ObjectiveTo investigate the effect and possible mechanism of prolyl endopeptidase （PREP） on a mouse model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis （NASH） induced by high-fat diet. MethodsA total of 18 healthy male C57BL/6J mice， aged 6‍ ‍—‍ ‍8 weeks， were randomly divided into normal control group， NASH group， and NASH+rosmarinic acid （RA） group， with 6 mice in each group. The mice in the control group were fed with normal diet for 16 weeks， and those in the NASH group and the NASH+RA group were fed with high-fat diet for 16 weeks； the mice in the NASH+RA group were given the PREP inhibitor RA by gavage since week 9 at a dose of 100 mg/kg， once a day for 8 weeks. The mice were sacrificed after modeling and intervention， and each group of mice was observed in terms of serum inflammatory indicators， the concentration of triglyceride in the liver， and the changes in liver lipids/inflammation/liver fibrosis； NAFLD activity score （NAS） was calculated. Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR were used to measure the protein and mRNA expression levels of PREP， peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ （PPAR-γ）， fibroblast growth factor 21 （FGF21）， and silent information regulator 1 （SIRT1） in liver tissue. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups， while the least significant difference t-test and the Dunnett’s-T3 test were used for further comparison between two groups. The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups and further comparison between two groups. ResultsCompared with the NASH group， the NASH+RA group had significant reductions in the serum levels of interleukin-6， tumor necrosis factor-α， and triglyceride （all P<0.05）， as well as significant improvements in hepatic steatosis， hepatocyte edema， inflammatory cell infiltration， and liver tissue lesion. The NASH+RA group had a significant reduction in NAS compared with the NASH group （P<0.05）， and the NASH group had an increase in perivascular collagen fiber with occasional fiber bridging， while the NASH+RA group had a slight reduction in perivascular collagen fiber compared with the NASH group. Compared with the normal control group， the NASH group had a significant increase in collagen area percentage in the liver （P<0.05）， while the NASH+RA group had no significant reduction in collagen area percentage compared with the NASH group. Compared with the NASH group， the NASH+RA group had significant increases in the relative protein expression levels of PPAR-γ， FGF21， and SIRT1 （all P<0.05） and a significant reduction in the relative protein expression level of PREP （P<0.05）. Compared with the NASH group， the NASH+RA group had significant increases in the relative mRNA expression levels of PPAR-γ， FGF21， and SIRT1 （P<0.05） and a significant reduction in the relative mRNA expression level of PREP （P<0.05）. ConclusionPREP reduces the level of inflammation and improves NASH in mice by regulating the PPAR-γ/FGF21/SIRT1 signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVES: The interaction between elderly people with disabilities and their caregivers and the improvement of caregiver burden is important for elderly people with disabilities and their caregivers. This study aims to explore the multiple mediating roles of caregiver's caring ability and resilience in depression in the elderly people with disabilities on caregiver burden. METHODS: A total of 246 elderly people with disabilities at home and their family caregivers from 5 regions were investigated by questionnaires, including the General Information Questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Family Caregiver Task Inventory, the Resilience Scale, and the Caregiver Burden Interview. A multiple mediation model was constructed and tested. RESULTS: Univariate analysis showed that the caregiver burden of disabled elderly men is higher than that of women; the lower the level of self-care of disabled elderly individuals, the greater the burden on their caregivers (both P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that depression of the disabled elderly people was positively correlated with the caregiver burden (P<0.01). Caregiver's caring ability was positively correlated with caregiver's resilience (P<0.01), and both were negatively correlated with caregiver burden (both P<0.01). The multiple mediating effects of caregiver caring capacity and resilience between depression of the disabled elderly people and caregiver burden were significant, with the mediating effects of caregiver caring capacity and resilience accounting for 68.9% and 26.2% of the total effect, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Depression in the elderly people with disabilities can indirectly affect caregiver burden through the caregiver's caring ability and resilience. Families of older people with disabilities need to focus on both the elderly and their caregivers. It is possible to reduce the caregiver burden and improve the physical and mental health of the dyads by empowering the caregiver's caring ability and resilience.
Male ; Humans ; Female ; Aged ; Caregiver Burden ; Disabled Persons ; Caregivers ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Mental Health

Objective To investigate the differentially expressed serum proteins in patients with liver cirrhosis complicated by portal vein thrombosis (PVT) . Methods Serum samples were collected from 45 patients with liver cirrhosis who were hospitalized in Infectious Disease Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, from November 2015 to November 2016, and among these patients, 22 had PVT and 23 had no PVT. Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (i TRAQ) combined with chromatography and mass spectrometry were used to screen out the differentially expressed serum proteins, and a bioinformatics analysis was performed for the differentially expressed proteins. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between groups, and the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. The Fisher's exact test was used to compare the distribution of GO terms or KEGG pathways in the target protein set or total protein set, in order to evaluate the significance level of protein enrichment of a GO term or KEGG pathway. Results A total of 800 proteins were screened out, among which 86 were differentially expressed, including 32 upregulated proteins (ratio ≥1. 2, P ＜ 0. 05) and 54 downregulated proteins (ratio ≤0. 83, P ＜ 0. 05) . Among these proteins, 14 were associated with cellular component, 22 were involved in biochemical processes, and 10 were associated with molecular function. The KEGG analysis showed that there were significant differences in 18 proteins in 5 metabolic and signaling pathways between the liver cirrhosis-PVT group and liver cirrhosis group. These 5 metabolic and signaling pathways were associated with fat digestion and absorption, platelet activation, metabolism of glyoxylic acid and dicarboxylic acid, osteoclast differentiation, and axon guidance. Conclusion i TRAQ combined with chromatography and mass spectrometry can effectively screen out the differentially expressed serum proteins, among which GP5, FGA, and FGG may be potential biological markers for PVT in patients with liver cirrhosis and are worthy of further research.

Liver cirrhosis is a common cause of portal vein thrombosis (PVT), and the patients with liver cirrhosis complicated by PVT tend to experience complications such as intractable ascites, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and intestinal necrosis, which may lead to serious consequences and threaten the patient′s life. This article briefly overviews PVT and discusses the reasons and mechanisms of the development of PVT during liver cirrhosis, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of PVT and related controversial issues.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between blood pressure, blood glucose or blood lipids and patients with cerebral infarction (CI) or intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in diff erent age or gender. Methods: hT e case-control study consecutively recruited patients with if rst-ever-in-a-lifetime CI (n=358) and ICH (n=230) and community-acquired pneumonia (n=165) as controls between January 2010 and December 2013 at the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. hT epatients with CI or ICH were divided into the young group, the middle-aged group and the older group, and the risk factors were compared between the 3 groups. hTe patients with CI or ICH were respectively further divided into the male group and the female group. hTe blood pressure, glucose and lipids were measured. Results: Data from logistic regression models showed that CI was closely associated with high blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM) or fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (P<0.05), and ICH was closely related to high blood pressure, hypertension, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), FPG, serum creatinine (SCr) or alcohol drinking (P<0.05); hypertension was the main risk factor for stroke. hTe odds ratios for the young, the middle-aged and older group were 10.43, 4.74 and 7.39 respectively (P<0.05). Systolic blood pressure (OR=28.74) was the important risk factor for the young stroke, and the OR is 2.81 for the middle-aged stroke. Diastolic blood pressure (OR=2.96) and DM (OR=6.25) were the risk factor for the middle-aged stroke. LDL-C (OR=2.87) was a risk factor for the older stroke; the mean levels of diastolic blood pressure in males were signiifcantly increased compared with that in females with CI, while the mean levels of TC, HDL-C or LDL-C in females were signiifcantly higher than that in males with ICH (P<0.05). Conclusion: Hypertension, systolic blood pressure in particular, is the most common risk factor for young stroke patients. DM and hypertension are the risk factors for the middle-aged patients, while hypertension, DM, LDL-C and alcohol consuming are the risk factors for the aged patients.

To investigate the effects of physiological shear stress on the vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) location and expression changes associated with actin remodeling, we isolated and cultured human umbilical endothelial cells(HUVECs) with trypsin digestion. A parallel-plated flow chamber device was used to create laminar shear stress in vitro. The distributions of VASP and microfilaments in cells were observed by double staining with Alexa488 and rhodamine-phalloidin. Changes of VASP expression and phosphorylation were analyzed quantitatively with Western blot before and after exposure to shear flow for different times. We found that, under a shear stress of 10 dyn/cm2, HUVECs were elongated and oriented gradually to the flow direction. Microfilaments were recruited and oriented also to the flow direction with thicker VASP, specially targeted to their extremities. Western blotting data showed a rapid phosphorylation of VASP, and an increase of total VASP expression which peaked at 2 h (2 folds), then recovered until 8 h, followed by a slow increase again. These results suggest that VASP is a potential component which participates in the regulation of cell actin remodelling induced by shear flow.
Cell Adhesion Molecules ; biosynthesis ; Cells, Cultured ; Endothelium, Vascular ; cytology ; metabolism ; Humans ; Microfilament Proteins ; Phosphoproteins ; biosynthesis ; Stress, Mechanical ; Umbilical Veins ; cytology ; metabolism

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical significance of nuclear matrix protein 22 (NMP 22) in the detection of bladder transitional cell carcinoma (BTCC) and compare with voided urine cytology(VUC). Methods: A total of 69 cases with voided urine samples for NMP 22 and VUC test were included in this study. Thirty of them were BTCC patients(BTCC group) and twenty nine suffered from other urological diseases (nonbladder cancer group, NBC group). Ten were healthy volunteers (control group). Results: The NMP 22 values for BTCC group (67.3 U/ml) were significantly higher than that of NBC group(7.4 U/ml) and control group (4.3 U/ml)( P 0.05). NMP 22 was more sensitive than VUC in low grade BTCC(Ⅰ,Ⅱ)(62.50% vs 12.50%,P 0.05). Conclusions:Urinary NMP 22 is a useful marker for the early diagnosis of BTCC. It is more sensitive than VUC in low stage and grade BTCC.

AIM: To investigate the effects of sodium ferulate on cholesterol and triglyceride metabolism in atherosclerosis with hyperlipidemia.METHODS: The rabbit model of atherosclerosis was produced by feeding high lipid forages.RAW264.7 foam cell and HepG2 injured cell models were established by incubation with oxidized low density lipoprotein(ox-LDL).The atherosclerotic plaque area was measured,and serum lipids were detected.The cellular lipid accumulation was examined by oil red O staining.The cellular contents of total cholesterol and cholesterol ester were quantified by high performance liquid chromatography.The hepatic lipase(HL) mRNA expression was determined by RT-PCR.RESULTS:(1) Compared with hyperlipid group,the aorta atherosclerosis plaque area and the serum triglyceride level were significantly decreased in sodium ferulate-treated rabbits,but the serum cholesterol level showed little change.(2) Compared with ox-LDL group,the HL mRNA expression in HepG2 cells was enhanced significantly in sodium ferulate-treated group,but the cellular contents of total cholesterol and cholesterol ester in RAW264.7 foam cells showed little change.CONCLUSION: Sodium ferulate inhibits the formation of atherosclerotic plaque in high-cholesterol-fed rabbits aorta.This antiatherosclerotic function may reduce serum triglyceride level through enhancing the expression of HL mRNA without influencing serum cholesterol level and foam cell formation.

AIM To research synergetic analgesic effect of asarum and verapamil. METHODS Acetic acid caused body turning experiment and hot plate induced pain experiment were used to observe analgesic effect, and the influence of action potential of toad sciatic nerve was observed by nerve chamber and multi media MS 302 system. RESULTS Asarum and A V compound has remarkable analgestic effect of pain in mice induced by acetic acid and hot plate. It also inhibited action potential transmission of toad sciatic nerve. Verpamil has faint analgestic effect but was not able to inhibit action potential transmission of toad sciatic nerve. A V compound had greater effect of analgesia and inhibition of nerve action potential transmission than its components asarum and verapamil. CONCLUSION Asarum and aerapamil have analgesia synergism.