OBJECTIVETo study features of brain gray matter injury in cerebral infarction patients and intervention of scalp acupuncture by using voxel-based morphology.

METHODSA total of 16 cerebral infarction patients were recruited in this study, and assigned to the scalp acupuncture group and the control group, 8 in each group. Another 16 healthy volunteers were recruited as a normal group. All patients received scanning of T1 structure. Images were managed using VBM8 Software package. Difference of the gray matter structure was compared among the scalp acupuncture group, the control group, and the healthy volunteers.

RESULTSCompared with healthy volunteers, gray matter injury of cerebral infarction patients mainly occurred in 14 brain regions such as cingulate gyrus, precuneus, cuneus, anterior central gyrus, insular lobe, and so on. They were mainly distributed in affected side. Two weeks after treatment when compared with healthy volunteers, gray matter injury of cerebral infarction patients in the scalp acupuncture group still existed in 8 brain regions such as bilateral lingual gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, left cuneus, right precuneus, and so on. New gray matter injury occurred in lingual gyrus and posterior cingulate gyrus. Two weeks after treatment when compared with healthy volunteers, gray matter injury of cerebral infarction patients in the control group existed in 23 brain regions: bilateral anterior cingulum, caudate nucleus, cuneate lobe, insular lobe, inferior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, precuneus, paracentral lobule, superior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, lingual gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, precentral gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and so on. New gray matter injury still existed in 9 cerebral regions such as lingual gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and so on.

CONCLUSIONSBrain gray matter structure is widely injured after cerebral infarction. Brain gray matter volume gradually decreased as time went by. Combined use of scalp acupuncture might inhibit the progression of gray matter injury more effectively.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Brain ; physiopathology ; Brain Injuries ; therapy ; Cerebral Infarction ; therapy ; Gray Matter ; pathology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Scalp ; Stroke ; therapy

Objective To identify proteins eliciting a humoral immune response in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) by a serological proteome analysis, and provide candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment of NPC.Methods Two-dimensional (2-DE) electropboresis was used to separate total cellular proteins from 19 NPC tissues.Separated proteins were transferred onto PVDF membranes and sera from 19 NPC patients and 19 healthy subjects were individually screened by western blotting for antibodies that react against separated proteins.Each tissue samples was subjected to three 2-DE gels and coomassie staining was performed in one of them.The protein spots which selectively reacted with the patient sera were excised from the preparative gels and subjected to further analysis of MOLDI-TOF MS and ESI-QTOF MS/MS.The proteins were identified based on peptide mass fingerprints and peptide sequence tags followed by searching database.Results In this study, 13 NPC associated antigens (HSP 70, HAS,HSP 60, CK 15, LAP 3, α-enolase, EBP 1, CK 19, ribosomal protein P 0, pyrovate dehydrogenase E1,guanine nucleotide-binding protein, prohibitin, Rho-GDI 2) that elicited an antibody response in most of NTC patients were identified.The positivities of these proteins were more than 21% all in NPC patients, but were lower or even absent in normal subjects.Conclusion These 13 NPC associated antigens and their autoantibodies may be useful for NPC diagnosis and treatment.

Objective To investigate the effects of extracellular ATP on the expression of(Mi- crotubule associated proteins MAP-2)and the recovery of motor function after spinal cord injury in rats. Methods Six rats were selected randomly from 66 adult healthy Wistar rats as the normal control group,the rest animals were divided into two groups after contusion injury was performed by drop weight method with Allen impactor:Group A(ATP group)and Group B(control group),each group contained thirty rats.At days 1,3,7,14,and 28 after injury,the rats were killed,the expression of MAP-2 was detected with immunohistochemistry.The expression of MAP-2 in the adjacent area was quantitatively an- alyzed with a computer image analysis system.The recovery of motor function after spinal cord injury was assessed with improved Tarlov scores.Results The expression of MAP-2 was higher in Group A than in Group B after spinal cord injury in rats.Significant difference was revealed by the expression of MAP- 2 between the two groups at days 14 and 28 after injury(P

This study was purposed to investigate the effects and mechanism of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) on acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT). The recipients were male BABL/c mice, while the donors were male C57BL/6 mice. The murine model of aGVHD had been established by allo-BMT with donor derived T cells. Experiment was divided into four groups: control group, radiation control group, transplantation control group and TGF-beta treated group. Mice in TGF-beta treated group were daily subcutaneously injected TGF-beta1 (1 microg/kg) in two days before transplantation until seven days after it. The results showed that the survival time of mice in TGF-beta treated group was significantly longer than that in transplantation control group, and the aGVHD pathological changes in TGF-beta treated group were milder than that in transplantation control group. At seven days after transplantation, the level of IL-2 in TGF-beta treated group was significantly higher than that in control group, but significantly lower than that in transplantation control group. The level of IL-10 in TGF-beta treated group was significantly higher than that in transplantation control group, but the level of IL-10 in transplantation control group was significantly lower than that in other groups. It is concluded that TGF-beta may alleviate or suppress lethal aGVHD, and elevate the survival rate after allo-BMT in murine model. Accommodating of the Th1 and Th2 cytokine levels is the possible mechanism of TGF-beta preventing lethal aGVHD.
Animals ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; methods ; Graft vs Host Disease ; prevention & control ; Interleukin-10 ; blood ; Interleukin-2 ; blood ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; therapeutic use ; Transplantation, Homologous

OBJECTIVETo study the effects and mechanisms of Jianpi Liqi Huoxue Decoction (JLHD) in anti-alcoholic liver injury (ALI) through the pathological relation of ALI with changes of intestinal permeability and endotoxin leakage.

METHODSThe liver injury model induced by Lieber-DeCarli alcoholic forage was established. Altogether 42 male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, the normal group (n=6), the control group fed with non-alcohol diet (n=12), the model group fed with alcoholic diet (n=12) and the treated group fed with alcoholic diet and treated with JLHD (n=12). The medicine or distilled water was administered by gavage from the 3rd week to the end of the 6th week. Then after fasting for 5 h all the rats except those in the normal group were given lipopolysaccharide (LPS) 10 mg/kg by gavage, and the blood plasma from portal vein, serum from inferior cava vein as well as tissues of liver and intestine were prepared for detection of plasma LPS level in the portal vein to observe the change of intestinal permeability through LPS content in portal vein blood plasma, the pathological and ultrastructural changes of the small intestine by HE staining, the pathological change of liver and triglyceride (TG) content and gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) activity in liver, the changes of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity, and plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) level.

RESULTSIn rats after modeling, there were obvious fatty degeneration, significant increase of hepatic TG content and GGT activity, serum ALT and AST activity, as well as plasma TNF-alpha level, with high plasma LPS level indicating increased intestinal permeability, and seriously injured mucosa microvilla of small intestine. However, all the above abnormal changes were milder in the treated group than those in the model group. Meanwhile, the TNF-alpha content, endotoxin level and ALT activity were found to be positively correlated.

CONCLUSIONJLHD could alleviate liver injury through inhibiting the alcohol induced increased intestinal permeability and lessening endotoxin leakage.

Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Endotoxins ; metabolism ; Intestinal Mucosa ; metabolism ; Intestine, Small ; microbiology ; pathology ; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic ; drug therapy ; microbiology ; pathology ; Male ; Permeability ; Phytotherapy ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Endotoxemia ; complications ; Endotoxins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic ; complications ; Signal Transduction

Objective To screen for new methylation association genes in HL-60 to reveal the pathogenesis of leukemia, and provide important theoretical and scientific basis for the prevention and cure of leukemia. Methods Two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (F-2D-DIGE) was performed to separate the total proteins from acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cell line HL-60 cells with or without 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine (5-aza-2-dC) treatment. Imaging software Decyder 6.5 and PDQuest were used to detect the differential expression protein spots, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionizaion time-of-flight mas spectrometer (MALDI-TOF MS) was adopted to identify the differential expression proteins. Results F-2D-DIGE maps of 5-aza-2-dC-untreated HL-60 and-treated HL-60 cells were established. A total of 53 differential protein spots were detected, and 35 differential proteins were successfully identified. Of the identified proteins, 32 proteins were up-regulated, and 3 proteins were down-regulated in HL-60 cells after 5-aza-2-dC treatment.Conclusion Thirty-five differential proteins may be associated with methylation in HL-60 cell line, which provides the important clues for epigenetic study of leukemia.

In order to screen EGFR-regulated secreted proteins in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC), and to reveal the role and mechanism of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) in the pathogenesis of NPC. NPC cell line CNE2 cells were cultured in serum-free medium and stimulated by transforming growth factor-? (TGF-?) for 24 h in experimental group. Control CNE2 cells were cultured at the same condition but without TGF-? stimulation. The culture medium of control and experimental cells was desalted and concentrated through ultrafiltration to prepared the total secreted proteins. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) was used to separate the secreted proteins of control and experimental cells, PDQuest software was applied to analyze 2-DE images, and the differential protein spots between the control and experimental cells were identified by desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The 2-DE patterns of the secreted proteins of TGF-? stimulated and un-stimulated CNE2 cells were established, 22 differential proteins spots between the two groups of cells were found, and 8 non-redundant proteins were identified with MALDI-TOF-MS, the functions of which were involved in invasion, metastasis, apoptosis and proliferation of cancer cells. The data will be valuable for further to study the role and mechanism of EGFR in the pathogenesis of NPC.

Objective To investigate the sexual behavior types, condom use and influencing factors of gonorrhea patients in Yunnan Province, and to provide evidence for the adjustment of sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention and control strategy. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate gonorrhea patients in 14 STD clinics in 7 more prevalent prefectures (cities) of Yunnan Province. A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the socio-demographic and sexual characteristics of the patients in a one-to-one way. Multiple Logistic regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of sexual behavior. Results A total of 179 cases of gonorrhea were investigated. The average age was (29.01±8.93) years old. 95.53% (171/179) patients were 40 years old and 88.27% were male patients (158/179). Unmarried patients accounted for 55.31% (99/179). Service and self-employed patients accounted for 34.64% (62/179) and 23.46% (42/179) respectively. The rate of sexual intercourse with opposite sex was 98.32% (176/179), the rate of men who have sex with men was 1.68% (3/179) and the rate of having more than two sexual partners was 27.93% (50/179). The rate of sexual intercourse between temporary partners, spouses/fixed partners and commercial partners were 53.07% (95/179), 37.99% (68/179) and 8.94% (16/179) respectively. Recent sexual activity had lower condom use rate, 17.89% (17/95), 19.12% (13/68) and 18.75% (3/16) respectively. The main ways for gonorrhea patients to make temporary partners were friend introductions or gatherings, accounting for 66.32% (63/95). Condom use in male patients was worse than that in female patients (OR=0.234, 95% CI: 0.084-0.656, P=0.006). Conclusions The patients with gonorrhea were mainly unmarried young adults. The main risk behaviors were unprotected behaviors between heterosexual temporary and spouse/fixed sexual partners. The condom use consciousness was generally low. The promotion of safe sex education for young adults should be further strengthened, with special attention to the use of condoms for temporary sexual behavior and spouse/fixed sexual intercourse.

AIMTo investigate the effect of morphine on fetal movement, heart rate, hatch weight, hatch days and hatch rate.

METHODSMorphine was injected into airspace of eggs and fetal movement, heart rate, hatch weight, hatch days and hatch rates were recorded.

RESULTSHatch days were shorter, hatch rates were lower and some chicks became motor disorder for morphine. Chicks with morphine exposure 20 mg/kg from E 12 to E 16 had highest hatch rate and lowest disable rate. Morphine reduced fetal movement, increased heart rate (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe development of chick embryo is impaired by morphine exposure and the magnitude of these effects depends on the drug dose and the length of time that the developing organism is exposed to morphine.

Animals ; Chick Embryo ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Chickens ; growth & development ; Morphine ; pharmacology