Objective To observe apoptosis of renal development in mouse. Methods Light,electron microscopy and TUNEL method were used. Results The apoptosis could be easily found in cells between S like body in nephrogenic zone and in renal corpuscles before birth, especially at 14 18 days prenatally. The apoptotic cells in epithelia of renal tubule or collecting duct could be observed in postnatal renal medulla. In medullary papilla the cell death peaked around postnatal day 7. Electron microscopy revealed that apoptotic cells were ingested by neighboring cells. Some apoptotic cells detached from epithelia into the lumen of tubule or duct. Conclusion This study provides morphologically some evidences of apoptosis in the mouse kidney embryonically and postnatally. The apoptosis in cortex was apparently related to the development of nephrogenic zone and renal corpuscles; and the apoptosis in medulla might play an important role in the development of renal tubular epithelia. [

Objective　To analyse the development of mouse kidney. Method　Sterological methods were used in this study.Results　The nephrogenic zone appeared in 14th day's kidney of the fetus development, medulla could be found in the late stage of fetus development kidney and developed after birth. Inner medulla were observed on 21st day after birth, nephrogenic zone disappeared on 7th day after birth. Morphometric analysis proves that medulla developed mainly after birth, cortex volume also developed rapidly after birth, especially after 21st day postnatally, the development of corpuscle number was finished before 7th day postnatally. Conclusion　The development of mouse kidney begins on 14th day of embryo and stops on 21st day after birth, the period of the medulla development is between E 18 days and 21 days after birth.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the influence of different hemoperfusion (HP) intensity on 7-day and 28-day mortality for patients with paraquat (PQ) poisoning, and examine the factors that may affect the decision of the clinicians to prescribe a high intensity HP.Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted. The patients admitted to the department of critical care medicine of Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University with the diagnosis of PQ poisoning from August 2012 to August 2014, fulfilling the following criteria were enrolled in the study: older than 18 years, interval from ingestion PQ to hospital admission shorter than 12 hours, and receiving HP treatment within 24 hours, and expecting surviving time exceeding 24 hours after admission, and data of the patients available for at least 28 days after admission. Depending on the intensity of HP, patients were assigned to either lower intensity HP group (LHP, defined as receiving HP for less than 4 hours, 2 columns) or higher intensity HP group (HHP, defined as receiving HP longer than 6 hours, 3 columns). Patients' data were retrieved from hospital's electronic database after hospital admission, and the results at 7th day and 28th day were recorded. Multiple logistic regression model was used to determine factors with which the clinician decided to choose the intensity of HP for the patients, and Cox regression model was used to evaluate 7-day and 28-day mortality.Results Data of 60 patients was finally available for this study. LHP group consisted of 28 patients, with a 7-day mortality of 53.6%(15 patients) and 28-day mortality of 64.3% (28 patients); 32 patients were assigned to HHP group with 7-day mortality of 43.8% (14 patients) and 28-day mortality of 62.5% (20 patients). Twenty-eight patients constituted as the HHP group, with higher PQ concentration in plasma, higher incidence of respiratory alkalosis and acute kidney injury (AKI), and higher level of lactate (Lac) compared with LHP group. However, a lower 7-day mortality was observed in the HHP group. Multiple logistic regression model indicated that at admission, interval from ingestion PQ to hospital admission longer than 4 hours [odds ratio (OR) = 1.461, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 1.132-1.435,P< 0.001], younger than 50 years old (40-49 years old:OR = 1.397, 95%CI = 1.251-1.703,P = 0.002;< 40 years old:OR = 1.701, 95%CI = 1.253-1.836,P< 0.001), PQ plasma concentration≥ 2 mg/L (OR = 3.140, 95%CI = 1.511-3.091,P< 0.001), white blood cell (WBC)> 10×109/L (OR = 1.222, 95%CI = 1.032-1.275, P = 0.018), Lac> 2.0 mmol/L (OR = 2.392, 95%CI = 2.090-2.734,P< 0.001), AKI on admission (stage 2:OR = 2.350, 95%CI = 2.160-3.910,P< 0.001; stage 3:OR = 2.821, 95%CI = 1.932-3.651,P< 0.001), accompanying hypoxia (OR = 2.420, 95%CI = 2.131-2.662,P = 0.003) were more likely to receive higher intensity of HP. Furthermore when compared with patients survived for 28 days, patients who were older, with higher levels of PQ concentration at admission or after 4 hours of HP, accompanied by AKI, increased serum creatinine (SCr), WBC, Lac, and acute physiology and chronic health evaluationⅡ (APACHEⅡ) score, lower arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) and lower pH value were more likely to die. After adjusted for con-variables in COX regression model, HHP was associated with lower 7-day mortality after admission [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.843, 95%CI = 0.732-0.971, P = 0.032], but devoid of lowering effect on 28-day mortality rate (HR = 0.930, 95%CI = 0.632-1.411,P = 0.423). In addition, age> 50 years old (HR = 1.282, 95%CI = 1.050-1.530,P = 0.043), PQ concentration increased by 1 mg/L (HR = 2.521, 95%CI = 2.371-3.825,P = 0.012), AKI on admission (HR = 3.850, 95%CI = 2.071-5.391,P< 0.001), WBC>10×109/L (HR = 1.932, 95%CI = 1.782-2.171,P = 0.006), Lac> 2.0 mmol/L (HR = 2.981, 95%CI =2.210-3.792,P = 0.002), and PaCO2< 35 mmHg (HR = 1.772, 95%CI = 1.483-2.516,P = 0.008; 1 mmHg =0.133 kPa) were independent risk factors for 28-day mortality.Conclusions Though HHP was helpful in lowering mortality rate in patients with PQ poisoning within 7 days, it did not influence on 28-day mortality. Clinicians' decisions on HP intensity need further investigation, and more perfect clinical evaluation system is required for reasonable use of expensive medical resources such as HP.

OBJECTIVETo explore the expression of polymorphonuclear leucocyte adhesive molecules CD11b/CD18 and to study the possible mechanism of Chinese herbal medicine (TCM) for activating blood circulation to remove stasis in preventing vascular diseases.

METHODSForty-nine patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) but with no complications of hypertension and nephropathy were randomly divided into the treated group (26 patients treated by TCM) and the control group (23 patients treated by conventional treatment). They were treated for 3 months. The changes of urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER), CD11b/CD18 expression and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) concentration before and after treatment were observed.

RESULTSThe CD11b/CD18 expression and TNF-alpha concentration in DM patients were higher than those of normal range (P < 0.01). After treatment, the UAER, CD11b/CD18 expression and TNF-alpha concentration lowered significantly in the treated group (P < 0.01), but unchanged in the control group. Correlation analysis showed that the lowering of UAER was positively correlated with decreasing of CD11b/CD18 (r = 0.64, P < 0.01) and TNF-alpha (r = 0.56, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONExpression of CD11b/CD18 increases in patients with DM type 2. The mechanism of Chinese herbal medicine for activating blood circulation to remove stasis in preventing vascular disease in possibly related with its effect in inhibiting CD11b/CD18 expression.

Aged ; CD11b Antigen ; biosynthesis ; blood ; CD18 Antigens ; biosynthesis ; blood ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; blood ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy

Objective To evaluate the impact of respiratory motion for dose of target and organ at risk during external-beam partial breast irradiation (EB-PBI).Methods 4D-CT scan sets were acquired for 20 patients who underwent EB-PBI.The volume of the tumour bed (TB) was determined based on seroma or surgical clips on the ten sets of 4D-CT images.For each patient a conventional 3D conformal plan (3D-CRT) was generated based on the 4D-CT end inhalation phase images,then copied and applied to the other phases.The following parameters were calculated to analyse:mean dose (D),homogeneity index (HI),conformal index (CI),and the volumes that received ≥ x Gy (Vx).Results During free breathing,the TB centroid motion was 0.90,0.75 and 0.80 mm in the lateral,anteroposterior and superior-inferior directions,respectively.The medium spatial motion vector was 0.95 mm.In the superiorinferior direction,TB motion significantly correlated with D HI,and CI of PTV (r =-0.458,-0.451 and 0.462,P ＜ 0.05),as well as D V20 and V30 received by the ipsilateral normal breast (r=0.527,0.488 and0.526,P ＜0.05).And in the motion vector,the D V5,V10,V20 of the ipsilateral lung all correlated with TB motion (r =0.416,0.503,0.522 and 0.498,P ＜ 0.05).A correlation also existed between dose and percent volume of heart and volume variation of heart (Dmean,V5 and V10) (r =0.727,0.704 and 0.695,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Small TB motion caused by respiratory motion during free breathing result in dosimetric variation of the target and potential dosimetric off-target or suboptimal dose coverage for EB-PBI.The doses of lung during free breathing were relatively sensitive to TB motion and thorax expansion,while heart doses were not influenced notably.

Objective To study the profiles and function of small RNA (sRNA)gene during chondrogenesis in rats so as to clarify the mechanisms of chondrocytes proliferation and differentiation.Methods All the sRNAs were identified from the female SD rats femoral head cartilages at three time points:at birth,ablactation and maturation,and three sRNA libraries were constructed.The Solexa sequencing and the bioinformatics analysis were employed to be blasted with the genomes of SD rats.Results The perfect match reads in the three libraries were screened out,which were correspondent to the 21 7 921 (41.23%),1 96 650 (38.74%)and 245 436 (41.54%)unique sRNA sequence,respectively.The percentages of 20-24 nt sRNA were 71.94% (d0),72.85% (d21),and 86.39%(d42).Half of clean sequences were 22 nt sRNA.The distribution characteristics of the reads were in line with the high-quality sRNA.More than 62% clean reads were from mature miRNA while the ratios in the three libraries were only 0.69%,0.78% and 0.63%.About 60% of the unique sRNA could not be matched with miRBase20.0 or Rfam9.1.Conclusion The distribution model of miRNA in the three libraries indicates that the miRNAs with different functions or from different sources are involved in the regulation of chondrocytes proliferation and differentiation in bone development and formation.

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to estimate the value of embryonal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (ENOTES) in treating severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) complicated with abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS). METHODS: The patients, who were randomized into an ENOTES group and an operative group, underwent ENOTES and laparotomy, respectively. The results and complications of the two groups were compared. RESULTS: Enterocinesia was observed earlier in the ENOTES group than in the operative group. Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score of patients in the ENOTES group was lower than that of the operative group on the 1st, 3rd and 5th post-operative day (P<0.05). The cure rate was 96.87％ in the ENOTES group, which was statistically different from 78.12％ in the operative group (P<0.05). There were significant differences in complications and mortality between the two groups (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Compared with surgical decompression, ENOTES associated with flexible endoscope therapy is an effective and minimal invasive procedure with less complications.

To investigate the effect of Tripterygium wilfordii polycoride (TWP) on LPS-induced macrophage inflammatory response, particularly the inhibitory effect on inflammatory factors TNF-α and IL-1β and the regulatory effect on inflammation via TLR4/NF-κB. The MTT method was adopted to test the effects of tested drugs, TWP, dexamethasone (DXM) and azathioprine (AZA) on cell growth to define the appropriate concentration. LPS was used to induce the inflammatory reaction in mouse RAW264. 7 cell lines. The Elisa kit was adopted to test the release level of TNF-α and IL-1β. The Western blotting was applied to test the protein expressions of TNF-α and IL-1β. The RT-PCR was adopted to test the expressions of TLR4 and NF-κB. According to the results, TWP could inhibit the release of macrophage inflammatory factors TNF-α and IL-1β in a dose dependent manner. All of TWP groups showed a weaker efficacy than that of the DXM group. But the TWP high dose group revealed a better effect on TNF-α and equal effect on IL-1β compared with the AZA group. TWP show an equal or better effect in down-regulating TLR4 and NF-κB p65 expressions in a dose dependent manner than DXM and AZA. In conclusion, TWP could inhibit TLR4 and NF-κB p65, which may be related to the down-regulation of TLR4 and NF-κB p65 receptor expressions.
Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Down-Regulation ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Inflammation ; drug therapy ; genetics ; immunology ; physiopathology ; Interleukin-1beta ; genetics ; immunology ; Macrophages ; drug effects ; immunology ; Mice ; NF-kappa B ; genetics ; immunology ; RAW 264.7 Cells ; Toll-Like Receptor 4 ; genetics ; immunology ; Transcription Factor RelA ; genetics ; immunology ; Tripterygium ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo observe the efficacy of Zaozhu Yinchen Recipe (ZZYCR) on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients, and to explore its effect on serum free fatty acid (FFA) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha).

METHODSTotally 120 patients with NASH were randomly assigned to the treatment group (60 cases, treated with ZZYCR, one dose per day) and the control group (60 cases, treated with Silibin Meglumine Tablets, 20 mg each time, thrice per day). The therapeutic course for all was 24 weeks. Serum levels of ALT and AST activities, TC and TG levels were detected before and after treatment. Peritoneal CT was performed in all patients, and CT ratios of liver and spleen calculated. NAFLD activity score (NAS) and degree of hepatic fibrosis were assessed using pathological examinations of liver tissue, and efficacy also evaluated. Serum contents of FFA and TNF-alpha were also detected.

RESULTSCompared with before treatment in the same group, activities of ALT and AST, serum levels of TC, TG, FFA, and TNF-alpha, NAS, scores of symptoms and signs all obviously decreased, degree of hepatic fibrosis was obviously improved in the two groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). These changes were more obviously seen in the treatment group (P < 0.05). After 24-week treatment, the total effective rate and total clinical efficacy were 80.00% (48/60 cases) and 85.00% (51/60 cases) in the treatment group, obviously higher than those in the control group [60.00% (36/60 cases) and 73.33% (44/60 cases) respectively], with significant difference (P < 0.05, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONZZYCR could improve the clinical efficacy of NASH patients, and its mechanism might be associated with inhibiting serum levels of FFA and TNF-alpha.

Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Fatty Acids, Nonesterified ; blood ; Humans ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ; drug therapy ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood

Objective To investigate the protective effect of hesperidin on severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in rats and its related mechanism.Methods Sixty male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into five groups (n = 12 in each group): sham group, SAP model group, dexamethasone group (5 mg/kg), low and high dose of hesperidin groups (10 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg). SAP rats were administered a retrograde infusion of 3.5％ sodium taurocholate solution into the biliopancreatic duct after laparotomy. Sham rats were administered with equivalent saline. The treatment was intravenously injected 5 minutes after operation through femoral vein. After 24 hours, the survival of animals was observed, the level of serum amylase, the volume of ascites and the relative specific gravity of the pancreas were measured; the pathological changes of pancreatic tissue were observed by Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining; the levels of serum and pancreatic tissue interleukin (IL-1β, IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), the phosphorylation of IL-1 receptor associated kinase (IRAK1) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) were detected by Western Blot.Results Compared with SAP model group, the 24-hour survival rate were increased in low and high dose of hesperidin groups (83.3％, 100％ vs. 58.3％), the volume of ascites were reduced (mL: 7.36±0.91, 6.10±1.02 vs. 13.82±2.06), the levels of serum amylase were reduced (U/L: 1081.48±78.23, 1048.58±49.97 vs. 1990.37±127.27), the relative specific gravity of the pancreas were reduced [(7.52±1.02)％, (5.59±0.96)％ vs. (11.22±0.96)％], and the pathological damage of pancreatic tissue were reduced; the levels of serum and pancreatic tissue inflammatory factors were reduced in high dose hesperidin group [serum IL-1β (ng/L): 68.08±10.49 vs. 130.30±23.35, IL-6 (ng/L): 63.88±10.47 vs. 158.41±21.38, TNF-α(ng/L): 10.42±1.49 vs. 18.16±2.01; pancreas IL-1β (pg/μg): 13.87±1.84 vs. 20.08±1.66, IL-6 (pg/μg): 21.90±3.12vs. 38.13±3.57, TNF-α (pg/μg): 1.88±0.20 vs. 4.26±0.58]; the expression of TLR4, and the phosphorylation levels of IRAK1 and NF-κB were decreased in low and high dose of hesperidin groups (the sham operation group was 100, TLR4/β-actin: 91.9±15.6, 83.7±11.2 vs. 168.5±9.0, p-IRAK1/IRAK1: 117.4±7.6, 104.7±11.5 vs. 173.5±15.8, p-NF-κB p65/NF-κB p65: 119.9±9.3, 105.8±12.6 vs. 174.1±13.0), with statistically significant differences (allP < 0.05). The effects of dexamethasone were similar to that of high dose of hesperidin.Conclusions Hesperidin could significantly protect SAP rats, and this protection was related to the inhibition of TLR4/IRAK1/NF-κB signaling pathway, and to the reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokine expressions. The effect of high dose hesperidin (20 mg/kg) was more significant.