OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of potassium and calcium supplementation in table salt on reduction of arterial blood pressure and sodium metabolism in adolescents with higher blood pressure.

METHODSA single blind placebo-controlled trial was carried out for two years in 220 adolescents with higher blood pressure, aged 18 - 22 years, who were randomly divided into supplementary group (n = 110) and control group (n = 110). Each of the subjects in the supplementary group and their family members was given 10 mmol of potassium and 10 mmol of calcium mixed in their table salt daily for 24 months.

RESULTSNight urinary sodium and potassium excretion increased (urinary Na(+), P < 0.05; urinary K(+), P < 0.01) and blood pressure lowered by 5.3 mm Hg/1.8 mm Hg in average from the baseline in the supplementary group two years after potassium and calcium supplementation, as compared with that in the control group increased by (1.3/1.7) mm Hg.

CONCLUSIONSAdequate supplement of potassium and calcium in daily table salt intake was an effective way to prevent form hypertension and could promote their urinary sodium excretion and reduction of arterial blood pressure in adolescents with higher blood pressure.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Blood Pressure Monitors ; Calcium, Dietary ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; diet therapy ; prevention & control ; Male ; Natriuresis ; Potassium, Dietary ; administration & dosage ; Single-Blind Method ; Sodium ; metabolism ; Sodium, Dietary ; administration & dosage

Traditional Chinese Medicine massage is a kind of physiotherapy which affects on specific parts of the body surface by means of training to regulate the function of the body to achieve the therapeutic effect. In this work,under positive detection model, the chemical fingerprint of exhaled breath from volunteers before and after receiving Traditional Chinese Medicine massage within m/z 50-1000 were detected by extractive electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (EESI-MS). And through high resolution mass spectrometry analysis, the metabolites such as epinephrine (m/z 184. 0889), 3-(3-hydroxyphenyl) propionic acid (m/z 167.0615) and L-tryptophan (m/z 205. 0933) were successfully identified. Besides, chemical fingerprints of volunteers before and after receiving Traditional Chinese Medicine massage under different health condition were clearly differentiated via partial least squares discrimination analysis (PLS-DA). The results showed that Traditional Chinese Medicine massage could significantly change the metabolic process of volunteers. Moreover, it further indicated that the established method could provide a real time fashion to follow metabolic changes caused by Traditional Chinese Medicine massage.

OBJECTIVETo express the fusion protein of glutathione S-transferase (GST) and human Id-2 in E. coli and prepare the polyclonal antibodies against Id-2.

METHODSThe coding sequence of Id-2 gene was amplified by RT-PCR from the total RNA of breast cancer tissue. The recombinant plasmid was identified by PCR, restriction endonuclease digestion analysis and sequencing. The fusion protein GST-Id-2 expressed in E. coli following IPTG induction was purified by glutathione-agarose affinity chromatography and used to immunize rabbits to prepare the polyclonal antibodies against GST-Id-2.

RESULTSPCR, restriction endonuclease digestion and sequence analyses showed that the Id-2 gene had been correctly inserted into pGEX-6P-1 vector, and the GST-Id-2 fusion protein expressed had a relative molecular mass of approximately 40,000 as shown by SDS-PAGE. The polyclonal antibodies obtained from the rabbit sera were found to specifically react with purified Id-2 by Western blotting, ELISA and agar gel immunodiffusion (AGP).

CONCLUSIONThe prepared polyclonal antibodies against Id-2 allow effective Id-2 detection and facilitate further investigation of the structure and antigen epitope of Id-2.

Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; biosynthesis ; immunology ; Breast Neoplasms ; genetics ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; biosynthesis ; Inhibitor of Differentiation Protein 2 ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Rabbits ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics

·AIM:To investigate and compare the application of two screening models in the detection of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). ·METHODS: The clinical data of 600 premature infants (1200 eyes) who underwent screening of eye diseases in the Department of Ophthalmology during the period from January 2016 to January 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. The fundus lesions were examined with binocular indirect ophthalmoscope (BIO) and the third generation of wide-angle digital retinal imaging system (RetCam Ⅲ). The examination results and adverse events during operation were statistically analyzed. ·RESULTS:In 1200 eyes of 600 patients,the probabilities of ROP detected by BIO and RetCam Ⅲ were 10.92% and 10.75%, respectively (P>0.05). With BIO as the golden standard, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of RetCam Ⅲ in examining ROP were 98.67%, 93.13%, 99.35%, 94.57% and 99.16%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the stage of ROP detected by BIO or RetCam Ⅲ (P>0.05). The probabilities of non-ROP lesions examined by BIO and RetCam Ⅲ were 4.83% and 4.58%, respectively (P>0.05). With BIO as the golden standard, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of RetCam Ⅲ in examining fundus non-ROP diseases were 99.67%, 94.83%, 99.91%, 98.21% and 99.74%, respectively. During the screening of BIO and RetCam Ⅲ,there were 17 cases (2.83%) and 7 cases(1.17%) with adverse events, respectively (P<0.05).·CONCLUSION: The examination results of RetCam Ⅲ are basically the same as those of BIO for ROP and non-ROP diseases. However,RetCam Ⅲ has more advantages in reducing adverse events during operation.

OBJECTIVEWe propose an image-based key frames gating method for intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) sequence based on manifold learning to reduce motion artifacts in IVUS longitudinal cuts.

METHODSWe achieved the gating with Laplacian eigenmaps, a manifold learning technique, to determine the low-dimensional manifold embedded in the high-dimensional image space. A distance function was constructed by the low-dimensional feature vectors to reflect the heart movement. The IVUS images were classified as end-diastolic and non-end-diastolic based on the distance function, and the IVUS images collected in end-diastolic stage constitutes the key frames gating sequences.

RESULTSWe tested the algorithm on 13 in vivo clinical IVUS sequences (images 915±142 frames, coronary segments length 15.24±2.37 mm) to calculate the vessel volume, lumen volume, and the mean plaque burden of the original and gated sequences. Statistical results showed that both the vessel volume and lumen volume measured from the gated sequences were significantly smaller than the original ones, indicating that the gated sequences were more stable; the mean plaque burden was comparable between the original and gated sequences to meet the need in clinical diagnosis and treatment. In the longitudinal views, the gated sequences had less saw tooth shape than the original ones with a similar trend and a good continuity. We also compared our method with an existing gating method.

CONCLUSIONThe proposed algorithm is simple and robust, and the gating sequences can effectively reduce motion artifacts in IVUS longitudinal cuts.

Algorithms ; Angiography ; methods ; Artifacts ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Motion ; Reproducibility of Results ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Objective:To evaluate the value of shear wave elastography (SWE) in skin assessment of Systemic sclerosis (SSc).Methods:A total of 58 SSc patients admitted to Peking University Third Hospital from May 2021 to October 2022 and 41 healthy volunteers were included in the study. Skin shear wave elastography (SWE) was performed at 17 sites defined in modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) measurement, and shear wave velocity values were recorded to evaluate skin hardness. SPSS 22.0 software was used to analyze the skin hardness of SSc patients and healthy controls, and the correlation between skin hardness of SSc patients and clinical data was analyzed. A logistic regression model was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of skin hardness at different sites of SSc patients, and to further select the most practical measurement site.Results:The SWE value of SSc patients was significantly higher than that of healthy control group ( P<0.05). There was a positive correlation between SWE and mRSS in the measurement of bilateral fingers, bilateral dorsal hands, bilateral forearms, fore-chest, abdomen, bilateral thighs, and bilateral dorsal feet. Skin stiffness measured by SWE was significantly correlated with SSc disease activity score (EScSG-DAI), ( r=0.71, P<0.001), disease injury score (SCTC-DI), (P=0.55, P=0.005) and functional score (HAQ-DI), ( r=0.46, P=0.003). Reducing the number of measurement sites to 12 (bilateral fingers, bilateral hands, bilateral forearms, bilateral upper arms, forehead, fore-chest, bilateral dorsum of feet) performs as well as all 17 measurement sites simultaneously in assessing disease activity. Conclusion:SWE is a good evaluation tool to reflect the skin lesions of SSc, which is of great value for the diagnosis and evaluation of the disease. We can further standardize the measurement sites and select the most appropriate evaluation strategy, so as to achieve better clinical application.

Objective To determine the effect of local mild hypothermia on patients with acute cerebral infarction and ascertain its optimal therapeutic window. Methods According to the time receiving treatment, 114 patients with acute cerebral infarction were divided into group A (≤6 h), group B (6-24 h) and group C (≥ 24 h). Then, each group was subdivided into 2 groups at random: treatment group (A1, B1, C1) and control group (A2, B2, C2). Patients in the control group were subjected to such conventional therapy as anti-platelet aggregation. Patients in the treatment group were treated with local mild hypothermia (33-35 ℃ body-core temperature) for 48 h besides conventional therapy. Clinical outcomes were assessed by the National institutes of health stroke scale (NIHSS) on admission and 7, 14,30 d after treatment. Furthermore, we detected the serum level of nitrogen monoxidum (NO) and superoxide dismutasc (SOD) on admission, and 7 and 14 d after treatment. Results Compared with the control group, treatment group enjoyed significantly decreased scores of NIHSS 7, 14 and 30 d after treatment and significantly decreased level of NO 7 and 14 d after treatment (P＜0.05), but obviously increased SOD vitality 7 and 14 d after treatment (P＜0.05). No significant differences in terms of NIHSS scores, level of NO and SOD vitality were noted between group C1 and group C2 at each time point (P＞0.05). Group Al and group B1 had obviously lower scores of NIHSS than group C1 on the 7th, 14th and 30th d of treatment, and had significantly lower level of NO and obviously increased SOD vitality as compared with group C1 on the 7th and 14th d of treatment (P＜ 0.05), and group A1 enjoyed its advantage.Conclusion Early local mild hypothermia therapy can improve neurological function in patients with acute cerebral infarction. The mild hypothermia induced within 6 h may be optimal therapeutic window;mild hypothermia induced at 6-24 h is less effective and that above 24 h is non-effective.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the function of Zinc finger protein 488 (ZNF488) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The endogenous expression of ZNF488 in NPC tissues, normal nasopharyngeal epithelium tissues and NPC cell lines were detected by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. ZNF488 over-expressing and knock-down NPC cell line models were established through retroviral vector pMSCV mediated over-expression and small interfering RNA (siRNA) mediated knock-down. The invasion and migration capacities were evaluated by wound healing and transwell invasion assays in ZNF488 over-expressing and control cell lines. Soft-agar colony formation and a xenograft experiment were performed to study tumorigenic ability in vitro and in vivo. Immunofluorescence and western blotting analysis were used to examine protein changes followed by ZNF488 over-expression. Microarray analysis was performed to explore gene expression profilings, while luciferase reporter assay to evaluate the transcriptive activity of Tcf/Lef. RESULTS: ZNF488 was over-expressed in NPC tissues compared with normal tissues, especially higher in 5-8F and S18, which are well-established high metastatic NPC clones. Functional studies indicate that over-expression of ZNF488 provokes invasion, whereas knock-down of ZNF488 alleviates invasive capability. Moreover, over-expression of ZNF488 promotes NPC tumor growth both in vitro and in vivo. Our data further show that over-expression of ZNF488 induces epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) by activating the WNT/beta-catenin signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: Our data strongly suggest that ZNF488 acts as an oncogene, promoting invasion and tumorigenesis by activating the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway to induce EMT in NPC.
Blotting, Western ; Carcinogenesis* ; Cell Line ; Clone Cells ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition* ; Epithelium ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Heterografts ; Luciferases ; Microarray Analysis ; Oncogenes ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Reverse Transcription ; RNA, Small Interfering ; Wnt Signaling Pathway* ; Wound Healing ; Zidovudine ; Zinc Fingers

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify novel plasma biomarkers for distinguishing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients from healthy individuals who have positive Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral capsid antigen (VCA-IgA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred seventy-four plasma cytokines were analyzed by a Cytokine Array in eight healthy individuals with positive EBV VCA-IgA and eight patients with NPC. Real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and immunohistochemistry were employed to detect the expression levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and CC chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3) in NPC cell lines and tumor tissues. Plasma MIF and CCL3 were measured by ELISA in 138 NPC patients, 127 EBV VCA-IgA negative (VN) and 100 EBV VCA-IgA positive healthy donors (VP). Plasma EBV VCA-IgA was determined by immunoenzymatic techniques. RESULTS: Thirty-four of the 174 cytokines varied significantly between the VP and NPC group. Plasma MIF and CCL3 were significantly elevated in NPC patients compared with VN and VP. Combination of MIF and CCL3 could be used for the differential diagnosis of NPC from VN cohort (area under the curve [AUC], 0.913; sensitivity, 90.00%; specificity, 80.30%), and combination of MIF, CCL3, and VCA-IgA could be used for the differential diagnosis of NPC from VP cohort (AUC, 0.920; sensitivity, 90.00%; specificity, 84.00%), from (VN+VP) cohort (AUC, 0.961; sensitivity, 90.00%; specificity, 92.00%). Overexpressions of MIF and CCL3 were observed in NPC plasma, NPC cell lines and NPC tissues. CONCLUSION: Plasma MIF, CCL3, and VCA-IgA combination significantly improves the diagnostic specificity of NPC in high-risk individuals.
Biomarkers* ; Blotting, Western ; Capsid* ; Cell Line ; Chemokine CCL3 ; Cohort Studies ; Cytokines ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Herpesvirus 4, Human* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Macrophages* ; Plasma* ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tissue Donors

With the development of society, more and more foreign natural medicines have entered China, but they are faced with the problem that they are not given with the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) properties when they are used with other TCM. When we carried out the research on introducing foreign natural plant resources to TCM, gradually, a new research model and field with original characteristics of TCM--the study of new foreign introducing TCM had been formed. In the process of it, we explored and summarized research rules to form the research paradigm, which will be conducive to the standardization and scientization of new foreign introducing TCM research. For the research of foreign introducing TCM, we analyzed the research background, reviewed the application history, sorted out the research status, elaborated the concept and summarized the research achievements. On this basis, we put forward the concept and system of the modern research paradigm of new foreign introducing TCM, studied and clarified the core elements, properties and research principles of this paradigm, and summarized the research contents and methods of new foreign introducing TCM. We interpreted the foundation of paradigm construction from multiple perspectives. The paradigm was the practical application of theoretical innovation of TCM. Under the guidance of it, more and more varieties of new foreign introducing TCM will be studied, the study will be more standardized, the conclusions will be more scientific and reliable, which will inspire and guide more researchers to focus on the research of new foreign introducing TCM, and the paradigm itself will be constantly improved. The construction and application of the paradigm will certainly accelerate the innovative research of foreign introducing TCM and play a historic role in promoting the enrichment of traditional Chinese medicine varieties.
China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Internationality ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Plant Preparations/standards* ; Research Design