Objective: To study La accumulation and microstructure change of leg bones of rats fed with La(NO 3) 3 in low dosage for a long term. Methods: After the rats were fed by La(NO 3) 3 in dosage of 2 mg?kg -1 ?d -1 for 6 months, the contents of La and Ca,P in the leg bones were determined by ICP MS and spectrophotometry; the microstructure changes of the leg bones were investigated by electron microscopy and X ray powder diffraction. Results: In the leg bones of tested rats, the contents of La and P increased greatly, and those of Ca did not change obviously, so that Ca/P ratio values decreased in comparison with the control group. Conclusion: La was accumulatied in the rat leg bones and the change of bone microstructure induced after the rats were fed with La(NO 3) 3 in low dosage for a long term.

BACKGROUND: In our previous studies, zinc-calcium-phosphate (Zn-Ca-P) coating has been successful y prepared on the surface of AZ31 magnesium al oy, which improves the corrosion resistance of the al oy. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the hemocompatibility of Zn-Ca-P coated AZ31 magnesium al oy in vitro. METHODS: Zn-Ca-P coating was prepared on the surface of AZ31 magnesium al oy using chemical transformation. Afterwards, the characteristics of the Zn-Ca-P coating were investigated using scanning electron microscope, and X-ray diffraction analyzed its components. Besides, hemocompatibility in vitro was evaluated by platelet adhesion assay, dynamic clotting time test and hemolysis test. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Under scanning electron microscope, a flower-like coating was formed ont surface of the AZ31 magnesium al oy, with the main chemical component of insoluble phosphates Zn3(PO4)2?4H2O. And some round distortionless blood platelets adhered to the surface of AZ31 magnesium al oy, with no pseudopodia. In dynamic clotting time test, the long curve of Zn-Ca-P coating tended to descend indicating better anticoagulant activity. And the hemolysis rate was below 5%. In conclusion, Zn-Ca-P coating has good hemocompatibility in vitro.

The method of triggering the respirator to perform airfeed by the management of the diaphragmatic electromyography (EMG) signal is introduced in this paper. By using LabVIEW, an analysis software of the diaphragmatic electromyographic (EMG) signals is developed to filter the diaphragmatic EMG signal. The characteristics of the filtered signal is analyzed to catch the inspiratory onset, and then a series of signals are sent out duly to trigger the respirator to perform airfeed, and thus the patient's respiration can be synchronized with the respirator.

Objective To find noninvasive estimation of partial pressure of carbon dioxide in artery (PaCO2) by measuring the end-tidal CO2 partial pressure (PETCO2) in elderly patients with respiratory failure with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods All the 30 acutely exacerbated COPD subjects received routine clinical treatment including bronchodilators,mucolytics, glucocorticosteroid, antibiotics and oxygen therapy for 5-7 days, and part of them received noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NIPPV) treatment concurrently. They were both tested by eupnea method and prolonged expiratory method before and after treatment. Results Before treatment, PET CO2 (Q) (end-tidal CO2 pressure with eupnea, (50.72±8.93) mm Hg wassignificantly lower than PaCO2 (F=38.73, P＜0.01 ). Yet, PETCO2(P) (end-tidal CO2 pressure with prolong expiration) was (70.35±8.91) mm Hg and PaCO2 was (71.25±9.08) mm Hg. There was no significant difference between PETCO2 (P) and PaCO2 (P＞0.05). The similar results were found after treatment. By linear regression analysis, PetCO2(P) was remarkably positive correlated with PaCO2 before and after treatment (r=0.96 and 0.97, respectively, P＜0.01). According to TABG,PCO2(C) which was calculated by the average expiratory time of fitting curve was (71.78±9.04)mm Hg. And there was no significant difference between PCO2 (C) and PaCO2 (P＞0.05);Thesimilar results were founcl after treatment. By linear regression analysis, PCO2 (C) was remarkably positively correlated with PaCO2 (r=0.97 and 0.98, respectively, P＜0.01) before and after treatment. Conclusions In COPD patients with type Ⅱ respiratory failure, conventional PETCO2 (Q) is significantly lower than PaCO2. Yet, PETCO2 (P) could exactly estimate PaCO2 and is appropriate to its dynamic monitoring. And PCO2 (C) which is calculated by mode Boltzmann on eupnea curve also obtain similar results.

The present paper focused on the extraction of event-related potentials on a single sweep under extremely low S/N ratio. Two methods that can efficiently remove spontaneous EEG, ocular artifacts and power line interference were presented based on ARX modeling and independent component analysis (ICA). The former method applied ARX model to the measured compound signal that extensively contained the three kinds of ordinary noises mentioned above, and used ARX algorithm for parametric identification. The latter decomposed the signal by means of independent component analysis. Besides, some of ICA's important decomposing characters and its intrinsic causality were pointed out definitely. According to the practical situation, some modification on FastICA algorithm was also given, so as to implement auto-adaptive mapping of decomposed results to ERP component. Through simulation, both the two ways are proved to be highly capable of signal extraction and S/N ratio improving.
Electroencephalography ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Event-Related Potentials, P300 ; physiology ; Evoked Potentials ; physiology ; Humans ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

AIM: To investigate the role of transferrin/transferrin receptor system in transferrin-bound Yb 2 (Yb 2Tf) uptake by U-87 MG cells and the effect of transferrin-bound and -free Yb 2 on proliferation of U-87 MG cells. METHODS: Cell culture and ICP-MS measurement of Yb 2. RESULTS: Yb 2Tf uptake by U-87 MG cells increased with the concentrations of Yb 2Tf, and reached saturation as the concentration in the incubation medium was raised to about 2 ?mol/L. Also, Yb 2 uptake by the cells increased with increase of the mole ratio (Yb 2: apoTf), reaching a maximum at 1.5 mole ratio. Yb 2Tf in 0.4 ?mol/L significantly inhibited proliferation of U-87 MG cells, however, 10 ?mol/L Yb 3+ had no significant effect on proliferation of the cells. CONCLUSION: The uptake of Yb 2 by U-87 MG cells might be mediated by transferrin/transferrin receptor system. Transferrin-bound but not transferrin-free Yb 2 could significantly inhibit proliferation of U-87 MG cells.

Objective To study the chronic toxicity and its severity of a Chinese medicine, Anshen Bunao Liquid ( ABL) , in rats, provide the target organs and extent of reversibility of their adverse effects, determine its non-toxic dose, and to evaluate the safety of medication and provide reference for clinical trial dose and observation indexes.Methods Two hundred and forty healthy 6-week old Wistar rats ( male:female=1:1) were divided into low,middle, and high dose Anshen Bunao liquid groups (2.5, 5, 10 mL/kg),and solvent control group (distilled water 2 mL/100 g), with 60 rats in each group.The drug was orally administered to rats once a day and 6 days per week for 26 weeks.The general state, body mass and food intake were measured.By the end of 13 weeks, 26 weeks of experiment and 4-week recovery period after drug withdrawal, hematological and biochemical indexes were assayed, organ coefficients were determined, and histopathological observation was performed.Results Long-term continuous oral administration of Anshen Bunao liquid, the general state, behavior and gross appearance showed no significant abnormal changes.Compared with the control group, no significant differences in all checked items were found in the treatment groups.During 3 and 6 months, the size and location of organs,organ weight and organ coefficient had no obvious changes, with only non-significant increase of weight of some organs.All the organ coefficients of the animals in different groups were within normal range.Histopathology showed no obvious patho-logical and toxicological changes even in the high-dose drug treatment group, and no delayed toxicity occurred after with-drawal of drug administration.Conclusions The Chinese drug, Anshen Bunao liquid has no obvious toxicity and no de-layed toxicity after withdrawal of the drug in rats.It is expected that the planned dose in clinical use is a safe dose.

Activation of the innate immune system requires recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns, such as NOD-like receptors. The NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is involved in induction of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-1beta, and subsequent inflammatory responses. NLRP3 inflammasome plays important roles in the inflammatory and innate immune responses associated with autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome. However, analysis of the tissue distribution and expression profiles in BALB/c mice is still incomplete. In this study, we investigated the tissue distribution and expression pattern of NLRP3 in BALB/c mice to further elucidate its function in innate immunity in this commonly used laboratory animal model. NLRP3 mRNA expression levels and tissue distribution of the protein were investigated by real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemical analyses, respectively. NLRP3 mRNA expression was higher in the kidney and inguinal lymph nodes than in other tissues. Cytoplasmic expression of NLRP3 was detected in the epithelial reticular cells of the spleen and thymus, lymphocytes in the inguinal lymph nodes, cardiac muscle cells, cerebral cortex neurons, alveolar macrophages, renal tubule cells and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells. The results of this study will assist investigators in interpreting site-specific functions and roles of NLRP3 in inflammatory responses.
Animals ; Carrier Proteins/*genetics/metabolism ; *Gene Expression Regulation ; *Immunity, Innate ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Organ Specificity ; RNA, Messenger/genetics/metabolism ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Objective To evaluate the application of high-throughput shell vial assay in a clinical laboratory for detection of respiratory viruses from patients with ILI in Guangzhou between January and June, 2009. Methods Six hundred and fifty-two pharyngeal swab specimens were taken from ILI patents. Centrifugation-enhanced shell vials including 4 cell lines (MDCK, Hep-2, LLC-MK2 and MRC-5) were used for culture of respiratory viruses for 2-3 days. The cultures were identified by observation of cytopathic effect (CPE) , hemmaglution or hemmadsorption test as well as immunofluorescence staining. Results A total of 161 swab samples (24.69% ,161/652) were shown to have any one of the 5 common respiratory viruses including influenza A viruses ( 38. 51% , 62/161 ), influenza B virus ( 54. 65% , 88/161 ), parainfluenza viruses (4. 96% , 8/161 ) , adenovirus ( 1. 24% , 2/161 ), and respiratory syncytial virus (0. 62% ,1/161). The turnaround time was 2d for influenza viruses, 3d for adenovirus and parainfluenza viruses respectively. Conclusions (1) The shell vial method was effective, rapid and high throughout for the detection of respiratory viruses in clinical laboratories.(2)Influenza viruses were dominant in the swab samples from patients with ILI in Guangzhou between January and June with the highest appearance in the summer influenza B vires was the most common pathogen in patients with ILI in this study.

OBJECTIVETo improve the oral bioavailability of patchoulic alcohol in rats by using self-microemulsifying drug delivery systems (SMEDDS).

METHODPatchoulic alcohol was separated and purified from patchoulic oil, and the SMEDDSs including patchoulic alcohol or patchoulic oil were optimized by pseudo-ternary phase diagrams via central composite design-response surface methodology. Pharmacokinetics of both SMEDDSs and patchoulic alcohol itself in rats were investigated.

RESULTThe patchoulic alcohol SMEDDS (Cremophor EL-Tween 80-PEG 400-isopropyl myristate-patchoulic alcohol, 2:2:0.8:1.95:0.65) was considered as the optimized formulation. The mean drop size of the system was 30. 1 nm after diluted 100 folds in water. The average self-microemulsifying time was 142 s. Patchoulic alcohol SMEDDS and patchoulic oil SMEDDS showed no signficant difference in Tmax compared with patchoulic alcohol with around 60 minutes, while the AUCs of both SMEDDSs (2001 745.6 +/- 329 663.6) and (1594 005.6 +/- 280 150.3) microg x min x L(-1) were significantly higher than that of patchoulic alcohol (1 163 153.3 +/- 232 324.3) microg x min x L(-1).

CONCLUSIONSMEDDS can effectively improve the oral bioavailability of patchoulic alcohol in rats.

Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Biological Availability ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; Drug Delivery Systems ; methods ; Drug Stability ; Emulsifying Agents ; chemistry ; Ethanol ; chemistry ; Female ; Particle Size ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Self Administration ; Sesquiterpenes ; chemistry ; Solubility