The aim of this study is to explore the changes and clinical significance of serum C3, C4, hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and uric acid (UA) in patients of bipolar disorder (BD). In this case-control study, we recruited 141 BD patients from The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, and 151 age and gender matched healthy controls (HC) from the health management central of The Second Xiangya Hospital. These patients were divided into two subgroups based on medicines use: 91 patients were treated with psychiatric drugs and 50 patients were drugs free, or four subgroups based on mood states: 54 patients in manic/hypomanic phase, 30 patients in depressive phase, 52 patients in euthymic phase and 5 patients in mixed phase. Serum levels of C3, C4, hsCRP and UA were measured in all subjects. The serum C3 levels in BD patients (0.9981 ± 0.1849 g/L) were significantly lower than that in HC group (1.0637 ± 0.2186 g/L), especially the drugs free subgroup and the euthymic subgroup (0.975 ± 0.153 and 0.983 ± 0.182 g/L), while the serum UA levels were significantly higher (354.6 ± 90.4 vs. 332.9 ± 88.7 μmol/L), especially the drug-treated subgroup and manic/hypomanic subgroup (361.56 ± 93.20 and 376.70 ± 88.89 μmol/L), and rates of hyperuricaemia (31.91 vs. 17.88%) were significantly higher in BD patients than in HC group. The serum C4 and hsCRP levels in HC group showed no significant difference with BD patients in whole or those subgroups. These findings suggested that the complement and purinergic systems of BD patients might be disrupted, the UA levels could be a potential marker in manic phase and the C3 might be the marker of therapeutic evaluation of BD patients.
It is well-known that altered hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis process has an important role in the neurodegenerative process in schizophrenia (SZ). However, this neurodegenerative mechanism has not been clarified in SZ. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to determine HPA axis damage in the first-episode, unmedicated schizophrenia (FES) patients and chronic schizophrenia (CSZ) patients in comparison with healthy controls (HC) by means of quantitative analysis of the peripheral blood mRNA expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR), GR transcripts containing exons 1B (GR-1B), and neuron specific enolase (NSE) genes and serum cortisol and NSE, a specific serum marker for neuronal damage.In the present study, 43 FES patients, 39 CSZ, and 47 HC were included. The peripheral blood mRNA expressions for GR, GR-1B, and NSE genes were determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Serum cortisol and NSE were analyzed by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay technique.Levels of GR mRNA were significantly lower in FES and CSZ than that in HC. The expression of GR-1B mRNA was significantly decreased in CSZ when compared with that in FES. Levels of NSE mRNA were significantly lower in CSZ than that in FES patients or HC patients. CSZ patients showed significantly lower cortisol concentrations than FES and HC patients. FES patients showed significantly higher NSE concentrations than CSZ and HC.Our findings support that there is disrupted HPA axis system in the SZ and suggest that CSZ patients suffer a greater HPA axis damage than FES patients. Our research implicated underlying GR mRNA dysregulation in SZ and the potential importance of the functional GR-1B transcription in CSZ.
Objective
To investigate the effects of ginkgo biloba extract on the early postoperative cognitive function and the serum neuron specific enolase (NSE), S100β, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-6, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in patients with meningioma resection.
Methods
60 patients with meningioma scheduled for elective intracranial tumor resection were enrolled and randomly divided into two groups (n=30 each): ginkgo biloba extract group (group G) and control group (group C). Ginkgo biloba extract was infused intravenously 30 min before anesthesia induction in group G, while group C received the equal volume of normal saline. Venous blood sample were taken at three time points: 30 min before induction (T1), extubation (T2) and 24 h after operation (T3) for determination of serum concentration of NSE, S100β, TNF-α, IL-6, SOD and MDA. Cognitive function was evaluated at 1 d before and 3 d after surgery using Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE), Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS).
Results
Compared with T1, the concentration of NSE, S100β, TNF-α, IL-6 and MDA in serum were significantly increased at T2 and T3 in the two groups, while SOD was decreased (P<0.05). Compared with group C, the concentration of NSE, S100β, TNF-α, IL-6 and MDA were significantly decreased at T2 and T3 in group G, while SOD was increased (P<0.05). Compared with 1 d before surgery, the scores of MMSE, digit accumulation, digit breadth (forward), vocabulary association and digit symbol replacement were significantly decreased and tracing connection time was significantly increased on the 3rd day after surgery in the two groups. The scores of digital breadth (reverse) and visual regeneration were significantly decreased in group C (P<0.05). Compared with group C, the scores of digit accumulation, digit breadth (forward and reverse) and visual regeneration were significantly increased on the 3rd day after surgery in group G (P<0.05). The incidence of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) at 3 d after surgery in group G was significantly lower than group C (P<0.05).
Conclusions
The pretreatment of ginkgo biloba extract can decrease the incidence of early POCD in patients with meningioma resection, and its mechanism may be related to the reduction of inflammatory reaction and antioxidation.
Key words:
Plant extracts; Ginkgo biloba; Meningioma; Neurosurgical procedures; Cognition
The level of CHB virus (HBV) core antibody (HBcAb) is different in four stages of chronic HBV infection and may be used for differential diagnosis of the natural history of chronic HBV infection. To address this question, we examined multiple blood biomarkers and assessed the efficacy to diagnose different stages of chronic HBV infection. The quantitative detection of HBcAb, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), HBV DNA, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and platelet count (PLT) were determined in the serum of 73 cases of low-replicative phase (LR), 46 cases of immune-tolerant phase (IT), 44 cases of immune clearance phase (IC), and 57 cases of HBeAg-negative hepatitis (ENH). Differentiating performance of these serum protein levels was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Our results showed that the levels of HBcAb, ALT, and AST levels were significantly higher in IC and ENH than those in LR and IT (both ). The levels of HBV DNA and HBsAg were higher in IC and IT than those in LR and ENH (both ). Logistic regression models showed that HBcAb, HBsAg, HBV DNA, ALT, and AST were the independent variables, respectively, and when combined, they provided high diagnostic accuracy for the staging of CHB. To sum up, HBcAb quantification is a new index, which can reflect whether the liver is in the immune activation state of HBV infection, and is related to the inflammatory state of the host liver. The combined detection of HBcAb quantification and other indicators has showed promising efficiency for staging of IC and ENH and can assist the diagnosis and treatment of CHB.
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