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OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of Wenyang jieyu decoction on phosphoinositide 3-kinase （PI3K）/protein kinase B （Akt） signaling pathway and neurotransmitters in rats with kidney-yang deficiency depression. METHODS The SD rats were divided into blank group， model group， fluoxetine group （positive control of western medicine， 4.17 mg/kg）， Xiaoyao powder group （positive control of TCM， 1.88 g/kg） and Wenyang jieyu decoction low-dose， medium-dose and high-dose groups （1.25， 2.50， 5.00 g/kg）， with 15 rats in each group. Except for blank group， the other groups were treated with corticosterone 20 mg/kg subcutaneously to induce kidney-yang deficiency depressed model， meanwhile the mice were given relevant medicine intragastrically， once a day， for 28 consecutive days. The general conditions of rats were observed. The sucrose preference rate and the static time of forced swimming were detected， and organ indexes of rats were calculated. The levels/contents of neurotransmitters in serum were detected， the expressions of PI3K/Akt pathway-related proteins in hippocampus were detected， and the number of dendritic spines was determined. RESULTS Compared with blank group， model group suffered from the symptoms such as hair loss， fear of cold， curling up； sucrose preference rate， indexes of adrenal gland， thymus gland and spleen，serum levels of cyclic adenosine phosphate （cAMP）， brain-derived neurotrophic factor and gamma-aminobutyric acid， the ratio of cAMP to cyclic guanosine monophosphate， the contents of norepinephrine， dopamine and 5-hydroxy-tryptamine， the expressions of PI3K， Akt， mammalian target of rapamycin， and the number of dendritic spines in the hippocampus were significantly decreased （P＜0.01）. The time of immobility， level of glutamic acid and protein expression of glycogen synthetase kinase-3β were prolonged and increased （P＜0.01）. Compared with model group， depression symptoms of rats in each administration group were improved， and the above indexes were mostly reversed （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. CONCLUSIONS Wenyang jieyu decoction can improve depression-like behavior and the deficiency of kidney-yang， regulate the secretion of neurotransmitters， and activate PI3K/Akt signaling pathway， thus playing a role in protecting hippocampal neurons.
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Objective To evaluate the impact of particulate matter (PM) pollution on the hospitalization for respiratory diseases (RD), to estimate the avoidable economic loss by reducing the level of PM pollution, and to provide a basis for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of air pollution control. Methods The data of RD inpatients in two class-A tertiary hospitals in Wuhan from 2015 to 2019, PM concentration and meteorological data in Wuhan in the same period were collected. The generalized additive model (GAM) was used to estimate the impact of PM on the number of RD inpatients, and the cost of illness approach (COI) was used to estimate the avoidable economic loss caused by the reduction of PM concentration. Results PM pollution caused an increase in the number of RD inpatients. Each 10 g/m3 increase in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations resulted in an increase of 1.71% and 0.71% in the number of RD inpatients, respectively. Among them, men and children aged 0-14 years were more affected. For every 10 g/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentration, the number of hospitalized men and children aged 0-14 years increased by 1.97% and 2.65%, respectively. For every 10 g/m3 increase in PM10 concentration, the number of hospitalized men and children aged 0-14 years increased by 0.87% and 0.88%, respectively. PM pollution caused 63 300 hospitalizations and 1.214 billion yuan of economic losses in 2015-2019,Wuhan. If the PM concentration is reduced to the recommended value of the World Health Organization in the same period, 194 million yuan of economic loss and 10100 hospitalizations could be avoided every year in Wuhan. Conclusion PM exposure can lead to heavy disease burden and economic loss. Taking effective measures to control PM concentration will bring great economic benefits.
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Objective To analyze and forecast the epidemic of the new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) in Hubei Province. Methods Exponential Smoothing Model was applied to fit the tendency of the number of confirmed cases, discharged cases, death cases, severe cases and critical cases. Results The epidemic of COVID-19 in Hubei province has been gradually alleviated, the rapid remission period and slow remission period were occurred after February 18th and March 21st, respectively. The Exponential Smoothing Model was significantly fit well and the fitting values were basically consistent with the actual values. Predicted results indicated that the number of existing confirmed cases was expected to reduce to less than 1 000 on April 2nd, and was mainly consist of severe and critical cases. Conclusions The prevention and control measures of COVID-19 in Hubei province were effective, and the Exponential Smoothing Model was applicable to predicate the epidemic of COVID-19.
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Objective To investigate the serum levels of IL-10 and TGF-β1 and their significance for patients with sys-temic lupus erythematosus( SLE) .Methods A total of 135 cases were available for the study including 63 cases in primary group(A), 40 cases in remission group(B) and 32 cases in healthy control group(C).ELISA method was used to deter-mine the concentrations of IL-10 and TGF-β1 in serum.Finally, the results of group A were analyzed on the basis of System-ic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index( SLEDAI) .Results The level of IL-10 in serum of group A was significant-ly higher than that of group B and group C.The level of IL-10 in serum of group B was significantly higher than that of group C(P0.05).The level of TGF-β1 in serum of group A had negative correlation with SLEDAI.The cases in group A were divided into three subgroups by SLEDAI:21 cases in mild activities subgroup, 30 cases in moderate activities sub-group,and 12 cases in severe activities subgroup, the levels of IL-10 and TGF-β1 in the three subgroups were significantly different(P<0.05).Conclusions IL-10 and TGF-β1 are involved in activity and severity of SLE.
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Objective To observe the effect of Tanshinone ⅡA on proliferation and apoptosis of human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line SGC-7901 and its mechanism.Methods The human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line SGC-7901was cultured in vitro and with Tanshinone ⅡA at various concentrations.Cytotoxicity was valuated by MTT assay,apoptosis-related alterations in morphology were ascertained by transmission electron microscopy.The cell cycle distribution and the apoptotic rate were investigated by flow cytometry.SGC-7901 cell apoptosis with nuclear chromatin concentration and fragmentation as well as cell shrinkage and the formation of apoptotic bodies were observed by TEM.Results The growth of SGC-7901 cells was inhibited significantly in a dose-dependent manner.Tanshinone ⅡA could induce the apoptosis in time-dependent manner.Conclusion Tanshinone ⅡA has effect in inhibiting SGC-7901 cells and inducing the apoptosis.The apoptotic rate and percentage of cells in G1 phase increased in the SGC-7901 cells treated by Tanshinone ⅡA.