Sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) refers to the percentage of DNA strand breaks in the total sperm. Many studies suggest that elevated DFI can lead to male infertility and early spontaneous abortion. High-DFI patients are more likely to fail in assisted reproduction and preliminary treatment or prevention methods have been developed for this population. This review focuses on the impact of DFI on clinical pregnancy outcomes and progress in the studies of its treatment.
Abortion, Spontaneous ; Chromatin ; DNA Fragmentation ; Female ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; Male ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; Spermatozoa

The kinetics of batch and fed-batch cultures of recombinant Escherichia coli to produce humanlike collagen were investigated. Through examining the density of substrate and the amount of mushrooms and the density of products during the process of fermenting, a set of kinetic models are set up. The influence of cell without plasmid was considered. The results show that the kinetic model may well simulate the fermenting process.

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) at Neiguan (PC6) and Lieque (LU7) on the expression of protein kinases in cardiomyocytes of myocardial ischemia (MI) rats.

METHODSHealthy male SD rats were randomly divided into the control group, the model group, the Neiguan point group, the Lieque point group, and the non-meridian non-acupoint group, 10 in each group by random digit table. The MI rat model was established by injecting isoprenaline hydrochloride (85 mg/kg). EA at Neiguan (PC6), Lieque (LU7), and non-meridian non-acupoint were respectively performed. Changes of the expression of protein kinases [such as protein kinase A (PKA), protein kinase C (PKC), protein kinase G (PKG)] in rat cardiomyocytes were observed using Western blot.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, expression levels of PKA, PKC, and PKG increased obviously in the model group (P < 0.01). Compared with the model group, expression levels of PKA, PKC, and PKG decreased in the Neiguan point group and the Lieque point group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). Expression levels of PKA decreased in the non-meridian non-acupoint group (P < 0.01). Compared with the Neiguan point group, expression levels of PKA, PKC, and PKG increased in the non-meridian non-acupoint group and the Lieque point group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). Compared with the Lieque point group, expression levels of PKA, PKC, and PKG increased in the non-meridian non-acupoint group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONEA at Neiguan (PC6) and Lieque (LU7) could decrease protein expression levels of PKA, PKC and PKG in rat myocardial cells, and the effect of acupuncture at Neiguan (PC6) was better than that obtained by EA at Lieque (LU7).

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Animals ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases ; Electroacupuncture ; Male ; Meridians ; Myocardial Ischemia ; metabolism ; therapy ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; metabolism ; Plant Extracts ; Protein Kinases ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has definitely clinical effect in treating hyperlipidemia, but the action mechanism still need to be explored. Based on consulting Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010), all the lipid-lowering Chinese patent medicines were analyzed by associated rules data mining method to explore high frequency herb pairs. The top three couplet medicines with high support degree were Puerariae Lobatae Radix-Crataegi Fructus, Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Crataegi Fructus, and Polygoni Multiflori Radix-Crataegi Fructus. The 20 main ingredients were selected from the herb pairs and docked with 3 key hyperlipidemia targets, namely 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-α (PPAR-α ) and niemann-pick C1 like 1 (NPC1L1) to further discuss the molecular mechanism of the high frequency herb pairs, by using the docking program, LibDock. To construct evaluation rules for the ingredients of herb pairs, the root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) value between computed and initial complexes was first calculated to validate the fitness of LibDock models. Then, the key residues were also confirmed by analyzing the interactions of those 3 proteins and corresponding marketed drugs. The docking results showed that hyperin, puerarin, salvianolic acid A and polydatin can interact with two targets, and the other five compounds may be potent for at least one of the three targets. In this study, the multi-target effect of high frequency herb pairs for lipid-lowering was discussed on the molecular level, which can help further researching new multi-target anti-hyperlipidemia drug.
Asteraceae ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA Reductases ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Hyperlipidemias ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; genetics ; metabolism ; Hypolipidemic Agents ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Membrane Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; PPAR alpha ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein Binding ; Pueraria ; chemistry

AIM: To assess the relative agreement of GAT and NCT in IOP measurement by comparing the differences between Goldmann applanation tonometer (GAT) and non-contact tonometer (NCT) in intraocular pressure (IOP) detection.METHODS: IOP of 529 eyes of 265 volunteers were measured with both NCT and GAT, respectively.RESULTS: The measurement results of NCT were lower than that of GAT, there was significant difference between the IOP measured with NCT and GAT (19.13 vs23.43, t=22.644, P＜0.05). With the increasing of IOP values, the difference magnitude was greater, especially in IOP group that was more than 30mmHg, but the correlation coefficient became lower.CONCLUSION: The measurement results with NCT are lower than that of GAT. When the IOP with the NCT is in borderline value, it need be corrected with GAT, in order to discover the pathologically elevated IOP and avoid the misdiagnosis and mistreatment of glaucoma.

Objective:To introduce a novel ridge preservation technique with micro-titanium plate avoiding the use of bone grafting materials,and evaluate the potential horizontal bone preservation effect of this new technique,applied on single maxillary central incisors after tooth extraction for future implant restoration.Methods:Nine patients (six women and three men),mean age (26.0 ±5.7)years(from 1 8 to 34 years)referred to the Department of Oral Implantology,Peking University School and Hospital of Stomotology,were selected and diagnosed with unsalvageable single middle incisor with fine general con-ditions,no signs of acute local inflammation,no ongoing or previous periodontitis,healthy neighboring teeth and intact buccal bone walls.Tooth extraction,delayed implant placement and implant-supported single crown restoration were selected as treatment plan.The teeth were extracted atraumatically with lo-cal anesthesia,followed by a reflection of a minor flap to exposed 2-3 mm of the buccal bone plate.Af-ter that,a micro-titanium plate was trimmed and bended to fit the convexity of the labial bone and fixed by two mini pins with intent to support the labial soft tissue.The flap was then repositioned over the micro titanium plate and secured with two single sutures.No bone grafting materials or releasing incisions were needed.The sockets were left to heal without any intention of primary wound closure.Cone-beam compu-ted tomographic (CBCT)scans were obtained before and four months after tooth extraction.Horizontal ridge widths were measured with CBCT software,and the preservation effects were calculated and recor-ded by the percentage of horizontal ridge alteration.Results:The nine extraction sockets were healed un-eventfully.The average socket width before extraction was (7.51 ±0.48)mm (6.92-7.82 mm).The average alveolar ridge labial-palatal width at the control point of the edentulous area was (6.81 ±0.44) mm (6.04-7.38 mm)4 months after tooth extraction,the mean percentage of ridge width preserved was 90.87%±2.91%(87.28%-95.60%).Conclusion:This novel ridge preservation method by the usage of a micro-titanium plate did not interfere with the natural socket healing process,and at the same time,largely preserved the width of alveolar ridge without any bone grafting procedures.Long term results remain to be seen.

Objective To investigate a possible protective effect of sodium ferulate (SF) on monosodium glutamate (MSG)-induced neurotoxicity in adult mice. Methods Sixty mice were randomly divided into control, SF, MSG, and MSG+SF [20,40,80mg/(kg·d)] groups, n=10. The animals in MSG group received intragastric (ig) administration of MSG (2.0g/(kg·d)], the animals in the MSG+SF groups received simultaneously ig administration of MSG [2.0 g/(kg·d)] and intraperitoneal (ip) administration of SF [20,40,80mg/(kg·d)], the animals in SF group received ip administration of SF [40mg/ (kg·d)], and the animals in control group received ig and ip administration of normal saline, respectively, once-daily for 10d. On day 1 after the last ig administration of MSG or (and) SF the behavioural tests (test of Y-maze discrimination learning and open field test) were performed, and on day 4 after the treatment of MSG or (and) SF the histopathology of the animal brains was studied to analyze the MSG-induced functional and morphological changes and the possible protective effect of SF. Results The correct responses of Y-maze test on day 6 after the last administration of MSG and/or SF in MSG-treated group (13.83/20) were significantly less than those in control (16.42/20)(P<0.01), and those in MSG[2.0g/(kg·d)]+SF[40mg/(kg·d)]-treated mice (16.30/20) were close to those in control (P>0.05). Examination of histopathology displayed MSG-treated hippocampal lesions characterized by intracellular edema, degeneration and necrosis of neurons, and hyperplasia, and the hippocampal lesion did not appear in the MSG [2.0g/(kg·d)]+SF[40mg/(kg·d)]-treated mice. Conclusions SF partially countered the behavior disorders and hippocampal lesions induced by MSG; therefor, SF has a potent neuroprotection against MSG-induced neurotoxicity in adult mice.

It has been demonstrated that neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) is critical for the induction and maintenance of long term potentiation (LTP) in the CA1 region of rat hippocampus. In the present study, we investigated the changes in NCAM mRNA expression and NCAM protein level after the induction of LTP in vitro using the techniques of in situ hybridization and Western blot. The results showed that the number of NCAM mRNA positive labelled neurons significantly increased (76.6+/-11.5 neurons) 10 min after tetanus when the slope of fEPSP markedly increased. The level of NCAM protein also increased significantly (7.190+/-0.64 arbitrary unit/50 microg protein) 10 min after tetanus. The number of NCAM mRNA positive labelled neurons no longer changed (73.3+/-14.0) 1 h after tetanus, however, the NCAM protein level (9.031+/-0.71) at 1 h after tetanus was higher than that at 10 min after tetanus. Moreover, the NMDA receptor inhibitor AP-5, which blocked LTP, prevented the increase in NCAM mRNA expression and NCAM protein level. The results demonstrate that NCAM mRNA expression maintains a high level, whereas NCAM protein changes from a low level to a high level during induction and maintenance of LTP.
Animals ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; physiology ; Long-Term Potentiation ; physiology ; Male ; Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

This study was amid to construct the pharmacophore model of L-type calcium channel antagonist in the application of screening Drugbank and TCMD. This paper repositions the approved drugs resulting from virtual screening and discusses the relocation-based drug discovery methods, screening antihypertensive drugs with L-type calcium channel function from TCMD. Qualitative hypotheses wre generated by HipHop separately on the basis of 12 compounds with antagonistic action on L-type calcium channel expressed in rabbit cardiac muscle. Datebase searching method was used to evaluate the generated hypotheses. The optimum hypothesis was used to search Drugbank and TCMD. This paper repositions the approved drugs and evaluates the antihypertensive effect of the chemical constituent of traditional Chinese medicine resulting from virtual screening by the matching score and literature. The results showed that optimum qualitative hypothesis is with six features, which were two hydrogen-bond acceptors, four hydrophobic groups, and the CAI value of 2.78. Screening Drugbank achieves 93 approved drugs. Screening TCMD achieves 285 chemical constituents of traditional Chinese medicine. It was concluded that the hypothesis is reliable and can be used to screen datebase. The approved drugs resulting from virtual screening, such as pravastatin, are potentially L-type calcium channels inhibitors. The chemical constituents of traditional Chinese medicine, such as Arctigenin III and Arctigenin are potentially antihypertensive drugs. It indicates that Drug Repositioning based on hypothesis is possible.
Animals ; Antihypertensive Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Calcium Channel Blockers ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Calcium Channels, L-Type ; genetics ; metabolism ; Drug Repositioning ; methods ; Molecular Structure ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Rabbits

Objective:To comprehensively analyze the present situation and characteristics otthe curative care expenditure of chronic diseases in Jilin,and to provide data support and suggestions for health policy formulation.Methods:The System of Health Accounts 2011 (SHA2011) was used to analyze the total and composition of curative care expenditure of non-communicable chronic diseases in Jilin province.Results:In 2014,the curative care expenditure of chronic diseasesin Jilin province reached to 32.02 billion yuan,which accounted for 65.51％ of curative care expenditureof the all diseases in Jilin.From the perspective of disease costs,the curative care expenditure of chronic diseases occurred in cardiovascular disease,malignancy and other chronic diseases reachedto 66.22％.From the perspective of service composition,the curative care expenditure ofchronic diseases except oral disease occurred more in the hospital.From the perspective of medical institutions costs,thecurative care expenditureof chronic diseases occurred in urban medical institutions reached to 65.83％.From the perspective of care financing,the household out-of-pocket (OOP) accounted for 41.77％of curative care financing forchronic diseases in Jilin.Condusion:Thecurative care expenditureof chronic diseases in Jilin had a large scale.The distribution of medical institutions costsof chronic diseases showed as "inverted triangle" in Jilin.The financing structure of thecurative care expenditureof chronic diseases needed to be improved.