Objective To explore the inflammatory effect of exosomes derived from alveolar epithelial cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the alveolar macrophages (NR8383). Methods The alveolar epithelial cells disposed with different treatments were co-cultured with alveolar macrophages by using a Transwell system separately. Alveolar epithelial cells (RLE-6TN) were randomly divided into 4 groups: normal group, LPS-stimulated group, exosome inhibitor group, and exosome inhibitor pretreatment + LPS stimulation group. NR8383 cultured alone was considered as a blank control. After the 12-h co-culture, the real-time PCR (qPCR) was performed to examine the mRNA relative expression of IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β in NR8383 cells. To further explore the role of exosomes derived from RLE-6TN on alveolar macrophages mediated inflammationary response, the experimental exosomes (exosomes derived from LPS-induced RLE-6TN) and control exosomes exosomes derived from normal RLE-6TN were extracted by gradient ultracentrifugation. Transmission electron microscopy and Western blotting analyses was performed to identify the exosomes, and qNano particle diameter analyzer was conducted to measure the particle diameter of exosomes. In vitro, NR8383 cells were divided into 3 groups which were cultured with exosomes derived from LPS-stimulated RLE-6TN at a concentration of 10 μg/mL (experimental group), exosomes derived from untreated RLE-6TN at the same concentration of 10 μg/mL (control group), and the PBS at the same volume with experimental group (PBS group), respectively for 12 h. After the treatment, the phagocytosis of NR8383 cells was observed by laser confocal microscope and the release of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in supernatants of NR8383 was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ELISA Results (1)In the co-culture experiment, the mRNA relative expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine in the LPS group was significantly increased compared with the blank control group (P<0.01), however comparing the exosome inhibitor pretreatment+LPS group with the LPS group, the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine was decreased (P<0.01). (2) The extracted exosomes were observed as circular or elliptical vesicles with a diameter of 40-100 nm under the transmission electron microscopy. Western blotting analyses showed that the extracted exosomes express the protein marker, such as CD63 and CD9; After incubation with NR8383 cells for 5 h, laser scanning confocal microscope showed that the exosomes labeled with red fluorescent were uptaken by NR8383 cells. (3)After the exosomes derived from the LPS-disposed RLE-6TN and the normal RLE-6TN cells were incubated with NR8383 cells respectively. The ELISA test showed that treated the alveolar macrophages with LPS induced alveolar epithelial secreted exosomes led to a robustly increased release of pro-inflammatory cytokine (P<0.01), but there was no significant difference between the control group and PBS group (P>0.05). Conclusions Exosomes derived from LPS-disposed alveolar epithelial cells activate the alveolar macrophage-mediated inflammatory response.

AIM To study the chemical constituents from Magnolia grandiflora L..METHODS The ethyl acetate fracion of 70％ acetone extract from M.grandiflora leaves was isolated and purified by silica,Sephadex LH-20 and MCI column,then the structures of obtained compounds were identified by spectral data.RESULTS Twelve compounds were isolated and identified as 10α-methoxyalloaromadendra-4β-ol (1),spathulenol (2),aromadendra-4β,10β-diol (3),aromadendra-4β,10α-diol (4),9-oxonerolidol (5),9-hydroxynerolidol (6),3,7-dimethylocta-1,5E-diene-3,7-diol (7),phytol (8),α-tocopherol (9),elemicin (10),syringaresinol (11),yangambin (12).CONCLUSION Compounds 1,3-6,8 are isolated from genus Magnolia for the first time,compounds 7,9,10,12 are first isolated from this plant.

OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical effect of Chinese medicine (CM) and Western medicine (WM) for controlling the recurrence of pelvic endometriosis after a conservative operation.

METHODSThe study was a multi-center, randomized, parallel controlled and prospective clinical trial. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: CM group (106 cases) and WM group (102 cases). Drugs were given to patients during 1-5 days of the first menstruation after a conservative operation in both groups. Patients with stages I and II (revised American Fertility Society) were treated for 3 months, while the patients with stages III and IV were treated for 6 months. The patients in the CM group were treated using three types of Chinese herbal medicine based on syndrome differentiation. Patients in the WM group were treated using gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-a) or gestrinone. Patients treated with GnRH-a received add-back therapy of Tibolone Tablets once a day after 4 months of treatment. Any cases of dysmenorrheal chronic pelvic pain, menstruation and any adverse reactions of patients were recorded once a month during the preoperative and postoperative periods and once every 3 months during the follow-up period. During the preoperative, postoperative and the follow-up periods, patients underwent type B ultrasonography of the pelvis and measurements of serum CA125 levels, gynecologic examination, routine evaluations of blood, urine, hepatic function (glutamate pyruvate transaminase), renal function (blood urea nitrogen) and electrocardiograms. During the follow-up period they underwent type B pelvic ultrasonography, measurement of serum CA125 levels and further gynecologic examinations. The two treatments were compared for clinical recurrence rates, pregnancy rates and the incidence of adverse reactions.

RESULTSThe incidence and timing of recurrence of endometriosis were not significantly different between the two groups. The first pregnancy achieved by the patient in the CM group was significantly earlier than that in the WM group (P <0.05). Moreover, the incidence of adverse reactions in the WM group was significantly higher than in the CM group (P <0.01).

CONCLUSIONSTreatment with Chinese herbal medicines prevented the recurrence of endometriosis after a conservative operation, improved the conception rate and showed fewer and lighter adverse reactions than did treatment with WM therapy. Treatment with Chinese herbal medicine meets the need of patients wishing to have a child following endometriosis and is an appropriate form of clinical treatment.

Adult ; Demography ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Endometriosis ; drug therapy ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Pelvis ; surgery ; Pregnancy ; Recurrence

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of Chinese medicine (CM) and Western medicine (WM) on quality of life (QOL) after conservative surgery for endometriosis.

METHODSA total of 320 patients with endometriosis were randomized into two groups by using random block design, CM group (160 cases, activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis treatment based on syndrome differentiation) and WM group (160 cases, gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist or gestrinone treatment) after conservative surgery. Treatment was given for 3-6 months (according to the revised American Fertility Society scoring system stage), and the World Health Organization QOL-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) was applied to patients before and after treatment to assess QOL.

RESULTSThere were 136 cases in the CM group and 141 cases in the WM group completing therapy. In the CM group, the use of the WHOQOL-BREF showed that the physical, psychological and environmental scores posttreatment were significantly higher than those at pre-treatment (P < 0.05), and for 12 items (pain and discomfort, energy and fatigue, sleep and rest, mobility, activities of daily living, work capacity, negative feelings, health and social care: accessibility and quality, participation in and opportunities for recreation/leisure activities, appetite, QOL score, overall health status and QOL), the difference in scores was significant (P < 0.05). In the WM group, 4 items (pain and discomfort, opportunities for acquiring new information and skills, QOL score, overall health status and QOL) had significantly different scores post-treatment compared with those at pre-treatment (P < 0.05). Before treatment, the QOL in the two groups of patients showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). After treatment, the scores for physical health in the CM group were significantly higher than those of the WM group (P < 0.05) and the scores of 4 items (mobility, activities of daily living, sexual activity, QOL score) in the CM group were significantly higher than those in the WM group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSCM and WM treatment could improve the QOL of patients with endometriosis after conservative surgery. CM treatment is more effective than WM.

Adolescent ; Adult ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Endometriosis ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; antagonists & inhibitors ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pain Measurement ; Pain, Postoperative ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Patient Satisfaction ; statistics & numerical data ; Postoperative Care ; methods ; Prospective Studies ; Quality of Life ; Reference Values ; Risk Assessment ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate the effect of pitavastatin on blood glucose in patients with hypercholesterolemia,and to investigate the efficacy of pitavastatin in diabetic patients combined with hypercholesterolemia.Method This study was a 12-week,multi-center,open-label,without parallel-group comparison,phase Ⅳ clinical trail.Results Contrasting to baseline,the prevalences at week 4 and 12 post-treatment of abnormal fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and glycosylated hemoglobin Alc (HbA1c)( FPG:14.2％ vs 14.1％ and 11.0％ ; HbA1c:14.3％ vs 15.1％ and 16.1％ ) in the safety set subjects without diabetes mellitus (DM),as well as in those with DM but not taking glucose-lowering drugs (FPG:7/7 vs 4/7 and 5/7; HbAlc:5/5 vs 4/4 and 5/5) had no significant changes (all P vaules ＞0.05).Contrasting to baseline,the levels of TC [ (6.51±0.94) mmol/L vs (5.12 ±0.93) mmol/L and (4.54 ±1.00) mmol/L],LDL-C [(4.11 ±0.79)mmol/L vs (3.02 ±0.81) mmol/L and (2.51 ±0.70)mmol/L] and TG [2.10(1.53,2.54) mmol/L vs 1.62(1.26,2.00) mmol/L and 1.35(1.10,1.86)mmol/L]at week 4 and 12 post-treatment in the per protocol set 55 subjects with DM were significantly reduced (all P values ＜ 0.05 ) ; 33.3％ of subjects at high risk and 10.0％ of subjects at very high risk had achieved a TC target value; 55.6％ of subjects at high risk and 40.0％ of subjects at very high risk had achieved a LDL-C target value.Conclusion Pitavastatin has a safe effect on blood glucose and it could be used to treat diabetic patients combined with hypercholesterolemia in China.

Objective To determine kinetics of TNF-α and miR-146a (microRNA-146a)expressions in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced NR8383 alveolar macrophages (AM) at different intervals and their relationships in order to explore regulatory effect and mechanism of miR-146a on alveolar macrophages inflammatory responses.Methods NR8383 alveolar macrophages were seeded in a 6-well plate,and stimulated with 1 μg/ml of LPS for 0 h,3 h,6 h and 12 h separately after 90 min.Cells were harvested and supernatant were collected 0 h,3 h,6 h and 12 h after incubation.The expressions of miR146a and TNF-α mRNA in cells were detected by real-time qPCR and the levels of TNF-α protein in the supematant of cells were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA ).Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between miR-146a and TNF-α mRNA.Results ①The level of TNF-α protein in the supernatant of cell was significantly increased 3 h after LPS challenge ( 359.80 ±57.54) pg/ml (P ＜0.01 ),and peaked 12 h later (729.22 ±50.40) pg/ml (P＜0.01 ) ; ②the expression of TNF-α mRNA peaked 3 h after LPS challenge (67.48 ±24.52) fold,P ＜0.01 ),and then decreased gradually; ③the expression of miR-146a mRNA increased continuously until 6 h or 12 h after LPS challenge 6 h:(5.33 ±0.81) fold,12 h:(8.21 ±1.19) fold,(P＜0.01),and it showed an upward tendency;④ the expression of miR-146a mRNA was negatively correlated with TNF-α mRNA ( r =-0.895,P ＜0.01).Conclusions The miR-146a mRNA showed a negative correlation with TNF-α mRNA present in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated alveolar macrophages,suggesting miR-146a mRNA involved in regulating the inflammatory response of alveolar macrophages.

Objective To explore the relationship and interaction of elevated fasting glucose and hypertension on cardiocerebral vascular disease.Methods 10 054 males and females were recruited for our cross-sectional study during May 2007 to August 2007.Unconditional logistic regression was used to analysis the relationship between fasting glucose and hypertension on cardiocerebral vascular disease.A product of fasting glucose and hypertension was added to the logistic regression model to evaluate the multiplicative interaction and relative excess risk of interaction(RERI),attributable proportion(AP)of interaction and synergy index(S)was applied to evaluate the additive interaction of the two factors.Bootstrap was used to calculate 95％ confidence intervals(CI)of RERI,AP and S.Results After adjusting age,gender,smoking,drinking,body mass index(BMI)and region,the product of fasting glucose and hypertension was not statistically significant,which means there was no multiplicative interaction between the two.But the additive indexes RERI,AP and S with 95％ CI of diabetes and hypertension were 0.64(0.03,1.25),0.27(0.01,O.47)and 1.83(1.02,5.13)respectively,which means significant additive interaction was shown between the two on cardiovascular disease but not no stroke.And there were no additive interaction bmtween impaired fasting glucose on cardiovascular disease or stroke.Conclusions Hypertension was independently related to cardiovascular disease and stroke in Beijing citizens,and diabetes were independently related to stroke.There was additive interaction between diabetes and hypertension on cardiovascular disease.

Objective To explore the mechanism and effect of miR-146a on alveolar macrophages and to observe the changes of miR-146a expression in the LPS-induced alveolar macrophages. Method NR8383 alveolar macrophages were divided into LPS-stimulated group and control group, and the cells of former group were treated with LPS ( 1 μg/mL) and then incubated for 3 h, 6 h and 12 h, respectively. The level of TNF-α in the supernatant of cells was assayed by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the expression of miR-146a of cells was detected by using Real-Time PCR (TaqMan probe).Statistical analysis carried out by using SPSS 13.0 software package in which One-way ANOVA and Student's t-test were used. Results Compared with control group, the levels of TNF-α in the supernatant of cells were significantly increased 3 h, 6 h and 12 h after LPS challenge (P ＜ 0.01 ). The expression of miR-146a increased 6 h and 12 h after LPS stimulation in NR8383 cells( P ＜0.01 ), and it had an upward tendency.Conclusions The expression of miR-146a in alveolar macrophages increases after LPS-stimulation. It hints miR-146a may be involved in the regulation of the inflammatory responses produced by alveolar macrophages.

Objective To investigate the relationship between marital status and prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) among Beijing residents.Methods From May to August 2007,10 054 residents were interviewed to collect demographic and biochemistry information.Generalized linear mixed model was used to determine the relationship between marital status and prevalence of PAD in terms of OR and corresponding 95％ confidence intervals.Results After adjusting the traditional risk factors including age,area,lipid,serum glucose,blood pressure,central obesity,smoking,drinking and physical activities for PAD,relationship between marital status and prevalence of PAD was found both at the female and male groups of those with 45 years or older.Compared with married men,OR and 95％ confidence interval of PAD for unmarried men were 1.56 (0.39 - 6.35 ) and 1.61 (0.77 - 3.35 ) for those with 45 years younger and older respectively,while compared with married women,OR and 95％ confidence interval of PAD for unmarried women were 0.75 ( 0.22 - 2.57 ) and 1.78 ( 1.23 - 2.58 ) for those with 45 years younger and older respectively.Significant differences ( all P ＜ 0.01 ) were found between married and unmarried women of 45 years or older in terms of age,waist circumstances,systolic blood pressure,fasting glucose,total cholesterol,low-density lipoprotein and smoking.Conclusions Peripheral arterial disease was related to marital status for women of 45 years or older among Beijing residents.Estrogen level and the distribution of other PAD risk factors might contribute to the observed finding.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the actual condition of the sexual physiological and psychological development of the high school students in Yibin in order to get a reliable basis for sexual education of the teenagers.

METHODSWith a proportion of 1% to the whole, 2,770 students were randomly selected from eight high schools in the urban and rural areas of the city. We devised a questionnaire and asked each student to fill in his or her answers presently.

RESULTSSo far as sexual physiological and psychological development was concerned, the high school students of Yibin were found rather precocious, with very little sexual knowledge and psychological endurance in sexual affairs and a relative lack of sexual education.

CONCLUSIONIt is imperative to extend the scope of puberty sexual education in high schools. Teenagers must be taught different kinds of sexual knowledge at different periods of growth as well as how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and gestation. The sexual knowledge level of the teachers must also be raised. It is a must to establish service or specialist consultation hot lines about sexual knowledge for teenagers. Parents are expected to change their traditional views and assume an active role in the joint efforts of sexual education for their children.

Adolescent ; Child ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Menarche ; Psychology, Adolescent ; Psychosexual Development ; Rural Population ; Sexual Development ; Students ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires