Objective To investigate the effects of ischemic postconditioning (Post) on myocardial cell apoptosis and expres- sion of Bcl-2 and Bax protein during ischemia/reperfusion period in rabbits.Methods Eighteen rabbits were randomly allocated to three groups (6 in each group),sham operation (group S),ischemia/reperfusion group(group IR) and ischemic postconditioning group(group Post).Group IR and group Post were subjected to 15 minutes of left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion followed for 30 minutes of reperfusion.Ischemic postconditioning was achieved by three 30 seconds cycles of reperfusion,each followed by 30 seconds ischemia.Cardiomyocyte apoptosis were determined by in situ TDT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and DNA electrophoresis.The expression of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in apoptotic myocardial cells were detected by immunohistochemistry sepa- rately.Results Compared with group IR,apoptotic index was significantly reduced in group Post [(28.06?2.92) % vs.(55.70? 13.96)%,P

This paper discusses the limitations of current NO inhalation systems, based on the research in collocation of NO, inspection of NO/NO2 and synchronous working of NO inhalation systems with ventilators. And then, the developing trend of NO inhalation systems is put forward here too.
Administration, Inhalation ; Nitric Oxide ; administration & dosage ; Ventilators, Mechanical ; trends

OBJECTIVE:To detect the contents of chlorogenic acid and rutoside in Saussurea involucrate,and to optimize the decoction and extraction technology of S. involucrate from different producing areas. METHODS:The contents of chlorogenic acid and rutoside in 10 batches of S. involucrate from different producing areas were determined by HPLC. L9(34)orthogonal experiment was used to optimize the water amount,decoction times and decoction time using comprehensive score of extraction transport rate of chlorogenic acid and rutoside as index. The verification test was also conducted. RESULTS:The contents of chlorogenic acid and rutoside in 10 batches of S. involucrate were 0.380%-0.546% and 0.334%-0.617%;the optimal decoction technology was as follows as the amout of crude material of S. involucrate 100 g,soaking for 20 min,decocting for 3 times,12,10 and 10 fold of water,decocting 45,30 and 30 min,respectively. The extraction transfer rates of chlorogenic acid and rutoside were 96.2%(RSD=2.66%,n=3)and 89.3%(RSD=3.31%,n=3)in verification test. CONCLUSIONS:For S. involucrate from different producing areas,the contents of effective components are different;optimized decoction and extraction technology is stable and feasible.

BACKGROUND: Incidence rate of cervical osteoarthritis in the middleaged and elderly is high. Some researches on risk factor causing cervical osteoarthritis have been performed abroad, but most of the factors are being discussed.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the occurring cervical osteoarthritis risk factors in the middle-aged and elderly from different regions of China and provide evidences for prevention and intervention of cervical osteoarthritis in community.DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.SETTING: Beijing Hospital, Ministry of Health, together with Second Hospital of Xi'an Jiantong University, Institute of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine of Hebei Medical University, Shanghai Huadong Hospital, Nanfang Hospital, Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, West China Hospital of Sichuan University.PARTICIPANTS: The investigation was conducted from July to August2005. On the basis of stratified multi-stage cluster sampling method, 6 218formal registered permanent residents of over 40 years old from Xi'an,Shijiazhuang, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Harbin and Chengdu were enrolled.They all agreed to join the investigation voluntarily. There were 2 916males of 40-94 years and 3 302 females of 40-86 years.METHODS: Questionnaire investigation of epidemiology of cervical osteoarthritis was performed in the testees, and radiograph was used in the persons with clinical symptom. The basic sample unit was neighborhood committee (city) and village committee (countryside). Sampling method:Taking each city as a whole, composed of two levels, namely city and countryside, in the first phase the persons were extracted from district (county),in the second phase from sub-district (countryside), in the third phase from neighborhood committee (village eommittee). Diagnosis standard of cervical osteoarthritis was positive clinical symptom and 2 grade or above of radiograph Kellgren & Lawrence grading. The content of questionnaire contained 6 aspects: general condition, history of present illness, history of past illness, physical check-up, radiographs and disease diagnosis, totally94 questions and 141 variation indexes. Influential factors of prevalence rate of cervical osteoarthritis were analyzed using multifactor non-conditional Logistic regression analysis. Odds ratio (OR) was used for expressing index of strength of relationship between disease and exposures. If OR ＞ 1,it was indicated that there was positive correlation between disease occurrence and exposures. If OR ＜ 1, it was suggested that there was negative correlation between disease occurrence and exposures.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence rate of cervical osteoarthritis in each city and OR.RESULTS: Totally 6 218 investigational subjects were included in the result analysis, without drop out. ①Total prevalence rate of cervical osteoarthritis in population of 40 years or above from 6 domestic cities was23.6%. There was significnat difference of prevalence rate in each city (P＜0.01). ②Result of Logistic regression analysis: Age (OR=1.010-1.058),defecation with squat ting pot (OR =1.024-1.997) and history of hypertension (OR =1.815-3.078) were common risk factor in most areas. In northern area the common risk factor compos ed of daily stair climbing or grade climbing (OR =1.018-1.020), while drinking colored wine (OR=3.451, Xi'an), history of osteoarthri tis of father (OR =2.491, Xi'an), history of diabetes (OR =5.013, Shijiazhuang), history of osteoarthritis of mother (OR =2.045, Shanghai), smoking (OR =6.857, Guangzhou), age of starting drinking (OR =3.044, Guangzhou) and full-time athletic sports (OR=9.020, Harbin), etc. emerged in different areas.CONCLUSION: The onset of cervical osteoarthritis has the same risk factor in 6 domestic areas, and main risk factor in different areas has certain differences, which can provide reference data for the prevention and cure of cervical osteoarthritis for the future and reduce waster of medical resources.

A nitric oxide inhaling equipment cooperated with the ventilator synchronously, is introduced in this paper. This equipment monitors the inspiratory flow of the ventilator by a gas flow meter, and works out the flow value of NO on the therapeutic condition using the formula of gas dilution. Then its mass flow controller controls the flow of NO and delivers it to the respiratory circuit. At the same time, the concentrations of NO and NO2 are detected by the electrochemical NO/NO2 sensors before the therapeutic gas enters into the patient. The experimental result shows that this equipment can work with the ventilator in-phase periodically, the volume of E/(I+E) NO be saved, and the output of NO2 < or = 0.7 x 10(-6). Thus the equipment not only has realized the intellectual monitoring and gas-dispensing, but also has improved the precision of inhaled NO concentration with a better reliability and security during the therapy.
Equipment Design ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; drug therapy ; Monitoring, Physiologic ; methods ; Nitric Oxide ; administration & dosage ; analysis ; Nitrogen Dioxide ; administration & dosage ; analysis ; Respiratory Therapy ; instrumentation ; methods ; Ventilators, Mechanical

Objective To explore the life style of the elderly in empty-nest family and need of community health service in shanggang community.Methods Using random sampling method, a group of 634 the aged more than 60 from empty-nest family in the community were investigated with questionnaires.Results In daily activities,40.9% of the elderly empty-nest took part in physical exercise,36.3% had hobbies.Really empty-nest group had rarely physical exercise and prepared staying alone.In community health service,about 82.65% ,72.82% ,55.21% of the aged empty-nest needed regular physical examination,health guidance and psychological counseling respectively.Conclusion Life style of the elderly in empty-nest family was reasonable,and empty-nest group,especially really empty-nest group had advanced demand about the community health service.Medical staff should often carry out physical exercise and psychological counseling,and also popularize common medical knowledge.Besides,regular physical examination and paying close attention to the healthy information of the elderly in empty-nest family was needed.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of TPN plus argine on nutrition status, immune function and postoperative complications in radical treatment of gastro intestinal cancer patients. Methods: 88 cases undertaking radical treatment were randomized into TPN group (normal group)(30 cases), argine group (plus argine)(30 cases) and control group (28 cases). Since POD+1, the former two groups were given intravenous nutrition support continuously for 7 days and argine 80～100ml/day in argine group.Controlled group was given glucose, amino acid solution and electrolytes first, then transited to normal oral food intake. On AOD-1 and POD+8, albumin, pre albumin, transferrin and immune parameters were analyzed; postoperative complications were observed as well. Results: On POD+8, pre albumin and transferrin were improved in normal and argine group. In argine group, IgG?IgE?CD3?CD4?CD4/CD8?NKC activity and IL 2 concentration were obviously higher than that in other two groups( P

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of indole-3-carbinol (I3C) on the outcome of the tumor as well as the changes of the anti-oxidative system in null mice grafted with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

METHODS48 BALB/c null mice were divided by means of random number table into control group (0.5% sodium carboxyl methyl cellulose), low dosage (0.02 g/kg), middle dosage (0.1 g/kg) and high dosage (0.5 g/kg) of I3C. The mice were administered with different solutions by gavage for 10 days before CNE1 cells were inoculated subcutaneously into the back (near the armpit) of the nude mice, then the solutions were continually administered by gavage. The tumor volume was measured and the tumor inhibitory rate was calculated. The level of malondialdehyde (MDA), the activity of superoxide dismutases (SOD), the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) and the expression of cleaved caspase-3 were determined on the 31th day of the study.

RESULTSI3C could reduce the tumor volume [the tumor volumes of the control group, the middle dosage group and the high dosage group were (4.13 +/- 0.53) x 10(-6) m(3), (3.14 +/- 0.71) x 10(-6) m(3), (2.72 +/- 0.29) x 10(-6) m(3)], as compared with the control, the shrinkage of tumor volume of the middle dosage group and the high dosage group were significant (the t valued at 0.990 and 1.510, P < 0.01). The tumor inhibitory rates of 3 groups were 3.8%, 20.5% and 34.9%, respectively. The contents of MDA in the tumor tissue tended to decrease [the values of control group, the low dosage group, the middle dosage group and the high dosage group were (31.29 +/- 2.51) x 10(-6) mol/L, (30.12 +/- 2.37) x 10(-6) mol/L, (23.32 +/- 1.93) x 10(-6) mol/L, (16.45 +/- 1.43) x 10(-6) mol/L] (F = 98.752, P < 0.01), and that of the high and the middle dosage group could obviously be reduced (t = 8.970, 14.840, P < 0.01) as compared with the control. The activity of SOD seemed to be elevated according to the increase of I3C dosage [the values were (387.24 +/- 23.16) x 10(3) U/L, (399.37 +/- 34.45) x 10(3) U/L, (431.63 +/- 31.24) x 10(3) U/L, (476.45 +/- 44.67) x 10(3) U/L] (F = 53.444, P < 0.01). When compared with the control, the SOD activity of the middle and the high dosage group be obviously increased (t = 44.390, 89.210, P < 0.01). I3C could also elevate the GSHPx activity [the GSHPx values of the four groups were (226.98 +/- 18.35) x 10(3) U/L, (234.65 +/- 15.59) x 10(3) U/L, (247.72 +/- 22.73) x 10(3) U/L, (300.37 +/- 26.02) x 10(3) U/L] (F = 25.916, P < 0.01). The GSHPx of the high dosage group was enhanced remarkable (t = 73.390, P < 0.01) as compared with the control. The expression of cleaved caspase-3 (relative molecular weight = 19 000 000) seemed to be elevated according to the increase of I3C dosage and the relative expression levels of which were 0.87 +/- 0.01, 0.97 +/- 0.01, 1.02 +/- 0.06 and 1.14 +/- 0.02 (F = 39.864, P < 0.01). When compared with the control, the elevation of this kind of cleaved caspase-3 was considered statistical significant (the t values were 0.100, 0.086 and 0.303, respectively, P < 0.05). When I3C dosage increased, the expression of cleaved caspase-3 (relative molecular weight = 17 000 000) seemed to increased too [the relative expression levels of which were 0.00 +/- 0.00, 0.05 +/- 0.02, 0.11 +/- 0.02, 0.20 +/- 0.02 (F = 56.629, P < 0.01)], and the increase of this kind of cleaved caspase-3 was esteemed significantly as compared with those of the control (the t valued at 0.046, 0.103 and 0.193, respectively, P < 0.05). Linear correlate analysis showed that the correlation coefficients between the shrinkage of tumor volume and the expression of the two kinds of cleaved caspase-3 protein was -0.732 (t = 3.404, P < 0.01) and -0.901 (t = 6.642, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONI3C could reduce the growth of tumor, the mechanism underlie it could be related to the decrease of the content of MDA as well as the elevated levels of SOD, GSHPx, and perhaps could be related to the apoptosis transduced by cleaved caspase-3.

Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Female ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Humans ; Indoles ; pharmacology ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Seeding ; Oxidation-Reduction ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

Objective To study the influence of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) implantation on ventricular remodeling and heart function after myocardial infarcion. Methods Bone marrow was aspirated from Gui-zhou Xiang swines.After being isolated,cultured and co-cultured with 5-azacytidine,either autologous MSCs(experiment group) or a comparable volume of physiologic saline(control group) were injected into the infarcted myocardium.Three and six weeks later,echocardiographic measurement was performed to assess the myocardial structure and heart function,and single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT) was employed for myocardial imaging.Implanted stem cells were detected by the anti-Brdv antibody DAB with HE staining. Results Left ventricular ejection fraction(EF),fractional shortening and wall thickening were higher in experiment group than control group.The thickness of the ventricular wall and septum was found increased while the left ventricular chamber size was smaller in experiment group.It was indicated by SPECT that three and six weeks after implantation,there was obvious image defect in control group while in experiment group there were some imaging areas in the infarcted area.Brdv-labelled cells were observed in the central part of and around the infarcted area.Conclusion Implantation of MSCs into the infarcted myocardium is believed to attenuate the remodeling process,inhibit the extent of wall thinning and dilatation of the ventricular chamber.MSCs implantation may also improve the contractile ability of the myocardium and heart function.

Reduced radiosensitivity of lung cancer cells represents a pivotal obstacle in clinical oncology. The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α plays a crucial role in radiosensitivity, but the detailed mechanisms remain elusive. A relationship has been suggested to exist between hypoxia and autophagy recently. In the current study, we studied the effect of hypoxia-induced autophagy on radioresistance in lung cancer cell lines. A549 and H1299 cells were cultured under normoxia or hypoxia, followed by irradiation at dosage ranging from 0 to 8 Gy. Clonogenic assay was performed to calculate surviving fraction. EGFP-LC3 plasmid was stably transfected into cells to monitor autophagic processes. Western blotting was used to evaluate the protein expression levels of HIF-1α, c-Jun, phosphorylated c-Jun, Beclin 1, LC3 and p62. The mRNA levels of Beclin 1 were detected by qRT-PCR. We found that under hypoxia, both A549 and H1299 cells were radio-resistant compared with normoxia. Hypoxia-induced elevated HIF-1α protein expression preferentially triggered autophagy, accompanied by LC3 induction, EGFP-LC3 puncta and p62 degradation. In the meantime, HIF-1α increased downstream c-Jun phosphorylation, which in turn upregulated Beclin 1 mRNA and protein expression. The upregulation of Beclin 1 expression, instead of HIF-1α, could be blocked by SP600125 (a specific inhibitor of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase), followed by suppression of autophagy. Under hypoxia, combined treatment of irradiation and chloroquine (a potent autophagy inhibitor) significantly decreased the survival potential of lung cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, hypoxia-induced autophagy through evaluating Beclin1 expression may be considered as a target to reverse the radioresistance in cancer cells.