BackgroundThe research of corneal thickness after pars plana vitrectomy in DM patient plays an important role not only theoretically but clinically.Objective Present study was to evaluate the change in corneal thickness after pars plana vitrectomy.Methods A prospective coherent study was designed.Seventy-five eyes of 70 consecutive diabetic retinopathy(DR) patients were collected in Tianjin Medical University Eye Center.Pentacam was used to assess the central and periphery corneal thickness by the same investigator preoperatively and 7 days,1 and 3 months postoperatively,respectively.The thickness values from five corneal zone were obtained,including cornea vertex,the thinnest point of the cornea,periphery cornea near the scleral incision of 4 mm away to vertex of cornea on vertical and 240°,120°,60° meridian ( right eye) or 300°,120°,60° meidian ( left eye ).These results were compared and analyzed with ANOVA of repeated measurement data.Subgroup analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of different corneal positions,the use of conventional 20g or 23g transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy(TSV) groups,surgery duration,gas or fluid endotamponde on corneal thickness.This study was approved by Ethic Committee of this hospital.Written informed consent was obtained from the subjects before any relative medical procedure.Results The mean corneal thickness was ( 639.9 ± 103.1 ),( 689.5 ± 119.3 ),( 666.5 ±113.7),( 650.8 ± 108.6 ) μm before operation,postperative 7 days,1 and 3 months respectively.As covariates appearing in the model,the corneal thickness change rates were revised as the parameters as following: diabeitc duration =13.0 and age =57.2.The revised corneal thickness was significant different among various time points( F=210.928,P=0.000) and different corneal zones(F=24.843,P=0.000) with the size order in turn P4＞P3＞P1＞P2＞P5.The corneal thickness change rates were less in 23g TSV group compared with conventional 20-g group (F =53.843,P =0.000) and BSS tamponade group compared with gas tamponade group ( F =5.288,P =0.022).But no significant difference was found in the revised corneal thickness among surgery duration ＜ 1 hour group,1-2 hour group and ＞2 hour group( F=1.233,P =0.293).ConclusionsVitrectomy is a safe procedure on the ground of cornea,but TSV and fluid endotamponade appear to be more beneficial to the protection of cornea.Pentacam could offer the reliable data in not only central cornea but also periphery cornea.

Objective To establish the disease-syndrome integrated animal models suitable for the studies of TCM through differen- tiating the property of TCM syndromes of spontaneous diseased animal models.Methods With the observation on general behaviors, irritable degree,turning endurance time,pain threshold,urine and stools,luster of hair,growing speed of hair,body weight,tongue condition,degree of eyeball protruding,conjunctiva chroma,blood pressure,heart rate,etc.of spontaneous hypertension rats(SHR) and the comparison with normal rats,the study was carried out on the macroscopic description of property of TCM syndrome of SHR (14～18 weeks of age)and their ethology.Results The blood pressure of SHR at the early stage tended to raise with age growing. Compared with the normal group,the heart rate of SHR rats was obviously quicker(P

Silent information regulator protein 1 (SlRT1) is one of the sirtuins and belongs to histone deacetyase. lts activity depends on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide ( NAD+) and is regulated by NAD+. Experimental and clinical studies have shown the neuro-protective effect of SlRT1 in the pathogenesis of age-related eye diseases. ln this review, the relationship between SlRT1 activator and apoptosis in the retinal cells were discussed. The review also points to SlRT1 as a potential therapeutic target for the clinical management of age-related retinal disease.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the dosage-efficacy/toxicity relationship of prepared rhubarb, in order to explore the bidirectional effects in hepatoprotection and hepatotoxicity of prepared rhubarb and the objective authenticity for attenuating toxicity by processing.

METHODNormal and pathological animals were adopted simultaneous to investigate the effect of total extracts from prepared rhubarb within a high dose range (2.0, 5.4, 14.7, 40.0 g x kg(-1) x d(-1)) on normal state, biochemical index and histopathology of experimental animals. The factor analytic approach was used to analyze the dosage-efficacy/toxicity relationship of prepared rhubarb.

RESULTThe factor analytic approach was used to extract two common factors from the nine biochemical indexes. The firs common factor was mainly dominated by HA, LN and TGF-β1, and could be explained as fibrotic factors. The second common factor was mainly dominated by ALT, AST and ALP, and could be explained as cellular factor. The results of the factor analysis suggested that prepared rhubarb showed significant bidirectional effects in hepatoprotection and hepatotoxicity, which could protect liver in CC14 injured chronic hepatic injury, but had a certain hepatotoxic effect to normal animals. The pathological examination showed consistent results with the factor analysis. Under comparable dosages, prepared rhubarb showed a stronger liver protecting effect than crude rhubarb, with a lower toxicity.

CONCLUSIONAlthough prepared rhubarb has a certain hepatotoxic effect to normal animals, it has also a significant therapeutic effect to animals with liver injury. The results proved the symptom-based prescription theory and the scientificity of the symptom-based medication. The symptom-based prescription theory is important to correctly realize the dosage-efficacy/toxicity relationship of traditional Chinese medicines and guide the symptom-based medication.

Animals ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drug Prescriptions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; toxicity ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rheum ; chemistry ; Toxicity Tests

We investigated the roles of the crude antigen(CA) of Clonorchis sinensis and excretory secretory products (ESPs) in the polarization of Th1 and Th2 cells.Bone marrow-derived cells were generated from BALB/c mice and isolated into immature DCs;immature DCs were then treated with either CA (CA stimulated group),ESPs (ESPs stimulated group),LPS (positive control group) or PBS (negative control group) for 24 hours.Then the CD4+T cells were isolated from mouse spleen by using anti mouse-CD4 Microbeads,and further cocultured with stimulated DCs for another 72 hours.The purities of DCs and CD4+ T cells were evaluated by flow cytometry and the expressing levels of T-bet mRNA and GATA-3 mRNA were detected by real-time PCR.ELISA was used to detect the levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 cytokines in the supernatant.mRNA levels of T-bet and GATA-3 in the ESPs group were higher than those in PBS-stimulated group (P＜0.05).The concentrations of IFN-γ and IL-4 cytokines in the culture were increased in the ESPs group,compared with PBS stimulated group(P＜0.05).IFN-γ but not IL-4 was increased in CA group (P＜0.05).The results implied that CA might play a role in Th1 type immune response,and ESPs likely play roles in both Th1 and Th2 immune responses.

Objective To investigate the association of serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and methylglyoxal (MG) levels with cognitive function in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods The normal population and elderly patients with T2DM were frequency-matched by age, sex, and educational level. BDNF was detected by ELISA assay, MG by HPLC assay, and cognitive function by sets of repetitive mental state examination (RBANS) in the two groups. Results (1) Compared with control group, serum BDNF level in T2DM group was significantly decreased [ (4.97±3.05 vs 11.77±7.92)ng /ml, P<0.01]while serum MG level was elevated [(67.91 vs 43.86) nmol /L, P<0.05]. The increasing of serum MG was related to the decreasing of serum BDNF. (2) Compared with control group, the scores for standardized tests of cognitive scale, visual breadth, immediate memory, delayed memory, and attention areas in T2DM group were significantly decreased (all P<0.05). After the influencing factors were adjusted by multiple regression, the associations of serum BDNF level with cognitive scale standardized score, the delay associated with memory and attention functions were still evident, and serum MG level in T2DM group was still related with the levels of delayed memory, immediate memory, total scale standardization (all P<0.05). (3) Serum BDNF level was negatively correlated with serum MG level (P=0.031). Conclusions Cognitive function of elderly patients with T2DM is related with serum MG and BDNF levels. The increased serum MG as well as the decreasd serum BDNF levels maybe involved in the pathogenesis of impaired cognitive function.

Objective To investigate the effect of VvhA recombinant protein to the expression of IL-8 in human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells. Methods The VvhA recombinant protein(rVvhA) was ex-pressed by prokaryotic expression vector pET-28a (+)-whA in E. coli BL21 (DE3) , purified by Ni~(2+)-NTA affinity chromatography refoldod by stepwise deliquation together with dialysis methods and identified by Western blot. The cytotoxic of rVvhA to human Caco-2 cells was measured by CCK-8. The transcription of IL-8 mRNA in human Caco-2 cells induced by rVvhA was determined by RT-PCR, and the expression of IL-8 in human Caco-2 cells induced by rVvhA was determined by ELISA assay. Results rVvhA was purified with high purity up to 95%. The viability of human Caco-2 cells treated with 1.5 HU/ml rVvhA was inhibi-ted significantly (P < 0.05). The rVvhA can induce human Caco-2 cells to increase the transcription and expression of IL-8 in dose- and time-dependent manner. The transcription of IL-8 gene in human Caco-2 cells treated with 0.6 HU/ml rVvhA in 30 min can be up-regulated significantly, and the expression of IL-8 in human Caco-2 cells treated with rVvhA in 4 h can be increased significantly. Conclusion rVvhA has cy-totoxic to human Caco-2 and can increase the expression of IL-8, it might play a major role in the inflamma-tory reaction of rVvhA-exposed cells.

With thousands of sequenced 16 S rRNA genes available,and advancements in oligonucleotide microarray technology,the detection of microorganisms in microbial communities consisting of hundreds of species may be possible.The existing algorithms developed for sequence-specific probe design are not suitable for applications in large-scale bacteria detection due to the lack of coverage,flexibility and efficiency.Many other strategies developed for group-specific probe design focus on how to find a unique group-specific probe that can specifically detect all target sequences of a group.Unique group-specific probe for each group can not always be found.Hence,it is necessary to design non-unique probes.Each probe can specifically detect target sequences of a different subgroup.Combination of multiple probes can achieve higher coverage.However,it is a time-consuming task to evaluate all possible combinations.A feasible algorithm using relative entropy and genetic algorithm (GA) to design group-specific non-unique probes was presented.

BACKGROUND: Silk fibroin film showed an anti-coagulated blood activity following sulfurous acid treatment; however, its flexibility and anti-tension were poor. If the silk flbroin film was coated on small-caliber expanded poly(tetrafiuoroethylene) (ePTFE) vascular grafts prior to surface sulfonation, the adverse effects were improved and the blood compatibility of ePTFE vascular grafts were remarkably enhanced. OBJECTIVE: To research the preparation of ePTFE vascular grafts applied by surface sulfonation of silk flbroin film by low temperature plasma treatment. METHODS: The ePTFE vascular grafts were treated with low temperature plasma and coated on the surface of silk fibroin. The compound was then sulfonated with low temperature plasma. The ePTFE vascular grafts were considered as the controls to detect contact angle and sulfonation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The contact angle was decreased gradually form 87.7°to 65.1° following low temperature plasma treatment. Moreover, the contact angle was 106.2° following coating silk flbroin film and 92.9°following sulfonation. X-raylight-electron spectrometer demonstrated that percents of sulfur element on the surfaces of the combined blood vessel was 2.89%, respectively, while that of the control film was only 0.12%. The X-ray light-electron spectrometer also showed that most of the sulfur element were sulfonic group (-SO_3H). The results suggested the feasibility of the preparation of the combined blood vessel.

Objective To investigate the sensitivity and variability factors that were assessed on the forced swimming test (FST) using BALB/C and Kunming mice. Methods The immobility time of FST was compared using Kunming and BALB/C mice in different experimental conditions including circadian rhythm ( day and night) ,gender and water temperature ( 12,22 and 32℃ ) . Results (①) The immobility time of BALB/C during the daytime( ( 142.42 ± 33.58) s) was significantly increased than that at night ( ( 104.89 ± 34.33 ) s). (② The immobility time of Kunming mice( (91.95 ± 40.32) s) was significantly decreased than that of BALB/C mice ( ( 142.42 ± 33.58 ) s). (③)The immobility time under the water temperature of 22 C ( ( 92.24 ± 25.81 ) s) was significant longer than that under the water temperature of 32C ( (60.72 ± 11.11 ) s). Conclusion BALB/C stain,male mice,daytime and water temperature of 22℃ should be chosen in the FST.