Aim To evaluate the effects of puerarin (PR) on pancreatic islet MIN6 cell injury and apopto- sis induced by palmitic acirl ( PA).Methods MIN6 cells pretreated with 2 h different concentrations of PR were then co-cultured with 120 (xmol • L"1 PA for 24 h to establish the cell injury and apoptosis model.MTT, LDH,MDA and GSH were used to determine the dam¬age of MIN6 cells.AOEB fluorescence staining was used to detect the apoptosis of MIN6 cells.Western blot was used to detect the expressions of inflammation- related protein NF-kB , apoptosis-related factors Bcl-2 and Bax.Results Compared with model group, cell viability and GSH activity of puerarin administration groups increased, LDH and MDA contents decreased.the protein expressions of p-NF-KB and Bax were down-regulated, and the protein expressions of Bcl-2 were up-regulated (P <0.05).Conclusions Puerar- in ean improve the function of pancreatic islet cells by inhibiting apoptosis and inflammation, and ameliorate pancreatic islet MIN6 cell injury and apoptosis induced by palmitic acid-induced, alleviate MIN6 cell injury in¬duced by inflammatory factors, which may be achieved by down-regulating the expression of p-NF-KB and Bax proteins,and up-regulating the expression of Bcl-2 pro¬tein.

BACKGROUND: Compared to adult studies, studies which involve the treatment of pediatric congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) are limited and no universal treatment regimen is available. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)/human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) therapy for treating male adolescents with CHH. METHODS: Male adolescent CHH patients were treated with hCG/hMG (n = 20) or a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) pump (n = 21). The treatment was divided into a study phase (0-3 months) and a follow-up phase (3-12 months). The testicular volume (TV), penile length (PL), penis diameter (PD), and sex hormone levels were compared between the two groups. The TV and other indicators between the groups were analyzed using a t-test (equal variance) or a rank sum test (unequal variance). RESULTS: Before treatment, there was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of the biochemistry, hormones, and other demographic indicators. After 3 months of treatment, the TV of the hCG/hMG and GnRH groups increased to 5.1 ± 2.3 mL and 4.1 ± 1.8 mL, respectively; however, the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05, t = 1.394). The PL reached 6.9 ± 1.8 cm and 5.1 ± 1.6 cm (P < 0.05, t = 3.083), the PD reached 2.4 ± 0.5 cm and 2.0 ± 0.6 cm (P < 0.05, t = 2.224), respectively, in the two groups. At the end of 6 months of treatment, biomarkers were in normal range in the two groups. Compared with the GnRH group, the testosterone (T) level and growth of PL and PD were significantly greater in the hCG/hMG group (all P < 0.05). While the TV of both groups increased, the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05, t = 0.314). After 9 to 12 months of treatment, the T level was higher in the hCG/hMG group. Other parameters did not exhibit a statistical difference. CONCLUSIONS: The hCG/hMG regimen is feasible and effective for treating male adolescents with CHH. The initial 3 months of treatment may be a window to optimally observe the strongest effects of therapy. Furthermore, results from the extended time-period showed positive outcomes at the 1-year mark; however, the long-term effectiveness, strengths, and weaknesses of the hCG/hMG regimen require further research. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02880280; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02880280.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Chorionic Gonadotropin/therapeutic use* ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Humans ; Hypogonadism/drug therapy* ; Male ; Menotropins/therapeutic use* ; Spermatogenesis ; Testosterone

Objective To evaluate the effects of antiretroviral therapy(ART)for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission(PMTCT)of acquired immune deficiency syndrome(AIDS)on the growth and development of 18-month-old children born by human immunodeficiency virus(HIV)-positive pregnant women in Lingshan County,Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,and provide scientific evidence for improving the ART medication plan for PMTCT.Methods Lingshan County,ranking the first in the HIV-epidemic counties of Guangxi,was selected as the research site.According to the design of retrospective case-control study,we assigned all the subjects into the case group and the control group:(1)The case group included the HIV-positive pregnant women who had received ART for PMTCT and their HIV-negative infants in Lingshan County from 2010 to 2017.The historical cards and PMTCT data of them were collected from the national PMTCT database.(2)The control group included the healthy pregnant women and their healthy babies born in the Lingshan Maternity and Infant Hospital in 2017,and the children's growth and development data were collected.The stunted growth in children was defined as at least one of the three main indicators of body height,body weight,and head circumference below the normal range.Results The number of HIV-positive mothers and their infants in the case group was 391 and 368,respectively,and 87.21%(341/391)and 95.38%(351/368)of mothers and infants respectively received ART medication.The HIV positive rate,mortality rate,and mother-to-child transmission rate of 18-month-old children were 1.36%(5/368),4.35%(16/368),and 2.01%(5/249),respectively.The incidence of stunted growth of 18-month-old children in the case group and the control group was 42.12%(155/368)and 23.06%(101/438),respectively,with significant difference(
Case-Control Studies ; China/epidemiology* ; Female ; Growth and Development ; HIV ; HIV Infections/prevention & control* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical/prevention & control* ; Mothers ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/drug therapy* ; Retrospective Studies

Objective To investigate the protective effects of Salvianolic acid on myocardial ischemic injury of rats from the aspect of inhibiting inflammatory reaction.Methods Sixty Sprague Dawley (SD) male rats were randomly divided into four groups (n =15per group):sham operation group,model group,experimental-high (36 mg · kg-1) group,experimental-low (18mg · kg-1) group with intraperitoneal injection dosing.Same amount of distilled water was injected to sham operation group and model group,lasting for 4 days.Myocardial ischemia model was established by coronary artery ligation of left anterior descending (LAD) branch after the last administration.Six hours after the operation,the blood of eye canthus was collected to assay the levels of creatine kinase(CK),MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in serum.The heart was collected 24 h after the operation,stained by hematoxylin eosin (HE)and checked the pathological change of the cardiac muscle tissue,assayed the cardiac troponin (cTnT),tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in serum and myeloperoxidase (MPO) was measured in myocardial tissue homogenate.Results After 6 hours' myocardial ischemia,the serum CK in sham operation group was (529.61 ± 141.93) U · L-1,CK-MB was (708.12 ±385.93) U · L-1,LDH was (330.12 ±158.38) U · L-1 and cTnT was (294.12 ±55.10)pg· mL-1 after 24 hours' myocardial ischemia.The serum CK in model group was (996.42 ± 413.42) U · L-1,CK-MB was (1346.11 ±558.30) U · L-1,LDH was (520.12 ±154.76) U · L-1and cTnT was (513.00 ±69.71)pg · mL-1after 24 hours' myocardial ischemia.The serum CK in experimental-low and experimental-high groups were (499.45 ±159.33),(514.91 ±98.82)U · L-1,CK-MB were (831.42 ±385.11),(592.10 ±206.32)U·L-1,LDH were (462.62 ±229.68),(437.72 ± 175.80)U· L-1,and cTnT were (431.12 ±106.00),(338.80 ± 76.92)pg · mL-1after 24 hours' myocardial ischemia.Compared with the sham operation group,the CK,CK-MB and LDH value in the serum of model group increased significantly (P ＜ 0.05).Compared with the model group,the salvianolic acid significantly both can decrease the CK and CK-MB in serum (P ＜ 0.05).Compared with sham operation group,the cTnT value in the serum of model group increased significantly (P ＜ 0.05).Compared with model group,high dosage of salvianolic acid could significantly decrease the cTnT value (P ＜ 0.05).After 24 hours'myocardial ischemia,the TNF-α in serum of sham operation group was (118.90 ± 17.58) pg · mL-1,the MPO in heart tissue was (32.25 ± 3.75) U · L-1.The TNF-α in serum of model group was (156.00 ± 28.24) pg · mL-1,the MPO in heart tissue was (104.83 ±22.87) U · L-1.The TNF-α in serum of experimental-low and experimental-high groups were (136.05 ± 34.00),(125.06 ± 30.13) pg · mL-1,the MPO in heart tissue were (91.70 ±21.57),(68.00 ± 18.47) U · L-1.Compared with sham operation group,the TNF-α values in the serum and the MPO value in model group increased significantly (P ＜ 0.05).Compared with model group,these values of experimental-high group decreased with significantly (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Salvianolic acid showed the protection of myocardial tissue,which also could significantly reduce the myocardial cell injury and inflammatory cell infiltration of cardiac myocytes,which could be related with the decreased levels of TNF-α and MPO.

Background:The Food and Drug Administration recently announced that the use of morcellation may cause fibroids or pelvic dissemination and metastasis of uterine sarcoma;therefore,the use of morcellation is limited in the USA.A large sample study is necessary to assess the proportion of uterine malignant tumors found in patients with laparoscopic myomectomy.Methods:A national multicenter study was performed in China.From 2002 to 2014,33,723 cases were retrospectively selected.We calculated the prevalence and recorded the clinical characteristics of the patients with malignancy after morcellation application.A total of 62 cases were finally pathologically confirmed as malignant postoperatively.Additionally,the medical records of the 62 patients were analyzed in details.Results:The proportion of postoperative malignancy after morcellation application was 0.18％ (62/33,723) for patients who underwent laparoscopic myomectomy.Nearly 62.9％ (39/62) of patients had demonstrated blood flow signals in the uterine fibroids before surgery.And,23 (37.1％) patients showed rapid growth at the final preoperative ultrasound.With respect to the pathological types,38 (61.3％) patients had detectable endometrial stromal sarcoma,13 (21.0％) had detectable uterine leiomyosarcoma,only 3 (3.2％) had detectable carcinosarcoma,and 5 (8.1％) patients with leiomyoma had an undetermined malignant potential.Conclusions:The proportion of malignancy is low after using morcellation in patients who undergo laparoscopic myomectomy.Patients with fast-growing uterine fibroids and abnormal ultrasonic tumor blood flow should be considered for malignant potential,and morcellation should be avoided.

BACKGROUNDIntraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) dates back to the 1990s and has been successfully applied in neurosurgery but they were low-field iMRI (< 1.0T). This paper reports the clinical experience with a 3T iMRI-integrated neurosurgical suite in Huashan Hospital, Shanghai, China.

METHODSFrom September 2010 through March 2012, 373 consecutive patients underwent neurological surgery under guidance with 3T iMRI. A retrospective analysis was conducted regarding clinical efficiency.

RESULTSAll surgery in the 373 patients was safe. The ratio of gross total resection for cerebral gliomas (n = 161) was increased from 55.90% to 87.58%. The ratio of benefit in extent of resection was 39.13%. One hundred and fifty eight of the 161 glioma patients accomplished follow-up at 3 months postoperatively. Twenty of 161 patients (12.42%) suffered from early motor deficit after surgery. Late motor deficit was however observed in five of 158 patients (3.16%). Twenty-one of 161 patients (13.04%) had early speech deficit and late speech deficit was only observed in six of 158 patients (3.80%). The ratio of gross total resection for pituitary adenomas (n = 49) was increased from 77.55% to 85.71%. The ratio of benefit in extent of resection was 10.2%. There were no iMRI-related adverse events even for patients who underwent awake craniotomy.

CONCLUSIONThe 3T iMRI integrated neurosurgical suite provides high-quality intraoperative structural and functional imaging for real-time tumor resection control and accurate functional preservation, resulting in an improvement in maximal safe brain surgery.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Brain Neoplasms ; surgery ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Female ; Glioma ; surgery ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neurosurgical Procedures ; methods ; Young Adult

Objective To explore the status of iodine nutrition and iodine deficiency disorders in the pasturing areas and agricultural regions in Tibet. Methods 30 families were selected respectively in pastoral Dangxiong county and agricultural Qushui county of Lasa. Drinking water and edible salt were collected for testing the iodine contents. In each type of the following populations including children aged 8-10, women of child-bearing age and male adults, 50 subjects were randomly sampled to examine their urinary iodine contents. Among them, 50 children and 50 women were randomly selected for goiter examination by palpation. Results Water iodine content was less than 2μg/L, both in pasturing area and in agricultural areas. There was no iodized salt used in the families of pasturing areas, while 90% people consumed iodized salt in agricultural areas. The median of urinary iodine in pasturing area was 50.2 μg/L, significantly lower than that of agricultural area (193.2μg/L). However, the goiter rate of children and women in pasturing area was significantly lower than that in agricultural area. Conclusion Although iodine intake of populations in pasturing area of Tibet was severely deficient, there was no epidemic of Iodine Deficiency Disorders. This phenomenon noticed by the researchers deserved further investigation.

OBJECTIVETo understand the national situation of quality and consumption of iodized salt at production and household levels.

METHODSDetailed surveillance method could be found in 'national iodized salt surveillance scheme', issued by MOH in 2004. The iodine concentrations in salt (except some special kinds of salt) were detected by direct titration with national standard of GB/T 13025.7-1999, in which the iodine content in qualified iodized salt was set as between 20 and 50 mg/kg and that in non-iodized salt was set as below 5 mg/kg.

RESULTSAt production level, the national lot qualified rate was 98.36% and all the provincial lot qualified rate of production level was over 90%. At household level, the national iodized salt coverage rate of household was 96.87% and the national qualified iodized salt coverage rate was 93.75%. 4 provinces (Tibet, Hainan, Xinjiang and Guangdong) had an iodized salt coverage rate lower than 90%. Further, the qualified iodized salt coverage rate of 5 provinces (Tibet, Hainan, Xinjiang, Guangdong and Qinghai) was below 90%. In 2006,80 counties did not conduct the iodized salt surveillance and non-iodized salt coverage rate of 185 counties was higher than 10%. In the respect of the qualified iodized salt coverage rate at household level, there were about 10 percent lagging behind the national goal that 95% of all the counties in China should achieve virtual elimination of iodine deficiency disorder before 2010.

CONCLUSIONAt national level,the lot qualified rate at production level and the iodized salt coverage rate at household level maintained comparatively well. However, at county level, there were 75 counties whose iodized salt coverage rate was below 70%.

China ; Goiter ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Iodine ; deficiency ; Population Surveillance ; Sodium Chloride, Dietary

OBJECTIVETo investigate the mechanism and factors affecting mosaicism in human preimplantation embryos by using 2 sequential rounds of fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH).

METHODSTotally 51 normal fertilized embryos, which were not suitable for embryo transfer and cryopreservation, were analyzed on day 3 after fertilization by using two sequential rounds of FISH. Chromosomes 13, 16, 18, 21, 22, X and Y were analyzed.

RESULTSAmong 51 embryos, 16 (31.4%) were mosaic, 12 (23.5%) were chaotic, and the remaining were either normal (27.5%) or non-mosaic abnormal (17.6%). The incidence of mosaic embryos was related to embryo developmental stage, for the incidence of mosaicism increased from 12.5% in embryos

CONCLUSIONMosaicism is common in human preimplantaion embryos, which may be one of the important factors affecting the success rates in IVF-ET. Most of the chromosomal abnormalities can be identified by two sequential rounds of FISH.

Aneuploidy ; Blastocyst ; Chromosomes, Human ; Embryo Transfer ; Female ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; methods ; Mosaicism ; chemically induced ; embryology ; Preimplantation Diagnosis

OBJECTIVETo make preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for female translocation carriers by analyzing first polar bodies (1PBs) with whole chromosome painting probe (WCP).

METHODSWCP was used in fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis of 1PBs for four female Robertsonian carriers presented for PGD with 45 XX, der(13;14)(q10;q10) karyotype. All the patients underwent ovarian stimulation and during 6 h after oocyte retrieval 1PBs were biopsied and WCP were used in FISH. On day 3 after fertilization embryos diagnosed as normal or balanced were transferred.

RESULTSA total of 61 oocytes were collected in 4 PGD cycles. Of the 54 matured oocytes, 50 were biopsied and 45 were fixed successfully. Results were obtained in 40 1PBs. Overall, 74.1% (40/54) oocytes were diagnosed. The fertilization rate and good embryo rate were 64.8% (35/54) and 65.7% (23/35) respectively. Two clinical pregnancies were obtained. One patient delivered a normal female baby with karyotype 46, XX in June 2006. For another patient, the fetus spontaneously aborted at 9th week of pregnancy with karyotype of 45, X confirmed by amniotic villus diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONWCP can differentiate normal, balanced and unbalanced oocytes accurately and can be used as an efficient PGD method for female carriers of translocation.

Adult ; Chromosome Painting ; methods ; Female ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Oocytes ; metabolism ; Pregnancy ; Preimplantation Diagnosis ; methods ; Translocation, Genetic ; genetics