Anthelmintics nitazoxanide protects against experimental hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis in hamsters and mice

Lipid metabolism disorders contribute to hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis. It is ideal to develop drugs simultaneous improving both hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis. Nitazoxanide is an FDA-approved oral antiprotozoal drug with excellent pharmacokinetic and safety profile. We found that nitazoxanide and its metabolite tizoxanide induced mild mitochondrial uncoupling and subsequently activated AMPK in HepG2 cells. Gavage administration of nitazoxanide inhibited high-fat diet (HFD)-induced increases of liver weight, blood and liver lipids, and ameliorated HFD-induced renal lipid accumulation in hamsters. Nitazoxanide significantly improved HFD-induced histopathologic changes of hamster livers. In the hamsters with pre-existing hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis, nitazoxanide also showed therapeutic effect. Gavage administration of nitazoxanide improved HFD-induced hepatic steatosis in C57BL/6J mice and western diet (WD)-induced hepatic steatosis in Apoe -/- mice. The present study suggests that repurposing nitazoxanide as a drug for hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis treatment is promising.

Improvement of long-term risks of cardiovascular events associated with community-based disease management in Chinese patients of the Xinjiang autonomous region of China.

BACKGROUND: A recent community-based disease management (CBDM) pilot study reported a 20.5% prevalence of hypertension and a 0.5 and 3.6% prevalence of stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD), respectively, in an elderly population (mean age 65 years) in the Xin Jiang autonomous region of China. The CBDM was initiated in 2013 as an essential public health service; however, the potential long-term impact of CBDM on cardiovascular (CV: CHD and stroke) events is unknown. The objective of the study was to understand the long-term impact of CBDM interventions on CV risk factors using disease-model simulation based on a single-arm experimental study. METHODS: A discrete event simulation was developed to evaluate the impact of CBDM on the long-term CV risk among patients with hypertension, in China's Xin Jiang autonomous region. The model generated pairs of identical patients; one receives CBDM and one does not (control group). Their clinical courses were simulated based on time to CV events (CHD and strokes), which are estimated using published risk equations. The impact of CBDM was incorporated as improvement in systolic blood pressure (SBP) based on observations from the CBDM study. The simulation estimated the number of CV events over patients' lifetimes. RESULTS: During a 2-year follow up, the CBDM led to an average reduction of 8.73 mmHg in SBP from baseline, and a 42% reduction in smoking. The discrete event simulation showed that, in the control group, the model estimated incidence rates of 276, 1789, and 616 per 100,000 individuals for lifetime CHD, stroke, and CV-related death, respectively. The impact of CBDM on SBP translated into reductions of 8, 28, and 23% in CHD, stroke, and CV-related deaths, respectively. Taking into account CBDM's reduction of both SBP and smoking, deaths from CHD, stroke, and CV-related deaths were reduced by 12, 30, and 26%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of CBDM in China's Xinjiang autonomous region is expected to significantly reduce incidences of CHD, strokes, and CV-related deaths.

Mitochondrial uncoupler BAM15 inhibits artery constriction and potently activates AMPK in vascular smooth muscle cells

Our previous studies found that mitochondrial uncouplers CCCP and niclosamide inhibited artery constriction and the mechanism involved AMPK activation in vascular smooth muscle cells. BAM15 is a novel type of mitochondrial uncoupler. The aim of the present study is to identify the vasoactivity of BAM15 and characterize the BAM15-induced AMPK activation in vascular smooth muscle cells (A10 cells). BAM15 relaxed phenylephrine (PE)-induced constricted rat mesenteric arteries with intact and denuded endothelium. Pretreatment with BAM15 inhibited PE-induced constriction of rat mesenteric arteries with intact and denuded endothelium. BAM15, CCCP, and niclosamide had the comparable IC value of vasorelaxation in PE-induced constriction of rat mesenteric arteries. BAM15 was less cytotoxic in A10 cells compared with CCCP and niclosamide. BAM15 depolarized mitochondrial membrane potential, induced mitochondrial fission, increased mitochondrial ROS production, and increased mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate in A10 cells. BAM15 potently activated AMPK in A10 cells and the efficacy of BAM15 was stronger than that of CCCP, niclosamide, and AMPK positive activators metformin and AICAR. In conclusion, BAM15 activates AMPK in vascular smooth muscle cells with higher potency than that of CCCP, niclosamide and the known AMPK activators metformin and AICAR. The present work indicates that BAM15 is a potent AMPK activator.

Analysis of the current health emergency response capacity in Tianjin / 中华医院管理杂志

Objective To learn the current capacity building of emergency response teams in Tianjin for the purpose of goals setting.Methods Health Emergency Capacity Questionnaire was issued to 89 secondary and above medical institutions and 19 CDCs in Tianjin.The form covered such items as basic institutional information, workforce makeup, emergency preparations, detection and early warning, emergency response, and summary/assessment.Data collected in the questionnaire were subject to descriptive and correlation analysis.Results Tianjin has scored an initial success in emergency medicine as evidenced in its emergency response mechanisms in place, elevated capacity in emergency medical rescue and disposal, and enhanced competence of emergency teams.Rooms of improvement however include insufficient professionalism and independence of health emergency, inadequate emergency commanding and decision making system functions, insufficient laboratory test capacity at district/county levels, and insufficient social involvement in health emergency.Conclusions Top-down design should be emphasized, health emergency response should be enhanced in terms of management and response planning system, while capacity building of the teams and long-term primary care emergency mechanism deserve higher attention.

Military medical literature and information resources in neighboring countries of China / 中华医学图书情报杂志

Military medical literature and information resources in neighboring countries of China, including the publication of journals and books, the institutions and their publications, were investigated in order to work out the characteristic military medical literature and information resources integration program in neighboring countries of China according to the domestic medical literature service and to lay a foundation for establishing the characteristic military medical literature support system.

Temporal and spatial dynamics of amphioxus population (Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtaneuse) and its influential factors in Luan River Estuary, China.

Population distribution of amphioxus (Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense) was investigated in the Luan River Estuary from 1999 to 2011, to describe its trends and discover the factors that influence its decline. Amphioxus are distributed on the seabed at 5-10 m depth, between the Xinkai Estuary and the Dapu River Estuary, where the primary sand components of the sediment are medium and fine, with particle size ranging from 0.001 to 1 mm. In recent years, the population density and biomass of amphioxus have sharply decreased. Changes in sediment granularity composition may significantly influence amphioxus distribution. Our data showed that the highest density region of amphioxus occurred where >90% of the sediment particles were between 0.063 and 0.5 mm in size. A reduction in sediment discharge from Luan River and the expansion of raft-breeding mariculture may be causing the decline in amphioxus through habitat destruction.

People-oriented concept-based resources platform construction for service in library / 中华医学图书情报杂志

Discussed in this paper is how to provide the personal , differential and intelligent information service for the users of library by putting the people-oriented purpose into its different information services .

EMG signal acquisition system based on virtual instrument / 医疗卫生装备

A new method of acquiring electromyographic is presented.An EMG signal acquisition system is developed based on virtual instrument,which adopts traditional electromyographic instrument,high performance data acquisition card and Labview software.The real-time acquisition,digitalization and display of electromyographic signal are realized through the new system.Adapted to various physiological signals with the expanded functions,the system can be considered as the future physiological instrument's direction.