Protective effects of total saponins from Panax japonicus against high-fat diet-induced testicular Sertoli cell junction damage in mice / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the protective effects of total saponins from Panax japonicus (TSPJ) against high-fat dietinduced testicular Sertoli cell junction damage in mice.@*METHODS@#Forty male C57BL/6J mice were randomized into normal diet group, high-fat diet group, and low-dose (25 mg/kg) and high-dose (75 mg/kg) TSPJ treatment groups (n=10). The mice in the normal diet group were fed a normal diet, while the mice in the other groups were fed a high-fat diet. After TSPJ treatment via intragastric administration for 5 months, the testes and epididymis of the mice were collected for measurement of weight, testicular and epididymal indices and sperm parameters. HE staining was used for histological evaluation of the testicular tissues and measurement of seminiferous tubule diameter and seminiferous epithelium height. The expression levels of ZO-1, occludin, claudin11, N-cadherin, E-cadherin and β-catenin in Sertoli cells were detected with Western blot, and the localization and expression levels of ZO-1 and β-catenin in the testicular tissues were detected with immunofluorescence assay. The protein expressions of LC3B, p-AKT and p-mTOR in testicular Sertoli cells were detected using double immunofluorescence assay.@*RESULTS@#Treatment with TSPJ significantly improved high-fat diet-induced testicular dysfunction by reducing body weight (P < 0.001), increasing testicular and epididymal indices (P < 0.05), and improving sperm concentration and sperm viability (P < 0.05). TSPJ ameliorated testicular pathologies and increased seminiferous epithelium height of the mice with high-fat diet feeding (P < 0.05) without affecting the seminiferous tubule diameter. TSPJ significantly increased the expression levels of ZO-1, occludin, N-cadherin, E-cadherin and β-catenin (P < 0.05) but did not affect claudin11 expression in the testicular tissues. Immunofluorescence assay showed that TSPJ significantly increased ZO-1 and β-catenin expression in the testicular tissues (P < 0.001), downregulated LC3B expression and upregulated p-AKT and p-mTOR expressions in testicular Sertoli cells.@*CONCLUSION@#TSPJ alleviates high-fat diet-induced damages of testicular Sertoli cell junctions and spermatogenesis possibly by activating the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and inhibiting autophagy of testicular Sertoli cells.

Factors affecting poor eyesight among primary and middle schoolstudents in Tongzhou District / 预防医学

Objective@#To investigate the prevalence and influencing factors of poor eyesight among primary and middle school students in Tongzhou District, Beijing Municipality, so as to provide the evidence for developing control strategies for poor eyesight among primary and middle school students.@* Methods@#Grades 3 to 6 students in district- and township-level primary schools, grades 1 to 3 students in district- and township-level junior high schools, and grades 1 to 3 district- and township-level high schools were sampled in Tongzhou District using the stratified cluster sampling method from 2020 to 2021. Basic information, daily activity, sleep duration and eye-using habits were collected using the specific questionnaires for poor eyesight and influencing factors among students in the 2018 national program for common diseases and health risk factors surveillance program among Chinese students, and the height and body weight were measured. Factors affecting poor eyesight were among primary and middle school students identified using a multivariable logistic regression model. @*Results@#A total of 771 valid questionnaires were recovered, and the respondents included 392 male students (50.84%) and 379 female students (49.16%), and 321 primary school students (41.63%), 228 junior high school students (29.57%) and 222 high school students (28.79%). The prevalence of poor eyesight was 73.54% among the respondents. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that education phase (junior high school, OR=2.940, 95%CI: 1.931-4.476; high school, OR=5.998, 95%CI: 3.701-9.723) , obesity (OR=1.989, 95%CI: 1.258-3.146), daily exercise duration of less than 1 h (OR=1.931, 95%CI: 1.351-2.760), daily sleep duration of less than 8 h (OR=1.719, 95%CI: 1.193-2.477), at least 33 cm distance between a reading book and eyes (sometimes, OR=2.165, 95%CI: 1.320-3.550; never, OR=2.634, 95%CI: 1.767-3.928) and continuous short-distance eye use duration of 1 h and longer (OR=1.455, 95%CI: 1.020-2.078) were associated with poor eyesight among primary and middle school students.@*Conclusions@# The prevalence of poor eyesight is high among primary and middle school students in Tongzhou District. Higher grade, obesity, inadequate exercise and sleep duration and poor eye-using habits may increase the risk of poor eyesight.

Laboratory confirmation of an outbreak of respiratory infectious disease caused by human adenovirus 3 in Beijing / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective:To confirm the possible pathogen causing an outbreak of respiratory infectious disease in Beijing.Methods:Oropharyngeal swabs were collected from 14 cases with fever and detected by RT-PCR for respiratory viruses and bacteria. For specimens positive for adenoviruses, Fiber, Hexon and Penton gene fragments were amplified with specific primers and sequenced. BLAST and phylogenetic tree were used for sequence analysis.Results:All of the 14 specimens were adenovirus-positive. BLAST analysis of the sequences of Fiber, hexon and Penton genes showed that the 14 cases were all caused by adenovirus 3. The phylogenic tree analysis indicated that this adenovirus was closely related to an adenovirus of 3a51 genotype (GenBank No: KF268123) isolated in the USA in 2007.Conclusions:Human adenovirus genotype 3a51 caused this outbreak of respiratory infectious disease in Beijing.

Effects of ischemic postconditioning on nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthase in diabetic rat brain tissues / 中国医师杂志

Objective To investigate effects of ischemic postconditioning on the nitric oxide ( NO) and nitric oxide synthase ( NOS) in diabetic rat brain tissues .Methods Thirty Wistar rats were diabetic models induced by intraperitoneal injuction of stepto-zotocin (STZ), and randomly divided into three groups: Control group (normal, diabetic), cerebral ischemia group, and ischemic postconditioning ( I-POST) group.The rats of cerebral ischemia group and ischemic postconditioning group were made model of cere -bral ischemia by ligation carotid artery .Hematoxylin-eosin ( HE) was used to observe their pathological changes in control and diabetic groups.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA) method was used to detect the expression and changes of NO and NOS in the sera in each group .Western Blot method was used to investigate the expression and changes of NOS in the retinal tissues in each group .Results For I-POST group , brain tissue defects were decreased , neuronal cells were increased , serum inducible NOS ( iNOS) content was significantly lower than endothelial NOS (eNOS) and neuronal NOS (nNOS) ( P 0.05 ) .Conclusions Is-chemic postconditioning can protect the brain tissue of diabetic rats by inhibiting NOS activity especially iNOS .