Objective:To evaluate the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ?(PPAR?) and nuclear factor-?B(NF-?B) in lungs in patients with pulmonary fibrosis,and to explore their effect on the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis.Methods: Immunohistochemical technology was performed to investigate the PPAR? and NF-?B expression in lung specimens from 16 cases of pulmonary fibrosis and 10 cases of normal controls.Results: The positive score of PPAR?(0.35?0.08) in fibrosis group was lower than that in control group(0.42?0.04,P

Background and purpose:Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2), a member of epidermal growth factor receptor family, initiates a diverse set of signaling pathways that ultimately affect such fun-damental processes as cell proliferation, cell motility and cell apoptosis. It is reported that HER-2 was associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. However, the mechanism needs further investigation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism of HER-2 on regulating EMT process.Methods:Transwell assay was used to determine the motility of breast cancer cells; Real-time lfuorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-FQ-PCR) was employed to determine the expression of genes of interest, and reactive oxygen species production was measured by reactive oxygen species detection kit.Results:HER-2 overexpression in breast cancer cells could promote cell migration and invasion. Mechanistic study showed that HER-2 overexpression could upregulate ZEB1 expression. ZEB1 silencing by siRNA reduced cell motility of HER-2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Furthermore, reactive oxygen species produced in HER-2-overexpressing breast cancer cells were less than those produced in corresponding control cells.Conclusion:Our study demonstrated that HER-2 overexpression endowed breast cancer cells with EMT related properties by upregulating ZEB1 expression. ZEB1 could be a candidate target for further study of the relation-ship between HER-2 and EMT.

Objective To study the importance of back pain-lassitude as the key symptom in the differentiation of kidney-deficiency syndrome in diabetes patients.Methods Totally 460 diabetics were divided into the pain group(154 cases)and non-pain group(306 cases).The 39 symptoms,signs and behavior were abstracted and each patient was scored according to the details of kidney deficiency scale to analyze the constitution and distribution of kidney-deficiency syndrome.Results There was a significant difference in the total symptom score of the two groups(P

Objective To study the prevention and cure effect of immunoregulation therapy on postoperative infectious complications of calculous obstructive jaundice.Methods Prospective,randomized,blind and controlled clinical analysis of 40 patients conforming to the standard of calculous obstructive jaundice was carried out.The patients were divided into two groups at random.One was control group (n=20) with regular therapy,and the treatment group (n=20) with ulinastatin plus thymosin-α1 on the base of regular therapy for 1 week.The immunological indexes were determined before and after therapy on the 1st,3rd,5th、7th and 14th day,including the changes in lymphocyte count,CD14+ monocytes human leukocyte antigen (locus) DR (HLA-DR),and the incidence of postoperative infection were observed.Results The incidence of postoperative infectious complications in treatment group (10％) was remarkable lower than that in control group (30％,P＜0.01).There was significant difference between two groups (P＜0.05).After the 3rd,up to 14th day of therapy,the counts of lymphocyte and CD14+ monocytes HLA-DR were significantly higher than those in control group (all P＜0.05).Conclusions Immunoregulation therapy can improve the prognosis of obstructive jaundice patients in a period of 14 days of observation,and lymphocyte counts and CD14+monocytes HLA-DR were increased significantly,showing that immuno suppression can be ameliorated.Immunoregulation therapy could effectively prevent infectious complications of calculous obstructive jaundice.

Purpose To examine the expression of Fascin-1 and β-catenin protein and K-ras gene mutation in colorectal adenocarcinoma, and to explore their role in progression of colorectal neoplasm and their relevance. Methods Fascin-1 and β-catenin were analyzed by use of immunohistochemistry En Vision two-step. K-ras gene mutation was detected by ARMS method.Relationship between overexpression of Fascin-1, the nuclear expression of β-catenin, and the mutations of K-ras gene and clinicopathologic parameters was analyzed, the correlation between them was also analyzed. Results In 112 colorectal adenocarcinoma samples, the overexpression rate of Fascin-1 protein was 27.7％ (31/112), significantly higher than non-neoplastic mucosa (P < 0.01). The high nuclear expression rate of β-catenin was 29.5％ (33/112) in adenocarcinoma and non-neoplastic mucosa respectively with a significant difference between two groups (P < 0.01). High expression rate of Fascin-1 protein and β-catenin were correlated significantly with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.022, P = 0.027), and TNM staging (P =0.042, P = 0.019) in colorectal adenocarcinoma. The overexpression of Fascin-1 protein was correlated with tumor location (P = 0.004). The mutation rate of K-ras gene was 34.8％ (39/112), which showed no correlation with age, gender, tumor size, grade of differentiation, lymph node metastasis and TNM staging (P> 0.05). There was a correlation between the overexpressison of Fascin-1 protein, the nuclear expression of β-catenin and the mutation of K-ras gene (rs= 0.252, rs= 0.258, P < 0.05). The overexpression of Fascin-1 protein positively correlated with the nuclear expression of β-catenin (rs= 0.213, P < 0.05). Conclusion Fascin-1 protein and β-catenin protein are involved in invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer and are associated with K-ras gene mutation. K-ras may promote the overexpression of Fascin-1 by virtue of nuclear expression ofβ-catenin, which provided a new research direction on the treatment of K-ras gene mutated colorectal adenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect and potential mechanism of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and antiarrhythmic peptide (AAP10) on rabbit ventricular arrhythmia.

METHODSTwenty-four rabbits were randomly divided into three groups (n = 8 each): control group, LPA group and AAP10 + LPA group. Using arterially perfused rabbit ventricular wedge preparations, transmural ECG and action potentials from both endocardium and epicardium were simultaneously recorded in the whole process of all experiments with two separate floating microeletrodes. The incidence of ventricular arrhythmia post S1S2 stimulation was recorded. Protein levels of nonphosphorylated Cx43 and total Cx43 were evaluated by Western blot. The distribution of nonphosphorylated Cx43 was observed by confocal immunofluorescence microscopy.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, the QT interval, endocardial action potential duration, transmural repolarization dispersion (TDR) and incidence of ventricular arrhythmia were significantly increased and nonphosphorylated Cx43 expression was significantly upregulated in the LPA group. Compared with the LPA group, cotreatment with AAP10 can reduce the QT interval, endocardial action potential duration, TDR and incidence of ventricular arrhythmia (25.0% vs 62.5%, P < 0.01) and downregulate nonphosphorylated Cx43.

CONCLUSIONSLPA could promote the arrhythmia possibly by upregulating nonphosphorylated Cx43 and subsequent gap junction transmission inhibition. Gap junction enhancer AAP10 could attenuate the pro-arrhythmic effect of LPA probably by downregulating myocardial nonphosphorylated Cx43 expression.

Animals ; Anti-Arrhythmia Agents ; pharmacology ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Connexin 43 ; metabolism ; Lysophospholipids ; adverse effects ; Oligopeptides ; pharmacology ; Rabbits

OBJECTIVESBy studying the possibility and degree of the replication and expression of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) genes in normal liver cells from heterogenous species, such as primary duck hepatocytes (PDH) and primary rat hepatocytes (PRH), to investigate the species-specificity of HBV infection and replication.

METHODSPDH and PRH isolated by in situ perfusion with low concentration collagenase were transfected with complete HBV genome by electroporation (transfection group, about 1.19 10(12) copies of linear HBV DNA/1 10(7) PRH/PDH). From 1 day to 15 days after transfection, HBsAg and HBeAg in the supernatants and lysates of PRH/PDH were measured with IMX System, HBcAg was assayed with western blotting, Immunol dot blotting and Immunocytochemistry. Moreover, HBV S-mRNA and X-mRNA were tested with RT-PCR. Meanwhile, replicative intermediates of HBV DNA were analyzed by Southern blotting and Dot blotting. PRH/PDH electroporated only was used as control group.

RESULTSHBsAg in the lysates of transfected PDH group were 15.24 (1day), 14.55 (3 days) and 5.13 ( 5 days; P/N values, positive>or=2.1), HBeAg all was negative (<2.1), and both were negative in the supernatants of transfected group. Viral antigen production in transfected rat hepatocytes: HBsAg in the lysates of transfected hepatocytes was positive, P/N values ranging from 2.17 to 93.41, The average P/N values was 14.74+/-31.82, and could be maintained for 15 days after transfection. Whereas, HBsAg in the supernatants of transfected group was only found positive on 1 day after transfection, which P/N value was 6.66. HBeAg and HBcAg in the lysates of PRH of transfection group were positive during the first 3 days following transfection, P/N values was around 2.8. The total amount of HBV DNA in the transfected PDH and PRH groups was strongly positive by dot blotting, whereas that of the control group was negative. Southern blot analysis of intracellular total HBV DNA indicated that there were relaxed circular (RC), covalently closed circular (ccc) and single-stranded (SS) HBV DNA replicative intermediates in the transfected PDH and PRH groups, there was no integrated HBV DNA in the cellular genome. Control groups were negative at all.

CONCLUSIONExpression of HBV genes and production can occur in hepatocytes from nonmammalian species or mammalian species, which strongly supports the idea that replication of HBV has no critical species-specificity, and yet it depends on the endoenvironment of hepatocyte.

Animals ; DNA, Viral ; analysis ; Ducks ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; analysis ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; analysis ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; physiology ; Hepatocytes ; virology ; Humans ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Species Specificity ; Virus Replication

OBJECTIVEChildren aged 3 - 6 years in the urban areas of China were surveyed for the first time to find out the state of child neglect (CN) as well as the major relevant risk factors so as to provide evidence for developing intervention measures.

METHODS1163 children (of whom 49.6% were males and 4.5% were minority nationality) were randomly sampled under multistage stratification, from 25 cities which representing 15 provinces of China. Based on the Child Neglect Norms used by China, prevalence of CN was identified and SPSS-Windows 11.0 was employed for statistical analysis. Scores, frequency/degrees, age, sex and 5 types (physical, emotional, educational, medical and safety) of CN on every group of the regions, were calculated. Multifactorial analysis was conducted through Binary Logistic Regression and multiple linear regression to determine the relevant risk factors.

RESULTS(1) The average degree of CN for the 3 - 6 year-olds was 42.2, with its prevalence as 28.0%. Degrees of CN for the groups of 3, 4, 5, 6-year-olds were 41.7, 42.2, 42.1 and 43.1 (F = 0.988, P > 0.05), with frequencies of 25.0%, 25.3%, 27.9% and 35.4% (chi(2) = 4.798, P > 0.05), respectively. Degrees for CN in males and females were 42.7 and 41.8 (F = 2.502, P > 0.05) with the frequencies as 32.6% and 23.7% (chi(2) = 6.585, P < 0.05), respectively. Degrees of CN for the five types were 39.4-43.4 with the frequencies as 5.1%-12.9%, respectively. No significant difference was found in the frequency of the types (with an exception on 'physical neglect') between males and females (P > 0.05). The highest frequency (42.9%) of CN was seen in the single-parent families and the lowest in large family with three generations (25.5%). (2) According to monofactorial chi(2) test, the possible risk factors of CN would include: educational background, occupation and decrease of income of the parents during last year, etc. (3) Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that the influential factors to the occurrence of CN would include: father's educational background, sex of the child and mother's occupation, etc. (4) Multiple linear regression showed that the influential factors to the degree of CN were: family structure, number of supporting family members, relationship between parents and children, etc.

CONCLUSIONThe degree and frequency of CN among children aged 3 to 6 in the urban areas of China were high but similar among the four age groups. Male children had a higher frequency of neglect than females, but with similar degree. Children in single-parent families had the highest frequency. The major influential factors of CN would include: educational background, occupation, family structure, family income of the parents which were similar to the results reported from foreign literature.

Child ; Child Abuse ; statistics & numerical data ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Parenting ; Parents ; psychology ; Social Class ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Urban Population

Hypertension is a kind of chronic cardiovascular system disease caused by a series of factors and carriers dysfunction, which belongs to the category of Tibetan medicine "Chalong disease", and has a high rate of disability and mortality. Zuomua Decoction is a classical Tibetan medicine for Chalong disease, but its mechanism is not clear. Therefore, in this paper we explored the multi-components, multi-targets and multi-channels mechanism of Zuomua Decoction in the treatment of hypertension based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology. First of all, the chemical components of Zuomua Decoction were obtained in the retrieval of traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database(TCMSP), China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI) and Wanfang database. The potential targets of Zuomua Decoction were predicted by BATMAN-TCM database, and the targets of hypertension were obtained by using DisGeNET database. The intersection of these two targets set was taken to obtain the potential targets of Zuomua Decoction in the treatment of hypertension, and then the chemical compositions-targets network was constructed. Secondly, the intersection targets were imported into STRING database to obtain the interaction relationship of intersection targets, and the protein interaction network of Zuomua Decoction in the treatment of hypertension was constructed in Cytoscape. Topological, GO, and KEGG enrichment analysis were used to construct the key targets-signal pathways-biological processes network diagram and explore the mechanism of Zuomua Decoction in the treatment of hypertension. Finally, the key targets were selected to construct the pharmacodynamic identification models to verify the effect mode of Zomua Decoction in treating hypertension. The results showed that there were 61 chemical components and 90 potential targets in the compounds-targets network. We obtained 21 key targets, 154 signal pathways, and 382 biological processes in topological, GO, and KEGG enrichment analysis of the protein interaction network, and in the comprehensive analysis, it was found that Zuomua Decoction could reduce blood pressure by regulating renin angiotension aldosterone system, balancing the concentration of intracellular calcium and sodium ions and regulating vasoconstriction and relaxation. ACE, AGTR1, and ADRB2 were used as the carriers for molecular docking study on the components of Zuoma Decoction, and the results showed that the chemical components of Zuomua Decoction had a good binding activity with key targets. The purpose of this study is to provide ideas for the in-depth study of Zuoma Decoction in the treatment of hypertension, and provide scientific basis for its clinical rational application.
Antihypertensive Agents ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Humans ; Hypertension/drug therapy* ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Technology

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the quality of life and influencing factors on patients with multiple myeloma (MM).

METHODS227 MM cases were selected at 5 hospitals in Xi'an from August, 2010 to March, 2013. QLQ-C30 was used to evaluate the quality of life of MM patients, and their norms were as control. Factors which influencing the quality of life were investigated and analyzed with SPSS 17.0 software.

RESULTSThe total score of quality of life in MM patients was 49.0±21.7 which was lower than the norms (60.7±23.4). The scores on fatigue, nausea, vomiting, pain, short of breath, disturbance on sleeping, losing appetite, constipation, other symptoms and financial difficulty were significantly higher than data of the norms (P < 0.05). Factors as being elderly (especially those older than 70), under higher proportion of medical costs on their own expense or financial difficulty etc., had major influences on the quality of life (P < 0.05) of MM patients who in particular having worse quality of life when in worsening clinical ISS stage (P < 0.05). Low level of hemoglobin, high level of serum calcium and globulin all significantly reduced the quality of life of the MM patients (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe quality of life of MM patients was significantly lower than the normal people or patients with other tumors. Fatigue, pain, and financial difficulty were main influencing factors on the quality of life of MM patients. The assessment on the effects of treatment should relate to the improvement of hemoglobin, serum calcium and globulin, which could all improve the quality of life of MM patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma ; epidemiology ; Quality of Life ; Surveys and Questionnaires