Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) can provoke the apoptosis of retinal cells and downregulate the expression of calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) in the retina.Capsaicin promotes the release of CGRP and elicits protective effects on human organs.However,whether CGRP protects retinal cells in diabetic retinopathy (DR) is still unclear.Objective The study was designed to examine the effect of capsaicin on the apoptosis of retinal cells in diabetic rats and its relationship with CGRP.Methods Forty clean healthy adult male Sprague-Dawey rats were randomly divided into the diabetes group,capsaicin pretreated group,streptozocin (STZ)control group,capsaicin control group and plain control group,with 8 rats per group.The diabetic model was established by the intraperitoneal injection of 60 mg/kg in all rats except those of the plain control group.0.4 mL of a 1％ capsaicin injected at 20 mg/kg was subcutaneously injected for 3 consecutive days prior to model establishment in the capsaicin pretreated group,after which 1.2 mL of STZ was intraperitoneally injected on the fourth day.Rats from the STZ control group were administered intraperitoneally 1.2 mL of 0.1 mol/L,pH 4.5,citrate buffer.The capsaicin control group received subcutaneous injections of 0.4 mL of 1％ capsaicin at 20 mg/kg for 3 consecutive days,after which 1.2 mL of 0.1 mol/L,pH 4.5,citrate buffer was administered intraperitoneally.The rats were sacrificed at the tenth week after model establishment and retinal specimens were prepared for the apoptosis assay by TUNEL staining and the quantitative analysis of caspase-3 activity.Expression of CGRP in the retina and serum was detected using ELISA.The use of experimental animals followed the Regulations for the Administration of Affairs Concerning Experimental Animals by State Science and Technology Commission.Results Retinal cell apoptosis was mainly localized to the retinal ganglion cell (RGC) layer.The apoptosis rate of RGCs was (43.4±5.0)％ in the DR model group and (30.0±5.1)％ in the capsaicin pretreated group,showing a significant difference (t =5.930,P＜0.01).Compared with the DR model group and capsaicin pretreated group,the apoptosis rates of the DR control group (12.4±9.9) ％ and the capsaicin control group (17.6-±6.1) ％ were significantly lower (t =8.800,t =4.925,P＜0.01).The apoptosis rate of the plain control group was (16.2±6.9)％,exhibiting significant differences in comparison with the DR control group and capsaicin control group (t =-0.989,t =0.951,P＞0.05).The specific activity of caspase-3 was (2.19±0.86) in the DR model group and (1.96±0.56) in the capsaicin pretreated group,presenting a significant difference (t =-0.515,P＜0.05).Those of the DR control group and capsaicin control group were (1.47±0.14) and (0.74±0.27),respectively,with considerable decline in comparison with the DR model group and capsaicin pretreated group (t=2.142,t=2.797,P＜0.05).The retinal and serum CGRP levels were (424.4±44.2)and (148.8±39.1) ng/L,respectively,displaying significantly lower levels than (543.2±74.4) and (237.5±78.7) ng/L (t =3.070,2.359,P＜0.05) from the capsaicin pretreated group.Conclusions Apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells occurs in the STZ-induced diabetic rats.Pretreatment of capsaicin reduces retinal cell apoptosis,which may be associated with an increase of CGRP in the retina.

Objective Normal estimation is the key step for volume visualization. Commonly used methods for normal estimation are based on interpolation and derivative. A novel normal estimation algorithm based on approximation for visualization of medical images was presented in this paper. Method It approximated the density function in local neighborhood with a second-degree polynomial function. The coefficients of the polynomial function were solved by minimizing the error of the approximation and the gradient vector at arbitrary point was obtained directly from the analytical derivative of the density function without interpolation. Because of symmetry, the solution of this equation was simplified.This method was tested in several volume data sets. The results and the generation time by different methods were obtained and compared. Result The results showed that this algorithm produced satisfactory quality images while the computational complexity was not increased. Conclusion This approach is preferable for most applications, especially for medical images reconstruction.

Objective To investigate the application effect of evidence-based nursing and individual nurs-ing in pregnancy patients with lupus nephritis. Methods Sixty-five patients were randomly divided into control group and observation group. They were treated with routine care and evidence-based nursing respectively. The complications, pregnancy outcome and satisfaction of patients were compared between the two groups. Results There were not significant difference in renal failure , pregnancy induced hypertension , ecalampsia , heart failure , HELLP syndrome and other complications between observation group and normal group (P > 0.05). The pregnan-cy outcome had no significant difference between two groups (P > 0.05). In observation group, the health score was significantly higher than that of control group(P < 0.05). The mental health score in control group was sig-nificantly higher than that of observation group (P < 0.05). There werenot significant difference in social health and overall health score between the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion The application of evidence-based nursing and individual nursing in pregnancy patients with LN not only reduce the incidence of complications , but also reduce the chance of premature birth, stillbirth. And it could improve the cognition on the nursing work of this disease and the satisfaction of patients. But individual nursing is better in improving the patient′s mental health, while the evidence-based nursing is better in improving the health status.

Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; therapy ; Carcinoma in Situ ; metabolism ; pathology ; therapy ; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast ; metabolism ; pathology ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Precision Medicine ; methods

OBJECTIVETo compare the effect of reinforcing Shen method (RSM) and activating blood method (ABM) in treating osteoarthritis (OA) at the molecular level.

METHODSThe physical and chemical characteristics of components from respective recipes of RSM and ABM, and network features of component-target interaction network were analyzed by computer simulation methods including chemical space, molecular docking, and biological network, etc.

RESULTSThe chemical components of RSM and ABM were scarcely scattered with larger overlapping. Among established networks, the distribution of network features was partially similar in RSM and ABM. The average target number correlated with each component was 1.86 in RSM and 2.11 in ABM respectively. Each average target number was respectively correlated with 4.46 compounds and 3.93 compounds, reflecting multi-component and multi-target actions.

CONCLUSIONComputer simulation could intuitively trace out similarities and differences of two different methods and their interaction with targets, which revealed that the compatibility of RSM and ABM could have broader protein targets and potential synergism at the molecular level.

Adjuvants, Immunologic ; adverse effects ; Adult ; Aminoquinolines ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Lichen Planus ; chemically induced ; Male ; Vitiligo ; chemically induced

We developed and validated a method using high performance liquid chromatography ( HPLC ) coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry ( ESI_MS/MS ) to simultaneously quantify 11 urinary volatile organic compound ( VOC ) metabolites. The frozen urinary samples were unfrozen at room temperature and centrifuged to remove settled precipitate. 100 μL of the supernatant and 50 μL of internal standard were added and then diluted by 850μL of water so as to be analyzed by LC_MS/MS. The compounds were separated on a XSELECT HSS T3 column using acetonitrile as mobile phase A and 15 mmol/L ammonium acetate as mobile phase B at a flow rate of 250μL/min. The analytes were determined qualitatively and quantitatively under multi_reaction monitoring ( MRM) and negative polarity mode. The limits of detection ranged from 0 . 5-30 μg/L and the spiked recoveries of the analytes ranged from 89 . 8%-123 . 8% with RSDs of 3 . 1%-14 . 4%. This method was applied to 22 h urine samples collected from 16 smokers and 6 non_smokers. The results showed that the contents of the metabolites in smokerˊs urine were higher than those of nonsmokers, especially, smoking more than 25 cigarettes per day.

Objective: To deepen students' comprehension on theory knowledge of pharmacognosy and reinforce the understanding of cultivar identification,quality evaluation and resources exploration on crude drug.Methods: Designing experiment of pharmacognosy on cultivar identification and quality evaluation which are divided into three stages: formulating experimental scheme,implementing experiment and making summary and analysis.Results: Students have complete and systematic recognition about cultivar identification and quality evaluation of pharmacognosy,their self-study ability has been enhanced and their innovation and ability cultivated.Conclusions: The designing experiment combined with practical work of pharmacognosy,and teaching theory has trained the students practical and innovational ability,and good teaching result has been obtained.

Objective To construct an eukaryotic expression vector with human adipose most abundant gene transcript 1 (APM1) gene,and to investigate the transfection and expression of pCDEF-APM1 eukaryotic expression plasmid in HEK293 cells.Methods pCDEF-APM1 eukaryotic expression plasmid was constructed by DNA recombinant method.Expression vector pCDEF-APM1 was transfected into HEK293 cells with Effectene reagent.The level of human adiponectin protein in the supernatant of cell culture media was detected with double antibody sandwich ELISA.Results The sequence of DNA fragment from constructed pCDEF-APM1 plasmid was identical to that published in GenBank.There was raised human adiponectin protein level in culture supernatant of HEK293 cells tnmsfected with pCDEF-APM1.Conclusion The pCDEF-APM1,an eukaryotic expression plasmid for APM1 gene is successfully constructed.High protein expression of adiponectin can be obtained in HEK293 cells transfected with pCDEF-APM1 eukaryotic expression plasmid.

The aim of this study was to explore the inhibitory effect of newly synthesised emodin derivatives on the proliferation of leukemia cell lines and to select the most effective one from these emodin derivatives for further research. Emodin derivatives were synthesized by modifying the structure of emodin. MTT method was used to detect the proliferative inhibition in leukemia cell lines treated with emodin derivatives. The results showed that the half inhibitory concentration (IC50) for K562 cells treated with emodin derivatives E10-19 for 48 h was 0.84 - 12.01 µmol/L. E19 displayed the best anti-proliferative activity, while E16 and E17 did not show effects on K562 cells. Emodin derivative E19 was chosen for treating U937, NB4, Molt-4 and CA-46 cells, their IC50 for 48 h were 0.85, 0.9, 0.76, 0.8 µmol/L respectively. The IC50 of E19 for LQ2 cells was 3.60 µmol/L, and the IC50 range of E19 for normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells at 48 h was 4.01 - 4.78 µmol/L. It is concluded that emodin derivative E19 can strongly inhibit the growth of leukemia cells and its inhibiting effect on proliferation of leukemia cells has a certain specificity. The specific mechanism of E19 anti-leukemia effect should be further studied.
Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Emodin ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Leukemia ; pathology