To study the relation between drug release and the drug status within curcumin-loaded microsphere, SPG (shirasu porous glass) membrane emulsification was used to prepare the curcumin-PLGA (polylactic-co-glycolic acid) microspheres with three levels of drug loading respectively, and the in vitro release was studied with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The morphology of microspheres was observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the drug status was studied with X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and infrared analysis (IR). The drug loading of microspheres was (5.85 ± 0.21)%, (11.71 ± 0.39)%, (15.41 ± 0.40)%, respectively. No chemical connection was found between curcumin and PLGA. According to the results of XRD, curcumin dispersed in PLGA as amorphous form within the microspheres of the lowest drug loading, while (2.12 ± 0.64)% and (5.66 ± 0.07)% curcumin crystals was detected in the other two kinds of microspheres, respectively, indicating that the drug status was different within three kinds of microspheres. In the data analysis, we found that PLGA had a limited capacity of dissolving curcumin. When the drug loading exceeded the limit, the excess curcumin would exist in the form of crystals in microspheres independently. Meanwhile, this factor contributes to the difference in drug release behavior of the three groups of microspheres.
Calorimetry, Differential Scanning ; Curcumin ; chemistry ; Drug Liberation ; Lactic Acid ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Microspheres ; Polyglycolic Acid ; X-Ray Diffraction

Objective To evaluate quantitatively the spasticity of elbow flexor biceps in stroke patients using integrated EMG (IEMG),and to correlate the IEMG with Ashworth scale.Methods The IEMG data was recorded from the biceps while passively stretch the elbow joint of a group of 90 subjects,and was correlated with the varying levels of Ashworth category(20 cases with grade 0,6 cases gradeⅠ,16 cases gradeⅠ~+,20 cases gradeⅡ,and 18 ca- ses gradeⅢ).Results The IEMG data were positively correlated with simultaneous Ashworth scale categories.The range of IEMG value corresponding to the Ashworth category is as follows:1.3～12.1 (6.7?5.4)?V?s vs Ash- worth grade 0;4.6～12.3 (8.5?3.9)?V?s vs Ashworth gradeⅠ.15.3～28.4(21.8?6.6)?V?s vs Ashworth gradeⅠ~+;37.2～68.9 (53.1?15.6)?V?s vs Ashworth gradeⅡ;82.3～144.1 (113.2?30.9)?V?s vs Ash- worth gradeⅢ.Conclusion The IEMG value can be used to quantify the spasticity of elbow flexor in stroke pa- tients.

Aim To investigate the effects of dioscin ( Dio) on rat myocardial contractility. Methods Left ventricular contractile function was measured using the Langendorff non-recirculating mode of isolated rat heart perfusion. Effects of low, middle and high concentra-tion of Dio were investigated by measuring left ventricu-lar systolic pressure ( LVSP ) and left ventricular end diastolic pressure ( LVEDP) . Also, peak rates of rise/fall of left ventricular pressure ( ± dp/dtmax ) of isolated rat heart were calculated. Effects of Dio on intracellu-lar free calcium concentration in rat H9 c2 cells were measured by using the confocal microscopy. Mitochon-drial membrane potential was detected with multifunc-tional microplate reader. Results With 0. 1, 1 μmol · L-1 Dio, LVSP were significantly enhanced from (11. 55 ± 0. 52), (10. 53 ± 0. 28) kPa to (13. 08 ± 0. 72), (12. 53 ±0. 64) kPa(P<0. 01); +dp/dtmax were dramatically increased from ( 0. 38 ± 0. 10 ) , (0. 40 ± 0. 07) kPa·ms-1 to (0. 42 ± 0. 11), (0. 43 ± 0. 02) kPa·ms-1(P<0. 05). With the 10μmol· L-1 Dio, LVSP and + dp/dtmax were both decreased from (12. 13 ± 0. 33) kPa and (0. 42 ± 0. 04) kPa· ms-1 to ( 9. 46 ± 0. 77 ) kPa and ( 0. 24 ± 0. 04 ) kPa ·ms-1 (P <0. 01). With 0. 1, 1, 10 μmol·L-1 Dio, the relative fluorescence intensity of intracellular free calcium concentrations was increased significantly from (16. 62 ± 0. 89) to (21. 48 ± 0. 80), (25. 68 ± 0. 69) and (19. 84 ± 0. 66)(P <0. 01)respectively. 0. 1, 1μmol·L-1 Dio showed no significant effects on the mitochondrial membrane potential of rat H9 c2 cells, while with effects of 10 μmol·L-1 Dio, the ra-tio of JC-1 monomer and J-aggregates was changed from (1. 14 ± 0. 03) to (1. 35 ± 0. 06)(P<0. 01), indica-ting a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane poten-tial. Conclusion Low and middle concentrations of Dio show a positive inotropic effect on isolated rat heart, as the LVSP and + dp/dtmax are enhanced, which may concern with the increase of the intracellu-lar concentration of Ca2+. It will not cause the calcium overload while the intracellular concentration of Ca2+ is increased by low and middle concentration of Dio in the myocytes except high concentration of Dio.

OBJECTIVE: To research the mechanism of the tongue inspection in traditional Chinese medicine and to study the special relationship between temperature distribution of the tongue and the tongue color. METHODS: The temperature field of human and pig's tongue was measured by infrared thermal vision system and thermal-couple probe. The blood perfusion rates in the human tongue and the pig's tongue were obtained with laser Doppler rheometer and CBI-8000 physiology research system. The temperature field of the profile of tongue was computed by numerical method. RESULTS: The quantitative curve of the temperature distribution on the surface of tongue and the relationship between temperature and blood perfusion rate were obtained. And the temperature in the profile of tongue was obtained by finite element method. CONCLUSION: The research involves that the different tongue color can reflect different tongue temperature and blood perfusion rate. This proved that it is acceptable to apply the bio-heat transfer theory to the tongue inspection research. The results provided a new method to research the tongue inspection in traditional Chinese medicine.

To explore the clinical features and common complications of fast resting heart rate (RHR) in hypertensionpatients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the entire rest electrocardiogram data of Qingdao study 2000 and Xinyang study2005 in community population elder than 18 years including hypertension patients and non-hypertension subjects. Clinical complications as diabetes, coronary artery disease, hyperlipidemia and stroke, laboratory findings, RHR in ECG, body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio and office blood pressure were collected in all participants. Results: A total of 18183 participants were enrolled including 61.6% male, the average age was (45.2±12.7) years including 6763 hypertension patients. Compared with normal BP subjects, hypertension patients had the faster RHR (73.5±11.6) times/min vs (70.6±9.6) times/min, P<0.001 and more hypertension patients combining fast RHR (14.5% vs 6.4%), P<0.001. In hypertension patients, compared with normal RHR patients, fast RHR patients had the elder age (53.9±12.2) years vs (51.8±11.2) years, lower BMI (25.8±3.6) kg/m2 vs (26.4±3.4) kg/m2 and higher ratio of grade 3 hypertension (68.2%vs 59.0%), all P<0.001; higher levels of fasting blood glucose (6.0±2.4) mmol/L vs (5.6±1.5) mmol/L and triglyceride (2.0±1.8) mmol/L vs (1.7±1.3) mmol/L, both P<0.001, higher LDL-C (3.2±0.9) mmol/L vs (3.1±0.8) mmol/L, P=0.001;more patients with diabetes (6.6% vs 3.9%), P=0.007 and stroke (11.1% vs 8.3%), P=0.005. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that with adjusted traditional risk factors, fast RHR was positively related to stroke occurrence in hypertension patients (OR=1.306, 95% CI 1.021-1.671). Conclusion: Fast RHR happened more in hypertension patients than in normal BP subjects; it had the increased risk for stroke occurrence in hypertension patients.

Objective The population -based study was conducted in Hebei Renqiu 60 -70 years old resi-dents to evaluate cardiovascular disease morbidity risk in next 10 years,to analyze the related risk factors and provide an objective basis for the prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases in the local areas.Methods Cluster sam-pling method was used to select elderly residents (aged from 60 to 70 years)in Renqiu city as the research subjects. A total of 5 010 cases,2 163 males,2 847 females were included in this study.Investigation contents included health questionnaire,anthropometric and laboratory detection.According to the Framingham Risk Score (FRS),10 -year risk probability of cardiovascular disease was calculated.Research subjects were divided into low risk group (<10%),medium risk group (≥10% and <20%),high -risk group (≥20%),and logistic regression was used to analyze the risk degree of the related risk factors.Results The 10 -year cardiovascular risk median value of 60 -70 years elderly residents was 8.0 (4.0 -16.0),among them male was 16.0 (12.0 -20.0),female was 4.0 (2.0 -6.0).Low risk group had 2 784 cases,accounted for 55.7%;medium risk group had 1 452 cases,accounted for 29.0%,high-risk group had 774 cases,accounted for 15.3%.The most important risk factors were smoking and cholesterol increasing,who contributes elderly residents aged 60 to 70 years in Renqiu cardiovascular 10 -year risk.The history of stroke,excessive drinking,waist circumference,diastolic blood pressure,elevated uric acid level and HOMA -IR were the independent risk factors in moderately high risk 10 -year probability of cardiovascular.Conclusion The elderly residents aged 60 to 70 years in Renqiu has higher cardiovascular risk of 10 years.Quitting smoking,limitting alcohol,controlling of blood pressure,blood lipids,uric acid,waist circumference and HOMA -IR are important to improve cardiovascular 10 -year risk.Among them,quit smoking and alcohol limit are the most effective measures.

Objective To investigate the effects of initiating oral-medication and insulin-treatment to residual islet function in adult patients with latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA).Methods Fifty nice inpatients and 11 outpatients of LADA were enrolled from the Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 1981 to October 2014,including 34 cases with initiating insulin therapy and 36 cases with initiating oral medication.Patients were followed up at least twice and with a 6-month interval.The age,body mass index (BMI),diagnosis time,fasting C peptide (FCP),2-hour postprandial C peptide (2 hCP),glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were compared between two groups.Results The age of disease onset in insulin-treatment group was significantly lower than that in oral-medication group (t =2.049,P =0.045).The proportion of patients complicated with other autoimmune diseases in oralmedication group were higher than that in insulin-treatment group [24％ (8/34) vs.47％ (17/36),x2=4.275,P=0.039].The FCP and 2 hCP in insulin-treatment group were significantly higher than those in oral-medication group [FCP:0.25 (0.00-0.80) vs.0.00 (0.00-0.60) μg/L,Z =3.498,P =0.030,2 hCP:0.42(0.02-1.20) vs.0.14(0.02-0.19) μg/L,Z =3.235,P=0.001] on 6 month after treatment;however,there were no significant differences on 6-12 months,13-36 months or 37-60 months after treatment between two groups.No antibody negative conversion was detected in 10 inpatients,who were reexamined with glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody (GADA) more than twice.The detection rate of diabetes retinopathy was 4％ (1/26) in insulin-treatment group and 28％ (8/29) in oralmedication group (x2 =6.179,P =0.013).Conclusion Initiating insulin therapy at first diagnosis of LADA can protect the residual islet function,and may reduce the rate of diabetic retinopathy.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the intrahepatic expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and its relation to liver histopathology.

METHODSThe intensity and distribution of the immunohistochemical staining of intrahepatic iNOS were studied in the liver biopsy specimens obtained from 74 patients with CHB and statistical analyses were performed between intrahepatic iNOS and ALT, HbeAg, HBV DNA grading of liver inflammation and staging of fibrosis. Seven histologically normal liver sections were used as a control group.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, the intrahepatic iNOS immunoexpression was significantly higher in patients with CHB (P < 0.05), iNOS immunoreactivity was observed mainly in hepatocytes showing a predominant cytoplasmic staining, with the positive liver cells distributed diffusely throughout the hepatic lobule. Immunopositive staining could also be detected in Kupffer cells, sinusoidal lining cells and vascular endothelial cells. Compared with patients with normal ALT, the hepatocellular iNOS immunoexpression was significantly higher in patients with elevated ALT (P < 0.05) and the iNOS immunoexpression was significantly correlated with the serum level of ALT (r=0.601, P=0.000). Statistical analysis also showed that the intrahepatic iNOS immunoexpression was positively correlated with the grading of liver inflammation and the staging of liver fibrosis (r=0.660, P=0.000; r=0.507, P=0.000). No significant correlation between iNOS and HBeAg and HBV DNA was detected. CONCLUSION The intrahepatic expression of iNOS is elevated in chronic hepatitis B patients and correlated well with the severity of the disease, which indicated that inducible nitric oxide synthase may have a critical role in the pathogenesis of chronic viral hepatitis B.

Adult ; Alanine Transaminase ; metabolism ; DNA, Viral ; metabolism ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic ; Hepatitis B Antigens ; metabolism ; Hepatitis B virus ; metabolism ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; enzymology ; metabolism ; pathology ; virology ; Hepatocytes ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; metabolism

Objective The present study was designed to investigate the possible epigenetic alteration in the promoter of TNF-α in the patients with acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (ACHBLF).Methods The methylation of TNF-α promoter in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was measured by methylation specific PCR (MSP).The level of serum TNF-α was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) was performed for the evaluation of liver failure.Results The serum level of TNF-α in patients with ACHBLF(44.9260 ±26.48523 ) was higher than that in CHB ( 18.92505 ± 9.04461 ) and healthy controls ( 11.9172 ± 5.04612 )(P ＜ 0.05 ).Moreover,the serum TNF-α level was significantly decreased in methylation group as compared to unmethylaiton group in patients with ACHBLF(P ＜ 0.05).MELD was not significantly different between methylated and unmethylated group of ACHBLF patients (P ＞0.05 ).In addition,the serum level of TNF-αwas found to be positively correlated with serum total bilirubin ( r =0.891,P ＜ 0.01 ) and MELD score ( r =0.792,P ＜0.01 ),but to be negatively correlated with prothrombin activity ( r =- 0.511,P ＜ 0.05 ) in patients with ACHBLF.Conclusion The TNF-α methylation patten is stable for the liver failure,suggesting the effect of environment on methylation.

We analyzed the epidemiological characteristics of brucellosis in Jinzhou from 2001 to 2015 and provided scientific evidence for the development of prevention and control measures.The descriptive epidemiological analysis was conducted on the incidence data and surveillance result of human brucellosis in Jinzhou during that period.We also conducted correlation analysis of positive rate(sera agglutination titers) and incidence rate of human brucellosis in Jinzhou City.The prevalence of human brucellosis in Jinzhou during 2001-2015 was 0.45/100 000 to 16.53/100 000.The surveillance results showed that the reporting time of human brucellosis case mainly concentrated in March to July,accounting for 66.89％ of the total.In 2003-2015,5 904 blood samples were collected from risk population.Totally,296 were positive for Brucella (5.01％) by sera agglutination titers.From 2007,63 strains of Brucella were isolated from 136 blood samples in which 48 were Brucella melitensis type 3,12 were Brucella melitensis type 1,2 were Brucella melitensis variation type and 1 was Brucella canis.Human brucellosis cases in Jinzhou City is upward trend in recent years and the predominant strain circulated was Brucella melitensis type 3.The situation of dogs carrying Brucella should be given a certain view,and timely elimination of sick dogs should be implemented.