Objective To explore the effects of beraprost sodium (BPS) on angiotensin Ⅱ(AngⅡ)-induced podocyte apoptosis and the relationship between BPS and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor δ(PPARδ). Methods Differentiated mouse podocytes were exposed to AngⅡ, further treated with BPS (or GSK0660) for 24 h. Podocyte apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry and AnnexinV-FITC staining. Bax , Bcl-2 and PPARδ mRNA were assessed by RT-PCR. Results AngⅡ promoted podocyte apoptosis and Bax mRNA expression significantly, down-regulated Bcl-2 and inhibited PPARδ mRNA (P < 0.05). Conversely, treatment with BPS reduced AngⅡ-induced podocyte apoptosis and Bax mRNA expression and promoted Bcl-s expression significantly resulting in an increase of PPARδ mRNA expression (P < 0.05). With the inhibition of PPARδ, podocyte apoptosis and Bax mRNA expression increased while Bcl-2 mRNA expression reduced. Conclusion BPS can effectively reduce AngⅡ-induced podocyte apoptosis , which is associated with the activation of PPARδand regulation of Bcl-2/Bax mRNA expression.

Object To study the effects of artemisinin and its analogue artemisunate on the proliferation of human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line, as well as their mechanism comparatively. Methods The inhibition of cell proliferation was determined by SRB method. Cell cycle was determined by flow cytometry (FCM) analysis. Apoptosis was confirmed by sub-G 1 cells content and DAPI method. Results The cell cycle of MCF-7 was changed greatly when treated 24 h with either 10 ?mol/L artemisinin or 1 ?mol/L artemisunate, the distribution of MCF-7 cells among S phase was reduced greatly, while inereased during G 0+G 1. However, artemisinin had weaker effect on the proliferation of MCF-7 cell, while artemisunate effectively inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7, the IC 50 was 0.31 ?mol/L. Apoptosis induced by 1 ?mol/L artemisunate was stronger than that by 10 ?mol/L artemisinin, too. Conclusion The inhibitory effect of artemisunate on the proliferation of tumor cell is stronger than that of artemisinin in vitro.

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Occupational Diseases ; prevention & control ; Rural Population ; Sampling Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Transients and Migrants

Objective To explore the clinic value and efficacy of color Doppler ultrasound guided percutaneous microwave/radiorequency thermoablation for secondary hyperparathyroidism. Methods Fifty-six cases of secondary hyperparathyroidism who came from nephrology department of Beijing Friendship Hospital in the period of September 2012 to September 2013 were treated by color Doppler ultrasound guided percutaneous microwave/radiorequency thermoablation. One hundred and thirty-eight glands underwent this treatment and were evaluated by contrast enhanced ultrasound before, during and after operation. The levels of serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) were measured before and at 1 week, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year after treatment. Results The whole 56 cases achieved 1 month follow-up and 34 cases and 12 cases achieved 6 months and 1 year follow-up, respectively. Two special cases had been excluded. The PTH levels of 54 cases were signiifcantly different between after and before treatment [(369.5±183.4) ng/L vs (1321.6±471.4) ng/L, t=10.727, P=0.000]. The PTH levels continued to fall at the ifrst week after treatment, but there was no statistical signiifcance between the ifrst week and the ifrst day after treatment [(324.6±172.8) ng/L vs (369.5±183.4) ng/L], while there was signiifcantly different between the ifrst week after treatment and before treatment [(324.6±172.8) ng/L vs (1321.6±471.4) ng/L, t=9.364, P=0.000]. The PTH levels increased from (324.6±172.8) ng/L to (332.5±164.9) ng/L at 1 week and 1 month after ablation, while there was no signiifcant difference.But there is signiifcantly different between 1 month after treatment and before treatment (t=11.348, P=0.000). The PTH level at 6 months after treatment [(205.2±136.3) ng/L] and 1 year after treatment [(177.1±171.5) ng/L] had signiifcant difference compared with the value before treatment (t=8.737, P=0.000; t=7.655, P=0.017). Conclusion Color Doppler ultrasound guided percutaneous microwave/radiorequency thermoablation can be considered as a feasible and effective nonsurgical alternative treatment for secondary hyperparathyroidism patients.

ObjectiveTo establish the reference value of inhibin-A in the serum of pregnant women with gestational age from 15 to 20+6 weeks in Guangdong province,and assess the efficiency of inhibin-A and quadruple test in Down syndrome screening.Methods A total of 2802 singleton pregnancies receiving triple test screening in Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center from March 2008 to December 2010 were included in this study.Inhibin-A was measured by automatic enzyme-linked immunosorbent chemiluminescence assay. The concentration of inhibin-A was expressed as multiples of the median (MoM),and adjusted with maternal weight and gestational age.Parameters of SURUSS were used to recalculate the risk of Down syndrome.The efficacy of single marker and combination were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve and the area under the curve. Results(1) In normal singleton pregnancies,the median concentration of inhibin-A was 286.60,267.10,249.10,243.40,242.30 and 256.60 pg/ml respectively for each week of gestational age from 15 to 20+6 weeks.The distribution of inhibin-A in each gestational week was relatively stable.The mean concentration [(852.83±370.04) pg/ml] and MoM (2.82) of inhibin-A in twelve pregnant mothers with Down syndrome fetuses were significantly higher than those without [(293.28±149.46) pg/ml (t=5.37,P＜0.05) and 1,respectively].(2) The detection rate was 83.3％ (10/12) by using the quadruple test including free human chorionic gonadotropin-β,alphafetoprotein,unconjugated estriol and inhibin-A at false positive rate of 5.8％; while when the detection rate of triple test including alpha-fetoprotein,free human chorionic gonadotropin-β and unconjugated estriol was 83.3％,the false positive rate was 7.7％.When the false positive rate was set to 5.0％,the area under the curve of inhibin-A,alpha-fetoprotein,free human chorionic gonadotropin-β and unconjugated estriol was 63.7％,20.5％,46.1％ and 4.8％,respectively,and the relative area under the curve of routine triple test and quadruple test was 45.5％ and 63.1％,respectively.ConclusionsInhibin-A is suggested to be the most effective marker used for secondtrimester screening,which could be used for second trimester Down syndrome screening in Chinese population combined with existing three markers.

Objective:To construct preliminarily the malignant risk classification system for the cervical lymph node.Methods:A total of 301 patients with cervical lymphadenopathy were collected in this prospective study from Union Hospital, Fujian Medical University from July 2018 to December 2019. The ultrasonographic features(including the short diameter, ratio of long to short diameters(L/S), margin, border, matting, echogenic hilum, echogenicity, gross necrosis, microcalcification, hyperechoic area, flow type, vascular distribution), history of malignancy, inflammation performance of the neck and history of tuberculosis were analyzed. A score was assigned for each significant index related to benign/malignant lymph nodes by a Logistic regression analysis. The classification of the malignant risk was determined on the basis of the scores.Results:The factors significantly associated with the malignant lymph nodes were enlargement of the short diameter, L/S<2, microcalcification, hyperechoic area, irregular margin, matting, abnormal flow pattern, malignancy history. While the factors related to the benign were the inflammation performance and the fuzzy boundary. The risk of malignancy increased as the score of lymph node increased. The malignant risk of lymph node according to the classification system was as follows: category 1, 7.30%; category 2a, 35.00%; category 2b, 69.30%; category 2c, 91.50%; and category 3, 99.05%. The area under the ROC curve of the system was 0.913.Conclusions:The system has great potential of clinical application to assess the risk of malignancy in cervical lymph nodes.

The technique of liquisolid compress is a new technique developed in 1990s, which was considered to be the most promising technique to improve the dissolution of water-insoluble drugs. In this article, tanshinone II(A) and the extracts of the ester-solubility fractions were chosen as the model drugs to evaluate the effects of the liquisolid technique for enhancement of dissolution properties of tanshinone II(A). Several liquisolid tablets (LS) formulations containing different dosage of drugs and various liquid vehicle were pre-pared and for all the formulations, microcrystalline cellulose and silica were chosen as the carrier and coating materials to evaluate their flow properties, such as angle of repose, Carr's compressibility index and Hausner's ratio. The interaction between drug and excipients in prepared LS compacts were studied by differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). The dissolution curves of tanshinone II(A) from liquisolid compacts were investigated to determine the technique's effect in improving the dissolution of tanshinone II(A) and its impacting factors. According to the results, the dissolution increased with the rise in the dissolution of the liquid-phase solvent. The R-value and drug dosage can significantly affect the drug release, but with less impact on active fractions. This indicated that liquisolid technique is a promising alternative for improvement of dissolution property of water-soluble drugs, and can make a synergistic effect with other ester-soluble constituents and bettern improve the release of tanshinone II(A). Therefore, the technique of liquisolid compress will have a better development prospect in traditional Chinese medicines.
Calorimetry, Differential Scanning ; Diterpenes, Abietane ; chemistry ; Solubility ; X-Ray Diffraction

Objective To investigate the effects of CO_2 pneumoperitoneum on the expression of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) of gastric cancer MKN-45 cells. Methods CO_2 pneumoperitoneum with different pressures was simulated in vitro, and the gastric cancer MKN-45 cells were divided into test and control groups. In the test group, gastric cancer MKN-45 cells were cultured in CO_2 pneumoperitoneum with different pressures [5, 10 or 15 mm Hg (1 mm Hg =0.133 kPa)] for 4 hours. The condition of the cells exposed to CO_2 pneumoperitoneum with a pressure of 15 mm Hg was observed at 0.5, 2 and 4 hours. Gastric cancer MKN-45 cells in control group were cultured at normal atmospheric pressure. The expression of FAK and phosphorylated FAK (FAK Tyr397) of each group was detected by Western blot. Multiple-group analysis was done by one-way ANOVA, and intergroup comparison was done by LSD test. Results In CO_2 pneumoperitoneum with pressures of 5, 10, 15 mm Hg, the expression of FAK was 2.14±0.17, 2.07±0.21 and 2.52±0.26, respectively, and the expression of FAK Tyr397 was 1.82±0.28, 1.93±0.52 and 3.71±0.37, respectively. The expression of FAK and FAK Tyr397 in the control group was 2.43±0.46 and 1.71±0.23, respectively. We found significant differences between the 2 groups (F = 2.171, 26.951, P < 0.01). After gastric cancer MKN-45 cells being treated for 0.5, 2 and 4 hours in CO_2 pneumoperitoneum with a pressure of 15 mm Hg, the expression of FAK Tyr397 was 3.41±0.44, 4.12±0.56 and 5.24±0.41 respectively, which is also significantly different (F =116.119, P < 0.01). The expression of FAK Tyr397 was back to 0.72±0.16 1 hour after the release of CO_2. Conclusions CO_2 pneumoperitoneum with different pressures can not promote the expression of FAK in gastric cancer MKN-45 cells which had been cultured for 4 hours, but can activate FAK through promoting its phosphorylation. The degree of FAK phosphorylation increases with pressure and time, and the activity of FAK decreases to pretreatment level rapidly once pressure is released.

Objective To analyze the changes of benign and malignant thyroid nodules during followup and to increase the diagnostic accuracy.Methods The ultrasonographic changes of 161 thyroid nodules confirmed by pathology were retrospectively analyzed,including size,internal components,echogenicity,margin,microcalcification,anteroposterior to transverse dimension ratio(A/T) and the relationships with thyroid capsule,and the change of cervical lymph nodes.Results Ninety-three benign thyroid nodules and 68 malignant thyroid nodules were enrolled in this study,the changes in size,internal components,microcalcification,the relationships with glandular capsule,and cervical lymph nodes were significantly different (P ＜ 0.05),while the echogenicity,margin,and A/T were not significantly different,benign nodules changed more easily in size and internal components,while malignant nodules changed more easily in microcalcification.Both the nodules broken the thyroid capsule or cervical lymph nodes exhibited malignant signs suggest probable malignancy.Conclusions Analyzing the ultrasonographic changes during follow-up contributes to identify benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

AIM: To investigate alteration of inward re ctifier potassium current (I K1) in atrial myocytes and mRNA expression of gene Kir2.1 encoding I K1 in atrial myocardial tissue in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) compared to that with sinus rhythm (SR).METHODS: Single myocytes were isolated by enzymatic dissociation with the chunk method an d the ionic current was recorded using whole cell patch clamp technique. The sem i-quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to measure the mRNA expression of Kir2.1 in atrial myocardial tissue, and the g ene GAPDH was used as an internal control.RESULTS: (1) The I K1 density was increased in AF group at hyperpolarizing pot entials, at -120 mV the current densities was (-5.71?0.65) pA/pF in AF group (n=28 cells from 7 patients) and (-4.26?1.22) pA/pF in SR group (n=35 cells from 9 patients) (P0.05).CONCLUSIONS: The increase in I K1 at hyperpolarizing potentials may be related to th e atrial electrophysiological remodeling in chronic human AF. The increased I K1 density in atrial myocytes in AF group without alteration of Kir2.1 mRNA expression in atrial tissue suggests that I K1 may be mediated at post-transcriptional levels.