Humans ; Occupational Diseases ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Risk Assessment

ObjectiveTo observe the influence of medical exercise on rehabilitation of patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Methods26 COPD patients who were organized in the form of training class practised medical exercise for three months. Respiratory function, exercise capacity and psychological health level were assessed respectively before and after exercise.ResultsValues of forced vital capacity(FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), FVC% , FEV1/ FVC and 6-minute walking distance (6MD) were significantly higher after medical exercise than before(P<0.01). Anxiety and depression scores also notably dropped after medical exercise than before(P<0.01).Conclusions Medical exercise can remarkably improve respiratory and moving capacity and decrease anxiety and depression of patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the impact of preoperative lymphocyte to monocyte ratio on the prognosis of elderly patients with stage II(-III( gastric cancer.

METHODSClinicopathological data of 188 patients with stage II(-III( gastric cancer aged≥75 years undergoing radical gastrectomy in our department from January 2007 to December 2011 were analyzed retrospectively. The optimal critical value of preoperative peripheral blood LMR in prediction of overall survival was determined through the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. According to the critical value, patients were divided into the low LMR group and high LMR group. Clinicopathological features and prognosis were compared between the two groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the clinical factors affecting prognosis with Cox proportional hazard model.

RESULTSROC curve revealed the optimal critical value of preoperative peripheral blood LMR in prediction of overall survival was 4.34, then 71 cases were divided into the low LMR group (<4.34) and 117 cases into high LMR group (≥4.34). The low LMR group had greater tumor size (P=0.015) and higher level of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (P=0.018) as compared to the high LMR group, and other clinicopathological parameters were not significantly different (all P>0.05). Median follow-up time of all the 188 patients was 21.8 (1.3 to 92.9) months. The 3-year survival rate of the low and high LMR groups was 36.8% and 45.1% respectively with significant difference (P=0.001). Univariate analysis revealed that the postoperative overall survival was associated with the preoperative LMR (P<0.001), absolute count of lymphocyte (P=0.002), absolute count of monocyte (P=0.016), CEA level (P=0.011), CA199 level (P=0.003), lymph node metastasis (P<0.001), tumor maximal size (P<0.001), TNM stage (P<0.001), postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (P=0.004). Multivariate analysis revealed that the TNM stage III( (HR:2.708, 95%CI:1.356 to 5.411, P=0.005), tumor maximal size≥50 mm (HR: 1.737, 95%CI: 1.114 to 2.709, P=0.015), without postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (HR: 0.651, 95%CI: 0.440 to 0.961, P=0.031), and preoperative peripheral blood LMR<4.34 (HR: 0.600, 95%CI: 0.376 to 0.958, P=0.032) were independent risk factors of prognosis.

CONCLUSIONSPreoperative peripheral blood LMR level possesses good predictive value of prognosis for the elderly patients with stage II(-III( gastric cancer. Low LMR is associated with poor outcomes.

Aged ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; analysis ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; Female ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Lymphocytes ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Monocytes ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; ROC Curve ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Survival Rate

Adult ; Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; immunology ; metabolism ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; metabolism ; Th17 Cells ; metabolism

β-thalassemia is a monogenetic inherited hemolytic anemia, which results in a series of pathophysiological changes due to partial or complete inhibition of the synthesis of β-globin chain. The curative therapy for this disease is to reconstitute hematopoiesis, and transplantation with genetically modified autologous hematopoietic stem cells can avoid the major difficulties of traditional allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation，such as HLA matching and immune rejection. β-thalassemia gene therapy strategies mainly include gene integration and genome editing. The former relies on the development of lentiviral vectors and adds a fully functional HBB gene to the chromosome; the latter rapidly develops with the research of specific nuclease which can repair the HBB gene in situ. In this review, the latest progress of the two strategies in gene therapy of β-thalassemia is summarized.
Gene Editing ; Genetic Therapy ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; beta-Globins/genetics* ; beta-Thalassemia/therapy*

BACKGROUNDUric acid (UA) is suspected to play a neuro-protective role in Parkinson's disease (PD). This study aimed to evaluate whether the serum UA level was associated with the disease progression of PD in a relatively large population of Chinese patients.

METHODSSerum UA levels were measured from 411 Chinese PD patients and 396 age-matched controls; following the uric acid colorimetric method, the serum creatinine (Scr) levels were also measured to reduce the bias caused by possible differences in renal excretion function. The disease progression was scored by Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) scales and disease durations; PD group was divided into 3 subgroups according to H&Y scales. Independent-samples t test was performed to analyze the differences between PD group and control group. Multiple analysis of covariance was performed to analyze the differences between PD subgroups. Spearman rank-correlation was performed to evaluate the associations between serum UA or Scr level and disease progression.

RESULTSPD patients were found to have significantly lower levels of serum UA than controls ((243.38 ± 78.91) vs. (282.97 ± 90.80) µmol/L, P < 0.01). As the disease progression, the serum UA levels were gradually reduced. There was a significantly inverse correlation of UA levels with H&Y scales (Rs = -0.429, P < 0.01) and disease duration (Rs = -0.284, P < 0.01) in PD patients of both females and males. No significant difference of the Scr level between PD patients and controls was found ((70.01 ± 14.70) vs. (69.84 ± 16.46) µmol/L), and the Scr level was not involved in disease progression.

CONCLUSIONLower serum UA levels may possess a higher risk of PD, which may be a potential useful biomarker to indicate the progression of PD.

Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Parkinson Disease ; blood ; pathology ; Uric Acid ; blood

BACKGROUNDProteasome subunits (PSMB) and transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) loci are located in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) Class II region play important roles in immune response and protein degradation in neurodegenerative diseases. This study aimed to explore the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PSMB and TAP and Parkinson's disease (PD).

METHODSA case-control study was conducted by genotyping SNPs in PSMB8, PSMB9, TAP1, and TAP2 genes in the Chinese population. Subjects included 542 sporadic patients with PD and 674 healthy controls. Nine identified SNPs in PSMB8, PSMB9, TAP1, and TAP2 were genotyped through SNaPshot testing.

RESULTSThe stratified analysis of rs17587 was specially performed on gender. Data revealed that female patients carry a higher frequency of rs17587-G/G versus (A/A + G/A) compared with controls. But there was no significant difference with respect to the genotypic frequencies of the SNPs in PSMB8, TAP1, and TAP2 loci in PD patients.

CONCLUSIONChinese females carrying the rs17587-G/G genotype in PSMB9 may increase a higher risk for PD, but no linkage was found between other SNPs in HLA Class II region and PD.

ATP-Binding Cassette Sub-Family B Member 2 ; genetics ; ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family B, Member 3 ; genetics ; Adult ; Aged ; Antigen Presentation ; Case-Control Studies ; Cysteine Endopeptidases ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Parkinson Disease ; genetics ; immunology ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex ; genetics

OBJECTIVE: To construct a W203X-mutant mouse model of cblC type methylmalonic acidemia based on the CRISPR/Cas9 technology. METHODS: At first, BLAST was used to compare the conservative nature of the cblC gene and protein sequences in humans and mice, and then, the CRISPR/Cas9 technology was used for microinjection of mouse fertilized eggs to obtain heterozygous F1 mice. Hybridization was performed for these mice to obtain homozygous W203X-mutant mice. The blood level of the metabolite propionyl carnitine (C3) was measured for homozygous mutant mice, heterozygous littermates, and wild-type mice. RESULTS: The gene and protein sequences of MMACHC, the pathogenic gene for cblC type methylmalonic acidemia, were highly conserved in humans and mice. The homozygous W203X-mutant mice were successfully obtained by the CRISPR/Cas9 technology, and there was a significant increase in C3 in these mice at 24 hours after birth (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS A W203X-mutant mouse model of cblC type methylmalonic acidemia is successfully constructed by the CRISPR/Cas9 technology.
Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors ; Animals ; CRISPR-Cas Systems ; Carrier Proteins ; Heterozygote ; Mice ; Mutation

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effectiveness, safety and possible mechanism of recombinate human interleukin 11 (rhIL-11) in the treatment of chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia.

METHODSThirty-four patients (totally 76 cycles) with chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia received subcutaneous injection of rhIL-11 at the dose of 25 microg.kg(-1).d(-1) for 4 to 16 days. Serum IL-11 level was measured by ELISA, and IL-11 R alpha expression was detected by RT-PCR.

RESULTSThe mean baseline platelet count before chemotherapy was (135.0 +/- 54.3) x 10(9)/L for the 1st cycle and (259.4 +/- 64.5) x 10(9)/L for the 2nd cycle. The time to administer rhIL-11 was 7 to 16 days (median 12 days) in the 1st cycle and 4 to 10 days (median 6 days) in the 2nd, respectively (P < 0.05). The duration of post-chemotherapy platelet count below 50 x 10(9)/L was 7 to 13 days (median 10 days) for the 1st cycle and 3 to 8 days (median 5 days) for the 2nd, respectively (P < 0.05). Platelet count reached 300 x 10(9)/L or above in 30 chemotherapy cycles. The maximum platelet count was found to appear at D10 to D 17 (median D14), and negatively correlated with the pre-chemotherapy serum IL-11 level after administration of rhIL-11. Major adverse reactions included edema, headache, muscle and joint pain.

CONCLUSIONrhIL-11 is effective and safe for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia, with a relatively slow but sustained effect on the recovery of platelet count. Pre-chemotherpy serum IL-11 level might predict the efficacy of rhIL-11.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; drug therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Injections, Subcutaneous ; Interleukin-11 ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; blood ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Platelet Count ; Recombinant Proteins ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Thrombocytopenia ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the fidelity of multiple displacement amplification (MDA) from small number of cells (1-10 cells) by 10K 2.0 SNP mapping array.

METHODSA fibroblast cell line (Tri-18; GM02732, 47, XY, +18) was used as the template, and 6 groups were set up in the study. Groups A and B were positive and negative control, respectively; groups C-F were experimental groups involving the MDA products from 1, 2, 5 and 10 cells respectively. In combination of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, the product of each group was assessed based on the genome coverage, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) rate and allele dropout (ADO) rate.

RESULTSThe nonspecific product of negative control presented an average call rate of 3.2%. The genome coverage of the MDA product increased from 86.4% to 96.4% with the increasing number of template from 1 to 10 cells, while the LOH rate and ADO rate decreased significantly (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONMDA is a highly efficient and reliable method for whole genome amplification. The fidelity of MDA will be improved significantly with the increasing number of template cells. 10K 2.0 SNP mapping array is a quick, accurate and comprehensive method to evaluate the fidelity of amplified DNA products, but the ADO SNPs should be distinguished from those of preferential amplification from the LOH loci to avoid errors.

Cell Line ; Cells ; cytology ; DNA ; genetics ; Humans ; Loss of Heterozygosity ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques ; methods ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Templates, Genetic