Objective: To study the effect of curcumin on cardiac remodeling and heart function change induced by adriamycin in rats. Methods: A total of 50 SD rats were randomly divided into blank control group (n=10), adriamycin group (n=20) and curcumin intervention group (n=20). General conditions of rats, including weight, hair color, diet and activity capacity, were observed. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS) and left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDd) were observed by echocardiography. Rat heart was weighed and levels of cardiac collagen type Ⅰ and Ⅲ were observed using immunohistochemistry method. Results: Compared with blank control group after experiment, there were significant increase in heart weight [(168.53±26)mg vs. (208.34±31)mg], heart weight/body weight [(0.36±0.06) vs. (0.52±0.08)], and significant decrease in body weight [(469.27±34)g vs. (428.47±45)g]; significant increase in LVEDd [(4.87±0.19)mm vs. (7.49±0.83)mm], significant decrease in LVEF [(69.53±6.25)% vs. (41.46±4.38)%] and LVFS [(45.83±3.79)% vs. (17.25±2.92)%] in adriamycin group, P<0.05 all, significant increase in expression rates of collagen type Ⅰ and Ⅲ, P<0.01.Compared with adriamycin group, there were significant increase in body weight (452.46±38)g, significant decrease in heart weight (178.73±38)mg, heart weight/body weight (0.39±0.07); significant decrease in LVEDd (5.96±0.65)mm and significant increase in LVEF (53.12±5.43)% and LVFS (36.57±3.66)%, P <0.05 all; significant decrease in expression rates of collagen type Ⅰ and Ⅲ in curcumin group, P <0.01. Conclusion: Curcumin can improve cardiac remodeling and heart function induced by adriamycin in rats.

Objective To probe into the clinical application value of dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging (DCE-MRI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) in identifying benign and malignant breast lesions.Methods 60 patients with clinically suspected breast lesions underwent MR examination.Morphologic features,early enhancement rate,time-signal intensity curve (TIC),apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value,as well as the differences between ADC values of the surrounding normal tissues and these of the lesions were compared and analyzed.Results The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) of the early enhancement rate,TIC,ADC value,ADC difference value were 0.741,0.808,0.882 and 0.959,respectively;the best diagnostic thresholds for the early enhancement rate,ADC value,and ADC difference value were 163％,1.30× 10-3 mm2/s and 0.47× 10-3 mm-2/s,respectively.The sensitivity of morphologic features,early enhancement rate,type Ⅲ curve,type Ⅱ and type Ⅲ curve,ADC value and ADC difference value in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions was 53.1％,59.4％,43.8％,90.6％,93.8％ and 96.9％,respectively;the specificity was 85.7％,82.1％,89.3％,57.1％,75.0％ and 82.1％,respectively;the positive predictive values were 81.0％,79.2％,82.4％,70.7％,81.1％ and 86.1％,respectively;the negative predictive values were 61.5％,63.9％,58.1％,84.2％,91.3％ and 95.8％,respectively;and the accuracy was 68.3％,70.0％,65.0％,75.0％,85.0％,90.0％,respectively.Conclusion DCDMRI and DWI play important roles in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions,among which ADC difference value is associated with the highest diagnostic capability.Combination of multiple imaging diagnostic methods is necessary to improve the diagnostic accuracy of breast lesions.

Hyperuricemia is a risk factor for various diseases, but knowledge on acute hyperuricemia is still not sufficient. The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of acute hyperuricemia on red blood cells from hemorheological point of view, and to provide the reference for clinical treatment. The rats were gavaged with 500 mg/kg hypoxanthine and intraperitoneally injected with 100 mg/kg oxonate to induce the model of acute hyperuricemia. The same volume of blood samples were drawn within time period of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 6 h, respectively, from the inner canthus of rats to measure the serum uric acid, hemorheological parameters and the malondialdehyde level. It was found that in each period of 1, 2 and 3 h, the rats had significantly higher levels of uric acid. The integrated deformation index and relax index were increased. The hemolysis rate was significantly reduced. The plasma malondialdehyde level was obviously decreased at the end of 2 h. The results suggested that short-term elevated uric acid could improve the hemorheological parameters and the lipid oxidative level in red blood cells.
Animals ; Erythrocytes ; Hemorheology ; Hyperuricemia ; blood ; Malondialdehyde ; blood ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Uric Acid ; blood

To describe the fractal feature of CGR (Chaos-game representation) graph of genomes sequences, a multifractal theory is presented in the analysis. By studying the effect of three probability sets on the scale invariance range, the probability set with the best scale invariance is chosen, and then the smooth general dimension spectrum and multifractal spectrum are calculated. The experimental result shows that the probability set composed of the relative probability has the best scale-invariance performance. The scale invariance has three different variance regions, which indicate that genomes sequence segments with different lengths have different distribution rules. It is concluded that the multifractal method is effective for describing the fractal feature of CGR graph of genomes sequences.
Algorithms ; Base Sequence ; Computer Simulation ; Game Theory ; Genome ; Humans ; Mathematical Computing ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; statistics & numerical data

Biosequence analysis is the primary research field of bioinformatics. In this field, useful information can be extracted by comparison analysis methods. Among them, sequence alignment is the most common comparison method. However the sequence comparison by alignment, which assumes conservation of contiguity between homologous segments, is at odds with genetic recombination. Especially for the multisequence alignment, there exists the difficulty in the complexity of calculation. Therefore, alignment-free sequence comparison methods are required. In this paper, two main categories of alignment-free sequence comparison methods are reviewed. The first one is based on the word (oligomer) frequency and its distribution. The sequences are compared using the distances defined in a Cartesian space by the frequency vectors. In the second category, sequences are compared using Kolmogorov complexity and chaos theory.
Algorithms ; Computational Biology ; Sequence Alignment ; Sequence Analysis ; methods

Objective To observe the effect of buyanghuanwu decoction on expression of immunoreactive protein and mRNA of NMDA receptor 2B subunit in rats hippocampal with vascular dementia to investigate the mechanism of buyanghuanwu decoction. Methods One hundred and forty-four rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: sham-operated group, VD model group,nimodipine group and buyanghuanwu decoction treatment group. The rats models of vascular dementia were built up by four vessels occlusion method. VD rats were treated with in-tragastrical buyanghuanwu decoction suspension (50 pharmacognostic g·kg-1·d-1) and nimodipine suspension (20 mg·kg-1·d-1) for 30 days. The learning and memory abilities were evaluated by Morris water maze tests. The change of NR2B protein in hippocampal of each group of rats were measured with immunohistochemistry and Western blot techniques and the expression of NR2B mRNA in hippocampus were observed by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR techniques. Results Water maze tests,compared with sham-operated group((24. 18 ± 7.90)s,(7.99 ±1.32)/min) ,the escape latency(51. 25 ±18.28)s to explore the extension and the average spatial probe number ((5. 26 ±0. 74)/min) reduced in VD model group (P < 0. 05). Buyanghuanwu decoction ((25.91 ±9.56)s,(7. 52 ± 1. 27)/min) had significantly improved the above-mentioned rat model of learning and memory performance (P<0.05). There was no significant difference among sham-operated group,nimodipine group and buyanghuanwu decoction treatment group (P>0. 05). Similarly,as compared rats with sham-operated group(0.71 ±0.13), (5887 ±501), the expression of NR2B protein (0. 33 ± 0. 06) and its mRNA(593 ±53) were apparently decreased in VD rats (P< 0.05). The expression of NR2B protein(0.66 ±0. 11) and its mRNA (5692 ±482) in neuron of hippocampus were increased by buyanghuanwu decoction compared with the model group (P < 0. 05), and no difference was discovered between sham operation group and nimodipine group (P > 0.05).Conclusions Buyanghuanwu decoction improves the learning and memory abilities in VD rats, the therapeutic mechanism was concerned with lessening the injury of neurons on CA1 field in hippocampus and promoted the expression of NR2B protein and its mRNA.

Objective To observe the effect of recombinant human mannose-binding lectin (RhMBL)on the expression of Bcl-2 and p53 gene in thyroid cancer cell lines.Methods Two kinds of thyroid cancer cell lines( K1 cells and FTC-133 cells) were dealed with different concentrations of rhMBL( control group:0 mg/L;experimental group:1 mg/L),then total protein was extracted to detect the expression of Bcl-2 and p53 by Western Blot.Results The expression level of p53 and Bcl-2 were observed to be obviously down-regulated after incubation with RhMBL.( 1 ) K1 cells:There was significant difference on the expression of p53 and Bcl-2 between control group and experimental group [ p53:( 1.51 ± 0.29) vs (0.74 ±0.07),t =7.63 ; P =0.040;Bcl-2:( 1.20 ± 0.07 ) vs ( 0.59 ± 0.04 ),t =6.28,P =0.001 ] ; ( 2 ) FTC-133 cells:there was also significant difference on the expression of p53 and Bcl-2 between control group and experimental group [ p53:( 0.88 ±0.14) vs(0.35 ±0.08),t =3.29,P=0.003; Bcl-2:(1.07±0.11) vs (0.33 ±0.06),t =5.73,P=0.000 ].Conclusion Bcl-2 and p53 may play an important role on the induction of thyroid cancer cell apoptosis and inhibition its proliferation by RhMBL.

The study is to investigate the effect of angiotensin II (Ang II) and its receptor blockers on migration and endothelin-1 (ET-1) expression of rat vascular adventitial fibroblast subpopulations. Vascular adventitial fibroblasts were individually expanded by using cloning rings, and the effects of Ang II on the migration of adventitial fibroblast subpopulations were evaluated by Transwell. Fluorescence quantitative-PCR detected the expression of preproET-1 mRNA induced by Ang II, and its receptor antagonists losartan and PD-123319. The concentration of ET-1 was determined by ELISA. It showed that spindle shaped and epithelioid shaped cells were isolated by using cloning rings, named as spindle cells and round cells. RT-PCR showed that fibroblast subpopulations did not have leukocytes, endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells, namely pure cell lines. Compared with respective control cells, two subpopulations had transferring ability. Ang II significantly improved round cells migration in a concentration-dependent manner, and had no obvious influence on spindle cells migration. Ang II (1 x 10(-8) - 1 x 10(-6) mol x L(-1)) significantly increased the expression of preproET-1 mRNA in round cells (P < 0.01), and had no significant effect on the expression of preproET-1 mRNA in spindle cells. Losartan blocked the expression of preproET-1 mRNA induced by Ang II in round cells, and had no significant effect on the expression of preproET-1 mRNA in spindle cells. The effects of Ang II and ET-1 receptor inhibitors on the release of ET-1 were similar to the expression of preproET-1 mRNA. The results indicate that there are two cell subpopulations: round cells and spindle cells in rat vascular adventitial fibroblasts. Ang II significantly improved cells migration, and increased the expression of ET-1 in round cell subpopulation. It suggested that there may be different migratory mechanisms in two cell subpopulations, and the two subpopulations may play a different role in vascular remodeling and reparative process.

AIM:To observe the effect of buyanghuanwu decoction,a Chinese medicine,on the expression of AMPA receptor GluR1 subunit in mRNA and protein levels in rat hippocampus with vascular dementia (VD). METH-ODS:One hundred and forty -four rats were randomly divided into 4 groups:shamoperation group,VD model group,nimodipine group and buyanghuanwu decoction treatment group. The rat model of VD was built up by the method of 4 vessel occlusion. The VD rats were intragastrically treated with buyanghuanwu decoction suspension (pharmacognostic 50 g. kg -1.d -1) and nimodipine suspension (20 mg?kg -1.d-1) for 30 d. The learning and memory abilities were evaluated by Morris water maze testing. The change of GluR1 protein in hippocampal neurons in each group of rats was measured with immunohistochemistry and Western blotting techniques. The expression of GluR1 mRNA in hippocampus was determined by real -time fluorescence quantitative PCR. RESULTS:Compared to sham -operation group,the average escaping latency period (s) of Water maze tests in VD rats prolonged significantly and crossplatform time (numbers/min) shortened distinctly (P 0. 05). Compared to the rats in shamoperation group,the mRNA and protein levels of GluR1 were apparent-ly decreased in VD rats (P 0. 05). CONCLUSION:Buyanghuanwu decoction improves the learning and memory abilities in VD rats. The therapeutic mechanism is associated with lessening the neuron injury on CA1 field in hippocampus and restoring the mRNA and protein ex-pression of GluR1.

Objective To explore the effects of diet and/or exercise intervention on oxidative stress of overweight or obese adolescents.Methods Thirty-one adolescents with normal body weight(normal control group)and 93 overweight or obese adolescents(average age(13.6 ±0.7)years; body mass index (BMI)22.4 to 34.1 kg/m2)were enrolled in this study.The overweight or obese participants were then randomly assigned to the diet group(group A),exercise group(group B),diet plus exercise group(group C),and non-intervention group(group D).Individualized caloric intake was carried out.One-hour afterschool exercise was performed once per day,4 days per week for 10 weeks.Changes of anthropometry,body composition,and metabolic biomarkers were determined.Results Compared to the normal control group,serum levels of fasting glucose,total cholesterol(TC),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C),and malondialdehyde(M DA)of the in overweight group were significant increased(all P ＜ 0.05),although the level of SOD was significant decreased(P ＜ 0.05).Serum MDA level was positively correlated with bodyweight,BMI,TC,and LDL-C(R values were 0.209,0.228,0.274,and 0.263,respectively ; all P ＜0.05),and serum SOD level was negatively correlated with bodyweight and BMI(R values were-0.334 and-0.362,respectively ; both P ＜ 0.05).Group A,B and C showed a significant decrease in BMI,waist circumference and body fat after the intervention(all P ＜ 0.05).The level of MDA was significantly decreased after the intervention in group A and B(both P ＜ 0.05); the levels of TC and LDL-C were significantly decreased in group B and C(both P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion:Oxidative stress could have existed in overweight adolescents even when their serum glucose and lipid profiles are at a normal level.Ten-week diet and/or exercise intervention may contribute to improved body weight control,lipid metabolism,and oxidative stress response in this population.