To investigate the expression changes of acyl-coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase 1 (ACAT1) on Chlamydia pneumoniae (C.pn) induced foam cell formation.Human monocytic cell line (THP-1) was induced into macrophages by 160 nmol/L phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) for 48 h, and were randomly allocated into four groups: negative control group (50 microg/ml LDL for 48 h); positive control group (50 microg/ml ox-LDL for 48 h); C.pn infection group (50 microg/ml LDL plus 1 x 10(5), 4 x 10(5), 5 x 10(5) and 1 x 10(6) IFU C.pn for 48 h or 1 x 10(6) IFU C.pn for 0, 24, 48 and 72 h); ACAT inhibitor 58-035 plus C.pn infection group (1, 5, 10 microg/ml ACAT inhibitor 58-035 pretreatment for 1 h, 50 microg/ml LDL and 1 x 10(6) IFU C.pn for 48 h). The mRNA and protein expressions of ACAT1 were determined by RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. Lipid droplets in cytoplasm were observed by oil red O staining. The contents of intracellular cholesteryl esters were detected by enzyme-fluorescence.The mRNA and protein expressions of ACAT1 were significantly up-regulated in positive control cells compared those in negative control cells and further upregulated by C.pn infection in a time-dependent and concentration-dependent manner (all P < 0.05). There were significantly increases in the accumulation of lipid droplets and the ratio of cholesteryl ester to total cholesterol in positive control cells as compared with negative control cells and these were further aggravated by C.pn (at the concentrations of 5 x 10(5) and 1 x 10(6) IFU for 48 h) and C.pn infection induced increases in the accumulation of lipid droplets and the ratio of cholesteryl ester to total cholesterol could be significantly attenuated by ACAT inhibitor 58-035 (all P < 0.05).Chlamydia pneumoniae induces THP-1-derived foam cell formation by up-regulating the expression of ACAT1.
In the present cross-sectional study, based on National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 2007-2010) cohorts, various risk factors for metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) were analyzed (n=12,153). The variables analyzed include, demographics, comorbidities associated with MetS or CVD, behavioral and dietary factors, while the primary endpoints were the prevalence of MetS and CVD. The prevalence of MetS and CVD was slightly higher in males as compared with females (42.50% and 7.65% vs 41.29% and 4.13%, respectively). After controlling for confounding factors, advanced age, family history of diabetes mellitus (DM), overweight, and obesity were significantly associated with the likelihood of MetS, irrespective of gender differences. In males, the diagnosis of prostate cancer and regular smoking were additional risk factors of MetS, whereas, advanced age, family history of heart attack or angina, health insurance coverage, diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis or depression, obesity and low calorie intake were identified as risk factors for CVD. In addition to the above risk factors, higher physical activity and vitamin D insufficiency were also found to increase the risk of CVD in females. Furthermore, obesity was a higher risk factor for MetS than CVD. Emerging risk factors for CVD identified in this study has major clinical implications. Of interest is the correlation of higher physical activity and the risk of CVD in women and the role of depression and lower calorie intake in general population.
To explore the anti-atherosclerosis effect of Taizhi'an Capsule (TZA) for providing a theoretical base of its application in preventing coronary heart disease (CHD), by way of observing the effects of TZA and pravastatin (PVT) on vascular endothelial function in senile patients with CHD.Seventy-eight Senile patients with CHD were randomly divided into the TZA group and the PVT group, 39 in each group. Changes of carotid arterial intima-media thickness (IMT) and brachial arterial endothelium dependent diastolic function (FMD) before and after treatment were observed by non-invasive ultrasound test technique, and levels of serum nitric oxide (NO) and plasma endothelin-1 (ET-1) were determined as well.After TAZ treatment, IMT decreased from 1.21 +/- 0.17 mm to 0.91 +/- 0.13 mm, FMD increased from 5.02 +/- 0.58% to 8.97 +/- 0.39%, ET-1 lowered from 95.93 +/- 19.41 ng/L to 49.35 +/- 53.27 ng/L, and NO enhanced from 42.56 +/- 14.12 mumol/L to 69.84 +/- 21.96 mumol/L; after PVT treatment, the corresponding changes were 1.25 +/- 0.21 mm to 0.88 +/- 0.32 mm, 4.90 +/- 0.37% to 8.12 +/- 0.25%, 89.35 +/- 10.02 ng/L to 47.96 +/- 11.05 ng/L and 51.71 +/- 9.39 mumol/L to 72.93 +/- 16.51 mumol/L, all the changes were statistically significant.TZA can obviously improve the vascular endothelial function in old patients with CHD, which has the anti-atherosclerosis effect similar to that of PVT.
We aimed to assess the performance of DH3 human papillomavirus (HPV) assay, a newly developed hybrid capture technique that detects 14 high-risk HPVs with type 16/18 genotyping, as a primary test in cervical cancer screening.In total 11,356 Chinese women aged 21-65 years participated in a cervical cancer screening programme using cytology (Thinprep, Hologic) and HPV testing (Cobas 4800 Test, Roche). Residual samples were used to detect HPV by DH3 HPV.In total 10,669 women with valid results were included in the study. Of those, 135 were diagnosed as CIN2+, and 83 were diagnosed as CIN3+; 1056 women (9.9%) were DH3 HPV-positive and 255 (2.4%) of those were 16/18-positive, while 990 (9.3%) women were Cobas HPV-positive and 243 (2.3%) of those were 16/18-positive. DH3 HPV was non-inferior to Cobas HPV in identifying CIN1- and CIN2+ using predetermined thresholds (both p < 0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of DH3 HPV were 93.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 87.7-96.9), 91.2% (95%CI = 90.6-91.7), 12.0% (95%CI = 10.1-14.1) and 99.9% (95%CI = 99.8-100), respectively, similar to those of Cobas HPV (91.1%, 95%CI = 85.0-5.3; 91.8%, 95%CI = 91.2-92.3; 12.5%, 95%CI = 10.5-14.7; and 99.9%, 95%CI = 99.8-99.9, respectively), in identifying CIN2+ (all p > 0.05). When DH3 HPV and Cobas HPV were respectively used as primary testing in screening strategy, the performance of two strategies were similar in identifying CIN2+. The results were similar in identifying CIN3+.Our data suggest that DH3 HPV performs similarly to Cobas HPV in identifying high-grade CIN in cervical cancer screening.
Abstract The orientation (vertical or horizontal) of cell division is known to be critical for neural cell fate determination during neurogenesis. At the onset of neurogenesis, neurogenic progenitor cells are dividing with the cleavage plane parallel to the ventricular surface (horizontal division), which would lead to critical apical components being unequally distributed to both their two daughter cells. The daughter cells lack of inheritance is going to differentiate into the neuron. Recent studies have shown that GAP‐43 is highly expressed in horizontally dividing neural progenitor cells in the forebrain of mammals. Based on findings from in vivo studies, GAP‐43 is locally associated with the centrosome and is required for centrosome positioning, suggesting that GAP‐43 may be involved in neurogenesis through regulating the orientation of cell division. With a fibroblast cell model, our results show that both GFP expressing and control cells had the same potential ( p > 0.05) with regard to dividing orientation (either vertical or horizontal to the cells long axis). On the other hand, we found that GAP‐43 was localized on the membrane instead of the centrosome during all phases of mitosis within GAP‐43 transgenic cells, but expressing of GAP‐43 could make the cells dividing more likely along their long axis ( p < 0.05). Our observations suggest that GAP‐43 might link the cell membrane and spindle pole and consequently participate in controlling cleavage orientation during cell division.
To investigate the effect of calcineurin AalphacDNA (AdCnAalpha) overexpression as a result of adenovirally mediated gene transfer on neonatal rat cardiac myocyte apoptosis induced by hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) and adrenergic receptors.Neonatal rat cardiac myocytes were cultured for 20 h after AdCnAalpha transfection, and treated with isoproterenol (10 micromol/L) and 24 h of hypoxia followed by 4 h of reoxygenation (24H/4R). The cardiac myocyte apoptosis induced by the treatments was assessed by flow cytometry and DNA laddering, and the levels of calcineurin, p38 and phosphorylation p38 (p-p38) were determined by Western blotting and (or) RT-PCR.AdCnAalpha transfection promoted cultured neonatal rat cardiac myocyte apoptosis induced by isoproterenol+24H/4R as compared with the treated cells without transfection (14.247-/+0.525 vs 10.763-/+1.554, P<0.01), along with greater phosphorylation p38 protein expression (1.60-/+0.22 vs 2.42-/+0.19, P<0.01). The levels of p38 underwent no obvious change after AdCnAalpha transfection (P<0.05).AdCnAalpha transfection can promote cardiac myocyte apoptosis induced by H/R and adrenergic receptors, the mechanism of which might be associated with p38 mitongen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) activation.
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