To investigate such physical indexes as hygroscopicity, angle of repose, bulk density, fillibility of compression of mixed powder of directly compressed auxiliary materials and fermented cordyceps powder by using micromeritic study methods. The results showed that spray-dried lactose Flowlac100 and microcrystalline cellulose Avicel PH102 had better effect in liquidity and compressibility on fermented cordyceps powder than pregelatinized starch. The study on the impact of directly compressed auxiliary materials on the powder property of fermented cordyceps powder had guiding significant to the research of fermented cordyceps powder tablets, and could provide basis for the development of fermented cordyceps powder tablets.
Cellulose ; chemistry ; Cordyceps ; chemistry ; Drug Compounding ; methods ; Fermentation ; Lactose ; chemistry ; Powders ; chemistry ; Tablets ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

Objective To investigate the effect of protein phosphatase 5 (PP5) on lipid metabolism in the PP5 knockout (KO) mice.Methods Male PP5 KO and wild type (WT) mice at the age of 6 weeks were used in this study. In order to study the effect of high fat diet ( HFD) feeding, the body weight was measured.The liver histology was examined by HE and oil red O staining.To further verify PP5 functions in the adipogenesis, in vitro experiment was carried out using mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF).Western blotting and real-time PCR were performed to quantified the expression of lipid metabolism-related genes in the liver tissues.Results Compared with the WT mice, the body weight gain was slower in the KO mice.The size of the lipid droplets was smaller and the quantity was less in the KO mouse liver tissue.In vitro study revealed that the KO mouse MEF cells showed less differentiated adipocytes with smaller lipid droplets than the WT MEF cells.This observation was further confirmed by detecting the expression of adipogenesis-related genes in the HFD liver.The markers of adipocyte differentiation, such as CD36, AP2, PPARγ2, and Glut4, were significantly decreased, while energy expenditure-related markers, such as phosphorylation of GR and expression of UCP1, were significantly increased.Conclusions Protein phosphatase 5 may play a regulatory role in the mouse lipid metabolism through regulating the de-phosphorylation of p-GR and enhancing the expression of UCP1.

This study examined the osteogenic effect of electromagnetic fields (EMF) under the simulated in vivo conditions. Rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and rat osteoblasts were co-cultured and exposed to 50 Hz, 1.0 mT EMF for different terms. Unexposed single-cultured BMSCs and osteoblasts were set as controls. Cell proliferation features of single-cultured BMSCs and osteoblasts were studied by using a cell counting kit (CCK-8). For the co-culture system, cells in each group were randomly chosen for alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining on the day 7. When EMF exposure lasted for 14 days, dishes in each group were randomly chosen for total RNA extraction and von Kossa staining. The mRNA expression of osteogenic markers was detected by using real-time PCR. Our study showed that short-term EMF exposure (2 h/day) could obviously promote proliferation of BMSCs and osteoblasts, while long-term EMF (8 h/day) could promote osteogenic differentiation significantly under co-cultured conditions. Under EMF exposure, osteogenesis-related mRNA expression changed obviously in co-cultured and single-cultured cells. It was noteworthy that most osteogenic indices in osteoblasts were increased markedly after co-culture except Bmp2, which was increased gradually when cells were exposed to EMF. Compared to other indices, the expression of Bmp2 in BMSCs was increased sharply in both single-cultured and co-cultured groups when they were exposed to EMF. The mRNA expression of Bmp2 in BMSCs was approximately four times higher in 8-h EMF group than that in the unexposed group. Our results suggest that Bmp2-mediated cellular interaction induced by EMF exposure might play an important role in the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs.

OBJECTIVETo probe the function of interleukin-17 (IL-17) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients of accumulated dampness-heat obstruction in joints syndrome (ADOJS) by detecting levels of IL-17 in serum and the synovial fluid and analyzing its correlation with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C reactive protein (CRP).

METHODSFrom January 2011 to January 2013, recruited were 90 RA inpatients of ADOJS at Department of Integrative Medical Rheumatism, General Hospital of Chengdu Military Region, of which 28 patients had knee joint effusion. Besides, 30 healthy volunteers who received physical examination at our hospital were recruited as the normal control group, and 30 patients with osteoarthritis (OA) who had knee joint effusion were recruited as the synovial fluid control group. The expression levels of IL-17 in serum and the synovial fluid were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and contents of ESR and CRP were detected in RA patients. Then correlation analyses were performed between levels of IL-17 and contents of ESR and CRP.

RESULTSCompared with the normal serum control group, the expression levels of IL-17 in serum of RA patients significantly increased (P < 0.05). Compared with the serum of RA patients and the synovial fluid of OA patients, the expression levels of IL-17 in the synovial fluid of RA patients significantly increased (P < 0.05). The expression levels of IL-17 in serum of RA patients were not correlated with ESR or CRP (r = 0.092, -0.082; P > 0.05), and the expressional levels of IL-17 in the synovial fluid of RA patients were not correlated with ESR or CRP (r = 0.113, -0.034; P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSIL-17 was the main effector cytokine of Th17 cells. The expressional levels of IL-17 significantly increased in serum and the synovial fluid of RA patients of ADOJS, but with no correlation to ESR or CRP. It indicated that IL-17 participated in the occurrence and development of RA. Concrete mechanisms needed to be further proved in larger samples.

Aged ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; blood ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; metabolism ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-17 ; blood ; metabolism ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Synovial Fluid ; metabolism

According to the clinical experience and the active role of electroacupuncture instruments in clinical acupuncture and moxibustion, the potential security hazards of the available electroacupuncture instruments are pointed out. These hazards not only can cause injury to a varying degrees for the patient, but also lead to a poor therapeutic effect. The reasons of the security problems are mainly inaccurate regulation parameters, unreasonable displaying parameters, unscientific output of constant voltage, and unqualified protection measures for the electroacupuncture instrument. The countermeasures improving security and the measures increasing the intelligent level of the electroacupuncture instrument are put forward.
Electroacupuncture ; instrumentation ; methods ; Humans ; Safety ; Safety Management ; methods

Objective Effectiveness of two kinds of thermochemotherapy infusion from intraarterial approach were studied in the grafted liver VX2 tumors of rabbit.Methods VX2 tumor model was established in 30 Newzland rabbit's livers.Percutaneous transfemoral hepatic arterial catheterization with fixation of the cathether tip inside the feeding vessel was carried out under DSA guidance.All 30 rabbits were divided into three groups(n=10 in each group),normal temperature 100 ml saline+Adriamycin(ADM)infusion(group 1),60℃100 ml saline+ADM continuous perfusion(group 2)and 60℃100 ml saline+ADM intermittent perfusion(group 3).After the perfusion,the lasting time periods of 43-45℃for tumor tissue of group 2 and 3 together with the concentrations of ADM within tumor's tissue were measured.Results Concentrations of ADM were shown as(12.013?2.237)?g/ml,(17.622?1.368)?g/ml,and(11.519?1.225)?g/ml for group 2, group 3 and group 1 respectively.60℃intermittent perfusion vs 60℃continuous perfusion showed P＜0.05, 60℃continuous pefusion vs normal temperature perfusion also showed P＞0.05. 43-45℃period lasting time (min)for 60℃continuous pefusion vs 60℃intermittent pefusion were(4.1?2.7)min and(11.3?3.3)min respectively,the latter was three times more than the former.There were no differences shown betwen the temperature,respiration and heart rate of group 2 and group 3.Conclusion Intermittent intraarterial perfusion thermochemotherapy is a more effective interventional management among all thermochemotherapies.

The change in plasma ghrelin level after 4-and 12-week adjunctive therapy of rosiglitazones in type 2 diabetic patients inadequately controlled by sulphonylurea alone was observed and the relation between ghrelin and insulin resistance was analysed.The results showed that rosiglitazones significantly increased circulating ghrelin level and obviously decreased insulin resistance index after therapy for 4 and 12 weeks in type 2 diabetic patients.

Host genetic factors, such as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles, are important in Human immunod-eficiency virus (HIV) infection and its progression to AIDS. HLA class I genes, especially highly polymorphicHLA-B genes, are involved in the activation of HLA-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) against HIV, andthus control susceptibility to or protect against this virus. The present study was aimed to determine the distributionof HLA-B alleles in the Chinese Uygur ethnic group and its association with HIV infection. One hundred ten healthycontrol (HIV negative) and 128 HIV positive Chinese Xinjiang Uygur ethnic individuals were used in this study.HLA typing for B allele was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with sequence-specific primers (SSP).Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was calculated using POPGENE software for the healthy control group. The HLA-Bfrequency of each allele was compared between the patients and the controls using the chi-square test. In HIV-1-pos-itive group, gene frequency of allele B * 4901 was significantly higher compared to the healthy control subjects (P=0.02, OR=3.06, 95%CI=1.16～8.10 forB*4901). In contrast, the gene frequency of B * 40 in healthy controlswas significantly higher than in the HIV-positive patients (P=0.02, OR=0.39, 95%CI=0.07～0. 92 for B* 40).In this study, HLA allele B * 4901 may be associated with increased susceptibility to HIV-1 infection, whereas the B* 40 allele may be associated with resistance to H HIV-1 infection.

Objective To investigate the expressions of the putative brain tumor stem cell (BTSC) marker CD133, nestin and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded gliomas, and discuss the BTSC microenvironment: the composition, morphology and distribution of the niche. Methods The samples of 74 patients performed resection of the glioma in our hospital from January 2007 and October 2008 were chosen. According to WHO 2008 classification of nervous system tumors, they were assigned into low-grade glioma group (grade Ⅱ, 22) and high-grade glioma group(grade Ⅲ, 27 and grade Ⅳ,25). Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of CD 133 in 74 cases of brain gliomas. Double immunofluorescence staining was employed to detect the co-expressions of CD133/nestin or CD133/PCNA. The percentages of the CD133+cells, CD133+ blood vessels and CD 133+ niches were calculated, and correlation analysis was also performed on their percentage and the pathological grading of the tumor. Results Accumulated CD 133+ cells grew in the niches. CD 133+ niches could be observed in all grade gliomas; low-grade group showed lower level expression of the CD 133+ niches, fewer proliferating cells, clearer boundary between the 2 neighboring niches and fewer surrounding blood vessels as compared with high-grade group. Besides CD113+/nestin+ BTSCs, some subsets as CD133+/nestin-cells and CD133-/PCNA+ cells were noted in the niches in the high-grade group. The percentages of CD 133+ cells, CD 133+ blood vessels and CD 133+ niches were different in different grades of gliomas and the higher the grade of gliomas was, the higher their expressions were. Positive correlation was observed between the percentage of CD 133+ niches and the percentage of CD133+ blood vessels (r=0.425, P=0.000). The expression of CD133+ niches in high-grade glioma were higher than that in low-grade tumors (F=5.324, P=0.002). Conclusion Glioma tissues have niche structures, which composed of CD133+/nestin+ BTSCs and some subsets. CD133+ blood vessels were playing a key role in maintaining the niche structure, and the expression of CD133+ niches is statistically different in different pathological grading tumors.