Objective To evaluate the relationship between airway obstruction and peripheral arterial stiffness in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Methods Ninetyeight elderly patients with COPD were enrolled.The patients were divided into two groups according to forced expired volume in 1 second (FEV1) percentage of predicted (FEV1 ％):mild-moderate group (FEV1 ％ ≥ 50％,62 cases) and severe group (FEV1％ ＜ 50％,36 cases).The brachium-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV),body mass index (BMI),24 h average heart rate,blood level of lipid,fasting blood glucose,arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) and high sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) level were compared between two groups.Results Compared with mild-moderate group,the BMI in sever group was lower:(22.9 ± 4.3) kg/m2 vs.(25.4 ± 3.3) kg/m2,24 h average heart rate was higher:(77.5 ± 12.8) times/rmin vs.(70.7 ± 9.5) times/min,PaO2 was lower:(71.7 ± 13.1) mmHg (1 mmHg =0.133 kPa) vs.(84.5 ± 13.2) mmHg,and there were statistical differences (P ＜ 0.05).The baPWV in mild-moderate group was (18.9 ± 4.2) m/s,and in sever group was (21.8 ± 3.6) m/s,and there was statistical difference (P ＜ 0.05).The hs-CRP in miid-moderate group was (6.62 ± 4.57) mg/L,and in sever group was (3.38 ± 2.13) mg/L,and there was statistical difference (P＜ 0.05).Conclusions The morbidity of peripheral arterial stiffness is increased in elderly patients with COPD.Progression of peripheral arterial stiffness is related to the severity of airway obstruction.

In this experiment, a novel biotin-avidin conjugation probe was synthesized and employed in the detection of reverse-phase protein microarray. Firstly, the proportion of the biotin-avidin conjugation probe was optimized. Then the rat IgG and goat anti-rat IgG system was served as a model to optimize the fabrication conditions of reverse-phase protein microarray, including the non-specific absorption of streptavidin-Cy3 molecules, spotting buffer as well as protein activities. At last, the biotin-avidin conjugation probe was applied to the detection of the reverse-phase protein microarray. The results show that the protein microarray prepared by using BSA spotting buffer could prevent non-specific absorptions of fluorescent molecules and improve the sensitivity, effectively. In addition, compared with traditional biotin-avidin system, the detection limit could be improved four times using the biotin-avidin conjugation probe. In conclusion, the biotin-avidin conjugation probe has its merits of easy synthesis, low price and could be further conjugated with other signal amplification techniques, which is promising to be used in the detection of protein microarray.
Avidin ; chemistry ; Biotin ; chemistry ; DNA Probes ; Immunoglobulin G ; analysis ; immunology ; Protein Array Analysis ; methods

Objective To explore the effect of reduced alpha - cardiac actin 1(ACTC1)gene expression on the rat embryonic cardiomyocytes H9C2 cell apoptosis and its mechanism. Methods The rat embryonic cardiomyocytes H9C2 cell was cultivated;the rat embryonic cardiomyocytes H9C2 cell was transfected with ACTC1 - small interfering RNA(siRNA),and at 24 h,48 h,72 h after transfection,the cells were collected for extraction and purification of RNA, the real - time quantitative PCR(qPCR)method was used to detect the expression level of ACTC1 gene;and the termi-nal deoxynucleotidyl transferase - mediated dUTP - biotin nick end labeling assay(TUNEL)method was used to ex-plore the effect of reduced ACTC1 gene expression on the rat embryonic cardiomyocytes H9C2 cell apoptosis. Western blot was used to detect the expression of Cyto C,cysteine - containing aspartate - specific proteases(Caspase)- 3, Caspase - 8,Caspase - 9,Bcl - 2 and Bax. Results The expression of ACTC1 mRNA detected by qPCR decreased compared with that of the scramble siRNA group in 24 h,48 h,72 h(0. 80 vs. 1. 00,0. 20 vs. 1. 00,0. 25 vs. 1. 00),and in the ACTC1 - siRNA group decreased significantly at 48 h,72 h,and the difference was statistically significant(t =4. 245,P < 0. 05);TUNEL positive cells rate significantly increased in the ACTC1 - siRNA group(80％)compared with that in the scramble siRNA group(20％),and the difference was statistically significant(P < 0. 05);Western blot also confirmed that the expression of Caspase - 3,Caspase - 9,Cyto C and Bax/ Bcl - 2 were accordingly increased (0. 91 ± 0. 12 vs. 0. 59 ± 0. 01,0. 48 ± 0. 09 vs. 0. 24 ± 0. 03,0. 92 ± 0. 03 vs. 0. 45 ± 0. 01,2. 25 ± 0. 26 vs. 1. 16 ± 0. 12),and the differences were statistically significant(t = 2. 821,7. 336,2. 420,0. 798,all P < 0. 05);but the expre-ssion of Caspase - 8 had no obvious change,and the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0. 05 ). Conclusions Reduced ACTC1 gene expression can induce the rat embryonic cardiomyocytes H9C2 cell apoptosis perhaps mainly through endogenous mitochondrial signal transduction pathways.