ABSTRACT
The potential medicinal value of Ma bamboo (Dendrocalamus latiflorus), one of the most popular and economically important bamboo species in China, has been underestimated. In the present study, we found that D. latiflorus leaf extract (DLE) reduced fasting blood glucose levels, body weight, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol with low liver toxicity in db/db mice. In addition, gene expression profiling was performed and pathway enrichment analysis showed that DLE affected metabolic pathways. Importantly, DLE activated the AKT signaling pathway and reduced glucose production by downregulating glucose-6-phosphatase (G6PC) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 (PCK1) expression. Moreover, network pharmacology analysis identified rutin as an active component in DLE through targeting insulin growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R), an upstream signaling transducer of AKT. Due to its hypoglycemic effects and low toxicity, DLE may be considered an adjuvant treatment option for type 2 diabetes patients.
ABSTRACT
Objective To study on the relationship between the levels of homocysteine(HCY) ,folic acid and vitamin B12 and pregnancy-induced hypertension(PIH) in different pregnancies .Methods 539 pregnant women who registered for prenatal exami-nation of pregnant in the hospital were selected as research subjects .And there were 87 cases of PIH(PIH group) and 452 cases of normal pregnancy(normal pregnancy group) among them .The fasting blood samples were collected respectively in early pregnancy (8-10 weeks and 12-14 weeks of pregnancy) ,mid pregnancy(18 pregnancy weeks and 24 pregnancy weeks) ,and late pregnancy (30 pregnancy weeks and 36 pregnancy weeks) ,and the levels of HCY ,folic acid and vitamin B12 were measured .At the same time ,the supplements of folic acid and vitamin B12 and the incidence of PIH and birth defects were asked ,registered and checked . Results Compared with normal pregnancy group ,the serum HCY level of PIH group significantly increased in medium and late pregnancy periods (P0 .05) .In mid and late pregnancy periods , the serum HCY levels of PIH group and normal pregnant group negatively correlated with serum folic acid levels (r0 .05) .Conclusion In middle and late pregnancy periods ,if the serum HCY level of pregnant women increased ,the risk of PIH increased significantly .
ABSTRACT
Background: Up-regulation of interferon alpha (IFN-?) in cutaneous lesions of lupus erythematosus (LE) has been proposed to play a role in the pathogenesis of cutaneous LE lesions of LE patients. IFN- ? is composed of 13 subtypes of immunoregulatory cytokines that promote innate and adaptive immune responses. However, the precise biological properties may differ among subtypes. Objective: To investigate the mRNA level of IFN-? and subtypes in cutaneous LE patients Methods: We analyzed the mRNA level of IFN-? and subtypes in normal skin from 12 healthy female controls and compared it to normal skin and discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) lesions from 16 DLE patients without systemic involvement (14 females and 2 males) by real-time PCR, cloning, and sequencing. Results: Significant up-regulation of mRNA level of IFN-? was found in both lesional and non-lesional skin from DLE patients without SLE when compared to normal skin from healthy donors (P=0.05 and P=0.04, respectively). An analysis of the IFN-? subtypes from skin biopsies detected a reduction of IFN-? subtype 5 in DLE lesion compared to healthy control skin. Conclusions: Our results indicate that IFN- ? is upregulated in both lesional and non-lesional DLE in cutaneous LE patients. IFN-? subtype 5 is the main subtype of IFN- ? expression in normal skin but declines in DLE.
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Objective To study the effect of CMPS on acute fatty liver induced by DL-E. Methods Oral administration DL-E (250 mg/kg) was given to mice to establish the models of acute fatty liver mice. Liver index, the contents of TG and morphological changes of liver tissue were detected to study the effect of CMPS on liver fat accumulation.Results The Liver index and the contents of TG in the model group rose. Under light microscope, lobular central vein could be seen around the liver steatosis and cytoplasm of liver cells appeared vacuolated changes. As compared with the model group, indexes significantly improved in CMPS group. Conclusion DL-E could obviously damage the liver and lead to liver fat accumulation. CMPS has protective effect on liver injury.
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Miyoshi myopathy (MM) is an autosomal recessive distal muscular dystrophy caused by mutations in the dysferlin gene (DYSF) on chromosome 2p13. Although MM patients and their mutations in the DYSF gene have been found from all over the world, there is only one report of genetically confirmed case of MM in Korea. Recently, we encountered three unrelated Korean patients with MM and two of them have previously been considered as having a type of inflammatory myopathy. The clinical and laboratory evaluation showed typical features of muscle involvement in MM in all patients but one patient initially had moderate proximal muscle involvement and another showed incomplete quadriparesis with rapid progression. Direct sequencing analysis of the DYSF gene revealed that each patient had compound heterozygous mutations (Gln832X and Trp992Arg, Gln832X and Trp999Cys, and Lys1103X and Ile1401HisfsX8, respectively) among which three were novel. Although MM has been thought to be quite rare in Korea, it should be considered in a differential diagnosis of patients exhibiting distal myopathy.
Subject(s)
Male , Humans , Female , Adult , Mutation, Missense/genetics , Mutation/genetics , Muscular Dystrophies/genetics , Muscle Proteins/genetics , Membrane Proteins/genetics , Korea , Genes, Recessive/genetics , DNA Mutational Analysis , Codon, Nonsense/genetics , Base Sequence , Amino Acid SequenceABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosus(CCLE) is a well-known disease entity. But there has been no data about its clinical behavior and histopathologic features in Korea. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to elucidate the clinical, laboratory, and histopathologic features of CCLE, and the relationship between CCLE and SLE. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated 48 cases of CCLE that visited the department of dermatology at the Seoul National University Hospital from January 1990 to June 1997. Medical records and biopsy slides were reviewed.