Acarbose ameliorates spontaneous type­2 diabetes in db/db mice by inhibiting PDX­1 methylation.

Pancreatic and duodenal homeobox (PDX)­1 is a gene that plays an important role in pancreatic development and function. Type­2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a metabolic disease associated with insulin resistance and impaired islet ß­cell function. There is evidence that methylation of PDX­1 plays a role in the development of T2DM. Acarbose is an α­glucosidase inhibitor that can effectively delay the absorption of glucose by the body. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of acarbose on PDX­1 methylation in islet ß­cells in spontaneous type­2 diabetic db/db mice. The effect of acarbose on glucose and lipid metabolism in these mice was assessed by measuring food intake, body weight, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), glucagon, serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and fasting blood glucose (FBG). Blood glucose levels were also analyzed using intraperitoneal glucose tolerance and insulin tolerance tests. Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate the effect of acarbose on pathological changes in the pancreas. Moreover, a BrdU assay was used to analyze cell proliferation. Lastly, the effect of acarbose on PDX­1 methylation was evaluated in mice using methylation­specific PCR and western blot analysis. In the present study, body weight significantly increased in the acarbose group, compared to the normal group. The levels of HbA1c and glucagon in the T2DM group significantly increased, compared with the normal group, but significantly decreased in acarbose­treated mice. Moreover, FBG levels significantly decreased in the acarbose groups compared with T2DM mice. Acarbose also promoted cell proliferation, compared with untreated T2DM mice. In addition, PDX­1 methylation and cytoplasmic expression levels were both downregulated in the acarbose group, compared with the T2DM group. In conclusion, these results suggested that acarbose could promote the proliferation of islet ß­cells and inhibit PDX­1 methylation in islet ß cells from diabetic mice. Thus, acarbose may provide a new strategy to treat T2DM.

Eosinophil/Monocyte Ratio Combined With Serum Thyroid Hormone for Distinguishing Graves' Disease and Subacute Thyroiditis.

Background: Thyrotoxicosis is commonly classified into several entities according to different etiologies. Identifying the causes of thyroid dysfunction is critical for the subsequent selection of treatment. The free triiodothyronine to free thyroxine ratio (fT3/fT4) is widely used but is still a controversial diagnostic measurement. Methods: A total of 290 patients including 141 healthy control subjects, 86 patients with untreated Graves' disease (GD,) and 63 patients with subacute thyroiditis (SAT) were enrolled in the study. The main aim was to evaluate the diagnostic value of different indexes from serum testing including fT3, fT4, eosinophils (Eo) and monocytes (Mo). The diagnostic performance of multiple indexes was evaluated separately using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Results: Sensitivities and specificities of fT4/fT3, Mo/Eo ratios and Mo/Eo ratio + fT4/fT3 for diagnosing GD were 80.23 and 88.89, 82.56 and 60.32, and 74.4 and 87.3 with cut-off values of ≤ 2.841, ≤ 8.813 and >0.644, respectively. An equation of combined indicators including Mo, Eo, fT3, and fT4 data was developed to calculate a probability value and among all indexes studied the indicator combination formula gave the best diagnostic value, reaching sensitivity and specificity of 89.53 and 90.48%, respectively, with an optimum cut-off value at 0.561 for GD diagnosis. Conclusion: Compared to regular indexes (fT4/fT3 and Mo/Eo), a newly developed indicator combination formula provided a higher prediction probability and may serve as a simple, cost-effective tool for differentiating GD from SAT patients, especially in undeveloped regions of China.

LED chip visual servo positioning control under variable system parameters using adaptive dual rate Kalman filter with adaptive recursive least squares.

In the research, aiming at high positioning quality for LED chips under the variable system parameters, a real-time and robust visual positioning method is presented. At first, to solve the problems of delay in image system and measuring deviation in encoder, an adaptive dual rate Kalman filter technology is designed to estimate the accurate location of LED chip in real time. After sensitivity analysis, the changes of system parameters during manufacturing have a significant influence on estimation effect. Accordingly, an adaptive recursive least squares algorithm is integrated into the above estimation process to determine the system parameters timely and precisely. In the end, through experimental verification, the described method can guarantee the acceptable positioning effect and adapt to the variations of system parameters.

Association Between Transforming Growth Factor-ß1 T869C Gene Polymorphism and Diabetic Nephropathy: A Meta-Analysis in the Chinese Population.

BACKGROUND: An updated meta-analysis was performed to clarify the effects of TGF-ß1 T869C polymorphism on the risk of diabetic nephropathy (DN) in the Chinese population. METHODS: The studies were searched using PubMed, Springer Link, Ovid, Chinese Wanfang Data Knowledge Ser-vice Platform, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Chinese Biology Medicine (CBM) up to October 2018. RESULTS: A total of 8 studies including 1,075 DN cases, 610 healthy controls, and 901 diabetes mellitus (DM) con-trols were involved in this meta-analysis. Overall, a significantly decreased risk of DN was associated with all vari-ants of TGF-ß1 T869C when compared with the healthy group (T vs. C, OR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.61 - 0.83; TT vs. CC, OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.37 - 0.69; TT + CT vs. CC, OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.51 - 0.82; TT vs. CC + CT, OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.48 - 0.82) or DM (T vs. C, OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.56 - 0.76; TT vs. CC, OR = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.17 - 0.55; TT + CT vs. CC, OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.54 - 0.84; TT vs. CC + CT, OR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.13 - 0.55), as well as their combinations (T vs. C, OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.60 - 0.76; TT vs. CC, OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.21 - 0.56; TT + CT vs. CC, OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.56 - 0.80; TT vs. CC + CT, OR = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.17 - 0.57). The sub-group analyses stratified by geographic areas revealed significant results in South China. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis showed that the TGF-ß1 T869C variants may influence DN risk in Chinese, and further studies with gene-gene and gene-environment interactions are required to confirm this conclusion.

[Mechanism of effective components of Mori Folium in alleviating insulin resistance based on JNK signaling pathway].

A stable hepatoma cell line(Hep G2 cell) insulin resistance model was established and used to analyze the effect of effective components of Mori Folium in alleviating insulin resistance,and preliminary explore the mechanism for alleviating insulin resistance. The Hep G2 insulin action concentration and the duration of action were investigated using the glucose oxidase method(GOD-POD method) to establish a stable Hep G2 insulin resistance model. Normal control group,model group,Mori Folium polysaccharide group,Mori Folium flavonoid group and rosiglitazone group were divided to determine the glucose consumption. The effect of Mori Folium effective components on Hep G2 insulin resistance was analyzed. The mRNA expressions of JNK,IRS-1 and PDX-1 in each group were detected by Real-time quantitative PCR(qRT-PCR). The protein expressions of p-JNK,IRS-1 and PDX-1 were detected by Western blot. And the mechanism of effective components of Mori Folium in alleviating insulin resistance was investigated. The results showed that the glucose consumption was significantly decreased in the insulin resistance cells after incubation with 25. 0 mg·L-1 insulin for 36 h(P<0. 01),and the model was relatively stable within 36 h. Mori Folium polysaccharides and flavonoids all alleviated insulin resistance,among which Mori Folium flavonoids had better effect in alleviating Hep G2 insulin resistance(P<0. 05). The qRT-PCR analysis showed that Mori Folium polysaccharides and flavonoids could inhibit JNK and IRS-1 mRNA expressions,while enhancing PDX-1 mRNA expression. Western blot analysis displayed that Mori Folium polysaccharides and flavonoids could inhibit p-JNK and IRS-1 protein expressions,while enhancing PDX-1 protein expression. Mori Folium polysaccharides and flavonoids can alleviate insulin resistance in Hep G2 cells,and its mechanism may be the alleviation of insulin resistance by inhibiting JNK signaling pathway.

LED chip accurate positioning control based on visual servo using dual rate adaptive fading Kalman filter.

In this paper, to improve the positioning accuracy of LED chip, a dual rate adaptive fading Kalman filter algorithm with delay compensation is proposed and applied to the LED chip visual servo positioning system. Firstly, a structure of dual rate Kalman filter is introduced to the visual servo control system, which compensate the visual information delay and realize the accurate time sequential coordination of encoder and visual feedback. Then, considering the inaccuracy of system mathematical model, the adaptive forgetting factor is added to the iterative process of above algorithm, and the impact of accumulated model error on system stability is consequently mitigated. Finally, the experimental results show that the proposed method obviously decreases the positioning errors of LED chip and is robust to inaccuracy and uncertainty of system model parameters.

Extraction of flavonoids from Chrysanthemum morifolium and antitumor activity in vitro.

The aim of the present study was to optimize flavonoid extraction from Chrysanthemum morifolium and to study the antitumor effects of flavonoids on human gastric cancer MKN45 cells in vitro. A single factor experiment was designed and the extraction process was optimized using an orthogonal test. MKN45 cells were treated with different concentrations of flavonoid from Chrysanthemum morifolium for 24 and 48 h and the inhibitory effect on the MKN45 cells was evaluated using an MTT assay. Following staining with Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide, flow cytometry was performed. The optimized flavonoid extraction conditions were as follows: Duration of ultrasonic treatment: 35 min; ethanol concentration: 75%; extraction temperature: 80°Cand liquid-to-solid ratio 25: 1. Under the above conditions, the extraction rate of flavonoids was 5.24%. When compared with a blank control group, flavonoids extracted from Chrysanthemum morifolium inhibited the proliferation of MKN45 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, in cell groups treated with low, moderate and high concentrations of flavonoid, it was observed that the proportion of apoptotic cells increased in a dose-dependent manner. The extraction process optimized by the orthogonal test achieved a high yield and satisfactory extraction efficiency. Additionally, the experiment demonstrated that flavonoids from Chrysanthemum morifolium inhibited the growth of MKN45 cells and induced their apoptosis. Thus, flavonoids from Chrysanthemum morifolium exerted antitumor effects on MKN45 cells, which may be exploited as a potential antitumor therapeutic for gastric cancer.

Different Risk Indictors of Diabetic Nephropathy in Transforming Growth Factor-beta1 T869C CC/CT Genotype and TT Genotype.

BACKGROUND: Transforming growth factor-beta 1(TGF-ß1) T869C (rs1800470, the same below) gene polymorphism is notably relative with the development of Diabetic Nephropathy (DN), and CC/CT genotype diabetic have higher frequency of than TT genotype diabetic. To find out individual risk factors in the two genotypes especially in susceptible genotype could provide more efficient and targeted prevention. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study. A total of 251 type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients [53.4% male, 56(52-67) years] were enrolled in this cohort study. Multiple concerned factors were collected and the relationship of these risk factors and development of DN were evaluated by Cox regression analysis. Hazard ratios of development of DN were calculated by Kaplan-Meier curves and the Cox proportional hazards model for CC/CT genotype versus TT genotype patients. RESULTS: TGF-ß1 T869C gene polymorphism was an independent predictor of DN in T2DM patients (HR, 2.08; 95%CI, 1.18-3.66; P=0.012). Hyperlipemia (HR, 1.91; 95%CI, 1.19-3.08; P=0.007), age (HR, 0.95; 95%CI, 0.93-0.98; P=0.001) and smoking status (HR, 2.36; 95%CI, 1.07-5.21; P=0.033) were risk indictors of the development of DN in CC/CT genotype patients. HbA1c (HR, 2.8; 95%CI, 1.07-7.30; P=0.036), hypertension (HR, 7.46; 95%CI, 1.38-40.29; P=0.02), and hyperlipemia (HR, 12.33; 95%CI, 1.05-145.39; P=0.046) were risk indictors for the development of DN in TT genotype patients. CONCLUSION: TGF-ß1 T869C gene polymorphism was an independent predictor of DN for T2DM patients and CC/CT genotype had higher susceptibility to DN. CC/CT genotype and TT genotype patients had different risk indictors of DN.

Serum TGF-ß1 as a Biomarker for Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

BACKGROUND: Abnormal expression of serum TGF-ß1 was found in patients with diabetic nephropathy. However, the association of TGF-ß1 with the risk of diabetic nephropathy remains unknown. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether such an association exists. METHODS: We searched the Chinese VIP, Wangfang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar databases for relevant studies and extracted all eligible data. Stata12 software was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Nine reports met our criteria and were used for data extraction. There were 264 patients and 227 healthy controls from qualified reports in this meta-analysis. The results suggested that serum TGF-ß1 levels were significantly up-regulated in patients with diabetic nephropathy; the instrumental variable was 3.94 (95% confidence interval 3.20-4.68, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Meta-analysis suggested that elevated serum TGF-ß level in patients with diabetes is associated with a high risk of nephropathy. Further studies are required to validate these observations.

Study on the relationship between Chinese medicine constitutive susceptibility and diversity of syndrome in diabetic nephropathy.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between Chinese medicine (CM) constitutive susceptibility and syndrome diversity in diabetic nephropathy (DN). METHODS: Epidemiologic investigation on constitution adopting the "Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire" (CCMQ), and survey on syndrome type by CM syndrome scale (preliminary) were carried out in 180 DN patients. Cluster analysis on symptom items was used to determine the syndrome type, and canonical correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between patients' constitution and syndrome. RESULTS: Baseline levels in all enrolled patients were not different statistically. Cluster analysis showed 8 syndromes existed in DN patients, namely: I, qi-yin deficiency with qi-stagnancy type; II, yin-yang deficiency with heat-water-blood stasis type; III, qi-yin deficiency with dampness-heat type; IV, yin-yang deficiency with blood-stasis and heat type; V, qi-yin deficiency with stagnant heat type; VI, yin-yang deficiency with inner dampness-heat stagnancy type; VII, yin deficiency with heat stagnancy type; and VIII, Kidney (Shen)-Spleen (Pi) deficiency with stagnant heat type. Correlation analysis on the 8 syndromes and the 9 constitutions showed statistical significant correlations between syndrome III and dampness-heat constitution (P=0.0001); syndrome IV and blood-stasis constitution (P=0.0001); and syndrome VII and yin-deficiency constitution (P=0.0180). CONCLUSION: Certain relationship revealed between CM constitutions and syndrome types; constitution decides the disease genesis, its syndrome type and prognosis, as well as the change of syndromes.