Background:Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PH) is a progressive disease with limited therapeutic options,ultimately leading to right heart failure and death.Recent findings indicate the role of the Warburg effect (aerobic glycolysis) in the development of PH.However,the effect of the glycolysis inhibitor 3-bromopyruvate (3-BrPA) on the pathogenesis of PH has not been well investigated.This study aimed to determine whether 3-BrPA inhibits PH and its possible mechanism.Methods:PH was induced in adult Sprague-Dawley rats by a single intraperitoneal injection of monocrotaline (MCT).3-BrPA,or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was administered via intraperitoneal injection every other day from the first day of MCT-injection to 4 weeks of follow-up,and indices such as right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP),right ventricular hypertrophy index (RVHI),pulmonary arteriolar remodeling indicated by percent media thickness (％ MT),lactate levels and glucose consumption,were evaluated.Pulmonary arteriolar remodeling and right ventricular hypertrophy were observed in hematoxylin-eosin-stained lung sections.Western blotting,immunohistochemistry,and/or immunofluorescence analyses were used to measure the expression of relevant proteins.A cytochrome C release apoptosis assay and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling staining were used to measure cell apoptosis.Results:MCT-induced PH showed a significant increase in glucose consumption (0 vs.4 weeks:0.87 ± 0.23 vs.2.94 ± 0.47,P =0.0042) and lactate production (0 vs.4 weeks:4.19 ± 0.34 vs.8.06 ± 0.67,P =0.0004).Treatment with 3-BrPA resulted in a concomitant reduction in glucose consumption (1.10 ± 0.35 vs.3.25 ± 0.47,P =0.0063),lactate production (5.09 ± 0.55 vs.8.06 ± 0.67,P =0.0065),MCT-induced increase in RVSP (39.70 ± 2.94 vs.58.85 ± 2.32,P =0.0004),pulmonary vascular remodeling (％ MT,43.45％±1.41％ vs.63.66％±1.78％,P＜0.0001),and right ventricular hypertrophy (RVHI,38.57％ ± 2.69％ vs.62.61％ ± 1.57％,P ＜ 0.0001) when compared with those of the PBS-treated group.3-BrPA,a hexokinase 2 inhibitor,exerted its beneficial effect on PH by decreasing aerobic glycolysis and was also associated with inhibiting the expression of glucose transporter protein-1,inducing apoptosis,and suppressing inflammation.Conclusions:3-BrPA might have a potential beneficial effect on the PH treatment.

measured by OCT 1 and 3mo after surgery. Chi-square test was used to compare preoperative and postoperative BCVA. Pearsion’s correlation was used to evaluate relationship between postoperative BCVA and central foveal thickness.RESULTS:The ratio of BCVA<0. 05 was 30%,14%, 11%and 7% respectively for per-operation, 1wk, 1 and 3mo post - operation. After surgery, the central foveal thickness was significantly increased in group with BCVA<0. 3 comparing to group with BCVA≥0. 3. Three month post-operation, central foveal thickness was significantly decreased in both groups comparing to that in 1mo post-operation (P<0. 01). There has significant correlation between 3mo postoperative BCVA and central foveal thickness (r=-0.716, P<0.05).CONCLUSlON: ln this study, BCVA is improved after 3mo follow up. There has significant correlation between postoperative BCVA and central foveal thickness.

Polyglutamine (Poly Q) diseases are a group of neurodegenerative disorders, caused by the formation of PolyQ mutants due to trinucleotide repeats expansion in coding regions of disease-causing genes, which eventually lead to selective neuronal degeneration and death with unclarified pathogenesis. As a new type of genetic regulatory factor, microRNA (miRNA) plays an important role in modulating gene expression in eukaryote. During the recent years, more attention was paid to roles and related mechanism of miRNA involving in neurodegenerative disease, especially PolyQ diseases. This review is focused on research progress in roles of miRNA in the pathogenesis of PolyQ diseases.
Eukaryota ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; physiology ; Nerve Degeneration ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; genetics ; Peptides ; genetics ; Trinucleotide Repeat Expansion ; genetics ; Trinucleotide Repeats ; genetics

Objective To investigate the change of serum vitamin D level in the patients with lower respira-tory tract infection and its correlation with lower respiratory tract infection so as to provide reference for clini-cal treatment.Methods 156 cases of lower respiratory tract infection and 60 persons undergoing healthy phys-ical examination in this hospital were collected as the infection group and healthy control group.The sputum specimens from the infection group conducted the bacterial culture and identification.Then the serum vitamin D levels were analyzed in the two groups.Results The serum vitamin D levels in the infection group and healthy control group were 25.76 ng/mL and 49.81 ng/mL,and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01).In the infection group,serum vitamin D levels in the patients with klebsiella pneumoniae,Acine-tobacter baumannii,Pseudomonas aeruginosa,staphylococcus aureus,Escherichia coli and fungal infection w ere(25.79 ± 7.17),(24.11 ± 10.27),(27.76 ± 9.27),(24.79 ± 6.95),(22.93 ± 3.71)and(30.59 ± 21.31) ng/mL respectively,the difference had statistical significance compared with the control group(P<0.05). Conclusion The level of serum vitamin D in the patients with lower respiratory tract infection is lower than that in healthy population.Its level is associated with lower respiratory tract infection,but the specific mech-anism remains to be further studied.

AIMTo investigate the effects of RLI on plasma nitric oxide (NO) and NO synthase (NOS) isoforms of healthy humans.

METHODS30 healthy human subjects (aged from 40 - 70 years old) were recruited. RLI was induced by five 5 min cycles of ischemia of non dominant arm (200 mmHg, 5 min interval). Blood pressure, heart rate, and the feelings of ischemic arm were continuously monitored. Venous plasma was collected in contralateral arm at Pre, Post-0 h, Post-4 h, and Post-24 h. Plasma level of NO was measured by Griess reaction, and NOS was measured by chemical method.

RESULTSBlood pressure and heart rate varied in normal range. The uncomfortable feeling was decreased with the increasing numbers of ischemic cycles. Plasma level of NO, and iNOS in plasma were significantly increased at Post-0 h, Post-4 h, and Post-24 h compared to Pre (P < 0.05). tNOS was also significantly increased at Post-0 h and Post-4 h compared to Pre (P < 0.05). No significant change in plasma cNOS was shown at following three time points than Pre.

CONCLUSIONThese findings suggest that RLI can elevate plasma level of NO, tNOS, and iNOS in healthy humans. RLI might be a safe method as a rIPC, and it would have important possibility to be performed in clinic.

Adult ; Aged ; Arm ; blood supply ; Female ; Humans ; Ischemia ; blood ; physiopathology ; Ischemic Preconditioning ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nitric Oxide ; blood ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; blood ; metabolism ; Reperfusion Injury ; physiopathology ; prevention & control

Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides ( DNA or RNA ) selected through a technology termed "Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment" ( SELEX ) . In addition to high affinity and high specificity for their target molecules, aptamers have some advantages such as low molecular weight, easy synthesis, high chemical stability, low immunogenicity, and convenient modification. Based on the Cell-SELEX technique, a panel of aptamers which can specifically recognize target cell lines has been generated. By targeting specific membrane proteins in their native state, these aptamers can identify subtle molecular differences among different cell lines, thus have attracted a broad interest in biomedical research. In this review, we summarized the development of aptamers and their use in detection, profiling and imaging of tumor cells. Also, their perspectives were discussed.

No data were available on the acute oral toxicity, short-term oral toxicity of vegetable carbon in animals. This study was designed to evaluate the safety of two commercially available dietary bamboo charcoal powders (BCP1 and BCP2). The size distribution of the two powders was determined by a Mastersizer 2000 laser particle size analyzer prior to the in vivo safety studies. For the acute toxicity study, a single dose of 11.24 g/kg body weight of BCP1 and BCP2 was given once orally to healthy Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Mortality and clinical symptoms were observed and recorded for the first 30 min after treatment, at 4 h post-administration, and then at least once daily for 14 days after administration. In the repeated dose 28-day oral toxicity study, BCP1 and BCP2 were administered orally at doses of 2.81, 5.62, and 11.24 g/kg body weight for 28 days to SD rats. Animals were sacrificed and organs and blood samples were analyzed. Results showed that both BCP1 and BCP2 were micro-sized and various in size. In the acute toxicity and the repeated dose 28-day oral toxicity studies, BCP caused neither mortality nor visible signs of toxicity in rats. No significant differences were found in the relative organ weights or in biochemical parameters in BCP treated groups compared to a control group. No treatment-related histological changes were observed in the organs of these animals. Based on these data, it is concluded that the median lethal dose (LD50) of BCP for both male and female rats is more than 11.24 g/kg body weight and the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) is >11.24 g/kg body weight for 28 days.
Animals ; Bambusa ; chemistry ; Diet ; Female ; Male ; Powders ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Toxicity Tests, Acute

Elemental imaging analysis based on laser induced-breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS)can provide significant reference value for oil and gas exploration activities.Improving the scanning speed and spatial resolution of LIBS elemental imaging analysis instruments contributes to enhancing the efficiency of mineral surface elemental analysis,which is crucial for achieving in-situ,real-time,and rapid LIBS analysis.In this study,a high-speed scanning LIBS elemental imaging analysis instrument was developed based on a scanning mirror device,achieving a scanning speed of 100 Hz and a spatial resolution of 50 μm.The stability of spectral data collected by this instrument was validated using aluminum alloy standard samples with uniform elemental distribution.The experimental results showed that the relative standard deviations(RSD)of the spectral data collected at different locations were 2.76％,2.79％,2.35％and 2.55％,respectively,demonstrating that the instrument's performance met analysis requirements.Analysis of spectral acquisition channels led to the selection of the 337-595 nm spectral range.Imaging analysis of major elements on the surface of meteorite mineral samples with complex matrices was conducted using this instrument,coupled with a multi-element imaging algorithm enabling visualization analysis of four major elements on the same image.The results revealed a higher level of detail and complexity in element distribution.The study demonstrated that this instrument,combined with multi-element imaging analysis algorithms,could provide crucial technical support for rapid imaging of element distribution in minerals at a microscopic scale during geological research.

Objective To investigate the prevalence of periodontal pathogens from saliva of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM),and to characterize the association between the glucose status and periodontal pathogens in oral cavity.Methods All the subjects were hypertension patients under regular care at Beijing hypertension prevention and management institute.Whole unstimulated saliva samples were collected from 45 non-diabetic subjects (non-DM group),80 well-controlled diabetic patients (DM-well group) and 100 poor-controlled diabetic patients (DM-poor group).DNA was extracted from the salivary deposition,Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg),Tannerella forsythia (Tf) and Treponema denticola (Td) were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method based on 16SrRNA.Prevalence and quantity of the pathogens under different glucose states were compared and logistic regression model was set to analyze the factors related to each bacterium.Results The prevalence of Tf in DM-well group and DM-poor group was significantly lower than that of non-DM group [81％ (65/80),80％ (80/100) vs 91％ (41/45),P =0.048],meanwhile the quantity of Tf was also lower than that of non-DM group[1.9 (2.6),2.1(5.3) vs 3.4 (6.4)] (P ＞ 0.05).With the worsening of glucose control,the quantity of Tf was declining (P =0.032).However,the prevalence and the quantity of Pg,Td in 3 groups had no statistical differences(P ＞0.05).After adjusting age,gender,number of missing teeth and other periodontal parameters,OR of having Tf in saliva from DM-well group and DM-poor group was 0.58 and 0.53,respectively.Conclusions Abnormal blood glucose state may affect the colonization of Tf in oral cavity.

Panax notoginseng is the dried root and rhizome of Panax notoginseng(Burk.)F.H.Chen,a perennial erect herb of the genus Ginseng of the family Wujiaceae.As a traditional Chinese medicine in our country,Panax notoginseng has a good tonic effect,and the Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicines has the words that Panax notoginseng is used to tonify the blood,remove the blood stasis and damage,and stop epistaxis.It can also be used to pass the blood and tonify the blood with the best efficacy,and it is the most precious one of the prescription med-icines.Eaten raw,it removes blood stasis and generates new blood,subdues swelling and stabilizes pain,stops bleeding with-out leaving stasis,and promotes blood circulation without hurting the new blood;taken cooked,it can be used to replenish and strengthen the body.Notoginsenoside R1 is a characteristic com-pound in the total saponin of Panax ginseng.In recent years,China's aging has been increasing,and the incidence of neuro-logical disorders has been increasing year by year.Meanwhile,reports on notoginsenoside R1 in the treatment of neurological disorders are increasing,and its neuroprotective effects have been exerted with precise efficacy.The purpose of this paper is to review the treatment of neurological diseases and the mecha-nism of action of notoginsenoside R1,so as to provide a certain theoretical basis for clinical use and new drug development.