GROβis a member of the CXC chemokine superfamily.It plays an important role in inflammation and wound healing process.As extensive research continued, researchers realized that the gro gene was one of onco-genes.And its expression product, GROβ, was also found to be very important in angiogenesis, tumorigeness, me-tastasis, and interaction between tumor and immune cells.

Objective To investigate the mental health and its correlated factors for senile dementia caregivers in nursing homes in Shenyang. Methods Questionnaire survey was conducted among 174 senile dementia caregivers recruited from the Nursing Home of Shenyang and Shenyang Social Welfare Institute by using Symptom Check-List-90 (SCL-90), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) and self-designed general information questionnaire and to analyze the scores of self rating scale of nursing staff, the total score of social support scale, and the factors affecting the mental health status of nursing staff. Results The SCL-90 scores of senile dementia caregivers with education levels from illiteracy, primary school or junior high school, high school or secondary school, college or above were 130.50 ± 10.11, 132.70±12.55, 135.06±9.15, 129.24±8.83, the difference was statistically significant (F=15.05, P<0.01). The SCL-90 scores of senile dementia caregivers with poor, general and good perceived health status were 133.40±10.52, 132.60±11.32, 128.00 ±10.02, the differences were statistically significant (F=9.07, P<0.01). The SCL-90 scores of family monthly income of 1001 to 3000 yuan, 3001 to 5000 yuan and more than 5001 yuan were 132.90 ± 10.39, 132.80 ± 11.52, 131.50 ± 8.20, the difference was statistically significant (F=12.11, P<0.01). The multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the regression coefficient of perceived health status was-0.168 (t=2.880, P<0.01), monthly family income was-0.145 (t=-2.512, P<0.05), SSRS was 0.121 (t=2.112, P<0.05). Conclusions Mental health status of senile dementia caregivers in Shenyang is poor. The health sector should take some measures to improve the degree of social support, nursing staff wages and to ensure their health in order to promote physical and mental health of nursing staff and the nursing level so as to improve the quality of life of the senile dementia elderly.

AIM: To examine Nucleostemin (NS) expression in tumor cells, and observe the effect of NS specific RNA interference on the cell proliferation in Hela cells. METHODS: Total RNA was extracted from 6 kinds of cultured tumor lines, the NS expression level was measured by RT-PCR and Northern blot. An NS-specific siRNA expression vector was constructed to transfect HeLa cell (NS-siRNA-HeLa), and the proliferation of the cell was observed. RESULTS: NS was highly expressed in 6 kinds of tumor cells. NS expression level in the NS-siRNA-HeLa cells was remarkably reduced, and the percentage of G_0/G_1 cells increased. The neoplasm forming ability in nude mice by the NS-siRNA-HeLa cells was decreased. CONCLUSION: NS is highly expressed among tumor cells. NS-specific siRNA inhibits the entry of the cell cycle into the S phase, and remarkably reduces the proliferation ability of HeLa cells in vitro and in vivo.

Objective To understand the present situation of happiness of the elderly living in nursing homes and discuss the related factors.Methods Using the method of questionnaire,the happiness of the elderly over sixty years old and its influencing factors in eleven nursing homes in Changchun were discussed.Results Among many influencing factors,health status,the reasons for living,marital status and self-care status affected the happiness of the elderly in nursing homes.Above all,the health status had the most significant effect on happiness.Conclusions Improvement of the health level of the elderly in nursing homes can improve the happiness of them.

Objective:To confirm the potential of growth-related gene productβ(GROβ) as a biomarker for colorectal cancer. Methods:Serum GROβlevels in 123 subjects with colorectal cancer, 88 healthy controls, and 125 subjects with other diseases were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) in all subjects were measured using immunoluminometric assay. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine the associa-tions between serum GROβlevels and clinical parameters for colorectal cancer. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of GROβ, CEA, and CA19-9 were analyzed. Results:The serum GROβlevels were higher in patients with colorectal cancer (median=96.15 pg/mL) than in the healthy controls (median=43.28 pg/mL, P<0.01) and in patients with other diseases (median=57.30 pg/mL, P<0.01). The serum GROβlevels in patients with colorectal cancer were positively correlated with the tumor-node-metastasis staging (P<0.01) and depth of infiltration (P<0.05), but not with the histological grade, tumor embolus, lymph node metastasis, gross pathologic tu-mor type, or gender of the patients. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay for serum GROβwere 56.1%(69/123) and 95.31%(203/213), respectively. The diagnostic sensitivity was 22.2%(4/18) for stage I and 66.7%(26/39) for stage II when the data of GROβwere combined with the data of CEA and CA19-9. The ROC curve constructed with the data of GROβ(0.834) was larger than that construct-ed with the data of CEA (0.739) or CA19-9 (0.676) for discriminating colorectal cancer from the matched controls. Conclusion:These preliminary results indicated that the serum GROβlevel could be a useful biomarker for colorectal cancer diagnoses.

Objective:To analyze the distribution of clinically isolated fungal strains and their resistance to common antifungal drugs in Shandong province.Methods:Through the Shandong Children’s Bacterial & Fungal Drug Resistance Surveillance and Research Collaborative Network, a total of 1 030 fungi were collected in 46 hospitals of Shandong province from January 1 to December 31, 2018. The source and type of strains were analyzed, and antifungal drug sensitivity tests were performed by using the micro-dilution method. Whonet 5.6 and SPSS 22.0 were applied to analyze the data.Results:The overall main strains were Candida albicans (38.74%, 399/1 030), Candida tropicalis (16.99%, 175/1 030) and Candida parapsilosis (16.41%, 169/1 030); the main fungi strains in child patients were C. albicans (52.50%, 63/120), C. parapsilosis (12.50%, 15/120) and C. tropicalis (9.17%, 11/120); the main fungi strains in adult patients were C. albicans (36.37%, 331/910), C. tropicalis (17.03%, 155/910) and C. parapsilosis (15.27%, 139/910). The isolation rate of main Candida strains from January to March and August to December was much higher than that of other months. The drug resistance rates of C. albicans to fluconazole and voriconazole were 7.14% and 7.43%, respectively, and the drug resistance rates to itraconazole were 50.44%. The resistance rates of C. tropicalis to fluconazole, voriconazole and itraconazole were 29.05%, 23.29% and 48.65%, respectively. The sensitivity rates of C. parapsilosi to fluconazole, voriconazole and itraconazole were 93.06%, 93.75% and 94.44%, respectively. Candida glabrata showed a dose-dependent sensitivity rate of 2.33% to fluconazole. Analysis of 244 blood fungi strains showed that non-candida albicans bacteremia accounted for 70.08%. In the pathogen spectrum covering 92.22%, fluconazole was sensitive to 64.65% of the pathogens, voriconazole was 68.88%, and amphotericin B was 88.75%. After quantification, the effective rates of fluconazole, voriconazole and amphotericin B in the clinical treatment of fungal bacteremia were 70.10%, 74.69% and 96.23%, respectively. Among them, the sensitivity rate of voriconazole to C. tropicalis was lower than that of fluconazole. Conclusions:Candida is the main clinical fungus isolates in hospitals of Shandong province. The resistance rate of C. tropicalis to azole antifungal drugs is on the rise, and the sensitivity of other Candida species to clinically used antifungal drugs is basically stable.

Background::The clinical characteristics of patients with the comorbidities of hypertension and coronary artery disease (HT-CAD) and atrial fibrillation (AF) are largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of AF in patients with HT-CAD and clinical characteristics of patients with both HT-CAD and AF.Methods::This cross-sectional study was conducted in Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital in Beijing, China, and included 20,747 inpatients with HT-CAD with or without AF from August 2008 to July 2018. We examined the overall prevalence, clinical characteristics, comorbidity profiles, treatment patterns, and blood pressure (BP) control of patients with both HT-CAD and AF. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the associations of cardiovascular risk factors with AF in patients with HT-CAD.Results::The overall prevalence of AF in patients with HT-CAD was 4.87% (1011/20,747), and this increased with age; to be specific, the prevalence in women and men increased from 0.78% (2/255) and 1.02% (26/2561) at the age of <50 years to 8.73% (193/2210) and 10.28 % (298/2900) at the age of ≥70 years, respectively. HT-CAD patients who had AF had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular-related comorbidities than those without AF. Multivariate logistic regression showed that age, gender (male), body mass index, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease were independently associated with the risk of AF in patients with HT-CAD. For those with both HT-CAD and AF, 73.49% (743/1011) had a CHA 2DS 2-VASc score of ≥4, and only about half of them had the BP controlled at <140/90 mmHg, which indicated a high risk of thromboembolism and stroke. The use of oral anticoagulation increased during the study period (10.00% [20/200] in 2008 to 2011 vs. 30.06% [159/529] in 2015 to 2018, P < 0.01), but remained at a relatively low level. Conclusions::AF is highly prevalent among patients with HT-CAD. Patients with both HT-CAD and AF have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular-related comorbidities, lower BP control rate, and lower use of oral anticoagulation.

Objective:To evaluate correlation between left ventricular mechanical contraction synchrony and left ventricular systolic function by gated myocardial perfusion imaging(GMPI) using Cadmium-Zine-Telluride (CZT) SPECT.Methods:Three hundred and forty three consecutive patients( 232 males, 111 females, age (60.08±12.88) years) who underwent CZT SPECT GMPI in Shanxi Cardiovascular Hospital between January and August 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The Emory cardiac toolbox was used to process the imaging data, and the left ventricular systolic synchrony parameters and systolic function parameters were acquired, including peak phase(PP), phase standard deviation (PSD), phase histogram bandwidth(PHB), histogram skewness(HS), histogram kurtosis(HK), and end-diastolic volume( EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), left ventrieular ejection fraction (LVEF). All patients were divided into 4 groups: the normal group (147 cases), ischemic cardiomyopathy group (114 cases), nonischemic cardiomyopathy without left bundle branch block (LBBB) group(50 cases)and nonischemic cardiomyopathy with LBBB group(32 cases). The relationship between systolic synchrony parameters and systolic function parameters were analyzed with Pearson correlation analysis.Results:Statistic results for all patients showed that PSD and PHB were well correlated with LVEF( r values: -0.790, -0.799, both P<0.01), but PP was poorly correlated with LVEF( r=-0.194, P<0.01); HS, HK were positively correlated with LVEF( r values: 0.767, 0.676, both P<0.01); PSD, PHB were positively correlated with ESV( r values: 0.778, 0.795, both P<0.01) and EDV ( r values: 0.722, 0.732, both P<0.01); but PP was poorly correlated with ESV( r=0.145, P<0.01) and not correlated with EDV ( r=0.095, P>0.01). HS, HK were negatively correlated with EDV and ESV ( r values: -0.700 to -0.580, all P<0.01). PSD and PHB showed negatively correlation with LVEF ( r values: -0.834 to -0.492, all P<0.01), while HS, HK showed positive correlation with LVEF ( r values: 0.243-0.792, all P<0.01) in normal group, the ischemic cardiomyopathy group, the nonischemic cardiomyopathy without LBBB group and the nonischemic cardiomyopathy with LBBB group. Conclusions:The left ventricular systolic synchrony parameters provided by CZT SPECT GMPI correlate well with the left ventricular systolic function parameters, and the worse systolic function, the worse systolic synchrony. Both ischemic cardiomyopathy and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy can affect left ventricular mechanical contraction synchrony, and the effect on contraction synchrony in non-ischemic cardiomyopathy patients with LBBB is greater.

Bone and teeth are hard tissues. Hard tissue diseases have a serious effect on human survival and quality of life. Primary cilia are protrusions on the surfaces of cells. As antennas, they are distributed on the membrane surfaces of almost all mammalian cell types and participate in the development of organs and the maintenance of homeostasis. Mutations in cilium-related genes result in a variety of developmental and even lethal diseases. Patients with multiple ciliary gene mutations present overt changes in the skeletal system, suggesting that primary cilia are involved in hard tissue development and reconstruction. Furthermore, primary cilia act as sensors of external stimuli and regulate bone homeostasis. Specifically, substances are trafficked through primary cilia by intraflagellar transport, which affects key signaling pathways during hard tissue development. In this review, we summarize the roles of primary cilia in long bone development and remodeling from two perspectives: primary cilia signaling and sensory mechanisms. In addition, the cilium-related diseases of hard tissue and the manifestations of mutant cilia in the skeleton and teeth are described. We believe that all the findings will help with the intervention and treatment of related hard tissue genetic diseases.
Animals ; Cilia ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Signal Transduction

Background::The potential impact of pre-existing coronary artery stenosis (CAS) on acute pulmonary embolism (PE) episodes remains underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the association between pre-existing CAS and the elevation of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) levels in patients with PE.Methods::In this multicenter, prospective case-control study, 88 cases and 163 controls matched for age, sex, and study center were enrolled. Cases were patients with PE with elevated hs-cTnI. Controls were patients with PE with normal hs-cTnI. Coronary artery assessment utilized coronary computed tomographic angiography or invasive coronary angiography. CAS was defined as ≥50% stenosis of the lumen diameter in any coronary vessel >2.0 mm in diameter. Conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between CAS and hs-cTnI elevation.Results::The percentage of CAS was higher in the case group compared to the control group (44.3% [39/88] vs. 30.1% [49/163]; P = 0.024). In multivariable conditional logistic regression model 1, CAS (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.680; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.243–5.779), heart rate >75 beats/min (OR, 2.306; 95% CI, 1.056–5.036) and N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) >420 pg/mL (OR, 12.169; 95% CI, 4.792–30.900) were independently associated with elevated hs-cTnI. In model 2, right CAS (OR, 3.615; 95% CI, 1.467–8.909) and NT-proBNP >420 pg/mL (OR, 13.890; 95% CI, 5.288–36.484) were independently associated with elevated hs-cTnI. Conclusions::CAS was independently associated with myocardial injury in patients with PE. Vigilance towards CAS is warranted in patients with PE with elevated cardiac troponin levels.