Objective To investigate the mechanism of endothelin (ET) in acute biliary pancretitis (ABP)with renal impairment, and examine the improvement of renal function by puerarin. Methods Thirty-two patients of ABP with renal impairment were selected and were randomly divided into group A and group B. Group A were given puerarin post-operatively, while group B were given common manegement postoperatively. Meanwhile, 16 ABP patients without renal impairment were selected as group C, and 16 nonABP patients who had common hepatic or biliary diseases were selected as group D. The levels of plsma ETand creatinine clearance rate(Ccr) of renal function in each group were observed pre-operation and 1 week post operation. Results In pre-operation the ET level in group A, B and C were higher than in group D(P ＜0.001), and the ET level in group A,B was higher than in group C(P＜0.001). Post operation after I week the ET level in group A was lower than in group B(P =0.014), while the Ccr level in group A was higher thanin group B ( P = 0.002). Conclusions The function of endothelin is an important mechanism in biliary pancretitis with renal impairment. Puerarin might reduce the ET level and increase the Ccr level in patients of ABP with renal impairment, improve the renal function of such patients.

BACKGROUND: Previous results of our study show that oyster extract has some protective effects on apoptosis of the neuroepithelium in neural tube defects induced by hyperthermia in vivo.It remains unclear whether the extraet also protects in vitro cultured neural stem cells.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effect of oyster extract on apoptosis of cerebral neural stem cells induced by hyperthermia.METHODS: The cerebral neural stem cells of embryonic mice of 13 days were cultured in vitro.Nestin expression was detected by immunofluorescence method to identify neural stem cells.The neural stem cells of passage 3 were divided randomly into 4groups: hyperthermia control group and oyster treated Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ groups(mass concentration 2.5,5,10 g/L oyster extract solution).In addition,culture solution control group(no cells),and culture solution+oyster extract control group(no cells)were designed.All oyster extract groups and control groups were treated by hyperthermia over 39 ℃.The survival rate and the vitality of neural stem cells were detected by trypan blue staining and MTT assay.Western-blotting was employed to explore the expression of p53 in cerebral neural stem cells of each group.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The survival rate and the value of MTT assay in oyster treated groups Ⅱ and Ⅲ were significantly greater than hyperthermia control group(P < 0.05),but the expression of p53 in oyster treated groups Ⅱ and Ⅲ were weaker than hyperthermia control group.Oyster extract plays an important protective role in the apoptosis of neural stem cells induced by hyperthermia.

Objective To observe the characteristics of cognitive impairment in patients with primary hypothyroidism.Methods A total of 90 primary hypothyroidism patients untreated with thyroid hormone were selected.All the 90 patients were divided into subclinical hypothyroidism group,mild or moderate hypothyroidism group and serious hypothyroidism group,and 30 patients in each group.The other 30 healthy volunteers were selected as controls.Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were used for the testing their orientation,immediate memory,attention and calculation,delayed recalling,linguistic competence,visual space and execution,naming ability and abstracting power.One-way analysis of variance was performed to determine significant differences among four groups.Results The MMSE scores in subclinical hypothyroidism group,mild or moderate hypothyroidism group and serious hypothyroidism group((27.53 ± 2.16),(26.90±1.88) and (24.80 ± 2.10) respectively) were lower than those of the control (28.23 ± 1.33).The MoCA scores of the above hypothyroidism groups ((23.57 ± 3.33),(2 1.60 ± 2.81) and (20.53 ± 3.03) respectively) were also lower than that of the control (26.63 ± 2.31) (P ＜ 0.05).Except for orientation and immediate memory,statistical significances of the other cognitive function were existed between hypothyroidism groups and the healthy controls (P＜ 0.05).With the increase in severity of hypothyroidism,the abnormality of attention,calculation,linguistic competence,visual space and executive ability,naming ability and abstracting power were appearing gradually in hypothyroidism groups (P ＜ 0.05),and the scores were low(P＜ 0.05).Conclusion Defects of attention and calculation,delayed recalling,linguistic competence,visual space and execution,naming ability and abstracting power are existed in primary hypothyroidism patients.

Objective To investigate the changes and significances of peripheral blood CD34,KDR/CD34,CD133/CD34,and CD117/CD34 positive cell levels in patients with hemorrhagic stroke at the acute phase. Methods Thirty patients with acute hemorrhagic stroke admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery, Jiangsu Haimen People’s Hospital from September 2013 to April 2014 were enrolled retrospectively. At the same time,20 healthy subjects were selected as a control group. CD34 +,KDR+ /CD34 +,CD133 + /CD34 +, and CD117 + /CD34 +cell levels in peripheral blood were detected in patients with hemorrhagic stroke at day 1 to day 7 after cerebral hemorrhage and the day of physical examination of the control group using FACSCalibur flow cytometry. The data were obtained and analyzed using CELLQuest software. Results Peripheral blood CD34 + cells and KDR+ /CD34 +, CD133 + /CD34 +, CD117 + /CD34 + cells at day 1 to day 7 after ischemic stroke were all lower than control group (all P<0. 05). CD34 + and CD117 + /CD34 + cells decreased firstly at day 1 and 2, then increased gradually;KDR+ /CD34 + and CD133 + /CD34 + cells increased gradually at day 1 to day 5,they were all reached the peak at day 5,which were (14. 8±3. 5) í105 and (16. 7±3. 3) í105 respectively. Compared with that at day 1,CD34 + cells at day 5 and 6 were (27. 4 ±6. 3) í105 and (25. 4 ±5. 7) í105 respectively;KDR+ /CD34 + and CD133 + /CD34 + cells at day 4,5,and 6 were (10. 2±3. 1) í105,(14. 8±3. 5) í105,(12. 1±3. 4) í105 and (14. 3±3. 6) í105,(16. 7±3. 3) í105,and (13. 1±4. 0) í105,respectively;CD117 + /CD34 + cells at day 5 was (21. 3 ±4. 2) í105,which were all higher than the first day after cerebral hemorrhage (P<0.05). In the CD34 + cells,the proportion of KDR+ /CD34 + cells at day 1 to day 7 all decreased compared with the control group (all P<0. 05);the proportion of CD133 + /CD34 + cells at day 4 was (65±4)%,it was higher than the control group (P<0. 05);the proportion of KDR+ /CD34 + cells at day 5 was (55±6)% compared with day 1;the proportion of CD133 + /CD34 + at day 4 was (65 ±4)%;the proportions of CD117 + /CD34 + cells at day 4 and day 5 were (69 ±6)% and (72 ±6)% respectively,and they all increased (all P <0. 05). Conclusion Peripheral blood CD34 + cells and their cell subsets are change in patients with hemorrhagic stroke in acute phase. Speculating the different cell subsets may have different functions and potential. KDR+ /CD34 + and CD133 + /CD34 + may be the early sensitive indicators of acute hemorrhagic stroke,and CD117 + /CD34 + is largely mobilized in early stage.

Gene knockout by ZFNs (zinc-finger nucleases) is efficient and specific, and successfully applied in more than 10 organisms. Currently, it is unclear whether this technology can be used for knocking-out enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene in transgenic goats. Here we constructed and used ZFN-coding plasmids to produce genetic knockouts in the cells of cloned fetus produced from donor cells by microinjection of EGFP gene. Following introduced plasmids into caprine primary cultured fetus fibroblasts by electroporation, targeting of a transgene resulted in sequence mutation. Using the flow cytometric analysis, we confirmed the disappearance of EGFP expression in treated cells. Sequence from PCR products corresponding to targeted site showed that insertion of a G into the exon of EGFP resulted in frame shift mutation. These results suggest that ZFN-mediated gene targeting can apply to caprine fetus fibroblasts, which may open a unique avenue toward the creation of gene knockout goats combining with somatic cell nuclear transfer.
Animals ; Base Sequence ; Cloning, Organism ; Electrophoresis ; Endonucleases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fetus ; Fibroblasts ; metabolism ; Gene Knockout Techniques ; Gene Targeting ; methods ; Goats ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation ; Zinc Fingers

The paper is aimed to study the difference in yield and quality at different harvest time and determine the optimum harvest of planting Gentiana in Ludian traditional harvest period. The authors analyzed the variation in fresh weight, dry weight, dry discount rate, length, diameter, volume and the content of gentiopicroside, loganin acid, alcohol-soluble extract and total ash and made a comprehensive appraisal of yield, appearance quality and intrinsic quality by gray relational distance ideal Comprehensive Evaluation method. The results showed that there is a big difference in yield and quality both 2-year-old and 3-year-old Gentiana harvested in traditional harvest period and the comprehensive evaluation more better when harvested more later. It can be seen, Gentiana harvested the later had a better yield and quality in Ludian traditional harvest period. The harvest of Gentiana can be appropriate delayed depending on the particular circumstances of production.
Agriculture ; methods ; China ; Gentiana ; anatomy & histology ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Iridoid Glucosides ; metabolism ; Organ Size ; Quality Control ; Time Factors

Anemia, Aplastic ; therapy ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Humans

The article introduces a new method for three-dimensional reproduction of edentulous dental casts, and wax occlusion rims with jaw relation by using a commercial high-speed line laser scanner and reverse engineering software and evaluates the method's accuracy in vitro. The method comprises three main steps: (i) acquisition of the three-dimensional stereolithography data of maxillary and mandibular edentulous dental casts and wax occlusion rims; (ii) acquisition of the three-dimensional stereolithography data of jaw relations; and (iii) registration of these data with the reverse engineering software and completing reconstruction. To evaluate the accuracy of this method, dental casts and wax occlusion rims of 10 edentulous patients were used. The lengths of eight lines between common anatomic landmarks were measured directly on the casts and occlusion rims by using a vernier caliper and on the three-dimensional computerized images by using the software measurement tool. The direct data were considered as the true values. The paired-samples t-test was used for statistical analysis. The mean differences between the direct and the computerized measurements were mostly less than 0.04 mm and were not significant (P>0.05). Statistical significance among 10 patients was assessed using one-way analysis of variance (P<0.05). The result showed that the 10 patients were considered statistically no significant. Therefore, accurate three-dimensional reproduction of the edentulous dental casts, wax occlusion rims, and jaw relations was achieved. The proposed method enables the visualization of occlusion from different views and would help to meet the demand for the computer-aided design of removable complete dentures.
Analysis of Variance ; Computer-Aided Design ; Dental Models ; Denture Design ; Denture, Complete ; Dimensional Measurement Accuracy ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; methods ; Jaw Relation Record ; Lasers ; Mouth, Edentulous ; rehabilitation ; Waxes

Objective To study the epidemiological features of the endemic arsenism in Hohhot of Inner Mongolia in 2004-2006 in order to get scientific evidence for the control and prevention. Methods The historical data in Huhhot revealed that 51 arsenic villages in 3 counties(Tumotezuo,Tuoketuo and Helingeer) were investigated. When arsenic content in drinking water was 0.05-0.15 mg/L,the situation of endemic arsenism was investigated in the households having high arsenic contents of water. When arsenic content in drinking water was greater than 0.15 mg/L,the survey was conducted to investigate arsenic patients with census. Census rate was not lower than 90%. Patients of endemic amenism were diagnosed by The Standard of Diagnosis for Endemic Arsenism (WS/T 211-2001). Results A total 28 083 people were examined,3978 were determined to be patients with arsenism,including 1722 being suspicious, 1897 mild,329 secondary and 30 severe. The total incidence of arsenism was 14.17% (3978/28 083),while the incidence of suspicious,mild,secondary and severe disease was 6.13% (1722/28 083) ,6.75% (1897/28 083),1.17% (329/28 083) and 0.11% (30/28 083),respectively. Suspicious and mild patients were most frequently seen. The incidence of dyspigmentation,pigmentation,ketatoses,both dyspigmentation and pigmentation and all of skin disorders was 8.65% (2428/28 083),3.19% (895/28 083),6.48% (1821/28 083),2.13%(598/28 083) and 0.94%(265/28 083),respectively. The most seen skin disorders were dyspigmentation and ketatoses. The disease mostly occurred in those aged over 40 years,the incidence was 89.52% (3561/3978). The incidence of male [15.08%(2209/14 644)]was more than that of female[13.16%(1769/13 439)].Conclusions Current condition of arsenism in Hohhot is mild,arsenic disease surveillance should keep going. Prevention and control needs to be reinforced in the future.

Objective To appraise the bowel control and quality of life after transanal improvement of Soave one-stage pull-through operation for Hirschsprung′s disease(HD) in infants.Methods Twenty-five patients(aged from 2 months to 3 years old) with HD underwent improved endorectal pull-through procedure and postoperative follow-up for 5 months to 6 years(average 4.5 years) including the occurrence of operation related complications sush as bowel control,constipation or postoperative enterocolitis and quality of life.Results Twenty-one patients completed the study were with a mean follow-up.The assessment of anal continence was graded as normal(4 scores),good(3 scores),and fair(2 scores) according to the previous study of other investigators.Of the 21 patients,16 were graded as normal,whereas 4 were as good and 1 fair.One patient developed constipation and 2 patients had postoperative enterocolitis.Conclusion Modified Soave procedure for Hirschsprang′s disease can get a good bowel control outcome and quality of life.