AIM: To investigate the apoptosis of endothelial cells (EC) induced by oxysterols and to examine the effect of amlodipine on the apoptosis induced by oxysterols.METHODS: Light microscope, electron microscope, DNA agarose gel electrophoresis and flow cytometry were used to detect the apoptosis of EC.RESULTS: The characteristic morphological features of apoptosis were observed under light and electron microscope; DNA electrophoresis showed"DNA Ladder"; Flow cytometry showed the sub-G1 peak, apoptotic rate is 32.25% and 23.04% in Triol-treated and 25-OH-treated groups, respectively. While treated EC with amlodipine at the same time, the apoptotic rate decreased significantly. CONCLUSION: Both Triol and 25-OH can induce apoptosis of EC, which can be inhibited by amlodipine.

AIM: To investigate the effects of oxysterols on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) expression in vascular smooth muscle cells. METHODS: Rabbit aortic vascular smooth muscle cells were cultured in vitro and incubated with cholesterol, Triol and 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-OH), respectively. Slot blot was used to detect the mRNA expression level of TIMP-1 in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs); meanwhile the protein expression level of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 was detected by immunohistology. RESULTS: Triol and 25-OH inhibited the expression of TIMP-1 compared with control and cholesterol, but have no effect on expression of MMP-9. CONCLUSION: Both Triol and 25-OH downregulated TIMP-1 expression in VSMCs .

Objective To evaluate if the assay of platelet-associated immunoglobulin G (PAIgG) can improve the sensitivity of monoclonal antibody immobilization of platelet antigens assay (MAIPA) in immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).Methods Anti-GP Ⅱb/Ⅲa and anti-GP Ⅰb/Ⅸ autoantibodies were detected by a modified MAIPA;PAIgG was detected by competitive ELISA.MAIPA and PAIgG were done simultaneously in 190 patients with thrombocytopenia,in which 132 were diagnosed as ITP according to the diagnostic criteria Kappa test was used to analyze the concordance between MAIPA and PAIgG.Results The sensitivities of PAIgG alone or in parallel with MAIPA to ITP were 32.6% and 37.2% higher than MAIPA alone respectively,while their specifieities were 51.7% and 56.9% lower respectively.The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value of PAIgG in series with MAIPA were all not superior to MAIPA alone.The kappa values between MAIPA and PAIgG in ITP and non-immune thrombocytopenia were 0.129 and 0.012 respectively,which meant the concordance between them was poor.Conclusion The detection of PAIgG should not be used as screening before MAIPA in distinguishing immune from non-immune thrombocytopenia.

With the development of functional genomics, high throughput analysis of genes’ function has been the mainstream of research, and exogenous gene's over expression via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is the most commonly used method in gene functional analysis.The versatile plant expression vector cassette named pBHT-5 was constructed by the method of site-specific mutagenesis based on pBI121. First of all, the restriction enzyme SfiI recognition site in trfA gene (X00713) which was relevant to plasmid replication and stability was replaced without changing its amino acid composition. And then the SfiIA,SfiIB sites were added between promoter CaMV35s and terminator NOS. The versatile plant expression vector cassette can be directly used to construct plant expression vector containing the full-length genes cloned by Clontech SMARTTM technology, which will raise the efficiency of vector construction. The result will provide basis of new genes’ high throughput screening and functional analysis, then get the new genes functioning in plant osmotic stress resistance.

ObjectiveTo investigate the role of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) in the protection against tubular epithelial cells (TEC) ischemia/reperfusion (IR)injury induced by pretreatment with ethanol.Methods Mouse primary cultured TECs were pretreated with 50 mM ethanol 3 h before simulation of in vitro IR.Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release was assessed to evaluate the protection of ethanol pretreatment on IR injury.Thereafter,TECs were transfected with a negative control siRNA (NC) or an ALDH2-siRNA. The ALDH2 protein levels and ALDH enzymatic activities were assessed 48 h after transfection.Ethanol pretreatment and in vitro IR were performed on those transfected TECs.LDH release was assessed to evaluate the role of ALDH2 in the ethanol pretreatment-induced protection against IR injury.ResultsEthanol pretreatment significantly reduced the LDH release in TECs upon IR insult.As compared with NC group and INTERFERin group,the ALDH2 protein levels were decreased by 82.1％,ALDH enzymatic activities were decreased hy 67.3％,and the protective effect induced by ethanol pretreatment was almost completely abrogated in ALDH2-siRNA group.ConclusionEthanol pretreatment protects TECs against IR injury through ALDH2 dependent pathways.

Objective To investigate current situation of prescription of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for acute stroke patients.Methods From June 2008 to October 2010,with simple cluster sampling,48 centers were randomly assigned to the intervention group receiving a standardized treatment strategy,and the usual care group without specific recommendations for treatment.No specific recommendations or restrictions of TCM were proposed for both groups.Consecutive hospitalized patients with acute ischemic stroke were recruited in this study.Clinical data and treatment strategy (including TCM) were recorded by trained investigators.The prescription of TCM three months prior to admission and at discharge was recorded and analyzed.The chi-square test was used for analysis of qualitative data.Results Totally 3 664 patients were included in the analysis (1 709 patients in standard care group and 1 955 patients in the usual care group) with male to female ratio 2∶ 1.The difference of distribution of age,sex and education level between the two groups was not statistically significant.One hundred and eighty-seven patients (5.10％) had taken TCM three months prior to admission,81.28％ of them only taking one type of TCM,without significant difference between the two groups.The percentage of patients taking TCM at discharge was significantly increased to 30.65％ for all the patients with higher percentage (38.16％) in the usual care group than that in the standard care group (22.06％).The percentage of using more than one type of TCM was also higher in the usual care group (x2 =141.43,P ＜ 0.01).Totally,112 types of TCM were prescribed at discharge.Conclusions Nearly one third of hospitalized patients with acute stroke were prescribed TCM at discharge,with mostly monotherapy and a great variety.

Objective To investigate the prevalence of nutritional risk,undemutrition,overweight/obesi-ty,and apphcation of nutrition support in departments of neurology in 3 metropolitan hospitals in Beijing. Methods Adult patients in the departments of neurology from 3 metropolitan hospitals in Beijing were consecutively en-rolled from March 2005 to March 2006.Nutritional Risk Screening 2002(NRS2002)score≥3 was defined a8 nu-tritian risk,while body mass index(BMI)<18.5 ks/m2 as undemutrition.NRS2002 was performed on the next morning of admission and nutritional support evaluation was performed on the 14th day of admission or discharge day.The relationship between nutrition risk and nutrition support was analyzed.Results A total of 753 patients were enrolled.NRS2002 scoring results were obtained in 461 patients.The prevalence of undemutrition was 4.2%and nutritional risk Was 21.2%.Among them 292 cases in undemutrition category were estimated by semm albu-min<30g/L without accurate BML If the cases without accurate BMl were excluded,the prevalence of undemutri-tion was 5.4%and nutritional risk Was 10.8%.Twenty-three patients(14.4%)with NRS2002≥3 received nutrition support.Thirteen patients(2.2%)with NRS2002<3 received nutrition support.The average PN:EN ratio Wag 1:2.Conclusions A large proportion of inpatients were at nutritional risk or undemutrition in the de-partments of neurology in metropolitan hospitals in Beijing.The application of nutrition support Wag somehow inap-propriate in these patients.Evidence-based guidelines are required to improve this situation

Objective To explore the effects of action observation therapy on upper-extremity motor function after ischemic stroke and on the motor cortex using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Methods Forty patients with ischemic stroke were randomly assigned to an observational group (n =20) or a control group (n =20).Both groups received conventional rehabilitation,while the observational group was additionally provided with action observation therapy for 8 weeks.Both groups were assessed using the Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) and the Barthel index (BI) before and after the 8 weeks of treatment and functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed before treatment.Two months after the treatment,nine patients of the experimental group and 8 of the control group who continued to receive their respective treatments after discharge were again assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging.Results After the treatment the average FMA score and BI score of both the observational group and the control group had increased significantly.The increase in the average FMA score of the observational group was significantly greater than that of the control group.However,there was no significant difference between the two groups in the increases in BI score after 8 weeks of treatment.The fMRI results showed that there was a significantly greater rise in activity in the bilateral precentral gyrus,parietal lobe and the supplementary motor area of the patients in the observational group after the treatment compared with the control group.Conclusion Action observation therapy can improve upper extremity motor function and performance in the activities of daily living after ischemic stroke and induce changes in the excitability of the cerebral motor cortex.

Objective To investigate the status quo of new allocated nurses to master relevant knowledge of blood specimen collection.Methods 197 new allocated nurses and young nurses within 5 working-years were included and the new allocated nurses accepted knowledge training of blood specimen collection.Differences in training effect between nurses with different work experience and education background were analyzed.Results Average score of new allocated nurses before training was lower than young nurses,while after training,there was no difference between them.The training score of new allocated nurses did not correlate with their background before and after training.Conclusions In order to improve the quality of testing and prompt development of new nurses,the department of clinical nursing should strengthen the relevant training about knowledge of blood specimen collection in new allocated nurses.

Objective To understand the prevalence and risk factors of non-suicidal self-injury in middle school students.Methods 1312 middle school students of Pengzhou and Santai were selected to fill in a Risky Behavior Questionnaire for Adoluscents (RBQ-A),Family Environment Scale ( FES ),Center for Epidemiological Survey,Depression Scale (CES-D),Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check List (ASLEC),Social Support Scale for Adolescents (SSSA) and self-administered questionnaire.In all the research subjects,1288 were qualified for the study in April 2011 before the risk factors for non-suicidal self-injury were identified by logistic regression.Results In 1288 middle school students,22.67％ had a history of non-suicidal self-injury,with 22.70％ in boys and 22.64％ in girls.63.36％ of students had injured themselves through variouslyways,more seen in boys (26.88％) than in girls (11.36％ ) who cut or burnt themselves.The scores of ASLEC and CES-D in non-suicidal self-injury group appeared higher than that in the control group and the score of SSSA was found higher in the control group.The main risk factors for non-suicidal self-injuries were family conflict,depressive emotion,negative life events and receiving less social support.Conclusion The prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury among middle school students in Pengzhou was high,whicn called for more attention.