Modulatory effect of pineapple peel extract on lipid peroxidation,catalase activity and hepatic biomarker levels in blood plasma of alcoholinduced oxidative stressed rats

Objective:To investigate the ability of the methanolic extract of pineapple peel to modulate alcohol-induced lipid peroxidation,changes in catalase activities and hepatic biochemical marker levels in blood plasma.Methods:Oxidative stress was induced by oral administration of ethanol(20%w/v) at a dosage of 5 niL/kg bw in rats.After 28 days of treatment,the rats were fasted overnight and sacrificed by cervical dislocation.Blood was collected with a 2 mL syringe by cardiac puncture and was centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 min.The plasma was analyzed to evaluate malondialdehyde(MDA),catalase activity,aspartate aminotransferase(AST),alkaline phosphatase(ALP) and alanine aminotransferase(ALT) concentrations.Results:Administration of alcohol caused a drastic increase(87.74%) in MDA level compared with the control.Pineapple peel extract significantly reduced the MDA level by 60.16%at 2.S mL/kg bw.Rats fed alcohol only had the highest catalase activity,treatment with pineapple peel extract at 2.5 mL/kg bw however, reduced the activity.Increased AST,ALP and ALT activities were observed in rats fed alcohol only respectively,treatment with pineapple peel extract drastically reduced their activities. Conclusions:The positive modulation of lipid peroxidation,catalase activities as well as hepatic biomarker levels of blood plasma by the methanolic extract of pineapple peels under alcoholinduced oxidative stress is an indication of its protective ability in the management of alcoholinduced toxicity.

Study on Effect of Gd (III) Speciation on Ca (II) Speciationin Human Blood Plasma by Computer Simulation

Ca (II) speciation and effect of Gd (III) speciation on Ca (II) speciation in human blood plasma were studied by computer simulation. [CaHCO3](-) is a predominant compound species of Ca (II). Gd (III) can compete with Ca (II) for biological molecules. The presence of Gd (III) results in a increase of concentration of free Ca (II) and a decrease of concentration of Ca (II) compounds.

Pulsed cold plasma-induced blood coagulation and its pilot application in stanching bleeding during rat hepatectomy

This paper presents plasma-induced blood coagulation and its pilot application in rat hepatectomy by using a home-made pulsed cold plasma jet. Experiments were conducted on blood coagulation in vitro, the influence of plasma on tissue in vivo, and the pilot application of rat hepatectomy. Experimental results show that the cold plasma can lead to rapid blood coagulation. Compared with the control sample, the plasma-induced agglomerated layer of blood is thicker and denser, and is mostly composed of broken platelets. When the surface of the liver was treated by plasma, the influence of the plasma can penetrate into the liver to a depth of about 500 μm. During the rat hepatectomy, cold plasma was proved to be effective for stanching bleeding on incision. No obvious bleeding was found in the abdominal cavities of all six rats 48 h after the hepatectomy. This implies that cold plasma can be an effective modality to control bleeding during surgical operation.

Clinical Observation on Influence of Chinese Medicines for Promoting Blood Circulation to Remove Blood Stasis on FIB and DD in Plasma of Patients with Cerebral Thrombosis

to study the influence of Chinese medicines for promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis on fibrinogen(FIB)and D-dimer(DD)in plasma of patients with cerebral thrombosis. Method:73 inpatients with acute cerebral thrombosis were randomly divided into a control group of 34 cases and a treatment group of 39 cases.The content of FIB and DD in plasma was detected before treatment and on the 7th and 14th days after treatment.Result:FIB content in plasma after treatment was lower than that before treatment in the control group(P<0.01)and more remarkable in the treatment group(P<0.001).There was an obvious difference in DD content before and after treatment in both groups.DD content on the 7th and 14th days after treatment in the treatment group was obviously higher than that in the control group(P<0.01 and P<0.05 respectively). Conclusion:Chinese medicines for promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis can reduce the FIB content in plasma of patients with cerebral thrombosis,raise the DD content in plasma, cause the peak of DD content appear earlier and obviously improve hypercoagulability of blood in patients with cerebral thrombosis.

Hepatitis G Viral RNA Co-infection in Plasma and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Patients with Hepatitis C

The incidence of the co-infection of hepatitis G virus (HGV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) and its clinical implication was investigated and the difference in the positive rate of HGV RNA and HCV RNA between plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) observed. By using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay, HCV-RNA and HGV-RNA in plasma and PBMCs of 72 patients with hepatitis C was detected. It was showed that HGV RNA was positive in plasma of 11 patients, in PBMCs of 15 patients, and simultaneously in both of plasma and PBMCs of 10 patients with the co-infection rate being 22.2 %. Nine patients were both HGV RNA and HCV RNA positive in plasma, 11 patients were both HGV RNA and HCV RNA positive in PBMC, and 6 patients were both HGV RNA and HCV RNA positive in both plasma and PBMC with the positive rate being 12.4 %,15.3 % and 8.3 % respectively. The positive rate of both HGV RNA and HCV RNA in PBMCs was higher than in plasma. It was concluded that the HGV co-infection rate in the patients with hepatitis C was 22.2 %. Simultaneous examination of plasma and PBMC can improve clinically detectable rate.

Modelling of the relationship between systolic blood pressure and glucose with the magnesium ion present in the blood plasma: an approach using artificial neural networks

Artificial neural networks became an attractive alternative for modeling and simulation of com- plex biological systems. In the present work, a blood plasma model based on artificial neural networks was proposed in order to evaluate the relationship between the magnesium ion pre-sent in the blood plasma and systolic blood pressure and glucose. Experimental and simu- lated data were used to construct and validate the model. It performed the analysis consider-ing the systolic blood pressure and glucose as a function of magnesium ion concentration at a fixed temperature (37oC). Predictions of these relationships through the proposed model produced errors, on average, below 1% com-pared against experimental data not presented in the training step. The proposed methodology revealed quantitative results and correctly pre-dicted behaviors and trends towards the asso-ciation between magnesium concentrations and systolic blood pressure, and glucose in far agreement with experimental results from lit-erature. These results indicated that artificial neural networks can successfully learn the complexity of the relationships among bio-logical parameters of distinct groups and can be used as a complementary tool to assist studies in which the role of magnesium in systolic blood pressure and glucose are con-sidered.

Plasma and Red Blood Cells Concentration Profiles of Ktamine after Single Intravenous Administration in an Anaesthetic Protocol in Horses

The aim of this study was to describe the concentration profile of ketamine in plasma and red blood cells following an intravenous (IV) bolus in the horse. Ten healthy standardbred horses (two males and height females) 7.7 ± 4.6 (mean value ± SD) years old and weighting 380 ± 21 kg (mean value ± SD) were recruited. The horses were premedicated with acepromazine (0.04 mg·kg-1·IV). Fifteen minutes later they received romifidine (0.08 mg·kg-1·IV), and 5 minutes after they were administered midazolam (0.06 mg·kg-1·IV). Immediately, anaesthesia was induced by ketamine (2.2 mg·kg-1·IV). Venous blood samples were collected at scheduled time points. Plasma and red blood cells (RBCs) concentration of ketamine was assayed using a high performance liquid chromatographic method (HPLC/UV-DAD). The high mean recovery rates, the high sensitivity, the good linearity, suggest a clinical applicability of the analytical method. A bicompartmental model resulted as the most appropriate to describe the ketamine concentration—time profile for both plasma and RBCs. The fitted regression line between ketamine plasma concentrations and RBC concentrations supports the good correlation between ketamine concentrations in plasma and in RBCs. The kinetic parameters of ketamine calculated for RBC are equal or very similar to the plasma ones. The study confirms the kinetic behaviour of ketamine used in the horse as anaesthetic inducers in routine surgery. Finally, the bicompartmental model well describes the ketamine profile also in RBCs, that it is very close to the plasma profile, underlining the great importance of RBCs as blood subcompartment.

THE FEASIBILITIES OF USING THE STATISTICAL,FRACTAL AND SINGULAR PROCESSING OF HOMINAL BLOOD PLASMA PHASE IMAGES DURING THE DIAGNOSTICS AND DIFFERENTIATION OF MAMMARY GLAND PATHOLOGICAL STATES

Performed in this work are complex statistical,fractal and singular analyses of phase properties inherent to birefringence networks of protein crystals consisting of optically-thin layers prepared from blood plasma.Within the framework of a statistical approach,the authors have investigated values and ranges for changes of statistical moments of thefirst to the fourth orders that characterize coordinate distributions for phase shifts between orthogonal components of amplitudes inherent to laser radiation transformed by blood plasma with various pathologies.In the framework of the fractal approach,determined are the dimensions of self-similar coordinate phase distributions as well as features of transformation of logarithmic dependences for power spectra of these distributions for various types of hominal mammary gland pathologies.

Effect of Viscous Dissipation (Φ) on Temperature Distribution of Blood Plasma in Presence of a Magnetic Field

Applications of heat transfer show the variations in temperature of the body which is helpful for the purpose of thermal therapy in the treatment of tumor glands. This study considered theoretical approaches in analyzing the effect of viscous dissipation on temperature distribution on the flow of blood plasma through an asymmetric arterial segment. The plasma was considered to be unsteady, laminar and an incompressible fluid through non-uniform arterial segment in a two-dimensional flow. Numerical schemes developed for the coupled partial differential equations governing blood plasma were solved using Finite Difference scheme (FDS). With the aid of the finite difference approach and the related boundary conditions, results for temperature profiles were obtained. The study determined the effect of viscous dissipation on temperature of blood plasma in arteries. The equations were solved using MATLAB softwares and results were presented graphically and in tables. The increase in viscous dissipation tends to decrease blood plasma heat distribution. This study will find important application in hospitals.

Effects of kidney-tonifying and blood circulation-promoting recipes and platelet-rich plasma on the activity and expression of type I collagen

Objective:To observe the effects of kidney-tonifying and blood circulation-promoting recipes and platelet-rich plasma(PRP)on the activity and expression of type I collagen in co-culture system.Methods:The subcutaneous adipose tissue and degenerative nucleus pulposus tissue of patients with nucleus pulposus removal under lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration were isolated and cultured by multiple enzyme digestion methods to establish a co-culture system of ADSCs/NPCs.Patients with lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration were enrolled for 2 weeks.The venous blood was taken 50mL before the first dose and one hour after the last dose.Platelet-rich plasma was prepared by secondary centrifugation and cultured with different plasma.The experiment was divided into five groups:platelet-rich plasma group(PRP),platelet-poor plasma group(PPP),drug-rich platelet-rich plasma group(M-PRP)and drug-poor platelet plasma group(M-PPP),fetal bovine serum group(FBS).The morphological changes of the cells in each group were observed under an inverted microscope.The changes of type I collagen activity were detected by immunofluorescence assay.The expression of CCOL1A1 gene was detected by RT-PCR two weeks after the intervention.Results:In this study,the results of kidney-tonifying and blood circulation-promoting recipes and PRP group intervention were shown.The results of the group intervention showed that the M-PRP group and the PRP group had clearer cell contours and better refractive index than the other groups,and there was no significant difference between the two groups.The results of immunofluorescence staining showed that the number of cells in PRP group and M-PRP group was higher,but the staining intensity of single cells was significantly lower than that in FBS group.RT-PCR results showed that the expression of COL1A1 mRNA in PPP group,PRP group,M-PRP group and M-PPP group was significantly down-regulated(P<0.05),respectively:0.343±0.040,0.294±0.018,0.310±0.022,0.430±0.020.Conclusions:Kidney-tonifying and blood circulation-promoting recipes combined with platelet-rich plasma can decrease the activity and exhibit a tendency to inhibit the expression of type I collagen.

Comparison of the level of thrombus precursor protein in blood plasma between patients with acute cerebral infarction and healthy persons at different time

BACKGROUND： Thrombus precursor protein （TpP） is the index of thrombus activity level, and it is also early referencing index in detecting thrombus diseases. OBJECTIVE： To dynamically observe the changes of TpP level in blood plasma of patients with acute cerebral infarction at different time after onset, and to compare the differences of plasma TpP level between patients with acute cerebral infarction and healthy persons who received health examination. DESIGN： Controlled observation SETTING： Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College PARTICIPANTS： Totally 58 patients with acute cerebral infarction who received the treatment in the Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College between September 2004 and March 2005 were recruited in this study. They all met the diagnostic criteria revised by the 4^th National Conference of Cerebrovascular Disorders in 1995 and were diagnosed by clinical and skull CT and （or） MRI examinations. The patients included 33 male and 25 female aged from 36 to 87 years. Time to onset 〈 6 hours, 6 to 11 hours, 12 to 23 hours, 24 to 48 hours and 〉 48 hours were found in 10,11,14,10 and 13 patients respectively. Another 51 persons who homeochronously received the health body examination in our hospital were recruited, including 34 male and 17 female, aged 38 to 85 years, serving as control group. Patients with cardio-cerebrovascualr diseases or liver and kidney diseases were excluded. All the involved subjects were informed of the detected items. METHODS： About 4 mL venous blood was respectively taken from patients admitted to the hospital within 6 hours, 6 toll hours, 12 to 23 hours, 24 to 48 hours and more then 48 hours after onset, and healthy persons when receiving health examination. The level of TpP in blood plasma was measured with enzymelinked immunosorbent assay. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： ① Comparison of the level of plasma TpP between patients and controls;② Comparison of the level of plasma TpP of patients with acute cerebral infarction at different time after onset. RESULTS： Totally 58 patients with acute cerebral infarction and 51 persons who received health examination participated in the result analysis. ①Comparison of plasma TpP level between patients and controls： The plasma TpP level of patients with acute cerebral infarction was significantly higher than that of control group [（16.12±3.28）vs （5.38±1.36） mg/L, t= 20.993, P〈 0.01 ]. ② Comparison of plasma TpP level of patients with acute cerebral infarction at different time after onset： The level of plasma TpP was （12.06±3.06） mg/L within 6 hours, （15.11±3.42） mg/L at 6 to 11 hours, （20.63±4.05） mg/L at 12 to 23 hours, （16.15±3.50） mg/L at 24 to 48 hours and （11.88±3.11） mg/L at more than 48 hours after onset. It increased from the 6^th hour, reached the peak at the 12^th to 23^rd hours, maintained at very high level at the 48= hour and then gradually decreased and recovered to the level within 6 hours after onset. The level of plasma TpP of patients with acute cerebral infarction was signiticantly higher at the 12^th to 23^rd hours after onset and the 24^th to 48^th hours after onset than within 6 hours after onset （t = 13.385, P 〈 0.05）. CONCLUSION： ①The level of plasma TpP of patients with acute cerebral infarction is significantly higher than that of persons who received health examination.② Plasma TpP levels of patients with acute cerebral infarction change in wave manner at the different time after onset.

MicroRNAs as potential diagnostic biomarkers for bipolar disorder

Abnormal expression of microRNAs is connected to brain development and disease and could provide novel biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of bipolar disorder. We performed a PubMed search for microRNA biomarkers in bipolar disorder and found 18 original research articles on studies performed with human patients and published from January 2011 to June 2023. These studies included microRNA profiling in bloodand brain-based materials. From the studies that had validated the preliminary findings,potential candidate biomarkers for bipolar disorder in adults could be miR-140-3p,-30d-5p,-330-5p,-378a-5p,-21-3p,-330-3p,-345-5p in whole blood, miR-19b-3p,-1180-3p,-125a-5p, let-7e-5p in blood plasma, and miR-7-5p,-23b-5p,-142-3p,-221-5p,-370-3p in the blood serum. Two of the studies had investigated the changes in microRNA expression of patients with bipolar disorder receiving treatment. One showed a significant increase in plasma miR-134 compared to baseline after 4 weeks of treatment which included typical antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics, and benzodiazepines. The other study had assessed the effects of prescribed medications which included neurotransmitter receptorsite binders(drug class B) and sedatives, hypnotics, anticonvulsants, and analgesics(drug class C) on microRNA results. The combined effects of the two drug classes increased the significance of the results for miR-219 and-29c with miR-30e-3p and-526b* acquiring significance. MicroRNAs were tested to see if they could serve as biomarkers of bipolar disorder at different clinical states of mania, depression, and euthymia. One study showed that upregulation in whole blood of miR-9-5p,-29a-3p,-106a-5p,-106b-5p,-107,-125a-3p,-125b-5p and of miR-107,-125a-3p occurred in manic and euthymic patients compared to controls, respectively, and that upregulation of miR-106a-5p,-107 was found for manic compared to euthymic patients. In two other studies using blood plasma,downregulation of miR-134 was observed in manic patients compared to controls, and dysregulation of miR-134,-152,-607,-633,-652,-155 occurred in euthymic patients compared to controls. Finally, microRNAs such as miR-34a,-34b,-34c,-137, and-140-3p,-21-3p,-30d-5p,-330-5p,-378a-5p,-134,-19b-3p were shown to have diagnostic potential in distinguishing bipolar disorder patients from schizophrenia or major depressive disorder patients, respectively. Further studies are warranted with adolescents and young adults having bipolar disorder and consideration should be given to using animal models of the disorder to investigate the effects of suppressing or overexpressing specific microRNAs.

MicroRNAs as potential biomarkers for diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental disorder caused by exposure to severe traumatic life events.Currently,there are no validated biomarkers or laboratory tests that can distinguish between trauma survivors with and without post-traumatic stress disorder.In addition,the heterogeneity of clinical presentations of post-traumatic stress disorder and the overlap of symptoms with other conditions can lead to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment.Evidence suggests that this condition is a multisystem disorder that affects many biological systems,raising the possibility that peripheral markers of disease may be used to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder.We performed a PubMed search for microRNAs(miRNAs)in post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)that could serve as diagnostic biomarkers and found 18 original research articles on studies performed with human patients and published January 2012 to December 2023.These included four studies with whole blood,seven with peripheral blood mononuclear cells,four with plasma extracellular vesicles/exosomes,and one with serum exosomes.One of these studies had also used whole plasma.Two studies were excluded as they did not involve microRNA biomarkers.Most of the studies had collected samples from adult male Veterans who had returned from deployment and been exposed to combat,and only two were from recently traumatized adult subjects.In measuring miRNA expression levels,many of the studies had used microarray miRNA analysis,miRNA Seq analysis,or NanoString panels.Only six studies had used real time polymerase chain reaction assay to determine/validate miRNA expression in PTSD subjects compared to controls.The miRNAs that were found/validated in these studies may be considered as potential candidate biomarkers for PTSD and include miR-3130-5p in whole blood;miR-193a-5p,-7113-5p,-125a,-181c,and-671-5p in peripheral blood mononuclear cells;miR-10b-5p,-203a-3p,-4488,-502-3p,-874-3p,-5100,and-7641 in plasma extracellular vesicles/exosomes;and miR-18a-3p and-7-1-5p in blood plasma.Several important limitations identified in the studies need to be taken into account in future studies.Further studies are warranted with war veterans and recently traumatized children,adolescents,and adults having PTSD and use of animal models subjected to various stressors and the effects of suppressing or overexpressing specific microRNAs.

Autism spectrum disorder:difficulties in diagnosis and microRNA biomarkers

We performed a PubMed search for microRNAs in autism spectrum disorder that could serve as diagnostic biomarkers in patients and selected 17 articles published from January 2008 to December 2023,of which 4 studies were performed with whole blood,4 with blood plasma,5 with blood serum,1 with serum neural cell adhesion molecule L1-captured extracellular vesicles,1 with blood cells,and 2 with peripheral blood mononuclear cells.Most of the studies involved children and the study cohorts were largely males.Many of the studies had performed microRNA sequencing or quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays to measure microRNA expression.Only five studies had used real-time polymerase chain reaction assay to validate microRNA expression in autism spectrum disorder subjects compared to controls.The microRNAs that were validated in these studies may be considered as potential candidate biomarkers for autism spectrum disorder and include miR-500a-5p,-197-5p,-424-5p,-664a-3p,-365a-3p,-619-5p,-664a-3p,-3135a,-328-3p,and-500a-5p in blood plasma and miR-151a-3p,-181b-5p,-320a,-328,-433,-489,-572,-663a,-101-3p,-106b-5p,-19b-3p,-195-5p,and-130a-3p in blood serum of children,and miR-15b-5p and-6126 in whole blood of adults.Several important limitations were identified in the studies reviewed,and need to be taken into account in future studies.Further studies are warranted with children and adults having different levels of autism spectrum disorder severity and consideration should be given to using animal models of autism spectrum disorder to investigate the effects of suppressing or overexpressing specific microRNAs as a novel therapy.

Novel blood-based microRNA biomarker panel for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer

AIM:To develop a panel of blood-based diagnostic biomarkers consisting of circulating microRNAs for the detection of pancreatic cancer at an early stage.METHODS:Blood-based circulating microRNAs were profiled by high throughput screening using microarray analysis,comparing differential expression between early stage pancreatic cancer patients(n = 8) and healthy controls(n = 11).A panel of candidate microRNAs was generated based on the microarray signature profiling,including unsupervised clustering and statistical analysis of differential expression levels,and findings from the published literature.The selected candidate microRNAs were then confirmed using TaqMan real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR) to further narrow down to a three-microRNA diagnostic panel.The three-microRNA diagnostic panel was validated with independent experimental proce-dures and instrumentation of RT-qPCR at an independent venue with a new cohort of cancer patients(n = 11),healthy controls(n = 11),and a group of high risk controls(n = 11).Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to assess the diagnostic capability of the three-microRNA panel.RESULTS:In the initial high throughput screening,1220 known human microRNAs were screened for differential expression in pancreatic cancer patients versus controls.A subset of 42 microRNAs was then generated based on this data analysis and current published literature.Eight microRNAs were selected from the list of 42 targets for confirmation study,and three-microRNAs,miR-642b,miR-885-5p,and miR-22,were confirmed to show consistent expression between microarray and RT-qPCR.These three microRNAs were then validated and evaluated as a diagnostic panel with a new cohort of patients and controls and found to yield high sensitivity(91%) and specificity(91%) with an area under the curve of 0.97(P < 0.001).Compared to the CA19-9 marker at 73%,the three-microRNA panel has higher sensitivity although CA19-9 has higher specificity of 100%.CONCLUSION:The identified panel of three microRNA biomarkers can potentially be used as a diagnostic tool for early stage pancreatic cancer.

The critical role of therapeutic plasma exchange in ABO-incompatible liver transplantation

Background:The shortage of donor liver restricts liver transplantation(LT).Nowadays,donor liver with ABO blood group incompatibility between donor and recipient has become an option to expand the source of donor liver.Although it is now possible to perform ABO-incompatible(ABO-I)LT,antibody-mediated rejection(AMR)has been recognized as the primary cause of desperate outcomes after ABO-I LT.Anti-A/B antibody is the trigger of immune response to ABO-I LT graft injury.Therapeutic plasma ex-change(TPE)can quickly reduce the titer of plasma antibodies and effectively inhibit humoral immunity.Data sources:We searched PubMed and CNKI databases using search terms“therapeutic plasma ex-change”,“ABO-incompatible liver transplantation”,“ABO-I LT”,“liver transplantation”,“LT”,“antibody-mediated rejection”,and“AMR”.Additional publications were identified by a manual search of references from key articles.The relevant publications published before September 30,2020 were included in this review.Results:Different centers have made different attempts on whether to use TPE,when to use TPE and how often to use TPE.However,the control standard of lectin revision level is always controversial,the target titer varies significantly from center to center,and the standard target titer has not yet been estab-lished.TPE has several schemes to reduce antibody titers,but there is a lack of clinical trials that provide standardized procedures.Conclusions:TPE is essential for ABO-I LT.Hence,further research and clinical trials should be conducted to determine the best regimen for TPE to remove ABO antibodies and prevent AMR.

Cerebrospinal fluid and blood biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease

Due to an ever aging society and growing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease(AD),the challenge to meet social and health care system needs will become increasingly difficult.Unfortunately,a definite ante mortem diagnosis is not possible.Thus,an early diagnosis and identification of AD patients is critical for promising,early pharmacological interventions as well as addressing health care needs.The most advanced and most reliable markers areβ-amyloid,total tau and phosphorylated tau in cerebrospinal fluid(CSF).In blood,no single biomarker has been identified despite an intense search over the last decade.The most promising approaches consist of a combination of several bloodbased markers increasing the reliability,sensitivity and specificity of the AD diagnosis.However,contradictory data make standardized testing methods in longitudinal and multi-center studies extremely difficult.In this review,we summarize a range of the most promising CSF and blood biomarkers for diagnosing AD.

Young blood products:emerging treatment for Alzheimer's disease?

Alzheimer＇s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder and no disease-modifying treatment is currently available.Research has shown that while brain neurogenesis continues in adult life,it declines with age.Using parabiosis,plasma transfusions and direct administration of neural growth factors,animal studies have demonstrated the positive impact of exposure to young blood products on neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity in an aging brain.The hippocampus and the sub-ventricular zones were identified as the main regions affected.Promising findings have prompted researchers to experiment their effects in subjects with an established neurocognitive disorder,such as Alzheimer＇s disease.They argued that modification of brain vasculature,reactivation of adult neural stem cells,and remodeling of their synaptic activity/plasticity may lead to cognitive enhancement and increased neurogenesis.One pilot human study found that young donor plasma infusion protocols for adults with Alzheimer＇s disease were safe and feasible;however,no statistically significant improvements in cognition were detected.There is a need to conduct additional placebo-controlled human studies in larger samples.Future studies should focus on identifying an “optimal age” at which an intervention in humans may yield significant cognitive enhancement,as well as determining the types of transfusions with the best efficacy and tolerability profiles.

The Clinic Study on Synchronous Detection of HCV RNA in the Plasma and PBMC of Hepatitis C Patients

In order to increase the positive detection rate of HCV RNA in the patients with chronic hepatitis C , RT PCR was used to synchronously detect HCV RNA in the plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 583 CHC patients with a continuously elevated level of ALT for more than one year. The results showed that the positive detection rate of HCV RNA in the plasma of the CHC patients was 19.2 %, while 24.5 % in PBMC. It was demonstrated that the positive detection rate for HCV RNA in PBMC was obviously higher than that detected in plasma. To synchronously detect HCV RNA in PBMC by using RT PCR can increase the positive detection rate of HCV RNA in the CHC patients.