Adult ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Methotrexate ; therapeutic use ; Mifepristone ; therapeutic use ; Phytotherapy ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic ; diagnosis ; drug therapy

Clinical, neuroimaging, and pathologic studies suggested that a variety of nonmotor symptoms, such as olfactory dysfunction, dysautonomia, and mood and sleep disorders, can precede the typic motor features of Parkinson disease (PD) by years and, perhaps, even decades. The period when these symptoms arise can be referred as the premotor phase of the disease. This paper reviewed the conception, clinical manifestation, pathology, diogose of the premotor phase of early Parkinson disease.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) combined with ultraviolet therapy on herpes zoster at the acute stage and the impacts on serum interleukin 2 (IL-2), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and interleukin 10 (IL-10) in the patients.

METHODSThirty-four patients of herpes zoster were randomized into a medicine group and a combined therapy group, 17 cases in each one. In the medicine group, the intravenous drops with acyclovir injection, muscular injection with cobamamide and the topical with acyclovir ointment were applied. Additionally, TDP was radiated locally. In the combined therapy group, on the basis of the treatment as the medicine group, EA and ultraviolet therapy were supplemented. The duration of treatment was 10 days in the two groups. Before and after treatment, blister relief, incrustation time and the visible analogue scale (VAS) were recorded in the two groups. The clinical efficacy was assessed in the two groups and the levels of serum IL-2, IL-6 and IL-10 were determined in the two groups.

RESULTSIn the combined therapy group, the time of blister relief and incrustation was earlier apparently than that in the medicine group (both P<0.05). VAS score after treatment were reduced as compared with that before treatment in the two groups (both P<0.01), and the reducing amplitude in the combined therapy group was larger than that in the medicine group (P<0.01). The total effective rate was 94. 1% (16/17) in the combined therapy group, higher than 76.4% (13/17) in the medicine group (P<0.05). After treatment, IL-2 levels were increased as compared with those before treatment in the two groups (both P<0.05), the levels of IL-6 and IL-10 were reduced obviously as compared with those before treatment in the two groups (all P<0.01). After treatment, the levels of IL-6, IL-10 were reduced much more apparently in the combined therapy group as compared with those in the medicine group (both P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONEA combined with ultraviolet irradiation more rapidly and effectively relief the symptoms of herpes zoster, significantly relief pain, shorten the duration of sickness, improve the body immunity and reduce nerve injury.

Acyclovir ; administration & dosage ; Adult ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Electroacupuncture ; Female ; Herpes Zoster ; blood ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Humans ; Interleukin-10 ; blood ; Interleukin-2 ; blood ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Ultraviolet Therapy

AIM:To observe the structural basis of ocular motility abnormalities in patients with congenital fibrosis of the extraocular muscles type Ⅰ ( CFEOM Ⅰ) due to missense mutations in the developmental kinesin KIF21A using high - resolution magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI) .
METHODS: Totally 11 affected individuals reported KIF21A mutations were correlated with MRI studies demonstrating extraocular muscles ( EOMs ) size, location, contractility, and innervation. EOMs and the motor nerve in the orbits were imaged with T1 weighted in a triplanar scan using a dual-phased coils with 2. 0mm thick. Motor nerves were imaged at the brainstem using head coils and 3D-FIESTA with 0. 6-mm thick.
RESULTS: Patients with CFEOM Ⅰ exhibited different degrees of hypoplasia of oculomotor nerve, the abducens nerve and the trochlear nerve were also affected, of which 8 cases of orbital section could see the signal of abnormal nerve dominated by oculomotor nerve to lateral rectus. The both sides of six EOMS in all patients exhibited variable atrophy and abnormal bright internal signal on T1 imaging, particularly severe for the superior rectus and levator muscles.
CONCLUSION: High - resolution MRI can directly demonstrate pathology of motor nerves,affected EOMs, and ‘Pulley' hypoplasia caused by CFEOM Ⅰ due to mutations in KIF21A,and these findings suggest that the neuronal hypoplasia is the etiological factor of CFEOM.

In this paper, the chloroplast psbK-psbI intergenic spacers of 18 species of Dendrobium and their adulterants were amplified and sequenced, and then the sequence characteristics were analyzed. The sequence lengths of chloroplast psbK-psbI regions of Dendrobium ranged from 474 to 513 bp and the GC contents were 25.4%-27.6%. The variable sites were 71 while the informative sites were 46. The inter-specific genetic distances calculated by Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) of Dendrobium were 0.006 1-0.058 1, with an average of 0.028 4. The K2P genetic distances between Dendrobium species and Bulbophyllum odoratissimum were 0.093 2-0.120 4. The NJ tree showed that the Dendrobium species can be easily differentiated from each other and 6 samples of the inspected Dendrobium species were identified successfully through sequencing the psbK-psbI intergenic spacer. Therefore, the chloroplast psbK-psbI intergenic spacer can be used as a candidate marker to identify Dendrobium species and its adulterants.
Chloroplasts ; DNA, Chloroplast ; genetics ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Dendrobium ; classification ; genetics ; Plants, Medicinal ; classification ; genetics

Event-related potential (ERP) studies report that early components P120, N170 and VPP are associated with face processing. Several lines of evidence suggest that VPP is the positive counterpart of N170, and they are generated by the same brain sources. However, whether P120 has a negative counterpart and the relations among these early components (i.e. P120, N170, VPP) remain unclear. In this study, the scalp electroencephalogram was recorded when the subjects passively viewed different stimuli, and ERP was calculated. The synchronization of electroencephalography signals between fronto-central and bilateral occipitotemporal sites was evaluated, and independent component analysis was employed to seek the face-sensitive independent components and their corresponding sources. We found that P120 had the negative counterpart, i.e., VN120; moreover, VN120-VPP and P120-N170 complexes were generated by the same sources located in fusiform gyrus, which reflected the same sequential neural activities of face processing.
Adolescent ; Brain ; physiology ; Electroencephalography ; Evoked Potentials ; physiology ; Face ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Pattern Recognition, Visual ; physiology ; Perception ; physiology ; Sensation ; physiology ; Young Adult

Myeloid differentiation factor MyD88 is a critical adaptor molecule that integrates and transduces intracellular signals in inducing the differentiation of dendritic cells (DCs).The domain regions within MyD88 was searched,it could potentially affect the function of dendritic cells and found that MyD88 aa155-171 motif not only regulate the activity of transcription factor NF-?B, but also control the production of cytokines and expression of costimulatory molecules. Indeed, aa155-171 motif deleted type MyD88 (MyD88155-171) transfected RAW264.7 cells exhibited the reduced NF-?B and AP-1 activity and interrupted the expression of CD86 and B7H1. Meanwhile, lower level expression of cytokines such as IL-12,IFN-? were also observed by means of cytokine array in MyD88-/-DC trasfected with MyD88155-171 as compared to the MyD88 transfected cells. Thus, aa155-171 motif inside MyD88 could affect the expression of costimulatory molecules, production of cytokines and transduction of Toll like receptor signal pathway, suggesting that this motif may play an important role in regulating responses of innate immune system.

AIMTo investigate the influence of particle size and methoxypolyethyleneglycol (MePEG) molecular weight on the in vitro macrophage uptake and in vivo long circulating of recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-alpha (rHuTNF-alpha)-loaded stealth nanoparticles in rats.

METHODSThree sizes (approximately 80, 70 and 240 nm) of poly (methoxypolyethyleneglycol cyanoacrylate-co-n-hexadecyl cyanoacrylate) (PEG-PHDCA) nanoparticles loading rHuTNF-alpha were prepared at different MePEG molecular weights (Mr 2,000, 5,000, 10,000) using the double emulsion method. The in vitro macrophage uptake and in vivo long circulating properties in rats were examined and compared.

RESULTSThe uptake by macrophages decreased and the half-life of rHuTNF-alpha in rat increased with the increase of MePEG molecular weight or the decrease of particle size. The linear-ships between particle size and MePEG molecular weight and the in vitro macrophage uptake and in vivo long circulating properties were fairly good. Having the highest MePEG surface density (1.32 nm(-2)) , the shortest average distance between neighboring MePEG chain (0.87 nm) and the thicker fixed aqueous layer thickness (FALT, 5.16 nm), PEG5,000-PHDCA nanoparticles (80.0 nm) earned the strongest potency of decreasing uptake by macrophages and prolonging the half-life of rHuTNF-alpha in rat.

CONCLUSIONWithin the experimental limits, particle size and MePEG molecular weight had dramatic influence on in vitro macrophage uptake and in vivo long circulating properties of rHuTNF-alpha-loaded stealth nanoparticles.

Animals ; Cyanoacrylates ; chemistry ; Drug Carriers ; chemistry ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Macrophages ; physiology ; Male ; Mice ; Molecular Weight ; Nanoparticles ; Particle Size ; Phagocytosis ; drug effects ; Polyethylene Glycols ; chemistry ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Recombinant Proteins ; pharmacokinetics ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics

Background:Blood glucose control is closely related to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) prognosis.This multicenter study aimed to investigate blood glucose control among patients with insulin-treated T2DM in North China and explore the application value of combining an elastic network (EN) with a machine-learning algorithm to predict glycemic control.Methods:Basic information,biochemical indices,and diabetes-related data were collected via questionnaire from 2787 consecutive participants recruited from 27 centers in six cities between January 2016 and December 2017.An EN regression was used to address variable collinearity.Then,three common machine learning algorithms (random forest [RF],support vector machine [SVM],and back propagation artificial neural network [BP-ANN]) were used to simulate and predict blood glucose status.Additionally,a stepwise logistic regression was performed to compare the machine learning models.Results:The well-controlled blood glucose rate was 45.82％ in North China.The multivariable analysis found that hypertension history,atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease history,exercise,and total cholesterol were protective factors in glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) control,while central adiposity,family history,T2DM duration,complications,insulin dose,blood pressure,and hypertension were risk factors for elevated HbA1c.Before the dimensional reduction in the EN,the areas under the curve of RF,SVM,and BP were 0.73,0.61,and 0.70,respectively,while these figures increased to 0.75,0.72,and 0.72,respectively,after dimensional reduction.Moreover,the EN and machine learning models had higher sensitivity and accuracy than the logistic regression models (the sensitivity and accuracy of logistic were 0.52 and 0.56;RF:0.79,0.70;SVM:0.84,0.73;BP-ANN:0.78,0.73,respectively).Conclusions:More than half of T2DM patients in North China had poor glycemic control and were at a higher risk of developing diabetic complications.The EN and machine learning algorithms are alternative choices,in addition to the traditional logistic model,for building predictive models of blood glucose control in patents with T2DM.

DNA hydrogels,combining the features of both DNA and hydrogels macromolecules,are endowed with the biologi?cal characters of DNA and the framed structure of hydrogels skeleton.Currently,most DNA hydrogels can achieve sensitive response to temperature,pH,light,and small molecule stimuli,by introducing specific groups or sequences into their backbone.Therefore, the functional properties of DNA hydrogels can be further improved.In this review,we introduce the mentioned stimuli-response DNA hydrogels,as well as their applications in drug controlled-releasing,targeted cancer therapy,biosensor and others.Finally,the pros?pects in the development of DNA hydrogels are also mentioned.