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OBJECTIVE To examine the clinical effects of Yisui Shengxue Granules () in the treatment of β-thalassemia and explore its mechanism on DNA methylation levels. METHODS A randomized placebo-controlled double-blinded trial was conducted. Forty patients with β-thalassemia were recruited and distributed randomly by envelope method into an experimental group and a control group, 20 patients in each group. The patients were given Yisui Shengxue Granules in the experimental group and placebo in the control group (12 g/bag three times a day) during a 3-month intervention. Before and after 1, 2, and 3 months of treatment, peripheral intravenous blood was sampled, and blood parameters such as hemoglobin (Hb), red blood cells (RBCs), reticulocytes (Ret), and fetal hemoglobin (HbF) were analyzed. Mononuclear cells from 5 patients, who showed an obvious treatment effect, were isolated by density gradient centrifugation. DNA methylation was analyzed using an Affymetrix USA GeneChip Human Promoter 1.0 Array and Input-promoter 1.0. RESULTS Compared with pre-treatment, there was an obvious increase in Hb and RBCs counts after 1, 2, and 3 months in the experiment group (P

The inferior colliculus (IC) receives and integrates excitatory and inhibitory inputs from many bilateral lower auditory nuclei, intrinsic projections within IC, contralateral IC through the commissure of IC and from the auditory cortex (AC). These excitatory and inhibitory inputs from both ascending and descending auditory pathways contribute significantly to auditory response properties and temporal signal processing in IC. The present study examines the contribution of gamma-aminobutyric acid-ergic (GABAergic) inhibition of dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (DNLL) in influencing the response properties and amplitude sensitivity of contralateral IC neurons using focal electrical stimulation of contralateral DNLL and by the application of bicuculline to the recording site of modulated IC neurons. Focal electrical stimulation of contralateral DNLL produces inhibition (78.1%), facilitation (7.1%) or no effect (14.8%) in the number of spikes, firing duration and the first-spike latency of modulated IC neurons. The degree of modulation is inversely correlated to the difference in best frequency (BF) between electrically stimulated DNLL neurons and modulated IC neurons (p 0.01). The application of bicuculline to the recording site of modulated IC neurons abolishes the inhibitory effect of focal electrical stimulation of DNLL neurons. DNLL inhibition also modulates the amplitude sensitivity of IC neurons by changing the dynamic range (DR) and the slope of rate-amplitude function (RAF) of modulated IC neurons. Possible biological significance of these findings in relation to auditory signal processing is discussed.

Yisui Shengxue granules, which is a Chinese traditional medicine, can increase hemoglobin, red blood cells, and Ret of thalassemia patients with mild, moderate, and severe anemia and thus relieve clinical anemia symptoms. Studies on mechanism found that Yisui Shengxue granules can increase the proliferation ability of hematopoietic stem cells. Emodin promoted colony forming of hematopoietic stem cells. Yisui Shengxue granules can increase the activity of GSH-PX in bone marrow blood and decreased the severity of inclusion bodies on the cytomembrane of RBCs. YSSXG attenuated anemia symptoms in patients with thalassemia mostly by increasing the proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells and decreasing the hemolysis of RBCs.

The aim of this work was to determine the effect of composite additives on the thermal and mechanical properties of aluminum nitride (AlN) in detail. The composite system has not been studied in depth before. The hot-pressed AlN was prepared with Y2O3-Dy2O3-YF3 and Y2O3-Dy2O3-CaO as the composite sintering additives. As the result, the thermal conductivities for the sintered body with two composite additives were 171 W/m.K and 152 W/m.K, respectively. The fracture toughness values calculated by the Evans & Clarkes’s equation for both of the samples were 2.34±0.09 MPa.m1/2and 2.63±0.13 MPa.m1/2 at 10 kg load. The toughness difference is the result of comprehensive effect of the grain size, the properties of the boundary phase, its distribution, and also the interactions between different phases.

In this paper, the aluminum nitride (AlN) was fabricated by pressureless sintering with YF3 and various silicon compounds as the sintering aids. The phase, microstructure, density and thermal conductivity were characterized by XRD, SEM and laser thermal diffusivity method. The sample densities were detected varied from 3.17 to 3.30g/cm3 and room-temperature thermal conductivity varied from 196 to 233 W/m·K. Samples sintered with YF3 additives have the highest thermal conductivity. The sintering aids with SiO2, Si3N4 and SiC would decrease the density and the thermal conductivity obviously, and also change the fracture mode from the intergranular to transgranular , which is a key for the toughness of the AlN substrate.

The objective of this study was to investigate the therapeutic biological mechanism of Yisui Shengxue Granule (YSSXG), a complex Chinese medicine, on the hemolysis and anemia of erythrocytes from patient with thalassemia disease. Sixteen patients with thalassemia (8 cases ofα-thalassemia and 8 cases ofβ-thalassemia) disease were collected and treated with YSSXG for 3 months. The improvements of blood parameter demonstrated that YSSXG had a positive clinical effect on patients with thalassemia disease. For patients withα-thalassemia disease, RT-PCR showed that YSSXG upregulated the relative mRNA expression level ofα-globin toβ-globin and downregulated DNMT1, DNMT3a, and DNMT3b mRNA compared with pretreatment. Western blotting showed that YSSXG downregulated the expression of DNMT1 and DNMT3a. For patients withβ-thalassemia disease, the relative expression level ofAγ-globin toα-globin had an increasing trend and the level of BCL11A mRNA expression obviously increased. For all patients, RT-PCR showed that YSSXG upregulated mRNA expression of SPTA1 and SPTB. Activities of SOD and GSH-Px significantly increased and MDA obviously reduced on erythrocyte and blood serum after YSSXG treatment. TEM showed that YSSXG decreased the content of inclusion bodies. Activities of Na+K+-ATPtase and T-ATPtase of erythrocyte increased significantly after YSSXG treatment. This study provides the basis for mechanisms of YSSXG on thalassemia suffering with hemolysis and anemia of erythrocytes from patient.

The dorsal nucleus of lateral lemniscus (DNLL) is a nucleus in the auditory ascending pathway, and casts inhibitory efferent projections to the inferior colliculus. Studies on the DNLL are less than studies on the auditory brain stem and inferior colliculus. To date, there is no information about response characteristics of neurons in DNLL of albino mouse. Under free field conditions, we used extracellular single unit recording to study the acoustic signal characteristics of DNLL neurons in Kunming mice (Mus musculus). Transient (36%) and ongoing (64%) firing patterns were found in 96 DNLL neurons. Neurons with different firing patterns have significant differences in characteristic frequency and minimal threshold. We recorded frequency tuning curves (FTCs) of 87 DNLL neurons. All of the FTCs exhibit an open "V" shape. There is no significant difference in FTCs between transient and ongoing neurons, but among the ongoing neurons, the FTCs of sustained neurons are sharper than those of onset plus sustained neurons and pauser neurons. Our results showed that the characteristic frequency of DNLL neurons of mice was not correlated with depth, supporting the view that the DNLL of mouse has no frequency topological organization through dorsal-ventral plane, which is different from cats and some other animals. Furthermore, by using rate-intensity function (RIF) analysis the mouse DNLL neurons can be classified as monotonic (60%), saturated (31%) and non-monotonic (8%) types. Each RIF type includes transient and ongoing firing patterns. Dynamic range of the transient firing pattern is smaller than that of ongoing firing ones (P0.01), suggesting that the inhibitory inputs may underlie the formation of transient firing pattern. Multiple firing patterns and intensity coding of DNLL neurons may derive from the projections from multiple auditory nuclei, and play different roles in auditory information processing.

To examine the clinical effects of Yisui Shengxue Granules () in the treatment of β-thalassemia and explore its mechanism on DNA methylation levels.A randomized placebo-controlled double-blinded trial was conducted. Forty patients with β-thalassemia were recruited and distributed randomly by envelope method into an experimental group and a control group, 20 patients in each group. The patients were given Yisui Shengxue Granules in the experimental group and placebo in the control group (12 g/bag three times a day) during a 3-month intervention. Before and after 1, 2, and 3 months of treatment, peripheral intravenous blood was sampled, and blood parameters such as hemoglobin (Hb), red blood cells (RBCs), reticulocytes (Ret), and fetal hemoglobin (HbF) were analyzed. Mononuclear cells from 5 patients, who showed an obvious treatment effect, were isolated by density gradient centrifugation. DNA methylation was analyzed using an Affymetrix USA GeneChip Human Promoter 1.0 Array and Input-promoter 1.0.Compared with pre-treatment, there was an obvious increase in Hb and RBCs counts after 1, 2, and 3 months in the experiment group (P0.01 or P0.05). Meanwhile, HbF increased from the 2nd to the 3rd month (P0.05). In the control group, Hb and RBCs showed no obvioas change. After 3-month treatment, DNA methylation results from 5 patients revealed that there were 24 hypomethylated genes and 3,685 hypermethylated genes compared with pre-treatment. Genes of insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) and Janus kinase 3 (JAK3) revealed the most relations with other genes (degree: 21) and genes of 1-phosphatidylinositol-4, 5-bisphosphate phosphodiesterase gamma 2 (PLCG2) and mitogen-activated protein kinase 10 (MAPK10) showed a stronger intermediary role (betweenness centrality=0.04).JAK3 and MAPK10 are two key genes in bone marrow and the lymphatic system, and JAK3 is likely to be related to hematopoietic cytokines in the process of early hematopoiesis. (Registration No. NCT01549080).

采用硝酸盐为前驱盐制备涂层导体结构中的La 2 Zr 2 O 7 (LZO)过渡层. 实验通过对前驱盐粉体热分解行为的分析, 以及前驱盐溶液在铝酸镧(LAO)单晶和Ni5W合金基底上外延生长LZO膜层工艺的比较研究, 经优化获得了采用硝酸盐为前驱盐, 适用于Ni5W合金基底的低温两步热处理结合高温快速热处理制备LZO的工艺路线. 研究发现, 硝酸盐热分解过程及中间产物分解对外延织构的生成起着重要的作用. 取向分析显示LZO膜层(222)phi扫描和(400)ω扫描的半高宽分别为8.5°和8.1°, 这表明LZO膜层形成了较好的立方织构. SEM分析显示该工艺制备的膜层均匀致密, 没有裂纹和孔洞. 以上研究表明硝酸盐法可以应用于LZO过渡层的制备.

Co polymerization of chitosan selectively grafted by polyethylene glycol was studied in this paper. The graft copolymers can be expected to be used as DNA delivery vectors because of the improving hydrophilicity of chitosan and reserving the amino groups on chitosan chains. Chitosan was selectively grafted by monomethoxy polyethylene glycol(mPEG-OH), which contains a hydroxyl group combining with hexamethylene diisocyanate(HDI) to form a novel macro monomer namely monomethoxy polyethylene glycol isocyanate (mPEG-NCO) containing a isocyanate group with higher chemical activity in ethyl glyoxalate solution absolutely without water. The selective grafted co polymerization of Chitosan with mPEG-NCO was conducted under heterogeneous conditions as suspension in dimethylformamide. The hydrophilic copolymers of chitosan were prepared by condensation reaction of isocyanate group on mPEG-NCO with hydroxy groups on chitosan chains because amino groups on chitosan chains were protected by complexion formation with copper ions. The effect of reaction condition on the grafting extents was discussed. Swelling properties of mPEG-g-CS were researched. The graft copolymer mPEG-g-CS was characterized by the infrared spectra. The result showed that the copper ions were very effective to protect amino groups from condensation reaction. The swelling level in water increases with adding of grafting ratio. The maximum swelling degree was up to above 132% when the grafting ratio was about 270%. The graft copolymer can be soluble partially in pure water.