Carbon Monoxide Protects Neural Stem Cells Against Iron Overload by Modulating the Crosstalk Between Nrf2 and NF-κB Signaling.

Although accumulating evidences have demonstrated pro-survival effects of CO against various insults, the precise mechanism explaining how neural stem cells (NSCs) are protected by CO also remains largely unknown. Here we report CO pro-survival effect on NSCs against iron overload was comparable to that obtained with pharmacological inhibitors of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Its pro-survival effect was accompanied by the inhibition of ROS and subsequent inhibition of NF-κB which is mediated through nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), in that activation of Nrf2 by CO inhibited ROS via up-regulation of NQO-1 while down-regulation of Nrf2 reversed the pro-survival effect of CO both in vitro and in vivo. CO-mediated preconditioning results in Nrf2 up-regulation and NF-κB inhibition, suggesting that these two pathways act in an inverse manner to maintain redox homeostasis. Our findings revealed CO preconditioning as a promising treatment strategy to improve efficacy of NSCs transplantation after hemorrhagic stroke.

Management of traumatic carotid artery dissection: initial experience of a single center.

Traumatic carotid artery dissection (tCAD) bears the risk of hypoperfusion inducing delayed cerebral ischemia. The lack of consensus on standard treatment of tCAD remains a great challenge. Here, we present our successes on a series of patients with delayed tCAD diagnosis and treatment using multimodality treatment strategies. We retrospectively reviewed 21 patients with tCAD treated with carotid artery stent placement or anticoagulation therapy. There were 14 dissection locations (66.67 %) which involved extracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) and seven locations (33.33 %) which involved both extracranial and intracranial ICA. Stenosis severity was 70-99 % in 16 cases (76.19 %) and <70 % in 5 cases (23.81 %). Endovascular stents were administrated to 17 patients with hypoperfusion as evaluated by radiological methods, while anticoagulation therapy was administrated to the other four patients. Carotid revascularization was performed with one (9/17 patients) or multiple (8/17 patients) stents. None of the patients experienced a procedure-related complication. At discharge, the mean modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of patients was 1.08 ± 0.76. Neither additional neurological deficient nor restenosis happened during the follow-up period. More vigilance is required to assure timely diagnosis of patients with delayed tCAD. Assessment of cerebral perfusion is an effective approach in tCAD treatment in our experience.

The influence between managements in emergency room and outcome of severe traumatic brain injury / 中国医师进修杂志

Objective To assess the influence between managements in emergency room(ER) andoutcome of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI),in order to provide inference for treatment.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed in severe TBI patients and recorded next indexes.(1) The managements in ER,including endotracheal intubation and oxygenation,fluid resuscitation,and mannitol intake.(2) The vital signs arriving at ICU,including systolic pressure and blood oxygen saturation.(3) Prognostic indicators including inhospital mortality and days during ICU,the scores of Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) at discharge and 6 months after injury.Results In 140 severe TBI patients,65 patients (46.4％) died during ICU.The mortality of patients with endotracheal intubation [65.0％ (39/60)] was significantly higher than that without endotracheal intubation [32.5％(26/80)](P＜ 0.01).The mortality in whether fluid resuscitation and using mannitol had no significant difference [44.7％ (46/103) vs.51.4％ (19/37),49.2％ (31/63) vs.44.2％ (34/77)] (P ＞0.05).In days during ICU,there was no significant difference among the three treatment measures (P＞ 0.05).In GOS grade at discharge and 6 months after injury,the proportion of 4 and 5 grade were 8.3％ (5/60) and 25.0％ (15/60) in patients with endotracheal intubation,while 27.5％ (22/80) and 52.5％ (42/80) in patients without endotraeheal intubation (P ＜ 0.01).In fluid resuscitation and using mannitol patients,there were no significant difference(P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Treating severe TBI patients in ER,endotracheal intubation should be carefully chosen,fluid resuscitation and mannitol may not be given.

The study on anti-Helicobacter pylori mechanisms of chitosans in vitro / 中华消化杂志

Objective To study the anti-Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) mechanisms of chitosan. Methods H. pylori was suspended in the Chitosan solutions, after 24 h and 48 h, the asparate transaminase (AST) activity and the glucose content in the supernatant s were determined, and morphological alterations of H. pylori were observed by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Results The AST activity and glucose content in chitosan solutions were significant high er than those in control (P