The molecular delivery vectors used in gene therapy need provide the features of safety,stability, efficiency and capacity. The current studies on the structure and action mechanism of pRNA, a packaging RNA of phage?29, showed that pRNA with multiple binding sites can through cell membrane easily and escort exogenous molecules to target cell, without inducing immune reaction. As an ideal nano-scale gene therapy vehicle, pRNA presents a promising application in delivering multiple therapeutic components to detect and treat human diseases.

Objective To investigate the effects of fluvastatin on the tubulointerstitium damage in progressive diabetic kidney disease. Methods A rat model of type 2 diabetic nephropathy (DN) was developed successfully by combination of dietary induced insulin resistance and low dose STZ induced hyperglycemia after unilateral nephrectomy. Female SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: control rats, type 2 diabetic rats and type 2 diabetic rats treated with fluvastatin (2mg/kg/d). After 6 weeks, blood glucose, serum insulin, serum triglyceride and cholesterol, serum creatinine, and urinary protein were measured respectively. The protein expressions of c Jun and tansforming growth factor (TGF) ? 1 were studied by immunohistochemistry. TGF ? 1 gene expression was studied with a RT PCR technique. Results Fluvastatin at lower doses, which did not influence blood glucose and blood lipid level, significantly inhibited expression of c Jun protein(0 2536?0 0180 vs 0 5855?0 0314, P

Objective To observe the effect of the early reinforced control ability training of the trunk and pelvis on the motor function of patients with stroke.MethodsFifty-six patients with stroke were randomly divided into the therapy group and control group with 28 cases in each group. The patients of two groups were treated with regular rehabilitation training, forty-five minutes at a time, twice one day; at the same time the patients of the therapy group were administrated with the control ability training in the trunk and pelvis, twenty minutes at a time, twice one day. The Fugl-Meyer Assessment scale (FMA), the Barthel Index (BI) and functionality ambulation category (FAC) were used to assess the motor function of the patients, before and after the treatment.ResultsTwo months after treatment, there was a significant increasing in the FMA, BI, FAC and hemiplegia gait analysis assessment in the both groups ( P<0.05～0.01), but the walking ability of the therapy group was significantly better than that of the control group ( P<0.05).ConclusionCombined the early reinforced control ability training of the trunk and pelvis with routine rehabilitation training is obvious effect on the motor function of the patients with stroke.

Noise of ECP (external counterpulsation) comes from the frequent movement of the electromagnetic valve iron core hitting the top of the valve body and the orifice of the bottom, and the high pressure and large air stream rubbing the orifice. This article studies the method to reduce mechanical noise of the electromagnetic valve core, that is to reduce the above movement energy and the hitting force. The method is used in ECP devices with grafying results. This noise controlling technology may reduce the noise of the electromagnetic valve from higher than 50dB to less than 25dB.
Counterpulsation ; instrumentation ; Electromagnetic Phenomena ; instrumentation ; Electronics ; instrumentation ; Equipment Design ; Equipment Failure ; Humans ; Microcomputers ; Noise ; prevention & control ; Software

In this study, UPLC-MS/MS was adopted to determine the contents of five ephedrine alkaloids (Norephedrine, Norpseudoephedrine, Ephedrine, Pseudoephedrine, Methylephedrine) in plasma and urine in rats after the combined administration of Ephedrae Herba-Gypsum Fibrosum and calculate relevant pharmacokinetic parameters, in order to discuss the effect of the combined administration of Ephedrae Herba-Gypsum Fibrosum on plasma pharmacokinetics and urinary excretion characteristics. According to the results, after being combined with Gypsum, the five ephedrine alkaloids showed similar pharmacokinetic changes, such as shortened t(max), accelerated absorption rate, but reduced AUC(0-t) and V(z)/F, which may be related to the increase in urine excretion. Besides, Gypsum was added to enhance C(max) of Pseudoephedrine and prolong MRT(0-t) of Methylephedrine, so as to enhance the anti-asthmatic effect of Ephedrae Herba and resist the toxic effect of Norephedrine and Ephedrine. This study proved the scientific compatibility of Ephedrae Herba-Gypsum Fibrosum and provided a reference for studies on the prescription compatibility regularity and relevant practices.
Alkaloids ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; urine ; Animals ; Calcium Sulfate ; pharmacokinetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacokinetics ; Ephedra ; chemistry ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Urine ; chemistry

Objective To compare and analyze the formula composition based on their herbal nature for wind, cold, and dampness arthralgia. Methods The ancient formulas for wind, cold, and dampness arthralgia were searched and the database was established. The top 30 high-frequency herbs were analyzed with frequency, hypothesis testing and association rules. The nature, taste, and meridian distribution were used as the variable quantities for clustering analysis. Results Totally 338 formulas were collected, including 122 formulas for wind arthralgia, 110 formulas for cold arthralgia, and 106 formulas for dampness arthralgia. There are 21 same herbs among the top 30 high-frequency herbs;Tonic herbs were the highest frequently used, followed by the divergence of cold herbs in wind arthralgia, interior-warming herbs in cold arthralgia, and damp-resolving herbs in dampness arthralgia. The frequently used herbs in each kind of formula compared with other two kinds were:Cinnamomi Cortex, Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata, Angelicae Sinensis Radix, Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix, Notopterygii Rhizome et Radix, Paeoniae Radix and Astrragali Radix in formulas for cold arthralgia, Poria and Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma in formulas for dampness arthralgia. Three kinds of formulas are given priority to slight warm, followed by warm and neutral. Classification is clear when most of the formulas were clustered into five classes according to their herbal nature in each kind of formula. Conclusion The three kinds of formulas cross each other but with own characteristics. A variety of data mining methods can be used to analyze scientific connotation of therapeutic principle for arthralgia.

Corynebacterium glutamicum is one of the most important traditional industrial microorganisms and receiving more and more attention towards a novel cellular factory due to the recently rapid development in genomics and genetic operation toolboxes for Corynebacterium. However, compared to other model organisms such as Escherichia coli, there were few studies on its metabolic regulation, especially a genome-scale integrated cellular network model currently missing for Corynebacterium, which hindered the systematic study of Corynebacterium glutamicum and large-scale rational design and optimization for strains. Here, by gathering relevant information from a number of public databases, we successfully constructed an integrated cellular network, which was composed of 1384 reactions, 1276 metabolites, 88 transcriptional factors and 999 pairs of transcriptional regulatory relationships. The transcriptional regulatory sub-network could be arranged into five layers and the metabolic sub-network presented a clear bow-tie structure. We proposed a new method to extract complex metabolic and regulatory sub-network for product-orientated study taking lysine biosynthesis as an example. The metabolic and regulatory sub-network extracted by our method was more close to the real functional network than the simplex biochemical pathways. The results would be greatly helpful for understanding the high-yielding biomechanism for amino acids and the re-design of the industrial strains.
Corynebacterium glutamicum ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial ; Gene Regulatory Networks ; genetics ; Lysine ; biosynthesis ; Metabolic Networks and Pathways ; genetics ; Transcription Factors ; genetics ; Transcription, Genetic

Objective To explore the nutritional status and determinants among rural stranded children under 7 years of age. Methods The group of stranded children (n=7585) and the children for control (n=7557) were identified by multi-stage stratified cluster sampling. The ascertainment methods mainly included questionnaire, anthropometric measurements and laboratory examination. Results In this study, there were three groups, including the group of stranded children whose single parent left home to look for better job somewhere, the group of stranded children whose parent both left home and the third group serving as control. Prevalent rates on the following items were: stunting -- 14.9%, 17.9% and 16.3%, underweight -- 7.2%, 8.3% and 7.6%, wasting -- 3.1%, 3.4% and 3.3% and anemia -- 18.9%, 20.6%, 18.7% respectively. The prevalent rate of stunting in the group of children with both parents away from home was significantly higher than that those with only one parent did. The prevalence rate of anemia in the group with both parents away from home was significantly higher than that in the control group. Based on multivariate non-conditional logistic regression analysis, the determinants of stunting among the stranded children were: age, with low birth weight, living alone, being the only child in the family, mother's education level, frequency of eating breakfast and snacks every week, motives of caretakers and the relationship between children and the caretakers. The determinants of underweight among those stranded children were: age of child, with low birth weight, the frequency of eating snacks every week, motives of the caretakers and having rickets. Conclusion The nutritional status among rural stranded children was relatively poor, especially in those whose parents were both away from home, which calls for urgent improvement.

OBJECTIVEThis study aims to conduct a survey of the oral health status of disabled individuals in Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province. This study was also conducted to prepare caries prevention planning in the region.

METHODSOn the basis of the Oral Health Surveys: Basic Methods of WHO and the Third National Oral Health Epidemiological Sample Survey Scheme, we investigated caries infecting disabled individuals who live in one big city (Xichang city), three counties (Bhutto county, Muli Tibetan autonomous county, and Huili county), and 46 towns and villages of Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province, by multi-stage stratified and cluster sampling.

RESULTSAmong 3,439 disabled individuals, 2,085 were males and 1,354 were females; among these individuals, 815 live in the city and 2,624 live in rural areas. Furthermore, 2,177 were Han natives and 1,262 were Yi natives (ethnic). The caries prevalence rate and mean DMFT of disabled individuals in Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province were 87.1% and 9.53, respectively. In Yi, the caries prevalence rate and mean DMFT of disabled individuals in Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province were 85.8% and 9.93, respectively; in Han, the caries prevalence rate and mean DMFT of disabled individuals in Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province were 87.9% and 9.29, respectively. No significant difference was found in the two groups of native (P > 0.05). A very low filling rate of 0.2% was also recorded.

CONCLUSIONDisabled individuals from Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province exhibited a high prevalence of caries in permanent teeth. The oral health status of this special group of disabled individuals should be provided intensive care.

China ; Dental Caries ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Oral Health

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of baicalin on insulinoma cell line and the molecular mechanism involved.

METHODSLight microscope, MTT assay, flow cytometry, gene analysis and Western Blot were applied to investigate the effects of baicalin on the cell proliferation, the cell cycle and the involved molecular mechanism.

RESULTSAfter treatment with baicalin, the number of cells in mitotic stage and the survival rate of cells obviously decreased, and cell proliferation was inhibited in a drug concentration- and acting time-dependent manner, with the appearance of apoptotic insulinoma cells. During the apoptotic process, the activity of caspase-3 was elevated by baicalin in a time-dependent manner; with the increase of the concentration of baicalin, the number of cells in S-phase obviously decreased from 38.2% to 9.4%, while the percentage of cells in G0/G1 phase increased from 56.4% to 85.9%, indicating cells were arrested in G1-phase. Meanwhile, the activity of cyclin gene promoter obviously declined, and the expression of cyclin reduced remarkably.

CONCLUSIONBaicalin could induce apoptosis of insulinoma cells, which might be correlated with the activity of caspase-3, and inhibiting proliferation of insulinoma cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, in which the action of baicalin in down-regulating the gene transcription and expression of cyclin may play an important role.

Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Flavonoids ; pharmacology ; Flow Cytometry ; Insulinoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Rats