Objective To study the changes in the percentage of CD+4 CD+25 regulatory T (Tr) cells in peripheral blood and deciduas in unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA) patients, normal non-pregnant and pregnant women respectively. Methods The percentage of CD+4 CD+25 Tr cells in deciduas and peripheral blood from 25 URSA patients, 22 normal non-pregnant (NNP) women, and 34 normal early pregnant (NP) women were measured by double-staining followed by flow cytometric analysis. Results (1) The percentage of CD+4 CDbright25 T cells in peripheral blood in both URSA and NP [ ( 1.55±0.77 ) %, (2. 65±1.10)%, respectively] women were increased significantly than that in NNP women [ (0. 39± 0.14)% P<0.05]. The percentage of CD+4 CDbright25 T cells in peripheral blood in URSA women was significantly lower than that in NP women (P<0.05 ). (2) The percentage of CD+4 CDbright25 T cells in decidua in URSA women was significantly lower than that in NP women [ ( 0. 59±0. 23 ) %, ( 1.24 ± 0. 55)%, respectively, P <0. 01 ]. There was no significant difference in the percentage of CD+4 CDdim25 T cells in decidua between URSA women and NP women [ (4. 23±1.52)%, (3.75±1.88)%, respectively, P>0.05]. (3) The proportion of CD+4 CDbright25/CD+4 cells in deeiduas was significantly higher than that in peripheral blood in NP women [(13. 10±10. 25 ) %, ( 5.59±2.62 ) %, respectively, P < 0. 05 ] . However, a significant difference in the proportion of CD+4 CDbright25/CD+4 between decidua and peripheral blood was not found in URSA patients [ (5. 16±2. 83 ) %, ( 4. 64±2. 07 ) %, respectively, P>0.05)].Conclusions The number of CD+4 CD+25 Tr cells is increased in normal pregnancy and decreased in URSA. Therefore, CD+4 CD+25 Tr cells may play an important role in maintaining maternal-fetal tolerance and may be involved in the pathogenesis of URSA.

Aim To explore the effects of Nrf2-ARE signal path on levrtiracetam anti-epileptic and levrtiracetam on learning and memorizing ability.Methods Thirty-six SD rats were divided into normal saline group, levrtiracetam group, model group and treatment group.Each group recruited nine rats.Tests of Morries water maze were given to the rats to evaluate their learning and memorizing ability.The protein expression of nuclear factor (erythroid-derived2)-like2 (Nrf2), heme oxygenase 1(HO-1) and NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase(NQO1) were examined by Western blot.Results Compared with model group, levrtiracetam could shorten the plateau period in epileptic rats (P<0.05), and increase the expression of Nrf2 protein, HO-1 protein and NQO1 protein in hippocampus(P<0.05).Conclusions Levrtiracetam could improve the learning and memorizing ability in epileptic rats.Levrtiracetam may increase the expression of HO-1 protein and NQO1 protein through the Nrf2-ARE pathway and play a part in antiepileptic effects.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of Yiqi Huoxue Qingre Huashi Recipe (YHQHR, a recipe capable of supplementing qi, activating blood, clearing heat, and dissipating dampness) on ulcer healing and Helicobacter pylori (Hp) eradication rate in Hp positive peptic ulcer patients, and to explore coccoid Hp occurrence in the eradication.

METHODSTotally 80 Hp positive peptic ulcer patients were assigned to the treatment group and the control groups by random digit table, 40 in each group. All patients received standard triple therapy of Western medicine for 2 successive weeks. Those in the control group additionally took omeprazole enteric coated tablet, 20 mg each time, once per day for 4 successive weeks. Those in the treatment group additionally took YHQHR, twice per day for 6 successive weeks. The ulcer healing was observed and recorded by gastroscope after discontinued medication of 14 days. The effective rate of ulcer healing under endoscope was statistically calculated. Rapid urease test (RUT) was performed in one small piece of tissue from corpora ventriculi and sinuses ventriculi using 14C breathe test (UBT). Gastric juice was collected from the stomach. Hp urease gene amplification test (urea A-PCR) was performed in living tissue from gastric antrum. Results obtained from the above three test methods were recorded and assessed to decide the final eradiation rate. Gastric mucosa tissue was observed under electron microscope,attempting to find non-eradicated Hp, which was further observed.

RESULTSThe total curative effect under gastroscope was 97.5% (39/40 cases) in the treatment group, obviously higher than that in the control group (80.0%, 32/40 cases) (P < 0.05). The eradication rate of Hp was 75.0% (30/40 cases), obviously better than that of the control group (52.5%, 21/40 cases) (P < 0.05). The total positive Hp numbers after treatment was 14C UBT (12), RUT (8), and urea A-PCR (27), respectively. The Hp positive rate detected by 14C UBT and RUT was lower than the Hp positive rate detected by urea A-PCR (P < 0.05). Rod-like and coccoid Hp bacteria could be observed under electron microscope.

CONCLUSIONYHQHR combined standard triple therapy was more effective than standard triple therapy alone in promoting ulcer healing and elevating the eradication rate of Hp.

Breath Tests ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Gastric Mucosa ; Helicobacter Infections ; drug therapy ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Omeprazole ; Peptic Ulcer ; drug therapy ; microbiology ; Urea

Objective: To study the recombinant epitope antigens of hepatitis C virus (HCV), in order to fulfil the requirements of recombinant immunoblot assay kit. Methods: An expressing vector pBVIL1 for expression of recombinant antigens in a fusion manner with IL-1β was constructed. A series of selected genes from the HCV antigens including the C, NS3, NS4 and NS5 were amplified from HCV gene-containing plasmids using PCR and the expression plasmids for these genes were constructed in pBVIL1, respectively. The activity of the purified recombinant antigens were tested against an identified HCV antibody positive and negative panel with ELISA. Results and Conclusions: All the cloned genes of chosen antigen epitopes were highly expressed in pBVIL1 in E.coli. The activity of the C and NS4 antigens were slightly higher than the RIBA3.0 antigens, while the activity of NS3 was slightly lower than the RIBA3.0 antigen. But the total evaluation for the panel was same as RIBA3.0. That means the cloned antigens were suitable for the use in RIBA test kit.

Apoptosis of abnormal oocytes is essential for defective oocyte elimination during prepubertal ovary development, and the ubiquitin system regulates the cell apoptosis via the degradation of specific proteins. Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) is a component of the ubiquitin system, and the UCH-L1-dependent apoptosis is important for spermatogenesis. In the present study, the change in the number of follicles and the expression of UCH-L1 in oocytes were determined in prepubertal mouse ovaries by immunohistochemical techniques. A significant decrease in the follicular pool was found in prepubertal mouse ovaries during the period of day 21 to day 28 after birth, and accordingly, the UCH-L1 protein expression was increased, to some degree in association with Jun activation domain-binding protein 1 (Jab1) and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27(Kipl). The increased UCH-L1 protein, together with the corresponding changes of Jab1 was detected in morphologically abnormal oocytes of prepubertal ovaries. Through the immunofluorescent colocalization, UCH-L1 was shown concentrating in abnormal oocytes, and a parallel change in Jab1 was also seen. The affinity analysis confirmed the interaction between UCH-L1 and Jab1 in ovaries. These results suggest that UCH-L1 plays an important role, possibly in association with Jab1 and p27(Kipl), in selective elimination of abnormal oocytes during mouse prepubertal development.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Female ; Mice ; Oocytes ; cytology ; Ovary ; enzymology ; Ubiquitin Thiolesterase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVEThe synthesis, biodistribution, and animal imaging of 99mTc- hydrazinonicotinamide-folate (99mTc-HYNIC-Folate) were studied as a folate receptor-targeted tumor imaging agent.

METHODSHYNIC-Folate was synthesized by a muti-step reaction and radiolabeled with 99mTc using tricine and trisodium phenylphosphine-3, 3', 3"-trisulfonate (TPPTS) as coligands. The radiochemical purity and stability of 99mTc HYNIC-Folate was measured. The biodistributions of 99mTc-HYNIC-Folate in normal mice and tumor-bearing mice were detected. Whole-body gamma imaging was performed using an athymic mouse tumor xenograft model.

RESULTSThe ligand HYNIC-Folate was successfully synthesized and characterized by hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) and mass spectrometry (MS). The radiochemical purity of 99mTc-HYNIC-Folate was 96% under optimal conditions. Data from gamma scintigraphy and the biodistribution in tumor-bearing mice showed that 99mTc-HYNIC-Folate predominantly accumulated in tumor, its uptake rate per gram tissue alpham was 5. 620+/- 0. 753. The uptakes of 99mTc-HYNIC-Folate in the other non-target tissues were very low, except it was high in the kidneys ( am was 41. 959 +/-6. 759) .

CONCLUSION99mTc-HYNIC-Folate has the potential to be used as a noninvasive radiodiagnostic imaging agent for the detection of folate receptor-positive human cancers.

Animals ; Female ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Neoplasms, Experimental ; diagnostic imaging ; Organotechnetium Compounds ; chemical synthesis ; pharmacokinetics ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Radiopharmaceuticals ; chemical synthesis ; pharmacokinetics ; Tissue Distribution

To assess the clinical effect and safety of Chinese traditional medicine injection combined with radiotherapy for esophageal cancer. The relative randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of Chinese medical injections (CMI) combined with radiotherapy as well as simple radiotherapy for esophageal cancer were searched from PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database(CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database and VIP Database as at September 2014. Two researchers completed the data extraction and quality evaluation independently. The data were analyzed by GeMTC 0.14.3 and Stata 12. 0 software. Finally, 43 RCTs involving 3 289 patients were finally included. The star network was constructed by different comparison groups. The results of network meta-analysis showed that the seven CMIs combined with radiotherapy was superior to simple radiotherapy in the treatment of esophageal cancer in efficacy, quality of life, and reduction in the incidence of nausea and leucopenia, but with no significant difference among the seven CMIs. Probability ranking result showed a great possibility for Shenqi Fuzheng and astragalus polysaccharide injections in improving the overall response rate and quality of life, which were followed by cinobufagin and kangai injections. However, only one study was included for Shenqi Fuzheng and astragalus polysaccharide injections. Therefore, cinobufagin or kangai injections were preferred in improving the overall response rate and quality of life. Aidi or compound sophora injections were better than other CMIs in reducing? the incidences of nausea (III-IV) and leukopenia. More RCTs of Shenqi Fuzheng and astragalus polysaccharide injections combined with radiotherapy for patients with esophageal cancer were expected in the future to confirm our results. Moreover, study findings will be reported, particularly for the adverse events in radiotherapy for esophageal cancer.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

D-alanine (D-Ala) is an essential amino acid that has a key role in bacterial cell wall synthesis. Alanine racemase (Alr) is a unique enzyme that interconverts L-alanine and D-alanine in most bacteria, making this enzyme a potential target for antimicrobial drug development. Streptococcus mutans is a major causative factor of dental caries. The factors involved in the survival, virulence and interspecies interactions of S. mutans could be exploited as potential targets for caries control. The current study aimed to investigate the physiological role of Alr in S. mutans. We constructed alr mutant strain of S. mutans and evaluated its phenotypic traits and interspecies competitiveness compared with the wild-type strain. We found that alr deletion was lethal to S. mutans. A minimal supplement of D-Ala (150μg·mL?1) was required for the optimal growth of the alr mutant. The depletion of D-alanine in the growth medium resulted in cell wall perforation and cell lysis in the alr mutant strain. We also determined the compromised competitiveness of the alr mutant strain relative to the wild-type S. mutans against other oral streptococci (S. sanguinis or S. gordonii), demonstrated using either conditioned medium assays or dual-species fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis. Given the importance and necessity of alr to the growth and competitiveness of S. mutans, Alr may represent a promising target to modulate the cariogenicity of oral biofilms and to benefit the management of dental caries.

OBJECTIVE To observe the efficiency of the method of soothing liver,calming nerves,descending adverse qi and protecting membrane in treating patients with non-erosive reflux gastroesophageal disease(NERD) and its role in reducing the expression of CGRP and SP.METHODS 37 patients were randomly divided into treatment group(20 cases) and control group (1 7 cases).Patients in the control group were treated with omeprazole and domperidone,whereas those in the treatment group were further added with Chinese formula.Questionnaire concerning reflux diseases was used to evaluate the symptoms before and after treatment.Two biopsy samples were taken from the lower esophageal for immunohistochemistry to evaluate the expression of CGRP and SP.RESULTS ①No evident differences were detected in the two groups when it came to the total scores of questionnaire concerning reflux diseases(P >0.05) before treatment.Both the total symptom scores and the symp-tom scores of burning,chest pain and reflux of gastric contents in the treatment group were lower than those in the control group(P <0.05),with no evident differences being detected in sour taste/bitter taste in the mouth(P >0.05)after treatment. The total curative rate of the treatment group was 75%,which was higher than 47% of the control group(P <0.05).②Im-munohistochemical test showed that the expression of CGRP and substance P in the treatment group after treatment was lower than that before treatment(P <0.05),while no significant changes were noticed in the control group(P >0.05).CONCLU-SION The method of soothing liver,calming nerves,descending adverse qi and protecting membrane combined with western medicine therapy can efficiently relieve the symptoms and enhance curative efficiency in patients with NERD,whose action mechanism might be related to the inhibition of CGRP and substance P expression,so as to decrease esophageal hypersensitivi-ty,protect the esophageal mucosa and increase its barrier function.

BACKGROUNDEndometrial polyps (EPs) occur in approximately 34.9% of infertile women. Transvaginal sonography (TVS) is a routine, non-invasive component of fertility evaluation. Most ultrasonographic studies of EPs have focused on abnormal uterine bleeding; few have assessed EPs in infertile women. Furthermore, no studies have explored endometrial thickness and its correlation with EPs in infertile women. This study aimed to assess transvaginal sonographic assessment of endometrial thickness and its value in diagnosis and prediction of EPs in infertile women.

METHODSA retrospective study on 314 infertile women was conducted from June to December 2010. After TVS, endometrial biopsies were obtained by hysteroscopy. Pathologically confirmed EPs were taken as the gold standard.

RESULTSBased on recognized criteria, TVS had a sensitivity of 37.04%, specificity of 98.71%, positive predictive value of 90.91%, negative predictive value of 81.85%, and accuracy of 82.80% for diagnosing EPs. Mean endometrial thickness was significantly different in patients with and without EPs (P = 0.0001). In women in the mid and late-proliferative phase, the endometrial thickness was significantly greater in those with EPs than in those without them (P = 0.0001 and 0.024). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that endometrial thickness had a sensitivity of 85.2% and specificity of 38% in the diagnosis of EPs, the area under the curve being 0.64. In the mid-proliferative phase, sensitivity was up to 90.9%, the area under the curve being 0.70.

CONCLUSIONSTVS is poor at detecting EPs in infertile women; however, transvaginal sonographic measurement of endometrial thickness is helpful. It is suggested that the diagnostic value of TVS for EPs in infertile women could be improved by adding the measurement of endometrial thickness to the variables that are routinely assessed.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Infertility, Female ; diagnostic imaging ; Polyps ; diagnostic imaging ; Retrospective Studies ; Ultrasonography ; Uterine Diseases ; diagnostic imaging