Objective To investigate the role of deoxycholic acid (DCA) in the pathogenesis of Barrett esophagus.Methods Normal human esophageal mucosal epithelial cells were cultured in vitro with defined keratinocyte serum-free media (D-KSFM).The cultured cells were treated with different concentrations of DCA and specific p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitor. The expression of p38,phosphorylated p38 (p-p38) and caudal-related homeodomain transcription 2 (CDX2) at protein level were assessed by Western blot.The correlation between p-p38 and CDX2 was analyzed.The data were analyzed by one way ANOVA and LSD test.Results After being cultured with DCA for 24 h,the expression of p-p38 and CDX2 increased along with the increasing of DCA concentration.Compared with the control group (p-p38 was 13.7％ ± 1.0％ and CDX2 protein was 0),the difference was statistically significant (P＜ 0.05).When DCA was at 500 μmol/L,the expression of p-p38 and CDX2 reached the highest level (44.0％ ± 1.7％ and 8.59± 1.25).After pretreated with SB203580 for two hours and then 500 μmol/L DCA was added into cell culture,both expression level of p-p38 and CDX2 decreased compared with 500μmol/L DCA group (p-p38:28.3％ ±2.2％ vs50.5％±9.5％,CDX2:0.94±0.13 vs 2.31±0.41) after 24 h.Conclusions DCA can induce the expression of CDX2 in normal human esophageal mucosal epithelial cells,which is related with the activation of p38.The phosphorylation of p38 maybe involved in the pathogenesis of Barrett esophagus.

Objective To explore the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in gastric mucosa of patient with portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG),and its role in the pathogenesis of PHG.Methods The specimens were obtained from the gastric mucosa of 22 healthy subjects,20 portal hypertension (PHT) without PHG,and 22 PHG patients.Histological changes of the gastric mucosa were detected,and portal venous flow (PVF) was measured.The expression of HO-1 protein in gastric mucosal specimens was assessed by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis,respectively.The relationship between HO-1 expression and PHG severity score,HO-1 expression and PVF,PHG severity score and clinical parameters were investigated.Results HO-1 protein expression in gastric mucosa of PHG and PHT was significantly higher than that of the control (P ＜ 0.05),while there was no significant difference in this variable between PHG and PHT (P ＞ 0.05).The positive correlation was detected between HO-1 expression and PHG severity score in PHG patients (r =0.459,P ＜0.05),however,PHG severity score was irrelevant to severity of esophageal varice (r =0.059,P ＞ 0.05) or to Child-Pugh classification (r =-0.001,P ＞ 0.05).Of all the patients with PHT and PHG,no significant correlation was found between HO-1 expression and PVF (r =0.071,P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion HO-1 protein is up-regulated in gastric mucosa of PHG patients,which may contribute to gastric circulation disorder of PHG.

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of exosomes extracted from human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells(hAMSCs) on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its possible mechanism.Methods Mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) were isolated from healthy human adipose tissue and the exosomes were extracted by ultrafiltration.Rats were divided into four groups: sham group, PBS control group, MSCs treatment group and exosomes treatment group.24 h After TBI, the treatment group was locally injected along the lesion area, 30 μL of PBS, 2×105 MSC, 25 μg protein of exosomes respectively, the total volume was 30 μL.We performed the Modified Neurological Severity Score(mNSS) and the forelimb Foot-Fault Test in all rats before injury and at 1, 3, 7, 10, 13, 16, 21 and 30 days after TBI.The rats were sacrificed at 3 and 7 days after TBI respectively,total RNA was extracted from rat brain tissue.The expression of TNF-α and IL-1β were detected by quantitative PCR.The rats were also killed at 30 days after TBI for testing the neuronal apoptosis in lesion area by tunel-neun double imm-unofluorescence.Results Exosomes treatment significantly promotes the recovery of neurological deficits caused by TBI,and the therapeutic effect is similar to MSCs, its possible mechanism may be the inhibition of the acute inflammation and the reducing of the neurons apoptosis after TBI.Conclusions Exosomes extracted from human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cellshas promoted neurological functionrecovery after traumatic brain injury, which will provide a new and safer TBI treatment for clinical practice.

Pharmaconutrients refer to macronutrients,micronutrients,microecologics,and nucleotides.Informed by large randomized clinical trials,people have become increasingly prudent in using pharmaconutrients.Critically-ill neurological patients are intensive care patients who have neurological impairment,and therefore command extra caution in using pharmaconutrients.This article reviews the latest studies on the use of pharmaconutrients in this group of patients.

Objective:To establish the normal values of water-perfused high resolution esophageal manometry (HREM)(GAP-36A) at resting period, water swallowing, semisolid swallowing and solid swallowing in Chinese population.Methods:From September 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, 91 healthy volunteers receiving water-perfused HREM (GAP-36A) at resting period, water swallowing, semisolid swallowing and solid swallowing were selected from 9 hospitals (Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology; the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University; the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University; the Second Affiliated Hospital, Naval Medical University; the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University; the First Affiliated Hospital, University of Science and Technology of China; Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University; the Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Nanjing University and the First People′s Hospital of Yichang). Parameters included the position of the upper and lower edges of the upper esophageal sphincter (UES) and lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the length of the LES and UES, the position of the pressure inversion point (PIP), the resting pressure of UES and LES and swallow-related parameters such as the distal contraction integral (DCI), 4 s integrated relaxation pressure (IRP), distal latency (DL) and UES residual pressure. One-way analysis of variance, post-hoc test and sum rank test were used for statistical analysis.Results:A total of 87 healthy volunteers were enrolled, including 40 males and 47 females, aged (38.5±14.2) years old (ranged from 19 to 65 years old). The position of the upper and lower edges of the LES was (42.7±2.8) and (45.6±2.8) cm, respectively, the length of the LES was (2.9±0.4) cm, and the position of PIP was (43.3±2.8) cm. The position of the upper and lower edges of the UES was (18.1±3.0) and (22.6±2.0) cm, respectively, and the length of the UES was (4.8±1.0) cm. The resting pressure of LES and UES was (17.4±10.7) and (84.1±61.1) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa), respectively. The DCI value at solid swallowing was higher than those at water swallowing and semisolid swallowing ((2 512.4±1 448.0) mmHg·s·cm vs. (2 183.2±1 441.2) and (2 150.8±1 244.8) mmHg·s·cm), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=-4.30 and -3.74, both P<0.001). The values of 4 s IRP at semisolid swallowing and solid swallowing were lower than that at water swallowing ((4.6±4.1) and (4.9±3.9) mmHg vs. (5.4±3.9) mmHg), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=3.38 and 2.09, P=0.001 and 0.037). The DL at water swallowing was shorter than those at semisolid swallowing and solid swallowing ((8.5±1.8) s vs. (9.8±2.2) and (10.6±2.8) s), and the DL at semisolid swallowing was shorter than that at solid swallowing, and the differences were statistically significant ( t=-10.21, -13.91 and -4.68, all P<0.001). The UES residual pressure at water swallowing was higher than those at semisolid swallowing and solid swallowing (9.5 mmHg, 6.5 to 12.3 mmHg vs. 8.0 mmHg, 4.5 to 11.7 mmHg and 5.5 mmHg, 2.0 to 9.3 mmHg), and the UES residual pressure at semisolid swallowing was higher than that at solid swallowing, and the differences were statistically significant ( t=3.48, 10.30 and 6.35, all P<0.001). Conclusions:The normal values of water-perfused HREM (GAP-36A) in Chinese population at resting period, water swallowing, semisolid swallowing and solid swallowing can provide a reference basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment for patients receiving water-perfused HREM examination.

Humans ; Data Warehousing ; East Asian People ; Intracranial Hemorrhages/diagnostic imaging* ; Asian People ; Cerebral Hemorrhage/diagnostic imaging*