Autoimmune diseases (AID) are characterized by autoimmune disorder, as autologous tissue is attacked by the autoimmune system. It is reported that the imbalance of autoimmune tolerance and ingrained inflammatory response are the core events of AID undoubtedly. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) which belongs to the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily is a ligand activated transcription factor. PPARγ combines with retinoid X receptor (RXR) to form heterodimer. When PPARγ is activated, the complex regulates gene expression by binding to a specific peroxisome proliferator response element (PPRE). In addition, PPARγ has diversified biological functions, playing important roles in regulating metabolism, controling inflammation, modulating glucose and lipid metabolism, ameliorating atherosclerosis, anti-tumor, and regulating immune response. However, recently researches indicate that PPARγ participates in the pathogenesis of AID. PPARγ plays key roles in regulating activation and polarization of macrophages, function of dendritic cells, proliferation and differentiation of T cells, and modulation of the function of related stromal cells. This article summarizes the biological functions and signal transduction pathways of PPARγ and the protective effects of agonists of PPARγ on AID, aiming to provide theoretical support for the research of mechanism and prevention and treatment of AID.

Objective To investigate surgical technique and clinical efficacy of Sky bone ex- pander kyphoplasty in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral body compression fractures.Methods Eighteen cases with osteoporotic vertebral body compression fractures were treated with Sky bone expander kyphoplasty from August 2004 to November 2005.Under the local anesthesia,3.5-5ml of bone cements were injected into each pathologic vertebral body through unipedicle approach after reduction procedure was done with Sky bone expander.Results The postoperative follow-up ranged from 3 to 11 months, with an average of 4.5 months.Back pain was effectively relieved after the operation in all cases.No complications occurred.Conclusion The Sky bone expander kyphoplasty has the advantages of safe- ty,easy operation,minimal invasion,effective restoration of the vertebral body height and fast relief of pain.

Objective To study the effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor benazepri1 on apoptosis and the expression of Fas and FasL in the kidney of rats with adriamycin-indued nephritic glomeruosclerosis.Methods After uninephrectomy and the injection of adriamycin induced rats model with glomerulosclerosis, benazapril(6 mg/kg) was delivered daily by gavage to the rats in therapeutic groups for 12 weeks.Apoptosis was examined by means of terminal-deoxynucleotidyl trans ferase mediated d-UTP nick end label ling(TUNEL) and immunohistochemistry was utlized to detect the expression of Fas and FasL.Software of pathological analysis quantitated the level of Fas and FasL.Results Compared with those of the control group, the kidney of model group had moresevere glomerulosclerosis, much more apoptotic cells and higher level of exprssion of Fas and FasL. The degree of glomeruloscleroais, the nuxner of apoptotic cells and the level of expression of Fas and FasL were ameliofated by benazepril treatment.Conclusion Benazepril may suppress the excessive apoptosis of kidney cell by lowering the expression of the protin correlatng apoptosis Fas and FasL,so as to postpone the process of glomeruosclerosis.

Objective To analyse 73 medical malpractice cases of pediatrics for discussing the importance of forensic pathology in solving the issues such as medical malpractice of pediatrics. Methods From January 2002 to August 2016, 73 medical malpractice cases of pediatrics with age of death between 28 days old and 10 years old were collected from Institute of Judical Expertise of Nanjing Medical University. The relationship between causes of death and related medical institutions was retrospectively analysed. Results In 73 cases, the male to female ratio was 1.70:1, and ages of 28 days old to 1 year old were com-mon (26 cases, 35.62％), followed by ages between 1 year old and 3 years old (21 cases, 28.77％). In 71 cases which had been determined the cause of death by postmortem examination, the main cause of death was disease, especially respiratory diseases (33 cases, 46.48％), followed by cardiovascular diseases (12 cases, 16.90％). In 75 medical institutes which involved with these medical malpractices, most were tertiary medical institutes (32, 42.67％), followed by the sub-secondary (excluding the secondary) medi-cal institutions (23, 30.67％). The clinical diagnosis of 38 cases (52.05％) completely or mostly corre-sponded with the pathological findings. There were 35 cases (47.95％) undefined or misdiagnosed cases. Conclusion Autopsy and forensic pathological examination contribute to determine causes of death, which not only provide scientific evidence for medical malpractice of pediatrics, but also enrich and develop clinical medical knowledge, and thus improve diagnosis and treatment level in a certain extent.

Toad venom is the Bufo bufo gargarizans or B. melanostictus after the ears of the gland secretion, used in the treatment of various cancers in recent years. Research shows that the main anti-tumor components in bufadienolide. Bufadienolide have free type structure and conjunct type structure. To identify and clarify the difference between bufogenin and bufotoxin contained in Bufonis Venenum, which was from B. bufo gargarizans, an UPLC-TQ-MS method has been established. UPLC-TQ-MS method was used to identify and quantify the major bufadienolides in Bufonis Venenum. UPLC-TQ-MS assay with positive ion mode was performed on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C, (2.1 mm x 100 mm, 1.7 µm) with the mobile phase consisting of 0. 1% aqueous formic and acidacetonitrile in gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.4 mL · min⁻¹ and the column temperature was set at 35 °C. By comparing their retention time and high resolution mass data of Bufonis Venenum extracts, 37 effective components were primarily identified by MS/MS analysis in positive ion mode. Twenty-six of them were free-type bufadienolides (bufogenin), 11 of them were conjugated bufadienolides. There were significant differences in the main composition between fresh and processed Bufonis Venenum. The study found that the chemical composition of toad venom through great changes after processing, conjunct type content is much less, free type content as well change.
Amphibian Venoms ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Animals ; Bufonidae ; classification ; metabolism ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Molecular Structure ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; methods

Today, the understanding of the sequence and structure of biologically relevant targets is growing rapidly and researchers from many disciplines, physics and computational science in particular, are making significant contributions to modern biology and drug discovery. However, it remains challenging to rationally design small molecular ligands with desired biological characteristics based on the structural information of the drug targets, which demands more accurate calculation of ligand binding free-energy. With the rapid advances in computer power and extensive efforts in algorithm development, physics-based computational chemistry approaches have played more important roles in structure-based drug design. Here we reviewed the newly developed computational chemistry methods in structure-based drug design as well as the elegant applications, including binding-site druggability assessment, large scale virtual screening of chemical database, and lead compound optimization. Importantly, here we address the current bottlenecks and propose practical solutions.
Computational Biology ; Drug Design ; Drug Discovery ; High-Throughput Screening Assays ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Molecular Dynamics Simulation ; Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship

The chemical constituents of Taxus chinensis var. mairei cell cultures were investigated by chromatographic methods, including silica gel column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 and preparative HPLC. Thirteen compounds were isolated from the 80% ethanol extract of cultured cells and their structures were elucidated by spectral data and physicochemical properties, which were identified as 2α,4α,7β,9α,10β-pentaacetoxy-14β-hydroxytax-11-ene (1), 2α,4α,7β,9α,10β-pentaacetoxytax-11-ene (2), 1β-deoxybaccatin VI (3), 2α-acetoxytaxusin (4), taxuyunnanine C (5), yunnanxane (6), 2α,5α,10β-triacetoxy-14β-propionyloxy-4 (20), 11-taxadiene (7), 2α,5α,10β-triacetoxy-14β-isobutyryloxy-4 (20), 11-taxadiene (8), 2α,5α,10β-triacetoxy-14β-(2'-methyl)butyryloxy-4 (20), 11-taxadiene (9), 13-dehydroxylbaccatin III (10), 13-dehydroxy-10-deacetylbaccatin III (11), paclitaxel (12) and (13) β-sitosterol. Among them, compound 1 is a new compound, and compounds 2, 4, 10 and 11 are isolated from the cell culture of Taxus chinensis var. mairei for the first time.
Alkenes ; analysis ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cells, Cultured ; Diterpenes ; analysis ; Molecular Structure ; Paclitaxel ; analysis ; Sitosterols ; analysis ; Taxoids ; analysis ; Taxus ; chemistry

Thirty-six healthy Sprague-Dawley male rats were used and divided randomly into a control group (group C), a medium-dose cadmium loading group (group M) and a high-dose cadmium loading group (group H). Cadmium chloride was diluted with saline to contain 0.4 mg/ml of autoclaved cadmium solution. Groups M and H were injected in the abdominal cavity with 0.5 and 1.0 mg of cadmium per kg body weight respectively, and group C with saline of the same dosage as in group H over 7 d. Six rats of each group were killed on the 4th day and 7th day after cadmium loading, respectively, and blood, testis, liver and heart were collected. Cadmium content, changes in nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were studied in blood and the tissues of testis, liver and heart. Results showed that during the entire experimental period, body weight in groups M and H decreased significantly as compared with that in group C; cadmium concentration increased significantly in testis, heart and liver of groups M and H, and rose with increased dosage and time of cadmium loading; there was no obvious difference in plasma nitric oxide between groups M and C, though nitric oxide was higher in group M than in group C. Nitric oxide in group H was significantly superior to that in group C. Plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha was markedly higher in groups M and H than in group C. Nitric oxide contents in the rat s testis, liver and heart homogenates with cadmium loading were higher than those in group C or significantly superior to group C. The same changes in tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the tissue homogenates of the testis and heart were found, but no obvious difference in tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the liver between the three groups was observed. It is suggested that the massive release of nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-alpha induced by cadmium loading may play an important role in the induction of malfunction of multiple systems or organs in rats.
Animals ; Cadmium Chloride ; pharmacokinetics ; toxicity ; Liver ; metabolism ; Male ; Multiple Organ Failure ; metabolism ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Testis ; metabolism ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism

Objective: To learn the awareness rate of adverse events following immunization ( AEFI ) among Chinese parents, so as to provide suggestions for promoting vaccination. Methods: We searched relevant articles published before 24th June, 2020 from CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, CBM, PubMed and Web of Science, calculated the pooled awareness rate and 95% confidence interval ( CI ) , conducted Egger＇s test for publication bias and sensitivity analysis for stability of results. Results: Eight articles using cross-sectional design were included after screening from 235 initial records. Among 5 433 subjects, the pooled awareness rate of AEFI was 66.76% ( 95%CI: 52.75%-78.33% ) . Non-immigrant population possessed a higher awareness rate ( 67.32% ) compared with the immigrant population ( 56.54% ) . The parents with different levels of education showed various awareness rate of AEFI ( P<0.05 ) . The awareness rates of "children should be observed for at least 30 minutes after vaccination","slight adverse effects were commonly seen after vaccination","local redness and induration might occur after diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis ( DTP ) immunization","polio vaccine might bring mild diarrhea" were 86.18%, 66.76%, 41.89% and 30.22%, respectively. Egger＇s test showed that there was no publication bias. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the results were robust. Conclusion The pooled awareness rate of AEFI among Chinese parents is 66.76%, with lower rates found in the parents who are immigrants and have lower level of education.

Autopsy ; Eye Injuries ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans