Aim To evaluate the effects of aspirin on the expression of inflammatory proteins induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL) in human vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs). Methods HUVECs were stimulated with different concentrations of ox-LDL. The expression of inflammatory proteins was detected by Western blot.Intracellular ROS generation was measured by flow cytometry using perexide-sensitive flurscent probe 2′, 7′-dichrofluorescein diacetate(DCFH-DA).Results ① Aspirin inhibited COX-2 expression induced by ox-LDL. Cells were preincubated with 2.5 mmol?L-1, 5 mmol?L-1 of aspirin or without any treatment for 30 min and then stimulated by 0.3 g?L-1 ox-LDL for 16 h, COX-2 expression was reduced by treating of aspirin.COX-2 expression was enhanced after the stimulation with ox-LDL, and aspirin inhibited the increasing.② Aspirin suppressed ICAM-1 expression induced by ox-LDL in HUVECs. ICAM-1 expression was increased by ox-LDL stimulation for 16 h, and aspirin significantly down-regulated the expression. Similar results were obtained by immunofluorescence.③ Aspirin partially reduced ROS production induced by ox-LDL in HUVECs. After stimulation with 0.3 g?L-1 ox-LDL for 16 h, the intracellular level of ROS was increased, however, aspirin failed to fully inhibit the phenomenon.Conclusion Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) aspirin significantly down-regulated the expression of COX-2 and ICAM-1 induced by ox-LDL.The results suggested that aspirin could reduce the inflammation responses mediated by ox-LDL on HUVECs in atherosclerosis.

Objective To investigate the effect of indomethacin on prevention of heterotopic ossification (HO)after operative treatment of acetabular fractures.Methods Fifty patients with acetabular fractures received in our department operative treatment through Kocher-langenbeck(K-L)approach and oral administration of in- domethacin afer operation from February 2001 to August 2003.Forty-eight of them were successfully followed up for incidence of HO and their clinical functions were assessed.The results were compared with those of 40 patients who had been treated with the same operative procedures but without oral administration of indomethacin in our depart- ment from March 1993 to May 1998.The patients who could not tolerate the drug were not included.Results The follow-ups averaged 22.8 months(range,6 to 39 months).HO occurred in eight cases.The incidence of HO was 16.7%(8/48).According to Brooker evaluation of HO,five cases were rated as degreeⅠ,three as degreeⅡ, and none as degreeⅢorⅣ.The incidence of severe HO was 0.In the control group,the incidence of HO was 35.0%(14/40)and the incidence of severe HO was 10.0%(4/40).The differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05).Conclusion Oral administration of indomethacin after operative treatment of acetabular fractures can inhibit HO.

Objective To evaluate the operative treatment of nonunion of humeral shaft fracture with in- ternal plate fixation and autogenous cancellous hone graft.Methods Forty-one cases of nonunion of humeral shaft fracture operatively treated from February 2002 to December 2004 were analyzed retrospectively.There were 32 males and nine females.Their average age was 37.5 years(range,17 to 67 years).Sixteen nonunions were defined as hypertrophic and 25 as atrophic.We followed all the patients and obtained their complete medical information. Results Our average follow-up was 22.6 months(range,8 to 42 months).Forty fractures(97.6%)were united within an average of 5.8 months(range,3 to 12 months).Complications included iatrogenic radial nerve injury in three patients,wound infection in one patient and fracture nonunion in one patient.At the final follow-up,shou]der and elbow functions were found to be satisfactory.Conclusion Open reduction and plate internal fixation sup- plemented with autogenous cancellous bone graft is an effective treatment for nonunion of humeral shaft fracture.

BackgroundLaser peripheral iridotomy(LPI) can break the pupillary block,and is an effective method of treating acute primary angle closure (APAC).However,a part of APAC eyes may gradually develop a formation and extension of peripheral anterior synechia(PAS) and increased intraocular pressure(IOP) after LPI.ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between appositional angle closure and darkroom provocative test(DRPT) in the fellow eyes with APAC after LPI.Methods Fellow eyes of APAC without PAS after LPI were studied.Ultrasounic biomicroscopy(UBM) were performed in darkness to observe whether appositional angle closure occurred and compare the relationship between the quadrants with appositional angle closure and the results of DRPT.Results Fifty-four patients were included in the study.Appositional angle closure was observed in at least one quadrant in 20(37.0％ ) of the 54 fellow eyes with APAC after LPI.Fifty-one patients were given DRPT and positive result in 9 patients( 17.6％ ).According to the quadrants with appositional angle closure,there were 5 patients with DRPT positive results in 46 patients with appositional angle closure 0 to 2 quadrants,and 4 patients with DRPT positive results in 5 patients with appositional angle closure 3 to 4 quadrants ( P =0.003 ).Bivariate correlation analysis indicated a positive correlation between the value of the increased IOP in DRPT and the number of quadrants with appositional angle closure in darkness( r =0.397,P =0.004).ConclusionsA certain proportional fellow eyes of APAC appeared appositional angle closure in darkness and DRPT positive result after LPI.The more the quadrants of appositional angle closure after LPI,the greater the likelihood of a positive DRPT.It suggests that the APAC fellow eyes and attack eyes with the same anatomical configuration still have the possibility of angle closure after LPI,and need follow-up and treatment for a long time.

Objective To explore the initial clinical and imaging characteristics of basal ganglia germinoma in children.Methods Four patients with basal ganglia germinoma were reported.Their clinical features,laboratory findings,radiological manifestations,treatment and outcome were analyzed.They recieved radiation therapy and chemotherapy after diagnosis.All patients were clinically diagnosed,according to the results of low-dose cranial irradiation.The outcomes were followed up for 2 years.Results All patients were male and school-aged(9-13 years) children.The course of the disease ranged from 5 to 13 months.All patients were presented with slowly progressive hemiparesis,and 2 cases of them were presented with cognitive decline and psychosis.Seizure occurred in 2 patients.The serum ?-human chorionic gonadotropin(?-hcG) level was significantly increased in 2 patients(30.16 IU/L and 77.85 IU/L,respectively),and mildly elevated in 1 patient(4.29 IU/L),while serum ?-hcG level in another case was within normal control range.MRI demonstrated mildly high intensity in the left or right basal ganglia on T1-weighted and T2-weighted images without remarkable occupying lesion.Ipsilateral hemiatrophy of the hemisphere and midbrain was also noted.Inhomogeneous Gd-DTPA enhancement was observed.All patients had been treated with radiation therapy and chemotherapy.During 2 years follow up,significant improvement was observed in all patients after therapy,imaging lesions disappeared and the elevated ?-hcG level of those elevated before therapy returned to normal.Conclusions Early diagnosis and treatment for basal ganglia germinoma are critically important to improve the prognosis.In young male patients with progressive hamiparesis,basal ganglia germinoma should be considered for differentiation,if abnormal high intensity signals in basal ganglia on T1-weighted and T2-weighted image with ipsilateral hemiatrophy of the hemisphere are demonstrated on MRI,even without occupying effect.

Objective To investigate the clinical and electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics of children with electrical status cpilepticus during sleep (ESES), and the response to medication therapy. Methods AEEG and VEEG including an entire sleeping c-ycle were performed on 26 patients with ESES. The clinical and EEG changes, neuropsychological impairment and the response to medication therapy were followed up. Results Twenty five patients had seizures,21 cases had normal psychomotor development before ESES. After the onset of the disease,Fifteen cases developed language disorder, 16 cases developed psychological and behavior abnormalities, 13 cases had both of the problems Seventeen patients belonged to epileptic syndrome. Patients in this cohort had good response to clonazepam and valproate treatment. Cortical steroid could dispel the electrical discharge. Eighteen patients had been followed up. Seizures stopped in 15 cases after treatment ESES disappeared in 16 cases, 4 of them still had neuropsychological impairment ESES sustained in 2 cases Conclusions ESES is a specific EEG phenomenon. Continue epileptic form discharge during non - rapid cye movement sleep is the major cause of neuropsychological impairment in patients with ESES. To control the seizures and electrical state are very important for the prevention and treatment of neuropsychological impairment.

This study aimed to investigate the mechanism of "Trichosanthis Fructus-Allii Macrostemonis Bulbus" (GX) on phlegm and blood stasis syndrome (PBSS) rats combining the methods of network pharmacology and experimental verification. Animal experiment ethical requirements were approved by the Ethical Committee Experimental Animal Center of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine (grant number: AHUCM-rats-2021070). Based on the HPLC-Q-TOF-MS analysis and database, 69 chemical constituents of GX and 163 targets of GX for the treatment of phlegm and blood stasis-related cardiovascular diseases were obtained. Then, key targets such as serine/threonine kinase 1 (Akt1), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin 6 (IL6), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), cellular tumor antigen p53 (Tp53) were screened. Pathway analysis showed that the targets of GX in the treatment of phlegm and blood stasis-relate cardiovascular diseases were mainly involved in PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, sphingolipid metabolism, platelet activation, hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), ras-proximate-1 (rap1) and other signaling pathways. In addition, molecular docking analysis showed that apigenin, cucurbitacin D, linolenic acid and kaempferol and other key components had potential binding ability with Akt1, TNF, IL6, VEGFA and Tp53. In the animal experiments, compared to the phlegm and blood stasis syndrome group, GX could significantly improve the traditional Chinese medicine syndrome score, blood lipid, vascular endothelial structure disorders and reduce serum endothelin-1 (ET-1) level, increase serum nitric oxide (NO) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) levels, which could restore aortic endothelial function. In addition, the expression of intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in aorta could be significantly reduced, which could improve the vascular endothelial injury of aorta. Western blot revealed that GX could significantly decrease the phosphorylation levels of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and Akt in aorta. This study revealed the mechanism of GX in treatment of phlegm and blood stasis-relate cardiovascular diseases is consistent with the characteristics of multiple ingredients, multiple targets and multiple pathways. In addition, this study also clarified that the reversal of pathological of phlegm and blood stasis syndrome rats may be related to GX inhibiting PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, which could improve vascular inflammation and vascular endothelial function injury.

BACKGROUNDTo characterize the intertype epitopes on human adenovirus (HAdV) hexon.

METHODSBased on computerized analysis on adenoviruses sequence of genomic alignment, antigenicity prediction and 3-D structure characteristics of hexon subunit, several peptides of hexon of adenoviruses were chosen to be synthesized or recombinant proteins of the hexon were expressed in E. coli by use of PGEX-5X. To identify the existence of intertype epitopes, the antisera raised with synthetic peptides or purified recombinant proteins were analyzed with Western blot and immunofluorescent assay.

RESULTSThe results of Western blot indicated that both peptide and recombinant antibodies showed specific reactivities with hexons of HADv-3, 4, 7 individually. Meanwhile, typical stain of immunofluorescence was found on HeLa cells infected with these HAdV by incubation with peptide as well as recombinant antibodies. Also, antibodies raised against peptide recognized the recombinant hexon protein in which a corresponding region of peptides was covered.

CONCLUSIONSMost of the predicted intertype epitopes of HAdV hexon wer e exclusively found in synthetic peptides and recombinant proteins. These intertype epitopes showed to be continuous and sequential which could be employed for development of antibodies of diagnostic use.

Adenoviruses, Human ; immunology ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Capsid ; chemistry ; immunology ; Capsid Proteins ; immunology ; Epitopes ; immunology ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Mice ; Peptide Fragments ; immunology

Humans ; Infant ; Neuroaxonal Dystrophies ; diagnosis

Objective To investigate the effect of intermittent hypoxia (IH) with pulmonary emphysema on the ex-pression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α),Bax and Bcl-2, and the mechanism underlying the role of HIF-1αin he-patocyte apoptosis thereof. Methods Sixty rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal control group, rats were treated normally;IH group, rats were treated by 30 s nitrogen and then 90 s air, and rats were treated by from 9:00-17:00 daily;pulmonary emphysema group, rats were treated by smudging for half an hour, twice a day (8:00 and 18:00);IH with pul-monary emphysema group, rats were treated by 30 s nitrogen and then 90 s air from 9:00-17:00 daily. After exposure four-teen weeks, rats were killed. qRT-PCR assay was conducted to detect the expression of HIF-1α mRNA, Bax mRNA and Bcl-2 mRNA in live tissues. Results The expressions of HIF-1αmRNA, Bax mRNA and Bax/Bcl-2 were significantly higher in IH with pulmonary emphysema group than those in control group,IH group and pulmonary emphysema group (P<0.05). The expression level of Bcl-2 mRNA was significantly lower in IH with pulmonary emphysema group than that of con-trol group and pulmonary emphysema group (P < 0.05), but no significant difference compared with that of IH group (P >0.05). The levels of HIF-1αand Bax were positively correlated with the level of Bax/Bcl-2 (r=0.732 and 0.699),but the lev-els of HIF-1αand Bax were negatively correlated with the level of Bcl-2 (r=-0.705). Conclusion The expression levels of HIF-1αmRNA, Bax mRNA and Bcl-2 mRNA were over-regulated in hepatocytes induced by intermittent hypoxia with pul-monary emphysema. The HIF-1αexpression was correlated with Bax and Bcl-2, suggesting that HIF-1αmay promote the hepatocyte apoptosis through transcriptional co-activators, Bax and Bcl-2.