OBJECTIVE:To investigate therapeutic efficacy and safety of levamlodipine and telmisartan combined with hydro-chlorothiazide in the treatment of anti-dipper hypertension. METHODS:Totally 150 patients with anti-dipper hypertension were ran-domly divided into group A,B,C,with 50 cases in each group. Group A was given Telmisartan tablet 40 mg+Hydrochlorothiazide tablet 10 mg,once a day,in the morning. Group B was given Levamlodipine tablet 5 mg,once a day,in the night. Group C was given Telmisartan tablet(usage and dosage same as group A)+Hydrochlorothiazide tablet(usage and dosage same as group A)+Le-vamlodipine tablet(usage and dosage same as group B). Treatment courses of 3 groups lasted for 8 weeks. The changes of electro-lyte and 24 h ambulatory blood pressure were observed and compared among 3 groups before and after treatment. The incidence of adverse reactions was recorded. RESULTS:There was no statistical significance in the electrolyte indexes in 3 groups before and af-ter treatment(P>0.05). Before treatment,there was no statistical significance in 24 h blood pressure among 3 groups(P>0.05). Af-ter treatment,the 24 h blood pressure of the patients in the 3 groups after treatment was lower than before treatment,and group C was lower than that of the group A and group B(P<0.05). After treatment,the rate of anti-dipper rhythm reversal in group C was significantly higher than group A and B,with statistical significance(P<0.05). There was no statistical significance in the inci-dence of ADR among 3 groups(P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS:Levamlodipine and telmisartan combined with hydrochlorothiazide show good therapeutic efficacy for anti-dipper hypertension,and can reduce 24 h blood pressure and effectively reverse anti-dipper rhythm with good safety.

Objective: To investigate differentially expressed protein profiles in B16-F10 grafted melanoma and its metastasis in the lung in order to identify molecular markers of melanoma metastasis. Methods: Differentially expressed proteins in B16-F10 grafted melanoma and its metastatic lesion in the lung were isolated and identified by fluorescence two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis(2D-DIGE)coupled with matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF-MS).Some of identified proteins were further confirmed by Real-time PCR analysis. Results: High resolutional images of differential gel electrophoresis were obtained and 9 of 30 differentially expressed proteins (IRatiol≥2,P<0.01)were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS.The expression of Myoglobin(MB),vimentin(VIM),phosphoglycerate kinase 1(PGK1),Triosephosphate isomerase(TPI or TIM),heavy-chain binding protein(BiP),α-enolase,β-actin,γ-actin,and laminin-binding protein were up-regulated in the experimental group compared with the control group.These proteins were involved in the cytoskeletal formation,glycolysis and so on.Real-time PCR analysis showed up-regulation of mRNA expression of PGK1 and TPI in the experimental group(P=0.001 and 0.003),which was in consistent with the resuits of proteomic analysis. Conclusion: A variety of abnormally expressed proteins contribute to the metastasis of mice melanoma.Glycolytic enzymes PGK1 and TPI may be involved in this process.

Objective To design radioactive biliary stents and to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the stents.Methods Plastic stents with inserted iodine-125 seeds were designed and tested in sixteen normal pigs. In the brachytherapy group,the pigs were implanted radioactive stents in the common bile duct (CBD) and then divided into three groups on the basis of radiation dose of the reference point,50 Gy group (n=4),100Gy group (n=4),and 150 Gy group (n=4).In the control group,the same plastic stents with non-radioactive seeds were implanted (n=2),whilst in the blank control group,no stents were implanted (n=2).Blood routine,serum amylase,liver and kidney function were tested before and 1,7,14,30,60 days after the implantation of stents. Animals were sacrificed on the 14,30 and 60 days after stem implantation.Some relevant index such as perito- neal bleeding and inflammation,ascites,injury of adjacent organs,as well as perforation,stricture and dilatation of bile duct were investigated.Bile duct tissues were stained with H-E,and observed under microscopy. Results The radioactive plastic biliary stents were successfully prepared and implanted.There was no effusion, hemorrhage or necrosis in the adjacent organs of radioactive biliary stent implanted group.Perforation of the CBD wall was not observed in the brachytherapy group.By pathological examination in the CBD,obvious hyperplasia of the mucosa and mucosal glands were seen in the control group.Necrosis of mucosal layer existed in brachy- therapy groups.In 50 Gy group,mucosal layer was incomplete and mild hyperplasia of mucosal glands was seen. In 100 Gy group,mucosal layer disappeared and almost no hyperplasia of the mucosal glands could be found.In 150 Gy group,mucosal layer disappeared and mucosal glands obviously decreased.There were no obvious abnormalities noted in blood tests after implantation in each group.Conclusions The design of radioactive biliary stents are feasible and safe.The radioactive stents have obvious radiation effect besides the mechanical effect on the mucosal layer of CBD.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the genotype-phenotype correlations in the Hb Constant Spring (HbCS) carriers, and to investigate the effect of HbCS on hematologic parameters.

METHODSComplete blood cell count and hemoglobin electrophoresis analyses were performed in 125 HbCS cases. The α-and β-thalassemia mutations were determined by reverse dot-blotting and Gap-PCR.

RESULTSThe presence of the SEA deletion or Hb Quong Sze (HbQS) with HbCS leads to HbH-CS disease. There was significant difference between HbH-CS and αCSα/-α, HbH-CS and αCSα/αα in the hematological parameters. The genotype of αCSα/-α or αα/αCSα had slight effect on hematological parameters. When the Hb Constant Spring mutation co-existed with heterozygous β-thalassemia, the hematological characteristics of β-thalassemia was presented. Only 57.6% of carriers with HbCS were detected by hemoglobin electrophoresis.

CONCLUSIONThe cases with co-existence of HbCS trait and other α-thalassemia trait, or β-thalassemia trait, showed variation in their red blood cell parameters. For such compound heterozygotes for HbCS and other α- or β-thalassaemia mutations, which were usually misdiagnosed in clinical screening by hemoglobin electrophoresis, accurate diagnose can be made by molecular diagnosis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Genotype ; Hemoglobins ; genetics ; Hemoglobins, Abnormal ; genetics ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phenotype ; Young Adult ; alpha-Thalassemia ; genetics ; beta-Thalassemia ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo compare the difference between muscle-tension-balance acupuncture and conventional acupuncture in the impacts on motor function and living ability of patients with drop foot and strephenopodia after stroke.

METHODSSeventy cases were randomly divided into a muscle-tension-balance acupuncture group (group A) and a conventional acupuncture group (group B), 35 cases in each one. In group A, firstly the acupuncture of weakening technique was applied to Sanyinjiao (SP 6) and Taixi (KI 3) on the musculus extensor side; secondly, the strengthening technique was adopted at Jiexi (ST 41), Shenmai (BL 62) and Yanglingquan (GB 34) on musculus flexor side. In group B, the conventional needling technique was applied to Zusanli (ST 36), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Xuanzhong (GB 39), etc. The treatment was given once every day in either group, 10 treatments made one session and 3 sessions of treatment were required. The score of Fugl-Meyer motor function of the lower limb on the affected side and Barthel index score were assessed before and after treatment in two groups.

RESULTSAfter treated for 3 sessions, Fugle-Meyer motor function score and Barthel index score of the patients all increased in two groups (all P < 0.01). The results in group A were better than those in group B (both P < 0.05). The improvements were apparent in the 2nd session of treatment in group A (both P < 0.01), which were superior to those in group B (both P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONEither acupuncture therapy can improve the motor function and living ability of patients with drop foot and strephenopodia after stroke. The muscle-tension-balance acupuncture achieves the efficacy quickly and its efficacy is much better.

Activities of Daily Living ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Gait Disorders, Neurologic ; etiology ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Motor Activity ; Stroke ; complications

OBJECTIVETo compare the difference of clinical efficacy in the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) between acupuncture combined with Wenzin granule and simple Wenxin granule therapy.

METHODSSixty hospitalized cases of PAF were randomized into a medication group and a medication--acupuncture group. Wenxin granule was given to the patients in the two groups 3 times a day, 9 g each time, 4 weeks as a treatment course. Meanwhile, acupuncture was added to the medication--acupuncture group at bilateral Neiguan (PC 6), Shenmen (HT 7), Ximen (PC 4) with uneven reinforcing-reducing manipulation every 15 min, 1 min each time. The needle was retained for 30 minutes. The acupuncture was given once daily for continuously 4 weeks. The therapeutic efficacy of the two groups was assessed after treatment.

METHODSIn the medication+acupuncture group, 18 cases were markedly effective, 10 cases were effective and 2 cases were failed, the total effective rate was 93.3%; in the medication group, 15 cases were markedly effective, 8 cases were effective and 7 cases were failed, the total effective rate was 76.7%. There were statistical significances in clinical efficacy between the two groups (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture combined with Wenxin granule has a better effect than simple Wenxin granule therapy in the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Aged ; Atrial Fibrillation ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome

The mitochondrial respiratory complex II or succinate: ubiquinone oxidoreductase (SQR) is a key membrane complex in both the tricarboxylic acid cycle and aerobic respiration. Five disinfectant compounds were investigated with their potent inhibition effects on the ubiquinone reduction activity of the porcine mitochondrial SQR by enzymatic assay and crystallography. Crystal structure of the SQR bound with thiabendazole (TBZ) reveals a different inhibitor-binding feature at the ubiquinone binding site where a water molecule plays an important role. The obvious inhibitory effect of TBZ based on the biochemical data (IC(50) ~100 μmol/L) and the significant structure-based binding affinity calculation (~94 μmol/L) draw the suspicion of using TBZ as a good disinfectant compound for nematode infections treatment and fruit storage.
Animals ; Anthelmintics ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Binding Sites ; Crystallography, X-Ray ; Electron Transport Complex II ; drug effects ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Mitochondria ; drug effects ; enzymology ; Molecular Structure ; Oxidoreductases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; chemistry ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Swine ; Thiabendazole ; chemistry ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Ubiquinone ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Water ; chemistry ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the hematological characteristics of co-inheritance of α-thalassemia (α-thal) and β-thalassemia (β-thal) and to survey the incidence of co-inheritance of α-thal and β-thal in Guangxi.

METHODSDNA samples from 370 primary and middle school students who were β-thal carriers in Guangxi were further processed for the α-goblin gene mutation screening, and were grouped based on the genotype of β- and α-goblin gene. The hematological indexes to the different groups were compared by One-way ANOVA.

RESULTSOf the total 370 β-thal carriers, 79 were found to carry α-thal, which gave a frequency of 21.35% for β-thal carriers and 1.36% for coincidence of these two common disorders in the local population. As expected, the 79 patients presented very variable α-globin alterations in combination with β-globin mutations, showing 31 genotype combined with the coincidence of both Hb disorders. Except the genotypes of 3 β-thal heterozygotes combined with ααα(anti3.7) triplication and 2 β-thal carriers with IVS-II-654(C→T)/N combined-α(3.7)/αα presented the phenotype of thalassemia intermedia, and other 74 carriers with co-inheritance of α-thal and β-thal all presented the phenotype of β-thal trait. There were significant differences between β-thal heterozygotes and the carriers with a co-inheritance of both β+α(0) thal in MCH, MCV and Hb. In addition, there existed significant difference between the carriers with a co-inheritance of both β+α(+) thal and a co-inheritance of both β+α(0) thal in MCV, MCH and Hb.

CONCLUSIONCompared to that of β-thal heterozygotes, the carriers with a co-inheritance of α-thal and β-thal had slighter phenotype with hematological characteristics. It's difficult to distinguish the double heterozygotes with the co-inheritance of α-thal and β-thal from β-thal heterozygotes by hematological indexes, the molecular diagnosis should be performed.

Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; alpha-Thalassemia ; blood ; epidemiology ; genetics ; beta-Thalassemia ; blood ; epidemiology ; genetics

Objective: To observe the expression level of microRNA-181 (miR-181) and importin-α3 in oxidized low density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) induced vascular endothelial cell injury models, and explore the effect and mechanism of miR-181 on endothelial cell injury. Methods: Human vein endothelial cell line CRL-1730 were cultured and vascular endothelial cell injury model was established by intervention with ox-LDL. The cells were divided into control group (intervened by double distilled water), low-dose group (intervened by 10 μg/ml ox-LDL) and high-dose group (intervened by 20 μg/ml ox-LDL). In addition, cells of low-dose group were divided into miR-181 mimic group (miR-181 mimic was transfected) and mimic control group (miR-181 mimic control was transfected). Cell viabilities, mRNA and protein expression level of interleukin-6 (IL-6), miR-181, importin-α3, and nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB) were measured by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT), real-time PCR and Western blot, respectively. Results: (1) The cell viabilities in low-dose group and high-dose group were lower than control group (0.207±0.012 and 0.204±0.007 vs. 0.323±0.018, all P<0.01). The relative IL-6 mRNA expression in low-dose group and high-dose group were higher than control group (1.24±0.16 and 1.36±0.23 vs. 0.22±0.03, all P<0.01). The relative miR-181 mRNA expression in low-dose group and high-dose group were lower than control group (0.91±0.11 and 0.88±0.07 vs. 2.20±0.13, all P<0.01). The relative importin-α3 mRNA expression in low-dose group and high-dose group were higher than control group (1.23±0.22 and 0.55±0.03 vs. 0.44±0.06, all P<0.01). The relative NF-κB mRNA expression in low-dose group and high-dose group were higher than control group (1.67±0.34 and 0.41±0.11 vs. 0.11±0.04, all P<0.01). The relative importin-α3 protein expression in low-dose group and high-dose group were higher than control group (1.44±0.23 and 1.31±0.22 vs. 0.29±0.08, all P<0.01). The relative NF-κB protein expression in low-dose group and high-dose group were higher than control group (0.43±0.05 and 0.37±0.04 vs. 0.16±0.03, all P<0.01). (2)The cell viabilities in miR-181 mimic group was higher than in mimic control group (0.262±0.008 vs. 0.211±0.021, P<0.01). The relative miR-181 mRNA expression level in miR-181 mimic group was higher than in mimic control group (4.23±0.34 vs. 0.88±0.16, P<0.01). The relative importin-α3 mRNA expression level in miR-181 mimic group was lower than in mimic control group (0.24±0.03 vs. 1.08±0.13, P<0.01). The relative NF-κB mRNA expression level was lower in miR-181 mimic group than in mimic control group (0.13±0.03 vs. 0.51±0.06, P<0.01). The relative importin-α3 protein expression level was lower in miR-181 mimic group than in mimic control group (0.34±0.06 vs. 1.67±0.26, P<0.01). The relative NF-κB protein expression level was lower in miR-181 mimic group than in mimic control group (0.43±0.02 vs. 1.53±0.36, P<0.01). Conclusions Lower miR-181 expression but higher importin-α3 and its downstream NF-κB signaling are associated with ox-LDL induced vascular endothelial cell injury and up-regulation of miR-181 could alleviate ox-LDL induced vascular endothelial cell injury possibly via importin-α3/NF-κB pathway.

At present, lung cancer ranks second and first respectively in the incidence and the mortality among malignant tumors. It is urgent to find new effective anti-lung cancer drugs with less side effects and relatively defined mechanisms. Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS)-mediated apoptosis pathway is an effective way to promote tumor cell apoptosis; diterpenoid tanshinone (DT), an effective part separated from Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, was found to have an anti-lung cancer effect in previous studies via ERS-induced PERK-EIF2α pathway. In this paper, human lung adenocarcinoma PC9 cell line and nude mouse transplantation tumor model were applied to verify the anti-lung cancer effect of DT in vivo and in vitro, and illuminate the potential mechanism via ERS induced IRE1α/caspase 12 apoptosis pathway. The results showed that in vivo, DT could promote PC9 cell apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner, up-regulate Bip, IRE1 and TRAF2 protein expressions in tumor tissue, reduce tumor weight and alleviate bodyweight loss. In vitro, DT inhibited the proliferation of PC9 cell line in a concentration-dependent manner, and destroyed the structure of mitochondria in PC9 cell, promoted Bax, IRE1α, Bip, TRAF2 and caspase 12 protein expressions, lower Bcl-2 protein expression in a time-dependent manner. DT shows a good effect on anti-lung cancer both in vivo and in vitro. The mechanism is related to the activation of ERS-induced IRE1α/caspase 12 apoptosis pathway and the promotion of cell apoptosis. ERS-mediated apoptosis pathway may be an important target of DT on anti-lung cancer.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Diterpenes, Abietane ; Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Mice ; Signal Transduction