Molecular characterization, tissue expression, and antiviral activities of Bama minipig interferon-α subtypes.

Interferons play a major role in innate immunity and disease resistance. Porcine interferon alpha has 17 subtypes, and their gene sequences, tissue expression profiles, and antiviral activities have been primarily studied in domestic pigs but not in minipigs. Bama minipigs are genetically stable disease-resistant and making them as laboratory animal models for bioscience studies. To define the potential mechanism for disease resistance, in this study, we cloned 17 subtypes of Porcine interferon alpha genes in Bama minipigs using high fidelity polymerase chain reaction and subsequent sequencing. Sequence alignment showed that the 17 porcine interferon alpha subtypes were 98%-100 % homologous in those of domestic pigs. However, significantly different tissue expression profiles of PoIFN-α subtypes were found in the two pig species using real-time quantitative RT-PCR. Among the 10 different Bama minipig tissues tested, significant expression of multi-subtype porcine interferon alpha was detected in the lymph nodes and spleen, whereas no or low expression of fewer subtypes was detected in the heart, lung, brain, and small intestine. Sequence analysis revealed that the porcine interferon alpha promoters were almost similar between the two pig species. A cytopathic effect inhibition assay showed that the recombinant 17 porcine interferon alpha subtypes purified from mammalian cells had significantly different antiviral profile against vesicular stomatitis virus, porcine pseudorabies virus and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus compared with those in domestic pigs. Our findings provide evidence that porcine interferon alpha subtypes are highly conserved between Bama minipigs and domestic pigs but show varied tissue expression pattern and antiviral capabilities, which may contribute to their differences in disease resistance.

Text information hiding and recovery via wavelet digital watermarking method.

According to the wavelet digital watermarking method, wavelet text hiding algorithm is presented for hiding some text information in a signal with white noises and the corresponding recovery algorithm is also presented for obtaining text information from a synthesized signal. Firstly, wavelet text hiding algorithm is introduced and an example is given for demonstrating how to hide text information in a signal s with a white noise ε, where s = f(x) + ε and f(x) is a function such as sin x, cos x and so on. A synthesized signal [Formula: see text] can be obtained by wavelet text hiding algorithm. Then, the corresponding text recovery approach is also introduced and the text information is recovered from the synthesized signal [Formula: see text] by an example. Some figures of the example are shown that the wavelet text hiding algorithm and its recovery are feasible. Moreover, the roles of wavelet function, noise, embedding mode and embedding position are analyzed in the text information hiding and recovering, and it implicates its security. 1000 groups of English texts with different lengths are chosen for illustrating computational complexity and running time of the algorithms. The social application of this approach is explained by a system architecture figure. Finally, some future directions are discussed for our follow-up study.

Therapeutic interventions to urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome and UPOINT system for clinical phenotyping: How far are we?

The assessment and management of urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS), is controversial. It is classified by voiding symptoms, pelvic pain, and bladder pain, which is weekly treated, weekly understood, and bothersome. In the aspect of clinical efforts and research to help people with this syndrome have been hampered by the deficiency of a widely reliable, accepted, and a valuable tool to evaluate the patient symptoms and quality of life (QoL) impact. However, the etiology comes into sight is multifactorial, and available treatment options have been imprecise considerably in present years. We compiled the published literature on the assessment of the syndrome, a tentative role of pharmacological and non-pharmacological (conservative, alternative, and invasive therapy) interventions in eradicating the disease as well as improving symptoms. The previously published literature on animal models has established the association of immune systems in the etiology, pathogenesis, and progression of the disease. The UPOINT system for clinical phenotyping of UCPPS patients has six predefined domains that direct multimodal therapy, which would lead to significant symptom improvement in the medical field. The narrative review aims to scrutinize the fluctuating scientist's views on the evaluation of patient and multimodal treatment of the UPOINT system.

Therapeutic approach for global myocardial injury using bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells by cardiac support device in rats.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have been considered a promising therapeutic approach to cardiovascular disease. This study intends to compare the effect of BMSCs through a standard active cardiac support device (ASD) and intravenous injection on global myocardial injury induced by isoproterenol. BMSCs were cultured in vitro, and the transplanted cells were labeled with a fluorescent dye CM-Dil. Isoproterenol (ISO) was injected into the rats; 2 weeks later, the labeled cells were transplanted into ISO-induced heart-jury rats through the tail vein or ASD device for 5 days. The rats were sacrificed on the first day, the third day, and the fifth day after transplantation to observe the distribution of cells in the myocardium by fluorescence microscopy. The hemodynamic indexes of the left ventricle were measured before sacrificing. H&E staining and Masson's trichrome staining were used to evaluate the cardiac histopathology. In the ASD groups, after 3 days of transplantation, there were a large number of BMSCs on the epicardial surface, and after 5 days of transplantation, BMSCs were widely distributed in the ventricular muscle. But in the intravenous injection group, there were no labeled-BMSCs distributed. In the ASD + BMSCs-three days treated group and ASD + BMSCs -five days-treated group, left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), the maximum rate of left ventricular pressure rise (+dP/dt), the maximum rate of left ventricular pressure decline (-dP/dt) increased compared with model group and intravenous injection group (P < 0.05). By giving BMSCs through ASD device, cells can rapidly and widely distribute in the myocardium and significantly improve heart function.

Therapeutic advances in cardiac targeted drug delivery: from theory to practice.

The most commonly used administration methods in clinics and life are oral administration, intravenous injection, and other systemic administration methods. Targeted administration must be an essential long-term development direction due to the limited availability and a high incidence of systemic side effects. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death all over the world. Targeted drug delivery (TDD) methods with the heart as the target organ have developed rapidly and are diversified. This article reviews the research progress of various TDD methods around the world with a heart as the target organ. It is mainly divided into two parts: the targeting vector represented by nanoparticles and various TDD methods such as intracoronary injection, ventricular wall injection, pericardial injection, and implantable medical device therapy and put forward some suggestions on the development of targeting. Different TDD methods described in this paper have not been widely used in clinical practice, and some have not even completed preclinical studies. Targeted drug delivery still requires long-term efforts by many researchers to realize the true meaning of the heart. HIGHLIGHTS Targeted administration can achieve a better therapeutic effect and effectively reduce the occurrence of adverse reactions. Parenteral administration or medical device implantation can be used for targeted drug delivery. Combined with new dosage forms or new technologies, better-targeted therapy can be achieved. Clinical trials have confirmed the safety and effectiveness of several administration methods.

Morphological reseach on expression of inflammatory mediators in murine models of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) induced by T2 antigen.

Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a common clinical syndrome with unknown aetiology. In this study, we used the T2 peptide in C57BL/6 (B6) mice and Sprague Dawley (SD) rats model during different stages. We sought to understand the role of CD4+ T cells and macrophages in CP/CPPS. A total of 16 B6 mice and 18 SD rats were divided into five groups: B6-naïve (n = 6), B6 model (n = 10), SD-naïve (n = 6), SD-45-day model (n = 6) and SD-56-day model (n = 6). The B6 model group was subcutaneously injected with 0.2 ml of (225µg/ml) T2 peptide on 0 and 14th day and was finally sacrificed on 28th day. The SD-45- and SD-56-day model groups were subcutaneously injected with 1ml of (50 µg/ml) T2 peptide on 0 and 14th day and were finally sacrificed on 45th and 56th day respectively. An equivalent volume of normal saline (NS) solution was injected to the naïve groups and analysed the pain and voiding behaviour. We have calculated the prostate index, H&E staining and immunofluorescence of CD4+ T cells and macrophages (CD68) in each group. T2 peptide immunization in B6 mice and SD rats caused severe prostatitis and cell infiltration, mainly composed of CD4+ T cells and macrophages. The SD-56-day model group showed more severe inflammatory cells infiltration than SD-45-day model group. Moreover, inflammatory cells infiltration and red secretions in B6 model were less than SD model. Expression of CD4+ T cells and macrophages was also consistent with H&E results. These results indicated that different stages of CP/CPPS, inflammatory response, and the inflammation of the rat were stronger than the mouse. Our study suggests that CD4+ T cells and macrophages are key factors in the development of CP/CPPS.

A cardiac troponin I study in a minimally invasive myocardial infarction canine model.

Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is an important biomarker of acute myocardial infarction (MI) in animals and human beings. Nevertheless, no immunohistochemical study has been reported about the pattern of myocardial cTnI egression in a minimally invasive model. The present study intended to establish a minimally invasive model of MI and to evaluate the distribution of cTnI. Twelve Mongrel dogs were divided into 2 groups (n = 6): experimental and sham-operated group. Three incisions were made on the left thoracic wall, left anterior descending (LAD) of coronary artery was identified and titanium nips were clamped by video-assisted thoracoscopy surgery (VATS). Series of electrocardiograms (ECG) and biochemical analyses of blood samples - oxidatively modified proteins (OMP), creatine kinase (CK), and cTnI were performed. Furthermore, Masson's trichrome staining was used to observe the histopathology of cardiac myocytes, while immunohistochemistry was done to observe cTnI egression from myocardium. ECG showed elevated ST-segment, whereas OMP, CK and cTnI level increased remarkably and declined to baseline subsequently in the model group throughout study period. Masson's trichrome staining of model group showed a large amount of collagen deposition in the fibrotic area as compared to control group. In immunohistochemical staining, no loss of cTnI staining was observed in non-necrotic myocardium, meanwhile, a great loss was observed in necrotic myocardium. An exception was the myocardium of cardiac apex, where loss of cTnI was visible even in non-necrotic myocardium. All these results revealed that loss of cTnI occurs not only in the necrotic myocardium but also in so-called non-necrotic myocardium of minimally invasive MI model through VATS.

Experimental rodent models of chronic prostatitis and evaluation criteria.

Chronic prostatitis (CP) is a common disease in urology and can be develop in all age groups. It is more commonly seen in men over the age of 50. It's cure rate is low, the recurrence rate is high, the symptoms are complicated, the duration of disease is prolonged, the lingering is difficult to heal, the pain site is extensive and the associated symptoms are more, which bring great physical pain and mental burden to the patient. At present, the etiology, pathology and pathophysiology of prostatitis are not clear yet, and it is still a difficult problem in medical research. The establishment of an effective animal model for experimental research has become an important way to explore its pathogenesis. There are currently several popular modeling methods that vary in degree of operation, success rate, and time length. It would become a trend to study chronic prostatitis through different modeling methods in the future. The successful preparation of animal models can provide the treatment of CP with the corresponding theoretical basis. This article reviews the recent advances in research on rodent models and analyzes the advantages, limitations, and evaluation criteria of various models for reference.

The role of two-component regulatory system in ß-lactam antibiotics resistance.

The irrational use of antibiotics in agriculture and in the medical field has led to a variety of pathogenic microorganisms that produce drug resistance and even multidrug resistance. B-lactam is one of the most widely used antibiotics to treat infectious diseases. Resistance to ß-lactam resistance can be primarily due to the presence ß-lactamase, mutation of ß-lactam targets and overexpression of efflux pumps. Two-component regulatory systems are composed of histidine kinase and response regulator that regulate gene expression under different environmental conditions. In this review, we summarized the mechanisms by which ß-lactam resistance is developed and the role of the two-component regulatory system in ß-lactam resistance.

Cardio-supportive devices (VRD & DCC device) and patches for advanced heart failure: A review, summary of state of the art and future directions.

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a complicated pathophysiological syndrome, leading cause of hospitalization as well as mortalities in developed countries wherein an irregular function of the heart leads to the insufficient blood supply to the body organs. It is an accumulative slackening of various complications including myocardial infarction (MI), coronary heart disease (CAD), hypertension, valvular heart disease (VHD) and cardiomyopathy; its hallmarks include hypertrophy, increased interstitial fibrosis and loss of myocytes. The etiology of CHF is very complex and despite the rapid advancement in pharmacological and device-based interventional therapies still, a single therapy may not be sufficient to meet the demand for coping with the diseases. Total artificial hearts (TAH) and ventricular assist devices (VADs) have been widely used clinically to assist patients with severe HF. Unfortunately, direct contact between the patient's blood and device leads to thromboembolic events, and then coagulatory factors, as well as, infection contribute significantly to complicate the situation. There is no effective treatment of HF except cardiac transplantation, however, genetic variations, tissue mismatch; differences in certain immune response and socioeconomic crisis are an important concern with cardiac transplantation suggesting an alternate bridge to transplant (BTT) or destination therapies (DT). For these reasons, researchers have turned to mechanically driven compression devices, ventricular restraint devices (VRD) and heart patches. The ASD is a combination of all operational patches and cardiac support devices (CSD) by delivering biological agents and can restrain or compress the heart. Present study summarizes the accessible peer-reviewed literature focusing on the mechanism of Direct Cardiac Compression (DCC) devices, VRD and patches and their acquaintance to optimize the therapeutic efficacy in a synergistic way.

Pharmacological values and therapeutic properties of black tea (Camellia sinensis): A comprehensive overview.

Medicinal plants are essential parts of traditional medicine due to their phytochemical constituents having pharmacological values and therapeutic applications. Black tea have thousands of various biological compounds such as flavonoids (Thearubigins (TRs) and theaflavins (TFs) and catechins), amino acids (L.theanine), vitamins (A, C, K), phenolic acids (caffeic acid (CA), gallic acid (GA), chlorogenic acids (CGA) and cauramic acid), lipids, proteins, volatile compounds carbohydrates, ß-carotene and fluoride that illustrated many promising pharmacological effects regarded as growth promoter, cardioprotector, potent cholesterol-lowering effect, antioxidant and antimicrobial, etc inhuman. Although there is an exponential growth in molecular evidence of cholesterol-lowering and antioxidant effect in human, there is still a lack of information of the pharmacological effects of black tea. To fill this information gap, therefore, this review article underscores broadening the new insight pertaining to black tea that could be used as safe food additive. This article also illuminates the interesting role of black tea as an herbal medicine that is the future demand to get rid of synthetic health promoters in the human health practice. Moreover, this information would be useful in terms of the low-cost practice of natural medicines with no residual effects, and a natural protection of the human being. In addition, further studies at a molecular level are needed to reveal its mechanism of action particularly for the hypocholesterolemic effect of black tea to overcome the heart-related diseases, fewer side effects and being a natural safeguard of human health.

The promising future of ventricular restraint therapy for the management of end-stage heart failure.

Complicated pathophysiological syndrome associated with irregular functioning of the heart leading to insufficient blood supply to the organs is linked to congestive heart failure (CHF) which is the leading cause of death in developed countries. Numerous factors can add to heart failure (HF) pathogenesis, including myocardial infarction (MI), genetic factors, coronary artery disease (CAD), ischemia or hypertension. Presently, most of the therapies against CHF cause modest symptom relief but incapable of giving significant recovery for long-term survival outcomes. Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment of HF except cardiac transplantation but genetic variations, tissue mismatch, differences in certain immune response and socioeconomic crisis are some major concern with cardiac transplantation, suggested an alternate bridge to transplant (BTT) or destination therapies (DT). Ventricular restraint therapy (VRT) is a promising, non-transplant surgical treatment wherein the overall goal is to wrap the dilated heart with prosthetic material to mechanically restrain the heart at end-diastole, stop extra remodeling, and thereby ultimately improve patient symptoms, ventricular function and survival. Ventricular restraint devices (VRDs) are developed to treat end-stage HF and BTT, including the CorCap cardiac support device (CSD) (CSD; Acorn Cardiovascular Inc, St Paul, Minn), Paracor HeartNet (Paracor Medical, Sunnyvale, Calif), QVR (Polyzen Inc, Apex, NC) and ASD (ASD, X. Zhou). An overview of 4 restraint devices, with their precise advantages and disadvantages, will be presented. The accessible peer-reviewed literature summarized with an important considerations on the mechanism of restraint therapy and how this acquaintance can be accustomed to optimize and improve its effectiveness.

Chlorogenic acid (CGA): A pharmacological review and call for further research.

Phenolic acids have recently gained substantial attention due to their various practical, biological and pharmacological effects. Chlorogenic Acid (CGA, 3-CQA) is a most abundant isomer among caffeoylquinic acid isomers (3-, 4-, and 5-CQA), that currently known as 5-CQA as per guidelines of IUPAC. It is one of the most available acids among phenolic acid compounds which can be naturally found in green coffee extracts and tea. CGA is an important and biologically active dietary polyphenol, playing several important and therapeutic roles such as antioxidant activity, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, neuroprotective, anti-obesity, antiviral, anti-microbial, anti-hypertension, free radicals scavenger and a central nervous system (CNS) stimulator. In addition, it has been found that CGA could modulate lipid metabolism and glucose in both genetically and healthy metabolic related disorders. It is speculated that CGA can perform crucial roles in lipid and glucose metabolism regulation and thus help to treat many disorders such as hepatic steatosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity as well. Furthermore, this phenolic acid (CGA) causes hepatoprotective effects by protecting animals from chemical or lipopolysaccharide-induced injuries. The hypocholesterolemic influence of CGA can result from the altered metabolism of nutrients, including amino acids, glucose and fatty acids (FA). The purpose of this review was to broaden the scope of knowledge of researchers to conduct more studies on this subject to both unveil and optimize its biological and pharmacological effects. As a result, CGA may be practically used as a natural safeguard food additive to replace the synthetic antibiotics and thereby reduce the medicinal cost.

A novel ventricular restraint device (ASD) repetitively deliver Salvia miltiorrhiza to epicardium have good curative effects in heart failure management.

A novel ventricular restraint is the non-transplant surgical option for the management of an end-stage dilated heart failure (HF). To expand the therapeutic techniques we design a novel ventricular restraint device (ASD) which has the ability to deliver a therapeutic drug directly to the heart. We deliver a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen Zhusheye) through active hydraulic ventricular support drug delivery system (ASD) and we hypothesize that it will show better results in HF management than the restraint device and drug alone. SD rats were selected and divided into five groups (n=6), Normal, HF, HF+SM (IV), HF+ASD, HF+ASD+SM groups respectively. Post myocardial infarction (MI), electrocardiography (ECG) showed abnormal heart function in all groups and HF+ASD+SM group showed a significant therapeutic improvement with respect to other treatment HF, HF+ASD, and HF+SM (IV) groups on day 30. The mechanical functions of the heart such as heart rate, LVEDP, and LVSP were brought to normal when treated with ASD+SM and show significant (P value<0.01) compared to other groups. BNP significantly declines in HF+ASD+SM group animals compared with other treatment groups. Masson's Trichrome staining was used to study histopathology of cardiac myocytes and quantification of fibrosis was assessed. The large blue fibrotic area was observed in HF, HF+ASD, and HF+SM (IV) groups while HF+ASD+SM showed negligible fibrotic myocyte at the end of study period (30days). This study proves that novel ASD device augments the therapeutic effect of the drug and delivers Salvia miltiorrhiza to the cardiomyocytes significantly as well as provides additional support to the dilated ventricle by the heart failure.

Association between KCNE1 (G38S) genetic polymorphism and non-valvular atrial fibrillation in an Uygur population.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between KCNE1 G38S genetic polymorphism and non-valvular atrial fibrillation is different among different populations. The study explored the KCNE1 G38S to understand if the KCNE1 G38S is associated with the Uygur atrial fibrillation patients. METHODS: KCNE1 G38S genetic polymorphism was determined between 237 non-valvular atrial fibrillation cases and 237 control subjects using PCR-RFLP. RESULTS: In univariate analyses, there was a statistical difference in genotype distribution between the patients and controls, and a significant difference in allele frequency of KCNE1 G38S was observed between the two groups (62.6 vs 52.7 %, p = 0.003). In multivariate analyses, the KCNE1 38G variant was independently associated with a significant predisposing effect on AF after adjusting for related risk factors, and the odds ratio for patients was 1.634 (95 % CI: 1.192-2.240, p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: The KCNE1 38G is a risk factor for incident AF in an Uygur population. The KCNE1 G38S might have different impact on AF in different ethnicities.