Humans ; Tuberculosis, Hepatic

[Summary] Glucagon-like peptide-1 ( GLP-1 ) as a new treatment of type 2 diabetes, not only has hypoglycemic effect, but also plays an important role in the regulation of lipid metabolism. GLP-1 plays a unique role in regulating lipid metabolism via lipid absorption and transport, fat formation and decomposition, hepatic lipid metabolism, and cholesterol transport.

The research was carried out to establish HPLC fingerprints of Tibetan medicinal herb "Songdi" (Saxifraga umbellulata var. pectinata), and to provide reference for identification an quality control of it. It was performed on an Amethyst-C18-P (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) column with the mobile phase of methanol-0.4% formic acid in a linear gradient mode at a flow rate of 1.0 mL x min(-1). The column temperature was 30 degrees C, and the detection wavelength was set at 254 nm. The software for chromatographic fingerprint was applied to analyse the pattern analysis, the common peaks and similarity. Cluster analysis was done based on the common peaks data of 33 samples from different plant species and sources by SPSS software. Ten common chromatographic peaks were identified by fingerprint, showing a low similarity in constituent and variety. Flavonoids and saponins were the principal components. The number and area of peaks were affected by the collection sources and method. The high similarity are showed by the samples derived from the same area with high accuracy and high purity. The method is so simple, exclusive, stable and high repeatable that it can provide reference for identification and quality assessment of "Songdi" (S. umbellulata var. pectinata).
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; Quality Control ; Saxifragaceae ; chemistry

Objective To investigate the drug induced liver injure(DILI)associated with Chinese herbal medicine and herbal related food supplements.Methods From 1982 to 2005.8.9 consecutive pa- tients were diagnosed as DILI based on their medication history,clinical manifestation,liver function and other laboratory tests.The final retrospection confirmatory diagnosis was made according to the interna- tional scoring system for DILI.Results The 82 DILI patients(28 men,54 females,age ranging from 16 to 81 years old)accounted for 2.2% of hospitalized patients with liver dysfunction.Among those patients with DILI,30.5% was caused by weight reducing drugs or food supplements,12.2% by drugs of derma tology,8.5% by drugs for cardiovascular disease,8.5% by drugs of rheumatology,7.3% by drugs of gynecology,6.1% by drugs for liver disease,6.1% by blood-lipids modulators,3.7% by drugs for thy- roid disease,3.7% by drugs for hyperplasia of mammary glands and 13.4 % by the others.The duration of medication was from 6 clays to 6 months and the incubation period was from 6 days to 3 months.DILI could be classified as acute hepatocellular injury(36.59%),acute cholestasis(39.02%)and mixtures (24.39%).About 10% patients were accompanied by allergic manifestations.All patients recovered rap- idly after stopping the relevant medicine.Conclusion Chinese herbal medicine and herbal related food supplements are a common cause of DILI in China.The awareness and monitoring improving DILI during herbs treatment is a critical issue in daily practice.

The status of breastfeeding and in-hospital health education during pregnancy was surveyed in 32 maternity and children health care hospitals at provincial and municipal levels.A total of 1105 cases were assigned into hospital health education (A,n =872) and control (B,n =233) groups according to whether the women received the hospital health education of breastfeeding during pregnancy.Their differences in breastfeeding knowledge,attitudes and early feeding behavior were compared and analyzed by x2 test and binary logistic regression.Mothers in the group A were at higher levels of breastfeeding knowledge and had a higher proportion of breastfeeding at Day 1 (82.3％).The rate of exclusive breastfeeding in-hospital was significantly higher in group A than that in group B (51.1％ vs.32.3％).After adjusting for in-hospital health education,health education during pregnancy had significant effects on breastfeeding in the first days for group A:breastfeeding in the first 24 hour (OR =2.076,95％CI:1.474-2.924) and exclusive in-hospital breastfeeding (OR =2.105,95％ CI:1.529-2.898).

OBJECTIVETo detect the expression level of interleukin 17 (IL-17) in the plasma and colonic mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), and to explore the synergistic mechanism of qingchang huashi recipe (QHR) combined with Mesalazine.

METHODSRecruited were 24 mild or moderate UC patients of damp-heat inner accumulation syndrome (DHIAS). Their samples of intestinal tissues were histologically graded. They were assigned to the combination group and the Western medicine (WM) group, 12 in each group. Besides, another 12 healthy volunteers were recruited as the healthy control group. QHR combined Mesalazine were given to patients in the combination group, while those in the WM group took Mesalazine. The therapeutic course for all was 3 months. By the end of treatment the expression level of IL-17 in the plasma and colonic mucosa was detected using ELISA. The infiltration of IL-17 in the intestinal mucosal tissue was detected by immunohistochemical SP method.

RESULTSThe expression level of IL-17 in the plasma and colonic mucosa was significantly higher in UC patients than in healthy controls (P <0. 05). The higher the histological grading the higher the expression level. The expression level of IL-17 in plasma and colonic tissues decreased after treatment in the two treatment groups (P < 0.05). Besides, the expression level of IL-17 was lower in the combination group than in the WM group (P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONQHR combined Mesalazine could synergically enhance the effect and effectively inhibit intestinal inflammation through down-regulating the expression of IL-17.

Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; therapeutic use ; Colitis, Ulcerative ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Immunologic Factors ; metabolism ; Inflammation ; metabolism ; Interleukin-17 ; metabolism ; Intestinal Mucosa ; drug effects ; Intestines ; metabolism ; Mesalamine ; therapeutic use

Objective To discover the reciprocal regulation and its molecular mechanism of estro-gen, IL-6 and IL-8 in ovarian cancer cells. Methods Based on our previous studies, the effect of 17β-estradiol (E2) on the expression levels of IL-6, IL-8 and their respective receptors was investigated. Mean-while, the effect of IL-6/IL-8 on estrogen receptor (ER) expression and estrogen-dependent transcriptional activation was analyzed. Gene expression profile analysis revealed that CAOV-3 and OVCAR-3 cells, which express ER, IL-6 and IL-8 receptors, were suitable models for this study. Results We found that E2 not only enhanced IL-6/IL-8 secretion via NF-κB signaling pathway, but also modulated IL-6 and IL-8 receptors expression. Tamoxifen (Txf), an ER antagonist, completely abolished E2-stimulated IL-6/IL-8 expression. On the other hand, in the absence of estrogen, both cytokines increased ERα expression, decreased ERβ ex-pression, and activated estrogen-dependent transcriptional activation, which was completely blocked by Txf. Pretreatment of OVCAR-3 with p38 MAPK, MEK1/2 or ErbB2 MAPK inhihitors, respectively, IL-6-media-ted ER activation was blocked, while IL-8-indueed ER activation was blocked by Src inhibitor. Conclusion These data suggest that estrogen, IL-6 and IL-8 may form a mutual amplifying signaling which contributes to the growth and development of ovarian carcinoma.

Objective To explore the medication rules of Professor Gao Zhongying in treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis on basis of his curative prescriptions.Method Prof.Gao Zhongying clinic medical records were used as data resource.Database was built by using Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance Support System (Version 2.5).The core combination and assocical rules among the drugs were confirmed by frequency analysis and assocical rules analysis methods.Results We collected 60 clinical formulas including 83 kinds of Chinese herbs.The bighest frequency used simply drugs were Fritilariae Thunbergh Bulbus,Trichosanthis radix,Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum and so on.The most frequency drug combination were Fritilariae Thunbergh Bulbus,Trichosanthis radix,Fritilariae Thunbergh Bulbus,Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum,Trichosanthis radix,Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum,Fritilariae Thunbergh Bulbus,Curcumae Rhizoma and so on.The drug association rules of drug combination were 447 items.Conclusions The medication rules embodied the thoughts of Professor Gao Zhongying of replenishing qi to invigorate the spleen and regulating the stomach to moisten dryness was the main method in treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis and deficiency of spleen and dryness of stomach,which was the key pathogenesis in occurrence and development of chronic atrophic gastritis.

Objective: To study the preventive effect of lycopene (LP) on hyperglycemia in alloxan-induced diabetic rats, and reveal its possible mechanism.Method:Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into 5 groups:three groups of LP at doses of 5, 20, 50 mg(/kg bw ?d)for 15d, one control group and one model group of salad oil. Then alloxan (ALx) were injected intraperitoneally to the rats at dose of 150 mg/kg bw. At D4 and D14 after ALx injection, an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed and body weight was measured, and at D14 GSP, FINS, NEFA, SOD,GSH-Px and MDA in liver were also determined . Results:Compared with the indices in group with ALX injection only,both the 2h blood glucose and GSP in group with medium-dose LP decreased significantly(P

BACKGROUND:The discovery and concept of pulp tissue-derived stem cells is beneficial to the understanding of tooth development and regeneration and repair mechanisms from the cellular level. OBJECTIVE:To understand the induced differentiation capacity and induced conditions in vitro of human dental pulp stem cells into neuron-like cells. METHODS:Pulp tissue was separated from human healthy third molars. Single cellsuspensions were prepared and seeded into 6-wel plates containing alpha-modified minimum essential medium supplemented with 15%fetal bovine serum. Subconfluent cultures (first passage) of colony forming cells were induced with butylhydroxy anisole, forskolin,β-mercaptoethanol, basic fibroblast growth factor. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Immunofluorescence and reverse transcription-PCR assay showed that human dental pulp stem cells positively expressed stro-1, Col-I, dentin sialoprotein after 2 weeks of induction. Nestin and neuron-specific enolase were strongly expressed, but the gingival fibroblasts were negatively expressed. It indicates that adult stem cells in human dental pulp have a high neuron-like celldifferentiation potential under a certain inductive condition.