Diversity of honey stores and their impact on pathogenic bacteria of the honeybee,Apis mellifera

Honeybee colonies offer an excellent environment for microbial pathogen development. The highest virulent, colony killing, bacterial agents are Paenibacillus larvae causing American foulbrood (AFB), and European foulbrood (EFB) associated bacteria. Besides the innate immune defense, honeybees evolved behavioral defenses to combat infections. Foraging of antimicrobial plant compounds plays a key role for this “social immunity” behavior. Secondary plant metabolites in floral nectar are known for their antimicrobial effects. Yet, these compounds are highly plant specific, and the effects on bee health will depend on the floral origin of the honey produced. As worker bees not only feed themselves, but also the larvae and other colony members, honey is a prime candidate acting as self‐medication agent in honeybee colonies to prevent or decrease infections. Here, we test eight AFB and EFB bacterial strains and the growth inhibitory activity of three honey types. Using a high‐throughput cell growth assay, we show that all honeys have high growth inhibitory activity and the two monofloral honeys appeared to be strain specific. The specificity of the monofloral honeys and the strong antimicrobial potential of the polyfloral honey suggest that the diversity of honeys in the honey stores of a colony may be highly adaptive for its “social immunity” against the highly diverse suite of pathogens encountered in nature. This ecological diversity may therefore operate similar to the well‐known effects of host genetic variance in the arms race between host and parasite.     

抗炎性细胞因子与抑郁症

细胞因子假说是关于抑郁症发病机理的重要假说,为探讨抑郁症的发病机理和临床治疗方法提供了新方向.细胞因子分为前炎性细胞因子和抗炎性细胞因子.前炎性细胞因子与抑郁症的发病密切相关,而抗炎性细胞因子可能具有抗抑郁的作用.本文着重综述抗炎性细胞因子与抑郁症的关系.抗炎性细胞因子如白介素10、白介素1受体拮抗剂、白介素4、白介素13、转化生长因子β和脂联素等,在抑郁症中表达下降;补充外源抗炎性细胞因子则具有一定的抗抑郁作用.抗炎性细胞因子可通过拮抗前炎性细胞因子的作用,并与MAPK信号通路、神经递质和糖皮质激素相互作用而参与到抑郁症中.抗抑郁药能使抗炎性细胞因子的表达上升,这可能是药物起效的机制之一.抗炎策略在抑郁症的治疗中有重要应用前景.     

哈尔滨市综合医院病人用药安全管理现状研究

运用分层随机抽样的方法,在哈尔滨市抽取5家三级和5家二级综合医院作为研究对象,在药品监管组织与规制、药品储存与养护、医嘱管理、药品的调配和分发、给药、用药安全监测、安全文化建设等7个方面进行了病人用药安全管理现状调查研究。发现了病人用药安全管理存在的薄弱环节,分析了问题产生的原因并且提出相应的改进措施,为提高医院药品安全管理水平,保障病人用药安全提供了理论依据。     

百里香酚联合苯唑西林对耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌(MRSA)生物被膜的影响

【背景】耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌(methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus,MRSA)能以生物被膜的状态存在,从而产生多重耐药性和持续性感染。【目的】通过研究百里香酚和苯唑西林单用和联用对耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌生物被膜的形成抑制和清除作用,探究联合用药对MRSA生物被膜的影响,为临床联合应用抗MRSA药物提供理论依据。【方法】采用微量肉汤稀释法测定苯唑西林对MRSA标准菌株USA300的最低抑菌浓度;采用结晶紫染色法和菌落计数法评估百里香酚和苯唑西林单用和联用对USA300生物被膜形成抑制和清除作用。【结果】百里香酚和苯唑西林在亚抑菌浓度下对USA300生物被膜的形成具有一定的抑制作用。在较高浓度下,百里香酚对其24 h和72 h形成的生物被膜有良好的清除作用,而苯唑西林无清除作用。两药联用对生物被膜的抑制和清除作用进一步增强,在较低浓度下有较好的抑制和清除效果。【结论】百里香酚和苯唑西林联合用药与单独用药相比,对USA300的生物被膜的抑制和清除作用增强,两药联合有协同抗菌作用。     

In Vivo Spectrophotometric Determination of Striatal Acetylcholinesterase Activity: The Modulation Induced by the Antidepressant Amitriptyline

A new technology called in vivo spectrophotometry was applied to the quantitative determination of the variations in local acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities. Repeated measurements of the enzyme activities in the same live animal allowed the study of the in vivo inhibition of AChE by amitriptyline. Interactions between AChE and this tricyclic antidepressant were investigated at the striatal level in anesthetized rats. In this anesthetized model, AChE assays were shown to be stable for approximately 8 h. The dose-effect relationship was explored in the 2.5- to 50-mg/kg amitriptyline range. A reversible inhibition was observed after acute amitriptyline administration. The maximum of inhibition appeared between 90 and 210 min after the intoxication and reached up to 22% for the 50-mg/kg dose. The threshold dose was established as 8 mg/kg. Evidence for an indirect interaction between tricyclic antidepressant and AChE was demonstrated when the total integrity of the biological system was preserved.     

Initiation and outcomes with Class Ic antiarrhythmic drug therapy

Background

Expert opinion recommends performing exercise testing with initiation of Class Ic antiarrhythmic medication.

Forensic analysis of eleven cyclic antidepressants in human biological samples using a new reversed-phase chromatographic column of 2 μm porous microspherical silica gel

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the forensic analysis of eleven frequently used cyclic antidepressant drugs (ADSs) (amitriptyline, amoxapine, clomipramine, desipramine, dosulepine, doxepin, imipramine, maprotiline, melitracen, mianserine and nortriptyline) using a recently developed reversed-phase column with 2 μm particles for the analysis of biological samples. The separation was carried out using two different C₈ reversed-phase columns (column 1: 100 mm × 4.6 mm I.D., particle size 2 μm, TSK gel Super-Octyl; column 2: 100 mm × 4.6 mm I.D., particle size 5 μm, Hypersil MOS-C₈) for comparison. The mobile phase was composed of methanol-20 mM KH₂PO₄ (pH 7) (60:40, v/v) and the flow-rate was 0.6 ml/min for both columns. The absorbance of the eluent was monitored at 254 nm. When the eleven drugs were determined, the sensitivity with the 2 μm particles was about five times greater than with the 5 μm particles. Retention times on column 1 were shorter than those on column 2. These results show that the new ODS column packing with a particle size of 2 μm gives higher sensitivity and a shorter analysis time than the conventional ODS column packing when applied to the analysis of biological samples.     

Effects of Different Once-a-Day Medications on 24-Hour Blood Pressure Recordings in Hypertensives

Compliance with antihypertensive treatment can be increased by using medications that are taken only once daily. There is, however, concern as to whether the efficacy of such drugs is sufficient to cover 24 h. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is an ideal technique to assess the effect of this kind of drug and to determine over- or undertreatment. In this study three drugs were examined as once-a-day preparations. Thirty-six patients were treated with three different doses of bisoprolol, as an example of the β,-selective beta-blockers; 12 patients were treated with a combination of the AChE-inhibitor enalapril and hydrochlorothiazide; eight patients were treated with nifedipine once per day, a new galenic form of nifedipine, as an example of the calcium-channel blockers. In each group we saw a significant downward shift over the entire 24-h curve. Our results also show that using 24-h blood pressure monitoring devices can help establish an appropriate dose, avoid over- and undertreatment, and control the total burden of the patient.     

Augmented reality for personalized nanomedicines

As our understanding of onset and progress of diseases at the genetic and molecular level rapidly progresses, the potential of advanced technologies, such as 3D-printing, Socially-Assistive Robots (SARs) or augmented reality (AR), that are applied to personalized nanomedicines (PNMs) to alleviate pathological conditions, has become more prominent. Among advanced technologies, AR in particular has the greatest potential to address those challenges and facilitate the translation of PNMs into formidable clinical application of personalized therapy.As AR is about to adapt additional new methods, such as speech, voice recognition, eye tracing and motion tracking, to enable interaction with host response or biological systems in 3-D space, a combination of multiple approaches to accommodate varying environmental conditions, such as public noise and atmosphere brightness, will be explored to improve its therapeutic outcomes in clinical applications. For instance, AR glasses still being developed by Facebook or Microsoft will serve as new platform that can provide people with the health information they are interested in or various measures through which they can interact with medical services.This review has addressed the current progress and impact of AR on PNMs and its application to the biomedical field. Special emphasis is placed on the application of AR based PNMs to the treatment strategies against senior care, drug addiction and medication adherence.