To study the effect of Erigeron breviscapini on chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension and mechanism，the hypoxic rats were injected intraperitoneally with Erigeron breviscapini. The mPAP，the content of serum nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) were measured 5，14 and 28 days after intraperitoneal injection of Erigeron breviscapini in hypoxia respectively，and were compared with those in the single hypoxic group. The results showed that the contents of serum mPAP and ET-1 were higher，and serum NO was lower in single hypoxic group than in the normal rats (both P<0.01). The contents of serum mPAP and ET-1 were lower and NO was higher in the Erigeron breviscapini-treated group than in the single hypoxic group (P<0.01). It was suggested that Erigeron breviscapini could reduce the hypoxic pulmonary hypertension by increasing NO and decreasing ET-1 of serum. Erigeron breviscapini could be used to treat hypoxic pulmonary hypertension.

Objective To evaluate the effects of Ang Ⅱ on the expression of IQ domain GTPase-activating protein1 (IQGAP1) and apoptosis of glomerular cells,and to explore the role of IQGAP1 in Ang Ⅱ-induced apoptosis of glomerular cells.Methods Thirty-six male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to receive either saline or Ang Ⅱ by osmotic mini-pump,or be used as normal control.The systolic blood pressure and proteinuria were measured at day 7,14,21,28.After the animals were sacrificed at day 14,28 respectively,the kidneys were collected.Renal pathological change,glomerular cell apoptosis were observed.The expression of glomerular IQGAP1 was assessed by immunohistochemistry,immunofluorescence and Western blotting.The activation of caspase-3 and phosphorylation of extracellular regulated protein kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) were determined by Western blotting.Results Ang Ⅱ-infused rats developed significant hypertension and marked proteinuria.Mild glomerular mesangial cell proliferation and mesangial matrix increase were also observed in Ang Ⅱ-infused rats.The number of apoptotic glomerular cells in Ang Ⅱ-infused rats was significantly more than that in normal control (P ＜ 0.05).The expression of IQGAP1 in glomeruli distributed linearly along the capillary loops.Ang Ⅱ infusion up-regulated the expression of glomerular IQGAP1,which had an significantly positive correlation with activation of caspase-3(r =0.689,P ＜ 0.05) and phosphorylation of ERK1/2 (r =0.658,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The enhanced expression of IQGAP1 may be involved in Ang Ⅱ-induced glomerular cells apoptosis via activation of ERK1/2 signaling pathway.

Objective To investigate the outcome between endoscopically assisted and routine anterior transposition of the ulnar nerve for treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome.Methods From Februray 2008 to June 2010, forty-four patients with cubital tunnel syndrome were treated with routine anterior subcutaneous transposition (routine group,28 cases) and endoscopically assisted anterior subcutaneous transposition (endoscope group,16 cases).The operate time,drug administration,scar and postoperative hospital stay were compared.The patients were followed 1-12 month postoperatively,postoperative time back to work and function of ulner nerve were recorded.Results The results of endoscope group were as follows: operative time was (67.20 ± 19.69)min; postoperative scar length was (1.5％ ± 0.58) cm; rate of administration of anodyne was 6.3％; postoperative hospital stay was (2.4％ ± 1.42) days; postoperative time back to work,(14.6 ± 4.69)days; the results of open surgery group were as follows:operative time (62.8％ ± 11.06) min; postoperative scar length was (8.7％ ± 1.42) cm; rate of administration of anodyne was 42.8％; postoperative hospital stay was (5.7％ ± 2.53) days; postoperative time back to work was (29.40 ± 8.75) days; all differences of the results were significant between two groups (P ＜ 0.05).According to function of ulner nerve scoring system,one year postoperatively, excellent or good results were 82.14％ in routine group and 81.25％ in endoscope group,no significant difference between two groups (P ＞ 0.05). Conclusion Compared with routine anterior transposition of the ulnar nerve,endoscopically assisted anterior transposition has the following advantages: smaller incision and less tissue damage,less postoperative pain and sooner returning to work.And similar outcome was achieved from the two group.

AIM: To explore the expression of nuclear factor-?B(NF-?B) in asthmatic guinea pigs, and the effect of erigeron breviscapus, a protein kinase C(PKC) inhibitor, on the expression of nuclear factor-?B(NF-?B). METHODS: 48 guinea pigs were randomly divided into 6 groups ( n= 8). Airway resistance and eosinophilic inflammation of airway wall were examined, the expression of NF-?B in the lung tissue was detected by immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: The expression of NF-?B was mainly found in airway epithelium, all the asthmatic animals showed significantly higher optical densities than that of the normal control group( P

Objective To investigate the role of IQ domain GTPase-activating protein 1 (IQGAP1) in angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang Ⅱ)-induced podocyte apoptosis and the underlying mechanism.Methods Differentiated mouse podocytes were exposed to Ang Ⅱ at different concentrations for 6 h or at 10-8 mol/L for variable incubation time.Podocyte apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry.Expression of IQGAP1 was analyzed by immunofluorescence and Western blotting.IQGAP1 siRNA and MAPK pathway inhibitors(10 μmol/L SB202190,25 μmol/L SP600125,10 μmol/L U0126) were further introduced to investigate the role of IQGAP1 and MAPK signalings in the process.And coimmunoprecipitation was used to evaluate the interaction between ERK1/2 and IQGAP1.Results (1)Ang]] promoted podocyte apoptosis in a dose-and time-dependent manner.(2) IQGAP1 was located in celluar membrane and cytoplasm of cultured podocytes.Exposure to Ang Ⅱ stimulated IQGAP1expression in a dose-and time-dependent manner,and elevated phosphorylation of p38,JNK,and ERK1/2 simultaneously.(3) Pretreatment with SB202190,SP600125,or U0126 dramatically prevented Ang Ⅱ-promoted podocyte apoptosis respectively (P ＜ 0.05).However,the protein level of IQGAP1 was not altered.(4) Knockdown of IQGAP1 with siRNA obviously prevented Ang]Ⅱ-induced apoptosis of podocytes(P ＜ 0.05) and reduced Ang Ⅱ-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2(P ＜ 0.05),but not that of p38,JNK.This was accompanied by a reduced interaction between ERK1/2 and IQGAP1(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion IQGAP1 contributes to Ang Ⅱ-induced podocyte apoptosis by interacting with the ERK1/2 signaling protein.

Mitral valve disease is one of the most popular heart valve diseases. Precise positioning and displaying of the valve characteristics is necessary for the minimally invasive mitral valve repairing procedures. This paper presents a multi-resolution elastic registration method to compute the deformation functions constructed from cubic B-splines in three dimensional ultrasound images, in which the objective functional to be optimized was generated by maximum likelihood method based on the probabilistic distribution of the ultrasound speckle noise. The algorithm was then applied to register the mitral valve voxels. Numerical results proved the effectiveness of the algorithm.
Algorithms ; Heart Valve Diseases ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Likelihood Functions ; Mitral Valve ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Patient Positioning ; Probability ; Ultrasonography

Objective:To observe the motor capacity of patients early after cardiac surgery using a cardiopulmonary exercise test.Methods:Patients who had performed a cardiopulmonary exercise test within 3 months after cardiac surgery were included in this retrospective study. Patients who took the test within 30 days of the operation formed a discharge group ( n=20), those within 30 to 60 days and 60 to 90 days formed the one month and two month groups ( n=10 for both). The discharge group was further divided into an aortic surgery group ( n=9), a bypass surgery group ( n=6) and a valve surgery group ( n=5) according to their procedure. The exercise capacity of each person was measured in terms of the changes in heart rate and systolic pressure from the resting to the anaerobic threshold stage. Anaerobic threshold, peak oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide ventilation equivalent were also recorded. Results:All of the patients completed the cardiopulmonary exercise test above the anaerobic threshold, and no adverse events such as exercise accidents occurred. At the anaerobic threshold the average heart rate of the discharge group was (8.8±7.1)bpm, significantly lower than the averages of the one month and two months groups: (17.0±5.9) and (18.3±10.5)bpm respectively. The average anaerobic thresholds and peak oxygen uptakes of the 1 month and 2 months groups were not significantly different, but they were all significantly higher than the discharge group′s averages. There were, however, no significant differences among the groups in the average changes in their systolic pressure and carbon dioxide ventilation equivalent. Moreover, the average anaerobic threshold and peak oxygen uptake of the aortic surgery group and the bypass surgery group were significantly lower than the valve surgery group′s averages.Conclusions:Postoperative motor ability after cardiac surgery improves significantly for at least 30 days. Patients who have received aortic or bypass surgery have significantly lower exercise capacity than those after valve surgery.

Objective: To describe the distribution and drug resistance of pathogens at hematology department of Jiangsu Province from 2014 to 2015 to provide reference for empirical anti-infection treatment. Methods: Pathogens were from hematology department of 26 tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu Province from 2014 to 2015. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out according to a unified protocol using Kirby-Bauer method or agar dilution method. Collection of drug susceptibility results and corresponding patient data were analyzed. Results: The separated pathogens amounted to 4 306. Gram-negative bacteria accounted for 64.26%, while the proportions of gram-positive bacteria and funguses were 26.99% and 8.75% respectively. Common gram-negative bacteria were Escherichia coli (20.48%) , Klebsiella pneumonia (15.40%) , Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8.50%) , Acinetobacter baumannii (5.04%) and Stenotropho-monas maltophilia (3.41%) respectively. CRE amounted to 123 (6.68%) . Common gram-positive bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus (4.92%) , Staphylococcus hominis (4.88%) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (4.71%) respectively. Candida albicans were the main fungus which accounted for 5.43%. The rates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia resistant to carbapenems were 3.5%-6.1% and 5.0%-6.3% respectively. The rates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistant to tobramycin and amikacin were 3.2% and 3.3% respectively. The resistant rates of Acinetobacter baumannii towards tobramycin and cefoperazone/sulbactam were both 19.2%. The rates of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia resistant to minocycline and sulfamethoxazole were 3.5% and 9.3% respectively. The rates of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis resistant wards vancomycin were 0, 6.4% and 1.4% respectively; also, the rates of them resistant to linezolid were 1.2%, 0 and 1.6% respectively; in addition, the rates of them resistant to teicoplanin were 2.8%, 14.3% and 8.0% respectively. Furthermore, MRSA accounted for 39.15% (83/212) . Conclusions Pathogens were mainly gram-negative bacteria. CRE accounted for 6.68%. The rates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia resistant to carbapenems were lower compared with other antibacterial agents. The rates of gram-positive bacteria resistant to vancomycin, linezolid and teicoplanin were still low. MRSA accounted for 39.15%.