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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common chronic liver disease, along with the prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Non-alcoholic fatty liver will progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), NASH-related liver fibrosis and liver cirrhosis, and even hepatocellular carcinoma. Accurate assessment and early intervention are conducive to clinical burden reduction and disease control. Although being the "golden standard" for diagnosing NAFLD, the clinical application of liver biopsy is limited due to well-known limitations and significant complications. Serological testing, as a noninvasive method, has been well-recognized among researchers and clinicians. The understanding of the pros and cons and the application ranges of various methods and indexes is helpful for clinical applications, including providing more diagnosis approaches, improving diagnosis power, relieving pain of patients, and saving medical resources. This article reviews the advances in serological noninvasive diagnostic methods for NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prunus cerasifera has a rich resource and a weak utilization rate and its biological functions have been investigated. We found that the contents of total phenol (TP) in leaves and branches of Prunus cerasifera were 117.8 ± 8.8 and 100.04 ± 0.9 mg/g, respectively; the contents of soluble condensed tannin (SCT) were 73.95 ± 0.9 and 78.65 ± 4.1 mg/g, respectively; the structure of SCT containing afzelechin/epiafzelechin, catechin/epicatechin, and atechin/epicatechin as the main units and the SCT from leaves and branches exhibited better anti-tyrosinase and antioxidant activities. This study could clarify Prunus cerasifera condensed tannin resource availability and lay a theoretical foundation for its development as a natural antioxidant and tyrosinase inhibitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Mitochondrial retrograde regulation (MRR) is the transduction of mitochondrial signals to mediate nuclear gene expression. It is not clear whether MRR is a common regulation mechanism in plant abiotic stress response. In this study, we analysed the early abiotic stress response of the rice OsAOX1 genes, and the induction of OsAOX1a and OsAOX1b ( OsAOX1a/b) was selected as a working model for the stress-induced MRR studies. We found that the induction mediated by the superoxide ion (O2·-)-generating chemical methyl viologen was stronger than that of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The addition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers demonstrated that the stress induction was reduced by eliminating O2·-. Furthermore, the stress induction did not rely on chloroplast- or cytosol-derived O2·-. Next, we generated transgenic plants overexpressing the superoxide dismutase (SOD) gene at different subcellular locations. The results suggest that only the mitochondrial SOD, OsMSD, attenuated the stress induction of OsAOX1a/b specifically. Therefore, our findings demonstrate that abiotic stress initiates the MRR on OsAOX1a/b and that mitochondrial O2·- is involved in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the role and the mechanism of NLRP3 inflammasome in children's immune thrombocytopenia (ITP)., Methods: Twenty-one children suffered from ITP were enrolled in ITP group, 10 healthy children were selected in control group. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) were isolated from ITP children and healthy controls. The mRNA levels of NLRP3, ASC, and Caspase-1 in PBMNCs were measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Moreover, the protein level of NLRP3 in PBMNCs was detected by Western blot. The plasma IL-18 level was detected by ELISA., Results: The expression level of NLRP3, ASC and Caspase-1 mRNA in newly-diagnosed ITP children was dramatically higher than that in control. The plasma IL-18 level was higher than that in healthy control. Furthermore, the level of NLRP3 protein was up-regulated in ITP children., Conclusion: The NLRP3 inflammasome and up-regulated level of IL-18 have been found in newlydiagnosed ITP patients, and they may involve in the pathogenesis of ITP.

Objective: To screen for the optimal dose of benzene and cyclophosphamide using an orthogonal design for establishment of New Zealand rabbit models of aplastic anemia., Methods: Following an orthogonal experimental design, the effects of 3 levels of 4 factors, namely the dose of benzene (A), the dose of cyclophosphamide (B), the number of benzene injections (C), and the number of cyclophosphamide injections (D) were tested in the establishment of New Zealand rabbit models of aplastic anemia using a L 9 (3 4 ) orthogonal table, and the optimal protocol for the model establishment was selected from the 9 experimental groups. Each rabbit received subcutaneous injection of benzene on the back every other day, followed by daily cyclophosphamide injection via the ear vein for prescribed times. The blood routine was examined every 6 days, and before modeling and at 36 days after modeling, a small sample of the femoral bone was collected for bone marrow histopathological examination., Results: Comparison of the white blood cell, erythrocyte and platelet counts among the 9 groups showed successful modeling in Groups 4-9, and daily mean reduction rates of the cell counts in Groups 7, 8, and 9 differed significantly from those in the other groups (P<0.05). In Group 7, bone marrow sections showed low myelodysplasia, reduced hematopoietic tissue, reduced or even absence of megakaryocytes, and increased fat cells. Further observation found that the rabbits in Group 7 had sustained bone marrow suppression, consistent with the clinical characteristics of the disease., Conclusion: Stable models of aplastic anemia can be established efficiently in New Zealand rabbits by a combination of 8 subcutaneous injections of benzene at 1.5 mL/kg and 4 intravenous injections of cyclophosphamide at 10 mg/kg.

Objective: To evaluate the role of serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and adiponectin on insulin resistance in different fat diet rats., Methods: Thirty weanling female rats were randomly divided into 3 group (n = 10): a low-fat soybean oil (LFS; 22% of total energy fed as fat), high-fat soybean oil (HFS; 40% of total energy fed as fat), or high-fat soybean oil and swimming training at the same time (HFS + T). After fed for 10 weeks, the level of TNF-alpha, adiponectin in serum of rats were observed., Results: (1) The body weight, percentage of body fat of HFS group increased compared with that of LFS group (P < 0.05), however those of HFS + T group were decreased (P < 0.05). (2) The level of serum insulin and ISI in HFS group were increased by LFS group (P < 0.05), in HFS+ T group the levels decreased. (3) And the serum level of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in HFS group were higher than those in LFS group (P < 0.05), the serum levels of adiponectin in HFS group were lower than those in LFS rats, and in HFS+ T group the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 were lower than those in HFS group (P < 0.05), the adiponectin level was higher than that in HFS group, and there were no significant difference between LFS group and HFS + T group., Conclusion: Exercises training could improve sugar and fat metabolism disorders, which also contributes to improving insulin resistance caused by high-fat diet.