Objective To unravel the relationship between Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression in platelets and the activation of platelet in thrombocytopenia (TCP) in case of sepsis. Method A total of 64 patients with sepsis were prospectively studied with control. Platelet count (PC), mean platelet volume (MPV),platelet distribution width (PDW),platelet TLR4 expression, platelet PAC-1 expression, sCD40L and TNF-α concentrations were compared between healthy control group (15 cases) and sepsis group on admission and 3 d,Sd,and 9 days after admission. The changes of MPV and PDW in TCP and non-TCP subgroups of sepsis before and after treatment were recorded. Prognostic index was analyzed. Results The PC was lower in sepsis group (P=0.006), and MPV and PDW were higher in sepsis group than those in healthy control group (P = 0.046, P =0.001). Platelet TLR4 and PAC-1 expressions, and sCD40L and TNF-α levels also increased more significantly in sepsis group (P ＜ 0.001). PAC-1 expression and TNF- level were higher in TCP group than those in non-TCP group before and after treatment (P = 0.023, P = 0.011). The sCD40L concentration and platelet TLR4 expression were significantly higher in treated TCP groups than in non-TCP group (P = 0.047, P = 0.001). Compared with non-TCP,the rate of bleeding was higher (P = 0.024) and the length of ICU stay was longer (P = 0.013).The APACHE Ⅱ score and the 28-day mortality were higher in TCP group (P ＜ 0.01, P = 0.048). Conclusions The elevation of platelet TLR4 expression in sepsis along with platelet activation is closely related to the incidence of thrombocytopenia. The occurrence of TCP is a poor prognosis sign of sepsis.

Objective To investigate the value of arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI in evaluation of renal cortex perfusion in patients with type 2 diabetes.Methods Fifty patients with type 2 diabetes were enrolled and divided into simple diabetes (SD) group (n=25) and diabetes kidney disease (DKD) group (n=25) according to suffering from DKD or not.Based on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR),DKD group were further divided into mild disease subgroup (n=11,eGFR≥ 60 ml/[min · 1.73m2]) and moderate-severe disease subgroup (n=14,eGFR＜60 ml/[min · 1.73m2]).Twenty-five healthy volunteers were recruited as control group at the same time.ASL MRI were performed on all participants.The cortical renal blood flow (RBF) of bilateral kidneys were measured by 2 radiologists.The consistency between 2 radiologists was analyzed.Statistical analysis were conducted to analysis the differences in cortical RBF among different groups.Correlation analysis were performed to evaluate the relationship between RBF and eGFR in type 2 diabetes patients.Results Cortical RBF values measured by two radiologists showed high consistency (all ICC＞0.90).There was significant difference in cortical RBF among control group ([269.71±33.28]ml/[100 g · min]),SD group ([258.52±42.30]ml/[100 g · min]),mild disease group ([242.86±56.86]ml/[100 g · min]) and moderate-severe disease group ([173.39±27.16]ml/ [100 g· min];F=20.66,P＜0.01).Moreover,the RBF in moderate-severe disease group was significantly lower than those in other groups (all P＜0.01).And no significant differences of RBF was found among the remainder groups (P=0.064,0.320).RBF in type 2 diabetes patients was positively correlated to eGFR (r=0.646,P＜0.001).Conclusion ASL MRI is a valuable tool to quantitatively assess the renal perfusion in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus,which can provide potential imaging indicator as RBF for the functional evaluation of kidney.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the characteristics of proteinuria and glomerular lesions in Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis (HSPN) of adults.

METHODSThe pathologic results and clinical data of 103 HSPN patients were analyzed.

RESULTSPatients with mild or moderate proteinuria accounted for 40.8% and 37.9%, respectively. Patients with nephropathic proteinuria accounted for about 21.4%. Severer proteinuria resulted in higher blood pressure and increased cholesterol, and albumin decreased gradually (P < 0.01); meanwhile, total glomerular lesion, tubulointerstitial lesion, and vascular lesion also became severer (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONProteinuria may indirectly reflect the severity of glomerular lesions in HSPN of adults.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; blood ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Immunoglobulin M ; blood ; Kidney Glomerulus ; pathology ; Kidney Tubules ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nephritis ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Proteinuria ; etiology ; urine ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch ; complications ; pathology ; Retrospective Studies

Fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) is an important metabolism regulator, however, whether FGF-21 has effects on cardiovascular remains unclear. In this study, H2O2-induced injury in H9c2 cells was used as a cell model, the anti-apoptosis potential and mechanism of FGF-21 against oxidative injury were evaluated by MTT assay, flow cytometry assay and real-time PCR. The results showed that FGF-21 could increase the cell survival of H2O2-induced injury in H9c2 cells and prevent H9c2 cells from oxidative stress-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, FGF-21 can elevate SOD activity and regulate Bcl-2/Bax expression in H9c2 cells. The results suggest that FGF-21 have protective effect against the H2O2-induced apoptosis in H9c2 cells.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Fibroblast Growth Factors ; pharmacology ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; toxicity ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Protective Agents ; pharmacology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Rats ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; genetics ; metabolism

Acute Kidney Injury ; etiology ; Fanconi Syndrome ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; complications ; Middle Aged

Objective To study the genotypes of representative Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tuberculosis) strains from China with spacer oligonucleotide typing (spoligotyping),and to investigate the prevalence of different genotypes TB in China,and analyse the relationship between genotype and drug resistance.Methods 4017 clinical isolates were collected by Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2007 to 2008 in 31 provinces in China according to sampling principle of epidemiology.Drug susceptibility testing was performed using proportion method,and spoligotyping was chosen to carry out genotyping of these M.tuberculosis.In addition,chi-square test was used to compare the differences among the detection rate of different genotypes.Results Among the 4017 M.tuberculosis isolates,2500 ( 62.2％ ) isolates belonged to Beijing genotype.The percentage of Beijing genotypes in the northern of China was higher than that in the southern of China ( 76.5％ vs.53.2％,x2 =219.69,P ＜ 0.05 ),while T1 genotypes were more common in the southern China,compared with that in northern China ( 13.3％ vs.4.3％,x2 =219.69,P ＜ 0.05 ).The differences were statistically significant.The proportions of Rifampinresistant (21.7％ vs.21.7％ ),Ofloxacin-resistant (4.9％ vs.2.4％ ) and Multidrug-resistant ( 11.3％vs.7.4％ ) isolates among Beijing genotype strains were significantly higher than those among non-Beijing strains (x2 =22.10,14.42 and 14.83,respectively,P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusions Beijing genotype was still predominant epidemic genotypes.The percentage of Beijing genotype showed difference between distinct areas,and the percentage of Beijing genotypes in northern China was higher than that in southern China.Beijing genotype strains reveal correlation with Rifampin-resistance,Ofloxacin-resistance and Multidrug-resistance.

This study aims to investigate the function of two SNPs (rs8904C > T and rs696G >A) in 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of NFKBIA gene by constructing luciferase reporter gene. A patient's genomic DNA with rs8904 CC and rs696 GA genotype was used as the PCR template. Full-length 3'UTR of NFKBIA gene was amplified by different primers. After sequencing validation, these fragments were inserted to the luciferase reporter vector, pGL3-promoter to construct recombinant plasmids containing four kinds of haplotypes, pGL3-rs8904C/rs696G, pGL3-rs8904C/rs696A, pGL3-rs8904T/rs696G and pGL3-rs8904T/rs696A. Then these plasmids were transfected into LS174T cells and the luciferase activity was detected. Compared with pGL3-vector transfected cells (negative control), the luciferase activity of the four kinds of recombinant plasmids was significantly decreased (P < 0.001). For rs696G > A, the luciferase activity of the recombinant plasmids containing A allele (pGL3-rs8904C/rs696A and pGL3-rs8904T/rs696A) was about 45.1% (P < 0.05) and 56.1% (P < 0.001) lower than those containing G allele (pGL3-rs8904C/rs696G and pGL3-rs8904T/rs696G), respectively. For rs8904C > T, there were no significant differences in the luciferase activity between the recombinant plasmids containing T allele and those with C allele. Together, the luciferase reporter gene vectors containing SNPs in NFKBIA gene 3'UTR were constructed successfully and rs696G > A could decrease the luciferase activity while rs8904C >T didn't have much effect on the luciferase activity.
3' Untranslated Regions ; Genes, Reporter ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; I-kappa B Proteins ; genetics ; Luciferases ; NF-KappaB Inhibitor alpha ; Plasmids ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Transfection

Tropane alkaloids (TAs) are a class of anticholinergic drugs widely used in clinical practice and mainly extracted from plant, among which Atopa belladonna is the main commercial drug source. It is of great industrial value to obtain TAs in large quantities by plant metabolic engineering. In TAs pathway, cytochrome oxidase CYP82M3 catalyze the synthesis of tropinone and then tropinone reductase I (TRI) compete with TRII for tropinone to form tropine leading to the TAs synthesis (drainage). In this study, based on the "increasing flow and drainage" metabolic engineering strategy, two genes, namely HnCYP82M3 and DsTRI from Hyoscyamus niger and Datura stramonium, respectively, were overexpressed in the hair roots of A. belladonna, with a view to promote the TAs accumulation. The HnCYP82M3 gene was cloned from the root of H. niger, and it encoded amino acid with 91.7% sequence identity with AbCYP82M3 from A. belladonna. Overexpression of HnCYP82M3 alone did not affect the content of TAs in hair roots of A. belladonna, indicating that CYP82M3 was not a key enzyme in TAs biosynthesis. Simultaneous overexpression of HnCYP82M3 and DsTRI greatly promoted the accumulation of the three TAs, and the contents of hyoscyamine, anisodamine and scopolamine were 4.97 times, 2.83 times and 2.19 times that of the control, respectively, and the increase amplitude was greater than that of single overexpression of DsTRI. This study showed that the "increasing flow and drainage" strategy of enzyme genes co-expression at branch points was a promising metabolic engineering method to effectively improve the biosynthesis of TAs in A. belladonna, and laid a theoretical and technical foundation for the large-scale industrial acquisition of TAs.

Aim To establish a reliable in vitro evaluation sys-tem to assess human liver UGTs activities and the inhibitory effect of drugs on human liver UGTs and validate its accuracy and stability.Methods Six probe substrate of the six major subtypes of human liver microsomal UGT enzymes were select-ed.The activity of human liver microsomal UGT enzymes was determined under optimized incubation conditions using a metab-olite generation method.The concentrations of metabolites were determined using a validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS)method.Known inhibitors were used to verify the established incubation system.Results The estab-lished LC-MS/MS analysis method complied with the require-ments of bioanalysis.In the incubation system of this experi-ment,known UGT inhibitors exhibited significant inhibitory effects.Conclusions This study successfully establishes an ac-curate and reliable in vitro evaluation system,which can be used to assess the in vitro inhibition of drugs on UGT enzymes,provi-ding important guidance for drug development and rational clini-cal medication.

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether a simulated He-O2 saturation dive to 65 msw would affect oxidative balance in humans.

METHODSSeven divers participated in a simulated saturation dive to 0.75 MPa (65 msw). 24-h urine samples were collected twice before, twice during, and twice after the dive, then were analyzed for contents of superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), total amino acid (T-AA) and total anti-oxidant capacity (T-AOC). Meanwhile, total urine volume and body weight were measured.

RESULTSThe content of T-AA was higher. (P < 0.05) than the base value in final decompression, but reverse to normal at one week after decompression. There were no changes in contents of SOD, MDA and T-AOC during and after the dive compared with their basic value. Total urine volume was lower (P < 0.05, vs basic value) at first day in chamber, then returned to normal. Body weight gradually increased after compression till the end of decompression (higher than basic value, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThese data indicate that simulated saturation dive to 65 msw may not induce obvious oxidative damage, but it is necessary to monitor 24-h urine volume and oxidative sress by time in order to prevent from tissue injury.

Adult ; Amino Acids ; urine ; Decompression ; Diving ; physiology ; Helium ; chemistry ; Humans ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; urine ; Oxidative Stress ; physiology ; Oxygen ; adverse effects ; chemistry