Objective To investigate the effect of fluoride on the expression of a subunit of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase- Ⅱ (α-CaMK Ⅱ ) at both mRNA and protein levels in human neuroblastoma cells were cultured in DMEM with final concentrations of NaF 0(control) ,0.05,0.50,2.00,5.00 mmol/L, respectively, for 48 hours. Then quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot were performed to detect the expression level of α-CaMK Ⅱ P1 (postnatal day 1) pups together with their mothers were randomly divided into three groups. Lactating rats were given drinking water containing NaF at concentrations 0(control) ,2,3 mmol/L. And pups were exposed to NaF through milk. In each group, 8 pups were sacrificed on day 14 after birth. In post-weaning period, another 8 pups in each group were given drinking water with the same dose of fluoride as their mother's 21 day after birth. After then, these pups were killed on day 28, and hippocampus was dissected immediately and Western blot was conducted mRNA and protein levels were decreased. When NaF concentrations were 0,0.05,0.50,2.00,5.00 mmol/L, the mRNA relative ratios of α-CaMKⅡ in SY5Y cells were 1.00 ± 0.00,0.77 ± 0.18,0.40 ± 0.11,0.22 ± 0.06 and 0.15 ± 0.03, and protein levels of α-CaMK Ⅱ were 100.00 ± 0.00,76.17 ± 2.08,59.16 ± 2.12,48.52 ± 2.71 and 43.51 ± 2.57, any mmol/L group, hippocampus α-CaMK Ⅱ protein levels on day 14 and 28(75.02 ± 2.88,73.83 ± 3.88 and 81.00 ± 2.54,45.70 ± 2.34) were significantly lower than that of control groups(100.00 ± 0.00,100.00 ± 0.00, all P < 0.01). In 3 mmol/L group, hippocampus α-CaMKⅡ protein level on day 28 was lower than that of 2 mmol/L group (P < 0.01). Conclusion Fluoride can decrease mRNA and protein levels of α-CaMK Ⅱ in nerve cells and hippocampus, which may be one of the mechanisms of learning and memory impairment by fluorosis.

Adult ; Anemia, Macrocytic ; etiology ; Benzene ; poisoning ; Female ; Humans

Objective To understand the mechanism of cerebral energy failure after hypoxia ischemia at the molecular level and to establish the protocol for the safe and effective treatment of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(HIE).Methods One hundred neonatal rats were divided into normal control group and hypoxic-ischemic(HI) group. SD rats of both groups were decapitated at the time of 2 h,24 h,48 h,72 h and 7 d after HI.These tissues of cerebrum,cortex and hippocampus were taken out to explore the influence of HI on the expression of GLUT1 and GLUT3 genes with the method of RT-PCR.Results There was an enhancement in the expression of GLUT1 and GLUT3 genes with the increasing of day age. The expression was more intense in hippocampus than that in cortex. However, HI could significantly enhance the expression of GLUT genes. The expression was higher in cortex than that in hippocampus. The expression of two genes reached the peak at 24 h after HI, but was significantly lower than that in control group at 7 d after HI.Conclusion The increased expression of GLUT genes can maintain the energy supplement for the brain and delay a cascade reaction of cerebral energy failure.

Objective To explore the brain changes of electroacupuncturing (EA) different acupoints of peripheral facial paralysis (PFP) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods Eighteen patients with left PFP were randomly divided into three groups. Six of them received electroacupuncturing left Dicang, 6 received electroacupuncturing left Hegu, and 6 received electroacupuncturing left Houxi. fMRI data were obtained from scanning of the whole brain. Functional data were processed by SPM99 software and functional responses were established with t-test analysis (P<0.05). Results Electroacupuncturing Dicang and Hegu on the left induced decreasing of signal in bilateral middle frontal gyrus, left cingulate gyrus, signal increased of right precentral gyrus, bilateral postcentral gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus and right insular, while electroacupuncturing Houxi on the left induced decrease of signal in bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left lentiform nucleus, right middle temporal gyrus, right cerebellar tonsil, signal increased of right caudate head, right cingulate gyrus, brainstem, cerebellar vermis and right parahippocampal gyrus. Conclusion Electroacupunctuing Hegu and Dicang can cause corresponding functional activation in cerebrum, while electroacupuncturing Houxi can not, suggesting that there is association between cerebral and acupoint of owned meridian.

Neuropathological, clinical epidemiology and animal models studies provide clear evidence for the activation of neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is linked with reduced risk to develop the disease. But the clinical trials got a negative outcome with traditional NSAIDs treating AD. The therapeutic effects of NSAIDs on Alzheimer's disease are still not clear based on the present research. Profound study for anti-inflammatory mechanisms and standardized clinical trials are needed. As cause and effect relationships between neuroinflammation and AD are being worked out, the challenge is how to realize the effect of traditional NSAIDs on treating AD.
Alzheimer Disease ; drug therapy ; Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Inflammation ; drug therapy

Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism(T-RFLP) is a resent molecular approach that can assess subtle genetic differences between strains as well as provide insight into the structure and function of microbial communities. This method overcomes the confinement of conventional culture-dependent methods and has both high sensitivity and throughput making it ideal for comparative analyses. Though there is still no application in our country, more and more investigators are highlighting it. In this article, the fundamental principle of this technique is introduced. The recent application and the development of this technique are also summed up .

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common, malignant, and lethal primary brain tumor in adults.Up to now,there is no effective drug for GBM.Withaferin A(WFA)is mainly derived from Indian Winter cherry.It has been traditionally used in ayurvedic medicine.WFA has wide range of pharmaco-logical activities including cardioprotective,anti-inflammatory,immuno-modulatory properties.Recently, WFA was reported to inhibit the growth of many cancer cells; however, the precise molecular mecha-nisms of its anti-cancer activities in GBM remain unclear. Here, we found that treatment of WFA in U251 and U87-MG glioma cells inhibited the cell proliferation,released the cellular LDH,decreased the DNA synthesis, and inhibited the migration, invasion, and colony formation of cells. WFA also in-creased the apoptotic rate of cells, decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential, arrested cell cy-cle at G2/M,inhibited the activity of caspase 3/7,and increased the protein expression of cleaved-cas-pase 3,cleaved PARP in U251 and U87-MG cells.In addition,cell apoptosis induced by WFA was as-sociated with increasing level of Bim,Bad,P21,P53 and decreasing the level of p-CDK1,cyclin A and B. It was also shown that cell apoptosis induced by WFA was associated with P38 signal pathway. These results demonstrated that WFA induced mitochondrial dependent apoptosis in glioblastoma cells which was associated with arresting the cell cycle at G2/M phase by P38 pathway.Taken together,our findings suggest that WFA might be a promising chemotherapy drug in the treatment of GBM.

AIM:To investigate the prevalence of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) among people aged 50 years and above in Funing county,Jiangsu province.METHODS:Survey research.Random cluster sampling was used in selecting individuals aged ≥ 50 years in 30 clusters in Funing county.Proportions were compared by using the x2 test and the means compared by using the ttest.Logistic regression was used to detect possible factors of ARMD such as age and gender.RESULTS:A total of 6145 persons aged 50 years were enumerated and 5947 (96.78％) participants were received visual acuity test and eye examination.The prevalence of ARMD was 7.53％,with a total of 448 individuals (633 eyes).The prevalence of blindness and visual impairment for presenting visual acuity were 4.13％ and 11.96％,respectively.The prevalence of blindness and visual impairment for presenting visual acuity were 4.45％ and 7.79％,respectively.Older were significant risk factors of ARMD (OR=1.01,P=0.04).CONCLUSION:The prevalence of ARMD was higher among people aged 50 years and above in Funing county,Jiangsu province.ARMD is one of the leading cause of visual impairment.

Objective To investigate the correlation of single nucleotide poly morphisms (SNP) of silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) gene with age-related cataract (ARC) in Jiangsu Har population.Methods Population-based case-control study was conducted in 720 cataract cases and 701 healthy controls,who were selected from the database of Funing County of Northern Jiangsu and Binhu District of Wuxi city of Southern Jiangsu.Five SNPs of SIRT1 gene (rs2236319,rs1885472,rs10997868,rs2273773 and rs4746720) were genotyped by Taq-Man RT-PCR methods.Results The genotype of 2 SNPs in SIRT1 (rs2236319 and rs1885472) was AA/AG/GG and CC/CG/GG respectively,and the genotype frequency in the controls was 40.08％,52.60％,7.32％ and 35.81％,35.23％,28.96％ respectively,while the frequency in ARCs was 36.94％,56.25％,6.81％ and 36.67％,32.92％,30.42％,respectively.The genotype of another 2 SNPs in SIRT1 (rs2273773 and rs4746720) was both CC/CT/TT,and the genotype frequency in the controls was 38.37％,54.78％,5.85％ and 74.75％,17.69％,7.56％ respectively,while the frequency in ARCs was 39.58％,54.17％,6.25％ and 71.81％,20.97％,7.22％,respectively.And there was no significant difference between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion All the five SNPs of SIRT1 gene are not associated with ARC in the Jiangsu Han population.

OBJECTIVETo study changes of left ventricular remodeling (LVR) in hypertension patients with carotid atherosclerosis (CAS) of phlegm-dampness syndrome (PDS).

METHODSDoppler ultrasonography data of CAS were observed in 223 hypertension patients with CAS (as the hypertension group, including 119 patients of the PDS group and 104 of the non-PDS group), 81 CAS patients with non-hypertension, and 19 non-hypertension non-CAS patients (as the control group). The difference in the degree of LVR was compared among the above groups.

RESULTSThe left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), inter ventricular septum thickness (IVS), E/A were higher in the hypertension group than in the non-hypertension group (P < 0.05). The left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESD), stroke volume (SV) were higher in the soft plaque hypertension group and the soft plaque non-hypertension group than in the hard plaque group, the thickening intimal group, and the normal intimal group (P < 0.01 , P < 0.05). The LVEDD, LVESD, and SV were higher, and the ejection fraction (EF) was lower in the PDS hypertension group than in the non-PDS hypertension group (all P < 0.05). Of them, LVEDD, LVESD, and SV were higher in the soft plaque group than in the hard plaque group (P < 0.01), the thickening intimal group (P < 0.01) and the normal intimal group (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in PDS hypertension between the soft plaque group and the hard plaque group (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe hypertension patients with CAS of PDS might be correlated to LVR, and LVR was more obviously in the soft plaque patients.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carotid Artery Diseases ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Ultrasonography ; Ventricular Remodeling