Cholesterol ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Metabolic Diseases ; prevention & control ; Phytotherapy

AIM: To evaluate the clinical effect and the rotational stability of AcrySof Toric intraocular lens ( IOL ) implantation to correct preexisting corneal astigmatism in cataract surgery.
METHODS: Twenty-three patients ( 28 eyes ) were enrolled from the department of ophthalmology in the first Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. All patients underwent similar phacoemulsification procedure combined with AcrySof Toric IOL implantation from June 2012 to December 2013. The uncorrected visual acuity ( UCVA ) , best corrected visual acuity ( BCVA ) , anticipated residual astigmatism, postoperative residual astigmatism, and Toric IOL axis were detected and measured.
RESULTS:Three months after operation, the UCVA of all eyes were 0. 75±0. 16 and the BCVA were 0. 84±0. 15, there was no significant difference between UCVA and BCVA ( t = 1. 036, P>0. 05 ). The anticipated residual astigmatism was ( 0. 28±0. 12 ) D. The actual residual astigmatism after 3mo of the operation was (0. 42±0. 17) D. There was no significant difference between anticipated and actual residual astigmatism (t=1. 259, P>0. 05). The mean axis rotation of Toric IOL was 3. 02o±1.56o (0o-7o) after 1d of operation and 3. 28o±1. 85o (0o-7o) after 3mo. Among all the eyes, 25 eyes ( 89%) rotated <5o, in 3 eyes (11%) rotated 5o-7o.
CONCLUSION: The AcrySof Toric IOL implantation shows good effectiveness, predictability and stability in correcting pre-existing astigmatism in cataract patients.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Humans ; Intraoperative Period ; Middle Aged ; Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures ; methods ; Recovery of Function ; Smell ; Young Adult

12 isolates of thermoacidophilies were obtained from samples of hot springs of Southern China's Guangdong and Yunna provinces. All isolates are heterotrophic. Cells are rods, Gram positive or variable. The optimal pH and temperature for growth are 3.5-5.5 and 43℃-52℃, respectively. Based on their morphological physiological properties and their 16S rDNA sequences, they were identified as members of Alicyclobacillus.

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and therapeutic strategies of patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV)genotype 6 in Guangxi area.Methods Serum samples were collected from 150 patients with serologic HCV RNA positive in Guangxi, China. Reverse transcription nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR)was employed to amplify HCV NS5B fragments and the DNA products were sequenced.The sequences obtained were compared with the sequences deposited in GenBank to construct a phylogenetic tree.Among the patients who accomplished 48-week treatment of interferon plus ribavirin and 24-week follow-up after stopping medication,10 cases were infected with genotype 6a and 28 cases with genotype 1 HCV.The virological responses were evaluated at week 4,week 12,week 24 of treatment and week 24 after the end of the treatment.Results Among all recruited 150 cases,21 (14.0%)cases were HCV genotype 6 including two subtypes 6a (n = 20 )and 6d (n = 1 ). Genotype 6 HCV mainly affected intravenous drug users, especially with age of ≤ 40 years old. Phylogenetic tree showed that there was very close evolutionary distance between HCV 6 strains of Guangxi and Hongkong,China strains (Y12083,DQ 480515)and Vietnam strain (EU246930).All of 10 HCV genotype 6a patients who completed 48 weeks of antiviral therapy achieved sustained virological response (SVR).The rate of SVR was higher than that of genotype 1 patients,but without statistically different significance (10/10 vs 75 .0%,P >0.05).Conclusion HCV genotype 6 in Guangxi area mainly affects young intravenous drug users with age of ≤ 40 years old,which has high homology with Hongkong,China and Vietnam standard strains.Patients with HCV 6 genotype infection treated with interferon plus ribavirin for 48 weeks usually achieve favorable SVR.

Cells, Cultured ; Comet Assay ; DNA Damage ; drug effects ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; drug effects ; Male ; Micronucleus Tests ; Vincristine ; toxicity

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:In order to observe the myocardial differentiation capacity of the dedifferentiated fat ( DFAT) cells treated with vitamin C in vitro.METHODS: DFAT cells were dedifferentiated from the mature rat adipocytes with ceiling adherent culture.The DFAT cells of passage 3 were used in the study.Vitamin C and/or neonatal rat heart tissue lysate were added into the culture medium to induce myocardial differentiation for 3 weeks.The cell morphology was ob-served under microscope.The myocardial-specific markers, such as cTnT, GATA-4 and NKx2.5, were examined by the methods of immunofluorescence, PCR and Western blot.RESULTS:Mature rat adipocytes dedifferentiated into fibroblast-like DFAT cells after ceiling adherent culture.The DFAT cells spontaneously differentiated into cardiomyocyte-like cells under normal culture condition with a low incidence.After treated with neonatal rat heart cell lysate, the DFAT cells be-came cardiomyocyte-like cells that had bigger size, longer shape and myotubule-structure.The expression of cTnT, GATA-4 and NKx2.5 was remarkably increased at both mRNA and protein levels as compared with the normal cultured DFAT cells.The expression of cTnT, GATA-4 and NKx2.5 was further increased in DFAT cells after treating with vitamin C.No spontaneous beating cell was observed.CONCLUSION:Vitamin C enhances the differentiation of DFAT cells into cardio-myocyte-like cells.

AIM:To investigate the myocardial protective effect of endometrial stem cell ( EnSC)-derived cyto-kine cocktail ( EdCC) on myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury and the MEK-ERK signaling pathway.METHODS: A mouse model of myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury was established.Infarct area, cell apoptosis, and expression of cleaved caspase-3 and phosphorylatied ERK1/2 were determined by TTC/Evans blue staining, TUNEL assay and Western blot, respectively.RESULTS:The mesenchymal characteristics were observed in the EnSCs with expressing CD90 and in absence of CD34 and CD45.EdCC contained (6 811 ±312) ng/g epidermal growth factor (EGF) protein.The phospho-rylation of ERK1/2 markedly increased after injection of EdCC, but was abolished by MEK1 inhibitor PD98059 ( 5 mg/kg) .EdCC decreased the infarct area and apoptotic cell number in the border zone and inhibited caspase-3 activation. However, the effects were abolished by MEK1 specific inhibitor PD98059.EGF did not decrease the infarct area, but the EGF receptor antagonist AG-1487 (6 mg/kg) partly abolished the myocardial protective effect of EdCC.CONCLUSION:EdCC protects the myocardium from ischemic reperfusion injury via activating MEK1-ERK signaling pathway, indicating an essential role in the transmission of stem cell therapy from the cell transplantation to cytokine based strategy.

Using colon adenocarcinoma cell line HT-29 as testing material, adhesion test was carried out for 24 strains of Bifidobacteria isolated from dejecta of longevous people aged one hundred years. The results showed that all strains could adhere to colon adenocarcinoma cells HT-29, among which the strains of TTF, Z2, TZ5 and (J-1) showed higher adhesive capability. Thus these four strains of Bifidobacteria were further tested for their endurance to stomach acid and bile acid. The production of vitamin B by these bacterial were also tested. All these tests indicated that the strain of TTF has high ability to produce Vitamin B_(1), B_(2), B_(6), B_(12), The survival rate after the treatment under pH 3.0 for 120 min was 93.11%, at the same time, the strain TTF can survive after being treated with 2% bile acid for 24h.

BACKGROUND: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) as common seed cells have been widely used in tissue-engineered cartilage repair.OBJECTIVE: To use human amniotic membrane as a cell scaffold to carry rabbit BMSCs in order to repair articular cartilage defects in the femoral intercondylar fossa of rabbits.METHODS: Rabbit BMSCs were inoculated onto the human acellular amniotic membrane (HAAM) and co-cultured for 2 weeks. Articular defect models were made in the femoral intercondylar fossa of rabbits. The defects of the right knees served as blank control. BMSCs/HAAM composite was transplanted into the defect of the left knee joint as composite group, and HAAM was implanted into the defect of the left knee joint as HAAM group. These rabbits were killed at 8 and 12 weeks after implantation and the newly cartilage samples were evaluated grossly and histologically and then graded.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Gross observation showed the defects were filled with cartilaginous tissues in the composite group, and there were no cartilage tissues in the HAAM group, while only fibrous tissues were seen in the blank control group. Histologically, the defect region was full of chondrocytes in the composite group,immunohistochemistry staining indicated that collagen II was rich in the tissue, and furthermore, the cartilage matrix was stained deeply by toluidine blue. In the the HAAM group, there were few chondrocytes, toluidine blue staining was weakly positive, and immunohistochemistry staining was negative, indicating there was no cartilage matrix. In the blank control group, the defects were filled of fibroblasts and toluidine blue staining was weakly positive. To conclude, the BMSCs/HAAM is a good scaffold for BMSCs chondrogenic differentiation to effectively repair articular cartilage defects.