MicroRNAs(miRNAs) are a newly discovered class of small noncoding RNAs that rcgulate gene expression by translational repression or mRNA degradation.It has become evident that miRNAs are involved in many important biological processes,including tissue differentiation and development,showing a tissue specificity and development-stage specificity.In the other hand,miRNAs play critical roles in neovascularization and a variety of pathophysiological processes,such as pathological angiogenesis,oxidative stress response,immune response and inflammation.Currently,miRNAs of the retina,lens and cornea have been established,and they would be potential therapeutic targets in the eye diseases.Here,the distribution of miRNAs in the eye and their role in ocular diseases were summarized.

Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of Chinese herbal and western medicines(CHM & WM)combined with acupoint pulse-laser stimulation(APLS)for calculus of upper urinary tract.Methods Sixty cases of calculus of upper urinary tract were allocated to the treatment group(Group A,n=36)and the control group (Group B,n=24).Group A was treated with CHM & WM combined with APLS and Group B with CHM alone.Results The therapeutic effect rate was 94.4% and 75.0% in Group A and Group B respectively (P

Rectal cancer is one of the common malignant tumors in China,and the incidence rate is rising year by year.Comprehensive treatment based on surgical operation is the major treatment of low rectal cancer.The treatment concept requires not only radical resection of tumor,but also preservation of the anal and urogenital function,to improve the quality of patients' life.By improving the accuracy of preoperative staging of rectal cancer,neoadjuvant therapy,and following the principle of total mesorectal excision,patients can benefit in terms of increased resection rate,decreased operation complication incidence,increased sphincter preservation,decreased local recurrence and increased overall survival rate.With the development of medical technology,minimally invasive surgery of low rectal cancer has been developed rapidly.In this paper,new progress in the surgical treatment of low rectal cancer will be reviewed.

Alzheimer's disease(AD) is one of the most common causes of mental deterioration in elderly individuals, accounting for around 45~60% of the overall cases of dementia over 65 years of age. Although there is presently no "cure" for AD, a large number of potential therapeutic interventions have emerged to correct cholinergic dysfunctions. Currently, cholinergic therapy, particularly cholinesterase inhibition, represents the most realistic approach to the symptomatic treatment of AD. Modest efficacy for mild to moderate AD has been shown in well-designed clinical trials for tacrine, donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantimine. Among other treatment options, estrogen replacement therapy in postmenopausal women is under active investigation, but recent studies showed somewhat disappointing results. Epidemiological and clinical data suggest that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are beneficial in the treatment and prevention of AD. But prednisone and COX-2 inhibitor, celecoxib showed no clinical benefit in recent studies. Alpha-tocopherol and gingko biloba showed some beneficial effect in delaying the progression of AD and enhancing cognitive functions. Immunization with beta amyloid peptide was considered to be the only method to prevent and halt disease progression in patients with AD. Recently, phase II clinical trial using synthetic beta amyloid peptide (AN-1792) was discontinued because some patients showed neuro-inflammation which may be caused by autoimmune responses.
Aged ; alpha-Tocopherol ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Amyloid ; Autoimmunity ; Celecoxib ; Cholinesterases ; Cognition ; Dementia ; Disease Progression ; Estrogen Replacement Therapy ; Female ; Ginkgo biloba ; Humans ; Immunization ; Methods ; Prednisone ; Rivastigmine ; Tacrine

Animals ; Hepacivirus ; genetics ; Hepatitis C ; immunology ; prevention & control ; therapy ; virology ; Humans ; Mutation ; Viral Hepatitis Vaccines ; immunology

BACKGROUND: Alienation is derived from dissimilation in philosophy.It is practically defined as the subjective state of individuals who develop negative feelings such as social isolation, uncontrollable and meaningless sense, oppression, and self-alienation because they are alien to others, the.society, nature and themselves, and even feel controlled.OBJECTIVE: To investigate alienation from psychological perspective,aiming to construct and verify the theoretical hypothesis of alienation,thereby working out alienation scale for adolescent students.DESIGN: Cross-sectional investigation.SETTING:National Key Research Center of Basic Psychology and National Key Liberal Arts of Southwest Normal University.PARTICIPANTS: The investigation was carried out from March to June 2000. The method of cohort stratified random sampling was adopted and the questionnaire was administered to adolescent students in Chongqing City and Lanzhou City. Inclusion criteria: volunteer students of grade one in junior high school to grade four in colleges. Exclusion criteria: Those who had incomplete data or had differences of more than 6 points in the total scores for three matched lie-testing questions in the questionnaire. A total of 1502 pieces of questionnaire were collected (including 1 066 questionnaires used for exploratory factor analysis and 436 questionnaires for verifying factor analysis); the age of the students covered the whole range of adolescence, and the boy-to-girl ratio in each grade was matched.METHODS:We combined literature analysis, investigation research and interview. The details are as follows: First, theoretical hypothesis was put forward based on literature analysis; then related variances were collected through interviews and open questionnaires, which were compared with the items in scales used home and abroad at present so as to work out predicting questions for adolescence alienation questionnaire. Finally, 52 items were screened out and used to construct the preliminary questionnaire. The formal alienation scale was made after standardized designation of behavioral variances, and verified for alienation analysis in adolescent students.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Behavioral apparent variances were collected based on interviews and open questionnaires, and used as psychological potential variances after statistical processing.RESULTS:Data of 1502 pieces of questionnaire were analyzed.① The correlation coefficient of each item in the scale was over 0.35. ② The correlation coefficient of each item with the dimension was over 0.30, with statistical significance(P ＜ 0.01). ③ The reliability coefficient of each item was over 0.39 with great significance(P ＜ 0.01). ④ Alienation was displayed in three dimensions: social alienation, interpersonal alienation and surrounding alienation, which were associated with the correspondingdimensions of related scales (P ＜ 0.05-0.01). ⑤Alienation could be divided into 9 levels: sense of meaninglessness, sense of self alienation, isolation, nature alienation, parent alienation, environmental alienation, sense of uncontrollability and social alienation. Parameters that accorded with the theoretical hypothesis and used for verifying analysis were proved rational.Based on the analysis of the 9 first-rank factors, second-rank structural model of 3 unrelated factors were obtained using main component analysis and the maximum variance cross rotation with the optimal coefficients of simulated parameters of: X2/df=4.87;GFI=0.94;A GFI=0.90;RMR=0.0S;NFI=0.93;NNFI=0.92;CFI=0.95;IFI=0.95.CONCLUSION: Alienation scale has been proved to be reliable and valid. It can be used to assess alienation in adolescent students and has potential value of application in healthy psychological development and psychological education.

BACKGROUND: International research discovers that the risk factors of stroke have certain correlation with microalbuminuria(MAU) but the results are inconsistent.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the incidence of MAU in patients with acute cerebral infarction and the risk factor of stroke and the recurrence of cerebral infarction.DESIGN: A case-control study based on patients with acute cerebral infarction and individuals with risk factors of cerebral infarction, and the healthy elderly as controls.SETTING: Inpatient department of neurology in a university hospital.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 214 cases with cerebral infarction or risk factors of cerebral infarction aged between 50 and 80 years old were selected from the Department of Neurology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University between January 2000 and December 2001. Acute cerebral infarction group (infarction group, attack within one week, n =78), cerebral infarction risk factor group(risk group, n = 56), such as, hypertension, diabetes,coronary heart disease (CHD), transient ischemic attack(TIA) or stroke history(more than 6 months), and healthy elderly(control group, n=28) .Thereinto, combined group( n = 109) included 78 cases of acute cerebral infarction and 31 cases with TIA or stroke history of risk factors.METHODS: Seralbumin, serum creatine(SCr), blood sugar, total cholesterol, total triacylglycerol(TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C) were detected after more than 12 hours of fasting. The albumin in the first urine in the morning was detected by radio-immunity analysis.the incidence of neo-vascular affair in 2 years of follow-up including recurtute indicator: incidence of MAU in each group.RESULTS: Patients with MAU accounted for 35% of acute cerebral infarction, which were significantly higher than that of risk group(15% ) and control group(3.5%, P ＜ 0.01). Six independent risk factors predicting MAU existed in infarction group and combined group, which were diabetes, seralbumin level, age, CHD, hypertension, and HDL-C( P ＜ 0. 05, or P ＜ 0.01).After(1.5 ±0. 9) years of follow-up, 23% of patients of infarction group suffered from recurrent vascular accident, which was significantly higher than that of risk group(12% ) and control group(0%, P ＜ 0.01 ). 36% of MAU patients in infarction group suffered from recurrent vascular accident, which was significantly different from that of patients with a great deal of albuminuria(41% ) and normal albuminuria(10%, P ＜ 0. 05). MAU is the independent predicting indicator for the recurrence of stroke after the control of diabetes and hypertension in patients of infarction group and risk group with the risk rate of 3.8 (95% CI, 1.2-13.5; P ＜0.05) or 4. 7(95%CI,1.4-16.7, P ＜ 0.01).CONCLUSION: MAU is quite common in acute cerebral infarction patients. After the adjustment of basic risk factors, MAU is the independent risk factor of the recurrence of cerebral infarction.

Objective To observe weight and serum leptin changes in epileptic women who taking valproate or topiramate. Method All 40 epileptic women were treated with valproate or topiramate. Weight and body mass index and serum leptin were measured before and after three months treatment. Result Nine of 20 patients taking valproate gained weight (≥4 kg), and their serum leptin concentration was increased as well [(13.2?3.6) ng/ml vs (7.4?3.0)ng/ml, P

Objective To study the effects of zinc-metallothionein (ZnMT) on the cadmium-induced oxidative damage of liver and kidney in mice. Methods The model of laboratory animal was established by 14 d-cadmium exposure to Kunming mice. Then the cadmium-poisoning mice were grouped as Cd-ZnMT group and Cd-ZnSO4 group and perfused orally by solution of ZnMT and ZnSO4 for 14 days respectively. The morphological changes of liver and kidney were observed by electron microscope. The contents of malonydiadehyde (MDA), the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in supernatant fluid of liver and kidney were determined. Results The decreases of the contents of MDA, the increases of the activities of SOD and GSH-Px in liver and kidney of mice in Cd-ZnMT and Cd-ZnSO4-exposure group were observed compared with those in cadmium-exposure group, the dose-effect relationships were also found. The increases of the activities of SOD and GSH-Px, the decrease of contents of MDA of liver and kidney, were found in Cd-ZnMT-exposure group compared with those of Cd-ZnSO4-exposure group, but without statistical significances. The morphological damages of liver and kidney observed by electron microscope in mice of cadmium-exposure group were more serious than those in mice treated with solution of ZnMT and ZnSO4 after cadmium exposure. Conclusion ZnMT could repair the lipid peroxidative damages in liver and kidney in mice induced by exposure to cadmium in a certain degree.

The effects of exogenous Na-DL-3-hydroxybutyate (3-HOBNa)and insulin(I) on skeletal muscle protein metabolism in rats inflicctcd with 37% TBSA full thickness scalding were studied It was found that the scrum acctoacctatc (AcAc) of the burned animals showed no significant difference from the control on the 4th day postburn,but the free fatty acid (FFA) decreased markedly and the urinary 3 - methylhistididne(3-MH) excretion and the protein de -gradation rate of the soleus muscle of the injured hind limb increased na kedly.Infusion of 3-HOBNa for 3 consecutive days following burns could lower the urinary 3-MH excretion and the protein,degradation rate of the soleus muscle with no significant influence on the skeletal muscle protein anabolism.Moreover,investigations revealed that there was no syncrgistic effect of insulin-kctone body combinalioan on the anti-catabolic capacity in burned rats.