Validity of the “Streitberger” Needle in a Chinese Population with Acupuncture: A Randomized, Single-Blinded, and Crossover Pilot Study

We studied the validity of a “Streitberger” needle as a valid approach in a Chinese population with experience of acupuncture. Volunteers were recruited from students of the School of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. Sixty students receiving education in acupuncture theory and experience in practical acupuncture were tested in study determining whether needling with the placebo needle felt any different from conventional acupuncture. Outcomes included measures of penetration sensation, VAS ratings, and Deqi sensation questionnaire. As a result, needle penetration, VAS ratings for either needle and Deqi sensation were not significantly different between two kinds of needles. Our findings show that the use of “Streitberger” needle is credible in a Chinese population with acupuncture experience

A New Epoxy-cadinane Sesquiterpene from the Marine Brown Alga Dictyopteris divaricata

A new epoxy-cadinane sesquiterpene, 4β,5β-epoxycadinan-1β-ol (1), and six known cadinane sesquiterpenes: cadinan-1,4,5-triol (2), 4α,5β-dihydroxycubenol (3), cubenol (4), cadinan-3-ene-1,5-diol (5), cubenol-3-one (6), and torreyol (7), were isolated from a sample of marine brown alga Dictyopteris divaricata collected off the coast of Yantai (China). Their structures were established by detailed MS and NMR spectroscopic analysis, as well as comparison with literature data

Cross-sectional study of the relationship of peripheral blood cell profiles with severity of infection by adenovirus type 55

BACKGROUND: The immunologic profiles of patients with human adenovirus serotype 55 (HAdV-55) infections were characterized in subjects diagnosed with silent infections (n = 30), minor infections (n = 27), severe infections (n = 34), and healthy controls (n = 30) during a recent outbreak among Chinese military trainees. METHODS: Blood was sampled at the disease peak and four weeks later, and samples were analyzed to measure changes in leukocyte and platelet profiles in patients with different severities of disease. Differential lymphocyte subsets and cytokine profiles were measured by flow cytometry and Luminex xMAP®, and serum antibodies were analyzed by ELISA and immunofluorescence staining. RESULTS: Patients with severe HAdV infections had higher proportions of neutrophils and reduced levels of lymphocytes (p < 0.005 for both). Patients with minor and severe infections had significantly lower platelet counts (p < 0.005 for both) than those with silent infections. The silent and minor infection groups had higher levels of dendritic cells than the severe infection group. Relative to patients with silent infections, patients with severe infections had significantly higher levels of IL-17(+)CD4(+) cells, decreased levels of IL-17(+)CD8(+) cells, and higher levels of IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-α2 (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with different severities of disease due to HAdV-55 infection had significantly different immune responses. These data provide an initial step toward the identification of patients at risk for more severe disease and the development of treatments against HAdV-55 infection

Validity of job satisfaction survey scale in Chinese

The aim of this study is to examine the factor structure of the scale of Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), and its divergent and convergent validity in Chinese population. Data were collected with JSS from 1073 urban employees in Liaoning. Four alternative models were tested with confirmatory factor analysis. The first two models are models validated in the US, while the third and fourth models are composed of five commonly used dimensions of job satisfaction taken from JSS. The research found a poor model fit for the first two models, suggesting a possible national difference between China and the US. However, model three and model four displayed a good model fit, suggesting that the five dimensions in JSS (satisfaction with nature of work, with supervision, with co-worker, with promotion, and with pay) are five distinct dimensions. The correlations between these five facet job satisfaction and PA and NA demonstrated convergent and divergent validity of the scales for these five dimensions of job satisfaction

High persistence rate of hepatitis B virus in a hydrodynamic injection-based transfection model in C3H/HeN mice

AIM: To optimize the viral persistence rate in a hydrodynamic injection (HI) based hepatitis B virus (HBV) transfection mouse model.METHODS: (1) 5-6-wk-old male C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice were hydrodynamically injected with 10 μg endotoxin-free pAAV/HBV1.2 plasmid DNA via the tail vein. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and HBV DNA, both in the serum and liver, were detected at different time points post HI by ELISA, immunohistochemical staining or quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR); (2) male C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice, either hydrodynamically injected mice at 10 wk post HI or naïve mice, were all immunized subcutaneously with 5 μg HBsAg formulated in complete Freund's adjuvant three times at a 2-wk interval. Two weeks after the final immunization, splenocytes were isolated for T cell function analysis by ELISPOT assay; and (3) five weeks post HI, C3H/HeN mice were intragastrically administered 0.1 mg/kg entecavir once a day for 14 d, or were intraperitoneally injected with 1 mg/kg interferon (IFN)-α twice a week for 2 wk, or were treated with PBS as controls. The sera were collected and assayed for HBV DNA on days 0, 7 and 14 after drug treatment.RESULTS: (1) Approximately 90% (22/25) of the injected C3H/HeN mice were still HBsAg-positive at 46 wk post HI, whereas HBsAg in C57BL/6 mice were completely cleared at 24 wk. Serum levels of HBeAg in C3H/HeN mice were higher than those in C57BL/6 mice from 4 wk to 46 wk. HBV DNA levels in the hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice were higher than those in the C57BL/6 mice, both in the serum (from 4 wk to 46 wk) and in the liver (detected at 8 wk and 46 wk post HI). Histology showed that hepatitis B core antigen and HBsAg were expressed longer in the liver of C3H/HeN mice than in C57BL/6; (2) HBsAg specific T cell responses after HBsAg vaccination in hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice, or naive control mice were detected by ELISPOT assay. After stimulation with HBsAg, the frequencies of IFN-γ producing splenocytes in the hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice were significantly lower than those in hydrodynamically injected C57BL/6 mice, control C3H/HeN and control C57BL/6 mice, which were 0, 17 ± 7, 18 ± 10, and 41 ± 10 SFCs/10(6) splenocytes, respectively, and the mean spot sizes showed the same pattern. Even just stimulated with PMA and ionomysin, T-cell responses elicited in the vaccinated control C3H/HeN were much higher than those in hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice; and (3) For drug treatment experiments on the hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice, serum HBV DNA levels in the entecavir treatment group declined (131.2 folds, P &lt; 0.01) on day 7 after treatment and kept going down. In the group of IFN-α treatment, serum HBV DNA levels declined to a lowest point (6.42 folds, P &lt; 0.05) on 7 d after treatment and then rebounded.CONCLUSION: We have developed a novel HI-based HBV transfection model using C3H/HeN mice, which had a higher HBV persistence rate than the classic C57BL/6 mouse model.</p

Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Neural Injury

Mitochondria are the double membrane organelles providing most of the energy for cells. In addition, mitochondria also play essential roles in various cellular biological processes such as calcium signaling, apoptosis, ROS generation, cell growth, and cell cycle. Mitochondrial dysfunction is observed in various neurological disorders which harbor acute and chronic neural injury such as neurodegenerative diseases and ischemia, hypoxia-induced brain injury. In this review, we describe how mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of neurological disorders which manifest chronic or acute neural injury

Effect of Puerarin Regulated mTOR Signaling Pathway in Experimental Liver Injury

It is known that excessive hepatocellular apoptosis is a typical characteristic of hepatic disease, and is regulated by the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. As the main active component of Kudzu (Pueraria lobata) roots, which is frequently used to treat hepatic diseases, Puerarin (Pue) has been reported to alleviate and protect against hepatic injury. However, it is unclear whether Pue can inhibit mTOR signaling to prevent excessive apoptosis in the treatment of hepatic diseases. In the present study, Pue effectively ameliorated pathological injury of the liver, decreased serum enzyme (ALT, AST, γ-GT, AKP, DBIL, and TBIL) levels, regulated the balance between pro-inflammatory (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, and TGF-β1) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10), restored the cell cycle and inhibited hepatocellular apoptosis and caspase-3 expression in rats with liver injury induced by 2-AAF/PH. Pue inhibited p-mTOR, p-AKT and Raptor activity, and increased Rictor expression in the liver tissues of rats with experimental liver injury. These results indicated that Pue effectively regulated the activation of mTOR signaling pathway in the therapeutic and prophylactic process of Pue on experimental liver injury

Deciphering neo-sex and B chromosome evolution by the draft genome of Drosophila albomicans

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Drosophila albomicans </it>is a unique model organism for studying both sex chromosome and B chromosome evolution. A pair of its autosomes comprising roughly 40% of the whole genome has fused to the ancient X and Y chromosomes only about 0.12 million years ago, thereby creating the youngest and most gene-rich neo-sex system reported to date. This species also possesses recently derived B chromosomes that show non-Mendelian inheritance and significantly influence fertility.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We sequenced male flies with B chromosomes at 124.5-fold genome coverage using next-generation sequencing. To characterize neo-Y specific changes and B chromosome sequences, we also sequenced inbred female flies derived from the same strain but without B's at 28.5-fold.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We assembled a female genome and placed 53% of the sequence and 85% of the annotated proteins into specific chromosomes, by comparison with the 12 <it>Drosophila genomes</it>. Despite its very recent origin, the non-recombining neo-Y chromosome shows various signs of degeneration, including a significant enrichment of non-functional genes compared to the neo-X, and an excess of tandem duplications relative to other chromosomes. We also characterized a B-chromosome linked scaffold that contains an actively transcribed unit and shows sequence similarity to the subcentromeric regions of both the ancient X and the neo-X chromosome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results provide novel insights into the very early stages of sex chromosome evolution and B chromosome origination, and suggest an unprecedented connection between the births of these two systems in <it>D. albomicans</it>.</p