Calcium, as a crucial signal molecule, plays an important role in the development process of immune cells and their functions. After T cell receptors or B cell receptors are stimulated or co-stimulated, the signaling pathways lead to Ca2+ influx and induce the increase of Ca2+ level in cells. Ca2+ signals have different short-time and long- term functions on T and B lymphocytes. Many immune deficiency disorders are resulted from the decrease of Ca2+ influx. This article reviewed the effects of calcium on the functions of T and B lymphocytes and its relationship with some immune deficiency disorders.

Oxidative stress plays an important role in the progression of diabetes mellitus. As a potent antioxidant, alpha-lipoic acid is able to clear free radicals and alleviate oxidative damages and therefore has been widely applied in the clinical management of diabetes mellitus. This article summarizes the clinical application of alpha-lipoic acid in alleviating diabetes mellitus-related oxidative damages, protecting vascular lesions, treating diabetic polyneuropathies, and modulating insulin sensitivity.

AIM To develop a simple reasonable and provable model of hypophysis shut off in rats with dexamethasone. METHODS Dexamethasone 6 mg?kg -1 was injected subcutaneously into two groups of rats at 3:00～3:30 pm on the preceding day. This dose was repeated at 9:00～9:30 am next day. The control group was treated with saline in the same way. One hour later, one of the dexamethasone treated groups was ig with Z47 200 mg?kg -1 , the other dexamethasone treated group and the control group was ig with 0 5% CMC. Then all the groups were ip with 0 086 mol?L -1 HAc in order to generate stress reaction. The reduction of the content of Vit C in adrenal gland was taken as the index of secretion of ACTH. RESULTS The content of Vit C in NS CMC HAc was obviously lower than in Dex CMC HAc group. There were statistically significant differences ( P

Objective To evaluate the prophylactic effect of pancreatic duct stent (PPDS),NonSteroid Anti-Inflammtory Drugs (NSAIDs),and joint PPDS and NSAIDs on post endoscopic rectrograde cholangiopancreatography(ERCP) Pancreatitis(PEP) in choledocholithiasis patients.Methods A total of 200 choledocholithiasis patients were randomly divided into 4 groups,prophylactic pancreatic duct stent(PPDS) group (A),NSAIDs group (B),joint PPDS-NSAIDs group (C) and routine ERCP without prevention for PEP(group D).VAS score,levels of amylase in serum and CRP were measured before and 4 h,24 h,48 h after ERCP.Incidences of hyperamylasemia and PEP were observed.Results (1) Incidences of hyperamylasemia 48 h after ERCP were 6％ (3/50),6％ (3/50) and 4％ (2/50) in group A,group B and group C respectively,which were significantly lower than that of group D (11/55) (P ＜ 0.05).(2) Incidences of PEP 48 h after ERCP were both 2％ (1/50) in group A and group C,which were lower than that in group D (10％,5/50,P ＜ 0.05).Group B (4％,2/50) was lower than that of group D but there was no statistical significance(P ＞0.05).(3) VAS scores of all groups at 4 h,24 h and 48 h after the operation were significantly higher than before (P ＜ 0.05).Group B score was significantly lower than that of group D (P ＜ 0.05).Scores of group A and C at 4 h were lower than those of group D (P ＜ 0.05),and those at 24 h and 48 h were also lower but with no statistical significance (P ＞ 0.05).(4) Serum CRP levels at 4 h,24 h and 48 h were significantly higher than those before in each group.Serum CRP levels of group B and C were significantly lower than that of group D at 4 h,24 h and 48 h.Serum CRP level of group A was significantly lower than group D at 4 h,24 h.CRP level at 48 h of group A was lower than that of group D,but there was no statistical significance (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Both prophylactic pancreatic duct stent and NSAIDs (Parecoxib Sodium) can reduce incidence of hyperamylasemia after ERCP common bile duct lithotomy.Single or joint use of prophylactic pancreatic duct stent can prevent PEP.Furthermore,prophylactic pancreatic duct stent and NSAIDs (Parecoxib Sodium) can reduce pain and inflammation after ERCP common bile duct lithotomy.NSAIDs only (Parecoxib Sodium) is more effective than prophylactic pancreatic duct stent only and joint use of both.

Objective To study the effect of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase(PARP)inhibitor 5-AIQ on the adhesion,migration and invasion of mouse colon adenocarcinoma cell line(CT26).Methods The expression of PARP after 5-AIQ treatment was detected Western blot.The cell adhesion,migration and invasion of CT26 after 5-AIQ treatment were observed by cell-matrix adhesion assay,cell migration assay and matrigel invasion assay.Results The expression of PARP in 5-AIQ-treated CT26 was weaker than that in 5-AIQ-untreated cells(P

BACKGROUND:Percutaneous vertebroplasty technique has become an effective means for clinical treatment of spinal osteoporotic fractures, but there is the risk of bone cement leakage.
OBJECTIVE:To explore the clinical effect of percutaneous vertebroplasty with low-dose bone cement for acute osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.
METHODS:From September 2008 to February 2011, 32 patients with osteoporotic compression fractures were treated by percutaneous vertebroplasty. According to the dose of bone cement, the patients were divided into low dose group (2-4 mL) and routine dose group (4-6 mL). In addition, another patients who were hospitalized over the same period for acute osteoporotic compression and could not receive vertebroplasty due to urgical contraindication served as control group.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The pain relief and vertebral height restoration rate of the low dose group and routine dose group were significantly better than the control group (P<0.05). The bone cement leakage rate and last fol ow-up incidence of adjacent segment vertebral fractures of the low dose group were also significantly lower than those in the routine dose group (P<0.05). Vertebroplasty with modified low dose bone cement can achieve satisfactory clinical effects, and effectively reduce the leakage of bone cement and incidence of adjacent segment secondary fractures.

Pathogenic dampness can cause many diseases, and that is why traditional Chinese medicine pays close attention to pathogenic dampness. In recent years many researches discovered that dampness diseases and aquaporin have close correlation. By analyzing the progress in research on correlation between dampness diseases and aquaporin, it is discovered that aquaporin has close correlation with urinary system, digestive system, respiratory system and central nervous system. Normal expression of aquaporin may be the molecular biological basis of dispelling dampness, while abnormal expression may be one of the main causes for dampness diseases. Studying the correlation between dampness diseases and aquaporin has quite important significance in understanding mechanism of dampness diseases and formulating treatment protocols.

Mitogen - activated protein kinases (MAPKs), including extracellular signal - regulated kinases (ERKs), c - Jun NH2 - terminal kinases (JNKs) and p38 MAPK, play an important role in transducting environmental stimuli to the transcriptional machinery in the nucleus in mammalian cells by virtue of their ability to phosphorylate and regulate the activity of various transcription factors. It was recently found that the changes in activity of MAPKs occurred during ischemia/reperfusion, but the biological significance of the changes was still controversial.

BACKGROUND: Collagen sponge is considered the most useful biomaterial owing to its excellent function and properties, easy processing, sterilization, and preservation and has been widely used in scientific research and clinical application. OBJECTIVE: To describe the properties of collagen sponge and to review the research progress of collagen sponge in clinical application in recent years. METHODS: A computer-based retrieval was performed by the first author to search for manuscripts published from January 2000 to August 2010 in Pubmeds and Elsevier databases and for manuscripts published from January 1993 to August 2010 in CNKI database using key words "collagen, collagen sponge, clinical application" in title and abstract items in English and Chinese language, respectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Collagen sponge, as a new biological material, has been widely applied in tissue engineering research in terms of hemostasis, wound healing, anti-infection, cartilage repair, and nerve repair. But at present, nearly all collagen is from animals and immunogenicity cannot be thoroughly eliminated. Researchers outside of China have synthesized recombinant human collagen using bioreactor and transgenic technology, but its efficacy and safety in clinical application needs further investigation and research.