Objective To study the association between pulse wave velocity and conventional atherosclerotic risk factors in patients with essential hypertension. Methods Automatic pulse wave velocity (PWV) measuring system was applied to examine carotid-femoral PWV (CFPWV) and carotid-radial PWV (CRPWV) as the parameters reflecting central elastic large arterial and peripheral muscular medium-sized arterial elasticity, respectively. Six hundred sixty four hypertensive patients aged 18-82 years (353 males and 311 females, mean age 52.1?12.8 years) were recruited. Blood pressure, fasting glucose, uric acid and cholesterol were measured. Results CFPWV and CRPWV significantly increased with the increase of the blood pressure level (both, P

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effect of bayberry polyphenol(BPP) on thrombopenia induced by cytotoxic drug and radiation in mice and rats.METHODS:The mice and rats were treated with cyclophosphamide and 60Co-? radiation to establish the animal thrombopenia models.RESULTS:Platelet counts were increased in BPP treated animals with a significant difference compared with the controls(P

In comparison with their in vivo counterparts, the in vitro produced mammalian embryos had markedly lower rates of morula/blastocyst development and pregnancy after transfer to the recipients. Things became even worse in the cloned embryos. This necessitates improvement of the embryo culture system. Co-culture of embryos with different types of somatic cells was found beneficial for embryo development in vitro and many studies have been conducted in this area in recent years. In this paper, recent developments and the authors' own work in studies of co-culture of early mammalian embryos with somatic cells were reviewed, with emphasis on the effects of cell type, stage of estrous cycle and number of passages of somatic cells and supplement of serum on embryo development, and the mechanisms by which co-culture promote embryo development. The recent developments are summarized as follows: 1. Somatic cells of both homogeneous and heterogeneous origins can be used for co-culture of mammalian embryos, with similar developmental rates. 2. Supplementation of animal serum at appropriate concentrations improved the somatic cell growth and consequently the development of embryos in co-culture. 3. The estrous cycle stages of oviduct epithelial cells used for co-culture had no effect on the development of embryos. 4. Over-passaging of somatic cells reduced their efficiency in promoting development of the co-cultured embryos. In conclusion, studies have shown that co-culture overcame the block of embryo development in vitro and improved embryo quality with increased rates of implantation and pregnancy, but many problems remain to be solved on its influencing factors and mechanisms of action.
Animals ; Coculture Techniques ; methods ; Embryo Culture Techniques ; methods ; Embryo, Mammalian ; physiology ; Humans

Objective To observe the effect of fluoxetine on the single prolonged stress model which mimic the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Methods Rats receiving single prolonged stress (SPS) (2 h restraint + 20 min FST + anaesthesized to lose consciousness with ethylether) or not were given fluoxetine or tap water for 15 days. Elevated plus maze(EPM),open-field test(OF) and morris water maze(MWM) tests were used to evaluate rats' fear response to environment,high alertness,anxiety & depression behavior,and learning and memory ability. Results In open field test, group of fluoxetine(F1 (8895. 85 ± 599. 78) mm, (40. 23 ±4. 32) s;F2 (8654.07 ±866.05)mm,(41.57 ±4.34)s, P<0.05) showed significant increase in activity times and horizontal motion distance compared with group of SPS (4678.85 ±495.33)mm, (22.15 ±3.43)s, P<0.05). In EPM experiment,group of fluoxetine(F1 (32. 62 ± 4. 57)% , (17. 58 ± 3. 23)% ; F2 (39. 75 ± 4. 46)% , (19. 74 ± 4.44) %) showed significant increase in percentage of the open-arm into the maze and percentage of the open arm pause compared with group of SPS ((23.67 ±2. 87)% ,(12.46 ±2.55)% , P<0.05). In MWM experiment,the escape latency of the SPS group increased significantly in comparison to that in sham group (P<0.01) and fluoxetine group. Fluoxetine significantly reversed the SPS-induced decrease in time spent in the target quadrant (P< 0.05). Conclusion Added fluoxetine can obviously improve rats' fear response to environment ,high alertness ,anxiety & depression behavior as well as learning and memory ability.

One new dicyclopeptide cyclo-(L-N-methyl Glu-L-N-methyl Glu) (1), together with one new natural dicyclopeptide cyclo-(L-methyl Glu ester-L-methyl Glu ester) (2), and two known dicyclopeptides cyclo-(L-methyl Glu ester-L-Glu) (3), and cyclo-(L-Glu-L-Glu) (4), were isolated from the aerial parts of Dianthus chinensis L. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analyses and chemical methods.
Dianthus ; chemistry ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Molecular Structure ; Plant Components, Aerial ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

Recently, the number of cancer patients using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) hasu been increasing world wide. Many hospitals in China have been using integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine (ITCWM, the use of both western and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) together) for treatment or prevention of cancer, and considerable progress has been made. The present study investigated and systematically reviewed previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted to verify the effects of ITCWM on cancer in China, from a database of Chinese literature. Papers published in Chinese scientific journals were searched using the database provided by the National Science and Technology Library (NSTL, http://www.nstl.gov.cn), China. On the basis of a limited search strategy, 14 reports of RCTs were identified and reviewed. Almost all of these RCTs reported better results with the use of ITCWM than with western medicine alone. In order to promote evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine (EBCAM) in Japan, it will be necessary to collect and evaluate the scientific content of many clinical studies of CAM performed in China and other countries to establish a database. In the future, there will be a need to develop and establish methods such as meta-analysis for scientific evaluation of CAM.

Adopting self-designed questionnaires, the paper investigates medical information demands of clinicians in third-level hospitals, secondary-level hospitals and basic medical and health institutions in Sichuan province.The results show a higher demand for medical information services in Sichuan province, various continuing education and training service should be taken to meet the informa-tion demands of clinicians in different levels.

The 1H-NMR fingerprints of three different species tibetan medicine sea buckthorn were established by 1H-HMR metabolomics to find out different motablism which could provide a new method for the quality evaluation of sea buckthorn. The obtained free induction decay (FID) signal will be imported into MestReNova software and into divide segments. The data will be normalized and processed by principal component analysis and.partial least squares discriminant analysis to perform pattern recognition. The results showed that 25 metabolites belonging to different chemical types were detected from sea buckthorn,including flavonoids, triterpenoids, amino acids, carbohydrates, fatty acids, etc. PCA and PLS-DA analysis showed three different varietiest of sea buckthorn that can be clearly separated by the content of L-quebrachitol, malic acid and some unidentified sugars, which can be used as the differences metabolites of three species of sea buckthorn. 1H-NMR-based metabonomies method had a holistic characteristic with sample preparation and handling. The results of this study can offer an important reference for the species identification and quality control of sea buckthorn.
Hippophae ; metabolism ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; methods ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; Metabolomics

Objective To explore the applicability of pubertal development scale in estimating sexual maturation among urban Chinese adolescents.Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2562 students of 4th to 12th grade in Shanghai,selected by stratified cluster sampling method.Self-reported pubertal maturation level was obtained by Pubertal Development Scale (PDS).Meanwhile,visual depiction of Tanner stages of breast,genital and pubic hair development were rated by a trained rater of the same gender,Results In 2562 students,the correlation between self-reported PDS and assessment from the raters were substantial,both in boys and girls (Pearson' s correlation coefficients:0.822 and 0.814,respectively).The overall agreement of pubertal development stages based on PDS and the rater' s assessment were 35.24％ and 51.42％ for boys and girls,respectively,with Kendall' s correlation coefficients as 0.713 and 0.685,respectively.Adolescents who were older,had relatively higher level of pubertal stages or adolescents from the richer families,tended to underestimate their actual level of pubertal maturation while those male subjects and overweight or obese subjects were even more likely to be so.Conclusion Using the self-reported PDS,we could conveniently obtain the necessary information regarding sexual maturation among the urban adolescents.It seemed especially useful in the related epidemiological survey when physical examination was precluded by cost,privacy and other concerns.

Objective:To observe the lipid-lowering effect of different transdermal absorption enhancers applied to the herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion in hyperlipidemia model rabbits, and to explore the possible mechanism. Methods:Forty New-Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into 5 groups using the random number table method, with 8 rats in each group. Rabbits in the blank group were fed routinely with normal diet; rabbits in the other groups were fed with high-fat diet for 12 weeks to establish the hyperlipidemia model. Rabbits in the blank and the model groups were not treated. After the model was prepared, rabbits in the non-transdermal absorption enhancer group received herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion without transdermal absorption enhancer; rabbits in the laurocapram group and the borneol group received herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion with laurocapram or borneol respectively. After 4 weeks of treatment, serum was collected for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the liver tissues were isolated for immunohistochemistry, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Western-blotting (WB) detection. Results: Serum ELISA results showed that leptin was significantly decreased in the model group compared with the blank group (P＜0.05); compared with the model group, leptin was significantly increased in the non-transdermal absorption enhancer, the laurocapram and the borneol groups (all P＜0.05); compared with the non-transdermal absorption enhancer group, leptin was significantly increased in the laurocapram group and the borneol group (both P＜0.05); there was no significant difference in leptin between the laurocapram and the borneol groups (P＞0.05). The qPCR results of rabbit liver tissues showed that the mRNA expressions of leptin, Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in the model group were significantly lower than those in the blank group (all P＜0.05); compared with the model group, the mRNA expressions of leptin, leptin receptor (LR), JAK2 and STAT3 in the non-transdermal absorption enhancer, the laurocapram and the borneol groups were significantly increased (all P＜0.05); compared with the non-transdermal absorption enhancer group, the mRNA expressions of leptin, LR, JAK2 and STAT3 in the laurocapram and the borneol groups were significantly increased (all P＜0.05); compared with the laurocapram group, the mRNA expressions of leptin, LR, JAK2 and STAT3 in the borneol group were significantly increased (P＜0.05). The trend of immunohistochemistry and WB detection results was basically consistent with the qPCR assay results. The immunohistochemistry and WB detection results of phosphorylated JAK2 (phospho-JAK2) and phosphorylated STAT3 (phospho-STAT3) were basically consistent with those of JAK2 and STAT3. Conclusion: The molecular expression of Leptin/JAK2/STAT3 pathway in the hyperlipidemia model rabbits was decreased. The molecular expression of Leptin/JAK2/STAT3 pathway was significantly increased after the herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion. The application of laurocapram and borneol, as transdermal absorption enhancers, in the herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion could more obviously up-regulate the factors of the Leptin/JAK2/STAT3 lipid-regulating pathway than the herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion alone.