In order to investigate the effect of curcumin on proliferation and apoptosis of human pterygium fibroblasts (HPF) in culture and search for a new method to prevent the recurrence after pterygium surgery, HPF was incubated with 0-160 micromol/L curcumin for 24-96 h. The MTT method was used to assay the biologic activities of curcumin at different time points and different doses. The expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in each group was detected by immunohistochemistry. The cell cycle distribution was detected by flow cytometry (FCM). Administration of 20-80 micromol/L curcumin for 24-72 h could significantly inhibit HPF proliferation in a dose-and time-dependent manner (P<0.05). After treatment with curcumin at different concentrations of 20, 40, 80 and 160 micromol/L for 24 h, FCM revealed there was a significant sub-G1 peak at each concentration. The number of HPF in G0/G1 phase was increased, while in S phase, it was decreased (P<0.05). At the concentration of 20-80 micromol/L, curcumin, in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05), could inhibit the expression of PCNA in HPF. It was suggested that curcumin could significantly inhibit the proliferation of HPF, make HPF arrest in G0/G1 phase and induce the apoptosis of HPF in a dose-and time-dependent manner.

Acute Disease ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Phytotherapy ; Stroke ; drug therapy

Objective:To investigate the mechanism and effects of autophagy on cisplatin(DDP)-induced apoptosis in human gas-tric cancer cell line SGC7901. Methods:Cell proliferation was determined by an MTT assay after the SGC7901 cells were treated with DDP and/or chloroquine. Cell apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry. Autophagy and related protein expressions were detected by Western blot. Autophagy was quantitatively analyzed by fluorescence microscopy after monodansylcadaverine staining was per-formed. Results:The cells were treated with 5 mg/L of DDP for 24 h, the rate of cell apoptosis was (21.07 ± 2.12)%. Autophagy, char-acterized by an increase in the number of autophagic vesicles and LC3-II protein level, was observed in DDP-treated cells. After autoph-agy was inhibited by chloroquine, the rate of cell apoptosis was increased to (30.16 ± 3.54)%. In addition, caspase-3 and P53 protein levels were increased, but Bcl-2 protein was decreased. Conclusion:Autophagy protected human gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 from DDP-induced apoptosis. In addition, the inhibition of autophagy could promote apoptosis. The combined therapy of DDP and chlo-roquine may be a promising therapeutic strategy for gastric cancer.

Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Interleukin-1beta ; pharmacology ; Male ; Neurons ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Nitriles ; toxicity ; Pyrethrins ; toxicity ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase ; metabolism

Objective To explore the clinical features and surgical management of aged patients with acute cholecystitis,and try to command the opportunity and procedure of laparoseopic cholecystectomy(LC)better.Meth- ods Clinical data of 52 aged cases with acute cholecystits undergone LC were analyzed retrospectively.Results All of the patients(within 48h of the acute attack)were successfully recovered without serious operative complications. Conclusion Aged acute cholecystitis progressed rapidly and its operative difficulty and risk were higher;only if more attention was paid to perioperative managements and operative time and technical skill were mastered,early LC for the patients was safe and feasible.Therefore.it should be recommended in the great majority of cases except the des- perate patients whose general condition was too poor to operate.

The methods for aptamer selection have been modified and developed in recent years. Selection efficiency has been increased due to the improvement in separation of bound and unbound nucleic acids; applicability of aptamers has been improved due to the development of primer-free SELEX and the utilization of short oligonucleotide library; more research requirements have been satisfied due to the functional modifications of aptamer selection methods. All the methodological advances enhance the potential value of aptamers in basic researches and clinical applications.

Objective To explore the ursodeoxycholic acid efficacy and safety analysis of nucleoside drugs for HBeAg-positive with high viral load in patients with liver cirrhosis, and its effect on peripheral blood Th17, Treg levels.Methods 80 patients with high viral load B HBeAg-positive from November 2012 to February 2014 were selected and randomly divided into control group and observation group, 40 cases in each group.Patients in control group received conventional treatment, observation group was treated with ursodeoxycholic acid based on the control group, antiviral efficacy and adverse reactions, peripheral blood Th17, Treg levels were compared between two groups.Results After treatment, the ALT, AST, ALB, TBil levels between two groups were significantly lower compared with before treatment(P<0.01), the ALT, AST, ALB, TBil levels in observation group were significantly lower than the control group ( P<0.01 ); HBV-DNA negative rate ( 85.0%) and decrease of HBV-DNA in observation group were significantly higher (7.5%) than those in control group, the difference was statistically significant (χ2 =48.322, t =11.490, P<0.01); ALT normalization rate (52.5%), HBeAg seroconversion rate (57.5%) in observation group was significantly higher than those in control group(15.0%, 17.5%), the difference was statistically significant (χ2 =12.579,χ2 =13.653, P<0.01);complications compared with the situation observed group of death, hepatocellular carcinoma, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, gastrointestinal bleeding compared with control group, the difference was not statistically significant (χ2 =1.01, χ2 =2.05, χ2 =3.12, χ2 =0.21, P>0.05).After treatment, the Th17 levels elevated, Treg level decreased in two groups, Th17 level in observation group was significantly higher than control group, Treg levels were significantly lower than the control group, Th17/Treg ratio was higher than the control group (P<0.05).Conclusion Ursodeoxycholic acid can significantly improve liver function of patients with HBeAg positive with high viral load, increase the rate of HBeAg seroconversion, inhibit HBV viral replication and delay progression of the disease, and less adverse reactions.It can increase the number of Th17 cells, reduce the number of Treg cells in patients, which may be one of its antiviral mechanism.

Objective:To observe the effects of AFP gene silencing by siRNA on the Survivin mRNA of hepatocellular carcino-ma cell line HepG2. Methods:AFP gene expression was downregulated in HepG2 cell by RNAi, and the AFP content in the superna-tant was detected by ELISA. Survivin mRNA level was tested by RT-PCR. MTT was applied to evaluate cell proliferation. Flow cytom-etry was employed to observe cell apoptosis. Results:At 48 h after transfection, AFP expression was almost completely inhibited, cell proliferation activity was decreased by 43.1%, cell apoptosis rate was increased by 24.3%, and the Survivin mRNA expression was re-duced to 22.0%in the experimental group. No evident changes were observed in negative control and blank groups. Conclusion:AFP gene silenced by RNAi induces growth inhibition and apoptosis promotion of hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2. This gene may be associated with the suppression of Survivin mRNA.

0.05).Frequencies of P12A12 genotype and A12 allele in DN group were significantly decreased respectively,when compared with DN-0 group(for P12A12 genotype,9.1% vs 18.1%,P=0.034,OR=0.453;for A12 allele,4.5% vs 9.0%,P=0.041,OR=0.479). Conclusion The observations suggest that P12A polymorphism of PPAR?2 gene is associated with Chinese type 2 diabetic nephropathy,and A12 allele may protect the development of diabetic nephropathy in type 2 diabetic patients of Chinese.

Xylitol, a five-carbon sugar alcohol, has many interesting applications in the food, pharmaceutical, and odontological industries, owing to its high sweetening power, its anticariogenic properties, and its insulin-independent metabolism. The bioconversion of detoxified hemicellulosic hydrolysate to xylitol by microorganisms could be a cheaper alternative to the current chemical process, since it is a simple process, with great specificity and low energy requirements. However, the success of fermentations for xylitol production depends on the productivity of the strain and its tolerance to different toxic or inhibitory compounds existing in the hydrolysates. In addition, a number of culture process parameters proved to have significant effects on xylitol production in hemicellulosic hydrolysate media. One of the most important control variables in this bioconversion is the aeration level, which affects the biochemical pathways in the xylose metabolism. The production of biomass is favored by aerobic conditions, while under anaerobic conditions xylose cannot be assimilated by yeast, whereas xylitol is formed in oxygen-limited incubation conditions. An adapted Candida sp. with enhanced resistance to the inhibitors in the hydrolysate can directly ferment the simply detoxified corn cob hemicellulosic hydrolysate to xylitol. In the present study, the combined effects of shaking speed, C/ N ratio, initial pH, and inoculum level on the fermentation of corn cob hemicellulosic hydrolysate to xylitol by an adapted Candida sp. were investigated using an orthogonal experimental design in flask. As a result, the optimum fermentation conditions were as follows: 180 r/min, a C/N ratio of 50, initial pH 5.5, and an inoculum level of 5% (volume ratio). Moreover, the optimum concentration factor of hydrolysate varied between 3.0 and 3.72 was obtained. Based on these results, in order to evaluate the effect of aeration rate on the fermentation of corn cob hemicellulosic hydrolysate to xylitol in fermentor, batch fermentations were carried out in a 3.7 L stirred fermentor using four different aeration strategies, including three kind of two-stage aeration strategies, which provided relatively high aeration rate in the early stage but reduced it in the later stage, and including a one-stage aeration strategy provided a constant aeration rate. With respect to xylitol yield, the results indicated that two-stage aeration strategy was significantly superior to one-stage aeration strategy. The highest xylitol yield (0.75 g/g) was obtained with oxygen supply strategy C (3.75 L/min for first 24 h, then lowered it to 1.25 L/min, 2.5 L fermentation medium was employed). In this process, without extensive detoxification of hydrolysate, an adapted Candida sp. can efficiently ferment the simply treated corn cob hemicellulosic hydrolysate to xylitol under the optimized fermentation conditions. This work should help the development of an efficient process for producing xylitol from corn cob hemicellulosic hydrolysate on a larger scale by bioconversion.
Aerobiosis ; Candida tropicalis ; metabolism ; Fermentation ; Hydrolysis ; Polysaccharides ; metabolism ; Xylitol ; biosynthesis ; Zea mays ; metabolism