Frequencies of red blood cell major blood group antigens and phenotypes in the Chinese Han population from Mainland China.

Alloantibodies directed to red blood cell (RBC) antigens play an important role in alloimmune-mediated haemolytic transfusion reactions and haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn. The frequencies and phenotypes of RBC antigens are different in populations from different geographic areas and races. However, the data on major blood group antigens in the Chinese Han population from Mainland China are still very limited; thus, we aimed to investigate them in this study.

Impact of diet on the efficacy of insulin lispro mix 25 and insulin lispro mix 50 as starter insulin in East Asian patients with type 2 diabetes: Subgroup analysis of the Comparison Between Low Mixed Insulin and Mid Mixed Insulin as Starter Insulin For Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (CLASSIFY Study) randomized trial.

Aims/introduction: The pathophysiology of diabetes differs between Asian and Western patients in many ways, and diet is a primary contributor. The present study examined the effect of diet on the efficacy of 25% insulin lispro/75% insulin lispro protamine suspension (LM25) and 50% insulin lispro/50% insulin lispro protamine suspension (LM50) as starter insulin in Chinese and Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes and inadequate glycemic control with oral antidiabetic medication.

Materials And Methods: This was a predefined subgroup analysis of a phase 4, open-label, 26-week, parallel-arm, randomized (computer-generated random sequence) trial (21 January 2013 to 22 August 2014).

Measurement of the Difference of Time-Integrated CP Asymmetries in D^{0}→K^{-}K^{+} and D^{0}→π^{-}π^{+} Decays.

A search for CP violation in D^{0}→K^{-}K^{+} and D^{0}→π^{-}π^{+} decays is performed using pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3  fb^{-1}, collected using the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The flavor of the charm meson is inferred from the charge of the pion in D^{*+}→D^{0}π^{+} and D^{*-}→D[over ¯]^{0}π^{-} decays. The difference between the CP asymmetries in D^{0}→K^{-}K^{+} and D^{0}→π^{-}π^{+} decays, ΔA_{CP}≡A_{CP}(K^{-}K^{+})-A_{CP}(π^{-}π^{+}), is measured to be [-0.

Crocin Upregulates CX3CR1 Expression by Suppressing NF-κB/YY1 Signaling and Inhibiting Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Microglial Activation.

Glaucoma is a group of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and optic nerve fibers. Microglial activation has been shown to be deleterious to RGCs and may participate in the progression of glaucoma. Crocin, one of the major active ingredients in saffron, has been found to inhibit microglial activation.

Critical evaluation of the expression of gastrin-releasing peptide in dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord.

There are substantial disagreements about the expression of gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) in sensory neurons and whether GRP antibody cross-reacts with substance P (SP). These concerns necessitate a critical revaluation of GRP expression using additional approaches. Here, we show that a widely used GRP antibody specifically recognizes GRP but not SP.

Developing Subdomain Allocation Algorithms Based on Spatial and Communicational Constraints to Accelerate Dust Storm Simulation.

Dust storm has serious disastrous impacts on environment, human health, and assets. The developments and applications of dust storm models have contributed significantly to better understand and predict the distribution, intensity and structure of dust storms. However, dust storm simulation is a data and computing intensive process.

Activation of the Mammalian Target of Rapamycin in the Rostral Ventromedial Medulla Contributes to the Maintenance of Nerve Injury-Induced Neuropathic Pain in Rat.

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a serine-threonine protein kinase, integrates extracellular signals, thereby modulating several physiological and pathological processes, including pain. Previous studies have suggested that rapamycin (an mTOR inhibitor) can attenuate nociceptive behaviors in many pain models, most likely at the spinal cord level. However, the mechanisms of mTOR at the supraspinal level, particularly at the level of the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), remain unclear.

Corticotrigeminal Projections from the Insular Cortex to the Trigeminal Caudal Subnucleus Regulate Orofacial Pain after Nerve Injury via Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Activation in Insular Cortex Neurons.

Cortical neuroplasticity alterations are implicated in the pathophysiology of chronic orofacial pain. However, the relationship between critical cortex excitability and orofacial pain maintenance has not been fully elucidated. We recently demonstrated a top-down corticospinal descending pain modulation pathway from the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to the spinal dorsal horn that could directly regulate nociceptive transmission.

Characterization of the anterior cingulate cortex in adult tree shrew.

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a key brain region for the perception of pain and emotion. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of the ACC are usually investigated in rodents such as mice and rats. Studies of synaptic mechanisms in primates are limited.

Crocin protects retinal ganglion cells against H2O2-induced damage through the mitochondrial pathway and activation of NF-κB.

Glaucoma is a degenerative nerve disorder that results in irreversible blindness. It has been reported that the apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) is a hallmark of glaucoma. Oxidative stress is one of the major factors that cause apoptosis of RGCs.

Glyceryl Trinitrate for Acute Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Results From the Efficacy of Nitric Oxide in Stroke (ENOS) Trial, a Subgroup Analysis.

Background And Purpose: The Efficacy of Nitric Oxide in Stroke (ENOS) trial found that transdermal glyceryl trinitrate (GTN, a nitric oxide donor) lowered blood pressure but did not improve functional outcome in patients with acute stroke. However, GTN was associated with improved outcome if patients were randomized within 6 hours of stroke onset.

Methods: In this prespecified subgroup analysis, the effect of GTN (5 mg/d for 7 days) versus no GTN was studied in 629 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage presenting within 48 hours and with systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg.

Cynomolgus Monkey as a Clinically Relevant Model to Study Transport Involving Renal Organic Cation Transporters: In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation.

Organic cation transporter (OCT) 2, multidrug and toxin extrusion protein (MATE) 1, and MATE2K mediate the renal secretion of various cationic drugs and can serve as the loci of drug-drug interactions (DDI). To support the evaluation of cynomolgus monkey as a surrogate model for studying human organic cation transporters, monkey genes were cloned and shown to have a high degree of amino acid sequence identity versus their human counterparts (93.7, 94.

Establishment of a model of cochlear lesions in rats to study potential gene therapy for sensorineural hearing loss.

Introduction: Sensorineural hearing loss seriously influences a patient's daily life, and no effective treatments exist to date. Gene therapy is a potential treatment for regenerating hair cells to restore hearing.

Methods: In this study, we established a cochlear lesions model to study hair cell regeneration by co-administration of kanamycin and furosemide.

First Observation of CP Violation in B[over ¯]^{0}→D_{CP}^{(*)}h^{0} Decays by a Combined Time-Dependent Analysis of BABAR and Belle Data.

We report a measurement of the time-dependent CP asymmetry of B[over ¯]^{0}→D_{CP}^{(*)}h^{0} decays, where the light neutral hadron h^{0} is a π^{0}, η, or ω meson, and the neutral D meson is reconstructed in the CP eigenstates K^{+}K^{-}, K_{S}^{0}π^{0}, or K_{S}^{0}ω. The measurement is performed combining the final data samples collected at the ϒ(4S) resonance by the BABAR and Belle experiments at the asymmetric-energy B factories PEP-II at SLAC and KEKB at KEK, respectively. The data samples contain (471±3)×10^{6} BB[over ¯] pairs recorded by the BABAR detector and (772±11)×10^{6} BB[over ¯] pairs recorded by the Belle detector.

Trans-ancestry genome-wide association study identifies 12 genetic loci influencing blood pressure and implicates a role for DNA methylation.

We carried out a trans-ancestry genome-wide association and replication study of blood pressure phenotypes among up to 320,251 individuals of East Asian, European and South Asian ancestry. We find genetic variants at 12 new loci to be associated with blood pressure (P = 3.9 × 10(-11) to 5.

Inhibitory actions by ibandronate sodium, a nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate, on calcium-activated potassium channels in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells.

The nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates used for management of the patients with osteoporosis were reported to influence the function of renal tubular cells. However, how nitrogen-containing bisphosphates exert any effects on ion currents remains controversial. The effects of ibandronate (Iban), a nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate, on ionic channels, including two types of Ca-activated K (K) channels, namely, large-conductance K (BK) and intermediate-conductance K (IK) channels, were investigated in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells.

The Combination of Diffusion- and T2-Weighted Imaging in Predicting Deep Myometrial Invasion of Endometrial Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the diagnostic difference among the combination of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting deep myometrial invasion of endometrial cancer.

Methods: A structured search was conducted to identify published studies between January 2005 and April 2014, which assessed depth of myometrial invasion in endometrial cancer by using DCE-MRI or DWI or DWI-T2WI.

Results: A total of 15 studies were included.

Novel evidence of association with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate was shown for single nucleotide polymorphisms in FOXF2 gene in an Asian population.

Background: The forkhead box F2 gene (FOXF2) located in chromosome 6p25.3 has been shown to play a crucial role in palatal development in mouse and rat models. To date, no evidence of linkage or association has been reported for this gene in humans with oral clefts.

Up-regulation of Cathepsin G in the Development of Chronic Postsurgical Pain: An Experimental and Clinical Genetic Study.

Background: Proteases have been shown to modulate pain signaling in the spinal cord and may contribute to the development of chronic postsurgical pain. By using peripheral inflammation in rats as a chronic pain model, the authors identified the deregulation of proteases and their inhibitors as a hallmark of chronic pain development using a genome-wide screening approach.

Methods: A microarray analysis was performed and identified spinal cathepsin G (CTSG) as the most up-regulated gene in rats with persistent hyperalgesia after intraplantar injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (n = 4).

IRF2BP2 Reduces Macrophage Inflammation and Susceptibility to Atherosclerosis.

Rationale: Inflammation impairs macrophage cholesterol clearance from vascular tissues and promotes atherosclerosis. Inflammatory macrophages suppress expression of the transcription cofactor interferon regulatory factor 2-binding protein 2 (IRF2BP2), and genetic variants near IRF2BP2 associate with ischemic heart disease progression in humans.

Objectives: To test whether IRF2BP2 in macrophages affects atherosclerosis in mice and humans.

Consonant discrimination by Mandarin-speaking children with prelingual hearing impairment.

Objectives: Little is known about the consonant discrimination ability of Mandarin-speaking children with prelingual hearing impairment (HI) and fitted with hearing aids (HAs). The present study aimed to evaluate Mandarin consonant discrimination ability in children with HI, and explore the effects of unaided and aided hearing threshold, the age of first HA fitting and the duration of HA use on consonant discrimination ability.

Methods: Subjects were Mandarin-speaking children aged 5;4-12;6 years with profound HI (n=41), children aged 6;1-12;4 years with severe HI (n=26), and children aged 5;0-11;9 years with moderate HI (n=9).

Dexmedetomidine Dose-Dependently Attenuates Ropivacaine-Induced Seizures and Negative Emotions Via Inhibiting Phosphorylation of Amygdala Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase in Mice.

Ropivacaine (Ropi), one of the newest and safest amino amide local anesthetics, is linked to toxicity, including the potential for seizures, changes in behavior, and even cardiovascular collapse. Dexmedetomidine (Dex), an α2-adrenergic receptor agonist, has been widely used in anesthesia and critical care practice. To date, the underlying mechanisms of the effects of Dex premedication on Ropi-induced toxicity have not been clearly identified.

Inhibitory effects of endomorphin-2 on excitatory synaptic transmission and the neuronal excitability of sacral parasympathetic preganglionic neurons in young rats.

The function of the urinary bladder is partly controlled by parasympathetic preganglionic neurons (PPNs) of the sacral parasympathetic nucleus (SPN). Our recent work demonstrated that endomorphin-2 (EM-2)-immunoreactive (IR) terminals form synapses with μ-opioid receptor (MOR)-expressing PPNs in the rat SPN. Here, we examined the effects of EM-2 on excitatory synaptic transmission and the neuronal excitability of the PPNs in young rats (24-30 days old) using a whole-cell patch-clamp approach.

[Measurement and analysis on complex refraction indices of pear pollen in infrared band].

Pollen is an important part of bioaerosols, and its complex refractive index is a crucial parameter for study on optical characteristics and detection, identification of bioaerosols. The reflection spectra of pear pollen within the 2. 5 - 15µm waveband were measured by squash method.