Chinese herbal medicine Shenzhuo Formula treatment in patients with macroalbuminuria secondary to diabetic kidney disease: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a serious complication associated with diabetes mellitus and can cause end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely used in China to treat DKD, and in particular microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria. This study will address the efficacy and safety of Shenzhuo Formula (SZF), a frequently prescribed TCM, in DKD patients with macroalbuminuria. METHODS/DESIGN: This study is a 24-week, randomized, multi-center, double-blinded, double-dummy, controlled, clinical trial that will include 120 DKD patients aged 18 to 80 years old with a 24-h urinary protein (24-h UP) level of between 0.5 g and 3 g and serum creatinine (SCr) ≤ 133 µmol/L (1.5 mg/dL) and compare SZF to irbesartan. The 24-h UP change from baseline to week 24 will represent the primary endpoint with secondary endpoints including SCr, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), TCM symptoms, urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER), etc. Safety assessments will also be evaluated. DISCUSSION: This study will provide initial evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of SZF relative to irbesartan in the treatment of DKD patients with macroalbuminuria. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ID: ChiCTR-ICR-15006311 . Registered on 15 April 2015.

MicroRNA-218 is upregulated in gastric cancer after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy and increases chemosensitivity to cisplatin.

AIM: To investigate the molecular mechanisms of miRNA in advanced gastric cancers (AGCs) before and after cytoreductive surgery (CRS) + hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). METHODS: A miRNA microarray containing human mature and precursor miRNA sequences was used to compare expression profiles in serum samples of 5 patients with AGC before and after CRS + HIPEC. The upregulation of miR-218 was confirmed by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and its expression was analyzed in SGC7901 gastric cancer cells. RESULTS: miRNA microarray chip analysis found that the level of miR-218 expression was upregulated more than 8 fold after CRS + HIPEC. Furthermore, miR-218 increased gastric cancer cell chemosensitivity to cisplatin in vitro and inhibited gastric cell tumor growth in nude mice in vivo (0.5 vs 0.78, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that targeting miR-218 may provide a strategy for blocking the development of gastric cancer and reverse the multi-drug resistance of gastric cell lines.

Large-scale cortical network properties predict future sound-to-word learning success.

The human brain possesses a remarkable capacity to interpret and recall novel sounds as spoken language. These linguistic abilities arise from complex processing spanning a widely distributed cortical network and are characterized by marked individual variation. Recently, graph theoretical analysis has facilitated the exploration of how such aspects of large-scale brain functional organization may underlie cognitive performance. Brain functional networks are known to possess small-world topologies characterized by efficient global and local information transfer, but whether these properties relate to language learning abilities remains unknown. Here we applied graph theory to construct large-scale cortical functional networks from cerebral hemodynamic (fMRI) responses acquired during an auditory pitch discrimination task and found that such network properties were associated with participants' future success in learning words of an artificial spoken language. Successful learners possessed networks with reduced local efficiency but increased global efficiency relative to less successful learners and had a more cost-efficient network organization. Regionally, successful and less successful learners exhibited differences in these network properties spanning bilateral prefrontal, parietal, and right temporal cortex, overlapping a core network of auditory language areas. These results suggest that efficient cortical network organization is associated with sound-to-word learning abilities among healthy, younger adults.

[Simulation study on behaviors of sediment phosphorus affected by iron ion].

A simulation study has been done that vertical transport of conduct of phosphorus in sediment affected by iron inorganic salt. The results showed: when 10 mL or 50 mL of 1 mol/L FeCl3 solution were added to the simulation system respectively, phosphorus content in sediments was reduced, however, 30 mL of 1 mol/L FeCl3 solution was added, phosphorus content of sediments increased. Appropriate quantum iron inorganic salt will prevent phosphorus in sediment released to the water, otherwise, iron ion quantum added is too high or too low, to a certain extent, will promote the release of phosphorus in the sediments. The results of the study will help further study on the release of the source of phosphorus and lake eutrophication.