线粒体功能障碍在急性肾损伤向慢性肾脏疾病转变中的作用

急性肾损伤(AKI)是一种发病率较高的临床综合征,会使远期慢性肾脏病(CKD)的发病率明显上升,其机制目前尚不完全明确,可能包括细胞周期停滞、小管上皮周围毛细血管变少、炎性细胞浸润等。线粒体功能障碍在其中的作用主要包括导致了过度氧化应激、促进炎性反应的发生及进展、直接诱导肾小管细胞凋亡等。     

栀子苷减轻幼年哮喘小鼠气道炎性反应并下调TLR4/NF-κB活性

目的探讨栀子苷(Gen)对幼年哮喘小鼠气道炎性反应和平滑肌细胞(ASMCs)损伤的保护作用。方法将小鼠分为对照组、哮喘组(Ova)和Gen组(Ova+Gen,80 mg/kg)(每组n=10)。苏木精-伊红(HE)和阿辛兰-过碘酸雪夫(AB-PAS)染色观察肺组织病理变化(细胞浸润和杯状黏液细胞分泌);观察支气管肺泡灌洗液(BALF)中炎性反应细胞嗜酸粒细胞、中性粒细胞和巨噬细胞数目;ELISA检测BALF中TLR4及Th2型细胞因子IL-4,IL-5及IL-13表达。体外分离和培养ASMCs,分为对照组、哮喘组(Ova)、低剂量Gen组(20 mg/L)、中剂量Gen组(50 mg/L)和高剂量Gen组(100 mg/L)(每组n=8)。qRT-PCR和Western blot检测TLR4和NF-κB P65表达;四甲基偶氮唑蓝法(MTT)检测ASMCs增殖。结果体内实验发现,Gen可显著降低肺部细胞浸润和杯状黏液细胞分泌;减少炎性反应细胞增多(P0.01);降低TLR4和Th2型细胞因子表达(P0.01)。体外实验发现,Gen可抑制TLR4/NF-κB表达;抑制ASMCs增殖。结论 Gen可能通过抑制TLR4/NF-κB活化减轻幼年哮喘小鼠气道炎性反应和SMCs损伤。     

内质网应激与急性呼吸窘迫综合征的研究进展

急性呼吸窘迫综合征(ARDS)是呼吸科及重症医学科的重点、难点,因无明确有效的治疗方法而病死率极高。内质网应激(ERS)可介导炎性反应及细胞凋亡,是ARDS的重要发病机制;并且抑制ERS可改善ARDS结果。     

氧化三甲胺促进人主动脉血管内皮细胞炎性反应

目的研究氧化三甲胺(TMAO)对人主动脉内皮细胞和小鼠腹主动脉血管炎性反应的影响,以及探究其对炎性反应信号通路NF-κB激活的情况。方法将人主动脉内皮细胞分为对照组和TMAO组(用TMAO处理细胞);CCK-8法检测细胞生存率;实时荧光定量PCR检测细胞炎性反应因子mRNA表达;蛋白免疫印迹法检测p65蛋白表达及其入核情况;体内小鼠实验分为对照组和TMAO组,用腹腔注射TMAO处理小鼠;用实时荧光定量PCR检测炎性因子mRNA的表达。结果在TMAO 1 000、3 000、5 000μmol/L浓度下,细胞生存率降低(P0. 01); TMAO处理细胞和小鼠后,炎性反应因子mRNA表达明显提高(P0. 05);磷酸化p65以及p65蛋白入核明显增加(P0. 05)。结论 TMAO可能通过激活NF-κB信号通路,刺激人主动脉血管内皮细胞释放炎性反应因子,并可能通过此机制影响动脉粥样硬化的发生和发展。     

自噬与炎性反应之间分子联系的研究进展

自噬是机体重要的代谢过程,参与细胞的多种应激反应如炎性反应。自噬与炎性反应之间具有密切的分子联系。一方面,多种炎性反应介质可调控自噬发生及自噬基因的转录;另一方面,自噬通过多种方式可抑制机体过激的炎性反应。因此,机体的多种炎性反应疾病包括克罗恩病(CD)可能与自噬缺陷相关。     

氧化应激增加多囊卵巢综合征患者心血管疾病风险的研究进展

多囊卵巢综合征(PCOS)与肥胖、高胰岛素血症、糖耐量受损、高雄激素血症、慢性炎性反应、血脂异常和高血压等相关,关键与氧化应激(OS)有关,后者是导致心血管疾病(CVD)风险因素之一。本文综述了多囊卵巢综合征中氧化应激增加CVD风险的机制及阻断活性氧(ROS)产生路径防治PCOS患者心血管疾病发生的可能性。     

没食子酸减轻香烟烟雾诱导的小鼠气道炎性反应

目的 研究没食子酸(GA)对香烟烟雾(CS)诱导的小鼠慢性阻塞性肺病(COPD)相关的肺部炎性反应的作用。方法 构建CS诱导的小鼠模型。分析支气管肺泡灌洗液中的炎性细胞的数量和促炎细胞因子的水平。相应试剂盒检测肺组织匀浆中活性氧(ROS)、谷胱甘肽(GSH)、丙二醛(MDA)和蛋白羰基的活性。Western blot分析IL-13/STAT6通路活性。结果 GA抑制SC诱导的炎性细胞浸润(中性粒细胞、淋巴细胞和巨噬细胞)和促炎细胞因子(IL-6、TNF-α和IL-1β)的水平。GA可以减轻暴露于CS的小鼠肺组织氧化还原失衡。结论 GA有效地减轻COPD模型小鼠肺部炎性反应和氧化应激。     

单核苷酸多态性和免疫细胞在糖尿病肾脏疾病中的研究进展

糖尿病肾脏疾病具有很明显的家族聚集性及种族差异,已经确定了一些与糖尿病肾脏疾病易感性有关的单核苷酸多态性(SNPs),尤其是吞噬和细胞运动性1基因(ELMO1)和氯化钠共转运蛋白基因(SLC12A3),与中国人群糖尿病肾脏疾病发展进展有关;同时炎性反应在糖尿病肾脏疾病的发生和发展中起着关键作用,其中细胞和2型固有淋巴细胞(ILC2)分泌炎性因子促进肾脏慢性炎性反应及纤维化。     

盐皮质激素受体对心血管疾病影响的研究进展

盐皮质激素受体(MR)是一种由配体活化的胞质受体,不同细胞MR活化可通过多种途径引起心血管炎性反应、氧化应激、重塑、甚至改变离子通道活性,从而增加心律失常的发生。MR拮抗剂用于治疗高血压、冠心病、心力衰竭效果显著,此外,MR在心律失常和肺动脉高压中的作用也为今后临床用药提供了新观点。     

抵抗素与冠心病

人类抵抗素主要在单核细胞和巨噬细胞中表达,具有抵抗胰岛素的作用.然而,目前许多研究表明抵抗素与冠心病具有密切关系,一方面,急性心肌损伤通过斑块的破裂、炎性反应和应激等机制可刺激血浆抵抗素水平升高;另一方面,血浆抵抗素水平升高通过引起血管内皮细胞功能紊乱,诱导炎症反应和氧化应激,促进泡沫细胞的形成,促进血管平滑肌细胞增殖、迁移,促进血管内皮细胞增殖、迁移及毛细血管生成和促进冠状动脉钙化等机制导致冠心病.     

Renal dysplasia and asplenia in two sibs

A family is reported in which two sibs, one male and the other female, both died within 24 hours of birth with enlarged polycystic kidneys. Postmortem histology in the second child showed gross renal dysplasia. In both children the pancreas was enlarged, nodular and cystic but the liver appeared macroscopically normal. In the second child, histological examination confirmed pancreatic fibrosis with cystic dilation of ducts, but showed portal fibrosis with bile duct proliferation in the liver.
This combination of findings is very reminiscent of those in a girl and her brother reported by Ivemark et al. (1959). The children reported here also showed absence or hypoplasia of the spleen, cardiac anomalies and other features of the Ivemark syndrome (Ivemark 1955), a quite different, usually sporadic, congenital disorder. It is suggested that the children described here have a distinct lethal congenital disorder, probably inherited in an autosomal recessive manner.     

Schizophrenia in a North Swedish geographical isolate, 1900–1977. Epidemiology, genetics and biochemistry

Over 200 schizophrenic patients belonging to three major and interrelated pedigree complexes have been investigated over the past 30 years in a North Swedish geographically isolated population, presently numbering about 6,000. An intensive investigation of a number of biochemical correlates and genetic markers in a few selected families belonging to one of the major pedigrees has indicated new strategies for the current research program.
Schizophrenia, as defined operationally, is significantly associated with decreased activities of two enzymes (1) blood platelet monoamine oxidase, (2) plasma dopamine-β-hydroxylase, and (3) with the genetic marker Gc² (group specific antigen). Both enzymes are subject to genetic variation. A positive score for linkage between schizophrenia and low plasma DBH activity has been calculated, but, so far, available data are insufficient for discrimination between linkage and partial contribution of genetically controlled low plasma DBH to the pathogenesis of the disease. Alternatively, both mechanisms could be involved.
As a model for continued research, schizophrenia is explained as based on a double dominant-recessive genotype (Aabb), representing a vulnerability which in about 50 % of cases develops into clinical schizophrenia. It is suggested that the dominant mutation (A) operates on or affects MAO activity, and that the recessive genotype (bb) is instrumental in low variates of DBH activity and very likely such variates within the normal range of physiological variation. Moreover, it is suggested that the combined effects of MAO- and DBH-reduced efficiency on the metabolism of e.g. dopamine could be an essential pathogenic mechanism for the schizophrenic illness which is segregating in this population.     

What will studies of Fulani individuals naturally exposed to malaria teach us about protective immunity to malaria?

There are an estimated over 200 million yearly cases of malaria worldwide. Despite concerted international effort to combat the disease, it still causes approximately half a million deaths every year, the majority of which are young children with Plasmodium falciparum infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Successes are largely attributed to malaria prevention strategies, such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor spraying, as well as improved access to existing treatments. One important hurdle to new approaches for the treatment and prevention of malaria is our limited understanding of the biology of Plasmodium infection and its complex interaction with the immune system of its human host. Therefore, the elimination of malaria in Africa not only relies on existing tools to reduce malaria burden, but also requires fundamental research to develop innovative approaches. Here, we summarize our discoveries from investigations of ethnic groups of West Africa who have different susceptibility to malaria.     

The dominant diseases of modernized societies as omega-3 essential fatty acid deficiency syndrome: Substrate beriberi

About 1900, modern food selection and processing caused widespread $\text{epidemics}$ of the B vitamin deficiency diseases of beriberi and pellagra which, for genetic reasons, often expressed as different diseases ranging from bowel and heart disease to dermatoses and psychoses. But the B vitamins merely help convert essential fatty acids (EFA) into the prostaglandin (PG) tissue regulators and it now turns out that, through hydrogenation, milling and selection of w3-poor southern foods, we have also been systematically depleting, by as much as 90%, a newly discovered trace Nordic EFA (w3) of special importance to primates and sole precursor of the PG3(4) series, even as a concurrent fiber deficiency increases body demand for EFA. Since substrate EFA is processed by many B vitamin catalysts, an EFA deficiency will mimic a $\text{panh}$ypovitaminosis B, i.e., a mixture of $\text{substrate}$ beriberi and $\text{substrate}$ pellagra resembling vitamin beriberi and pellagra but exhibiting as even more diverse $\text{endemic}$ disease. This would consitute a second stage of the Modern Malnutrition and explain why some workers now hold the dominant diseases of modermized societies to be new, nutritionally based, pellagraform yet lipid-related and to range, once again, from heart disease to psychosis. It is an assumption that our dominant diseases are unrelated to each other or are merely revealed by our diagnostic acumen and therapeutic success; and that hydrogenating millions of tons of food oils annually, to destroy the rancidity producing w3-EFA, is safe for $\text{primates}$. Extensive beriberiform disease is reported here in 32 typical cases taken from medical practice which responds strikingly to linseed oil supplements (60% w3-EFA) in confirmation of identical results in Capuchins.     

The universal muscular chain reaction,muscle spasm,Torsions, ruptures and extravasations. Chameleons of pathology and some manifestations of simple muscular disorders

Most bodily functions require the coordinated actions of complementary and supplementary paired muscle groups. Where this essential muscular cooperation is lacking, hollow organs may burst and others become literally screwed up, giving rise to many similar spastic diseases such as Torticollis, Twisted ovarian cyst, Torsion of the Testis, Volvulus of the intestines, Varicose Veins, Megacolon, Aortamegaly, Scoliosis, Erb's Palsy, Peyronie's Disease, Main-en-Griffe, Undescended Foot (Pes Cavus), Talipes, Strabismus. Spasm is “panenepidemic” and unclassified examples of Torsion Dystonia and Dyskinesia really are as common as debt and taxes.     

Class II HLA in Georgia Caucasus Tbilisi Georgians and their Mediterranean ancestry: The Usko Mediterranean languages

Georgia (or Sakartvelo in its own language) is a South Caucasus Mts. country with its easternmost part is enigmatically named Iberia, like the Iberian Peninsula, which may refer to rivers “Kura” and “Ebro” or their valleys respectively. Most of their inhabitants speak Georgian which is included within Dene-Caucasian group and Usko-Mediterranean subgroup of languages. The latter includes Basque, Berber, ancient Iberian-Tartessian, Etruscan, Hittite, Minoan Lineal A and others. In the present paper, HLA class II -DRB1 and -DQB1 alleles has been studied and extended haplotypes calculated. Most frequent haplotypes are also of Mediterranean origin (i. e.: (A*02-B*51)-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01, (A*02-B*51)-DRB1*13:01-DQB1*06:03, or (A*24-B*35)-DRB1*01:01-DQB1*05:01) and DA genetic distances show that closest world populations to Georgians are Mediterraneans. Georgians also show common extended haplotypes ((A*02-B*51)-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01, (A*02-B*13)-DRB1*07:01-DQB1*02:01 and (A*03-B*35)-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01) with Svan people, a secluded population in North Georgia mountains. We can conclude that Georgians belong to a very old Mediterranean substratum according to both linguistics (Usko Mediterranean languages) and HLA genetics.     

'Very sore nights and days': the child's experience of illness in early modern England, c.1580-1720

Sick children were ubiquitous in early modern England, and yet they have received very little attention from historians. Taking the elusive perspective of the child, this article explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual experience of illness in England between approximately 1580 and 1720. What was it like being ill and suffering pain? How did the young respond emotionally to the anticipation of death? It is argued that children’s experiences were characterised by profound ambivalence: illness could be terrifying and distressing, but also a source of emotional and spiritual fulfilment and joy. This interpretation challenges the common assumption amongst medical historians that the experiences of early modern patients were utterly miserable. It also sheds light on children’s emotional feelings for their parents, a subject often overlooked in the historiography of childhood. The primary sources used in this article include diaries, autobiographies, letters, the biographies of pious children, printed possession cases, doctors’ casebooks, and theological treatises concerning the afterlife.     

Guidelines for the Validation and Use of Immunoassays for Determination of Introduced Proteins in Biotechnology Enhanced Crops and Derived Food Ingredients

Recent advancements in agricultural biotechnology have created a need for analytical techniques to determine introduced proteins in crops enhanced through modern biotechnology techniques. These proteins are expressed in plant tissues and may be present in food ingredients. Immunoassays are ideally suited for protein detection and may be used as both quantitative and threshold methods. Microplate ELISA and lateral flow devices are two of the most commonly used immunoassay formats for agricultural biotechnology applications. This paper provides general background information and a discussion of criteria for the validation and application of immunochemical methods to the analysis of proteins introduced into plants and food ingredients using biotechnology methods. It is the result of a collaborative effort of members of the Analytical Environmental Immunochemical Consortium. This collaborative effort represents the combined expertise of several organizations to reach consensus on establishing guidelines for the validation and use of immunoassays. Further, the paper offers developers and users a consistent approach to adopting the technology as well as aid in producing accurate and meaningful results.     

Ultracryotomy: development and application (with examples from the yeast cytology) (author's transl)

The preparation steps usually necessary for obtaining ultrathin frozen sections of biological material (chemical prefixation, enclosing, cryoprotective treatment, freezing, sectioning, and post-staining the sections for transmission electron microscopy) are submitted to a critical analysis. The application of cryo-ultramicrotomy, in particularly for cytochemical purposes, is reviewed. Fundamental considerations of chemical prefixation and poststaining are supported by examples from yeast cytology. Furthermore, the efficiency of the cryo-ultramicrotomy (electron optical resolution of ultrastructural details) is demonstrated on yeast cells and protoplasts.