Objective To observe the effect of Danzhi Jiangtang Capsules(DJC) on serum interleukin-18 (IL-18),cystatin C (CysC) and relative biochemical indexes in patients with early diabetic kidney disease(DKD),and to explore its protective action on the kidney.Methods Sixty-two hospitalized patients with early diabetic nephropathy (period 11-Ⅲ) in Endocrinology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine were divided into western medicine group and DJC group,31 cases in each group.The patients in western medicine group received conventional hypoglycemic drugs,and DJC group received DJC based on the treatment for the western medicine group.Before and after treatment,we observed the levels of serum IL-18,CysC,fasting plasma glucose (FPG),2-hour postprandial glucose (2hPG),glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c),serum creatinine (SCr),blood urea nitrogen (BUN),microalbumin (mAlb),urinary albumin /creatinine ratio (UACR),and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).Results The total effective rate was 90.0％ in DJC group and 76.7％ in the western medicine group,there being significant difference between the two groups(P ＜ 0.05).After treatment,the main traditional Chinese medical syndrome scores of DJC group were significantly lower than those before treatment,and the improvement was better than that of the western medicine group (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01).After treatment,the serum levels of IL-18,CysC,2hPG,SCr,BUN,mAlb,UACR in the two groups were significantly lower than those before treatment (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01),while eGFR level was higher than that before treatment (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01),and the improvement effect (except for BUN) in the DJC group was superior to that in the western medicine group(P ＜ 0.01).DJC had an effect on lowering the FPG and HbA1c (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01 compared with those before treatment),and the western medicine had no obvious effect on the two indexes (P ＞ 0.05).The results of Spearman correlation analysis showed that IL-18 was correlated with CysC,IL-18 and CysC were correlated with HbA1c,mALB and uACR.Conclusion DJC can protect renal function of patients with early diabetic nephropathy.

Objective. To understand drug susceptibilities to common antibacterials, resistance mechanism to β-lactams and quinolones and the clonal spread of resistant stains of Haemophilus influenzae (H. influenzae) and Haernophilus parainfluenzae (H. parainfluenzae) isolated from some hospitals in Shanghai. Methods The in vitro antimicrobial susceptibilities to 13 antibacterials, such as ampicillin, of 156 Haemophilus strains collected from 5 hospitals of Shanghai in 2006 were tested by agar dilution method. The β-lactamase production was determined by chromogenic cephalosporin test. TEM and ROB type of β-lactamase genes and quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDR) of ciprofloxacin-resistant strains were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. The homology of H. influenzae strains were analyzed by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR. Results The susceptible rate of 109 strains H. influenzae to ampicillin was 74.3%, while those to ampicillin-sulbactam, cephatosporins and fluoroquinolones were all 100.0%. The β-lactamases-producing rates of 109 strains H. influenzae and 47 strains H. parainfluenzae were 25.7% and 19.1% (χ2=0.776,P=0.378), respectively. TEM gene was detected in all β-lactamases-producing strains. Of 109 H. influenzae isolates, only one was resistant to ciprofloxacin, and Ser84Leu mutation was detected in gyrA gene and Gly206Arg mutation in parC gene. The results of ERIC-PCR showed that 106 H. influenzae strains were clustered into 73 groups with similarity level of 85%. Conclusions Clinical isolates of H. influenzae from hospitals in Shanghai remain highly susceptible to common antimicrobial agents except ampicillin. TEM type of β-lactamase production is the main ampicillin-resistant mechanism of the tested stains. The clonal spread of H. influenzae, including ampicillin-resistant strains, is not prevalent.

Objective To investigate the effects of metformin(Met)on liver function,chronic inflammation and liver fibrosis in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) combined with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods 4 groups of rat models were established:the control group(group A),T2DM group(group B),T2DM+NAFLD group(group C)and T2DM+NAFLD+Met group(group D). After grouping,the specimens of blood and liver tissues were taken. Serum liver function,C-reactive protein(CRP),tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)and interleukin-6(IL-6)were detected,and then their insulin resistance was assessed. The pathological changes of the liver were detected by HE staining,oil red O staining,Masson staining and reticular fiber staining, and the expression of TNF-α,IL-6 and CRP in liver tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results (1) The degree of insulin resistance and hypohepatia in group B and C were higher than those in group A,and those of group D were lower than those in group C.(2)The levels of inflammatory cytokines in group B and C were higher than those in group A,and the level in group D were lower than those in group C.(3)The pathological examination of liver showed that there was significant fatty degeneration,fatty inflammation and fibrosis in the livers of group C,and group D was better than those in group C. Conclusions Met is effective in the improvement of insulin resis-tance,hypohepatia,chronic inflammation and liver fibrosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus associated with non-alco-holic fatty liver disease,which in mechanism may be related to the decreased expression of inflammatory factors and improved chronic inflammatory state.

IFT46 is one of the important components of intraflagellar transport complex B in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and plays important roles in the assembly, movement and perception of ciliary. To study its functional mechanism, a GST-tagged and an MBP-tagged prokaryotic expression plasmid, pGEX-2T-ift46 and pMAL-C2X-ift46 were constructed, respectively, by inserting ift46 into the pGEX-2T and pMAL-C2X vector, and then transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) for protein expression. SDS-PAGE (15%) analysis results showed that the molecular weights of the fusion protein GST-IFT46 and MBP-IFT46 were 70 kDa and 86 kDa, respectively. We used the fusion protein GST-IFT46 purified by affinity adsorption purification (more than 95% purity) for immunity to New Zealand white rabbits. The 5th immune serum was collected and the antibody titer was determined to be 256 000 by ELISA. The antiserum was purified by Protein A affinity adsorption purification and immobilized MBP-IFT46 purification, and the specificity of polyclonal antibodies was evaluated by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. Results showed that the polyclonal antibody prepared could specifically and precisely bind IFT46 in C. reinhardtii, and IFT46 was mainly concentrated at basal body regions and few localized along the entire length of the flagellum as punctuated dots, which will make a foundation to further study the mechanism of IFT46 in cilia related diseases such as obesity, diabetes and polycystic kidney disease.
Algal Proteins ; biosynthesis ; immunology ; Animals ; Antibodies ; chemistry ; Blotting, Western ; Chlamydomonas reinhardtii ; chemistry ; genetics ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Escherichia coli ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; biosynthesis ; immunology ; Plasmids ; Rabbits ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis