The monitoring of total toxicity of water is of great importance to guarantee the safety of drinking water and estimate the level of water pollution from multiple pollutants.Here, we reported an online equipment for monitoring toxicity of water, where in-site cultured microorganisms were used as the test organism and respiratory inhibition of microorganisms was regarded as the toxicity response.A three-electrode electrochemical detector was integrated in the equipment, where an array electrode composed of microsized Pt disks, a Ag/AgCl (3 mol/L KCl) electrode and a gold wire were used as the working, reference and counter electrodes, respectively.The average respiratory inhibition ratios obtained with this equipment for 5.0, 10.0, 20.0 mg/L 3,5-dichlorophenol (DCP) were 24.4%, 48.9% and 59.2%, respectively.The equipment was further used for continuous online monitoring of the total toxicity of underground water, and successfully showed the toxicity alarm when challenged randomly by toxicity samples containing 5.0 mg/L DCP.The present results suggested the good promise of the equipment in online monitoring of water total toxicity.

Objective To explore the related prognostic factors of the patients with thyroid microcarcinoma.Methods Clinical data,including clinical,pathologic,and therapeutic factor of 203 patients with thyroid microcarcinoma admitted were analyzed retrospectively.Results The cause specific survival and locoregional failure free survival rates at 10 years were 100.0% and 91.4% , respectively.Univariate analysis showed that multifocality, cervical lymph node metastasis and radioiodine treatment was associated with prognosis.Multivariate analysis revealed that cervical lymph node metastasis was the only independent prognostic factor for locoregional failure free survival.The risk of locoregional recurrence increased 2.5 folds when lymph nodes metastasis occurred at presentation.Conclusion The ratio of thyroid microcarcinoma to thyroid carcinoma increased yearly and the overall survival rate of thyroid microcarcinoma was excellent.Of all the prognostic factors,lymph node metastasis was the most important one related to survival.

Objective To investigate the causes, prevention and treatment of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury during operation in patients with thyroid cancer. Methods Clinical data of 192 patients undergone thyroidectomy operation were reviewed. Results RLN was exposed during operation in 192 patients. There were 3 cases of RLN injury, then RLN anastomosis was happened immediately during operation. It was significantiy improved in pronunciation after operation. 2 ～ 3 d after surgery, transitory hoarseness was observed in 3 patients. Unilateral RLN resection performed in 1 case with cancer involving RLN. Conclusions There were some causes of RLN injury. Exposure of RLN selectively,delicate operation and thyroid gland surgery specialist were the key point for prevention of the injury of RLN. Once RLN injury occured ,repairing should be performed as soon as possible.

Objective To compare the treatment effectiveness of AO/ASIF proximal femoral nail (PFN) and proximal femoral nail antirotation (PFNA) in treatment of intertrochanterie fractures. Methods A retrospective study was done on 233 patients with intertroehanteric fractures treated from August 2004 to December 2006. The patients were divided into PFN group (188 patients) and PFNA group (45 patients) for comparing operative procedures and postoperative functional recovery. Results There was statistical difference in aspects of incision length, blood loss and operation time between two groups. The follow-up for 22.8 months showed excellence rate of 89.9% in PFN group and 91.1% in PFNA group, with statistical difference (X2 = 0.06, P > 0.05). There occurred hip varus in one patient and antirotation nail cutting-out in two in PFN group, which was not found in PFNA group. Conclusion PFN and PFNA are both good choices for treatment of intertrochanteric fractures. Compared with PFN, PFNA has more advantages in reducing operation time and blood loss especially for the eider patients with osteoporosis.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) in patients with allergic asthma in order to provide reliable evidence for clinical application of SLIT.Methods To search published articles of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in allergic asthma from CNKI,WANFANG,Pubmed and Medline databases.The methodological quality of trials was assessed by Jadadscale.The heterogeneity was examined by using Stata 11.0 software.Fixed effect model or random effect model was used to pool the data.The articles which could not be pooled were carried out by descriptive analysis.The Egger's and Begg's test were used to evaluate the publication bias.Results There were total 6 RCTs included in this text.Compared with control group,SLIT could significantly reduce asthma symptom scores (SMD =-0.89,95％ CI-1.36--0.43,P =0.000) and asthma medication scores (SMD =-4.53,95％CI-6.97--2.08,P =0.000),but not forced expiratory volume (FEV1) of lung function (SMD =0.19,95％ CI-0.02-0.41,P =0.078),neither serum sIgE levels (SMD =0.05,95％ CI -0.58-0.69,P =0.870).There were no obvious adverse events reported after treatment of SLIT.No publication bias were indicated by Egger's and Begg's tests.Conclusion SLIT significantly reduces asthma symptom scores and medication scores,suggesting that SLIT is a safe and effective approach of immunotherapy.However,it still needs more highly qualified studies of RCTs to prove.

A buofulm reactor ( BFR ) was fabrucated vua a cultuvatuon process usung naturally occurrung mucrobual seeds from locally collected wastewaters, and a serues of researches were carrued out wuth thus BFR based onlune Buochemucal Oxygen Demand ( BOD) monutor. The results showed that the BFR cultuvatuon tume was less than 14 h, and the buodegradatuon effucuencues was 18. 5%. The munumum detectuon lumut was 0. 5 mg/L, as well as the upper detectuon lumut was 20 mg/L. The relatuve error and relatuve standard devuatuon un accuracy and long term stabuluty to standard were -0. 8% and ±3. 2%, respectuvely. The real sample determunatuons showed an average relatuve error of +5. 6% to conventuonal BOD5 method. The BFR mauntauned a good performance un long term stabuluty and accuracy durung thus test peruod, and the broad lunear range ensured the demand for surface water onlune monutorung.

OBJECTIVETo examine whether calcineurin/NFAT signaling pathway mediates endothelin-1 (ET-1)-induced proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) by regulating phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) and the effect of the selective calcineurin inhibitor cyclosporine A and PDE5 inhibitor sildenafil on ET-1-induced PASMC proliferation.

METHODSPASMCs were treated with ET-1 to stimulate their proliferation with or without prior treatment of the cells with CsA or sildenafil. Calcineurin activity in the cells was measured using a calcineurin activity assay kit, PDE5 expression examined using immunoblotting, and cGMP level detected using a cGMP direct immunoassay kit. PASMC proliferation following the treatments was determined using [(3)H]thymidine incorporation assay.

RESULTSET-1 caused a 2.05-fold increase in the cellular calcineurin activity, a 1.80-fold increase in PDE5 expression, and a 3.20-fold increase in the DNA synthesis rate, and reduced the cGMP level by 67%. Pretreatment of the cells with Cyclosporine blocked the effects of ET-1, and PDE5 inhibition by sildenafil pretreatment also abolished ET-1-induced reduction of cGMP level in the cells. Both Cyclosporine and sildenafil suppressed ET-1-stimulated PASMC proliferation.

CONCLUSIONActivation of calcineurin/NFAT signaling pathway mediates ET-1-induced PASMC proliferation by stimulating PDE5 expression, which further degrades cGMP. Both Cyclosporine and sildenafil can suppress ET-1-stimulated PASMC proliferation in vitro.

Animals ; Calcineurin ; metabolism ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Cyclic GMP ; metabolism ; Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 5 ; metabolism ; Cyclosporine ; DNA ; biosynthesis ; Endothelin-1 ; pharmacology ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; cytology ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; cytology ; enzymology ; NFATC Transcription Factors ; metabolism ; Piperazines ; Pulmonary Artery ; cytology ; Purines ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Signal Transduction ; Sildenafil Citrate ; Sulfones

Angiogenesis, the expansion of preexisting blood vessels, is a complex process required for tumor growth and metastasis. Although current antiangiogenic strategies have shown promising results in several cancer types, identification of additional antiangiogenic targets is required to improve the therapeutic response. Herein, we show that the microtubule-binding protein CLIP-170 (cytoplasmic linker protein of 170 kDa) is highly expressed in breast tumor samples and correlates positively with blood vessel density. Depletion of CLIP-170 significantly impaired vascular endothelial tube formation and sprouting in vitro and inhibited breast tumor growth in mice by decreasing tumor vascularization. Our data further show that CLIP-170 is important for the migration but not the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells. In addition, CLIP-170 promotes the polarization of endothelial cells in response to the angiogenic stimulus. These findings thus demonstrate a critical role for CLIP-170 in tumor angiogenesis and suggest its potential as a novel antiangiogenic target.
Animals ; Breast Neoplasms ; blood supply ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement ; Cell Polarity ; Female ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ; Humans ; MCF-7 Cells ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Microtubules ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Proteins ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Small Interfering ; metabolism ; Transplantation, Heterologous

OBJECTIVETo examine the correlation of the changes in the serum markers (C-reactive protein, endothelin-1, interleukin-6, and brain natriuretic peptide) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary hypertension secondary to COPD.

METHODSA total of 174 COPD patients with acute exacerbation, admitted between February 2011 and February, 2013, were enrolled in this study, with 43 volunteers with normal pulmonary functions as controls. Pulmonary arterial pressure was determined by Doppler echocardiograph, and the severities (mild, moderate and severe) of PH secondary to COPD was evaluated. The levels of serum markers were determined using ELISA kits.

RESULTSThe levels of serum markers in patients with COPD was significantly elevated compared with those of the control subjects (P<0.05), and further increased in patients with pulmonary hypertension secondary to COPD (P<0.05). A positive correlation was found between these serum markers and pulmonary artery pressure in COPD patients with mild and moderate pulmonary hypertension. In patients with severe pulmonary hypertension, only the serum level of brain natriuretic peptide continued to increase with pulmonary artery pressure (P<0.05), and the other markers did not further increase.

CONCLUSIONSEarly and combined examination of these serum markers in patients with COPD can help to identify pulmonary hypertension in early stage and estimate the severity of pulmonary hypertension. Hemodynamic monitoring of the changes of these serum markers can be of important clinical value in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension secondary to COPD and in evaluation of the prognosis of COPD.

Aged ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Blood Pressure ; C-Reactive Protein ; metabolism ; Endothelin-1 ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; blood ; complications ; physiopathology ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Male ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; blood ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; blood ; complications ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo systematically review whether statins can reduce the risk of infection and infection-related mortality.

METHODSWe searched the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, Elsevier and CBM databases for randomized placebo-controlled trials of statins published by September 2013, and each trial enrolled at least 100 participants with follow-up for at least 4 weeks. Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of the included studies and extracted the relevant data for analysis using Stata 12.0 software.

RESULTSSixteen trails involving a total of 48973 patients were included in our meta-analysis. The results showed that statins significantly reduced the risk of infection (OR=0.93, 95% CI 0.89 to 0.98, P=0.004) compared to placebo but did not significantly lower infection-related mortality (OR=0.96, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.12, P=0.592).

CONCLUSIONStatins can significantly reduce the risk of infection but does not lower infection-related mortality.

Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors ; therapeutic use ; Infection ; epidemiology ; mortality ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Risk Factors