Objective To assay serum apelin level in obesity and newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients and investigate the relationship between serum apelin level and body fat parameter,glucose and lipid metabolism and insulin resistance index,etc.Methods Sixty-two patients with type 2 DM and 72 subjects with normal glucose regulation (NGR) were selected and each group was divided into obese and non-obese subgroups according to body mass index (BMI)≥25 kg/m~2 or

OBJECTIVETo observe clinical characteristics of herb-induced liver injury (HILI).

METHODSGeneral conditions, medical history, clinical manifestations, biochemical indices, prognosis, and Roussed Uclaf Causality Assessment Method (RUCAM) scores were retrospectively analyzed in 595 inpatients at 302 Military Hospital between January 2009 and January 2014.

RESULTSThere were 423 cases (accounting for 71.1%) were females with multiple onset age ranging 41 to 50 years old. The median time from starting Chinese herbs to the occurrence of liver injury (LI) was 30 days (15-75 days), and 511 cases (85.9%) were classified as hepatocellular injury. Chinese herbs inducing HILI were mainly used for skin disease (102 cases, 17.1%), osteoarticular disease (57 cases, 9.6%), and gastrointestinal disease (49 cases, 8.2%), covering 207 kinds of Chinese patent medicines. Polygonum multiflorum, Psoralea corylifolia, and Corydalis ambigua were often seen in Chinese prescriptions. In RUCAM scoring, 451 HILI patients (accounting for 74.1%) were very possibly associated with Chinese herbs. Liver failure occurred in 47 HILI patients (accounting for 7.9%), cirrhosis in 45 patients (accounting for 7.6%), chronic HILI in 80 patients (accounting for 13.4%), 27 (4.5%) died, and only 2 (0.3%) underwent liver transplantation.

CONCLUSIONSChinese herbs could cause LI or even death. Attention should be paid to herbal hepatotoxicity and improving monitoring system of HILI.

Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUNDHaptoglobin (Hp) is one of the acute-phase proteins. Recent studies have demonstrated that Hp exerts immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory actions and may be one of the inhibitory factors of immune reactions in the skin. In this study we investigated the regulation of Hp expression in a human keratinocyte cell line HaCaT by various cytokines and glucocorticoid.

METHODSHaCaT cells were cultured with IL-6 (50 ng/ml), TNF-alpha (20 ng/ml), IFN-gamma (20 ng/ml) or IL-4 (20 ng/ml) with or without 1 micromol/L dexamethasone in 6-well plates for 12, 24 and 48 hours. Both the cells and the supernatants were collected to detect the changes of Hp expression by reverse-transcription PCR, ELISA and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSThe results showed that Hp expression were elevated at both the mRNA and protein level by the combination of IL-6, TNF-alpha or IL-4 with dexamethasone, whereas the three cytokines alone did not upregulate the Hp expression. IFN-gamma showed no effect on the Hp expression in HaCaT cells.

CONCLUSIONSThese findings suggest that different inflammatory cytokines as well as glucocorticoid may be involved in the regulation of Hp expression in keratinocytes, and this may be one of the negative feedback mechanisms in inflammatory skin diseases.

Cell Line ; Dexamethasone ; pharmacology ; Glucocorticoids ; pharmacology ; Haptoglobins ; analysis ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; pharmacology ; Interleukin-4 ; pharmacology ; Interleukin-6 ; pharmacology ; Keratinocytes ; chemistry ; drug effects ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; pharmacology

AIMTo investigate the pharmacokinetic characteristics of recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor (rhaFGF) after external use in rabbits.

METHODS125I-rhaFGF 180 U.cm-2 was daubed to normal skin and scathed skin in rabbits. The radioactivity and paper chromatography were used to determine the 125I-concentrations and distribution in plasma and organs at different times.

RESULTSThe plasma concentration of 125I-rhaFGF increased rapidily, and reach peak plasma level (73.03 pg.mL-1) thirty minutes after administration. Then the concentration of 125I-rhaFGF decreased quickly after thirty minutes, and approached to zero after three hours. Highest radioactivity accumulated in the skin, followed by kidney, lowest in the brain 96 h after administration.

CONCLUSIONrhaFGF can not be absorbed from the normal skin, whereas a small amount of rhaFGF can be absorbed through scathed skin. The t1/2 of rhaFGF in plasma was very short. Cumulative effect of rhaFGF was not observed. Absorbed rhaFGF showed high affinity to skin, and can be distributed to skin far from the site of administration.

Administration, Cutaneous ; Animals ; Female ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 1 ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Male ; Rabbits ; Recombinant Proteins ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Skin ; injuries ; metabolism ; Skin Absorption ; Tissue Distribution

OBJECTIVETo determine the fluorine content in enamel before and after besmearing fluoride varnishes by neutron activation method.

METHODSA pair of mandibular deciduous central incisor teeth were chosen. One was removed, and the other was besmeared with fluoride varnishes and removed 24 hours later. The contents of fluorine were determined and analyzed statistically.

RESULTSThe fluorine content in the enamel of the tooth besmeared with fluoride varnishes was higher than that in the control tooth (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe application of the fluoride varnishes can effectively increase the content of fluorine in the sclerous tissues.

Cariostatic Agents ; pharmacokinetics ; Child ; Dental Caries ; prevention & control ; Dental Enamel ; chemistry ; Female ; Fluorides ; analysis ; Fluorides, Topical ; pharmacokinetics ; Humans ; Male

The paper is aimed to establish a methods for identication of pearl powder and conch powder from different origins. Hermetic aluminum pan was used to encapsulate samples. The optimal testing conditions were: heating rate 10 degrees C x min(-1), sample weight 3 mg and nitrogen gas flow rate 40 mL x min(-1). The enthalpy values of pearl powder and conch powder was obvious different. Identication of pearl powder and conch powder by DSC is a practical method for its accuracy, convenience and practificality.
Animal Shells ; chemistry ; Animals ; Calorimetry, Differential Scanning ; methods ; China ; Discriminant Analysis ; Pinctada ; chemistry ; classification ; Powders ; chemistry

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a member of FGF family. It has been demonstrated that FGF21 is an independent, safe and effective regulator of blood glucose levels in vivo. In order to improve the activity of FGF21, we exchanged the beta10-beta12 domain of the human FGF21 with that of the mouse FGF21 to construct a novel FGF21 gene (named hmFGF21), and then subcloned hmFGF21 gene into the SUMO expression vector to create pSUMO-hmFGF21 and transformed it into E. coli Rosetta for expression of the fusion protein SUMO-hmFGF21. Both in vitro and in vivo glucose regulation activity of hmFGF21 was evaluated. The SDS-PAGE result showed that compared with wild-type hFGF21, the soluble expression of hmFGF21 increased about 2-fold. HmFGF21 was more potent in stimulation of glucose uptake in HepG2 cells in vitro. The results of anti-diabetic effect on db/db mice demonstrated that hmFGF21 had better efficacy on controlling the blood glucose of the db/db diabetic animals than wild-type hFGF21. These results suggest that the biological properties of FGF21 are significantly improved by optimization.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Cysteine Endopeptidases ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; blood ; Endopeptidases ; genetics ; Escherichia coli ; Fibroblast Growth Factors ; genetics ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Genetic Vectors ; Glucose ; metabolism ; Hep G2 Cells ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Male ; Mice ; Mutation ; Plasmids ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Transformation, Genetic

OBJECTIVETo probe into the mechanism of electroacupuncture intervention for lipid metabolism of metabolic syndrome patients.

METHODSEighty cases of metabolic syndrome were randomly divided into an electroacupuncture combined with western medicine group (observation group) and a simple western medicine group (control group), 40 cases in each group. The observation group was treated with electroacupuncture at Back shu points, Zusanli (ST 36),Zhongwan (CV 12),Sanyinjiao (SP 6) etc. as main combined with oral administration of Simvastatin, Glipizide XL, and Felodipine sustained-release tablets for lipid-lowering, glucose-lowering and antihypertensive treatment; the control group was treated with oral administration of western medicine only (the medicine was the same with observation group). The Body Mass Index (BMI) and the blood lipid of the patients were detected respectively before and after treatment.

RESULTSThe BMI, Three Acids Glyceride (TG), Total Cholesterol(TC), Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C) and High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C) were compared respectively before and after treatment, there were significant differences between them in observation group (all P < 0.01); while in control group, there were significant differences of TG,TC,LDL-C and HDL-C before and after treatment (all P < 0.01), and with no significant difference in BMI before and after treatment. There were significant differences of BMI,TG,TC,LDL-C and HDL-C between two groups after treatment (P < 0.01, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe electroacupuncture has an obvious effect to reduce body mass, and acupuncture combined with medication has a better effect of improving the lipid metabolism than simple medication.

Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Body Mass Index ; Electroacupuncture ; Female ; Humans ; Hypolipidemic Agents ; administration & dosage ; Lipid Metabolism ; Lipids ; blood ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; therapy ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVETo analyze the susceptibility genes of a Parkinson's Disease (PD) family.

METHODSThe blood samples of a four-generation classic idiopathic PD family were collected. Two-point LOD score method was applied to analyze the linkage disequilibrium between the disease locus and microsatellite markers.

RESULTSWe studied 13 markers near the 9 genes that had been reported to be associated with PD. No obvious evidence showed that the selected markers had anything correlation with PD locus.

CONCLUSIONThese 9 genes are not the susceptibility genes of PD in this family.

Adult ; Aged ; China ; Female ; Genetic Linkage ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Humans ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Middle Aged ; Parkinson Disease ; genetics ; Pedigree

Animals ; Carbon Tetrachloride ; Carbon Tetrachloride Poisoning ; Fatty Liver ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Glycyrrhizic Acid ; therapeutic use ; Ligands ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley