Objective To investigate the effects of artervenous fistula on structure and function of heart in patients with hemodialysis in the Second Clinical Hospital of Chinese Medical University from 2004 to 2005.Methods AVF、LAD、RVD、LVD、LVEDV、SV and EF were examined and analysed before and 8 weeks after AVF in 55 patients with hemodialysis.Results LAD、RVD、LVD、LVEDV after AVF increased significantly and EF reduced evidently after AVF.Conclusion AVF can cause extension of LAD、 RVD、 LVD and decrease of EF.

Exposure to thermal environment is one of the main concerns for manned space exploration. By focusing on the works performed on thermoregulation at microgravity or simulated microgravity, we endeavored to review the investigation on space thermal environmental physiology. First of all, the application of medical requirements for the crew module design from normal thermal comfort to accidental thermal emergencies in a space craft will be addressed. Then, alterations in the autonomic and behavioral temperature regulation caused by the effect of weightlessness both in space flight and its simulation on the ground are also discussed. Furthermore, countermeasures like exercise training, simulated natural ventilation, encouraged drink, etc., in the protection of thermoregulation during space flight is presented. Finally, the challenge of space thermal environment physiology faced in the future is figured out.
Aerospace Medicine ; Body Temperature Regulation ; Environment ; Exercise ; Humans ; Space Flight ; Weightlessness ; Weightlessness Simulation

Adult ; Benzene ; poisoning ; Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation ; Female ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Leukemia ; etiology ; surgery ; Male ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Objective To observe the efficacy of combinated inhaled glucocorticosteroid and long- ?2 - agonist for asthmatic children. Methods Forty- seven children with moderate or severe persistent asthma were treated with inhalation of the fluticasone pro-pionate and salmeterol. The PEF value and the mark according the symptom of asthma before and after treatment( week and month respectively) were recorded. At the same time the days of treatment the patient with the short - ?2 - agonist in the first week and the forth week respectively were noted. The subjective feeling and accident of patients also should be paid attention. Results There was significant difference (P

Animals ; In Vitro Techniques ; Muscle Contraction ; drug effects ; Muscle, Smooth ; drug effects ; physiology ; Progesterone ; pharmacology ; Rabbits ; Trachea ; drug effects

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of naloxone used in the postoperation of cerebral tumor.Methods Eighty patients were randomly assigned to receive (treated group:40 patients) or not re- ceive (control group:40 patients) naloxone.Both the two groups accepted the conventional therapy.Re- sults After operation,the content of?-EP,ET decreased continuously but the one of the treated groups was more obviously than that of the control groups (P

With low molecular weight chitosan and poloxamer 188 as the joint carriers, ginsenoside Rg3 solid dispersions were prepared by using the solvent evaporation method for an in vitro dissolution test. Subsequently, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (X-RD) were adopted for a phase analysis. The results showed that the 60 min in vitro cumulative dissolution rate of ginsenoside Rg3 solid dispersions prepared with low molecular weight chitosan and poloxamer 188 at the ratio of 2:1 exceeded 90%, and the drug was dispersed in carriers in an amorphous state. Therefore, ginsenoside Rg3 solid dispersions prepared with low molecular weight chitosan and poloxamer 188 could help significantly improve the drug dissolution, with a practical application value.
Chitosan ; chemistry ; Drug Compounding ; methods ; Ginsenosides ; chemistry ; Molecular Weight ; Poloxamer ; chemistry ; Solvents ; chemistry

Water soluble extract (WSE) is an important index for the quality evaluation of Astragali Radix (AR). In this study, the WSE of the wild AR from Shanxi province (SX) and the cultivated AR from Gansu Province (GS) were compared. The WSEs of two types of AR were determined according to the appendix of Chinese pharmacopoeia. Then the WSEs were subjected to NMR analysis, and the obtained data were analyzed using HCA, PCA, OPLS-DA, microarray analysis, and Spearman rank analysis. In addition, the Pearson correlation of differential metabolites were also calculated. The results showed that the WSE content of GS-AR (37.80%) was higher than that of SX-AR (32.13%). The main constituent of WSE was sucrose, and other 18 compounds, including amino acids, organic acids, were also detected. Multivariate analysis revealed that SX-AR contained more choline, succinic acid, citric acid, glutamate, taurine and aspartate, while GS samples contained more sucrose, arginine and fumaric acid. In addition, the Pearson correlations between different metabolites of the two types of AR also showed apparent differences. The results suggested that the WSE of two types of AR differs not only in the content, but also in the chemical compositions. Thus, the cultivation way is important to the quality of AR. This study supplied a new method for the comparison of extract of herbal drugs.
Arginine ; analysis ; Aspartic Acid ; analysis ; Choline ; analysis ; Citric Acid ; analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; chemistry ; Fumarates ; analysis ; Glutamic Acid ; analysis ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Multivariate Analysis ; Phylogeography ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Succinic Acid ; analysis ; Sucrose ; analysis ; Taurine ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of total flavonoids of propolis (TFP) on apoptosis of myocardial cells of chronic heart failure and its possible mechanism in rats.

METHODSSix male SD rats were randomly selected as normal control group, the remaining rats were made as chronic heart failure (CHF) model by intraperitoneal injection of adriamycin. The rats in the successful model were randomly divided into five groups (n = 6): CHF group, total flavonoids of propolis low dose group (LD group), total flavonoids of propolis middle dose group (MD group), total flavonoids of propolis high dose group (HD group), digoxin group (DIG group). After six week treatment, cardiac function indexes of rats were recorded by signal acquisition system; brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) content in plasma were detected; Myocardial morphological changes and collagen fiber hyperplasia by HE and Masson staining were observed; Myocardial apoptosis was detected with TUNEL method and protein connexin 43(P-Cx43) expression was detected by Western blot method.

RESULTSCompared with NC group, left ventricular systolic pressure(LVSP) and maximal rise/fall velocity of left ventriculad pressure (± dP/dt(max)) absolute value in CHF group were significantly lowered (P < 0.01) while left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) was increased significantly (P < 0.01); Contents of plasma BNP, cTnI, TNF-α and IL-6 in the CHF group were significantly improved (P < 0.01). Compared with CHF group, LVSP, ± dP/dt(max) absolute value in MD and HD groups were increased (P < 0.05), and LVEDP was significantly lowered (P < 0.01); LVEDP in LD group was significantly lowered (P < 0.01), changes in LVSP and ± dp/dt(max) absolue value were not obvious (P > 0.05). BNP, cTnI, TNF-α and IL-6 contents in MD and HD groups were significantly reduced (P < 0.01), but those plasma indicator changes were not obvious in LD group (P > 0.05). Western blot showed that P-Cx43 expression in CHF group was significantly higher than that in NC group (P < 0.01) and that in all TFP treatment groups it was decreased compared with CHF group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), among which pairwise comparisons also showed differences (P < 0.05), myocardial apoptosis index (%)(22.62 ± 3.39) in CHF group was higher than that in NC group( 1.12 ± 0.24) (P < 0.01); compared with CHF group, the apoptosis index of myocardial cells (%) in LD,MD and HD groups, (15.79 + 2.8), (9.28 + 2.1) and (4.73 + 1.14) respectively, were significantly lower than those in the CHF group( P < 0.01). The expression level of P-Cx43 positively correlated with the apoptotic index (r = 0. 861, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONTotal flavonaids of propolis have inhibitory effect on apoptosis of myocardial cells of chronic heart failure induced by adriamycin in rats, and the mechanism may be closely related to the regulation of Cx43 expression, especially the regulatory phosphorylation status.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Chronic Disease ; Connexin 43 ; metabolism ; Disease Models, Animal ; Doxorubicin ; adverse effects ; Flavonoids ; pharmacology ; Heart Failure ; drug therapy ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Male ; Myocardium ; pathology ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; drug effects ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; blood ; Phosphorylation ; Propolis ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Troponin I ; blood ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood

OBJECTIVETo study the molecular mechanism of curcumin in human esophageal carcinoma cell line (EC109).

METHODSEC109 cells were cultivated in vitro. When 80%-90% confluence was reached, they were treated with curcumin in different concentrations (15-120 µmol/L). The effects on cell proliferation were examined by CCK-8 colorimetry. The ultrastructure of EC109 cells were detected with transmission electron microscope(TEM). The cells apoptosis was observed with laser confocal microscope(LCM) by AnnexinV-FITC/PI double staining. The proteins level of PTEN, AKT, GSK3β and Caspase 3 were tested by flow cytometry(FCM) .

RESULTSCCK-8 test showed that curcumin could inhibit the proliferation of EC109 cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. TEM and LCM examinations indicated that curcumin could make EC109 cells apoptosis. The data of FCM showed that curcumin could increase the expression of PTEN, GSK3β and Caspase 3, decreased the expression of AKT.

CONCLUSIONThe effects of curcumin on inhibiting proliferation and promoting apoptosis of EC109 cells were related with increased expression of PTEN and inhibition of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Apoptosis ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Curcumin ; pharmacology ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 ; metabolism ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta ; Humans ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase ; metabolism ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction