ObjectiveMicrotube associated protein-2 （MAP-2）， alpha-tubulin （α-tubulin）， and synaptophysin （SYP） are important proteins in neuronal signal communication. This paper observed the effects of modified Zhigancao Tang on the expression of serum α-Synuclein （α-Syn） and its oligomers， MAP-2， α-tubulin， and SYP of patients with liver and kidney deficiency of Parkinson's disease （PD）， analyzed their correlation， and evaluated the therapeutic effect of modified Zhigancao Tang in patients with liver and kidney deficiency of PD based on α-Syn transmission pathway mediated by neuronal communication in vivo. MethodsA total of 60 patients with PD who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into a treatment group （30 cases） and a control group （30 cases）. Both groups were treated on the basis of PD medicine， and the treatment group was treated with modified Zhigancao Tang. Both groups were treated for 12 weeks. The changes in UPDRS score， TCM syndrome score， and expression of serum α-Syn and its oligomers， MAP-2， α-tubulin， and SYP were observed before and after 12 weeks of treatment in each group. The correlation between the above-mentioned serum biological indexes and the levels of serum α-Syn and its oligomers was analyzed. ResultsAfter treatment， the TCM syndrome score， UPDRS score， UPDRS-Ⅱ score， and UPDRS-Ⅲ score of the treatment group were significantly decreased （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The UPDRS score， UPDRS-Ⅱ score， and UPDRS-Ⅲ scores in the treatment group were significantly decreased compared with those in the control group after treatment （P<0.05）. After treatment， the total effective rate of the control group was 63.3% （19/30）， and that of the treatment group was 86.7% （26/30）. The clinical effect of the observation group was better than the control group （Z=-2.03， P<0.05）. The total effective rate of the observation group was better than that of the control group， and the difference was statistically significant （χ²=5.136， P<0.05）. After treatment， the oligomer level of serum α-Syn and MAP-2 level in the treatment group were significantly decreased （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The levels of serum α-Syn and its oligomers， as well as α-tubulin in the treatment group， were significantly decreased compared with those in the control group after treatment （P<0.05， P<0.01）. Serum α-Syn was correlated with serum MAP-2 and α-Syn oligomer in patients with PD （P<0.05， P<0.01） but not correlated with serum SYP . Serum α-Syn oligomers of patients with PD were correlated with serum MAP-2 and α-tubulin （P<0.05， P<0.01） but not correlated with serum SYP level. Serum SYP of patients with PD was correlated with serum MAP-2 （P<0.05）. ConclusionModified Zhigancao Tang has a therapeutic effect on patients with liver and kidney deficiency of PD by inhibiting the production of α-Syn oligomers and intervening α-Syn microtubule transport pathway in vivo.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy of Zishui Bugan decoction on perimenopausal insomnia of liver-kidney deficiency type and the safety. MethodA randomized， double-blind， placebo-controlled trial was designed. To be specific， 72 patients of perimenopausal insomnia with Liver-kidney deficiency were randomized into the treatment group and the control group at the ratio of 1∶1 and they were respectively treated with Zishui Bugan decoction and placebo for 3 weeks. The Pittsburgh sleep quality index （PSQI）， modified Kupperman index， traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） syndrome score， self-rating anxiety scale （SAS） score， and self-rating depression scale （SDS） score， were compared before and after treatment to determine the clinical efficacy， with adverse effects recorded. ResultThe total effective rate for insomnia was 85.3%（29/34） in treatment group and 17.6%（6/34） in control group（Z=-5.582，P<0.01）. After treatment， PSQI score， modified Kupperman index， TCM syndrome score， and SAS score were improved in both groups （P<0.05， P<0.01）， particularly the treatment group which showed significant difference from the control group （P<0.05，P<0.01）. The safety indicators were insignificantly different between two groups before and after treatment. No related adverse effects were reported in both groups during the treatment. ConclusionZishui Bugan decoction can improve the sleep quality and alleviate the menopausal symptoms， such as depression and anxiety， which shows ideal efficacy and safety for the perimenopausal insomnia with liver-kidney deficiency type.

Knee osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, which is manifested by the deformation and degeneration of articular cartilage and the discomfort of patients with joint pain, which affects the quality of life of patients and aggravates the medical burden of society. The pathogenesis of knee osteoarthritis is very complex. This paper reviews the inflammatory factors and signal pathways involved in knee osteoarthritis. It is found that most of the inflammatory factors involved are interleukin, such as IL-1 β, IL-6, IL-15, IL-17, IL-18, and tumor necrosis factors, such as TNF-α. These inflammatory factors aggravate knee osteoarthritisby activating corresponding pathways and promoting the release of inflammatory mediators. The inflammatory signaling pathways involved in knee osteoarthritis are complex. Notch pathway, Wnt pathway, SDF-1 / CXCR4 pathway, TLRs pathway, MAPKs pathway, hippo Yap pathway, OPG-RANK-RANKL pathway and TGF-β pathway are all involved in the regulation of knee osteoarthritis, and the pathways related to inflammatory mechanism are mainly MAPKs pathway and TLRs pathway. Different signaling pathways can cause the destruction of articular cartilage, promote the apoptosis of chondrocytes, and finally lead to the further imbalance of homeostasis in the knee joint. At the same time, the activation of signal pathway can promote the release of inflammatory factors, so under the cascade reaction of inflammatory factors and signal pathway, knee osteoarthritis is aggravating.
Cartilage, Articular ; Chondrocytes ; Humans ; Interleukin-1beta ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; Quality of Life ; Signal Transduction

Age Factors ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Educational Status ; Female ; Humans ; Maternal Exposure ; Occupational Exposure ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Risk Factors ; Self Report ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution

Child ; Child Health ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Diet ; Diet Surveys ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Rural Population ; statistics & numerical data ; Vulnerable Populations ; statistics & numerical data

Objective To explore the causes of dengue fever resurgence in Guangxi, and to analyze the risk factors of dengue fever. Methods The descriptive epidemiological analysis was conduced based on the dengue fever data reported from 2006 to 2015, and the surveillance results of aedes and antibody levels in health population from 2013 to 2015 in Guangxi. Results Before 2013, dengue fever was imported from foreign country in Guangxi, accounting for 95.35％(42/45), and 75.71％of the imported cases was imported from Southeast Asia. The local outbreak of dengue fever was happened in 2014, accounted for 94.02％(849/903) of the total number of 10 years. From onset to diagnosis, Guangxi dengue fever cases need 0-70 d (median time interval is 6 d). Cases were reported year-round, but the peak season for the onset of dengue fever was from September to November, accounting for 96.46％of all cases (871/903). The number of cases reported in Nanning was the most (83.37％), followed by Wuzhou city (7.44％) and Guilin city (4.81％), and all the three cities had dengue fever outbreaks. The cases were mainly commercial service staff (27.80％) and houseworkers and unemployed people (18.16％). Results of aedes monitoring showed that the density of aedes was high in Guangxi. In more than 50％ of the monitoring seasons the breteau index (BI) stayed greater than 20. However, the antibody positive rate was only 3％ in the healthy residents of Guangxi. Conclusion The risk of dengue fever is high in Guangxi. Therefore, it is essential to emphasizing idea of prevention and control, strengthening immigration surveillance, improving diagnosis ability, enhancing public health education, and expanding monitoring range.

VisualiZation detection methods are used for determination of the concentration of unknown target by comparing the color change in the intensity or type of reaction solution by naked eye.VisualiZation detection method has some advantages such as simple and rapid operation, low detection cost, fast reaction speed, and detecting target concentration by means of naked eye.Gold nanomaterials are widely used in the construction of visual biosensors due to its unique optical properties.For example, when changing the distance or morphology of the particles, the plasmon resonance absorption peak of local surface will change accordingly.Herein, we reviewed the application of gold nanomaterials in visualiZation biosensors for the detection of target molecules, summed up the main problems of AuNP colormertic methods in the determination of actual samples, and provided an outlook of the future of gold nanoparticles-based biosensor in application development.

Objective To optimize the optimal doses of histamine and 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) in the establish-ment of guinea pigs models of itching, and to establish a new guinea pig model of itching. Methods The central composite design-response surface method was used to arrange the experiment. In the experiment different pruritus agents were hypo-dermically injection of 0. 5 mL in the depilated area, and the scratching incubation period and scratching number in 30 mi-nutes were counted after the injection. The guinea pig itching model was evaluated by observing the behavioral changes of guinea pigs and measuring the levels of histamine and interleukin-6 in the blood. Results The behavioral experiments found that the scratching frequency in the the combination group was significantly higher than the histamine group and 4-AP group (P<0. 01). The itching latency of the combination group was significantly shorter than that of the histamine group and 4-AP group (P<0. 01). Compared with the control group, the histamine concentrations of the combination group and histamine group were significantly increased ( P<0. 05 or P<0. 01 ) , and the level of the combination group was lower than that of the histamine group (P<0. 05). Compared with the control group, the serum IL-6 concentrations of histamine group, 4-AP group and combination group were significantly higher (P<0. 01 or P<0. 05), and those in the combination group were significantly higher than the histamine and 4-AP groups. Compared with the control group, pathologic examina-tion showed proliferation of inflammatory cells in all model groups, and the reaction of the combination group was more ob-vious. Conclusions The optimal conditions used in this experiment are easy to achieve and have good reproducibility in the establishment of a guinea pig model of itching.

AIMTo investigate whether AcSDKP can inhibit proliferation and collagen synthesis in cultured rat cardiac fibroblasts mediated by PDGF.

METHODSNeonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts were isolated. The cell proliferation was observed by 3H-proline incorporation assay.

RESULTSOn the culture of 0.4% FBS, PDGF stimulated cardiac fibroblasts proliferation and collagen synthesis with a dose-dependent manner at the concentrations from 1 ng/ml to 20 ng/ml, in which 10 ng/ml PDGF reached its peak. AcSDKP at the concentration from 10(-10) mol/L to 10(-8) mol/L could inhibit cardiac fibroblasts proliferation and collagen synthesis mediated by PDGF. 10(-9) mol/L AcSDKP attained its peak on inhibiting cardiac fibroblasts proliferation and collagen synthesis.

CONCLUSIONAcSDKP can inhibit proliferation and collagen synthesis in cultured rat cardiac fibroblasts mediated by PDGF.

Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Collagen ; biosynthesis ; Fibroblasts ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Myoblasts, Cardiac ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Oligopeptides ; pharmacology ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

OBJECTIVETo investigate the role of AcSDKP on collagen synthesis and degradation in cultured rat cardiac fibroblasts.

METHODSNeonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts were isolated and stimulated by PDGF. The cell proliferation was observed by (3)H-TdR incorporation assay. The synthesis of collagen was measured by (3)H-proline incorporation assay. The expression of type I and type III collagen and MMP-1 protein were measured by Western blot. The MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity was evaluated with zymography assay.

RESULTSPDGF stimulated cardiac fibroblasts proliferation with increased collagen synthesis and type I and type III collagen protein expressions as well as MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities and MMP-1 expression. AcSDKP inhibited cardiac fibroblasts proliferation induced by PDGF and reduced collagen synthesis and type I and type III collagen protein expression. AcSDKP also further up-regulated MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities and MMP-1 expression in cardiac fibroblasts induced by PDGF.

CONCLUSIONAcSDKP inhibited proliferation and collagen synthesis and up-regulated matrix metalloproteinases activity or expression induced by PDGF, which was possibly related with the effect of AcSDKP anti-fibrosis.

Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Collagen ; biosynthesis ; Fibroblasts ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 ; biosynthesis ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 ; biosynthesis ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Oligopeptides ; physiology ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar