Effects of Micronutrients on Oxidative Stress and Islet Function in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Rats:Relationships to Th2 Type Cytokines,Interleukin-4,and Interluekin-10

To observe the effects of the micronutrients on oxidative and autoimmune destruction of islets so as to prevent a person from the onset and development of type 1 Diabetes Mellitus （T1DM）, the interleukin-4 and interleukin-10 expressions of lymphocytes in peripheral blood and spleen of T1DM rats were determined by flow cytometry. GSH-Px activity and MDA level in the rats＇ pancreas were measured using biochemical methods. The insulin contents in serum and β cell insulin secret storage were tested by RIA and IHC, respectively. There was an increase in the percentages of IL-4 and IL-10 positive lymphocytes in the peripheral blood and spleen of the groups of rats supplemented with various combinations of micronutrients（p 〈0.01 and p 〈0.05, respectively） ; the blood glucose concentration decreased （p 〈 0. 05 ） ; both the functional β cell in islets and the insulin content in pancreatic tissue increased （p 〈 0. 05 and p 〈0. 01 ） ; the GSH-Px activity and MDA level of pancreas in the rats enhanced and decreased respectively（p 〈0. 01 and p 〈 0. 05）. The results suggest that micronutrients may alleviate the islet lesions by upregulating the expressions of IL-4 and IL-10 and lowering oxidative stress in diabetic rats .

Improved Allele-specific Polymerase Chain Reaction for Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Genotyping

An improved allele-specific PCR（AS-PCR） approach was applied to investigating -55C/T polymorphism in promoter region of the uncoupling protein 3（UCP3）gene. AS-PCR is a competitive PCR method which is based on positioning the 3＇ base of a PCR primer to match one single nucleotide polymorphism（SNP） allele and accurately extend only the correctly matched primer. But it is limited in use because of its poor specificity. In this study, we improved the specificity of AS-PCR by introducing additional mismatch at the penultimate base of 3＇ end of AS-PCR primer in combination with decreasing the level of dNTP in the reaction mixture. Sensitivity, specificity and reliability of this method were assessed for both simple plasmid model and complex human genomic SNP targets. The -55C/T（rs1800849） polymorphisrn of the UCP3 gene was analyzed via this AS-PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism（RFLP）, the latter was used as a gold standard. The results suggest that the increase in AS-PCR discrimination with this method should facilitate the use of this simple, rapid, and inexpensive technique for SNP genotyping application.

How Much Do We Know about Atopic Asthma: Where Are We Now?

Asthma is a common disease in the worldwide and it affects over 3.5 million adults and children in the UK. Asthma is a chronic disease characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness, airway inflammation, airway remodelling and reversible airway obstruction. Inflammatory cells, cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules, and mediators are involved in pathogenesis of asthma. Chronic airway inflammation and remodelling are the major characters in asthma, which result in decreased pulmonary function. The precise processes are far understood at moment. Although corticosteroid therapy plus other exiting drugs （bronchodilators and oral leukotriene receptor antagonists） influences many different inflammatory and structural cell types and continues to be as the ＂gold standard＂ of therapy in asthma, many thousands have chronic, severe diseases and suffer daily symptoms which make their lives a misery. There remains a clear need for novel approaches to therapy, which will be informed by a clearer understanding of disease pathogenesis, particularly in the target organ where airway inflammation and remodelling, the hallmarks of asthma occur. Cellular ＆ Molecular Immunology.