Objective: To study the effect of glutamate on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA and protein in cultured rat astrocytes. Methods: Cultured rat astrocytes were randomly divided into 6 groups: control group (C), glutamate group (G), QA group (Q), DCG-IV group (D), L-AP4 group (L) and glutamate+MCPG group (G+M). Cells were cultured under nomoxic condition (95% air, 5% CO2). RT-PCR and ELISA methods were used to detect the expression of VEGF mRNA and protein in cultured astrocytes, respectively. G+M group was preincubated with 1mM MCPG for 30 min prior to the stimulation with glutamate. There were 7 time points at 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 48 h in each group except G+M group. Results: The expression of VEGF mRNA and protein did not differ significantly among D group, L group and C group. Different from that in C group, the expression of VEGF mRNA and protein could be enhanced both in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner in G group and Q group. Meanwhile, the enhanced expression of VEGF mRNA and protein in G group was completely suppressed by MCPG after 24 h. Conclusion: Glutamate can increase the expression of VEGF mRNA and protein in cultured astrocytes, which may be due to the activation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors in astrocytes.

Objective: To study the effect of glutamate on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA and protein in cultured rat astrocytes. Methods: Cultured rat astrocytes were randomly divided into 6 groups: control group (C), glutamate group (G), QA group (Q), DCG-IV group (D), L-AP4 group (L) and glutamate+MCPG group (G+M). Cells were cultured under nomoxic condition (95% air, 5% CO2). RT-PCR and ELISA methods were used to detect the expression of VEGF mRNA and protein in cultured astrocytes, respectively. G+M group was preincubated with 1mM MCPG for 30 min prior to the stimulation with glutamate. There were 7 time points at 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 48 h in each group except G+M group. Results: The expression of VEGF mRNA and protein did not differ significantly among D group, L group and C group. Different from that in C group, the expression of VEGF mRNA and protein could be enhanced both in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner in G group and Q group. Meanwhile, the enhanced expression of VEGF mRNA and protein in G group was completely suppressed by MCPG after 24 h. Conclusion: Glutamate can increase the expression of VEGF mRNA and protein in cultured astrocytes, which may be due to the activation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors in astrocytes.

Objective The influence of antiplatelet medications on prognosis after non -aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH)is unknown.This study aimed to evaluate the risk of antiplatelet mdications in devel-oping SAH.Methods 420 patients who underwent catheter cerebral angiography after presenting with nontraumatic SAH were included.Outcomes were assessed by using the modified Rankin scale.Results A total of 420 patients underwent catheter angiography for evaluation of SAH.Of these,63 cases (15%)were angiogram -negative.The fraction of patients presenting with angiogram -negative SAH as well as the frequency of antiplatelet use among these patients significantly increased during the study period.Antiplatelet use was more commonly associated with angiogram-negative SAH(18 /63,28.6%)than with angiogram -positive SAH(39 /357,11%;P =0.001).At 14 days after presentation,poor outcome was significantly more frequent among patients who took antiplatelet agents (20 /63, 31.7%)than among those who did not(12 /63,20%;P =0.017).Conclusion Antiplatelet medication use is asso-ciated with poor early,but not late,outcomes after angiogram -negative SAH.More studies are needed to confirm this association.

Chinchilla has been successfully used as an animal model in the study of auditory system, microorgan-ism and parasitic infection, because of its unique biological features, and it can be further developed for the research of se-nile diseases, metabolic diseases, etc.This paper will introduce the related biological characteristics of chinchilla, and briefly reviewed the progress of its application in medical research.

Purpose To evaluate the application of fluorescence in situ hybridization ( FISH) in detection of EWSR1 gene translocation in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples of Ewing family tumor ( EFT) . Methods Four cases of EFT were collected and their clinical pathological features were obsered. Interphase FISH was carried out in paraffin-embedded tissue of EFT cases, using a EWSR1 dual colar break-apart probe. Fifteen cases of other soft tissue tumor were selected as negative control. Results Translocation of EWSR1 was detected in four EFT cases, which may be a adjuvantly diagnositic value for the diagnosis of atypical cases. Conclu-sions FISH may serve as an adjunctive diagnostic tool in problematic cases of EFT, however, FISH results should be interpreted con-cerning clinical pathological features, morphological patterns and immunohistological results.

Actins ; metabolism ; Adult ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Fibroma ; pathology ; Fibrosarcoma ; pathology ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Inflammation ; Keratins ; metabolism ; Leiomyoma ; pathology ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Neoplasms, Muscle Tissue ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; metabolism ; Uterine Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Young Adult

A microfluidic chip with integrated microelectrode for real-time dopamine detection was designed and fabricated. The chip consisted of a polydimethylsiloxane ( PDMS) channel plate and a glass electrode plate. One central channel as the culture chamber of neural stem cells and two lateral channels for transport of the culture medium were integrated on the PDMS channel plate. Microelectrodes for real-time dopamine detection were integrated on the glass electrode plate. To solve the problem in demoulding the PDMS channel plate from the silicon mould, a novel demoulding method was developed. An Au-Au-Au three-electrode system was constructed, and it performed well in electrochemical detection. The performance of the microfluidic chip was primarily studied by detecting dopamine dissolved in the medium for the culture of neural stem cells. The limit of detection was 3. 92 μmol/L, the linear detection range was from 10 μmol/L to 500 μmol/L, and the detection reproducibility from different chips was less than 4%.

The fruit of Pandanus tectorius (PTF) has a long history of use as a folk medicine to treat hyperlipidemia in Hainan province, South China. Our previous studies have shown that the n-butanol extract of PTF is rich in caffeoylquinic acids and has an adequate therapeutic effect on dyslipidemic animals induced by high-fat diet. In this work, seven caffeoylquinic acids isolated from PTF were screened for the lipid-lowering activity in HepG2 hepatoma cells. Oil-Red O staining, microscopy and intracellular triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) quantification showed that 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (3-CQA), 3, 5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (3,5-CQA), and 3,4,5-tri-O-caffeoylquinic acid (3,4,5-CQA) significantly inhibited lipid accumulation induced by oleic acid and decreased intracellular levels of TC and TG in a dose-dependent manner. These three caffeoylquinic acids showed no significant cytotoxicity at concentrations of 1 -50 μmol x L(-1) as determined by MTT assay. Realtime quantitative PCR revealed that 3-CQA and 3, 5-CQA significantly increased the expression of lipid oxidation-related genes PPARα, CPT-1 and ACOX1 while 3-CQA, 3, 5-CQA and 3,4,5-CQA decreased the expression of lipogenic genes SREBP-1c, SREBP-2, HMGR, ACC, FAS. Overall, 3-CQA, 3, 5-CQA and 3, 4, 5-CQA may be the principal hypolipidemic components in PTF which can decrease intracellular lipid accumulation through up-regulating the expression of lipid oxidative genes and down-regulating the expression of lipogenic genes.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; metabolism ; China ; Cholesterol ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; Lipid Metabolism ; Liver Neoplasms ; metabolism ; Oleic Acid ; Pandanaceae ; chemistry ; Quinic Acid ; analogs & derivatives ; chemistry ; Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1 ; Triglycerides ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the tendency of quality of life in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with conventional radiotherapy. Methods Quality of life in NPC patients was assessed using FACT-H&N and NPC-QOL Patients were divided into nine groups according to the treatment period :before treatment group, 0 -20 Gy group, 20 -50 Gy group, > 50 Gy group, 0 -6 months after treatment group, 6 - 12 mouths group, 1 -2 years group, 2 -3 years group and 3 -5 years group. Scores of FACT-H&N and NPC-QOL were compared between the either two groups. Results 450 NPC patients were assessed. The total score of FACT-H&N decreased during the treatment and then increased six months after the treatment. The tendencies of physical and functional well-being were similar. The social/family and emotional well-being did not change significantly along with the treatment but the scores of head and neck well-being and NPC-QOL decreased obviously. Xerotomia was aggravated from the initiation of treatment and became the most severe at 6 - 12 months after treatment. 50% - 60% of the patients with disease-free reported severe xerotomia at 3 -5 years after radiotherapy. Incidence of severe trismus increased up to 14% at 3 -5 years after treatment. Conclusions Quality of life of NPC patients with conventional radiotherapy deteriorates during the treatment period, but recovers to the normal level six months after the treatment. Xerotomia and trismus can affect the quality of life of NPC patients.

Total RNA was extracted from leaf of Suaeda hetroptera kitag, then the CMO ( choline monooxygenase) cDNA was amplified using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction ( RT-PCR) method and cloned into pMD-T-simple vector. The positive clones from the Blue/White Screen were sequenced. After confirming its validity, the CMO gene fragment was cloned into pBI121 vector. Double enzyme restriction and PCR analysis indicated that the pBI121/CMO recombinant plasmid was successfully constructed.