Noninvasive diagnosis of esophageal varices in liver cirrhosis / 临床肝胆病杂志

Esophageal varices (EV) are the most common complication in patients with liver cirrhosis. Although achievements have been made in the development of endoscopy and other hemostatic techniques, the 6-week mortality rate is still as high as 16%-26% in patients with esophageal variceal bleeding, and therefore, early diagnosis of EV, especially high-risk EV, is of great importance. At present, gastroscopy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of EV, but its clinical application is limited by invasiveness, high cost, and patient discomfort. In recent years, several noninvasive tests have been proposed for the diagnosis of EV, among which the original Baveno VI criteria and its expanded criteria are the most commonly used ones. This article summarizes and reviews the advances in serological marker, ultrasound, CT, MRI, elastography, capsule endoscopy, and ultrathin endoscopy in the noninvasive diagnosis of EV and emphasizes the development of simple noninvasive technology, so as to provide help for the early diagnosis of EV.

Effects of pramipexole on serum cystatin C, antioxidant indexes and brain derived neurotrophic factor in Parkinson’s disease / 中国生化药物杂志

Objective To investigate the effects of pramipexole on serum cystatin C, antioxidant indexes and brain derived neurotrophic factor ( BDNF) in the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease.Methods Retrospective a total of 96 patients with Parkinson’s disease were collected and randomly divided into experimental group and control group with 48 cases in each group.Patients in the control group were treated by levodopa,patients in the experimental group were treated on the basis of the control group with pramipexole, movement and non-movement symptoms were assessed by unified Parkinson’ s disease rating scale ( UPDRS), the serum cystatin C, antioxidant indexes and brain derived neurotrophic factor levels were measured, and the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions were compared.Results The effective rate of the control group (68.75%) was lower than the experimental group (87.50%), with statistical significance (P<0.05); compared with the control group, the movement and non-movement symptoms of the experimental group reduced after treatment, after treatment the serum CRP, serum cystatin C decreased, serum BDNF increased, after treatment the glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidate (GPX) levels increased, with statistical significance (P<0.05).Conclusion Pramipexole in the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease could reduce serum cystatin C, improve the levels of BDNF and antioxidant capacity, the effect is remarkable.

Effect of Fasudil on Inflammatory Secretion of Astrocytes / 华中科技大学学报(医学版)

Objective To observe the effect of Fasudil on inflammatory factors (TNF-α and IL-8) secreted by astro-cytes.Methods Primary rat spinal astrocytes were cultured and randomly divided into three groups :control group ,oxygen-glu-cose deprivation group (OGD group) and Fasudil group.The culture media were harvested at different time points (0 ,3 ,6 ,12 , 24 h) for detection of the concentration of TNF-αand IL-8 by ELISA.Results Compared with the control group ,the concentra-tions of TNF-αand IL-8 in OGD group were significantly increased at each time point (P<0.05);in Fasudil group ,the concen-trations of TNF-αand IL-8 increased at some time points ,but they were much lower than in OGD group (P<0.05) .Conclusion OGD can promote the secretion of TNF-αand IL-8 by astrocytes in vitro ,which can be effectively inhibited by Fasudil.It is suggested that Fasudil plays an important role in regulating the levels of TNF-αand IL-8 secreted by astrocytes.