Objective To investigate the expression level of miRNA-146a (miR-146a) in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells aging and age-related macular degeneration (AMD),and discuss its regulation mechanism of AMD by repressing VEGF-A.Methods The expressions of miR-146 and VEGF-A were examined by qRT-PCR in RPE cells in mice aged 2 months,8 months,12 months,18 months or 24 months,and in RPE cells from 75 years old AMD patients.The protein level of VEGF-A was also detected by Western Blotting.Finally,the effects of overexpression of miR-146a in APRE-19 cell line on expression of VEGF-A was checked.Results MiR-146 was up-regulated to 8 times or 24 times at 18 months or 24 months aged mice,and the expression of VEGFA was down-regulated in aging RPE from 1.5 times to 0.8 times.However,the expression of miR-146 decreased to 14.5 times and VEGF-A increased in RPE cells of AMD.In cultured cells,overexpression of miR-146a inhibited the expression of VEGF-A.Conclusion Up-regulation of miR-146a in aging RPE cells and its down-regulation in AMD suggest a potential of miR-146a as molecular marker.MiR-146a overexpression inhibits the expression of VEGF-A,supporting a potential clinical treatment of miR-146 in AMD.

Functional analysis concisely summarizes and concentrates on the therapeutic characteristics and features of Chinese herbal medicine. Standardization of the terms for Chinese herbal functions not only plays a key role in modern research and development of Chinese herbal medicine, but also has far-reaching clinical applications. In this paper, a new method for standardizing the terms for Chinese herbal function was proposed. Firstly, functional targets were collected. Secondly, the pathological conditions and the mode of action of every functional target were determined by analyzing the references. Thirdly, the relationships between the pathological condition and the mode of action were determined based on Chinese medicine theory and data. This three-step approach allows for standardization of the terms for Chinese herbal functions. Promoting the standardization of Chinese medicine terms will benefit the overall clinical application of Chinese herbal medicine.

BACKGROUND:Tooth wear is the physiological change that accompanied by a person’s life, type and nature, maxil ary and mandibular occlusion status, physical status, and living environment may affect it.
OBJECTIVE:To review the occurrence and development of tooth wear, as wel as research on the morphology of wear surface.
METHODS:The PubMed database was searched by the first author for the articles from January 1952 to
December 2012. The articles on the generation of tooth wear facets, macroscopic and microscopic studies of occlusal wear facets, wear measurement method, relationship between tooth wear and oral diseases, and
application of tooth wear facets in forensic research were included. The key words were“tooth, wear, diet,
information, dentistry, anthropology”in English. A total of 59 articles were included according to the inclusion criteria for review.
RESUTLS AND CONCLUSION:With the development of wearing, some oral clinical symptoms may occur. Just as there are no same fingerprints in the world, the individual tooth wear facet is unique. Therefore, the research on occlusal wear facets has great significance for understanding the diet habits, cultural development, age and other information, as wel as for dentistry, anthropology and forensic science. The macroscopic and microscopic study of tooth wear surface can provide a large amount of individual information. The current studies on tooth wear facets cannot ful y exhibit al the implicated information, so the further studies are needed.

OBJECTIVE:To establish a HPLC method for the determination of both chloramphenicol and furacillin in compound chloramphenicol auristillae.METHODS:The determination was performed on Tianhe Kromasil C18 column,the mobile phase consisted of methanol-water(60∶40) with flow speed at 1.0ml/min,detection wavelength at 278nm,column temperature at 25℃,and sample size at 20?l.The dexamethasone was used as internal standard.RESULTS:The linear ranges for chloramphenicol and furacillin were 31.75～127?g/ml and 26.25～105?g/ml,respectively;The average recovery rates were 100.4%(RSD=0.89%) and 100.7%(RSD=1.20%),respectively.CONCLUSION:This method is simple in operation,accurate and reliable in determination results and it can be used for the quality control of compound chloramphenicol auristillae.

Biofilms are microbial communities which are enclosed within a matrix of exopolysaccharides produced by the bacteria,fungi and protozoa growing intimately on a living or inert surfaces.Further researches on bcterial biofilms formation and molecular machines,pathogenic mechanisms (especially drug resistance),detection and treatment maybe provide novel pathways to refractory infections caused by bcterial biofilms.

Glioblastoma is a malignant tumor in central nervous system, which has strong invasion, poor prognosis and short survival time. At present, the main treatment strategy of glioblastoma is surgical excision, supplemented by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However, due to incomplete resection and high recurrence rate, it is urgent to find novel therapeutic method for glioblastoma. Photodynamic therapy, as a promising non-surgical treatment, provides a new strategy for postoperative adjuvant therapy of glioblastoma. This review summarizes the mechanism and clinical application of photodynamic therapy mediated by various photosensitizers in glioblastoma, in order to provide help for the treatment of glioblastoma.

Stress cardiomyopathy is an atypical myocardial disease induced by emotional or physical stress, with the characteristic of left ventricular systolic dysfunction, transient imaging and electrocardiogram (ECG) changes. Sudden cardiac death can occur in severe cases. Clinical symptoms are likely to appear on acute myocardial infarction, but the exact pathological mechanism is unclear. In the present study, we perform a systematic review of the literature on the clinical manifestations, epidemiological characteristics, ECG, imaging and laboratory tests of stress cardiomyopathy, in order to provide the values for forensic pathology diagnosis.
Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; Stress, Psychological ; Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy/physiopathology*

OBJECTIVETo observe the correlation between constitution of yin deficiency syndrome (YDS) and polymorphism of HLA-DQA1/treatment response of Peg-lFNalpha therapy in HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, and to explore constitution of Chinese medicine (CM) in response of interferon therapy.

METHODSTotally 120 HBeAg positive CHB patients who were treated with Peg-IFNalpha were enrolled, and assigned to YDS group (59 cases) and non-YDS group (61 cases) according to classification of CM constitutions. All patients were subcutaneously injected with Peg-IFNalpha-2b (1.0 microg/kg body weight) or Peg-IFNalpha-2a (180 microg), once per week. Effective efficacy was primarily judged when complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) was obtained at month 6. Those with CR or PR completed 1 year therapeutic course. HLA-DQA1 gene types were detected by polymerase chain reaction sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP). The distribution difference of CM constitutions in patients with CR or PR and their inter-group HLA-DQA1 allele frequency were compared.

RESULTSDifferent treatment responses of Peg-IFNalpha were observed in CHB patients of two different CM constitutions. The ratio of CR + PR was 61.0% (36/59) in YDS group, obviously lower than that in NYDS group [78.7% (48/61), P < 0. 05]. Patients with CR had a lower allele frequency of HLA-DQA1 * 0501 than those with no-response [14.8% (8/54) vs. 30.6% (22/72)] with statistical difference (P < 0.05). Patients with CR had a higher allele frequency of HLA-DQA1 * 0601 than those with no-response [18.5% (10/54) vs. 5.6% (4/72)] with statistical difference (P < 0.05). The allele frequency of HLA-DQA1 * 0301 was lower in YDS group than in non-YDS group [2. 5% (3/118) vs. 9.8% (12/122)] with statistical difference (P < 0.05). The allele frequency of HLA-DQA1 * 0501 was higher in YDS group than in non-YDS group [33.9% (40/118) vs. 18.9% (23/122)] with statistical difference (P < 0.05). Yet statistical significance was lost after adjustment (Pc > 0.05 for both).

CONCLUSIONSBoth constitutions of CM and HLA-DQA1 gene polymorphism af- fect HBeAg positive CHB patients' response to Peg-INFalpha. Constitutions of YDS and HLA-DQA1 * 0501 was not favorable to response, their association needed to be further studied.

Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; Gene Frequency ; HLA-DQ alpha-Chains ; genetics ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; blood ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; therapeutic use ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Polyethylene Glycols ; therapeutic use ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Recombinant Proteins ; therapeutic use ; Remission Induction ; Yin Deficiency ; genetics

Ganglioneuroblastoma ; complications ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration ; etiology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays an important role in the proliferation, growth, invasion, and metastasis of human cancers. Moreover, β-catenin/T-cell factor 4 (TCF4) interaction regulates the transcription of the key oncogenes in Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Therefore, β-catenin/TCF4 interaction would be a promising therapeutic target for the development of highly selective anticancer agents. At present, most ongoing small-molecule inhibitors targeting β-catenin/TCF4 interaction, including PKF222-815, iCRT3/5/14, LF3, and sanguinarine, have been developed in preclinical studies for human cancer therapeutics. In this review, we summarized the research advances of up-to date inhibitors targeting β-catenin/TCF4 interaction, including the molecular structure and cellular functions of β-catenin in canonical Wnt signaling pathway. This review holds a hopeful avenue for the development of novel and highly selective Wnt inhibitors targeting β-catenin/TCF4 interaction for future anticancer strategy.