Clinical treatment of heart fallure by adult stem cells: existing problems and prospects / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of heart failure is increasing yearly. Although traditional treatment methods have made great progress in alleviating the progression of heart failure, cardiac tissue injury cannot be thoroughly cured. Cell therapy, however, has the potential to completely cure it through myocardial regeneration. OBJECTIVE: To review the current progress in adult stem cells from different sources in the treatment of heart failure. METHODS: A computer-based retrieval of PubMed and CNKI databases was performed in order to search relevant articles published from 2001 till now, using the keywords of "heart failure, adult stem cells, skeletal myoblasts, cardiac stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells. After removal of repetitive or irrelevant articles, 61 articles were finally reviewed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Currently used adult stem cells for treating heart failure mainly include skeletal myoblasts, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells, human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells and cardiac stem cells. Most clinical results have shown that adult stem cells have a good effect in the treatment of heart failure, and cause few adverse reactions. The mechanism of adult stem cells in the treatment of heart failure may be related to post-transplantation angiogenesis, paracrine mechanisms, and cell fusion, but the choices of specific cell lines, dose, route of administration and treatment frequency as well as the precise mechanism of action still need further studies.

Comparative analysis of variable region of white spot syndrome virus genome in Penaeus vannamei in Guangxi, China / 病毒学报

Comparative analysis of variable region ORF14/15 genes of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) genome in Guangxi Penaeus vannamei (P. vannamei) could provide useful information for the evaluation of genetic diversity and genetic evolutionary relationship among WSSV isolates from Guangxi, China and other places. Based on geographical and temporal considerations, 40 WSSV-positive P. vannamei samples were collected during the period between May 2010 and July 2013 from Beihai, Qinzhou, and Fangchenggang, which were the main P. vannamei production areas in Guangxi, and the variable region ORF14/15 genes of the WSSV genome from all infected samples were amplified by PCR and then subjected to cloning and sequence analysis. Pairwise and multiple alignment analysis was then conducted to evaluate the degree of genetic divergence between different strains. The variable region ORF14/15 genes from 25 of 40 WSSV positive samples were successfully cloned and sequenced; among the ORF14/15 genes of 25 WSSV-positive strains, 22 was 619 bp in length and 3 was 620 bp. All the 25 Guangxi strains carried a 5949-bp deletion in the ORF14/15 region relative to TH-96-II, which has the longest nucleotide sequence in this region; the deletion of Guangxi strains occurred in the middle region of ORF14/15 gene, with only 190 bp and 429 bp/ 430 bp at 5' and 3' ends, respectively, which were coincident with WSSV-IN-05-I in deletion length and position. Sixteen of 25 Guangxi strains had completely identical nucleotide sequences in the variable re gion, and the homology between other strains also exceeded 97.9%. There were single nucleotide substi tution, deletion, and insertion in the ORF14/15 region of Guangxi strains compared with other strains in GenBank. In the phylogenetic tree based on WSSV variable region ORF14/15, the Guangxi strains were closely related and formed a separate branch with Indian strain IN-05-I, but far from other strains in GenBank. The ORF14/15 gene of WSSV isolates in cultured P. vannamei in Guangxi has a large deletion in the middle of the variable region, and the Guangxi WSSV strains show no significant spatio-temporal differences; the Guangxi strains are closer in genetics to Indian strain IN-05-I than other strains in GenBank.

Expression and purification of bioactive high-purity human midkine in Escherichia coli / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

Midkine is a heparin-binding growth factor, which plays important roles in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation. The non-tagged recombinant human midkine (rhMK) is therefore required to facilitate its functional studies of this important growth factor. In the present work, rhMK was expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) BL21 (DE3). The expression of midkine was efficiently induced by isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). After sonication, midkine was recovered in an insoluble form, and was dissolved in guanidine hydrochloride buffer. Renaturation of the denatured protein was carried out in the defined protein refolding buffer, and the refolded protein was purified using S-Sepharose ion-exchange chromatography. The final preparation of the rhMK was greater than 98% pure as measured by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamid gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The purified rhMK enhanced the proliferation of NIH3T3 cells.

Health status of mothers undergoing in vitro fertilization and their offspring / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To review the health status of mothers undergoing in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF) and their offspring.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Health status of 210 IVF mothers and offspring performed from January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2002 was compared with that of those who conceived naturally retrospectively.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>A significant differences were found in rates of multiple births, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy,cesarean section, preterm delivery,low (and very low) birth weight infant,malformation(33.33 % with compared 1.72 %, 10.87 % with compared 4.59 %, 89.85 % with compared 65.57 %, 24.64 % with compared 6.27 %, 25.68 % with compared 8.23 %, 3.83 % with compared 1.17 %, all P<0.01) between IVF and those conceived naturally. The rates of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy,preterm delivery, low (and very low) birth weight infant were related to the rate of multiple births OR. 95 %CI were 3.49, 1.16-10.50; 13.65, 5.39-34.58; 14.91, 5.53-40.17; respectively. There was no statistical difference in neonatal outcome between normal IVF and intra-cytop-lasmic sperm injection (P>0.05); no difference in height and weight between full-term and preterm (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Assisted reproductive technologies increase multiple births rate, resulting in high rates of hypertensive disorders, preterm delivery, low (and very low) birth weight infant.</p>

Which is better to resuscitate asphyxiated newborn infants: room air or pure oxygen? / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To find out optional resuscitation gas for asphyxiated newborn infants based on a systemic review of the published studies that compared the effects of resuscitation of asphyxiated newborn infants with room air or pure oxygen.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Inclusion criteria were randomized or pseudo-randomized studies of asphyxiated newborn infants resuscitated with room air or pure oxygen. The studies published between Jan. 1966 and June. 2005 were searched in PubMed/EMBASE/the Cochrane library databases. All identified studies that fulfilled our inclusion criteria were included. We did a systemic review and a meta-analysis of studies that compared parameters of efficacy, such as mortality, incidence of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and the rate of resuscitation failure of newborn infants resuscitated with room air or pure oxygen.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Six identified studies were included, in which 988 infants were resuscitated with room air and 952 infants with pure oxygen. The mortality of asphyxiated newborn infants within the first week was 8.7% versus 13.4% in room air and pure oxygen groups, respectively, OR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.44 - 0.94. In 5 of the 6 studies, the mortality of term asphyxiated newborn infants was 5.9% versus 9.8% in room air and pure oxygen groups, OR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.40 - 0.87. The result for premature asphyxiated newborn infants was similar. In 4 studies, the incidence of moderate to severe neonatal HIE was 17.5% versus 20.1% in room air and pure oxygen groups, respectively, OR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.68 - 1.21. In 3 studies, the rate of resuscitation failure was 26.9% versus 29.1% in room air and pure oxygen groups, respectively, OR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.70 - 1.19.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The systemic review and the meta-analysis demonstrated that the mortality of asphyxiated newborn infants was significantly lower when resuscitated with room air, and no significant differences were found in the incidence of neonatal HIE and the rate of resuscitation failure. However, this conclusion should be used cautiously because of the limited number of studies.</p>