Genetic diversity of the apolipoprotein E gene and diabetic nephropathy: a meta-analysis.

In the past decade, a number of case-control studies have been carried out to investigate the relationship between the ApoE polymorphism and diabetic nephropathy. However, the results have been inconclusive. To investigate this inconsistency, we performed a meta-analysis of all available studies dealing with the relationship between the ApoE polymorphism and DN.

The extracellular signal-regulated kinase is involved in the effects of sildenafil on pulmonary vascular remodeling.

Pulmonary hypertension is a group of diseases comprising vascular constriction and obstructive changes of the pulmonary vasculature. Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, for example, sildenafil, can alleviate vascular remodeling in the monocrotaline pulmonary hypertension model in rats. We investigate the mechanisms of sildenafil on the pulmonary vascular remodeling of pulmonary hypertension induced by monocrotaline (MCT) in rats.

A meta-analysis of three polymorphisms in the endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene (NOS3) and their effect on the risk of diabetic nephropathy.

A number of association studies have investigated the role of the nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3) gene in the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN). However, results have been inconclusive, largely because the studies have focused on a variety of different polymorphisms and generate inconsistent results. We performed a meta-analysis of 28 association studies focusing on three polymorphisms in the NOS3 gene (G894T (Glu289Asp), 4b/a, and T-786C) and the risk of DN published before July 2009, covering a total of 10,364 subjects.

[Degos' disease: A case report and review of literature].

A 18-year-old male patient's case was diagnosed as Degos'disease with pathognomonic skin lesions, accompanied by small bowel perforation, and reported here. Skin histopothological test show that the typical wedge-shaped necrobiosis and lymphocyte inflammatory infiltration. Vessels showed narrowing and thrombosis, with lymphocyte infiltration.

A preference-opportunity-choice framework with applications to intergroup friendship.

A long-standing objective of friendship research is to identify the effects of personal preference and structural opportunity on intergroup friendship choice. Although past studies have used various methods to separate preference from opportunity, researchers have not yet systematically compared the properties and implications of these methods. This study puts forward a general framework for discrete choice, where choice probability is specified as proportional to the product of preference and opportunity.

Glacial refugia of Ginkgo biloba and human impact on its genetic diversity: evidence from chloroplast DNA.

Variations in the trnK region of chloroplast DNA were investigated in the present study using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism to detect the genetic structure and to infer the possible glacial refugia of Ginkgo biloba L. in China. In total, 220 individuals from 12 populations in China and three populations outside China were analyzed, representing the largest number of populations studied by molecular markers to date.

[To re-evaluate the clinical classification criteria of liver failure].

Objective: To study the clinical feature and more reasonable diagnostic typing criteria for patients with liver failure.

Methods: 13/21 cases of ALF, SALF with no past liver disease, 49/72 cases of with chronic hepatitis, and 23/73 cases ALF, SALF with liver cirrhosis, were analyzed respectively.

Results: 1 ALF patients (1).

Design and switch of catalytic activity with the DNAzyme-RNAzyme combination.

Design and switch of catalytic activity in enzymology remains a subject of intense investigation. Here, we employ a DNAzyme-RNAzyme combination strategy for construction of a 10-23 deoxyribozyme-hammerhead ribozyme combination that targets different sites of the beta-lactamase mRNA. The 10-23 deoxyribozyme-hammerhead ribozyme combination gene was cloned into phagemid vector pBlue-scriptIIKS (+).

[Reevaluation of the typing criteria for patients with chronic severe hepatitis].

Background: To study the clinical features and more reasonable typing criteria for patients with chronic severe hepatitis and decompensated liver function.

Methods: Data of 106 cases of decompensated cirrhosis, 124 cases of chronic liver failure and 100 cases of chronic liver failure (chronic liver failure group I, CLF I) with decompensated cirrhosis (chronic liver failure group II, CLF II) were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: (1) The ages were youngest in chronic liver failure group I (about 30 years), and the oldest in decompensated cirrhosis group (about 50 years).

[Effects of Gardenia-aweto compound by different extraction method on antagonizing acute respiratory distress syndrome].

Objective: To study the effect of Gardenia-Aweto compound (GAC) and two component on preventing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) by the rabbit model of ARDS induced by intravenous injection of oleic acid. To detect the efficiency component of GAC in preventing ARDS.

Method: GAC was divided into two compounts, ethanol-soluble components (ESC) and ethanol-deposition components (EDC), based on polarity.

[Clinical features of 35 cases of autoimmune hepatitis-primary biliary cirrhosis overlap syndrome].

Objective: To realize the clinical features of autoimmune hepatitis-primary biliary cirrhosis (AIH+PBC) overlap syndrome.

Methods: We analyzed and compared the biochemistry, autoimmune antibodies, and liver biopsy results of 129 autoimmune hepatic disease cases retrospectively, using the international criteria to see which could be diagnosed as AIH/PBC overlap syndrome.

Results: Our 35 AIH+PBC overlap syndrome patients were mainly women, with a sex ratio of 1 female: 10 male, and a median age of 50.

Inhibition of ampicillin-resistant bacteria by novel mono-DNAzymes and di-DNAzyme targeted to beta-lactamase mRNA.

In view of the weakness of antibiotics and the properties of antisense drugs, we applied DNAzymes to the field of drug resistance in bacteria. Two 10-23 mono-DNAzymes (Dz1, Dz2) and a di-DNAzyme (Dz1-2) targeted to beta-lactamase mRNA were designed to determine to what degree the growth of ampicillin-resistant bacteria (TEM-1, TEM-3) was inhibited. All three DNAzymes can play a role both in vitro and in vivo.