OBJECTIVE: To study the role of follicular helper T (Tfh) cells and galactose-deficient IgA1 (Gd-IgA1) in the pathogenesis of childhood Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) and the correlation between them. METHODS: A total of 36 children with newly-diagnosed HSP were enrolled. They were divided into two groups: HSP nephritis (HSPN) group with 11 children and non-HSPN group with 25 children according to the presence or absence of HSPN. Another 15 children who underwent physical examination at the outpatient service were enrolled as the healthy control group. Flow cytometry was used to measure the proportion of Tfh cells (CD4CXCR5ICOS) in peripheral blood. ELISA was used to measure the levels of interleukin-21 (IL-21) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in peripheral blood and the serum levels of IgA1 and Gd-IgA1. A Pearson correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation of serum Gd-IgA1 concentration with Tfh cells and related factors expression in the children with HSP. RESULTS: Both the HSPN and non-HSPN groups had significantly higher proportion of Tfh cells and expression levels of IL-21 and IL-6 in peripheral blood than the healthy control group (P<0.05). The HSPN group had significant increases in the above indices compared with the non-HSPN group (P<0.05). Both the HSPN and non-HSPN groups had significantly higher serum levels of IgA1 and Gd-IgA1 than the healthy control group (P<0.05). The HSPN group had significantly higher serum levels of IgA1 and Gd-IgA1 than the non-HSPN group (P<0.05). In the children with HSP, serum Gd-IgA1 level was positively correlated with Tfh cells proportion and IL-21 and IL-6 levels (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Tfh cells and related cytokines and serum Gd-IgA1 are involved in the development of HSP/HSPN. Tfh cells may mediate the increased production of Gd-IgA1.
Child ; Galactose ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch ; Receptors, CXCR5 ; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer

Posterior sclera reinforcement(PSR), also known as posterior sclera strengthening or posterior sclera bandage, is a kind of operation to fix biological or non-biological materials to the posterior sclera, with the aim to strengthen sclera and improve the blood circulation of the choroid and retina by using the traction of materials or the immune inflammatory stimulation, thereby delaying the continuous extension of the axis and improving visual function. The main indications of PSR include pathologic myopia(PM)and its related complications. In addition, PSR can also help to improve blood circulation at the posterior pole of the eye in patients with retinitis pigmentosa(RP), especially in conjunction with superficial temporal artery ligation. After more than half a century's development, PSR has been currently considered as one of the few and effective methods to treat PM and RP, but as a more traumatic operation, the stability of its clinical effect varies greatly, so there is still room for improvement in surgical procedures and materials used.

Objective To explore the distribution of water with high level arsenic and prevalence of arsenism along Huai'he River and the surrounding area of Hong'ze lake in Huai'an of Jiangsu. Methods Wate rsamples were collected and tested in 2008 from 18 villages of 6 towns according to history data in 3 counties like Xuyi,Jinhu and Hongze. Samples having arsenic level higher than 0.05 mg/L were investigated by epidemiological method and the patients were diagnosed by Standard of Diagnosis for Endemic Arsenism. Results All 5199 water samples were determined,and 260 water samples were exceeding the national drinking water quality level (0.05 mg/L) in 3 counties,the rates of exceeding diagnosis were 5.6%(247/4454),0.7%(4/597),6.0%(9/148) respectively. Total detected rate of endemic arsenic disease was 5.94%(128/2155). The detected rates of age group of 0 ～ ,20 ～,30 ～ ,40 ～ ,50 ～ ,60 ～ ,70 ～ ,80 ～ were 2.86%(1/35),2.11%(2/95),1.26%(3/239),3.10%(16/516),5.53% (32/579),10.07%(41/407),11.84%(27/228),10.71%(6/56) respectively. The detected rate of male (9.10%,78/857) was higher than that of female(3.85%,50/1298,χ~2 = 25.46,P < 0.01). Conclusions Huai'he River and the surrounding areas of Hong'ze lake like Xuyi,Jinhu and Hongze are identified existing endemic arsenic disease area. The prevention of arsenism should be strengthened in these areas.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate protective effects of Rheum tanguticum polysaccharides (RTP) on traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats.

METHODThe polysaccharides (RTP) were extracted from Tanguficum Maxim. 120 rats were divided into 15 groups, with 8 rats in each group. RTP at 100, 200 and 400 mg x kg(-1) were administrated orally once a day for five days, and model of brain injury was made by dropping weight method.

RESULTRTP reduced water content and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, and increased total SOD activity and Na+-K+ ATPase activity after injuried.

CONCLUSIONThe polysaccharides may be one of the effective comptents in Rheum tanguticum, showing significant neuroprotective effects.

Animals ; Brain Injuries ; enzymology ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cerebral Cortex ; enzymology ; ultrastructure ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Neuroprotective Agents ; pharmacology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Polysaccharides ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rheum ; chemistry ; Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase ; metabolism ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect and the mechanism of moxibustion for treatment of diabetic erectile dysfunction (ED).

METHODSDiabetes mellitus (DM) rat model was induced by streptozotozin (STZ) and then penis erectile experiment of apomorphine (APO) was used to select diabetic ED rats model, which were divided into 2 groups: a model group and a moxibustion group, with another normal control group set up. The moxibustion group were treated with moxibustion at "Shenshu" (BL 23) and "Sanyinjiao" (SP 6) with small moxa cone about the size of a wheat grain. The effects on penis erectile, blood sugar and total NOS, cNOS, iNOS, and cGMP were investigated.

RESULTSMoxibustion had a certain improving action on blood sugar, improved significantly erectile function, and more significantly increased NOS, cNOS, iNOS activities and cGMP contents in the penis.

CONCLUSIONMoxibustion has a certain action on the erectile function in the diabetic ED rats, which is related with improvement of blood sugar and promoting NO-cGMP pathway.

Animals ; Blood Glucose ; analysis ; Cyclic GMP ; physiology ; Diabetes Complications ; therapy ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; complications ; Erectile Dysfunction ; therapy ; Male ; Moxibustion ; methods ; Nitric Oxide ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Signal Transduction

OBJECTIVETo study the effects of silencing CLIC1 gene expression on the proliferation and invasion of Hca-F cells.

METHODSThe mouse CLIC1 cDNA sequence was retrieved from NCBI. Three shRNA sequences were designed and cloned into pGPU6/GFP/Neo plasmids. The plasmids were transfected into Hca-F cells with Lipofectamine 2000. Cell Counting-8 (CCK-8) kit and transwell chamber were used to study the effects of CLIC1 on the proliferation and invasion of Hca-F cells.

RESULTSThe pGPU6/GFP/Neo-shRNA-3 plasmid effectively repressed the expression of CLIC1 mRNA. Inhibition of CLIC1 gene expression led to decreased cell proliferation and reduced invasion.

CONCLUSIONCLIC1 is essential for the proliferation and invasion of Hca-F cells.

Animals ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Chloride Channels ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Genetic Vectors ; Liver Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Mice ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Plasmids ; genetics ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Transfection

The cytoplasm of E. coli is a reducing environment where cysteines do not engage in disulfide bonds. Any disulfide bonds that do appear are rapidly reduced through the action of disulfide reducing enzymes such as thioredoxin and glutaredoxin. To study the influence of E. coli cytoplasm on the solubility of recombinant proteins produced in it, bovine fibroblast growth factor (BbFGF), with single disulfide bond, and anti-HBsAg single-chain Fv (HBscFv), with two disulfide bonds, were selected as the pattern molecules of simple protein and complex protein, respectively. pJN98-BbFGF, a BbFGF expressing plasmid based on the vector pET3c, was constructed and transformed into normal host BL21(DE3) and a reductase deficient strain, E. coli Origami(DE3). At the same time, pQE-HBscFv, a HBscFv expressing plasmid was constructed and transformed into M15 [pREP4] and Origami(DE3). The recombinant BbFGF and HBscFv were produced in 2 types of bacteria and their solubilities and bioactivities were determined, respectively. It was found that the majority of BbFGF had formed inclusion body in the cytoplasm of BL21 (DE3) and all of them turned into soluble protein in Origami(DE3). It was also found the productivity of BbFGF in Origami (DE3) was 5% - 10% of the total protein and the value was 15% - 23% in BL21(DE3). BbFGFs produced in 2 recombinant bacteria were purified by cation exchange and heparin affinity chromatography. MTT assay revealed that the bioactivity of BbFGF purified from Origami(DE3) was higher than its counterpart from BL21(DE3). The ED50 of BbFGFs from different bacteria was 1.6ng/mL and 2.2ng/mL, respectively. As far as HBscFvs, both of them formed inclusion body in the cytoplasm of M15 [pQE-HBscFv] and Origami [pQE-HBscFv]. The inclusion body was solubilized in 6mol/L GuHCl, purified with a His-Trap column and then refolded by dialysis step-by-step against buffers containing downtrend concentration of GuHCl. Indirect ELISA was applied to determine the HBsAg binding activity of HBscFvs. It was found there was no obvious difference between the bioactivity of refolded HBscFvs produced from 2 recombinant bacteria. On the other hand, the supernatant of Origami [pQE-HBscFv] lysate displayed weak bioactivity and its counterpart from M15 [pQE-HBscFv] displayed without any bioactivity. The soluble HBsFv in the cytoplasm of Origami [pQE-HBscFv] was purified by cation exchange and immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) and the yield was 1 - 2mg/L. Those results suggested that modification of the redox environment of E. coli cytoplasm greatly improved the solubility of recombinant disulfide-bonded proteins produced in it. In the next step, we had like to co-express of molecular chaperones or refoldase to raise the yield of soluble recombinant proteins, as well as optimizing the culture condition of the "oxidizing" E. coli.
Animals ; Antibodies ; genetics ; immunology ; metabolism ; Cattle ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Escherichia coli ; enzymology ; genetics ; metabolism ; Escherichia coli Proteins ; genetics ; Fibroblast Growth Factors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; immunology ; Inclusion Bodies ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Oxidoreductases ; genetics ; Plasmids ; genetics ; Protein Engineering ; Recombinant Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Solubility

Objective To understand the schistosomiasis control knowledge,attitude,and practice(KAP),and influenc-ing factors of behaviors among residents in Jiangsu Province,so as to provide the evidence for making effective health education and health promotion models. Methods The probability proportionate to size sampling(PPS)and multi-stage sampling meth-ods were adopted to sample the research objects. A questionnaire survey of schistosomiasis control KAP was conducted in the res-idents of 16 to 69 years old in schistosomiasis endemic areas of Jiangsu Province,and the results were statistically analyzed. Re-sults The total awareness rate of the participants was 95.98%for schistosomiasis control knowledge. The correct rates of atti-tude and practice were 89.06%and 77.43%,respectively. The awareness/correct rates of knowledge,attitude and practice re-duced in turns significantly(χ2=1282.96,P<0.01). The knowledge awareness rate of fishermen and boatmen was 90.98%, but their attitude correct rate was only 53.81%(χ2=120.52,P<0.01). The unconditional logistic regression analysis showed that with the education level increasing,their practice correct rate rose,and the participants with the college degree or above had a higher correct rate compared to illeterate ones(OR=6.411,95%CI:4.896-8.395). The practice correct rate of the fisher-men and boatmen was only 5.1%of the rate of the farmers(OR=0.051,95%CI:0.029-0.091). Conclusions The total aware-ness rate of basic knowledge of schistosomiasis prevention and control in the residents of Jiangsu Province has reached the re-quirements in the"National Schistosomiasis Control Long-term Planning Outline(2004-2015)",but the correct rate of behav-iors is low. The education level,occupation and residential areas affect the health behaviors of schistosomiasis prevention and control. Therefore,it is necessary to carry out targeted health promotion activities to promote the formation of healthy lifestyle and behaviors.

OBJECTIVETo study the expression of enoyl CoA hydratase 1 (ECH1) and the effect when down-regulation of ECH1 gene expression in mouse hepatocarcinoma cell.

METHODSImmunofluorescence was used for detecting the expression of ECH1, and stably transfected Hca-F cells with pGPU6/GFP/Neo-shRNA-ECH1 expression plasmids. Cell proliferation was assessed by Cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) assay. The Boyden-transwell assay (8 µm pore size) was performed to analyze the inhibitory effect of shRNA on Hca-F cell migration and invasion.

RESULTSECH1 expression was obtained in the cytoplasm and upregulated expression in Hca-F cells than that in Hca-P cells. The down-regulation of ECH1 could inhibit the cell proliferation of Hca-F cells, decrease the number of cell pass through Transwell (27.07 ± 17.49) compared with scramble-negative (72.38 ± 18.83) and Hca-F controls (59.06 ± 30.33), decrease the migration capacities of Hca-F cells, increase the ratio of Hca-F cells in S phase (86.1%) compared with scramble-negative (75.8%) and Hca-F controls (66.2%) and decrease the ratio of G(1) phase (9.4%) compared with scramble-negative (24.2%) and Hca-F controls (30.3%).

CONCLUSIONECH1 serves as a potential critical factor attributes to tumor lymphatic metastasis.

Animals ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation ; Cytoplasm ; enzymology ; Down-Regulation ; Enoyl-CoA Hydratase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental ; enzymology ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Mice ; Plasmids ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Transfection

INTRODUCTIONFalls are common among older people. Previous studies have shown that falls were multifactorial. However, data regarding community-dwelling Chinese population are minimal. We aimed to study factors associated with falls among community-dwelling older Chinese people.

MATERIALS AND METHODSWe conducted a cross-sectional study in a community hospital in Taiwan in 2010. Our sample included 671 elders from the 3680 examinees of the free annual Senior Citizens Health Examination. Participants were interviewed with a detailed questionnaire, and 317 elders were further invited for serum vitamin D tests. The main outcome was falls in the previous 12 months. Predictor variables included sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle risk factors, body stature, frailty, serum 25 (OH) D levels, and medications.

RESULTSThe mean age of the 671 participants was 75.7 ± 6.4 years old, and 48.7% of which were female. Fallers comprised 21.0% of the study population. In multivariate models, female gender (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 2.32), loss of height in adulthood (aOR: 1.52), low body weight (aOR: 2.69), central obesity (aOR: 1.67), frailty (aOR: 1.56), polypharmacy (aOR: 2.18) and hyperglycaemia (aOR: 1.56) were factors associated with falls. Vitamin D insufficiency (serum 25 (OH) D levels <30 ng/mL) was not associated with falls (OR: 0.78; 95% CI, 0.38 to 1.60) (n = 317) in this study.

CONCLUSIONAmong community-dwelling older people in Taiwan, falls were mainly associated with female gender, polypharmacy, frailty, reduced body height, low body weight or central obesity, and hyperglycaemia. In addition to other risk factors, body stature should be considered as a novel risk factor when screening elders at risk for falls.

Accidental Falls ; prevention & control ; statistics & numerical data ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Body Constitution ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Demography ; Female ; Geriatric Assessment ; methods ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; epidemiology ; Independent Living ; statistics & numerical data ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; Polypharmacy ; Risk Assessment ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Risk Factors ; Sex Factors ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Taiwan ; epidemiology