[Short-term and long-term efficacy of PGLA thread-embedding therapy in treatment of stage â post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate short-term and long-term efficacy of PGLA thread-embedding therapy in the treatment of stage Ⅰ post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome. METHODS: A total of 60 patients with stage Ⅰ post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome were randomly divided into control group and treatment group, with 30 patients in each group. The patients in the control group were given acupuncture combined with rehabilitation training, and those in the treatment group were given PGLA thread-embedding therapy combined with rehabilitation training. Conventional acupuncture was performed once a day, and thread-embedding therapy was performed once every 5 days. Both groups were treated for 30 days. Clinical outcome, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, hand edema score, and Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) score were compared within and between groups immediately and at 1 month after treatment. RESULTS: The treatment group had a significantly higher overall response rate than the control group immediately and at 1 month after treatment (93.33%/86.67% vs 73.33%/56.67%, P<0.05). Both groups had significant reductions in VAS score and hand edema score and a significant increase in FMA score immediately and at 1 month after treatment (P<0.05), and the treatment group had significantly greater improvements than the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: PGLA thread-embedding therapy has a better clinical effect than conventional acupuncture in the treatment of stage Ⅰ post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome.

Anion Channel Inhibitor NPPB-Inhibited Fluoride Accumulation in Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis) Is Related to the Regulation of Ca²âº, CaM and Depolarization of Plasma Membrane Potential.

Tea plant is known to be a hyper-accumulator of fluoride (F). Over-intake of F has been shown to have adverse effects on human health, e.g., dental fluorosis. Thus, understanding the mechanisms fluoride accumulation and developing potential approaches to decrease F uptake in tea plants might be beneficial for human health. In the present study, we found that pretreatment with the anion channel inhibitor NPPB reduced F accumulation in tea plants. Simultaneously, we observed that NPPB triggered Ca(2+) efflux from mature zone of tea root and significantly increased relative CaM in tea roots. Besides, pretreatment with the Ca(2+) chelator (EGTA) and CaM antagonists (CPZ and TFP) suppressed NPPB-elevated cytosolic Ca(2+) fluorescence intensity and CaM concentration in tea roots, respectively. Interestingly, NPPB-inhibited F accumulation was found to be significantly alleviated in tea plants pretreated with either Ca(2+) chelator (EGTA) or CaM antagonists (CPZ and TFP). In addition, NPPB significantly depolarized membrane potential transiently and we argue that the net Ca(2+) and H⁺ efflux across the plasma membrane contributed to the restoration of membrane potential. Overall, our results suggest that regulation of Ca(2+)-CaM and plasma membrane potential depolarization are involved in NPPB-inhibited F accumulation in tea plants.

Al(3+) -promoted fluoride accumulation in tea plants (Camellia sinensis) was inhibited by an anion channel inhibitor DIDS.

BACKGROUND: Generally, tea plants are grown in acid soil which is rich in aluminum (Al) and fluoride (F). A recent publication showed that pretreatment with Al(3+) promoted F accumulation in tea plants by increasing endogenous Ca(2+) and calmodulin (CaM). A high level of F in tea leaves not only impairs tea quality but also might pose a health risk for people drinking tea regularly. Therefore it is important to try to find some clues which might be beneficial in controlling F accumulation in tea plants grown in acid soil (Al(3+) ). RESULTS: It was found that diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2-disulfonic acid (DIDS) significantly reduced Al(3+) -promoted F accumulation in tea plants. Additionally, Al(3+) plus DIDS treatment stimulated significantly higher Ca(2+) efflux and decreased the CaM level in tea roots compared with Al(3+) treatment. Besides, significantly higher depolarization of membrane potential was shown in tea roots treated with Al(3+) plus DIDS than in those treated with Al(3+) , as well as higher net total H(+) efflux and plasma membrane H(+) -ATPase activity. CONCLUSION: Al(3+) -promoted F accumulation in tea plants was inhibited by an anion channel inhibitor DIDS. Ca(2+) /CaM and membrane potential depolarization may be the components involved in this process. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Ca(2+) and CaM are involved in Al(3+) pretreatment-promoted fluoride accumulation in tea plants (Camellia sinesis L.).

Tea plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. kuntze) is known to be a fluoride (F) and aluminum (Al(3+)) hyper-accumulator. Previous study showed that pre-treatment of Al(3+) caused a significant increase of F accumulation in tea plants. However, less is known about the intricate network of Al(3+) promoted F accumulation in tea plants. In this study, the involvement of endogenous Ca(2+) and CaM in Al(3+) pretreatment-promoted F accumulation in tea plants was investigated. Our results showed that Al(3+) induced the inverse change of intracellular Ca(2+) fluorescence intensity and stimulated Ca(2+) trans-membrane transport in the mature zone of tea root. Also, a link between internal Ca(2+) and CaM was found in tea roots under the presence of Al(3+). In order to investigate whether Ca(2+) and CaM were related to F accumulation promoted by Al(3+) pretreatment, Ca(2+) chelator EGTA and CaM antagonists CPZ and TFP were used. EGTA, CPZ, and TFP pretreatment inhibited Al(3+)-induced increase of Ca(2+) fluorescence intensity and CaM content in tea roots, and also significantly reduced Al(3+)-promoted F accumulation in tea plants. Taken together, our results suggested that the endogenous Ca(2+) and CaM are involved in Al(3+) pretreatment-promoted F accumulation in tea roots.

Endogenous hydrogen peroxide plays a positive role in the upregulation of heme oxygenase and acclimation to oxidative stress in wheat seedling leaves.

Pretreatment of lower H(2)O(2) doses (0.05, 0.5 and 5 mM) for 24 h was able to dose-dependently attenuate lipid peroxidation in wheat seedling leaves mediated by further oxidative damage elicited by higher dose of H(2)O(2) (150 mM) for 6 h, with 0.5 mM H(2)O(2) being the most effective concentrations. Further results illustrated that 0.5 mM H(2)O(2) pretreatment triggered the biphasic production of H(2)O(2) during a 24 h period. We also noticed that only peak I (0.25 h) rather than peak II (4 h) was approximately consistent with the enhancement of heme oxygenase (HO) activity, HO-1 gene expression. Meanwhile, enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, Mn-SOD and Cu,Zn-SOD transcripts might be a potential source of peak I of endogenous H(2)O(2). Further results confirmed that 0.5 mM H(2)O(2) treatment for 0.5 h was able to upregulate HO gene expression, which was detected by enzyme activity determination, semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Meanwhile, the application of N,N'-dimethylthiourea, a trap for endogenous H(2)O(2), not only blocked the upregulation of HO, but also reversed the corresponding oxidation attenuation. Together, the above results suggest that endogenous H(2)O(2) production (peak I) plays a positive role in the induction of HO by enhancing its mRNA level and protein expression, thus leading to the acclimation to oxidative stress.

[Prognostic significance of minimal residual disease detected by multiparameter flow cytometry in acute myeloid leukemia].

This study was aimed to explore prognostic significance of minimal residual disease (MRD) detection in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by multiparameter flow cytometry (MCF). Leukemia-associated immunophenotype (LAIP) of newly diagnosed AML patients were determined by 4-color 5 antibody panels and patients with sensitive LAIP were chosen for MRD detection. 601 bone marrow samples from 95 patients were acquired after treatment and MRD were considered positive by the critical normal value plus twice standard deviation in normal bone marrow specimen. The patients were divided into three groups and the clinical significance was analyzed every 2 months within initial 6 months after induction treatment. The results showed that the relapse rate and relapse-free survival (RFS) rate were all significantly different between MRD positive and MRD negative patients in the three groups (p < 0.05). Patients with MRD positive had a median relapse-free survival time of 11 months, 11.5 months and 11 months at 1 - 2, 3 - 4 and 5 - 6 months respectively, while all patients with MRD negative were not observed to reach median release-free survival time (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the clinical significance was analyzed after induction and one course of consolidate treatment, the relapse rate of MRD positive and MRD negative patients were 57.14% versus 0% and 91.67% versus 2.27% respectively (p = 0.000 and p = 0.000). It is concluded that MRD detection by multi-parameter flow cytometry can predict outcome of AML patients, which should be continuously monitored after treatment.

[Expression of 5 genes in CD7 positive acute myeloid leukemia stem/progenitor cells from bone marrow].

This study was aimed to investigate abca5, mdr-1, kdr, dapk and irf-1 expressions in leukemia stem/progenitor cells (LSC) from CD7 positive acute myeloid leukemia, the expression of these 5 genes in mononuclear cells (MNC) from 15 normal bone marrow (NBM) and 16 AML patients bone marrow (AML BM) specimen were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR). CD34(+)CD38(+) progenitor cells and CD34(+)CD38(-)Lin(-) stem cells were sorted by flow cytometry (FCM) from the MNCs of 10 NBM and 21 AML BM specimen. These 5 gene expressions in the sorted cells were detected by small amount cell RQ-PCR. The results showed that these 5 genes above mentioned all expressed in NBM-MNC, in which the expression levels of irf-1 and dapk were highest with the relative expression levels 4.08 and 3.86, the expression levels of abca 5 and mdr-1 were in the middle with the relative expression 0.49 and 0.84 respectively, the kdr expression was lowest with the relative expression level 0.02. In CD34(+)CD38(+) progenitor cells, the expression level of kdr increased dramatically (p < 0.05) while irf-1 and dapk dramatically decreased (p < 0.05). There was no obvious change of expression in the rest 2 genes. In CD34(+)CD38(-) stem cells the expression level of these 5 genes all increased nearly 2 times as much as that in CD34(+)CD38(+) progenitor cells, but kdr increased 3 times as much, and the increase of kdr and irf-1 expressions was of statistical significance (p < 0.05). Compared with the NBM, expression levels of 5 genes in AML-MNC decreased, and out of them abca 5, mdr-1, kdr and dapk were decreased most remarkably (p < 0.05). Comparison between AML CD34(+)CD38(+) cells and AML MNC showed that the expression level of irf-1 and dapk were decreased dramatically (p < 0.05) while the rest 3 genes increased their expression with statistical significance (p < 0.05). The expression levels of these 5 genes were higher in CD34(+)CD38(-) cells than those in CD34(+)CD38(+) stem cells, and the increase of kdr and irf-1 expressions showed statistical difference (p < 0.05). These 5 genes expression levels were all higher than those in CD34(+)CD38(+) cells whether in AML CD34(+)CD38(-)CD7(+) cells or CD34(+)CD38(-)CD7(-) cells. The increase of kdr expression in CD34(+)CD38(-)CD7(+) cells as well as kdr and irf-1 expressions in CD34(+)CD38(-)CD7(-) cells were all of statistical significance (p < 0.05). In conclusion the expression level of kdr in NBM was highest in stem cells while dapk and irf-1 were highest in differentiated cells. The expression levels of these 5 genes in CD34(+)CD38(-)Lin(-) stem cells were higher than those in CD34(+)CD38(+) progenitor cells. The gene expressions in AML CD34(+)CD38(-)CD7(+) cells and CD34(+)CD38(-)CD7(-) cells are in accordance with the characteristics of stem cells.

[The immunophenotypic analysis of CD7+ and (or) CD56+ acute myeloid leukemic stem cells and its applications in minimal residual disease detection].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the immunophenotypic characteristics of CD7 and/or CD56 positive acute myeloid leukemic stem cells, and the relationship between minimal residual disease (MRD) and the leukemic stem cells (LSC). METHODS: The immunophenotype of leukemia cells from 51 CD34+ CD38+ CD7+ and/or CD34+ CD38+ CD56+ acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients (exclude M3) at diagnosis was analyzed by using 4 - 6 panels of 4 color antibodies, and cells from 28 normal bone marrow (NBM) samples were served as control. The expression of CD7 and CD56 in the CD34+ CD38+ subpopulation was used as a leukemic cell marker for monitoring MRD of 53 samples from 26 CD7+ and (or) CD56+ patients. RESULTS: In CD7+ and/or CD56+ AML patients at diagnosis, the average positivity of CD7 in CD34+ CD38+ subpopulation and CD34+ CD38- Lin- stem cells subpopulation was (77.39 +/- 20.71)% and (44.57 +/- 22.70)%, and that of CD56 was (56.71 +/- 32.56)% and (33.51 +/- 29.64)%, respectively, all significantly higher than that of NBM (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05). Compared with that of NBM, the expression of CD90 in AML patients was significantly lower in the CD34+ CD38- Lin- subpopulation (P < 0.01), the expression of CD123 was significantly higher than NBM (P < 0.01), and the expression of CD117 was no significant difference (P > 0.05). In follow up of CD7+ and (or) CD56+ patients, the expression rate of CD7 and (or) CD56 in the CD34+ CD38- Lin- subpopulation MRD+ group was significantly higher than that in the MRD- group. The actual rate for CD7 was 71% (15/21) and 16% (4/25) (P = 0.001), and its relative rate was 81% (17/ 21) and 24% (6/25) (P = 0.000), respectively. The actual rate of CD56 is 100% (4/4) and 12% (3/25) (P = 0.001), and its relative rate was 75% (3/4) and 20% (5/25) (P = 0.031), respectively. A high CD7+ CD34+ CD38- Lin- subpopulation frequency at diagnosis in CD7+ AML patients predicted a high frequency of positive MRD in later detection (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: CD7 and CD56 are expressed on the stem cells in CD7+ and/or CD56+ AMLs and a high frequency of CD7 and CD56 in the CD34+ CD38- Lin- stem cell subpopulation predicts a high frequency of positive MRD in later detection.