Object An attempt to seek after an intrinsic inhibitor present in the seed of Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge.. Methods Crude ethereal extract of the seed was prepared and treated on paper chromatography. Inhibitory effects of different fractions with different Rf value were tested on Brassica chinensis L. and wheat germination. Effect of steeping the seed in warm water at 41 ℃ or 45 ℃ for different periods of time was also studied.Results Seed of A. membranaceus does contain strong intrinsic inhibitor. The portion of its ethereal extract with Rf 0.9 showed the most strong inhibition for the germination of Brassica, and the fraction with Rf 1.0 can inhibit the growth of the tender Brassica root, steeping with warm water can remove most of the intrinsic inhibitor, which also inhibits the growth of both aerial and underground parts of wheat sprouts, but without effect on its seed germination. It also showed strong inhibition of seed germination and growth of tender root of A. membranaceus. Conclusion Besides the low water permeability of the seed peel, the intrinsic inhibitor present in A. membranaceus is another essential factor that retard its germination.

Studies demonstrated that natural killer T (NKT) cells are involved in the diverse immunomodulatory responses.But the mechanism that NKT cells regulate pathogenic T helper cells (Th) are still unclear.Recent researches found that Th17 cells are associated with a variety of autoimmune disease and play a crucial role in autoimmune diseases,which is very different from previous thesis that Th1 and Th2 are the key factors in the immune response in the patients with autoimmune disease.Studies both in vitro and in vivo also documented that invariant NKT cells (iNKT) inhibit the differentiation of CD4+ T cells toward Th1 and Th17 cells at the different mechanisms.The concept of NKT cells,the regulation of NKT cells to Th1 and Th17 cells in the autoimmune diseases were reviewed.

Objective To explore the effect of aerobic exercise on blood lipid of hyperlipidemia rats and its mechanism. Methods A total of 120 healthy male SD rats aged 8 weeks were randomized into normal control group, high-fat diet (HF) group, SBC-115076 group and aerobic exercise group, with 30 rats in each group. The rats in the normal control group were fed with standard diet, and the rats in the other 3 groups were fed with HF to establish hyperlipidemia rat model. The rats in the SBC-115076 group were injected with proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor SBC-115076 (8 mg/kg) once a week for 8 weeks, and the rats in the aerobic exercise group underwent swimming without load 6 days a week for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, the rats were sacrificed and the blood samples were collected to determine the levels of serum triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Pathological changes of thoracic aorta were observed using H-E staining. The mRNA and protein expression levels of PCSK9, low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) in the hepatic tissues were detected by quantitative real-time PCR, Western blotting and immunofluorescence. Results Compared with the normal control group, the levels of serum TG, TC and LDL of the rats were significantly higher in the HF group, and the level of HDL was significantly lower (P<0.01). Compared with the HF group, the levels of serum TG, TC and LDL of the rats were significantly lower in the SBC-115076 and aerobic exercise groups, and the level of HDL was significantly higher (P<0.01). In the HF rats, the aortic tunica intima was thickened and endothelial cells were damaged and exfoliated. Compared with the HF group, the aortic intima thickening was reduced and endothelial damage was less in the aerobic exercise group. Compared with the normal control group, the mRNA and protein expression levels of PCSK9, SREBP1 and SREBP2 were significantly higher in the HF group, and the mRNA and protein expression levels of LDLR were significantly lower (P<0.01). Compared with the HF group, the mRNA and protein expression levels of PCSK9, SREBP1 and SREBP2 were significantly lower, and the mRNA and protein expression levels of LDLR were significantly higher (P<0.01). Conclusion Aerobic exercise can down-regulate the expression of TG, TC and LDL, up-regulate the expression of HDL, and alleviate the intimal thickening of aorta. The mechanism may be related to down-regulating the expression of PCSK9 and SREBPs, thus eliminating the inhibition of LDLR.

OBJECTIVETo establish the analytical method for the release kinetic (RK) of Aconitum Brachypodum gel based on the nonlinear mixed effect model (NLMEM), in order to rationally evaluate the drug release process and explain the release mechanism.

METHODThe zero-order kinetic model containing for non-corroded drug system with the random effect was taken as the base model. The fixed effect and random effect factors impacting the drug release were analyzed by PROC NLMIXED of SAS to establish the final typical model. Subsequently, 10 training subsets were randomly extracted from the primary data to respectively their RK models, calculate the corresponding predicted root-mean-square error and average relative error, and evaluate the model stability and prediction accuracy.

RESULTThe burst effect F0 had a very significant effect on the RK model. Among the component factors, carbopol 940 showed an obvious effect on the inherence release speed constant k0 and the concentration gradient change constant a, with different variations on the basis of dosage range. The random effect factors of k0 and a had a significant impact. The final RK model was proved to be stable, effective and reliable in the cross validation.

CONCLUSIONThe drug release kinetic analysis method could be used to rationally evaluate the drug release process and explain the release mechanisms.

Clinical Medicine ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; prevention & control ; Periodicals as Topic ; Research

Objective To investigate different methods in parathyroid adenoma tissue storage and to provide theoretical support for standardized construction of parathyroid adenoma tissue data.Methods 22 samples of sporadic parathyroid adenoma in Beijing Union Hospital from Aug.2010 to Nov.2011 were collected.All cases obtained pathological diagnosis,among which 11 were kept in frozen nitrogen (group A)and the rest in RNAlater(group B).The ratio of OD 260/280 was measured by ultraviolet spectrophotometer.The integrity of RNA was examined by gel electrophoresis.The expression of β-actin was measured by Realtime-PCR technique.Results RNAlater group had no advantage than frozen nitrogen group in terms of the purity,concentration,and integrity of the extracted RNA(P ＞0.05),but had a higher expression level of the β-actin(P ＜0.05).Conclusion The method of RNAlater has no significant advantages compared with frozen nitrogen in terms of RNA prevention and RNA degradation,but is more effective in longer storage of samples.

Cardiovascular Diseases ; drug therapy ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Hypolipidemic Agents ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Risk Reduction Behavior

Coronary Disease ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Hypolipidemic Agents ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use

With the advances in techniques of localization, numerous minimally invasive parathyroid surgery were developed including open minimal incision and endoscopic approaches. According to the research results and the experiences from Peking Union Medical College Hospital, the indication and preoperative preparation were discussed in this paper. Some suggestions were given for minimally invasive parathyroid surgery in China.
Beijing ; China ; Humans ; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures ; Parathyroidectomy ; methods ; Preoperative Care

Objective To investigate the evaluation value of spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC) on fetal cardiac systolic function .Methods The fetal cardiac cycle images were collected by the four-dimensional(4D) STIC ultrasound technique in 160 normal singleton pregnancies .The virtual organ computer-aided analysis(VOCAL) technique was used to measure the ventricular end-systolic volume (VESV) and ventricular end -diastolic volumes(VEDV) .The stroke volume(SV) ,ejection fraction(EF) and cardiac output(CO) were calculated .Results VESV ,VEDV together with SV and CO in normal pregnancy were increased with gestation week increase .EF remained constant with advancing gestational week .VESV ,VEDV ,SV ,CO and EF of right ventricle were all larger than those of the left ventricle .Conclusion The fetal cardiac systolic function in normal pregnancy is increased with gestational age increase ,the right heart systolic function is superior to the left heart .