Animals ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Cell Hypoxia ; Cells, Cultured ; Hippocampus ; cytology ; Neurons ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; omega-Conotoxins ; pharmacology

Objective To develop a simple, rapid, accurate method to determine selenium in human hair. Methods Digested in the superior grade pure nitric acid, Ni(NO3)2?6H2O was used as the improver and the content of selenium in the hair samples was determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer. Results Under the designed standard conditions, the detection limit was 0.004 mg/L, in the range of 0.008-0.04 mg/L, the linearity relevance coefficient of absorbency and concentration was 0.996 9, the RSD was 3.7%. At the level of 0.01 mg/L, the recovery rates were 93.8%-98.8%. Conclusion The method is simple, rapid, accurate and is suitable for the determination of selenium in the hair.

Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis ; drug therapy ; Phytotherapy ; methods

The directed molecular evolution of enzyme in vitro can not only improve the efficiency of evolution, but also evolve enzyme according to the investigator's desire. This review summed up the feasible methods of this novel technique.

Objective To determine the influence of total glucosides of paeony (TGP) on bone density, protein level of skeletal muscle and relative cytokine of osteoporotic rats. Methods Six-month-old SD rats were shamed as control (8 rats) or were ovariectomized (24 rats). The ovariectomized (16 rats) +TGP low dose and high dose group were treated with 50 mg/(kg?d) TGP and 150 mg/(kg?d) TGP respectively for 12 weeks. After the animals were sacrificed, IL-6, TNF-?, IGF-1, TGF-? in serum, protein level of skeletal muscle in right quadriceps femoris, and bone density of right femur and lumbar vertebra were determined. Results Compared with the ovariectomized group, the bone density and the protein level of skeletal muscle in TGP group increased significantly from the baseline (P

OBJECTIVETo observe the correlation between constitution of yin deficiency syndrome (YDS) and polymorphism of HLA-DQA1/treatment response of Peg-lFNalpha therapy in HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, and to explore constitution of Chinese medicine (CM) in response of interferon therapy.

METHODSTotally 120 HBeAg positive CHB patients who were treated with Peg-IFNalpha were enrolled, and assigned to YDS group (59 cases) and non-YDS group (61 cases) according to classification of CM constitutions. All patients were subcutaneously injected with Peg-IFNalpha-2b (1.0 microg/kg body weight) or Peg-IFNalpha-2a (180 microg), once per week. Effective efficacy was primarily judged when complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) was obtained at month 6. Those with CR or PR completed 1 year therapeutic course. HLA-DQA1 gene types were detected by polymerase chain reaction sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP). The distribution difference of CM constitutions in patients with CR or PR and their inter-group HLA-DQA1 allele frequency were compared.

RESULTSDifferent treatment responses of Peg-IFNalpha were observed in CHB patients of two different CM constitutions. The ratio of CR + PR was 61.0% (36/59) in YDS group, obviously lower than that in NYDS group [78.7% (48/61), P < 0. 05]. Patients with CR had a lower allele frequency of HLA-DQA1 * 0501 than those with no-response [14.8% (8/54) vs. 30.6% (22/72)] with statistical difference (P < 0.05). Patients with CR had a higher allele frequency of HLA-DQA1 * 0601 than those with no-response [18.5% (10/54) vs. 5.6% (4/72)] with statistical difference (P < 0.05). The allele frequency of HLA-DQA1 * 0301 was lower in YDS group than in non-YDS group [2. 5% (3/118) vs. 9.8% (12/122)] with statistical difference (P < 0.05). The allele frequency of HLA-DQA1 * 0501 was higher in YDS group than in non-YDS group [33.9% (40/118) vs. 18.9% (23/122)] with statistical difference (P < 0.05). Yet statistical significance was lost after adjustment (Pc > 0.05 for both).

CONCLUSIONSBoth constitutions of CM and HLA-DQA1 gene polymorphism af- fect HBeAg positive CHB patients' response to Peg-INFalpha. Constitutions of YDS and HLA-DQA1 * 0501 was not favorable to response, their association needed to be further studied.

Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; Gene Frequency ; HLA-DQ alpha-Chains ; genetics ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; blood ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; therapeutic use ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Polyethylene Glycols ; therapeutic use ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Recombinant Proteins ; therapeutic use ; Remission Induction ; Yin Deficiency ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the injury stress responses caused by ischemia reperfusion and its effects on the salivary secretory function of rat submandibular glands.

METHODSAn in situ ischemia reperfusion experimental model of rat submandibular glands was developed. The rat submandibular glands were subjected to 90 min of ischemia without denervation followed by reperfusion for 1, 12, 24, and 72 h. Salivary secretion, histological changes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and cellular apoptosis of the involved submandibular glands were detected after reperfusion.

RESULTSThe secretory function of the glands decreased at 1 and 12 h, and the saliva secretion gradually had the same value as that of the control sample 72 h after reperfusion. Increasing inflammatory cells infiltration, cellular atrophy, and tissue edema were observed especially after reperfusion for 12 h. The level of ROS and the number of apoptotic cells exhibited the same tendency, and higher ROS levels and more apoptosis cells 1 and 12 h after reperfusion were observed.

CONCLUSIONOur study suggests that ischemia reperfusion can cause a series of injury stress responses in submandibular glands, which might have an important function in the early phase dysfunction of transplanted submandibular glands.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Rats ; Reperfusion Injury ; Submandibular Gland

Objective To evaluate the effects of stepwise and fine-grained dietary management on the diet control of liver cirrhosis patients complicated with gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Methods Eighty liver cirrhosis patients complicated with gastrointestinal hemorrhage were assigned to experimental group (41 cases) and control group(39 cases) by random digits table method. The patients in experimental group were treated with stepwise and fine-grained dietary management and the patients in control group were given conventional dietary treatments. The compliance diet, mastery of nutrition knowledge, malnutrition risk at admission, intake food, discharge and 2 months after discharge between two groups were monitored. The incidence of rebleeding was tracked after 1 year of discharge. Results The incidence of malnutrition risk in Child-Pugh class C was higher than that in Child-Pugh class B( Z=-4.3, P<0.05 ) . The incidence of malnutrition risk in patients with high education level was lower than that in patients with lower education( r=-0.453, P<0.05 ). The experimental group significantly outperformed control group in mastery of nutrition knowledge at discharge:80(70, 84) points vs. 52(42, 64) points, in compliance diet and malnutrition risk after 2 months after discharge:86(76, 91)%vs. 53(46,57)%, 1(1, 2) points vs. 2(1,3) points, the rebleeding rate in experimental group was significantly less than that in control group within 1 year after discharge 14.6%(6/41) vs. 35.9%(14/39), and the differences were statistically significant between two groups ( χ2 = 4.226- 51.232, all P < 0.05 ). Conclusions Stepwise and fine-grained dietary management can improve the mastery of nutrition knowledge, compliance diet and nutritional status, and reduce the occurrence of rebleeding, worth popularizing further in clinical care of liver cirrhosis patients complicated with gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

Objective To study the diagnostic value of double-balloon endoscopy (DBE) and capsule endoscopy (CE) for small intestinal bleeding. Methods Overall detection rates of small intestinal bleeding with DBE, CE and the whole alimentary tract barium meal were compared. Positive rates of bleeding detection with DBE and CE were compared within the same patients. Influence of CE on one-procedure rate of DBE was analyzed. Results In 105 cases of small intestine bleeding, DBE detected 24 cases of Crohn's disease, 15 adenocarcinoma, 12 chronic nonspecific inflammation, 10 small intestinal ulcer of unknown reason, 8 entero-mesenchymoma, 8 polypus, 6 vascular deformation hemorrhage, 5 ancylostomiasis, 5 Mechel's diverticula ( including multiple diverticula), 3 lymphoma and 9 of no evident abnormalities. The positive detection rate of DBE is 91.4% (96/105). Disease detection rates of CE and whole alimentary tract barium meal were 75.0% (30/40) and 33.3% (25/75), respectively. The one-procedure rate of DBE is 90% (36/40) based on CE results, but it was only 69. 2% (45/65) according to clinic features and the whole alimentary tract barium meal. Conclusion The main causes of small intestinal bleeding are benign ulcers (including Crohn's disease) and tumor, as well as chronic inflammation. Polyps, vascular deformation, parasitosis, Mechel's diverticulum and lymphoma are the secondary causes.DBE is superior to CE in diagnosis of small intestine bleeding, but CE can increase the one-procedure rate of DBE.

Objective To research the relationship between the serum level of cystatin C (CysC),N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and the cardiovascular (CV) events in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients,looking for a new and effective biological prediction method for cardiovascular disease (CVD).Methods According to the excluded criteria and included criteria,a total of 126 patients [male 67(53.2％),female 59 (46.8％)] were included in this study,screening out of 452 MHD patients from 3 blood purification centre,no secondary hyperparathyroidism,blood pressure controlled,hemoglobin standard,no lipid abnormalities,and without history of coronary heart disease,heart failure and arrhythmia.Participants adopted 3 dialysis treatment,including hemodialysis,hemoperfusion and hemodiafiltration.Every 3 months before the dialysis,the Cys-C,NT-proBNP,serum phosphorus,serum intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH),hemoglobin and electrocardiogram were detected.The heartbeat ultrasound was examined every 6 months,observed for 24 months and followed up for 3 years,recording the incidence and the inspection results.The correlation and the occurrence of CVD were analyzed by conducting a multiple factor logistic regression analysis.The forecast performance of Cys-C,NT-proBNP was evaluated by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under curves (AUC).Results Eighteen episodes of CV events occurred in 126 patients during the experiment and follow-up,including 8 episodes of heart failure,4 episodes of myocardial infarction,6 episodes of arrhythmia.Detection indexes had no statistically significant correlation (P ＞ 0.05),and the results of ECG and ultrasound heartbeat graph showed that no significant difference in cardiac structure and function before treatment (P ＞ 0.05).After 24 months duration,the research showed that the level of serum calcemia was lower,and the levels of phosphorus and iPTH were higher in hemodialysis group compared with that in the other 2 groups,and the differences had statistical significance (P ＜ 0.05).The median levels of Cys-C and NT-proBNP were 8.59 (9.74,7.10) mg/L and 7 739 (9 887,6 736) ng/L in the patients CV events occurred.Non conditional multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the increasing interdialytic weight,Cys-C,NT-proBNP,iPTH,dialysis hypotension were the independent risk factors of CV occurrence.AUCs to predict CVD occurrence in MHD patients was 0.64 (95％CI 0.53-0.71,P ＜ 0.05) and 0.79 (95％CI 0.72-0.89,P＜ 0.01) using Cys-C and NT-proBNP respectively.The cut-off values of serum Cys-C and NT-proBNP for CVD occurrence were 8.59 mg/L and 7 739 ng/L,with a sensitivity of 84.3％ and a specificity of 92.7％.Conclusions Cys-C,NT-proBNP can be used to predict the risk of CV events in dialysis patients.