Objective To explore the nuclear factor-kappa-B activator 1 (Act1) expression in salivary gland and peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with Sj(o)gren's syndrome (SS),and to explore its possible regulatory mechanisms.Methods The Act1 expression in salivary gland tissue from 10 patients with SS was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining,and immunolluorescence double staining was used to detect Act1-expressing cells.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were obtained from 28 SS patients and 22 healthy controls (HC).The Act1 expression in different lymphocyte subpopulations was determined by flow cytometry and Act1-mRNA expression was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR),and the data was analyzed by Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney U test and Pearson correlation analysis.Results Remarkable expression of Actl in the salivary glands from SS patients was observed,especially in T lymphocytes,in contrast to the few expression in B lymphocytes.The expression of Act1 in the peripheral CD4+ T cells,CD8+ T cells,CD20+ B cells was higher in SS patients than HC.There was no significant difference of Act 1-mRNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in healthy controls and SS patients.However,a tendency of up-regulation of Act1 expression was noticed in SS patients than healthy controls (0.84±0.35 vs 0.79±0.21,U=274.5,P＞0.05),and the up-regulation of Act1 was also found in those SS patients with hypergammaglobulinemia (0.88±0.39 vs 0.75±0.27,U=73.0,P＞0.05) or with internal organ involvement(0.92±0.38 vs 0.77±0.33,U=75.0,P＞0.05),but the differences were not statistically significant.Conclusion Our data suggest that Act1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of SS by negative feedback mechanism in B cell-mediated humoral immune pathway,and positive feedback mechanism in IL-17 mediated T-cell immune pathways.Act1 may be associated with disease activity and severity in SS.

Objective To analyze the nuclear factor-kappa-B activator 1 (Act1) expression in synovial tissues and peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA),and explore its possible regulatory mechanisms.Methods The Act1 expression of synovial tissue from 10 RA patients and 5 osteoarthritis patients were analyzed by immunohistochemical staining,and double immunofluorescence staining was used to identify the Act1-expressing cells.The peripheral blood of 47 RA patients and 22 healthy controls (HC) were obtained.The Act1 expression in different lymphocyte subpopulation from peripheral blood was determined by flow cytometry and Act1-mRNA expression was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).The data was analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test,two independent sample t test and Pearson correlation analysis.Results Remarkable infiltration of inflammatory cells and expression of Act1 in synovium from RA patients was observed.The Act1 was expressed in T lymphocytes,in contrast to the few expression in B lymphocytes.Compared to HC,the expression of Act1-mRNA was lower in peripheral CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells [CD4+ T cells:133 (69,380) vs 158 (117,246),U=36,P＞0.05; CD8+ T cells:127(63,363) vs 129(81,222),U=35,P＞0.05],however,higher in CD20+ B cells in RA patients [62(34,81) vs 52(33,105),U =36,P ＞0.05].There was no significant difference of Act1-mRNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells between HC and RA patients (0.71 ±0.32 vs 0.79±0.21,t=1.717,P=0.091).However,a tendency of down-regulation of Act1 expression was noticed in RA patients than HC.No significant correlation was found between Act1-mRNA level and RA disease activity index.Conclusion Our data suggest that Act1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of RA,however,we could not yet found its association with RA disease activity.

Objective To determine the association between macrocalcificatoin in thyroid nodule and thyroid carcinoma. Methods Sonogram of 169 patients of thyroid nodule with macrocalcification was retrospectively analyzed. The ultrasonographic finding was compared with pathological results after excision. Macrocalcification was divided into three types and assessed the relation between each type macrocalcification and thyroid carcinoma.Results Macrocalcification was detected in 176 nodules, 122 were malignant, and 54 were benign. Irregular macrocalcification were more common in malignant nodule (82.9%, 34/41), the malignant risk of solitary macrocalcification were lower (58.5%,31/53),and the malignant risk of curvilinear macrocalcification were between irregular macrocalcification and solitary macrocalcification (69.5%, 57/82). Conclusion Ultrasonography can play an important role in differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodule macrocalcification.

Objective To improve the deficiencies of current methods ,explore a new way to estimate endogenous antibodies in‐terference in immunoassay reagent .Methods According to EP14‐A3 ,RF samples and normal samples were tested at the same time by reference reagents ,reagent A and B respectively .Reagent A and B were to be evaluated .RF samples′location was compared to 95% CI of Deming regression line based on the normal samples .Results In comparison of reagent A vs .reference reagent ,RF sam‐ples exceeded 95% CI upper limit ,which indicated the anti‐interference ability to RF of reagent A was different from the reference reagent statistically .Meanwhile ,all RF samples tested by reagent B fell in 95% CI ,RF samples interfered reagent B hardly ,which indicated the reagent B had similar anti‐interference performance to RF as reference reagent .Conclusion The method from EP14‐A could intuitively reflect the resistance to endogenous antibodies for newly developed immunoassay reagents .

As a kind of the plant tissue cultures, hairy root culture is characterized by rapid growth without exogenous hormones source and high yield of secondary metabolites, which attracted the attention of scholars in resent years. This work systematically summarized the research of medicinal plant hairy roots, including the mechanism, current situation of medicinal plant hairy roots, and their applications.
Cell Culture Techniques ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; genetics ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; genetics ; growth & development ; metabolism

Objective:To explore the efficacy of abdominal acupuncture in treating patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF).
Methods:Forty-five eligible OVCF patients were randomized into an abdominal acupuncture (AA) group, a body acupuncture (BA) group and a medication group according to the random numbers generated by the SPSS 11.5 version software, 15 subjects in each group. Patients in the medication group were intervened by Ossotide injection (intravenous injection), Caltrate (oral administration), Alfacalcidol (oral administration), and Salcatonin injection (muscular injection). In addition to the intervention given to the medication group, patients in the AA group additionally received acupuncture at Zhongwan (CV 12), Xiawan (CV 10), Qihai (CV 6), Guanyuan (CV 4), Shuifen (CV 9), and Huaroumen (ST 24); while patients in the BA group additionally received acupuncture at Jiaji (EX-B 2, superior and inferior to the affected area) points, Ashi points, Weizhong (BL 40) and Chengshan (BL 57). For the AA and BA groups, the acupuncture treatment was given once a day, 6 d per week, for 3 weeks in total. Prior to the intervention, and respectively after 1-week treatment, 2-week treatment and 3-week treatment, visual analogue scale (VAS) and Barthel index (BI) were adopted to evaluate pain degree and activities of daily living (ADL).
Results:After intervention, the VAS and BI scores were significantly changed in the three groups (P<0.05). Respectively after 1-week, 2-week and 3-week treatment, the VAS and BI scores in the two acupuncture groups were significantly different from those in the medication group at the same time point (P<0.01). After 1-week and 2-week treatment, the improvements of VAS and BI scores in the AA group were more significant than those in the BA group(P<0.05); after 3-week treatment, there was no significant difference in comparing the VAS score between the two acupuncture groups (P>0.05), but a significant difference was found in comparing the BI score (P<0.05).
Conclusion:Abdominal acupuncture can produce a more significant effect in improving VAS and BI scores in OVCF patients than body acupuncture and pure medication treatment, and it’s efficient and causes few sufferings.

[Summary] To investigate the effect of gliclazide on the proliferation and differentiation in MC3T3-E1 cells exposed to normal glucose concentration by applying CCK-8 and RT-PCR. Gliclazide improved the proliferation and stimulated COL-I, OPN and Runx2 mRNA expression in MC3T3-E1 cells, the best concentration of gliclazide was 20μmol/ L, the expression of COL-1 and OPN mRNA had a significant positive correlation with Runx2 binding activity.

After MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with 1,10,and 20 μmol/L glibenclamide for 48 h,the proliferation rate of cells was detected by CCK-8 assay.Flow cytometry was used to test cell apoptosis.The mRNA expressions of collagen I (COL-1) and osteopontin (OPN) were tested by realtime fluorescence quantitative PCR.Western blot was used to detect the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins Bax and Bcl-2.The results showed that compared with the control group,the proliferation rate of MC3T3-E1 cells was gradually increased (P＜0.05),the apoptosis rate decreased (P ＜ 0.05),the expressions of COL-1 mRNA,OPN mRNA,and Bcl-2 protein were progressively raised (P＜0.05),and the expression of Bax protein were gradually decreased (P＜0.05) along with increasing concentration of glyburide.It suggested that glibenclamide could promote the proliferation and differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells in high glucose and may inhibit apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner within a certain range.

Objective The gastrointestinal tract of neonate becomes colonized with microorganisms from environment and mother immediately after birth. Strong evidences suggested that early composition of the microflora in neonates play an important role for postnatal development of the immune system. This study was designed to investigate the effect of mode of delivery on the development of gut microflora and characteristics of the stool in breast-fed infants by molecular biology methods. Methods Sixty healthy breast-fed term infants were enrolled in the study(including vaginal delivery group and cesarean section delivery group,each group included 30 infants). Anthropometric measurements and stool study were done at 6-week,8-week,10-week,and 12-week. Fecal samples were subjected to quantitative fluorescence real-time polymerse chain reaction assays for the enumeration of lactobacili,bifidobacteria,and subtype of bifidobacteria(bifidobacterium longum and bifidobacterium breve). Results The numbers of lactobacilli and bifidobacterium longum species were less in cesarean delivery group than those in vaginal delivery group(P ＜ 0.05). Stool mean pH was lower in vaginal delivery group than that in cesarean section delivery group(P ＜ 0.05). There were no differences in stool characteristics and growth between two groups. Conclusions Cesarean section is associated with the decrease of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in breast-fed term infants.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of tacrolimus in patients with generalized myasthenia gravis (MG).Methods A total of 69 cases admitted to our hospital were given 2-6 mg/day tacrolimus (FK506) for 12 months.The MG absolute and relative clinical scores were used to monitor the efficacy of tacrolimus.Clinical evaluation was conducted at month 1,3,6,and 12,while the serum concentration of FK506 was measured at one month after administration of tacromus for one month.Results The therapeutic response presenting as improved muscular strength showed within one month after administration of tacrolimus.The overall response rates (MG relative clinical score≥25％) at month 1,3,6 were 81.2％,87.6％,92.2％ respectively.It reached 93.8％ by the final visit at month 12.MG score to evaluate disease severity decreased significantly as the subjects continued to take tacrolimus.Statistic analysis suggested that the serum concentration of FK506 was correlated with its therapeutic effect.Serum trough levels in remission and response groups [(7.1 ± 3.9) μg/L and (6.3 ± 3.8) pg/L,respectively] were significantly higher than that of no response group [(3.4 ± 1.3) μg/L].The most common adverse effects included hyperglycemia (5 cases),myelosuppression (3 cases),and dizziness tinnitus (3 cases),majority of which were temporary and manageable.Conclusions Our study has shown that tacrolimus significantly improved muscular strength of generalized MG patients.The treatment is well tolerated.The therapeutic effect of tacrolimus is observed within 1 month after initial use.Adverse events were manageable and not common.