Objective:To investigate middle school students' parent-related fears of poor performance on im- portant examinations in the United Stated and China.Methods:The“Failure Outcome Expectancy (FOE)”inventory was used to measure students' perceptions of test anxiety in a sample of 1,215 public middle school students,ages 14and 15.Results:The findings indicated that students in different countries reported similar trends in the reasons for their parent-related test anxiety including student worries with respect to confidence about admission to higher institu- tions,and student contributions to parental annoyances in relation to academic achievement.However,cross-cultural differences revealed that Chinese students reported significantly expectations,or the potential for annoying their par- ents than American students.American students reported a significantly stronger preoccupation about their capacity to face challenges in life than Chinese students.Additionally,gender differences were more significant in the western culture of the United States than in China.American female students reported stronger perceptions on seven items of parent-related causes of their test anxiety than Chinese female students.Chinese male students reported stronger pre- occupation only on two items than their American counterpart.Conclusion:Chinese and American students have similar trends in the reasons for their parent-related test anxiety.There are also culture difference and gender differ- ence in this problem.

Adult ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

Air Pollution, Indoor ; statistics & numerical data ; Hong Kong ; Noise, Occupational ; statistics & numerical data ; Restaurants ; statistics & numerical data ; Temperature

Objective To investigate the potential of chronic myeloid leukemia ( CML) cell line KCL22 in indu-cing leukemia in NOD-SCID mice for setting up a basis for constructing a CML mouse transplantation tumor model. Methods 2 ×107 KCL22 cells in logarithmic growth phase were injected via the tail vein into experimental NOD-SCID mice whereas PBS was injected to the mice of control group.General condition of the mice of both groups was observed.Wright staining was used to observe the changes of blood and bone marrow smears.PCR was conducted to detect the transcription level of BCR-ABL, and histology with HE staining was used to evaluate the tumor cell invasion in the liver and spleen. Results Four weeks after the injection of KCL22 cells, the mice in experimental group showed physical signs of decreased reactivity, depression, swollen hindlimb muscles and petechia on the hindlimb femur.Peripheral white blood cells ( WBC) began to increase after 5 weeks, with a significantly increased quantity compared with the control group (P<0.05).Imma-ture granulocytes could be seen in blood and bone marrow smears, and tumor cell infiltration was found in the liver and spleen.BCR-ABL was highly expressed in bone marrow cells.Survival time of the experimental mice without therapy was 70 days, significantly shorter than that in the control group ( >90 days) (P<0.05).Conclusions A NOD-SCID mouse model of CML transplantation tumor is successfully established with leukemia KCL22 cells.

Objective To construct BCR-ABL SH3-T79Y mutant recombinant adenovirus vectors and investigate its effects on apoptosis of K562/G01 cells.Methods SH3-T79Y mutant was amplified by overlapping PCR with pMig210 as template and cloned into recombinant adenovirus vectors .After identifying , packaging and amplifying , the recombinant adenovirus vectors containing SH 3-T79Y mutant was collected .Recombinant adenovirus vectors were transferred into K562/G01 cells.Then transfection efficiency was determinated , changes of cell morphology were observed by Wright 's staining , cell apoptosis was evaluated by flow cytometry , BCR-ABL and CrkL phospho-rylation was detected by Western blot .Results The vectors were successfully constructed .Transfection efficiency was more than 80%after transferring into K562/G01 cells for 72 h;there was obvious apoptosis phenomenon , cell apoptosis significantly increased to 32.46% compared with the control groups ( P<0.05 ) , BCR-ABL and CrkL phosphorylation significantly decreased and so did the expression of BCR-ABL( P<0.05 ) .Conclusions Success-fully constructed the SH 3-T79 Y mutant recombinant adenovirus vectors and it may promote the apoptosis of K 562/G01 cells by inhibiting BCR-ABL and CrkL phosphorylation .

BACKGROUND:Bone morphogenetic proteins are associated with the formation and development of scars. Fibroblasts are closely related to the proliferation and maturation of scars. However, the expression of bone morphogenetic proteins in fibroblasts in different stage of hypertrophic scars remains poorly understood.
OBJECTIVE:To observe the expression of bone morphogenetic protein 2/4, bone morphogenetic protein 7, bone morphogenetic protein receptor IA in fibroblasts in different stage of hypertrophic scars.
METHODS:The immunohistochemical SP method was employed to detect the expression of bone morphogenetic protein 2/4, bone morphogenetic protein 7, bone morphogenetic protein receptor IA in fibroblasts in 20 cases of proliferative stage hypertrophic scar and 20 cases of maturation stage hypertrophic scar. Al samples were obtained from the Department of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, the People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The expression of bone morphogenetic protein 2/4 in fibroblasts in proliferative hypertrophic scars significantly elevated compared with mature hypertrophic scars (P<0.05). In various stages of hypertrophic scars, the expression of bone morphogenetic protein 7 and bone morphogenetic protein receptor IA in fibroblasts was not obviously different (P>0.05). Results demonstrated that bone morphogenetic protein 2/4 expression down-regulated during the development from proliferative stage to maturation stages in fibroblasts in hypertrophic scars. However, there was no change in the expression of bone morphogenetic protein 7 and bone morphogenetic protein receptor IA.

AIM:To detect the activation of macrophage autophagy caused by lipopolysaccharide ( LPS) and the possible related signaling pathways .METHODS:The macrophage cell line RAW264.7 cultured in vitro was divided into 5 groups according to the culture environment , including normal culture group , starvation-activated sautophagy group , LPS group, LPS+PI3K inhibitor (hVps34) group and LPS+mTOR inhibitor (rapamycin) group.Fluorescent expression vector pcDNA3.1-GFP-LC3 constructed in previous work was transfected into the macrophages .The fluorescence microscopy was used to detect the formation of autophagosome .The mRNA expression of autophagy-associated genes Atg5, Atg7, LC3-II and Bnip3 in the macrophages was detected by qRT-PCR.The protein levels of LC3-II, p-Akt and p-mTOR were deter-mined by Western blotting , so as to evaluate the molecular pathways of autophagy in LPS-activated macrophages .RE-SULTS:The macrophages stably expressing GFP-LC3 were successfully established , which were used to observe the auto-phagy under fluorescence microscope .Compared with normal culture group , the autophagy in starvation group , LPS +hVps34 group and LPS+rapamycin group was significantly increased .The mRNA expression levels of Atg5, LC3-II and Bnip3 were significantly increased in starvation group , LPS+hVps34 group and LPS +rapamycin group , while in LPS group, those decreased slightly .The protein level of p-Akt in starvation group , LPS group and LPS+rapamycin group was significantly increased , while p-mTOR in starvation group , LPS+hVps34 group and LPS+rapamycin group significantly declined .LC3-II expression level in starvation group , LPS+hVps34 group and LPS+rapamycin group was higher than that in control group and LPS group .CONCLUSION: LPS regulates macrophage autophagy , and its possible pathway is the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, but there are some other effective regulatory pathways .

Objective: To explore the correlation of plasma level N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in patients with non-diabetic acute myocardial infarction (AMI) combining stress hyperglycemia.
Methods: A total of 327 non-diabetic AMI patients treated in our hospital from 2012-02 to 2014-05 were studied. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to fasting blood glucose level:Stress group, the patients with blood glucose≥7.0 mmol/L, n=182 and Non-stress group, the patients with blood glucose<7.0 mmol/L, n=145. The basic clinical condition, laboratory tests within 24 hours of onsets, echocardiography and 24 h dynamic electrocardiogram were examined;the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) including arrhythmia, heart failure, cardiac shock and sudden cardiac death in 2 weeks of onsets were analyzed and compared between 2 groups.
Results: The patients’ age, gender, history of hypertension, smoking, drinking, and blood levels of TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C were similar between 2 groups, P>0.05. Plasma levels of NT-proBNP, CK-MB, MYO, ultra-TnI, ALT, AST and blood glucose level were signiifcantly different between 2 groups P<0.01. NT-proBNP level was positively related to
ultra-TnI (r2=0.811, r=0.901, P<0.01). Stress group presented obviously higher incidence of MACE (P<0.05), lower LVEF (P<0.01), and signiifcantly increased left ventricular end diastolic diameter, left ventricular end systolic diameter (P<0.01) than those in Non-stress group.
Conclusion: Plasma levels of NT-proBNP may judge the severity and evaluate recent prognosis in patients with non-diabetic AMI combining stress hyperglycemia, it could be used as a risk indicator for relevant patients in clinical practice.

The effects of Cinnamon granules on pharmacokinetics of berberine in Rhizoma Coptidis granules in healthy male volunteers, and the compatibility mechanism of Jiao-Tai-Wan (JTW) composed of Rhizoma Coptidis granules and Cinnamon granules were investigated. The concentration of berberine in plasma of healthy male volunteers was determined directly by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) after an oral administration of Rhizoma Coptidis granules alone or combined with Cinnamon granules (JTW). The plasma concentration-time curves of berberine were plotted. The data were analyzed with Drug and Statistics (DAS) 2.0 pharmacokinetic program (Chinese Pharmacology Society) to obtain the main pharmacokinetic parameters. The results showed that the plasma concentration-time curve of berberine was described by a two-compartment model. The C(max), T(max), t(1/2) and CLz/F of berberine in Rhizoma Coptidis granules were 360.883 μg/L, 2.0 h, 3.882 h, 119.320 L·h(-1)·kg(-1) respectively, and those of berberine in JTW were 396.124 μg/L, 1.5 h, 4.727 h, 57.709 L·h(-1)·kg(-1) respectively. It was suggested that Rhizoma Coptidis granules combined with Cinnamon granules could increase the plasma concentration of berberine, promote berberine absorption and lengthen the detention time of berberine in healthy male volunteers.

Background Researches documented that retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) in unaffected carriers of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) becomes thickened in different quadrants to different degrees.But the change of their macular thickness is still unclear.Objective This study was to clarify RNFLT and macular thickness by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in unaffected female carriers of LHON families.Methods Five female LHON patients (5 eyes) from 5 LHON families,eighteen unaffected female carriers (18eyes) from 18 LHON families and twenty-five age-matched healthy female controls (25 eyes) were included in this study.The patients and genetic carriers were diagnosed in PLA General Hospital from 2011 September to 2012 October.Regular ocular examination were performed followed by OCT measurement of retinas.The Optic Disc Cube 200×200 and Macular Cube 200×200 protocols were used during the OCT measurement.Average (360°) RNFLT,RNFLT at four quadrantic sections,cube average macular thickness and macular thickness of nine Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) sub-areas were compared among the LHON genetic carriers,LHON patients and normal controls.Results Compared to the normal control group,significant reduced values were seen in temporal,superior,nasal and inferior side of sub-area macular thickness in the LHON female carriers (P=0.022,0.046,0.024,0.008).In addition,but no significant differences were found in cube average thickness,central subarea macular thickness,temporal,superior,nasal and inferior side of lateral sub-area macular thickness,average RNFLT,and temporal,superior,nasal and inferior quadrant RNFLT between the LHON female carriers and normal controls (P=0.102,0.051,0.238,0.663,0.1 10,0.104,0.419,0.371,0.158,0.063,0.563).Compared to the unaffected female carrier group,female patients showed significant reductions in cube average macular thickness,temporal,superior,nasal and inferior side of sub-area macular thickness,temporal,superior,nasal and inferior side of lateral sub-area mac ular thickness,average R NFLT and temporal,superior,and inferior quadrant RNFLT (P =0.000,0.000,0.000,0.007,0.002,0.002,0.000,0.000,0.040,0.000,0.016,0.000,0.000) except for the central subarea macular thickness and nasal quadrant RNFLT (P=0.388,0.580).Conclusions Unaffected LHON female carriers show a normal peripapillary RNFLT,but the macular thickness at medial sub-area is thinner.This first report offers an information of macular structure change in unaffected LHON female carriers,which suggest that macular damage appears prior to RNFLT change.