Atrophy ; Brain ; pathology ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Muscle Fibers, Slow-Twitch ; pathology ; Neuromuscular Diseases ; congenital ; pathology

Aim To investigate the therapeutic value of fosinopril in heart failure.Methods Thirty SD rats were divided into three groups at random.Rats in heart failure group and fosinopril group were given an 8 weeks overswimming exercise to induce heart failure and the heart failure rats in fosinogril group were treated with fosinopril orally (2 mg?kg?d-1) for 6 weeks.14 weeks later the hemodynamic indexes, myocardiac apoptosis rate, left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and myocardiac interstitial fibrosis were determined.Results The hemodynamic indexes in heart group were remarkably different from those in normal control group, while there was a significant improvement in fosinopril group (P

Knowledge Discovery in Databases is gaining attention and raising new hopes for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) researchers. It is a useful tool in understanding and deciphering TCM theories. Aiming for a better understanding of Chinese herbal property theory (CHPT), this paper performed an improved association rule learning to analyze semistructured text in the book entitled Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica. The text was firstly annotated and transformed to well-structured multidimensional data. Subsequently, an Apriori algorithm was employed for producing association rules after the sensitivity analysis of parameters. From the confirmed 120 resulting rules that described the intrinsic relationships between herbal property (qi, flavor and their combinations) and herbal efficacy, two novel fundamental principles underlying CHPT were acquired and further elucidated: (1) the many-to-one mapping of herbal efficacy to herbal property; (2) the nonrandom overlap between the related efficacy of qi and flavor. This work provided an innovative knowledge about CHPT, which would be helpful for its modern research.
Data Mining ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Humans ; Materia Medica ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Qi

OBJECTIVETo study the function of pancreatic islet beta cells, insulin resistance (IR) and features of TCM symptoms and syndromes in the non-diabetic first-grade relatives (ND1GR) of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2).

METHODSA total of 68 ND1GR of DM2 patients were enrolled in the observed group and 45 healthy subjects with matched sex, age and body mass index (BMI) but without family history of DM were selected into the control group. Levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), 2 hrs postprandial glucose (2hPG), fasting insulin (FINS) and 2 hrs postprandial insulin (2h INS) in all the subjects were measured to calculate and compare the IR and beta-cell function of the homeostatic model analog (HOMA-IR and HOMA-beta), and the insulin sensitive index (ISI). Moreover, the symptoms manifested in the ND1GR were also observed to analyze the features in them.

RESULTSFBG and FINS were obviously higher in the observed group than those in the control group (P < 0.01), while no significant difference was found in 2hPG or 2h INS (P > 0.05). HOMA-IR and HOMA-beta were significantly higher (P < 0.05) and ISI were significantly lower (P < 0.01) in the observed group than those in the control group. Compared with the control group, the main symptoms such as dark purplish tongue, listlessness, thready and thin pulse, lassitude in loin and legs in the observed group were seen more frequently. In the observed group syndrome of deficiency of Qi and Yin accounted for 51.47%, syndrome of deficiency of Yin for 30.88%, subjects with syndrome of blood stasis as the main accompanying syndrome accounts for 61.76%.

CONCLUSIONHigher beta cell secretion function and lower insulin sensitivity appear in ND1GR of DM2 patients, suggesting the existence of insulin resistance. The feature of TCM syndrome in them is characterized by deficiency of Qi and Yin with inner obstruction of blood stasis.

Adult ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; genetics ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Humans ; Insulin Resistance ; Insulin-Secreting Cells ; physiology ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVETo achieve differential diagnosis of normal and malignant gastric tissues based on discrepancies in their dielectric properties using support vector machine.

METHODSThe dielectric properties of normal and malignant gastric tissues at the frequency ranging from 42.58 to 500 MHz were measured by coaxial probe method, and the Cole?Cole model was used to fit the measured data. Receiver?operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the discrimination capability with respect to permittivity, conductivity, and Cole?Cole fitting parameters. Support vector machine was used for discriminating normal and malignant gastric tissues, and the discrimination accuracy was calculated using k?fold cross?

VALIDATION

RESULTSThe area under the ROC curve was above 0.8 for permittivity at the 5 frequencies at the lower end of the measured frequency range. The combination of the support vector machine with the permittivity at all these 5 frequencies combined achieved the highest discrimination accuracy of 84.38% with a MATLAB runtime of 3.40 s.

CONCLUSIONThe support vector machine?assisted diagnosis is feasible for human malignant gastric tissues based on the dielectric properties.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Environmental Monitoring ; methods ; Hazardous Substances ; analysis ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Exposure ; analysis ; prevention & control ; Sentinel Surveillance ; Young Adult

Primate placentation involves a series of cell proliferation, immigration and apoptosis which account for the progressive tissue remodelling at the implantation site. p53 is an important proto-oncogene involved in the regulation of cell-cycle and apoptosis. To study the effect of RU486 on apoptosis and expression of p53 at the fetal-maternal interface, the location of apoptotic cells and expression of p53 were examined using in situ 3'-end labeling method, immunohistochemistry and Western blot assay at the fetal-maternal interface of normal and RU486 treated rhesus monkey. Western blot analysis showed the specificity of the anti-human antibody used with the monkey tissue. In the placental villi, the apoptotic nuclei were observed mainly in the syncytiotrophoblast and part of the cytotrophoblast within the cell column; p53 protein was detected mainly in the cytotrophoblast. In the endometrium, positive signals for apoptosis and p53 were detected in some stromal cells. After two days of mifepristone treatment, the apoptotic cells increased significantly in both placental villi and endometrium. In the villi, the increased apoptotic nuclei were mainly localized to the cytotrophoblast. At the same time, p53-positive nuclei also increased in both villous cytotrophoblast cells and endometrial stromal cells, after the treatment of RU486. These results suggest that apoptosis and expression of p53 are essential in regulating trophoblastic homeostasis by controlling its proliferation in normal placenta, whereas the up-regulation of p53 protein may play an important role in apoptosis that happens at the fetal-maternal interface induced by RU486.
Abortifacient Agents, Steroidal ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Chorionic Villi ; pathology ; Female ; Macaca mulatta ; Mifepristone ; pharmacology ; Placentation ; drug effects ; physiology ; Pregnancy ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; biosynthesis ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo explore effects of beraprost sodium (BPS) on the metabolism of extracellular matrix (ECM) in rat mesangial cells cultured in the presence of high glucose and the possible mechanism.

METHODSRat mesangial cells were cultured in the presence of high glucose with or without BPS for 24 or 48 h. The levels of transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1), fibronectin (FN) and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) protein in the culture supernatants were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and photoshop-Smad3 was detected by Western blotting.

RESULTSCompared with the cells in normal glucose, the cells cultured in the presence of high glucose for 24 and 48 h showed significantly increased TGFβ 1 and FN protein expression and lowered MMP-2 protein expression (P<0.01). Compared with the cells cultured in high glucose, BPS exposure at the concentration of 1, 2, and 5 µmol/L for 24 and 48 h significantly lowered TGFβ 1 protein expression (P<0.01), and at 2 and 5 µmol/L, BPS significantly decreased FN protein expression and increased MMP-2 protein expression in high glucose-induced cells (P<0.05). High glucose exposure also significantly increased the expression phosphorylated Smad3 (P<0.01), which was lowered by BPS treatment at 2 and 5 µmol/L (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONBPS can regulate ECM metabolism in rat mesangial cells cultured in high glucose by inhibiting TGFβ 1/Smad3 pathway, suggesting the beneficial effects of BPS in preventing and treating diabetic nephropathy.

Animals ; Cell Line ; Cells, Cultured ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epoprostenol ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Extracellular Matrix ; metabolism ; Fibronectins ; metabolism ; Glomerular Mesangium ; cytology ; Glucose ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 ; metabolism ; Mesangial Cells ; drug effects ; Rats ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the coincidence of lipid peroxidation and neurobehavioral function changes in coke oven workers.

METHODSOne hundred and thirty-four coke oven workers were divided into three groups: 35 in the oven-bottom group, 49 in the oven-side group and 50 in oven-top group. WHO recommended NCTB was performed on coke oven workers and 36 controls from material conservation department; The contents of total superoxide dismutases (T-SOD), glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in blood were determined by test kits.

RESULTSCompared with the controls, the coke oven workers showed lower levels of T-SOD and GSH (P < 0.01), significantly higher MDA levels in blood (P < 0.01), higher score on negative mood state, lower scores on positive mood state, and poorer performance in NCTB test (P < 0.05). Further analysis revealed that there was a weak positive correlation between neurobehavioral function changes and the level of lipid peroxidation with a coefficient lower than 0.25.

CONCLUSIONThe level of lipid peroxidation in coke oven workers' blood increased and coincided with neurobehavioral function impairment.

Adult ; Affect ; Anxiety ; Case-Control Studies ; Coke ; Fatigue ; Glutathione ; blood ; Humans ; Lipid Peroxidation ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; blood ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Exposure ; adverse effects ; Superoxide Dismutase ; blood ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo explore the optimum conditions for preparing poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) nanoparticles and evaluate the bioactivity of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-loaded PLGA nanoparticles.

METHODSBovine serum albumin (BSA)-loaded PLGA nanoparticles were prepared using a double emulsion-solvent evaporation method. The preparation process of nanoparticles was optimized by orthogonal test with the particle size, encapsulation efficiency (EE), drug loading (DD), and recovery as the indexes. HGF-loaded nanoparticles were then prepared under the optimized conditions. The EE, DD and release characteristics of BSA?loaded nanoparticles and HGF-loaded nanoparticles were evaluated using a BCA kit and HGF ELISA kit. The bioactivity of HGF-loaded nanoparticles was evaluated using CCK8 proliferation assay.

RESULTSThe HGF-loaded nanoparticles prepared under the optimized conditions had a uniform size with a mean diameter of 234.4∓4.8 nm, an EE of (77.75∓3.04)% and a recovery rate of (49.33∓9.34)%. The in vitro release curve highlighted an initial burst drug release followed by sustained release from the nanoparticles. HGF-loaded nanoparticles obviously promoted the proliferation of Hacat keratinocytes in vitro.

CONCLUSIONHGF-loaded nanoparticles prepared using double emulsion?solvent evaporation method under optimized conditions possesses a high EE with a good sustained drug release profile and a good bioactivity.