Protective Effects of Chinese Traditional Medicine Buyang Huanwu Decoction on Myocardial Injury

Many clinical studies have reported that Buyang Huanwu Decoction (BYHWD) has a protective effect on ischemic heart disease (IHD). In the present study, the protective effect of BYHWD on myocardial ischemia was investigated. Different doses of BYHWD and Compound Danshen Dropping Pills (CDDP) were lavaged to rats, respectively, isoproterenol (ISO) was intraperitoneally injected in to all animals to induce myocardial ischemia except the control group. Electrocardiogram (ECG) of each animal was recorded; activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in serum were detected. As the results of ECG showed, pre-treatment with BYHWD inhibited ischemic myocardial injury, and the activities of LDH, CK and AST were lower than those in the myocardial ischemia model group, which suggests that BYHWD rescues the myocardium from ischemia status. To research the potential mechanism, the level of nitric oxide (NO), nitric oxide syntheses (NOS) and inducible nitric oxide syntheses (iNOS), the expression of iNOS and ligand of cluster of differentiation 40 (CD40L) were detected. The results revealed that BYHWD significantly decreased the level of NO, NOS and iNOS in serum. Moreover, BYHWD decreased the expression of iNOS and CD40L in myocardial tissues. These results indicate that the protective effect of BYHWD on myocardial ischemia and mechanism are associated with inhibition of iNOS and CD40L expression

The Roles of Buyang Huanwu Decoction in Anti-Inflammation, Antioxidation and Regulation of Lipid Metabolism in Rats with Myocardial Ischemia

Buyang Huanwu Decoction (BYHWD) is a well-known Chinese medicine formula. Recent studies have reported that BYHWD can be used to treat ischemic heart disease. This study investigated the potential mechanism underlying the roles of BYHWD in alleviating the myocardial ischemia induced by isoproterenol (ISO) in rats. Different doses of BYHWD (25.68, 12.84 and 6.42 g kg−1) were lavaged to rats, respectively. Then the expression of the cluster of differentiation 40 (CD40) in the mononuclear cells was measured using flow cytometry, and the expressions of CD40 and its ligand (CD40L) in myocardial tissues were determined by western blotting. The serum biochemical values of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, the malondialdehyde (MDA) level and the free fatty acid (FFA) content were measured. The results showed that the SOD activities of BYHWD groups were significantly higher than that of the ISO group, while the MDA levels and FFA contents of all BYHWD groups were lower than that of the ISO group. BYHWD could decrease the expression of CD40 in the mononuclear cells and the CD40 and CD40L expressions in myocardial tissues. Our data suggest that the roles of BYHWD are not only related to its antioxidative action and regulation of lipid metabolisms, but also to the inhibition of inflammatory pathway by the decreased CD40 and CD40L expressions in rats with myocardial ischemia

A Prospective Study of Platelet-Rich Plasma as Biological Augmentation for Acute Achilles Tendon Rupture Repair

Acute Achilles tendon rupture is one of the most common tendon injuries in adults. We hypothesized that Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) can be used as biological augmentation for surgical treatment of acute Achilles tendon rupture. Our study is a prospective randomized controlled trial. Patients with acute Achilles tendon rupture undergoing surgical repair were randomly assigned into either control group or PRP group. End-to-end modified Krackow suture was performed in both groups. In the PRP group, PRP was injected into the paratenon sheath and around the ruptured tissue after the tendon was repaired. Postoperatively we evaluated isokinetic muscle strength at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. In addition, ankle ROM, calf circumference, Leppilahti score, and the SF-36 score were evaluated at 6, 12, and 24 months after operation. At 3 months, the PRP group had better isokinetic muscle. The PRP group also achieved higher SF-36 and Leppilahti scores at 6 and 12 months. At 24 months, the PRP group had an improved ankle range of motion compared to the control group. Our study results suggest that PRP can serve as a biological augmentation to acute Achilles tendon rupture repair and improves both short and midterm functional outcomes

Flexible Terahertz Metamaterials Absorber based on VO₂

Terahertz (THz) metamaterials have attracted great attention due to their widely application potential in smart THz devices; however, most of them are fabricated on rigid substrate and thus limit the exploration of flexible THz electronics. In this paper, a flexible THz metamaterial absorber (MMA) incorporated with phase change material vanadium dioxide (VO2) is proposed. The simulation results indicate that two absorption peaks at around 0.24 THz (marked as A) and 0.46 THz (marked as B) can be observed by designing a I-shaped metamaterial combined with split ring structure. The strong absorption over 92% at 0.24 THz is bending-insensitive, but the absorption at 0.46 THz is bending-sensitive, across the bending angle in the range of 0–50 degrees. Moreover, dynamic modulation of the absorption can be achieved across the insulator-metal phase transition of VO2. Particularly, the absorption of the A-peak can be tuned from 99.4% to 46.9%, while the absorption of the B-peak can be tuned from 39.6% to 99.3%. This work would provide significance for the design of flexible THz smart devices

Ultra-fast charge-discharge and high-energy storage performance realized in KNaNbO3-Bi(MnNi)O3 ceramics

Lead-free relaxor ceramics (1 − [Formula: see text])K[Formula: see text]Na[Formula: see text]NbO3 − [Formula: see text]Bi(Mn[Formula: see text]Ni[Formula: see text])O3 ((1 − [Formula: see text] )KNN- [Formula: see text]BMN) with considerable charge–discharge characteristics and energy storage properties were prepared by a solid state method. Remarkable, a BMN doping level of 0.04, 0.96KNN–0.04BMN ceramic obtained good energy storage performance with acceptable energy storage density [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] of 1.826 J/cm3 and energy storage efficiency [Formula: see text] of 77.4%, as well as good frequency stability (1–500 Hz) and fatigue resistance (1–5000 cycles). Meanwhile, a satisfactory charge–discharge performance with power density [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 98.90 MW/cm3, discharge time [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] < 70 ns and temperature stability (30–180∘C) was obtained in 0.96KNN–0.04BMN ceramic. The small grain size ([Formula: see text]150 nm) and the high polarizability of Bi[Formula: see text] are directly related to its good energy storage capacity. This work proposes a feasible approach for lead-free KNN-based ceramics to achieve high-energy storage and ultra-fast charge–discharge performance as well as candidate materials for the application of advanced high-temperature pulse capacitors

Polymorphisms of IKZF3 Gene and Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases: Associated with Graves’ Disease but Not with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Background/Aims: The IKZF3 gene encodes a zinc-finger protein that plays an important role in the proliferation and differentiation of B lymphocytes. Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs), mainly include Graves’ disease (GD) and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT), are probably caused by the aberrant proliferation of B cells. The objective of this study was to explore the association between IKZF3 polymorphisms and AITDs. Methods: We examined 915 AITD patients (604 GD and 311 HT) and 814 healthy controls. IKZF3 variants (rs2941522, rs907091, rs1453559, rs12150079 and rs2872507) were tested by PCR-ligase detection reaction. Results: It was manifested that that the minor alleles of the five loci increased susceptibility to GD (p&#x3c;0.05 for rs2941522, and p&#x3c;0.01 for rs907091, rs1453559, rs12150079 and rs2872507) but in HT patients, these loci showed no significant difference compared with controls. Similarly, the genotype distributions of GD patients manifested obvious differences in all these loci compared with the control group, whereas no statistical differences were observed between HT patients and controls. Furthermore, bioinformatics tools were used to analyze rs1453559, rs12150079 and rs907091. These variants were believed to be the transcription regulator. Conclusion: It is the first time we reported the association between the IKZF3 polymorphisms and GD, indicating that IKZF3 gene tends to bean important risk factor for the development of GD