The stereoselective hydrolysis of esmolol in whole blood and in its separated components from rat,rabbit and human was investigated.Blood esterase activities were variable in different species in the order of rat ＞ rabbit ＞ human.Rat plasma showed the high esterase activity and had no stereoselectivity to enantiomers.Rabbit red blood cell (RBC) membrane,RBC cytosol and plasma all hydrolyzed esmolol but with different esterase activity,whereas the hydrolysis in RBC membrane and cytosol showed significant stereoselectivity towards R-(+)-esmolol.Esterase in RBC cytosol from human blood mainly contributed to the esmolol hydrolysis,which was demonstrated with no stereoselctivity.Esterase in human plasma showed a low activity,but a remarkable stereoselectivity with R-(+)-esmolol.In addition,the protein concentration affected the hydrolysis behavior of esmolol in RBC suspension.Protein binding of esmolol enantiomers in human plasma,human serum albumin (HSA) and α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) revealed that there was a significant difference in bound fractions between two enantiomers,especially for AGP.Our results indicated that the stereoselective protein binding might play a role in the different hydrolysis rates of esmolol enantiomers in human plasma.

As an important neurotransmitter, adenosine displays its functions by acting on the adenosine receptors. Recent studies have shown that the distribution, expression and balance among subtypes of adenosine receptors are closely related with cognitive activities, and changes of adenosine receptors play key roles in neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease. It has been pointed out that prolonged activation of adenosine receptors by high level adenosine may lead to the disturbance of balance among adenosine receptor subtypes. This imbalance mainly performed as increased expression of A2a receptor and decreased expression of A1 receptor, and enhancement of the excitatory signals mediated by A2a receptor and weakened inhibitory signals mediated by A1 receptor. Changes of these two subtypes of adenosine receptors may lead to a lot of disorders of neurological activities which developed into dysfunction of cognition to the end. These findings imply that the potential of maintaining the balance among adenosine receptors on the treatment of AD would facilitate both the revealing of the mechanism and the cure of AD.
Adenosine ; physiology ; Alzheimer Disease ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; physiology ; Receptors, Purinergic P1 ; classification ; physiology

AIM:To identify the serum proteins that might serve as biomarkers for predicting mucosal healing ( MH) in the patients with Crohn’ s disease ( CD) treated with infliximab ( IFX) .METHODS:We collected serum sam-ples before treatment (0 week, group A) and 14 weeks after treatment (group B) from 7 CD patients with IFX treatment who had achieved MH, as well as the serum samples from 7 CD patients who had not achieved MH (0 week, group C;14 weeks, group D) .Two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis was applied to analyze and compare the re-sults of serum profiles between groups A and B, C and D, A and C, B and D.Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry and bioinformatics tools were utilized to preliminarily identify and figure out the dif-ferentially expressed proteins.RESULTS:(1) In total, there were 44 differentially expressed spots, 36, 3, 10 and 31 differentially expressed spots were detected while comparing A with B, C with D, A with C and B with D, respectively. (2) Among those spots, 17, 2, 2 and 15 proteins were identified, respectively.In total, there were 19 differentially ex-pressed proteins, including apolipoprotein E, apolipoprotein A-I, complement factor H, and so on.(3) Protein functional association networks were carried out based on STRING database.CONCLUSION: The serum protein profiles obviously change after IFX treatment in MH CD patients, and the serum protein profiles of MH patients are different from that of non-MH patients after IFX treatment.The 19 proteins we identified may serve as potential biomarkers for predicting MH in CD patients with IFX treatment.

Objective To analyze clinical features and prognosis of primary intestinal T cell lymphoma (ITCL)which was misdiagnosed as Crohn′s disease (CD),and summarized the key points of differentiation between ITCL and CD.Methods From January 2003 to January 2014,clinical data of patients with ITCL once misdiagnosed as CD were retrospectively analyzed,which included demographic,clinical,pathological and prognostic data.The data of 177 patients diagnosed as CD from January 2012 to January 2014 were collected. The demographic,clinical,pathological and prognostic data of these two groups were analyzed and compared. The continuous variables were compared with t test or Mann-WhitneyU test,and the differences of classification variables between two groups were analyzed by Chi-square test or Fisher exact probability method.Results A
total of 18 patients (17 males and one female)with ITCL misdiagnosed as CD were enrolled in the study,and the median age at diagnosis was 38.5 (28.8 to 42.5)years and the median duration of diagnosis was 6.00 (3.75 to 13.25)months.The common primary symptoms were abdominal pain (12/18),diarrhea (13/18)and anemia (13/18).Intestinal perforation was primary symptom in two cases (2/18).However,B symptoms of lymphoma was observed in 16 patients,which included fever in 13 patients,weight loss in 16 patients and night sweat in one patient.One or more serious complications appeared in 12 patients,which included intestinal perforation in nine patients,severe gastrointestinal bleeding in seven patients and intestinal obstruction in two patients.In 177 patients with CD,104 patients were male (58.8%),and the median age at diagnosis was 22.0 (18.0 to 29.0) years.The primary symptoms were abdominal pain (88.7%,157/177),diarrhea (55.9%,99/177),anemia (63.8%,113/177),fever (33.3%,59/177)and weight loss (59.9%,106/177).During the disease course,30 patients (16.9%)had intestinal perforation (mainly chronic),12 patients (6.8%)had intestinal obstruction and seven patients (4.0%)had severe gastrointestinal bleeding.Compared to CD patients,male patients were more common in ITCL (χ2 =8.837,P <0.01),age at diagnosis was older (χ2 =314.5,P <0.01),the disease course was shorter (U=385.0,P <0.01),weight loss (χ2 =5.867,P <0.05)and fever (χ2 =10.609,P <0.01)were more common in clinical symptoms and intestinal perforation and severe gastrointestinal bleeding were more common in complications (χ2 =9.185,24.908,both P <0.01).The lesions of ITCL were multiple lesions, small bowel involved in eight cases,colon involved in 14 cases and one case with esophagus involved.Under endoscopy examination,most lesions appeared as ulcerations and were segmentally distributed.Compared to CD, lymphocyte proliferation was more common in the intestinal histopathological findings of ITCL (17/18 vs 19.7%(35/177);χ2 =42.844,P <0.01)and granuloma was rare (0 vs 42.8%(76/177),χ2 =12.665,P <0.01). Among 18 patients with ITCL,nine received chemotherapy and the median survival time was two months. Conclusions Primary ITCL had non-specific symptoms and was easily misdiagnosed as CD.More attention should be paid to the differential diagnosis of the two disease.

Objective To explore the effects of action observation therapy on upper-extremity motor function after ischemic stroke and on the motor cortex using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Methods Forty patients with ischemic stroke were randomly assigned to an observational group (n =20) or a control group (n =20).Both groups received conventional rehabilitation,while the observational group was additionally provided with action observation therapy for 8 weeks.Both groups were assessed using the Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) and the Barthel index (BI) before and after the 8 weeks of treatment and functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed before treatment.Two months after the treatment,nine patients of the experimental group and 8 of the control group who continued to receive their respective treatments after discharge were again assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging.Results After the treatment the average FMA score and BI score of both the observational group and the control group had increased significantly.The increase in the average FMA score of the observational group was significantly greater than that of the control group.However,there was no significant difference between the two groups in the increases in BI score after 8 weeks of treatment.The fMRI results showed that there was a significantly greater rise in activity in the bilateral precentral gyrus,parietal lobe and the supplementary motor area of the patients in the observational group after the treatment compared with the control group.Conclusion Action observation therapy can improve upper extremity motor function and performance in the activities of daily living after ischemic stroke and induce changes in the excitability of the cerebral motor cortex.

Objective:To compare the Alzheimer's disease model in two species of mice by intracerebroventricular injection of β-amyloid peptide 25-35(Aβ_(25～35)).Method:The step down test and Morris water-maze were used to investigate the influence of the mice's learning and memorizing ability after intracerebroventricular injection of β-amyloid.Results:Normal Kunming mice and BALB/c mice had no significant difference in step down test, but the space cognitive ability of Kunming mice was better than that of BALB/c mice. The learning response in step-down test and Morris water-maze is no influence in male, female BALB/c mice and female Kunming mice. Marked differences were observed in male Kunming mice in acquisition, performance and reversal of a place learning response in a Morris water-maze.Conclusion:The male Kunming mice is much better than female Kunming mice and male, female BALB/c mice in preparing Alzheimer's disease animal model by intracerebroventricular injection of Aβ_(25～35), and is the most suitable animal in this experiment.

White-rot fungi is a kind of basidiomycetes making wood rotten. For their particular metabolism and extracellular degrading ability, they can degrade a lot of organic pollutants, and then become the hot point of international academic research. This paper reviews the recent research progress in many aspects,such as the sort and degradation mechanism of white rot fungus, advances in applied research for white rot fungi on industry and environmental pollution disposal and so on. In addition, some suggestions on the prospective application in the composting of municipal solid waste are presented in the end.

Objective To investigate the relationship between the clinical manifestations,prognosis and histopathological findings of mucormycosis.Methods The clinical data on and pathological findings from 7 cases of mucormycosis confirmed by fungal culture in the institute from 1989 to 2006 were analyzed retrospectively.Results There was 1 case of hinocerebral mucormycosis and 6 cases of cutaneous mucormycosis,among them,2 were mucormycotic necrotizing fasciitis (MNF).The condition of patients with rhinocerebral mucormycosis or MNF aggravated rapidly and all the 3 patients died from mucormycosis. Histopathological examination showed mixed infiltrates of inflammatory cells as well as necrosis and angioin vasion.On the contrary,the condition of the remaining 4 patients with cutanesus mucormycosis,who presented mainly with indurated erythematous patch,progressed slowly,and 2 patients were cured.Histologically,the lesions were characterized by granulbmatous infiltration with a few hyphae;no typical angioinva sion phenomenon was noted.There was no evidence of perineural invasion with hyphae in any of the 7 cases.ConclusionIn patients with mucormycosis,histopathological findings characterized by mixed infiltrates of inflammatory cells,numerous hyphae and typical angioinvasion phenomenon may herald a poor prognosis.

Paeoniflorin (PF) is the chief active component of paeonia, with diverse pharmacological actions and wide application. Recently, the effect of PF on nervous system has attracted increasingly more attention. According to current study findings, PF can ameliorate the decline of memory and learning capacities in many dementia model animals, and have effect in protecting the cerebral ischemia injury, treating Parkinson's disease, reliving pain and improving neural synapse plasticity. Thought its mechanism has not been clarified, current findings show that adenosine A1 receptor plays an important role, while M cholinergic receptor, opiate receptor, calcium ion channel and NF-KB may also play a part in paeoniflorin's effect on nervous system.
Animals ; Benzoates ; pharmacology ; Bridged-Ring Compounds ; pharmacology ; Calcium Channels ; metabolism ; Glucosides ; pharmacology ; Learning ; drug effects ; Memory ; drug effects ; Monoterpenes ; NF-kappa B ; metabolism ; Nervous System ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Receptor, Adenosine A1 ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of lycopene on red blood cell and the level of blood lipid.

METHODSAccording to the level of serum total cholesterol and weight, forty-eight adult male SD rats were divided randomly into six groups: normal control (group A), fed by normal feed; hyperlipidemia group (group B): fed by high fat diet; positive control group (group C): fed by high fat diet plus 10 mg * kg(-1) * d(-1) fluvastatin sodium; lycopene groups: fed by high fat diet plus 11 (group D), 22 (group E), 44 mg * kg(-1) * d(-1) (group F) lycopene through gavage, respectively. For all six groups, the level of serum total cholesterol (TC) and total triglyceride (TG) were measured at the end of 0, 1, 3 weeks of the study by taking samples from tail vein. At the end of the experiment, RBC and HGB were measured.

RESULTSAfter the rats were fed with high-fat feed for a week, models of hyperlipidemia rats were established. At the end of 3 weeks, TC of group A, B, C, D, E and F were (1.31 +/- 0.05), (19.40 +/- 0.54), (4.66 +/- 0.07), (7.18 +/- 0.06), (5.30 +/- 0.28), (4.49 +/- 0.23) mmol/L (F = 4395.72, P = 0.00), respectively;and TG were (0.42 +/- 0.01), (2.29 +/- 0.42), (0.69 +/- 0.03), (1.10 +/- 0.05), (0.63 +/- 0.02), (0.62 +/- 0.04) mmol/L (F = 127.26, P = 0.00), respectively; HGB were (143.13 +/- 6.33), (112.63 +/- 2.56), (124.75 +/- 3.62), (124.63 +/- 7.78), (132.38 +/- 6.41), (142.13 +/- 5.54) g/L (F = 34.14, P = 0.00), respectively; RBC were (6.75 +/- 0.60) x 10(12)/L, (5.08 +/- 0.75) x 10(12)/L, (7.14 +/- 0.82) x 10(12)/L, (5.94 +/- 1.09) x 10(12)/L, (6.18 +/- 0.36) x 10(12)/L and (7.31 +/- 0.58) x 10(12)/L (F = 10.35, P = 0.00), respectively.

CONCLUSIONLycopene have some protective effects on red blood cells of the hyperlipidemic rats by regulating the blood lipid and antioxidant.

Animals ; Carotenoids ; pharmacology ; Cholesterol ; blood ; Cholesterol, LDL ; blood ; Erythrocytes ; drug effects ; Hypercholesterolemia ; blood ; Lipids ; blood ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Triglycerides ; blood