BACKGROUND: Icari n as one of the main components of Epimedium has an inhibitory effect on osteoclasts.. OBJECTIVE: To further investigate the influence of icariin on the root absorption of the maxil ary first molar at mesial part during orthodontic treatment in rats. METHODS: Orthodontic root resorption models were established in the left maxil a of rats. Local injection of 200 mg/kg icari n (icari n group) or normal saline (positive control group) was administrated into the left first molar buccal periosteum. The right maxil a of rats served as negative control group that was treated with neither appliance nor drug injection. The mesial distance between bilateral first molars and the contralateral maxil ary incisor was measured before and after the appliance was placed. Mesial surface of the mesial root of bilateral maxil ary first molars was observed using scanning electron microscope. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Mesial movement of the maxil ary molars in the icari n group was significantly less than that in the positive control group (P < 0.05). Under the scanning electron microscope, smal absorption lacunae were scattered in the icari n group, while the positive control group showed a large amount of absorption lacunae and they were interconnected into a sheet, showing a stark contrast with the smooth root surface of the negative control group. It is indicated that icari n can inhibit root resorption caused by orthodontic treatment, while reducing the amount of mesial movement of the molar under corrective force.

Objective To analyze the effects of health management of metabolic syndrome on the control of related risk factors. Methods A total of 430 patients diagnosed with metabolic syndrome in 2008completed questionnaire and before randomly assigned to the health management group ( n = 207 ) and the control group (n=223). One year later, all the participants were investigated for the risk factors of food intake, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, staying-up and emotion, and the changes of body mass index ( BMI), blood pressure ( BP), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and fasting blood glucose (FBG). Student's t test and x2 test were used for data analysis. Results For the health management group, the incidence of high-salt, high-fat and high-sugar intake, overtake of food, lack of physical exercises,staying-up and alcohol drinking was significantly decreased at 1 year (P ＜ 0. 05 ), when compared with baseline and the control group ( both P ＜ 0. 05 ). For the health management group, BMI,systolic blood pressure (SBP),TG and FBG was improved at 1 year (P＜0. 05). In comparison with the control group, BMI, SBP, diastolic blood pressure (DBP),TG and FBG of the management group were significantly improved (P ＜ 0. 05 ). Conclusions Patients with metabolic syndrome may have better treatment compliance after receiving systematized and individualized health management.

Objective To investigate health status of primary or middle school teachers. Methods A total of 4482 physical examination results of the teachers from Qiaokou District of Wuhan in 2008 were compared with 5526 data obtained in 2006. The rate of healthy to unhealthy participants was evaluated. The overall and age-specific disease incidence, including overweight, hypertension, hyperlipidmia, hyperglycemia,liver dysfunction, abnormal EGG, concrement, adiposis hepatica, and HBV infection, was recorded. X2 test was used for statistical analysis. Results Abnormal examination results were more common in 2008 when compared with those in 2006( X2 = 28. 35, P ＜ 0. 05 ). The incidence of hypertension was descended ( X2 =4. 51 ,P ＜ 0. 05 ), although the rates of hyperlipidimia, hyperglycemia, liver dysfunction, abnormal ECG,concrement, and adiposis hepatica were increased in 2008 ( P ＜ 0. 05 ). The incidence of hyperlipidimia, liver dysfunction, abnormal ECG, and adiposis hepatica increased in all age groups ( P ＜ 0. 05 ). The incidence of hyperglycemia and concrement increased in those ＞ 35 years old ( P ＜ 0. 05 ). Conclusion Except for hypertension and HBV infection, the incidence of common diseases has been increased in the young and middle-aged teachers during the last 2 years. Thus the health management for the primary or middle school teacher should be improved in the future.

Scavenger receptor CD36 could bind and endocytose oxLDL into macrophages which were then differentiated into foam cells that constitute the atherosclerotic lesion core, and was considered to be a potential target to treat atherosclerosis. In the establishment of the compound library of berberine (BBR, 1) analogues, we discovered that 13-hexylberberine (2) showed an antagonistic activity against CD36. Taking 2 as the lead compound, 21 derivatives were synthesized and their antagonistic activities were evaluated via an ELISA-like high-throughput screening (HTS) model. The primary structure-activity relationships were studied. It was indicated that the introduction of suitable groups at the 2- and 3-position of the aromatic ring A or at the 9-position of the aromatic ring D could enhance the activity. Among the 21 studied compounds, 7g bearing a benzyloxyl group at the 9-position provided a highest CD36 antagonistic activity with the IC50 value of 7.7 micromol L(-1). Besides, its antagonistic activity was further verified with Sf9 insect cell HTS model. So berberine analogues are a new family of CD36 receptor antagonists and worthy to be studied further.

Objective To study the expression and clinical significance of ezrin in breast carcinoma. Methods Immunohistuchemieal staining(S-P) was used to detect the expression of ezrin in 63 cases of breast car-cinoma samples. Results Among these 63 samples,the total expression rates of ezrin were 55.56% (35/63). With the increasing of axillary lymph nodes metastasis and clinical staging,the rates of expressing of ezrin elevated (P<0.05),which was remarkably lower in patients whose disease-free survival(DFS) was > 5 years,or those whose DFS≤5 years or died within five years(P<0.05) ,but the expression of ezrin was not correlated with tumor size,age and menopausal status (P>0.05). Conclusion The expression of ezrin may contribute to prognostic e-valuation for breast carcinoma.

Objective To investigate the growth inhibition effect of evodiamine (Evo) on renal carcinoma 786-0 cells and to explore its molecular mechanism. Methods After treated with Evo, methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium ( MTT) assay was used to detect the vitality of 786-0 cells, flow cytometry was employed to examine the cell cycle distribution in 786-0 cells, and immunoblotting was utilized to determine the expression levels of target proteins related to cell cycle progression. Results Evo remarkably inhibited 786-0 cells vitality in dose-dependent manner. Cell cycle analysis indicated that 786-0 cells were arrested in G2/M phase followed by Evo treatment. Furthermore, the results of immunoblotting showed that Evo up-regulated the protein expression levels of P53, P21 and its downstream target gene CyclinB1 in 786-0 cells. Conclusion Evo treatment can induce 786-0 cell cycle G2/M arrest, and its underlying mechanism might be dependent on the P53/P21 signal pathway.

Aim To investigate the change of miR-124 expression in methamphetamine-induced addiction in PC12 cells and the possible regulatory mechanism that it involves.Methods PC12 cells were randomly divided into 6 groups as follows: control group, methamphetamine group, agomir Negative Control group, miR-124 agomir group, agomir Negative Control+methamphetamine group and miR-124 agomir+methamphetamine group.After the treatment, the total RNA and protein were extracted in PC12 cells.The expression of miR-124 was measured by Real-time PCR and the expression of GluR2 was determined by Western blot in PC12 cells.Results Compared with those in the control group, the expression of miR-124 was remarkably decreased and the expression of GluR2 was significantly increased in the methamphetamine group in PC12 cells.Compared with those in the agomir Negative Control+methamphetamine group, the expression of miR-124 was remarkably increased and the expression of GluR2 was significantly decreased in the miR-124 agomir+methamphetamine group in PC12 cells.Conclusion MiR-124 might involve in methamphetamine-induced addiction in PC12 cells by inhibiting GluR2.

Objectiv e To investigate the correlation between ( CAG) n repeat polymorphism of androgen receptor(AR)geneandmalebreastcancer.Methods 40casesofmalebreastcancerand40controlswerecol-lected.DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and the AR gene CAG coding exon sequences for PCR amplifica -tion,sequencing and calculated the number of CAG repeats frquency .χ2 test and Logistic regression analysis were used assess the AR gene CAG repeat length frequency affect the number of male breast cancer risk .Results There was statistically significant difference in male breast cancer cases and controls the number of CAG repeat length frequency.Man for whom the(CAG)n≥22 repeat sequence had 3.52 times risk of male breast compared (CAG)n≤22(OR=3.52,P=0.036).Conclusion AR gene CAG repeat length is a predictor of the frequency of male breast cancer risk .Longer CAG repeats can increase the risk of male breast cancer .

Objective To investigate the potential role of Lycium bararum polysaccharide (LBP) with or without interferon -inducible protein 10 ( CXCL10) in inducing dendritic cells ( DC) functional maturation by monitoring the alteration of cytokines for inducing DC maturation in peripheral blood and by detecting the expression of S-100 protein in tumor tissue, thus to reveal its mechanism of inhibiting experimental liver cancer. Methods H22 bearing mice model was established. The mice were randomized into model group, LBP group (50 mg/kg, ig), CXCL10 (right axillary subcutaneous injection of 15 μg/kg), LBP + CXCL10 group (LBP 50 mg/kg, ig, and right axillary subcutaneous injection of CXCL10 15 μg/kg), 5- fluorouracil (5FU) group ( intraperitoneal injection of 12mg/kg) , 12 mice in each group. The mice were administered the corresponding medicine once a day. After treatment for 2 continuous weeks, blood was sampled from infraorbital vein, and the tumor mass, spleen, thymus were extracted for the calculation of anti-tumor rate, thymus index and spleen index separately . The mRNA expression levels of interleukin 12 (IL-12) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in peripheral blood were detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR, the expression of S-100 protein in tumor tissues was detected by immunohistochemical assay. Results Compared with the model group, tumor growth in LBP group and LBP+CXCL10 group was obviously inhibited, and tumor-inhibitory rate was 55.90%, 50.91%, respectively. Meanwhile, the mRNA expression level of IL-12 was 2.94 folds higher in LBP group and 3.39 folds higher in LBP + CXCL10 group, and TNF-α mRNA expression level was 1.55 folds higher in LBP group and 4.74 folds higher in LBP+CXCL10 group than the model group, the differences being statistical significant ( P<0.05 or P<0.01). Results of immunohistochemical assay showed that S-100+DC number in LBP group and LBP+CXCL10 group was larger than that in the model group (P<0.05 ). Conclusion LBP and LBP+CXCL10 exert significant effect on inhibiting experimental liver cancer. The mechanism may be related with inducing the secretion of IL-12 and TNF-α, which plays a key role in inducing DC maturation, and with the increase of the number of DC in tumor microenvironment.

The aim of this study is to establish an HPLC method for simultaneous determinations of mifepristone and its metabolites, mono-demethylated mifepristone, di-demethylated mifepristone and C-hydroxylated mifepristone in plasma and to evaluate the pharmacokinetic characteristics of mifepristone tablet. Twenty healthy female Chinese subjects were recruited and a series of blood samples were collected before and after 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 4.0, 8.0, 12.0, 24.0, 48.0, 72.0 and 96.0 hours administration by a single oral dose of 75 mg mifepristone tablet. Mifepristone and its three metabolites were extracted from plasma using ethyl acetate and determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The main pharmacokinetic parameters of mifepristone and its metabolites, including Cmax, tmax, MRT, t(1/2), V, CL, AUC(0-96 h) and AUC(0-infinity), were calculated by Drug and Statistical Software Version 2.0. The simple, accurate and stable method allows the sensitive determinations ofmifepristone and its metabolites in human plasma up to 4 days after oral administration of 75 mg mifepristone tablet and the clinical applications of their pharmacokinetic studies.