As a molecular switch,Rho can be transformed between the inactive GDP-bound form and the active GTP-bound form,transfering signals to downstream effector Rho kinase (ROCK),mediating specific biological effects,and participating in various neurological diseases, such as the pathological processes of ischemic stroke,cerebral vasospasm,and axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury.The application of ROCK inhibitor in the treatment of neurological diseases has achieved satisfactory effect.Rho/ROCK is expected to become a novel therapeutic target.

Objective To find out about community residents' demands and intentions for health service and explore new ways of delivering life-long health service. Methods An investigation was made via sending questionnaires to each household into the health conditions and demands and intentions for health service of 700 residents in 5 neighborhood committees and 1000 discharged patients as well as sub-healthy groups of people in a certain area in Nanchang. Results Of those surveyed, the two-week morbidity was 438 per thousand; the chronic morbidity was 574 per thousand; only 31.1% of the residents went to eommanity hospitals for medical service; and 63.4% of the residents never took any health care service while 59.6% of the residents thought it necessary to take health care service. Conclusion The masses of people are in dire need of low-price life-long medical service. Second-grade third-tier and second-tier hospitals in big and medium-sized cities may explore viable new ways of medical service that will meet the needs of society.

China ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; therapy ; Humans ; Integrative Medicine ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods

Objective To probe into the social support, coping styles, and mental health status of medical staff in a tertiary hospital in Beijing, for identifying potential mental problems. Methods Such means as the Social Support Rating Sheet (SSRS), Simple Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), Symptom Checklist (SCL-90), and demographic characteristics questionnaire were called into play, to study 2460 medical staff in five tertiary hospitals in Beijing. Results Differences were identified among medical staff of different demographic characteristics, in terms of positive coping style and support dimensions. Analysis of the survey data indicates that the total SCL scores, total symptom problem index, positive symptom pain level, total average score of the factors, are positively related to passive coping style, as P<0. 01; and are negatively related to subjective/objective support, support utilization, and total support scores, as P<0. 01. Conclusions Hospital administration is expected to implement focused intervention to such medical staff as those under 40 years old, women, widows or divorcees, those with education lower than university degree, those with junior academic title or lower, those without titles, those in emergency departments and emergency intensive care units, doctors and nurses, frequent night-shift workers, those of excessively low self evaluation, and medical staff with chronic diseases. The purpose of this practice is to alleviate their mental stress.

OBJECTIVETo verify the pharmacological hypothesis of prescriptions by studying the targeted distribution of major components in stewed rhubarb in the rat model with acute pancreatitis (AP).

METHODNormal SD rats (control group, n = 5) and the AP model induced with intraperitoneal cerulein (model group, n = 5) were taken as the experimental objects. Rats of the two groups were orally administered with stewed rhubarb granules (20 g x kg(-1)). Their heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and pancreas were collected two hours after the administration. Such constituents as emodin, chrysophanol, physcion, rhein and aloe-emodin and their concentrations in each tissue homogenate were detected by high performance liquid chromatography-mass-mass.

RESULTAloe-emodin and physcion in stewed rhubarb whose concentrations in liver and kidney of normal rats were higher than that in pancreatic tissues, while the distribution spectrums and concentrations of the remaining components in pancreatic tissues had no significant difference with that of other organs. The concentrations of emodin, aloe-emodin, rhein and chrysophanol in stewed rhubarb in pancreatic tissues of the AP model group were higher than that in other tissues and organs, while their concentrations in pancreatic, renal and splenic tissues were notably higher than that in the normal group.

CONCLUSIONIn the conditions of AP, effective components in stewed rhubarb show a targeted distribution feature in pancreas, which provides experimental basis for the pharmacological hypothesis of prescriptions.

Acute Disease ; Animals ; Anthraquinones ; pharmacokinetics ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacokinetics ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Organ Specificity ; Pancreatitis ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rheum ; chemistry

The aim of this study was to observe whether necroptosis is involved in the process of cardiac hypertrophy induced by pressure overload. SD rats underwent transverse abdominal aortic constriction (TAC) operation for establishing cardiac hypertrophy model. The structure and function of the left ventricle of rats were evaluated via echocardiography, left ventricular mass index, the expression of markers of cardiac hypertrophy and histological detection. Real-time PCR and Western blot were used to measure the gene and protein expression of receptor interacting protein kinase 1 and 3 (RIPK1 and RIPK3, the necroptosis markers) respectively. Four weeks after TAC operation, rat model for cardiac hypertrophy was established. The experimental data showed that the gene and protein expressions of RIPK1 and RIPK3 in the rat heart hypertrophic tissues after TAC for 4 weeks were increased significantly compared with those in the sham group. HE staining showed cardiomyocytes injury and hypertrophy in the hearts of TAC rat models. By transmission electron microscope, we observed that mitochondria of cardiomyocytes were damaged seriously in the TAC models. Treatment with losartan used, the selective antagonist of angiotensin II type I receptor could improve the cardiac function of TAC rats. Moreover, losartan treatment decreased the expression of RIPK1 and RIPK3 in heart tissues of TAC rats. The results suggest that necroptosis occurrs in the process of cardiac hypertrophy with pressure overload, and losartan could alleviate the cardiac hypertrophy and inhibit necroptosis.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cardiomegaly ; pathology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Echocardiography ; Heart ; physiopathology ; Losartan ; pharmacology ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; Pressure ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptor-Interacting Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases ; metabolism

AIM:To investigate the potential effect of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on the proliferation of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells and its underlying mechanism.METHODS:Human breast cancer MCF-7 cells were in-cubated in DMEM supplemented with 10%fetal bovine serum and 1%penicillin/streptomycin.Western blot was performed to detect the protein expression and its phosphorylation.MTT assay and bromodeoxyuridine ( BrdU) incorporation, and TUNEL staining were carried out to determine the cell proliferation and apoptosis, respectively.Lentivirus carrying shRNA sequences targeting the gene of docking protein 1 ( DOK1 ) was used to silence DOK1 expression.The activity of peroxi-some proliferator-activated receptor gamma ( PPARγ) was measured using a PPARγtranscription factor assay kit.RE-SULTS:ATRA treatment suppressed the proliferation and promoted the apoptosis of MCF-7 cells.ATRA was also found to induce DOK1 expression in a time-dependent manner.Silence of DOK1 mitigated anti-cancer effect of ATRA evidenced by recovered the cell proliferation and reduced the cell apoptosis.In addition, DOK1 knockdown inhibited PPARγexpression and activity.Furthermore, inhibition of PPARγwith its specific inhibitor GW9662 attenuated impacts of ATRA on the cell proliferation and apoptosis.CONCLUSION: ATRA suppresses MCF-7 cell survival through inhibiting cell proliferation and promoting cell apoptosis, which is mediated by DOK1-activated PPARγ.

Objective To analyze the impact factors for early renal damage in type 2 diabetic patients by the classification tree model.Methods A total of 601 patients with type 2 diabetes were enrolled.According to glomerular filtration rates and urine albumin quantification,the patients were divided into type 2 diabetes group (418 cases) and early diabetic renal damage group (183 cases).The clinical data of the patients were recorded to analyze the main influential factors for the microalbuminuria of type 2 diabetic patients using the Exhaustive CHAID classification tree algorithm.Results Six important explanatory variables were screened out by the classification tree model from the 34 candidate variables related to early renal damage,including fibrinogen,history of hypertension,retinopathy,Cys C levels,SBP and peripheral neuropathy.Elevated fibrinogen was the main factor.Conclusion The classification tree model can analyze the major influential factors of early renal damage in type 2 diabetic patients effectively,and it can help develop the prevention and treatment methods.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Ru'ai Shuhou Recipe (RSR), a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, on 5-year recurrence rate after mastectomy in breast cancer. METHODS: A total of 300 patients with breast cancer were divided into two groups: treatment group and control group. The patients in the treatment group were treated with Western medicine and RSR, and the patients in the control group were treated only with Western medicine (the same as the treatment group). In the two groups, the 5-year recurrence rates after mastectomy in breast cancer were investigated. RESULTS: Thirty-four breast cancer patients were lost to five-year follow-up during the course of investigation, and 266 breast cancer patients went through the evaluation. The 5-year recurrence rate after mastectomy in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). The recurrence rate after mastectomy was influenced by positive lymph node, primary breast tumor size, clinical stage, and patients' health status. There was significant difference in the 5-year recurrence rates between the two groups (P<0.05) under the following conditions, such as the positive lymph nodes more than four, the primary breast tumor larger than two centimeters, and in the clinical stage II and III, estrogen receptor (ER)-positive/progesterone receptor (PR)-positive and ER-negative/PR-negative. The recurrence rate was not associated with the operation method and age distribution. CONCLUSION: RSR can reduce the 5-year recurrence rate after mastectomy in breast cancer.

Objective To evaluate the effects of mild hypothermia therapy on cerebral function and edema as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI ) during the first 72 hours after restoration of spontaneous circulation (ROSC)in a porcine model.Methods Ventricular fibrillation was induced in 33 Inbred Wuzhishan miniature swine.After ventricular fibrillation untreated for 8 min,standard CPR was initiated and 30 animals got ROSC.The ROSC animals were randomly (random number)assigned to normothermia group (n=15 ) and hypothermia group (n =15 ).The hypothermia group immediately received endovascular cooling to regulate temperature to 33 ℃,which was maintained for 12 h,followed by passive rewarming at 0.5 ℃/h to 37 ℃.The two groups were scanned to get Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)at baseline (before experiment),6 h,12 h,24 h,and 72 h after ROSC.The statistical analysis was carried out with Student t test,One-way repeated-measures and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.Results Compared with the normothermia group,the hypothermia group exhibited a higher 72-h survival rate (73.3% vs.40%,P<0.05),lower neurological deficit scores (43.81 vs.119.50;P<0.01),a lesser decrease in the apparent diffusion coefficient during DWI and milder cerebral edema on DWI image. Conclusions Cerebral edema occurred at early stage after ROSC.Cerebral edema was worst at 6 hours after ROSC and then subsided gradually.Hypothermia therapy could reduce cerebral edema and produce a protective effect on neurological function.MRI could effectively reflect the underlying trend of cerebral injury of swine within the first 72 h after ROSC,and demonstrated that hypothermia could reduce brain edema, increase cerebral blood flow,and reduce the production of toxic metabolites.DWI could monitor brain injury after resuscitation and could be used to evaluate the efficacy of hypothermia intervention dynamically.