After being treated with acupuncture, some patients with idiopathic tinnitus may experience a short-term aggravation of tinnitus symptoms on the original basis. These symptoms can be gradually relieved and the overall condition fluctuates towards recovery. This phenomenon has brought some difficulties to patients and clinicians. Based on the academic view of TCM, "destroying pathogens and re-building balance", and in association with the existing understanding of acupuncture in modern medicine for tinnitus, this paper briefly discusses the mechanism and influencing factors of symptom fluctuation in patients with idiopathic tinnitus after acupuncture treatment in terms of both TCM and modern medicine, and proposes the future direction in the research of symptom fluctuation, so as to promote the recognition of clinicians and patients on symptom fluctuation and make rational use of its positive effects. Besides, it is hoped that more researchers will pay attention to symptom fluctuation and advance the exploration of it in academic field.
Humans ; Tinnitus/physiopathology* ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Male ; Female

Microglial pyroptosis and neuroinflammation have been implicated in the pathogenesis of sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE). OGT-mediated O-GlcNAcylation is involved in neurodevelopment and injury. However, its regulatory function in microglial pyroptosis and involvement in SAE remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that OGT deficiency augmented microglial pyroptosis and exacerbated secondary neuronal injury. Furthermore, OGT inhibition impaired cognitive function in healthy mice and accelerated the progression in SAE mice. Mechanistically, OGT-mediated O-GlcNAcylation of ATF2 at Ser44 inhibited its phosphorylation and nuclear translocation, thereby amplifying NLRP3 inflammasome activation and promoting inflammatory cytokine production in microglia in response to LPS/Nigericin stimulation. In conclusion, this study uncovers the critical role of OGT-mediated O-GlcNAcylation in modulating microglial activity through the regulation of ATF2 and thus protects against SAE progression.
Animals ; Microglia/metabolism* ; Pyroptosis/physiology* ; Mice ; Sepsis-Associated Encephalopathy/prevention & control* ; Activating Transcription Factor 2/metabolism* ; N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases/genetics* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Male ; Mice, Knockout

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous lung condition characterized by persistent airflow obstruction caused by long-term airway inflammation or alveolar abnormalities, often manifested as chronic respiratory symptoms and decreased lung function. In recent years, experimental research has shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and repairing properties of lung epithelial cells, which can be used to treat various diseases including COPD. This article is mainly based on the main findings of in vitro and in vivo animal model experiments and clinical studies of MSC treatment for COPD. It summarizes and discusses the possible mechanisms of action of MSC as a new therapy, and provides new ideas for clinical treatment of COPD.

Objective:To observe and analyze the accuracy of the optic disc positioning and segmentation method of fundus images based on deep learning.Methods:The model training strategies were training and evaluating deep learning-based optic disc positioning and segmentation methods on the ORIGA dataset. A deep convolutional neural network (CNN) was built on the Caffe framework of deep learning. A sliding window was used to cut the original image of the ORIGA data set into many small pieces of pictures, and the deep CNN was used to determine whether each small piece of picture contained the complete disc structure, so as to find the area of the disc. In order to avoid the influence of blood vessels on the segmentation of the optic disc, the blood vessels in the optic disc area were removed before segmentation of the optic disc boundary. A deep network of optic disc segmentation based on image pixel classification was used to realize the segmentation of the optic disc of fundus images. The accuracy of the optic disc positioning and segmentation method was calculated based on deep learning of fundus images. Positioning accuracy=T/N, T represented the number of fundus images with correct optic disc positioning, and N represented the total number of fundus images used for positioning. The overlap error was used to compare the difference between the segmentation result of the optic disc and the actual boundary of the optic disc.Results:On the dataset from ORIGA, the accuracy of the optic disc localization can reach 99.6%, the average overlap error of optic disc segmentation was 7.1%. The calculation errors of the average cup-to-disk ratio for glaucoma images and normal images were 0.066 and 0.049, respectively. Disc segmentation of each image took an average of 10 ms.Conclusion:The algorithm can locate the disc area quickly and accurately, and can also segment the disc boundary more accurately.

Objective: To develop a comprehensive services system of integrated home care for the elderly based on Omaha System. Methods: The Omaha system was used to determine relevant indicators of the content of integrated home care services for the elderly, and identified through the Delphi expert consultation. Results: After two rounds of expert correspondence consultation, the effective recovery rate of the questionnaire was 100.00%, the authoritative coefficient of the experts was 0.872 and 0.851, the variation coefficient of the first and second indexes in the second round of expert correspondence consultation was 0.00 to 0.28, The mean importance ratings ranged from 3.80 to 5.00 on a 5-point scale, and the full score was 33.33% to 100.00%. Finally, four first-level indicators including physiological field, social-psychological field, health-related behavior field, environmental field and other fields were established, as well as 43 second-level indicators. Conclusions The indicators related to the services system of integrated home care services for the elderly based on Omaha system are reliable and scientific, which can provide reference basis for further understanding the needs of the elderly of integrated home care services, improving the quality of medical care and old-age care services for the elderly.

To investigate the effect of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) on JAK2-STAT3 pathway and the growth of gastric cancer cell lines at different GHR expression status, the eukaryotic expression vector targeting human GHR (pGPU6/GFP/Neo-shGHR and pGPU6/GFP/Neo-scramble) was constructed and transfected into MGC803 cells by Lipofectamine 2000. Stable expressive cell lines were obtained by G418 screening. The expression of GHR was analyzed by Western blotting. After being stimulated with rhGH, cell growth was detected by MTT assay. Cell cycle and apoptosis were examined by flow cytometry. The components of JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway were detected by Western blotting. There is no significant difference of GHR expression between MGC803 and pGPU6/GFP/Neo-scramble-transfected cells (named as MGC803-NC) (P > 0.05). Compared with MGC803, the GHR expression in pGPU6/GFP/Neo-shGHR-transfected cells (named as MGC803-shGHR) decreased significantly (protein decreased 50%). The cells were treated with rhGH at 0, 150 and 300 ng x mL(-1), the growth rate of MGC803 and MGC803-NC increased significantly, PI and the number of G2/M phase cells all increased significantly, and apoptosis decreased significantly. Western blotting revealed that the expression of pJAK2 and pSTAT3 was up-regulated after being treated with rhGH in MGC803 and MGC803-NC cells. In contrast, similar change was not observed in MGC803-shGHR cells. Knockdown of GHR gene may decrease the sensitivity of gastric cancer cells to rhGH, and down-regulating of components of the expression of JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway may be the potential mechanisms.

Objective To investigate the differences of protein and mRNA expression of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) in osteoclasts (OC) and osteoclast-like cells (OLC) obtained by mechanical and inducement methods. Methods Mechanical separation method was used to separate mature osteoclasts from long bones of SD rats aged one-day;and inducement culture method was applied to induce OLC by using RANKL (100 ng/mL) and M-CSF (100 ng/mL) . The protein expression of MMP-9 was measured by immunocytochemistry and mRNA expression of MMP-9 was assayed by in situ hybridization. Results The integral optical density (IOD) and average optical density (AOD) of positive cells in the visual field were higher in the 12-d group of inducement method as compared with the 3 d-group of mechanical method. Conclusions It is suggested that the protein and mRNA expression of MMP-9 in OLC obtained by 12 d inducement method is much high than in OC obtained by 3 d mechanical method. OLC obtained by inducement method can be applied in the study of osteoporosis.

Worldwide sales of biologic drugs exceeded 100 billion USD in 2011. About 32% is from therapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb). With many blockbuster biopharmaceutical patents expiring over the next decade, there is a great opportunity for biosimilar to enter the worldwide especially emerging market. Both European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have introduced regulatory frameworks for the potential approval of biosimilar mAb therapeutics. Rather than providing a highly abbreviated path, as in the case for small molecule chemical drug, approval for biosimilar mAb will require clinical trial and the details will be very much on a case-by-case basis. Since mAb is the dominant category of biologic drugs, mAb will be the focus of this review. First, the United States (US) and European Union (EU) approved mAb and those in phase 3 trials will be reviewed, then strategies on how to win biosimilar competition will be reviewed.

OBJECTIVETo study luteolin-induced non-small cell lung cancer cell line A549 apoptosis and the molecular mechanism for inhibiting its cycle arrest (G2 stage).

METHODMTT assay showed that luteolin had obvious inhibitory effect on A549 and indicated the half inhibition ratio (IC50). Cell cycle and apoptosis were detected by Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining assay, Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining and flow cytometry. Western blotting assay revealed changes in cycle and apoptosis-related proteins induced by luteolin. Possible molecular mechanism was suggested by Western blotting and immunocytochemistry.

RESULTLuteolin had an obvious growth inhibitory effect on A549 cells, with IC50 of 45.2 micromol x L(-1) at 48 h. Flow cytometry showed A549 cells mainly arrested in G2 stage after being treated by luteolin, with low expressions in cyclin A, p-CDC2 and p-Rb. Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining and Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining showed that the luteolin treatment group showed a significant apoptosis rate than the non-treatment group. Western blotting found luteolin can increase phosphorylation of JNK and decrease that of NF-kappaKB (p65). Immunocytochemistry results revealed luteolin can inhibit TNF-alpha-stimulated p65 from nuclear translocation as a transcription factor and thus promoting cell apoptosis.

CONCLUSIONLuteolin can obviously induce apoptosis of human non-small cell lung cancer cell A549 possibly by increasing phosphorylation of JNK to activate mitochondria apoptosis pathway, while inhibiting NF-kappaB from nuclear translocation as a transcription factor.

Annexin A5 ; metabolism ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; metabolism ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Humans ; Luteolin ; pharmacology ; NF-kappa B ; metabolism

A recombinant plasmid pET28a-HBcAg-delta n was constructed, in which three mimic B-epitopes of HER family were inserted into the truncated HBc vector. The fusion protein expressed was purified and used to immunize BALB/c mice to induce antibody against the epitopes. Three mimic epitope genes were inserted into the sequences of amino acid residues 78 and 79 of HBcAg by overlap PCR. The PCR product was then cloned into pET28a to construct recombinant expression plasmid which was transformed to E. coli BL21 (DE3) and induced by IPTG. After purification, the fused protein designed HBHE was used to immunize BALB/c mice to detect humoral immunoresponse. The recombinant plasmid was successfully constructed by DNA sequencing analysis. A fusion protein with correct molecular mass was expressed and confirmed by SDS-PAGE. High titre antibody was elicited in the mice immunized with HBHE by indirect ELISA and Western blotting. The HBc particle vector containing three B-epitopes of HER family had been successfully prepared, purified and high titre antibody against HBHE was detected. All these data are helpful in further research of the broad-spectrum anti-tumour effect of combine polypeptide epi-position vaccine of EGFR and HER2.