[Efficacy of shenfu injection as adjuvant therapy in treating patients of ischemic cardiomyopathy with heart insufficiency].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of Shenfu Injection (SFI), as a adjuvant therapy, in treating patients of ischemic cardiomyopathy with heart insufficiency (ICP-HI). METHODS: One hundred patients of ICP-HF were equally randomized into two groups, the SFI group and the control group. All received the conventional treatment, but to patients in the SFI group SFI was given additionally via intravenous injection, 60 mL once a day, 10 days each month, the treatment course was 6 months. Changes of cardial functional grading, 6-min walking distance, echocardiographic indices, plasma N terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (pro-BNP) level were observed before and after treatment, and the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and mortality in patients were observed as well. RESULTS: As compared with the conventional treatment alone, additional application of SFI showed a more significant efficacy in improving NYHA functional grade and 6-min walking distance, reducing the diameters of left ventricular at end diastole and systole, increasing left ventricular ejection fraction, and decreasing plasma N terminal pro-BNP level (P <0.05). The occurrence of MACE and the mortality in the SFI group were significantly lower than those in the control group respectively (P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the conventional treatment, the adjuvant therapy of SFI could improve the cardiac function, improve the quality of life, ameliorate ventricular reconstruction, and decrease the occurrence of cardiovascular events in patients of ICP-HI.

[Cloning and expression analysis of a LIM-domain protein gene from cotton (Gossypium hirsuturm L.)].

LIM-domain protein plays an important role in various cellular processes, including construction of cytoskeleton, transcription control and signal transduction. Based on cotton fiber EST database and contig analysis, the coding region of a cotton LIM-domain protein gene (GhLIM1) was obtained by RT-PCR from 4DPA (day post anthesis) ovule with fiber. The cloned fragment of 848 bp contains an open reading frame of 570 bp, coding for a polypeptide of 189 amino acids. It was demonstrated that the deduced GhLIM1 protein was highly homologous to the LIM-domain protein of sunflower (Helianthus annuus), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and Arabidopsis thaliana. Two intact LIM-domains, with the conserved sequence of a double zinc-finger structure (C-X2-C-X17-19-H-X2-C-X2-C-X2-C-X16-24-C-X2-H), were found in the GhLIM1 protein. RT-PCR and Northern blot analysis showed that GhLIM1 gene expressed in root, shoot tip, hypocotyls, bud, leaf, anther, ovule and fiber (4DPA, 12DPA, 18DPA). However it was preferentially expressed in the shoot tip, fiber and ovule. It was proposed that the express of GhLIM1 gene is related to cotton fiber development.