Adult intussusception is an unusual and challenging condition and is a preoperative diagnostic problem. We discuss our 20 years of experience in treatment strategies for dealing with such unusual problems.

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Stroke is known as the top 10 causes of death worldwide. Development of effectively neuroprotective or preventive strategies for ischemia stroke is imperative. For the purpose of stroke prevention, we tested the neuroprotective effects of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) on ischemic stroke. Adult C57BL/6 mice were used to daily treatment with LIPUS for 5 days on left hemisphere before middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO)-induced cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were performed to assess the protein expressions of signaling molecules. Pretreatment with LIPUS significantly ameliorated the brain ischemic damage, including the reduction of neurological deficit score, infarct area, histopathological score, and showed a better performance in neurological and behavior functions. LIPUS pretreatment could also significantly decrease the neuronal cell apoptosis and upregulation of apoptosis-related signaling molecules and downregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in brain tissues of MCAO-treated mice. Furthermore, LIPUS significantly prevented the decreased cell viability, the increased caspase-3 cleavage, and the decreased BDNF expression in ischemia/reperfusion-treated microglial cells. These results demonstrate that LIPUS effectively prevented the cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury through apoptosis reduction and BDNF induction in a MCAO mouse model. The neuroprotective potential of LIPUS may provide a novel preventive strategy for ischemic stroke in high-risk patients.

These findings suggest that CHOP regulates not only apoptosis-related signaling but also ROS formation and inflammation in renal tubular cells during I/R. CHOP may play an important role in the pathophysiology of I/R-induced renal injury.

For a long time Asian scorpion Buthus martensi Karsch (BmK) has been used in Chinese traditional medicine to cure many diseases of nervous system. Here we report the purification and characterization of a pharmacologically active neurotoxin from the scorpion BmK. This toxin had little toxicity in mice and insects but was found to have an anti-epilepsy effect in rats, and is thus named as BmK antiepilepsy peptide (BmK AEP). Its amino-acid sequence was determined by lysylendopeptidase digestion, Edman degradation and mass spectrographic analysis. Based on the determined sequence, the gene coding for this peptide was also cloned and sequenced by the 3 H and 5 H RACE methods. It encodes a precursor of 85 amino-acid residues including a signal peptide of 21 residues, a mature peptide of 61 residues and three additional residues Gly-Lys-Lys at the C-terminus. The additional Gly sometimes followed by one or two basic residues is prerequisite for the amidation of its C-terminus. C-terminal amidation was also verified by the molecular-mass determination of BmK AEP. This anti-epilepsy peptide toxin shares homology with other depressant insect toxins. The remarkable difference between them was mainly focused at residues 6, 7 and 39; these residues might relate to the unique action of BmK AEP.Keywords: amidation; epilepsy; RACE; scorpion neurotoxin; sequence.Scorpion venom is a rich source of polypeptide neurotoxins that affect ion channels specifically; they can be classified into two groups according to their molecular sizes, namely long-chain and short-chain neurotoxins. Among the longchain neurotoxins, some are only toxic to mammals [1,2] and others are insect-specific neurotoxins [3±5]. Thus, they are called mammalian-specific and insect-specific neurotoxins, respectively. According to the effect on housefly larvae, insect-specific neurotoxins can be further divided into two groups. The depressant toxins induce a slow progressive flaccid paralysis preceded by a short transient phase of contraction [5±7], while the excitatory toxins induce an immediate reversible fast contraction paralysis [5,8].The neurotoxins from the scorpion Buthus martensi Karsch (BmK), a species widely distributed in China, have been studied thoroughly. Up to now, several mammalianspecific neurotoxins, BmK M1, M4, M8 For a long time, the whole body or tail of the scorpion BmK has been used as a Chinese traditional medicine to cure some neural diseases. Therefore, it is worth searching for some pharmacologically effective components from this BmK venom. For example, an excitatory insect neurotoxin with an analgesic effect on mice was purified and characterized [8]. In the late 1980s, a peptide with an anti-epilepsy effect was found from the same venom, named as BmK AEP, and its partial N-terminal sequence was also determined [22]. This peptide had remarkable inhibitory effect on coriaria lactone-induced epilepsy in rats but little toxicity in mice. In addition, BmK AEP had hardly any effect on heart rate, electroencephalogram and breathing rate, an...