China ; Humans ; Mouth Diseases ; Mouth Mucosa

Administration, Topical ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Lichen Planus, Oral ; complications ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Oral Ulcer ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Tacrolimus ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome

The effects of salvia miltiorrhiza Bge (SMB) on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and the expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in the left ventricle of spontaneously hypertensive rats and the action mechanism were investigated. Normal Wistar-kyoto (WKY) rats were used as negative control, and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were randomly assigned to receive placebo or SMB. SMB (1 g/kg.d) was injected intraperitoneally for 12 weeks. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) were measured. HE, VG and immunohistochemical staining combined with computed morphometry were employed to evaluate the cardiomyocyte size, diameter, the collagen volume fraction (CVF), perivascular circumferential area (PVCA), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) expression in the left ventricular tissue. The results showed, as compared with WKY rats, the SBP, LVMI, cardiomyocyte size, diameter, CVF, PCVA, and TNF-alpha expression were increased markedly in the 20-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats. SMB decreased LVMI (P<0.01), size of cardiomyocytes (P<0.01), collagen volume fraction (P<0.01), perivascular circumferential area (P<0.01), and TNF-alpha expression (P<0.01), but had no effect on SBP (P>0.05). It was suggested that chronic administration of SMB could inhibit and reverse the development of LVH in spontaneously hypertensive rats independent of BP. TNF-alpha may be involved in the reversal mechanism of LVH by SMB.

To synthesize KLD-12 peptide with sequence of AcN-KLDLKLDLKLDL-CNH(2) and trigger its self-assembly in vitro, to encapsulate rabbit MSCs within peptide hydrogel for 3-D culture and to evaluate the feasibility of using it as injectable scaffold for tissue engineering of IVD. KLD-12 peptide was purified and tested with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectroscopy (MS). KLD-12 peptide solutions with concentrations of 5 g/L, 2.5 g/L and 1 g/L were triggered to self-assembly with 1xPBS in vitro, and the self-assembled peptide hydrogel was morphologically observed. Atomic force microscope (AFM) was employed to examine the inner structure of self-assembled peptide hydrogel. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were encapsulated within peptide hydrogel for 3-D culture for 2 weeks. Calcein-AM/PI fluorescence staining was used to detect living and dead cells. Cell viability was observed to evaluate the bioactivity of MSCs in KLD-12 peptide hydrogel. The results of HPLC and MS showed that the relative molecular mass of KLD-12 peptide was 1467.83, with a purity quotient of 95.36%. KLD-12 peptide at 5 g/L could self-assemble to produce a hydrogel, which was structurally integral and homogeneous and was able to provide sufficient cohesion to retain the shape of hydrogel. AFM demonstrated that the self-assembly of KLD-12 peptide hydrogel was successful and the assembled material was composed of a kind of nano-fiber with a diameter of 30-40 nm and a length of hundreds of nm. Calcein-AM/PI fluorescence staining revealed that MSCs in KLD-12 peptide hydrogel grew well. Cell activity detection exhibited that the A value increased over the culture time. It is concluded that KLD-12 peptide was synthesized successfully and was able to self-assemble to produce nano-fiber hydrogel in vitro. MSCs in KLD-12 peptide hydrogel grew well and proliferated with the culture time. KLD-12 peptide hydrogel can serve as an excellent injectable material of biological scaffolds in tissue engineering of IVD.

Objective To investigate the effect of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and sildenafil on the systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (SPAP),right ventricular hypertrophy index (RVHI),pulmonary arterial and heart structural of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) rat models.Methods The rat models of monocrotaline (MCT)-PAH were developed.Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly assigned into the control group,the MCT group,the MMF (40 mg·kg-1·d-1) group,the sildenafil (20 mg·kg-1·d-1) group,and the MMF (40 mg·kg-1·d-1) + sildenafil (20 mg·kg-1·d-1) group.The SPAP and RVHI were measured,and the pulmonary arterial and heart structural changes were observed for all rats.Statistical analysis were performed by one-way ANOVA and rank-sum test.Results ① SPAP of the MMF group,the sildenafil group and the MMF + sildenafil group were (31±8),(37±8),(29±6) mmHg,while that of the MCT group was (53±7) mmHg,the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.01).The RVHIs in the MMF group,the sildenafil group and the MMF+sildenafil group were reduced [(0.365±0.038),(0.407±0.047),(0.325 ±0.459) respectively] when compared with the MCT group (0.543±0.080),the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.01).The SPAP between the MMF+sildenafil group and the sildenafil group was statistically significantly different (P＜0.05),and the RVHI difference between the MMF+ sildenafil group and the sildenafil group was statistically significant (P＜0.05).② The wall thic-kness/tubes diameter of the MMF group (0.355±0.074) and the MMF+sildenafil group (0.289±0.017) were reduced when compared with that of the MCT group [(0.466±0.006)],the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).The wall thickness/tubes diameter of the MMF group (0.355±0.074) were reduced compared with the sildenafil group (0.455±0.006),and the difference was statistically significant (P＜O.05).In addition,the wall thickness/tubes diameter of the MMF+ sildenafil group (0.289±0.017) was reduced when compared with that of the sildenafil group (0.455±0.006),and the difference was statistically significant (P＜ 0.05).Conclusion Both sildenafil and MMF can reduce the SPAP and RVHI of PAH rat models induced by MCT.MMF and sildenafil can reduce wall thickness as well.

With the rapid increase of educational resources, how to search for necessary educational resource quickly is one of most important issues. Educational resources have the characters of distribution and heterogeneity, which are the same as the characters of Grid resources. Therefore, the technology of Grid resources search was adopted to implement the educational resources search. Motivated by the insufficiency of currently resources search methods based on metadata, a method of extracting semantic relations between words constituting metadata is proposed. We mainly focus on acquiring synonymy, hyponymy, hypernymy and parataxis relations. In our schema, we extract texts related to metadata that will be expanded from text spatial through text extraction templates. Next, metadata will be obtained through metadata extraction templates. Finally, we compute semantic similarity to eliminate false relations and construct a semantic expansion knowledge base. The proposed method in this paper has been applied on the education grid.

BACKGROUND: Lumbar spondylolysis is typically caused by a stress fracture of the bone, especially for who over-train in activities. Besides, there is hereditary that can make one more susceptible to the defect. The treatment methods include conservative management and surgery, both with their own indications, advantages,disadvantages and prognosis.OBJECTIVE: To summarize the range of application, advantages and disadvantages of each treatment method of spondylolysis.METHODS: PubMed, CNKI, and VIP databases were retrieved using the keywords of spondylolysis, isthmic spondylolisthesis, treatment/therapy in English and Chinese, respectively. The articles were grouped based on the treatment method after skimming the abstract, and then the indications, operative principles, and advantages/disadvantages were recorded.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Surgeries of spondylolysis are classified as interbody fusion, Buck's method, Scott's fusion, pedicle screw-hook system, memory alloy plates for internal fixation, segmental fusion and mini-invasive treatment. Among which, Buck's methods and pedicle screw-hook system are widely accepted. Additionally, minimally invasive treatment becomes more and more prevailed.

Biological ultrasonic (US),photoacoustic (PA) and magnetoacoustic (MA) imaging techniques had similar imaging principles and complementary characteristics.Combined US,PA or MA imaging can provide joint images of biological tissues which present complementary information for more comprehensive characterization of tissues in contrast to single imaging technique.The pathological tissues could be precisely located and their morphology and composition could be accurately identified.This review presented current progresses in combined PA-US,MA-US and US-PA-MA imaging techniques,espeically endoscopic imaging,focusing on the technical aspects of integration and their applications in biomedicine.

Quantitative measurement of strain distribution of arterial vessel walls due to pulsatile blood flow within the vascular lumen is valuable for evaluating the elasticity of arterial wall and predicting the evolution of plaques. The present paper shows that the three-dimensional (3D) strain distribution are estimated through uni-directional coupling for 3D vessel and blood models reconstructed from intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) images with the computational. fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation technique. The morphology of vessel wall and plaques as well as strain distribution can be visually displayed with pseudo-color coding.
Arteries ; diagnostic imaging ; physiology ; Elasticity ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Pulsatile Flow ; Ultrasonography