Objective To study the relationship between velocity of middle cerebral artery(MCA),severity of disease and watershed infarction(WSI) in patients with extracranial internal carotid artery(EICA) stenosis or occlusion.Methods Transcranial Doppler(TCD) was used to detect the mean velocity(MV) of MCA in 120 patients with EICA stenosis or occlusion.The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS) was used to evaluated the patients′ condition.And CT or MRI was used to diagnosised the WSI.Results MV of MCA was severe reduced in 10 cases,middle reduced in 38 cases,and mild reduced in 42 cases,while there were 30 cases with normal MV.The scores of NIHSS in the four groups(12.5?4.7,3.9?4.8,3.2?4.7,2.4?4.9 respectively) had significant different(P

Objective To discuss the value of vertebral hemangiomas treated with the CT-guided pereutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP).Methods Forty-two patients with 49 vertebral lesions were guided by CT and injected with bone cement percutaneous into the vertebral.The effectiveness was valued by preoperative and postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS),locomotor activity scores,pain medication scores and comprehensive evaluation of long-term efficacy of WHO criteria,and undertook statistical analysis.Results The success rate in all patients was 100.0％(42/42),no serious complications.All the patients were followed up for 6 - 18 ( 12.50 ± 1.15 ) months,all lesions of the vertebral body imaging showed no tumor recurrence and vertebral collapse.The VAS scores decreased from preoperative (7.64 ± 1.29 ) scores to postoperative 1-3 days (4.82 ± 1.21 ) scores and to postoperative 3 -6 months (0.22 ±0.19) scores (P＜0.05).The locomotor activity scores decreased from preoperative (3.4 ± 0.9) scores to postoperative 1-3 days (2.1 ±0.6) scores and to postoperative 3-6 months (1.0 ±0.3) scores (P＜0.05).The pain medication scores decreased from preoperative ( 1.9 ± 0.6) scores to postoperative 1 - 3 days months ( 1.1 ± 0.2 ) scores and topostoperative 3-6 months (0.2 ± 0.1 ) scores (P ＜ 0.05 ).Comprehensive evaluation of long-term efficacy of WHO criteria:efficiency rate was 97.6％(41/42).Conclusions CT-guided percutaneous vertebroplasty for vertebral hemangioma can effectively relieve the pain caused by vertebral body to increase stability,improve motor function,which is a method with safe,minimally invasion,effect,and is superior than C-arm fluoroscopy.

Objective:To explore the regulation mechanism of fibronectin expression by studying the fefiects of cytokines on the expression of Fn in the endometrium of early pregnant mouse. Methods: The early pregnant mice were injected with cytokines, such as interlukin-l.inter-lukin-1ra, leukemia inhibitory factor, at different concentration.The levels of Fn protein and mRNA in endometrium were measured by immunob-lot and RT-PCR method.Results: Fn protein and mRNA level of LIF groups, other low or high concentration, were higher than that of control group( P

Recent studies show that epileptic seizures result in mass free radical production and induce oxidative damage because of relative deficiency in anti-oxygen system.Mitochondrium is crucial to sustaining energy metabolism,regulating cell death,synthesising neurotransmitter and oxidating fatty acid.Mitochondrium is not only the place for free radical production,but also the target of oxidative damage.Mitochondrial oxidative stress and resultant dysfunction enhance epileptic susceptibility.Seizure-induced free radical can influence energy metabolism,destroy DNA construction and induce apoptosis in neurontoxic consequences in epilepsy.

Zinc-finger proteins have been widely studied due to their highly conserved structures and DNA-binding specificity of zinc-finger domains. However, researches on the zinc-finger proteins from microorganisms, especially those from prokaryotes, are still very limited. This review focuses on the latest progress on microbial zinc-finger proteins, especially those from prokaryotes and the application of artificial zinc-finger proteins in the breeding of robust strains. Artificial zinc-finger proteins with transcriptional activation or repression domain can regulate the global gene transcription of microbial cells to acquire improved phenotypes, such as stress tolerance to heat, ethanol, butanol, and osmotic pressure. Using the zinc-finger domain as DNA scaffold in the construction of enzymatic system can enhance the catalytic efficiency and subsequently the production of specific metabolites. Currently, zinc-finger domains used in the construction of artificial transcription factor are usually isolated from mammalian cells. In the near future, novel transcription factors can be designed for strain development based on the natural zinc-finger domains from different microbes, which may be used to regulate the global gene expression of microbial cells more efficiently.
Bacteria ; metabolism ; DNA ; chemistry ; Protein Engineering ; Transcription Factors ; chemistry ; Transcriptional Activation ; Zinc Fingers

Lithium carbonate could be used to treat or prevent brain damage following traumatic injury and neurodegenerative diseases.It has been shown that its protective effect is related to protein kinase C (PKC) and extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK).It was demonstrated that PDBu,a PKC activator,inhibited amplitudes of delayed rectifier potassium current (It,) and produced a hyperpolarizing shift in the activation-voltage curve.The responses to PDBu were inhibited by lithium carbonate (50μmol/L).Further studies showed that when pretreated with MEK/ERK inhibitor U0126 (20 μmol/L),although PDBu significantly reduced IK,lithium did not reverse the effect of PDBu.Thus,the results suggested that PKC signaling cascades,along with MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) pathway,were required in the phosphorylation of potassium channel,which was presented by regulation of potassium channel characteristic.AC-cAMP and their eross-talk with GC-cGMP pathway could also modulate the effect of lithium on PKC activation,which could be one of underlying mechanisms likely related to neuroprotective effect of lithium.

OBJECTIVE:To study the protective effect of butylphthalide on the apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by Aβ1-42 and its mechanism. METHODS:HUVECs were divided into normal control group,Aβ1-42 group,TAK242 group(10 nmol/L),DMSO group(1‰DMSO)and butylphthalide low-concentration,medium-concentration and high-concentration groups (40,80,160 μg/L). Except for normal control group and DMSO group,other groups were given 50 μmol/L Aβ1-42 to culture HUVECs for 24 h. TAK242 group,DMSO group and butylphthalide low-concentration,medium-concentra-tion and high-concentration groups were given relevant concentration of drugs for 30 min,with 3 holes for each concentration. The cell viability was determined by CCK-8 assay;cell apoptosis was observed by Hochest 33342/PI double staining;the cell apoptotic rate was detected by AnnexinⅤ-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) flow cytometry;the protein expression of TLR-4 and COX-2 were determined by Western blot assay;the contents of IL-1 and TNF-α were detected by ELISA. RESULTS:Compared with nor-mal control group,cell viability of HUVECs were decreased in Aβ1-42 group;while apoptotic rate,protein expression of TLR4 and COX-2,the contents of IL-1 and TNF-α were increased. Compared with Aβ1-42 group,cell viability of HUVECs were increased in TAK242 group and butylphthalide low-concentration,medium-concentration and high-concentration groups;while apoptotic rate, protein expression of TLR4 and COX-2,the contents of IL-1 and TNF-α were decreased,with statistical significance(P<0.05 or P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS:Butylphthalide can reduce HUVECs apoptosis induced by Aβ1-42,which may be related with inhibiting the expression of TLR4,COX-2 and inflammatory factors.

AIM: To research how to separate the active component in Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort by high speed counter current chromatography. METHODS: Senkyunolide A and Z-ligustilide,the main components of volatile oil in Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort were one step separated by high speed counter current chromatography. n-hexane-ethyl acetate-ethanol-water,1 ∶ 1 ∶ 1 ∶ 1(v/v),was used as the solvent system for HSCCC. Top phase and bottom phase were respectively used as static phase and mobile phase. Optimum speed and flow rate were 900 r/min and 1. 2 mL/min respectively. RESULTS: Collected fractions were analyzed by HPLC and identified by EI-MS and 1HNMR. Purity could reach more than 95% . CONCLUSION: Lactone is fit to be separated and prepared by high speed counter current chromatography with good resolution and high purity. We find a fast and efficient way to separate these.

Objective To compare the perioperative outcomes and short-term efficacy of three-port extraperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (ELRP) and four-port ELRP.Methods Two hundred patients who had undergone ELRP for prostate cancer by a single surgeon from November 2010 to October 2014 were retrospectively analyzed.Among them,95 cases underwent three-port ELRP and 105 cases underwent four-port ELRP.On the basis of traditional four-port ELRP,three-port ELRP was characterized by the omission of the trocar on the inner side of right anterior superior iliac spine.The mean age was 66.8 ± 15.5 years,and mean total prostate specific antigen (tPSA) was 15.3 ± 12.4 μg/L.There were no significant differences including age,body mass index,tPSA,clinical stages,acceptance of neoadjuvant hormone therapy,history of transurethral resection of the prostate,history of diabetes mellitus between the 2 groups (P ＞ 0.05).Patients in three-port ELRP group had significantly smaller prostate volume than fourport group (35.6 ± 16.7 ml versus 42.2 ± 24.7 ml,P ＜ 0.05).The clinical factors as operative time,estimated blood loss,hospital stay,drainage tube keeping days,pathological Gleason scores,pathological stages,positive surgical margin rates,biochemical recurrence rates and urinary incontinence rates were compared between the 2 groups.Results The three-port group had significantly shorter operative time than the four-port group (81.0 ± 18.6 min versus 103.6 ±34.6 min),less estimated blood loss (102.6 ±75.8 ml versus 217.5 ± 182.9 ml),less positive surgical margin rates (13.7％ versus 27.6％).There were 9 patients having Gleason scores more than 7 in the three-port ELRP group and 29 patients in four-port ELRP group (P ＜ 0.05).There were no significant differences of hospital stay,drainage tube keeping days,pathological stages between the 2 groups (P ＞ 0.05).Eighty-three cases in the three-port ELRP group (87.4％) were followed up for 5-19 months with the median time of 11 months.Ninety-two cases in fourport ELRP group (87.6％) were followed up for 17-52 months and the median time was 27 months.There were no significant differences of biochemical recurrence rates and urinary incontinence rates between the 2 groups(P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Compared to four-port ELRP,three-port ELRP can provide shorter operative time,less blood loss,better negative surgical margin rates,similar oncological control and recovery of postoperative continence.In experienced hands,three-port ELRP could be a feasible and effective option for localized prostate cancer.

Objective To evaluate the learning curve of three-port extraperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy(ELRP) and to minimize operative time and blood loss about this procedure.Methods From August 2013 to October 2014,the data from 95 consecutive patients,who had undergone three-port ELRP for prostate cancer,were retrospectively analyzed.The mean age was 65.9 ± 7.7 years,mean total PSA level was 15.4 ± 12.7 μg/L,and mean body mass index(BMI) was 24.8 ± 3.2 kg/m2.According to the number of procedures performed by the surgeon,all patients were classified into three chronologic groups,including group A (No.1-32),group B (No.33-64) and group C (No.65-95).There were no significant differences including age,BMI,tPSA,estimated prostate volume,clinical stages,history of neoadjuvant endocrine therapy,history of transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) among group A,B and C (P ＞ 0.05).The operative outcomes analyzed were operative time,estimated blood loss,hospital stay,drainage tube indwelling days,pathological Gleason scores,pathological stages,positive surgical margin rates,biochemical recurrence rates and urinary incontinence rates.Among these 95 patients,the results of the first 32 cases were compared with those of the remaining 63 cases,the first 64 with the remaining 31.Results The average operative time in 95 patients was 81.0 ± 18.6 min.The sloping learning curve for this surgeon showed that the operative time for all 95 cases was strongly correlated with additional experience (| rs | =0.612,P＜0.01).Operative time,however,was not strongly correlated with the surgeon's experience in each group of A,B and C(P ＞0.05).Group A had longer operative time than that of Group B plus C(96.4 ± 11.3 min vs 73.2 ± 16.7 min,P ＜0.01).Group A plus B had longer operative time than that of group C (87.6 ± 17.2 min vs 67.5 ± 13.8 min,P ＜ 0.01).For all cases,the estimated blood loss was strongly correlated with additional experience (| rs | =0.677,P ＜ 0.01).Estimated blood loss was strongly correlated with the accumulation of experience for the initial 32 cases(| rs | =0.619,P ＜ 0.01).However,no strong correlation was observed over the next 63 cases.Group A had more blood loss than that of Group B plus C (158.7 ± 81.3 ml vs 74.1 ± 54.4 ml,P ＜ 0.01).Group A plus B had more blood loss than that of group C (125.5 ± 71.6 ml vs 55.3 ± 61.6 ml,P ＜ 0.01).But hospital stay,drainage tube keeping days were not strongly correlated with additional experience in each group(P ＞ 0.05).There were no significant correlation between the accumulation of experience and positive surgical margin rates,biochemical recurrence rates and urinary incontinence rates.Conclusion Our experience of three-port ELRP cases appears to be favorable with decreasing tendency in operative time,estimated blood loss with experience accumulation.Exposure to 32 surgeries,operative time and estimated blood loss reduced significantly,and after 64 cases operative time and estimated blood loss further reduced.