Objective To explore effect of treatment of a non-surgical spinal decompression system(SDS) on neck muscle surface electromyography(EMG)of patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy(CSR).Methods Sixty patients with CSR in Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in China between February 2014 and February 2016 were recruited and randomly divided into SDS group and control group,with 30 patients for each group.The SDS group and control group were treated with the SDS and general traction system for cervical traction respectively.Surface EMG telemeter was used to measure the surface EMG signals of the affected side cervical erector spinae muscle and sternocleidomastoid with the score of averaged EMG value(AEMG)and the median frequency(MF)as surface electromyogram signal evaluation indexes,and VAS and NDI as therapeutic effect evaluation indexes after a course of treatment.The data before and after the treatment were statistiacaly analyzed.Results During the first traction with tradtional traction or SDS,AEMG values of the cervical paraspinal muscle and sternocleidomastoi were significantly decreased and MF values significantly increased as compared with those before the traction (all P＜0.05).After a course of treatment,AEMG values of affected side cervical erector spinae muscle and sternocleidomastoi of SDS group were significantly decreased as compared with those before the treatment,and they were significantly lower in SDS group than in ordinary group (all P＜0.05);and MF values of affected side cervical erector spinae muscle and sternocleidomastoi in SDS group were significantly increased as compared with those before the treatment,and they were significantly higher in the SDS group than in the ordinary group (all P＜0.05).VAS and NDI scores of the two groups after a course of treatment were significantly lower than those before the treatment (P＜0.05),and VAS and NDI scores were significantly lower in the SDS group than in the ordinary group (P＜0.05).Conclusion SDS traction is superior to ordinary traction in relieving pain,improving function,relaxing neck muscles and alleviating muscle fatigue.

Objective To construct dual-luciferase reporter plasmids containing the wild type and mutant rat extracellular signal-regulat-ed kinase 1 (ERK1) gene 3' untranslated regions (UTR) which were used to detect rno-miR-15b-5p's putative target gene. Methods The rat ERK1 gene 3' UTR fragment was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from PC12 cell cDNA and cloned into pmiR-RB-ReportTM vector. The mutant rat ERK1 gene 3' UTR fragment was obtained by overlap PCR and inserted into pmiR-RB-ReportTM vector. Successful wild type and mutant recombinant plasmids were confirmed by DNA sequencing. PC12 cells were co-transfected with rno-miR-15b-5p mim-ic and pmiR-ERK13' UTR or pmiR-ERK1-mut 3' UTR and then analyzed by dual-luciferase reporter assay system. The achieved mutation sequence of the target site TGCTGCT was mutated to CGAACGT and GTACACG, respectively. Results The wild-type reporter vector pmiR-ERK13' UTR and the mutant reporter vector pmiR-ERK1-mut 3' UTR were successfully constructed. The rno-miR-15b-5p mimic de-creased the activity of pmiR-ERK13' UTR plasmid (P<0.001) but did not decrease the activity of pmiR-ERK1-mut 3' UTR plasmid. Conclu-sion The recombinant pmiR-ERK13' UTR and pmiR-ERK1-mut 3' UTR plasmids were constructed successfully, and luciferase activities demonstrated that the 3' UTR of ERK1 gene might be a potential target of rno-miR-15b-5p.

Objective To study the protective effect of galanin on 2,3-Dimethoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (DMNQ)-induced oxidative stress and cell damage in HEK-293A cells and its possible mechanisms.Methods The expression of galanin and its three receptors (GalR1-3) in HEK-293A were determined with RTPCR technique.The cultured HEK-293A cells were divided into four groups:Control,DMNQ,DMNQ + GAL and DMNQ + AR-M1896 and the cell viability was measured with CellTiter 96 AQueous One Solution Cell Proliferation Assay (MTS).Results The RT-PCR data revealed the presence of galanin and its receptors in HEK-293A cells.The expression level was in the order of GalR2 =Galanin ＞ GalR3 ＞ GalR1.DMNQ caused oxidative stress and cell damage in HEK-293A cells with a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 =13.4 μM.Application of galanin reduced the DMNQ-induced cellular toxicity in HEK-293A,which increased cell viability by 24.4％ and 18.8％ in 1 μM and 100 nM,respectively.AR-M1896,an agonist of GalR2 had a similar effect,increased cell viability by 8.7％ and 8.9％ in 1 μM and 100 nM,respectively.Conclusion These data suggest that galanin has a protective effect on DMNQ-induced oxidative stress and cell damage in HEK-293A cells,probably mediated by GalR2.

A quality control (QC) strategy for quantitative and qualitative analysis of “common peaks” in chemical fingerprint was proposed to analyze Yuanhu Zhitong tablet (YZT), using high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector and tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS). The chromatographic separation was achieved on an Agilent Eclipse plus C18 column with a gradient elution using a mixture of 0.4‰ ammonium acetate aqueous (pH 6.0 adjusted with glacial acetic acid) and acetonitrile. In chemical fingerprint, 40 peaks were assigned as the “common peaks”. For quantification of “common peaks”, the detection wavelength was set at 254 nm, 270 nm, 280 nm and 345 nm, respectively. The method was validated and good results were obtained to simultaneously determine 10 analytes (protopine, jatrorrhizine, coptisine, palmatine, berberine, xanthotoxin, bergapten, tetrahydropalmatine, imperatorin and isoimperatorin). For qualification of “common peaks”, 33 compounds including 10 quantitative analytes were identified or tentatively characterized using LC-MS/MS. These results demonstrated that the present approach may be a powerful and useful tool to tackle the complex quality issue of YZT.

Objective To explore the protective effect of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on cultured rat cortical neurons against glutamate (Glu)-induced injury and its mechanism. Methods Cortical neurons were primarily cultured from 1-day-old newborn Sprague-Dawley rats and then cultured for 7 d. The cortical neurons were divided randomly into 3 groups: control group,Glu group and BDNF group after identified with neuron-specific enolase (NSE) immunostaining. The cells of BDNF were treated with 50 ng/ml BDNF on day 6 for 24 h followed by cultured with 50 ?mol/L Glu for 0.5 h. While,the cells of Glu group were cultured with 50 ?mol/L Glu for 0.5 h on day 7. The control cells received no such treatments. On day 8,cell viability were determined by the colorimetric MTT assay. The morphological features of the neuron cells were observed under AO/EB fluorescence microscopy. Expressions of p75NTR,JNK and ERK were observed using Western blot analysis. Results On day 8,the primary cortical neurons grew well. BDNF protected cortical neural cells from Glu injury. Cell viability of BDNF group was (1.14?0.06),significantly higher than that of Glu group (0.72?0.10,P

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of PKM2 and HIF-1α in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and to analyze their correlation in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. METHOD: Total 37 laryngeal carcinoma samples and para-carcinoma tissues were taken from the patients who accepted operation treatment in the Second Hospital of HeBei Medical University from 06/2013 to 06/2014. The protein expression levels of PKM2 and HIF-1α were detected with SP immunohistochemical methods. The data were analyzed by the SPSS 13.0 statistical software. RESULT: The positive expression of PKM2 in laryngeal carcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues were 62.16% and 13.15%. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.01). The positive expression of HIF-1α in laryngeal carcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues were 64.86% and 21.62%. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.01). The positive expression of PKM2 and HIF-1α in well differentiated laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma were both 47.83%, while in medium and poorly differentiated laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma were 85.71% and 92.86% respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The positive expression of PKM2 and HIF-1α in patients with lymph metastasis were 90.00% and 100.00% respectively, 51.85% in those without lymph metastasis, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The rate of HIF-1α positive expression in I-II stage was 53.85%, 90.91% in III-IV stage. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The expression of PKM2 and HIF-1α had no relationship with the age and smoking (P > 0.05). The expression of PKM2 was positively related with HIF-1α in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION The expression of PKM2 and HIF-1α are related with the proliferation, invasion and metastasis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. It provides a certain theoretical basis for laryngeal cancer diagnosis and screening to measure the expression of PKM2 and HIF-1α as biological indicators.
Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; metabolism ; Carrier Proteins ; metabolism ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; metabolism ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Membrane Proteins ; metabolism ; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck ; Thyroid Hormones ; metabolism

Objective To evaluate the correlation between sonographic features of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma(PTMC) and cervical lymph node metastasis.Methods Preoperative sonographic features of 379 papillary thyroid microcarcinoma in 341 patients were retrospectively reviewed,and were divided into two groups,lymph node metastasis and lymph node non-metastasis according to pathology.Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to analyze the sonographic features relevant to lymph node metastasis.Results Univariate analysis revealed that unclear border,microcalcification and multifocal PTMC were statistically significant(all P ＜0.05).Multivariate analysis revealed that microcalcification and multifocal PTMC were statistically significant (both P ＜0.05).Conclusions Microcalcification and multifocal PTMC are closely relevant to cervical lymph node metastasis.

Objective: To study the correlations between galectin-3, soluble ST2 (sST2) levels and chronic heart failure (CHF) classiifcation, traditional HF indicator and short-term death in relevant patients. Methods: This research included 2 groups: CHF group, containing 142 relevant patients treated in our hospital from 2014-02 to 2015-10 and Control group, containing 85 normal subjects from physical examination at the same period of time. Based on NYHA criterion, the patients were classiifed in NYHA grade II, III and IV respectively. Blood levels of N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-ProBNP), high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) and ultrasonic morphology were examined upon admission; protein expressions of galectin-3 and sST2 were assessed by ELISA. Results: The patients with NYHA grade III and IV had increased levels of galectin-3 and soluble sST2; galectin-3, sST2 were positively related to NT-ProBNP, hs-CRP and LVEDD, while negatively related to LVEF. Logistic regression analysis indicated that galectin-3 and sST2 were related to short-term death in CHF patients,P<0.05. Area under ROC curve of galectin-3 and sST2 for diagnosing CHF were 0.738 and 0.771,P<0.01. Conclusion: Galectin-3 and sST2 levels were related to traditional HF indicator and could be used for CHF diagnosis in relevant patients.

Objective To investigate the effects of acetylated HMGB1 on cognitive function in rats with sepsis associated encephalopathy (SAE) and the effect of HMGB1 inhibitor.Methods Forty-eight males mice were randomly assigned to three groups (n=16): sham group (group S),cecal ligation puncture group (group C),cecal ligation puncture+sodium butyrate group (group B).Cecal ligation puncture was applied to establish the SAE model,and group S received sham operation.Rats in groups S and C were injected with normal saline 5 ml/kg 30 min and 4 h after CLP,respectively.The rats in group B were intraperitoneally injected with sodium butyrate 500 mg/kg 0.5 h and 4 h after CLP,respectively.All animals were performed Morris water maze test on 4th day after operation,and the exploring time of space exploration experiments were assessed on 7th day after CLP surgery.IL-6,BDNF,HMGB1 and acetylated HMGB1 expression in hippocampus of all rats were determined by Western Blot.Results Compared with group S,the latency of rats in group C was longer and the exploring time was shorter (P<0.05).Compared with group C,the latency of rats in group B was shorter and the exploring time was longer (P<0.05).Compared with group S,the expression of IL-6,HMGB1 and acetylated HMGB1 in group C increased (P<0.05) and the level of BDNF decreased (P<0.05).Compared with group C,the expression of IL-6,HMGB1 and acetylated HMGB1 in group B decreased (P<0.05) and the level of BDNF increased (P<0.05).Conclusion HMGB1 inhibitor sodium butyrate can inhibit the expression of acetylated HMGB1 in the hippocampus of SAE rats,and reduce the cognitive impairment induced by sepsis.

Objective To observe the effect of adenosine A1 receptor (A1AR) on the megalin defect in type 1 diabetic mice with early kidney disease.Methods 7-8 week-old,baseline body weight and fasting blood glucose matched wild type (WT) C57BL/6J mice were selected,and randomly divided into two groups:control group (n=6) and WT DM group (n=6).In the same way,male A1AR knock-out C57BL/6J mice were selected as A1AR-/-DM group (n=6).DM model was established by intraperitoneal injection of streptozocin.The blood glucose (BG),body weight (BW),kidney weight (KW),24 h proteinuria (24hUP) and albumin creatine ratio (ACR) were measured at 4 weeks.The renal pathological lesion was observed and the expression of megalin in proximal tubules was examined by immunohistochemistry.The expression of caspase-1,IL-18 and A1AR were detected by Western blotting.Results At 4th week,compared with WT control mice,the BG,BW,KW and 24hUP of WT DM mice were increased significantly (n=6,P ＜ 0.01),with the pathological glomerular enlargement,mesangial cell proliferation,extracellular matrix accumulation and renal tubule hypertrophy being observed.Immunohistochemistry revealed decreased expression of megalin,an important multiligand protein receptor on the brush border of proximal tubular epithelial cells in WT DM mice,which was correlated with 24hUP (r=-0.645,P ＜ 0.01).Compared with the control mice,the expressions of caspase-1,IL-18 and A1AR were significantly increased in WT DM mice (P ＜ 0.05).For A1AR-/-DM mice,more serious pathological lesion and megalin defect,together with increasing of casapase-1 and heavier proteinuria were observed than those in WT DM mice.Conclusion A1AR may play a protective role in megalin expression of diabetic mice with early kidney disease,in which the mechanism may be associated with caspase-1 related pyroptosis pathway.The details need further exploration.