Nitric oxide (NO), which is involved in the regulation of the cardiovascular system, nervous system, immune system, reproductive system, digestive system and other physiological activities, is an important biological substance with activity. Under normal physiological conditions, neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) can precisely regulate the nervous system NO production, release, diffusion and inactivation processes. But an excess of NO associates with the development of cerebral ischemia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's psychosis nervous system diseases, while inhibition of nNOS activity can regulate the content of NO in vivo, and produce a therapeutic effect on some of the nervous system diseases. This review mainly describes the structure and regulation of nNOS and recent developments of small molecule inhibitors of nNOS.
Alzheimer Disease ; physiopathology ; Brain Ischemia ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I ; antagonists & inhibitors ; metabolism ; Parkinson Disease ; physiopathology

BACKGROUND:The measure and prediction of the shape of optic nerve head are the key issues for early diagnosis and duration prediction of glaucoma. Therefore, it is significant to research the shape variation of optic nerve head under high intraocular pressure.
OBJECTIVE:To establish three-dimensional finite element model of optic nerve head and to analyze the deformation of optic nerve head and the change in retina thickness after acute high intraocular pressure.
METHODS:Animal model of acute ocular hypertension was established by methods of anterior chamber perfusion. The tomographic images of the optic nerve head of a cat were obtained at the normal intraocular pressure and 5 320 Pa, 7 980 Pa, 10 640 Pa, 13 300 Pa, 15 960 Pa intraocular pressures using optical coherence tomography. Then, we measured the variation of retinal thickness at typical location. Basing on the tomographic images of optic nerve head of a cat at normal intraocular pressure, we obtained three-dimensional structure of retina and choroid using software MIMICS. Then three-dimensional model of optic nerve head was established by assembling the retina and choroid. The deformation of optic nerve head and the change in retinal thickness under high intraocular pressure were observed using software ABAQUS. The effectiveness of the model was verified by the experimental result.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:With the increase of intraocular pressure, the retinal thickness is thinner, the optic nerve head depth, width and the ratio of the depth to width are gradual y increased. It suggests that the acute high intraocular pressure causes retinal thinning, optic nerve head widening and deepening. It is feasible to establish optic nerve head modeling in vivo by using optical coherence tomography, mechanical analysis can be applied to predict the shape variation of optic nerve head, which is significant to further deduce the pathological process of glaucoma.

A 10 year-old female child developed erythema on the scalp,perioral area,neck,trunk,buttocks,palms and soles within 1 month after birth.Her skin was dry and rough,and the hairs were fine,soft,sparse and easily broken.As age advanced,typical hyperkeratosis and thickening of the skin occurred on an erythematous base.At the age of 5 years,the child developed photophobia and vision impairment.When the child was 8 years old,progressive hearing loss was observed.Physical examination revealed that the height and weight were 109 centimeters and 19 kilograms respectively.Skin examination showed fine,soft,sparse and easily-broken hair,large areas of brown plaques with crusts on the scalp,perioral area,neck,trunk and buttocks,and fissured,purulent and foul-smelling verrucous hyperplasia over these plaques.Brown to black hyperkeratotic plaques were scattered over the extremities,and diffuse hyperkeratosis occurred on the palms and soles.Both fingernails and toenails became thickened,cloudy and white with distal separation and deformation of the nail plate.As ophthalmic examination showed,the patient had photophobia,bilateral bulbar conjunctival hyperemia,corneal opacity and corneal vascular proliferation,and the visual acuity was 0.5 in the left eye and 0.2 in the right eye.Otolaryngological examination revealed moderate binaural sensorineural deafness.Stomatological examination showed enamel hypoplasia and diastema widening.Genetic testing showed a heterozygous mutation (c.C50T) in exon 2 of the gap junction protein beta 2 (GJB2) gene.Based on these clinical manifestations and examinations,the patient was diagnosed with keratitis,ichthyosis,and deafness (KID) syndrome.Skin lesions of the patient were significantly improved after the treatment with oral acitretin.

OBJECTIVETo study the pathogens, drug sensitivity and risk factors for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in neonates.

METHODSRetrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 401 neonates who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit and received mechanical ventilation for 48 hours or longer from January 2008 to February 2012. Eighty-five of the 401 neonates suffered VAP.

RESULTSThe main pathogens for VAP were Gram-negative bacteria (97%), including Klebsiella pneumoniae (51%), Acinetobacter baumannii (17%) and Escherichia coli (12%) as the three most frequent ones. The drug sensitivity test showed that these pathogens developed resistance to amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, piperacillin, ceftazidime, cefazolin, and cefotaxime, with a susceptibility rate of below 15%, and demonstrated decreased sensitivity to imipenem and meropenem, with a susceptibility rate of below 75%. The independent risk factors for neonatal VAP included birth weight (OR=1.399, P<0.05), duration of mechanical ventilation (OR=1.966, P<0.01), length of hospital stay (OR=1.812, P<0.01), times of tracheal intubation (OR=2.056, P<0.01), and 1 min Apgar score (OR=2.146, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe incidence of neonatal VAP is influenced by many factors. The main pathogens for neonatal VAP are Gram-negative bacteria and antibacterial agents should be properly used according to drug sensitivity test results. Comprehensive prevention and control measures should be taken to reduce the incidence of VAP.

Female ; Gram-Negative Bacteria ; drug effects ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated ; etiology ; microbiology ; Risk Factors

DNA barcoding method was conducted for the authentication of pollen materials due to difficulty of discriminating pollen materials bearing morphological similarity. In this study, a specific focus was to identify cattail pollen (Puhuang) and pine pollen (Songhuafen) samples from their adulterants which are frequently mixed-together. Regions of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) from 60 samples were sequenced, and new primers for cattail pollen were designed according to the sequence information. The results from the NJ trees showed that the species of pine pollen, Puhuang and their adulterants can be classified as obvious monophyly. Therefore, we propose to adapt DNA barcoding methodology to accurately distinguish cattail pollen, pine pollen and their adulterant materials. It is a great help for drug regulatory agency to supervise the quality of medicinal materials.
China ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Pinus ; classification ; genetics ; Pollen ; classification ; genetics ; Quality Control ; Typhaceae ; classification ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between ambient air pollution and daily mortality of SARS in Beijing.

METHODSThe approach of time-series Poisson regression was used to assess the relationship between daily SARS mortality, ambient air pollution, and other factors from April 25 to May 31, 2003 in Beijing.

RESULTSAn increase of each 10 microg/m3 over a 5-day moving average of PM10, SO2 and NO2 corresponded to 1.06 (1.00-1.12), 0.74 (0.48-1.13) and 1.22 (1.01-1.48) relative risks (RRs) of daily SARS mortality, respectively. The relative risks (RRs) values depended largely on the selection of lag days.

CONCLUSIONThe daily mortality of SARS might be associated with certain air pollutants in Beijing.

Air Pollutants ; adverse effects ; analysis ; toxicity ; Air Pollution ; adverse effects ; analysis ; China ; epidemiology ; Cities ; Dust ; analysis ; Environmental Monitoring ; Epidemiological Monitoring ; Humans ; Nitrogen Dioxide ; analysis ; Particle Size ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; epidemiology ; mortality ; Sulfur Dioxide ; analysis

A total of 126 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were randomized into two groups:one received glimepiride 1 mg twice daily and the other 2 mg once daily.Fasing blood glucose(BG),BG 2 h after meals(breakfast,lunch and dinner)and HbA_(IC)were tested,△and standard deviation of the 4 point BG were calculated.It was found that two kinds of administration of glimepiride were equally effective in decreasing BG and once daily aministration could ease better the fluctuation of BG.

Objective To summarize the surgery skills and evaluate the clinical outcome of submental island flap for repairing oral defect after radical resection of oral cancer. Methods A total of 25 consecutive patients underwent submental island flap reconstruction after ablative surgery for oral cancer from January 2015 to May 2017 were enrolled in this study. The patterns of venous return, the technique notes and postoperative complications were summarized. The oncological safety of submental island flap in oral reconstruction was analyzed. Results The submental island flaps were harvested with the sizes ranging from(5 cm×3 cm)to(12 cm×5 cm).The mean operation time was(350.5±50.5)min.The vein of the flap was found to drain into the facial vein,and then returned to the internal jugular vein in 17 patients(68.0%), into the external jugular vein in 4 patients(16%),and into the anterior jugular vein in 4 patients(16%).Twenty-four flaps survived completely,and 1 flap failed due to the damage of the submental artery.Wound infection occurred in only 1 patient, and primary wound healing was observed in the other 24 patients. Eight patients (32.0%) with cervical lymph node metastases were verified by the postoperative pathological examination, 4 patients were submandibular lymph node metastases.The prevalence of occult lymph node metastasis involving level Ⅰwas 16.0%.The mean follow-up period was (14.3 ± 5.2) months. Local recurrence was found in 1 patient and cervical recurrence in 2 patients without postoperative radiotherapy during the follow-up. Conclusion There are three various drainage patterns for the venous return of submental island flap.Our data suggest that vein drainage of the flap into the external jugular vein and the anterior jugular vein,which are previously overlooked,should receive greater attention during the harvest of submental flap to avoid venous congestion and flap loss.Close follow-up or postoperative radiotherapy are recommended for patients without cervical lymph node metastases.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the accuracy, consistency and related affecting factors in pathological results of breast lesions diagnosed by ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy (CNB) and conventional excision histopathology.

METHODSThe clinical data of 177 consecutive cases of breast lesions examined by ultrasound-guided CNB and subsequently excised were reviewed from Jan. 2003 to Nov. 2009. The agreement of pathological diagnosis between the CNB and subsequent excision pathology was analyzed.

RESULTSThere were 136 cancers in the final diagnosis after surgical excision among 386 breast lesions and 129 of them were diagnosed by CNB. The sensitivity (true positive) of CNB was 94.9%, false negative rate was 5.1%, specificity (true negative) was 100%, false positive rate 0, Youden's index was 0.949, and positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 100% and 85.4%, respectively. Condensation rate was 96.0% and Kappa value was 0.895.

CONCLUSIONUltrasound-guided CNB with histopathological assessment is accurate in diagnosis of breast lesions and has a great consistency with conventional excision pathology. It is a reliable method for the diagnosis of breast lesions to avoid an over-reliance on excision pathological examination.

Adenoma ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biopsy, Needle ; methods ; Breast ; pathology ; Breast Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Carcinoma ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Diagnostic Errors ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Middle Aged ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography, Mammary ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the renal protective effects of sulodexide and its anti-oxidative stress mechanism in diabetic rats.

METHODThirty male SD rats were randomized into 3 equal groups, namely the control group, diabetic group, and sulodexide treatment group. Twelve weeks after establishment of rat diabetic models and administration of sulodexide, the rats were sacrificed for measurement of the urine volume, body mass, kidney mass/body weight ratio, plasma glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activities in the renal tissue or serum were tested. Electron microscopy was performed to observe the pathological changes in the kidneys.

RESULTSThe urine volume, renal mass/body mass ratio, serum glucose, HbA1C, and serum and renal MDA levels all significantly increased in the diabetic rats in comparison with the normal controls (P<0.05). But the body weight and activities of SOD, CAT, and GSH-PX in the renal tissue in the normal control group were significantly higher than those in the diabetic and sulodexide group. After 12 weeks of sulodexide treatment, SOD, CAT, and GSH-PX activities in the renal tissue of rats were significantly increased in comparison with those in the diabetic rats (P<0.05). Electron microscopy showed obvious irregular thickening of the glomerular capillary basement membrane in the diabetic group with vacuolization in the mitochondria in the epithelial cells, and such pathological changes were significantly alleviated in the sulodexide treatment group.

CONCLUSIONSSulodexide can effectively lower the urinary albumin excretion rate, improve the ultrastructural renal pathologies and prevent glomerular basement membrane thickening in diabetic rats, probably in association with the reduction of the MDA levels and enhancement of SOD, CAT, and GSH-PX activities.

Animals ; Antioxidants ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Body Weight ; drug effects ; Catalase ; metabolism ; Diabetes Mellitus ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Glycosaminoglycans ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Kidney ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Organ Size ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism