Objective: The study has been testing the efficiency of attention networks in Chinese adults. Methods: The study has used "ANT" to examine 76 normal Chinese adults and analysed the effect on alerting, orienting and executive attention. Results: The reaction time across whole ANT is 502-940(706?105)ms, and the correct ratio is 93%-100%(0.97?0.07).The alerting effect is 30?20ms, orienting effect 51?24ms, and conflict effect 106?32ms. Correlation analyses demonstrate no correlation between alerting, orienting, and conflict resolution. Conclusion: ANT produces reliable subject estimates of alerting, orienting and executive attention function.

BACKGROUND:Searching for a porous three-dimensional (3D) scaffold holding good porosity, mechanical property and biocompatibility has become a hot spot, in which, 3D printing technology also plays apart. OBJECTIVE:To prepare silk fibroin/col agen scaffolds using 3D printing technology and detect its performance. METHODS:Silk fibroin/col agen scaffolds were constructed using 3D printing technology, and the silk fibroin/col agen mass ratio was 4:2 (group A) and 4:4 (group B), respectively. The porosity, water absorption expansion rate, mechanical properties and pore size of the composite scaffolds were detected. The passage 3 rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s were seeded onto the two scaffolds. The cel proliferation was detected using MTT assay at 13 days of culture, and the cel morphology was observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and scanning electron microscope at 14 days of culture. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The porosity, pore size, and water absorption expansion rate of group A were significantly larger than those of group B (P<0.05), while the elasticity modulus showed no significant difference between groups. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s on the two scaffolds increased gradual y with time, especial y in the group A (P<0.05). Abundant cel s distributed evenly in the group A, while few cel s distributed unevenly in the group B. These results suggest that the 3D printed scaffolds composed by silk fibroin/col agen mass ratio of 4:2 holds good physicochemical performance and cytocompatibility.

Clinical study of modified Ganmai Dazao decoction in the treatment of yang deficiency climacteric depression and observe the effects of modified Ganmai Dazao decoction on neuroendocrine system in patients with yang deficiency climacteric depression. 86 cases were randomly divided into treatment group treated with modified Ganmai Dazao decoction and control group treated with Deanxit. The curative effect was evaluated with Hamilton's depressive scale (HAMD) and pittsburgh sleep quality scale (PSQI) before and at the end of the two and four weeks of the treatment, the serum levels of serotonin (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE), estradiol (E2), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteotropic hormone (LH) were detected before and after the four weeks of the treatment The results showed that the total effective power of treatment group was 88.4% and the total effective power of control group was 81.4% after four weeks interference, with insignificant difference between the two groups. After two and four weeks of the treatment, the score of HAMD decreased remarkably in both groups (P < 0.01), with insignificant difference between the two groups in same phase. After two and four weeks of the treatment, the total score of PSQI decreased remarkably in both groups (P < 0.05), with significant difference between the two groups after four weeks (P < 0.01). After four weeks of treatment, the serum levels of 5-HT and NE increased (P < 0.01), with insignificant difference between the groups. After four weeks of treatment, the serum levels of E2 increased obviously (P < 0.05), the levels of FSH decreased obviously (P < 0.05), the levels of LH decreased insignificant, with insignificant difference between two groups. This study indicates that modified Ganmai Dazao decoction has obvious therapeutic effects in the treatment of climacteric depression, and showed equivalent efficacy with Deanxit, and modified Ganmai Dazao decoction has better effect on improving the sleep quality in patients than Deanxit, the effect of improved clinical symptoms may be through adjusted levels of 5-HT, NE, E2, FSH and LH of climacteric depression.
Adult ; Depression ; blood ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; blood ; Humans ; Menopause ; drug effects ; psychology ; Middle Aged ; Neurosecretory Systems ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Norepinephrine ; blood ; Phytotherapy ; Serotonin ; blood

The aim was to study the roles of extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK) and telomerase activity in drug resistance of human leukemia and ovarian carcinoma cells. Flow cytometry was used to analyze apoptosis rate. Telomere repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) and bioluminescence analysis method were used for detection of telomerase activity. The phosphorylated ERK(1/2) protein expression was observed by Western blot method. The results showed that the specific inhibitor PD98059 of ERK kinase 1 (MEK(1)) enhanced the sensitivity of HL-60/E6 leukemia cell lines to harringtonine (HRT) or COC1/DDP ovarian carcinoma cell lines to cis-dichlorodiamine platinum (DDP). Both PD98059 and chemotherapy drugs HRT and DDP reduced the phosphorylated ERK(1) and ERK(2) protein expression level, and down-regulated the telomerase activity. The sole action of each was inferior to the combination action of PD98059 and HRT or DDP. In conclusion, ERK and telomerase serve a function to some extent in drug resistance of leukemia and ovarian carcinoma cells. The inhibition of ERK signal transduction pathways led to reduction of phosphorylated ERK(1) and ERK(2) protein expression level, and successionally down-regulated the telomerase activity. The final result was to enhance the sensitivity of HL-60/E6 to HRT or COC1/DDP to DDP.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Enzyme Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Female ; Flavonoids ; pharmacology ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Leukemia ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; analysis ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Telomerase ; metabolism

Deep Brain Stimulation ; methods ; Essential Tremor ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are heterogeneous clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders with different mechanisms and diverse prognosis. The excess of ring sideroblasts (RS) is an important presentation MDS, but the mechanisms of RS appearance are obscure and the treatment of MDS-RS is intractable. Splicing factors play a very important role in the maturation process of eucaryon mRNA, recent studies indicate that there is a significant causal relationship between splicing factor 3B subunit 1 (SF3B1) mutation and the presence of ring sideroblasts. Lucubrating the downstream molecular of the mutated SF3B1 can facilitate exploring the mechanisms and new therapeutic strategies of MDS-RS.
Anemia, Sideroblastic ; etiology ; genetics ; Animals ; Humans ; Mutation ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; complications ; genetics ; Phosphoproteins ; genetics ; RNA Splicing Factors ; Ribonucleoprotein, U2 Small Nuclear ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of AMPK agonist 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleoside (AICAR) on proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis of U937 cells and explore its possible mechanism.

METHODSU937 cells were cultured with different concentrations of AICAR for 24 h and 48 h. Cell proliferation was evaluated. Cell growth curve was analyzed by CCK-8; cell apoptosis was analyzed by cell morphology, Annexin V/7-AAD double labeling. The differentiation of U937 cells was evaluated by expression of CD11b. The Bcl-xL, Bax, Bim, caspase-3 mRNA expressions of U937 cells were determined by real time PCR.

RESULTSAICAR significantly inhibited the growth of U937 cells in a time-and dose-dependent manner, with a 24 h IC50 value of 1.1 mmol/L and 48 h of 0.9 mmol/L. 1.0 mmol/L AICAR didn't induce differentiation of U937 cells with the increase of CD11b expression for 24 h (P > 0.05). The U937 cells apoptosis was confirmed by cell morphology and Annexin V/7-AAD labeling. AICAR induced apoptosis of U937 cells and the apoptosis rate was (6.81 ± 1.16)% at 1 mmol/L AICAR higher than control group (2.74 ± 0.32)% without AICAR for 24 h treatment (P < 0.05). The real time PCR assay revealed that as compared with control group, the expression of Bim and caspase-3 mRNA were increased, while Bcl-xL and Bax were unchanged on the AICAR treatment.

CONCLUSIONAICAR can effectively inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of U937 cells. However, it has no significant effect on differentiation of U937 cells. The mechanism may be related with up-regulating Bim and Caspase-3.

Aminoimidazole Carboxamide ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Humans ; Ribonucleotides ; pharmacology ; U937 Cells

OBJECTIVETo explore the characteristics of CpG islands methylation at promoter region of HOX A gene cluster in leukemia cells before and after all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) treatment.

METHODSEleven human leukemia cell lines, bone marrow cells from leukemia patients before and after therapy and white blood cells from normal subjects were collected. HL-60 and K562 cells were treated by 2-deoxy-5-azacytidine (DAC) or ATRA respectively. Bisulfite modified DNA of these cells were amplified with PCR and quantitatively analyzed by pyrosequencing for methylation of CpG islands.

RESULTSIn normal cells, CpGs at all loci of HOX A cluster were unmethylated. In HOX A4, A6, A7, A9, A10 and A11, many CpG sites were methylated (>20%) or hypermethylated (>50%) in leukemia cell lines. Percentages of methylated CpGs were higher in T-cell leukemia (71.4%) and B-cell leukemia (85.7%) than in others. For individual CpGs methylations there were HOX A4 in all leukemia cells, HOX A6 and HOX A7 in most of the leukemia samples and HOX A10 and HOX A11 in K562 and HL-60 cells (38%-86%). HOX A9 CpGs showed hypomethylation in most of myeloid leukemia cells, whereas HOX A11 CpGs were hypermethylated in B-cell leukemia (>50%). Methylation levels of HOX A4 and A6 in AML and ALL patients after complete remission were decreased obviously, and so did HOX A6 and A9 in CML patients. Methylation levels of HOX A4, A6 and A10 in HL-60 cells and of HOX A6 in K562 cells were reduced by ATRA treatment.

CONCLUSIONSIn all leukemia cell lines, aberrant methylation of CpGs was observed at promoter regions of 6 HOX A cluster genes, and some of these genes showed leukemia-type-specific hypermethylation. CpGs methylation of some HOX A genes in leukemia cell lines, especially in HL-60 cells, were down-regulated by ATRA.

Cell Line, Tumor ; CpG Islands ; genetics ; DNA Methylation ; Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; Humans ; Leukemia ; genetics ; Multigene Family ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; genetics

Breast cancer has the highest incidence rate among all women's malignant tumors worldwide.Surgery,radiotherapy and chemotherapy are three major treatments,while most patients showed adverse effects or complications during or after the treatment,including lymphedema,gastrointestinal reactions and leukopenia,which cause severe impact on patients' recovery and quality of life.Moxibustion has been used and certified to alleviate adverse effects of surgery or chemoradiotherapy for breast cancer.We have summarized literatures in recent years and suggest more systematic research in the future for the underlying mechanism.

Objective To investigate the mechanism of high frequency stimulation (HFS) of subthalamic nucleus (STN) in treating primate models of Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods Two rhesus monkeys were injected 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) into unilateral brain to induce the PD models; rhesus monkey models were implanted with glass recording electrodes and stimulating electrodes into the globus pallidus intemus (GPi) and STN, respectively. Extracellular recording was used to investigate the spikes and analyze the firing activity of GPi before and during STN-HFS. Results The spontaneous firing of GPi neurons on the normal side of PD monkeys was more regular than that on the abnormal side,and the frequency of firing was (44.38±13.66)spike/s and (50.57±15.53)spike/s respectively, without significant difference (P＞0.05). During STN-HFS, 4 neuronal activity changes existed, including incomplete inhibition, complete inhibition, increase of excitability and no change.STN-HFS could cause inhibition in most of the GPi neurons on both sides and the average inhibition rate on the abnormal side was 56.29％±29.66％,which was higher than that on the normal side(36.03％±35.25％),with statistically significant difference(P＜0.05).Conclusion HFS would do a certain extent suppression to the abnormal activity of STN neurons,resulting in a re-equilibrium in the neuronal activity of the basal ganglia motor circuit and the improvement of PD symptoms.