Expression profiles of microRNAs after focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats

Rat models of focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury were established by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. Microarray analysis showed that 24 hours after cerebral ischemia, there were nine up-regulated and 27 down-regulated microRNA genes in cortical tissue. Bioinformatic analysis showed that bcl-2 was the target gene of microRNA-384-5p and microRNA-494, and caspase-3 was the target gene of microRNA-129, microRNA-320 and microRNA-326. Real-time PCR and western blot analyses showed that 24 hours after cerebral ischemia, bcl-2 mRNA and protein levels in brain tissue were significantly decreased, while caspase-3 mRNA and protein levels were significantly increased. This suggests that following cerebral ischemia, differentially expressed microRNA-384-5p, microRNA-494, microRNA-320, microRNA-129 and microRNA-326 can regulate bcl-2 and caspase-3 expression in brain tissue.

Water Quality Evaluation Using Back Propagation Artificial Neural Network Based on Self-Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm and Chaos Theory

To overcome the shortcomings of the traditional methods of water quality evaluation, in this paper, a novel model combines particle swarm optimization (PSO), chaos theory, self-adaptive strategy and back propagation artificial neural network (BP ANN) that was proposed to evaluate the water quality of Weihe River in China. An improved PSO algorithm with a self-adaptive inertia weight and a chaotic learning factor tuned by logistic function was developed and used to optimize the network parameters of BP ANN. The values of average absolute deviation (AAD), root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) and squared correlation coefficient are 0.0061, 0.0163 and 0.9903, respectively. Compared with other methods, such as BP ANN, and PSO BP ANN, the proposed model displays optimal prediction performance with high precision and good correlation. The results show that the proposed method has the good prediction ability for evaluating water quality. It is convenient, reliable and high precision, which provides good analysis and evaluation method for water quality.

Influence of Panax quinquefolium saponins on increased intracellular Ca^(2+) in PC12 cells

BACKGROUND： Previous studies have demonstrated that intracellular Ca^2＋ （[Ca^2＋]） overload, excitotoxicity, free radical injury, and nitric oxide toxicity are involved in mechanisms of neuronal death in the ischemic brain. OBJECTIVE： To investigate the influence of Panax quinquefo/ium saponins （PQS） on multiple factors-induced Ca^2＋ overload in the rat pheochromocytoma （PC12） cell line. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING： Intergroup comparison, in vitro study. The experiment was performed at the Heilongjiang Key Laboratory of Anti-fibrosis Biotherapy, Mudanjiang Medical University between November 2007 and April 2008. MATERIALS- In vitro cultured PC12 cells in the logarithmic phase were assigned into blank control, model, and drug treatment groups （10 μmol/L nimodipine; 40 μg/L, 100 μg/L, and 250 μg/L PQS）. Nimodipine was purchased from Jiangsu Yangtze River Pharmacy Group Co., China; PQS （purity 〉 95%, HLPC grade） was provided by School of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University. Caffeine, Na2S2O4, L-glutamic acid （Glu）, Fura-2/AM, and calcium ionophore A23187 were purchased from Sigma, USA. METHODS： PC12 cells in the model and drug treatment groups were separately incubated in glucose-free Hank＇s buffered saline solution ＋ Na2S2O4 （2 mmol/L） for 6 hours, Glu （200 μmot/L） plus A23187 （0.05 μmol/L） for 6 hours, KCI （50 mmol/L） for 1 hour, and caffeine （5 mmol/L） for 3 hours to establish models of intracellular Ca^2＋ overload induced by oxygen and glucose deprivation, Glu, A23187, high K＋, or caffeine. In addition, control cells were incubated in high-glucose DMEM culture medium. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： [Ca^2＋]i changes in PC12 cells exposed to oxygen-glucose deprivation, Glu, A23187, high K^＋, or caffeine were detected using spectrofluorometer. RESULTS： PQS blocked the [Ca^2＋]i increase induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation, Glu, A23187, high K＋, or caffeine. In particular, high-dose PQS was most effective （P 〈 0.01）. PQS significantly inhibited Glu- or caffeine-induced [Ca^2＋]i increases in the absence of extracellular Ca^2＋, but nimodipine did not. CONCLUSION： PQS blocked intracellular Ca^2＋ overload induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation, Glu, A23187, high K^＋, or caffeine. This mechanism might be involved in the attenuation of neuronal apoptosis following ischemic brain injury.

Countermeasures of China under the Trend of Consumption Internationalization

With improvement of China’s economic development and integration into the globalization,the increasing international infl uence of China’s consumer market,and progressing consumption upgrading,the internationalization of the subject,object and carrier of China’s consumer market is becoming more and more obvious.Based on a theoretical review of consumption internationalization,this paper defi nes the connotation of consumption internationalization,and summarizes the characteristics and the problems of China’s current consumption internationalization.A series of policy suggestions are provided,including a more abundant supply of medium and high-end commodities,a better consumption environment for imported goods,a sound tax exemption and refund service system,an expanded inbound tourism and so on.This paper believes that the degree of integration of various elements such as the subject,object,and carrier between domestic and foreign market still needs to be improved in China.We should follow the trend of consumption internationalization and promote the upgrading of China’s consumption to a higher level.