Curcumin improves cardiac fibrosis by inhibiting endothelial-mesenchymal transition through NRF2-DDAH-ADMA-NO pathway / 中国中药杂志

The present study analyzed the correlations between curcumin(Cur), nuclear factor E2 related factor 2(NRF2)-dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase(DDAH)-asymmetric dimethylarginine(ADMA)-nitric oxide(NO) pathway, and endothelial-mesenchymal transition(EndMT) based on SD rats with cardiac fibrosis, and explored the effect and mechanism of Cur in resisting cardiac fibrosis to provide an in-depth theoretical basis for its clinical application in the treatment of heart failure. The cardiac fibrosis model was induced by subcutaneous injection of isoprenaline(Iso) in rats. Thirty-two rats were randomly divided into a control group, a model group, a low-dose Cur group(100 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), and a high-dose Cur group(200 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), with eight in each group. After 21 days of treatment, cardiac function was detected by echocardiography, degree of cardiac fibrosis by Masson staining, expression of CD31 and α-SMA by pathological staining, expression of VE-cadherin, vimentin, NRF2, and DDAH by Western blot, and ADMA level by HPLC. Compared with the model group, the Cur groups showed alleviated cardiac fibrosis, accompanied by increased CD31 and VE-cadherin expression and decreased α-SMA and vimentin expression, indicating relieved EndMT. Additionally, DDAH and NRF2 levels were elevated and ADMA and NO expression declined. Cur improves cardiac fibrosis by inhibiting EndMT presumedly through the NRF2-DDAH-ADMA-NO pathway.

Ningbo thyroid dysfunction prevalence study: a cross-sectional survey in an employees-cohort / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The prevalence and the spectrum of thyroid dysfunction in the mainland of China are not adequately understood. We performed a population-based study to determine the prevalence of major thyroid dysfunctions including overt and subclinical hyper- and hypothyroidism in a stable cohort.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>All active and retired employees aged 20 years and older (11 067) of Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company in Ningbo participated in the cross-sectional survey with a questionnaire and blood samples.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 10 405 individuals attended for screening. Using biochemical definitions 95.5% were euthyroid. The prevalence of former diagnosed hyperthyroidism was 1.1% in females and 0.4% in males, hypothyroidism 1.7% and 0.3%, and thyroid surgery 1.2% and 0.3%, respectively. In both sex the prevalence increased with age. Twenty-four percent of individuals with thyroid surgery or medications had abnormal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels. In individuals without a history of thyroid disease, the prevalence of pathological TSH values in females and males were TSH > or = 10 mU/L 0.60% and 0.29%; TSH 4.8-9.9 mU/L 5.71% and 2.25%; TSH < 0.3 mU/L 0.87% and 0.41%, respectively. Overt hyper- and hypothyroidism were uncommon (0.2%, 0.3%, respectively). The prevalence of subclinical hyper- and hypothyroidism was 0.4% and 3.4%, respectively. Subclinical hypothyroidism was more common in females (male 2.4% vs. female 5.8%, P < 0.001) and with increasing age (P < 0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction is 4.5% in the cohort. Among individuals with thyroid medications or surgery, only 75.7% were within the normal range of TSH. These results indicate that thyroid dysfunction is common in Chinese adults.</p>

Telomerase expression in sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>In humans telomerase is expressed in most cancers and immortal cell lines, and activation of telomerase may play important roles in tumorigenesis and immortalization. This study was to investigate the roles of telomerase activity (TA) and human telomerase RNA (hTR) in sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The telomerase repeated amplification protocol (TRAP) was used to demonstrate telomerase activity in 12 cases of sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid. In situ hybridization (ISH) was used to demonstrate the expression of hTR in 55 cases of paraffin-embedded sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid, and the results were compared with the proliferative index determined by Mib-1 immuno-labeling, histological patterns and recurrence of the tumor.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Different telomerase activity was shown in the 12 cases of sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid. The positive expression of hTR was 85.5% (47/55) in tumor cells, but not in the adjacent tissues. The positive expression of hTR was correlated with the proliferative activity (as assessed by Mib-1 immunolabelling, r = 0.942, P < 0.001) and the differentiation of sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid (chi(2) = 17.621, P < 0.001), but not significantly related to tumor recurrence. The level of hTR expression increased with the decrease of differentiation of sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The results suggest that the up-regulation of telomerase expression plays some roles in tarsal gland carcinogenesis, and the expression of hTR is a useful marker for malignant degree of sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid.</p>

Agreement of anterior chamber angle examination by slit lamp optical coherence tomography and gonioscopy / 眼科

Objective To explore the agreement of anterior chamber angle examination by slit lamp optical coherence tomography (SL-OCT) and gonioscope.Design Case series.Participants Thirteen patients with primary glaucoma (26 eyes) and 8 normal persons(16 eyes).Methods Anterior chamber angle was measured with SL-OCT and gonioscope in turns for temporal,nasal,superior and inferior quadrant.Results of two methods were analyzed and the data were analyzed with Pearson correlation coefficient and Kappa value.Main Outcome Measures Anterior chamber angle.Results The Pearson correlation coefficient of the two methods was 0.86(P=0.00)and the Kappa value is 0.75 (P=0.00).The specificity and sensitivity of detecting occludable angle were 94.7% and 89.4%.Conclusions Anterior chamber angle examination with SL-OCT and gonioscope are well consistent.The specificity and sensitivity for SL-OCT in detecting occludable angle is satisfying.SL-OCT can be regard as an objective assistant method for the diagnosis of angle closure glaucoma.