Objective: To study the relationship between mental health and achievement motivation of undergraduates. Method: 532 undergraduates completed SCL-90 and Academic Achievement Motive Scale. Results:17.29% subjects had mental problems. Undergraduates had higher score in self-oriented motive than society-oriented motive, while the score of SCL-90 correlated positively with score in society-oriented motive. In students with poor academic achievement, the score of SCL-90 negatively correlated with score in self-oriented motive. Conclusion:Society-oriented motive had negative influence on mental health of undergraduates and in those with poor academic achievement, poor mental health positively correlated with lower self-oriented motive.

Objective To investigate the effect of before and after combination therapy of thalidomide and methotrexate (T+M) on regulatory T cells and IL-6 expression profile,and to reveal the mechanism of therapeutic effect of T+M on rheumatoid arthritis.Methods A total of 58 patients with rheumatoid arthritis from August 2014 to August 2016 in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University.The flow cytometry assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to estimate the ratio of peripheral blood regulatory T cells and expression profile of IL-6 in peripheral blood lymphocyte before and after combination therapy of thalidomide and methotrexate .Results After combination therapy of T+M,the ratio of peripheral blood CD25 +Foxp3/CD4 +T cells had a marked increase compared with before combination of therapy of T +M;but the expression of IL-6 had a significant decrease in the group of after combination therapy of T +M compared with before combination therapy.Conclusion The effect of combination therapy of T+M on rheumatoid arthritis is associated with increasing the ratio of regulatory T cells and decreasing the secretion of IL-6 that could regulate T cells to homeostasis.

The role of serum and glucocorticoid-induced kinase 1 (SGK1) pathway in the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression was investigated in cultured human mesangial cells (HMCs) under high glucose. By using RT-PCR and Western blot, the effect of SGK1 on the CTGF expression in HMCs under high glucose was examined. Overexpression of active SGK1 in HMCs transfected with pIRES2-EGFP-S422D hSGK1 (SD) could increase the expression of phosphorylated SGK1 and CTGF as compared with HMCs groups transfected with pIRES2-EGFP (FP) under high glucose or normal glucose. Overexpression of inactive SGK1 in HMCs transfected with pIRES2-EGFP-K127N hSGK1 (KN) could decrease phosphorylated SGK1 and CTGF expression as compared with HMCs groups transfected with FP under high glucose. In conclusion, these results suggest that high glucose-induced CTGF expression is mediated through the active SGK1 in HMCs.
Cells, Cultured ; Connective Tissue Growth Factor/genetics ; Connective Tissue Growth Factor/*metabolism ; Glucose/*pharmacology ; Immediate-Early Proteins/metabolism ; Immediate-Early Proteins/*physiology ; Mesangial Cells/cytology ; Mesangial Cells/*metabolism ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/*physiology ; Signal Transduction/drug effects

Three long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) and arachidonic acid (ARA, 20:4n-6), are the most biologically active polyunsaturated fatty acids in the body. They are important in developing and maintaining the brain function, and in preventing and treating many diseases such as cardiovascular disease, inflammation and cancer. Although mammals can biosynthesize these long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, the efficiency is very low and dietary intake is needed to meet the requirement. In this study, a multiple-genes expression vector carrying mammalian A6/A5 fatty acid desaturases and multiple-genes expression vector carrying mammalian Δ6/Δ5 fatty acid desaturases and Δ6/Δ5 fatty acid elongases coding genes was used to transfect HEK293T cells, then the overexpression of the target genes was detected. GC-MS analysis shows that the biosynthesis efficiency and level of DHA, EPA and ARA were significantly increased in cells transfected with the multiple-genes expression vector. Particularly, DHA level in these cells was 2.5 times higher than in the control cells. This study indicates mammal possess a certain mechanism for suppression of high level of biosynthesis of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, and the overexpression of Δ6/Δ5 fatty acid desaturases and Δ6/Δ5 fatty acid elongases broke this suppression mechanism so that the level of DHA, EPA and ARA was significantly increased. This study also provides a basis for potential applications of this gene construct in transgenic animal to produce high level of these long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid.
Acetyltransferases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Arachidonic Acid ; biosynthesis ; Docosahexaenoic Acids ; biosynthesis ; Eicosapentaenoic Acid ; biosynthesis ; Fatty Acid Desaturases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fatty Acid Synthases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated ; biosynthesis ; Genetic Vectors ; HEK293 Cells ; Humans ; Transfection

Objective:To explore whether there were changes in midbrain morphology related to motor function in patients with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD).Methods:The study was conducted on a subset of patients with CSVD registered at the Department of Neurology of Peking Union Medical College Hospital from 2010 to 2018. All magnetic resonance imaging images were taken with a 3.0 T nuclear magnetic resonance imager. The measurement of anteroposterior diameter of the mesencephalon and the tegmentum of mesencephalon was performed on a personal computer with the image processing software RadiAnt DICOM Viewer. Several clinical manifestations of dyspraxia, dysphagia, dysarthria and dysuria were evaluated by interviewing the patient and family members living with the patient. Kinect depth camera combined with self-developed software platform was used to conduct quantitative evaluation of patients′ motor function. Three parameters, namely walking speed, walking time of three meters and time of standing up and sitting down, were selected from the obtained parameters. SPSS 17.0 software was used for statistical analysis.Results:A total of 176 patients were included, aged 30-88 (64.16±11.57) years. One hundred and fifteen patients were males, accounting for 65.34%. In patients with CSVD, anteroposterior diameter of the mesencephalon and the tegmentum of mesencephalon were negatively correlated with age ( B=-0.032, P<0.001; B=-0.020, P=0.006). The anteroposterior diameter of the mesencephalon was negatively correlated with symptoms of dyskinesia ( OR=0.006, 95% CI 0-0.135, P=0.001), even when the age and gender were adjusted ( OR=0.014,95% CI 0-0.416, P=0.013). The anteroposterior diameter of the mesencephalon was negatively correlated with symptoms of dysuria ( OR=0.046,95% CI 0.002-0.936, P=0.045), but no longer correlated when the age and gender were adjusted. The anteroposterior diameter of tegmentum of mesencephalo was also negatively correlated with symptoms of dyskinesia ( OR=0.035,95% CI 0.002-0.684, P=0.027), but no longer correlated after adjusting for age and gender. Video recording and evaluation of motor function were performed on 87 patients. Spearman correlation analysis showed that none of the three motor function scores was correlated with age or gender. The anteroposteric diameter of the midbrain was positively correlated with walking speed ( r=0.231 ,P=0.040) and negatively correlated with walking time of three meters ( r=-0.304, P=0.005), but not with standing up and sitting down time, while the anteroposteric diameter of tegmentum of mesencephalo was not correlated with all of them. Conclusion:There are changes in mesencephalon morphology in patients with CSVD, structural parameters of mesencephalon are related to motor function and urination function, and mesencephalon atrophy may be an independent related factor for symptoms of dyskinesia in patients with CSVD.

Excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-mediated responses are critical to embryonic development in the challenging in vitro environment. ROS production increases during early embryonic development with the increase in protein requirements for cell survival and growth. The ER is a multifunctional cellular organelle responsible for protein folding, modification, and cellular homeostasis. ER stress is activated by a variety of factors including ROS. Such stress leads to activation of the adaptive unfolded protein response (UPR), which restores homeostasis. However, chronic stress can exceed the toleration level of the ER, resulting in cellular apoptosis. In this review, we briefly describe the generation and impact of ROS in preimplantation embryo development, the ROS-mediated activation mechanism of the UPR via the ER, and the subsequent activation of signaling pathways following ER stress in preimplantation embryos.
Apoptosis ; Blastocyst* ; Cell Survival ; Embryonic Development ; Endoplasmic Reticulum ; Female ; Homeostasis ; In Vitro Techniques ; Organelles ; Oxygen* ; Pregnancy ; Protein Folding ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Unfolded Protein Response*

DHA (22:6n-3) is a Ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid with 22 carbon atoms and 6 double bonds, which has important biological functions in human body. Human and other mammals synthesize only limited amounts of DHA, more requirements must be satisfied from food resources. However, the natural resources of DHA (Mainly deep-sea fish and other marine products) are prone to depletion. New resources development is still insufficient to satisfy the growing market demand. Previous studies have revealed that the mammals can increase the synthesis of DHA and other long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids after transgenic procedures. In this study, mammalian cells were transfected with Δ6, Δ5 desaturase, Δ6, Δ5 elongase, Δ15 desaturase (Isolated from nematode Caenorhabditis elegans) and Δ4 desaturase (Isolated from Euglena gracilis), simultaneously. Results show that the expression or overexpression of these 6 enzymes is capable of conversion of the o-6 linoleic acid (LA, 18:2n-6) in DHA (22:6n-3). DHA content has increased from 16.74% in the control group to 25.3% in the experimental group. The strategy and related technology in our research provided important data for future production the valuable DHA (22:6n-3) by using genetically modified animals.
Animals ; Caenorhabditis elegans ; enzymology ; Cells, Cultured ; Docosahexaenoic Acids ; chemistry ; Euglena gracilis ; enzymology ; Fatty Acid Desaturases ; biosynthesis ; Linoleic Acid ; chemistry ; Mammals ; Transfection

Summary: The role of serum and glucocorticoid-induced kinase 1 (SGK1) pathway in the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression was investigated in cultured human mesangial cells (HMCs) under high glucose. By using RT-PCR and Western blot, the effect of SGK1 on the CTGF expression in HMCs under high glucose was examined. Overexpression of active SGK1 in HMCs transfected with pIRES2-EGFP-S422D hSGK1 (SD) could increase the expression of phosphorylated SGK1 and CTGF as compared with HMCs groups transfected with pIRES2-EGFP (FP) under high glucose or normal glucose. Overexpression of inactive SGK1 in HMCs transfected with pIRES2-EGFP-K127N hSGK1 (KN) could decrease phosphorylated SGK1 and CTGF expression as compared with HMCs groups transfected with FP under high glucose. In conclusion, these results suggest that high glucose-induced CTGF expression is mediated through the active SGK1 in HMCs.

Objective To observe the curative effect of entecavir combined with glucocorticoid in early stage hepatitis B liver failure. Methods The clinical data of 100 patients with early stage hepatitis B liver failure from February 2012 to February 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 50 patients were treated with entecavir combined with glucocorticoid (treatment group), and 50 patients were treated with entecavir (control group). The alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin (TBil), total cholesterol (TC), prothrombin activity (PTA), hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 levels were compared between 2 groups. Results The ALT, TBil, TC and PTA levels 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks after treatment in treatment group were significantly lower than those in control group, and there were statistical differences (P<0.05); there was no statistical difference in HBV-DNA between 2 groups (P>0.05). The TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10 levels 4 weeks after treatment in treatment group were significantly lower than those in control group: (2.5 ± 0.5) μg/L vs. (3.2 ± 0.7) μg/L, (16.8 ± 2.2) μg/L vs. (22.1 ± 2.4) μg/L and (7.3 ± 1.2) μg/L vs. (9.1 ± 1.8) μg/L, and there were statistical differences (P<0.05). Eight weeks after treatment, the effective rate and survival rate in treatment group were significantly higher than those in control group: 80％ (40/50) vs. 54％ (27/50) and 94％ (47/50) vs. 78％ (39/50), and there were statistical differences (P<0.01 or <0.05).In the treatment group, there was no serious adverse reaction during glucocorticoid therapy,and the patients recovered after withdrawal or reduction of glucocorticoid. Conclusions Entecavir combined with glucocorticoid has a significant effect on patients with early stage hepatitis B liver failure. It could improve survival rate, and the adverse effects of glucocorticoid are less.

Objective To assess the diagnostic value of serum soluble mannose receptor (sMR) for hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).Methods Fifty patients with CHB undergoing liver biopsy in the Department of Infectious Diseases , Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province from November 2016 to October 2018 were enrolled, including 28 males and 22 females.According to the stage of liver fibrosis, there were 15 cases without fibrosis (S0 group), 12 cases of mild fibrosis (S1-2 group), and 15 cases of moderate-severe fibrosis ( S3-4 group).Twenty healthy subjects (12 males and 8 females) were recruited as controls.Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the serum hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), procollagen type ⅢN-terminal peptide (PⅢP), collagen type IV (CIV) and sMR in all groups.One-way ANOVA, Spearman correlation analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used to analyze the data.Results The serum levels of sMR, HA, LN, CIV and PⅢP in S3-4 group were significantly higher than those in S 0 group ( t＝10.20, 4.69, 8.94, 2.35 and 4.34, respectively; all P＜0.05) and S1-2 group (t＝5.77, 4.23, 7.88, 2.71 and 3.43, respectively; all P＜0.05); and serum sMR level in S1-2 group was higher than that in S0 group ( t ＝6.23, P ＜0.05). Spearman rank correlation demonstrated that serum sMR level was positively correlated with the degree of liver fibrosis (r＝0.860, P＜0.01).ROC curve analysis showed that when 228.69 ng／mL was taken as cut-off value of sMR, its specificity and sensitivity for diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis were 93.3%and 88.6%, respectively.The diagnostic efficacy of sMR was significantly better than that of HA , LN, CIV and PⅢP (Z＝3.179, 3.467, 5.241 and 3.567, respectively; all P＜0.05).When 345.80 ng／mL was taken as cut-off value of sMR, the specificity and sensitivity for diagnosis of moderate to severe hepatic fibrosis were 85.7%and 86.7%, respectively; and its diagnostic efficacy was better than that of HA , CIV and PⅢP (Z＝2.253, 2.475 and 2.092, all P ＜0.05).Conclusion Serum sMR level is associated with the progression of liver fibrosis, it may be used as a new serological marker for non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis.