Objective To evaluate the relationship between serum matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9), white blood cell(WBC)count and type 2 diabetes mellitus with macroangiopathy and to investigate the mechanism of the protective effects of rusiglitazone(RSG)on blood vessel.Methods Serum MMP-9 was determined by ELISA in 30 normal controls and 80 type 2 diabetic patients(including 40 cases with macroangiopathy and 40 without maeroangiopathy).WBC count and other clinical parameters were also determined.32 type 2 diabetic patients received RSG(4rag qd)for 12 weeks.All parameters were determined after 4 weeks(17 patients)and after 12 weeks(all patients)to observe the changes in MMP-9,WBC and other parameters.Results In the diabetic patients,serum MMP-9 and WBC were markedly higher as compared with normal controls;and MMP-9 and WBC in patients with macroangiopathy[579(440-949)?g/L,(7.51?1.47)?10~9/L]were higher than those [324(275-423)?g/L,(6.22?0.79)?10~9/L]in the cases without macroangiopathy(P

Abstract: Schistosomiasis, an important zoonotic parasitic disease, is one of the six major tropical diseases identified by WHO, and also one of the most important parasitic diseases for prevention and control in China. After more than 70 years of efforts, the prevention and control of schistosomiasis in China has made great achievements, and the current epidemic of schistosomiasis in China has entered an extremely low epidemic state, but the distribution base of the only intermediate host of schistosomiasis, Oncomelania hupensis, is still large. For now, the techniques used to monitor schistosomiasis have shortcomings such as time-consuming, laborious and low sensitivity, which cannot meet the current needs of China. Environmental DNA (eDNA) refers to DNA that can be extracted from environmental samples (such as soil, water or air) without isolating any target organisms, which is a complex mixture of genomic DNA and its degradation products from different organisms in the same environment. eDNA technology can reflect the community or species composition information in the ecosystem through DNA extraction and detection of environmental samples. Compared with traditional biological monitoring methods, eDNA technology has the advantages of high efficiency, high sensitivity and environmental friendliness. eDNA has been successfully used for the specific detection of Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma japonicum. This paper reviews the current detection methods of eDNA, the application and technical limitations of eDNA technology in schistosomiasis monitoring, aiming to provide scientific reference for research in the field of schistosomiasis surveillance.

Objective To explore the value of susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) for the assessment of chronic renal injury. Methods Thirty-nine patients with clinical diagnosis of chronic renal injury (RI group) who underwent routine renal MRI and SWI examination were retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into mild injured group (15 cases) and moderate to severe injured group (24 cases) by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). At the same time, 17 volunteers without chronic renal injury who had normal serum creatinine (Scr) and blood urea nitrogen were recruited as control group. All subjects underwent routine renal MRI and SWI examination. The ratios of cortex to medulla were measured and calculated in both kidneys' magnitude image and susceptibility weighted image, which were indicated as C/MMAG and C/MSWI. Independent sample t test was used to compare the differences of C/MMAG and C/MSWI between control group and RI group, and paired sample t test was used to compare the differences betweenC/MMAG and C/MSWI in each group. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the difference of C/MMAG and C/MSWI between the control group and the different RI groups. ROC was employed to assess the diagnostic efficacy of C/MMAG and C/MSWI in renal injury. Pearson linear correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between C/MMAG, C/MSWI and eGFR, Scr in patients with renal injury. Results The C/MMAG and C/MSWI in the RI group were 1.101±0.039 and 1.071±0.046, respectively. C/MSWI was obviously lower than C/MMAG, and the difference was statistically significant (t=5.056, P<0.01). There was no significant difference between C/MMAG and C/MSWI in the control group (P>0.05). The C/MMAG and C/MSWI in the RI group were obviously lower than those in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (t=4.564, 6.122;P<0.01).The C/MMAG and C/MSWI in the mild injured group and the moderate to severe injured group were significantly lower than those in the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). While the differences of those between mild injured group and moderate to severe injured group showed no statistical significance (P>0.05). The area under ROC of C/MMAG and C/MSWI in diagnosis of renal injury were 0.853 and 0.952, respectively. C/MMAG was positively correlated with eGFR (r=0.460,P<0.01). Conclusions Susceptibility-weighted imaging can be used to assess chronic renal injury. Although it cannot reflect the degree of renal function damage, it has some value in the early diagnosis of mild renal injury.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the erectile and ejaculatory function of sacral tumor patients after sacral nerve root resection and investigate the relationship of erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction (EED) with the level of sacral nerve injury.

METHODSThis retrospective study included 47 male patients aged 16 to 63 (32.6 +/- 6.8) years treated by sacral tumor resection between January 2008 and August 2013. According to the levels of the sacral nerve roots spared in surgery, the patients were divided into four groups: bilateral S1-S3 (n=16), unilateral S1-S3 (n=21), unilateral S1-S2 (n=6), and unilateral S1 (n=4). The patients were followed up for 12 to 41 (27.2 +/- 10.9) months by questionnaire investigation, clinic review, and telephone calls about their erectile and ejaculatory function at 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery and in August 2013.

RESULTSIn the bilateral S1-S3 group, the incidence rates of EED were 31.25% (5/16), 25% (4/16), and 12.5% (2/16) at 3, 6, and 12 months respectively after surgery, with recovery of erectile and ejaculatory function in August 2013. The incidence rates of EED in the unilateral S1-S3 group were 85.71% (18/21), 71.43% (15/21), 52.38% (11/21), and 42.86% (9/21) at 3, 6 and 12 months and in August 2013, respectively; those in the unilateral S1-S2 group were 100% (6/6), 83.33% (5/6), 83.33% (5/6), and 66.67% (4/6) at the four time points; and those in the unilateral S1 group were all 100% (4/4). No statistically significant differences were found in the incidence rate of EED among the patients of different ages or tumor types (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe incidence of postoperative EED in male patients treated by sacral tumor resection is closely related to the mode of operation. Sparing the S3 nerve root at least unilaterally in sacral tumor resection is essential for protecting the erectile and ejaculatory function of the patient.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Ejaculation ; physiology ; Erectile Dysfunction ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Organ Sparing Treatments ; Peripheral Nervous System Neoplasms ; surgery ; Postoperative Complications ; epidemiology ; Postoperative Period ; Retrospective Studies ; Sacrum ; Spinal Nerve Roots ; injuries ; surgery ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

Chlorogenic acid displays several important roles in the therapeutic properties of many herbs, such as antioxidant activity, antibacterial, antiviral, scavenging free radicals and exciting central nervous system. Only about one-third of chlorogenic acid was absorbed in its prototype, therefore, its gut metabolites play a more important role in the therapeutic properties of chlorogenic acid. It is necessary to consider not only the bioactivities of chlorogenic acid but also its gut metabolites. This review focuses on the potential activities and mechanisms of chlorogenic acid and its gut metabolites on central nervous system diseases.
Animals ; Central Nervous System Diseases ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Chlorogenic Acid ; administration & dosage ; metabolism ; Humans ; Intestines ; drug effects ; metabolism

In this study, the variation of pharmacokinetics behavior of raltitrexed (RTX) in rats after repeatedly injected with Huangqi injection was investigated. Twelve SD rats were divided into two groups: the multidose group and the RTX group. Rats in multidose group were iv. injected with Huangqi injection (dose of 1.575 mL x kg(-1)) everyday at 8 am for a week, and had free accesses for food and water. The rats were fasted for food but not water since 8 h before the eighth day. At the eighth morning, firstly, rats were injected with Huangqi injection (dose of 1.575 mL x kg(-1)), and 5 min later, were injected with RTX (dose of 0.467 mg x kg(-1)); rats in RTX group were not disposed in the previous seven days, also had free accesses for food and water, and were iv. injected with raltitrexed at the same time as Multidose group at the eighth day morning. Rat plasma was collected at different time and processed with methanol to precipitate the protein before HPLC assays. The pharmacokinetics parameters for two groups were calculated by software 3P97. Through the observation of drug concentration in plasma and time curve, we found that at almost every time point the concentration of RTX in plasma in multidose group was lower than the RTX group. When comparing the pharmacokinetics parameters between the multidose group and the RTX group, the average of AUC(0-t) and half-life(t1/2) of multidose group were decreased from 56 080 microg x min x L(-1) and 15.07 min to 35 834 microg x min x L(-1) and 8.95 min, respectively, while the clearance (CL) was increased from 0.51 to 0.83 mL x h(-1). Therefore, it could be deduced that repeatedly injected with AR injection may influence the renal excretion and glycometabolism of RTX, thus change pharmacokinetics behavior of raltitrexed in rats plasma. This result may give us a hint to prudantly manage the drug combination of RTX and Huangqi injection.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Female ; Injections ; Male ; Quinazolines ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Thiophenes ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics

Objective Folate receptors ( FRs) , overexpressed on the surface of a variety of tumor cells , are potential targets for tumor targeting therapy .This study aimed to prepare an FR-mediated drug nanocarrier with folate conjugated pullulan acetate ( FPA) to target chemotherapeutic agents to FR-overexpressed tumor cells and investigate its tumor-suppressing effect in vitro. Methods The cytotoxicity of epirubicin-loaded FPA nanoparticles ( FPA/EPI NP) against HepG2 and Hela cells was evaluated by MTS assay.The HepG2 and Hela cells were divided into five groups to be treated with NPs (NP control), chlorpromazine, chloro-quine, amiloride, and folate, respectively, followed by detection of the fluorescence intensity by flow cytometry . Results FPA/EPI NP was successfully formulated into NPs , with the mean particle size of (268.5 ±12.0) nm, by dialysis with an almost spherical shape . The drug-loading rate and entrapment rate of FPA/EPI NP were (6.45 ±1.04) and (72.45 ±11.50) %, respectively.The survival rates of the HepG2 and Hela cells were both >95%after 24 hours of incubation with FPA NP at 5, 40, 200, 400 and 1000μg/mL and 90.0%after 72 hours.The survival rates of the HepG2 cells treated with 5, 40, 200, 400 and 1000μg/mL FPA/EPI NP for 24 hours were (92.3 ±5.2), (70.4 ±4.6), (50.0 ±4.0), (41.1 ±4.1) and (27.0 ±3.6) %, respectively.Compared with the NP control group, the Hela cells of the chlorpromazine , amiloride and folate groups showed a significantly lower rate of NP uptake (P<0.05), and so did the HepG2 cells pretreated with chlorpromazine or amilo-ride (P<0.05).At 72 hours, the half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of FPA/EPI NP against HepG2 and Hela cells were 168 and 105μg/mL, respectively . Conclusion Clathrin-mediated endocytosis and macropinocytosis are involved in the internaliza-tion of FPA/EPI NP in HepG2 cells, while clathrin-and FR-mediated endocytosis in that of Hela cells .FPA NP may serve as a new drug carrier for tumor-targeted therapy .

0.05),but enhanced the expression of CD80,CD86 significantly(P

The traditional Chinese medicine (Tripterygium wilfordiiHook.f.,TWH) has been clinically used to treat primary and secondary renal diseases and proteinuria for nearly 40 years.However,there is a rare literature about the effect of triptolide (the main active ingredient of TWH) on the expression of oxidative carbonyl protein (OCP) in diabetic nephropathy (DN).This study aimed to provide experimental evidence for triptolide treatment on DN through its effect on the expression of OCP,in order to investigate the effects of triptolide on the expression of OCP in rats with DN.Sixty SD rats were randomly divided into five groups:control group,high-dose triptolide (Th) group,low-dose triptolide (T1) group,DN model group,and positive control (benazepril) group.The DN model was established using streptozotocin.Urinary protein excretion,fasting blood glucose (FBG),superoxide dismutase (SOD) in renal homogenate,malondialdehyde (MDA) in renal homogenate and renal nitrotyrosine by immunohistochemistry,and the expression of OCP by oxyblotimmune blotting were detected.In the DN model group,rat urinary protein excretion and renal MDA were significantly increased,while renal SOD significantly decreased and nitrotyrosine expression was obviously upregulated in the kidney.After triptolide treatment,24-h urinary protein excretion (61.96±19.00 vs.18.32±4.78 mg/day,P＜0.001),renal MDA (8.09±0.79 vs.5.45±0.68 nmol/L,P＜0.001),and nitrotyrosine expression were decreased.Furthermore,renal OCP significantly decreased,while renal SOD (82.50±19.10 vs.124.00±20.52 U/L,P＜0.001) was elevated.This study revealed that triptolide can down-regulate the expression of OCP in the renal cortex of DN rats.

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of aqueous extracts of Polygonum multiflorum (AEPM) on bile acid synthesis, metabolism and transfer-related molecules in rat liver and the hepatotoxicity-related mechanism of P. multiflorum.

METHODSprague-Dawley rats were orally administered with 30, 60 g x kg(-1) APEM once everyday for consecutively 28 days. At the end of the experiment, mRNA and protein expressions of hepatic MRP3, MRP2, BSEP, FXR and CYP7A1 were detected by Real-time PCR and Western blot

RESULTCompared with the normal group, the AEPM high dose group showed significant increases in mRNA expressions of hepatic MRP3 and BSEP of male rats (P < 0.05); AEPM high and low dose groups revealed a notable decrease in mRNA expressions of hepatic FXR (P < 0.05) and remarkable rises in mRNA expressions of hepatic MRP3, MRP2, BSEP, CYP7A1 among female rats (P < 0.05). According to the test results of western blot assay, AEPM high and low dose groups showed consistent changes in protein and mRNA expressions hepatic MRP3, MRP2, BSEP, FXR, CYP7A1.

CONCLUSIONThe 28 oral administration with AEPM in rats showed a certain effect on expressions of bile acid synthesis, metabolism and transfer-related proteins, as well as cholestatic or choleretic effects in the mRNA expression.

Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Bile Acids and Salts ; metabolism ; Cholestasis ; chemically induced ; Fallopia multiflora ; Female ; Liver ; drug effects ; Male ; Plant Extracts ; toxicity ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley