Objective To investigate the value of methylprednisolone pulse therapy on the acute treatment of multiple sclerosis.Methods 46 cases of the acute phase of patients with multiple sclerosis treatment in the hospital's department of neurology were chosen,who were divided in accordance with the principle of randomized controlled study group and the control group,each group of 23 patients.The study group was given methylprednisolone in the treatment and control group were given dexamethasone treatment.The clinical efficacy and complications of the treatment of patients were compared.Results The study group markedly in 14 cases,effective 54 cases,the total effective rate was 82.6％ ;the control group,10 casesmarkedly effective in 4 cases,9 cases ineffective,the total effective rate was 60.9％ ; compared the two sets of data decline before treatment,there was a statistically significant difference (x2 =5.236,P ＜ 0.05).After the treatment,the two groups of patients with EDSS scores compared with EDSS scores of the study group was significantly lower than that of the control group,the difference was statistically significant(t =3.135,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion In acute phase of patients with multiple sclerosis,methytprednisolone pulse therapy can reduce the incidence of complications,and reduce the patient's nervous system damage,which can improve the quality of life in patients.

Objective To study the expressions and prognostic significance of high mobility group protein A1 (HMGA1) and high mobility group protein A.2 (HMGA2) in pancreatic carcinoma.Methods The expressions of HMGA1 and HMGA2 were examined by immunohistochemical SP method in 60 cases of pancreatic carcinoma and 30 cases of normal pancreatic tissues.The relationship between the expression and prognosis was also analyzed.Results The expressions of HMGA1 and HMGA2 in pancreatic carcinoma were significantly higher than those in normal tissues,and the positive expression rates were 70.0％ vs.6.7％ (x2 =32.105,P =0.000) and 73.3％ vs.3.3％ (x2 =39.200,P =0.000).The expression of HMGA1 in pancreatic carcinoma was correlated with histological grade (x2 =6.774,P =0.034),TNM stage (x2 =4.776,P =0.029) and lymphatic metastasis (x2 =12.614,P =0.000).The expression of HMGA2 in pancreatic carcinoma was correlated with histological grade (x2 =8.200,P =0.017) and TNM stage (x2 =7.253,P =0.007).The expression of HMGA1 was positively associated with HMGA2 expression (r =0.393,P =0.001).Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the median survival time of HMGA1 and HMGA2 positive patients were shorter than those patients with HMGA1 negative and HMGA2 negative (14.0 months vs.24.0 months,x2 =14.568,P =0.000;15.0 months vs.21.0 months,x2 =7.270,P =0.007).Conclusion HMGA1 and HMGA2 are highly expressed in pancreatic carcinoma,and play synergistic roles in the generation and progress of pancreatic carcinoma.There is certain value of combined detection of HMGA1 and HMGA2 to predict the prognosis of pancreatic carcinoma.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characteristic of neurons reducing, senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and so on, and the most common cause of dementia among the elderly. Many efforts have been made to understand the epigenetic mechanisms involved in the development of AD, such as gene methylation and histone acetylation, although the exact mechanisms are not yet entirely clear. Here, we provide a review of the epigenetic mechanisms and related research in AD, which may provide a new direction for the research as well as the development of the epigenetic drugs.

Objective To study the neuroprotective effects of neuregulin-1?(NRG-1?) on the nervous behavioral function,cerebral infarction volume,brain water content(BWC),neuronal apoptosis and aquaporin-4(AQP-4) expression in astrocytes after cerebral ischemic reperfusion and the related mechanism in mice.Methods Intraluminal thread methods were applied to establish the middle cerebral artery occlusion reperfusion models in the mice.Neuregulin-1?(2?g / kg) was injected into the internal carotid artery for treatment.The nervous behavioral function was evaluated with Bederson's test.The cerebral infarction volume was observed with tetrazolium chloride staining.The BWC was measured by dry-wet weight comparing.The apoptosis positive cells were counted by immunofluorescence assay.The expression of AQP-4 was determined by immunohistochemical assay.Results Nervous behavioral malfunction appeared in all the mice with left middle cerebral artery occlusion and/or reperfusion.The infarction focus showed in the ischemic hemisphere after the injury.The BWC,the number of neuronal apoptosis cells and AQP-4 expression in astrocytes were higher than those in the sham group. In the NRG-1? treatment group,the nervous behavioral function was improved 24 hours after ischemia,the number of apoptosis positive cells reduced and the infarction volume decreased significantly compared with the control group(P0.05).In the groups of reperfusion for 22,46 and 70 hours,the five indexes mentioned above were significantly different from those in the corresponding control groups(P

With the progress and development of the DNA test and imaging technique, and the evolu-tion of evidence rule which bring the discussions about whether the individual identification using imag-ing data is outdated, and other disputes such as whether radiologic evidence could be suitable for con-temporary evidence and be used to solve the posture difference of imaging test. This article summaries the domestic and foreign researches of individual identification using imaging data in the past 20 years and reviews the problems above.

Objective To explore the neuroprotective effect and mechanism of picroside II on ERK1/2 signal transduction pathway after cerebral ischemia injury in rats.Methods The focal cerebral is-chemic models were established by inserting a monofilament threads into middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in 100 Wistar rats and treated by injecting picroside II (20 mg/kg) intraperitoneally.The neu-robehavioral function was evaluated by modified neurological severity score points ( mNSS) test.The cerebral infarct volume was measured by tetrazolium chloride ( TTC) staining.The apoptotic cells were counted by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling ( TUNEL) assay.The expression of pERK1/2 in cortex was determined by the immunohistochemistry ( IHC) and Western Blot ( WB) .Results mNSS test showed that severe neurological dysfunction was found in model and LPS groups,and the scores of mNSS were significantly increased;meanwhile the scores of mNSS in treatment group and U0126 group were signifi-cantly lower than that in model and LPS groups (P<0.05).TUNEL assay showed that the apoptotic cell inde-xes (ACI) in different groups were (0.06±0.02),(0.27±0.03),(0.07±0.02),(0.26±0.03)and(0.09± 0.05) ,and the ACI in treatment and U0126 groups was obviously lower than that in model and LPS groups (P<0.05) .With IHC and WB,pERK1/2 level in model group was the highest,which was slightly higher than that of LPS group,and pERK1/2 expression in treatment and U0126 groups was significantly decreased com-pared with that in model and LPS groups (P<0.05) .Conclusion The activation of ERK1/2 by cerebral is-chemia could induce the cell apoptosis.Picroside II might reduce cell apoptosis by inhibiting the activation of ERK1/2 in ischemic brain injury.

Objective To investigate the effects of inosine on the neuronal apoptosis and the expression of cytochrome C mRNA after focal cerebral ischemia and reperfusion in rats,and to explore the neuroprotective mechanisms of inosine. Methods SD rats model of focal ischemic reperfusion was induced by intraluminal middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) with a nylon monofilament suture. Inosine (100 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally twice following MCAO. Apoptosis was determined by terminal deoxynucleotidy1 transferase-mediated uridine 5'-triphosphate-biotin nick end -labeling (TUNEL) staining. In situ hybridization was performed to examine the expression of cytochrome C mRNA. Results TUNEL-positive cells were observed 2 h after reperfusion and peaked at 1 d and 2 d after reperfusion in cortex and striatum respectively. Inosine reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells at and after reperfusion 12 h. Cytochrome C mRNA expressed in cortex and striatum of ischemic hemisphere as early as at 2 h after reperfusion and reached a peak at 12 h and 1 d in cortex and striatum respectively. Inosine could diminish the expression of cytochrome C mRNA at and after reperfusion 12 h. Conclusions Inosine might play a neuroprotective role by inhibiting the neuronal apoptosis and the expression of cytochrome C mRNA which were induced by cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury.

Objective To observe endothelial cells secreting and expressing nitric oxide by using red laser irradiation ( RLI) on cultured endothelial cells. Methods Cultured endothelial cells were irradiated with a red laser for 10, 20, and 30 minutes, respectively, and the concentration of nitric oxide in the cell supernatant was measured after 15 min,30 min.1 h,3 h and 6 h. In addition, the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthetase (iNOS) and endotlielial nitric oxide synthetase (eNOS) was measured through immunohistochemical staining. Results Compared with that in the control group, the expression of eNOS by the endothelial cells and the concentration of NO were stimulated by 2 mW RLI for 10 min, 20 min and 30 min, and reached a peak at 1 h, then declined gradually. The expression of iNOS, however, showed no significant difference. Conclusion RLI can increase NO concentrations in endothelial cells by stimulating the expression of eNOS rather than iNOS.

Objective To study the gene expressions of nestin and stem cell factor(SCF)in neurons after ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat brain. Methods Thirty-six adult female rats were subject to left middle cerebral artery occlusion for 1.5h and different hours of reperfusion. In site hybridization was used to examine the expression of nestin and SCF mRNA in the rats subjected to 2h, 6h, 12h, 24h, 2d, 3d, 7d, 14d of reperfusion and sham-operation group (n=4). Results (1) Nestin expression in cortex, striatum and extraventricular zone was weak in the sham-operation group, and increased markedly in the ischemic hemisphere compared with sham-operation group except of reperfusion 2h in cortex, 2h, 6h in striatum, 2h, 6h and 14d in extraventricular zone. (2)SCF expression in cortex, striatum and extraventricular zone was weak in the sham-operation group, and increased markedly in the ischemic hemisphere compared with sham-operation group except of reperfusion 2h, 6h, 12h in cortex, 2h, 6h in striatum, 2h and 14d in extraventricular zone. Conclusion It is suggested that SCF expression might enhance the proliferation of neural stem cells following ischemia-reperfusion in rats.

BACKGROUND: A middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion(MCAO/R) model in rats with suture has been widely used in the researches of acute focal ischemic cerebral infarction, while the model in rabbits by the same method is relatively rare. Magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging (MR DWI) has been paid close attention recently for its sharp sensitivity of cerebral ischemia.OBJECTIVE: To establish rabbit models of MCAO/R by intraluminal thread, and study the characteristics of MR DWI after cerebral ischemia and reperfusion.DESIGN: Random controlled animal experiment.SETTING: Institute of Cerebrovascular Diseases, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College.MATERIALS: The experiment was accomplished at the Key Laboratory of Brain Diseases Prevention and Cure of Shandong Province from March to June in 2005. A total of 103 adult healthy New Zealand rabbits of either sex, 10-12 weeks old and 1.8-3.3 kg weight were provided by the Experimental Animal Center of Shandong Agricultural Academy (SCX20040013).They were bred at quiet, sanitary and dry conditions.METHODS: Animal groups: 103 rabbits were divided randomly into group A (n=53) and group B (n=50). The rabbits in group A were treated with suture of 0.51-0.55 mm as the diameter of thread, while group B was reassigned into B1 (0.46-0.50 mm), B2 (0.51-0.55 mm) and B3 (0.56-0.60 mm).The successful MCAO/R models in 57 cases were randomly divided into permanent ischemia group (n=30, ischemia 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 andl 48 hours, 5ones at each time point) and ischemic reperfusion group (n=27, reperfusion 0, 2 and 5 hours, 5 ones at each time point; reperfusion 11, 23 and 47hours, 4 ones at each time point). Another 10 rabbits receiving sham operations were regarded as contrasts for permanent ischemia group and ischemia reperfusion group, with 5 ones in each.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The changes of hyperintensity area on DWI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were measured in permanent ischemia group and ischemic reperfusion group.RESULTS: The data of 57 successful model rabbits were involved in the result analysis.①The successful rate in group A (26 cases, 49.1%) was significantly lower than that in group B (31 cases, 62.0%).②In ischemia group:The hyperintensity area on DWI with declined ADC appeared at ischemia 1 hour. The hyperintensity areas on DWI at different times increased gradually from ischemia 1 hour and unchanged within 24 hours. The mean ADC at different times declined at first and then gradually increased.③In reperfusion group: Comparing with ischemia 1 hour, the hyperintensity area on DWI reduced while ADC increased at reperfusion 2 hours and 5 hours, and enlarged with ADC high at reperfusion 11 hours, then continued to enlarge with ADC reduced significantly at 23 hours and 47 hours.CONCLUSION: The diameter of thread tip and the inserting distance of thread are main factors for establishing successful MCAO/R models. The hyperintensity area on DWI and the decreasing ADC after acute cerebral ischemia can be improved by early reperfusion, but the secondary decreasing ADC may be induced by continuously reperfusion.