Objective To develop an albumin aptamer that may potentially serve as a selective ligand for albumin removal from experimental samples.Methods A single-stranded 59nt DNA library that contains 21 random oligo nucleotides was synthesized in vitro.An albumin aptamer A6 was developed by SELEX technique using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as target.The enrichment of aptamer and evaluation of its binding properties were monitored by flow cytometry.The secondary structure of A6 was predicted by MFord software.Results The aptamer A6 strongly bound to BSA with a Kd of 77.4 nmol/L,and had minimal cross reactivity with control proteins including ovalbu min,IgG,and trypsin.Conclusions Aptamer A6 may be a potential tool in albumin removal.

Objective To study the short-term clinical efficacy of treating patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer with lentinan injection and javanica oil emulsion injection.Methods Clinical information of 42 patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer were retrospectively collected.The 42 patients were divided into two groups according to treatments,with 21 case in the control group who were treated with javanica oil emulsion injection,as well as 21 case in the treatment group treated with lentinan injection and javanica oil emulsion injection.The efficacy,quality of life (QOL) and adverse effects were observed after treatment for 3 weeks.Results 81.0％ (17/21)of patients in the treatment group improved in QOL,which was much higher than that in the control group 47.6％ ( 10/21 ) ( x2 =5.081,P =0.024 ).The objective remission rate was 19.0％ (4/21)and 14.3％ (3/21)in the treatment group and the control group respectively,with no significant differece bwtween the two groups( x2 =0.171,P =0.679 ).the disease control rate was 85.7％ (18/21)in the treatment group,which was significantly higher than that of 61.9％ (12/21)in the control group( x2 =4.200,P =0.040 ).The incidence of adverse effect related to hematological toxicity,liver and kidney function,the digestive tract and itching of skin were similar between the two groups (Ps ＞ 0.05 ).Phlebitis in the treatment group was not as frequent as that in the control group(P ＜0.05).Conclusion Treating patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer with lentinan injection and javanica oil emulsion injection had high efficacy than treating only with javanica oil emulsion injection,and it improved QOL signifiantly with safety.

Objective To explore the clinical efficacy of treating pains suffered from metastatic bone cancer with composite kushen injection and pamidronate disodium injection.Methods The clinical information of 60 cases of metastatic bone cancer patients suffered with pains was collected retrospectively.Thirty patients were assigned to the treatment group and 30 to the control group according to the treatment they underwent.The control group were treated with pamidronate disodium injection for 3 cycle,the treatment group were additionaly treated with composite kushen injection.The differences of two groups cases were compared in respect of the relief of pains and the changes of performance status (PS) and the incidence of adverse effects after treatment for 3 cycles.Results The objective remission rate of bone pain was 60.0％ (18/30) in the treatment group,which was significantly higher than that of 30.0％ (9/30) in the control group was higher( x2 =5.455,P=0.020 ).The incidence of adverse effect was 40.0％ (12/30) in the treatment group and 46.6％ (14/30) in the control group,with no significant difference between the two groups( x2 =0.271,P =0.602).In the treatment group the performance status of patients was( 2.30 ± 0.70 ) after treatment,which was better than that of( 1.80 ± 0.80 )before treatment(t =15.000,P =0.042),wheras there was no significant difference on performance status in the control group.Conclusion Kushen injection has synergistic effect with pamidronate disodium injection in treating pains with matstatic bone cancer.It could improve the short term efficacy,and significantly relief the pain and improve the quality of life.

Pacemaking dysfunction has become a significant disease that may contribute to heart rhythm disorders, syncope, and even death. Up to now, the best way to treat it is to implant electronic pacemakers. However, these have many disadvantages such as limited battery life, infection, and fixed pacing rate. There is an urgent need for a biological pacemaker (bio-pacemaker). This is expected to replace electronic devices because of its low risk of complications and the ability to respond to emotion. Here we survey the contemporary development of the bio-pacemaker by both experimental and computational approaches. The former mainly includes gene therapy and cell therapy, whilst the latter involves the use of multi-scale computer models of the heart, ranging from the single cell to the tissue slice. Up to now, a bio-pacemaker has been successfully applied in big mammals, but it still has a long way from clinical uses for the treatment of human heart diseases. It is hoped that the use of the computational model of a bio-pacemaker may accelerate this process. Finally, we propose potential research directions for generating a bio-pacemaker based on cardiac computational modeling.

Induction of coronary collateral circulation, that is, therapeutic angiogenesis, is considered a promising treatment for coronary heart disease.However, coronary collateral growth is a complex process and is related to a variety of factors.Although it has achieved promising outcomes in animal experiments, clinical trials have so far failed to replicate these results.Further studies on the growth mechanisms of coronary collateral circulation are still needed before a feasible clinical treatment strategy becomes available.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, on learning and memory ability of mice with pilocarpine (PILO)-induced seizure.

METHODSOne hundred and sixty male adult ICR mice were randomly grouped as vehicle control (n=20), rapamycin control (n=20), PILO model (n=40), rapamycin pre-treatment (n=40) and rapamycin post-treatment (n=40). PILO model and rapamycin treatment groups were injected with PILO to induce temporal lobe seizure. Rapamycin was administrated for 3 days before or after seizure. Morris water maze, Y maze and open field were used for the assessment of learning and memory, and FJB and Timm staining were conducted to detect the neuronal cell death and mossy fiber sprouting, respectively.

RESULTSNo significant cell death was observed in the mice with PILO-induced seizure. The learning and memory were impaired in mice 7 to 10 days after PILO-induced seizure, which was evident by prolongation of avoiding latency (P<0.05), decrease in number of correct reaction (P<0.01) and number of crossing (P<0.05). Treatment with rapamycin both pre-and post- PILO injection reversed seizure-induced cognitive impairment. In addition, rapamycin inhibited the mossy fiber sprouting after seizure (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONRapamycin improves learning and memory ability in ICR mice after PILO-induced seizure, and its mechanism needs to be further studied.

Animals ; Cell Death ; drug effects ; Disease Models, Animal ; Epilepsy ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Learning ; drug effects ; Memory ; drug effects ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Neurons ; drug effects ; pathology ; Pilocarpine ; toxicity ; Sirolimus ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic basis for a Chinese pedigree affected with congenital cataracts. METHODS: Clinical data and peripheral blood samples were collected for the pedigree. Following extraction of genomic DNA, whole exome sequencing was carried out to detect genetic variants. Candidate variants were verified by familial co-segregation analysis and Sanger sequencing. Bioinformatics analysis was carried out to predict the function of mutant genes. RESULTS: By comparing variants identified among affected and unaffected individuals, a heterozygous variant, c.110 G>C (p.R37P), was identified in exon 2 of the CRYGC gene among all patients, which also matched the criteria for potential disease-causing mutations. The result was confirmed by Sanger sequencing. CONCLUSION The c.110G>C variant of the CRYGC gene probably underlay the congenital cataracts in this pedigree.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cataract ; congenital ; genetics ; China ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Mutation ; Pedigree ; gamma-Crystallins ; genetics

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid found in plasma and cells. It is the preferred fuel for enterocytes in the small intestine, macrophages, and lymphocytes. After serious burn, increased requirement of glutamine by the gastrointestinal tract, kidney and lymphocytes, and relatively insufficient self synthesis likely contribute to the rapid decline of glutamine in circulation and cells. Glutamine supplementation can not only protect intestinal mucosa, maintain normal intestinal barrier function, reduce bacterial translocation, and enhance the intestinal immune function, but also increase the number of lymphocytes, enhance the phagocytic function of macrophage, promote the synthesis of immunoglobulin, and reduce the body′s inflammatory response, so as to enhance the immune function. Therefore, glutamine supplementation can improve and enhance the immune function, reduce complications and promote the prognosis of severely burned patients.

Objective:To evaluate the performance of magnetic beads extraction method (MGE) for the measurement of catecholamine metabolites by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.Methods:This is a methodological evaluation study. The linearity, limit of quantitation, recovery, precision, and matrix effect of catecholamine metabolites 3-methoxyepinephrine (MN), 3-methoxynorepinephrine (NMN) and 3-methoxytyramine (3-MT) extracted by MGE method were evaluated according to CLSI C62-A. Consensus of method development and validation of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in clinical laboratories and other guidelines, 132 clinical residual plasma samples were collected and extracted by automated MGE and traditional solid phase extraction (SPE) method to compare the harmonization of the two extraction methods.Results:The linearity of MN, NMN and 3-MT extracted by automated MGE was>0.99, and the LOQ for MN, NMN and 3-MT were 0.033 5 nmol/L, 0.054 7 nmol/L and 0.011 0 nmol/L, respectively. The repeatability of MN, NMN and 3-MT were 1.3%-5.1%, 2.2%-5.6% and 1.7%-7.1%, respectively. The total imprecision in the laboratory were 1.5%-8.2%, 2.2%-7.7%, 2.1%-11.2%. Although the absolute recovery is low, the average relative recoveries of MN, NMN and 3-MT were 91.5%-108.5%, 92.0%-108.6%, and 89.3%-104.1%, respectively, and the percentage deviation from the expected concentration was within 15%. After isotope internal standard correction, the relative matrix effect is close to 100%, which can compensate for the potential matrix effect. The results of MGE and SPE of MN, NMN and 3-MT showeda good correlation (correlation coefficient r>0.99). The average relative deviations of MN, NMN and 3-MT were 0.2%, -1.4% and 1.0%, respectively. Conclusion:The automatic MGE method hasa good performance in extracting catecholamine metabolites, and is expected to be used in high-throughput analysis of samples in clinical in the future.

Pacemaking dysfunction has become a significant disease that may contribute to heart rhythm disorders, syncope, and even death. Up to now, the best way to treat it is to implant electronic pacemakers. However, these have many disadvantages such as limited battery life, infection, and fixed pacing rate. There is an urgent need for a biological pacemaker (bio-pacemaker). This is expected to replace electronic devices because of its low risk of complications and the ability to respond to emotion. Here we survey the contemporary development of the bio-pacemaker by both experimental and computational approaches. The former mainly includes gene therapy and cell therapy, whilst the latter involves the use of multi-scale computer models of the heart, ranging from the single cell to the tissue slice. Up to now, a bio-pacemaker has been successfully applied in big mammals, but it still has a long way from clinical uses for the treatment of human heart diseases. It is hoped that the use of the computational model of a bio-pacemaker may accelerate this process. Finally, we propose potential research directions for generating a bio-pacemaker based on cardiac computational modeling.