Using ROPScore and CHOP ROP for early prediction of retinopathy of prematurity in a Chinese population.

PURPOSE: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a disease that causes vision loss, vision impairment, and blindness, most frequently manifesting among preterm infants. ROPScore and CHOP ROP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia ROP) are similar scoring models to predict ROP using risk factors such as postnatal weight gain, birth weight (BW), and gestation age (GA). The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy and difference between using ROPScore and CHOP ROP for the early prediction of ROP. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted from January 2009 to December 2019 in China. Patients eligible for enrollment included infants admitted to NICU at ≤32 weeks GA or those with ≤1500 g BW. The sensitivity and specificity of ROPScore and CHOP ROP were analyzed, as well as its suitability as an independent predictor of ROP. RESULTS: Severe ROP was found in 5.0% of preterm infants. The sensitivity and specificity of the ROPScore test at any stage of ROP was 55.8 and 77.8%, respectively. For severe ROP, the sensitivity and specificity was 50 and 87.0%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the ROPScore for predicting severe ROP was 0.76. This value was significantly higher than the values for birth weight (0.60), gestational age (0.73), and duration of ventilation (0.63), when each was category measured separately. For the CHOP ROP, it correctly predicted infants who developed type 1 ROP (sensitivity, 100%, specificity, 21.4%). CONCLUSIONS: The CHOP ROP model predicted infants who developed type 1 ROP at a sensitivity of 100% whereas ROPScore had a sensitivity of 55.8%. Therefore, the CHOP ROP model is more suitable for Chinese populations than the ROPScore test. CLINICAL REGISTRATION NUMBER AND STROBE GUIDELINES: This article was a retrospective cohort study and reported the results of the ROPScore and CHOP ROP algorithms. No results pertaining to interventions on human participants were reported. Thus, registration was not required and this study followed STROBE guidelines.

The effect of electrophoretic parameters on separation performance of short DNA fragments.

Effective separation of short DNA fragments is important for the identification of PCR or LAMP products. We investigated the effect of electric field strength, sample plug width, effective length of the capillary, concentration and molecular weight of polymer on the separation performance of small DNA. Results demonstrated that the sample plug played a non-negligible role in the peak broadening. The migration time of DNA was exponentially decreased with the increase of electric field strength. Increasing effective length of capillary, concentration or molecular weight of HEC may improve the separation performance, but it was at the cost of long migration time.

Effects of Bushen-Yizhi formula on age-related inflammation and oxidative stress in senescence-accelerated mice.

The present study aimed to investigate the possible effects and underlying molecular mechanism of Bushen­Yizhi formula (BSYZ), a traditional Chinese medicine, on age­related degeneration of brain physiology in senescence­accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mice. SAMP8 mice (age, 6 months) were administered BSYZ (1.46, 2.92 and 5.84 g/kg/day) for 30 days. Morris water maze and step­down tests demonstrated that BSYZ significantly improved memory impairments in SAMP8 mice. In addition, BSYZ significantly enhanced the expression levels of peroxisome proliferator­activated receptor­Î³ and B­cell lymphoma extra­large, and downregulated the expression levels of inflammatory mediators, glial fibrillary acidic protein, cyclooxygenase­2, nuclear factor­κB and interleukin­1ß in the brain compared with untreated SAMP8 mice. Furthermore, BSYZ reversed disordered superoxide dismutase activity, malondialdehyde content and glutathione peroxidase activity, and ameliorated apoptosis and histological alterations. The present study indicated that BSYZ may attenuate cognitive impairment in SAMP8 mice, and modulate inflammation, oxidative stress and neuronal apoptosis. These results suggested that BSYZ may have the potential to be further developed into a therapeutic agent for protection against age­related neurodegenerative diseases.

Berberine Improves Diabetic Encephalopathy Through the SIRT1/ER Stress Pathway in db/db Mice.

The association between diabetes and dementia has been well demonstrated by epidemiologic studies. Berberine (BBR) has been reported to ameliorate diabetes and diabetic encephalopathy (DE). However, the mechanism is still unknown. In this study, we employ a diabetic model, db/db mice, to explore whether BBR could protect DE through the SIRT1/endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway. Behavioral results (Morris water maze, Y-maze spontaneous alternation test, and fear conditioning test) showed that oral administration of BBR (50 mg/kg) improved the learning and memory ability. Furthermore, BBR promoted lipid metabolism and decreased fasting glucose in db/db mice. Moreover, western blot analysis revealed that BBR increased the synapse- and nerve-related protein expression (PSD95, SYN, and NGF) and decreased the protein expression of inflammatory factors (TNF-α and NF-κB) in the hippocampus of db/db mice. BBR also increased the protein expression of SIRT1 and downregulated ER stress-associated proteins (PERK, IRE-1α, eIF-2α, PDI, and CHOP) in the hippocampus of db/db mice. Taken together, the present results suggest that the SIRT1/ER stress pathway might be a crucial mechanism in the neuroprotective effect of BBR against DE.

Ferulic acid attenuates brain microvascular endothelial cells damage caused by oxygen-glucose deprivation via punctate-mitochondria-dependent mitophagy.

Ferulic acid (FA) has an important effect on scavenging free radicals, which is related to the alleviation of various neurodegenerative diseases. However, there are few studies about its effects on vascular dementia. In this study, we demonstrated the effect of FA on oxidative damage of brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) which underwent oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) for 2h. Our data showed that FA significantly reversed the oxidative stress state of OGD-treated BMECs and reduced mitochondrial dysfunction. In further study, we found that FA upregulated the expression of LC3-II, a marker of autophagy. Besides, mitophagy was observed by transmission electron microscopy. The mechanism of FA inducing autophagy was found to be related to mitochondrial fission, according to the effects of siRNA and inhibitor of dynamin-related protein 1, which was responsible for fission. All above suggested that FA mitigated OGD-induced mitochondrial oxidative damage by punctate-mitochondria-dependent autophagy.

Do Chinese Researchers Conduct Ethical Research and Use Ethics Committee Review in Clinical Trials of Anti-Dementia Drugs? An Analysis of Biomedical Publications Originating from China.

BACKGROUND: Medical research using human participants must conform to the basic ethical principles found in the Declaration of Helsinki (DoH) of the World Medical Association. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review was to assess whether journals in China have improved in regard to the fulfillment of ethical disclosure procedures for clinical trials of anti-dementia drugs. METHODS: Four medical databases were searched for articles reporting clinical trials of oral anti-dementia drugs published in China in 2003, 2009, and 2014. The frequencies of reporting of informed consent from participants (ICP), approval of a regional ethical committee (REC), reference to DoH, and study registration were estimated respectively. Statistical analyses were conducted with SPSS v21 software. RESULTS: Among those randomized controlled trials published in 2003, 2009, and 2014, disclosure of REC approval was present for 2.67%, 1.15%, and 6.84%; statements of ICP were included in 9.33%, 7.76%, and 17.34%; reference to DoH was found for 4.00%, 1.44%, and 7.45%; and study registration reporting was included in 2.67%, 2.59%, and 9.28%, respectively. Improvements to reporting rates between 2009 and 2014 were seen, with more than twice as many trials reporting REC approval, ICP, reference to DoH, and study registration compared with 2009. CONCLUSION: Compared with 2003 and 2009, reporting rates for REC approval, ICP, reference to DoH, and study registration for clinical trials of anti-dementia drugs were enhanced in 2014 in the major medical journals of China. However, biomedical publications without definite statements of ethical considerations remain common, and this continues to be seen in Chinese journals. It is imperative that measures are taken to reinforce the ethical protection in clinical trials in China.

Can Chinese Herbal Medicine Adjunctive Therapy Improve Outcomes of Senile Vascular Dementia? Systematic Review with Meta-analysis of Clinical Trials.

Many publications have reported the growing application of complementary and alternative medicine, particularly the use of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in combination with routine pharmacotherapy (RP) for senile vascular dementia (SVD), but its efficacy remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of CHM adjunctive therapy (CHMAT), which is CHM combined with RP, in the treatment of SVD. Publications in seven electronic databases were searched extensively, and 27 trials with a total of 1961 patients were included for analysis. Compared with RP alone, CHMAT significantly increased the effective rate [odds ratio (OR) 2.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.30, 3.86]. In addition, CHMAT showed benefits in detailed subgroups of the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) score from time of onset to 4 weeks (WMD 3.01, 95% CI 2.15, 3.87), 8 weeks (weighted mean difference (WMD) 2.30, 95% CI 1.28, 3.32), 12 weeks (WMD 2.93, 95% CI 2.17, 3.69), and 24 weeks (WMD 3.25, 95% CI 2.61, 3.88), and in the activity of daily living scale score from time of onset to 4 weeks (WMD -4.64, 95% CI -6.12, -3.17), 8 weeks (WMD -4.30, 95% CI -6.04, -2.56), 12 weeks (WMD -3.89, 95% CI -4.68, -3.09), and 24 weeks (WMD -4.04, 95% CI -6.51, -1.57). Moreover, CHMAT had positive effects on changes in the Hasegawa dementia scale, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Clinical Dementia Rating, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores, as well as blood fat levels (total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein E), platelet aggregation rate (1-min platelet aggregation rate, 5-min platelet aggregation rate, and maximal platelet aggregation rate), and blood rheology (whole-blood viscosity and hematocrit). No serious or frequently occurring adverse effects were reported. Weaknesses of methodological quality in most trials were assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, while the quality level of Grades of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence classification indicated 'very low'. This systematic review suggests that CHM as an adjunctive therapy can improve cognitive impairment and enhance immediate response and quality of life in SVD patients. However, because of limitations of methodological quality in the included studies, further research of rigorous design is needed.

(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate attenuates cognitive deterioration in Alzheimer's disease model mice by upregulating neprilysin expression.

Epigenetic changes are involved in learning and memory, and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are considered potential therapeutic agents for Alzheimer's disease (AD). We previously reported that (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) acts as an HDAC inhibitor. Here, we demonstrate that EGCG reduced ß-amyloid (Aß) accumulation in vitro and rescued cognitive deterioration in senescence-accelerated mice P8 (SAMP8) via intragastric administration of low- and high-dose EGCG (5 and 15 mg/kg, respectively) for 60 days. The AD brain has decreased levels of the rate-limiting degradation enzyme of Aß, neprilysin (NEP). We found an association between EGCG-induced reduction in Aß accumulation and elevated NEP expression. Further, NEP silencing prevented the EGCG-induced Aß downregulation. Our findings suggest that EGCG might be effective for treating AD.

(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate induces cancer cell apoptosis via acetylation of amyloid precursor protein.

Epigenetic modifications are involved in cancer pathogenesis, and HDACis are considered potential therapeutic agents. We and others have shown the inhibitory activity of EGCG on HDAC1. But little is known about the effect of EGCG as on epigenetic regulation in cancer. Here, we try to demonstrate that EGCG acts as an HDACi downregulated APP expression, which was pathophysiologically upregulated in cancers and exerts a key role in cancer cell growth. We used PC-12 cells, SK-N-SH cells and primary tumor tissues for our analysis. Male 4-week-old athymic nude mice were used for heterotopic tumor growth assay. We employed Western blotting analysis to detect Bcl-2, Bax, APP, caspase-3, caspase-7, HDAC1 and H4Ac. We used AnnexinV-FITC and TUNEL staining for apoptosis detection. Tumor tissues were examined by immunohistochemical staining. We demonstrated that EGCG suppresses the growth of xenografted adrenal pheochromocytoma. Flow cytometry analysis and TUNEL staining showed that EGCG induced the apoptosis. Treatment with EGCG resulted in decrease in Bcl-2 but increase in Bax and activated caspase-3 and caspase-7. HDAC inhibitor EGCG leaded to hyperacetylated histone H4 by immunofluorescence. EGCG decreased APP levels by immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analysis. Silencing specific to HDAC1 leaded to caspase-3 and caspase-7 activation and cleavage. Our results are the first to demonstrate a functional interaction between EGCG and APP in suppression tumor growth, and provide a new epigenetic effects of EGCG on antitumor.

Use of ultrasonic array method for positioning multiple partial discharge sources in transformer oil.

Fast and accurate positioning of partial discharge (PD) sources in transformer oil is very important for the safe, stable operation of power systems because it allows timely elimination of insulation faults. There is usually more than one PD source once an insulation fault occurs in the transformer oil. This study, which has both theoretical and practical significance, proposes a method of identifying multiple PD sources in the transformer oil. The method combines the two-sided correlation transformation algorithm in the broadband signal focusing and the modified Gerschgorin disk estimator. The method of classification of multiple signals is used to determine the directions of arrival of signals from multiple PD sources. The ultrasonic array positioning method is based on the multi-platform direction finding and the global optimization searching. Both the 4 × 4 square planar ultrasonic sensor array and the ultrasonic array detection platform are built to test the method of identifying and positioning multiple PD sources. The obtained results verify the validity and the engineering practicability of this method.

A novel assay for high-throughput screening of anti-Alzheimer's disease drugs to determine their efficacy by real-time monitoring of changes in PC12 cell proliferation.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by the accumulation of senile plaque and neurofibrilary tangle formation in the brain, including the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Nowadays, the first-line treatment for AD is the application of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. However, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are basically anti-symptomatic for a limited aspect of AD pathology and are associated with serious side-effects. With the advantage of multiple targets, pathways and systems, Chinese herbal compounds hold promising potential for the development of drugs for the treatment of AD. Over the past few years, with the development of Chinese herbal compounds and in vitro pharmacological studies, cell-based disease models are one of the main methods used to screen Chinese herbal compounds for potential efficacy. Testing the efficacy of possible anti-Alzheimer's disease drugs and the development of new drugs are hindered by the lack of objective high-throughput screening methods. Currently, the assessment of the effects of drugs is usually made by MTT assays, involving laborious, subjective, low-throughput methods. Herein, we suggest a novel application for a real-time cell monitoring device (xCELLigence) that can simply and objectively assess the effective composition of Chinese herbal compounds by assessing amyloid-ß peptide Aß1-42-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells. We detected the proliferation and motility of the cells using a fully automated high-throughput and real-time system. We quantitatively assessed cell motility and determined the real-time IC50 values of various anti-AD drugs that intervene in several developmental stages of Aß1-42-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells, Then, we identified the optimal time phase by curative efficacy. Our data indicate that this technique may aid in the discovery and development of novel anti-Alzheimer's disease drugs. It is possible to utilize a similar technique to measure changes in electrical impedance as cells attach and spread in a culture dish covered with a gold microelectrode array that covers approximately 80% of the area on the bottom of a well. As cells attach and spread on the electrode surface, it leads to an increase in electrical impedance of 9-12. The impedance is displayed as a dimensionless para-meter termed the cell index, which is directly proportional to the total area of tissue culture well that is covered by the cells. Hence, the cell index can be used to monitor cell adhesion, spreading, morphological variation and cell density.

ß-Asarone prevents autophagy and synaptic loss by reducing ROCK expression in asenescence-accelerated prone 8 mice.

ß-Asarone is an active component of the Acori graminei rhizome that is a traditional Chinese medicine clinically used in treating dementia in China. However, the cognitive effect of ß-asarone and its mechanism has remained elusive. Here, we used asenescence-accelerated prone 8 (SAMP8) mice, which mimic many of the salient features of Alzheimer׳s disease (AD), to further investigate whether modulation of the ROCK signaling pathway and/or autophagy, synaptic loss is involved in the effects of ß-asarone on learning and memory. SAMP8 mice at the age of 6 months were intragastrically administered by ß-asarone or a vehicle daily for 2 months. Senescence-accelerated-resistant (SAMR1) mice were used as the control. Our results demonstrate that autophagy and ROCK expression were increased significantly in 8 months SAMP8 mice, which were concomitant with that SAMP8 mice at the same age displayed a significant synaptic loss and cognitive deficits. The up-regulation of ROCK expression and autophage in the hippocampus of SAMP8 were significantly reduced by ß-asarone, and prevents synaptic loss and improved cognitive function of the SAMP8 mice. ß-asarone decreased neuronophagia and lipofuscin in the hippocampus of SAMP8 mice, but did not reduce Aß42 levels and malondialdehyde levels and superoxide dismutase activities. Moreover, suppression of ROCK2 by siRNA significantly reduced the effects of ß-asarone on the autophage and synaptic proteins expression in PC12 cells damage induced by Aß1-40. Taken together, ß-asarone prevents autophagy and synaptic loss by reducing ROCK expression in SAMP8 mice.

Study and enhance the photovoltaic properties of narrow-bandgap Cu2SnS3 solar cell by p-n junction interface modification.

Photovoltaic properties of narrow-bandgap Cu(2)SnS(3) (CTS) are studied for the first time by employing a superstrate solar cell structure of fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass/TiO(2)/In(2)S(3)/CTS/Mo. The structural, optical, and electronic characteristics of the CTS make it great potential as bottom cell absorber material for low-cost thin film tandem solar cell application. Furthermore, by inserting a thin low temperature deposited In(2)S(3) layer between the In(2)S(3) buffer layer and the CTS absorber layer, an enhancement in the performance of the solar cell can be achieved, leading to about 75% improvement (η=1.92%) over the unmodified device (η=1.10%).

Is pulsed electric field still effective for RNA separation in capillary electrophoresis?

Pulsed field capillary electrophoresis (PFCE) is a predominant technique to cope with difficulties in resolving large DNA strands, yet it is still unclear whether pulsed electric field is effective for the separation of higher mass RNA. In this paper we focused on the role of pulsed electric field in large RNA fragments analysis by comparing RNA separation performance in PFCE with that in constant field CE. Separation performance in terms of migration mobility, plate numbers, resolution, and selectivity has been tested for the analysis of RNA from 0.1 to 10.0 kilo nucleotide (knt) under different electrophoretic conditions. Denaturation, important to obtain uniform and identifiable peaks, was accomplished by heating the sample in 4.0M urea prior to analysis and the presence of 4.0M urea in the electrophoresis buffer. Results demonstrate that unlike DNA in PFCE, the pulsed electric field mainly affects the separation performance of RNA between 0.4 and 2.0 knt. The migration mobility of long RNA fragments is not a strong function of modulation depth and pulsed frequency. Moreover, the logarithm of RNA mobility is almost inversely proportional to the logarithm of molecule size up to 6.0 knt with correlation coefficient higher than 0.99 in all the polymer concentrations measured here. Resonance frequency of RNA in PFCE was also observed. While these initial experiments show no distinct advantages of using PFCE for RNA separation, they do take further step toward characterizing the migration behavior of RNA under pulsed field conditions.

[Influence of acupoint-catgut-implantation on blood pressure and cardiac function in chronic congestive heart failure rats].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of acupoint-catgut-implantation on blood pressure and cardiac function in chronic heart failure (CHF) rats. METHODS: A total of 60 SD female rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group (sham), CHF model group, catgut-implantation group, Captopril group. CHF model was established by suprarenal abdominal artery constriction. Surgical catgut (No. 3-0, 2-3 mm length piece) was implanted into bilateral "Neiguan" (PC 6), "Xinshu" (BL 15) and "Zusanli" (ST 36) twice for 7 weeks. Rats of the Captopril group were treated with intragastric infusion of Captopril from the 50= day on after the operation, once daily for 7 weeks. Blood pressure (BP) including the systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean blood pressure (MBP), heart rate (HR) and the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were detected respectively by cardiac sonography. RESULTS: On the 14th week after modeling, in comparison with the sham group, the SBP, DBP, MBP and HR in rats of the model group were increased significantly (P<0. 01, P<0. 05), while LVEF of the model group was decreased considerably (P<0. 01). Compared with the model group, the SBP, DBP, MBP and HR after 7 weeks' treatment in rats of the catgut-implantation and Captopril groups were decreased considerably (P<0. 01), while the LVEF of the catgut-implantation group was increased evidently (P<0. 05). No significant differences were found between the catgut-implantation and Captopril groups in the SBP, DBP, MBP and HR levels, and between the model and Captopril groups in LVEF values (P>0. 05). CONCLUSION: Acupoint-catgut-implantation can down-regulate BP and HR, and increase LVEF in chronic congestive heart failure rats, which may contribute to its effect in ameliorating the cardiac function.

Design of separation length and electric field strength for high-speed DNA electrophoresis.

Gel-based DNA separation on microchip will play an important role in future genomic analysis due to its potential for high-efficiency and high-speed. Optimal design of microchip and separation condition is essential to take full advantage of high-speed separation on microchip. Separation length L and electric field strength E, which are crucial for design of microchip system, are focused on in this paper. Simultaneous optimization of L and E was carried out to achieve the most rapid separation. It was shown that the condition of L and E and the shortest separation time is closely related to the shape of resolution Rs surface in a three-dimensional space with axes E, L, and Rs. This surface was investigated, taking sample injection, detector, diffusion, and Joule heating into account. Thermal gradient broadening due to Joule heating helps to produce camber or ridge shape of Rs surface, which is essential for the shortest separation length and separation time. Sample plug length and detection volume should be more carefully controlled in microchip. The property of diffusion coefficient was shown to play a key role in determining Rs surface.

[Advances in study on the pharmacological effects of active components of Chinese herbs on Alzheimer's disease].

Based on the pharmacological research of Chinese herbs on AD and some famous hypothesis on AD, such as dysfunction of nervous transmitter metabolism, apoptosis, inflammation etc, we consulted and analyzed relevant papers. We found the effective mechanism of Ginsenoside, Osthol, Rhodosin, and (-) Clausenamide were related to many pathological channels of AD, and Ginsenoside had effect on many pathological channels. The results have provided some clues for selecting effective herbs on AD.