Cardiac Hypertrophy is Positively Regulated by MicroRNA‑24 in Rats / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>Background</b>MicroRNA-24 (miR-24) plays an important role in heart failure by reducing the efficiency of myocardial excitation-contraction coupling. Prolonged cardiac hypertrophy may lead to heart failure, but little is known about the role of miR-24 in cardiac hypertrophy. This study aimed to preliminarily investigate the function of miR-24 and its mechanisms in cardiac hypertrophy.</p><p><b>Methods</b>Twelve Sprague-Dawley rats with a body weight of 50 ± 5 g were recruited and randomly divided into two groups: a transverse aortic constriction (TAC) group and a sham surgery group. Hypertrophy index was measured and calculated by echocardiography and hematoxylin and eosin staining. TargetScans algorithm-based prediction was used to search for the targets of miR-24, which was subsequently confirmed by a real-time polymerase chain reaction and luciferase assay. Immunofluorescence labeling was used to measure the cell surface area, and H-leucine incorporation was used to detect the synthesis of total protein in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes (NRCMs) with the overexpression of miR-24. In addition, flow cytometry was performed to observe the alteration in the cell cycle. Statistical analysis was carried out with GraphPad Prism v5.0 and SPSS 19.0. A two-sided P < 0.05 was considered as the threshold for significance.</p><p><b>Results</b>The expression of miR-24 was abnormally increased in TAC rat cardiac tissue (t = -2.938, P < 0.05). TargetScans algorithm-based prediction demonstrated that CDKN1B (p27, Kip1), a cell cycle regulator, was a putative target of miR-24, and was confirmed by luciferase assay. The expression of p27 was decreased in TAC rat cardiac tissue (t = 2.896, P < 0.05). The overexpression of miR-24 in NRCMs led to the decreased expression of p27 (t = 4.400, P < 0.01), and decreased G0/G1 arrest in cell cycle and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.</p><p><b>Conclusion</b>MiR-24 promotes cardiac hypertrophy partly by affecting the cell cycle through down-regulation of p27 expression.</p>

Complex network analysis of law on Chinese herbal drugs intervention on radiation induced lung injury / 中国中药杂志

To mainly analyze the prescription rules of Chinese herbal drugs for radiation induced lung injury, optimize the prescriptions, and provide a reference for the clinical treatment of radiation induced lung injury. The major Chinese databases CNKI, CBM and Wanfang data were searched to obtain the literature on Chinese herbal drugs for radiation induced lung injury. BICOMS 2 software was used to extract and collect all Chinese herbal drugs information and generate the co-occurrence matrix; NetDraw and Gcluto software were then used to make network map and visualization matrix for analysis. A total of 552 articles (19 types and 304 Chinese herbal drugs) were included. Ophiopogon japonicus had the highest frequency (229 times), followed by Astragalus membranaceus(181 times), Glycyrrhiza uralensis (166 times), and Scutellaria baicalensis (150 times). After the classification of efficacy, deficiency-supplementing medicinal (69 kinds of Chinese herbs), heat-clearing medicine (51 kinds of Chinese herbs) and phlegm cough medicine (42 kinds of Chinese herbs) accounted for 53.29% of all the Chinese herbs, acting in the main position. After the prescription analysis for the top 25 herbal prescriptions, six main structures of common prescriptions were found for the treatment of radiation induced lung injury. There are many kinds of Chinese herbal drugs for the treatment of radiation induced lung injury in clinical application. In the future, researchers can mainly focus on Ophiopogon japonicus etc. as the main drugs, combine with other high-frequency Chinese herbal drugs found in this study, or directly refer to the main structures of commonly used prescriptions found in this analysis.

Effect of electroacupuncture on proprioception in cynomolgus monkeys after unilateral anterior cruciate ligament injury / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of electroacupuncture on proprioception in cynomolgus monkeys after unilateral anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-seven cynomolgus monkeys were randomized equally into 3 groups, namely unilateral ACL injury with electroacupuncture group, unilateral ACL injury model group and blank control group. One week after modeling, the monkeys in electroacupuncture group were treated daily for 12 weeks with electroacupuncture at the acupoints Wei Yang, Yin Gu, Xi Yangguan and Qu Quan. At 4, 8, and 12 weeks during the treatment, the changes in the somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and motor nerve conduction velocity (MCV) of the nerves of the ACL were examined with neural electrophysiological method; the changes in the morphology and the total and variable number of the proprioceptors in the ACL were observed with gold chloride staining. RESULTS; In the mokeys in the model group, the incubation period of the SEPs and MCV on the injured side of the knee were significantly extended and the amplitudes were decreased with the passage of time (P<0.05). Intervention with electroacupuncture significantly reduced the incubation period and increased the amplitudes of the SEPs and MCV (P<0.05). The total number of the proprioceptors in the ACL was significantly decreased and the variable number of the proprioceptors in ACL was increased with time in the monkeys in the model group (P<0.05); electroacupuncture intervention obviously slowed the reduction rate of total number of the proprioceptors (P<0.05) but without affecting the variable number of the proprioceptors (P>0.05). CoONCLUSION: ACL injury causes attenuation of the proprioception on the injury side, and electroacupuncture intervention can produce a positive effect on the proprioception in cynomolgus monkeys.</p>

Growth Differentiation Factor 15 Inhibits Elevated Expression of Matrix Metalloproteinase 1 Induced by Pooled Serum in Patients with Coroanry Artery Ectasia / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effects of coroanry artery ectasia (CAE) patients' pooled serum on the main proteinases and extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis and explore whether the growth differentiation factor 15(GDF 15) can regulate the characteristic changes induced by CAE patients' pooled serum.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Serum samples were collected from 32 CAE patients, 30 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), and 31 subjects with normal coronary arteries (CON) and then mixed in the same volumes by groups. Then human umbilical vein smooth muscle cells were cultured with the media containing 25% pooled serum. After having been disposed, proteinase system and ECM synthesis system were detected in the cell and culture media samples. GDF15 or GDF15 antibodies was added into the 25% pooled serum in each group to observe if GDF 15 could impact the characteristic changes induced by CAE patients' pooled serum.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) 1 mRNA in CAE group was significantly higher than CON group (P=0.002) and CHD group (P=0.000), the secretory MMP1 protein and total MMPs activity in culture media were also upregulated in CAE group (both P<0.01). After adding GDF 15 into the culture media (GDF15+CAE group), the MMP1 mRNA ,secretory MMP1 protein, and total MMPs activity were significantly lower than CAE group (all P<0.01), while in the GDF15 antibody+CAE group, the MMP1 mRNA and total MMPs activities were significantly higher than in GDF15+CAE group (both P<0.01), but the secretory MMP1 protein was not different from GDF 15+CAE group (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The vascular smooth muscle cells may participate in the CAE process mainly by regulating MMPs system but not the elastase 2 or ECM synthesis system, and GDF15 may be an compensatory factor to prohibit the over-destruction of coronary ECM induced by MMPs.</p>

High-dose rate and low-dose rate intracavitary brachytherapy for cervical carcinoma: A systematic review / 肿瘤

Objective: To assess the clinical effectiveness and safety of high-dose rate (HDR) and low-dose rate (LDR) intracavitary brachytherapy for cervical carcinoma. Methods: This study retrieved relevant randomized and quasi-randomized control trial in PubMed (1966 to December 2007), EMBASE (1974 to December 2007), Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2007), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM, 1978 to December 2007), China Journal Full Text Database (CJFD, 1994 to December 2007), and Chinese Scientific Journals Full Text Database (CSJD, 1989 to December 2007). We also traced back the references to collect the relevant trails. Inclusion criteria were as follows: randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trails reported in English or Chinese; high- or low-dose rate intracavitary brachytherapy in the treatment of local advanced cervical carcinoma. Two reviewers assessed the quality of included trials and extracted data independently. The RevMan 4. 2. 10 software was used for Meta-analysis. Results: Four studies were involved and 1 253 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference in 3-, 5-, 10-year overall survival rate, 3- and 5-year pelvic control rate, 3-, 5-, and 10-year relapse-free survival rate between HDR group and LDR group. The pooled relative risk value and 95% CI were 0.96 (0.80-1.16), 0.92 (0.83-1.01), 0.86 (0.70-1.05); 0.96 (0.86-1.07),0.95 (0.87-1.05); 1.02 (0.84-1.23), 0.98 (0.89-1.07), and 1.02 (0.88-1.19), respectively. There was no significant difference in local-regional recurrence, local recurrence with distant metastasis, para-aortic lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis between the two groups. The relative risk value and 95% CI were 1.03 (0.83-1.30), 2.23 (0.78-6.34), 1.06 (0.50-2.24), and 1.00 (0.76-1.32) respectively. The 3-5 grade complications in the bladder, rectosigmoid colon, and small intestine had no statistical difference between the two groups. The relative risk value and 95% CI were 1.08 (0.18-6.63), 0.90 (0.25-3.21), and 3.12 (0.96-10.15), respectively. Conclusion: This study suggests that HDR has similar effects with LDR in improving the survival rate and tumor control rate of patients with cervical carcinoma. Because of the small number and uneven qualities of samples, the conclusion needs further verification by large sample, multi-center, randomized controlled trials.