Effects of early treatment on physical and intelligence development in children with congenital hypothyroidism / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare differences in the intelligence and physical developmental levels of children with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) who received initial treatment at different times.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-nine children with CH diagnosed by neonatal screening between September 2008 and September 2011 were enrolled in this study. According to the timing of initial treatment with thyroid hormone, they were classified into two groups: <1 month and 1 to 3 months of life. At 6 months old, 1 year and 2 years old, their intelligence levels were evaluated by Gessell test. Their physical developmental levels were also measured. Their thyroid functions were examined with fluorescence immunoassay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>With treatment, there were no significant differences in thyroid hormones (FT3, FT4 and TSH) between the two groups (P>0.05) at 6 months old, 1 year and 2 years old. However, heights and weights in the <1 month treatment group were significantly higher than in the 1 to 3 months treatment group at all time points (P<0.05). At 6 months old, intelligence developmental levels in the <1 month treatment group were better than the 1 to 3 months treatment group (P<0.05) but significant differences were not noted at 1 and 2 years old (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The timing of initial treatment with thyroid hormone appears to be associated with the intelligence and physical development in children with CH. Treatment starting at less than 1 month of life contributes to improved physical and intelligence development compared with treatment starting at 1 to 3 months of life.</p>

Cinnamaldehyde ofloxacin-3-ylhydrazone induces apoptosis of human pancreatic carcinoma cells / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of cinnamaldehyde ofloxaein-3-ylhydrazone (FQ)16) on apoptosis of human pancreatic carcinoma cells in vitro. METHODS: Human pancreatic carcinoma cell line BxPC-3 was treated with FQ16 at different concentrations. The proliferation inhibition was examined by MTT assay. Morphological examination, TUNEF and agarose gel electrophoresis method were used to detect apoptosis. Western blotting method was used to detect the expression of apoptosis related genes caspase-3 , caspase-9, caspase-8, bcl-2, bax and cytochrome C. RESULTS: The cell proliferation was inhibited by FQ16 in a time- and a dose-dependent manner. Treatment of BxPC-3 cells with different concentrations of FQ16 for 24 h increased the percentage of the apoptotic cells obviously (P < 0.05); the morphology of BxPC-3 showed changes such as nuclear chromatin condensation and fragmentation and typical ladder DNA in apoptotic cells. FQ16 increased protein expression of bax, caspase-9 and caspase-3, and induced cytosolic accumulation of active caspase-9 and caspase-8, whereas the protein expression of bcl-2 decreased. Western blotting results reveal that FQ16 released mitochondrial cytochrome C into cytosol in a dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: Apoptosis in pancreatic carcinoma BxPC-3 cells is one of the key mechanisms of action of cinnamaldehyde olloxacin-3-ylhydrazone, and mitochondrial-dependent pathways are involved in the induction of apoptosis of BxPC-3 cells. Copyright 2012 by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.