AIM: To investigate effect of sodium ferulate on A?25-35-mediated signaling pathway. METHODS: The isolated peritoneal macrophages from mice were cultured. p38 MAPK protein kinase in nuclear extracts was analyzed by Western blotting. The concentration of TNF-? and NO in supernatant were measured by ELISA and Griess reaction technique. The expression of iNOS protein was detected by immunochemical technique. RESULTS: A?25-35 significantly increased the concentrations of TNF-? and NO in supernatant, expression of iNOS in macrophages and p38 MAPK protein kinase in nuclear extracts, which were blocked by sodium ferulate. CONCLUSION: Sodium ferulate inhibits p38 MAPK activation triggered by A?25-35.

Objective To analyse the 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring(ABPM)character-istics and effect of health education in children with orthostatic hypertension (OHT)retrospectively.Methods A total of 19 children[1 1 males and 8 females with mean age of (1 1.26 ±2.16)years]who were outpa-tients or had been hospitalized in the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University due to unexplained syncope,presyncope,and finally diagnosed as OHT after head up tilt test(HUTT).HUTT and ABPM were reexamined at 12 ~190(47 ±48 )days after receiving health education (including psychological guidance, avoiding sudden changes in posture,increasing the amount of water,avoiding syncope inducement,etc). Results (1 )ABPM parameters:there were no significant differences of ABPM parameters before and after health education respectively(P ﹥0.05,respectively).(2)After the health education,HUTT 3 min diastolic pressure[(71.89 ±1.60)mmHg vs.(76.47 ±8.49)mmHg,1 mmHg =0.133 kPa,t =2.785,P ﹤0.05]and diastolic blood pressure change[(7.37 ±4.98)mmHg vs.(12.42 ±3.27)mmHg,t =3.560,P ﹤0.05]de-creased than those before health education.(3 )Blood pressure pattern changes:after the health education,“dipper blood pressure”increased and “non-dipper blood pressure”decreased[42.1 %(8 /19)vs.31.6%(6 /19)and 57.9%(1 1 /19)vs.68.4%(13 /19),χ2 =0.452,P ﹥0.05,respectively].(4)OHT cure rate:after health education,to review the HUTT,within 3 minutes in HUTT,blood pressure changes of 14 cases were normal range.The cure rate was 73.7%.Conclusion OHT children's blood type is given priority to with “non-dipper blood pressure”,and the ratio of“dipper blood pressure”increase and the HUTT 3 min di-astolic pressure and diastolic blood pressure change decrease after health education.It suggests that the health education of OHT children has a certain clinical effect.

Objective　To explore the effect of nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) on the expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor, kinase-inserted domain containing receptor(KDR) and the possible mechanism. Methods　The expression of VEGF in human malignant glioma cell line SHG-44 and that of KDR in human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) line ECV-304 were observed 1～3 d after NDGA treatment with immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and image analysis. Results　The expression of VEGF was declined at protein or mRNA levels in SHG-44 cells after treated with 100 μmol/L NDGA for 1 to 3 d. The expression of KDR in endothelial cells with 100 μmol/L NDGA treatment for 1 to 3 d was decreased too, in a more obvious way compared with the decline of VEGF expression in SHG-44 cells. Conclusion　The results suggest that NDGA inhibits the expression of VEGF in glioma cells as well as that of VEGF receptor KDR in endothelial cells, which may be the important molecular mechanism of anti-angiogenesis of NDGA.

To solve the problem of imprecise positioning of feature point and of the feature data redundancy in facial expression recognition by active appearance models (AAM), the automatic adjustment of initial model for AAM fitting is proposed in this paper. The specific aims are to improve the precision of positioning and to more effectively reflect the variation of expressions by acquired features. The problem of feature selection is resolved by adopting quadratic mutual information and reducing the feature dimension. The support vector machine (SVM) classifier is used for expression recognition. The experimental results on CAS-PEAL facial expression database show that the proposed method effectively improves the performance of facial expression recognition, the maximum recognition rate being 83.33%.
Algorithms ; Computer Simulation ; Facial Expression ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Models, Biological ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

Objective: To explore a single center large cohort of patients with Takayasu’s arteritis for their clinical manifestation and long-term outcome in China. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 566 patients with Takayasu’s arteritis admitted in our hospital from 2002-01 to 2013-11 for their clinical characteristics, laboratory ifndings, angiographic features, treatment and long-term outcomes. Results: The patient’s ratio for female to male gender was 1 to 3.8 and the average onset age was (28.9 ± 12.0) years. The most common non-speciifc symptom, initial symptom and complication were fever (52/566 patients, 9.2%), dizziness (214 patients, 37.8%) and hypertension (392 patients, 69.3%) respectively. The patients with pulmonary artery and coronary artery involvement were 83 (14.7%) and 66 (11.7%) respectively, and 131 (23.1%) patients had faster erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The major vascular damage was steno-occlusive lesion and the most common involvement was left sub-clavian artery, which was observed in 278 (49.1%) patients. The treatments were mainly included in medication, interventional therapy, autologous blood vessel transplantation, artiifcial blood vessel transplantation and aortic valve replacement. There were 32 patients died during the mean follow-up period of (5.0 ± 0.2) years. Hypertension, complication and the progressive stage of disease were the major factors affecting prognosis in relevant patients (regression coefifcients: 4.664, 1.959 and 1.870 respectively, allP<0.05). Conclusion: Hypertension was the leading reason for patients’ hospital visit. Takayasu’s arteritis was closely related to cardiovascular disease, the early diagnosis and treatment were really important in clinical practice.

Objective: To explore the clinical features and prognosis in patients with Takayasu arteritis (TA) combining neurological symptoms. Methods: We retrospectively studied 274 TA patients combining neurological symptoms who admitted to our hospital from 2002-01 to 2013-10 for their clinical and imaging features with prognosis. Results: The ratio of male to female was 1:4.3 and the mean age of disease onset was at (28.2±11.2) years. The most common neurological symptom was dizziness (214/274 cases, 78.1%), most frequent type was type III TA (112 cases, 40.9%), most common affected artery was left subclavian artery (147 cases, 53.6%), and there were 77 cases (28.1%) with (3-4) branches of the aortic arch involvement. For stroke conditions, ischemic stroke was more frequently observed in patients with steno-occlusive lesions in subclavian artery and common carotid artery, while hemorrhagic stroke was more frequently found in patients with steno-occlusive lesions in descending aorta, abdominal aorta and/or renal artery. Heart failure was the most common cause of death, it was also the most common cardiovascular event in surviving cohorts. Conclusion: TA patients could have many neurological symptoms, which were related to the number and site of artery involvement.

Objective:To investigate the effect and related mechanism of quetiapine fumarate tablets combined with valproate sodium tablets in the treatment of depression, and its influence on quality of life.Methods:From January 2017 to January 2019, 96 patients with depression admitted to the Second People's Hospital of Lishui were divided into control group ( n=48) and observation group ( n=48) according to the random digital table method.The patients in the observation group were treated with quetiapine fumarate tablets combined with sodium valproate tablets, while the patients in the control group were treated with sodium valproate.Both two groups were treated for 8 weeks.The therapeutic efficacy, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD), 5-HT, substance P (SP), neuropeptide Y (NPY) and World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREEF) were compared before and after treatment. Results:The total effective rate of the observation group (91.67%) was higher than that of the control group (70.83%) (χ 2=6.838, P<0.05). After treatment, the scores of PSQI and HAMD in the observation group[(8.74±1.29)points and (14.35±1.37)points] were lower than those in the control group [(10.85±1.43)points and (21.19±2.09)points] ( t=7.591, 18.963, all P<0.05). After treatment, the serum levels of 5-HT [(43.17±7.46)μg/L] and NPY [(7.98±0.43)mg/L] in the observation group were higher than those in the control group [(34.36±5.18)μg/L and (6.59±0.37)mg/L], while the SP level [(3.98±0.54)mg/L] in the observation group was lower than that in the control group [(5.43±0.67)mg/L], the differences were statistically significant( t=6.721, 16.976, 11.674, all P<0.05). After treatment, the scores of environmental field [(65.78±2.63)points], social relationship[(60.31±3.25)points], psychology[(71.83±3.15)points] and physiology [(69.83±3.56)points] in the observation group were higher than those in the control group [(58.91±2.35)points, (54.73±2.32)points, (64.36±2.78)points, (61.15±2.89)points]( t=13.495, 9.682, 12.319, 13.115, all P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in adverse reactions between the two groups ( P>0.05). Conclusion:Quetiapine fumarate tablets combined with sodium valproate tablets is effective in the treatment of depression, which can increase serum 5-HT and NPY levels and decrease SP level, and improve the quality of life of patients.

Objective:To detect gene mutations in 1 patient with Vohwinkel syndrome who presented with palmoplantar keratoderma, pseudo-ainhum and deafness.Methods:Clinical data were collected from the proband, and a genetic test was performed to identify mutation sites.Results:Clinical manifestations of the proband were consistent with classical Vohwinkel syndrome. The genetic test revealed a heterozygous mutation c.160A>C (p.N54H) in the GJB2 gene, which was not detected in her parents or healthy controls.Conclusion:The heterozygous mutation c.160A>C (p.N54H) in the GJB2 gene was first identified in a patient with classical Vohwinkel syndrome, and there were overlaps in mutation sites between classical Vohwinkel syndrome and palmoplantar keratoderma with deafness.