Spinal sensory evoked potential(SSEP)and spinal motor evoked potential(SMEP)of the injured spinal cord of the host rats were determined on the 7th,15th,30th.60th,120th and 240th day after they received implantation of the embryonic spinal cord from the fetus of E14 rats.The motor function of the hind limbs of the host rats were also observed.The rats with simple cord injury and those with cord injury and implantation of a piece of skeletal muscle served as the controls.It was found that the locomotor function of the host rats could be recovered on the 30th day after implantation,but the latent period of both SSEP and SMEP became normal on the 240th day.At that time,the latent period of evoked potentials of the 2 control groups also recovered gradually.It is believed that embryonic spinal cord may have effects on the recovery of the locomotor function of the host rats but more sophisticated methods are imperative to clarify the interela-tionship between the host tissue and the graft.

Objective: To report one case of primary cardiac schwannoma (PCS) with review of literature. Methods: One patient with primary malignant cardiac schwannoma (PMCS) was treated surgically in our hospital and relevant data of 18 cases were collected from international literature. Clinical features, diagnosis and surgical treatment of PCS were discussed. Results: 17 cases were PMCS and 2 cases were primary benign cardiac schwannoma (PBCS). Operation was performed in 11 cases. The locations of mass were both superior vena cava and right atrium in 2 cases, inferior vena cava and right atrium in 1, pulmonary vein and left atrium in 1, right atrium in 1, left atrium in 3, right ventricular outflow tract in 2, and intrapericardial in 1. The long-term results for resected PCS were excellent, but for PMCS were very poor. Conclusion: PCS is an extremely rare disease. The diagnosis dependents on clinical features, M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and histopathological and immunohistochemical findings. It is concluded that most PBCS can be resected completely with good results. PMCS can not be resected completely either because of the extent spread and invasion or frequent distant metastasis. The prognosis is dismal and early cardiac transplantation probably offers the only hope for patients with PMCS.

? amyloid protein(A?) including A?40 and A?42 are the important bioactive substances in vivo.Their toxic and beneficial attributes in the body depend on its concentration.The brain A? level is maintained by two balances under the physiological condition.The first balance is the generation involved in ?-secretase and ?-secretase and the degradation involved in neprilysin(NEP) and insulin-degrading enzyme(IDE) of A?. The second one is the balance between the receptor for advanced end glycation products(RAGE)-mediated influx and low-density lipoprotein receptor related protein 1(LRP1)-mediated efflux of A? across the blood-brain barrier(BBB).Breakdowning any one of the two balances would result in the aggregation and precipitation of A? in the brain,which is a crucial event in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease(AD).This paper reviews the regulation of brain A? level under the physiological condition and the reducing strategies on the level of brain A? under the pathological condition for developing new drugs in the treatment of AD.

Objective：Our aim was to investigate the proportion of autosomal recessive (AR) inheritance among families with patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and clinical feature in patients with AR form of DMD. Methods:A total of 193 families was studied， 8 of them with at least one girl with “DMD - like” phenotype and 185 with only boys with this kind of phenotype. Based on the number of families with at least one affected girl and the number of patients per sibship among these pedigrees, the proportion of families with DMD inherited as an AR trait was estimated. The clinical examination, family history and serum creatine-kinase were studied in 11 patients diagnosed as AR form of DMD. Results: The proportion of families with AR form of DMD was estimated as 9.4%. The average age of being able to walk is (1.47±1.00) year, serum creatine-kinase levels were (2785.10±1500.29) U/L. The clinical symptom occurred at the average age of (8.11±4.32) year in patients with AR form of DMD. Conclusion： The AR form of muscular dystrophy and DMD not be distingushed clinically. Some families with only affected boys diagnosed as typical DMD, in fact, have the AR form of the disease. This study is very useful for genetic consulting.

Objective To detect the DMD gene mutation sites and the regions of breakpoints in Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) patients in northern China. Methods Multiplex amplifiable probe hybridization (MLPA) was used to detect the mutation in 59 cases (51 cases with DMD and 8 with BMD) from northern China and dystrophin gene mutations in their parents. Results From northern China and dystrophin gene mutations 59 families found gene deletions in 33 cases of 59 DMD/BMD patients (55.9%), duplications in 6 cases (10. 2%) and point mutation in one case (1.7%). Intron 44 was most frequently affected (n = 13, 33.3%), followed by intron 50 (n = 11, 28.2%) and intron 45 (n=8, 20.5%). The novel mutations were identified, in two patients including two independent duplications carried by patient D1 149 and a point mutation [5208del(A)] carried by patient D1 65, which were not included in Leiden database. In addition, an exon 22 deletion was found in one patient, which was the first reported case in Chinese patients. Conclusions Deletions are mostly located in the hotspot between exon 45 and 50. Duplications mostly occurred in the 5' end of the gene. Intron 44 is the most frequently affected breakpoint in northern Chinese population.

Objective To investigate the association of PGC-1 α gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Southern China Han population. Methods 350 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and their parents and 366 normal Han volunteers were recruited in the study. Their blood specimens were collected to extract the genornic DNA. Thr394Thr(G/A), Gly482Ser(G/A), Thr528Thr(A/G) and Thr612Met (C/T) genotypes were identified by PCR-RFLP and DNA direct sequencing. The possible association was analyzed between diabetic patients with the specific cSNPs and their haplotypes by case-control and haplotype relative risk (HRR) and transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) methods. Results (1) The case- control study indicated that G and A allele frequencies of PGC-1 α gene Gly482Ser variant were 0.589, 0.411 in type 2 diabetic group and 0.687, 0.313 in normal group respectively (X<'2> = 15.076, P < 0.01). The allele frequencies of Thr394Thr, Thr528Thr, Thr612Met polymorphisms did not show significant difference between twogroups respectively (all P > 0.05). The distributions of Thr394Thr-Gly482Ser-Thr528Thr haplotypes in the diabetic group were significanly different from the controls (X<'2> = 40.2, P < 0.05) and had a linkage disequilibrium with type 2 diabetes mellitus (t = 2.503, P < 0.05). (2) The family-basod studies showed that 482A allele was transmitted more significantly both via TDT and extended TDT from heterozygous parents to patients than expected respectively (all P < 0.05). HRR also supported that the 482A allele was more often transmitted to patients than predicted by chance (X<'2> = 7.217, P = 0.007, HRR = 1. 450). TDT analyses of haplotypes suggested that the frequencies of 394A-482A-528A-612C,394A-482A-528A-612T, 394A-482A-528G-612C and 394A-482A-528G- 612T haplotypes significantly deviated from 0.5 (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Conclusion In Southern China Hanpopulation, type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with the Gly482Ser variant of PGC-1α gene, and Thr394Thr (G/ A) variant of PGC-1α gene appears to play an auxiliary role in this association.

Objective To sutdy the anti-inflammatory action and pharmacodynamics of Liushen Cataplasm (LC). Methods The anti-inflammatory action of LC was observed on mice models of xylene-induced ear swelling and on the rat models of carrageenan-induced pedal swelling. With the decrease of pedal swelling as the parameter,the pharmacodynamics of LC was studied. The apparent parameters of pharmacodynamics were estimated based on the time-effect curve. Results LC showed a potent anti-inflammatory effect. The effect-time curve can be described by the one-compartment model. The main pharmacodynamic parameters were as follows:t1/2(Ka)=2.11727h,t1/2(Ke)=3.13464h,AUC=3.33131 mg?kg?h-1,respectively. Conclusion Liushen Cataplasm shows a potent anti-inflammatory effect. The effect-time curve can be described by the one-compartment model.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of kirenol on bovine type II collagen (CII)-specific lymphocytes in vivo and in vitro, and explore the mechanism of kirenol-induced immunosuppression in antigen-specific lymphocytes.

METHODSTwenty-four Wistar rats were randomized into control group, collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model group, kirenol group (2 mg/kg), and prednisolone group (2 mg/kg). After CII injection, the rats in the latter two groups received intragastric administration of kirenol and prednisolone for 30 days, and the spleens and draining lymph nodes of the rats were harvested to prepare single cell suspensions for measurement of the cytokine levels using ELISA. In the in vitro experiment, the lymphocytes from the control rats, with or without 20 µg/ml CII treatment in the presence of 0-80 µg/ml kirenol, were evaluated for cell proliferation and apoptosis using [(3)H]-thymidine incorporation and flow cytometry, respectively.

RESULTSCompared with those in CIA group, IFN-γ and TNF-α production was significantly reduced in splenocyte culture supernatant of kirenol group (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively), and the level of IL-10 and IL-4 was up-regulated (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively); IFN-γ and TNF-α secretion by the cultured lymph node cells (LNCs) significantly decreased (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively) and IL-10 and IL-4 production increased (P<0.05, P<0.001) in kirenol group. In the in vitro experiment, kirenol treatment caused obvious suppression of CII-induced LNC proliferation and dose-dependently induced antigen-specific apoptosis of the splenocytes and LNCs.

CONCLUSIONKirenol treatment reduces pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, increases anti-inflammatory cytokine production, inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis of CII-specific lymphocytes in vitro, suggesting the potential of kirenol as an immunosuppressant.

Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Cattle ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Collagen Type II ; immunology ; Cytokines ; immunology ; Diterpenes ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Lymphocytes ; cytology ; drug effects ; immunology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

As a novel form of programmed cell death different from cell necrosis, apoptosis, and autophagy discovered in recent years, pyroptosis is characterized by cell membrane rupture and release of cell contents and proinflammatory factors mediated by gasdermin, thus leading to cell death. Pyroptosis signaling pathways can be classified into classical pathways dependent on caspase-1 and non-classical pathways dependent on caspase-4/5/11; the activation of caspase-1 in classical pathways depends on the function of inflammasome, while the direct activation of caspase-4/5/11 is observed in non-classical pathways, which leads to the lysis of gasdermin D and induce the formation of membrane pores, the maturation and release of interleukin-1β and interleukin-18, and the rupture of cell membrane to cause pyroptosis. Latest research has shown that pyroptosis plays an important role in the development and progression of chronic liver diseases. This article introduces the mechanism of pyroptosis and summarizes the role of pyroptosis in the development and progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, in order to provide new ideas and methods for the prevention and treatment of liver diseases in clinical practice.

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disease, and its comorbidity has attracted more attention.The proportion of epileptic children with mental disorders is also increasing year by year.Among them, children with epilepsy have more depression and anxiety disorders.Repeated seizures can easily cause depression and anxiety, and depression and anxiety can also induce epilepsy, thus the two affect each other.The assessment, screening, diagnosis and intervention of comorbid depression and anxiety in children with epilepsy have become an important part of clinical practice.This review summarized the relationship between epilepsy and depression and anxiety disorders in children, and its research progress on pathogenesis, clinical diagnosis, evaluation and treatment.