Epigenetics refers to the heritable changes in gene expression without an alteration in the DNA sequence of the genome.Epigenetic mechanism involves DNA methylation,histone modification,chromatin remodeling,non-coding RNA regulation and so on.Many experimental investigations indicate that the abnormalities in epigenetic regulation during cardiac development may be responsible for the progression of congenital cardiac disease.Based on the four aspects of epigenetic regulation above,this review mainly discusses the advances of epigenetic mechanism of congenital heart disease.

This paper reviews the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the past 40 years including early medical teams, private TCM clinics and official research institutions introduces the legislation management of TCM and Acupuncture in UAE, including medical doctor qualification examination, registration requirements; analyzes the current situation of TCM development in UAE, including practicing physicians and clinics, composition of patients, medical expenses, medical insurance, and publicity activities. Based on the aboved analyses, the main problems of TCM development in UAE are as follow: limited TCM treatment methods, lack of qualified TCM doctors, the difficulty of the registration of TCM products, and the negative impact of informal massage centers. Thus, it is suggested to strengthen the scientific cooperation on common diseases, organize activities and do promotions work between China and UAE so as to promote the development of TCM in the UAE.

Objective To investigate the effects of puerarin on the expression of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) tissue factor (TF) and tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL).Methods After HUVECs were incubated with different concentrations of puerarin and 50 mg/L ox-LDL,the expression of TF and TFPI mRNA and protein were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR and Western blot respectively.Results Compared with control,treatment with ox-LDL caused the augment of TF mRNA and protein expression (P<0.01),and the decrease of TFPI mRNA and protein expression.However,50,100,and 200 μmol/L puerarin blunted the augment of TF mRNA and protein expression and weakened the inhibition of TFPI mRNA and protein expression induced by ox-LDL(P<0.01).Conclusions Puerarin reduces HUVECs TF and TFPI mRNA and protein induced by ox-LDL.

AIM: To explore the role of phosphatidylinositiol 3-kinase/protein kinase B/endothelial nitric oxide synthase (PI3K/Akt/eNOS) signaling pathways in the inhibitory effects of puerarin on oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-induced tissue factor (TF) expression in vascular endothelial cells.METHODS: The mRNA expression of TF was detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR.The protein levels of TF and Akt was determined by Western blot.The content of the nitric oxide (NO) was measured by nitrate reduction method.RESULTS: Compared with control group, incubating endothelial cells with ox-LDL significantly induced TF expression at mRNA and protein levels and the dephosphorylation of Akt protein, and decreased NO production.Incubation of the endothelial cells with puerarin for 1 h and then treatment of the cells with ox-LDL decreased the TF expression at mRNA and protein levels, increased Akt protein phosphorylation and intracellular NO content.Co-incubation of the endothelial cells with PI3K inhibitor LY294002 and puerarin for 1 h and then treatment of the cells with ox-LDL augmented the TF expression at mRNA and protein levels and the Akt protein dephosphorylation, and decreased NO production.Co-incubation of the endothelial cells with eNOS inhibitor NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and puerarin significantly decreased the inhibitory effect of puerarin on ox-LDL-induced TF expression at mRNA and protein levels in the endothelial cells, and reduced Akt protein phosphorylation and NO production.CONCLUSION: Puerarin inhibits ox-LDL-induced TF expression at mRNA and protein levels in the human umbilical vein endothelial cells via activation of PI3K/Akt/eNOS signaling pathway.

Educational reform of pathophysiology oriented to clinical application is to pass the physician qualifica -tion examination .One of essential approach is to implement pathophysiology teaching with the translational medical philosophy and promote the harmonious development of physician -patient relationship with the utilization of the de-velopment and changes of disease in the teaching process .In that way, the pathophysiology in basic and clinical medicine is worthy of the name of “bridge”, and ultimately achieves the goal of “the transformation and develop-ment of the cultivation of clinical application talents”.

Aim To investigate the mechanism for the inhibitory effect of hydrogen sulfide on the expression of tissue factor(TF)induced by oxidative low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL)in endothelial cells.Methods Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs ) were treated with 50 mg·L-1 ox-LDL in the absence or presence of different concentrations of NaHS (25 , 50,100 and 200 μmol·L-1 )for 24 h.The mRNA expression and protein content of TF in HUVECs were determined by reverse transcription PCR and ELISA, respectively.The content of intracellular reactive oxy-gen species (ROS)was determined by DCFH,an oxi-dative sensitive fluorescent indicator.The activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB)was estimated by its expression in nuclear extracts analyzed by Western blot.Results Ox-LDL induced TF mRNA expression and increased TF protein content in HUVECs.The in-crease in intracellular ROS production and the activa-tion of NF-κB were observed in HUVECs treated with ox-LDL.However,NaHS could markedly inhibit the increases in TF mRNA and protein levels induced by ox-LDL.Also the elevation of intracellular ROS pro-duction and the activation of NF-κB elicited by ox-LDL were significantly suppressed by pretreatment with NaHS.In addition,pretreatment with BAY 1 1-7082 (10 μmol·L-1 ),the inhibitor of NF-κB or N-acetyl-L-cysteine(1 mmol·L-1 ),an antioxidant,could also decrease the TF mRNA and protein level as well as ROS production and NF-κB activation induced by ox-LDL in HUVECs,similar to the effects of 200 μmol· L-1 NaHS.Conclusion The mechanism for the in-hibitory effect of H2 S on the ox-LDL- induced TF ex-pression in endothelial cells may be related to inhibi-ting intracellular ROS production and subsequently NF-κB activation.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the protective effect of quercetin against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cardiac injury in mice.

METHODSC57BL/6J mice were randomized into 4 groups to receive intraperitoneal injection of saline (negative control) or LPS (20 mg/kg), or fed with quercetin (100 mg/kg for 7 days) with or without subsequent LPS injection (quercetin+LPS group and quercetin control group, respectively). Six hour after LPS injection, the mice were tested for cardiac function with an echocardiograph, and the protein expressions of Bax, Bcl-2, iNOS, and eNOS in the myocardium were evaluated with Western blotting; serum NO concentration was also measured. The survival of the mice within 5 days after LPS injection was recorded to draw the survival curve.

RESULTSQuercetin pretreatment significantly improved the cardiac function of LPS-challenged mice (P<0.05), and attenuated LPS-induced increment in myocardial iNOS expression and decrement in eNOS level. LPS significantly increased the myocardial Bax expression and slightly decreased Bcl-2 expression; quercetin pretreatment decreased Bax expression to the control level and significantly lowered Bax/Bcl-2 ratio as compared with the LPS group. Serum NO level was significantly increased by nearly 2.5 folds in LPS-challenged mice, but was markedly decreased with quercetin pretreatment (P<0.05). The 5-day survival rate of LPS-treated mice was 10%, which was increased to 45% in quercetin- pretreated mice (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONQuercetin can alleviate LPS-induced cardiac dysfunctions in mice to increase their survival rate following LPS challenge.

Animals ; Cardiotonic Agents ; pharmacology ; Heart ; drug effects ; Lipopolysaccharides ; adverse effects ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Quercetin ; pharmacology

Objective To establish a novel convenient loop?mediated isothermal amplification(LAMP)method with the unique genes coding Plasmodium helical interspersed sub?telomeric superfamily(PHIST)for the rapid molecular diagnosis of P. falciparum. Methods The unique genes coding PHIST with high expression mRNA profile during the ring form or schizont period of P. falciparum were screened and selected from the PlasmoDB database. The LAMP primers of targeted genes were de?signed by the online software(PrimerExplorer V4). The LAMP assay was executed by the color?displaying method with SYBR Green. The dried blood spots of P. falciparum from clinical isolates were collected and the genomic DNA(gDNA)was extracted. For evaluation of sensitivity,the gDNA was diluted to four gradients(10?1,10?2,10?3,and 10?4). For assessment of specificity, the gDNA(s)of P. vivax,P. yoelii,Taenia saginata,and Schistosoma japonicum were also extracted. Results Totally,61 P. falciparum unique genes coding PHIST were found. The PF3D7_1372300 with high expression value during the ring form and PF3D7_1401600 with high expression value during the schizont period were selected for LAMP assay. The lowest detectable lim?its of PF3D7_1372300 and PF3D7_1401600 were 130.5 parasite/μl and 1 305.3 parasite/μl,respectively. Specific tests showed the amplified products of P. falciparum was positive and all the others including P. vivax,P. yoelii,T. saginata,and S. japoni?cum were negative. Conclusions The established LAMP method with PF3D7_1372300 gene is sensitive,specific,simple and useful. It can be applied to the field investigation and clinical diagnosis for falciparum malaria.

【Objective】 To analyze the status of HBV infection in blood donors reactive to jointed NAT but non-reactive to primary discriminatory tests (NRR), so as to provide suggestions and data support for subsequent studies on NRR samples. 【Methods】 HCV RNA and HIV RNA repeat differential detection, HBV DNA viral load detection and HBV pgRNA copy volume detection were performed in the plasma of 60 blood donors with negative ELISA results in routine blood screening and NRR in NAT. HBsAg, HBsAb, HBcAb, HBeAg and HBeAb serological tests were performed on the NRR samples with positivity in HBV DNA viral load and HBV pgRNA virus copy detection, so as to analyze the serological infection status and occult hepatitis B (OBI) infection. 【Results】 The HCV RNA and HIV RNA repeat discrimination results of 60 NRR samples were negative. The quantitative detection results of HBV DNA in 60 NRR samples were positive in 9 cases (15%), and the HBV DNA concentration was less than 10IU/mL. Nine cases (15%) were positive for HBV pgRNA quantitative detection, and the virus copy volume ±SD was (289±58.25) copies/mL. Two NRR samples (3.33%) were HBV DNA positive and HBV pgRNA positive. Among the 9 HBV-DNA positive samples, the highest positive rate of HBcAb was 66.67%, and 7 (77.78%) of them were confirmed to be seropositive for OBI. Among the 9 HBV pgRNA positive samples, the copy amount of pgRNA in HBcAb positive samples was slightly higher than that in negative samples, while the copy amount of pgRNA in HBsAb and HBeAb positive samples was lower than that in corresponding negative samples. In recent 6 years, the proportion of NRR samples in the single NAT system of the center fluctuated from 0.09% to 0.13%. 【Conclusion】 HBV DNA and HBV pgRNA exist in NRR samples. HBV DNA and/or HBV pgRNA positive samples can be detected in the relevant serological infectious markers. NRR samples have a certain potential risk of OBI infection. HBV DNA detection plus HBV pgRNA can better confirm the status of virus infection in NRR and improve the safety of blood transfusion.

OBJECTIVES: Microvascular invasion (MVI) is an important predictor of postoperative recurrence or poor outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Radiomics is able to predict MVI in HCC preoperatively. This study aims to investigate the influence of different region of interest (ROI) sizes on CT-based radiomics model for MVI prediction in HCC. METHODS: Patients with HCC with or without MVI confirmed by pathology and those who underwent preoperative plain or enhanced abdominal CT scans in the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from January 2010 to December 2020 were retrospectively and consecutively included. According to the ratio of 7 to 3, the patients were randomly assigned into a training set and a validation set. Clinical data were collected from medical records, and radiomics features were extracted from the arterial phase (AP) and portal venous phase (PVP) of preoperatively acquired CT in all patients. Six different ROI sizes were employed. The original ROI (OROI) was manually delineated along the visible borders of the tumor layer-by-layer. The OROI was expanded out by 1-5 mm. The OROI was combined with 5 different peritumoral regions to generate the other 5 ROIs, named Plus1-Plus5. Feature extraction, dimension reduction, and model development were conducted in 6 different ROIs separately. Supporter vector machine (SVM) was used for model construction. Model performance was assessed via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. RESULTS: A total of 172 HCC patients were included, in which 83 (48.3%) were MVI positive, and 89 (51.7%) were MVI negative. Three hundred and ninety-six features based on AP or PVP images were extracted from each ROI. After feature selection and dimension reduction, 4, 5, 15, 11, 6, and 3 features of OROI, Plus1, Plus2, Plus 3, Plus4, and Plus5 were selected for model construction, respectively. In the training set, the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of OROI were 0.759, 0.806, and 0.855, respectively. The AUC values of Plus2 (0.979) and Plus3 (0.954) were higher than that of OROI. The AUC values of Plus1 (0.802), Plus4 (0.792), and Plus5 (0.774) were not significantly different from those of OROI. In the validation set, the sensitivity, specificity, and AUC value of OROI were 0.640, 0.630, and 0.664, respectively. The AUC value of Plus3 was 0.903, which was higher than that of OROI. The AUC values of Plus1 (0.679), Plus2 (0.536), Plus4 (0.708), and Plus5 (0.757) were not significantly different from that of OROI (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS The size of ROI significantly inflluences on the performance of CT-based radiomics model for MVI prediction in HCC. Including appropriate area around the tumor into ROI could improve the predictive performance of the model, and 3 mm might be appropriate distance.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/pathology* ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms/pathology* ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods*