OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of Danlou Tablet (DT) on arrhythmia model rats induced by transient myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R).

METHODSTotally 45 healthy Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, the sham-operation group, the model group, and the DT group, 15 in each group. Rats in the sham-operation group and the model group were administered with distilled water by gastrogavage at the daily dose of 0.1 mL/kg. Rats in the DT group was administered with 0.53 g/mL DT suspension by gastrogavage at the daily dose of 0.1 mL/kg. All medication was lasted for 10 successive days. The myocardial I/R experiment was performed at 1 h after the last gastrogavage. ECG was performed before ligation and at I/R. The jugular arterial blood pressure of all rats was measured during the whole course. ST segment changes were observed at each time point of I/R. The ventricular fibrillation, the premature ventricular, the number and the duration of ventricular tachycardia within 30 min reperfusion were also observed. Activities of Na(+)-K+ ATPase and Ca2+ ATPase in the myocardium homogenate were detected as well.

RESULTSThe jugular arterial blood pressure and the heart rate were slightly lower in the DT group than in the model group, but with no statistical difference (P > 0.05). Compared with the sham-operation group, the degree of ST segment was obviously elevated in the model group at 0, 5, and 7 min (P < 0.05). It was significantly lower in the DT group than in the model group (P < 0.01). ST seg ment was more elevated at 5 min than at 0 min in the model group, but the degree of ST segment elevation was still obviously lower in the DT group than in the model group (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in the degree of ST segment elevation at 7 min between the two groups (P > 0.05). At 0 min when the decrement of ST segment exceeded one half the ischemia, there was no statistical difference in the degree of myocardial ischemia between the model group and the DT group (P > 0.05). Compared with the model group, the incidence of fatal and nonfatal ventricular fibrillation, the frequency and duration of ventricular tachycardia and premature ventricular beats were obviously lessened, and activities of Na(+)-K+ ATPase and Ca(2+)-ATPase increased (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSDT could significantly protect arrhythmias induced by transient I/R. Its effect might be related to lowering the degree of myocardial ischemia, and increasing ion transport channel related enzyme activities.

Animals ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; complications ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

A molecular template synthetic polymer highly selective for norfloxacinum was prepared by a molecular imprinting technique. The selective binding characteristics of the template polymer was evaluated by Scatchard analysis. The multiple-sites binding model was used to calculate the maximum numher of binding sites and the dissociation constant. The results showed that the template polymer using methacrylic acid (MAA) as functional monomer could form two kinds of binding sites. The dissociation constants were estimated to be Kd1 = 2.9 × 10-5mol/L and Kd2 = 3.2 × 10-3 mol/L. The selective binding experiment for substrates indicated that the polymer gave much higher affinity and selectivity for norfloxacin than for acid pipemidic and cefalexin. It is possible to be a good adsorption and binding material in the selective enrichment and determination of trace norfloxacin in complex biosamples.

Objective To investigate the difference of tumor cell proliferation between the center and the edge tissues of human colon cancer and its relationship with the expression and methylation of p16 and p14 gene.Methods The expression of Ki67,P14 and P16 protein was assessed by immunohistochemistry,methylation status and mRNA expression of p16 and p14 gene in different area of colon cancer tissue were analyzed by methylation-specific PCR.RT-PCR and microdissection technique. Results There was significant difference in expressions of Ki67 between the center(100.0%) and the edge (30.1%) tissue in 42 cases of colon cancer(P

Objective To investigate the changes of thyroid hormones in patients with peripartum car-diomyopathy. Methods Seventy-two patients with peripartum cardiomyopathy were consecutively enrolled and 72 healthy women who had normal delivery were regarded as control. Among all the subjects , free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in the serum and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) in the plasma were measured. Results The levels of serum FT3 and FT4 in peripartum cardiomyopathy group were significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.05). And the level of serum TSH in peripartum cardiomyopathy group was significantly low-er than that in control group (P < 0.05). There were 24 cases with hyperthyroidism in peripartum cardiomyopa-thy group while no patient in the control group had hyperthyroidism (P < 0.05). The levels of plasma hs-CRP and IFN-γ in peripartum cardiomyopathy group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P <0.05). And the level of IL-4 in peripartum cardiomyopathy group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusions Serum thyroid hormones elevated in patients with peripartum cardiomyopathy and its mechanism might be related to abnormal immune reaction.

Objective To investigate the effects of lymph from ischemic/reperfused intestine on the inflammatory factors and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) ligand high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) in TLR4 deficient (TLR4-/-) mice.Methods A total of 20 SD rats weighing (300 ±20) g were randomly assigned into two groups:lymph drainage group (group N,lymph drainage for 180 minutes without other treatment) and intestinal ischemia/reperfusion group (group I/R,draining the lymph for 180 minutes while clipping the superiormesenteric artery for 60 minutes followed by 120-minute reperfusion).Thirty-two TLR4-/-mice and thirty-two C57BL/6 wild type (WT) mice were each divided into 4 sub-groups (n =8),injected with different fluids through the caudal vein:group N with normal lymph;group I/R with I/R lymph;group Edt with endotoxin;group HMGB1 with HMGB1 protein.The mice were sacrificed 180 minutes after the injection for sample collection.Results The levels of endotoxin and HMGB1 in the lymph drainage of the group I/R rats were significantly higher than that of the group N rats [(0.034 ± 0.050) Eu/ml vs.(0.017 ± 0.023) Eu/ml,P =0.033;(4.293 ± 0.883) ng/ml vs.(0.509 ± 0.128) ng/ml,P =0.006].In the mice injected with HMGB1,the mucosa thickness and villus height in the ileum of the WT mice were significantly lower than that of the TLR4-/-mice [(335.8±43.2) μmvs.(602.1±37.5) μm,P=0.000;(273.0±31.7) μm vs.(404.5 ± 18.6) μm,P =0.000];in both WT and TLR4-/-mice injected with the I/R lymph drainage,the mucosa thickness and virus height were decreased,but the decrements were significantly lower in TLR4-/-mice;there were no statistically significant differences in the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6),tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α),endotoxin,and HMGB1 between the TLR4-/-and the WT mice injected with normal lymph or endotoxin.In the mice injected with I/R lymph drainage,the levels of inflammatory factors in the TLR4-/-mice were significantly lower than those in the WT mice [TNF-α:(28.637 ±5.166) pg/ml vs.(41.917 ±8.175) pg/ml,P=0.000;IL-6:(60.900 ±24.729) pg/ml vs.(110.265 ±28.545) pg/ml,P =0.000].In the mice injected with HMGB1,the levels of inflammatory factors in the TLR4-/-mice were significantly decreased compared with those in the WT mice [TNF-α:(20.865 ± 6.464) pg/ml vs.(31.059 ± 6.204) pg/ml,P=0.004;IL-6:(36.268 ±8.977) pg/ml vs.(76.677 ± 14.099) pg/ml,P=0.000].Conclusions The concentrations of endotoxin and HMGB1 are significantly increased during intestinal I/R in rats.After injection of I/R lymph drainage,endotoxin,and HMGB1,the levels of inflammatory factors and HMGB1 in the mice injected with I/R lymph drainage are significantly higher than those in the mice injected with normal lymph;the levels of inflammatory factors and local damage of intestinal mucosa are significantly reduced in the TLR4-/-mice than in the WT mice.The gut-lymph pathway may play a key role in the intestinal I/R injury.

Objective To investigate the effect of the revision of Chinese Versions of Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test(RME) on the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer's dementia (AD).Methods We compared performance on the cognitive test battery between 96 patients with MCI and 55 patients with AD and 95 control individuals.Neuropsychological tests, encompassing RME-T, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), were conducted on 96 patients with MCI, 55 patients with AD and 95 healthy control individuals.Completion rate of RME-T in the normal group and the total scores and each item score of RME-T were analyzed, and the feature between RME-T and RME-S (RME-short) was compared.Results The total score of RME-T was (23.7±4.7) in normal group, (19.9 ± 4.9) in MCI group,and (19.9±7.5) in AD group.There were significant differences in the total score of RME-T among the three groups (t=13.9, P＜0.01).The differences in the total score of RME-T between normal group and AD group, between normal group and MCI group were also significant (both P＜0.01).RME-S was composed of 20 items after rejecting 16 items of RME T whose project completion rate was lower than 50％ in the normal group and in which there was no significant difference among normal, MCI and AD groups.The correlations between the total score of RME-T and 3 item scores of RME-T were not significant (P＞0.05).However, the total score of RME-S was highly correlated with each item score of RME-S (P＜0.01).The total score of RME-T and RME S were highly correlated with each total score of the cognitive test battery (P＜0.01).With the normal and MCI groups, normal and AD groups as the subjects, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis found that AUC(RME-S) was＞ AUC(RME-T) in normal and AD groups (P＜0.01), whereas, AUC(RME-S) was＜AUC(RME-T) in normal and MCI groups (P＞0.05).Conclusions RME has good reliability and validity, and RME-S is better than RME-T in internal consistency, which is more suitable for identifying mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease in Chinese population, and it is worthy of further popularization and application.

Objective To investigate the association between the genetic polymorphisms in GSTA1 and the clinical outcome of breast cancer patients treated with cyclophosphamide-based adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods A total of 137 breast cancer patients receiving cyclophosphamide-based adjuvant chemotherapy were recruited ( 124 cases with infiltrative ductal carcinoma, 5 cases with infiltrative lobular carcinoma and 8 cases with other histological types). PCR-LDR method was used to detect the genotypes of GSTA1. Survival curves were generated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and verified by the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to estimate the prognostic factors in multivariate analysis. Results Of the 137 breast cancer patients, the genotypic frequencies of the GSTA1 * A/* A,* A/* B and * B/* B were 67.2% ( 92/137 ), 31.4% ( 43/137 ) and 1.5% ( 2/137 ), respectively. No significant differences were found between the genotypic frequencies and groups categorization according to age, stage, lymph node metastasis, ER or PR status (x2 = 0. 722,1. 967, 3. 303, 0. 226 and 0. 709, all P ＞0. 05 ) ;through Fisher exact test, also no significant differences were found between the genotypic frequencies and group categorization according to tumor size, histological types and grading ( all P ＞ 0. 05 ) . The recurrence rates in patients with GSTA1 * A/* A and * A/* B or * B/* B genotypes were 47. 8% (44/92) and 31.1% ( 14/45 ), respectively, and the mortality rates were 22. 8% ( 21/92 ) and 17. 8% ( 8/45 ),respectively. Patients with GSTA1 * A/* B and * B/* B genotypes were significantly associated with reduced hazard of relapse (x2 =18.723, P＜0. 01)and mortality (x2 =7.352, P＜0.01), compared to cases with the common * A/* A genotypes, according to Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank test. Moreover,Cox multivariate analysis showed that GSTA1 polymorphisms appeared to be an independent risk factor for recurrence-free survival ( OR =0. 222, 95% CI:0. 108-0. 458, P ＜0. 01 ) and overall survival ( OR =0. 362,95% CI:0. 145-0. 902, P ＜ 0. 05 ). Conclusion These data indicate that GSTA1 polymorphism may be a potential prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival and overall survival in breast cancer patients treated with cyclophosphamide-based adjuvant chemotherapy.

The enzyme activity of ?- Acetolactate Decaroboxylases (ALDC) from different microbes was studied, the results demonstrated that it was quite different among them. There were diversities of their enzyme reaction velocities. It was clear that the enzyme activity was affected by the pH of the enzyme reaction system, for example, the optimum pH of ALDC from Lactococcus lactis was 6. 6, while for Aerobacter Aerogenes it was 5. 8. Addition leucine,valine and isoleucine into enzyme reaction system obviously affected the enzyme activity of ALDC from different microbes.

Objective To characterize the changes in the dimensions during systolic and diastolic periods in the aorta with ECG-gated multi-detector CTA scans.Methods The CT angiograms of 115 patients (78 males,mean age 55.2 ± 9.4 years;37 females,mean age 60.1 ± 8.5 years) both in systolic and diastolic periods were obtained on a 64-slice ECG-gated multi-detector CT scanner.The diameters were measured at four anatomic levels of the aorta.(Level A:1 mm proximal to the innominate artery;Level B:1 mm distal to the left common carotid artery;Level C:1 mm distal to the left subclavian artery;Level D:10cm distal to the left subclavian artery).On each level,the maximal and the minimal diameters were measured both in systolic and diastolic periods.Results The paired sample t test results showed a significant difference between the systolic and diastolic diameters in all individual subjects on every level (P ＜0.001).The mean maximum diameter changes were 1.95％ (range-2.0％ to 7.0％),2.12％ (range-3.0％ to 6.0％),1.88％(range-1.0％ to 8.0％)and2.47％(range-3.0％ to 10.0％)at level A,B,C and D,respectively.The mean minimum diameter changes were 1.43％ (range-3.0％ to 5.0％),2.67％ (range-2.0％ to 11.0％),1.75％ (range-14.0％ to 9.0％)and 2.99％ (range -2.0％ to 11.0％) at level A,B,C and D,respectively.Conclusions The differences of the aortic diameters between systolic and diastolic periods are significant.The pulsatility of aorta in Chinese population may be different from published Western literature.

Drug abuse continues to be a serious public health threat worldwide. Most drug abuse prevention research has been conducted with predominantly American or European adolescent populations. Little is known about approaches that work best to prevent the initiation of Chinese adolescent drug use. For targeting risk factors of drug initiation in Chinese adolescents, a school-based health intervention program named "Cognition-Motivation-Emotional Intelligence-Resistance Skills" (CMER) was developed to enhance cognition upon drug use, to decrease motivation of drug use and to improve emotional adjusting and drug resistance skills in this study. A total of 798 students from 3 senior high schools in Wuhan, a city in central China, were assigned randomly to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received the CMER program in which knowledge, development of positive attitude and motivation towards drugs and training of peer resistance skills were basic elements. The immediate impact was compared by measuring the above mentioned elements prior to and three-month after the training session. Students from both groups were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic items, self-reported drug use behavior, cognition, attitude, and motivation associated with the initiation of drug use and resistance skills. Three months after the intervention, significant effects were found on "illegal substance use at least once" (P<0.05) between the intervention and control groups. Immediate effects of the intervention were also found on knowledge, motivation and peer resistance skills (P<0.05), but there was no clear evidence for any effects on attitude towards substance use (P>0.05). It was concluded that the CMER program, which significantly increased the knowledge of drugs and peer resistance skills, was effective in the drug abuse prevention in a sample of school students in Wuhan, China.