A-80426 suppresses CFA-induced inflammatory pain by suppressing TRPV1 activity via NFκB and PI3K pathways in mice

Objectives: Pain is associated with many circumstances, including inflammatory reactions, which arise from modification of the features of signaling pathways. α2-adrenergic receptor antagonists are widely utilized in narcosis. Here, the authors focused on the narcotic effect of A-80426 (A8) on Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) injections-triggered chronic inflammation pain in WT and TRPV1-/- mice and explored whether its antinociceptive impact was modulated via Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 (TRPV1). Method: CFA with or without A8 was co-administered to the mice, which were categorized randomly into four groups: CFA, A8, control, and vehicle. Pain behaviors underwent evaluation through mechanical withdrawal threshold, abdominal withdrawal reflex, and thermal withdrawal latency of WT animals. Results: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed that inflammation-promoting cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α) were upregulated in Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) and Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn (SCDH) tissues of WT animals. A8 administration reduced the pain behaviors and production of pro-inflammatory cytokines; however, this effect was significantly reduced in TRPV1-/- mice. Further analysis showed that CFA treatment reduced the TRPV1 expression in WT mice and A8 administration increased its expression and activity. The co-administration of SB-705498, a TRPV1 blocker, did not influence the pain behaviors and inflammation cytokines in CFA WT mice; however, SB-705498 the effect of A8 in WT mice. In addition, the TRPV1 block decreased the NFκB and PI3K activation in the Dorsal Root Ganglia (DRG) and Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn (SCDH) tissues of WT mice. Conclusions: Together, A8 exerted a narcotic impact on CFA-supplemented mice via the TRPV1-modulated NFκB and PI3K pathway

Beliefs about medicines and non-adherence in patients with stroke, diabetes mellitus and rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional study in China

OBJECTIVES: To investigate beliefs about medicines and their association with medicine adherence in patients with chronic diseases in China. DESIGN: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study SETTING: Two large urban hospitals in Hefei and Tianjin, China PARTICIPANTS: Hospital inpatients (313 stroke patients) and outpatients (315 diabetic patients and 339 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients) were recruited between January 2014 and September 2014. OUTCOME MEASURES: The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ), assessing patients' beliefs about the specific medicine (Specific-Necessity and Specific-Concerns) prescribed for their conditions (stroke/diabetes/RA) and more general background beliefs about pharmaceuticals as a class of treatment (BMQ-General Benefit, Harm and Overuse); the Perceived Sensitivity to Medicines scale (PSM) assessed patients' beliefs about how sensitive they were to the effects of medicines and the Medication Adherence Report Scale. The association between non-adherence and beliefs about medicines was assessed using a logistic regression model. RESULTS: Patients with diabetes mellitus had a stronger perceived need for treatment (mean (SD) Specific-Necessity score, 3.75 (0.40)) than patients with stroke (3.69 (0.53)) and RA (3.66 (0.44)) (p=0.049). Moderate correlations were observed between Specific-Concerns and General-Overuse, General-Harm and PSM (Pearson correlation coefficients, 0.39, 0.49 and 0.49, respectively, p<0.01). Three hundred and eleven patients were non-adherent to their medicine (159 (51.0%) in the stroke group, 60 (26.7%) in the diabetes mellitus group and 62 (19.8%) in the RA group, p<0.01). Across the whole sample, after adjusting for demographic characteristics, non-adherence was associated with patients who had higher concerns about their medicines (OR, 1.35, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.71) and patients who believed that they were personally sensitive to the effects of medications (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.85). CONCLUSION: The BMQ is a useful tool to identify patients at risk of non-adherence. In the future, adherence intervention studies may use the BMQ to screen for patients who are at risk of non-adherence and to map interventional support

Brief Analysis on the Inter-Firm Cooperative Performance Under BSC Framework

In the 21st century, with the globalization and integration of market economy, market competition becomes increasingly fierce and more and more requirements have been raised by the customers to make the enterprises face great challenges in every aspect. In order to cater for the demand of times and to satisfy the customers' requirements, the inter-firm cooperation now becomes increasingly important. Since the assessment methods for the enterprise cooperative performance have been the key problems that have been discussed all the time, this paper will make a brief analysis on the enterprise cooperative performance under the BSC framework. Key words: BSC framework; Enterprise; Cooperation; Performanc

3,3′-(m-Phenyl­enedi­oxy)diphthalonitrile

In the title compound, C22H10N4O2, the dihedral angles between the mean planes of the central benzene ring and the pendant rings are 79.20 (6) and 80.29 (6)°. The dihedral angle between the pendant rings is 10.27 (7)°

Therapeutic effect of Xuezhitong capsule on microvascular angina

Purpose: To determine the therapeutic effect of Xuezhitong capsule in patients with microvascular angina (MVA), and its impact on vascular endothelial function.Methods: In total, 172 MVA patients treated in Beijing City Fengtai District Nanyuan Hospital from September 2017 to September 2019 were selected and randomized into control group which received conventional treatment, and treatment group which received Xuezhitong capsules plus. There were 86 patients in each group. Therapeutic effect, levels of inflammatory factors, i.e., high-sensitivity C- reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-(IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and vascular endothelial factors such as nitric oxide (NO), thromboxane B2 (TXB2) and endothelin (ET), were determined.Results: Markedly higher total treatment effectiveness was observed in the treatment group than in the control group (89.53 % vs. 72.94 %; p &lt; 0.05). In both groups, treatment reduced the levels of hs-CRP, IL-6, TNF-α, TXB2 and ET, but elevated NO, with better results for treatment group than the control group (p &lt; 0.05). Better optimizations of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGs), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were observed in the treatment group, relative to the control group (p &lt; 0.05). Patients in the treatment group experienced fewer (8.14%) adverse reactions than those in control group (21.18 %, p &lt; 0.05).Conclusion: Xuezhitong capsule, when combined with conventional treatment, exerts high therapeutic effectiveness and safety in MVA patients by inhibiting inflammatory reactions, optimizing endothelialfunction, reducing blood lipid levels, and decreasing the incidence of cardiovascular adverse events. Thus, the combination therapy is a potentially superior therapeutic strategy to the conventional approach for the management of MVA patients

Physiological Responses and Tolerance Evaluation of Five Poplar Varieties to Waterlogging

Waterlogging resistance of five poplar varieties, ‘Danhongyang’ (DHY), ‘Juba-261’ (JB-261), ‘Zongqiansanhao’ (ZQ-3), ‘Zhonglin-2025’ (ZL-2025), and ‘Nanlin-895’ (NL-895), was evaluated under the simulated waterlogging conditions. Data on changes in leaf color and morphology as well as in biochemical indices, such as chlorophyll, malonaldehyde, soluble protein, soluble sugar content, superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidases (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activities, relevant to submergence stress, were analyzed. The principal component analysis of the data identified the waterlogging resistance coefficient of the indices, which showed that waterflooding brought about different degrees of damage in the five poplar varieties, with DHY having the lowest waterlogging index. The leaf pigment content of the poplar was remarkably decreased by waterlogging, whereas malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline contents were enhanced, but in different extents among the poplar varieties. Nearly all other poplar varieties showed a tendency of decline in JB-261, ZQ-3, ZL-2025, NL-895, except for SOD activity in DHY, which increased under submergence stress. Poplar varieties had varying degree of changes in POD activity, and APX activity tended to increase upon waterlogging. GR also displayed increasing tendency in JB-261, ZL-2025 and NL-895, except for in ZQ-3, which declined under waterlogging stress. GSH-PX except for ZQ-3 displayed no significant change, which showed a tendency of decline in DHY, JB-261, ZL-2025, and NL895. Principal component analysis allowed us to reduce16 indices to four independent indices. The subordinate function analysis identified that the DHY variety had the highest waterlogging tolerance, whereas the NL-895 variety had the lowest waterlogging tolerance among tested varieties

Increased Expression of Ganglioside GM1 in Peripheral CD4+ T Cells Correlates Soluble Form of CD30 in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients

Gangliosides GM1 is a good marker of membrane microdomains (lipid rafts) with important function in cellular activation processes. In this study we found that GM1 expression on CD4+ T cells and memory T cells (CD45RO/CD4) were dramatic increased after stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin in vitro. Next, we examined the GM1 expression on peripheral blood CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells from 44 patients with SLE and 28 healthy controls by flow cytometry. GM1 expression was further analyzed with serum soluble CD30 (sCD30), IL-10, TNF-alpha and clinical parameters. The mean fluorescence intensity of GM1 on CD4+ T cells from patients with SLE was significantly higher than those from healthy controls, but not on CD8+ T cells. Increased expression of GM1 was more marked on CD4+/CD45RO+ memory T cells from active SLE patients. Patients with SLE showed significantly elevated serum sCD30 and IL-10, but not TNF-alpha levels. In addition, we found that enhanced GM1 expression on CD4+ T cells from patients with SLE positively correlated with high serum levels of sCD30 and IgG as well as disease activity (SLEDAI scores). Our data suggested the potential role of aberrant lipid raft/GM1 on CD4+ T cells and sCD30 in the pathogenesis of SLE