The quality of sleep has a great relationship with health and working efficiency. The result of sleep stage classification is an important indicator to measure the quality of sleep, and it is also an important way to diagnose and treat sleep disorders. In this paper, the method of detrended cross-correlation analysis (DCCA) was used to analyze sleep stage classification, sleep electroencephalograph signals, which were extracted from the MIT-BIH Polysomno graphic Database randomly. The results showed that the average DCCA exponent of the awake period is smaller than that of the first stage of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleeps. It is well concluded that the method of studying the sleep electroencephalograph with this method is of great significance to improve the quality of sleep, to diagnose and to treat sleep disorders.
Electroencephalography ; Humans ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Sleep Stages

OBJECTVEThis study evaluates the expression of interleukin-18 (IL-18) and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-lα in rat periodontitis model exposed to normoxia and chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) environments. The possible correlation between periodontitis and obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) was also investigated. Methods: Thirty-two Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly assigned into four groups: normoxia control, normoxia periodontitis, hypoxia control, and hypoxia periodontitis groups. The periodontitis models were established by ligating the bilateral maxillary second molars and employing high-carbohydrate diets. Rats in hypoxia control and hypoxia periodontitis groups were exposed to CIH treatment mimicking a moderately severe OSAHS condition. All animals were sacrificed after eight weeks, and the clinical periodontal indexes were detected. The levels of IL-18 and HIF-1α in serum and gingival tissues were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The correlation between attachment loss (AL) and the levels of IL-18 and HIF-lα in hypoxia periodontitis group was evaluated.

RESULTSThe levels of IL-18 and HIF-lα in hypoxia periodontitis group were significantly higher than that in normoxia periodontitis and hypoxia control groups (P<0.05). Furthermore, the levels of IL-18 and HIF-lα in serum (r-0.792, r=0.753, P<0.05) and gingival tissues (r-0.817, r=0.779, P<0.05) were positively correlated with AL.

CONCLUSIONCIH could aggravate the destruction of periodontal tissues, which is correlated with IL-18 and HIF-lα levels.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Gingiva ; Hypoxia ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; Interleukin-18 ; Periodontal Index ; Periodontitis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Serum ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive

When people are walking, they will produce gait signals and different people will produce different gait signals. The research of the gait signal complexity is really of great significance for medicine. By calculating people's gait signal complexity, we can assess a person's health status and thus timely detect and diagnose diseases. In this study, the Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD), the method of complexity analysis, was used to calculate the complexity of gait signal in the healthy elderly, healthy young people and patients with Parkinson's disease. Then we detected the experimental data by variance detection. The results showed that the difference among the complexity of the three gait signals was great. Through this research, we have got gait signal complexity range of patients with Parkinson's disease, the healthy elderly and healthy young people, respectively, which would provide an important basis for clinical diagnosis.
Aged ; Gait ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Parkinson Disease ; physiopathology ; Reference Values ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Walking

Aged ; Angiofibroma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Desmin ; metabolism ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Leiomyosarcoma ; pathology ; Neoplasms, Muscle Tissue ; metabolism ; pathology ; Vimentin ; metabolism ; Vulvar Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology

Microbial genome reduction and modification are important strategies for constructing cellular chassis used for synthetic biology. This article summarized the essential genes and the methods to identify them in microorganisms, compared various strategies for microbial genome reduction, and analyzed the characteristics of some microorganisms with the minimized genome. This review shows the important role of genome reduction in constructing cellular chassis.
Genes, Essential ; genetics ; Genetic Engineering ; Genome, Microbial ; genetics ; Synthetic Biology ; methods

As a method of human resource analysis and evaluation,the competency model is becoming the core and basis of human resource management system.The study of competency is hardly applied in human resource management of the major disciplines.This paper described the concept and development of competency and competency model, discussed the development system of the innovative talents'competency,analyzed the innovative talents' competency, the construction of competency model and the competency model database and the significance of this model for the major disciplines.

It is well appreciated that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents one of the most challenging malignancies of worldwide importance. HCC is a disease that requires multidisciplinary management. There has been no widely accepted standardard systemic therapy for this disease until recently. However, with the arrival of newly developed, molecularly targeted agents, there has been renewed interest in developing novel systemic therapy in HCC. For this review, the authors concisely summarized the current status of molecular targeted agents: muhikinase inhibitor, antiangiogenesis and anti-EGFR agents, which are under clinical development, focus on new agents with promise, particularly sorafenib, a drug that appear to be the new standard of care for advanced HCC.

Unresectable or metastatic pancreatic cancer carries a poor prognosis,and systemic therapy with cytotoxic agents provides marginal benefit. Even the first-line chemotherapeutic agent, gemcitabine(GEM) has a modest survival benefit,and objective tumor response is rarely achieved. Combination of various cytotoxics did not produce a significant improvement either. For that reason,continuous search for better molecules targeted agents and/or combinations is inevitable. Erlotinib, an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase, is the first of these targeted which compounds to be approved for use in combination with gemcimbine for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. GEM with other targeted agents,including monoclonal antibodies: cetuximab or bevacizumab,also has been extensively evaluated,with limited success to date. Future research should continue to unravel the mechanism of pancreatic carcinogenesis and to identify key relevant molecular targets for therapeutic intervention.

Objective To investigate the effect of early acupuncture at Huatuo jiaji points on striatalβ-endorphin and dynorphin levels in rats with post-stroke limb spasm.Methods Seventy SD rats were randomized into group A (normal) of 9 rats and group B (sham operation) of 10 rats. After a model of post-stroke limb spasm was made in the remaining rats, they were randomized into groups C (model), D (acupuncture at Huatuo jiaji points) and E (baclofen). Group D received acupuncture at Huatuo jiaji points and group E, an oral gavage of baclofen tablets. After seven days of treatment, striatalβ-endorphin and dynorphin levels were neasured by radioimmunoassay.Resultsβ-endorphin levels increased significantly in groups C, D and E compared with groups A and B (P<0.01) and also in groups D and E compared with group C (P<0.01,P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference inβ-endorphin levels between groups D AND E (P>0.05). Dynorphin levels increased significantly in groups C, D and E compared with groups A and B (P<0.05,P<0.01). There was no statistically significant difference in dynorphin levels between groups D and E (P>0.05).Conclusions Acupuncture at Huatuo jiaji points can increase striatalβ-endorphin levels but not change striatal dynorphin levels, which conforms to the relationship between enkephalin and spasm, and improve the animal’s spasticity.

Objective:To establish an HILIC-HPLC-ELSD method for the determination of allantoin in Rhizoma Dioscoreae. Methods:The separation was performed on a Waters XBridge HILIC column(150 mm × 4. 6 mm,5μm),the mobile phase was ace-tonitrile-water(85:15)with the flow rate of 0. 8 ml·min-1 ,and the nebulizer pressure was 40psi,the drifting tube temperature was 80℃ and the nebulizer temperature was 50℃. Results:The linearity of allantoin was good within the range of 1. 5-7. 5 μg( r =0. 998 1). The regress equation was Y=1. 67X+2. 35,the detection limit was 25 ng,and the average recovery of allantoin in Rhizoma Dioscoreae was 99. 9% with RSD of 0. 72%(n=9). Conclusion:The method is simple and reliable,which can be used in the deter-mination of allantoin in Rhizoma Dioscoreae.