Inhibition Effect of Water-solubility Nipponica Saponin on NF-κB Pathway of Rheumatoid Cellular Model / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

This study was aimed to observe the influence of water-solubility nipponica saponin on activation of TNF-α+IL-17-induced rat fibroblast-like synovial cell line RSC-364 cellular model nuclear transcription factor NF-κB pathway as well as TNF-α, IL-1, ICAM-1, MMP-2, MMP-3 secretion. IL-17+ TNF-α were used for stimulating RSC-364 to establish rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cellular model. Water-solubility nipponica saponin in different con-centrations was used for intervention. The influence of water-solubility nipponica saponin in different concentrations on cell viability was detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR method. Changes in the level of TNF-α, IL-1, ICAM-1, MMP-2, and MMP-3 of culture supernatant were detected by ELISA. The results showed that the activation of NF-κB p65 in RSC-364 stimulated by TNF-α+ IL-17 can be inhibited by water-solubility nipponica saponin ac-cording to its concentration. It improved IκB-α expression, and inhibited TNF-α, IL-1, ICAM-1, MMP-2 and MMP-3 secretion. It was concluded that water-solubility nipponica saponin can inhibit the activation of NF-κB pathway, hinder the secretion and activation of multiple downstream genes, which may be its effect in inhibiting syn-ovial inflammation in RA.

Presence and awareness of infectious disease among Chinese migrant workers.

This cross-sectional study set out to identify the health status and health beliefs and behaviors with regard to TB and HIV-AIDS among 407 rural male migrant workers in China. Surveyed workers' awareness level for AIDS transmission was 67.7% and for TB transmission 56.8%. These workers had high rates of acute illness in the previous month (depression 18.3%, physical injury 16.3%, dermatological ailment 9.6%, respiratory infection 9.4%). One or more of the four symptoms of TB were found in 22.3% of the workers. Prevalent TB symptoms were associated with previously having had TB (chi-square = 69.98, p = .000) and having previously lived with a TB patient (F = 13.99, p = .000). The relative risk for having had TB if the worker had lived with someone with TB was 5.69 (chi-square 7.65, p = .006). Screening for TB symptoms, a history of having lived with someone with TB, or having previously had TB, has the potential to serve as a cost-effective and easy first-line TB screening among large mobile populations.

Analysis and test of piezoelectric micropump for drug delivery / 生物医学工程学杂志

With a microsystem or micropump, the release rate of drug delivery is able to be controlled easily to maintain the therapeutic efficacy. A piezoelectric membrane-valve micropump for implantable and carryhome drug delivery system is developed and tested. The influence elements of dynamic performance of the PZT actuator and valve were analyzed, and the calculation method of resonant frequency of the membrane valve was provided. Study results showed that the output performance of the micropump depended on the coupling effect of the actuator and valve. For a given actuator, the output value and the optimal frequency of a micropump could be enhanced only by valve design. Two micropumps with different valve dimensions were fabricated for comparing examination. The smaller -valve micropump obtained higher output values (the maximum flow rate and backpressure being 3.5 ml/min and 27 KPa, respectively) and two optimal frequencies (800 Hz and 3 000 Hz). The larger -valve micropump achieved lower output values (the maximum flow rate and backpressure being 3.0 ml/min and 9 KPa, respectively) and one optimal frequency (about 200 Hz). The test results suggest that the output values and optimal frequency of micropump can be improved by changing the valve dimension, and the viewpoint that checkvalve micropump works only with low acting frequency is wrong.

Pumping performance of a new piezoelectric pump for drug delivery / 生物医学工程学杂志

A novel double-chamber series piezoelectric pump has been presented and tested. The pump is a multi-layer circular planar structure, consisting of PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) pump body, two PZT actuator membranes and three cantilever valves. The PZT actuators are driven at a phase difference of 180 degrees, which is equal to two one-chamber pumps running in series. The output performance depends on the geometrical parameters of the actuator membrane. The prototype pump, fabricated with the PZT membrane 0.18 mm in thickness and 50 mm in diameter of 50 mm, can deliver drug in either direct way (pumping liquid drug) or indirect way (pumping air to extrude liquid drug from a sealed container). The frequency-response characteristic of the two handling methods is of difference. The pump obtains optimum performance at low frequency for liquid as medium, and at high frequency for air as medium. For both the direct delivery and indirect delivery, the maximum flowrate achieved reached up to 220 ml/min and 35 ml/min, respectively; and the maximum backpressure obtained amounted to about 14 KPa and 21 KPa, respectively, at the applied voltage of 80 V with frequency of 20 Hz.