Abstract Long-term use of levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson's disease can cause motor complications, which seriously impair the patients'motor function, reduce the quality of life, and aggravate the functional disability. Since there has been no effective treatment for motor complications, clarifying the influencing factors and prevention methods are conducive to reducing the risk of incidence and improving the quality of life of the patients. This paper summarizes the types and mechanism of motor complications of Parkinson's disease, the influencing factors ( levodopa dose, onset age, Helicobacter pylori infection and high protein diet ) and preventive measures ( psychological intervention, low protein diet, rehabilitation exercise and drugs ), so as to provide reference for the prevention and control of the disease.

A novel chitinolytic and chitosanolytic bacterium, Sphingomonas sp. CJ-5, has been isolated and characterized. It secretes both chitinase and chitosanase into surrounding medium in response to chitin or chitosan induction. To characterize the enzymes, both chitinase and chitosanase were purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, Sephadex G-200 gel filtration and DEAE-Sepharose Fast Flow. SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated molecular masses of chitinase and chitosanase were 230 kDa and 45 kDa respectively. The optimum hydrolysis conditions for chitinase were about pH 7.0 and 36 degrees C, and these for chitosanase were pH 6.5 and 56 degrees C, respectively. Both enzymes were quite stable up to 45 degrees C for one hour at pH 5~8. These results show that CJ-5 may have potential for industrial application particularly in recycling of chitin wastes.
Chitinases ; metabolism ; Enzyme Stability ; Fermentation ; Glycoside Hydrolases ; metabolism ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Sphingomonas ; enzymology

OBJECTIVETo optimize the prescription dose of Mahuang decoction in a multi-target manner, in order to provide reference for the quantitative optimization of the prescription dose of the traditional Chinese medicine compound.

METHODThe number of diaphoretic spots in rats, the tracheal antispasmodic rate in guinea pigs and the writhing times by acetic acid in mice were taken as the indexes for evaluating the diaphoretic, antispasmodic and analgesic effects. According to the experimental results of the 16 orthogonal combination prescriptions, a mathematical dose-effect model was built by support vector regression (SVR) and quadratic response surface regression (RSR) respectively. The multi-target optimization was achieved by elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and entropy weight TOPSIS method.

RESULTThe optimal dose of Mahuang decoction after being optimized by SVR modeling contained 17.71 g of Ephedrae Herba, 9.57 g of Cinnamomi Ramulus, 11.75 g of Armeniacae Semen Amarum and 4.39 g of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparata Cum Melle. The optimized result by RSR modeling contained 13.37 g of Ephedrae Herba, 11.61 g of Cinnamomi Ramulus, 11.98 g of Armeniacae Semen Amarum and 5.67 g of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparate Cum Melle. SVR was superior to RSR in both of the forecast capacity and optimization results.

CONCLUSIONSVR-NSGA-II-TOPSIS method could be adopted for the multi-target optimization for the dose of Mahuang decoction and other traditional Chinese medicine compounds. It is proved to be the optimal prescription with the best efficacy, and could provide scientific quantitative basis for determining the dose of traditional Chinese medicine compound prescriptions and developing new traditional Chinese medicines.

Animals ; Cinnamomum ; chemistry ; Drug Compounding ; methods ; Drug Dosage Calculations ; Drug Prescriptions ; Ephedra ; chemistry ; Ephedra sinica ; chemistry ; Glycyrrhiza ; chemistry ; Guinea Pigs ; Mice ; Rats

OBJECTIVETo explore the mechanisms by which genistein and daidzein inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells.

METHODSLNCaP and PC-3 cells were exposed to genistein and daidzein and cell viability was determined by MTT assay and cytotoxicity of the drugs by LDH test. Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to assess the cell cycle in LNCaP and PC-3 cells. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was applied to examine the expression of PTEN gene (a tumor suppressor gene), estrogen receptor alpha gene (ERalpha), estrogen receptor beta gene (ERbeta), androgen receptor gene (AR) and vascular endothelial growth factor gene (VEGF).

RESULTSThe viability of PC-3 and LNCaP cells decreased with increasing concentrations and exposure time of genistein and daidzein. Genistein increased G2/M phase cells in PC-3 cells while decreased S phase cells in LNCaP cells in a dose-dependent manner. Daidzein exerted no influence on the cell cycle of LNCaP and PC-3 cells, but the apoptosis percentage of LNCaP cells was elevated significantly by daidzein. Genistein induced the expression of PTEN gene in PC-3 and LNCaP cells. Daidzein induced the expression of PTEN gene in LNCaP but not in PC-3 cells. The expression of VEGF, ERalpha and ERbeta genes decreased and AR gene was not expressed after incubation with genistein and daidzein in PC-3 cells. In LNCaP cells, the expression of VEGF and AR gene decreased but there was no change in the expression of ERalpha and ERbeta gene after incubation with genistein and daidzein. Conclusion Genistein and daidzein exert a time- and dose-dependent inhibitory effect on PC-3 and LNCaP cells. The down-regulation of ER gene by daidzein influences the growth of PC-3 cells directly. The inhibition of PC-3 cells by genistein and that of LNCaP cells by genistein and daidzein may be via Akt pathway that is repressed by PTEN gene, which subsequently down-regulates the expression of AR and VEGF genes. Our results suggest that the expression of PTEN gene plays a key role and several pathways may be involved in the suppression of prostate cancer cells by genistein and daidzein.

Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Estrogen Receptor alpha ; genetics ; metabolism ; Estrogen Receptor beta ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Genistein ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Isoflavones ; pharmacology ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; metabolism ; Male ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Receptors, Androgen ; genetics ; metabolism ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between polymorphisms of genes (CYP17, CYP19 and SULT1A1) involved in estrogen metabolism and susceptibility to breast cancer in Chinese women.

METHODSA case-control study was performed. PCR-base restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and short tandem repeat polymorphism (STRP) assays were used to detect the polymorphism distribution of CYP17, CYP19 and SULT1A1 in 213 breast cancer cases and 430 matched controls. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the OR, multivariate adjusted OR and 95% CI of each and all three genes and estrogen exposure factors on the risk of breast cancer. Relationship between polymorphisms and clinic-pathological features was also assessed.

RESULTSThe frequency of A2 allele of CYP17 was 49.8% in cases and 49.1% in controls (P > 0.05). The frequency His allele of SULT1A1 in cases (13.6%) was significant higher than that of controls (9.5%) (P = 0.03). There was also significant difference in the frequencies of (TTTA)10 allele CYP19 which was 12.4% in cases and 8.2% in controls (P = 0.02). Multigenic model indicated that there was an increased risk of breast cancer with more numbers of high-risk genotypes in a dose-response effect (trend P = 0.05). Data from multivariate analysis showed that the allele of SULT1A1 His and CYP19 (TTTA)10 was positively associated with the risk of breast cancer. Other well-established risk factors as higher estrogen exposure including total years of menstrual, early menarche etc, and women with a higher BMI and WHR were all served as independent risks.

CONCLUSIONThis study indicated that the polymorphisms of estrogen-metabolizing genes were related to breast cancer.

Aromatase ; genetics ; Arylsulfotransferase ; genetics ; Breast Neoplasms ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; China ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Steroid 17-alpha-Hydroxylase ; genetics

Adult ; Age Factors ; Athletic Injuries ; epidemiology ; Blood Group Antigens ; Body Mass Index ; Humans ; Male ; Military Personnel ; education ; statistics & numerical data ; Physical Education and Training

This study was aimed to investigate the immunologic characteristics of refractory anemia with excess blasts-II (RAEB-II) which belongs to a new subtype of World Health Organization (WHO) classification of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and to screen out the independent immunologic prognostic factors of MDS. 35 cases of adult patients with de novo MDS were investigated. The immunofluorescent analysis by multiparameter flow cytometry was performed at the double gating of CD45/SSC to determine the immunophenotype of MDS cells in all cases. All patients were followed up. 47 cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) M1, 51 cases of AML-M(2) and 38 cases of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) were selected as control. Software SPSS 13.0 was applied to analyze all the related data. The results showed that the positive expression rate of HLA-DR in RAEB-II was 100%, which was high in sensitivity and specificity. CD13 (94.74%), CD33 (84.21%) and CD117 (78.95%) were also highly expressed in RAEB-II. CD13 in RAEB-II was significantly higher than that in refractory cytopenia with or without multilineage dysplasia (RA/RCMD) (p < 0.01) and REAB-I (p < 0.05); CD33, CD117 (p < 0.05) and stem cell antigen CD34 (p < 0.01) in RAEB-II were significantly higher than that in RCMD (p < 0.01), but no statistically significant difference was found as compared with RAEB-I (p > 0.05). Compared with AML-M(1) and AML-M(2), no significant difference of CD13 and CD117 in RAEB-II was found (p > 0.05). CD33 (p < 0.01) and CD34 (p < 0.05) were significantly lower than that in AML-M(1), but no significant difference was found as compared with AML-M(2) (p > 0.05); CD15 (p < 0.01) and CD11b (p < 0.05) was significantly lower than that in M(2), but no significant difference was found as compared with AML-M(1) (p > 0.05); MPO was significantly lower than that in AML-M(1) and M(2) (p < 0.05); HLA-DR was significantly higher than that on AML-M(2) (p < 0.05), but no significant difference was found as compared with AML-M(1) (p > 0.05). RAEB-II did not express CD2, CD3, CD5 and CD8 (positive rate 0%, p < 0.01) when compared with T-ALL; CD4 (p < 0.05) and CD7 (p < 0.01) were significantly lower than that in T-ALL. RAEB-II did not express CD19 and CD20 (positive rate 0%, p < 0.01) as compared with B-ALL; CD10, CD22 and cCD79a were significantly lower than that in B-ALL (p < 0.05). CD117 (p = 0.0197) and MPO (p = 0.0085) were the two prognostic immunological antigens as regards the overall survival (OS) of MDS; CD117 (p = 0.003) was the single parameter in Cox regression. It is concluded that RAEB-II expresses mainly myeloid antigen without or with little expression of lymphoid antigen. Unique individual immunophenotypic features can be detected in patients with RAEB-II. HLA-DR can be a specific parameter to distinguish the other subtypes of MDS. CD117 may be an independent prognostic immunological antigen as regards OS of MDS.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Anemia, Refractory ; complications ; diagnosis ; immunology ; Blast Crisis ; complications ; diagnosis ; immunology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; complications ; diagnosis ; immunology ; Prognosis ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the protective effect of Shenxiong injection on the cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury of senile rats.

METHODTotally 108 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into the sham operation group, the model group, the Ni-modipine group and Shenxiong injection groups (low, middle, and high doses). The rat brain ischemia-reperfusion model was established by the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) method in rats, in order to observe the effect of Shenxiong injection on neurological score and brain infarct volume of rats with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, and determine the contents of NOS, NO, SOD, MDA and LDH in brain tissues. The contents of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta levels in brain tissues were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method.

RESULTShenxiong injection could significantly decrease neurological score, injury degree of brain tissues and brain infarct volume of rats with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, increase the vigor of SOD, decrease the levels of MDA, NO, NOS and LDH, and inhibit IL-1beta and TNF-alpha expressions.

CONCLUSIONShenxiong injection has the obvious protective effect on the brain ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. Its mechanism may be related to the improvement of neurological function, the reduction of free radical injury, and the inhibition of inflammation factor expression.

Animals ; Brain ; blood supply ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Brain Ischemia ; complications ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Injections ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; metabolism ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; complications ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo analyze the risk factors affecting the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in type 2 diabetic patients without albuminuria.

METHODSA total of 131 type 2 diabetic patients with normal urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) were divided into normal GFR group and decreased GFR group. The factors relevant to GFR were analyzed by multiple factors regression.

RESULTSAge, course of diabetes, systolic blood pressure, prevalence of hypertension, the level of serum creatinine (SCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and uric acid (UA) were significantly higher in decreased GFR group than in normal GFR group. Multivariate regression showed that SCr, age, systolic blood pressure, and UA were negatively correlated to GFR.

CONCLUSIONReduced GFR occurs in some type 2 diabetic patients without albuminuria. SCr, age, systolic blood pressure and UA are the major factors related to decreased GFR. The degree of early renal damage in diabetic patients can be better evaluated by combining GFR and UAER.

Adult ; Aged ; Albuminuria ; complications ; physiopathology ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; complications ; epidemiology ; physiopathology ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; physiopathology ; Female ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Kidney ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors

This study was aimed to investigate the effects of rituximab (RTX), a chimeric human anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, on lymphoma cell injury induced by X ray irradiation. The human Burkitt EBV-infected and moderate radioresistance lymphoma cells (Namalwa) were used in the this study. Cytotoxicity of rituximab combined with X ray irradiation on Namalwa cells was measured by sulforhodamine B (SRB)-staining; the apoptosis of Namalwa cells was detected by flow cytometry with FITC-Annexin V/PI double staining; the morphologic changes of cells were observed under transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the change of intracellular free calcium level ([Ca(2+)]i) in response to irradiation and rituximab was determined by means of the fluorescent dye fluo-3 and confocal microscopy. The results showed that the growth inhibition in Namalwa cells exposed to irradiation was enhanced by treatment with rituximab. Compared with irradiation alone, rituximab combined with irradiation significantly induced the cell apoptosis and a sustained rise of intracellular free calcium ([Ca(2+)]i) level in Namalwa cells; the serial apoptotic appearances of cells could be observed under TEM. It is concluded that rituximab can enhance the sensitivity of lymphoma cells on X ray irradiation as to induce cell more apoptosis, in this process the intracellular free calcium ([Ca(2+)]i), as an intracellular signaling molecule probably plays an important role.
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived ; immunology ; pharmacology ; Antigens, CD20 ; immunology ; Apoptosis ; Calcium ; analysis ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Radiation Tolerance ; drug effects ; Rituximab