Objective To investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the cognitive function of rats with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) and its possible mechanism.Methods Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a sham operation group of 10 and an operation group of 30.Permanent bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) was conducted to introduce a model of CCH in the operation group,which was further divided into a model group,an EA 4 w group and an EA 1 w group,each of 10.The EA 4 w group was given 2/100 Hz dilatational wave EA for 4 weeks,and the EA 1 w group was provided with the same EA for one week.A Morris water maze was used to assess the rats' cognitive functioning,and a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was employed to detect the expression of JAK2/STAT3 mRNA in all the rats' brains.Results Compared with the sham operation group,the rCBF in the operation group had decreased significantly after BCCAO,and it was significantly lower than before the operation.Compared with the model group,the escape latency improved significantly from the 3rd day in the EA 4 w group,and from the 5th day in the EA 1 w group.The targeted quadrant residence time of the EA 4 w group was prolonged significantly.JAK2/STAT3 mRNA expression decreased significantly only in the EA 4 w group.Compared with the EA 1 w group,the escape latency of the EA 4 w group had decreased significantly by the 5th day,with the target quadrant residence time significantly prolonged,and JAK2 mRNA had decreased significantly as well.Conclusion EA can improve cognition in CCH,at least in rats,and especially with early intervention.This may be achieved through inhibiting excessive activation of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway,reducing brain injury.

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

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.

Turkey is a presidential republic country located in the Eurasian continent, which has a universal health coverage since the health reform in 2003. The leading causes of death in this country are ischemic heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. Besides, lower respiratory infections, chronic kidney disease, and hypertensive heart disease are the diseases which have a fastest growing rate. Chinese acupuncture was officially recognized by Turkey in 1991 with the promulgation of Acupuncture Treatment Legislation. At present, only trained practitioners and dentist could conduct acupuncture treatment, which was stated in Regulation of Tradition and Complementary Medicine Practice. The application of Turkish acupuncture and moxibustion is still applied in a simplified way that lack of TCM theory. Moreover, Chinese herbal medicine is still not officially recognized and still under control of the Ministry of Agriculture. Therefore, it is suggested to introduce TCM theory in the spread of acupuncture, to promote acupuncture research and clinical practice, to clarify the different standards between the two countries, and to cooperate in Chinese medicine researches, especially those related to the local high incidence and refractory disease so as to promote the development of TCM in Turkey and provide medical services for local residents.

Objective To detect the alternation of the level of CTLA-4 expression in T cells and regulatory T cells, and to study the relationship between CTLA-4 expression in T cells and regulatory T cells and disease progression of HIV infected Chinese. Methods Fifty-eight untreated HIV-1 infected patients were enrolled and the level of CTLA-4 expression in T cells and regulatory T cells were detected by flowcytometry. CD4+T cell numbers, viral load, level of CD95, HLA-DR, CD38 expression on T cells were measured to study the relationship between the level of CTLA-4 expression and disease progression of HIV infected patients. Results We found that the level of CTLA-4 expression in CD4+T cells continuously increased in long term nonprogressors (LTNP), asymptomatic HIV infected patients (HIV) and AIDS patients (P<0.05). The level of CTLA-4 expression in CD4+T cells was significantly correlated with CD4+T cell counts, the frequency of CD8+ CD38+T cells, CD4+CD95+T cells and CD8+CD95+T cells (P<0.05). There had no difference in the level of CTLA-4 expression in CD8+T cells among all groups and neither did we find the relationship between the level of CTLA-4 expression on CD8+ T cells and the CD4 counts, viral load, activation or apoptosis of T cells. The level of CTLA-4 expression in regulatory T cells of LTNP group was significantly lower than that of HIV and AIDS group (P<0.05). The level of CTLA-4 expression in regulatory T cells was significantly correlated with CD4 counts, the frequency of CD4+HLA-DR+T cells and CD8+HLA-DR+T cells (P<0.05). Conclusion The level of CTLA-4 expression in CD4+T cells and regulatory T cells is correlated with disease progression and the level of the activation of immune system of HIV infected Chinese and may play a role in the immune balance in HIV infection.

Adult ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Glycogen ; metabolism ; Glycogen Storage Disease Type II ; pathology ; Humans ; Liver ; metabolism ; pathology ; Muscle, Skeletal ; metabolism ; pathology ; Muscular Dystrophies, Limb-Girdle ; pathology ; Pyomyositis ; pathology ; Young Adult

Background More efforts have been made in the functional protection of the glaucoma ganglion cells (RGCs) nowadays.As main ingredient,astragalus polysaccharides (APS) enhances neuron regeneration protein expression and promotes peripheral nerve recovery.But whether APS has a protecting effect on RGCs is incompletely clear.Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of APS on the RGCs in a rat model of experimental glaucoma.Methods Forty-four SPF SD rats were divided into 4 groups randomly as follows:normal control group,negative control group,low dose APS group and high dose APS group,with 10 rats for each group.APS of 500 mg/kg or 2000 mg/kg (2.5 ml) was administered by gavage feeding once daily for 2 weeks in low dose or high dose of APS group,respectively,and the same volume of normal saline solution was applied instead of APS in the model control group.Two weeks later,aspirate 0.2 ml aqueous followed by methylcellulose injected into the anterior chamber to create the acute ocular hypertension model in the three groups above.No any intervention was performed in the normal control group.The rats were sacrificed on the fifth day after model established to take a retinal section.Ocular hypertension-induced damage was evaluated by regular retina histopathologic examination.Immunolhistochemistry for caspase-3 and TUNEL kits were used to determine the expression of caspase-3 protein in retina and apoptosis rate of RGCs.Retinal cross-sections were analyzed by Image Pro Plus 5.1 software to determine the thickness of various retinal layers and the positive staining cell density in the retinal ganglion cell layer (RGCL).Results On the fifth day after establishment of models,intraocular pressure (IOP) was significantly elevated in the model control group,low dose APS group and high dose APS group in comparison with the normal control group (t=-8.900,-10.700,-11.300,P＜0.01).Retinal morphology was normal in the rats of the normal control group,but in the model control group,rat retina was significantly thickened from severe retinal edema and cell arrangement disorder.Mild retinal abnormality was seen in the low dose APS group;while obvious retina edema was in high dose APS group.The entire retinal thickness,outer nuclear layer thickness and retinal nerve fiber thickness values were lower in the low dose APS group than those of model control group (t =-23.700,-14.770,-11.640,P＜0.01).However,no difference was found in outer nuclear layer thickness and retinal nerve fiber thickness values between high dose APS group and normal control group (t =-0.780,-0.460,P ＞ 0.05).Percentage of positive RGCs for caspase-3 protein and rate of apoptotic RGCs were significantly reduced in low dose APS group compared with model control group (caspase-3:F=87.710,P=0.001;RGCs apoptosis:F=272.840,P＜0.01).Conclusions 500 mg/kg APS can protect retina and RGCs against ocular hypertension-induced damage.The protection of APS is non-dosedependent.

Objective To investigate the roles of cytokeratin 18 (CK18) M30 and M65,thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in hepatic steatosis and development of inflammatory and fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Methods A total of 46 CHB patients with NAFLD and 42 CHB patients were collected.Serum CK-18 M30,M65,Tβ4 and TNF-α levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in two groups.The associations between inflammatory factors levels and biochemical or pathological indicators were analyzed.The statistical analysis was conducted by t test and chi square test of two independent samples.The correlation analysis was performed by Pearson and Logistic regression analysis.Results The mean serum CK 18 M30 level in CHB with NAFLD group was (614.48±471.43) U/L,which was significantly higher than that in CHB group (374.50±231.04) U/L (t=2.988,P＜0.01).The mean levels of CK18 M65,Tβ4 and TNF-α in CHB with NAFLD group were (369.41±262.21) U/L,(0.80±0.32) mg/L and (54.87±20.36) ng/L,respectively,and those in CHB group were (296.50±231.44) U/L,(0.68±0.30) mg/L and (51.88± 20.60) ng/L,respectively.There were no difference between CHB with NAFLD group and CHB group (t=1.378,1.810 and 0.685,respectively,all P＞0.05).In CHB with NAFLD patients,the CK-18 M30 level was positively correlated with alanine aminotransferase,triglyceride,fasting blood glucose,histology inflammation score,fibrosis score and steatosis (r=0.507,0.456,0.384,0.551,0.458 and 0.457,respectively,all P＜0.01).Tβ4 level was negatively correlated with inflammation and fibrosis score (r=0.371 and-0.308,respectively,P＜0.05).TNF-α level was positively correlated with inflammation score and steatosis (r=0.570 and 0.441,respectively,P＜0.01).CK-18 M30,Tβ4 and TNF-α were independent predictors of CHB combined with NAFLD,progressive inflammatory fibrosis and severe steatosis.Conclusions Serum CK-18 M30,Tβ4 and TNF-α levels are associated with hepatic steatosis,development of inflammation and fibrosis in CHB with NAFLD patients.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the genetic polymorphisms of DXS7132, DXS6854, DXS6797, DXS9898, DXS8378 and GATA31E08 short tandem repeats (STRs) loci in Chinese Korean ethnic group of Yanbian, Jilin, and to construct a preliminary database.

METHODSThe allele frequencies of the six STRs loci in Chinese Korean ethnic individuals were analyzed by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE).

RESULTSTotal of 8, 6, 8, 8, 5 and 10 alleles were observed in each locus respectively. All loci (in female) met Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05). The statistical analysis of the 6 STR loci showed the heterozygosities were more than 0.4660, the polymorphic information contents (PIC) were more than 0.5293, the haplotype diversity were more than 0.9993, power of discrimination (PD) in females and males were more than 0.7737 and 0.6107, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe results showed that, all the 6 STR loci in this study were found to have high heterozygosity and polymorphic information content, so they could provide useful markers for genetic purposes. These results could serve as valuable data to enrich the Chinese Korean ethnic group genetic database and play an important role in genetic study of Chinese population.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; ethnology ; genetics ; China ; ethnology ; Chromosomes, Human, X ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Polymorphism, Genetic

OBJECTIVEFrequency, type and clinical implications on protease and reverse transcriptase drug resistance mutations were investigated and phylogenetic analysis in antiretroviral drug-naïve AIDS patients was carried out in Henan province.

METHODS45 plasma samples were separated from the anticoagulatory whole blood, from which reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction technique was used to amplify the partial pol gene. The sequences were analysed for genotypic antiretroviral resistance and phylogenetic relation through landing the websites http://hivdb.stanford.edu and http://hiv-web.lanl.gov, under BioEdit and DNAClub software.

RESULTSPartial pol sequences of 36 samples were successfully amplified. The major mutation rate of resistance to protease was 8.3% (3/36), including types D30A, V32A, G73C and V82A. Minor mutation rate of resistance was 100%, including types of L63PS (36/36), I93L (35/36), V77IL (34/36), A71IVT (10/36) and D60E (2/36). The mutation rate of resistance to reverse transcriptase was 38.9% (14/36). Mutation-scoring and clinical implication clewed drug resistance rates were 5.6% (2/36) and 22.2% (8/36) to protease inhibitors and reverse transcriptase inhibitors respectively, while 1 sample was potentially low-level resistant to all of the protease inhibitors and 3 samples to part of the reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the pol gene of 36 samples were highly homologous and having a near relative to B.US.83.RF ACC M17451. 36 samples seemed to have the same infection source while their resistance mutations were not due to drug-resistant virus infection but to the evolving of virus in vivo.

CONCLUSIONMost of the antiretroviral drug-naïve AIDS patients in Henan province were sensitive to the currently available antiviral medicine, but antiviral treatment must be in accordance with the strict procedure and to keep better adherence, to avoid the epidemics caused by drug-resistant virus.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; genetics ; Adult ; Anti-HIV Agents ; pharmacology ; China ; Drug Resistance, Viral ; genetics ; Female ; Genes, pol ; genetics ; Genotype ; HIV Protease ; genetics ; HIV Protease Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Male ; Mutation ; Phylogeny ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors ; pharmacology