Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoints Stimulation Improves Spontaneous Voiding Recovery After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Facilitating the recurrence of spontaneous voiding is considered to be a way to prevent urinary retention after surgery, which is of great importance in cholecystectomy. This study aimed to assess the effect of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) on spontaneous voiding recovery after laparoscopic cholecystectom.

Methods: Participants who underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly assigned to either the TEAS group or the sham group.

Carbon monoxide attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced lung injury by mitofusin proteins via p38 MAPK pathway.

Background: The protective effects of carbon monoxide against the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced lung injury were attributed to maintenance of mitochondrial dynamics, but the mechanisms remain unexplored.

Materials And Methods: Using a rat model of acute lung injury induced by LPS and the LPS attacking cell model, we investigated the effects of pretreatment of carbon monoxide molecule-2 (CORM-2) on the acute lung injury and expressions of mitofusin proteins that play a critical role in mitochondrial dynamics.

Results: We found that preadministration of CORM-2, not the inactive form of CORM-2, significantly reduced the lung injury, levels of inflammatory cytokines, and the degree of oxidative stress caused by LPS.

Prevalence of depressive symptoms and its correlates among medical students in China: a national survey in 33 universities.

We conducted a national survey among medical students in China to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and explore associated risk factors based on an established questionnaire composed of demographic information, life events in the past four weeks before survey, and the validated Chinese version of the 21-item Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI). The mean age of enrolled 9010 students was 20.7 (standard deviation: 1.

Enhanced Neuroprotective Effects of Coadministration of Tetrandrine with Glutathione in Preclinical Model of Parkinson's Disease.

Aim. In this study we examined the influence of tetrandrine (Tet) on the neuroprotective effects of glutathione (GSH) in the 6-hydroxydopamine- (6-OHDA-) lesioned rat model of Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods.

Acupuncture reduced apoptosis and up-regulated BDNF and GDNF expression in hippocampus following hypoxia-ischemia in neonatal rats.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Acupuncture attenuates neuronal damages following ischemia.

Aim Of The Study: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the beneficial effects of acupuncture on hypoxia-ischemia induced brain damages in neonatal rats.

Materials And Methods: Male postnatal 7 days rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: sham control (sham), hypoxia-ischemia (HI), and HI plus acupuncture treatment (HI+Acu).

Acemannan accelerates cell proliferation and skin wound healing through AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

Background: Acemannan is a bioactive polysaccharides promoting tissue repair. However, the roles of acemannan in skin wound healing and the underlying molecular mechanisms are largely unclear.

Objective: The goal of this study is to investigate the positive role of acemannan in cutaneous wound healing and its mechanism.

Generation of fully pluripotent female murine-induced pluripotent stem cells.

The high quality of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has been determined to be high-grade chimeras that are competent for germline transmission, and viable mice can be generated through tetraploid complementation. Most of the high-quality iPSCs described to date have been male. Female iPSCs, especially fully pluripotent female iPSCs, are also essential for clinical applications and scientific research.

SUMO-2 promotes mRNA translation by enhancing interaction between eIF4E and eIF4G.

Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) proteins regulate many important eukaryotic cellular processes through reversible covalent conjugation to target proteins. In addition to its many well-known biological consequences, like subcellular translocation of protein, subnuclear structure formation, and modulation of transcriptional activity, we show here that SUMO-2 also plays a role in mRNA translation. SUMO-2 promoted formation of the active eukaryotic initiation factor 4F (eIF4F) complex by enhancing interaction between Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 4E (eIF4E) and Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 4G (eIF4G), and induced translation of a subset of proteins, such as cyclinD1 and c-myc, which essential for cell proliferation and apoptosis.

Melatonin improves the reprogramming efficiency of murine-induced pluripotent stem cells using a secondary inducible system.

This study focused on the effect of melatonin on reprogramming with specific regard to the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Here, a secondary inducible system, which is more accurate and suitable for studying the involvement of chemicals in reprogramming efficiency, was used to evaluate the effect of melatonin on mouse iPSC generation. Secondary fibroblasts collected from all-iPSC mice through tetraploid complementation were cultured in induction medium supplemented with melatonin at different concentrations (0, 10(-6), 10(-7), 10(-8), 10(-9), or 10(-10 )m) or with vitamin C (50 μg/mL) as a positive control.

A dual AP-1 and SMAD decoy ODN suppresses tissue fibrosis and scarring in mice.

The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway promotes tissue fibrosis and scarring through SMAD (small mothers against decapentaplegic)-dependent and SMAD-independent mechanisms. However, inhibition of SMAD-mediated signal transduction alone induces an excessive inflammatory response that impairs the antifibrotic effects of TGF-β inhibitors. In this study, we designed and characterized a dual-functional transcription activator protein 1 (AP-1) and SMAD decoy oligodeoxynucleotide, antifibrosis oligodeoxynucleotide 4 (AFODN4) in vitro and in vivo.

[Effect of miR-15a on induction of apoptosis in breast cancer MCF-7 cells].

Objective: To investigate the effect and mechanism of miR-15a on the induction of apoptosis in breast cancer cells.

Methods: To detect the expression level of miR-15a in breast cancer cell line MCF-7 cells and human mammary gland epithelial cell line MCF-10A cells by quantitative PCR. The target point of MCF-7 was predicted by software and was validated by luciferase report gene system.

A non-element-enriched, non-lyophilized candidate rat serum reference material prepared for once use in determination of inorganic elements by ICP-MS.

A practice about preparing a once-used native state candidate rat serum reference material has been described for inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-MS) determination of inorganic elements in biological matrices, which is independently packed, easy to use, non-lyophilized, without element-spiking, and with stable quality. Various dispersing and storing factors influencing the serum quality have been investigated including container material, sampling volume, packing mode and storage time. The contents of twelve main elements in the rat serum have been not only evaluated by ICP-MS but also verified by other analytical techniques.

[Determination of inorganic elements in rat serum, and vegetable and fruit ferment liquid by ICP-MS].

In the present paper, the contents of thirteen inorganic elements in rat serum, and vegetable and fruit ferment liquid (VFFL) were measured by ICP-MS in order to study the anti-tumor effect of VFFL. Serum or VFFL was digested in nitric and perchloric acids at room temperature and then heated until dryness. The residue was dissolved with 1% (phi) nitric acid prior to ICP-MS analysis.

[Methylation of H19 gene in ES mice and embryonic stem cells].

To investigate the relationship between the methylation status of imprinted gene H19 and the development of mice derived completely from Embryonic stem cells (ES) by tetraploid embryo complementation. The methylation status of two loci at 5'UTR region in imprinted gene H19 in normal adult control mice, 22 adult ES mice, 8 newborn dead ES mice and embryonic stem (ES) cells with different passage number were detected by using of methylation-sensitive restriction endonuclease-PCR technique. The results indicated that the methylation status of the imprinted gene H19 in adult ES mice were identical to that of adult control mice.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha partially contributes to lipopolysaccharide-induced downregulation of CYP3A in fetal liver: its repression by a low dose LPS pretreatment.

With embryonic development, fetal hepatocytes gradually express various types of cytochromes P450 (CYPs) that play a key role in the detoxification of xenobiotics. In the present study, we showed that maternal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure downregulated cyp3a11 mRNA and CYP3A protein in fetal liver. The increased level of TNF-alpha protein in fetal liver, transferred from either the maternal circulation or amniotic fluid, seems to be associated with LPS-induced downregulation of cyp3a11 mRNA and CYP3A protein in fetal liver.

Maternally administered lipopolysaccharide (LPS) upregulates the expression of heme oxygenase-1 in fetal liver: the role of reactive oxygen species.

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is an inducible enzyme that catalyzes the rate-limiting step in the degradation of heme to biliverdin, carbon monoxide and iron. Previous studies have demonstrated that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) upregulates the expression of HO-1 in adult mouse liver. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of maternal LPS exposure on the expression of HO-1 in fetal liver.

Differential effects of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate on TNF-alpha-mediated liver injury in two different models of fulminant hepatitis.

Background/aims: Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) is an inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) activation. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of PDTC on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced liver injury in two different models of fulminant hepatitis.

Methods: Mice infected with Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) were challenged with LPS (0.

Maternally-administered lipopolysaccharide (LPS) increases tumor necrosis factor alpha in fetal liver and fetal brain: its suppression by low-dose LPS pretreatment.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been associated with adverse developmental outcome, including intra-uterine fetal death (IUFD), intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR) and neurological injury. In the LPS model, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is the major mediator leading to IUFD, IUGR and neurological injury. In the present study, we investigated the effect of maternally-administered LPS on TNF-alpha in maternal serum, amniotic fluid, fetal liver and fetal brain.

[DNA methylation and development abnormalities in cloned animals].

Most cloned animals by nuclear transfer were dead before their births, and only a few can develop to their late gestation or adulthood. Although some cloned offsprings can survive, they often have some development disfigurements and abnormal phenotypes in various degrees. DNA methylation is an important modifiable manner of epigenetic dominating the correct expression of gene.

Separation of three water-soluble vitamins by poly(dimethylsiloxane) microchannel electrophoresis with electrochemical detection.

A method for rapid separation and sensitive determination of three water-soluble vitamins, pyridoxine, ascorbic acid (VC), and p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) has been developed by PDMS microchannel electrophoresis integrated with amperometric detection. After treatment of the microchip with oxygen plasma, the peak shapes of the three analytes were essentially improved. Pyridoxine, VC, and PABA were well separated within only 80 s in a running buffer of 20 mM borate solution (pH 8.

[Therapeutic effect of compositive rehabilitation on lumber disc herniation].

Objective: To observe the curative effect of different physical rehabilitation techniques on patients with lumbar disc herniation.

Methods: Eighty-four patients were randomly divided into Group A, Group B and Group C. Group A were treated with the computerized pelvis traction and ultrashort wave, Group B were treated with the computerized pelvis traction only, while Groups C were treated with the computerized pelvis traction, the ultrashort wave and the traditional Chinese medicine iontophoresis.

Passage number affects the pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells as judged by tetraploid embryo aggregation.

The aim of this study was to determine whether the number of passages affected the developmental pluripotency of embryonic stem (ES) cells as measured by the attainment of adult fertile mice derived from embryonic stem (ES) cell/tetraploid embryo complementation. Thirty-six newborns were produced by the aggregation of tetraploid embryos and hybrid ES cells after various numbers of passages. These newborns were entirely derived from ES cells as judged by microsatellite DNA, coat-color phenotype, and germline transmission.

Determination of morphine and codeine in urine using poly(dimethylsiloxane) microchip electrophoresis with electrochemical detection.

In this paper, a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microchip with electrochemical (EC) detection was developed for rapid separation and detection of morphine and codeine. It was found that morphine and codeine were well separated within 140 s in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) (pH 6.6, 40 mM)-beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) (20 mM)-acetonitrile (30%, v/v).