Objective To evaluate the right heart dysfunction in SLE patients with/ without pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) using the parameters recommended by the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE),and to examine whether the right heart dysfunction is directly related to elevated pulmonary arterial systolic pressure(PASP) and pulmonary vascular resistance(PVR).Methods Study population composited of 43 patients with SLE.The patients were divided into two groups according to the PASP measured by echocardiography:Group A was 24 patients with PASP ≤35 mm Hg,Group B was 19patients with PASP＞35 mm Hg.Twenty-two healthy subjects with age and gender matched were set as control group.Routine transthoracic echocardiography study was performed on all patients and 26 parameters were measured in order to compare the differences of the parameters among the three groups.Results There were significant differences in 17 parameters among the three groups (P ＜0.05).Tricuspid annular plane systolic excurtion(TAPSE) and E/A ratio of tricuspid flow velocities in SLE patients without PAH significantly decreased compared to control group (P =0.04 and 0.03).There were significant differences in 11 parameters between SLE with and without PAH group (P ＜0.05).Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that after adjustment for age and gender,the patients with elevated PVR associated with a 6.18-fold increase in right ventricular dysfunction compared to the patients with normal PVR (P =0.02).Conclusions The impairment of right ventricular function in SLE patients was directly related to PVR and PASP.Elevation of PVR was an important predictor for right heart dysfunction.

Objective To establish blood purification system for rats and provide a safe and reliable experimental platform for further research of blood purification. Methods The right carotid artery and the contralateral jugular vein of adult male Sprague?Dawley rats were cannulated to creat vascular access for blood purification, by which continuous arteriovenous hemofiltration blood purification system was established. Blood flow, substitution fluid flow and ultrafiltration rate were regulated by rotary mini?pumps. Blood purification therapy continued for 4 hours on the basis of maintained anesthesia and effective anticoagulation. The safety of continuous arteriovenous hemofiltration blood purification systems was evaluated by comparing the arterial blood gas, electrolyte indexes and blood glucose during the blood purification therapy. Closely monitoring the vital signs of rats, such as blood pressure and heart rate, and observing whether there were any side effects, such as massive haemorrhage, thrombogenesis and gas embolism in the therapeutic process. Results There were no obvious changes of arterial blood gas, electrolyte indexes and blood glucose during the blood purification therapy (P>0.05). The vital signs did not fluctuate acutely before and after the blood purification therapy (P>0.05). The incidence rate of side effects was very low. Conclusions
Continuous arteriovenous hemofiltration blood purification system had no obvious adverse effects on healthy rats. Our blood purification system for rats appears to be safe and reliable.

Objective To evaluate the effects of fructose-1 ,6-diphosphate (FDP) pretreatment on lung injury induced by hepatic cold liver ischemia-reperfusion in rats .Methods Eighteen healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (n= 6 each) using a random number table :sham operation group (S group) ,hepatic cold liver ischemia-reperfusion model group (M group) ,and FDP pretreatment group (FP group) . The animals were anesthetized with intraperitoneal chloral hydrate and kept spontaneous breathing .Laparotomy was performed ,and the related blood vessels were only isolated in group S .Hepatic cold ischemia-reperfusion was induced in M and FP groups .In FP group ,FDP 250 mg/kg was injected via the caudal vein at 15 min before skin incision .At 6 h of reperfusion ,the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected to detect the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) ,interleukin-10 (IL-10) and nitric oxide (NO) by ELISA .Lungs were removed for microscopic examination of the pathological changes by light microscopy .Real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of iNOS mRNA .Results Compared with S group , the levels of TNF-α and NO in BALF were significantly increased , the expression of iNOS mRNA was up-regulated , and the level of IL-10 in BALF was decreased in M and FP groups ( P<0.05 ) .Compared with M group ,the levels of TNF-αand NO in BALF were significantly decreased ,the expression of iNOS mRNA was down-regulated ,and the level of IL-10 in BALF was increased in FP group ( P<0.05 ) .The pathological changes of lungs were significantly attenuated in FP group as compared with M group .Conclusion FDP pretreatment can obviously attenuate lung injury induced by hepatic cold ischemia-reperfusion in rats ,and inhibition of iNOS expression ,reduction of NO synthesis ,and decrease in inflammatory responses are involved in the mechanism .