Objective To investigate whether catalpol is the active component responsible for the Yin tonic effect of Radix Rehmanniae.Methods Young NH mice were injected with triiodothyronine to produce the hyperthyroidism model,while old mice were used as the model of natural aging.The single point radioligand binding assay was carried out to determine the ?-adrenergic receptor density and M-cholinergic receptor density.The learning ability(short term memory) was determined by the Y-maze avoidance test. Results In the ?-adrenergic receptor experiment,the densities were(15.7?5.2) and(20.9?7.2) fmol/mg protein in normal control group and in T3 control group(P

Agroinfiltration is a newly developed plant transient gene expression technique, which is simple, rapid and reproducible. It has been widely used in analyses of foreign gene expression, hypersensitive reaction, gene silencing, promoter activity and identification of new disease-resistance genes. In this paper, we describe the principle and the operation procedure of Agroinfiltration and its application in diverse aspects of plant molecular biology research. Our experiences in modification of the Agroinfiltration technique are also provided.
Agrobacterium tumefaciens ; genetics ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Plants ; genetics ; Plants, Genetically Modified ; Research Design

Objective To explore the appropriately operative chance , method, and perioperative management of coronary arterybypass grafting (CABG) in the patients with severe left main artery (LMA) stenosis with three-vessel-disease.Methods A total of296 patients with severe LMA stenosis with three-vessel-disease who underwent CABG surgery was analyzed retrospectively from 2003through 2013.Of them, 276 patients underwent conventional coronary artery bypass surgery on pump ( CCABG)and 20 patients underwentoff-pump CABG( OPCAB); 172 Patients was over 60 years old (58.1%)and 246 patients (83.10%) had concomitant diseasesincluding valve lesion, hypertension, diabetes, myocardial infarction, left ventricular aneurysm with septal defect , stroke, renal failure,and cancer.Left internal mammary artery use was in 281 patients (95.1%); and 32 patients were implanted intra-aortic ballonpump(IABP) perioperatively.Results There were 7 cases(2.36 %) death of postoperative low cardiac output , ventricular fibrillation,cerebral infarction, renal failure, and multiple organ failure, respectively.Postoperative complications were low cardiac output ,respiratory failure , ventricular fibrillation, cereboembolism, cardiac tampomade, renal failure, stroke, and multiple organ failure.Afterfollow-up 2 to 84 months, there was 3 death in which 2 death of cardiac factors.Conclusions CCABG was a safe and effectivemethod in patients with severe LMA stenosis with severe three -vessel-disease.Preoperative insertion of IABP can certainly avoid the po -tential operative risk factor and significantly decrease the mortality and morbidity .

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of patients' compliance on clinical parameters in patients with chronic periodontitis during periodontal maintenance therapy period.

METHODSChronic periodontitis patients who had completed non-surgical periodontal basic treatment were incorporated into the periodontal maintenance therapy(PMT). Clinical examination was performed in the baseline and each quarterly recall, over 3-year period. Clinical parameters including number of teeth, probing depth(PD), attachment loss(AL) level and bleeding on probing(BOP), were recorded. According to the number of PMT visit, the patients were classified into three groups:regular complier(RC); erratic complier(EC); non-complier(NC). The final parameters(three years later) were obtained by outpatient follow-up and telephone interviews. The data were calculated for the pecentage of sites with PD 4-5 mm, PD ≥ 6 mm, AL 4-5 mm, AL ≥ 6 mm, BOP, and the number of tooth loss per patient and the rates of progression of periodontitis.Statistical analyses including ANOVA test and Chi-square test were performed by SPSS 16.0 software package.

RESULTSThe percentage of clinical parameters in RC [AL 4-5 mm :(14.8 ± 5.0)%, AL ≥ 6 mm: (9.3 ± 3.1)%, BOP: (22.8 ± 4.2)%] were significantly decreased compared with that at baseline [AL 4-5 mm:(19.0 ± 6.0)%, AL ≥ 6 mm: (10.6 ± 3.1)%, BOP:(30.3 ± 5.6)%] (P < 0.01). There was significant difference between RC and NC [AL 4-5mm:(43.3 ± 1.3)%, AL ≥ 6 mm:(31.3 ± 1.7)%, BOP (91.5 ± 5.4)%] (P < 0.01), and between RC and EC[AL 4-5 mm: (18.9 ± 6.7)%, AL ≥ 6 mm: (12.6 ± 5.4)%, BOP:(38.4 ± 5.2)%] (P < 0.05). The progression rate of periodontitis [19.1% (4/21) at subject level, 0.7% (434/61 362) at site level] and tooth loss (1.0) was significantly lower in RC compared with EC and NC patients.

CONCLUSIONSRegular periodontal maintenance enables the patients with chronic periodontitis to maintain long-term efficacy.

Chronic Periodontitis ; prevention & control ; therapy ; Dental Plaque Index ; Disease Progression ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Longitudinal Studies ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Patient Compliance ; Periodontal Attachment Loss ; prevention & control ; Periodontal Index ; Recurrence

Objective To observe the role of Osterix in controlling bone volume in vertebral body and to investigate the possible mechanism .Methods X-ray radiology ,micro CT and HE staining were used to evaluate the change of bone volume in both Osterix knockout and transgenic mice .TRAP staining was used to assess the activity of osteoclasts and immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression level of RANKL .Results No obvious changes were found in Osterix transgenic mice ,while X-ray examina-tion ,micro CT and HE staining showed that the bone density and bone volume in the lumbar vertebral body increased significantly in OSX null mice 12 weeks after birth .TRAP staining showed that the number of osteoclasts decreased in OSX null mice .IHC re-vealed that the expression level of RANKL was down-regualted in OSX null mice .Conclusion Osterix play an important role in controlling bone volume of vertebral body in mice .

OBJECTIVETo investigate DNA aneuploid and P16 expression in biopsy specimens from lung cancer, and to study genetic instability and the application of flow cytometry in lung cancer pernicious degree diagnosis.

METHODSBlood cells and cancer cells in biopsy specimens were marked simultaneously with anti-CD45 and anti-P16 fluorescent antibody, and the ratio of CD45+ P16+ cells and CD4- P16+ cells was compared. DNA content in biopsy specimens from lung cancer was detected by flow cytometry.

RESULTSAmong the 74 cases of lung cancer, there are 46 cases of DNA aneuploid (62.2%). Thirty-seven cases of lung cancer expressed P16 lowly (50%). Twelve cases of lung cancer only expressed P16 lowly (16.22%), 21 cases of lung cancer only expressed DNA aneuploid (28.38%), and 25 cases not only expressed P16 lowly but also expressed DNA aneuploid (33.78%). Indexes of malign degree, such as P16 low expression or DNA aneuploid could be detected in 58 cases among the 74 cases (78.38%) by flow cytometry.

CONCLUSIONP16 low expression and DNA aneuploid are the indexes of lung cancer malign degree, and flow cytometry can be used to study genetic instability and evaluate biopsy specimens from lung cancer.

Aneuploidy ; Animals ; Biopsy ; Chromosomal Instability ; genetics ; DNA ; genetics ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Gene Dosage ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Genes, p16 ; Humans ; Leukocyte Common Antigens ; genetics ; Lung Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; genetics ; pathology ; Male ; Mice ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVETo amplify the full-length cDNA and characterize the structure and biological function of a novel expression sequence tag ST55 (GenBank Accession No. BM121646).

METHODSRapid amplification of cDNA ends was used to clone the full-length of cDNA of ST55 in this study. Then, its tissue distribution was checked by Northern blots, and the associated protein was screened by GAL 4-based yeast two-hybrid. The effect of stable transfection of the cDNA on cell proliferation was evaluated in ECV304 cells.

RESULTSA full-length 1404 bp cDNA was cloned, and it was accepted as a novel human mRNA by GenBank (No. AY074889), named endothelial-overexpressed lipopolysaccharide-associated factor 1 (EOLA1). Bioinformatic analysis found that the EOLA1 encoded 158 amino acids, 17.89 kDa protein, and mapped to chromosome Xq27.4 with 5 exons. EOLA1 expressed in different human normal tissues and cancer cell lines. Using the EOLA1 cDNA as bait, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screening of a human liver cDNA library and identified metallothionein 2A (MT2A) as associated protein. The interaction between EOLA1 and MT2A was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation experiments. Stable transfection of EOLA1 was noted to stimulate ECV304 cell proliferation (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe findings suggest that EOLA1 is a novel gene and the interaction of EOLA1 and MT2A may play an important role in cell protection in inflammation reaction.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Base Sequence ; Blotting, Northern ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Line ; Cell Proliferation ; Chromosomes, Human, X ; genetics ; Exons ; genetics ; Humans ; Immunoprecipitation ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiology ; Metallothionein ; genetics ; metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Protein Binding ; Sequence Alignment ; Two-Hybrid System Techniques

OBJECTIVETo establish a rapid, inexpensive, and simple drug susceptibility test (DST) for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) and evaluate its feasibility.

METHODWe used nitrate reductase combined with mycobacteriophage assay (PhaB-NRA) to test 49 clinical M. tb isolates of, and the results were compared with those of PhaB-NRA and traditional absolute concentration method.

RESULTSThe sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PhaB-NRA for rifampicin were 89.1%, 91.67%, and 89.8%; on the contrary, those of isonicotinyl hydrazide were 86.21%, 90.0%, and 87.8%, respectively. The coincidence between PhaB-NRA and traditional assay were 0.746 for rifampicin and 0.750 for isonicotinyl hydrazide.

CONCLUSIONSPhaB-NRA is an inexpensive, rapid, and simple DST method. It is a promising rapid screening technique for DST of M. tb.

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; pharmacology ; Biological Assay ; methods ; Humans ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; methods ; Mycobacteriophages ; physiology ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; drug effects ; Nitrate Reductase ; metabolism ; Rifampin ; pharmacology ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between the resuscitation promoting role of resuscitation promoting factor and the initial bacteria amount of dormant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

METHODSMycobacterium tuberculosis (dormant bacteria) was cultured for 100 days, then diluted into 1 mg/ml concentration with 7H9, and further diluted into 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, 0.0625, and 0.03125 mg/ml. Twelve new tubes added with 5 ml 7H9 and divided into two groups: the first group was added with the resuscitation-promoting factor protein, and the second group as control was added with 7H9. In each group the above diluted solutions were added. The tubes were located at 37 degrees C for culture. Optical density (OD) was detected on day 15, 25, 30, and 35. From each tube 1 microl culture solution was plated on 7H11 medium for colony counting.

RESULTSOD detection showed that bacteria proliferation in each group had positive linear correlation (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), indicating that the resuscitation-promoting factor played a similiar role in solutions with different dilution concentrations. 7H11 results and the OD results show that these two detection methods in each group had linear correlation (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), indicating that these two methods showed consistent test results.

CONCLUSIONThe resuscitation-promoting factor has no effect on the resuscitation of dormant Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its initial bacteria amount.

Bacterial Proteins ; metabolism ; Cytokines ; metabolism ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; physiology ; Resuscitation

Cationic liposome is a greatly promising gene carrier. In this paper, the structure trait of cationic liposome was briefly introduced, the mechanism of cationic liposomes mediated gene delivery and the main influencing factor of transfection efficiency in the transfection process were discussed chiefly.
Cations ; chemistry ; Genetic Therapy ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Liposomes ; chemistry ; Transduction, Genetic ; Transfection