Characterization of new microsatellites selected from EST resources of Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis

Sixteen new microsatellites were, identified by screening 7533 expressed sequence tags of Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis from GenBank data we published. They were polymorphic with the PIC value ranged from 0.349 to 0.957, the number of alleles ranged from 22 to 48, and the observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.375 to 1.000 and 0.366 to 0.983, respectively. Five loci could be applicable to genetic diversity and population structure of E. sinensis.

Superselective renal artery embolization in the treatment of renal hemorrhage

BACKGROUND

Renal hemorrhage is a potentially life-threatening event that may follow trauma, operation, biopsy, and sudden spontaneous rupture of renal tumors or aneurysms. Superselective renal artery embolization (SRAE) is a well-established method for such cases.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effectiveness of SRAE in the treatment of renal hemorrhage at our institute.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We respectively reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent SRAE for renal hemorrhage from January 2005 to June 2012. Data on patients' characteristics, indications, requirement of pre-embolization blood transfusion, angiographic finding, location of bleeding site, embolization agents, post-embolization transfusion requirement, complications and the outcome were recorded.

RESULTS

A total of 46 patients, aged 26-73 years, underwent SRAE because of hemorrhage after percutaneous nephrolithotomy (n = 25), partial nephrectomy (n = 6), renal biopsy (n = 2), trauma (n = 2), rupture of angiomyolipoma (n = 4), renal aneurysm (n = 1), and renal ateriovenous malformations (n = 6). A total of 41 patients (80.8 %) underwent successful embolization. Treatment failed in 5 patients with hemorrhage caused by percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Of these, four patients underwent a secondly superselective embolization and had a successful outcome. The remaining one was managed by conservative therapy with repeated blood transfusions. No patient required nephrectomy to save the life of the patient. No serious procedure-related complications occurred.

CONCLUSIONS

SRAE is an effective and minimal invasive method for the control of renal hemorrhage. Our experience strongly recommended the first-line use of SRAE for severe renal hemorrhage.

Claulansine F suppresses apoptosis induced by sodium nitroprusside in PC12 cells

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known to be involved in many neurodegenerative diseases. This study assessed the effect of Claulansine F, a new carbazole isolated from Clausena lansium, on sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-treated rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells. First, it was found that Claulansine F showed more potential on inhibiting the programmed death of PC12 cells than edaravone by cell viability, morphologic observation, and flow cytometric analysis. Further results also showed that Claulansine F attenuated the production of total intracellular ROS formation and lipid peroxidation in PC12 cells, inhibited the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) loss, and prevented the programmed cell death event via the P53/Bcl-2 family pathway. Its protective effect was likely medicated by the hydroxyl radical (·OH) scavenging ability, as it appeared to be not involved in the natural antioxidant system. These results suggested a promising potential for Claulansine F as a ROS scavenger in pathologies, where an oxidative stress is involved.

WITHDRAWN: The expression profiling and function of microRNAs in early neural development

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Distinct functions of BMP4 during different stages of mouse ES cell neural commitment

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling plays a crucial role in maintaining the pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and has negative effects on ESC neural differentiation. However, it remains unclear when and how BMP signaling executes those different functions during neural commitment. Here, we show that a BMP4-sensitive window exists during ESC neural differentiation. Cells at this specific period correspond to the egg cylinder stage epiblast and can be maintained as ESC-derived epiblast stem cells (ESD-EpiSCs), which have the same characteristics as EpiSCs derived from mouse embryos. We propose that ESC neural differentiation occurs in two stages: first from ESCs to ESD-EpiSCs and then from ESD-EpiSCs to neural precursor cells (NPCs). We further show that BMP4 inhibits the conversion of ESCs into ESD-EpiSCs during the first stage, and suppresses ESD-EpiSC neural commitment and promotes non-neural lineage differentiation during the second stage. Mechanistic studies show that BMP4 inhibits FGF/ERK activity at the first stage but not at the second stage; and IDs, as important downstream genes of BMP signaling, partially substitute for BMP4 functions at both stages. We conclude that BMP signaling has distinct functions during different stages of ESC neural commitment.

Dual blockade of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is safe and effective in reducing albuminuria in Asian type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy

INTRODUCTION

Blockade of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) by either the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) or the angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) has been shown to reduce albuminuria and delay the progression of diabetic nephropathy. This study evaluated the effect of dual blockade of the RAAS by adding an ACEI or an ARB to the administration of either drug alone on albuminuria in Asian type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy.

METHODS

34 patients were randomly assigned to receive either enalapril 20 mg or losartan 100 mg once daily for eight weeks. Following this, all patients received a combination of enalapril 10 mg and losartan 50 mg daily for eight weeks, followed by enalapril 20 mg and losartan 100 mg daily for another eight weeks. The blood pressure and 24-hour urinary albumin excretion (UAE) were monitored.

RESULTS

Following monotherapy with enalapril, there was a mean and standard error (SE) reduction in the UAE and mean arterial pressure (MAP) of 9.8 (SE 6.8) percent (p-value is 0.061) and 5.3 (SE 2.2) mmHg (p-value is 0.026), respectively; the reduction in UAE and MAP following monotherapy with losartan was by 10.9 (SE 14.1) percent (p-value is 0.053) and 4.5 (SE 1.9) mmHg (p-value is 0.034), respectively. Combination therapy with enalapril and losartan further reduced the UAE (11.2 [SE 8.7] percent, p-value is 0.009] despite there being no significant change in the MAP (-1.2 [SE 1.47] mmHg, p-value is 0.42). The adverse effects included dry cough (seven [19.4 percent] patients, resulting in the withdrawal of medication in two patients), and transient hyperkalaemia (two [six percent] patients).

CONCLUSION

Dual blockade of the RAAS is safe and effective in reducing albuminuria in Asian type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy.

Morning Headache in Sleep Apnoea: Clinical and Polysomnographic Evaluation and Response to Nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure

Morning headache is accepted as part of clinical findings of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS). The prevalence of morning headache is at variable levels from 18% to 74% in patients with OSAS. However, there is controversy over the association of morning headache and OSAS. We studied morning headache prevalance and characteristics in 101 controls with apnoea-hypnoea index (AHI) < 5 and 462 OSAS patients with AHI ≥ 5. Morning headache was reported by only nine (8.9%) subjects in a control group compared with 156 (33.6%) of OSAS patients ( P < 0.01). Morning headache prevalance was significantly higher in severe and moderate OSAS groups. AHI was significantly higher in OSAS patients with morning headache compared with patients without morning headaches. Oxygen saturation nadir during rapid eye movement and non-rapid eye movement sleep as well as mean oxygen saturation value during total sleep time were also found to be significantly lower in morning headache group. However, none of the sleep parameters was found to be determinants of morning headache. Morning headache was more frequently reported by patients of female gender and with primary headache history. Morning headache was totally resolved in 90% of patients treated with nasal continuous positive airway pressure. The history of OSAS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of morning headache.

Expression of insulin system in the olfactory epithelium: first approaches to its role and regulation

Food odours are major determinants for food choice; their detection is influenced by nutritional status. Among different metabolic signals, insulin plays a major role in food intake regulation. The aim of the present study was to investigate a potential role of insulin in the olfactory mucosa (OM), using ex vivo tissues and in vitro primary cultures. We first established the expression of insulin receptor (IR) in rat olfactory mucosa. Transcripts of IR-A and IR-B isoforms, as well as IRS-1 and IRS-2, were detected in OM extracts. Using immunocytochemistry, IR protein was located in olfactory receptor neurones, sustentacular and basal cells and in endothelium of the lamina propria vessels. Moreover, the insulin binding capacity of OM was quite high compared to that of olfactory bulb or liver. Besides the main pancreatic insulin source, we demonstrated insulin synthesis at a low level in the OM. Interestingly 48 h of fasting, leading to a decreased plasmatic insulin, increased the number of IR in the OM. Local insulin concentration was also enhanced. These data suggest a control of OM insulin system by nutritional status. Finally, an application of insulin on OM, aiming to mimic postprandial insulin increase, reversibly decreased the amplitude of electro-olfactogramme responses to odorants by approximately 30%. These data provide the first evidence that insulin modulates the most peripheral step of odour detection at the olfactory mucosa level.

Standard of care for type 2 diabetic patients in a public hospital general medical clinic: report of a self-audit

We audited the standard of care provided to 200 consecutive type 2 diabetic patients attending our hospital general medical clinic. Data on diabetes related processes and outcome measures were collected. Annual testing rates (blood pressure 100%, fasting lipid profile 91.8%, HbA1c 69%) were higher compared to complications screening rates (Eye 69%, albuminuria 51%, foot 22.4%). Lifestyle intervention was lacking with BMI documented in 38.3% of patients and smoking history in 46%. Fifty percent and 41% of patients with HbA1c > 7.5% were referred to diabetes educator and dietitian respectively. For outcome measures, 26% of patients achieved HbA1c < or = 7%, 33% achieved BP < or = 130/80 while 56% achieved LDL < or = 2.6 mmol/L. Aspirin was prescribed in 78% and ACE inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker in 91.8% of patients. Lifestyle intervention and complication screening are the two major areas of deficiencies in the care of type 2 diabetic patients in our hospital general medical clinic.

Prediction of mitochondrial proteins based on genetic algorithm - partial least squares and support vector machine

Mitochondria are essential cell organelles of eukaryotes. Hence, it is vitally important to develop an automated and reliable method for timely identification of novel mitochondrial proteins. In this study, mitochondrial proteins were encoded by dipeptide composition technology; then, the genetic algorithm-partial least square (GA-PLS) method was used to evaluate the dipeptide composition elements which are more important in recognizing mitochondrial proteins; further, these selected dipeptide composition elements were applied to support vector machine (SVM)-based classifiers to predict the mitochondrial proteins. All the models were trained and validated by the jackknife cross-validation test. The prediction accuracy is 85%, suggesting that it performs reasonably well in predicting the mitochondrial proteins. Our results strongly imply that not all the dipeptide compositions are informative and indispensable for predicting proteins. The source code of MATLAB and the dataset are available on request under liml@scu.edu.cn.

Recurrent episodes of arthritis in a hyperthyroid patient

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)- associated vasculitis is a potentially life-threatening adverse effect of antithyroid medications. We present a 22-year-old woman with Graves' disease who developed recurrent episodes of arthritis while on treatment with propylthiouracil. A diagnosis of propylthiouracil-induced ANCA-associated vasculitis was established only after exhaustive rheumatological investigations failed to establish a cause for her arthritis. Anti-myeloperoxidase antibody (anti-MPO) titres were grossly elevated at 172.7 RU/mL (0-20). Her arthritis resolved promptly following the withdrawal of propylthiouracil and the anti-MPO titres declined over 16 months to 66.8 RU/mL. While she did not develop the life-threatening renal or respiratory tract complications, there was a delay in establishing the correct diagnosis with its attendant morbidity. This case highlights the need for greater awareness of this relatively rare adverse effect of antithyroid medications so as to allow its early detection, leading to the prompt cessation of the offending medication.

Pluggable application server framework

Building a system based on variants of disparate individual components/programs is usually a challenging task. The components/programs are not designed to communicate with each other but the whole system construction does require a seamless collaboration among them. In this paper, targeting at protein structure prediction, a pluggable application server framework is presented. The framework is capable of combining various existing programs into an efficient unit and the design is devoted to provide a model which is able to integrate heterogeneous components/programs into the system quickly without modifying their codes. Based on the model, different components can be plugged into the system with easy configuration, which would lead to a self-configurable and adaptive system. A protein structure prediction server implementation was developed by applying the design model and the real implementation emphasizes the efficiency and simplicity of the system construction. The method and model are generic and can be applied to other system design as well.