Chemical Industry ; Humans ; Occupational Exposure ; Risk Assessment

BACKGROUND: Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(HIE) is the primary cause of neonatal brain injury, which retards the mental development in affected infants.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of early intervention on mental and psychological development in infants with HIE, study the time-effect relation of the early intervention, and to find an optimal time for intervention.DESIGN: A time series of following-up and a non-randomized concurrent controlled investigation.SETTING: Xiangya Hospital and Xiangya School of Medicine Affiliated to Central South University.PARTICIPANTS: From February 1999 to May 2001, in the Pediatric Department of Xiangya Hospital Affiliated to the Central South University, the inpatient and outpatient infants with HIE were selected. There were 32 inpatients in the intervention group, 10 with moderate HIE and 22 with severe HIE. There were 36 outpatients in the control group, 10 with moderate HIE and 26 with severe HIE. Comparison was performed between these two groups.METHODS: BRS and the Infant and Child Mental Development Scales,made by The Institute of Psychology of The Chinese Academy of Science and The China National Children' s Center(CNCC), were adopted in the assessment between the two groups.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mental Development Index(MDI) and Psychomotor Development Index(PDI) scores of the two groups were compared.were significantly higher in the intervention group(90.50 ± 11.12/90. 34±12.49,94.06±14.96/92.03±13.07,90.78±7.46/91.38 ± 13.87)than those in the control group(62.28±7.44/62.67±6.06, 59.11following-up results showed that one patient in the intervention group had a MDI score at the critical threshold value, and two patients had PDI scores at the critical threshold value. For all the other patients in this group, the MDI/PDI scores of them were above the moderate range. In contrast, all the 36 infants in control group had developed mental deficiencies at that time.CONCLUSION: A quantifiable effect of the intervention can be observed in patients at 3 months of life. This indicates that an early intervention is essential for improving the mental development in infants with HIE.

BACKGROUND: Herbal wines are an important part of the traditional Chinese medicine. The traditional medicated wine, lishizhen herbal wine,which can strengthen the immune function, has long been used for some chronic diseases. But,its mechanism remains unclear.OBJECTIVE: To explore the immune pharmacodynamics of lishizhen herbal wine and to observe its effect on the immune organs (spleen,pancreas) and lymphocyte transformation rate in mice.DESIGN: A randomized controlled experiment based on the observation of the experimental animals.SETTING: Department of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine and the department of pharmacology of a university hospital MATERIALS: The experiment was completed at the Central Laboratory of Zhongnain Hospital of Wuhan University from September 2000 to December 2000. A total of 90 healthy Kuming mice were involved in the study.METHODS: Different doses of the herbal wine,cartinellin and the same volume of distilled water were given to the experimental animals. The drug administration was orally injected directly to the stomach of the animals once a day and 10 days consecutively. One hour after the last administration,the animals were put to death. Then,the thymus gland and the spleen were taken out and weighed to calculate the indexes of the thymus gland and the spleen. In the last three days of the administration phytohemagglutinin(PHA)was injected intramuscularly at a dose of 10 mg/kg once per day. Two hours after the last administration, the tails of the mice were cut out, the blood samples were taken to perform the Wright' s staining,and 100 lymphocytes were counted under immersion and the transformation rate was calculated.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary results: ① The effect on the immune organs of normal mice; ② The effect of PHA on stimulating the lymphocyte transformation in mice. Secondary results: ③ The death condition of the experimental animalsRESULTS: Different doses of the herbal wine increased the spleen index in different degrees. The effect of medium dose group was obvious[(3.71± 0.78) g/kg] (P <0.05),and the thymus gland index increased a little (P>0.05). The cartinellin in the positive control group increased the spleen index[(3.79±0.91 ) g/kg] and there was no impact on thymus gland index. The transformation rates of the lymphocytes of different groups were increased to a different degree and presented a good quantity-effect relationship,especially the group administered a large dose[(45±14)%] (P<0. 01).CONCLUSION: Lishizhen herbal wine has an effect of increasing cellular immune function.

Objective · To explore the correlation between variants located in 3' untranslated regions (3'UTR) of NOTCH1 and JAG1 genes and conotruncal heart defects (CTD). Methods · Six hundred CTD children without 22q11 deletion and three hundred healthy children were enrolled in this hospital-based case-control study. Variants located in the 3'UTR regions of NOTCH1 and JAG1 genes were detected by high-throughput sequencing. The accuracy of the variants were verified by PCR and Sanger sequencing. Online software PicTar, TargetScan and microRNA.org were used to make functional predictions. Results · One mutation and three SNPs were found in the 3'UTR of NOTCH1. Three mutations and six SNPs were found in the 3'UTR of JAG1. The genotypic distributions of two SNPs (rs3840074 and rs8708) located in JAG13'UTR between CTD group and the controls were statistically significant (both P<0.05). Results of prediction showed that all the four mutations and two meaningful SNPs could bind to microRNA. Conclusion · The variants located in 3'UTR regions of NOTCH1 and JAG1 genes may be related to the occurrence of CTD.

Animals ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Toluene 2,4-Diisocyanate ; metabolism ; pharmacokinetics ; urine

BACKGROUND: Microcirculation disturbance of pharynx may be one of the pathogenesis base caused recurrent attacks of chronic pharyngitis. The negative pressure can improve the microcirculation of inflammary target organs by biomechanical changes.OBJECTIVE: To explore the therapeutic effect of oral negative pressure on patients with chronic pharyngitis and nail fold microcirculation.DESIGN: A randomized single blind controlled observation.SETTING: Department of Pathophysiology of Hebei North University.PARTICIPANTS: A total of 65 patients with chronic pharyngitis and course of disease about 1-3 years admitted to Department of Neurology,First affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University from January to September 2002 were selected. They were randomly divided into treatment group (n=35) and control group (n=30), including 36 cases with chronic pharyngitis (18 cases from the treatment group, 18 cases from the control group), 29with chronic hypertrophied pharyngitis (17 cases from the treatment group,12 cases from the control group).METHODS: The Hices oral negative pressure instrument was used and the negative pressure exert equipment was put into the optimal position of the patients' mouth to keep the negative pressure of (0.05±0.01) Mpa, 10minutes once (the first therapy time was 5 minutes), once daily and the time was fixed, 5 days as a period of therapy for three periods. Patients in the control group were also given the negative pressure exerts equipment,but no negative pressure was exerted.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Observation and evaluation of nail fold microcirculation: The nail fold microcirculation was observed by the XTL- Ⅱ microcirculation micro-television system, and the first row nail fold of the left ring figure was checked conventionally to record the state of microvessel, state of micro-bloodstream and peri-loop. The degree of microcirculatory disturbance was quantitatively analyzed according to Tian Niu's weighing integral method, the lower the scores, the better the microcirculation. ②The improvement of chronic pharyngitis after treatment of 3courses.RESULTS: Totally 65 patients with chronic pharyngitis entered the stage of result analysis. ①After 1 course of treatment, the symptoms of 1/3 of the patients in the treatment group were significantly improved; after 3 courses of treatment, except there was no obvious changes of hypertrophied morphology such as lymphatic follicle proliferation on posterior wall of throat and hypertrophy on side cable of throat, the pathological signs and prevalence of mucosa congestion were obviously lower than those before treatment and the control group (P ＜ 0.05-0.01) effective rate was 88.6%.②) Improvement of microcirculation disturbance with chronic pharyngitis was evident, restoring to basically normal from medium degree abnormality before treatment, the total score values reduced to 1.941 ±0.165 from 4.836±0.242 (P ＜ 0.01).CONCLUSION: Oral negative pressure can significantly release or eliminate the symptoms and signs of chronic pharyngitis, which may relate to improvement of microcirculation disturbance.

Objective To observe the effect of home nursing based upon protocol nursing theory on liq-uid intake compliance improvement of patients undergoing hemedialysis. Methods Forty-eight HD patients of hquid intake un-compliance were randomized into the observation group and the control group with 24 cases in each group. The control group received routine nursing, the observation group was given home care instruc-tion based upon protocol nursing theory for 1 month. The two groups both received follow-up for 3 months and their liquid intake comphance were evaluated before and after intervention. The relationship between family sup-port and relative increase of body weight during hemodialysis was also evaluated. Results The IDGW relative magnitude was lower, the compliance of liquid intake was higher, the level of family support was higher in the observation group than those of the control group. There was negative correlation between the family support and the IDGW relative magnitude the IDGW relative magnitude, family support, comphance of liquid intake. Conclusions Home care nursing based upon nursing theory facilitate patients to get effect family support, increase the compliance of hquid intake and make IDGW within desirable range.

Objective To evaluate the reliability and clinical application of measuring blood glucose and urea with electrodes and end reaction methods. Method Using the electrodes and end reaction methods, blood glucose and urea were measured respectively. The results and the relativity between the two methods were compared. Result Comparing the two methods for GLU and UREA, the correlative factors were 0.990 1 and 0.989 1 respectively. They had fairly good comparability. The linear ranges of their regression equations met the clinical needs. With favorable accuracy, the correlative factors were above 0.997 9. Conclusion The electrodes method was rapid and accurate, which was suitable for emergency tests. The ending reaction methods was fairly stable and has less interfering factors, which was fit for the routine use.

Objective To evaluate the effects of laparoscopic radical resection of mid-low rectal cancer on sexual and urinary functions of male patients. Methods The clinical data of 150 patients with mid-low rectal cancer who were admitted to the PLA General Hospital from May 2006 to March 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. Sixty-eight patients were allocated to laparoscopic group and 82 to open group. The incidences of erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction and the short- and long-term urinary dysfunction of patients in the 2 groups were compared seperately at 6 and 12 months after the operation. All data were analyzed using the chi-square test. Results The incidences of erectile and ejaculation dysfunction at 6 months after operation, incidence of ejaculation dysfunction at 12 months after operation, and long-term urinary dysfunction were 15% (10/68), 16% (11/68), 10% (7/68) and 0 in the laparoscopic group, and 22% (18/82), 23% (19/82), 21% (17/82) and 2% (2/82) in the open group, respectively, no significant difference between the two groups was found (x2 = 1. 285, 1. 137, 3. 013, 1.681, P>0. 05). The incidences of erectile dysfunction at 12 months after operation and short-term urinary dysfunction were 7% (5/68) and 4% (3/68) in the laparoscopic group, and 17% (14/82) and 20% (16/82) in the open group, respectively, a significant difference between the two groups was observed (x = 4. 565, 5.930, P <0.05). Conclusion Laparoscopic radical resection of mid-low rectal cancer can reduce the injury of pelvic autonomic nerve and improve the life quality of patients.

Objective To establish a new model of cardiac arrest (CA) in rats by transcutaneous electrical epicardium stimulation. Method Two acupuncture needles connected to the anode and cathode of a stimulator were transcutaneously inserted into the epicardium as electrodes. The stimulating current was steered to the epicardium and the stimulation was maintained for 3 minutes to induce CA. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was performed at 6 minutes after a period of nonintervention. Results The success rate of induction was 12/20 at the current intensity of 1 mA; and reached 20/20 when the current intensity was increased to 2 mA. The average time from the electrical stimulation to CA induction was (5. 10 ± 2. 81) seconds. When the electrical stimulation stopped, 18/20 rats had ventricular fibrillation and 2/20 rats had pulseless electrical activity. CPR was performed for averagely 207.4 ( ± 148.8) seconds. The restoration of spontaneous circulation was 20/20. The death rate within 4 hours after CA was 5/20, and the 72-hour survival rate was 10/20. There were only two cases of complications, a minor muscle contraction and a minor lung lobe injury. Conclusions The model of CA in rats induced by transcutaneous electrical epicardium stimulation is a stable model that requires low-intensity current and has fewer complications.