Biomarkers ; metabolism ; Cholesterol ; metabolism ; Coronary Disease ; Humans

Objective To investigate the changes and clinical significance of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH),creatine kinase (CK),glutamate pyruvate transaminase (AST),and cerebrospinal fluid lactate dehydrogenase (CSF LDH) in adult patients with acute central nervous system infection.Methods The levels of myocardial enzymes (AST,LDH,and CK) in serum of 96 adult patients with acute intracranial infection in 7days and 39 healthy people were measured by Beckman automatic biochemical analyzer and enzyme rate assay,and CSF LDH level in 96 patients were measured simultaneously.Results (1) The serum myocardial enzymes (LDH,CK,and AST) of intracranial infection group (47 cases with viral encephalitis,30 cases with tuberculous meningitis,and 19 cases with purulent encephalitis) were significantly higher than those of normal control group (P ＜0.01).(2)The myocardial enzymes (LDH,and AST ) of patients with cerebral functional disorder were significantly higher than those of patients with normal cerebral function (P ＜0.05).(3)The levels of serum AST,LDH,and CK in the virus encephalitis group,serum AST and LDH in the purulent encephalitis group,and serum LDH in the tuberculous meningitis group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.01).The CSF LDH level in the viral meningitis group was prominently lower than that in the tuberculous encephalitis group and purulent encephalitis group,respectively (P ＜0.01).(4) No correlations were found between CSF LDH and serum myocardial enzymes (P ＞0.05).Conclusions (1)There is significant change in the levels of serum LDH,CK,AST,and CSF LDH of adult patients with acute intracranial infection,especially in infected patients with cerebral functional disorder,and the change of LDH is the most obvious.(2)The levels of serum myocardial enzymes and CSF LDH are helpful to the differential diagnosis of intracranial infection in early stage,and judging the severity of the illness.

Antigens, CD20 ; metabolism ; Epstein-Barr Virus Infections ; virology ; Female ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse ; pathology ; virology ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; virology

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of DZWJY-1 type electronic moxibustion apparatus and traditional moxibustion in treating knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods: A total of 76 eligible patients were randomized into an electronic moxibustion apparatus group and a traditional moxibustion group, with 38 cases in each group. The electronic moxibustion apparatus group was intervened by DZWJY-1 type electronic moxibustion apparatus, and the traditional moxibustion group received moxa stick moxibustion for treatment. Neixiyan (EX-LE 4), Dubi (ST 35), Xuehai (SP 10) and Liangqiu (ST 34) were selected for both groups and the treatment was conducted 3 times a week for a total of 12 times. The visual analog scale (VAS) and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) scores were observed before treatment and after 6 and 12 sessions of treatment, respectively. Results: There were 4 dropout cases in the traditional moxibustion group. Therefore, this trial had 72 valid cases, including 38 cases in the electronic moxibustion apparatus group and 34 cases in the traditional moxibustion group, the differences in the baseline data between the two groups were statistically insignificant (P>0.05). After 6 and 12 sessions of treatment, the VAS scores decreased significantly with the increase of treatment sessions in both groups (all P<0.01), and the betweengroup differences were statistically insignificant at the same time points (both P>0.05). The pain intensity was evaluated using the weighted value of VAS score. The markedly effective rate was 47.4％ and the total effective rate was 89.5％ in the electronic moxibustion apparatus group, versus 50.0％ and 94.1％ in the traditional moxibustion group, and the betweengroup differences were statistically insignificant (both P>0.05). After 6 and 12 sessions of treatment, the total score and the component scores including pain, stiffness and difficulty moving in the WOMAC decreased significantly with the increase of treatment sessions in both groups (all P<0.01), and the between-group differences were statistically insignificant (all P>0.05). Conclusion: Electronic moxibustion apparatus and traditional moxibustion both are effective in reducing joint pain and improving joint function in KOA patients, and they are equivalent comparing the clinical efficacy.

It has been shown that mitochondria not only control their own Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)]), but also exert an influence over Ca(2+) signaling of the entire cell, including the endoplasmic reticulum or the sarcoplasmic reticulum, the plasma membrane, and the nucleus. That is to say, mitochondria couple cellular metabolic state with Ca(2+) transport processes. This review focuses on the ways in which the mitochondrial Ca(2+) handling system provides integrity and modulation for the cell to cope with the complex actions throughout its life cycle, enumerates some indeterminate aspects about it, and finally, prospects directions of future research.
Biological Transport ; Calcium Signaling ; Cell Membrane ; physiology ; Endoplasmic Reticulum ; physiology ; Mitochondria ; physiology ; Sarcoplasmic Reticulum ; physiology

Background It is well known that the diminution of visual acuity appears before notable complications in some high myopic eyes.However,whether the impaired vision is associated with the change of retinal thickness at macula area is still under investigation.Objective This study was to investigate the relationship of macular retinal thickness with the change of visual acuity in high myopic eyes.Methods A consecutive caseobservational study was performed.Two hundred and forty-five eyes of 132 patients with the diopter of-6.00～-20.00 D were enrolled in this study during the January 2011 to January 2012 in Beijing Tongren Eye Center.All of the patients received the measurement of retinal thickness with Fourier Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (FDOCT),and the scan mode was MM6.The eyes were divided into the corrected vision ≥0.9 group and the corrected vision ≤0.8 group.In addition,the eyes were assigned to the non-posterior staphyloma group,posterior staphyloma Ⅰ group (macular symmetry) and posterior staphyloma Ⅱ group (macular gradient).The retinal thicknesses in different quadrants at the macular zone were measured and calculated by OCT software.Results The demography was matched in different groups.Corrected visual acuity was significantly increased in the corrected vision ≥ 0.9 group than that in the corrected vision ≤0.8 group (1.02±0.16 vs.0.62±0.08) (t=3.233,P=0.001).Retinal thickness value at fovea was (256.28±13.19) μm in the corrected vision ≥0.9 group,and that in the corrected vision ≤0.8 group was (231.17 ± 10.96) μm,with a significant difference between the two groups (t =2.134,P =0.031).The corrected visual acuity was 1.00±0.27,0.78±0.21 and 0.90±0.13 in the non-posterior staphyloma group,posterior staphyloma Ⅰ group and posterior staphyloma Ⅱ group,respectively,showing significant difference among the three groups (F=15.760,P=0.015),and the corrected visual acuity of the non-posterior staphyloma group and posterior staphyloma Ⅱ group were significantly higher than that of posterior staphyloma Ⅰ group (q =16.131,P =0.006 ; q =-10.831,P=0.008).A significant difference also was seen in the mean retinal thickness among the three groups (F=2.316,P =0.025).The mean retinal thickness in the posterior staphyloma Ⅰ group was (234.21 ± 15.69) μm,which was significantly smaller than (252.25± 15.31) μm of the posterior staphyloma Ⅱ group (q =12.977,P =0.023).There were no significant difference in the retinal thickness at para-fovea area among the three groups (F=0.318,P =0.078).However,significant difference was found at peri-fovea area in different groups (F=1.925,P =0.013).The mean retinal thicknesses at peri-fovea area was (273.26 ± 16.37) μm in the posterior staphyloma Ⅱ group and was significantly smaller than (289.11 ± 19.30) μm of the posterior staphyloma Ⅰ group and (290.33 ± 17.12) μm of the non-posterior staphyloma group (q =-8.305,P =0.023 ; q =-7.011,P =0.012).Conclusions The retinal thickness at fovea is associated with the corrected visual acuity in high myopic eyes.The thinning of retinal thickness at the vertex of posterior staphyloma is one of causes of visual function impairment.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of the levels of IGF-I in the epididymis and the expression of IGF-I in the testis of adult male rat after the administration of cyclophosphamide.

METHODSNinety-six male adult rats (8 weeks age) were divided into 6 groups. The doses given to the rats of the groups 1 to 5 were 10, 20, 40, 80 and 100 mg/(kg x d), respectively. The remaining group was served as control. All those rats were sacrificed and IGF-I were quantitatively determined by ELISA techniques 2 and 4 weeks after the administration of the drug (by gastric fudge). Immunohistochemical SP technique was used to examine expression of IGF-I in rat testis.

RESULTSThe levels of cell factors (IGF-I) in the epididymis of the rats were gradually reduced with the increasing time and dose after administration of the drug. In the mean time the expression of IGF-I in the tissues of the testis of those rats were also gradually reduced.

CONCLUSIONIn the time of oligozoospermia/azoospermia induced by the administration of cyclophosphamide, the expression levels of IGF-I in the genetic system were significantly reduced. The possible mechanism of these changes could be attributed to the lower spermatogenesis function of the testis caused by the administration of cyclophosphamide.

Animals ; Azoospermia ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; Cyclophosphamide ; toxicity ; Disease Models, Animal ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epididymis ; metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; biosynthesis ; Male ; Oligospermia ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Testis ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo study the characteristics of the strains of Salmonella enterica (S. enterica) serovar Senftenberg lacking Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1).

METHODSA total of 10 strains of S. enterica serovar Senftenberg were isolated from 10 cases of diarrhea patients. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), PCR, sequencing techniques and cell invasion test were adapted to study the molecular types and invasiveness of the genes and cells; and made a comparison between the 10 strains and the strains (C02013) isolated in Shenzhen in 2002.

RESULTSThe 10 Senftenberg isolated (S09007-S09012, S09014-S09017) in Shanghai showed three PFGE patterns, which were significantly different from the strains isolated in Shenzhen. PCR-amplified results indicated the invasion gene (invA), secreted effector protein gene (sipA) and gene fragments as fhlA-hilA, hilA-spaP and spaP-invH in the 10 strains of SPI-1 were all negative. The sequencing results revealed that the 10 strains isolated in Shanghai lacked most parts of SPI-1 genes, as fragments from orgA to invH and parts of orgA gene itself; however, compared with strains isolated in Shenzhen, the sprB-orgC gene existed. The missing parts of genes were replaced by a simple insertion sequence (IS) of 1000 bp in the strains isolated both in Shenzhen in 2002 and in Shanghai in 2006. The invasiveness rates of the 10 strains (S09007-S09012, S09014-S09017) towards Hela cells were (0.0053 ± 0.0024)%, (0.0046 ± 0.0006)%, (0.0047 ± 0.0003)%, (0.0064 ± 0.0012)%, (0.0065 ± 0.0011)%, (0.0070 ± 0.0020)%, (0.0115 ± 0.0030)%, (0.0099 ± 0.0039)%, (0.0180 ± 0.0135)% and (0.0031 ± 0.0012)%, respectively; which were all significantly lower than the rate of invA-positive control strain STM1344 ((5.0800 ± 0.6333)%); lower or close to the rate of invA-lacked artificial-mutated strain STMinvA-((0.0193 ± 0.0045)%).

CONCLUSIONSPI-1 genes are not essential for the diarrhea caused by S. enterica serovar Senftenberg.

Adult ; Aged ; Bacterial Typing Techniques ; Diarrhea ; microbiology ; Feces ; microbiology ; Female ; Genes, Bacterial ; Genomic Islands ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Salmonella enterica ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; pathogenicity

OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the effects of varicocele (VC) on IL-1 and NO levels in testes of rats with VC.

METHODSMale adult Wistar rats were divided into two groups randomly, VC group (n = 30) and pseudo-operation group (n = 20), and the levels of IL-1 and NO in the testes were determined and compared.

RESULTSThe levels of IL-1 and No of left tests in VC group were higher than those in pseudo-operation group, respectively(P < 0.01). While the levels of IL-1 and NO of right testes between two groups were not significantly different (P > 0.05). More over, the level of IL-1 correlated significantly with that of NO(r = 0.572, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe results revealed that the changes of IL-1 and NO levels in the testes of rats with VC might be the reason which caused testes damage, disturbance of spermatogenesis and even infertility.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Interleukin-1 ; metabolism ; Male ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Testis ; metabolism ; ultrastructure ; Varicocele ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo analyze the clinical features of patients with newly diagnosed myeloma bone disease (MBD).

METHODClinical features of MBD in two hundred and five patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) were analyzed retrospectively. The relationship between outcome of different grades of MBD patients and their prognosis was compared.

RESULTS(1) Among the 205 patients, one hundred and fifty (72.7%) had bone pain as the first symptom. (2) According to X-ray evaluation, there were 23 (11.3%) of grade 0, 14 (6.9%) grade 1, 23 (11.3%) of grade 2, 68 (33.3%) grade 3 and 76 (37.2%) grade 4. (3) Patients with grade2-4 MBD had significantly higher ECOG performance score, marrow plasmacytes, marrow CD138(+) CD38(+) cell percentage and serum IL-6 level than those with grade 0 - 1 did (P < 0.05). Patients with grade 4 MBD presented with hypocalcemia (P < 0.05) more often than those with grades 0 - 3 diseases did. (4) There was no significant difference in response to initial induction chemotherapy among the five groups (P = 0.642). (5) Univariate analysis demonstrated that the time to progression (TTP) in grade 2 - 4 MBD groups was significantly shorter than that in grade 0 - 1 groups (P = 0.029). (6) Multivariable COX analysis did not indicate lytic bone changes was a independent prognostic factor for OS and TTP.

CONCLUSIONThere is a rather high incidence of MBD in MM patients in China. Patients with extensive X-ray bone lesions have more severe hematologic parameters than those without bone lesions did, and severe bone lesions is an important adverse prognostic factor for TTP.

Bone Diseases ; Bone Marrow ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; Multiple Myeloma ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies