Recent studies have shown that berberine is hypoglycemic and capable of improving insulin resistance,but the exact mechanism remains unknown.This article reviews the papers published in recent years concerning the clinical efficacy of berberine and its relevant mechanisms in improving insulin resistance.

Objective To investigate the change of threshold of electrical sense through experiments in the presence of electrical noise according to stochastic resonance phenomenon that has been observed in somatosensory system.Method Psychophysical experiments were carried out using both single stimulus method based on random-gradient method and one-interval-forced-choice method.The glabrous skin of human fingers was choosed as the experimental objects,which was stimulated by square wave electrical signal mixed with electrical noise.Result The corresponding threshold of electrical sense can be reduced by the effect of external electrical noises.Conclusion Although electrical sense is not natural sense,stochastic resonance can occur in it, and effect of noise on enhancing this sense can be implemented by controlling external noises.

Most patients with allergic conjunctivitis in children are vernal keratoconjunctivitis.Dry eye accompanied with al- lergic conjunctivitis in children is correlated with the decline of tear film stability.However,tear film stability decline is correlated with eosinophilic activation and concomitant release of inflammatory mediators.Moreover,conjunctival epithelial,goblet cells and tear film are damaged,then dry eye occur.Main symptom of dry eye in children is twinkling frequency increasing,followed by eye itch,eye red and photophobia.When allergic conjunctivitis in children is diagnosed,dry eye should be considered at the same time.Proper manage- ment for those allergic conjunctivitis can decrease ocular surface damages.

BACKGROUND:Owing to containing large amounts of growth factors, platelet-rich plasma has been widely used in bone regeneration, wound healing, and so on, while few studies have been reported on cartilage tissue engineering. OBJECTIVE:To explore the effects of platelet-rich plasma on the proliferation and differentiation of chondrocytes, and the feasibility of constructing tissue-engineered cartilage by the combination of chondrocytes and platelet-rich plasma. METHODS:We detected the concentrations of transforming growth factor-β, insulin-like growth factor-1, platelet-derived growth factor and epidermal growth factor BB in the whole blood, platelet-rich plasma, and activated platelet-rich plasma. The rabbit articular chondrocytes were cultured in 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%platelet-rich plasma for 7 days, then the cellproliferation was tested by cellcounting kit-8, and cartilage-related genes (col agen type II, Aggrecan, Sox-9) were determined using QT-PCR. The chondrocytes/platelet-rich plasma composite was implanted subcutaneously into the rabbits, and the samples were harvested after 6 weeks of transplantation for histological examination. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The levels of different growth factors in the platelet-rich plasma were higher than those in the whole blood (P<0.05), but lower than those in the activated platelet-rich plasma (P<0.05). Platelet-rich plasma at different concentrations promoted the proliferation of chondrocytes. When the concentration of platelet-rich plasma was no more than 20%, the proliferation of chondrocytes showed a concentration-dependent manner. The 20%platelet-rich plasma showed the best effects to promote the expression of col agen type II (P<0.05), while the 15%platelet-rich plasma could maximize the expression of Sox-9 and Aggrecan (P<0.05). After transplantation of chondrocytes/platelet-rich plasma composite, cartilage-like tissue formed with cartilage lacuna-like structures, and rich extracellular matrix was found, which indicates platelet-rich plasma can be used as an injective scaffold in cartilage tissue engineering.

Objective To observe the regularity of expression changes in CD80 in peripheral blood, lung and splenic dendritic cells (DCs) in mice with acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and its correlation with lung inflammation. Methods Twelve C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into two groups, namely control group and ALI group, with 6 mice in each group. LPS (2 mg/kg) was intra-tracheal instilled in mice to reproduce ALI model, while the control mice received intra-tracheal administration of phosphate buffer saline (PBS) instead. The mice were sacrificed 6 hours after model reproduction, lung tissues were collected, and lung coefficient was calculated (lung wet weight/body weight ×100%). The pathological changes were examined under optical microscope after hematoxylin and eosin (HE) straining, the severity of lung injury was evaluated by the Smith score. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) level was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). After single-cell suspensions were isolated from the lung and spleen, the level of CD80 on DC in peripheral blood, lung and spleen was assessed by flow cytometry (FCM). The correlation between CD80 positive DC number and the severity of lung injury was analyzed by Spearman correlation method. Results Compared with control group, LPS-induced ALI resulted in a significant increase in lung coefficient [(0.67±0.04)% vs. (0.52±0.02)%, P < 0.05], and the levels of IL-6 were significantly enhanced (pg/mg: 2 712±475 vs. 335±168, P < 0.05). Histologically, widespread alveolar wall thickening caused by congested, severe hemorrhage in the interstitium and alveolus, and marked and diffuse interstitial infiltration with inflammatory cells were observed in ALI group. In contrast, no histological alteration was observed in the control group. In addition, the lung injury scores were markedly higher in ALI group than those in the control group (5.10±0.24 vs. 0.60±0.12, P < 0.05). It was shown by FCM analysis that there was a gradual but significant increase trend of CD80 positive dendritic cells number in blood, lung, and spleen in both control mice and ALI mice. However, no significant differences in the number of peripheral blood CD80 positive DCs were found between control group and ALI group [(3.3±1.5)% vs. (5.1±2.1)%, P > 0.05]. In contrast, there were a low but significantly higher percentage of CD80 positive DCs in the lung and spleen in ALI group than that in control group [Lung: (9.6±2.5)% vs. (3.6±1.2)%, spleen: (25.2±4.7)% vs. (9.0±3.6)%, both P < 0.05]. It was shown by the Spearman correlation analyses that respiratory CD80 positive DCs number was significantly positively correlated with IL-6 level in the lung (r = 0.761, P = 0.042) and the Smith score (r = 0.752, P = 0.047). Conclusions There is a significantly higher percentage of CD80 positive DCs in the lung and spleen in ALI mice, and a significantly positively correlation between respiratory CD80 positive DCs number and IL-6 level in the lung or the Smith score, which suggests elevated expression of CD80 on dendritic cells seems to play an important role in the pathogenesis of acute lung injury.

Objective:To investigate the effects of resuscitation with different fluids on hemodynamics,oxygen transport and extravascular lung water after acute hemorrhage in dogs. Method:Fifteen dogs were anesthetized and bled to a mean arterial pressure of 4.67 kPa to develop the hemorrhagic shock model.Then the animals were infused with one of three randomly selected fluid:lactated Ringer's solution, blood and polygeline.The terminal point of fluid resuscitation was at the level of PAWP of 2.0 kPa. Hemodynamics, oxygen transport and extravascular lung water values were measured. Result:colloids fluids infusion has more better efficacy and less extravascular lung water than crystalloids fluids infusion in hemorrhagic shock resuscitation,and polygeline infusion could restore hemodynamics better, meanwhile blood infusion could restore oxygen transport better.

Objective To compare the characteristics of coronary artery lesions and ventricular systolic, diastolic and synchronous function of non-ST-segment elevation (NSTEMI) with those of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in Chinese. Methods One hundred and sixty-eight consecutive patients with NSTEMI 116 and STEMI 52 were enrolled into this study. Coronary angiography (CAG) was performed within 72 hours in all patients, while the parameters of left ventricular function were measured by equilibrium radionuclide angiography (ERNA) with ventricular phase analysis (PA) within 1 week after acute myocardial infarction. Results (1) The incidences of patients associated with diabetes and old myocardial infarction in NSTEMI group were higher than those in STEMI group (30.77% vs 10.34%; 34.62% P

Objective To explore the feasibility of the applicatoin of readout-segmented echo-planar imaging (RS-EPI) at 3.0T MR of the orbit DWI and compared with single-shot echo-planar imaging (SS-EPI).Methods Forty-two volunteers underwent both standard SS-EPI and RS-EPI DWI of the orbit at a 3.0T MR unit.Two sets of DWI images were independently qualitatively scored in the number of distinguishable normal structures,fat suppression,ghosting artifact and overall image quality.SNR of the vitreous body,geometric distortion ratio (GDR) in both anterior-posterior (AP) and right-left (RL) direction,and ADC value of the vitreous body and pons were also quantitatively calculated and compared between two sets of DWI images.The statistical analysis was performed.Results For qualitative assessment,the RS-EPI was superior to SS-EPI on the number of distinguishable normal structures (P=0.009 0),ghosting artifact (P＜0.000 1),and overall image quality (P＜0.000 1),while no significant difference was found on fat suppression (P=0.753 9).For quantitative assessment,RS-EPI had significantly lower GDR than the SS-EPI in both AP and RL direction (P=0.001 4,0.001 7).The SNR in RS-EPI was significantly lower than that of SS-EPI (P=0.004 0).Meanwhile,there was no significant difference of ADC on vitreous body and pons between RS-EPI and SS-EPI (P=0.143 8,0.126 2).Conclusion The RS-EPI can provide better image quality than SS-EPI protocol in orbital DWI at 3.0T MR imaging.

ObjectiveTo verify the relation between the infection of Hp strains with cag A gene and the occurrence of gastric cancer.MethodsThis study included 36 chronic superficial gastritis samples and 30 gastric cancer samples. Diagnosis was made by the endoscopic biopsy, laparotomy, and pathology. Cag A gene was determined by PCR technique.ResultsTotal cag A gene positive rate in chronic superficial gastritis group was 33%,and 80% in gastric cancer group ( P