Recent studies reported that thymoquinone (TQ), a component derived from the medicinal spice Nigella sativa (also called black cumin), exhibited inhibitory effects on cell proliferation of many cancer cell lines. This study was performed to investigate the anti-metastatic effect of thymoquinone on the pancreatic cancer in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that thymoquinone suppressed the migration and invasion of Panc-1 cells in a does-dependent manner. To investigate the possible mechanisms involved in these events, Western blotting analysis was performed, and found that thymoquinone significantly down-regulates NF-kappaB and MMP-9 in Panc-1 cells. In addition, metastatic model simulating human pancreatic cancer was established by orthotropic implantation of histologically intact pancreatic tumor tissue into the pancreatic wall of nude mice. And administration of thymoquinone significantly reduced tumor metastasis compared to untreated control. Furthermore, the expression of NF-kappaB and MMP-9 in tumor tissues was also suppressed after treatment with thymoquinone. Taken together, the results indicate that thymoquinone exerts anti-metastatic activity on pancreatic cancer both in vitro and in vivo, which may be related to down-regulation of NF-kappaB and its regulated molecules such as MMP-9 protein. Consequently, these results provide important insights into thymoquinone as an antimetastatic agent for the treatment of human pancreatic cancer.

Objective To study the relationship between soluble CD147 (sCD147) level in peripheral blood and serum lipid level and explore the effect of sCD147 on atherosclerosis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods The level of sCD147 in 36 patients with RA,36 patients with coronary artery disease (CAHD) and 30 healthy volunteers was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) .The disease activity score (DAS28) in RA patients was evaluated and the correlation between sCD147 level and DAS28 score was analyzed.The serum lipid level of RA patients was detected by an automatic biochemical analyzer and the cor relation between sCD147 level and serum lipid level was analyzed.Results The level of sCD147 in serum of RA patients was significantly higher than that in patients with CAHD and healthy volunteers,sCDI47 level in the RA group with high DAS28 score was significantly higher than that with low or medium DAS28 score.In RA patients,elevated total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) level was positively correlated with serum sCDI47 level (r=0.84,P＜0.05;r=0.87,P＜0.05;while slightly elevated,normal TC and normal TG had no correlation with serum sCDI47 level (r=0.41,P=0.21;r=0.14,P=0.57;r=0.49,P=0.87).Elevated or slight ly elevated LDL-C was positively correlated with serum sCD147 level (r=0.86,P＜0.05;r=0.81,P＜0.05), while no correlation could be found in the group with normal LDL-C level (r=0.78,P=0.22).The high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) level decrease in RA patients had no correlation with serum sCD147 level (r--0.04,P=0.96;r=0.13,P--0.87).Conclusion sCD147 may be involved in the pathogenesis of RA and associate with disease activity.Elevated sCD147 level may be associated with abnormal serum lipid in RA.

Adrenomedullin ; metabolism ; Child ; Endothelin-1 ; metabolism ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; complications ; Humans ; Hypertension ; metabolism ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; metabolism ; Male ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism

AIMTo investigate the effects of c-myb on progesterone-induced mouse germinal vesicle(GV) stage denuded oocyte (DO) maturation in vitro.

METHODSWe used mouse GV stage oocyte cultured with special concentration progesterone, or/and antisense c-myb ODN, or/and db-cAMP, or/and heparin for 24 h, and observed oocyte maturation and analysed the relationship among them.

RESULTSWe cultured DO in the medium 199 for 24 h, and found 10 micromol/L progesterone had more significant effect than 5 micromol/L progesterone (2 h GVBD% P < 0.05, 8 h PB 1% P < 0.05), but had not more significant effect than 20 micromol/L progesterone. We found that 16 micromol/L antisense c-myb ODN significantly inhibited progesterone (10 micromol/L)-induced mouse germinal vesicle stage oocyte maturation in vitro (2 h GVBD% P < 0.05, 8 h PBI% P < 0.01). 1 x 10(-4) micromol/L dbcAMP, 100 microg/ml heparin could single significantly inhibited progesterone-induced mouse GV stage oocyte maturation in vitro (2 h PBI% all P < 0.01, 8 h PBI% all P < 0.01), and could enhanced the inhibition of 16 micromol/L antisense c-myb ODN (2 h GVBD% all P < 0.01, 8h PBI% all P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONProgesterone, protooncogene c-myb,cAMP and calcium all pay important role in regulating oocyte maturation and the mechanism of progesterone, cAMP and calcium in regulating oocyte maturation may be through the expression of protooncogene c-myb.

Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Genes, myb ; Meiosis ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred Strains ; Oocytes ; cytology ; drug effects ; Oogenesis ; Progesterone ; pharmacology

ObjectiveTo investigate the risk factors associated with macrovascular disease in patients with newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes. MethodsAccording to arterial intima-media thickness(IMT)measured by color duplex ultrasonography,232 cases of newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients were divided into two groups:one group were 95 cases with macrovascular disease(MD),and the other group were 137 cases without macrovascular disease (non-MD).Then various clinical data between the two groups were compared and the correlated risk factors for macrovascular disease were analyzed. Results (1)95 patients(40.9%)showed macrovascular disease in 232 patients.(2)Age,BMI,SI,systolic blood pressure,diastolic blood pressure,TC,LDL-C,CRP and 24h UmAlb were significantly higher in MD group compared with those in non-MD group(all P＜0.05);But ISI was significantly lower in MD group compared with that in non-MD group(P＜0.05).(3)Pearson correlation analysis showed that risk factors were old age,BMI,smoking,higher systolic blood pressure,higher diastolic blood pressure,TC,LDL-C,CRP and microalbuminuria. ConclusionMacrovascular disease was related to many factors.It was important to control some risk factors earlier for preventing the happening and progress of macrovascular disease.

rs of glucose and lipid metabolism in adolescents with abdominal obesity. Determimation of serum A-FABP concentration might be useful in diagnosis and prevention of metabolic syndrome and abdominal obesity in adolescent.

Objective To explore the effects of movement on hippocampal β-amyloid protein ( Aβ ) and amyloid precursor protein (APP) in senescence-accelerated and senescence-prone (SAMP8) mice, and the mechanism by which movement improves learning and memory in mice with a model of Alzheimer's disease. Methods Forty 3-month-old SAMP8 mice were divided randomly into a movement group and a control group. The movement group was trained with a running wheel 10 min daily, 5 days a week in the first month, and 20 min daily in the second month. Morphological changes in the hippocampus were observed under the microscope after HE staining. The expression of Aβ in the hippocampus was detected by immumohistochemical methods and APP mRNA expression was detected by RT-PCR two months later. Results HE staining showed neuron degeneration and death, chromatin condensation and vacuolar degeneration in the hippocampus of the 5-mouth-old SAMP8 mice of the control group. The movement group showed less neuron degeneration and death, and the morphology of most cells was normal The expression of Aβ in the hippocampus of the 5-month-old SAMP8 mice in the movement group was significantly lower than that in the control group. APP mRNA expression levels in the movement group were also significantly lower.Conclusions Movement can delay neuron degeneration and down-regulate Aβ and APP mRNA expression levels in the hippocampus of SAMP8 mice. It may be an important mechanism by which movement improves learning and memory in mice with a model of Alzheimer's disease.

OBJECTIVEIn order to explore the correlation on radioactive contamination of lanthanon to leukemia, and provide clues for the causes and prevention of leukemia in mining areas of rare-earth elements.

METHODS1:1 matched case-control study was used. A total of 51 clinically confirmed leukemia cases, individually matched with controls from general population, were interviewed in mining areas of rare-earth in South Jiangxi from November to December, 2001. Data were analyzed, using conditional logistic regression.

RESULTSThe main risk factors would include frequently drinking water from river (OR = 5.543), distance from residence to rare-earth mine and years for living in the area (OR = 3.308), exposure to organophosphorus pesticide (OR = 3.014). Tea drinking habit appeared to be a protective factor.

CONCLUSIONSLeukemia seemed to be related to environmental pollution with rare-earth elements around the residential areas and organophosphorus pesticide exposure. The protective factor of tea drinking habit seemed to be unique in this study, which called for further studies.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Insecticides ; toxicity ; Leukemia ; etiology ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Metals, Rare Earth ; toxicity ; Middle Aged ; Mining ; Organophosphorus Compounds ; Risk Factors ; Tea ; Water Pollutants, Chemical ; toxicity

The potential biodegradation of crude oil was assessed based on the development of a fermentative process with a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa which produced 15.4 g/L rhamnolipids when cultured in a basal mineral medium using glycerol as a sole carbon source. However, neither cell growth nor rhamnolipid production was observed in the comparative culture system using crude oil as the sole carbon source instead. As rhamnolipid, an effective biosurfactant, has been reported to stimulate the biodegradation of hydrocarbons, 1 g/L glycerol or 0.22 g/L rhamnolipid was initially added into the medium to facilitate the biodegradation of crude oil. In both situations, more than 58% of crude oil was degraded and further converted into accumulated cell biomass and rhamnolipids. These results suggest that Pseudomonas aeruginosa could degrade most of crude oil with direct or indirect addition of rhamnolipid. And this conclusion was further supported by another adsorption experiment, where the adsorption capacity of crude oil by killed cell biomass was negligible in comparison with the biologic activities of live cell biomass.
Biodegradation, Environmental ; Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Glycolipids ; pharmacology ; Petroleum ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; drug effects ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Water Pollutants, Chemical ; metabolism ; Water Purification ; methods

Objective To probe the effects of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-?B) on cell apoptosis and left ventricular segmental function in acute ischemia repeffusion in dogs.Method Twenty-four dogs were randomly divided into three groups:without left anterior artery (lAD) ligation group (C group),LAD was occluded 30 min following reperfusion 120 minutes in isehemical reperfusion group (IR group),and dogs were administered with PDTC before LAD ligation in ischemical reperfusion plus pyorrole dithitocarbamate group (PDTC group).The left ventricular segmental function was detected by echo cardiography using strain rate anlysis software.EF measured by Simpson's method.Cardiac myocyte apoptosis numbers were determined by terminal deoxynudeotidy transferease-mediated biotinylated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling (TUNEL).lmmunohistochemistry and western-blot anylysis of NF-?B protein expression.Results NF-?B was obviously expression on injury myocardium of IR group,and increased significantly in contrast to control group (P0.05)Conclusions NF-?B might play an important role in acute myocardial ischemia reperfusion.PDTC reduces myocardial iscbemia/repeffasion injury by preventing expression of factor NF-?B.