Treadmill running combined with microdialysis can evaluate motor deficit and improvement following dopaminergic grafts in 6-OHDA lesioned rats

To evaluate the physiological role of striatal dopamine (DA) during exercise and the mechanism of functional recovery mediated by grafted DAergic neurons, the locomotor ability (treadmill running) and DA turnover were investigated using treadmill running combined with in vivo microdialysis in the intact control rats, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned rats (hemi-parkinsonian model rats) and DAergic cell grafted rats. The 3 groups of rats were trained to run on a straight treadmill at a speed of 1,800 cm/min for 20 min every day for 7 consecutive days. If the rats could not follow the speed they got electrostimulation (ES) from the grid behind the treadmill belt. The numbers of ES rats received during treadmill running were counted to quantify the locomotor ability. Control rats could keep up with the treadmill easily (0-1 ES/10 min), whereas lesioned rats could not follow the speed (80-100 ES/10 min). Most of the grafted rats received only a few ES, but a few received over 100 ES/10 min. Extracellular DA and its metabolites, dihydroxyphenyl acetic acid (DOPAC) and homovanillic acid (HVA), were measured by in vivo microdialysis and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) during and after treadmill running. In control rats the basal levels of DA, DOPAC and HVA were 2.3 fmol/μl, 1,109.8 fmol/μl and 612.2 fmol/μl, respectively. They increased up to 130%, 140% and 160% by running. In 6-OHDA lesioned rats basal values of DA, DOPAC and HVA were less than 10% of controls. We did not perform microdialysis in these rats since they got too much ES during running. In grafted rats that showed good recovery in locomotor ability, DA returned to almost control level (1.9 fmol/μl), but those of DOPAC (127.8 fmol/μl) and HVA (100.2 fmol/μl) were still low. DA, DOPAC and HVA increased up to 130%, 130% and 150% by running in a similar pattern as in intact rats. These results suggest that grafted neurons can release and metabolize DA in the host striatum both tonically and phasically in relation with internal and external stimuli and also suggest that treadmill running ability is a good indicator of DA turnover in the striatum. Thus, the treadmill running test with microdialysis is useful for quantitative evaluation of motor function in grafted animals.

Combination therapy an ACE inhibitor and an angiotensin receptor blocker for IgA nephropathy: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

The pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is still unknown. Combination therapy with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) plus angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) might provide more benefits to IgAN patients. We conducted a systematic review to assess the efficacy of combination therapy for IgAN.

METHODS

The MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and article reference lists were searched for randomised clinical trials (RCTs) which involved combination therapy ACEI plus ARB in only one arm. A meta-analysis was performed on the outcomes of proteinuria and renal function in IgAN patients.

RESULTS

Six RCTs involving 109 patients were included in the review. Combined treatment with ACEI plus ARB was more effective than with ACEI/ARB alone for reducing daily proteinuria. This did not translate into an improvement in GFR. Patients receiving ACEI plus ARB therapy did not have an increased risk of hyperkalemia.

CONCLUSIONS

The current cumulative evidence suggests that combination therapy ACEI plus ARB may provide more benefits to IgAN patients for reducing daily proteinuria. Long-term effects of these agents on renal outcomes, and safety need to be established.

Recent progress of the HCN interferometer on J-TEXT tokamak

A multichannel far-infrared HCN laser interferometer has been developed to measure plasma electron density for the J-TEXT tokamak. Initial operation of a seven chords system with 7 cm spacing and a 0.1 ms temporal resolution is described. Density modulation experiments in J-TEXT show that it is possible to obtain information on particle transport by precise measurement of the density perturbation amplitude and phase spatial variation. An optical configuration upgrade has been implemented in order to improve phase resolution.

First results from the J-TEXT high-resolution three-wave polarimeter-interferometer

A laser-based far-infrared polarimeter-interferometer system utilizing the three-wave technique has been implemented on the J-TEXT tokamak. The polarimeter determines the Faraday effect by measuring the phase difference between two collinear, counter-rotating, circularly polarized laser beams. The first results of the polarimeter-interferometer designed for J-TEXT have been obtained in the most recent J-TEXT experimental campaign. Simultaneous polarimetric and interferometric measurement is achieved, with phase resolution up to 0.1°, at bandwidth of 50 kHz. The temporal resolution, which is dependent on the laser's frequency offset, is ∼1 μs. Continual spatial measurement covering 45 cm (80% of the plasma cross-section) is realized by utilizing 1D parabolic beam expansion optics. Three initial test chords are installed and future plans call for expansion up to 30 chords with 1.5 cm chord spacing, providing high spatial resolution for measurement of electron density and current density profiles. Reliability of both polarimetric and interferometric measurement is confirmed by comparison with computation and data from a hydrocyanic acid (HCN) interferometer. With the high temporal and phase resolution, perturbations associated with the sawtooth cycle and MHD activity have been observed.

Vibration mitigation in J-TEXT far-infrared diagnostic systems

Optical structure stability is an important issue for far-infrared (FIR) phase measurements. To ensure good signal quality, influence of vibration should be minimized. Mechanical amelioration and optical optimization can be taken in turn to decrease vibration's influence and ensure acceptable measurement. J-TEXT (Joint Texal Experiment Tokamak, formerly TEXT-U) has two FIR diagnostic systems: a HCN interferometer system for electron density measurement and a three-wave polarimeter-interferometer system (POLARIS) for electron density and Faraday effect measurements. All use phase detection techniques. HCN interferometer system has almost eliminated the influence of vibration after mechanical amelioration and optical optimization. POLARIS also obtained first experimental results after mechanical stability improvements and is expected to further reduce vibration's influence on Faraday angle to 0.1° after optical optimization.

Transcription levels of sirtuin family in neural stem cells and brain tissues of adult mice

Neural stem cells (NSCs) has been used as a well-known model to investigate apoptosis, differentiation, maintenance of stem cells status, and therapy of neurological disease. The C17.2 NSCs line was produced after v-myc transformation of neural progenitor from mouse cerebellar cortex. Sirtuin family plays important roles involved in neuronal differentiation, genomic stability, lifespan, cell survival. However, little is known about gene expression variation of sirtuin family in C17.2 NSCs, primary NSCs, and different brain tissues in adult mice. Here, we confirmed that the mRNA expression levels of sirt2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in E14.5 NSCs were significantly higher than in C17.2 NSCs, whereas that sirt 6 displayed an opposing mode. Moreover, a higher mRNA level of sirtuin family was observed in the adult mouse brain compared to C17.2 NSCs. In addition, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors nicotinamide and Trichostatin A (TSA) were used to explore differential changes at the transcriptional level of sirtuins. Results indicated that the expression of sirt1, sirt5 and sirt6 was significant downregulated by nicotinamide treatment. Whereas, a significant downregulation in sirt1 and sirt3 and a significant upregulation in sirt2, sirt4, sirt6, and sirt7 were observed in the treatment of TSA. Thus our studies indicate different sirtuin mRNA expression profiles between C17.2 NSCs, E14.5 NSCs and brain tissues, suggesting the transcriptional regulation of sirtuin family could be mediated by different histone acetylation.

Cloning of arctic lamprey Lethenteron camtschaticum cd9 with roles in the immune response

In this study, the cd9 gene, a member of the tetraspanin superfamily and involved in various cellular processes, was cloned from Lethenteron camtschaticum. Both real-time PCR and immunohistochemical assays showed broad distribution of cd9 in various L. camtschaticum tissues. In addition, expression levels of Cd9 mRNA were up-regulated in the liver and heart after stimulation by lipopolysaccharide. Flow cytometric analyses demonstrated that cd9 was detected on the leukocytes and that the expression level was higher on granulocytes than on lymphocytes, which implied that cd9 was mainly involved in innate immunity.

Signal quality indices and data fusion for determining clinical acceptability of electrocardiograms

A completely automated algorithm to detect poor-quality electrocardiograms (ECGs) is described. The algorithm is based on both novel and previously published signal quality metrics, originally designed for intensive care monitoring. The algorithms have been adapted for use on short (5-10 s) single- and multi-lead ECGs. The metrics quantify spectral energy distribution, higher order moments and inter-channel and inter-algorithm agreement. Seven metrics were calculated for each channel (84 features in all) and presented to either a multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network or a support vector machine (SVM) for training on a multiple-annotator labelled and adjudicated training dataset. A single-lead version of the algorithm was also developed in a similar manner. Data were drawn from the PhysioNet Challenge 2011 dataset where binary labels were available, on 1500 12-lead ECGs indicating whether the entire recording was acceptable or unacceptable for clinical interpretation. We re-annotated all the leads in both the training set (1000 labelled ECGs) and test dataset (500 12-lead ECGs where labels were not publicly available) using two independent annotators, and a third for adjudication of differences. We found that low-quality data accounted for only 16% of the ECG leads. To balance the classes (between high and low quality), we created extra noisy data samples by adding noise from PhysioNet's noise stress test database to some of the clean 12-lead ECGs. No data were shared between training and test sets. A classification accuracy of 98% on the training data and 97% on the test data were achieved. Upon inspection, incorrectly classified data were found to be borderline cases which could be classified either way. If these cases were more consistently labelled, we expect our approach to achieve an accuracy closer to 100%.

Dynamic time warping and machine learning for signal quality assessment of pulsatile signals

In this work, we describe a beat-by-beat method for assessing the clinical utility of pulsatile waveforms, primarily recorded from cardiovascular blood volume or pressure changes, concentrating on the photoplethysmogram (PPG). Physiological blood flow is nonstationary, with pulses changing in height, width and morphology due to changes in heart rate, cardiac output, sensor type and hardware or software pre-processing requirements. Moreover, considerable inter-individual and sensor-location variability exists. Simple template matching methods are therefore inappropriate, and a patient-specific adaptive initialization is therefore required. We introduce dynamic time warping to stretch each beat to match a running template and combine it with several other features related to signal quality, including correlation and the percentage of the beat that appeared to be clipped. The features were then presented to a multi-layer perceptron neural network to learn the relationships between the parameters in the presence of good- and bad-quality pulses. An expert-labeled database of 1055 segments of PPG, each 6 s long, recorded from 104 separate critical care admissions during both normal and verified arrhythmic events, was used to train and test our algorithms. An accuracy of 97.5% on the training set and 95.2% on test set was found. The algorithm could be deployed as a stand-alone signal quality assessment algorithm for vetting the clinical utility of PPG traces or any similar quasi-periodic signal.

Novel single nucleotide polymorphisms of the bovine methyltransferase 3b gene and their association with meat quality traits in beef cattle

DNA methylation is essential for adipose deposition in mammals. We screened SNPs of the bovine DNA methyltransferase 3b (DNMT3b) gene in Snow Dragon beef, a commercial beef cattle population in China. Nine SNPs were found in the population and three of six novel SNPs were chosen for genotyping and analyzing a possible association with 16 meat quality traits. The frequencies of the alleles and genotypes of the three SNPs in Snow Dragon beef were similar to those in their terminal-paternal breed, Wagyu. Association analysis disclosed that SNP1 was not associated with any of the traits; SNP2 was significantly associated with lean meat color score and chuck short rib score, and SNP3 had a significant effect on dressing percentage and back-fat thickness in the beef population. The individuals with genotype GG for SNP2 had a 25.7% increase in lean meat color score and a 146% increase in chuck short rib score, compared with genotype AA. The cattle with genotype AG for SNP3 had 35.7 and 24% increases in dressing percentage and 28.8 and 29.2% increases in back-fat thickness, compared with genotypes GG and AA, respectively. Genotypic combination analysis revealed significant interactions between SNP1 and SNP2 and between SNP2 and SNP3 for the traits rib-eye area and live weight. We conclude that there is considerable evidence that DNMT3b is a determiner of beef quality traits.

Ca/Mg infusions for the prevention of oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity in patients with colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity is the main limitation for its continuation in adjuvant and palliative chemotherapy for patients with colorectal cancer. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine the efficacy of calcium and magnesium (Ca/Mg) infusions in oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity.

METHODS

Two independent authors conducted database searches of the literature to find clinical-controlled trials analyzing Ca/Mg infusions in oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity. The keywords used to search were oxaliplatin, neurotoxicity, calcium, magnesium, neuropathy, and peripheral. Clinical studies that included at least one primary or secondary event were eligible for the analysis, where primary events were incidences of acute and cumulative neurotoxicity, and secondary events were the total doses and cycles of oxaliplatin, response rate (RR), overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS). Odds ratios (ORs) and weighted mean differences (MD) were analyzed using models of fixed and random effects.

RESULTS

This meta-analysis comprised four prospective randomized clinical trials and three retrospective clinical trials involving 1170 colorectal cancer patients, of which 802 received Ca/Mg infusions (Ca/Mg group) and 368 did not (control group). According to the National Cancer Institute-Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, the incidence of grade 3 acute neurotoxicity in those who received Ca/Mg was significantly lower than that of the control group (OR=0.26; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.11 to 0.62; P=0.0002). The total rate of cumulative neurotoxicity, and that of grade 3 in particular, was significantly lower in the Ca/Mg group than in the control group (OR=0.42; 95% CI 0.26-0.65; P=0.0001; OR=0.60; 95% CI 0.39-0.92; P=0.02, respectively). The differences in total doses and cycles of oxaliplatin were also significant between the Ca/Mg and control group (MD=246.73 mg/m2; 95% CI 3.01-490.45; P=0.05; MD=1.55; 95% CI 0.46-2.63; P=0.005, respectively). No significant differences were found in median PFS (MD=0.71 month; 95% CI -0.59-2.01; P=0.29), median OS (MD=0.10 month; 95% CI -0.41-0.61; P=0.70) or RRs (OR=0.82; 95% CI 0.61-1.10; P=0.18).

CONCLUSION

Ca/Mg infusions tend to decrease the incidence of oxaliplatin-induced acute and cumulative neurotoxicity and thus enhance patients' tolerance to oxaliplatin, without significantly altering the efficacy of chemotherapy.

Sustained mitogen-activated protein kinase activation with Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans causes inflammatory bone loss

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is a gram-negative facultative capnophile involved in pathogenesis of aggressive forms of periodontal disease. In the present study, we interrogated the ability of A. actinomycetemcomitans to stimulate innate immune signaling and cytokine production and established that A. actinomycetemcomitans causes bone loss in a novel rat calvarial model. In vitro studies indicated that A. actinomycetemcomitans stimulated considerable production of soluble cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 in both primary bone marrow-derived macrophages and NR8383 macrophages. Immunoblot analysis indicated that A. actinomycetemcomitans exhibits sustained activation of all major mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways, as well as the negative regulator of MAPK signaling, MAPK phosphatase-1 (MKP-1), for at least 8 h. In a rat calvarial model of inflammatory bone loss, high and low doses of formalin-fixed A. actinomycetemcomitans were microinjected into the supraperiosteal calvarial space for 1-2 weeks. Histological staining and micro-computed tomography of rat calvariae revealed a significant increase of inflammatory and fibroblast infiltrate and increased bone resorption as measured by total lacunar pit formation. From these data, we provide new evidence that fixed whole cell A. actinomycetemcomitans stimulation elicits a pro-inflammatory host response through sustained MAPK signaling, leading to enhanced bone resorption within the rat calvarial bone.

A primary proteomic analysis of serum from patients with nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma

OBJECTIVE

The early diagnosis of nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) is difficult. The objective of this study was to find specific protein biomarkers to aid in the early detection of NFPA.

METHODS

Serum samples from 34 patients with NFPA and 34 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects were analysed using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) technology. The spectra were generated, protein peak clustering was performed and classification analyses were carried out using a decision tree classification algorithm.

RESULTS

Nine differentially expressed serum proteins were identified in the patients with NFPA compared with the control subjects. Both the sensitivity and specificity of the decision tree classification algorithm were 82.4% for NFPA.

CONCLUSIONS

Nine new serum protein biomarkers for NFPA were identified. SELDI-TOF-MS coupled with data mining tools might provide a novel approach for the early diagnosis of NFPA and population screening for the disease.