The event-related potential (ERP) is considered as one of the most effective methods to study and analyze objectively human mental activity based on nerve electrophysiology. At present, ERP is not only used in the study of lie detection, but also in the clinical medicine for the cognitive assessment on patients with cerebrovascular disease, dementia or traumatic brain injury and auxiliary diagnosis of mental illness. With the further development of ERP detection technology, it would have a wider application prospect in the field of forensic medicine.
Evoked Potentials/physiology* ; Forensic Medicine/trends* ; Humans

BACKGROUNDMotor dysfunction is common in stroke patients. Clinical electrophysiological studies suggest that transsynaptic degeneration occurred in the lower motor neurons, while pathological evidence is lacked. This study aimed to combine the electrophysiological and pathological results to prove the existence of transsynaptic degeneration in the motor system after stroke.

METHODSModified neurologic severity score, electrophysiological, and pathological assessments were evaluated in rats before middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), and at 24 hours, 7 days, and 14 days after MCAO. Paired and independent-sample t-tests were applied to assess the changes of electrophysiological and pathological data.

RESULTSCompound motor action potential amplitude in the paretic side was significantly lower than the nonparetic side at both 24 hours (61.9 ± 10.4 vs. 66.6 ± 8.9, P < 0.05) and 7 days (60.9 ± 8.4 vs. 67.3 ± 9.6, P < 0.05) after MCAO. Motor unit number estimation of the paretic side was significantly less than the nonparetic side (379.0 ± 84.6 vs. 445.0 ± 89.5, P < 0.05) at 7 days after MCAO. Until 14 days after stroke, the pathological loss of motor neurons was detected. Motor neurons in 14-day MCAO group were significantly decreased, compared with control group (5.3 ± 0.7 vs. 7.3 ± 1.8, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSBoth electrophysiological and pathological studies showed transsynaptic degeneration after stroke. This study identified the asynchronization in changes of electrophysiology and pathology. The abnormal physiological changes and function impairment can be detected in the early stage and recovered quickly, while the pathological loss of motor neuron can be detected only in a later stage.

Animals ; Electrophysiology ; Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Male ; Motor Neurons ; pathology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord ; pathology ; physiopathology

Objective To observe the improving effect in joint function of moderate skeletal fluorosis treated by traditional Chinese medication(main ingredient was Strychnine).MethodsFrom December 2007 to July 2009,120 moderate skeletal fluorosis patients met the inclusion criteria were divided into the treatment group(60 cases)and the control group(60 cases)in the skeletal fluorosis hospital of Xinzhou,the treatment group was given basic treatment and traditional Chinese medication,the control group wa8 given basic treatment and placebo.The treatment lasted 12 weeks,follow up 24 weeks.Before treatment,after treatment 4 weeks,8 weeks,12 weeks,36 weeks,a third party evaluate comprehensive function of both upper and lower limb and joint dysfunction.Results The main effect of both drugs was statistically significance in the scores of the upper forearm in the finger by touching the posterior contralateral ear, upper arm touched by the finger back in the opposite corner subscapularis function, lower limb function and single-joint dysfunction(F values were 4.08,14.32,35.81,13.02, all P<0.05), the main effect of time also was significant (F values were 82.63,72.82,277.33,328.16, all P<0.05),①the upper forearm in the finger by touching the posterior contralateral ear functions:At the time of 8,12 weeks,scores of the treatment group were lower than those of before treatment and control group (all P<0.05);At the time of 36 weeks,scores of the treatment group were lower than that 12 weeks(all P<0.05);At the time of 8,12,36 weeks, scores of the control group were lower than those of before treatment(all P < 0.05);②upper arm function, namely fingers touching the opposite corner subscapularis:At the time of 4,8,12 weeks, scores of the treatment group were lower than those of before treatment(all P<0.05); At the time of 36 weeks, scores of the treatment group were lower than that 12 weeks(all P<0.05); At the time of 8,12,36 weeks, scores of the treatment group were lower than those of the control group (all P<0.05);③Lower extremity functions: At the time of 8,12 weeks,scores of the treatment group were lower than those of before treatment and control group (all P<0.05);At the time of 36 weeks, scores of the treatment group were lower than that 12 weeks(all P<0.05) ; At the time of 8,12,36 weeks, scores of the control group were lower than those of before treatment (all P<0.05);④single joint functions:At the time of 4,8,12 weeks,scores of the treatment group were lower than those of before treatment(all P<0.05); At the time of 36 weeks,scores of the treatment group were lower than that 12 weeks(all P<0.05) ; At the time of 8,12,36 weeks, scores of the control group were lower than those of before treatment(all P<0.05);At the time of 4,8,12,36 weeks, scores of the treatment group were lower than those of control group(all P<0.05);⑤At the end of treatment and follow-up,the improvement rate in joint functions in the treatment group were 88.33% (53/60),93.33% (56/60); the control group were 28.07%(16/57),40.35%(23/57), (Fisher test, P<0.01,X2=56.21, P<0.01). ConclusionTraditional Chinese medication(its main ingredient is Strychnine), an effective drug for improving joint dysfunction in patients suffering from moderate skeletal fluorosis, is simple and effective.

OBJECTIVETo observe the X-ray features of bone damage in patients with moderate endemic skeletal fluorosis and the changes of X-ray after treatment with herbal therapy.

METHODSFrom 2007.12 to 2009.8,114 patients with moderate endemic skeletal fluorosis were randomly divided into treatment group and control group by central randomization system. There were 60 patients in treatment group including 26 males and 34 females,aged from 39 to 60 years with an average of (51.68 +/- 4.98) years; There were 54 patients in control group included 30 males and 24 females, aged from 39 to 60 years with an average of (52.15 +/- 4.86) years. Both treatment and control groups were treated with basic treatment including calcium supplementation and preparation stage with herb decoction. Patients were orally given 600 mg Caltrate everyday for calcium suptrointestinal function and promoting the digestion and absorption of herb decoction for 3 days. Patients in treatment group were rally given Guo's Maqian decoction(200 ml,twice daily) for 8 weeks. Eight weeks later,Guo 's Maqian decoction was replaced y Guokangning capsule (0.44 g per cansule,2 capsules,three times daily) for 4 weeks. The treatment course lasted 12 weeks. The time for followed-up after treatment was 24 weeks. When the treatment finished, 7 experts on orthopaedics and radiology evaluated and statistically analyzed the X-ray features pre and post treatment,using expert evaluation scale (including the appearance and changes of osteosclerosis,osteoporosis softening,joint changes close to the bone and mixed changes) designed referring endemic skeletal fluorosis X-ray findings and sub-degree standard(WS192-2008).

RESULTSAll X-ray features of endemic skeletal fluorosis appeared in the X-ray of the 114 patients with moderate endemic skeletal fluorosis. Osteosclerosis: 4 cases in forearm, 7 in calf,4 in pelvis,4 in lumbar vertebrae ;Osteoporosis and bone softening: 23 cases in forearm patients, 23 in calf, 5 in pelvis, 8 in lumbar vertebrae; Mixed changes: 6 cases in forearm, 9 in calf, 10 in pelvis, 1 in lumbar vertebrae patients; oint changes: 107 cases in forearm, 47 in calf, 28 in pelvis, 19 in lumbar vertebrae. There were X-ray no changes before and after the treatment in all of parts in control group. In treatment group, there were only 2 patients showed extraperiostealin and joint changes after the treatment, in which one showed better ossification of interosseous membrane of leg and another one showed disappearance of the lateral hyperplasia of the left pelvic acetabulum. There were no changes between before and after treatment in X-ray of all parts in the rest patiens of the treatment group. There was no significant difference between before and after treatment in both groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThere is no obvious improvement in radiology of patients with skeletal fluorosis treated by Guo's therapy.

Adult ; Bone Diseases ; chemically induced ; diagnostic imaging ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Endemic Diseases ; Female ; Fluorine ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Joint Diseases ; chemically induced ; diagnostic imaging ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteoporosis ; chemically induced ; diagnostic imaging ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; Osteosclerosis ; chemically induced ; diagnostic imaging ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome

Background: According to the 7th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system, over 50% of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) have N1 disease at initial diagnosis. However, patients with N1 NPC are relatively under-researched, and the metastasis risk of this group is not well-stratified. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic values of gross tumor volume of metastatic regional lymph node (GTVnd) and pretreatment serum copy number of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA in predicting distant metastasis of patients with N1 NPC, and to develop an integrated prognostic model that incorporates GTVnd and EBV DNA copy number for this group of patients. Methods: The medical records of 787 newly diagnosed patients with nonmetastatic, histologically proven N1 NPC who were treated at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between November 2009 and February 2012 were ana-lyzed. Computed tomography-derived GTVnd was measured using the summation-of-area technique. Blood sam-ples were collected before treatment to quantify plasma EBV DNA. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the cut-off point for GTVnd, and the area under the ROC curve was used to assess the predicted validity of GTVnd. The survival rates were assessed by Kaplan–Meier analysis, and the survival curves were compared using a log-rank test. Multivariate analysis was conducted using the Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results: The 5-year distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) rates for patients with GTVnd > 18.9 vs. ≤ 18.9 mL were 82.2% vs. 93.2% (P < 0.001), and for patients with EBV DNA copy number > 4000 vs. ≤ 4000 copies/mL were 83.5% vs. 93.9% (P < 0.001). After adjusting for GTVnd, EBV DNA copy number, and T category in the Cox regression model, both GTVnd > 18.9 mL and EBV DNA copy number > 4000 copies/mL were significantly associated with poor prognosis(both P < 0.05). According to combination of GTVnd and EBV DNA copy number, all patients were divided into low-, moderate-, and high-risk groups, with the 5-year DMFS rates of 96.1, 87.4, and 73.8%, respectively (P < 0.001). Multi-variate analysis confirmed the prognostic value of this model for distant metastatic risk stratification (hazard ratio [HR], 4.17; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.34–7.59; P < 0.001). Conclusions: GTVnd and serum EBV DNA copy number are independent prognostic factors for predicting distant metastasis in NPC patients with N1 disease. The prognostic model incorporating GTVnd and EBV DNA copy number may improve metastatic risk stratification for this group of patients.

This study was aimed to establish downstream purification procedure by which the protein of interest can be purified to higher purity rapidly and efficiently. The different combinations of various purification strategies, methods and conditions were compared, including reversed phase chromatography, metal chelating chromatography, anion exchange chromatography, blue dye affinity chromatography, filtration chromatography and so on. The results showed that in reversed phase chromatography, isolated protein of interest was denatured and precipitated immediately after chromatography because methanol or acetonitrile were adopted as the organic phase. In blue dye affinity chromatography expecting to purify the protein of interest in one step, protein of interest was difficultly differentiated from mixed protein as much proteins bound to the chromatography media by non-specific affinity. While there is a translation-enhancing sequence T7-g10 in the PRSETA-B7-2-PE40KDEL expression vector, so it adds 6 histidines to the N terminus of the protein of interest, this allows to purify the protein of interest by metal chelating chromatography. Based on this characteristic, a three-step chromatography line including metal chelating chromatography, anion exchange chromatography and filtration chromatography was finally established after repeated experiments. By this way the purity of protein of interest reached 95% and the total recovery rate was 8%. The result of Western blot indicated that the expressed and purified recombinant B7-2-PE40KDEL could specifically bind with mAb against human B7-2 and multiple antibody against PEA. The cytotoxicity of the recombinant toxin tested by MTT method showed that the B7-2-PE40KDEL could selectively kill Jurkat cell line expressing CD28 receptor well and had no killing effect on the Raji cell line unexpressing CD28 receptor. It is concluded that a high efficient and speedy three-step purification procedure for the purifying recombinant protein B7-2-PE40KDEL was established, and this procedure possess selective killing activity on CD28 positive T lymphocytes.
B7-2 Antigen ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Bacterial Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; CD28 Antigens ; immunology ; Cloning, Molecular ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification

Objective::To analysis the effect of Huayu Qutan recipe on myocardial fibrosis in atherosclerotic rabbits based on mitochondrial fusion-lysis. Method::The 36 SPF healthy male rabbits were selected, and 6 rabbits were selected randomly as the normal group, and given normal pellet feed, another 30 rats were fed with high fat diet to establish atherosclerosis model.After successful replication of animal models, they were randomly divided into model group, Huayu Qutan recipe low-dose, medium-dose and high-dose group (4.0, 8.0, 16.0 g·kg^-1) and simvastatin group (1.4 mg·kg^-1), 6 rats each.Each group was given corresponding drugs according to the dosage, continuous administration for 4 weeks.The serum lipid levels in rabbits of each group were detectived by automatic biochemical analyzer, the degree of myocardial fibrosis was measured by Masson staining, and expression levels of mitochondrial fusion protein 1 (Mitofusin 1), mitochondrial fusion protein 2 (Mitofusin 2), optic atrophy protein 1 (Opa1), promoter protein 1 (Drp1), mitogen 1 (Fis1) in myocardial tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry. Result::Compared with normal group, the levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in model group were significantly increased, levels of density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were significantly decreased, the expression levels of Mitofusin 1, Mitofusin 2 and Opa1 in myocardial tissue were significantly decreased, the expression levels of Drp1 and Fis1 were significantly increased(P<0.05, P<0.01), compared with model group, the levels of serum TC, TG, LDL-C in simvastatin group and Huayu Qutan recipe low-dose, medium and high-dose group were significantly decreased, levels of HDL-C were significantly increased, the expression levels of Mitofusin 1, Mitofusin 2 and Opa1 in myocardial tissue were significantly increased, the expression levels of Drp1 and Fis1 were significantly decreased (P<0.05, P<0.01), compared with the Huayu Qutan recipe high-dose group, the levels of serum TC, TG, LDL-C in simvastatin group and Huayu Qutan recipe low, medium-dose group were significantly increased, the expression levels of Mitofusin 1, Mitofusin 2 and Opa1 in myocardial tissue were significantly decreased, the expression levels of Drp1 and Fis1 were significantly increased(P<0.05, P<0.01). Conclusion::Huayu Qutan recipe can effectively regulate blood lipid and inhibit myocardial fibrosis in atherosclerotic rabbits, and the higher the dose of Huayu Qutan recipe, the more obvious the effect is, it is speculated that its effect may be related to the regulation of the expression of mitochondrial fusion-lysis related proteins such as Mitofusin1, Mitofusin2 and Opa1, Drp1 and Fis1 in myocardial cells.