Insulin resistance ,a key component of type 2 diabetes,is recognized as the pathological basis of the metabolic syndrome. H owever,its underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood.Recently,eleva ted levels of free fatty acids (FFA)have been observed in many insulin-resist ance states,which has gradually drawn attention.Not only do FFA interfere in se veral steps involved in glucose metabolism,but also play an important role in i nsulin signal transduction,resulting in decreased insulin-stimulated glucose t ransport. The thiazolidinediones,as insulin-sensitizing drugs,have entered th e market. A prominent effect of these agents is the lowering of circulating FFA levels and it is believed that targeting FFA metabolism may therefore offer wide r expectations in therapy for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Due to lack of the distribution of vessels and nerve, self-repairing capability of articular cartilage tissue is poor after inflammatory erosion.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of melatonin combined with compound betamethasone on the articular cartilage of osteoarthritis (OA) in rats.METHODS: Thirty Sprague-Dawley rats received intra-articular injection of papain solution for establishing knee OA models.Meanwhile, 20 of them underwent constant intensive light condition for establishing pinealectomy models. Ten rats that under pinealectomy were administered melatonin combined with compound betamethasone. Another 10 normal control rats receiving no treatment served as controls. After 4 weeks of treatment, serum melatonin concentrations at 2 a.m. (highest melatonin concentration within circadian rhythms) and 2 p.m. (lowest melatonin concentration within circadian rhythms) were detected by ELISA. At the same time, all rats were sacrificed to collect femoral condyle cartilage for gross observation.After decalcification and toluidine blue staining, articular cartilage lesions were evaluated based on Mankin scores.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: After OA model was created, cartilage surface was uneven, lost their luster, the chondrocytes were poorly arranged, severe loss of staining was observed, serum level of melatonin was decreased, and circadian change was unobvious. Constant intensive light condition further aggravated cartilage damage. After treatment by melatonin combined with compound betamethasone, softened cartilage disappeared, there were more regular chondrocytes arrangement, and dispersed chondrocytes and loss of staining were gradually decreased. In addition, there was significant difference in Mankin scores of toludine blue staining among groups (P ＜ 0.05). These findings indicate that melatonin combined with compound betamethasone can restrain the progression of cartilage damage.

Objective: To investigate the clinical significance of asthma prediction index (API), Eotaxin(Eot), interleukin-4 (IL-4), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), eosinophil (Eos) in predicting recurrent wheezing in infants. Methods: Ninety-six infants with first wheezing attack due to bronchiolitis from April 2015 to April 2016 at the Department of Pediatrics, the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University were selected.The medical history and other clinical data were collected, and the peripheral blood samples were collected to detect Eot, IL-4, IFN-γ, Eos count and serum specific immunoglobulin E(sIgE). Then all infants were followed up by telephone until 2-year-old to find whether recurrent wheezing attack occurred and then API was calculated.According to the recurrent wheezing times during the follow-up, they were divided into 2 groups: the observation group (recurrent attacks≥2 times, 33 cases) and the control group (no recurrent wheezing during follow-up, 60 cases). The infants in the observation group were divided into the API positive group (18 cases) and the API negative group (14 cases) according to API.The differences in clinical data and peripheral blood indexes were analyzed by independent sample t test for measuring data and χ² test for counting data. Results: Thirty-three cases (35.48%) infants in the study had recurrent wheezing attacks within 2 years followed by bronchiolitis.The average age of the recurrent wheezing attack was (13.59±5.89) months.Compared with the control group, the levels of serum Eot[(135.45±44.45) ng/L vs.(110.91±22.50) ng/L, t=3.44, P<0.05], IL-4[(58.56±43.55) ng/L vs.(34.91±12.18) ng/L, t=3.78, P<0.05] and peripheral blood Eos proportion(0.034 0±0.025 6 vs.0.003 3±0.006 4, t=4.56, P<0.05) increased in the observation group, and the differences were statistically significant.The food allergy history [18.18%(6/33 cases) vs.5.00%(3/60 cases), χ²=4.23, P<0.05]and the positive proportion of sIgE allergens[38.46%(10/26 cases) vs.9.09%(2/22 cases), χ²=5.48, P<0.05] increased, and the differences were statistically significant.There was no difference between the 2 groups in IFN-γ level (P>0.05). The level of serum Eot [(146.59±59.35) ng/L vs.(114.14±13.60) ng/L, t=3.71, P<0.05], airway sIgE[45.00%(9/20 cases) vs.0(0/6 case), χ²=4.13, P<0.05]and food allergens sIgE [50.0%(10/20 cases) vs.0(0/6 case), χ²=4.88, P<0.05)] in the API positive group was higher than that in the API negative group, and the differences were statistically significant. Conclusions The elevated serum Eot levels during the first asthmatic attack of bronchiolitis in infants and food sIgE positive levels suggest an increased risk of recurrent wheezing, and the elevated serum Eot levels and sIgE positive levels are associated with API positive levels.