AIM: To investigate the effects of pioglitazone , a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ( PPARγ) agonist, on the cognitive impairments and inflammatory cytokine production induced by isoflurane in aged mice . METHODS:Male C57BL/6J mice ( 11-month-old, n =136 ) were assigned randomly into 5 groups: control group ( Con) , isoflurane group ( Iso) , 10 mg/kg pioglitazone +isoflurane group ( Pi10+Iso) , 20 mg/kg pioglitazone +isoflu-rane group (Pi20+Iso) and 20 mg/kg pioglitazone alone group (Pi20).The mice in all isoflurane-treated groups were ex-posed to oxygen mixed with 1.4%isoflurane for 2 h.The mice in Con group and in Pi20 group were exposed to oxygen only for 2 h.Pioglitazone was suspended in 1% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC).Pioglitazone (10 mg/kg or 20 mg/kg) was gavaged 2 h prior to the exposure of isoflurane or oxygen alone .The same volume of 1% CMC was gavaged in Con group and in Iso group.Fear conditioning tests were performed to determine the learning and memory abilities 48 h after isoflurane exposure.Fresh cerebral cortice and hippocampi were dissected to measure the protein expression of PPAR γby Western blotting, and the contents of IL-1βand TNF-αwere analyzed by ELISA 6 h after isoflurane exposure .RESULTS: Com-pared with Con group, the response of freezing behavior decreased (P<0.05) and IL-1βcontent in the hippocampus in-creased ( P<0.05) in Iso group.Compared with Iso group , the response of freezing behavior and PPARγprotein expres-sion level had no significant change ( P>0.05) in Pi10+Iso group, but the response of freezing behavior and PPARγpro-tein expression level increased significantly (P<0.05) and IL-1βcontent in the hippocampus decreased (P<0.05) in Pi20+Iso group.IL-1βcontent in the cerebral cortex and TNF-αlevels both in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus showed no significant difference among all groups (P>0.05).CONCLUSION:Pioglitazone attenuates cognitive impair-ments and the elevates the level of IL-1βin the hippocampus induced by isoflurane in aged mice .

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of abdominal acupuncture plus herbal medicine in treating chronic pelvic pain due to qi stagnation and blood stasis after pelvic inflammatory diseases.Method Sixty patients with chronic pelvic pain due to qi stagnation and blood stasis after pelvic inflammatory diseases were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 30 in each group. The treatment group was intervened by abdominal acupuncture plus herbal medicine, while the control group was by herbal medicine alone. After 3 menstrual cycles, the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for abdominal pain and McCormack scale were observed.Result After intervention, the abdominal VAS score and McCormack score were changed significantly in both groups (P<0.01,P<0.05). After intervention, there were significant differences in comparing the VAS score and McCormack score between the two groups (P<0.01).Conclusion Abdominal acupuncture plus herbal medicine can reduce chronic pelvic pain due to qi stagnation and blood stasis after pelvic inflammatory diseases.

OBJECTIVE:To establish HPLC method for the determination of tanshinoneⅡ A in Ganxinkang capsules.ME_ THODS:The separation was carried out on C 18 column.The mobile phase was composed of methanol-water(80∶20)with a fl_ ow rate at0.8ml/min and detection wavelength at269nm.RESULTS:The linear range of tanshinoneⅡ A was0.16?g～0.80?g (r=0.9989)with average recovery at96.3%(RSD=1.21%).CONCLUSION:This method was convenient,accurate,rapid and reproducible,and suitable for the quality control of this preparation.

Objective:This work aims to investigate diallyl disulfide (DADS) inhibition of cell migration and invasion in human colon cancer SW480 cells through the Rac1-ADF/cofilin1 pathway. Methods:The potential of cell migration and invasion was examined by scratch healing assay and transwell membrane assay. The expression of Rac1-ADF/cofilin1 pathway was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. Results:After the SW480 cells were treated with 40 and 50 mg·L-1 of DADS for 24 h, the number of transmembrane cells through the Matrigel obviously decreased by 57.12%and 64.59%, respectively (P<0.05). After cell treatment for 48 h, the cell migration rates were 23.23%and 12.87%, which were significantly lower compared with the control group (75.86%;P<0.05). After the cells were treated with 45 mg·L-1 of DADS for 24 and 48 h, the expression of Rac1, Rock1, PAK1, LIMK1, and destrin mRNA respectively decreased compared with the control group (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in the expression of cofilin1 mRNA (P>0.05). After the treatment with 45 mg·L-1 of DADS for 6, 12, 24, and 48 h, the expression of Rac1, Rock1, PAK1, LIMK1, and Destrin proteins respectively decreased in a time-dependent manner compared with the control group (P<0.05). However, no significant differences were observed in the expression of the cofilin1 protein (P>0.05). Moreover, the expression of p-LIMK1 and p-cofilin1 notably decreased in a time-dependent manner (P<0.05). Conclusion:DADS inhibits cell migration and invasion, which is related to the down-regulation of Rac1, Rock1, PAK1, LIMK1, p-LIMK1, p-cofilin1, and destrin through the Rac1-ADF/cofilin1 pathway.

Objective:To explore the efficacy of apatinib combined with S-1 capsule in the treatment of patients with advanced recurrent and metastatic esophageal cancer.Methods:A total of 140 patients with advanced esophageal cancer were selected as test subjects from January 2017 to January 2019 in Shandong Tai′an Cancer Prophylaction-Therapeutic Hospital. These patients were randomly divided into observation group (72 cases) and control group (68 cases) using random number table method. The patients in the observation group were treated with oral apatinib combined with S-1 chemotherapy, and the patients in the control group was only given S-1 chemotherapy. The short-term and long-term efficacy and adverse reactions of the two groups were observed.Results:The objective remission rates of the observation group was 38.9% (28/72), higher than that in the control group (22.1%, 15/68), with a statistically significant difference ( χ2=4.655, P=0.031). The disease control rate of the observation group was 88.9% (64/72), higher than that in the control group (61.8%, 42/68), and there was a significant difference between the two groups ( χ2=13.993, P<0.001). The median progression-free survival of the observation group and the control group was 5.9 months and 2.7 months respectively, the median overall survival was 14.8 months and 7.9 months respectively, and there were significant differences between the two groups ( χ2=5.477, P=0.026; χ2=6.083, P=0.014). The adverse reactions of the two groups were mild, grade 1-2, mainly including fatigue, leukopenia, hand-foot syndrome, hypertension and proteinuria, with incidences of 59.7% (43/72), 50.0% (36/72), 8.3% (6/72), 12.5% (9/72), 9.7% (7/72) in the observation group, and 51.5% (35/68), 57.4% (39/68), 17.6% (12/68), 4.4% (3/68), 4.4% (3/68) in the control group, there were no significant differences between the two groups ( χ2=0.965, P=0.326; χ2=0.760, P=0.383; χ2=2.708, P=0.100; χ2=2.919, P=0.088; χ2=0.794, P=0.373). Conclusion:Apatinib combined with S-1 is effective, safe and tolerable in the treatment of recurrent and metastatic esophageal cancer.

Objective:To compare the clinical utility of mammography with automated breast ultrasound system (ABUS) for detecting breast lesions. Methods:Data of 142 patients with 149 breast lesions who underwent both mammography and ABUS in Tianjin Medi-cal University Cancer Institute and Hospital were collected from Jnly 2016 to September 2016. The detection rates of the two methods were then determined. Results:The overall detection rate using ABUS was significantly higher than that of mammography (mammog-raphy: 87.2% vs. ABUS: 98.0%, P<0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in breast cancer detection rates between mammography and ABUS (mammography:91.1%vs. ABUS:97.0%, P<0.05). Moreover, the benign lesion detection rate was significant-ly higher in ABUS than in mammography (mammography:79.2%, vs. ABUS:100%, P<0.05). In dense breasts, the detection rates of overall lesions, breast cancers, and benign lesions for ABUS were 97.7%, 96.5%, and 100.0%, respectively;whereas those for mammog-raphy were 86.0%, 90.6%, and 77.3%, respectively (P<0.05). Owing to overlapping dense breast tissue and deep anatomic location, sev-eral lesions were missed on mammography. Conversely, most lesions missed on ABUS presented as calcifications. Conclusion:Com-pared with mammography, ABUS can detect more lesions especially in dense breasts. However, ABUS failed to detect calcifications, whereas mammography had distinct advantages in this regard. Overall, the two methods had potential supplementary value for breast cancer screening.

Adult ; Aged ; Altitude Sickness ; metabolism ; Bone Marrow ; metabolism ; Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Peptide Fragments ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the prevalence and genotypes of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia lamblia in dogs and cats from a pet hospital in Shanghai Municipality. Methods A total of 145 fresh fecal samples were collected from pet dogs and cats in a pet hospital in Shanghai Municipality during the period from November 2021 to June 2022, including 99 dog fecal samples and 46 cat fecal samples. The small subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid (SSU rRNA) gene of Cryptosporidium and the triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) gene of G. lamblia were amplified using nested PCR assay, and the positive amplification products were sequenced from both directions. The sequence assembly was performed using the software Clustal X 2.1, and sequence alignment was conducted using BLAST. A phylogenetic tree was created with the Neighbor-Joining method using MEGA 11.0 to identify parasite species or genotype. Results The overall prevalence of Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia was 20.00% (29/145) in 145 pet dog and cat fecal samples, with the prevalence of 0.69% (1/145) and 19.31% (28/145) in Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia, respectively. G. lamblia was only detected in dog fecal samples, with prevalence of 18.18% (18/99), while the detection rates of Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia were 2.17% (1/46) and 21.74% (10/46) in cat fecal samples. Nucleotide sequence analysis showed that one Cryptosporidium positive sample was characterized as C. felis, and 28 G. lamblia positive samples were all characterized as Giardia assemblage A, which showed 100% sequence homology with human isolates of Giardia. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the sequences obtained in this study belonged to the same branch with the reported Giardia assemblage A. Conclusions Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia infection was prevalent in pet dogs and cats from the study pet hospital in Shanghai Municipality, and there is a zoonotic risk for the species and genotype. Intensified surveillance of Cryptosporidium and Giardia infection is recommended in pets and their owners, and improved management of pet keeping is required.