The Correlation between Serum Sclerostin Level and Arterial Stiffness in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients.

Objective: To study the correlation between serum sclerostin (SO) and arterial stiffness in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Methods: The study included 50 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) for more than 6 months at the nephrology department of our hospital. Without regard for age, the eligible patients were assigned to a low PWV group and a high PWV group with brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (Ba PWV) of 1400 cm/s as the cutoff value. Patient characteristics such as age, gender, height, weight, BMI, smoking history, dialysis age, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), urea clearance index (Kt/V), residual renal function (RRF), and diabetes mellitus (DM) were analyzed. Biochemical indices for analysis include hemoglobin (Hb), albumin (ALB), total cholesterol (TC), urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (CREA), triglyceride (TG), uric acid (UA), parathyroid hormone (PTH), blood phosphorus(P), fasting blood glucose (GLU), corrective calcium (Ca), calcium-phosphorus product, low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C), SO, and arterial stiffness. Results: There were 9 males and 16 females in the low PWV group and 12 males and 13 females in the high PWV group. Statistical significance was absent in patient characteristics despite more males in the high PWV group (P=0.055). The low PWV group had significantly lower mean age, SBP, SO, and PWV level, fewer diabetic patients, and higher CREA than the control group. Analysis of PWV-related factors showed that PWV was positively correlated with age, P, Ca, GLU, SBP, PTH, and SO while negatively correlated with CREA. Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that age, SO, and SBP demonstrated great potential to predict PWV (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The degree of vascular sclerosis is highly correlated with SO level in Parkinson's disease patients, which might provide a theoretical basis for the evaluation of cardiovascular illness in Parkinson's disease patients. High serum sclerostin level is a risk factor for deteriorated arterial stiffness. Given the limited sample size, the relevant results require further validation by expanding the sample size.

Soil characteristic changes and quality evaluation of degraded desert steppe in arid windy sandy areas.

Grassland degradation has become a serious problem in some areas, making it necessary to quantitatively evaluate this process and its related factors. The study area was the arid windy sandy area in eastern Ningxia. The purpose of this study was to explore how soil properties and quality change during the process of grassland degradation in arid windy sandy areas. We looked at undegraded, lightly degraded, moderately degraded, and severely degraded desert steppe to study the physical, chemical, and biological changes at 0-5 cm, 5-15 cm, and 15-30 cm soil depths at different degradation degrees. We also analyzed the correlations across soil factors, established the minimum data set, and used the soil quality index (SQI) to evaluate the soil quality of grassland at different degradation degrees. The results showed that with grassland degradation, the soil bulk density increased; the soil clay, moisture, organic matter, total nitrogen, and available potassium content decreased; and the number of soil bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi, as well as the activity of urease, polyphenol oxidase, protease, phosphatase, and sucrase, decreased. As soil depth increased, soil bulk density increased; the soil moisture, organic matter, available potassium, and available phosphorus content decreased; and soil microorganisms accumulated in the upper soil of undegraded, lightly, and moderately degraded grassland. There was also a positive correlation among the soil clay content, moisture content, organic matter content, total nitrogen content, available potassium content, microorganism quantity, and enzyme activity, while soil bulk density was negatively correlated with the above factors. The minimum data set for the soil quality evaluation of the degraded desert steppe was comprised of soil organic matter content, soil total nitrogen content, soil available phosphorus content, and phosphatase activity. Based on the minimum data set, we calculated the SQI of the grassland at different degradation degrees and found that the ranking based on overall soil quality was undegraded >lightly degraded >moderately degraded >severely degraded grassland. The results showed that the degradation of desert steppe in arid windy sandy areas had relatively consistent effects on the physical, chemical, and biological traits of the soil. The minimum data set can be used to replace the total data set when evaluating the soil quality of the desert steppe at different degrees of degradation.

[Anti-prostate cancer effect of roemerine: An experimental study].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the anti-prostate cancer (PCa) effect of roemerine in vitro and in vivo in the mouse model of PCa. METHODS: We detected the effects of roemerine on the proliferation, apoptosis and migration of PCa cells DU145, LNCaP, PC-3 and 22RV1, screened out the sensitive cell line and constructed a tumor-bearing model in mice for verification of the antitumor efficacy of roemerine in vivo. RESULTS: Roemerine inhibited the proliferation and migration of the DU145, LNCaP, PC-3 and 22RV1 cells and induced their apoptosis in different degrees, particularly those of the LNCaP cells. The average tumor weight was less in the roemerine intervention group (ï¼»1.99±0.95ï¼½ g) than in the control (ï¼»2.95±1.04ï¼½ g), the least in the high-dose roemerine (30 mg/kg) plus paclitaxel intervention group (ï¼»0.90±0.16ï¼½ g). The mean heart, liver, and kidney indexes were markedly lower in the roemerine (0.58±0.06, 6.20±0.42 and 1.49±0.33) than in the paclitaxel group (0.66±0.04, 6.99±0.72 and 1.95±0.34), while the mean spleen and thymus indexes were remarkably higher in the former (0.54±0.11 and 0.06±0.01) than in the latter (0.41±0.09 and 0.05±0.01). Pathological staining showed a lower degree of malignancy and metastasis in both the roemerine and the roemerine + paclitaxel intervention group than in the control, as well as a lower degree of visceral injury in the roemerine and roemerine + paclitaxel groups than in the paclitaxel group. CONCLUSIONS: Roemerine has some anti-PCa effect and alleviates adverse reactions in paclitaxel combination administration.

Sixty-one cases of angina pectoris due to coronary heart disease treated by external use of the paste of nitrum and realgar powder on zhiyang (GV 9).

In order to inquire into the therapeutic effects of Xiao Shi Xiong Huang San (the Nitrum and Realgar Powder), one of the Dunhuang Prescription, on angina pectoris due to coronary heart disease (APCHD), the authors have treated 61 cases of APCHD by externally applying paste of the powder on Zhiyang (GV 9), with another 30 cases of APCHD treated with the nitroglycerin paste on Zhiyang as the controls. The results showed that the total effective rate was 82% and markedly effective rate 31.2% in the treatment group (the Paste of Nitrum and Realgar Powder), and the total effective rate was 46.6% and markedly effective rate 23.2% in the control group (the nitroglycerin paste). The difference in therapeutic effects between the two groups was very significant (P<0.01), indicating that the therapeutic effect of the former was significantly superior to that of the latter.