Research and application of model fruit fly in prevention and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders by traditional Chinese medicine and natural compounds: a review / 中国中药杂志

As an important model animal, fruit fly is characterized by outstanding genetic characteristics, relatively perfect nervous system, rapid reproduction, and low cost. Thus, it has been applied in the research on neuropsychiatric disorders in recent years, showing great potential in life science. The incidence of neuropsychiatric disorders has been on the rise, and the disorders have high disability rate and low case fatality rate. The global drug demand for such diseases is second only to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. At the moment, the demand of the drugs for the diseases have been rising, and it is an urgent task to develop related drugs. However, the research and development of the drugs are time-intensive and have a high failure rate. A suitable animal model can help shorten the time for drug screening and development, thereby reducing the cost and failure rate. This study reviews the application of fruit flies in several common neuropsychiatric disorders, which is expected to provide new ideas for the research and application of the model animals in traditional Chinese medicine.

Assessing Empathy in Anesthesia Residents with the Chinese Version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy: A Pilot Standardized Patient Program / 中国医学科学杂志(英文版)

Objectives To validate the reliability of the Chinese version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) in physician-standardized patient (SP) encounter. We also tried to examine the agreement between video-based ratings and in-room ratings, as well as the agreement between the faculty ratings and SP ratings. Methods The CARE was translated into Chinese. Forty-eight anesthesia residents were recruited to make preoperative interview in SP-counter. Performance of each resident was graded by in-room raters, video raters and SP raters. Consistency between different raters was examined. Results The Chinese-CARE measure demonstrated high scale reliability with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.95 and high consistency in the in-room ratings in intraclass correlation (coefficient=0.888,

Comparison of Serum Adiponectin in Smoke-induced Pulmonary Emphysema Rats Fed Different Diets / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Smoking and body mass index (BMI) are the key risk factors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Adiponectin with both anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory properties is a vital modulator of inflammatory processes, which is expressed in epithelial cells in the airway in COPD-emphysema. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of adiponectin on tobacco smoke-induced emphysema in rats, which were fed different diets.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-six adult (6-8 weeks old) male Sprague-Dawley rats (average weight 220 ± 20 g) were exposed to smoke or smoke-free room atmosphere and fed different diets (regular, high-fat, or low-fat diets) for 6 months. The rats were randomly divided into six groups. They are nonsmoke-exposed regular diet (n = 10), nonsmoke-exposed high-fat diet (n = 14), nonsmoke-exposed low-fat diet (n = 14), smoke-exposed regular diet (n = 10), smoke-exposed high-fat diet (n = 14), and smoke-exposed low-fat diet groups (n = 14). A full 2 3 factorial design was used to evaluate the effect of independent variables on smoke exposure and different rearing methods. Serum adiponectin and inflammatory cytokines were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Serum adiponectin levels in rats fed low-fat and regular diets exposed to smoke exposure were remarkably higher than that of rats exposed to room air while serum adiponectin levels of fat-rich diet rats exposed to tobacco smoke were lower than that of rats exposed to room air. Compared with regular diet or low-fat diet group, serum adiponectin levels in high-fat diet rats exposed to tobacco smoke were lower (t = 6.932, 11.026; all P < 0.001). BMI was inversely correlated with serum adiponectin levels (r = -0.751, P = 0.012). Serum interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and 4-hydroxy 2-nonenal (HNE) levels in rats exposed to low-fat or fat-rich diets were remarkably higher than that of rats exposed to normal diets (IL-6, t = 4.196, 3.480; P < 0.01, P = 0.001; TNF-α, t = 4.286, 3.521; P < 0.01, P = 0.001; 4-HNE, t = 4.298, 4.316; all P < 0.001). In nonhigh-fat diet rats exposed to tobacco smoke, serum adiponectin levels correlated positively with serum IL-6, TNF-α, and 4-HNE, bronchoalveolar lavage cell count, and mean linear intercept. In contrast, in high-fat diet rats, serum adiponectin levels correlated inversely with these parameters.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>In smoke-induced emphysema and fat-rich diet rat model, serum adiponectin level was decreased, and the anti-inflammatory effect was attenuated. By contrast, nonhigh-fat diet elevated serum adiponectin and enhanced the role of pro-inflammatory.</p>

Intima-media thickness and left ventricle remodeling in patients with prehypertension and impaired glucose tolerance / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the intima-media thickness and cardiac remodeling in patients with prehypertension and impaired glucose tolerance.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Three-hundred patients were divided into four groups: normal control (NC, n = 61), prehypertension (PH, n = 83), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, n = 91), prehypertension and impaired glucose tolerance (PH + IGT, n = 65). Intima-media thickness (IMT) was measured by doppler ultrasonography. Left ventricle mess (LVMI), midwall fractional shortening (mFS), peakE/peakA (E/A) were measured by echocardiography.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) IMT was significantly increased in PH, IGT and PH + IGT groups than in NC group [(0.7 ± 0.1) mm, (0.7 ± 0.1) mm and (1.0 ± 0.1) mm vs.(0.6 ± 0.1) mm, all P < 0.01], which was significantly high in PH + IGT group than in PH or IGT group. Regression analysis demonstrated that high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), 2-hour postprandial blood glucose (2hPBG), systolic pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were independent predictors to increased IMT. (2) LVMI was higher in PH and PH + IGT groups than in NC group [(97.0 ± 3.3) g/m(2), (97.1 ± 2.8) g/m(2) vs.(87.0 ± 2.0) g/m(2), (87.9 ± 1.5) g/m(2), all P < 0.01], and positively related with SBP, DBP. (3) mFS was lower in PH and PH + IGT groups [(14.0 ± 0.8)%, (14.0 ± 0.8)% vs. (18.3 ± 1.0)%, (18.2 ± 0.5)%, P < 0.01], negatively related with SBP and DBP. E/A was similar among groups and lower E/A was associated with higher SBP.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Vascular and left ventricular structure remodeling and systolic dysfunction could be detected in prehypertension patients. Impaired glucose tolerance could enhance vascular remodeling in prehypertension patients.</p>

Nervus cutaneus femoris posterior pedicle flap for repairing large soft tissue defects at the heel or inferior segment of the shank / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical effect of the nervus cutaneus femoris posterior pedicle flap on repairing large soft tissue defects at the heel or inferior segment of the shank.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 14 cases were followed up for 8-22 months (mean 15.5 months) to observe the clinical effects of nervus cutaneus femoris posterior pedicle flap on repairing large soft tissue defects of the heel or inferior segment of the shank. Among them, there were 3 patients afflicted with infection and cutaneous defects in the middle and inferior segment of the shank after internal fixation of open fracture, 4 patients with soft tissue defects of the ankle and uncovered tendo calcaneus, and 7 patients with soft tissue defects of the heel and exposed calcaneus.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The flaps survived well in 13 cases and partial necrosis occurred in 1 case that was thereafter cured with changing dressing. Various extents of pain and stiffness of the knee joints were present in all cases and disappeared through 1-8 weeks' (mean 3.2 weeks) functional exercises. The last follow-up showed that all the flaps kept good texture and satisfactory appearance.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The nervus cutaneus femoris posterior pedicle flap, having the advantages of simple surgical procedures, anastomosing the nerves and restoring the sensation of recipient site, can be used for recovering large soft tissue defects of the shank and ankle.</p>