Animals ; Galanin ; administration & dosage ; antagonists & inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Peptide Fragments ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

0.05]. Conclusion: Cigarettes smoking may increase the levels of sera IL-8 in rats,and it can been depressed by glycyrrhiza uralensis and glucocorticoid respectively,however glycyrrhiza uralensis show significantly faster and were powerful action than glucocorticoid.

Background Aheration of eyeball wall caused by ocular axial extension is associated with multiple complications of high myopia.However,the study on quantitative analysis of choroidal thickness and axial length in adult high myopic patients is less.Objective This study was to investigate the choroidal thickness in high myopic eyes of adult patients and estimate the correlation of choroidal thickness with axial length,age,and spherical equivalent(SE).Methods A prospective cohort study was designed.Seventy-five eyes of 75 adult patients with high myopia were entrolled from December 2012 to May 2013,and 70 eyes of 70 age-and gendermatched healthy volunteers were included in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University.Enhanced depth imaging (EDI)on Cirrus spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) was used to measure the choroidal thickness from the outer border of the retinal pigment epithelium through the inner scleral boarder among the 11 meridians in a 500 μm intervals and range of 2 500 μm for each from fovea toward temporal and nasal lateral.The differences of choroidal thickness and axial length were compared between the high myopia group and normal control group,and the correlation of choroidal thickness with axial length,age,SE were analyzed.Results The subfoveal and mean choroidal thickness values were (146±52) μm and (142±63) μm in the high myopia group,and those in the normal control group were (306±60) μm and (271 ±71) μm,with significant differences between the two groups (t =-17.130,P=0.000; t=-15.890,P=0.000).Choroid was thickest in the temporal and then was subfovea and nasal in the high myopia group,but in the normal control group,it was subfovea,temporal and nasal in turn,and the choroidal thicknesses in various areas were thinner in the high myopia group than those in the normal control group.A negative correlation was found between the choroidal thickness and axial length in high myopia group(r =-0.580,P =0.000),and the regression equation determined a decrease of 17.943 μm per millimeter of axial length.Conclusions SD-OCT determines that choroidal thickness is decreased in highly myopic eyes compared with normal eyes.Choroidal thickness varies with the change of axial length in adult high myopia patient.These findings indicate that abnormalities of the choroids may play a role in the pathogenesis of complication of high myopia.

Objective To investigate the relationships between hyperuricaenia,serum uric acid (SUA) level and the chronic kidney disease (CKD) in adult residents of Pudong New Area,Shanghai.Methods 3326 residents aged 20-80 years were randomly selected from Pudong New Area,Shanghai through multistage sampling and interviewed between April and July of 2008.Fasting blood sample and morning ovid urine sample were collected for each participant for testing of SUA,serum creatinine,urinary albumin and creatinine.Both urine albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR)and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were calculated to estimate the renal function.Results The overall prevalence of CKD was 16.0％ (age standardized 13.2％ ).The mean values of estimated GFR in participants with CKD and without CKD were (89.19 ± 27.25) and ( 105.88 ± 98.37) ml· min-1 ·(1.73 m2) -1,respectively.The prevalence rates of CKD in serum uric acid quartiles:first quartile,less than 4.2 mg/dl; second quartile,4.2-5.0 mg/dl; third quartile,5.0-6.0 mg/dl; and fourth quartile,6.0 mg/dl or more were 13.9％,15.0％,15.8％and 19.4％ (P＜0.05) respectively,increasing along with the increase of SUA among both sexes.Compared to the serum uric acid first quartile,the multivariate-adjusted odds for CKD of the second,third and fourth quartiles were 1.19 [95％ confidence interval (CI):0.90-1.58],1.27 (95％ CI:1.02-1.70),1.28 (95％ CI:1.10-1.68),respectively. Conclusion Hyperuricaemia was independently associated with the increased prevalence of CKD among population living in the Pudong New Area,Shanghai.

Objective To assesse the quality of life of patients after cardiac pacemaker implantation using the Chinese version of SF-36.Methods Ninety-eight patients with permanent cardiac pacemaker implantation were investigated before and after the operation in terms of quality of life by using the Chinese version SF-36.Results Successful surgery was performed on all the 98 patients.The previous symptoms of the patients were improved to vari- ous extend after the operation.The quality of life of the patients was significantly improved after operation as demon- strated by the significant difference of the scores in 9 domains of SF-36 when compared with those before the operation (P

12 strains of H2-producing bacteria were isolated and purified from anaerobic sludge, aerobic sludge and river bottom sludge by Hungate method. A new species of high efficient hydrogen production bacterium Enterococcus sp. LG1 (registration number: EU258743 ) was studied deeply. It was showed that the Enterococcus sp. LG1 was an anaerobic and Gram-negative bacterium. Sequence analysis of this type of clones showed that it was affiliated with the genus Enterococcus and it was not reported yet in other paper at present. Meanwhile, batch tests of anaerobic fermentative hydrogen production by Enterococcus sp. LG1 were investigated by using sterilization pretreated sludge as substrate. The changes of soluble COD, protein, carbohydrate and pH value during hydrogen fermentation were monitored. It was found that only hydrogen and carbon dioxide were produced by this strain and no methane was detected during fermentation. The maximal hydrogen yield was 36.48 mL/g TCOD and the hydrogen concentration in the gas phase was 73.5%. The Enterococcus sp. LG1 was a butyrate fermentation bacteria analyzed by metabolites.

BACKGROUND: von Willebrand factor (vWF) is only released from endothelial cells and platelets and is an in vivo and in vitro marker of endothelial injury in septic patients with acute lung injury (ALI). Interleukin-8 (IL-8), as a proinflammatory mediator causing recruitment of inflammatory cells, induces an increase in oxidant stress mediators and makes it as a key parameter for localized inflammation. However, it has not been well established whether the level of serum IL-8 is associated with the severity of lung injury and whether it is a prognosis marker for severe lung contusion. This study was to investigate the expression of plasma vWF and IL-8 and their association with the severity and outcomes of severe pulmonary contusion. METHODS: A total of 63 patients were divided into a severe pulmonary contusion with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) group and a non-ARDS group, or a survivor group and a non-survivor group, or an injury severity score (ISS) <20 group and an ISS ≥20 group. Another 20 healthy volunteers served as controls. The levels of plasma vWF and serum IL-8 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days after injury. The expression patterns of the plasma vWF and serum IL-8 were compared between different groups. RESULTS: The concentrations of plasma vWF and serum IL-8 were significantly increased in all severe pulmonary contusion patients at all time points in comparison with the control group. The concentrations of plasma vWF in patients with ARDS increased during the whole study period, but vWF in patients with non-ARDS increased gradually until day 5 and then decreased at day 7. The concentration of serum IL-8 showed a similar expression pattern in both groups, but the expression increased more significantly in the ARDS group than in the non-ARDS group. Interestingly, both plasma vWF and serum IL-8 levels steadily increased in the non-survivor group. Furthermore, the level of plasma vWF was higher in the ISS≥20 group than in the ISS<20 group. The level of serum IL-8 in the ISS≥20 group was consistently high, while that in the ISS<20 group peaked at day 3 and decreased at day 5. In addition, the level of plasma vWF was positively correlated with platelet count, but negatively correlated with oxygen index. The level of serum IL-8 was positively correlated with white blood cell count and ISS score, and inversely correlated with oxygen index. CONCLUSION: The elevated levels of plasma vWF and serum IL-8 in severe pulmonary contusion patients reflect the severity of pulmonary injury and patients outcomes, suggesting that the plasma vWF and serum IL-8 are sensitive markers for clinical evaluation of the severity of pulmonary injury and predication of patient prognosis.

BACKGROUND: As a cytokine highly expressed in internal organs, visfatin could be used as a biomarker of systemic inflammation response for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, but few studies have reported the use of visfatin in severe pneumonia. The present study was undertaken to determine the plasma levels of visfatin in patients with severe pneumonia. METHODS: A total of 70 patients, including 40 patients with severe pneumonia (group A) and 30 patients with non severe pneumonia (group B) who had been admitted to the ICU from June 2009 to June 2010, were enrolled in this prospective study. And another 30 healthy physical examinees served as healthy controls (group C). Patients were excluded if they suffered from severe diseases of the heart, brain and kidney, cancers, autoimmune diseases, or received special treatment in the latest month. The plasma levels of visfatin, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α were measured by ELISA, while the level of CRP was determined by immuneturbidimetry, and the routine blood test was performed. Blood gas analysis and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) were performed in patients with pneumonia. Comparisons between the groups were conducted by Student's t test, ANOVA or nonparametric test. Correlation analysis was carried out by Pearson's correlation test or Spearman's rank-order correlation test. RESULTS: The plasma level of visfatin in group A was significantly higher than that in groups B and C (P<0.001), and the level of visfatin in group B was significantly higher than that in group C (P<0.001). The plasma level of visfatin was positively correlated with CRP, TNF-α, APACHE II and PMN％ in patients with severe pneumonia (rho=0.653, r=0.554, r=0.558, r=0.484, respectively, P<0.05 for all), while it was negatively correlated with PaO2 and PaO2/FiO2 (rho=?0.422, r=?0.543, respectively, P<0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Visfatin may be involved in the systematic inflammation response in patients with severe pneumonia as a pro-inflammatory cytokine, and it is valuable in assessing the severity of pneumonia..

Withanolide A is a biologically active secondary metabolite occuring in roots and leaves of Withania somnifera. In the present study, adventitious roots from leaf explants of W. somnifera were induced for the production of withanolide-A by Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58C1 to obtain hair roots. Hair roots induction rate reached 30%. The withanolide A was determined by HPLC in different hair roots lines and different parts of W. somnifera. The average content of withanolide A in all hair roots lines were 1.96 times as high as that in wild-plant, the concentration of withanolide A in hair roots (1.783 mg x g(-1) dry weight) were 1.51 times as high as the roots of wild W. somnifera (1.180 mg x g(-1) dry weight), respectively. It is possible to obtain withanolide A from hair roots culture of W. somnifera.
Agrobacterium tumefaciens ; physiology ; Plant Extracts ; analysis ; biosynthesis ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; growth & development ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Withania ; chemistry ; growth & development ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Withanolides ; analysis ; metabolism