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Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) refers to the biomechanical and structural changes of intervertebral disc tissues due to the effects of a variety of factors. Theses physical or chemical factors lead to the rupture of the annulus fibrous, protrusion of the nucleus pulposus tissue, compression of the spinal cord and nerve roots and causing the patient's back and leg pain ultimately. Degeneration of intervertebral disc is a common condition in clinical practice, which affects working ability and daily living quality of patients seriously. Due to the change of living habits, the population with IDD tend to be younger recently. The etiology, pathogenesis and diagnosis and interventions of IDD have always been hot topics in spinal surgery. Thus, animal models of IDD close to the human body has a of great clinical significance for exploring the etiology, pathological mechanism and non-surgical treatment of IDD. At present, the establishment of IDD model mainly includes two following aspects, in vitro model and in vivo model. There are two main in vitro models, cell culture and tissue or organ culture. There are seven kinds of in vivo models, which can be divided into two categories, namely spontaneous and induced model. Among them, the spontaneous degeneration model is also regarded as age-related degeneration, while the induced model refers to the construction of the animal model of IDD by injuring the structure of the intervertebral disc, changing the biomechanical structure of the vertebral body, development spinal instability caused by surgery or constructing nerve root compression and gene knockout. Although there are many methods of animal modeling and literature reports, each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantages and disadvantages should be weighed when choosing the animal models.
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Low back pain is becoming an important factor affecting people's quality of life, while the age of its onset is getting younger and younger, and the social and economic losses caused by low back pain are huge every year. Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is an important cause of low back pain. Due to multiple factors, biomechanical and structural changes occur in intervertebral disc tissue, including rupture of annulus fibrosus, protrusion of nucleus pulposus, which cause compression of spinal cord and nerve root, and lower back pain. Micro-RNA (miRNA) is a kind of single-stranded non-coding small molecule RNA, with 18-24 nucleotides in length, which exists widely in eukaryotes. As one of the important regulatory molecules of gene expression, it has been proved to play a key role in the initiation and progression of many diseases, and it may also play an important role in intervertebral disc degeneration. At present, the clinical treatment for IDD is mainly surgical treatment to alleviate clinical symptoms. Even if surgical treatment can achieve good results, it will bring great physical trauma and economic burden to patients. The role of miRNA in IDD is one of the hotspots in the current academic research. Studies have shown that miRNA has abnormal expression patterns in degenerative intervertebral disc tissues and participates in a variety of pathological processes of IDD. At present, some miRNAs have been proved to be related to a variety of pathological processes in IDD, including nucleus pulposus cell apoptosis and proliferation, extracellular matrix degradation, autophagy, inflammation and cartilage endplate degeneration. The comparative study of gene chip showed that there were significant differences in the expression of some miRNAs between degenerative and normal nucleus pulposus cells. These differentially expressed miRNAs may be involved in the process of nucleus pulposus cell degeneration by regulating their respective upstream or downstream pathways. Most of the regulatory pathways are crossed and parallel, thus constructing a huge miRNA regulatory network. Understanding the target genes and mechanisms of miRNA in the pathogenic process can provide an important reference for the origin, development and prognosis of IDD. In this article, the important role of miRNA in IDD and the potential significance of clinical treatment are reviewed. With the in-depth study of miRNA and the molecular biological mechanism can provide new ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of IDD, which is likely to become a new strategy for biological treatment of IDD.
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Objective To observe the morphological changes of the live Aleuroglyphus ovatus and the ultrastructure under scanning electron microscope (SEM) at different developmental stages. Methods The mites were cleaned with distilled water, then fixed with 2.5% glutaraldehyde solution and washed again by alcohol. At last the mites were dried by critical-point drying. The disposed mites were settled on the conductive double sided tape and scaned under SEM. Results The larvae had three pairs of legs and the genital area was under-developed. The male was similar with the female. There was a Grandjean’s organ in the front of basipodite of foot Ⅰ. Foot Ⅳ existed a tarsus sucker. Penis was like straight tube and the end of it was fork. There is a pair of suckers on both sides of anus. Three pairs of postanal seta almost aligned in the same line. The female adult mite slightly larger and had two pairs of postanal setae. Conclusion The description of the morphology and ultrastructure of A. ovatus mites provide important information for the taxonomy and further study of its life history.
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Objective To study the association between morning surge (MS) of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and white matter lesions in elderly essential hypertensive (EH) patients.Methods Three hundred and thirty-seven elderly EH patients from Zhangqiu of Shandong Province were divided into MS group (n=150) and non-MS group (n=187).Their 24 h ambulatory SBP was monitored.Their white matter hyperintensity (WMH) was assessed according to their brain MRI.Results The total WMH,periventricular WMH,and deep WMH were significantly higher in MS group than in non-MS group (P＜0.01).The MS of SBP was positively related with the total WMH,periventricular WMH,and deep WMH (r=0.561,r=0.563,r=0.283,P＜0.01),and was an independent risk factor for total WMH,periventricular WMH,and deep WMH after adjustment for confunders (r=0.479,r=0.486,r=0.208,P＜0.01).Conclusion MS of SBP is an independently risk factor for WMH in elderly EH patients.
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Objective To study the effect of empty-nest (EN) on the variability of HBPV in elderly hypertensive patients.Methods 457 elderly essential hypertensive patients admitted to our hospi tal were divided into non EN group (A group,n =183),EN couple group (B group,n =150),and EN single group (C group,n=124).They underwent 7-day HBPV,their BPV was detected,their loneliness and depressive symptoms were assessed according to the UCLA-LS and GDS.Results The variability of self-measured DPB and SBP,UCLA-LS and GDS score were significantly higher in B and C groups than in A group (P＜0.05).The variability of SBP,UCLA-LS and GDS score were significantly higher in C group than in B group (46.06±7.98 vs 38.95±8.11;7.67±2.58 vs 6.48±2.60,P＜0.05).Partial correlation analysis showed that the variability of SBP and DBP was positively related with the UCLA-LS and GDS score (P＜0.05).The variability of SBP was significantly higher in B and C groups than in A group after adjustment of confounding factors (P=0.000).Conclusion EN,an independent influencing factor for the variability of blood pressure in elderly hypertensive patients,is related with their loneliness and depression.
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Objective To study the effect of masked hypertension (MH) and white coat hypertension (WCH) on vascular elasticity and endothelial function in elderly patients.Methods Four hundred and eighty-seven elderly patients who underwent physical examination in our our hospital were divided into normotension group (n=128),WCH group (n=115),MH group (n=112) and hypertension group (n=132) according to their diagnostic office blood pressure and 24 h ambulatory blood pressure.The brachial artery FMD,serum NO and endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels,and cfPWV were measured.Results The FMD and serum NO level were significantly lower while the serum ET-1 level and cfPWV were significantly higher in WCH group,MH group and hypertension group than in normotension group (P＜0.05).The FMD and serum NO level were significantly higher while the serum ET-1 and cfPWV were significantly lower in WCH group and MH group than in hypertension group (P＜ 0.05).Multivariate linear stepwise regression analysis showed that WCH,MH and hypertension were the independent influencing factors for FMD,serum NO and ET-1 level and cfPWV with normotension used as reference after adjustment of confounding factors (P＜0.01).Conclusion MH and WCH are the risk factors for the decreased vascular elasticity and endothelial dysfunction in elderly patients.
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Objective To investigate the Suidasia breeding in the flourmill and further observe its morphological characteris-tics.Methods The samples were collected from different habitats of a flourmill and then separated,and the chipping was kept. The mites were selected and counted from the chipping under an optical microscope. The mites were made slide samples and identified.Results The mites were identified as Suidasia(including Suidasia nesbitti and Suidasia medanensis).A total of 20 samples were collected in this study,of which 13 were positively detected,with the detection rate of 65%.There were 2 876 mites of Suidasia that were detected from 200 g sample.The average breeding density was 14.38/g.Conclusions It is common that Suidasia breeding in flour,which might cause human acariasis and allergic asthma.Therefore,the effective prevention mea-sures should be taken.
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Here we report a case of dermatitis caused by Tyrophagus putrescentiae,and have reviewed the related literature, then summarize the clinical characteristics and treatments of dermatitis in order to improve the understanding of the disease.
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Objective To report the seizure of Laelaps echidninus on the surface of Apodemus agrarius in Wuhu area for the first time,which prompts that there may exist the spread of the diseases by mites. Methods The mites got from the rats poi-soned by bait were made as the routine slide specimen and then identified with the reference of previous literature. Results The mites seized from Apodemus agrarius were 8 female ones totally and identified as Laelaps echidninus. Conclusion There exsits Laelaps echidninus parasitic on the body of Apodemus agrarius in Wuhu area,which should be paid attention to seriously in order to prevent the spread of diseases by it.
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Objective To understand the natural population dynamics and spatial distribution of Tyrophagus putrescentiae in storage flour,so as to provide an evidence for its prevention and control. Methods The samples from five sampling points in Wuhu City were collected monthly from January to December,2013,and examined and counted for T. putrescentiae. The disper-sion pattern target,Iwao's m*--x regression analysis and Taylor's lgS2-lg-x regression analysis were used for analyzing the spa-tial distribution pattern of T. putrescentiae in the storage flour. Results The peaks of population dynamics of T. putrescentiae were discovered in July and September. The indexes of dispersion were as follows:I>0,CA>0,m*/-x >1;and the linear re-gression equation of Iwao:m*=3.7403+1.0175-x (r=0.9958)and Taylor:lgS2=0.5004+1.1349 lg-x (r=0.8328) showed that the spatial distribution pattern of T. putrescentiae in the storage flour was assembled. Conclusion The peak of pop-ulation dynamics of T. putrescentiae in the storage flour in Wuhu City is a double peak type,and the spatial distribution pattern of T. putrescentiae is assembled.
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Objective To investigate the pollution status of Gohieria fusca in the air conditioner-filters of different places in Wuhu City. Methods The dust samples were collected from the filters of air-conditioners in dining rooms,shopping malls,ho-tels and households between June and September,2013,and G. fusca was detected in the dust samples. Results There were 430 dust samples collected and 98 were G. fusca positive with the breeding rate of 22.79%. The difference of breeding rates of G. fusca were statistically significant among the different places(χ2=18.294,P<0.05). Among 510.5 g dust samples in total, 783 G. fusca mites were detected with an average breeding density of 1.53 mite/g. Conclusion G. fusca breeds in the dust of air-conditioner filters in Wuhu City gravely.
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Objective To observe the morphological characteristics of hypopus of Acarus siro in the stored wheat in Linquan County,Anhui Province. Methods The wheat samples were collected from the wheat which had been stored for more than six months. The hypopodes of A. siro were isolated from the stored wheat,and were made into the glass specimens,and then were identified under an optical microscope. Results The structural features of the hypopus were found under the microscope,such as the setae of tibia and setae of genu,and the foot claws were well-developed,and the genital seta bases and the pair of sucker were almost at the same baseline. Conclusion The hypopodes of A. siro are found in the stored wheat,and therefore,the effec-tive measures should be taken to control the hazard to the stored grain.
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Objective To study the morphological characteristics of Ixodes ovatus in order to provide the evidence for future research. Methods A group of goats were randomly selected and checked one by one,and the ticks were collected. Results A hard tick was found on the surface of a goat,and it was identified as Ixodes ovatus. Conclusions Ixodes ovatus has been found in Huainan area in Anhui Province,confirming that Huainan area is a new breeding place of Ixodes ovatus. This finding may contribute to the epidemiological research of tick-borne diseases.
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Objective To investigate the breeding of Carpoglyphus lactis in the storage Arillus longan,so as to provide the evidence for preventing the harm of C. lactis to traditional Chinese medicine. Methods Chinese herbal medicine warehouses were chosen as survey sites according to the breeding habits of mites,and the A. longan samples were stored more than 6 months. The mites were isolated and identified under a microscope. Result The C. lactis breeding rate was 20.0％(4/20)and the breeding density was 184.95 per sample. The constitute rates of adult,larva,dormancy body and egg were 58.39％, 30.41％,0.06％,and 11.14％respectively. Conclusion The breeding density of C. lactis is high in the stored A. longan,so the control and prevention of human intestinal acariasis should be strengthened.
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Objective To understand the breeding situation of Histiostoma feroniarum in Chinese herbal medicine Rhizoma Zingiberis. Methods The Rhizoma Zingiberis sold on the market was selected and brushed. The dust from Rhizoma Zingiberis was screened under a microscope to search the mites. The mites were made into specimens to identify the species. Results The mites were H. feroniarum. Totally 14 mites were found in 100 g dust sample,with the density of breeding of 0.14/g. Conclusion H. feroniarum could breed in Chinese herbal medicine Rhizoma Zingiberis,and the prevention and control measures should be adopted.
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Objective To investigate the breeding quantity and average breeding density of Gohieria fuscus in the grand dust flour of a flourmill and explore the prevention and control measures. Methods A certain amount of grand dust flour was collect-ed from a flourmill,and it was sieved. The powder was placed into the glass pan,and the mites were sought out under an optical microscope and made of specimens. The mites were identified on the basis of literature. Results In this survey,400 g samples were collected from 4 habitats. The average breeding density of mites was 3516/g. The mite was identified as Gohieria fuscus. Conclusions Gohieria fuscus is one of the widely distributed stored mites. It impacts the stored food and reduces the quality of food. In addition,the mite affects human health. Therefore,the preventive measures should be taken.
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Objective To observe the external morphology of Lepidoglyphus destructor hypopus under an optical microscope. Methods The samples were collected in a store of Chinese medicinal herbs in Huainan City in September,2016,the L. de-structor and the hypopus were isolated,and then made of slide specimens. The slide samples were prepared and observed under an optical microscope. Results The L. destructor hypopus and protonymph were found. The inactive hypopus was oval in shape, the feet were not well-developed,there was a distinct transverse seam on its back,and there were 2 pairs of genital sensory or-gans. Conclusion The optical microscopy shows the morphological characteristics of L. destructor hypopus,which can provide the basis for the biological classification and the prevention.
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Objective:To study the feasibility of 3-D reconstruction model in the observation of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin(TCDD) effected palatal organ development of fetal mouse.Methods:Kunming mice treated 40 ug/kg TCDD by lavage on day 12.5 of pregnancy were used as in the experimental group,isodose corn oil treated in the control group.On day 13.5,14.5 and 15.5 of pregnancy heads of the fetal mice were taken out and fixed.Conventional paraffin serial sections of palatal organ were preparated and dyed by hematoxylin-eosin,images of the palatal organs were collected and photoshop treated,3-D reconstruction of the palatal organ was performed by 3D-DOCTOR software.Results:3-D reconstruction images showed that palatal organs moved from on both sides above the tongue and gradually closed and merged in the control group.In the experimental group,the palatal organs moved from on both sides above the tongue was later than control group,gradually closed,but not merged,formed cleft palate.Conclusion:3D-DOCTOR software reconstruction can be used for the study of the development process effected by TCDD in the pregnant mouse.
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Objective To separate and identify Thyreophagus entomophagus from beer yeast powder and observe its morpho?logical characteristics. Methods The beer yeast powder was collected from the scum after fermentation of the beer material, the mites in it were separated and made into slide specimens,and then they were identified and observed for the morphological characteristics under an optical microscope. Results The mites separated from the beer yeast powder were identified as female Thyreophagus entomophagus. Under the optical microscope,the bodies of the mites were long and narrow,which showed an oval shape,the gnathosoma was wide,the epidermis was colorless but lustrous,the external vertical seta,internal scapular seta,in?ner humerals,anterior lateral seta,and dorsal body setae were all absent,the bristles on the back of the body were relatively long,and all the feet were thick and strong. Conclusion Thyreophagus entomophagus can breed in the beer yeast powder,and therefore,the powder should be stored properly to avoid the contamination caused by the mites.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the effect of diallyl disulfide (DADS) on hippocampal synapses and learning and memory abilities in a mouse model of A1zheimer's disease (AD).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Mouse models of AD established by agglutinated Aβ1-42 injection in the lateral cerebral ventricle were randomized into 4 groups and treated with DADS at the daily doses of 0, 10, 50 and 100 mg/kg by gavage for 30 consecutive days. The learning and memory abilities of the mice were assessed with Morris water maze test; the structures of the dendritic spines and synapses in CA1 region of the hippocampus were observed under transmission electron microscope with silver staining; PSD95 and SYP protein and mRNA expressions in the hippocampus were detected with Western blotting and RT-PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the AD model mice, the mice treated with 50 and 100 mg/kg DADS showed enhanced learning and memory abilities in Morris water maze test. The dendritic spines and synapses in CA1 region of the hippocampus increased obviously and hippocampal expressions of PSD95 and SYP were enhanced in mice treated with 50 and 100 mg/kg DADS.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>DADS at the daily doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg can improve the learning and memory abilities and increase the number of dendritic spines and synapses in the hippocampus in mouse models of AD.</p>