Abstract: TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway has a wide range of biological activities and plays an important roles in regulating cell growth, adhesion, differentiation, cell dynamic balance, and immune responses. The higher activity of TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway may promote scar formation, organ fibrosis, immunosuppression, and late-stage cancer progression, while low activity may lead to inflammation, dysplasia, poor healing and oncogenesis. The function of the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway is extremely complex and can exhibit inhibitory or enhancing effects on immunity and inflammation under different circumstances, but immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects are dominant. During HIV infection, the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway interacts with HIV in a complex manner as HIV proteins tat and gp120 can induce TGF-β expression. Meanwhile, this signaling pathway may also play a role in HIV infection and replication, latent virus reservoir, host immune deficiency and HIV-related inflammation. It is worth noting that even though TGF-β, which mainly exhibits anti-inflammatory effects, is induced by HIV, high levels of TGF-β do not seem to inhibit HIV-related inflammation. So far, the relationship between TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway and HIV infection has not been elucidated, and its role and mechanism in HIV infection and related illnesses need further exploration and validation. This review summarizes the relevant research progress on the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway and HIV infection, and provides a reference for further understanding of HIV pathogenesis and exploring strategies of AIDS treatment.

Objective To evaluate anatomic hepatectomy (AH) vs lithotomy of liver parenchyma (LLP) for regional hepatolithiasis.Methods From January 2012 to June 2015,fifty-nine cases underwent LLP and 47 received AH.Clinical end-points included residual stones,infection of the raw surface of liver remnant,time to restoration of liver function,bile leakage,recurrent stones,morbidity and mortality.Results The time of liver function restoration was not statistically different between the two groups (2.96 d vs.2.82 d,P ＞0.05).Patients in AH group suffered from less residual stones (2 cases vs.13 cases,P ＜0.01),lower infection rate of the raw surface of liver remnant (1 case vs.21 cases,P ＜ 0.01),and less bile leakage rate (0 case vs.7 cases,P ＜ 0.05).With a median follow-up of 31 months (range 3-48 mon).AH group suffered from less recurrent hepatolithiasis (0 case vs.12 cases,P ＜ 0.01).There was no mortality in both groups.Conclusions Anatomic hepatectomy is a safe and effective treatment for hepatolithiasis,with a high stone clearance rate and low surgical complications.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphocyte Count ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; blood ; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer ; Young Adult

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections ; complications ; microbiology ; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; complications ; microbiology ; Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Penicillium ; pathogenicity ; Pharyngeal Neoplasms ; complications ; microbiology ; Pharynx ; microbiology ; pathology

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; diagnosis ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications ; diagnosis ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic ; diagnosis

With the development of natural products, the research activities on the solubilization methods of water-insoluble natural products have been carried out worldwide. Big molecular weight and poor solubility of most natural active ingredients lead to a very poor oral absorption and low bioavailability, which has extremely limited their development in pharmaceutical fields and clinical application. As a result, it is necessary to find out a suitable technique to improve the solubility and enhance the oral bioavailability of insoluble natural drugs. Based on the related references published in these years, this review introduced some new techniques to improve the solubility and bioavailability of natural drugs, including prodrugs, inclusion complex, solid dispersion, cocrystals, osmotic pump, liquisolid compacts, micronization, self-microemulsifying, nanosuspensions, lipsomes, polymeric micelles and so on, and summarized the theory, characteristics, application range, application examples, problems and development direction of each technique.
Administration, Oral ; Biological Availability ; Biological Products ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; pharmacokinetics ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; trends ; Solubility ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; trends ; Water

Objective To establish a nerve stem cell model possessing the potentiality of differentiating intoγ-aminobutyric acid neuron-like cells(GABAergic-like cells),and provide eligible investigative vector for study on GABAergic neurons degenerative diseases. Methods Dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate (dbcAMP)was applied to induce human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells,and the SH-SY5Y cells were divided into control group (0 mmol·L-1 dbcAMP),0.3 mmol·L-1 dbcAMP group,0.6 mmol·L-1 dbcAMP group,1.0 mmol·L-1 dbcAMP group and 2.0 mmol·L-1 dbcAMP group;the morphological changes of SH-SY5Y cells were observed.The Image-Pro Plus 5.0 software was used to measure the length of neurites of the neuron-like cells, and the percentage of the SH-SY5Y cells with neurites longer than 30 μm was calculated. The immunofluorescence cytochemistry technique was utilized to test GAD65 positive cells,and the positive rate of immune response was calculated.Results The results of light microscope observation showed that the cells in control group were polygonal,circular or shuttle type with smooth membrane and clear boundaries. With the increasing of the concentrations of dbcAMP and the prolongation of time,the morphology of SH-SY5Y cells’bodies became smaller with longer processes in dbcAMP groups.The cells interwined each other and showed mature neuron phenotype in 1.0 mmol·L-1 dbcAMP group.Compared with control group(31.4%±4.2%),the percentages of the cell with neurites longer than 30 μm in 0.3, 0.6, 1.0, and 2.0 dbcAMP groups (40.1%± 5.7%, 47.5%± 6.2%, 73.1%±3.2%,and 74.3%± 6.1%)72 h after induction were significantly increased(P<0.05 or P<0.01). Compared with control group (10.2%± 2.1%), the GAD65 positive expression rates in 0.3, 0.6, 1.0,and 2.0 mmol·L-1,dbcAMP groups(22.1%±2.4%,46.9%±3.2%,70.7%±3.4%,and 72.3%±3.7%)72 h after induction were significantly increased(P<0.05 or P<0.01).Conclusion The SH-SY5Y cells have the potentiality of differentiating into GABAergic-like cells, and 1.0 mmol · L-1 is the optimal concentration of dbcAMP.

BACKGROUND:Neural stem cel transplantation provides an important way to treat sequela of traumatic brain injury, but the timing for treatment is inconclusive.
OBJECTIVE:To explore the clinical effect of neural stem cel transplantation in the treatment of sequela of traumatic brain injury and the choice of the best treatment time.
METHODS: Totaly 178 patients with sequela of traumatic brain injury who underwent neural stem cel transplantation were divided into three groups as per the timing for neural stem cel transplantation: group A (with 6 months after injury,n=60), group B (6-12 months after injury,n=59), and group C (over 12 months after injury,n=59). Improvement in clinical symptoms and scores on function independent measure (FIM) were recorded and compared in the three groups.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The total effective rate of group A was significantly higher than that in groups B and C (P < 0.05). FIM scores were significantly improved in the three groups after cel transplantation (P < 0.05). At 3 months after the fourth transplantation, the FIM score in the group A was significantly higher than that in the other two groups, and the incidence of adverse reactions in the group A was significantly lower than that in the other two groups (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that neural stem cel transplantation at different timing can al harvest certain clinical effects, but the best timing for neural stem cel transplantation is within 6 months after injury.

We reported a simple and fast fluorescence system based on quantum dots ( QDs ) to detect glutamate dehydrogenase ( GLDH) , which inverted glutamate to α-ketogrutarate using NAD+ as a coenzyme. The fluorescence of CdTe QDs was quenched by nicotinamide adenine dimucleotide ( NAD+) through an electron transfer pathway, and the quencher NAD+ could be consumed by adding NAD+-dependent enzymes and corresponding substrates. Based on this principle we introduced GLDH to consume NAD+ in the QDs/NAD+ system, leading to the enhancement of the fluorescence intensity of QDs, which was in proportional to the amounts of GLDH added. Using this fluorescence system, we measured GLDH in a wide concentration range from 10 U/L to 1000 U/L, which was of significance in clinical diagnosis of different kinds of liver diseases.

Objective To study the clinical,pathological characteristics and diagnosis of multiple system atrophy(MSA).Methods Among 4 cases of MSA,2 of them were from clinical data,the other 2were frum pathological data.Two cases verified by autopsy were investigated using Hematoxylin-eosi,Kltiver.Barrera and Gallvas-Braak silver staining and confirmed by immunohistochemistry using ubiquitin,α-synuclein staining.Results All 4 patients were male.aged 51-76.Case No.1 wag diagnosed as Parkinson's svndrome.Case No.2 was diagnosed as spinal ataxia cerebella,and the other two eases were diagnosed as MSA.The following changes were found by pathological studies.Macroscopic atrophies were presented in pens and cerebella.as well as putamen,globus pallidus and substantia nigra.Cerebral ventricles were dilated.Neuronal lOSS and gliosis could be seen at cerebral cortex.nigrostriatal.globus pallidus,pontine nuclei,subslantia innominata,inferior olives,doral motor nucleus of vagus,cerebellum antl intermediolateral column of the spinal cord.In the white matter of these regions cytoplasmic inclusions bodies were extensively present in oligodendrocytes.Conclusions Olivopontocerebellar atrophy mainly shows the,clinical symptoms of pens,cerebellum,and autonomic nerves damage;Shy-Drager syndrome presents mainly with the erecting hypotenstion symptom,while striatonigral degeneration mainly involves extrapyramidal system.As these three diseases share the common basic pathological changes,they are preferred to be classified as the subtype of MSA.