Objective To explore the clinical significance of dyslipidemia in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods By independent-samples t test,serum lipid level was compared between 326 SLE patients and 300 healthy controls.The total cholesterol (TC),triglyceride (TG),lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were partially compared in subgroups of SLE patients.The correlation of serum TC,TG,LDL-C and HDL-C with clinical manifestations and laboratory findings in SLE was analyzed by Pearson or Spearman correlation analysis.Results ①The serum levels of TC [(3.8±1.5) mmol/L],TG [(2.1±1.6) mmol/L] and LDL-C [(2.1±0.9) mmol/L] were significantly higher in SLE group than those of the control group [(3.4±0.6),(0.8±0.4),(1.9± 0.5) mmol/L],and the serum level of HDL-C [(1.2±0.9) mmol/L] was significantly lower in SLE group than that of the control group [(2.0±0.5) mmolFL] (t=4.953,P=0.000; t=14.569,P=0.000; t=3.204,P=0.001; t=-14.335,P=0.000].② The serum levels of TC [(4.0± 1.7) mmol/L],TG [(2.5± 1.7) mmol/L] and LDL-C [(2.2±1.0) mmol/L] were significantly higher in LN group than those of the non-LN group [(3.6±1.0),(1.6± 1.0),(1.9±0.7) mmol/L; t=2.646,P=0.009; t=6.292,P=0.000; t=3.261,P=0.001].③ The serum level of TG [(2.2±1.6) vs (1.8±1.4) mmol/L] was significantly higher in SLE patients with hypocomplementemia than that of the normal ones (t =2.098,P=0.038).The serum level of HDL-C [(1.1 ±0.4) vs (1.6± 1.7) mmol/L] was significantly lower in SLE patients with hypocomplementemia than that of the normal ones (t=-2.375,P=0.020).④ The serum level of TG [(2.3±1.7) vs (2.0±1.4) mmol/L] was significantly higher in anti-dsDNA antibody positive patients than that of negative ones (t=1.989,P=0.048).The serum level of HDL-C [(1.5± 0.4) vs (1.4±1.2) mmol/L] was significantly lower in anti-dsDNA antibody positive patients than that of negative ones (t=-2.979,P=0.003).⑤ The lipid level was correlated with the clinical manifestations and laboratory findings in SLE patients.Conclusion Dyslipidemia exists in patients with SLE and has close correlation with LN,hypocomplementemia and positive anti-dsDNA antibody.

Objective To study the impact on pregnant outcome of reducing the number of embryos transferred from three to two in women at age less than 35 who received frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET). Methods The analysis was performed on 90 FET cycles (77 infertile couples,less than 35 years old) with slow-freezing/rapid-thawing method, including 48 cycles with two embryos transferred and 42 cycles with three embryos transferred. The embryo survival rate, high quality embryo rate, clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate and multiple pregnancies rate were analyzed. Results No significant differences in embryo survival rate (88.9% versus 88.1%), high quality embryo rate (89.6% versus 81.0%), clinical pregnancy rate (37.5% versus 42.9%), implantation rate (26.0% versus 18.3%) and multiple pregnancy rate (38.9% versus 16.7%) were observed between two and three embryos transferred group (all P > 0.05). However, there were 2 triple pregnancies in three embryos transferred group while none in two embryos transferred group. Conclusion Reducing the number of high quality embryos transferred from three to two in women at age of less than 35 years old who received FET,could decrease the incidence of triple pregnancy and keep the similar clinical pregnancy rate.

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-αsiRNA on typeⅡcolla-gen induced arthritis (CIA) in rats. Methods The expression vectors of siRNA against TNF-αgene were constructed suc-cessfully and were injected by tail veil into CIA rats. Twenty-four CIA rats were randomly divided into 4 groups including model group, empty vector group, TNF-α-siRNA1 group and TNF-α-siRNA2 group. CIA rats were injected with the same dose of phosphate buffered sodium (PBS) and pGFP-V-RS vector respectively in model group and empty vector group, while TNF-α-siRNA1 group and TNF-α-siRNA2 group were injected with TNF-α-siRNA1 eukaryotic expression vector and TNF-α-siRNA2 eukaryotic expression vector respectively. Another 6 rats, which were not established CIA model, were in-jected with PBS (blank control group). The serum expression levels of IL-1 were detected by ELISA on day 1, 5, 9 and 13 af-ter injection. The expression level of TNF-αmRNA was detected by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on day 13. Results The expression level of IL-1 was significantly higher on day 1, 5, 9 and 13 in model group than that of blank group (P＜0.05). The expression levels of IL-1 were significantly lower on day 1, 5 and 9 in TNF-α-siRNA1 group and TNF-α-siRNA2 group than that of model group and blank group (P ＜ 0.05). The expression level of TNF-αmRNA was significantly higher on day 13 in model group than that of blank group (P＜0.05). The expression levels of TNF-αmRNA were significantly lower in TNF-α-siRNA1 group and TNF-α-siRNA2 group than those of model group and emp-ty vector group (P＜0.05). Conclusion TNF-αspecific siRNA can suppress the levels of TNF-αmRNA and IL-1, which provides experimental basis for gene therapy of rheumatoid arthritis.

In the present study, the performance of the liquid nitrogen frozen and thinned bovine pericardium was studied and compared with the porcine pericardium. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the bovine pericardium were observed and tested by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and tensile test respectively. In all conditions, porcine pericardium was selected as a control group. The results showed that there was little difference in the performance of bovine pericardium after being frozen by liquid nitrogen. The secant modulus and ultimate strength of the thinned bovine pericardium were similar to those of porcine pericardium, however, the elastic modulus was a little higher than porcine pericardium. The study suggested that the performance of the thinned bovine pericardium was similar to those of porcine pericardium. It was easy for the thinned bovine pericardium to obtain a relatively ideal thickness and expected performance, therefore, the thinned bovine pericardium can be used as the materials of transcatheter aortic valve leaflets.
Animals ; Aortic Valve ; Bioprosthesis ; Cattle ; Elastic Modulus ; Freezing ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Nitrogen ; Pericardium ; physiology ; Swine