Animals ; Hippocampus ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Male ; Motor Activity ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic effect of a drug pair of Radix Astragali and Rehmanniae Radix combined with glucocorticoid (GC) in treating lupus nephritis (LN) patients and its influence on some experimental indices.

METHODSTotally 52 LN patients were randomly assigned to the treatment group (treated by routine Western medicine and a drug pair of Radix Astragali and Rehmanniae Radix, 25 cases) and the control group (treated by Western medicine, mainly by GC and cyclophosphamide, 27 cases). All patients received 6-month therapy. The GC dosage, the withdrawal and reduction dosage of GC, clinical efficacy, systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) score, adverse reactions, and laboratory indicators were recorded.

RESULTS(1) All patients got relieved to some degree with the dosage of GC reduced. The total withdrawal and reduction dosage of GC was slightly higher in the treatment group than in the control group [(50.23 +/- 12.43) mg vs (48.76 +/- 13.61) mg, P > 0.05]. Besides, the prednisone dosage in the treatment group was lower than that in the control group, but without statistical difference (P > 0.05). The ratio of patients in need of adding prednisone for aggravating disease was 24.0%, significantly lower than that in the control group (44.44%, P < 0.05). (2) There was no statistical difference in the SLEDAI score, inflammatory indicators, liver and renal functions, blood electrolytes, blood glucose, blood and urine routines between the two groups (P > 0.05). The 24-h urinary protein count was (1.06 +/- 0.22) g/L in the treatment group, obviously lower than that in the control group (1.43 +/- 0.55 g/L, P < 0.05). (3) There was no statistical difference in the incidence rate of infection, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, psychoneuroses, Cushing's syndrome, cardiovascular anomalies, and femoral head necrosis between the two groups (P > 0.05). But the incidence of adverse reactions such as insomnia, tidal fever, spontaneous sweat, and obesity was less in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSUsing a drug pair of Radix Astragali and Rehmanniae Radix combined with GC in treating LN could withdraw the dosage of GC and relieve symptoms it induced. It was advantageous in reducing the dosage of GC and stabilizing patients' conditions.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Glucocorticoids ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Lupus Nephritis ; drug therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Objective:To investigate the frequency and severity of systemic adverse reactions in children with allergic rhinitis (AR) undergoing subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT).Methods:The clinical data of 321 children with allergic rhinitis receiving SCIT at Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Changzhou Third People′s Hospital from January 2016 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 180 boys and 141 girls aged 5 to 14 years. Patients were injected subcutaneously with standardized dust mites allergen extract. The onset time, symptoms and signs and treatment of adverse reactions were documented. The relationship of adverse reactions with gender, age, treatment course and dosage of allergen injection were analyzed.Results:Patients received total 13 053 injections, and 115 adverse reactions (0.88%) occurred in 56 cases (17.45%). The incidence of adverse reactions in children aged 5-9 years was higher than in those aged 10-14 years, for both the number of cases and injections (χ2=4.41, P=0.04; χ2=9.13, P<0.01), but no significant differences were observed in gender of patients. The incidence of adverse reactions in the age group 2-3 years was lower than that in age groups<1 year and 1-<2 years in both of cases and injections (χ2=22.86, P<0.01; χ2=6.43, P=0.01; χ2=12.14, P<0.01; χ2=13.74, P<0.01). The incidence of adverse reactions in the high-dosage phase (100 000 SQ-U) was higher than that in the low-dosage phase (<100 000 SQ-U) (χ2=4.35, P=0.04). Conclusions:The study shows that the incidence of adverse reactions in children with allergic rhinitis receiving subcutaneous immunotherapy is less than 1% in the number of injections and most of them are grade Ⅰ adverse reactions. The study also shows that younger age, the early course of treatment and the high dosage of allergens are risk factors for adverse reactions.

Adult ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; pathology ; Female ; Heart Ventricles ; pathology ; Humans

Targeting induced local lesions in genomes (TILLING) is a reverse genetics method for functional genomics research.It is possible to screen for point mutations in the populations of EMS mutagenesis with highthroughput and lowcost. EcoTILLING a method based on TILLING ,was developed for detecting multiple types of polymorphisms in germplasm collections,such as single nucleotide polymorphism,small deletion and insertion etc.Rice is a very important food crop and a model plant for genome research also. There are complete genome sequence and a lot of other bioinformatics resources about it.So the markerassisted breeding is becoming more and more important in rice breeding. Some issues based on TILLING about identifying germplasm based on gene sequence,EMS mutagenesis breeding,developing functional marker in rice breeding in future were discussed.

Objective:To analyze the correlation between 21-gene recurrence score (RS) and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with Lumina type breast cancer, and to explore its significance in individualized treatment.Methods:The clinicopathological data of 59 patients with surgical resection and pathological diagnosis of Lumina type breast cancer in Shanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital from May 2018 to May 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression of 21 gene and RS was calculated. According to the 21-gene RS, the patients were divided into low recurrence risk group (RS < 18 points), intermediate recurrence risk group (RS 18-31 points) and high recurrence risk group (RS > 31 points). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were made to evaluate the correlations between different recurrence risk and clinicopathological characteristics of patients and their influence on the choice of adjuvant chemotherapy.Results:Based on the 21-gene RS, 29 patients were in low recurrence risk group, 22 cases were in intermediate recurrence risk group, and 8 cases were in high recurrence risk group. Single-factor analysis showed that age ( P = 0.012), maximum mass diameter ( P = 0.031), histological grade ( P = 0.036), progesterone receptor (PR) level ( P = 0.015), Ki-67 positive index ( P = 0.049) and molecular typing ( P = 0.010) were influencing factors of 21-gene RS recurrence risk. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the age and Ki-67 positive index were negatively correlated with 21-gene RS recurrence risk (both P < 0.05). After grouping according to the 21-gene RS, 17 patients in the intermediate recurrence risk group (according to the traditional postoperative recurrence risk grouping method for breast cancer) were classified as low recurrence risk group, and 4 patients in the low recurrence risk group were classified as intermediate recurrence risk group ( χ2 = 4.535, P = 0.033). After grouping based on 21-gene RS, the number of patients who needed chemotherapy in individualized treatment decreased. Of the 17 cases, 11 cases did not undergo postoperative chemotherapy, and the remaining patients received chemotherapy. The postoperative follow-up period was 11-22 months. As of March 2020, there was no recurrence or disease progress. Conclusion:The 21-gene RS can provide objective basis for the individualized precise treatment and prognosis prediction for patients with early-stage Lumina type breast cancer.

Pro-inflammatory macrophages play key regulatory role in the occurrence and development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, we constructed a celastrol (Cel)-loaded polyamide-amine dendrimer (PAMAM) drug delivery system, which could target folate receptor and mitochondria. It could target inflammatory macrophages and realize chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy. Using PAMAM as the nano-carrier, folate receptor-targeting group folic acid (FA) and mitochondria-targeting group IR808 (also known as the photothermal agent) were conjugated with PAMAM through amide reaction, and then complexed with anti-inflammatory drug Cel to prepare the FA-PAMAM-IR808/Cel nanocomplex. In vitro characterization results showed that the drug loading efficiency of the nanocomplex was 50.90%, particle size was between 130 and 160 nm, average potential was between 1.0 and 3.5 mV, the drug release showed pH sensitivity, temperature reached to 42.5 ℃ after near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation for 10 min. In vitro cellular uptake experiments showed that the nanocomplex had obvious folate receptor-targeting and mitochondria-targeting ability. Following irradiation with NIR light, the cytotoxicity and cellular apoptosis enhanced. The secretion of pro-inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and nitric oxide (NO) decreased in a concentration-dependent manner. This study provided insights for the development of novel anti-RA nanomedicines.

Objective To assess the diagnostic value of determining infarct core and penumbra using CT perfusion source images (CTP-SI) mismatch model in hemispheric stroke less than 9 hours.Methods "one-stop shop" CT examination including non-contrast enhanced CT (NCCT), CTP, CT angiography (CTA) were performed in 24 patients with symptoms of stroke less than 9 hours.The Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) were analyzed on arterial phase CTP-SI and venous phase CTP SI using Wilcoxon rank-sum test, then compared with the follow up imaging ASPECTS using multiple linear regression.Results The median (min-max) scores of ASPECTS on arterial phase CTP-SI, venous phase CTP-SI and follow-up imaging were 9.0 ( 2.0-10.0 ), 9.3 ( 6.5-10.0 ) and 9.0 ( 7.0-10.0 ),respectively. ASPECTS measured on arterial phase CTP-SI significantly differed from the ASPECTS on venous phase CTP-SI ( Z =-2.812, P = 0.005 ).Moreover, the linear regression analysis showed significant correlation between the ASPECTS on venous phase CTP-SI and follow up imaging ASPECTS ( Beta =0.715,P = 0.003 ).Conclusion CTP-SI mismatch model provides a method of choice in predicting penumbra and infarct core in hemispheric stroke.

Twenty-three patients with pain from osteoporotic vertebral fractures,aged 65-90 yr,weighing 51-78 kg,received an image intensifier-assisted nerve-root block with a 6-8 ml mixture of 0.5 ％ lidocaine,mecobalamine 0.5 mg and betamethasone sodium phosphate injection 5.26 mg in a prone or lateral position.The VAS scores before operation,at 0,1 week,1 and 3 months after operation were 8.6 ± 0.9,1.5 ± 0.7,2.8 ± 0.9,1.6 ± 0.5 and 2.5 ± 0.7,respectively.VAS scores were significantly lower at each time pint after operation than before operation (P ＜ 0.05).According to modified MacNab standard,the effectiveness of treatment was rated as excellent/good in 87％ of the patients.No complication such as bleeding,hematoma,infection,pneumothorax,hemopneumothorax,headache was found during or after operation.Selective nerve-root block is effective in the treatment of pain resulting from osteoporotic vertebral fractures in patients.

Background Eicosapentaenoic acid(EPA)function as the critical lipid mediators involved in several biological events in human body and play important role in suppressing the genesis of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF),migration and proliferation of vascular endothelial cells.Many ocular diseases were proved to be associated with neovascularization.Objecfive The purpose of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of EPA on the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) indueed by VEGF. Methods HUVEC strain was cultured and passaged,and difierent concentrations of EPA were added to the medium with and without VEGF.The cultured cells were identified by antiofactor Ⅷ polyclonal antibody.The suppressing role of different concentrations of EPA on the proliferation of VEGF-induced or-uninduced HUVEC was assessed by MTT method.The influence of difierent concentrations of EPA on the cellular cycle of VEGF-induced HUVEC was assayed using flow eytometry.The expression of Flk-1,a receptor of VEGF,in the HUVEC Was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results Cultured HUVEC showed the ftlsiform in shape and presented with the cobblestone-like arrangement with the positive response for Ⅷ factor-related antigen.Various concentrations of EPA showed obviously inhibitory effect on VEGF-induced or-unindueed HUVEC at a dose-dependent manner (F=23.072.P=0.000).The inhibitory ability of EPA on VEGF-induced HUVEC was stronger than VEGF-uninduced HUVEC(F=41.417,P=0.000).In 24,48 and 72 hours,the action of EPA on the proliferation of HUVEC was gradually enhanced with the prolong of time(F=1.495,P=0.236).Cell cycle analysis indicated that EPA arrested VEGF-induced HUVEC in G0/G1 phase.The ratio of HUVEC in G0/G1 phase in EPA group was(75.83±1.56)%,and that in control groups was(68.62±1.44)%,showing a significant difference between them(t=-5.88,P=0.00),and no apoptosis of HUVEC was found in both groups.Flk-1 was strongly expressed in the cellular nucleus and cytoplasm in control group.However,the positive expressing intensity of Flk-1 in the HUVEC weakened,and the positive cell number was evidently less in EPA group. Conclusion EPA can inhibit the proliferation of VEGF induced HUVEC through arresting the synthesis of DNA of HUVEC and downregulate the expression of Flk-1 in HUVEC.These results suggest that EPA might exert an antiangiogenic effect.