Objective To observe the dynamic changes of leptin and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 in formation of liver fibrosis in rats,and the role of leptin in liver fibrosis.Methods Six rats were served as normal control(0 week)and killed at the beginning of the study.Thirty-two rats were subcutaneously injected with 60%CCl4 to establish fibrotie models.The rats were than sacrificed at 3,6,9 and 12 weeks with eight each.Expressions of leptin mRNA,Ob-Rb mRNA,TGF-β1 mRNA and TGF-βRⅡmRNA in liver were detected by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Expression of Smad3 and Smad7 proteins were determined by Western blot.The expression and loealization of leptin,Ob-Rb and TGF-β1 in liver tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results The expression of leptin mRNA,Ob-Rb mRNA,TGF-β1 mRNA and TGF-βR Ⅱ mRNA in 0 week were 0.43±0.45,0.57±0.21,0.19±0.12 and 0.30±0.22,respectively,and increased to 1.27±0.19,1.70±0.29,1.70±1.00 and 2.14±1.02 at 12 weeks(P＜0.05).At the same times the level of Smad3 increased from 0.44±0.24 at 0 week to 1.75±1.05 at 12 weeks.While the expression of Smad7 was decreased from 1.35±0.12 at 0 week to 0.74±1.21 at 12 weeks(P＜0.05).The expressions of leptin,Ob-Rb and TGF-β1 were increased with the formation of the fibrosis(P＜0.01).Conclusions With the development of liver fibrosis,the expressions of leptin,Ob-Rb mRNA and protein are increased and improved the formation of the fibrosis.Its mechanisms may be correlated with up-regulation of TGF-β1,TGF-βR Ⅱ and Smda3 expressions and down-regulaton of Smad7 expression by leptin.

To further explore the result of bilingual teaching in pediatrics,we randomly chose 200 undergraduates of 4 class and released students'questionnaires about bilingual teaching with teaching content before and after class to assess students'understanding of bilingual teaching and analysed appraisal result.We found no significant difference of student score between students accepting bilingual teaching and not accepting the bilingual teaching,but there was difference for English tests and expression level.So we think that students can fully accept the bilingual teaching of pediatrics under the premise with selecting appropriate teaching methods and means.

Objective·To investigate the correlation of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of complement factor H (CFH) gene with schizophrenia in Chinese Han population.Methods·The genotype,allele,and haplotype frequencies of 5 SNP loci (rs800292,rs 1061170,rs 10801555,rs 10922096 and rs2019727) in CFH gene were compared between 418 patients with schizophrenia (case group) and 655 normal people (control group) by SNaPshot technique.Results·All SNP loci were well genotyped in the subjects.Correlation analysis showed that rs1061170 locus allele frequency distribution difference between case group and control group was statistically significant (corrected P=0.045),while genotype and allele frequencies of other SNP loci were not significantly different (all corrected P＞0.05).The frequency of haplotype C-A-T-A-A (rs800292-rs1061170-rs10801555-rs10922096-rs2019727) in case group was different from that in control group (corrected P=0.013).Conclusion·The allele polymorphisms of rsl061170 and the haplotype C-A-T-A-A of rs800292-rs 1061170-rs 10801555-rs 10922096-rs2019727 may be associated with schizophrenia in Chinese Han population.

Purpose:To clarify the diagnosis and management of ureteral obstruction owing to vena cava orcongenital crossing vessels. Methods: Preoperative sonography, intavenous urography (IVU), retrograde urogra-phy or magnetic resonance urography(MRU) were performed in 19 cases of patients for evaluation of hy-droureteronepherosis. Combined with magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) or cavography, retrocaval ureter couldbe detected. Colour Doppler imaging was used to detect crossing vessels. During operations, retrocaval (8cases) or retroiliac (1 cases) ureters were excised, crossing vessels (10 cases) were divided then ureteroureteralanastomosis or dismembered pyeloplasty (Anderson-Hynes) were completed. Results:3 to 6 months after opera-tions, hydroureteronepherosis was lightened to different extends in all patients. After median follow-up of 15.7months (range 1 to 4.5 years), hydroureteronepherosis was found in one patient. Conclusions:Disorder of bloodvessels should be considered in the differential diagnosis of extrinsic ureteral obstruction. Sonography, IVU,MRI combined with cavography, color Doppler imaging are of great value in the diagnosis of those conditions.Early diagnosis and treatment are very important.

The clinical manifestations of five children with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD) were retrospectively analyzed and their gene mutations were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing and chromosome microarray. The 5 patients consisted of 4 males and 1 female and the age of onset was 6-9 years. Dyskinesia was induced by sudden turn movement, scare, mental stress, or other factors. These patients were conscious and had abnormal posture of unilateral or bilateral extremities, athetosis, facial muscle twitching, and abnormal body posture. The frequency of onset ranged from 3-5 times a month to 2-7 times a day, with a duration of <30 seconds every time. Electroencephalography showed no abnormality in these patients. Three patients had a family history of similar disease. The high-throughput sequencing results showed that a heterozygous mutation in the PRRT2 gene, c.649_650insC (p.R217PfsX8), was found in two patients; the mutation c.436C>T (p.P146S) was found in one patient; a splice site mutation, IVS2-1G>A, was found in one patient. The two mutations c.436C>T and IVS2-1G>A had not been reported previously. The chromosome microarray analysis was performed in one patient with negative results of gene detection, and the chromosome 16p11.2 deletion (0.55 Mb) was observed. Low-dose carbamazepine was effective for treatment of the 5 patients. PKD is a rare neurological disease. The detection of the PRRT2 gene by multiple genetic analysis can help the early diagnosis of PKD.
Carbamazepine ; therapeutic use ; Child ; Chromosome Deletion ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16 ; Dystonia ; complications ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Electroencephalography ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; Mutation ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; genetics

OBJECTIVEIt is important to use noninvasive methods to differentiate liver fibrosis and liver cirrhosis. A prospective study was conducted to evaluate the validity of ultrasonography (US) in evaluating the severity of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis in reference to the pathologic diagnosis of their liver biopsy specimens.

METHODSThe liver fibrosis status of 324 chronic viral hepatitis patients was evaluated by both needle biopsy and US. Histologically their liver fibrosis was graded as S0-S4, and the inflammatory reaction in the liver was graded as G1-G4. The US examination included qualitative description of the liver surface and liver parenchyma, and the quantitative parameters were vascular diameters, blood flow volume and spleen size.

RESULTSUS qualitative description of the liver surface and liver parenchyma was correlated to the severity of fibrosis and the degree of the inflammation seen in the liver biopsies. An analysis of US quantitative parameters showed that a cut-off value of 12.1 cm for the length of spleen had a sensitivity of 60.0%, and specificity of 75.3% in detecting early liver fibrosis. For other quantitative parameters, the cut-off values were 8mm for the diameter of the splenic vein, 30.5 cm/sec for maximal blood flow velocity in the portal vein and 12 mm in diameter of the main portal vein. The diagnostic sensitivities for these parameters were 60.0%, 78.6% and 76.7%; the diagnostic specificities were 78.1%, 66.9% and 44.6% respectively.

CONCLUSIONEarly cirrhosis can be detected by US, and the sonographic results were well paralleled with their pathologic diagnoses made by liver biopsies. Individual US parameter has limited sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing early cirrhosis. In clinical practice a combination of 2-3 parameters could be used to detect or exclude severe liver fibrosis.

Adult ; Female ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; complications ; diagnostic imaging ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; complications ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; diagnostic imaging ; virology ; Male ; Prospective Studies ; Ultrasonography

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; virology ; Adult ; Anti-HIV Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Drug Resistance, Viral ; Female ; HIV-1 ; drug effects ; physiology ; Humans ; Male

To establish a new high-throughput screening model for the agonist of PPARdelta, PPARdelta gene was obtained by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and subcloned to pGEM-T Vector for sequencing, then the PPARdelta fragment was excised by restriction enzymes, and inserted into pTARGET Vector to construct expression vector pTARGET-ppARdelta. Insert three copies of PPRE into pGl3-promoter vector to construct expression vector pGl3-PPRE x 3-luc. The vector pTARGET-ppARdelta was transiently cotransfected with pGl3-PPRE x 3-luc into different cell lines to assay the expression levels of luciferase. The PPARdelta agonist screening model was established and optimized. Bezafibrate and linoleic acid can induce the expression of luciferase significantly and in a dose-dependent manner. This method can be used for high throughput screening for the agonist of PPARdelta, which might become lead compounds for new anti-atheroscleriosis or anti-adiposity drugs.
3T3 Cells ; Animals ; Bezafibrate ; pharmacology ; Cell Line ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; methods ; Genetic Vectors ; chemistry ; genetics ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Linoleic Acid ; pharmacology ; Lipids ; chemistry ; Luciferases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Mice ; PPAR delta ; agonists ; genetics ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transfection ; methods

In this study, chemistry, biology and pharmacology were combinated to screen pseudoallergenic substances of Shuang-huanglian injection (SHLI) so that to establish a scientific and systematic approach to screen pseudoallergenic substances of traditional Chinese medicine injections. The mouse pseudoallergic reaction models were used to screen the pseudoallergic reaction of SHLI's intermediate extract and the intermediate extract's component or ingredient. Among the three intermediates of Shuanghuanglian injection (extract of Scutellaria baicalensis, extract of Lonicera japonica, extract of Forsythia suspensa) , pseudoallergic action of Forsythia suspensa was the strongest, Forsythia suspesnsa's pseudoallergic reaction mainly associated with the composition with largerchemical polarity. Further it was found that forsythiaside A and arctiin which existed in the the composition with largerchemical polarity caused obvious pseudoallergic reactions. SHLI with removal forsythoside A with the technology of HPLC-MS displayed reduced pseudoallergic reaction and a significant improved safety. This study provided a scientific basis for SHLI process improvements and also offered idea and research foundation for screening pseudoallergenic substances injections in other TCM injections.
Animals ; Drug Hypersensitivity ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; analysis ; Furans ; adverse effects ; Glucosides ; adverse effects ; Glycosides ; adverse effects ; Injections ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR

BACKGROUNDStudies have suggested that use of prolonged dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) following new generation drug-eluting stent implantation may increase costs and potential bleeding events. This study aimed to investigate the association of DAPT status with clinical safety in patients undergoing everolimus-eluting stent (EES) implantation in the SEEDS study (A Registry to Evaluate Safety and Effectiveness of Everolimus Drug-eluting Stent for Coronary Revascularization) at 2-year follow-up.

METHODSThe SEEDS study is a prospective, multicenter study, where patients (n = 1900) with small vessel, long lesion, or multi-vessel diseases underwent EES implantation. Detailed DAPT status was collected at baseline, 6-month, 1- and 2-year. DAPT interruption was defined as any interruption of aspirin and/or clopidogrel more than 14 days. The net adverse clinical events (NACE, a composite endpoint of all-cause death, all myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, definite/probable stent thrombosis (ST), and major bleeding (Bleeding Academic Research Consortium II-V)) were investigated according to the DAPT status at 2-year follow-up.

RESULTSDAPT was used in 97.8% of patients at 6 months, 69.5% at 12 months and 35.4% at 2 years. It was observed that the incidence of NACE was low (8.1%) at 2 years follow-up, especially its components of all-cause death (0.9%), stroke (1.1%), and definite/probable ST (0.7%). DAPT was not an independent predictor of composite endpoint of all-cause death/MI/stroke (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.693, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.096-4.980, P = 0.715) and NACE (HR: 1.041, 95% CI: 0.145-7.454, P = 0.968). Of 73 patients who had DAPT interruption, no patient had ST at 12-month, and only 1 patient experienced ST between 1- and 2-year (1.4%). There was a high frequency of major bleeding events (53/65, 82.5%) occurred in patients receiving DAPT treatment.

CONCLUSIONSProlonged DAPT use was not associated with improved clinical safety. The study emphasized that duration of DAPT needs to be shortened in Chinese patients following EES implantation (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT 01157455).

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aspirin ; therapeutic use ; Drug-Eluting Stents ; Everolimus ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors ; therapeutic use ; Prospective Studies ; Sirolimus ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Thrombosis ; drug therapy ; Ticlopidine ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult