Non alcoholic fatty liver disease and risk of incident diabetes in subjects who are not obese

Background and aims

It is not known whether non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a risk factor for diabetes in non obese, non centrally-obese subjects. Our aim was to investigate relationships between fatty liver, insulin resistance and a biomarker score for liver fibrosis with incident diabetes at follow up, in subjects who were neither obese nor centrally-obese.

绞股蓝总皂甙对自由基损伤血管内皮的保护作用

本文观察了绞股蓝总皂苷(Gypenosides,GYP)对电解性自由基(OFR)损伤离体兔胸主动脉和脑基底动脉内皮的保护作用:电解性OFR使乙酰胆碱(Ach)诱导的兔主动脉环舒张百分率明显降低,舒张比值(RR)变小,使离体兔脑基底动脉灌流压升高。结果显示绞股蓝能保护血管内皮免受OFR损伤,且呈剂量依赖性,并明显抑制OFR所致灌流压升高。作用似二甲亚砜(DMSO),说明GYP对外源性OFR损伤具保护作用。     

Reactive oxygen species and human spermatozoa: physiology and pathology

The role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the pathophysiology of human sperm function has been emphasized in recent years. ROS production in semen has been associated with loss of sperm motility, decreased capacity for sperm–oocyte fusion and loss of fertility. There is a current presumption that the most prolific source of ROS in sperm suspensions is an NADPH oxidase located in leukocytes or in spermatozoa which produces superoxide which is further converted to peroxide by the action of superoxide dismutase. Hydrogen peroxide has been recognized as the most toxic oxidizing species for human spermatozoa, which are very sensitive to lipid peroxidation owing to the high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in their plasma membrane, though this is not the sole mechanism by which sperm function might be impaired by ROS. Although the excessive production of ROS is detrimental to human spermatozoa, there is a growing body of evidence which suggests that ROS are also involved in the physiological control of some sperm functions. This review focuses on the nature and source of the ROS generated by human spermataozoa as well as their operational mechanisms and their effects, which may be detrimental or beneficial.     

Progress toward re‐engineering non‐ribosomal peptide synthetase proteins: a potential new source of pharmacological agents

Many important pharmaceutical agents, including vancomycin, bleomycin, cyclosporin, and several antibiotics, are produced by non‐ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) enzymes in microorganisms. The NRPS pathway produces an extensive library of products using multienzyme complexes acting in an assembly‐line fashion. Engineering an NRPS system to produce an even greater variety of products, some of which may also have beneficial therapeutic value, would be an enormous advantage. Several approaches have been successful in generating novel NRPS products: mutational biosynthesis during which nonnatural substrates are fed to an organism; domain and module swapping between different species to generate hybrid enzymes; and rational site‐directed mutagenesis, based either on phylogeny or computational prediction, intended to switch substrate specificity and produce altered products. This review will highlight the progress in these areas and describe research in the future that will extend the capacity for re‐engineering NRPS systems. Drug Dev. Res. 66:9–18, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Pharmacology of the internal anal sphincter and its relevance to faecal incontinence

1 The internal anal sphincter (IAS) has a spontaneous tone and is the main contributor to the maintenance of faecal continence. The spontaneous resting tone exhibited by the sphincter can be modified by neurotransmitters from the autonomic and enteric nervous systems. 2 In this review, the influence of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems on IAS tone are discussed and the putative roles of nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, vasoactive intestinal peptide and adenosine triphosphate in non‐adrenergic non‐cholinergic transmission are considered. 3 Faecal incontinence is a common condition that places a heavy financial burden on the health service and severely affects patients’ quality of life. Resting anal pressure is reduced in patients with faecal incontinence and agents that increase sphincter tone tend to relieve symptoms. The results of clinical studies of the use of phenylephrine to treat faecal incontinence are reviewed. 4 It is concluded that the IAS is a potential target for drug development for the treatment of faecal incontinence.     

对诊断PADAM的游离睾酮指数的评估

目的 评价诊断中老年男子部分雄激素缺乏综合征（PADAM）的游离睾酮指数（FTI）.方法 对129例45岁以上健康男性的FTI进行年龄相关分析.以推算的游离睾酮（CFT）值为依据,对FTI进行有效性检验.结果 男子在中老年期FTI与增龄呈明显的负相关.FTI敏感性97.78%,特异性58.33%.结论 计算简单的FTI可用于PADAM病人的筛选和随访,尤其对70岁以上男子是血清FT较为有效的参数.     

Diabetes mellitus, hypertension and medial temporal lobe atrophy: the LADIS study.

HYPOTHESIS: Based on recent findings on the association between vascular risk factors and hippocampal atrophy, we hypothesized that hypertension and diabetes mellitus (DM) are associated with medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) in subjects without disability, independent of the severity of white matter hyperintensities. METHODS: In the Leukoaraiosis And DISability in the elderly (LADIS) study, we investigated the relationships between DM, hypertension, blood pressure and MTA in 582 subjects, stratified by white matter hyperintensity severity, using multinomial logistic regression. MTA was visually scored for the left and right medial temporal lobe (score 0-4), and meaned. RESULTS: Mean age was 73.5 years (sd 5.1), 54% was female. Of the subjects, 15% had DM, and 70% had a history of hypertension. The likelihood of having MTA score 3 was significantly higher in subjects with DM (OR 2.9; 95% CI: 1.1-7.8) compared with an MTA score of 0 (no atrophy). The odds ratio for MTA score 2 was not significantly increased (OR 1.8; CI: 0.9-4). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and a history of hypertension were not associated with MTA. There was no interaction between DM and hypertension. Stratification on white matter hyperintensities (WMH) did not alter the associations. CONCLUSION: Our study strengthens the observation that MTA is associated with DM, independently of the amount of small vessel disease as reflected by WMH.     

Fat and water separation in balanced steady-state free precession using the Dixon method.

In this work the feasibility of separating fat and water signals using the balanced steady-state free precession (SSFP) technique is demonstrated. The technique is based on the observation (Scheffler and Hennig, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2003;49:395-397) that at the nominal values of TE = TR/2 in SSFP imaging, phase coherence can be achieved at essentially only two orientations (0 degrees and 180 degrees ) relative to the RF pulses in the rotating frame, under the assumption of TR < T2, and independently of the SSFP angle. This property allows in-phase and out-of-phase SSFP images to be obtained by proper choices of the center frequency offset, and thus allows the Dixon subtraction method to be utilized for effective fat-water separation. The TR and frequency offset for optimal fat-water separation are derived from theories. Experimental results from healthy subjects, using a 3.0 Tesla system, show that nearly complete fat suppression can be accomplished.     

前臂预成皮瓣腭部缺损1例整复术护理

目的:提高前臂预成皮瓣整复术的护理水平.方法:通过术前心理护理,供区的皮肤保护,口腔装备,术后环境准备和卧位,皮瓣观察,切口护理,饮食和口腔护理进行评价.结果:预成皮瓣正常成活,色泽红润如期修复腭部缺损.结论:良好的护理可以提高前臂预成瓣移植的成功率.