Atherosclerosis ; metabolism ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; metabolism ; Humans

Objective Investigate the effect of insomnia on cardiovascular disease factors and offer the experimental evidence for treating cardiovascular disease with traditional Chinese medicine tranquillization methods. Methods Sixteen Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups named sleep deprivation ( SD ) group and normal control check( CC) group.Body weight and electrocardiogram were recorded and serum concentrations of melatonin ( MT) , endothelin-1 (ET-1), IL-6 and TNF-αwere tested before SD and 2 days, 5 days, 7 days after SD.Results Body weight decreased in SD group while increased in CC group.Compared with CC group, body weight of SD rats decreased significantly in 5 days and 7 days after SD( P <0.05) .Compared with CC group, TNF-αincreased significantly in 5 days (P <0.05).With the time, heart rate accelerate and QTc were prolonged, MT decreased while ET-1, IL6, TNF-αincreased significantly in 7 days after SD (P <0.05).Conclusion Long term insomnia would decrease body weight and MT, while increase heart rate, QTc, ET-1 and inflammatory factors, which increase cardiovascular disease factors.It provided the experimental evidence for the study on traditional Chinese medicine tranquillization methods in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

PurposeArtifacts of metal implantation severely affect image quality of CT or MRI examination, which restricts the display of local soft tissue lesions after orthopaedic surgery. This study aims to explore the application value of ultrasound examination in local soft tissue lesions after metal implant surgery.Materials and Methods Seventy patients with metal implantation after various orthopedic surgeries received US examination, and such sonographic features were recorded as lesion morphology, size, internal echo, edge, with/without capsule and calcification, and blood flow. Moreover, the clinical and radiologic data of patients like X-ray, CT and MRI were compared with the US results so as to determine the sensitivity of ultrasonic examination.Results The peripheral nerve injury might lead to thickened swelling and echo reduction. Ultrasonography revealed 20 cases of hematoma formation, 5 cases of abscess, 5 cases of pseudoaneurysm, 3 cases of myositis ossificans, 15 cases of bone tumor recurrence and 12 cases of peripheral nerve injury in operative region. Compared with the clinical results , the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of ultrasound diagnosis of the study reached 89.4%, 75.0% and 88.6%, respectively, which were signiifcantly higher than those of X-ray, CT and MRI (χ2=78.642, 46.596 and 61.371,P<0.01). The ultrasonic results showed that most hematomas had clear boundary with homogenous echo inside to echo-free zone. Abscesses mostly displayed cystic or hybrid echo with floatable intracavitary pus spots echo, and no blood flow signal existed in the central area of color Doppler. Pseudoaneurysm in the US showed cystic mass around artery, blood flow rotating in capsule, and the typical two-stage bi-spectrum signal in the neck of capsule. Myositis ossiifcans showed intramuscular irregular hyperecho with acoustic shadow. When bone tumor recurred, US showed hypoechoic soft tissue mass with moth-eaten bone destruction, and blood flow signals within the mass were often detected.Conclusion Ultrasonography has relatively high accuracy in observing soft tissues around metal implantation, which can be used as a premier method.

AIM:To study the effect of Exendin-4 on the glucose tolerance and serum glucose level in normal animals. METHODS: The fasting blood glucose concentration was tested at 0,1,2,3,4 h and 2,4 week after the first administration of Exendin-4 (0.1, 0.3, 0.9 g/kg, 4 weeks, qd) in Wistar rats ,taking insulin as positive control. Before intragastric administration 2.5 g/kg glucose, Exendin-4 (0.2, 0.6, 1.8 g/kg) were subcutaneously injected, then the fasting blood glucose concentration was tested at 0.5, 1, 2 h after the glucose loading. After hypodermic administration of Exendin-4 (0.2, 0.6, 1.8 g/kg), half of the mice were subcutaneously administrated 2.5 g/kg glucose 15 min later, and the insulin was tested at the end of the experiment. RESULTS:Exendin-4 could not significantly change the fasting blood glucose concentration at different times. The fasting blood glucose concentration was significantly decreased after glucose loading by administration Exendin-4. Exendin-4 could increase the serum insulin concentration remarkably after glucose loading and could not change much without glucose loading. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the blood glucose regulation of Exendin-4 was related to the concentration of glucose.

Objective To investigate the dedifferentiation of neuroglial cells and its induction after optic nerve injury. Methods Adult male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups the normal control group,the injury group,the transplantation group and the microcrush and transplantation group.Optic nerves were harvested at days 3,7,14 and 28 after the operation.HE staining was used to count the number of neuroglial cells.Immunohistochemistry,Western blotting and in situ hybridization histochemistry were employed together with computerized image analysis to evaluate the expressions of Nestin,GFAP,MBP,NF,BDNF,Nogo-A and Nogo-A mRNA.Immunofluorescence double staining was used to detect the co-expression of Nestin and GFAP or Nestin and MBP. Results The number of cells only increased at day 7 after the nerve injury, the expressions of Nestin,MBP,Nogo-A and Nogo-A mRNA were up-regulated,the expressions of GFAP,NF and BDNF were down-regulated,and some Nestin-GFAP positive cells and a few of Nestin-MBP positive cells were detected in the injury group.Compared with the injury group,the number of cells was increased sometime after the nerve injury;the expressions of Nestin,GFAP,BDNF and NF were up-regulated,the expressions of MBP,Nogo-A and Nogo-A mRNA were down-regulated,and the number of Nestin-GFAP positive cells increased in the transplantation group and the microcrush and transplantation group.Conclusion After optic nerve injury,some astrocytes undergo dedifferentiation while the macroglial cells display a gene expression pattern that is unfavorable for nerve regeneration.Pre-degenerated peripheral nerves could enhance the dedifferentiation of astrocytes and induce the gene expression pattern of macroglial cells that is favorable for nerve regeneration.

The influence of short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated osteopontin (OPN) gene silencing on the proliferation and invasion of human renal cancer ACHN cells was investigated. Four types of OPN shRNA recombinant plasmids were constructed and RT-PCR assays were used to screen the most highly functional shRNA recombinant plasmids, which were transferred into the cultured ACHN cells by Lipofectamine 2000. The cells transfected by shRNA expression vectors (ACHN/OPN) were visualized under an inverted microscope and screened by G418. Untreated cells (ACHN) and cells transfected by mock vectors (ACHN/Vect) were used as control groups. The expression levels of OPN mRNA and protein were detected by real-time PCR and Western blot respectively. The cell cycle and ratios of apoptotic cells were assessed by flow cytometry. MTT method was used for drawing the growth curve and observing cell proliferation in vitro. The abilities of migration and invasion in three groups were measured by Transwell chamber test. The expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 in three groups were examined by Western blot. Our results showed that the recombinant plasmid could be successfully transferred into ACHN cells by LipofectamineTM 2000. Compared with untreated cells, the expression levels of OPN mRNA and protein in ACHN/OPN cells were decreased by 59.68% and 76.42%, respectively (P<0.05), ACHN/OPN cells were blocked in S phase and apoptotic ratio increased significantly (P<0.05), however, no significant differences were found between ACHN/Vect and ACHN. Recombinant plasmid significantly attenuated expression levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins and suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ACHN cells. This study suggested that OPN may play an important role in the growth and invasion of human renal cancer ACHN cells, and these processes are correlated with the activations of MMP-2 and MMP-9. Our data provided preliminary experimental evidence for the feasibility of RNA interference technology in gene therapy of human renal cancer.

Objective To evaluate and analyze the postoperative complications induced from the procedure for prolapse and hemorrhoids(PPH).Methods The data of the third or fourth degree hemorrhoids operated by pro- cedure for prolapse and hemorrhoids were analyzed.Results Total 224 patients with hemorrhoids were operated on by PPH,and the mean operative time was 25 minutes and mean postoperative hospital stay were 3.5 days.Postoper- ative bleeding requiring haemostatic procedures occurred in two patients.Urine retention rate was 30.36%,there were 56 eases pain scores＞5,there of re-prolapse,16 cases of residual skin tags.One case of mucocele.Conclusion The rule of PPH is individual management.

Twelve populations of Inula lineariifolia were used as materials to measure morphological characteristics, photosynthetic parameters and chemical constituents. It aims to provide a theoretical basis for germplasm resources evaluation. The results showed that I. lineariifolia had relatively rich morphological diversity, there were significant differences of morphological characteristics, photosynthetic parameters and chemical constituents among populations. There was positive correlation on morphological characteristics and P(n). Twelve populations were divided into three-type. The three populations of Xuyi, Mingguang and Fengyang were of narrower-longer leaf, bigger biomass,better photosynthetic and higher chemical constituents. Then they were classified for a similar group. It proved that the three populations were more suitable for cultivation and promotion.
Biomass ; China ; Flowers ; chemistry ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Inula ; chemistry ; classification ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Photosynthesis ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; growth & development ; metabolism

Objective This is the first study to explore clinical application value of serum Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) detection in diagnosis of heptocellular carcinoma (HCC) by magnetic solid phase chemiluminescent immunoassay.Methods The level of serum DKK-1 and AFP in 205 cases of HCC,40 cases of liver cirrhosis,and 200 cases of healthy control were quantitatively detected by Magnetic solid phase chemiluminescent immunoassay.The area under ROC curve,sensitivity and specificity of DKK-1 and AFP for diagnosing HCC were calculated.Results The serum level of DKK-1 in HCC group was significantly higher than those of the liver cirrhosis group and healthy control group (P<0.01).DKK-1 maintained diagnostic sensitivity for patients with HCC who were alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) negative (66.3%).ROC curves showed optimum diagnostic cut-off value was 2.4 ng/mL,area under curve (AUC) was 0.822 (95% CI:0.783-0.856),sensitivity 65.9%,and specificity 87.5%).Moreover,measurement of DKK1 and AFP together improved diagnostic accuracy for HCC versus all controls compared with either test alone [AUC 0.915,95%CI:0.886-0.940),sensitivity 81.5 %(P<0.05)].Conclusion Serum DKK-1 detection has an important clinical value for diagnosis of HCC,especially for HCC with AFP negative.The combined detection of serum DKK-1 and AFP can greatly increase sensitivity and accuracy for diagnosing HCC.

BackgroundPocket hematoma is one of the major complications associated with cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) implantation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of body mass index (BMI) on the occurrence of pocket hematoma after CIEDs implantation.MethodsThe study is a retrospective review of 972 patients receiving CIEDs implantation between 2008 and 2012 in a tertiary hospital.ResultsTwenty two patients (2.2%) developed severe pocket hematoma requiring re-intervention. The hematoma rate (4.6%,n = 15) of patients with a BMI of < 23 kg/m2 was significantly higher compared with that of patients with a BMI of≥23 kg/m2 (1.1%, n = 7,P< 0.001). In multivariate regression analysis, a BMI < 23.0 kg/m2 may be associated with the development of severe pocket hema-toma. An increase of 1.0 kg/m2 in BMI was associated with lower incidence of hematoma formation (OR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.74-0.95;P = 0.006).ConclusionBMI < 23 kg/m2 was associated with a higher incidence of pocket hematoma, requiring re-intervention. The data sup-port that great care must be taken when patients were with a lower BMI received CIEDs implantation.