Autophagy is a crucial biological process of eukaryotes, which is involved in cell growth, survival and energy metabolism, while the premise of the autophagy function is activated autophagic flux. It has been confirmed that impaired autophagic flux promotes pathogenesis of many chronic inflammatory diseases, especially cancer, neurodegenerative disease and tissue fibrosis, therefore the analysis of autophagic flux state is important for revealing autophagy function and the mechanism of autophagy related diseases. Given that autophagy is a dynamic process with multiple steps, it is very hard to observe the real state of autophagic flux. Summarized here is the novel concept and current approach to detect autophagic flux. This knowledge is crucial for the researching of the biological function of autophagy, and may provide some strategies for developing autophagy-related drug.
Autophagy ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Inflammation ; pathology ; Neoplasms ; pathology ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; pathology

Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported ; Humans ; Oral Hygiene ; Quality of Life

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value and therapeutic effect of laparoscopy combined with hysteroscopy in patients with tubal infertility.Methods A total of 133 patients with tubal infertility were treated by laparoscopy combined with hysteroscopy in our hospital from September 2004 to December 2007.All the cases were diagnosed by hysterosalpingography(HSG) and hysteroscopy.Results Totally 225 fallopian tubes were examined in the 133 patients,among which 180 tubes were completely occluded,57 were partially occluded,and 18 were patent.After the surgeries,211 tubes wee patent,24 were partially blocked,while 20 were still occluded.The success rate of the operations was 81.4%(193/237).Follow-up was achieved in 92 patients for 4 to 18 months,in the cases,30 were pregnant during the period(pregnancy rate: 32.6%).Of the 30 cases,2 women had tubal pregnancy;22 women were pregnant in 6 months after the treatments,and the other 8 were pregnant in 6-12 months after the operations.In this group of patients,the pregnancy rate in the women with both patent fallopian tubes was 26.1%(24/92),and in those with single patent fallopian tube was 6.5%(6/92).The pregnancy rate in patients with simple tubal infertility was 22.8%(21/92),while that of those who were complicated with tubal diseases was 9.8%(9/92).Conclusion Laparoscopy combined with hysteroscopy can accurately diagnose tubal infertility,and improve the therapeutic effect.

Objective To evaluate and compare the results of different operative methods for different types of femoral neck fracture. Methods To assess the treatment effect of two methods. Some eases of femoral neck fracture of basal-neck type and via-neck type were treated with closed reduction internal fixation with two compression spiral screws(14 eases). Other eases(32 eases) of femoral neck fracture of sub-head type and head-neck type were treated with closed reduction internal fixation with two cannulated compression screws and bone graft flaped with quadrate muscle of thigh. Results 41 cases were followed up. The average healing time was 3 years and 10 months.The bone healing rate was 97.5% ,femoral head necrosis occurred in 2.4% ,excellent and good rate was 92.6%.Conclusion Cases of femoral neck fracture of sub-head type and head-neck type were treated with closed reduction internal fixation with two cannulated compression screws and bone graft flaped with quadrate muscle of thigh. This method has the advantage of reliable fixation, simple operation, less injury and little hemorrhage. It can improve the rate of fracture union and reduce the rate of avascular necrosis of femoral head. It is the optimal method for the treatment of femoral neck fractures.

Objective To evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial activity of piperacillin-sulbactam against clinical isolates of non-fermentative bacilli isolated from common infections. Methods Microdilution was employed to study the antimicrobial resistance. Results A total of 770 strains were collected from 6 hospitals in Guangzhou, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia , Burkholderia cepacia , Flavobacterium , and Alcaligenes. Compared with other β-lactams,piperacillin-sulbactam displayed the highest activity against all the isolates of P. aeruginosa, especially for imipenem non-sensitive isolates, with the susceptibility of 71.9% and 55.8%, respectively. Piperacillinsulbactam and cefoperazone-sulbactam kept good activity against imipenem sensitive isolates of A. baumannii,with the susceptibility of 71.0% and 73. 0%, respectively. For the strains of Burkholderia cepacia, 69% strains exhibited minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of ≤ 16 mg/L for piperacillin-sulbactam. For the strains of Flavobacterium, and Alcaligenes, piperacillin-sulbactam also had excellent activity, with the susceptibility of 70. 2% and 94. 4%, respectively. Conclusion Piperacillin-sulbactam exhibits good activity again non-fermentative bacilli, especial for imipenem non-sensitive isolates of P. aeruginosa.

Autophagy is an active research area in the biomedical field as its role has been identified in many physiological and pathological processes. Accordingly, there is a growing demand to identify, quantify and manipulate the process accurately. Meanwhile, there is great interest in identifying compounds that modulate autophagy because they may have applications in the treatment of a variety of autophagy-related diseases. In this review, we summarize the current status of autophagy screening systems to facilitate identification of autophagy modulators.
Autophagy ; Humans

Proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) are common pathological features of diabetic vascular complications,such as atherosclerosis and hypertension. Phenotypic modulation of VSMC is the basis for VSMC proliferation and migration. Therefore, studies on VSMC phenotypic modulation and its mechanisms in diabetes mellitus were of important significance to the prevention and therapy of diabetic vascular complications. This paper introduces VSMC phenotypic modulation and the underlying mechanisms in diabetes mellitus, and summarizes advance of studies on traditional Chinese medicine intervention upon VSMC phenotypic modulation, so as to provide reference for preventing and treating diabetic vascular complications with traditional Chinese medicines.
Atherosclerosis ; drug therapy ; prevention & control ; Cell Movement ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Diabetes Mellitus ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Hypertension ; drug therapy ; prevention & control ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; drug effects ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; drug effects ; Phenotype

To investigate the protective effects and possible mechanism of Mycelium of Hirsutella hepiali Chen et Shen (MHCS) on metabolic syndromes, free fatty acid and MHCS-treated hepatocytes were used for detecting autophagy-related LC3, p62 and lipid accumulation. Moreover, high fat diet fed mice were used to establish metabolic syndromes model. 50-weeks age mice were randomly divided into: control group, model group and MHCS group. At 80-weeks age, 15 mice were randomly chosen from each group separately for examining oral glucose tolerance, serum insulin, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), hepatic LC3, p62, p-NF-kappaB p65, NF-kappaB p65, IL-6 and CXCL-8. Moreover, insulin resistance index (IRI) was calculated. Hepatic pathological changes, including vacuoles, lipids accumulation and fibrosis were observed. Remaining mice were fed with diet separately to 110 weeks-age for statistics of mortality. MHCS promoted autophagy of free fatty acid treated hepatocytes. Mice fed with high fat plus MHCS diet exhibited improved oral glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, hepatic pathology, inflammation, mortality and activated autophagy. The protective effects of MHCS against metabolic syndroms might be through the activation of hepatic autophagy.
Animals ; Autophagy ; Diet, High-Fat ; adverse effects ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Hepatocytes ; metabolism ; pathology ; Hypocreales ; Insulin ; blood ; Insulin Resistance ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; metabolism ; Interleukin-6 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-8 ; metabolism ; Liver ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome ; etiology ; metabolism ; pathology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; metabolism ; Mycelium ; physiology ; Random Allocation ; Transcription Factor RelA ; metabolism ; Transcription Factors ; metabolism

AIM: To observe the hemostatic effect and hemostasis mechanism of XHJ (Auena fatua L.) oral Liqnid on animals. METHODS: Bleeding time (BT) and clotting time (CT) were measured by means of tail cutting and glass slide method on mice, Von willebrand factoe (vWF), prothrombin time (PT) and Kaolin partial thromboplastin time (KPTT) were observed by immunoterbidimerry and coagulase test, antithrombin Ⅲ(AT-Ⅲ) by chromophoric matrix method platelet count by tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), plasminogen activatore inactivator (PAI). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that XHJ has remarkable effect on hemostasis; Its mechanism is related to accelerating blood coagulatlon, inhibiting fibrinolytic activity, adding blood vessel endothelial cell release and improving platelet adhesiveness and aggregation.

Z-Ligustilide, a major phthalide isolated from a widely used traditional Chinese medicine Ligusticum chuanxiong, possesses various pharmacological activities including neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative and vasorelaxing effects. However, it is unstable and inclined to degrade in natural conditions, which limits its study and application greatly. In this study, degradation behavior of Z-ligustilide and its degradation products stored at room temperature under direct sunlight were investigated and structure elucidated by HPLC-UV, UPLC-QTOF-MS and NMR. Z-ligustilide degradation and total five degradation products were generated and detected. Two degradation products were unequivocally identified as senkyunolide I and senkyunolide H by comparison with reference compounds. Another two degradation products were further isolated by semi-preparative HPLC and structure elucidated as (E)-6, 7-trans-dihydroxyligustilide and (Z)-6, 7-epoxyligustilide by 1H and 13C NMR, respectively. The degradation pathways of Z-ligustilide were finally proposed. Oxidation, hydrolysis and isomerization are the major degradation reactions.