Berberine Protects Secondary Injury in Mice with Traumatic Brain Injury Through Anti-oxidative and Anti-inflammatory Modulation.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the major causes of death and disability worldwide. Novel and effective therapy is needed to prevent the secondary spread of damage beyond the initial injury. The aim of this study was to investigate whether berberine has a neuroprotective effect on secondary injury post-TBI, and to explore its potential mechanism in this protection. The mice were randomly divided into Sham-saline, TBI-saline and TBI-Berberine (50 mg/kg). TBI was induced by Feeney's weight-drop technique. Saline or berberine was administered via oral gavage starting 1 h post-TBI and continuously for 21 days. Motor coordination, spatial learning and memory were assessed using beam-walking test and Morris water maze test, respectively. Brain sections were processed for lesion volume assessment, and expression of neuronal nuclei (NeuN), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba1) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) were detected via immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. There were statistically significant improvement in motor coordination, spatial learning and memory in the TBI-Berberine group, compared to the TBI-saline group. Treatment with berberine significantly reduced cortical lesion volume, neuronal loss, COX-2, iNOS and 8-OHdG expression in both the cortical lesion border zone (LBZ) and ipsilateral hippocampal CA1 region (CA1), compared to TBI-saline. Berberine treatment also significantly decreased Iba1- and GFAP-positive cell number in both the cortical LBZ and ipsilateral CA1, relative to saline controls. These results indicated that berberine exerted neuroprotective effects on secondary injury in mice with TBI probably through anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties.

[Investigation and treatment of newly discovered advanced schistosomiasis cases in Hunan Province in 2011].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the epidemiological characteristics and current status of newly confirmed advanced schistosomiasis patients in Hunan Province in 2011. METHODS: The cases previously diagnosed or suspected as advanced schistosomiasis in Hunan Province were the subjects of this investigation. Questionnairing (demographical information, disease history, etc.), clinical examination (ascites syndrome, abdominal palpation), laboratory examination, and abdominal ultrasonography were used to confirm the diagnosis. Treatment was given to the patients. RESULTS: In 2011, there were 620 newly discovered advanced schistosomiasis patients in Hunan Province, mainly distributed in Yueyang (300 cases, 48.4%), Changde (193 cases, 31.1%) and Yiyang (123 cases, 19.8%). The male-to-female ratio was 1.4:1. The average age of the patients was 60.4 +/- 12.4. 69.7% (432/620) of the patients were illiterate or with primary school education. 90.3% (560/620) of them were farmers. 162 (26.1%) cases were labour incapacity and 442 cases (71.3%) were with a weak labor ability before receiving medical treatment. The average time from discovery of schistosome infection to diagnosis of advanced schistosomiasis was (24.9 +/- 14.3) years. Among the 620 patients, 418 cases were with ascites (67.4%), 201 cases with splenomegaly (32.4%), and 1 case with multiple granuloma in the colon (0.2%). 172 cases (27.7%) were with visible abdominal vein, 144 cases (23.2%) with a hard liver texture, and 3.4% (21/620) cases with a hard spleen texture. Abdominal ultrasonography showed that 59.4% (368/620) of the patients were with grade III hepatic fibrosis. 577 cases (93.1%) received medical treatments and 43 cases (6.9%) received surgical treatment. After the treatment, the clinical symptoms and signs of 410 cases (66.1%) were improved and 210 cases (33.9%) needed further treatment. CONCLUSION: Newly confirmed advanced schistosomiasis patients in Hunan Province are mostly distributed in historically endemic areas, mainly middle-aged and older farmers, and generally in poor health when diagnosed.

Satisfaction and its determinants of rural upper gastrointestinal cancer screening in China: a preliminary cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess participants' satisfaction with and predictors of upper gastrointestinal cancer screening in rural areas. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Ten screening centres in seven cities across five provinces in China. PARTICIPANTS: Of the 452 participants screened during the survey period, 438 completed the survey (response rate: 96.90%). PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Screening satisfaction was the primary outcome and it was assessed using the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-18. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the predictors of satisfaction. RESULTS: The percentages of satisfaction with the General Satisfaction, Technical Quality, Interpersonal Manner, Communication, Financial Aspects, Time Spent With Doctor, and Convenience and Accessibility dimensions were 95.89%, 79.68%, 88.36%, 83.56%, 75.11%, 82.19% and 66.44%, respectively. Education (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.90), health self-assessment (OR 15.29, 95% CI 2.86 to 81.78) and family history of cancer (OR 4.20, 95% CI 1.29 to 13.71) were associated with General Satisfaction. Residence (OR 4.31, 95% CI 1.89 to 9.81) was associated with Technical Quality. Occupation (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.88), health self-assessment (OR 11.30, 95% CI 3.94 to 32.43), screening purpose (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.92) and distance from the screening centre (OR 4.59, 95% CI 1.35 to 15.61) were associated with interpersonal manner. Gender (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.02 to 3.34), residence (OR 3.23, 95% CI 1.23 to 8.53) and endoscopy in the previous year (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.13 to 6.90) were associated with Communication. Body mass index (BMI; OR 5.06, 95% CI 1.40 to 18.25) and health self-assessment (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.12 to 3.88) were associated with financial aspects. Gender (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.07 to 3.38), residence (OR 3.19, 95% CI 1.30 to 7.79), BMI (OR 5.26, 95% CI 1.14 to 24.34) and health self-assessment (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.06 to 4.34) were associated with time spent with doctor. Gender (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.60) and residence (OR 3.17, 95% CI 1.46 to 6.88) were associated with convenience and accessibility. CONCLUSION: There was heterogeneity across the dimensions of satisfaction with rural upper gastrointestinal cancer screening. Project manager should prioritise improving the aspects related to the convenience and accessibility dimension. Furthermore, to improve the efficiency of potential interventions, the predictors of the various dimensions should be considered.

Extremely large volume electrokinetic stacking of cationic molecules in MEKC by EOF modulation with strong acids in sample solutions.

In this report, a novel facile way of online preconcentration of trace levels of analytes in capillary electrophoresis is presented. The proposed strategy is based on the combination of strong acidic phosphate as sample buffers with borate separation buffer containing sodium dodecyl sulfate. When injection voltage is applied, the continuous introduction of low pH sample causes the apparent bulk flow inside the capillary gradually slows down. Finally at a certain point, it reaches the same magnitude as that of the oppositely migrating anionic micelles, thus the frontier of the micelle zone becomes stagnant. This steady state can be maintained for a very long time so that essentially extremely large volume of sample solutions can be injected into the capillary, and the cationic analytes may be efficiently stacked at the neutralized micelle zone. A theoretical model was proposed and preconcentration conditions of two model analytes, matrine and oxymatrine, were optimized with the aid of the model. Under optimized conditions, more than 1000-fold increase in sensitivity was obtained as compared with the normal hydrodynamic injection without sample stacking. The limits of detection for oxymatrine and matrine were 0.81 and 0.18 ng/mL, respectively, using photodiode array UV detection at wavelength 211 nm.

The combination of flow injection with electrophoresis using capillaries and chips.

The technique of combined flow injection CE (FI-CE) integrates the essential favorable merits of FI and CE. It utilizes the various excellent on-line sample pretreatments and preconcentration (such as cloud point extraction, SPE, ion-exchange, dynamic pH junction and head-column field-amplified sample stacking technique) of FI, which has the advantages of high speed, accuracy, precision and avoiding manual handling of sample and reagents. Therefore, the coupling of FI-CE is an attractive technique; it can significantly expand the application of CE and has achieved many publications since its first appearance. The basic principles, instrumental developments and applications of FI-CE system from 2006 to 2008 are reviewed.

Influence of ultrasonic cavitation on passive film of stainless steel.

The electrochemical behaviors of passive film of stainless steel 0Cr13Ni5Mo under the condition of static state (quiescence) and ultrasonic cavitation in the HCl solution have been studied by means of polarization curve, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and capacitance potential measurement. The results indicate that the passive film shows a multi layer structure distribution, and presents a p-type semiconductor property under the condition of quiescence. The stability of passive film decreases, the semiconducting property changes to an n-type semiconductor in the presence of cavitation. The amount of transition electrons from valence band because of cavitation is related to the height of Fermi level of passive film semiconductor.

[Analysis of hydrogen bondings in polyurethane urea cured in graded temperature field by FTIR].

Hydrogen bondings in polyurethane urea elastomer, which reflect the microphase separation, have an important effect on the properties of the elastomer. The polyurethane urea elastomers, whose degree of microphase separation changed gradually, were prepared in the graded temperature field. Hydrogen bondings in them were investigated by FTIR technology. The discussions about C=O, NH, and -O- stretching vibration spectra were given. The percentage of hydrogen bonded carbonyl groups increases with the increase in the curing temperature in the thickness direction, which indicates the increase in the degree of microphase separation in it. The degree of hydrogen bonded ether oxygen atoms exhibits obvious difference in polyurethane urea with different crosslinking degree. It is this difference that leads to a contrast changing trend of the percentage of hydrogen bonded NH in different samples. Three-dimensional hydrogen bonding between urea carbonyl and NH is stronger than the hydrogen bonding between ether oxygen atoms and NH. The stretching vibration of hydrogen bonded ether group is at about 1 076 cm(-1).

[Analysis of epidemiological characteristics of advanced schistosomiasis in Hu-nan province, 2012].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the epidemiological characteristics of patients with advanced schistosomiasis in Hunan Province, so as to provide the evidence for formulating the advanced schistosomiasis prevention strategies and measures. METHODS: The data of advanced schistosomiasis patients were collected and analyzed retrospectively with the cross section research method and description method in Hunan Province, 2012. RESULTS: There were 5 722 advanced schistosomiasis patients in Hunan Province, and among them, 4 112 patients were male (71.86%), and 1610 were female (28.14%). Totally 5311 patients came from the schistosomiasis endemic areas (92.82%) and 411 patients from non-schistosomiasis endemic areas (7.18%). The prevalence rate of advanced schistosomiasis was 8.46/10,000. The mean age of advanced schistosomiasis patients was 60.30 +/- 11.63 years, and the youngest was 17 years old and the oldest 92 years old. In the age composition of advanced schistosomiasis patients, the greatest number of cases was in the 60-70 years age group (32.72%). There were 3 595 cases of ascites type (62.83%), 2107 cases of splenomegaly type (36.82%), 11 cases of dwarf type (0.16%), and 11 cases of colon proliferation type (0.35%). CONCLUSION: The prevalence rate of advanced schistosomiasis is relatively stable in Hunan Province, and the age of the patients showed an old aging trend. The salvation of advanced schistosomiasis patients in non-endemic areas should be strengthened.

[Selection of epidemic indicators for schistosomiasis GIS platform in Dongting Lake area].

Dongting Lake area is one of the major marshland schistosomiasis endemic areas in China. In recent years, spatial epidemiology is widely used in the research of schistosomiasis, which is a new opportunity to break through the current wandering situation of schistosomiasis control. In this article, both the generalized and Dongting-Lake-specific epidemic indicators of schistosomiasis are reviewed to provide the basis to construct the schistosomiasis Geographic Information System (GIS) database of Hunan Province.

[Strategy and effect of schistosomiasis emergency control after earthquake in Lushan County].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of measures on the schistosomiasis control after the earth quake in Lushan County, so as to provide the experiences for post-disaster schistosomiasis control. METHODS: The measures taken in schistosomiasis control after the earth quake were reviewed in Lushan County in 2013, and the epidemic situation of schistosomiasis was investigated and the results were analyzed. RESULTS: The schistosomiasis control in floating population and the control of Oncomelania hupensis snails were enhanced, and no schistosome infections were found in both human and livestock. No infected snails and infested water were found. CONCLUSION: The measures of schistosomiasis control after the disaster are effective in Lushan County, and the goal to prevent major plague after the earth quake is achieved.