The enzyme activity of ?- Acetolactate Decaroboxylases (ALDC) from different microbes was studied, the results demonstrated that it was quite different among them. There were diversities of their enzyme reaction velocities. It was clear that the enzyme activity was affected by the pH of the enzyme reaction system, for example, the optimum pH of ALDC from Lactococcus lactis was 6. 6, while for Aerobacter Aerogenes it was 5. 8. Addition leucine,valine and isoleucine into enzyme reaction system obviously affected the enzyme activity of ALDC from different microbes.

Objective To analyse the causes of perinatal death and explore the preventive measures to reduce the perinatal mortality.Methods The cases with perinatal death in this hospital from January 2005 to December 2006 were reviewed to analyse the causes of death by categorization and sum-up.Results There were 166 cases with perinatal death and the mortality rate was 27.08‰,including 126 cases with fatal death,which accounted for 75.90%.In the analysis of dead causes,the first one was birth defects,which suffered 69 cases,41.57% of all,and mostly were with fetus edema syndrome.The cord factors had been elevated to the second cause,which suffered 51 cases,30.72% of all.Conclusion Improving the consciousness of gestational monitoring and self-care,strengthening the prenatal diagnosis and genetic counseling,controlling the perinatal birth defects,monitoring mother and fetus by poly-parameter and stopping the pregnancy in time can reduce perinatal death effectively.

Objective To study the technique and clinical significance of percutaneous biopsy of transplanted liver guided by CT.Methods 19 transplanted liver were undergone 25 times of percutaneous biopsy and the pathomorphologic changes were demonstrated by HE staining.Results The successful rate of the percutaneous biopsy was 100% for all the 25 times of this procedure,including acute rejection on 9 episodes,preservation perfusion retrauma in 6,bile duct strictures in 4,drug-induced injury in 4,chronic rejection in 1 and acute hepatic necrosis in 1.Conclusions CT-guided percutaneous biopsy is an important method for diagnosing transplanted liver injury and providing great value for distinguishment of the causes for transplanted liver injury.(J Intervent Radiol,2007,16:855-857)

Animals ; Diaphragm ; physiopathology ; Electrophysiological Phenomena ; physiology ; Hypoxia ; physiopathology ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Sleep Apnea Syndromes ; physiopathology

In comparison with their in vivo counterparts, the in vitro produced mammalian embryos had markedly lower rates of morula/blastocyst development and pregnancy after transfer to the recipients. Things became even worse in the cloned embryos. This necessitates improvement of the embryo culture system. Co-culture of embryos with different types of somatic cells was found beneficial for embryo development in vitro and many studies have been conducted in this area in recent years. In this paper, recent developments and the authors' own work in studies of co-culture of early mammalian embryos with somatic cells were reviewed, with emphasis on the effects of cell type, stage of estrous cycle and number of passages of somatic cells and supplement of serum on embryo development, and the mechanisms by which co-culture promote embryo development. The recent developments are summarized as follows: 1. Somatic cells of both homogeneous and heterogeneous origins can be used for co-culture of mammalian embryos, with similar developmental rates. 2. Supplementation of animal serum at appropriate concentrations improved the somatic cell growth and consequently the development of embryos in co-culture. 3. The estrous cycle stages of oviduct epithelial cells used for co-culture had no effect on the development of embryos. 4. Over-passaging of somatic cells reduced their efficiency in promoting development of the co-cultured embryos. In conclusion, studies have shown that co-culture overcame the block of embryo development in vitro and improved embryo quality with increased rates of implantation and pregnancy, but many problems remain to be solved on its influencing factors and mechanisms of action.
Animals ; Coculture Techniques ; methods ; Embryo Culture Techniques ; methods ; Embryo, Mammalian ; physiology ; Humans

OBJECTIVETo explore the protection of high intensity microwave radiation on hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) activity and hippocampal CA1 structure in rats and the protectiveeffect of Qindan Granule (QG) on radiation injured rats.

METHODSTotally 48 Wistar rats were randomlydivided into 8 groups, i.e., the normal control group, post-radiation day 1, 7, and 10 groups, 7 and 10days prevention groups, day 7 and 10 treatment groups, 6 in each group. Rats in prevention groups wererespectively administered with QG liquid (1 mL/100 g, 4. 75 g crude drugs) for 7 days and 10 days bygastrogavage and then microwave radiation. Then preventive effect for radiation injury was statisticallycalculated with the normal control group and the post-radiation day 1 group. Rats in treatment groupswere firstly irradiated, and then administered with QG liquid (1 mL/100 g, 4.75 g crude drugs). Finally preventive effect for radiation injury was statistically calculated with the normal control group, post-radiation day 7 and 10 groups. Contents of corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH), beta endorphin (beta-EP), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) were detected. Morphological changes and structure of hippocampal CA1 region were observed under light microscope.

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, contents of CRH and beta-EP significantly decreased in each radiation group. Serum contents of ACTH and beta-EP significantly increased in post-radiation day 1 and 7 groups (P < 0.05). Compared with radiation groups, beta-EP content in serum and pituitary significantly increased, and serum ACTH content significantly decreased in prevention groups (P < 0.05). Pituitary contents of CRH and beta-EP significantly increased in prevention groups. Serum contents of ACTH, beta-EP, and HSP70 were significantly lower in day 7 treatment group than post-radiation day 7 group (P < 0.05). Morphological results showed that pyramidal neurons in the hippocampal CA1 region arranged in disorder, with swollen cells, shrunken and condensed nucleus, dark dyeing cytoplasm, unclear structure. Vessels in partial regions were dilated with static blood; tissues were swollen and sparse. In prevention and treatment groups pathological damage of hippocampal CA1 region was obviously attenuated; neurons were arranged more regularly; swollen, pycnotic, or deleted neuron number were decreased; vascular dilatation and congestion was lessened.

CONCLUSIONQG could affect HPAA function and activity of high intensity microwave radiated rats, showing certain preventive and therapeutic effects of microwave radiated rats by adjusting synthesis and release of partial bioactive peptides and hormones in HPAA, improving pathological injury in hippocampal CA1 region.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; blood ; Animals ; CA1 Region, Hippocampal ; drug effects ; pathology ; radiation effects ; Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins ; blood ; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System ; drug effects ; radiation effects ; Microwaves ; adverse effects ; Pituitary-Adrenal System ; drug effects ; radiation effects ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; beta-Endorphin ; blood ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the characteristics of circulating type II pre-dendritic cells (pDC2) and evaluate its role in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

METHODSThe quantitative alterations of pDC2 in 27 chronic HBV-infected patients as treated group and 15 healthy individuals as a control group were analyzed by using flow cytometry based on the comparison of CD4+/CD8+ ratios of T lymphocyte subsets between the two groups. The IFN-alpha-producing ability of pDC2 after incubation was determined by ELISA.

RESULTSThe percentage of pDC2 (0.096 +/- 0.086) from the peripheral blood in chronic HBV-infected patients were significantly lower than that (0.304 +/- 0.093) from the normal controls (P less than 0.001) while the CD4+/CD8+ ratios were higher than those in normal controls (P less than 0.01). The values of IFN-alpha-producing function and IL-12 of circulating pDC2 in chronic HBV-infected patients group were significantly lower than those in healthy subjects (P < 0.001). The percentage of pDC2 and CD4+/CD8+ ratios were higher in the patients positive for HBV DNA in sera than those in patients negative for HBV DNA in sera (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe decreased number of circulating pDC2 and IFN-alpha-producing function from peripheral blood in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection may result in the decline of host immune response, which may partially contribute to the disease progress of HBV infection and existence of viral genomic DNA in patient's sera.

Adolescent ; Adult ; CD4-CD8 Ratio ; Cell Count ; DNA, Viral ; blood ; genetics ; Dendritic Cells ; cytology ; immunology ; metabolism ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; growth & development ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; blood ; immunology ; virology ; Humans ; Interleukin-12 ; biosynthesis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; cytology ; immunology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of Tangshenkang Granule (TG) containing serum on renal mesangial cells' (RMCs) proliferation and TGF-β1/Smad2/3 pathway in the high glucose condition.

METHODSTwelve SD rats were randomly divided into four groups, i.e., the low dose TG group, the middle dose TG group, the high dose TG group, and the blank control group, 3 in each group. After 7-day gastrogavage via portal vein blood, rats were sacrificed and their serum samples were collected. RMCs were cultured in common rat serum and TG containing serum respectively. The proliferation of mesangial cells was determined by methly thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay to determine the optimal TG containing serum concentration. Expression levels of TGF-β1 mRNA and protein were determined by real time quantitative PCR and ELISA. Smad2/3 protein expression and phosphorylation were determined by Western blot and immunofluorescence.

RESULTSTG containing serum at different doses could inhibit high glucose induced RMC cells' proliferation, TGF-β1 over-expression and Smad2/3 phosphorylation.

CONCLUSIONTG containing serum could inhibit high glucose induced RMC cells' proliferation, and its mechanism might be possibly associated with inhibiting TGF-β1/Smad2/3 signaling pathway.

Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Glucose ; Mesangial Cells ; Phosphorylation ; RNA, Messenger ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Serum ; Signal Transduction ; Smad2 Protein ; metabolism ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; metabolism

BACKGROUND: Mechanisms undelying diagnosis and treatment of arthritis can be analyzed by metabonomics to study the metabolites. The combination of metabonomics and bibliometrics can systematically clarify the research status of osteoarthritis. OBJECTIVE: To analyze and summarize the research status of metabonimics in arthritis, and to prospect the future tendency. METHODS: CNKI, VIP, WanFang, CBM, PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science and Elsevier databases were searched for the articles addressing the metabonimics in arthritis published before May 2017. The keywords were "metabolomics and arthritis" in English and Chinese, respectively. Initially 201 articles were retrieved, and finally 59 articles were included based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria for basic information and result analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Literature of metabonomics on arthritis began to be reported from 2007, and the number of literature increased with time. (2) The first author's affiliations were concentrated in universities 37(63%), hospitals 15 (25%) and institutes 7 (12%). (3) The articles included 44 articles from journals (75%), 12 dissertation (19%), 4 conference papers (7%), and the 44 papers were published in 38 kinds of journals. (4) Totally 36 articles were funded, 29 articles (49%) funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, 18 (31%) funded by department-level foundation, 10 (17%) funded by provincial foundation, 5 (8%) foreign foundation and 5 (8%) funded by school foundation. (5) The types of arthritis were mainly rheumatoid arthritis 40 (68%), osteoarthritis 7 (12%), gouty arthritis 6 (10%) and others 6 (10%). (6) The main research directions were metabonomis on treatment effectiveness 30 (51%), pathogenesis of arthritis 17 (29%), Chinese medicine syndromes 6 (10%) and research progress 6 (10%). (7) Metabolomics samples in the literature included the body fluid samples 53 (90%) and tissue samples 6 (10%). (8) Metabonomics analysis techniques included liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry 33 (56%), nuclear magnetic resonance technology 15 (25%), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry 10 (17%), NMR combined with GC-MS 1 (2%). In summary, metabonomics has been extensively applied in arthritis and has been an issue of concern. Understanding the side events in Chinese medicines for arthritis based on metabonomics can provide reference for the following prospective study and clinical application.

AIM To establish an HPLC method for the simultaneous content determination of four constituents in Liujing Toutong Tablets (Angelicae dahuricae Radix,Magnoliae Flos,Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix,etc.).METHODS The analysis of 30％ ethanol extract of this drug was performed on a 35 ℃ thermostatic Waters C18 column (4.6 mm × 250 mm,5 μm),with the mobile phase comprising of methanol-4％ acetic acid flowing at 1.0 mL/min in a gradient elution manner,and the detection wavelength was set at 320 nm.RESULTS Puerarin,ferulic acid,imperatorin and isoimperatorin showed good linear relationships within the ranges of 60.6-303 μg/mL (r=0.999 9),1.59-7.95 μg/mL (r =0.999 9),1.57-7.85 μg/mL (r =0.999 9) and 0.752 5-3.762 5 μg/mL (r =0.999 7),whose average recoveries (RSDs) were 97.75％ (1.7％),97.68％ (2.3％),97.94％ (1.0％) and 98.29％ (1.6％),respectively.CONCLUSION This stable and reliable method can be used for the quality control of Liujing Toutong Tablets.