Safety and effectiveness of proximal aortic repair versus total arch replacement for the treatment of acute type A aortic dissection: A systematic review and meta-analysis / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#Objective    To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of proximal aortic repair (PAR) versus total arch replacement (TAR) for treatment of acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD). Methods     An electronic search was conducted for clinical controlled studies on PAR versus TAR for patients with ATAAD published in Medline via PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Wanfang Database and CNKI since their inception up to April 30, 2022. The quality of each study included was assessed by 2 evaluators and the necessary data were extracted. STATA 16 software was used to perform statistical analysis of the available data. Results    A total of 28 cohort studies involving 7 923 patients with ATAAD were included in this meta-analysis, of whom 5 710 patients received PAR and 2 213 patients underwent TAR, and 96.43% of the studies (27/28) were rated as high quality. The meta-analysis results showed that: (1) patients who underwent PAR had lower incidences of 30 d mortality [RR=0.62, 95%CI (0.50, 0.77), P<0.001], in-hospital mortality [RR=0.64, 95%CI (0.54, 0.77), P<0.001], and neurologic deficiency after surgery [RR=0.84, 95%CI (0.72, 0.98), P=0.032] than those who received TAR; (2) the cardiopulmonary bypass time [WMD=–52.07, 95%CI (–74.19, –29.94), P<0.001], circulatory arrest time [WMD=–10.14, 95%CI (–15.02, –5.26), P<0.001], and operation time [WMD=–101.68, 95%CI (–178.63, –24.73), P<0.001] were significantly shorter in PAR than those in TAR; (3) there was no statistical difference in mortality after discharge, rate of over 5-year survival, renal failure after surgery and re-intervention, volume of red blood cells transfusion and fresh-frozen plasma transfusion, or hospital stay between two surgical procedures. Conclusion     Compared with TAR, PAR has a shorter operation time and lower early and in-hospital mortality, but there is no difference in long-term outcomes or complications between the two procedures for patients with ATAAD.

Ultrasonographic appearance of pseudo-placentational endometrial hyperplasia in a dog.

A 5-year-old, clinically normal intact female Miniature Schnauzer was presented for demonstrative ultrasonography in a seminar. She had two pregnancies in the past and had a natural mating 2 months previously. Ultrasonography revealed a segmental and circumferential mural thickening of the right uterine horn. The endometrium was markedly thickened with multiple organized hyperechoic linear striations, perpendicular to the mucosal surface. Histology revealed focal endometrial hyperplasia resembling the maternal tissue of the normal canine placenta. A diagnosis of spontaneous pseudo-placentational endometrial hyperplasia (PEH) was made. This study described a unique ultrasonographic appearance of PEH, which may facilitate the diagnosis of PEH.

Comparison of sequential feeding and continuous feeding on the blood glucose of critically ill patients: a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Glucose control is an important aspect in managing critically ill patients. The goal of this study was to compare the effects of sequential feeding (SF) and continuous feeding (CF) on the blood glucose of critically ill patients.@*METHODS@#A non-inferiority randomized controlled trial was adopted in this study. A total of 62 patients who were fed enteral nutritional suspension through gastric tubes were enrolled. After achieving 80% of the nutrition target calories (25 kcal·kg-1·day-1) through CF, the patients were then randomly assigned into SF and CF groups. In the SF group, the feeding/fasting time was reasonably determined according to the circadian rhythm of the human body as laid out in traditional Chinese medicine theory. The total daily dosage of the enteral nutritional suspension was equally distributed among three time periods of 7 to 9 o'clock, 11 to 13 o'clock, and 17 to 19 o'clock. The enteral nutritional suspension in each time period was pumped at a uniform rate within 2 h by an enteral feeding pump. In the CF group, patients received CF at a constant velocity by an enteral feeding pump throughout the study. Blood glucose values at five points (6:00/11:00/15:00/21:00/1:00) were monitored and recorded for seven consecutive days after randomization. Enteral feeding intolerance was also recorded. Non-inferiority testing was adopted in this study, the chi-square test or Fisher test was used for qualitative data, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for quantitative data to determine differences between groups. In particular, a repeated measure one-way analysis of variance was used to identify whether changes in glucose value variables across the time points were different between the two groups.@*RESULTS@#There were no significant demographic or physiological differences between the SF and CF groups (P > 0.050). The average glucose level in SF was not higher than that in CF (8.8 [7.3-10.3] vs. 10.7 [9.1-12.1] mmol/L, Z = -2.079, P for non-inferiority = 0.019). Hyperglycemia incidence of each patient was more common in the CF group than that in the SF group (38.4 [19.1-63.7]% vs. 11.8 [3.0-36.7]%, Z = -2.213, P = 0.027). Hypoglycemia was not found in either group. Moreover, there was no significant difference during the 7 days in the incidence of feeding intolerance (P > 0.050).@*CONCLUSIONS@#In this non-inferiority study, the average blood glucose in SF was not inferior to that in CF. The feeding intolerance in SF was similar to that in CF. SF may be as safe as CF for critically ill patients.@*TRIAL REGISTRATION@#ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03439618; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT03439618.

Towards resolving the co-existing impacts of multiple dynamic factors on the performance of EMG-pattern recognition based prostheses.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Mobility of subject (MoS) and muscle contraction force variation (MCFV) have been shown to individually degrade the performance of multiple degrees of freedom electromyogram (EMG) pattern recognition (PR) based prostheses control systems. Though these factors (MoS-MCFV) co-exist simultaneously in the practical use of the prosthesis, their combined impact on PR-based system has rarely been studied especially in the context of amputees who are the target users of the device. METHODS: To address this problem, this study systematically investigated the co-existing impact of MoS-MCFV on the performance of PR-based movement intent classifier, using EMG recordings acquired from eight participants who performed multiple classes of targeted limb movements across static and non-static scenarios with three distinct muscle contraction force levels. Then, a robust feature extraction method that is invariant to the combined effect of MoS-MCFV, namely, invariant time-domain descriptor (invTDD), was proposed to optimally characterize the multi-class EMG signal patterns in the presence of both factors. RESULTS: Experimental results consistently showed that the proposed invTDD method could significantly mitigate the co-existing impact of MoS-MCFV on PR-based movement-intent classifier with error reduction in the range of 7.50%~17.97% (p<0.05), compared to the commonly applied methods. Further evaluation using 2-dimentional principal component analysis (PCA) technique, revealed that the proposed invTDD method has obvious class-separability in the PCA feature space, with a significantly lower standard error (0.91%) compared to the existing methods. CONCLUSION: This study offers compelling insight on how to develop accurately robust multiple degrees of freedom control scheme for multifunctional prostheses that would be clinically viable. Also, the study may spur positive advancement in other application areas of medical robotics that adopts myoelectric control schemes such as the electric wheelchair and human-computer-interaction systems.

Effects of rhein derivatives 4 a containing amide structure on migration and invasion in ovarian cancer cells / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the effect of Rhein derivative 4a containing amide structure on migration and invasion in ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells and its possible mechanism. Methods Ovarian cancer SK0V3 cells were used as target cells. Molecular docking and West-em blot were used to detect the regulatory effect of derivative 4a on Racl protein. CCK8, HE staining, Scratch and Transwell assay were used to detect the effects of derivative 4a on the proliferation, morphology , migration and invasion of SK0V3 cells, respectively. Western blot was employed to determine the expression of matrix metalloproteinases and EMT-related proteins. Results Derivative 4a could effectively bind to Racl protein, and the binding energy was-29. 10 kcal • mol"1, which was significantly lower than that of Rhein; it also could down-regulate the expression of Racl protein in SK0V3 cells. Derivative 4a could significantly inhibit the proliferation, invasion and migra tion of SKOV3 cells, and induce a large amount of cellular vacuolation; derivative 4a could also down-regu-\ late the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9, up-regulate the expression of EMT epithelial marker protein E-ca-derin but down-regulate the expression of vimentin and j3-cantenin. Conclusions Derivative 4 a can inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer SK0V3 cells. The mechanism may relate to its targeted regulation of Racl, thereby inhibiting the secretion of matrix metalloproteinases, up-regulating the expression of key molecule E-caderin and down-regula-ting the expression of Vimentin and (3-cantenin in EMT i process.•.

Parental confidence in immunization and its influential factors / 上海预防医学

Objective To explore parental confidence on immunization and its influential factors and provide scientific basis for immunization management and confidence enhancement strategy in Jinhua. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1 865 parents in the district, and the cumulative Logit regression model was used to analyze the influential factors of parental confidence on immunization. Results It was found that 96.41% of the children′s parents believed immunization was necessary, 70.03% believed immunization was safe, 93.51% was willing to be vaccinated, and parental confidence on immunization was 90.89%.The sequence of influential factors of confidence was satisfaction of immunization services, cognitive level of immunization knowledge, immunization about route and age obtained through medical staff. Conclusion By strengthening health education and health promotion, improving the cognitive level of parents′ immunization knowledge and elevating the quality of daily immunization service, the parental confidence can be improved effectively in immunization.

Spatio-Temporal Based Descriptor for Limb Movement-Intent Characterization in EMG-Pattern Recognition System.

Electromyogram (EMG) pattern-recognition (PR) is the most widely adopted prostheses/rehabilitation robots control method that seamlessly support multi-degrees of freedom (MDF) function in an intuitive fashion. The feature extraction framework applied in such PR-based control essentially determines the control performance of the prosthetic device. Based on the drawbacks of the commonly utilized feature extraction methods, this study proposed a spatio-temporal-based feature set (STFS) that might optimally characterize EMG signal patterns even in the presence of white Gaussian noise (WGN) to realize consistently accurate and stable decoding of multiple classes of limb-movements. For benchmark evaluation, the performance of the proposed STFS method was examined in comparison to notable existing popular methods using high density surface EMG recordings from 8 amputees, with metrics such as classification error (CE) and feature-space separability index. Compared to the existing methods, the STFS recorded substantial reduction of up 16.73% even in the presence the inevitable WGN at p<; 0.05. Also, with principal component analysis concept, the proposed STFS feature-space indicates obvious class separability compared to the previous methods. Therefore, the newly proposed STFS method could potentially facilitate the realization of consistently accurate and reliable PR-based control for MDF prostheses/rehabilitation robots.

A Novel Time-Domain Descriptor for Improved Prediction of Upper Limb Movement Intent in EMG-PR System.

Electromyogram pattern recognition (EMG-PR) based control is a potential method capable of providing intuitively dexterous control functions in upper limb prostheses. Meanwhile, the feature extraction method adopted in EMG-PR based control is considered as an important factor that influences the performance of the prostheses. By exploiting the limitations of the existing feature extraction methods, this study proposed a new feature extraction method to effectively characterize EMG signal patterns associated with different limb movement intent. The performance of the proposed 2-dimensional novel time-domain feature set (NTDFS) was investigated using classification accuracy and feature space separability metrics across five subjects' EMG recordings, and compared with four different existing methods. In comparison to four other previously proposed feature extraction methods, the NTDFS achieved significantly better performance with increment in accuracy in the range of 5.20% ∼ 8.40% at p<0.05. Additionally, by applying principal component analysis (PCA) technique, the PCA feature space for NTDFS show obvious class separability in comparison to the other existing feature extraction methods. Thus, the proposed NTDFS may facilitate the development of accurate and robust clinically viable EMG-PR based prostheses.

Benefits of Intraluminal Agarose Stents during End-to-End Intestinal Anastomosis in New Zealand White Rabbits.

In the present study, we evaluated the utility of an intraluminal agarose stent (IAS) for end-to-end intestinal anastomoses in rabbits. Female New Zealand white rabbits (n = 14) underwent conventional sutured anastomosis (CSA) with or without an IAS. IAS were used to maintain the luminal diameter for more rapid and accurate suturing, and then was squeezed transluminally to crush it into fragments, which passed through the intestines and were eliminated. The rabbits were euthanized on postoperative day 21. At necropsy, the anastomoses were assessed for adhesion formation, stenosis, and bursting pressure and were examined histologically for collagen content and blood vessel formation. Anastamosis surgery took less time in the IAS group (15.0 ± 2.6 min) than in the CSA-only group (30.1 ± 7.9 min). Only 1 postoperative death occurred (in the CSA group), and postmortem examination revealed evidence of anastomotic leakage. Adhesion formation and stenosis did not differ between groups, but bursting pressure, collagen content, and blood vessel formation were all significantly increased in the IAS group. IAS may decrease the operative time by maintaining a clear surgical field at the anastomotic site. In addition, the use of IAS promotes rapid healing and maintains the luminal diameter during end-to-end intestinal anastomosis.

Biliverdin Protects the Isolated Rat Lungs from Ischemia-reperfusion Injury via Antioxidative, Anti-inflammatory and Anti-apoptotic Effects / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Biliverdin (BV) has a protective role against ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). However, the protective role and potential mechanisms of BV on lung IRI (LIRI) remain to be elucidated. Thus, we aimed to investigate the protective role and potential mechanisms of BV on LIRI.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Lungs were isolated from Sprague-Dawley rats to establish an ex vivo LIRI model. After an initial 15 min stabilization period, the isolated lungs were subjected to ischemia for 60 min, followed by 90 min of reperfusion with or without BV treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Lungs in the I/R group exhibited significant decrease in tidal volume (1.44 ± 0.23 ml/min in I/R group vs. 2.41 ± 0.31 ml/min in sham group; P< 0.001), lung compliance (0.27 ± 0.06 ml/cmH2O in I/R group vs. 0.44 ± 0.09 ml/cmH2O in sham group; P< 0.001; 1 cmH2O=0.098 kPa), and oxygen partial pressure (PaO2) levels (64.12 ± 12 mmHg in I/R group vs. 114 ± 8.0 mmHg in sham group; P< 0.001; 1 mmHg = 0.133 kPa). In contrast, these parameters in the BV group (2.27 ± 0.37 ml/min of tidal volume, 0.41 ± 0.10 ml/cmH2O of compliance, and 98.7 ± 9.7 mmHg of PaO2) were significantly higher compared with the I/R group (P = 0.004, P< 0.001, and P< 0.001, respectively). Compared to the I/R group, the contents of superoxide dismutase were significantly higher (47.07 ± 7.91 U/mg protein vs. 33.84 ± 10.15 U/mg protein; P = 0.005) while the wet/dry weight ratio (P < 0.01), methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (1.92 ± 0.25 nmol/mg protein vs. 2.67 ± 0.46 nmol/mg protein; P< 0.001), and adenosine triphosphate contents (297.05 ± 47.45 nmol/mg protein vs. 208.09 ± 29.11 nmol/mg protein; P = 0.005) were markedly lower in BV-treated lungs. Histological analysis revealed that BV alleviated LIRI. Furthermore, the expression of inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-β) was downregulated and the expression of cyclooxygenase-2, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and Jun N-terminal kinase was significantly reduced in BV group (all P< 0.01 compared to I/R group). Finally, the apoptosis index in the BV group was significantly decreased (P < 0.01 compared to I/R group).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>BV protects lung IRI through its antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic effects.</p>

Effects of different cryoprotectants and freezing methods on post-thaw boar semen quality.

The current study aimed to investigate the effects of different concentrations of glycerol (0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, and 5%) and dimethylacetamide (DMA: 0%, 1%, 3%, and 5%) on post-sperm quality characteristics following semen freezing in dry ice (D) or liquid nitrogen (N). Semen was collected from Duroc boars and was allocated to 32 treatment groups for cryopreservation. Analysis of post-thaw semen quality and fertility after artificial insemination (AI) was used to examine the combinatorial effects of different treatments. The best scores for post-thaw sperm motility, sperm viability, and sperm acrosomal integrity were observed in semen frozen in: (a) dry ice in the presence of 5% glycerol and no DMA (16D-treatment); (b) dry ice in the presence of 3% glycerol and no DMA (9D-treatment); and (c) liquid nitrogen in the presence of 3% glycerol and 1% DMA (10N-treatment), with no significant difference observed among these three treatments. The farrowing rates after AI with post-thawed semen after 9D- and 10N-treatments were 33% and 50%, respectively. To summarize, the results of the present study indicated that the freezing extender containing 3% glycerol in combination with the straw-freezing method using dry ice produced the best post-thaw quality parameters of boar semen. Combinations of glycerol and DMA did not enhance the cryosurvival of boar spermatozoa.

A comparison study on the effect of different propaganda mode of charge vaccines on community residents / 预防医学

Objective Toevaluatetheeffectof3differentkindsofpropagandamodesofchargevaccinesonchanging knowledge,attitude and behavior of community residents,and to explore the effective propaganda mode of vaccination. Methods Sanjiang,JiangnanandSumengwereselectedaspilotstreets,respectively.And"motherclass"(A)mode, vaccination clinics "inform-booking"(B)mode and the community responsible doctor recommended mode (C)mode were used to carry out intervention.Intervention time was from March to September,2014.Awareness rate,necessity awareness rate,compliance rate and vaccination rate of the children of school age were used to evaluate effect of 3 propagandamodes.Results Therewerenosignificantdifferencesindemographiccharacteristicsamongthreemodes(P>0.05).Through intervention of A,B mode,the awareness knowledge,necessity awareness and willingness to vaccination were improved (P<0.05),while the other indicators were not improved through C mode intervention except for 4 vaccine related knowledge (P<0.05).After controlling for the time factor,the improving effect of related knowledge,attitude and behaviorofchargevaccinethroughAandBmodeswerebetterthanthosethroughCmode(P<0.05).Conclusion The effect of"mother class"mode,the vaccination clinics"inform-booking"mode to carry out the charge vaccine propaganda is significant,but the community responsible doctor recommended mode needs to be improved.

Research progress in active components in Chinese materia medica with modulating effects on expression of tissue factor in thrombosis / 中草药

Tissue factor (TF), also called tissue thromboplastin, is the principal initiator of physiological blood coagulation and hemostasis and pathological thrombosis, and plays an important role in the formation of various diseases in atherosclerosis, systemic inflammation, angor pectoris, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Looking for the targets to TF anticoagulant, antithrombotic drug has important theoretical and realistic significance. This summary outlines the research progress of the active components in Chinese materia medica with modulating effects on expression of tissue factor in thrombosis in recent years.

An investigation on the status of wild freshwater fish and shrimp infected with metacercaria of clonorchis sinensis in Jinhua City / 预防医学

Objective To learn the status of wild freshwater fish and shrimp infected with metacercaria of clonorchis sinensis in Jinhua city.Methods Wild freshwater fish and shrimp were randomly captured in river channel,reservoir and pond from 3 counties according to the distribution characteristics of main river system in Jinhua city.Direct tabletting microscopic examination was used to detect metacercaria of clonorchis sinensis in the muscle of wild freshwater fish and shrimp.Results A total of 1 1 kinds of wild freshwater fish and shrimp were infected with metacercariae,accounting for 61 .1 1 %(1 1 /1 8),and the total infection rate was 5.63% among 2 326 wild freshwater fish and shrimp.The infection rate of fish(8.24%)was significantly higher than that of the shrimp(2.96%)(P <0.01 ).There were significant differences in the infection rate among different counties (P <0.01 ),and the infection rate in the downstream of the water system in Wu water area (1 2.90%)was the highest.Also,significant differences were observed in infection rate among different water environments (P <0.01 ),and the infection rate of pond (1 0.1 8%)was the highest.Significant differences were observed in the infection rate among different kinds of wild freshwater fish (P =0.00),and the infection rate of side skin fish(1 7.65%)and psendorasbora parve(1 7.65%)were the highest.Conclusion There were metacercaria of clonorchis sinensis infection in wild freshwater fish and shrimp with different degrees in Jinhua city.People who ate raw or undercooked freshwater fish and shrimp may be at the risk of infection.

An investigation on the epidemic characteristics of mycoplasmal pneumonia outbreak in a middle school / 预防医学

Objective To investigate the epidemic characteristics of mycoplasmal pneumonia outbreak in a middle school, and to provide suggestions for outbreak prevention and control.Methods Principle and method of field epidemiology was used and,speciously,questionnaire investigation was carried out for the outbreak of mycoplasmal pneumonia.Outbreak characteristics and corresponding emergency intervention were discussed.Results There was an outbreak of mycoplasmal pneumonia in 2 classes of the middle school,and the attack rate was 42.50%.The attack rate of other classes was 6.75%.Timely identification and diagnosis of the disease,and comprehensive control to prevent the spread of the epidemic,brought the disease under control.Conclusion The outbreak of mycoplasmal pneumoniae infection is associated with the close contact in daily activities.Emergency intervention can prevent the further spread of the disease.

Clinical characteristics of neovascular glaucoma secondary to central retinal vein occlusion and diabetic retinopathy / 中华实验眼科杂志

Background Neovascular glaucoma (NVG) is a serious ocular disease which may cause blindness.The primary pathogenesis of NVG is ischemic retinopathy derived by central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) and diabetic retinopathy (DR).Clinical characteristics of NVG are variable based on the difference of primary diseases,such as CRVO and DR.However,there is a few studies regarding the diffcrcnces of NVG initiated by CRVO and DR.Objective This study was to compare the clinical characteristics in NVG patients secondary to CRVO and DR.Methods A series case observational study was carried out in Hiserve Hospital of Qingdao University from January 2009 to June 2012.Twenty-nine eyes of 27 patients with NVG caused by CRVO (10 eyes of 10 patients) and DR (19 eyes of 17 patients) were included.The history of underlying diseases,course of NVG,intraocular pressure(IOP),fundus findings and complications after treatment were analyzed and compared between the CRVO-derived NVG and DR-derived NVG.All patients underwent panretinal photocoagulation,improving microcirculation therapy,anti-glaucoma (drug or surgery) and causative disease treatment,and some of them received vitrectomy or/and cataract surgery.Two eyes from each group received intravitreal injection of ranibizumab.The follow-up time in both groups was (14.00±10.13) months and (17.89±12.52) months,respectively.Results The median time of underlying disease was 3.3 months (2 weeks to 6 months) in the CRVO patients and 11.1 months (4 to 36 mouths) in the DR patients,with a significant difference between them (Z =-2.40,P＜0.05).CRVO-derived NVG progress was much faster than that of DR-derived NVG.The number of the eyes with visual acuity improvement after treatment was 2 in the CRVO-derived NVG and 15 in the DR-derived NVG;while the number of the eyes with unchanged or worse visual acuity was 8 and 4 in the CRVO-derived NVG eyes and the DR-derived NVG eyes (x2 =9.38,P＜0.01).The difference of IOP in pre-and post-treatment was (37.00±9.91)mmHg in the CRVOderived NVG eyes and (8.92±12.05)mmHg in the DR-derived NVG eyes,showing a significant difference between them (t =6.30,P＜0.01).In the CRVO-derived NVG eyes,optic disc edema,retinal hemorrhage,and vein dilatation were seen in 6 eyes,and mild optic disc edema and retinal hemorrhage were observed in 4 eyes.After treatment,fundus could not be seen in 4 eyes,in other 2 eyes optic disc and retinal laser spots were unclearly observed.In addition,pale optic disc and retinal vessel occlusion appeared in 2 eyes,and silver wire-like arteries exhibited in 2 eyes.In pre-treated DR-derived NVG eyes,fundus could not be seen in 8 eyes and Ⅲ-Ⅳv stages of DR findings appeared in 11 eyes.After treatment,retinopathy was stabilized in 16 eyes of 15 cases.Advanced retinopathy(V-Ⅵ stages of DR findings) was revealed in 3 eyes of 3 cases.The incidence of the complication after treatment was 100.0％ in the CRVO-derived NVG eyes and 21.1％ in the DR-derived NVG eyes (x2=5.18,P＜0.05).Conclusions The clinical characteristics of NVG secondary to CRVO and DR are variable,an appropriate treatment option should be selected according to different features of NVG.

Altered expression of matrix metalloproteinases and tight junction proteins in rats following PEMF-induced BBB permeability change / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of occludin, ZO-1, MMP-2, and MMP-9 in cerebral microvasculature following Pulse Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) induced BBB permeability change.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into PEMF and sham exposed groups (n = 8). After exposure to PEMF at 0.5, 1, 3, 6, and 12 h, BBB permeability was measured by Evans-Blue extravasation. The expression of occludin, ZO-1, MMP-2, and MMP-9 were detected by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR and western blotting. MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity were detected by EnzChek gelatinase assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the sham group, PEMF exposure led to increased permeability of the BBB to EB, which was prolonged after exposure. BBB permeability became progressively more severe, and recovered at 6 h. The gene and protein expression of occludin and ZO-1 were significantly decreased, while MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression were significantly increased after exposure to PEMF. All levels of expression recovered 12 h following PEMF.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Changes to BBB permeability were related to the alteration expression of tight junction proteins and matrix metalloproteinase after exposure to PEMF.</p>

Detection of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 in canine seminal plasma.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of proteolytic enzymes that play a central role in degradation of protein components of the extracellular matrix and basement membrane. Previous studies have shown that MMP-2 and MMP-9 are present in human seminal plasma, but there is little information available on the presence of MMPs in canine seminal plasma. This study aims to investigate the presence of MMPs in canine seminal plasma and their clinical manifestation at the level of various semen parameters in canine species. Latent and active forms of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were evaluated using gelatin zymography and their association with semen parameters was examined. Results demonstrate that both latent and active forms of MMP-2 and MMP-9 are present in canine seminal plasma and the latent forms are predominant. The latent and active MMP-9 activities were elevated in the semen with unsatisfactory quality traits and proMMP-2 was inversely correlated with semen quality whereas, MMP-2 was positively correlated with semen quality traits. These findings suggest that proMMP-9 and MMP-9 activation contributes to the variation in semen, while the activation of MMP-2 improves the sperm functionality.

Serological survey for antibodies to Encephalitozoon cuniculi in rabbits in Taiwan.

Encephalitozoon cuniculi (E. cuniculi) is a microsporidian parasite commonly found in rabbits that can infect humans, causing encephalitozoonosis. Our laboratory recently confirmed the first case of encephalitozoonosis in a rabbit in Taiwan; the prevalence of encephalitozoonosis is not well documented, even when many clinics suspect pet rabbits as being infected. This study surveys the seropositivity of E. cuniculi using carbon immunoassay (CIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serological examination of 171 rabbits using CIA and ELISA showed that 63.2% (108/171) and 67.8% (116/171) were seropositive against E. cuniculi, respectively. Thirteen of the 14 rabbits (92.9%) with neurological symptoms were seropositive. Except for gender, health status and location had a significant effect on E. cuniculi seropositivity (p<0.05). Adult rabbits aged older than 4 months exhibited significantly higher seropositivity for E. cuniculi than young rabbits (p<0.05). In conclusion, this study shows that E. cuniculi is present and widespread among healthy rabbits in Taiwan. Therefore, the fields of veterinary and human medicine in Taiwan should be aware of this zoonotic issue and the resulting public health concern of encephalitozoonosis.

Effect of valsartan on vasoconstriction induced by the chronic injury of the adventitia in the rat collared carotid artery / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Vasoconstriction and vascular hypersensitivity to serotonin were previously shown in animal models of adventitia injury. We investigated the contribution of angiotensin II (AngII)/AngII receptors and oxidative stress to vascular contractility and reactivity in this model.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Wistar Kyoto rats were divided into 3 groups: normal (n = 6, no any intervention, only for measuring the serum AngII concentration), vehicle (n = 12, collared), and valsartan (n = 12, collared + valsartan 30 mg×kg(-1)×d(-1)). After one week of treatment, adventitia injury was induced by positioning a silicone collar around the right carotid artery for one week. Blood flow and vascular reactivity to serotonin were determined one week after injury, the blood from left ventricle was taken to measure the serum AngII concentration by ELISA, and carotids were harvested for morphometry and Western blot analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Adventitia injury induced lumen cross-sectional area reduction (-44% vs. -5%), media diameter increase (62% vs. 10%), blood flow reduction [(2.79 ± 0.22) vs. (4.33 ± 0.84) ml/min] were significantly attenuated by valsartan. The increased vascular reactivity sensitivity to serotonin in vehicle group was also significantly reduced in valsartan group. Serum AngII concentration was significantly increased in vehicle group [(45.21 ± 4.52) pg/ml vs. (19.83 ± 0.5) pg/ml in normal rats, P = 0.0148] and the expression of AngII type 1 (AT(1)) receptor, AngII type 2 (AT(2)) receptor, as well as p22(phox) in collared arteries were significantly upregulated. Valsartan did not affect the AT(1) receptor expression but further increased serum AngII concentration [(89.73 ± 20.44) pg/ml vs. (45.21 ± 4.52) pg/ml, P = 0.001], and AT(2) receptor expression, while downregulated p22(phox) expressions.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Collar-induced adventitia injury resulted in chronic vasoconstriction and vascular hypersensitivity to serotonin via increased serum AngII level, upregulated AngII receptors expression in the vascular well, and activated local oxidative stress. These changes could be blocked by valsartan suggesting a crucial role of AngII/AngII receptors on vascular contractility and reactivity changes in this model.</p>