Epigenetic mechanisms influence gene expression and function without modification of the base sequence of DNA and may generate a genetic phenotype.Epigenetic modifications include DNA methylation,histone modifications,and deployment of noncoding RNA.There is growing evidence that epigenetic mechanisms could play a crucial role in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR).Molecular biological methods which could maintain mitochondrial homeostasis through the regulation of epigenetic mechanisms may prevent the development of DR.Epigenetic-related treatment modalities will become the new direction of targeted therapy for DR.

Objective To establish the young rabbit models with gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and observe the effect of erythromycin in different parts of muscle segment (fundus ventriculi and lower esophageal),so as to investigate the variation after destroying the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC).Methods Forty young rabbits of 8 weeks old were randomly divided into control group(n =20) and experimental group(n =20).In the experimental group,the fun dus ventriculus was partly ligated combined with helicobacter restriction at a level near the pylorus to establish GER young rabbit models.In the control group,the fundus ventriculi and pylorus were dissociated then the abdomen was closed.Four weeks later,10 rabbits from the experimental group and 10 rabbits from the control group were taken,2 lower esophageal segments and 2 fundus ventriculi muscle segments were split in each animal,and the ICC were destroyed at 1 lower esophageal segment and 1 fundus ventriculi muscle segment.The amplitude and frequency of lower esophageal and fundus ventriculi muscle segments were measured by using electrophysiology in vitro.Results (1) After 4 weeks of operation,the GER young rabbit models were successfully established.The data were detected by esophageal pH monitoring,general morphology observation and HE stain.Immunohistochemical staining of specific receptors protein c-kit on ICC showed that the ICC in the experimental group was reduced remarkably,and the morphological characteristics changed.(2) In the control group,the frequency and amplitude of lower esophageal muscle segments were (2.60 ± 0.70) times/min and (3.03 ± 0.59) g,the frequency and amplitude of fundus ventriculi muscle segments were (3.50 ± 0.97) times/min and (5.33 ± 1.09) g;in the experimental group,the frequency and amplitude of lower esophageal muscle segments were reduced to (0.29 ± 0.49)times/min and (0.61 ±0.43) g;the frequency of fundus ventriculi muscle segmens in the experimental group turned to (0.43 ± 0.54) times/min and the amplitude was (1.13 ± 0.41) g,and there were statistically differences compared with those of the control group (t =9.86,8.15,8.29,12.55,all P ＜ 0.05).(3) The influence of erythromycin in the lower esophageal and fundus ventriculi muscle segments:the amplitude after injecting erythromycin of lower esophageal muscle segments in the experimental group was (1.16 ± 0.83) g,the amplitude was significantly different (t =2.35,P ＜ 0.05),while the frequency had no relevance (P ＞0.05);the amplitude of fundus ventriculi muscle segments in the experimental group was (4.20 ± 1.14) g,and the difference was statistically significant(t =4.76,P ＜ 0.05),and there was no statistically more differences in the frequency (P ＞ 0.05).In the control group,the frequency and amplitude of lower esophageal muscle segments were (4.50 ±0.84)times/min and (5.13 ± 0.94) g,the frequency and amplitude of fundus ventriculi muscle segments increased to(5.40 ± 1.43) times/min and(7.50 ± 1.28) g,and the differences were statistically significant (t =3.79,5.78,3.06,6.45,all P ＜ 0.05).(4) The contraction activity of muscle segments after adding the erythromycin was prevented in the lower esophageal muscle segments or fundus ventriculi muscle segmens.Conclusions ICC plays an important role in the animal models of GER;erythromycin promotes the motility of the muscle segments in GER young rabbit models;in the sick models,erythromycin accelerates the gastrointestinal motility via ICC on muscle segments.

BACKGROUND:Stem cel s can be induced to differentiate into dopaminergic neurons in vivo and in vitro, which provides a theoretical basis for stem cel transplantation in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease
OBJECTIVE:To explore the feasibility and mechanism of intracerebral transplantation of umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cel s for treatment of Parkinson’s disease rats.
METHODS:Intracerebral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine was used to make Parkinson’s disease models in SD rats. Twenty-two model rats were randomized into cel transplantation group (n=12) and control group (n=10) and respectively injected intracerebral y with umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cel suspension and PBS. At 1-8 weeks after cel transplantation, intra-abdominal injection of apomorphine was performed every week to observe the rotation behaviors of rats;at the 2nd and 8th weeks, rat’s striatum and substantia nigra were taken for immunohistochemistry staining.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The rotation behaviors were gradual y decreased with time in the cel transplantation, but had no changes in the control group. At 3-8 weeks after transplantation, there were significant differences in the rotation behaviors between the two groups (P<0.05). At 2 weeks after transplantation, tyrosine hydroxylase-positive cel s were found within and around the striatum of the cel transplantation group;but there were no exogenous cel s in the control group. At 8 weeks after transplantation, there were stil active cel s and tyrosine hydroxylase-positive cel s in the striatum of cel transplantation group, and there was no tyrosine hydroxylase expression in the striatum of the control group. These findings suggest that transplanted umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cel s can survive in the brain that are positive for tyrosine hydroxylase, which can improve the behavior abnormalities of Parkinson’s disease rats.

Poly ( duenedumethylammonuum chlorude ) ( PDDA ) functuonaluzed sulver nanopartucles ( AgNPs ) prepared wuth PDDA as the protectuve and reductuve agents was combuned wuth graphene oxude ( GO ) to prepare PDDA functuonaluzed cubuc sulver nanopartucles ( C-AgNPs)/GO composute, whuch was then modufued on a glassy carbon electrode ( GCE) to form C-AgNPs-PDDA/GO/GCE. The surface morphologues of dufferent modufued electrodes were characteruzed by scannung electron mucroscope ( SEM ) , and theur correspondung cycluc voltammetruc ( CV) behavuors were unvestugated, unducatung that the composute of C-AgNPs-PDDA/GO exhubuted excellent electrocatalytuc oxudatuon actuvuty to DA and NO-2 . By usung dufferentual pulse voltammetry, the responses of C-AgNPs-PDDA/GO/GCE were lunear un the ranges of 0 . 030-0 . 300 μmol/L and 0 . 300-300 μmol/L wuth detectuon lumut of 9. 8 nmol/L (S/N=3) for DA, and 30. 0-2300 μmol/L wuth detectuon lumut of 12. 6 μmol/L (S/N=3) for NO-2, respectuvely. The modufued electrode dusplayed good selectuvuty, reproducubuluty and stabuluty, and could be used for the sumultaneous determunatuon of DA and NO-2 un human serum samples wuth recoverues of 97. 4%-104. 2% and 98. 0%-102. 8%, respectuvely. Compared wuth spectrophotometruc method, the determunatuon results were satusfactory, showung that the modufued electrode possessed a potentual applucatuon value.

Objective:To retrospectively analyze and summarize the clinical characteristics of 15 glioma cases that led to leptomenin-ges and spinal cord metastases in Department of Glioma, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University since 2011. Methods:A total of 15 cases were considered, including 5 patients with World Health Organization gradeⅡ, 6 patients with gradeⅢ, and 4 pa-tients with gradeⅣ. One patient had a tumor at the brain stem, two patients had tumors at the spinal cords, and the other patients had tumors at the hemispheres. One case received biopsy, 4 cases received subtotal resection, and 10 cases received complete resec-tion. Results: Symptoms included low back pain, sensory and motor dysfunction, incontinence, and seizures. After the metastases spread to the cerebrospinal region, patients were treated with chemotherapy, whole spine radiotherapy, intrathecal chemotherapy, and target therapy. The median time of leptomeninges and spinal cord metastasis dissemination appearance was 10 months (1.5-80 months) since surgery. The median overall survival time of the 15 patients was 20 months (9-83 months), and the median survival time was 6 months (2-48 months) after leptomeninges and spinal cord metastases. Conclusion:The prognosis of glioma patients with lepto-meninges and spinal cord metastases was poor, and a proportion of the patients who received appropriate treatment might have a better survival.

OBJECTIVETo analyze effects of fracture of processus styloideus ulnae on prognosis in the treatment of distal radial fracture of type C according to AO classification.

METHODSThis was a retrospective case-control study, and the information was got ten through case evaluation and follow-up, including sex, age, patient satisfaction, Gartland & Werley score and radiographic score. There were 76 patient treated with open reduction and plate fixation in People's Hospital Affiliated to Peking University from July 2006 to July 2011. All the patients were divided into two groups: no combination with fracture of processus styloideus ulnae (group A, 56 cases), combination with fracture of processus styloideus ulnae (group B, 20 cases). The patients in group A and B were treated with open reduction and internal fixation; however the fracture of processus styloideus ulnae was not fixed. The indexes such as clinical data, bone grafting, joint movement, Gartland & Werley score and radiographic score were compared between two groups.

RESULTSThe ulnaris pain of patients in group B was more obvious than that in group A. The local VAS, palmar and dorsal flexion degree of wrist joint, motion VAS, patients satisfaction score, radial and ulnar deviation degree, pronation and supination of forearm degree, Gartland & Werley score and radiographic score were separately 0.1 ± 0.1, (51.1 ± 1.9)°, (60.2 ± 1.9)°, 0.6 ± 0.1 (23.1 ± 0.9)°, (28.7 ± 1.3)° (81.5 ± 2.6)°, (68.2 ± 2.7)° 1.9 ± 0.3, 89.6 ± 12.3 in group A; and separately 0.3 ± 0.3, (51.4 ± 2.3)°, (66.6 ± 1.7)°, 0.5 ± 0.2, (24.5 ± 2.0)°, (26.9 ± 1.8)°, (80.3 ± 2.5)°, (70.3 ± 3.7)°, 1.2 ± 0.4, 92.5 ± 7.5 in group B; there were no statistical differences in above indexes between two groups.

CONCLUSIONWhether the distal radial fracture with a concomitant unrepaired ulnar styloid fracture or not exerts no influence on mainly outcomes including function, radiography and motion of the wrist.

Bone Plates ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Radius Fractures ; surgery ; Retrospective Studies ; Ulna Fractures ; surgery

Objective To investigate the clinical value of evaluation of fetal cardiac function in congenital heart disease by brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and velocity vector imaging (VVI). Methods Fetuses who came from Shenzhen Maternity & Child healthcare Hospital were divided into the congenital heart disease group and the control group. At the same time we collected amniotic fluid and assayed BNP concentration. Using the VVI software, the velocity, strain and strain rate of the global and segmental of the left ventricle were measured. Comparison and correlation were made between the two groups. Results There was significantly difference of BNP concentrations in amniotic fluid between two groups. The gestational age had significant positive correlation with BNP concentrations in disease group. The comparison of global velocity, strain and strain rate of left ventricle between the two groups showed significant differences. All of the left ventricular dynamic parameters in disease group were lower than those of the control group. Conclusions Compared with the control group, the disease group had a high level of BNP in amniotic fluid and a lower level of dynamic parameters of left ventricular. There was a positive correlation between BNP concentration and gestational age in disease group. So we can conclude that theBNP concentration can be a biological parameter for evaluating the latent impairments of fetal cardiac function.

Objective To observed the immigration and proliferation of Schwann cells in acellular xe- no-nerve graft in rats.Methods The sciatic nerves on the right side of the rats were exposc.d and 0.8cm long segments of the nerves were removed from the mid-thigh level and replaced by 1.0cm long rabbit nerves made acellular through chemical extraction.After 4 months,the immigration and proliferation of Schwann cells in the graft were revealed by HE staining,S-100 immunohistochemieal staining and transmission electromicro- scope.Results In the rats repaired by acellular nerves,regenerated axons upgrow into the graft,and a- round regenerated axons there were abundant cells aligned,the cytoplasm of which were S-100 immunoreac- tive.Electromicroscope observing showed that regenerated axons were surrounded by myelin formed by the mi- grated cells reoccupied the acellular segments.Conclusion The host Schwann cells can immigrate into rab- bit nerve grafts made acellular through chemical extraction and form myelin enwrapping regenerated axons in rats.

Background Retinal neovascularization (RNV) is one of the major causes of blindness worldwide,but the pathogenic mechanism of this disease remains unclear, and therapeutic modalities need to be improved.Therefore,it is necessary to identify ocular protein markers with significant expression changes during RNV, thereby providing novel therapeutic targets for neovascular retinopathies.Objective This study was to investigate retinal vessel morphological characteristics and protein expression profiling in a mouse model of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR).Methods Forty four C57BL/6J mouse pups were randomly divided into normal control group and OIR group at postnatal day 7 (P7).The mice in the normal control group were raised under the normal air for 10 days.The mice of the OIR group were exposed to (75±2)％ oxygen for 5 days.The mother mice were alternated between the two groups every day.The mice of the OIR group returned to normal air at P12.Fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FITC-dextran) was retrobulbarly injected at P17 mice from both groups, and the retinal flatmounts were prepared after fixation.The FITC-dextran-labeled retinal vessels were observed and quantified;the paraffin sections of eyeballs were processed for hematoxylin and eosin staining,and the number of pre-retinal vascular cell nuclei was quantified.The total proteins were extracted from the eyes, and the expression profiling was analyzed by a customized protein array and verified by Western blot and ELISA.Results The retinal flatmounts labeled with FITC-dextran showed that the peripheral retinal microvessels in the OIR group were tortuous, disorganized with neovascular buds,and the vascular obliteration was prominent in the center of retina.Contrastly,the vessels were smooth,organized, and evenly distributed in the normal control group.The percentage of vascular obliteration area in the OIR group was (25.53±2.16)％ ,which was significantly higher than (0.66±0.36)％ in the normal control group (t=-27.61 ,P＜ 0.01).The number of pre-retinal vascular cell nuclei,as revealed by hematoxylin and eosin staining, was (28.41 ± 3.97)/slide in the OIR group, which was substantially higher than (0.16±0.31)/slide in the normal control group (t =-54.42,P＜0.001).Protein array showed that 10 out of the 62 examined pro-inflammatory, pro-angiogenic cytokines exhibited more than 1.5-fold expression changes,including 3 up-regulated cytokines and 7 down-regulated cytokines;4 cytokines showed more than 2-fold expression changes,in which 3 cytokines were down-regulated and 1 cytokine was up-regulated.The differential expressions were verified by Western blot and ELISA.The expression trends of platelet factor 4 (PF-4), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), selectin P (SELP), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) ,soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor Ⅱ (sTNF-RⅡ) and chemokine C-X-C motif ligand 16 (CXCL16) were consistent with those revealed by protein array.PF-4,VEGF-A and SELP were up-regulated,and the other 3 were significantly down-regulated (all at P＜0.05).Conclusions Differential expression patterns of the cytokines,including PF-4,VEGF-A, SELP, VCAM-1, sTNF-RⅡ and CXCL16, are identified between normal and OIR mouse eyes.These differential expression patterns suggest that under the condition of OIR,the platelet system is activated,and proinflammatory factors are down-regulated.PF-4 might become a new target for VEGF-independent therapeutic strategy against RNV.

Objective To establish a simple but quick method to improve the high fidelity of the synthesis of DNA frag -ments.Methods High fidelity DNA unidirection synthesis method (HFUS) was presented and used that involved Phusion DNA polymerase, BsrDⅠrestriction enzymes and λexonuclease.Using the same system at different temperatures , HFUS method synthesized one positive single-strand DNA and several reverse single -stranded DNA one by one into the target DNA fragment.Results Two random sequences DNA fragments of 340 bp and 450 bp were synthesized using HFUS meth-od.Conclusion This article explores a new method for the synthesis of genes .Through the harvest of 450 bp DNA, HFUS may promise to be a new approach to the synthesis of DNA .