Objective To investigate whether the decision-making ability was impaired under the condition of clear risk probability in patients with cerebral miceobleeds (CMBs).Methods The Game of Dice Test (GDT) with the clear risk probability was used to conduct the risk decision ability study in 45 patients with CMBs and 45 without CMBs.Results GDT showed that patients in the CMBs group was more like to choose the risky option compared with the non-CMB group (9.64 ± 3.22 vs.6.51 ± 4.48;t =3.809,P ＜0.001).Among the 4 options,the most frequent choice in the CMBs group was the option of the highest risk,i.e.2 numbers (6.91 ±3.02 vs.4.71 ±2.95;t =3.494,P =0.001);and the most frequent choice in the non-CMBs was 3 numbers (4.87 ±2.17 vs.7.71 ±2.71;t =-5.496,P＜0.001).The GDT was divided into 3 stages.The number of security options selected by patients in the CMBs group was significantly less than that by patients in the non-CMBs group in all stages (stage 1:-0.27 ± 3.00 vs.0.93 ±3.09;t =-1.867,P =0.065;stage 2:-0.62 ± 2.55 vs.2.27 ± 2.65;t =-5.268,P ＜ 0.001;stage 3:-0.53 ± 2.57 vs.2.89 ± 3.12;t =-5.677,P＜ 0.001),and with the increase of the number of tests,selecting security options increased gradually in the non-CMB group (F =4.780,P =0.010),while the CMBs group was not (F =0.209,P =0.812).Conclusions The patients with CMBs have significant impairment in decision making ability under the condition of specific risk probability.

Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Keratins ; analysis ; Male ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; diagnosis ; Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia ; diagnosis ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Racemases and Epimerases ; analysis ; Staining and Labeling ; methods

Objective To investigate the effects of dopaminergic medication on decision-making un-der ambiguity in patients with early Parkinson's disease( PD) . Methods Using Iowa Gambling Task ( IGT) for 24 early non-medication idiopathic PD patients( Hoehn and Yahr Scale≤Ⅱlevel) ,24 early idiopathic PD patients with regular dopaminergic medication and also for 24 healthy controls( HC) whose age,gender,and education match to PD patients to test their ability of decision-making under ambiguity. Results The results showed non-medication PD group showed impairments on digtal span and verbal fluency and decision-making task. There was significant difference in IGT task scores among the three groups(F=6.024, P=0.004) . The total net scores of advantageous choices in IGT were significantly lower in non-medication PD group( (-4.50 ±22.19) scores) than medication PD group((8.83±23.24)scores) and healthy group((15.92±15.77) scores) . The difference of net scores in block1 to block5 between non-medication PD group and medication PD group was gradually increased,and the difference of net scores in block5 was significant(P<0.05) . There was no significant difference in total net scores and net scores in block1 to block5 between medication PD group and healthy group(P>0.05) . As the game processing,medication PD group gradually shifted their se-lections toward the advantageous choices. But non-medication group did not exhibit this shift pattern and the performance was much poorer. Meanwhile, the study also indicated the total net scores of advantageous choices for non-medication PD group was positive correlation to the MoCA scores ( r=0.614, P=0.001). Conclusion The present study has shown that non-medication PD group has impairment in decision-making under ambiguity risk condition and prefer to choose risky options. when exogenous complement dopaminergic medication,the risk decision-making ability of medication PD group has been improved.

A rapid analytical method was developed for the determination of N-methylcarbamoyl adduct in Hemoglobin of workers exposed to N,N-dimethylformamide by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry ( UPLC/MS/MS). About 0. 1 g of hemoglobin sample, 40 μmol/L of 3-methyl-5-isopropylhydantoin (MIH) as the internal standard and 4. 75 mL of HCl-acetic acid (2∶1, V/V) were added in the centrifuge tube, and mixed for 3 min. Then the tube was heated in boiling water bath for 1h. After cooling down, 200 μL of the mixture and 600 μL of formic acid-acetonitrile (1%) were added into 96-well extract plate. The vacuum pump pressure was controlled to make the sample collection elute within 2-4 min.The purified collection was transferred into the sample vial, and 3-methyl-5-isopropylhydantoin ( MVH ) as degration product of N-methylcarbamoyl adduct was quantified by UPLC/MS/MS in multiple reaction monitoring ( MRM ) by internal standard method. A good linear relationship was obtained in the MVH concentration range of 0 . 01-1 . 0 μmol/L with the correlation coefficient of 0 . 999 . The recovery of added MVH in the blank sample was 97 . 3% and the relative standard deviation was 1 . 7%. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0. 01 μmol/g. This method was proved to be fast and efficient.

Rhei Rhizoma is a Chinese medicine with multiple botanical origins. There is a problem to identify it with conventional methods. To compare the characteristics of chloroplast matK gene sequences of different Rheum species and authenticate inspected species, the matK gene sequences of different species from different origins were amplified, cloned, and sequenced. Genomic DNA of Rheum plants was extracted using modified DNA extracted Kit and matK gene sequences were analyzed by ContingExpress, DNAman and MEGA5.0. The length of matK gene sequences of Rheum palmatum, R. tanguticum and R. officinale were 1 518 bp containing 57 variable loci. According to the mutation sites, R. palmatum, R. tanguticum and R. officinale were divided into different genotypes separately. Based on the established method according to the loci 587, 707, 838, we successfully identified the genuine Rheum species from its adulterants.

Abstract: This study is to improve the affinity of scFv-AK404R against VEGFR2. The secondary mutational library was constructed by hydrophilic shuffling in CDR3 region of the heavy chain. VEGFR2-specific screening was performed by phage display technology and the protein of mutants was expressed in periplasm of E.coli HB2151 and purified by affinity chromatography. The affinity constant of scFvs was measured by competitive ELISA, and the structure of scFvs was analyzed by bioinformatics. The result showed that a library with 6.4x10(5) scFv members was established by electro-transformation. Two mutated clones with high absorbance value were isolated after screening. After purification by affinity chromatography, electrophoretically pure scFv proteins were obtained. The competitive ELISA showed that the affinities of WZ01 and WZ02 were three times higher than that of the parental AK404R, and bioinformatics analysis showed that the enlarged contact surface and fitted closely with KDR3 surface may be the reasons for improved affinity. These results suggest that introducing hydrophilic amino acids to the heavy chain CDR3 region is an effective approach to improve the affinity of scFv.

Objective To determine the effect of inhaling rosemary compound essential oil on learning and memory and the expression of choline acetyl transferase (ChAT) in the CA1 region of the hippocampus in rats with vascular dementia (VD).Methods A modified 2-VO method was used to induce permanent brain hypoperfusion,and thus VD,in 60 male SD rats aged 2 months.They were then randomly divided into a normal control group (n =10),a sham-operation group (n =10),a model group (n =10),a rosemary compound essential oil group (n =10) and an edaravone group (n =10).The rosemary compound essential oil group inhaled a compound of the essential oils of rosemary,eugenol and peppermint once a day; the edaravone group was given a daily injection of edaravone injecta.Both the interventions lasted for 65 days.A water maze was used to test their learning and memory abilities.Morphological damage in the CA1 region of the hippocampus and the expression of ChAT were also observed.Results The learning and memory abilities of the model group were significantly weaker compared with the sham-operated group and the normal controls.The rats in the rosemary compound essential oil and edaravone groups were obviously better than those in the model group,but there was no significant difference between rosemary compound essential oil group and the edaravone group.The morphological damage observed in the hippocampus and striatum of the model group was significantly greater,on average,than that observed in the rosemary compound essential oil group and the edaravone group.The average number of ChAT positive units in the CA1 region of the hippocampus was significantly greater in both the rosemary compound essential oil group and the edaravone group compared with the model group,but there was no significant difference between the rosemary compound essential oil group and the edaravone group.Conclusions Inhaling rosemary compound essential oil can improve the learning and memory abilities of rats with VD caused by permanent chronic brain hypoperfusion.It decreases the damage to the neurons of the hippocampus,increases the expression of ChAT,and shows a therapeutic effect on VD,at least in rats.

Objective To investigate the effect of apolipoprotein E gene knock-out(ApoE KO) and high-fat diet on morphology and the expression of mortalin in hippocampal CA_3 neurons of mice, and to explore the impact of these factors on memory and Alzheimer's disease.Methods Ten wild-type and 10 ApoE KO mice were fed with common chow as the control group and the KO group respectively while 10 ApoE KO mice were fed with high fat diet.Twelve weeks later, the weight and the lid of these mice were measured.The brain tissues were observed using HE staining, nissl staining, protargol staining,immunohistochemistry staining and image analysis by computer.Results In the ApoE KO group, weight,total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were higher than those in the control group,and these changes were more significant in ApoE KO high-fat diet group.The nissl was higher in the ApoE KO group (0.301±0.031) and in ApoE KO high-fat diet group (0.261±0.020) than those in the control group (0.341±0.035, F=18.068, P<0.05).The mortalin in the ApoE KO group (0.322±0.060) and in ApoE KO high-fat diet group (0.391±0.041) were higher than the control group (0.256±0.061, F=15.230, P < 0.05).Conclusions ApoE KO and high-fat diet can reduce nissl, and improve the expression of mortalin.This protein may be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the pathogenic infection and its drug resistance in expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) and its correlation with serum PSA, and provide some evidence for the systematic and normalized diagnosis and treatment of prostatitis.

METHODSThree EPS swabs were collected from each of the 320 prostatis patients following measurement of the serum PSA level, 1 for bacterial culture and identification, 1 for detection of Mycoplasma and drug sensitivity, and the other for examination of Chlamydia trachomatis antigen by colloidal gold immunoblot.

RESULTSTotally 244 strains were isolated from the 320 EPS samples, including 188 bacterial strains (dominated by Staphylococcus and sensitive to vancomycin or linezolid) and 44 Mycoplasma and Chlamydia strains (mainly Ureaplasma urealyticum and susceptible to josamycin or doxycycline). The serum PSA level was significantly higher in the pathogen-positive than in the pathogen-negative group ([6.98 +/- 0.56] microg/L vs [2.32 +/- 0.12] microg/L, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONProstatitis may lead to the elevation of the serum PSA level and the pathogens involved vary in their resistance to different antibacterial spectrums. Therefore, appropriate and individualized antibiotic therapy should be selected according to etiological diagnosis and the results of drug sensitivity test.

Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prostate ; microbiology ; secretion ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; blood ; Prostatitis ; blood ; microbiology ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate the olfactory functions in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with a smell identification test developed for the Chinese population and to examine possible factors contributing to PD patients' olfactory performance.Methods Fifty-five patients with idiopathic and nondementia PD and 55 demographically matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited and their olfactory identification tested using the Chinese Smell Identification Test developed by the Institute of Psychology at Chinese Academy of Sciences.Results Olfactory identification score was significantly lower (t =-6.827,P＜0.01) in the PD group (19.3 ±5.4) as compared with the HC group (26.5 ±5.7).Of all PD patients,63.6％ scored over 1 SD below the age norm.In particular,of those with Hoehn-Yahr ratings between 2 to 3,77.8％ scored over 1 SD below the age norm.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that a cut-off score of 22.5 on the Chinese Smell Identification Test distinguished between PD patients and HC with a sensitivity of 74.6％ and specificity of 70.9％.Within the PD group,age,education,Hoehn-Yahr rating and Mini-Mental State Examination score were not found to correlate with olfactory performance (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion PD patients in China show significant impairment of olfactory identification,which is effectively captured by the Chinese Smell Identification Test.