OBJECTIVETo observe protective effects of Schisandra extract (SE) on embryotoxicity and reproductive toxicity of early pregnant rats exposed to Benzo[a]pyrene (Bap).

METHODSPregnant rat model was prepared using periodic screening cage method. Totally 50 female pregnant SD rats were divided into five groups by randomized block design according to the weight, i.e., the BaP model group, the low dose SE group, the middle dose SE group, the high dose SE group, the normal control group, 10 rats in each group. Rats in the BaP model group were administered with BaP at a daily dose of 2 mg/kg by gastrogavage. Rats in low, middle, and high dose SE groups were administered by gastrogavage with BaP (at a daily dose of 2 mg/kg) plus SE at a daily dose of 40, 200, and 1 000 mg/kg, respectively. Equal volume of olive oil was administered to rats in the normal control group by gastrogavage. All medication was performed for 8 successive days. Changes of rat body weight in each period were observed. The uterus embryonic total quality and ovary quality were measured, and organ index calculated. The number of corpus luteum, the number of embryo implantation, and the number of absorbed embryo were statistically calculated respectively. The implantation rate and the absorbed embryos rate were calculated. Serum levels of human chorionic gonadotrophin β (β-HCG) and progesterone (PROG) were detected by ELISA.

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, the weight of 9-day pregnant rats, the number of embryo implantation, the uterus embryonic total index, ovary index, serum levels of β-HCG and PROG all decreased in the Bap model group with significant difference (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Compared with the Bap model group, body weight, the uterus embryonic total index, and the PROG level increased in 3 dose SE groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Ovary index and serum β-HCG increased in middle and high dose SE groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The number of implantation obviously increased in the high dose SE groups (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSE could reduce the embryotoxicity and reproductive toxicity of early pregnant rats exposed to Benzo[a]pyrene.

Animals ; Benzo(a)pyrene ; toxicity ; Chorionic Gonadotropin ; blood ; Embryo Implantation ; drug effects ; Female ; Ovary ; drug effects ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Pregnancy ; Progesterone ; blood ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reproduction ; drug effects ; Schisandra ; chemistry ; Uterus ; drug effects

China ; Humans ; Life Expectancy ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; mortality

China ; epidemiology ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; epidemiology ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leisure Activities ; Male ; Prevalence ; Television

Paralytic ileus is one of the post-stroke familiar complications, belonging to the field of TCM"Changjie".Tongyuan Needling is invented by Professor LAI Xin-sheng,including two laws of promoting governor vessel to nourish spirit and leading qi to its origin, which focuses on regulating original qi and views governor and concept vessels as the key of regulating yin and yang, and then to regulate qi activity and hold the essence through leading qi to its origin,and finally to achieve balance between yin and yang.Fuzi Lizhong Decoction mainly consists of Lizhong Pills and Aconiti Lareralis Radix Praeparata, which is composed of processed Aconiti Lareralis Radix Praeparata, Codonopsis Radix, Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, Zingiberis Rhizoma and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, which is an important prescription for warming yang and tonifying kidney, invigorating qi and strengthening the spleen. This article introduced one case adopting the therapy combination of Lai's Tongyuan Needling and Fuzi Lizhong Decoction to treat post-stroke paralytic ileus, and then summarized the experience of clinical acupoint selection and prescription.

Recent work indicates that an Aurora kinase inhibitor MK-0457 (VX-680), a small-molecule inhibitor of Aurora kinases A, B, C and BCR-ABL, FLT-3, JAK-2, can block the progression of cell growth cycle, causing apoptosis in a range of human tumors. MK-0457 has the activity against expressions of wild-type and mutated bcr-abl gene, including the T315I mutant, and can inhibit the activity of FLT-3, JAK-2 and their mutated types as well. Clinical applications suggest that the MK-0457 has therapeutic effect on the highly refractory CML and CML with poor prognosis, Ph(+) ALL with T315I mutant, relapse refractory AML and JAK-2 positive myeloproliferative diseases (MPD). The intensive preclinical studies and the on-going phase II clinical trials will open up a new vista of therapy for some hematological malignancies. This review focuses on the pharmacologic action of MK-0457 and its clinical trial as well as combined application.
Aurora Kinases ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; classification ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Piperazines ; therapeutic use ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors ; therapeutic use ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors

OBJECTIVETo compare the differences of the gene expressions in androgen-independent and androgen-dependent prostate cancer (ADPC), gain a deeper insight into the molecular mechanism of androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC), and find effective means for its clinical diagnosis and treatment.

METHODSEats of genes highly-associated with prostate cancer were obtained by mining PubMed with the FACTA tool, and the specifically expressed genes in AIPC were analyzed with a set of bioinformatic tools including GATHER, PANTHER, STRING and ToppGene.

RESULTSA total of 128 genes specifically expressed in AIPC were identified, as compared with 23 that were specific to ADPC. Bioinformatic analysis showed the essential roles of AIPC-specific genes in such important biological processes as cell signal transduction, cell adhesion, apoptosis, oncogenesis, cell proliferation and cell differentiation.

CONCLUSIONSuch genes as MMPJ, EGFR, MMP2, ADM, MIF, IGFBP3, 112, MET, BAD, RHOA, SPP1, EP300, SMAD3, RAE1, PTK2, and TGFB2 may play important roles in transforming ADPC into AIPC.

Androgen Antagonists ; Androgens ; metabolism ; Computational Biology ; Data Mining ; Gene Expression ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Gene Regulatory Networks ; Genes, Neoplasm ; Humans ; Male ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo compare the pituitary down-regulatory effects of the two gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists Alarelin and Triptorelin in the long protocol of ovulation induction in in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET).

METHODSWe included in this study 122 patients aged 24-39 years treated by IVF-ET for secondary infertility, with 10-20 pre-antral follicles and obstruction of the fallopian tube. Seventy-eight of them received Alarelin, and the other 44 Triptorelin. Comparative analyses were made on the pituitary down-regulatory effects of the two gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists and the clinical outcomes of IVF-ET.

RESULTSNo premature LH surge and ovulation, nor severe hyperovarian stimulation syndrome was found in either group. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the mean dose and duration of gonodatropin treatment, the numbers of oocytes retrieved, mature oocytes and top-quality embryos, and the rates of 2PN, multi-sperm fertilization, cleavage, embryo transfer, embryo implantation, clinical pregnancy and early miscarriage (P > 0.05), but the rate of cancelled cycles was significantly higher in the Triptorelin than in the Alarelin group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAlarelin and Triptorelin can achieve similar pituitary down-regulatory effects and clinical outcomes in IVF-ET when used in the long protocol of ovulation induction.

Adult ; Embryo Transfer ; methods ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; agonists ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Infertility, Female ; therapy ; Ovulation Induction ; methods ; Pituitary Gland ; drug effects ; Triptorelin Pamoate ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo study the current situation of depression and anxiety from patients with hypertension as well as to provide reference for the development of control and prevention program.

METHODSParticipants older than 35-year including both hypertensive patients and healthy controls were randomly selected in 2 communities of Pukou district in Nanjing through Health Behavior Survey. All the subjects were assessed by the Zung's self-rating depression scale (SDS) and the Zung's self-rating anxiety scale (SAS).

RESULTSRaw score and index score of SDS and SAS were both significantly (P < 0.01) greater in hypertensive patients than in healthy control group. The prevalence of depression of 17.9% and anxiety of 9.5% in patient group were found significantly higher than that in healthy control group as 11.5% and 4.3%. Data from logistic regression model analysis showed that depression and anxiety were possible risk factors of hypertension (OR = 1.677, 95% CI: 1.013-2.776; OR = 2.451, 95% CI: 1.228-4.894). There was a combined effect seen between depression and anxiety (OR = 5.238, 95% CI: 2.356-11.664) but interaction did not appear.

CONCLUSIONDepression and anxiety were possibly associated with hypertension and more attention needs to be paid to the mental health situation of hypertensive patients in order to improve their quality of life.

Aged ; Anxiety ; epidemiology ; Case-Control Studies ; China ; epidemiology ; Depression ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Risk Factors

Objective To understand the relationship of tendency on drug abuse and related influencing factors for middle school students.Methods A total of 603 students wcre assessed with self-made copying style scale,consciousness to resistance of smoking,drinking and resistance ability through a questionnaire.A relationship model was set up by structure equation modeling.Results Copying style and resistance ability had significantly direct influence on tendency of drug abuse(with standardized coefficients were 0.202 and 0.092 respectively).Consciousness to resistance of smoking and drinking had significantly indirect influence on tendency of drug abuse.The goodneSS of fit for the structural equation model was satisfactory,with GFI,AGFI,RMSEA as 0.981,0.972 and 0.014 respectively.Conclusion It Was meaningful to grasp some copying skills and resistance ability to lower the tendency of drug abuse in middle school students.

Objective To explore whether the increase of body mass index (BMI) , waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) can predict a higher risk of developing hyperglycemia. Methods A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted on local residents above 35 years of age in three urban districts and one rural county in July 2004. The subjects who were non-hyperglycemia in the baseline survey were selected to follow the survey in July 2007. Multivariable logistic regression analysis and area under curve (AUC) of receivcr-operating characteristics (ROC) were used to evaluate the predictive value of BMI, WC, WHR and WHtR. Results Of 3727 subjects without hyperglycemia who had completed in the baseline survey, 3031 of them participated in the follow-up survey, with a follow-up rate of 81.3%. The Three-year cumulative incidence of hyperglycemia was 6.7%,with male 6.3% and female 7.0%. By multiple linear regression, on average, an increase in BMI, WC, WHR, WHtR of 1 unit was associated with a 0.015 mmol/L, 0.023 mmol/L, 1.923 mmol/L, 2.382 mmol/L increase in fasting plasma glucose, respectively. The risk of developing hyperglycemia increased along with the increase of all the four indexes. When compared with other three indexes, the group which WHtR was more than 0.5, had the highest risk (male OR= 1.998, 95%CI:1.231-3.212, female OR= 1.832,95%CI: 1.157-2.902) of developing hyperglycemia. Data from ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of WHtR was the highest in both males and females. Conclusion The increase of BMI, WC, WHR and WHtR could predict the higher risk causing the development of hyperglycemia. WHtR might serve as a simple but most effective index of hyperglycemia.