Objective:To analyze and the smile line of Zhuang-Chinese youths.Methods:1 00 Zhuang volunteers aged 1 8-25 years were recruited for this study.The faces were individually registered by digital videography.The length and thickness of upper lips and mandibular incisor crown height appearance at rest,smile and laugh were recorded.Statistical analysis was performed using Mann-Whitney-U Test and non-parametric analysis.Results:The upper lip in men was longer than that in women at rest(P<0.05 ).The upper lip length increased and thickness decreased at smile and laugh in all subjects,in men was longer and thicker than in women(P<0.05),but there was no significant difference of upper lip thickness at rest between sexes(P<0.05).The mandibular anterior teeth,gingival papilla of all subjects were appeared at smile and laugh,there was no significant difference between sexes(P<0.05). Gingiva appearance at smile was in less than 1 0%of the subjects.39%subjects had high smile line,46%had average smile line and 1 5% had low smile line.Conclusion:Most of the Zhuang youths have moderate smile line,less high smile line and least low smile line.

Objective To discuss the specific role of association rules in the compatibility of herbs and the relationship between herbs and symptoms by analyzing ancient analogous prescriptions Zhizichi Decoction with SQL Server software.Methods The prescriptions which contain Gardenia and Semen Sojae Preparatum were searched in the database of “Ancient Prescriptions for Epidemic Disease”, and they were imported to software with the standardized data of their symptoms and ingredients, then the proper association rules were found. The laws between parameter setting and rule generation were searched through parameter adjustment.Results Many laws of the drug compatibility and relationship between herbs and symptoms were obtained effectively in data mining by adjusting the parameters:The support setting was good for finding common used drug compatibility, and the confidence was good for finding specific drug compatibility and relationship between herbs and symptoms;the item set which had high frequency, sometimes made the rule’s importance low.Conclusion The laws of compatibility of herbs and the relationship between herbs and symptoms for data mining of analogous prescriptions are discovered by analyzing the support, confidence and importance of the association-rules and the clinical magnificence between symptoms and herbs.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the signal transduction systems were activated at the molecular atrial tissue level in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and whether atrial expression of extracellular-signal regulated kinase (ERK) and protein phosphatases is altered. METHODS: Atrial tissue sample of 30 patients undergoing cardiac surgery were examined. 20 patients had AF, 10 patients had no history of AF. The mRNA expression of calcineurin B and MKP-1 were detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. ERK1 and phospho-ERK1 were analyzed at the protein level by Western blot. RESULTS: Western blot analysis showed that atrial fibrillation did not induce significant change in ERK1 expression level in the left atrium. In contrast , phospho-ERK1 content was increased in the patients with AF in comparison with those who had sinus rhythm (SR). The mRNA expression of calcineurin B and MKP-1 in the patients with AF were significantly higher than that in patients with SR. CONCLUSION: The activation of extracellular-signal regulated kinase and protein phosphatases may have correlation with the initiation or maintenance of atrial fibrillation.

AIM: To study the effects of hydrogen peroxied (H 2O 2) on cell proliferation and transcription of gelatinase A (MMP-2) and its inhibitor (TIMP-2) in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). METHODS: Cell proliferation and toxicity by H 2O 2 were tested through MTT. The expression of MMP-2 mRNA and TIMP-2 mRNA in VSMC were evaluated by RT-PCR. RESULTS: The present study showed that H 2O 2 (more than 300 ?mol/L)was lethal to VSMC. 0 01-50 ?mol/L H 2O 2 promoted proliferation of VSMC in a time-dependant manner. A value (optical density) was reached to peak at 24 h after continuing stimulation of 10 ?mol/L H 2O 2. MMP-2/?-actin mRNA ratio significantly increased after stimulation with 1 ?mol/L?10 ?mol/L H 2O 2. TIMP-2/?-actin mRNA ratio was not significantly fluctuated at 12 h?24 h?36 h?48 h after continuing stimulation with 1 ?mol/L, 10 ?mol/L, and 50 ?mol/L H 2O 2.CONCLUSION: H 2O 2 at suitable concentrations stimulated proliferation of VSMC and induced transcription of MMP-2 gene in VSMC. There was no effect of H 2O 2 on transcription of TIMP-2 gene in VSMC. These results imply that H 2O 2 takes part in the pathological course of vascular remodeling through VSMC.

AIM: To evaluate effects of diltiazem on platelet hyperreactivity in situations associated with endothelial injury and their possible relationship to cytosolic calcium concentration. METHODS: Blood samples were collected at 7 time points from 35 patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) who received combined diltiazem and aspirin/ticlopidine therapy or aspirin/ticlopidine therapy alone. Platelet expression of glycoprotein Ⅱb/Ⅲa and cytosolic calcium concentration were measured, respectively, by whole blood flow cytometry and fluorospectrophotometry. The effects of diltiazem of different concentrations on expression of glycoprotein Ⅱb/Ⅲa were also studied in vitro in blood samples from patients with chronic stable angina. RESULTS: Of the two treatments, aspirin/ticlopidine therapy did not prevent an acute increase of expression of glycoprotein Ⅱb/Ⅲa 5 minutes and 10 minutes after first inflation and 10 minutes after PTCA, whereas combined diltiazem and aspirin/ticlopidine therapy had a significant inhibitory effect. In the group receiving aspirin/ticlopidine therapy, there was a short-term elevation of platelet [Ca~(2+)]i immediately following PTCA which was significantly reduced by diltiazem treatment. Expression of glycoprotein Ⅱb/Ⅲa was significantly inhibited in vitro by diltiazem in the concentration of 200 ?g/L or higher, but not 50 ?g/L. CONCLUSIONS: Combined diltiazem and aspirin/ticlopidine therapy significantly inhibited platelet activation that continued in the presence of conventional aspirin/ticlopidine treatment. Antiplatelet effects of diltiazem were probably a consequence of reduction of platelet [Ca~(2+)]i and may only be achieved in higher than therapeutic concentrations. [

BACKGROUND:Human periodontal ligament stem cels are a kind of mesenchymal stem cels that have self-renewal and multidifferentiation potential. Previous studies have showed that human periodontal ligament stem cels can differentiate into osteoblast-like cels or adipocyte-like cels under appropriate induction. Yet few studies have focused on the expression level of parathyroid hormone 1 receptor which wil affect the osteogenic potential of Human periodontal ligament stem cels. OBJECTIVE:To examine the expression level of parathyroid hormone 1 receptor between human periodontal ligament stem cels and human periodontal ligament cels and to discuss the role of parathyroid hormone 1 receptor in osteogenic differentiation. METHODS:By using magnetic-bead cel sorting, we separated and identified the human periodontal ligament stem cels and human periodontal ligament cels. We examined and compared the mRNA expression level of parathyroid hormone 1 receptor in human periodontal ligament stem cels and human periodontal ligament cels by Real-Time PCR. Osteoblastic differentiation was examined throughin vitro matrix mineralization by alizarin red staining and alkaline phosphatase assay. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Positive immunomagetic sorted cels were positive for STRO-1, CD146, Vimentin, indicating that they were periodontal ligament stem cels. Parathyroid hormone 1 receptor was expressed in human periodontal ligament stem cels and mainly located in cel membrane and cytoplasm which were similar to human periodontal ligament cels and MG63 cels. The expression of parathyroid hormone 1 receptor in human periodontal ligament stem cels was 3.7 times higher than that in human periodontal ligament cels, which was similar to that in MG63 cels. After osteogenic induction, human periodontal ligament stem cels showed a higher expression of parathyroid hormone 1 receptor and osteoblast-related genes as wel as the activity of osteoblast alkaline phosphatase and mineralization compared to human periodontal ligament cels. Our data showed that parathyroid hormone 1 receptor was higher in human periodontal ligament stem cels than human periodontal ligament cels and the expression was related with osteogenic differentiation, suggesting that human periodontal ligament stem cels display a higher potency of osteogenic differentiation and act as seed cels with a vast application prospect in oral tissue engineering.

AIM: To investigate whether homocysteine (Hcy) has influences on endothelial progenitor cell (EPCs) number and activity from peripheral blood. METHODS: Total mononuclear cells (MNCs) were plated on fibronectin-coated culture dishes and cultured for 7 days, and then attached cells were stimulated with Hcy or vehicle control for 6 h, 12 h, 24 h and 48 h. The adhesion, proliferation, migration and in vitro vasculogenesis activity of EPCs were assayed, respectively. RESULTS: Incubation of isolated human MNCs with Hcy dose and time-dependently decreased the number of EPCs with maximum at 200 (?mol/L) for 24 hours (35.7?6.7 vs 62.5?10.6, P

Adult ; Aorta, Thoracic ; injuries ; Coronary Vessels ; injuries ; Humans ; Male ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Objective To explore the correlation between peripheral blood monocyte levels and postoperative cognitive dysfunction(POCD)in elderly patients.Methods A total of 96 elderly patients undergoing elective total hip arthroplasty under general anesthesia in the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University from October 2021 to March 2022 were enrolled in the prospective observational stud-y,and the patients were divided into POCD group(26 cases)and Non-POCD group(70 cases)according to the mini-mental state ex-amination(MMSE)score.Peripheral blood monocyte levels and other relevant indicators were recorded.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve were applied to analyze the predictive value of peripheral blood monocyte levels for POCD with total hip arthroplasty in eld-erly patients.Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate risk factors.Results The optimal cut-off value for preoperative monocyte levels predicting POCD in elderly patients with total hip arthroplasty was 0.55×109/L,and area under the curve value was 0.729.Univariate Logistic regression analysis showed that lower education level,higher American Society of Anesthe-siologists(ASA)grade,and preoperative and postoperative elevated monocyte levels were the risk factors for POCD;multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that preoperative monocyte levels were independently associated with the occurrence of POCD.Conclusion Preoperative peripheral blood monocyte levels are associated with the occurrence of POCD,and preoperative elevated monocyte level is a risk factor for POCD,helping to predict the potential risk of POCD.