Search

OBJECTIVE: We performed this study to investigate the effect of blood pressure control in ultra-early basal ganglia intracerebral hemorrhage. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 120 patients with ultra-early basal ganglia intracerebral hemorrhage were randomly divided into experimental group (strengthened antihypertensive) and control (normal antihypertensive). Each group consists of 60 patients, whose contractive pressure were controlled by intravenous antihypertensive drugs among 130-140 mmHg and 160-180 mmHg respectively for 24h, after 1h of beginning treatment. They were all evaluated by NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) before and after the treatment. Cranial CT, hematoma volume, hematoma enlargement, edema volume, serum matrix metalloproteinase-9 level were performed and compared between groups. RESULTS: After 24h, hematoma volume and hematoma enlargement in the experimental group was significantly lower than control (p < 0.05). After 14 days, NIHSS score in the experimental group was significantly lower than control (p < 0.05). Cerebral edema amount and serum MMP-9 level in the experimental group were significantly lower than control after 5 days and 14 days. CONCLUSIONS: Ultra-early basal ganglia intracerebral hemorrhage can remarkably reduce hematoma enlargement, cerebral edema, serum MMP-9 level, and improve the neurological function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-aid molecular docking is a simulative process that receptors and ligands recognize each other through energy matching and geometric matching. It is widely used in bioactive compounds simulative screening and preliminary exploring the bioactivity and toxicity of molecular, which plays important guiding role in toxicity and bioactivity study of molecular entities. In our study, we used the computer-aid molecular docking software-discovery studio 3.1 client to test the mechanism of aflatoxins such as aflatoxin B1, B2, M1, M2, G1, G2 and the results of our experiment help to illustrate the pathway of aflatoxin’s toxication. We also used this technology to test the preliminary toxicity of zearalenone (ZEN) and its two degradation products: a- zearalenol (a-ZOL) and ß-zearalenol (ß-ZOL), which indicates that these three products possessed significant estrogenic activity. The order of the estrogenic activity is: a-zearalenol > zearalenone >ß-zearalenol.

Aims This study aimed to investigate the ability of Cp G7909 adjuvant to enhance immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a subunit vaccine composed of ESAT6- Ag85 A fusion protein ( Pe685a) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Methods and Results ELISA was used to detect specific antibody and IFN-γ expression in sera; ELISPOT, to detect IFN-γ expression in splenocytes; MTT assay and FACS, to detect T-lymphocytes proliferation in spleens; and RT- PCR, to detect cytokines expression in lungs of mice after immunization. Bacterial load and histopathological lesions in lungs or spleens of mice challenged with Myco. tuberculosis H37 Rv strain were analysed. Compared with incomplete Freund's adjuvant, induced more potent production of Pe685a-specific Ig G2a/ Ig G1 antibody and higher expression of IFN-γ in sera, stimulated more generation of antigen-specific IFN-γ-secreting splenocytes, enhanced frequencies of CD3+ CD4+ and CD3+ CD8+ T-lymphocytes in spleen and increased transcription of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6 and TLR9 in lung. However, lower bacterial load in lung and less severe lung pathology were not observed in Cp G7909 group mice. Conclusions Cp G7909 is able to enhance immunological effects of Pe685a subunit vaccine, but does not confer significant protective efficacy against Myco. tuberculosis infection. Significance and Impact of the Study Cp G7909 as an adjuvant of subunit vaccine against Myco. tuberculosis is worthy of further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on the use of small-caliber polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) grafts in clinical situations. For this study, grafts of uncoated ePTFE and anti-CD34-coated ePTFE were implanted into the carotid artery of 12 domestic pics. The study concludes that early thrombosis impairs the patency of small-caliber ePTFE grafts for clinical use.

Background: Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) belongs to the group of lipid messengers, which plays a pivotal role in the establishment of implantation via its cellular receptor, LPA3. The aims of the present study were to characterize LPA3 mRNA and protein in human endometrium during the normal human menstrual cycle. Methods: Forty-three normally cycling volunteers without reproductive disorders were randomized to undergo endometrial sampling on a specific cycle day. Samples were assessed for relative LPA3 mRNA expression using real-time PCR and for LPA3 protein using immunohistochemistry and western blot. Results: The expression of LPA3 mRNA significantly increased during the early and late secretory phase compared with other menstrual phases. LPA3 protein was localized to the epithelial and stromal cells and expression levels followed the same pattern as for LPA3 mRNA. Conclusion: In the normal human menstrual cycle, LPA3 mRNA and protein expression also change, indicating that this gene may be related to the function of the endometrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eastern China seas are one of the largest marginal seas in the world, where high primary productivity and phytoplankton blooms are often observed. However, to date, little is known about the spatial and temporal variability of phytoplankton blooms in these areas due to the difficulty of the monitoring of bloom events by field measurement. In this study, 14-yr time series of satellite ocean color data from the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Aqua satellite have been used to investigate the seasonal and inter-annual variability and long-term changes of phytoplankton blooms in the eastern China seas. We validated and calibrated the satellite-derive chlorophyll concentration in the eastern China seas based on extensive data sets from two large cruises. Overestimation of satellite-derive chlorophyll concentration caused by high water turbidity was found to be less than 10 µg L-1. This level can be used as a safe threshold for the identification of a phytoplankton bloom in a marginal sea with turbid waters. Annually, blooms mostly occur in the Changjiang Estuary and along the coasts of Zhejiang. The coasts of the northern Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea also have high-frequency blooms. The blooms have significant seasonal variation, with most of the blooms occurring in the spring (April-June) and summer (July-September). This study revealed a doubling in bloom intensity in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea during the past 14 yr (1998-2011), yet surprisingly, there has been no decadal increase or decrease of bloom intensity in despite of significant inter-annual variation in the Changjiang Estuary. The time series in situ datasets show that both the nitrate and phosphate concentrations increase more than twofold from 1998 to 2005. This might be the reason for the doubling of bloom intensity in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea. In addition, the ENSO and PDO can affect the inter-annual variation of bloom intensity in the eastern China seas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double Nakagami-m fading model can be used to provide a realistic description of the mobile-to-mobile (M2M) channel. The moment generating function (MGF)-based approach is used to derive the symbol error probability (SEP) expressions for the multiple-mobile-relay-based M2M system. Under the consideration of better performance and lower complexity, both decode-and-forward (DF) and amplify-and-forward (AF) protocols are addressed in this study. For adaptive DF (ADF) relaying, the asymptotic SEP at high signal-to-noise ratio regime in addition to the exact SEP formulations are derived. Furthermore, the impacts of channel estimation error for the insight of non-ideal channel estimation are analysed. For fixed-gain AF (FAF) relaying, the authors present approximate SEP and asymptotic SEP to indicate the cooperative gain. For L mobile relays and under the assumption of independent and identically distributed (i.i.d) source-relay channels and i.i.d relay-destination channels, it is shown in this paper that asymptotic diversity orders of L × min(mRD,1, mRD,2) + min(mSD,1, mSD,2) and L × min(mSR,1, mSR,2, mRD,1, mRD,2) + min(mSD,1, mSD,2) can be achieved for ADF-M2M and FAF-M2M schemes, respectively. Simulations are performed to verify the analytical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context:Zinc-α2-glycoprotein (ZAG) was found to influence lipolysis in adipose tissue and has recently been proposed as a candidate factor in the regulation of body weight.Objective:To elucidate the association of serum ZAG level with body weight and percentage of body fat in normal, obese subjects and high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice.Design:The relationship between serum ZAG and obesity-related parameters was studied in 44 human subjects and 36 mice fed standard food and HFD. Furthermore, the effects of ZAG overexpression on adipose tissue of mice was also evaluated by using a liposome transfection method.Results:Serum ZAG level was significantly lower in obese patients and obese mice in comparison to that in people and mice with normal weight. The further statistical analysis demonstrated that ZAG level was negatively correlated with body weight (r=−0.62, P<0.001), body mass index (r=−0.64, P<0.001), waist circumference(r=−0.68, P<0.001), hip circumference (r=−0.60, P<0.001), percentage of body fat (r=−0.52, P=0.03) and fat mass(r=−0.59, P=0.01) in human subjects after adjustment for age and sex. Furthermore, ZAG overexpression in mice reduced body weight and the percentage of epididymal fat. The decreased FAS, ACC1 and DGAT mRNA and the increased HSL mRNA were also observed in epididymal adipose tissue in ZAG overexpression mice.Conclusion:ZAG is closely linked to obesity. Serum ZAG level is inversely associated with body weight and percentage of body fat. The action of ZAG is associated with downregulated lipogenic enzymes and upregulated lipolytic enzyme expressions in adipose tissue of mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Stem cell differentiation is controlled by extracellular cues from the environment and by intrinsic genetic programs within the stem cell. The present study aimed to explore whether mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) could improve hyperglycemia and insulin production in the diabetic microenvironment. Methods We transplanted male porcine bone marrow-derived EGFP-expressing MSC directly into female diabetic porcine pancreas by multi-point injection. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and fluorescent immunohistochemistry were used to analyze recipients' sera and pancreas tissues for assessment of the therapeutic effect. Results Blood glucose levels decreased gradually in MSC-treated recipients from 15 days after the transplantation compared with untreated diabetic controls (15.94±0.31 mmol/L versus 16.66±0.11 mmol/L; P=0.01). Blood insulin increased and glucagons decreased notably in recipients from 2 weeks post-transplantation compared with untreated diabetic controls (0.049±0.004 µg/L versus 0.037±0.02 µg/L and 392.9±20.3 ng/L versus 433.1±27.6 ng/L). Hematoxylin and eosin (HE)-stained sections demonstrated that the number of islets from each section was markedly increased in recipients compared with that of diabetic controls (10.9±2.2 versus 4.6±1.4; P<0.05) and similar to that of normal controls (10.9±2.2 versus 12.6±2.6; P>0.05). The newly formed islets were smaller than normal islets (47.2±19.6 µm versus 119.6±27.7 µm; P<0.05). Analysis of pancreatic sections for EGFP in recipients indicated that the transplanted MSC survived within the pancreas. Insulin immunoreactivity of pancreatic islets showed that the newly formed islets expressed insulin. Discussion MSC could improve diabetes upon pancreatic microenvironment without obvious immune rejections. This has theoretical and clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by infection with a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV), was the first major novel infectious disease at the beginning of the 21st century, with China especially affected. SARS was characterized by high infectivity, morbidity and mortality, and the confined pattern of the disease spreading among the countries of South-East and East Asia suggested the existence of susceptible factor(s) in these populations. Studies in the populations of Hong Kong and Taiwan showed an association of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) polymorphisms with the development and/or severity of SARS, respectively. The aim of the present study was to define the genotypic patterns of HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 loci in SARS patients and a co-resident population of Guangdong province, southern China, where the first SARS case was reported. The samples comprised 95 cases of recovered SARS patients and 403 unrelated healthy controls. HLA -A, -B and -DRB1 alleles were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers. The severity of the disease was assessed according to the history of lung infiltration, usage of assisted ventilation and occurrence of lymphocytopenia. Although the allelic frequencies of A23, A34, B60, DRB1*12 in the SARS group were slightly higher, and A33, -B58 and -B61 were lower than in the controls, no statistical significance was found when the Pc value was considered. Similarly, no association of HLA alleles with the severity of the disease was detected. Thus, variations in the major histocompatibility complex are unlikely to have contributed significantly to either the susceptibility or the severity of SARS in the population of Guangdong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method based on a linear model enabling the efficient determination of the ionization constants ( K a) of saccharides by capillary zone electrophoresis with amperometric detection has been demonstrated. The K a values obtained from the plots of the reciprocal effective mobility against the inverse concentration of sodium hydroxide were in agreement with literature values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]