Hypercalin B alleviates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis progression via suppressing mTORC1 signaling pathway / 药学学报

The global incidence rate of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) continues to rise. The pathogenesis of NASH is complex, and there is no effective clinical treatment. Previous study has shown that DEAD box protein 5 (DDX5) can significantly alleviate the NASH process in mice. This study screened the natural product library of the research group and found that the active compound hypercalin B (HB) in Hypericum beanii N. Robson, a traditional Chinese medicine, can upregulate the expression of DDX5 protein in a dose-dependent manner. In this study, an in vitro model of NASH stimulated by palmitic acid (PA) and an animal model of NASH induced by the methionine- and choline-deficient diet (MCD) were constructed. Different concentrations of HB were used to investigate the effect and mechanism of HB in alleviating NASH progression. All animal experiments in this paper were approved by the Ethics Committee of China Pharmaceutical University (NO: 2021-02-003). In vitro model results showed that HB significantly reduced the intracellular lipid deposition induced by free fatty acid (FFA). Animal experiments showed that HB improved liver injury by significantly reducing lipid accumulation in the liver of NASH mice, and reducing serum aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels. Moreover, HB could inhibit liver inflammation by reducing the mRNA levels of liver pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα). Further research showed that HB could reduce the phosphorylation level of the mechanical target of rapamycin (mTOR) and reduce the expression of sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1) and fatty acid synthase (FASN), thereby improving lipid metabolism and alleviating NASH progression, and the effects of HB against NASH were dependent on DDX5. In conclusion, HB can improve lipid metabolism and inhibit inflammatory activation by suppressing mTORC1 pathway via upregulating DDX5 protein, and showed promising anti-NASH activity in vitro and in vivo.

The influence of the aerobic endurance training on the skeletal muscular mitochondria function and PI3K-Akt protein expression / 中国应用生理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To determine the role of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase--protein kinase B (PI3K-Akt) signaling pathway in the pro- tective effect of aerobic endurance training on the skeletal muscular mitochondria.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-six rats were randomly divided into three groups( n = 12): control group, aerobic endurance training group and one-time exhaustive group. After the intervention, the quadriceps femoris muscle sample was obtained to detect the mitochondrial membrane potential( MMP), the activities of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and cy- tochrome coxidase (COX), and the protein levels of p-PI3K and p-Akt.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control group, the levels of mitochondrial membrane potential, the activities of succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome coxidase, and the protein levels of p-PI3K and p-Akt were all significantly decreased in the one-time exhaustive group (P < 0.05). However, all the above was partially reversed in the endurance training group (P < 0.05), and there was no obvious difference with the control group (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Aerobic endurance training plays an important role in the protective effect on the skeletal muscular mitochondria, the mechanism may be related to activation PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.</p>

Assessment of insular development in small for gestational age infants / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the insular development of small for gestational age (SGA) infants.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The insular area and circle were measured by cerebral ultrasonography in 92 SGA infants. The results were compared with those from 109 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The insular area and circle were positively correlated with the birth weight and gestational age in SGA infants. The insular area in SGA infants with a gestational age of either >37 weeks (451 +/- 92 mm2 vs 516 +/- 116 mm2; p<0.01) or < or = 34 weeks (248 +/- 78 mm2 vs 314 +/- 80 mm2; p<0.01) was significantly less than that in the AGA infants. The insular circle in SGA infants with a gestational age of >37 weeks was also significantly less than that in the AGA infants (92 +/- 11 mm vs 97 +/- 11 mm; p<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The insular development of SGA infants seems to be immature. The insular development may be assessed based on the insular area and circle measured by cerebral ultrasonography.</p>

Effect of JAK/STAT pathway activation on high glucose-induced transdifferentiation in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effect of JAK/STAT signaling pathway activation on the transdifferentiation and secretion of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) induced by high glucose in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Human kidney cells (HKC) were cultured and then divided into four groups: low glucose (LG) group, high glucose (HG) group, high mannitol (LG + M) group, and HG + AG490 group. Immunoprecipitation and Western blot analysis were used to determine the expression of tryosine phosphorylated Janus kinase 2 ( p-JAK2). The protein expressions of STAT1, STAT3, p-STAT1, and p-STAT3 and the expressions of alpha-SMA and E-Cadherin were observed by Western blot. The contents of TGF-B1, fibronectin and type I collagen in the supernatants of the cultured HKC were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The expression of TGF-beta1 mRNA was measured by reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with LG group, the expressions of JAK2, p-STAT1, p-STAT3, and TGF-beta1, mRNA were significantly increased in HG group from 6 to 72 hours. Meanwhile, the contents of TGF-beta1 and collagen I in the supernatants and the expression of alpha-SMA increased and the expression of E-Cadherin decreased. The expressions of JAK2, p-STAT1, p-STAT3, and TGF-beta mRNA as well as the levels of TGF-beta1 and collagen I in the supernatant s in HG + AG490 group were significantly lower than in the HG group. The expressions of alpha-SMA and E-Cadherin were also decreased in HG + AG490 group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Activation of JAK/STAT signaling pathway may be involved in the high glucose-induced transdifferentiation and overproduction of TGF-beta1, and ECM proteins in HKCs.</p>

A survey on the infection rate of tuberculosis among employees of the antituberculosis institutions in Henan province, China / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the situation of tuberculosis (TB) infection among the employees of the anti-TB institutions in Henan.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Cross-sectional study was adopted the employees working in all municipal-level- anti-TB institutions and 40 anti-TB institutions at county-level selected randomly from 109 counties of the province were regarded as surveyed objects. Tuberculin skin test (TST) was used to test the infection with PPD.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>2153 employees accepting the TST and the positive rate was 60.6%, of which the positive rate was 66.1% among healthcare workers. Among the employees and healthcare workers, the positive rates of TST adjusted by the stratum weights between municipal-level and county-level institutions were 57.3% and 62.8% respectively with Chi-square test the analysis of multivariate logistic vegression, both positive rate and strong positive rate among healthcare workers, the employees older than 30 years of age and working in municipal-level institutions were significantly higher than those among non-healthcare workers, the employees younger than 30 years old and working in county-level institutions, respectively. There were not significant differences of positive and strong positive rates between employees with and without BCG-history, or between male employees and female employees.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Program on TB infection control in anti-TB institutions of Henan were weak and the employees especiolly healthcare workers had a high vocational exposure.</p>