OBJECTIVETo explore the protective effects of Tibetan medicine Zuo-Mu-A Decoction (, ZMAD) on the blood parameters and myocardium of high altitude polycythemia (HAPC) model rats.

METHODSForty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups by a random number table, including the normal, model, Rhodiola rosea L. (RRL) and ZMAD groups (10 in each group). Every group was raised in Lhasa to create a HAPC model except the normal group. After modeling, rats in the RRL and the ZMAD groups were administered intragastrically with RRL (20 mL/kg) and ZMAD (7.5 mL/kg) once a day for 2 months, respectively; for the normal and the model groups, 5 mL of distilled water was administered intragastrically instead of decoction. Then routine blood and hematologic rheology parameters were taken, levels of erythropoietin and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were tested, and ultrastructural change in the left ventricular myocardium was observed using transmission electron microscopy.

RESULTSCompared with the model group, ZMAD significantly reduced the red blood cell count, hemoglobin levels, whole blood viscosity at low/middle shear rates, plasma viscosity, erythrocyte electrophoretic time, erythropoietin and 8-OHdG levels, and also increased the erythrocyte deformation index (P<0.05). There was no difference in all results between the RRL and the ZMAD groups. The cardiac muscle fibers were well-protected, mitochondrial matrix swelled mildly and ultrastructure changes were less prominent in the ZMAD group compared with the model group.

CONCLUSIONZMAD has significant protective effects on the blood parameters against HAPC, and also has the beneficial effect in protecting against myocardial injury.

OBJECTIVETo explore the value of urine gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in the screening of children at risk of inherited metabolic diseases (IMD), and to identify the disease spectrum of IMD and the clinical characteristics of children with IMD.

METHODSThe clinical data of 15 851 children at risk of IMD who underwent urine GC-MS in the Tianjin Children's Hospital between February 2012 and December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSIn the 15 851 children, 5 793 (36.55%) were detected to have metabolic disorders. A total of 117 (0.74%) children were confirmed to have IMD, including 77 cases of methylmalonic acidemia (65.8%). The clinical manifestations of confirmed cases in the neonatal period mainly included jaundice, metabolic acidosis, abnormal muscular tension, feeding difficulty, poor response, and lethargy or coma. The clinical manifestations of confirmed cases in the non-neonatal period mainly included delayed mental and motor development, metabolic acidosis, convulsion, recurrent vomiting, and anemia.

CONCLUSIONSGC-MS is an effective method for the screening for IMD in children at risk. Methylmalonic acidemia is the most common IMD. The clinical manifestations of IMD are different between the confirmed cases in the neonatal and non-neonatal periods.

Acidosis ; etiology ; Adolescent ; Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors ; complications ; diagnosis ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Developmental Disabilities ; etiology ; Female ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Metabolism, Inborn Errors ; complications ; diagnosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk

BACKGROUNDHigh intraocular pressure (IOP) and low central corneal thickness (CCT) are important validated risk factors for glaucoma, and some studies also have suggested that eyes with more deformable corneas may be in higher risk of the development and worsening of glaucoma. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the association between corneal biomechanical parameters and asymmetric visual field (VF) damage using a Corvis-ST device in patients with untreated normal tension glaucoma (NTG).

METHODSIn this observational, cross-sectional study, 44 newly diagnosed NTG patients were enrolled. Of these, 31 had asymmetric VF damage, which was defined as a 5-point difference between the eyes according to the Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study scoring system. Corneal biomechanical parameters were obtained using a Corvis-ST device, such as time from start until the first and second applanation is reached (time A1 and time A2, respectively), cord length of the first and second applanation (length A1 and length A2, respectively), corneal speed during the first and second applanation (velocity A1 and velocity A2, respectively), time from start until highest concavity is reached (time HC), maximum amplitude at the apex of highest concavity (def ampl HC), distance between the two peaks at highest concavity (peak dist HC), and central concave curvature at its highest concavity (radius HC).

RESULTSTime A1 (7.19 ± 0.28 vs. 7.37 ± 0.41 ms, P = 0.010), length A1 (1.73 [1.70-1.76] vs. 1.78 [1.76-1.79] mm, P = 0.007), length A2 (1.58 [1.46-1.70] vs. 1.84 [1.76-1.92] mm, P< 0.001), peak dist HC (3.53 [3.08-4.00] vs. 4.33 [3.92-4.74] mm, P = 0.010), and radius HC (6.20 ± 0.69 vs. 6.59 ± 1.18 mm, P = 0.032) were significantly lower in the worse eyes than in the better eyes, whereas velocity A1 and def ampl HC were significantly higher (0.156 [0.149-0.163] vs. 0.145 [0.138-0.152] m/s, P = 0.002 and 1.19 ± 0.13 vs. 1.15 ± 0.13 mm, P = 0.005, respectively). There was no significant difference in time A2, velocity A2, and time HC between the two groups. In addition, no difference was observed in IOP, CCT, and axial length. In the univariate and multivariate analyses, some of the Corvis-ST parameters, including time A1 and def ampl HC, were correlated with known risk factors for glaucoma, and there was also a significant positive correlation between def ampl HC and age.

CONCLUSIONSThere were differences in dynamic corneal response parameters but not IOP or CCT between the paired eyes of NTG patients with asymmetric VF damage. We suggest that the shape of the cornea is more easily altered in the worse eyes of asymmetric NTG patients.

Aged ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; physiology ; Cornea ; metabolism ; physiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Glaucoma ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; physiology ; Low Tension Glaucoma ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prospective Studies ; Visual Fields ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of Caspase 1 inhibitor Ac-YVAD-CMK on acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(allo-HSCT) and its mechanism.

METHODSExperiments were divided randomly into 3 groups: allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation combined with splenic cell infusion group (TS group, n=12), allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation combined with splenic cell infusion plus injection of low dose Caspase 1 inhibitor group (TS+low dose of C group, n=16) and plus high dose Caspase1 inhibitor (TS+high dose of C group, n=19). The body weight of mice in each group was dynamically detected, and the clinical manifestation of GVHD and score of aGVHD were determined, and the chimerism rate of mice was detected after transplantation for 14 days. Th1, Th2 and Th17 cells in peripheral blood were examined by flow cytometry. Peripheral proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IFN-γ, IL-1α and IL-18 were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). The tissues sections of GVHD target organs (liver, lung, colon and skin) were stained with HE for histopathologic examination and histopathologic score.

RESULTSAc-YVAD-CMK could alleviate murine aGVHD and pathological injury, decreare the incidence and severity of aGVHD in recipient mice. The detection of Th cell subsets in peripheral blood by flow cytometry showed that compared with TS group, the Th1 cell ratio in TS+low dose of C and TS+high dose of C groups was significantly reduced (P<0.05), while the Th2 and Th17 cell ratio was significantly enhanced (P<0.05) in TS+low dose of high dose of C groups. The detection of peripheral inflamematory cytokines by ELISA demonstrated that the inflammatory cytokines including IL-1β,IFN-γ,IL-18 and IL-1α were reduced significantly (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONAc-YVAD-CMK can improve aGVHD by inhibiting Caspase 1 and reducing the release of some inflammatory cytokines, thereby alleviated the aGVHD pathological damage.

BACKGROUNDAntiplatelet therapy (APT) was prevalently being used in the prevention of vascular disease, but the influence of prior APT on the prognosis of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) remains controversial. This meta-analysis was to explore the effects of prior APT on the prognosis of patients with primary ICH.

METHODSPubMed and Embase were searched to identify the eligible studies. The studies comparing the mortality of ICH patients with or without prior APT were included. The quality of these studies was evaluated by the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale. The adjusted or unadjusted odds ratio (OR) for mortality between ICH patients with and without prior APT were pooled with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) as the effect of this meta-analysis.

RESULTSTwenty-two studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and exhibited high qualities. The pooled OR was 1.37 (95% CI: 1.13-1.66, P = 0.001) for univariate analysis and 1.41 (95% CI: 1.05-1.90, P = 0.024) for multivariate analysis. The meta-regression indicated that for each 1-day increase in the time of assessment, the adjusted OR for the mortality of APT patients decreased by 0.0049 (95% CI: 0.0006-0.0091, P = 0.026) as compared to non-APT patients.

CONCLUSIONPrior APT was associated with high mortality in patients with ICH that might be attributed primarily to its strong effect on early time.

In this study, by the means of the active systemic allergy test in guinea pigs, passive skin allergy test in rats and pseudoallergic test in mice, it was determined that the "allergic reaction" of Shuxuening injection(SXNI) may not be a true IgE-mediated allergic reactions, but mainly of pseudoallergic reaction. Further pseudoallergic test proved that the pseudoallergic reactions of SXNI had difference between batches and showed dose dependence, so it was recommended to establish SXNI pseudoallergic reaction detection method for timely detecting and controlling the product risk of each batch products. In addition, as the pseudoallergic reactions of SXNI were dose-dependent, the dose and concentration of SXNI should be strictly controlled in clinical use. Then the main pseudoallergenic reaction test was conducted for the main monomer components in SXNI and the different fractions of Ginkgo biloba extract in mice, and the results showed that the sensitizing substances may mainly exist in YXY-3 fractions containing flavonol glycosides. By further chemically separating YXY-3, we got four chemical components. Among these four components, YXY-3-1 and YXY-3-2 were testified as the main allergenic components in SXNI through pseudoallergic test in mice. To make sure the specific chemical constituent that is responsible for the pseudoallergic reaction, in-depth study in follow-up experiments should be needed.

Prefrontal cortex and striatum are two major areas in the brain. Some research reports suggest that both areas are involved in many advanced cognitive processes, such as learning and memory, reward processing, and behavioral decision. Single-unit recording experiments have found that neurons in the prefrontal cortex and striatum can represent reward information, but it remains elusive whether and how local field potentials (LFPs) in the two areas encode reward information. To investigate these issues, we recorded LFPs simultaneously in the prefrontal cortex and striatum of two monkeys by performing a reward prediction task (a large amount reward vs a small amount reward). Recorded LFP signals were transformed from the time domain to the time and frequency domain using the method of short-time Fourier transform (STFT). We calculated the power in each frequency and time, and examined whether they were different in the two reward conditions. The results showed that power of LFPs in both the prefrontal cortex and striatum distinguished one reward condition from the other one. And the power in small reward trials was greater than that in large reward trials. Furthermore, it was found that the LFPs better encoded reward information in the beta band (14-30 Hz) rather than other frequency bands. Our results suggest that the LFPs in the prefrontal cortex and striatum effectively represent reward information, which would help to further understand functional roles of LFPs in reward processing.

High-throughput sequencing was performed for the peripheral blood DNA from two probands in the family with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) to determine the sequences of TSC-related genes TSC1 and TSC2 and their splicing regions and identify mutation sites. Amplification primers were designed for the mutation sites and polymerase chain reaction and Sanger sequencing were used to verify the sequences of peripheral blood DNA from the probands and their parents. The two probands had c.3981-3982 insA (p.Asp1327AspfsX87) and c.4013-4014 delCA (p.Ser1338Cysfs) heterozygous mutations, respectively, in the TSC2 gene. The parents of proband 1 had no abnormalities at these two loci; the mother of proband 2 had c.4013-4014 delCA heterozygous mutation in the TSC2 gene, while the father and the grandparents of proband 2 had no abnormalities. c.3981-3982 insA mutation may cause early coding termination of amino acid sequence at the 1413th site, and c.4013-4014 delCA mutation may cause early coding termination of amino acid sequence at the 1412th site. These two mutations are the pathogenic mutations for families 1 and 2, respectively, and both of them are novel frameshift mutations, but their association with the disease needs to be further verified by mutant protein function cell model and animal model.
Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Frameshift Mutation ; Humans ; Tuberous Sclerosis ; genetics ; Tumor Suppressor Proteins ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo explore the association of insulin resistance and β cell function with lipid metabolism in middle-aged and elderly Hui and Han populations.

METHODSA total of 1000 subjects age over 40 years were recruited from five urban communities in Yinchuan and Wuzhong cities of Ningxia. The composition ratio between Hui and Han nationality was 1:2. A questionnaire-based survey was performed. Physical examinations were carried out to measure the height, body mass, waistline, and hipline. The levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), blood uric acid (BUA), fasting blood glucose and insulin were measured. The boby mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), and secretion related index including insulin resistance index (IR), insulin sensitivity index (IAI), and beta cell function index (HBCI) were calculated.

RESULTSThe BMI, WHR, IAI, HBCI, and the prevalence rate of diabetes in Hui nationality were significantly higher than those in Han nationality (P<0.01). The levels of BUA, fasting blood glucose, TC, and IR in Han nationality were significantly lower than those in Hui nationality (P<0.01). In Hui populations, TG, BMI, WHR, and BUA were positively correlated with IR (r=0.234, r=0.193, r=0.143, and r=0.129, respectively; P<0.01) and were negatively correlated with IAI (r=-0.234, r=-0.193, r=-0.143, r=-0.129, respectively; P<0.01), whereas TC was negatively correlated with HBCI (r=-0.169, P<0.01). In Han populations, TC, TG, BMI, WHR, and BUA were positively correlated with IR (r=0.140, r=0.257, r=0.288, r=0.163, r=0.104, P<0.01) and negatively correlated with IAI (r=-0.140, r=-0.257, r=-0.288, r=-0.163, and r=-0.104, P<0.01), whereas BMI was negatively correlated with HBCI (r=-0.111, P<0.01). After the influential factors such as gender, nationality, and age were adjusted, the TC, TG, BMI, WHR, BUA levels were positively correlated with IR (r=0.109, r=0.256, r=0.253, r=0.139, and r=0.142, P<0.01) and negatively correlated with IAI (r=-0.109, r=-0.256, r=-0.253, r=-0.139, and r=-0.142, P<0.01). TC and BMI were negatively correlated with HBCI (r=-0.113, r=-0.086, P<0.01). TG and BMI were independently associated with IR and IAI (r=0.218, r=0.182, r=-0.218, r=-0.182), while TC and BMI were independently associated with HBCI (r=-0.113, r=-0.086).

CONCLUSIONSThe distributions of TC, TG, BMI, WHR, BUA, IR, IAI, and HBCI differ between Han and Hui populations. The development of insulin resistance is closely related with the increased levels of TC, TG, BMI, WHR, and BUA. However, the HBCI increases with the increased level of TC and BMI. TG and BMI may be related with insulin resistance. Also, TC and BMI may affect the secretion function of β cells.

Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Blood Glucose ; analysis ; Body Mass Index ; Cholesterol ; blood ; Ethnic Groups ; Humans ; Insulin ; blood ; Insulin Resistance ; Insulin-Secreting Cells ; cytology ; Lipid Metabolism ; Middle Aged ; Triglycerides ; blood ; Uric Acid ; blood