[Preliminary study of exon sequence in pneumoconiosis using high-throughput and intervention of EGFR-TKIs on silicosis rats].

Objective: To observe the effect of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKIs) on silica (SiO(2))-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats, and to explore the role of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway in pulmonary fibrosis. Methods: A rat model of SiO(2) silicosis was established (high, medium and low dose intervention groups, and the model group was infused with silica suspension). The control group was intratracheally injected with the same amount of sterile saline. The rats were intragastrically administered with different concentrations of EGFR-TKIs (13.5 mg/day, 6.75 mg/day, 3.375 mg/day). The model group and the control group were given the same amount of normal saline. Six rats in each group were euthanized on the 3rd, 7th, and 14th days after modeling. HE staining was used to observe the pathological of lung tissue. Masson staining to observe pulmonary fibrosis. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) expression of p-EGFR. Determination of hydroxyproline content by alkaline hydrolysis of the sample, Western Blot was used to detect the contents of TGF-α, Ras, p-Erkl/2, PI-3KCG and Aktl protein in lung tissue. Results: The degree of fibrosis and hydroxyproline content in HE staining and Masson staining decreased with the increase of intervention dose, which was statistically significant (7 d, 14 d). Compared with the model group, the relative expressions of TGF-α, p-Erkl/2 and Aktl protein in lung tissue of each intervention group were statistically significant (P<0.05). The down-regulation of Ras and PI-3KCG protein in the high- and medium-dose intervention group was statistically significant (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in the low-dose intervention group.Compared with the intervention group, the down-regulation of TGF-α, Ras, and p-Erkl/2 protein in the lung tissue was statistically different in the low-dose group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the dose and the medium dose intervention group (P>0.05). PI-3KCG was significantly different only in the high-dose intervention group and the low-dose intervention group on the 7th and 14th day (P<0.05), and there was no difference between the other groups (P>0.05). There was a statistically significant difference in Akt1 between the dose intervention groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: EGFR-TKIs inhibits EGFR-related intracellular tyrosine kinase activity and intracellular phosphorylation, and inhibits the downstream signal transduction pathways of EGFR/PI-3K/AKt and Ras/ERK/MAPK target protein Ras, p-Erkl/2, PI3K, Akt1, thereby alleviating changes in pulmonary fibrosis, this process is dose-dependent, and the high-dose and medium-dose intervention groups have a significant effect.

[Clinical study on traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation and treatment of pneumoconiosis].

Objective: To explore the clinical effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome differentiation in the treatment of pneumoconiosis. Methods: We selected 160 pneumoconiosis patients who were hospitalized in our hospital from July 2015 to July 2016. 102 patients were divided into experimental groups, and the other 58 patients were assigned to the control group. These patients were randomly assigned. The control group was given routine treatment, while the experimental group received conventional treatment combined with TCM syndrome differentiation. We rated patients' quality of life using the SF-36 Quality of Life Scale. C-reactive protein levels in both groups before and after treatment were detected by ELISA. Furthermore, we detected the expression levels of IL-6 mRNA and TGF-ß mRNA in serum before and after treatment by RT-PCR.The analysis was performed with SPSS19.0 software. The normal distribution measurement data was expressed by Mean±SD, and the t-test was used for statistical analysis. Non-normal distribution measurement data were expressed as median(M) and interquartile range (P(25), P(75)), and non-parametric test was used for statistical analysis. Results: Compared with the control group, the readmission rate in the experimental group decreased within 3 months; The SF-36 quality of life score results of the two groups showed a statistically significant difference in BP, VT and RE (P<0.05);The levelofCRPdecreasedsignificantlyafter treatment in bothgroups,and thedifferencewasstatistically significant (P<0.05).Comparedwith thecontrolgroup, the levelsofIL-6mRNAandTGF-ß1mRNA alsodecreased (P<0.05). Conclusion: TCM syndromedifferentiation and treatmentofpneumoconiosis can effectively improve the patient's condition and life quality. We predict that it may inhibit the progression of pulmonary fibrosis in pneumoconiosis.

Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of essential oil from berries of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill.

Essential oils of Schisandra chinensis seeds and berries without seeds were separately extracted. A total of 55 compounds were identified in the essential oil of berries without seeds (EOB), representing 85.75% of the total content. A total of 52 compounds were identified in the essential oil of seeds (EOS), representing 89.74% of the total content. For EOB, the top three content compounds were α-cis-bergamotene (10.79%), 4,11-selinadiene (5.28%) and α-cadinol (5.19%), while the top three content compounds of EOS were ylangene (10.16%), ß-himachalene (9.46%) and di-epi-α-cedrene (8.92%). The antioxidant activity of the essential oil was tested using the DPPH radical-scavenging method. The antioxidant activity of EOB was higher than EOS. The IC(50) values of EOB and EOS were 8.4 and 15.8 mg/mL, respectively. This study concluded that EOB and EOS were not only different in extraction yield but also in chemical composition and antioxidant activity.

Attenuation of acute lung injury in mice by oxymatrine is associated with inhibition of phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase.

Oxymatrine is one of the alkaloids extracted from Chinese herb Sophora japonica (Sophora flavescens Ait.) with activities of anti-inflammation, inhibiting immune reaction, antivirus, protecting hepatocytes and antihepatic fibrosis. However, the effect of oxymatrine on acute lung injury (ALI) has not been known yet. In this study, the effect of oxymatrine on ALI was investigated using an oleic acid-induced ALI mouse model. Morphological findings showed that the oleic acid group demonstrated a marked lung injury represented by prominent atelectasis, intraalveolar and interstitial patchy hemorrhage, edema, thickened alveolar septum, formation of hyaline membranes and the existence of inflammatory cells in alveolar spaces. While in the oxymatrine/dexamethasone group, these changes were less severe and in the vicinity of the control group. Furthermore, pretreatment with oxymatrine significantly alleviated oleic acid-induced lung injury accompanied by reduction of lung index and wet-to-dry weight ratio, decreases in serum TNF-alpha level and inhibition of phosphorylated p38 MAPK. These findings suggest that oxymatrine has a beneficial effect on acute lung injury induced by oleic acid in mice and may inhibit the production of proinflammatory cytokine, TNF-alpha, by means of the inhibition of p38 MAPK.

Relationship between changes in the guard cell abscisic-acid content and other stress-related physiological parameters in intact plants.

The relationships of guard cell ABA content to eight stress-related physiological parameters were determined on intact Vicia faba L. plants that were grown hydroponically with split-root systems. Continuous stress was imposed by the addition of PEG to part of the root system. The water potentials of roots sampled after the addition of PEG were 0.25 MPa lower than the water potentials of other roots of the same plant, which were similar to the roots of untreated plants. The leaflet water potentials of plants sampled within 2 h of stress imposition were similar to those of control plants. However, leaf conductance was lower in plants sampled after only 20 min of stress imposition, and the root- and leaflet apoplastic ABA concentrations of these plants were higher than those of untreated plants. As the essence of this report, there was a linear relationship between guard cell ABA content and leaf conductance. Leaflet apoplastic ABA concentrations <150 nM were also linearly related to leaf conductance, but higher leaflet apoplastic ABA concentration did not cause equally large further declines in leaf conductance. It is suggested that evaporation from guard cell walls caused ABA to accumulate in the guard cell apoplast and this pool was saturated at high leaflet apoplastic ABA concentrations.

Colony-stimulating factors in rapid eye movement sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep regulation.

Although several cytokines are known to be somnogenic, no study has been conducted to examine whether colony-stimulating factors (CSF) affect sleep. Therefore, we studied the effects of granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) and macrophage CSF (M-CSF) on sleep in rats and their possible mechanism of action. At the dose of 10 pmol, GM-CSF or M-CSF significantly increased both non-rapid eye movement and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep or REM sleep only when infused intracerebroventricularly during the dark period. When injected locally in the hypothalamus, GM-CSF and M-CSF increased nitric oxide (NO) production. Thus, NOergic neural signals in the hypothalamus may take part in the somnogenic action of CSF.

Sucrose: a solute that accumulates in the guard-cell apoplast and guard-cell symplast of open stomata.

Stomatal conductances of Vicia faba leaves were recorded over a day. Coordinately, (a) guard cells dissected from leaflets were assayed, providing total sucrose content, and (b) guard cells dissected from rinsed epidermes were also assayed, providing symplastic sucrose content. Compared with that of pre-dawn samples, apoplastic sucrose content increased 4.8-5.2 x (2 experiments), reaching 1,130-1,300 fmol.guard-cell-pair-1 at midday, when conductance was highest (ca. 0.13 mol.m-2.s-1); symplastic sucrose content increased 2.5-3.5 x, reaching 350-390 fmol.guard-cell-pair-1. Thus, there is a correlation between transpiration and guard-cell sucrose content, particularly that portion localized to the apoplast. Moreover, apoplastic sucrose is apparently a source of guard-cell nutrition and, possibly, osmoticum.

Lessened malate inhibition of guard-cell phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase velocity during stomatal opening.

Leaflets of Vicia faba with closed stomata or with opening stomata were freeze-dried. Excised guard-cell pairs were assayed individually under suboptimal conditions (pH 7.1 and subsaturating substrate) for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC; EC 4.1.1.31) using quantitative histochemical procedures. L-Malate, 400 microM, significantly inhibited guard-cell PEPC activity of closed stomata but not that of opening stomata. We postulate that the lessened sensitivity of guard-cell PEPC activity to malate inhibition is an important regulatory feature of stomatal opening, which is associated with malate accumulation.

[Tongue temperature of healthy persons and patients with yin deficiency by using thermal video].

The normal tongue originated from medical workers in our hospital and the Yin deficiency tongue originated from patients who possessed typical phenomena of Yin deficiency including smothery fever, dry mouth and so on. Determination of different area's temperature on tongue surface showed that the immediate temperature on areas of the tip, edge and medium of tongues and the delay temperature on areas of the tip, edge of tongues in patients with Yin deficiency was higher than that in healthy persons and possessed statistical significance. The tongue color in patients with Yin deficiency, the higher the tongue temperature obtained. This suggested that the degree of Yin deficiency relates to the tongue temperature. Lingual diagnosis is an essential component of treatment according to differential diagnosis in TCM. The authors consider that the determination of the tongue temperature by using thermal video will be helpful to raise the accuracy of TCM diagnosis and to appraise the real effect of Chinese herbs on patients with Yin deficiency.

Anatomical study of neural projections to the superior colliculus of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus.

Auditory inputs to the intermediate and deep layers of the superior colliculus of the bat, Eptesicus fuscus, were studied by iontophoretic injection of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into the superior colliculus. HRP was injected into the recording sites of superior collicular neurons that responded to acoustic stimuli (4 ms duration, 0.5 ms rise-decay times). The results showed that the superior colliculus received its auditory projections mainly from the inferior colliculus bilaterally, but with ipsilateral projections prevailing. A few projections came from the dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus. HRP-labeled neurons were also found in 11 other brain structures.