Objective To investigate the mechanism of Quercetin treatment on diabetic nephropathy.Methods Quercetin 100mg/(kg?d) was given to diabetic rats.Urinary albumin excretion was measured by radioimmunoassay.The expression of TGF ? 1 protein and TGF ? 1 mRNA in renal cortex of diabetic rats were determined by immunohistochemical staining and RT PCR analysis.Results Quercetin treatment decreased urinary albumin excretion in diabetic rats.TGF ? 1 immunohistochemical staining and TGF ? 1 mRNA levels in Quercetion treated group was significantly decreased than untreated DM group ( P

Objective To investigate the clinical effect of azithromycin on ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods Sixty-four AS patients with active disease were enrolled in this study. Among them, thirty-two AS patients (treatment group)received Azithromycin treatment at a dose of 0.5 g once a day for a period of 5~7 days , and another thirty-two patients receiving conventional treatment served as control (control group). BASDAI, CRP and ESR served as the disease activity evaluation index. Results Activity indexes in two groups of in the first 4~ 20 weeks of the treatment were decreased compared with those before the treatment (P < 0.05), while a rise was found in the 20 ~ 24 week and activity indexes gradually returned to pretreatment levels. At 0 ~ 16 weeks , the disease activity index of treatment group was below normal levels but that of control group was higher than the normal level with significant difference (P < 0.05). Conclusion The treatment of Azithromycin can control the disease activity of AS in the long term, which would be a new proposal in AS treatment.

Objective:Have disclosed that the Behcet's patient have autoantibodies to 160 kD protein which is subsequently identified as protein kinectin by gene library screening using a Behcet's patient serum(BD4).To investigate the antigeneic location of kinectin.Methods:Purified RNA from Hep2 line culture and amplified three kinectin fragment by RT PCR using three pairs of primers(kin 3,base sequence 920～ 1 346;kin M,503～994;kin 5,22～510),which combine to cover nearly the full sequence of kinectin molecules listed in Genbank(Z22551);then cloned the three fragments into pET 42a(+) vector and expressed in BL21(DE3) E.coli.The whole cell lysate was put onto SDS PAGE and subsequently transferred to a nitrocellous membrane,then detected for the antibody of Behcet's patient serum by ECL system.Results:Three PCR fragment posed a 99% correspondent rate with kinectin sequence.All of the expression vectors has a correct readframe and expressed three fusion peptides of molecular weight 89(kin 5)?89(kin M) and 82 kD(kin 3) respectivey by Western blot analysis.Of eight patients,6 patients serum reacted to kin M,5 to kin 3 and 1 to kin 5;none of ten normal controls reacted to all the three fusion fragments.Conclusion:Three PCR fragment of kinectin covering sequence 133 to 4 107(aa22～1 346) have been successfully cloned into pET 42a(+) vector and expressed in BL21(DE3) E.coli.The preliminary analysis demonstrates that the antigeneic region of kinectin is mainly located in the middle and carboxyl terminal portion.

Objective To investigate the association of chlamydia pneumoniae infection with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).MethodsSerum samples were obtained from 33 AS patients and 22 healthy controls.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to mearsure serum anti-Chlamydia pneumoniae antibodies (IgM/IgG),while immunofluorescence assay (IFA) was used to detect Chlamydia pneumoniae LPS antigen,and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in peripheral blood cells. Immunohistochemistical technique was applied to examine Chlamydia pneumoniae LPS antigen in synovial tissue from another 9 AS patients who received total hip replacement and 13 patients with comminuted femoral fractures.ResultsThe positive rates of Chlamydia pneumoniae IgM,LPS antigen and chlamydia pneumoniae DNA were higher in AS patients than those in healthy controls (78.8％ vs 22.7％,x2 =16.867,P =0.000; 66.7％ vs 31.8％,x2 =6.431,P =0.011; 33.3％ vs 9.1％,x2 =4.298,P =0.038).Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA positive rate was correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (Z =-2.774 and -2.829,P =0.004).In synovial tissues,chlamydial LPS-containing inflammatory cells were observed in 77.8％(7/9) AS patients,while those in fracture patients was 30.8％ ( 4/13 ) ( P =0.08 ).Conclusion Chlamydia pneumoniae infection is common in blood circulation and joint cavity of AS patients and may be associated with the pathogenesis of AS.

Objective To investigate the relationship between recent chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp)infection and active ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods Seventy nine AS outpatients and 73 normal controls (NC) were enrolled into this study. Serum anti-Cp antibodies (CpIg) were tested using the enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Clinical and experimental data were collected. Patients with positive CpIgM or CpIgA were considered as having a recent Cp infection. Wilcoxon test, Student's t test, χ2 test and multivariate logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. Results Both AS patients and normal controls had a high prevalence for sero-positive CpIgG, which was 89％(70/79) vs 92％(67/73) respectively,while AS patients had a higher frequency of CpIgA and CpIgM when compared with NC [52％(41/79) vs 32％(23/73), χ2=6.61, P=0.010 for CpIgA; 80％(63/79) vs 21％(15/73), χ2=44.031, P＜0.01 for CpIgM]. The presence of CpIgM or CpIgA favored AS, the OR was 17.1 (95％CI 7.4～39.5), or 3.1 (95％CI 1.3～7.2),respectively. In addition, CpIgM was associated with disease activity parameters including ESR (χ2=2.56, P=0.021), CRP (χ2=7.28, P=0.007) and BASDAI (χ2=6.79, P=0.009). Furthermore, consecutive positive CpIgM favored the persistent active or relapsed disease, while negative CpIgM favored a reduced disease activity.There was no correlation between CpIgM/CpIgA and peripheral joint disease and enthesitis. Conclusion Recent Cp infection is highly associated with AS and CpIgM antibody relates with active AS, which indicates that Cp infections may be a critical triggering factor for active AS.

The effects of repaglinide combined with glargine (n=31)on glucose metabolism and β-cell function were observed in the patients with type 2 diabetes after secondary sulfonylureas failure and the results were compared with glimepiride combined with glargine (n=32). The preprandial capillary blood glucose, postprandial capillary blood glucose and HbA1C in both groups after 6-month treatment were significantly reduced as compared with those at baseline (all P＜0.01). The treatment with repaglinide(2 mg tid) plus glargine was more efficient than glimepiride(4 mg qd) plus glargine in improving β-cell function, ameliorating HbA1C and postprandial blood glucose excursions in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Objective To investigate the association of Mycoplasma pneumoniae(MP) infection with disease activity of ankylosing spondylitis. Methods A total of 158 subjects in our hospital were enrolled in this study, including patients with ankylosing spondylitis(AS, n=66), rheumatoid arthritis (RA, n=31),osteoarthritis(OA, n=25) and normal controls(NC, n=36). MP infection was defined as anti-MP IgM antibody positive. Anti-MP IgM antibodies were determined by a mycoplasma pneumoniae(Mac strain)membrane-based agglutination test. AS patients were divided into two groups: MP infection group and non-MP infection group. T-test was used for statistical analysis of age, blood white cells, ESR, CRP, immunoglobulin, BASDAI index, global assessment on VAS scale, Schober test and chest expansion reflecting spinal mobility.χ2-test was used to compare the positive rate of MP infection in different groups. Gender difference and prevalence of clinical infection in past four weeks between MP infection and MP-free group in AS patients was also compared. Ridit analysis was used to analyze the association of MP infection with degree of sacroiliac damage on CT. Results The prevalence of MP infection in AS (52%, 34/66) was much higher than that in rheumatoid arthritis (RA, 6%, P＜0.01 ), osteoarthritis(OA, 4%, P＜0.01 ) and normal controls (NC, 11%, P＜0.01) . Compared with the non-MP infection group, the MP infection group had more active disease in term of BASDAI(4.0±1.1 vs 3.0±1.9, P=0.017), ESR[(44±32) mm/1h vs (28±23) mm/1h, P=0.029], CRP [(40±38) mg/L vs (22±21) mg/L, P=0.025] serum total IgG level [(18±3) g/L vs (16±5) g/L, P=0.027],but not in serum total IgA and IgM. Regarding to the sacroiliac joint and spinal mobility, MP infection group did not exhibit any association with the sacroiliac grading on CT, Schober test and expansion. In AS patients with MP infection, only 44.1%(15/34) was complicated by clinical manifestations of upper respiratory tract in the past 4 weeks. However, a higher prevalence of MP infection was found in AS patients with clinical manifestation of upper respiratory tract, compared with those with negative clinical manifestation(71% vs 42%,P=0.027). Conclusion Mycoplasma pneumoniae is the most common reported pathogen in ankylosing spondylitis and relates to the disease activity of AS. MP infection is probably a principal triggering factor in the pathogenesis of AS.