Objective To investigate the impact of high plasma LDL-C level with or without metabolic syndrome(MS) on the incidence of stroke in Chinese adults. Methods Totally 42 626 subjects (25 -75 years old) from Chinese National Health and Nutrition Survey in 2002 were stratified four groups based on plasma LDL-C level: < 2. 00 mmol/L group, 2. 00 -2. 50 mmol/L group, 2. 51 -3.31 mmol/L group, and ≥ 3.32 mmol/L group. The prevalence of MS (with 2005 International Diabetes Federation criteria) and stroke and the risk factors of stroke were compared among the four groups. Results ( 1 ) The prevalence of MS and stroke increased with rising of LDL-C level. The prevalence of MS in LDL-C≥3. 32 mmol/L group increased 2. 5 times (7, 9% vs 20. 1% ) as compared with that in LDL-C < 2. 00 mmol/L group and the prevalence of stroke increased 4. 2 times(0. 5% vs 2. 1% ), all P <0. 01. (2) In subjects with similar LDL-C level, the prevalence of stroke was significantly higher in a subgroup with MS than that without (P <0. 01 ). (3) After adjustment for age, sex and smoking, logistic regression analysis showed that both LDL-C level and MS were positively associated with the development of stroke; the odds ratio (OR) was 2. 35 and 3. 15 ( P < 0. 0001 ), respectively. (4) Compared with the subgroup of LDL-C < 2. 00 mmol/L without MS, OR for stroke in the subgroups of LDL-C 2. 00 -2. 50 mmol/L, 2. 51 -3. 31 mmol/L, and ≥ 3. 32 mmol / L without MS was 1.03, 1. 89, and 2.08, whereas the OR for stroke in the subgroups with MS and similar level of LDL-C was 4. 38, 5.23 and 6. 15 ; this indicated that the risk of stroke in subjects with MS increased by 3 - 4 times compared with subjects without ( P < 0. 0001 ). Conclusion Both high LDL-C level and MS are independent risk factors of stroke, but the risk of stroke will be further increased in the presence of high LDL-C level plus MS. It is suggested that combined intervention therapy of LDL-C and MS will play an important role in the prevention of stroke.

Objective To observe enhancing effect of nerve regeneration on peripheral nerve defect models bridged by silicone tube idled with valproic acid (VPA). Methods In present research we demon-strate the effect of VPA on peripheral nerve regeneration and recovery of motor function following sciatic nerve transaction in rats. An 8-mm sciatic nerve deficit was created in a rat mode land bridged by a 1-cm silicone tube.Then, 10 lad of 8% VPA were perfused into the silicone chamber in the VPA group. The same volume of normal saline was delivered in the control group. Results Each animal was observed sciatic nerve function index (SFI) at 2-week intervals and studied electrophysiology at 4-week intervals for 12 weeks. Histological and morphometrical analyses were performed at the end of the experiment, 12 weeks after operation. Using the digital image-analysis system, thickness of the myelin sheath was measured, and total numbers of regenerated axons were counted. There was a significant difference in SFI, electrophysiological index (motor-nerve conduct velocity, MCV), and morphometrical results (regenerated axon number and thickness of myelin sheath) in nerve regeneration between the VPA group and controls (P ＜ 0.05). Conclusion The results demonstrated that VPA is able to enhance sciatic nerve regeneration in rats, suggesting the potential clinical application of VPA for the treatment of peripheral nerve injury in humans.

Objective To investigate the influence of infarction location on the executive function and self-efficacy of patients with ischemic stroke. Methods 320 patients with cerebral infarction at basal ganglia, parietal-occipital lobe, frontal lobe and other areas (80 cases respectively)and 80 healthy people were assessed with Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Clock Drawing Test (CDT), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and General Self-efficacy Scale (GSES). Results The scores of WCST, CDT and GSES were significantly worse in the patients than in the controls, especially in those with infarction at frontal lobe and basal ganglia. There was no significant difference in scores of SDS and SAS among all the subjects (P>0.05). Conclusion There are executive function and self-efficacy impairment in ischemic stroke patients, especially for those with the focus at frontal lobe and basal ganglia.

Objective To investigate the characteristics of Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) for executive function assessment in patients with cerebral infarction. Methods 706 patients with cerebral infarction were assessed with BADS, WCST and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results There was significant difference in the scores of BADS and WCST among the patients with normal cognition, mild cognition impairment and severe cognition impairment (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the scores of BADS among the patients with different focuses of infarction (P>0.05), but there was in the scores of WCST (P<0.05). Conclusion BADS and WCST can be used to assess the executive impairment in the patients with cerebral infarction, and the focuses may affect the outcome of WCST.

Objective To evaluate tear ferning changes of conjunctivochalasis.Design Prospective case study series.Partici- pants 30 patients(60 eyes)of conjunctivochalasis and normal subjects were selected.Methods The subjects were observed with gen- eral ophthalmic examination and tear fern test(TFT).Tear ferning was classified into 4 types.TypeⅠand TypeⅡare normal.TypeⅢand TypeⅣare abnormal.Main Outcome Measures The type of tear feming.Results TFT showed that tear ferning was de- creased in conjunctivochalasis group(TypeⅢand TypeⅣoccupied 61.7%).The difference between conjunctivoehalasis and normal control group was significant(P

Transcriptions are regulated by transcription factors. Natural transcription factors usually consist of at least two functional domains: a DNA-binding domain and an effector domain. According to this, novel artificial transcription factors are designed to up or down regulate transcription and expression of a target gene. The Cys2-His2 zinc finger domain is a DNA-binding module that has been widely used as the DNA-binding domain in artificial transcription factors. Each zinc finger domain, which comprises about 30 amino acids that adopt a compact structure by chelating a zinc ion, typically functions by binding 3 base pairs of DNA sequence. Several zinc fingers linked together would bind proportionally longer DNA sequences. According to the "bipartite complementary" library strategy, a pair of zinc finger phage display libraries were constructed. After construction of the libraries, a 9bp sequence (5'-GCAGAGGCC-3') on the promoter of SV40 was chosen as a target for next step. After parallel selection, PCR amplification, desired fragments recovery, re-ligation, and additional rounds of selection, phage enzyme-linked ELISA experiments were performed to identify specific binding clones displaying the zinc fingers with predetermined sequence-specificity to our target sequence. Then two clones with strong ELISA signals were chosen to be tested for binding both to its full target site (5'-GCAGAGGCC-3') and to sites containing single transition mutations. The binding specificity of one of the two clones (clone 3) was shown to be fairly good. The three-finger DNA-binding domain targeted to SV40 promoter, that is, zinc finger sequences on clone 3, was fused to KOX1 suppression domain KRAB and cloned into pcDNA3.1 (+) (which expression product was artificial transcription factor). The zinc fingers (which expression product was the DNA-binding domain of artificial transcription factor) and KRAB domain only (which expression product was effector domain of artificial transcription factor) were also cloned separately into the same expression vector. All constructs contained an N-terminal nuclear localization signal. Every of the vectors (including pcDNA3.1 (+) without inserting sequences) were cotransfected with pGL3-Control and pRL-TK and the activity of luciferase was used to indicate the function of product from transfected expression vectors. Our artificial transcription factor was proved to repress the expression of reporter gene efficiently,while with only DNA-binding domain or effector domain the repression was not remarkable. By adding different effector domains and changing the DNA-binding domain, artificial transcription factor would have a wide range of potential applications.
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Genes, Synthetic ; genetics ; physiology ; Models, Theoretical ; Peptide Library ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; genetics ; Transcription Factors ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Zinc Fingers ; genetics ; physiology

Objective To detect the proteins levels of RhoA and CDC42 in bone marrow mononucleated cells (BMMC) of patients with primary acute leukemia,and further determine the role of abnormal interactions between hematopoietic progenitor and bone marrow microenvironment on abnormal behaviors of leukemia cells. Methods BMMC samples were separated from 54 primary acute leukemia patients and 22 normal donors and the cell lysis samples were prepared. RhoA and CDC42 proteins were determined by Western blotting. Independent pair T test was conducted to evaluate whether the differences in RhoA and CDC42 expression were statistically significant between leukemia patients and normal donors. Spearman was applied in analyzing the correlation between expression of RhoA and CDC42 proteins and clinical characters of patients. Results RhoA and CDC42 proteins level of primary acute leukemia patients was significantly higher than that of normal samples. Especially, patients with M2,M3 and M5 subtypes exhibited significant higher RhoA proteins levels and M3 subtype exhibited significant higher CDC42 protein levels. Conclusion RhoA and CDC42 protein levels of primary acute leukemia patients are significantly higher than that of normal donors. This result suggests that RhoA and CDC42 associated efficient migration of leukemia cells could be implicated in abnormal interaction of leukemic cell with bone marrow microenvironment.

Adenoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Adult ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Ear Neoplasms ; complications ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Endolymphatic Sac ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Kidney Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Middle Aged ; Paraganglioma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Point Mutation ; Von Hippel-Lindau Tumor Suppressor Protein ; genetics ; von Hippel-Lindau Disease ; complications ; genetics ; metabolism

To obtain the tervalent fusion toxin gene (named FT),three toxin gene fragments from three species of Vibrio parahaemolyticus,Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio mimicus were connected with the flexible linker (GGGGS) using overla Pextension PCR. The three toxin gene fragments respectively encode the mature proteins of the thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH) of V. parahaemolyticus,the cytotoxin (VVC) of V. vulnificus and the heat-labile hemolysin (VMH) of V. mimicus. The identity of FT nucleic acid sequence was 99.6% with the corresponding toxin gene fragments. The open reading frame of FT was 3225 bp,encoding 1074 amino acid residues with the predicted molecular weight (MW) of 120.4 kDa. Then,FT was subcloned into the expression vector pET-22b(+). The construction of recombinant expression vector pET-22b-FT was followed by transforming into E. coli BL21(DE3) for expression. The SDS-PAGE electrophoresis results indicated that the MW of the fusion toxin protein was matched to the predicted MW. After induction by 1 mmol/L IPTG at 37℃,the fusion toxin protein was effectively expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) with the amount of 11.49% through thin layer chromatography scanning (TLCS) analysis. Cavia cobaya was immunized using the purified cytorrhyctes to produce the anti-serum. Through the determination of the optimum working conditions,the sensitivity test,the specificity test,repeatability test and sample simulation test,the indirect ELISA method was established,which is a broad-spectrum,rapid and specific to detect various of food-poisoning Vibrio simultaneously.