OBJECTIVE To analyze the susceptible factors to offer prevention and treatment of nosocomial pulmonary fungal infection in comprehensive ICU. METHODS The clinical materials of 82 patients with pulmonary fungal nosocomial infection in our department from May 2003 to May 2008 were reviewed. RESULTS The infection rate of total 836 patients was 9.81%.Candidiasis was the most frequent type in fungal infection,59.7% of which were due to Candida.The most clinical features were a large amount of light yellow sputum after tracheotomy and intratracheal indwelling cannula.The factors related to pulmonary fungal nosocomial infection were the severity of the underlying disease,tracheal intubations,broadspectrum antibiotics abuse,long-term use of glucocorticoid,interventional treatment,etc.Fluconazole,amphotericin B and voriconazole had better clinical effects on treatment of fungal infection than other antifungal drugs. CONCLUSIONS It′s important to eliminate the susceptible factors and to provide the early diagnosis and experimental treatment.

Objective To study the effect of baclofen and physical therapy on spasticity after cerebral traumatic injury.Methods20 Patients accepted Baclofen and physical therapy for 3～6 months.Blood and urine routine test,hepatic and renal function were monitored before and every 2 months after treatment.Modified Ashworth scale and Modified Barthel Index(MBI)were used for evaluation.ResultsTheir muscular tension was significantly improved(P<0.01)after treatment,as well as the MBI(P<0.01).1 case was very effective,9 cases were effective,8 cases were improved,2 cases were not effective.No side-effect was observed.ConclusionBaclofen and physical therapy is effective on spasticity after cerebral traumatic injury,especially intervening at the early stage.

Objective To analyze the resenilin-1 (PS-1) gene mutations in Alzheimer' s disease (AD) patients and investigate the influence of the initiation codon mutation on the mRNA expression of PS-1 and amyloid precursor protein (APP) genes and the expression of PS-1 proteins.Methods (1) All 111 AD patients were enrolled by the Department of Neurology,Second Affiliated Hospital,College of Medicine,Zhejiang University from July 2004 to June 2010.Mutations in the 13 exons and flanking regions of PS-1 gene were examined by direct sequencing.(2) cDNAs encoding full-length wild-type and mutant (c.1A ＞G) PS-1 were subcloned into enhanced green fluorescent protein.Levels of the mRNA expression of PS-1 and APP genes and PS-1 proteins expression in the transfected cells were detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot,respectively.Results A new heterozygous initiation codon mutation changing from ATG to GTG in one individual was identified.Compared to the control groups,the mRNA expression of the mutant PS-1 gene in HEK293 and N2a was significantly lower than the normal PS-1 gene(116.8 ± 3.9 vs 49.5 ±3.3,t =13.27,P ＜0.01 ;69.0 ± 1.9 vs 29.5 ± 1.3,t =17.20,P ＜0.01) and the APP gene was not obviously altered.The proteins were detected by Western blot analysis in HEK293 cells but not in N2a cells.Conclusions Since we only identified one novel heterozygous initiation codon mutation (from ATG to GTG),mutations in PS-1 are likely to be rare in AD patients.Initiation codon mutation would reduce the expression of PS-1 proteins.Inactivation of some of the PS-1 proteins could be insufficient to lead to AD and could be more likelv to act as a risk factor.

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) and its by-products dinitrotoluene (DNT) pose a significant threat to human health and other living organisms.However, the conventional analytical methods involved in bulky and expensive instruments are complicated and time-consuming, impeding quick and on-line determination.In this work, a facile yet effective strategy of utilizing UV-vis spectroscopy coupled with partial least squares (PLS) was proposed, through which TNT and two isomers of DNT (2,4-DNT and 2,6-DNT) in nature water could be rapidly and simultaneously determined without any pre-separation.Variable combination population analysis (VCPA) was utilized to select important feather variables and significantly improved the predictive performance of the PLS model.The calibration set contained 25 samples constructed by orthogonal array design (OAD).The predictive ability of the models was validated by an independent prediction set including 15 samples, achieving up to 0.99 of the determination coefficients (R2) for each of the analytes.The optimized models were successfully applied to determine the 3 ingredients in 8 environmental samples involving in tap, lake and two kinds of river water with the recovery values of great than 97%.Finally, the proposed method was further validated by high performance liquid chromatography method.UV-vis spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics may be used as simple and effective strategy with high potential in environmental monitoring.

Objective To study the material attribute of articular cartilage.Methods An improved 4 parameters inhomogeneous triphasic model based on 3 parameters model was developed to estimate the uniaxial modulus Ha of cartilage and to predict the swelling pattern of cartilage.Results The results showed that more accurate uniaxial modulus can be extracted using 4 parameters inhomogeneous triphasic model,and the predicted results appeared to match the experimental strain data better than other models.Conclusion Inhomogeneous 4 parameters triphasic model can describe the depth-dependent material attribute of articular cartilage more exactly.

Behcet's Disease is a chronic systemic disorder characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcerations, ocular inflammation, having manifestations related to skin and joints. Neurologic signs can also be observed seldomly during the course of the disease. In this report a case of Behcet's disease with neurological involvement was presented.

Objective To describe the pathogenic and serological test results of the plague in China from 2001 to 2009, and human and animal plague distribution. Methods Through access to information of the plague surveillance report in China from 2002 to 2010, national plague pathogenic and serological test results and the epidemic situation were analyzed from 2001 to 2009. Results From 2001 to 2009, 2966 strains of Yersinia pestis were isolated in the seven provinces which were Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, Qinghai, Tibet, Gansu and Inner Mongolia. Of these, 1 138 000 animals were detected by bacteriological method, 1998 strains of Yersinia pestis were isolated;379 227 groups of intermediary animals were detected, 927 strains of Yersinia pestis were isolated;41 strains of Yersinia pestis were isolated from human body. Animal serums of 1 169 702 were detected by indirect hemagglutination assay(IHA), of these 3177 animal serums were positive, 168 human serums were positive;53 323 animal samples were detected by reverse indirect hemagglutination assay(RIHA), of these 500 were positive. There were outbreak or epidemic of plague in 9 types of plague foci, 2925 strains of Yersinia pestis were isolated. Two animals and 6 fleas were judged as new reservoir and new vector. There were 23 counties of 6 provinces were judged as plague new natural foci counties. Conclusions The plague epidemic in China is still serious between 2001 and 2009. There are nine types of foci in the active state.

Adult ; China ; epidemiology ; Dust ; Humans ; Iron ; Male ; Metallurgy ; Occupational Exposure ; Pneumoconiosis ; diagnostic imaging ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Radiography ; Risk Factors ; Steel ; Welding

The present study is to elucidate the mechanisms underlying Gleevec-induced apoptosis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) K562 cells in vitro. The apoptotic cell death and cell cycle distribution after Gleevec treatment and the effect of PDCD4 siRNA on Gleevec-induced apoptosis of K562 cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. The effect of Gleevec on p-Crkl, caspase-3, PARP and PDCD4 protein levels, and the knockdown efficacy of PDCD4 siRNA were detected by Western blotting. The results showed that Gleevec dramatically suppressed the phosphorylation level of Crkl in a dose-dependent manner and induced significant apoptosis and G0/G1 cell cycle arrest of K562 cells in time- and dose-dependent manners. In addition, Gleevec activated caspase-3 and its downstream substrates PARP, and the caspase pan inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK (50 micromol x L(-1)) markedly reduced Gleevec-induced apoptosis from 47.97% +/- 10.56% to 31.05% +/- 9.206% (P < 0.05). Moreover, Gleevec significantly increased the protein expression of programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4). PDCD4 knockdown by siRNA reduced Gleevec-induced apoptosis from 46.97% +/- 14.32% to 42.8% +/- 11.43%. In summary, Gleevec induced apoptosis in K562 cells via caspase-3 activation.
Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Benzamides ; pharmacology ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Humans ; Imatinib Mesylate ; K562 Cells ; Phosphorylation ; Piperazines ; pharmacology ; Pyrimidines ; pharmacology

BACKGROUND:Retinoid X receptor (RXR) plays a central role in the regulation of intracellular receptor signaling pathways. The activation of RXR has protective effect on H2O2-induced apoptosis of H9c2 ventricular cells in rats. But the protective effect and mechanism of activating RXR in cardiomyocytes against hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-induced oxidative iniury are stillunclear. METHODS:The model of H/R injury was established through hypoxia for 2 hours and reoxygenation for 4 hours in H9c2 cardiomyocytes of rats. 9-cis-retinoic acid (9-cis RA) was obtained as an RXR agonist, and HX531 as an RXR antagonist. Cultured cardiomyocytes were randomly divided into four groups:sham group, H/R group, H/R+9-cis RA -pretreated group (100 nmol/L 9-cis RA), and H/R+9-cis RA+HX531-pretreated group (2.5 μmol/L HX531). The cellviability was measured by MTT, apoptosis rate of cardiomyocytes by flow cytometry analysis, and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) by JC-1 fluorescent probe, and protein expressions of Bcl-2, Bax and cleaved caspase-9 with Western blotting. Allmeasurement data were expressed as mean±standard deviation, and analyzed using one-way ANOVA and the Dunnett test. Differences were considered significant whenP was <0.05. RESULTS:Pretreatment with RXR agonist enhanced cellviability, reduced apoptosis ratio, and stabled ΔΨm. Dot blotting experiments showed that under H/R stress conditions, Bcl-2 protein level decreased, while Bax and cleaved caspase-9 were increased. 9-cis RA administration before H/R stress prevented these effects, but the protective effects of activating RXR on cardiomyocytes against H/R induced oxidative injury were abolished when pretreated with RXR pan-antagonist HX531. CONCLUSION:The activation of RXR has protective effects against H/R injury in H9c2 cardiomyocytes of rats through attenuating signaling pathway of mitochondria apoptosis.