BACKGROUND:As a by-product in sugar industry, sugar cane wax has been widely used in non-medical field. Some researches indicate that sugar cane wax plays a great role in reducing blood cholesterol; however, the therapeutical effect and clinical application should be studied further.OBJECTIVE: To separate the high-class eicosanoic acid and the high-class alkanols, which are suitable for medical application, and further to observe the effect of them on reducing blood cholesterol of model rets with hyperlipemia.DESIGN: Randomized control animal study.SETTING: Pharmacological Institute, Chongqing Kangerwei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.MATERIALS.: The experiment was carried out in the Pharmacological Institute of Chongqing K.E.W Pharmaceutical Go.,Ltd. From April 2005 to January 2006. A total of 65 adult female Wistar rats, aged at 3-6 months, weighing 180-220 g, of SPF grade, were provided by Experimental Animal Center of Chongqing Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Raw sugar cane wax was provided by Beijing Jiade Hongsheng Biochemical Technology Co., Ltd. High-class alkanols C26,C28,C30, C32 and high-class eicosanoic acid C28, C30, C32, C34 were provided by Sigma Company (standard materials of gas phase chromatography), and other reagents were national analytical pure.METHODS: ① Sugar cane wax was extracted from raw sugar cane wax with ethanol and other organic solution and separated from the mixture of high-class eicosanoic acid and the mixture of high-class alkanols with saponification and calcification. Main components were analyzed with gas phase chromatography. The main components of high-class alkanols were C26, C28, C30 and C32 and the main components of high-class eicosanoic acid were C28, C30, C32 and C34, ② Based on references, rats were fed in 3 days and randomly divided into blank group (n =10) and experimental group (n =55).And then, all rats were cut off their tails to collect blood and the triacylglyoerol (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured with automatic biochemistry analyzer. Rats were fed with common granule feeds in blank group or with high-lipid feeds (containing 0.1 mass fraction of oiliness, 0.1 mass fraction of yolk powder, 0.01 mass fraction of cholesterol, 0.002 mass fraction of pig's gall salt, 0.788 mass fraction of common feeds) in experimental group. All rats ate and drank freely. Seven days later, blood was collected again from tail tip to measure the contents of TG, TC and HDL-C. Based on level of serum TG, rats in the experimental group were randomly divided into 5subgroups (n =11): negative control group, low-dosage high-class alkanols group, high-dosage high-class alkanols group,Iowdosage high-class eicosanoic acid and high-dosage high-class eicosanoic acid group. Rats in low-dosage and high-dosage high-class alkanols groups were perfused with 5 and 50 mg/(kg·d) high-class alkanols; meanwhile, rats in low-dosage and high-dosage high-class eicosanoic acid groups were perfused with 20 and 200 mg/ (kg·d) high-class eicosanoic acid. Rats in negative control group and blank group were perfused with the same volume of 0.3% carboxymethylcellulose sodium and distilled water, respectively, once a day for successive 30 days. At 16 hours after the last administration, rats were anesthetized to collect blood from heart to measure contents of TG, TC and HDL-C in serum.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Percentage of main component in separated mixtures of high-class eicosanoic acid high-class alkanols; ② levels of serum cholesterol, HDL and TG.RESULTS: A total of 65 experimental rats were involved in the final analysis. ① Gas phase chromatography suggested that the content of C28 high-class alkanols was the most (73.6%), and other three kinds of high-class alkanols were counted for 5.3% (C26), 6.2% (C30) and 5.1% (C32), respectively. The total quantity was 90.2%. In the mixture of high-class eicosanoic acid, content of C28 high-class eicosanoic acid was the most (46.6%) and the other three kinds of high-class eicosanoic acid were counted for 16.7% (C30), 6.8% (C32) and 9.3% (C34), respectively. The total quantity was 79.3%. ②Levels of serum TC were (1.46±0.27), (1.66±0.33), (1.44±0.25) and (2.16±0.52) mmol/L in high-dosage and Iow-dosage high-class alkanols groups and high-dosage and Iow-dosage high-class eicosanoic acid groups, respectively, which were lower than those in negative control group [(2.52±0.83) mmol/L, P＜0.01]. Levels of HDL-C were (0.73±0.09), (0.71±0.07), (0.79±0.10) and (0.70±0.08) mmol/L in the four treatment groups, respectively, which were higher than those in negative control group [(0.58±0.13) mmol/L, P＜0.05-0.01].CONCLUSION: The high-class alkanols and the high-class eicosanoic acids separated from sugar cane wax made in China significantly have the activity of reducing blood cholesterol; however, the effect on decreasing TG is not obvious.

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world.With the deepening understanding of self-management efficacy, the research of self-management efficacy in glaucoma patients has become a current hot topic.This research reviews the development of this part from aspects of "influence factors of self-management efficacy in glaucoma patients" and "the influence of self-management efficacy factors on the prognosis in glaucoma patients", in order to provide the reference for personalized nursing implementation.

Objective:To evaluate the effects of early skin-to-skin contact (SSC) in puerpera′s breastfeeding by using meta-analysis.Methods:An extensive search of related literature from The Cochrane Library, The Joanna Briggs Institute Library, PubMed, CINAHL, CNKI and Wanfang Database were performed. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effects of early skin-to-skin contact in puerpera′s breastfeeding were collected. Two researchers screened, appraised and extracted data according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Meta-analysis was conducted via RevMan 5.3 software.Results:Ten RCTs with 1 418 mother-infant dyads were included. Comparing with routine care, SSC significantly improved the effect of first breastfeeding ( SMD=1.29, 95% CI 0.81-1.76, P<0.001), reduced the mean time of first breastfeeding initiation ( SMD=-1.91, 95% CI -2.66--1.15, P<0.001), increased the duration of first breastfeeding ( SMD=10.77, 95% CI 9.28-12.25, P<0.001) and increased the proportion of exclusively breastfeed at 6 weeks of age ( RR=1.30, 95% CI 1.02-1.65, P=0.04). Conclusion:Early SSC can improve the effects of breastfeeding and could be popularized in puerpera.

Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas(PPGLs)cause symptoms by altering the circulation levels of catecholamines and peptide hormones.Currently,the diagnosis of PPGLs relies on diagnostic imaging and the detection of catecholamines.In this study,we used ultra-performance liquid chromatography(UPLC)/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(Q-TOF MS)analysis to identify and measure the perioperative differential metabolites in the plasma of adrenal pheochromocytoma patients.We identified differentially expressed genes by comparing the transcriptomic data of pheochromocytoma with the normal adrenal medulla.Through conducting two steps of metabolomics analysis,we identified 111 differential metabolites between the healthy group and the patient group,among which 53 metabolites were validated.By integrating the information of differential metabolites and differentially expressed genes,we inferred that the cysteine-methionine,pyrimidine,and tyrosine metabolism pathways were the three main metabolic pathways altered by the neoplasm.The analysis of transcription levels revealed that the tyrosine and cysteine-methionine metabolism pathways were downregulated in pheochromocytoma,whereas the pyrimidine pathway showed no significant difference.Finally,we developed an optimized diagnostic model of two metabolites,L-dihydroorotic acid and vanylglycol.Our results for these metabolites suggest that they may serve as potential clinical biomarkers and can be used to supplement and improve the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma.

Light adaptation enables the vertebrate visual system to operate over a wide range of ambient illumination. Regulation of phototransduction in photoreceptors is considered a major mechanism underlying light adaptation. However, various types of neurons and glial cells exist in the retina, and whether and how all retinal cells interact to adapt to light/dark conditions at the cellular and molecular levels requires systematic investigation. Therefore, we utilized single-cell RNA sequencing to dissect retinal cell-type-specific transcriptomes during light/dark adaptation in mice. The results demonstrated that, in addition to photoreceptors, other retinal cell types also showed dynamic molecular changes and specifically enriched signaling pathways under light/dark adaptation. Importantly, Müller glial cells (MGs) were identified as hub cells for intercellular interactions, displaying complex cell‒cell communication with other retinal cells. Furthermore, light increased the transcription of the deiodinase Dio2 in MGs, which converted thyroxine (T4) to active triiodothyronine (T3). Subsequently, light increased T3 levels and regulated mitochondrial respiration in retinal cells in response to light conditions. As cones specifically express the thyroid hormone receptor Thrb, they responded to the increase in T3 by adjusting light responsiveness. Loss of the expression of Dio2 specifically in MGs decreased the light responsive ability of cones. These results suggest that retinal cells display global transcriptional changes under light/dark adaptation and that MGs coordinate intercellular communication during light/dark adaptation via thyroid hormone signaling.
Animals ; Mice ; Dark Adaptation ; Light ; Retina ; Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells/metabolism* ; Adaptation, Ocular ; Neuroglia/physiology* ; Cell Communication ; Thyroid Hormones