Role of Th1/Th2 cytokines in the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of ankylosing spondylitis.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a progressive disease of the spine, manifests as peripheral arthritis with tendon and ligament inflammation that restricts activity. AS is a rheumatoid autoimmune disease although the rheumatoid factor is absent in patients with AS. It is characterized by inflammatory changes such as elevated levels of serum inflammatory factors. The roles of Th1 and Th2 cytokines in autoimmune diseases are well known. However, the roles of these cytokines in the diagnosis and prognosis of AS is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of Th1/Th2 cytokines in the diagnosis and prognosis of AS. The BASDAI activity, BASFI functional index, BASMI measurement score, and the levels of CRP and ESR were measured during the treatment of patients with active AS. The levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α (Th1 cytokines) and IL-4 and IL-10 (Th2 cytokines) were quantified. The levels of IL-4 and IL-10 were significantly low in the serum of patients with active AS, who also had high IFN-γ and TNF-α levels compared to those in the control individuals (P < 0.05). After treatment, the levels of IL-4 and IL-10 increased while those of IFN-γ and TNF-α decreased compared to those in individuals with active AS (P < 0.05). The disease activity index correlated positively with levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α and negatively with levels of IL-4 and IL-10, but not with that of CRP or ESR. Changes in the levels of Th1/2 cytokines in patients with AS may reflect disease activity and prognosis.

Design of Ni(OH)2/M-MMT Nanocomposite With Higher Charge Transport as a High Capacity Supercapacitor.

Nano-petal nickel hydroxide was prepared on multilayered modified montmorillonite (M-MMT) using one-step hydrothermal method for the first time. This nano-petal multilayered nanostructure dominated the ion diffusion path to be shorted and the higher charge transport ability, which caused the higher specific capacitance. The results showed that in the three-electrode system, the specific capacitance of the nanocomposite with 4% M-MMT reached 1068 F/g at 1 A/g and the capacity retention rate was 70.2% after 1,000 cycles at 10 A/g, which was much higher than that of pure Ni(OH)2 (824 F/g at 1 A/g), indicating that the Ni(OH)2/M-MMT nanocomposite would be a new type of environmentally friendly energy storage supercapacitor.

High Lithium Storage Performance of Co Ion-Doped Li4Ti5O12 Induced by Fast Charge Transport.

In this study, Co3O4-doped Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) composite was designed and synthesized by the hydrothermal reduction method and metal doping modification method. The microstructure and electrochemical performance of the Co3O4-doped Li4Ti5O12 composite were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and galvanostatic tests. The results showed that Li4Ti5O12 particles attached to lamellar Co3O4 constituted a heterostructure and Co ion doped into Li4Ti5O12 lattice. This Co ion-doped microstructure improved the charge transportability of Li4Ti5O12 and inhibited the gas evolution behavior of Li4Ti5O12, which enhanced the lithium storage performance. After 20 cycles, the discharge specific capacity reached stability, and the capacity retention maintained 99% after 1,000 cycles at 0.1 A/g (compared to the capacity at the 20th cycle). It had an excellent rate performance and long cycle stability, in which the capacity reached 174.6 mA h/g, 2.2 times higher than that of Li4Ti5O12 at 5 A/g.

Therapeutic efficacy of atypical antipsychotic drugs by targeting multiple stress-related metabolic pathways.

Schizophrenia (SZ) is considered to be a multifactorial brain disorder with defects involving many biochemical pathways. Patients with SZ show variable responses to current pharmacological treatments of SZ because of the heterogeneity of this disorder. Stress has a significant role in the pathophysiological pathways and therapeutic responses of SZ. Atypical antipsychotic drugs (AAPDs) can modulate the stress response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and exert therapeutic effects on stress by targeting the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus. To evaluate the effects of AAPDs (such as clozapine, risperidone and aripiprazole) on stress, we compared neurochemical profile variations in the PFC and hippocampus between rat models of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) for HPA axis activation and of long-term dexamethasone exposure (LTDE) for HPA axis inhibition, using an ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)-based metabolomic approach and a multicriteria assessment. We identified a number of stress-induced biomarkers comprising creatine, choline, inosine, hypoxanthine, uric acid, allantoic acid, lysophosphatidylcholines (LysoPCs), phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs), corticosterone and progesterone. Specifically, pathway enrichment and correlation analyses suggested that stress induces oxidative damage by disturbing the creatine-phosphocreatine circuit and purine pathway, leading to excessive membrane breakdown. Moreover, our data suggested that the AAPDs tested partially restore stress-induced deficits by increasing the levels of creatine, progesterone and PEs. Thus, the present findings provide a theoretical basis for the hypothesis that a combined therapy using adenosine triphosphate fuel, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids as supplements may have synergistic effects on the therapeutic outcome following AAPD treatment.

Neo-kyotorphin, an analgesic peptide isolated from human lung carcinoma.

A pentapeptide with analgesic activity has been isolated from human lung squamous cell carcinoma and from three other types of propagated tumors of human lung small-cell carcinoma (SCC), adenoma (AD) and large-cell carcinoma (LCC) in nude mice. The amino acid sequence of the peptide has been revealed to be H-Thr-Ser-Lys-Tyr-Arg-OH, which is exactly the same as that of neo-kyotorphin, an analgesic peptide originally isolated from bovine brain [(1982) Life Sci. 31, 1733]. No neo-kyotorphin could be isolated from normal lung tissue using the same procedures as those used for carcinomas. The results suggest that the presence of neo-kyotorphin in the lung carcinoma may represent the ectopic expression of peptide hormone. Our findings constitute the first example of a human lung carcinoma producing analgesic peptide.

Synthesis and characteristics of [60]fullerene polysiloxane stationary phase for capillary gas chromatography.

A new type of fullerene-containing polysiloxane was synthesized by reacting [60]fullerene with azidopropyl polysiloxane directly. The polysiloxanes have been used successfully as stationary phases for capillary gas chromatography. They displayed high column efficiency, wide operational temperature and high thermostability, and exhibited unique selectivity for many organic substances, such as alkanes, alcohols, ketones and aromatic compounds. The stationary phase was especially suitable for separation of high boiling-point compounds like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phthalic esters, etc. It was also found that some alcoholic or aromatic positional isomers could be well separated on the column. The influence of the fullerene content on the separation was also investigated.

Pathogenic and pathological characteristic of new type gosling viral enteritis first observed in China.

AIM: To study the purifying method and characteristics of new gosling viral enteritis virus (NGVEV),the etiological agent of new gosling viral enteritis (NGVE) which was first recognized in China, as well as the pathomorphological development in goslings infected artificially with NGVEV. METHODS: (1)NGVEV virions were purified by the procedure of treatment with chloroform and ammonium sulfate precipitation, dialysis to remove the sulfate radical and ammonium ion and separation by gel filtration chromatography, and SDS-PAGE. (2)Forty-2-day-old White Sichuan goslings were orally administered with NGVEV and 24 hr later 2 birds were randomly selected and killed at 24hr intervals until death occurred. Specimens(duodenum, ileum, liver, heart, kidney, spleen, lung, proventriculus, pancreas, esophagus, and the intestinal embolus) were taken until all birds in this group died and were sectioned and stained with hemotoxylin and eosin and studied by light microscope. RESULTS: NGVEV shared the typical characteristics of Adenovirus and which structural proteins consisted of 15 polypeptides. Necrosis and sloughing of the epithelial cells covering the villus tips of the duodenum were first observed in goslings 2 days postinfection artificially with NGVEV. With the progress of infection, this lesion rapidly occurred in the epithelium at the base of the villus and with infiltration of the inflammatory cells, the jejunum tended to be involved. With the intensification of mucosa necrosis and inflammatory exudation of the small intestine, fibrinonecrotic enteritis was further developed and embolus composed of either intestinal contents wrapped by pseudo-membrane or of the mixture of fibrous exudate and necrotic intestinal mucosa were observed in the middle-lower part of the small intestine. This structure occluded the intestinal tract and made the intestine dilated in appearance. The intestinal glandular cells underwent degeneration, necrosis and might be found sloughed into the lumen. Hemorrhage and hyperemia could be observed on the lung and kidney. Epithelial cells of the renal tubular underwent degeneration. In some cases, granular degeneration and fatty degeneration could be found in the liver and in some cases at a later stage of this disease the epithelial cells of trachea and proventriculus might be found sloughed. In some cases at an early stage of this disease, cardiac hyperemia and hemorrhage could be observed. Esophagus, pancreas and brain were found normal. Analyses and comparisons between the pathologic lesions of NGVE and Gosling Plague (GP) were available in this paper as well. CONCLUSION: (1)NGVEV is adenovirus. (2)Pathological characteristic could be as the data for NGVE diagnosis.

[Preparation and chromatographic characteristics of linear [60] fullerene polysiloxane stationary phase for capillary gas chromatography].

Hydrosilylation of polymethylhydrosiloxane (active hydrogen content was 0.05%) and reactions with allylbromide (or undecenyl bromide), sodium azide and [60] fullerene in their given orders is described. Two kinds of fullerene-containing polysiloxanes were obtained [polymer(3)]. Their [60] fullerene contents were 30 mg (C60-PSO-1) and 60 mg (C60-PSO-2) respectively. These polymers (3) were characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, UV-V, 13C-NMR and used as stationary phase for capillary chromatography. Two fused-silica capillary columns (0.25 mm i.d.) were coated with a 5 g/L solution of polymer (3) in dichloromethane by the static method. The column efficiencies were 3,450 plates/m (C60-PSO-1) and 3,020 plates/m (C60-PSO-2), for naphthalene at 120 degrees C. The average polarities of these columns, represented by the McReynold's Constant, were 79 and 93 respectively. The polarity of C60-PSO-2 was a little higher than that of C60-PSO-1, which was in turn a little higher than that of SE-30(43). These columns showed wide operation temperature range (100-360 degrees C) and outstanding thermostability. It could be used at 360 degrees C with a baseline drift of 30-40 fA. Grob test mixtures eluted on these columns in the ordre of 1,3-butanediol, n-decane, 1-octanol, n-undecane, 2,6-dimethylphenol, n-dodecane, 2,4-dimethylaniline, naphthalene, indicating that the strong pi-pi interaction of [60] fullerene with aromatic moieties played an important role in separation mechanism. The columns exhibited unique selectivity for many organic compounds, such as alkanes, alcohols, ketones and anilines. It can well separate benzene homologues, naphthalene homologues and polyaromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) due to the pi-pi interaction of three-dimensional pi system of C60 and aromatic hydrocabons. And the columns are especially good for the separation of positional isomers(nonanol, butanediol, nitrotoluene, nitrochlorobenzene, nitroethylbenzene, dinitrobenzene, chlorophenol). The columns also have excellent thermostability and are particularly suitable for the separation of high boiling compounds. For example, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and fatty acid methyl esters are well separated on them.