ObjectiveTo evaluate the neurobiological characteristics of human histio-amniotic mesenchymal (hAMCs) and effect of hAMCs transplantation into the brain to treat Parkinson's disease(PD) modle mice.MethodsThe expressions of mesenchymal stem cells, neural stem cells, dopaminergic neurons and markers related to neurogenesis such as Vimentin, STRO-1, nestin, CD133, β-tubulin, TH, DAT, Ngn2 and mash-1 in hAMCs were evaluated through immunocytochemical stain; and the mRNA transcriptions of neural stem cell markers, Vimentin and nestin in hAMCs were detected by RT-PCR. The PD model was induced by MPTP(i.p.) in C57BL/6 mice transplanted with hAMCs into the right striatum. The therapeutical effect of hAMCs on PD mice was evaluated by spontaneous movement, rotating bar test and the immunohistochemistry of anti-human chondrosome and TH antibodies in striatum.ResultshAMCs induced by nerve cells culture medium, expressed mesenchymal stem cells, neural stem cells, dopaminergic neurons and other specific markers related to neurogenesis mentioned above. The frequency of spontaneous movement in PD mice was significantly increased(P<0-05), and the time of rotating bar was obviously prolonged(P<0-05) after transplantation with hAMCs.ConclusionhAMCs possess the characteristics of nerve cells after cultured in vitro and can significantly recover the damage of motor function induced by MPTP after transplantation into striatum in PD model mice.

OBJECTIVEUndried silver-hydroxyapatite-titania (Ag-nHA-nTiO2) nanoparticles slurry was used to make membrane with polyamide 66 (PA66) by co-polymerization method. The purpose of this study is to test the physical and chemical characteristics and antibacterial ability.

METHODSThe morphology, chemical components and structures of the membrane were characterized by atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis), Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) and Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) were utilized to test the antibacterial effect.

RESULTSXRD results demonstrated that the membrane have characteristic diffraction peaks of pure hydroxyapatite (HA). A homogeneous distribution of the Ca, P, Ti and Ag element in the membrane was confirmed by EDX. Both surface and section showed porous structure which was confirmed by SEM and the average hole size was 20-30 microm. The bacteria assay reflected to the antibacterial effect, 50.10% of S. aureus and 56.31% of E. coli were killed. However, 91.84% of P. gingivalis, 90.64% of F. nucleatum and 90.49% of S. mutans were killed and pictures of SEM showed obviously fewer cells on the surface.

CONCLUSIONThe nanocomposite membrane could be one of the bioactive materials with antibacterial properties for oral guided bone regeneration technique.

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bone Regeneration ; Durapatite ; Escherichia coli ; Nanocomposites ; Nylons ; Silver ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Titanium ; X-Ray Diffraction

AIMTo study the constituents of the root of Gypsophila oldhamiana Miq.

METHODSSilica gel column chromatographic technique was used for the isolation and purification of compounds. The structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral data and chemical evidences.

RESULTSFive compounds were obtained and identified as the beta-D-glucoside of alpha-spinasterol (I), tetracosyl caffeate (II), sucrose (III), beta-sitosterol (IV) and daucosterol (V).

CONCLUSIONCompound II is a new compound. Compound I was isolated from this plant for the first time.

Caffeic Acids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Caryophyllaceae ; chemistry ; Molecular Conformation ; Molecular Structure ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Stigmasterol ; analogs & derivatives ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Sucrose ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo investigate the prevalence of viral infections and putative association of viral infection with illness severity in young children with severe lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in Chongqing.

METHODRespiratory secretion specimens were collected from 119 hospitalized patients with severe pneumonia from December 2006 to March 2008.After being processed, the samples were detected for respiratory viruses including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), human bocavirus (HBoV), parainfluenza virus 1, 2, 3 (PIV 1, 2, 3), influenza virus A and B (IVA and IVB) either by PCR or RT-PCR. Clinical data were analyzed along with virological data by using appropriate statistical methods.

RESULTViral pathogens were identified in specimens of 86 (72.3%) cases, among which RSV was detected in 49 (41.2%) patients. More than one virus was detected in 23 individual (26.7%) samples, of which 19 were dual positive for RSV and another virus. Bacterial cultures were performed for 69 patients. Both bacterial and viral pathogens were identified in 53 (76.8%) patients. Bacterial and viral coinfection was demonstrated in samples from 41 (59.4%) cases.

CONCLUSIONViral pathogens are the main etiology of severe pneumonia in young children in Chongqing area during the study period. RSV was the most frequent viral pathogens, followed by ADV and hMPV. Coinfection with respiratory common viruses was relatively common, though co-infection with viruses did not appear to aggravate the patients' condition.

Adenoviridae ; isolation & purification ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Human bocavirus ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Influenza A virus ; isolation & purification ; Metapneumovirus ; isolation & purification ; Pneumonia, Bacterial ; microbiology ; virology ; Pneumonia, Viral ; microbiology ; virology ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses ; isolation & purification ; Virus Diseases ; virology

Biomacromolecules play an important role in the treatment of many diseases, but as a result of cell membrane serving as the natural barriers, only the small molecular compounds whose molecular weights are smaller than 600 Da can get through cell membrane and enter the cell. In recent years, some short peptides (the length less than 30 amino acids) are found to have the cell-penetrating function, called cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). They are able to effectively translocate segments of protein, polypeptides, nucleic acid into the cells of many mammal animals with many methods. They have high transduction efficiency and will not lead to cell damage. So, the discovery of CPPs has a very good applicable prospect in such research fields as cell-biology, gene-therapy, drug transduction in vivo, evaluation of clinical medicine and medical immunology. This paper reviews the types and characteristics of CPPs, internalization mechanisms, applications, and their existing problems.
Absorption ; drug effects ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Cell Membrane Permeability ; Cell-Penetrating Peptides ; classification ; pharmacology ; physiology ; Drug Carriers ; Endocytosis ; physiology ; Humans ; Protein Transport

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of tetramethylpyrazine on learning, memory, and cholinergic system in D-galactose-lesioned mice.

METHODSC57BL/6J mice were given subcutaneous injection of 2% D-galactose for 40 days (100 mg.kg-1.d-1). Normal saline, tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) and Huperzine A (HupA) were given respectively by intragastric administration in different study groups from the third week on. Learning and memory ability were tested by Morris water maze for 5 days at the sixth week. Acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activity, the binding sites (Bmax) and the affinity (KD) of M-cholinergic receptor were determined.

RESULTSThe learning and memory dysfunction, with lowered AchE activity and M-cholinergic receptor binding sites were found in the model group as compared with the normal control group. The tetramethylpyrazine, especially at the dose of 100 mg.kg-1.d-1, could markedly attenuate cognitive dysfunction, while elevate the lowered AchE activity (P < 0.05) and M-cholinergic receptor binding sites (P < 0.005) in the cerebral cortex of mice treated with D-galactose.

CONCLUSIONSThe tetramethylpyrazine can significantly improve central cholinergic system function, and thus enhance the learning and memory ability in D-galactose-lesioned mice.

Acetylcholinesterase ; metabolism ; Animals ; Avoidance Learning ; drug effects ; Cognition ; drug effects ; Galactose ; Learning ; drug effects ; Male ; Maze Learning ; drug effects ; Memory ; drug effects ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Pyrazines ; pharmacology ; Receptor, Muscarinic M1 ; metabolism ; Receptors, Cholinergic ; drug effects ; physiology

BACKGROUNDPulmonary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is the most frequent type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) that primarily involves the lungs. It represents a rare entity accounting for less than 1% of all NHLs and the clinical features have yet to be clearly elucidated.

METHODSThe clinicopathological features and radiological data of 23 patients with pulmonary MALT lymphoma confirmed by biopsy in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2001 to December 2010 were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSAt diagnosis, there were 15 women and 8 men. The median age was 55.1 years (range, 37 - 73 years). One patient had a history of primary Sjoren's syndrome, another patient had a history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and secondary Sjoren's syndrome. One patient had a history of previous hematological malignancy (lymphomatoid papulosis in complete remission). In addition, one patient had simultaneous gastric and pulmonary involvement and one patient had simultaneous parotid gland and pulmonary involvement. The other 21 patients had disease localized within the lungs at the initial diagnosis. Among them, 10 patients were asymptomatic while two had non-specific pulmonary symptoms. There were six patients with fever, four patients had low grade fever and two patients had moderate-high fever. The most common manifestations were cough (n = 10), expectoration (n = 8), exertional dyspnea (n = 8), fatigue (n = 7), body weight loss (n = 6) and crackles (n = 6). Blood tests showed low to moderate anemia in six cases, elevated erythrocyte semimentation rate (ESR) in 10 cases and only one patient had elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the chest revealed bilateral disease in 13 patients, air space consolidation with or without air bronchogram in 15 patients, lung nodules in 15 patients, patchy opacities in eight patients, lung mass in three patients and pleural effusion in five patients. Flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy showed multiple nodules in five patients and almost normal morphology in 18 patients. Pathological diagnosis was obtained by bronchial biopsies in three cases, by CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsies in 11 cases and by surgical biopsies in nine cases. Of the 23 patients, one remained untreated, while 22 received various combinations of treatment (surgery alone in three patients, surgery plus chemotherapy in six patients, and chemotherapy alone in 13 patients). Twenty-one patients remained alive during the median follow-up of 23 (0.25 - 84) months, while one patient died from unknown causes, one patient died from lung infection.

CONCLUSIONSPulmonary MALT lymphoma tends to occur in old-aged females and to be limited to the lungs on the initial diagnosis and LDH's level was normal in most patients. Lung nodules, patchy opacities and air space consolidation were the main HRCT manifestations. Association with immunohistochemical studies, CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsies and surgical biopsies were helpful to the diagnosis. Prognosis for this lymphoma tends to be indolent.

Adult ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Female ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Radiography

This study was to investigate the changes of autonomic nerve function and hemodynamics in patients with vasovagal syncope (VVS) during head-up tilt-table testing (HUT).HUT was performed in 68 patients with unexplained syncope and 18 healthy subjects served as control group.According to whether bradycardia,hypotension or both took place during the onset of syncope,the patients were divided during the test into three subgroups:vasodepressor syncope (VD),cardioinhibitory syncope (CI) and mixed syncope (MX) subgroups.Heart rate,blood pressure,heart rate variability (HRV),and deceleration capacity (DC) were continuously analyzed during HUT.For all the subjects with positive responses,the normalized low frequency (LFn) and the LF/HF ratio markedly decreased whereas normalized high frequency (HFn) increased when syncope occurred.Syncopal period also caused more significant increase in the power of the DC in positive groups.These changes were more exaggerated compared to controls.All the patients were indicative of a sympathetic surge in the presence of withdrawal vagal activity before syncope and a sympathetic inhibition with a vagal predominance at the syncopal stage by the frequency-domain analysis of HRV.With the measurements ofDC,a decreased vagal tone before syncope stage and a vagal activation at the syncopal stage were observed.The vagal tone was higher in subjects showing cardioinhibitory responses at the syncopal stage.DC may provide an alternative method to understand the autonomic profile of VVS patients.

BACKGROUNDGenetic association studies on populations of European origin have identified the DCDC2 gene as a susceptibility locus for developmental dyslexia. Here, we sought to investigate the association of DCDC2 polymorphisms with developmental dyslexia in children of Han Chinese origin.

METHODSWe undertook a case-control genetic association study on 76 dyslexic children and 79 non-dyslexic matched controls. We isolated DNA from oral mucosal cell samples and genotyped two DCDC2 coding-sequence single nucleotide polymorphisms, rs2274305 and rs6456593, in each sample using SNaPshot single nucleotide extension. We compared the allele and genotype frequencies between the groups using the χ(2) test and analyzed the relationship between dyslexia and the polymorphism at both loci using unconditional logistic regression. We also predicted haplotypes and compared their frequencies between the two groups.

RESULTSThe differences in the genotype distribution and the allelic genes of the two single nucleotide luci of the DCDC2 gene, rs2274305 and rs6456593, between the two dyslexic and non-dyslexic groups were statistically meaningless (P > 0.05). The differences in the haplotype distributions of the DCDC2 gene between the dyslexic and normal group were statistically meaningless (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe DCDC2 gene may not be a susceptibility factor for developmental dyslexia among the Han Chinese. However, methodological issues may have prevented the detection of positive associations.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Child ; Dyslexia ; genetics ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; genetics ; Genotype ; Haplotypes ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo explore the protective effect of tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) on the learning and memory function in D-galactose (D-gal)-lesioned mice.

METHODSC57BL/6 mice were injected (s.c.) 2% D-gal for 40 days (100 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)). Normal saline, TMP, and Huperzine A were respectively given by intragastric administration in different groups from the third week. Learning and memory ability was tested with Morris water maze for 5 days at the sixth week. After completion of behavioral test, the mice were sacrificed by decapitation. The brain was rapidly removed, and the cortex and hippocampus were separated. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the cortex were determined. At the same time, the activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE), the binding sites (Bmax) and the affinity (KD) of M-cholinergic receptor in the cortex, and Bmax and KD of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor in the hippocampus were determined.

RESULTSIn this model group, (1) The deficit of learning and memory ability, (2) elevated MDA content and lowered SOD activity, (3) decreased AChE activity and M-cholinergic receptor binding sites in the cortex, and (4) lowered NMDA receptor binding sites were observed in the hippocampus, as compared with the normal control. TMP could markedly (1) attenuate cognitive dysfunction, (2) lower MDA content and elevate SOD activity, (3) increase the activity of ChAT and AChE, and M-cholinergic receptor binding sites in the cortex in the mice treated with D-gal. NMDA receptor binding sites were also increased in the hippocampus in the treated mice.

CONCLUSIONTMP can significantly strengthen antioxidative function, improve central cholinergic system function, protect NMDA receptor activity, and thus enhance the learning and memory ability in D-gal-lesioned mice.

Alzheimer Disease ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Animals ; Galactose ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Male ; Maze Learning ; drug effects ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Neuroprotective Agents ; pharmacology ; Pyrazines ; pharmacology ; Receptors, Muscarinic ; metabolism