黄芪、雷公藤多甙对大鼠肾小球系膜细胞分泌IL-6的影响

目的:观察黄芪和雷公藤多甙对大鼠肾小球系膜细胞分泌IL-6水平的影响.方法:应用细胞培养技术进行肾小球系膜细胞培养,采用血清药理学方法,制备黄芪药物血清,雷公藤多甙药物血清,并分为低、中、高3个剂量梯度,观察药物血清对正常状态下肾小球系膜细胞分泌IL-6的影响,采用细胞ELISA法测定IL-6含量.结果:黄芪、雷公藤多甙各不同剂量组均可抑制肾小球系膜细胞产生IL-6,其抑制作用随剂量增加而增殖,其中尤以雷公藤高剂量组、中剂量组及黄芪高剂量组作用明显.结论:黄芪可抑制肾小球系膜细胞分泌IL-6,这一作用与雷公藤类似.这可能是黄芪防治肾小球硬化的作用机制之一.     

Palatal implants: a new approach for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the short-term safety and efficacy of palatal implants in patients with mild and moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A prospective, non-randomized study conducted at 5 clinical sites. Three polyester implants were placed in the soft palate under local anesthesia during a single-stage office procedure. Polysomnography was conducted at baseline and 90 days post-procedure. Subjective quality of life data were collected. RESULTS: Fifty-three patients were evaluated; the apnea hypopnea index (AHI) decreased from 25.0 +/- 13.9 to 22.0 +/- 14.8 events/hour (P = 0.05). The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) decreased from 11.0 +/- 5.1 to 6.9 +/- 4.5 (P < 0.001), and the snore score decreased from 7.9 +/- 2.1 to 4.0 +/- 3.0 (P < 0.001). No serious complications occurred during the study. CONCLUSION: Palatal implants can be an effective initial low morbidity treatment option for patients diagnosed with mild to moderate OSA.     

Ongoing pregnancies after intracytoplasmic injection using cryopreserved testicular spermatozoa

We report two clinical pregnancies occurring after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using cryopreserved spermatozoa obtained from testicular biopsy, made in two different infertility situations in our clinic. The first patient showed a secretory azoospermia associated with elevated serum follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) level and spermiogenesis maturation arrest. The second patient was affected by azoospermia resulting from bilateral epididymal obstruction. Spermatozoa present in the wet preparation of testicular biopsy made on the day of scrotal exploration were cryopreserved within the testicular tissue for both men. Intracytoplasmic injections were performed at a later date, using spermatozoa prepared from frozen-thawed tissues. In each case, three embryos were obtained and transferred in utero. The transfers resulted in a twin pregnancy for the first case, and in a singleton pregnancy for the second. Living foetuses were seen in the ultrasound scan at the 7th week and both pregnancies are proceeding to date beyond 30 weeks without complications.      

喷雾(冰冻)干燥法制备钠、锂快离子导体

对两种性能较好的快离子导体Na_3Zr_2Si_2P_3O_(12)(Nasicon)和Li_(1.8)Ti_(1.2)·Cr_(0.8)P_3O_(12)用喷雾干燥法和冰冻干燥法制备粉料和陶瓷烧结,并对样品进行了X射线衍射分析,形貌和显微结构观察以及阻抗谱测量等。实验结果表明:两种方法制备的粉料具有颗粒细,均匀性好,合成温度低等优点。在300℃时,两种样品的电阻半分别为10.05 Ω.cm和94.8 Ω.cm。激活能分别为0.25 eV和0.27ev。     

Melatonin Levels in the Gastrointestinal Tissues of Fish, Amphibians, and a Reptile

Melatonin was detected by radioimmunoassay in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of several species of fish (sturgeon, rainbow trout, carp), amphibians (axolotl, leopard frog, bullfrog), and one reptile (red-sided garter snake), which were sacrificed during the daytime. The highest levels of melatonin were detected in the snake [means = 1018 pg/g stomach, 328 pg/g proximal gut (PG), 511 distal gut (DG)] and carp (means = 102 pg/g stomach, 146 pg/g PG and 141 pg/g DG). Lowest levels were found in the axolotl (means = 44 pg/g stomach and PG, 92 pg/g DG) and the bullfrog (means = 73 pg/g esophagus, 78 pg/g stomach, 20 pg/g PG, and 152 pg/g DG). In most cases there were no statistically significant differences in the melatonin levels among various GIT tissues of the same species but there were differences in tissue levels between different species.     

硬膜外控自动镇痛泵用于剖宫产术后临床观察

目的 :观察硬膜外腔自动镇痛泵 (AFA)用于剖宫产术后镇痛效果及对产后各项生理指标的影响。方法 :选择剖宫产术后患者 10 0例 ,随机分为两组 ,每组各 5 0例。硬膜外腔自动镇痛泵内含有 0 75 %布比卡因 15ml,0 5 %布比卡因 0 5ml,氟哌啶醇 5mg ,吗啡 8mg ,麻黄素 15mg ,生理盐水 80ml,以每小时 2ml速度给药 ,持续给药 48小时 ,对照组则不给任何药物。采用视觉模拟评分法 ,分别观察 2组患者术后的疼痛情况 ,肠蠕动恢复时间 ,拔尿管后排尿情况 ,产后出血、子宫复旧、泌乳情况及下床活动早晚情况 ,以及是否有恶心、呕吐、呼吸抑制等。结果 :①术后镇痛泵组患者术后无明显疼痛感 ,镇痛效果好 ,而对照组患者术后有明显疼痛感 (P <0 0 1) ;②镇痛泵组患者术后肠蠕动恢复时间为 (16 68±9 3 2 )h ,对照组 (16 2 3± 10 1)h ,两者比较无明显差异 (P >0 0 5 ) ;③术后尿管拔除后尿潴留发生率 ,镇痛泵组 8例 ,对照组 2例 ,差异有显著性 (P <0 0 5 ) ;④镇痛泵组下床活动时间为 (19± 5 )h ,明显早于对照组 (2 7± 8)h ,两组比较差异有显著性 (P <0 0 5 ) ;⑤ 2组患者产后出血、泌乳情况、子宫复旧、术后恶心呕吐、呼吸抑制发生情况比较 ,差异均无显著性(P >0 0 5 )。结论 :硬膜外自动镇痛泵具有良好的镇痛     

Use of modified nucleotides and uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG) for the control of contamination in the PCR-based amplification of RNA.

The inadvertent carryover of amplified fragments of nucleic acids (amplicons) is a potential source of contamination in the polymerase chain reaction. Recently, a method has been developed to generate amplicons with deoxyuracil triphosphate (dUTP) and to specifically hydrolyze these amplicons with uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG) following the completion of the assay. We evaluated this system for the specific amplification of RNA from coxsackievirus A3 and B3. We found that RNA from both viruses could be amplified with dUTP, although the use of this triphosphate in place of TTP resulted in some loss of assay sensitivity. We also found that the dUTP-containing amplicons could be efficiently hydrolyzed by UNG, resulting in a 10,000,000-fold reduction in amplicon concentration with little effect on the native nucleic acid. The dUTP-UNG method has a great deal of potential for reducing amplicon contamination during the routine performance of nucleic acid amplification reactions.