Objective To study whether IL-1β, a catabolic factor of cartilage metabolism, induces premature senescence of articular chondrocytes, and whether caveolin-1 mediates IL-1β-induced cellular senescence. Methods Cultured human articular chondrocytes were stimulated with 10 ng/ml IL-1β. Cellular senescent phenotypes were analyzed by cellular morphology, cell growth arrest (flow cytometry), telomere erosion (Southern blotting), life span (population doublings), and specific senescence-associated β-galac-tosidase (SA-β-Gal) activity. Expression level of caveolin-1 was modulated by anti-sense oligunucleotide or transfection of caveolin-1 gene. Caveolin-1 protein was analyzed by Western blotting. Results Incubation of chondrocytes with IL-1β markedly increase the percentage of cells in G0/G1 phase and reduce the percentage in S phase. Single stimulation with IL-1β enables chondrocytes to become big and flat, and SA-β-Gal activity in chondrocytes is enhanced. Repeated stimulation with IL-Iβ resulted in accelerats erosion of mean telomere length, and shortens life span. Down-regulation of caveolin-1 with anti-sense oligonucleotide significantly inhibits the features of chondrocytes senescence induced by IL-1β. In contrast, caveolin-1 overexpreasion enhanced SA-β-Gal activity in the chondrocytes. Conclusion IL-1β induces features of stress-induced premature senescence and telemere-dependent replicative senescence of articular chondrocytes, which is mediated by caveolin-1. These data suggest that IL-1β induces premature senescence of articular chondro-cytes by upregulation of caveolin-1, which facilitates the development of osteoarthritis.

Objective:To investigate the correlation between arterial baroreceptor reflex (ABR) function and target organ dam age (TOD) in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) .Methods:Twenty- four- hour blood pressure (SBP and DBP ) ,blood pressure variability (BPV ) ,heart rate (HR ) and HR variability (HRV ) were m easured in conscious, unrestrained SHR and Wistar- Kyoto (WKY ) rats.ABR function control of heart period (ABR- HP) and blood pressure (ABR- BP) were determined respectively.Hypertensive TOD was evaluated according to the scoring system.Results:SBP, DBP and their BPV were significantly increased in SHR compared with those of WKY rats.No difference of HR was found between the 2 strains,but HRV was significantly decreased in SHR when com pared with WKY rats.ABR- HP and ABR- BP of SHR were significantly decreased compared with those of WKY rats (P

AIM To investigate the changes of vascular systiolic/relaxant function in sino-aortic denervated rats. METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley rats were underwent sino-aortic denervation (SAD). The sinoaortic denervated (SAD) rats were adopted as a model of arterial baroreflex deficit. SAD, isolated aortic-denervated (AD) and isolated sinus-denervated (SD) rats were instrumented chronically to record blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), BP variability (BPV), HR variability (HRV), arterial baroreflex function control of heart period (ABR-HP) and BP (ABR-BP). The vascular maximum contractile/relaxant function was determined through cumulative venous injection of phenylephrine (SBP max ) and nitroprusside(DBP min ) both after ganglionic blokade. RESULTS Acute SAD(1 week after operation) caused hypertension and tachycardia in rats. Eighteen weeks after operation, BP and HR values in SAD and SD rats were not different from those in sham-operated rats, but AD rats were hypertensive compared with control group. Though the 24 h mean BP values of chronic (18 weeks after operation) SAD rats was not different from those in the sham-operated rats, 24 h BPV of SAD rats was significantly higher when compared with sham-operated rats. ABR function in the acute SAD rats was significantly decreased when compared with sham-operated rats, whereas in chronic SAD rats, both ABR-HP and ABR-BP were higher than those in acute SAD rats, but were still significantly lower than those in control groups. 18 weeks after operation, ABR function in SAD and AD rats were significantly decreased when compared with those in SD and control groups. SBP max after phenylephrine and DBP min after nitroprusside were significantly higher in SAD, AD and SD rats than in control group. ABR function was negatively correlated to DBP min ( r =-0.677 for ABR-HP, and r =-0.681 for ABR-BP; P

Objective To investigate the effects of lipid microspheres prostaglandin E1(Lipo PGE1) on subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH).Methods Ninty-three patients with SAH were randomly divided into control group(treated with nomal drugs) and Lipo PGE1 treatment group(treated with nomal drugs and Lipo PGE1).Changes in neuroimaging,biochemical indexes and incidence of cerebral vasospasm were measured. Results A lower incidence rate of cerebral vasospasm was observed in Lipo PGE1 treatment group(P0.05).The levels of vWF and GMP-140 were significant lower in the Lipo PGE1 treatment group than those in the control group after treatment for 3 and 7 d(P

Objective To investigate the changes of somatosensory evoked potential(SEP)in subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH)and in-fluence from lipid microspheres prostaglandin E1(Lipo PGE1). Methods Ninty-three patients with SAH were randomly divided into control group(treated with nomal drugs) and Lipo PGE1 treatment group(treated with nomal drugs and Lipo PGE1).Clinical outcomes and changes of SEP before and after the treatment were observed. Results After the treatment,the latency of N20 wave was prolonged in both groups(P

OBJECTIVEPeriodontal tissue remodeling includes remodeling of alveolar bone, periodontal ligament, and cementum. Cementoblast plays a main role in repairing root resorption. Canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling can promote the odontogenic differentiation in osteoblast. However, the mechanism on how the orthodontic force influences the function of cementoblast and the relationship between the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling and Runx2 of cementoblast are not yet known. The aim of this study is focus on this relationship.

METHODSOCCM30 cementoblasts were subjected to mechanical strain by four-point bending system with tension stress for 0, 3, 6, and 12 h. They were pretreated with different concentrations of Dikkopf-1 (DKK1) for 48 h. Western blot analysis was performed to detect the β-catenin levels in the nucleus. Runx2 mRNA was observed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). OCCM30 cementoblasts were then pretreated with 150 ng · mL(-1) DKK1 for 48 h and subjected to mechanical strain by FX4000T system with tension stress for 12 h. Western blot analysis was conducted to detect the β-catenin levels in the nucleus, and Runx2 mRNA was observed by RT-PCR.

RESULTSOCCM30 cementoblasts had significantly higher Runx2 mRNA and β-catenin levels after being loaded with mechanical stress. The amount of Runx2 mRNA in OCCM30 cementoblasts was significantly decreased by DKK1. When OCCM30 cemento-blasts were pretreated with DKK1 without stress, their β-catenin level was significantly decreased by DKK1 and Wnt signaling was blocked. When they were not pretreated with stress, the β-catenin level with DKK1 was lower than that without DKK1. Without DKK1, the β-catenin level in OCCM30 cemento- blasts increased afterbeing loaded with mechanical stress. With DKK1, the β-catenin level in OCCM30 cementoblasts, which were loaded with mechanical stress, was higher than that without mechanical stress.

CONCLUSIONCementoblasts had higher Runx2 mRNA expression under mechanical stress because of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway effect.

Objective Benign prostatic hyperplasia ( BPH) is one of common diseases in aged males , and searching for new therapeutic drugs to BPH has been a research hotspot in recent years .This article was to study the inhibitory effect of eupatorium ja-ponicum thunb and foeniculum vulgare extract ( EFE) on benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats and its possible mechanism . Methods 48 male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups:normal control group without any treatment , model group of BPH treated with subcu-taneous injection of testosterone propionate , positive control group of BPH treated with dutasteride , high, middle and low dosage groups according to different EFE dosage (156 mg/kg, 234 mg/kg and 312 mg/kg).45 days after the treatment, the rats were sacrificed for measurement of the prostate glandular wet weight , the index of prostate gland ( PI ) , the morphological changes of prostate gland by light microscopy and the content of sex hormone . Results The prostate wet weight and PI decreased after EFE treatment for 45 days compared with the BPH model group(P<0.01 ).The hyperplastic glandular epithelium papilla waned and even disappeared in three EFE groups under the light microscope , and the epithelial cells became cubical or flat .High dosage EFE group (312 mg/kg) has simi-lar efficacy to dutasteride group .EFE significantly reduced serum testosterone content , dihydrotestosterone content and T/E2 ratio( P<0.05 ). Conclusion EFE can significantly inhibit prostatic hyperplasia in rats , and its mechanism is related to the decrease of the contents of serum testosterone and dihydrotestosterone as well as T/E2 ratio.

Objective:To find a short, neutralizing antibody-inducible, ORF2-encoded protein by means of comparing the immunogenicity of pN472-C617 and pN477-C613 which represent amino acids 472-617 and 477-613 of HEV ORF2-encoded protein of hepatitis E virus(HEV) genotype 4, respectively.Methods:The two recombinant proteins were expressed, purified, and then used to immunize BALB/c mice. Anti-HEV titers in the immune sera were detected by ELISA. Anti-HEV neutralizing activity was tested by a PCR-based in vitro neutralization assay.Results:Both of the two recombinant proteins were efficiently expressed in E.coli in soluble forms. The purified proteins induced mice to develop high levels of anti-HEV specific antibodies. However, only the immune sera obtained from the mice immunized with pN472-C617 showed the neutralizing activity to the homologous HEV strain by preventing the virus from absorption on PLC/PRF/5 cells surfaces and replication in the cells. The immune sera against pN477-C613, which was truncated five amino acids from both N- and C-terminal of pN472-C617, had no HEV neutralizing activity.Conclusion:The pN472-C617 is the shortest neutralizing antibody-inducible ORF2-encoded protein of HEV reported in literatures so far. It may be considered as a potential candidate for a novel HEV subunit vaccine in our future study.

Objective To investigate clinicopathological characteristics of recurrent endometriosis and outcomes of secondary surgery.Methods From Jan.2003 to Dec.2008,69 cases with recurrent endometriosis operated by the same senior gynecologist in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were studied retrospectively in order to summarize clinicopathological characteristics and clinical outcomes.In prior surgery,both ovaries were involved in 29 cases (42％,29/69),and unilateral ovarian endometriomas were found in 40 cases ( 58％,40/69),including 19 cases (48％,19/40) with left lesions and 21 cases (52％,21/40) with right lesions.After first surgery,57 cases presented recurrent pelvic cystic masses and 12 cases presented moderate to severe pain without pelvic mass.Results The median recurrence interval was 38 ( 1 - 144) months.Among 57 cases with recurrent pelvic masses,bilateral ovarian endometiomas recurred in 24 cases at median recurrence interval of 31 months.Unilateral ovarian endometrioma recurred in 33 cases at recurrence interval of 39 months.There was no significant different recurrence period between blilateral and unilateral recurrent ovarian mass ( P =0.452).The recurrent rate of left and right side ovarian lesion was 77％ (37/48) and 68％ (34/50 cases),respectively,which did not reach statistical difference (P=0.396).Among 12 recurrent cases with pure pelvic pain,10 cases were founded combined with adenomyosis ( AM),of which 4 cases had deep infiltrated endometriosis (DIE).Compared with the 40 cases of simple ovarian endometriomas,29 cases complicated by DIE and (or) AM had longer operation time (75.1 min vs.49.9 min,P=0.017) and more blood loss (114.9 ml vs.38.4 ml,P＜0.05).In those 69 recurrent endometriosis patients,the median period of following-up was 32 months (3 months to 8 years).Six cases showed recurrent disease again at median recurrence interval of 3 years ( 6 months 6 years).Thirty-eight cases had expecting childbearing,however,only 4 women underwent childbirth.Conclusions The rate of clinical diagnosis of recurrent endometriosis is quite high.Pain is mostly associated with AM.The major difficulty and challenge of secondary surgery was ovarian endometrioma combined with DIE or AM.Prognosis of recurrent endometriosis is not optimistic after secondary surgery.

Objective To investigate the effects of mirror therapy supplemented with motor imaging training on the upper extremity functions of hemiplegic stroke patients and on their ability in the activities of daily living (ADL).Methods Forty-four stroke patients were divided into a control group and an experimental group with 22 patients in each.All were given routine rehabilitation treatment.In addition,the experimental group was given 30 minutes of mirror therapy daily supplemented with 15 minutes of motor imaging training.The control group was given routine occupational therapy.All the patients were assessed with Brunnstrom staging,the functional test for the hemiplegic upper extremity-Hong Kong (FTHUE-HK) and the Barthel index (BI) scale before therapy and after 6 weeks.Results After 6 weeks of treatment,both groups showed significant improvements in upper limb function,hand function,and ADL ability.There were significant intra-group differences and significant differences between the experimental and control groups in terms of Brunnstrom staging,FTHUE-HK scores and BI scores.Conclusions Mirror therapy supplemented with motor imaging training can benefit patients suffering hemiplegia in improving their upper limb functioning and their ADL ability.