Erythropoietin(EPO) has an anti-apoptotic effect,and promotes the proliferation and differentiation of erythroid progenitor cells. Several studies have indicated that EPO can protect photoreceptor cells from the lightinduced retinal degeneration ;protect retinal neurons from ischemia-reperfusion injury and retinal ganglion cells after acute and chronic ocular hypertension; promote ganglion cell survival and axonal regeneration after optic nerve transaction; attenuate inflammation in multiple sclerosis optic neuritis; reduce the permeability of the retinal barrier and protect retinal neurons in diabetic retinopathy; enhance the stability of hypoxic retinal vessels in retinopathy of prematurity. Herein,we review the distribution of EPO and its receptor in retina,their expression in animal model of retinal diseases,and their effects and mechanisms in protection of retinal neurons and optic nerve.

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To investigate the effect of astragaloside IV on neurological function and the protein expres -sion of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), Notch1 and NF-κB in acute cerebral hemorrhage (ACH) rats.METHODS:ACH model in rats was established via injection of autologous blood , and the rats were divided into 4 groups:sham, ACH, ACH+astragaloside IV (100 mg/kg) and ACH+astragaloside IV (200 mg/kg) groups.The impairment of neurological func-tion in each group was graded , and the brain coefficient and water content were calculated .The serum level of NSE was measured by ELISA.Additionally, the expression of Notch1 and NF-κB was determined by Western blot .RESULTS:As-tragaloside IV improved the neurological function and decreased the brain coefficient and water content in ACH rats .Moreo-ver, the ACH-induced increase in NSE was inhibited after astragaloside IV treatment .Similarly, astragaloside IV also sig-nificantly attenuated the expression of Notch 1 and NF-κB in ACH rats.CONCLUSION: Astragaloside IV attenuates the impairment of neurological function in ACH rats , which may be through decreasing the NSE level and down-regulating the expression of Notch1 and NF-κB.

AIM: To explore the effect of early posterior approach vitrectomy in the treatment of penetrating ocular trauma with intraocular foreign body.METHODS: Totally 10 cases of penetrating ocular trauma with intraocular foreign bodies(IOFB) in the past two years were included.Emergency vitrectomy, intraocular foreign body removal and silicone oil tamponade were performed by the same surgeon.Antibiotics and steroids were given after surgeries.Retinal photocoagulation was done according to fundus conditions after surgeries.RESULTS: One patient combined with preoperation endophthalmitis and severely damaged retina failed to recover, eventually came to phthisis bulbi.Vitrectomy and IOFB removal were all successfully performed in the other patients.The postoperation follow-up time was 3-18mo.Two of the patients received secondary vitrectomy and silicone replacement surgeries due to recurrent retinal detachment.The remaining patients had no further bleeding with intraoclar pressure(IOP) 8-21mmHg.At the last follow-up, three of them gained best corrected visual acuity better than 0.1, two patients had visual acuity of 0.01 to 0.1 and four patients had poor visual acuity of light perception to FC/50cm because of macular damage.The patient with phthisis bulbi had no light perception.CONCLUSION: Early vitrectomy, foreign body removal and silicone oil tamponade is an effective treatment for patients with penetrating eyeball injury with IOFB.

Objective To study the effect of glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist(exendin-4)on insulin signaling pathway in skeletal muscle of mice with insulin resistance(IR). Methods Thirty male KM mice were divided into normal control group(NC group, n=10)and IR group(n=20). The mice in NC group and IR group were fed with routine diet and high-fat diet for 16 weeks, respectively. After IR models were successfully established, 10 mice in IR group were treated with exendin-4(Ex group, 3μg·kg-1·d-1)for 4 weeks. NC group and IR group were given the same dose of normal saline. Body weight, fasting blood glucose(FBG), and fasting insulin(FINS)were measured before and after the intervention, and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance ( HOMA-IR ) was calculated . The muscle glycogen content were measured by Periodic Acid-Schiff Stain ( PAS ) . The expressions of insulinreceptor(IRC), insulin receptor substrate-1(IRS-1), and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K)in the skeletal muscle were measured by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Results Before intervention, the body weight, FBG, and HOMA-IR of IR group and Ex group were higher compared with NC group(all P<0. 05), but FINS did not rise significantly(P>0. 05). Compared with before intervention, the body weight of three groups after intervention were all increased, but increased more significantly in the IR group. After intervention, the FBG and HOMA-IR in Ex group decreased, compared with IR group and Ex group of non-intervention (all P<0. 05), but FINS did not decrease significantly(P>0. 05). The skeletal muscle cells in NC control were colored extensively and more colored granules, while IR group were less colored, and Ex group were between NC group and IR group. Compared with NC group, the expressions of IRC, IRS-1, and PI3K in the skeletal muscle of IR group were significantly decreased(P<0. 05), not in Ex group(P>0. 05). Compared with IR group, the expressions of IRC, IRS-1 and PI3K in Ex group were higher(P<0. 05). Conclusions Exendin-4 improves insulin resistance by up-regulating the expressions of IRC, IRS-1, and PI3K in the skeletal muscle and promoting the synthesis of muscle glycogen.

Objective To investigate the efficiency of intraclot microbubbles (MB) combined with urokinase (UK) mediated ultrasound (US) thrombolysis.Metho ds Fifty clots prepared by bovine whole blood were equally divided into 5 groups and were treated in a circulation system with collateral circulation tube.The clots were treated by US,MB and UK in group 1,by US and MBingroup 2,by US and UK in group 3 and by UK in group 4.The group5 was the control group without any treatment.The thrombolysis rate of each group was measured and compared.Residual clots were histologically observed with hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunofluorescence.Results The thrombolysis rate of group 1 ([73.64±14.16]％) was significantly higher than group 2 ([47.97± 11.66]％),group 3 ([57.33±8.65]％),group 4 ([50.85±9.63]％),and group 5 ([29.76±18.06] ％,all P＜0.05).Histological examination of the clots in group 1 showed multiple thrombolysis foci with clots collapse,and the degradation of fibrin network was further confirmed by immunofluorescence.Conclusion The intraclot MB mediated US thrombolysis combined with UK can enhance the rate of thrombolysis in vitro experiment.

Objective To understand how Vibrio vulnificus hemolysin (VvhA) affects the viability of murine liver CD4+ T cells as well as its effects on the numbers of mitochondria and the expression of CD62L. Methods The primary murine liver monocytes (MNs) were isolated from C57BL/ 6 mice and then treated with recombinant VvhA (rVvhA) for 6 hours in vitro. The viability of murine liver CD4+T cells and the expression of CD62L were measured by staining with anti-mouse CD4, CD8, CD44, CD62L and cell via-bility fluorescent dye or fluorescent antibody. Moreover, the cells were simply incubated with MitoTracker or JC-1 probes to label mitochondria and mitochondrial membrane potential, which were further analyzed by using flow cytometry analysis. Results With the increase in the doses of rVvhA, the viability of murine liv-er CD4+T cells was decreased from 81. 5% to 15. 8% . The expression of CD62L on the surface of murine liver CD4+T cells was dramatically decreased. Both the murine liver na?ve and effector CD4+ T cells were sensitive to the cytotoxicity of rVvhA. Moreover, treating murine liver CD4+ T cells with rVvhA resulted in significantly decreased numbers of mitochondria and lower mitochondrial membrane potential. Conclusion The cytotoxicity of rVvhA to murine liver CD4+T cells might be achieved through inhibiting the expression of CD62L, decreasing the numbers of mitochondria and lowering mitochondrial membrane potential.

Objective To analyze the papers published by domestic scientific research workers in order to improve the academic level of their papers. Methods The papers published by over 3000 domestic scientific research workers were investigated with questionnaires. Their motives to publish papers and the relation between the number of pub-lished papers and the assessment of their performance were analyzed. Results The number of papers published by domestic scientific research workers was increased. However, their academic level was to be further improved. Over quantization of the assessment mechanisms for scientific research increased the external motives to publish papers, thus leading to the insufficient internal motives of them to engage in scientific research. Conclusion A loose and comfortable academic environment should be created for the scientific research workers in order to initiate their in-ternal motives to publish papers. Over quantization of the assessment mechanisms for scientific research should be changed in order to reduce the external motives of domestic scientific research workers to publish papers. Innovative and cultural environment should be created in order to improve the soft power of scientific research in our country.

Objectives To compare prospective memory (PM) deficits with retrospective memory (RM) deficits and to explore the correlation between PM and RM in chronic schizophrenia. Methods Fifty chronic schizophrenia pa?tients and fifty healthy controls were recruited. The PM performance [event-based PM (EBPM) and time-based PM (TB?PM)] were evaluated by the Chinese version of the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (C-CAMPROMPT); working memory (WM) was evaluated by the digital span subtest (DS);immediate auditory logical memory (IALM), delayed audito?ry logical memory (DALM), immediate visual reproduction memory (IVRM) and delayed visual reproduction memory (DVRM) were evaluated by the logical memory and visual reproduction subtest. The score of each test was transformed to comparable standard score. Results Patients performed significantly worse on EBPM [(7.9 ± 3.4) vs. (13.7 ± 2.9)], TBPM [(6.9±3.6) vs. (13.0±3.2)], DS [sequence:(5.8±2.0) vs. (7.5±2.2);backward:(6.5±1.9) vs. (8.2±2.8)], IALM [(8.3±3.1) vs. (11.9 ± 2.5)], DALM [(7.4 ± 3.7) vs. (11.8 ± 2.6)], IVRM [(8.0 ± 2.7) vs. (11.2 ± 3.8)], and DVRM [(7.7 ± 3.5) vs. (10.8 ± 2.7)] scores than controls (P<0.05). The extent of deficits of EBPM and TBPM were greater than those of DS (sequence and backward), IALM, DALM, IVRM and DVRM (P<0.05), but not DALM (P>0.05). The performance of PM in chronic schizophrenia was significantly related to DS (sequence and backward), IALM, DALM and DVRM (P<0.05), but not IVRM (P=0.155). Conclusion:There are greater prospective memory deficits than retrospective memory deficits in chron?ic schizophrenia and the prospective memory deficits are correlated with the retrospective memory deficits in chronic schizophrenia.

Chinese Association for Science and Technology in conjunction with Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and Beijing Science and Technology Consulting Center carried out a survey of the research publications by science and technology professionals in China in year 2014.Based on the overall survey data,we selected the group of medical professionals,including medical organization personal according to the classification of different types of units and health care personals according to the job type,and analyzed the status of research publications,including the number of papers published,motivation,stress,evaluation mechanisms,journal selection,and compared with other classification groups.

Objective We reported the rehabilitative nursing points of patients with pectoralis minor muscle transplantation for recovery of thumb oppositional function. Methods We selected 10 patients who underwent pectoralis minor muscle transplantation for recovery of thumb oppositional function and gave them perfect preoperative examination and psychological nursing. We also implemented rigorous monitoring postoperation and auxiliary electric stimulation and functional exercises. The emphasis was put on the exercise of thumb oppositional function. Results The thumb oppositional function of all the ten patients recovered. The myodynamia reached level 4 and the shape of thenar was satisfying after 6 to 12 months of follow-up visit. Conclusions Sufficient preoperative psychological nursing and effective postoperative rehabilitative treatment had pivotal significance for the success of operation and the recovery of thumb oppositional function.