Stroke is one of the major diseases that threaten human health, early diagnosis and treatment are very important for stroke. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) is measured noninvasively to diagnosis stroke, and it is a independent predictor for stroke because its thickening can timely predict the incidence and development of stroke. As an important predictor of cardiovascular disease, more and more attention is played on CIMT. In this review, we will make a summary on the important role of CIMT in stroke and the mechanisms of carotid intima-media thickening in stroke as well as the potential use of traditional Chinese medicine in treating carotid intima-media thickening.
Animals ; Carotid Arteries ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Stroke ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; physiopathology

To explore the changes of retrobulbar hemodynamics in diabetes via color doppler ultrasound.
●METHODS: Totally 80 patients ( 160 eyes ) with eye diseases in type 2 diabetes from June 2010 to May 2013 in our hospital were enrolled as research group. By fundus photography and direct ophthalmoscopy, patients were assigned to diabetes without retinopathy group ( DNR subgroup), non- proliferative diabetic retinopathy group (NPDR subgroup) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy group (PDR subgroup). Of 60 healthy patients (120 eyes) over the same period were chosen as control group. The doppler parameters of central retinal artery ( CRA ), posterior ciliary artery (PCA) and ophthalmic artery (OA) were measured.
●RESULTS: There were significant differences on circulatory parameters of CRA, PCA and OA between both groups ( P < 0. 05 ). Significant differences were also observed on peak systolic velocity ( PSV), end diastolic velocity ( EDV) and resistance index ( Rl) of CRA, PCA and OA among DNR subgroup, NPDR subgroup and PDR subgroup ( P < 0. 05). The EDV, Rl and PSV of control group differed from those of DNR subgroup, NPDR subgroup and PDR subgroup (P<0. 05).
●CONCLUSlON: The monitoring of retinal blood flow and analysis of blood spectrum morphology via color doppler ultrasound can effectively evaluate the degree of diabetic retinopathy lesions, especially before DR vascular disease. Early detection can reveal the hemodynamic change pattern of DR, facilitating the prevention of diabetic eye complications and improvement of the quality of life.

Objective Receptor was screened to find out the interaction between outer membrane protein 25 of Brucella(OMP25) and Brucella infected macrophages.Methods Recombinant OMP25 protein was expressed and purified.The 7 peptide was screened out with OMP25 protein by phage display technology.OMP25-7 peptide interactions were further confirmed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) after candidate peptides were predicted with bioinformatics software.Four potential 7 peptides were synthetized.Their functions were estimated after Brucella abortus 2308 infected murine macrophages RAW264.7.Results Forty-two cyclic 7 peptides were screened out based on purified OMP25 by the M13 Phage Library Kit.Four peptides,named as ST-7,MT-7,TF-7 and SN-7,were confirmed with ELISA.Colony forming unit(CFU) result demonstrated ST-7,MT-7,TF-7 and SN-7 showed some function for inhibition of intracellular parasite.ST-7 inhibition ratio was 14.4％-51.8％ for Brucella abortus 2308; MT-7 inhibition ratio was 49.6％-69.5％ for Brucella abortus 2308; TF-7 inhibition ratio was 43.2％-74.4％ for Brucella abortus 2308; SN-7 inhibition ratio was 57.5％-82.2％ for 2308.ELISA result showed,that compared to control group,tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α)increased no statistical significance in each time point of ST-7,MT-7 experiment groups (all P ＞ 0.05).There was no statistical significance in 8 h ago of TF-7,SN-7 experiment groups (all P ＞ 0.05),but there was statistical significance in 12,24 h (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions We have obtained four effective OMP25 receptors through phage display technology; TF-7 and SN-7 have inhibited Brucella abortus 2308 invasion and intracellular survival in murine macrophage cells,while ST-7 and MT-7 have only prevented the invasion against Brucella abortus 2308.

Objective To evaluate the effect and mechanism of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor simvastatin on experimental interstitial fibrosis. Methods Experiments on rat 5/6 nephrectomy chronic renal failure model and primary cultured renal interstitial fibroblast cells were conducted in this study. The cell proliferation, extracellular matrix, c-fos mRNA expression of rat interstitial fibroblasts were measured by MTT assay, immunohistochernitry, semi-quantitative reverse-transcript PCR methods, respectively. Results Serum cholesterol, triglyceride and creatinine of treated group were significantly reduced by simvastatin as compared with controls. No statistical significance in BUN was observed between untreated and simvastatin-treated rats. Histological examination revealed that simvastatin caused a reduction in the glomeruli with sclerosis. Tubulointerstitial injury paralleled the degree of glomerular damage. Simvastatin in a dose-dependent manner inhibited the proliferation of renal intersititial fibroblasts, decreased the secretion of lamimn( LN), and suppressed the expression of c-fos mRNA, as compared with normal controls. No obvious effect on hyaluronic acid( HA) secretion of fibroblasts was found. Conclusions Simvastatin is anti-proliferative in interstitial fibroblasts and decreases the secretion of laminin. This effect is exerted, at least in part, via inhibition of the c-fos and c-jun-dependent mitogenic pathway. Simvastatin may prevent interstitial fibrosis development and attenuate renal damage in uremic rats with hvperlipidemia.

AIM: To study the effect of ?-amyloid protein (?-AP) and D-galactose(D-gal) on learning-memory and SOD activity and MDA content of hippocampus in rats. METHODS: The behaviors of rats were measured by using open field, Y-maze and one-trial passive avoidance response, and the content of SOD and MDA were measured. RESULTS: In the D-gal and D-gal+?-AP group rats, the spontaneous activities and responses to novel environment in the open field were significantly decreased, and the abilities of learning-memory were remarkably attenuated, the content of SOD decreased and MDA content increased markedly in hippocampus (P

AIM: To study the effect of ?-amyloid protein (?-AP) on the fluidity of mitochondrial membrance in hippocampus of the aging model of rats.METHODS: Based upon the model of aging rats induced by D-galactose (D-gal) and hippocampal microinfusion of ?-AP, the behaviors of rats were observed. Using DPH as fluorescent probe, the viscous cofficient (?) of mitochondrial membrane was determined, and Na +-K +ATPase activity was measured.RESULTS: In the D-gal+?-AP group rats, Na +-K +ATPase activity was lower than D-gal and ?-AP groups ( P

0.05).Except that the wet weight of the epididymis in high-dose group of apigenin was significantly different compared with middle-dose group of apigenin(P 0.05).Cell cycle analysis showed that compared with the negative control group,the percent of diploid cells in low and high-dose group was decreased,the proportion of G0/G1 phase cells in low-dose group of apigenin was reduced(P

Objective To compare the therapeutic effect of routine dose of calcitriol and large dose impulsion therapy on hemodialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism(SHPT). Methods 48 uremic hemodialysis patients were divided into group A(routine group, n = 22) and group B(control group, n = 21 ). In group A,22 pa-tients were administered with calcitriol for 6 months at the dosage of 0.25～0.5μg/d,adding calcium agents simul-taneously;the patients in group B were not given calcitriol for economic reason. In group C,21 patients were given calcitriol twice a week at the dosage of 2μg/time after hemodialysis for 3 months. Results Comparing to group B,serum PTH,AKP in group A had no significant difference,but serum hypocalcium and hyperphasphate were partly corrected,symptoms of bone pain, muscular convulsion and akin pruriter were improved. Comparing to group A,serum hypocalcium and hyperphasphate in group C were corrected, serum PTH, AKP were significantly decreased( t=2.031,P<0.05;t =3.317,P<0.001),and no hypercalcium oecurred. Conelosion Routine dose of calcitriol can not control uremic-SHirr,while impulsion therapy with lower dose oral calcitriol is effective and safe.

Objective To investigate the efficacy of lamivudine( LAM) combined with thymosin ?1 (T?1) on young patients with chronic hepatitis B. Methods Sixty six chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients aged from 12 to 16 years and weight greater than 33 kg were divided into the LAM + T?1 group and the LAM group; in LAM + T?1 group,T?1 was administered 1.6 mg hypodermic once daily and after 5 days it was changed to 1 6 mg hypodermic, twice in two weeks, and the drug was stopped after 26 weeks, while LAM had been administered 100 mg each time once daily for 52 weeks. In LAM group, only LAM had been administered 100 mg once daily for 52 weeks. The serum level of HBV DNA, HBV markers and the ALT were measured before and after treatment Results After the treatment, the rate of serum HBV UNA turned to negative in LAM + T?1 group was 100 % , and that in LAM group was 93.7 % ; recovery ratios at 52 weeks of LAM+ T?1 group was 87.1% ,and that of LAM group was 78. 1% .After 52 weeks, the HBeAg serum conversion rate of LAM + T?1 group was 58. 1 % , and that of the LAM group was 21.9%. Comparing the results of the two groups, the difference was remarkable. Conclusion The efficacy of T?1 combined with LAM on young patients with chronic hepatitis B is superior to that use of single LAM

Objective To explore an algorithm to define the threshold value for tumor contouring on 18F-fluorodexyglucose (FDG) PET imaging. Methods A National Electrical Manufacturing Association (NEMA)NU 2 1994 PET phantom with 5 spheres of different diameters were filled with 18F-FDG. Seven different sphere-to-background ratios were obtained and the phantom was scanned by Discovery LS 4. For each sphere-to-background ratio, the maximum standardized uptake value ( SUVmax ) of each sphere, the SUV of the border of each sphere ( SUVborder ), the mean SUV of a 1 cm region of background (SUVbg) and the diameter (D) of each sphere were measured. SPSS 13.0 software was used for curve fitting and regression analysis to obtain the threshold algorithm. The calculated thresholds were applied to delineate 29 pathologically confirmed lung cancer lesions on PET images and the obtained volumes were compared with the volumes contoured on CT images in lung window. Results The algorithm for defining contour threshold is TH% = 33.1% + 46.8% SUVbg/SUVmax + 13.9%/D ( r = 0.994) by phantom studies. For 29 lung cancer lesions, the average gross tumor volumes ( GTV ) delineated on PET and CT are ( 7.36 ± 1.62 ) ml and (8.31 ±2.05) ml, respectively (t = -1.26, P＞0.05). Conclusion The proposed threshold algorithm for tumor contouring on PET image could provide comparable GTV with CT.