Objective To investigate the roles of cytokines and non-bioartificial liver in mechanism and clinical treatment of severe hepatitis.Methods Serum IL-2,IL-6,TGF?_1,TNF-?,sFas,IFN-?levels of severe hepatitis patients before and after treatment with non-bioartificial liver were detected and compared.Results Serum IL-2 and IFN-?levels in severe hepatitis group before treatment were obviously lower than those of normal control group(P

OBJECTIVETo analyze clinical features and mutations of EFEMP1 gene in a Chinese pedigree with familial dominant drusen.

METHODSClinical features of the pedigree were studied with fundus photography, fundus fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography. Molecular genetic analysis was performed on the patients and unaffected individuals from the family. All coding exons of the EFEMP1 gene were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced. The results were compared with wild-type sequences from NCBI. The proband who had suffered from choroidal neovascularization and preretinal hemorrhage received an intravitreal injection of an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) preparation.

RESULTSA heterozygous mutation C>T (R345W) was identified in exon 10 of the EFEMP1 gene in two affected individuals from the family. The same mutation was not detected in unaffected family members and 100 healthy individuals. Postoperative follow-up of the patient receiving intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF drug showed that visual acuity was improved and fundus appeared to be stable.

CONCLUSIONThe R345W mutation in EFEMP1 is responsible for the dominant drusen in this family. Intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF drug is a promising treatment for the improvement in vision.

Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Exons ; Extracellular Matrix Proteins ; genetics ; Female ; Genes, Dominant ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation, Missense ; Pedigree ; Retinal Drusen ; genetics ; metabolism ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; metabolism ; Young Adult

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety in the treatment of the visceral artery aneurysms (VAAs) by Viabahn stent graft and the detachable coils combined with Onyx embolization.Methods:A retrospective study on clinical and follow up results of 46 patients in the treatment of visceral aneurysms (VAAs) from Jun 2012 to Jun 2018 was carried out.Result:In 18 patients of VAAs treated with Vabahn endovascular stent grafting, the aneurysm cavity was completely isolated after injection of contrast and the technical success rate was 100% (18/18). In 28 patients of VAAs treated with the detachable coils combined with Onyx embolization, the aneurysm cavities of 26 patients among the 28 cases were filled tightly. In 2 patients the aneurysm neck was still visible. The average follow-up period was (36.5±2.3) months by CTA. After treating VAAs with the Viabahn stent graft, the complete isolation rate and the patency of aneurysm bearing artery were respectively 100% (18/18) and 94.4% (17/18). When VAAs was treated with the detachable coils combined with Onyx embolization, the complete isolation rate and the patency of aneurysm bearing artery were respectively 85.7% (24/28) and 92.9% (26/28) (χ 2=3.915, P=0.048), the difference of the patency of aneurysm bearing artery between the two groups was no significant difference (χ 2=0.074, P=0.786). Conclusion:VAAs treated with Viabahn endovascular stent grafting or detachable coils combined with Onyx embolization are both safe and effective.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of Fuzheng Huayu (FZHY) recipe on the fenestration of capillarization in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs).
 METHODS: Ten Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were fed with 0.46 g/kg FZHY powder by intragastric administration. Two hours later, a second gavage were given to the rats. The serum from rat heart at 1 hour after second gavage was collected (FZHY group, n=10). Another ten SD rats was administrated with distilled water through the same process and served as the control (control group, n=10). The serum from both groups were separately diluted with Dulbecco minimum essential medium (DMEM) for 10% and served as the culture medium for LSECs. At the different conditions, the vWF and CD31 expressions were detected by immunocytochemistry and Western blot, while the changes of LSECs fenestrae structure were observed under scanning electron microscopy.
 RESULTS: 1) Immunocytochemistry and Western blot showed that the vWF and CD31 protein levels were lower in LSECs in the FZHY group than those in the control group. The gray levels of vWF and CD31 protein were 0.548±0.020 and 0.262±0.010 in the FZHY group, and 0.845±0.090 and 0.383±0.010 in the control group respectively, with statistical significant difference (t=5.18, 9.61, both P<0.05). 2) The results from scanning electron microscopy showed that the fenestration of LSECs was closed and almost lost in the control group, but many fenestra appeared in the LSECs in the FZHY group.
 CONCLUSION FZHY recipe can suppress the expression of vWF and CD31, increase the fenestrae on the LSECs surface and reverse the capillarization of LSECs.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Endothelial Cells ; cytology ; drug effects ; Liver ; cytology ; Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; von Willebrand Factor ; chemistry

OBJECTIVES: Ozone is widely applied to treat allergic skin diseases such as eczema, atopic dermatitis, and contact dermatitis. However, the specific mechanism remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the effects of ozonated oil on treating 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB)-induced allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) and the underling mechanisms. METHODS: Besides the blank control (Ctrl) group, all other mice were treated with DNCB to establish an ACD-like mouse model and were randomized into following groups: a model group, a basal oil group, an ozonated oil group, a FcεRI-overexpressed plasmid (FcεRI-OE) group, and a FcεRI empty plasmid (FcεRI-NC) group. The basal oil group and the ozonated oil group were treated with basal oil and ozonated oil, respectively. The FcεRI-OE group and the FcεRI-NC group were intradermally injected 25 µg FcεRI overexpression plasmid and 25 µg FcεRI empty plasmid when treating with ozonated oil, respectively. We recorded skin lesions daily and used reflectance confocal microscope (RCM) to evaluate thickness and inflammatory changes of skin lesions. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, real-time PCR, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), and immunohistochemistry were performed to detct and analyze the skin lesions. RESULTS: Ozonated oil significantly alleviated DNCB-induced ACD-like dermatitis and reduced the expressions of IFN-γ, IL-17A, IL-1β, TNF-α, and other related inflammatory factors (all P<0.05). RNA-seq analysis revealed that ozonated oil significantly inhibited the activation of the DNCB-induced FcεRI/Syk signaling pathway, confirmed by real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry (all P<0.05). Compared with the ozonated oil group and the FcεRI-NC group, the mRNA expression levels of IFN-γ, IL-17A, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and other inflammatory genes in the FcεRI-OE group were significantly increased (all P<0.05), and the mRNA and protein expression levels of FcεRI and Syk were significantly elevated in the FcεRI-OE group as well (all P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Ozonated oil significantly improves ACD-like dermatitis and alleviated DNCB-induced ACD-like dermatitis via inhibiting the FcεRI/Syk signaling pathway.
Animals ; Mice ; Dinitrochlorobenzene/metabolism* ; Skin/metabolism* ; Cytokines/metabolism* ; Interleukin-17/metabolism* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/metabolism* ; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact/pathology* ; Dermatitis, Atopic/chemically induced* ; Signal Transduction ; RNA, Messenger/metabolism* ; Mice, Inbred BALB C