lines ( F=12.5,P＜0.01).Nine patients exhibited cross-over effect when the lines were shorter than 10 cm.Another interesting result was that ipsilesional cues led to a reduction in bisection errors ( percentages of line bisection deviation(%)were-3.93±7.04,2.43±6.34,4.93±5.19,6.49±3.36,6.38±4.18,P＜0.01),however,contralesional ones resulted in a reverse effect(percentages of bisection deviation(%)were-10.93±8.85,-7.95±8.44,-4.14±8.37,-2.60±9.96,-1.57±10.67,P=0.03).As for bilateral cues,both cueing had no influence on line bisection(percentages of bisection deviation(%)were -5.93±7.76,-0.52±8.20,0.54±6.34.2.57±5.02,2.79±3.92,P=0.35).The length of cues had no influence on line bisection(F=1.94.P=0.1 4).Condusions The subjective midpoint excurses toward left when the length of line is relatively short.which is referred as crossover effect.indicating magnitude estimation a factor of crossover effect.Unilateral cues affects the performance of line dissection of neglect patients.which may be accounted for attentional orientational biases.No effect of the cue length suggested sensory disorder does not play a role in the crossover effect.

Objective To investigate the echocardiographic features of complete transposition of the great arteries (TGA)in fetuses.Methods Prenatal echocardiographic data of 9 fetuses diagnosed as TGA by autopsy or postnatal echocardiography during January 2010 to January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.Results All of 9 fetuses showed normal cardiac axis and atrioventricular connection on four-chamber view.Eight of them showed the baby bird's beak sign on left ventricular outflow tract view.On left and right ventricular outflow tracts view,the two great arteries were parallel in 8 fetuses.Totally 6 fetuses showed just 2 vessels on three vessels and tracheal (3VT) view.On aortic arch view,the radian of aortic arch had increased in different degrees in 7 fetuses.There were 4 fetuses with ventricular septal defect observed by both of four-chamber and left ventricular outflow tract views.Conclusion The echocardiographic features of fetuses with TGA are characteristic in left ventricular outflow tract,left and right ventricular outflow tracts,3VT and aortic arch views,including baby bird's beak sign,2 great arteries' parallel relations,only 2 vessels on 3VT view,and increased radian of aortic arch.Of these features,baby bird's beak sign is the most common.

Objective To investigate the effects and mechanism of huoxuexiaoying tablet on experimental goiter of rats. Methods The rats were randomly divided into six groups: the control, the model control group, huoxuexiaoying tablet at different doses,and the sodium levothyroxine group ( Euthyrox group) . Except for the rats in the control,the rats in other groups were given with propylthiouracil (20 mg·kg-1 ·d-1 ) by intragastric ( i. g. ) administration every day for 60 days. Meanwhile, some rats were treated with huoxuexiaoying tablet at low (4. 4 g·kg-1·d-1),middle (8. 8 g·kg-1·d-1) and high dose (17. 6 g·kg-1 ·d-1 ) orally,and those in the Euthyrox group were given with 7. 8μg·kg-1 ·d-1 Euthyrox by i. g. administration. The rats in the control group were administrated with the same volume of saline (N. S). After 60 days of treatment,the rats were sacrificed,the organ indexes of thyroid and pituitary and the levels of free triiodothyronine ( FT3 )、free thyroxin ( FT4 ) and thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH) in serum,were tested. The expression of basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF),transforming growth factor-β( TGF-β) and B-cell lymphoma 2 gene ( Bcl-2 ) were examined by immunofluorescence. Results Compared with the model,organ indexes of thyroid were significantly reduced by huoxuexiaoying tablet at three doses (P<0. 05),but not for the pituitary (P>0. 05). The levels of FT3 and FT4 were in a elevating trend,but TSH decreased with no significance (P>0. 05). The morphological structure of thyroid was greatly improved by huoxuexiaoying tablet in comparison with the model. In which the gland dilated,thyroid follicular restored to moderate size,epithelia were cubic or flattened and follicular cavity filled with abundant glial. The expression of bFGF and Bcl-2 decreased significantly (P<0. 01) while TGF-β expression increased notably (P<0. 01). Conclusion Huoxuexiaoying tablet has a great anti-goiter effect,the mechanism of which may be related to promoting thyroid cells apoptosis and inhibiting thyroid cells proliferation.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the therapeutical effects of visfatin and metformin on insulin resistance and reproductive endocrine disorder in rats with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

METHODSForty female Wistar rats were divided into 4 equal groups, and in groups A, B and C, the rats were injected subcutaneously with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) for PCOS modeling, with group D as the blank control injected with soybean oil. Vaginal smears and serological testing were taken to assess the modeling. After the modeling, the rats in group A received 10 µg reorganized visfatin injection and those in group B were treated with metformin (14 mg/100 g) on a daily basis for 15 days. Serum levels of T, LH, FSH, FINS and blood glucose levels during OGTT were measured before and after the treatments, and HOMA-IR and LH to FSH ratio were calculated. The ovaries were then dissected for pathological examination.

RESULTSIn groups A and B, FINS, FPG, T, HOMA-IR and blood glucose levels during OGTT were significantly decreased after the treatments (P<0.05), which resulted in recovery of regular menses in 8 (80%) rats in group A and 7 (77.8%) rats in group B with the development of normal follicles. Visfatin and metformin produced equivalent therapeutic effects in improving the insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism in PCOS rats.

CONCLUSIONVisfatin and metformin have equivalent therapeutic effects in improving insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism and in promoting the recovery of regular menses and development of normal follicles in PCOS rats.

Animals ; Female ; Humans ; Insulin Resistance ; Metformin ; pharmacology ; Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase ; pharmacology ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ; complications ; drug therapy ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

OBJECTIVE To explore the mechanism of pomegranate peel in improving non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) based on network pharmacology and cell experiments verification. METHODS Using the Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Database(TCMSP) to obtain the active components of pomegranate peel and their corresponding targets. NASH-related disease targets were obtained from five disease databases, including the Human Gene Database(GeneCards), etc. To screen the targets of pomegranate peel and NASH and obtain the common targets through Venn diagrams. The protein-protein interaction network of pomegranate peel-NASH was constructed using the protein interaction database(STRING), and the “pomegranate peel-component-target-NASH” network was established with Cytoscape 3.7.1. Gene ontology(GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway analysis were performed using Metascape software. Finally, the effect of the main active components in pomegranate peel on NASH was observed with human hepatoma cells(HepG2). RESULTS There were 7 active ingredients in pomegranate peel, 191 target genes, 1 818 NASH targets, and 98 intersection targets. Topological analysis showed that the core components of pomegranate peel in the treatment of NASH were quercetin, kaempferol, and luteolin, and the core targets were protein kinase B(Akt1), interleukin-1β(IL-1β), interleukin-6(IL-6), tumor necrosis factor(TNF). KEGG pathway analysis predicted that pomegranate peel treatment of NASH mainly involved phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase(PI3K)/Akt, nuclear factor kappa B(NF-κB), and other signaling pathways. The results of in vitro cell experiments showed that the expression levels of phosphorylated protein kinase B(p-Akt), IL-6 and other proteins were elevated in the model group compared with the control group(P<0.05). Compared with the model group, the active ingredients of pomegranate peel could significantly reduce the expression level of p-Akt and IL-6(P<0.05), as well as the mRNA expression level of IL-6 and TNF-α(P<0.05). CONCLUSION Pomegranate peel can exert anti-NASH effects through multiple components, multiple targets, and multiple pathways. The mechanism may be related to the active components quercetin, kaempferol, and luteolin in pomegranate peel affecting core targets such as Akt1 and regulating PI3K/Akt, NF-κB, and other signaling pathways, thereby inhibiting the expression of related inflammatory factors.