Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a novel in vitro nucleic acid amplification method conducted under isothermal conditions with the advantages of high specificity, sensitivity, rapidity and easy detection. Since it was established in 2000, it has been widely applied in various fields of analytical science including the diagnosis of a variety of pathogens, identification of embryo sex, detection of genetically modified organisms and cancer gene identification. Additionally, significant progress has been made in the optimization of the LAMP method, such as accelerated reactions, simplified sample processing, the realization of multiplex amplification, and the enhanced specificity of reaction and detection methods. LAMP technology also shows much potential to be adopted as part of point-of-care testing platforms by the micromation, automation and integration with other technologies such as Lab-on-a-Chip and digital nucleic acid amplification. This review summarizes the latest advances in the LAMP technique and its applications in developing point-of-care testing platforms.
Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures ; trends ; Humans ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques ; methods ; Point-of-Care Systems ; trends ; Virus Diseases ; diagnosis ; virology ; Viruses ; genetics ; isolation & purification

Bacteria ; drug effects ; Communicable Diseases, Emerging ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial

The glycosaminoglycan (GAG), isolated from Bay scallop Argopectenirradians, contains neutral monosaccharides besides hexosamines and hexosuronic acids. The monosaccharides obtained by alcoholysis with HCI-methylalcohol from the sample of GAG was trimethylsilanized with hexamethyldisilan and chlortrimethylsilan (HMDS ' TMCS = 2 : 1). And the trimethylsilyl derivatives of monosaccharides was determined by gas chro-matography. Compared the gas chromatography of the sample with that of standard monosaccharides, it was found that the GAG of the Bay scallop contains five neutral monosaccharides, viz glucose, galactose, xylose, fucose and rhamnose.

Objective To evaluate a serf-designed diagnostic protoeol which can early detect a femoral neck fracture for patients with a femoral shaft fracture. Methods From September 2005 to June 2007, a self-developed protocol was used to detect an ipsilateral femoral neck fracture for all the patients with femoral shaft fracture who had sought treatment in our department. This protocol consisted of anteroposterior plain radiography of internal rotator, intraoperative fluoroscopy of the hip, a fine (2 mm) cut computed to-mographic scan through the femoral neck, postoperative anteroposterior and lateral plain radiography of the hip in the operating room prior to awakening the patient, at the time of follow-up anteroposterior and lateral plain radiography of the hip in the presence of hip pain. The diagnostic effects of the protocol were compared with those of conventional diagnosis used for all the patients with femoral shaft fracture who had sought treatment in our department from September 2003 to August 2005. A chi-square analysis comparing the protocol group (September 2005 to June 2007) and the non-protocol group (September 2003 to August 2005) was used to assess the early and delayed diagnosis rates for an associated ipsilateral femoral neck fracture. Results The earlydiagnosis rate of an associated femoral neck fracture by the protocol was 93.8%, markedly higher than that by conventional method (46.2%), with statistically significant difference (χ2 = 4.069, P =0.044). Conclu-sion In presence of a femoral shaft fracture. this protocol consisting of plain radiography of intemal rotator, intraoperative fluoroscopy of the hip, fine cut computed tomographic scan of the femoral neck, postoperative plain radiography of the hip, and follow-up plain radiography of the hip in the presence of hip pain, may sig-nificantly improve the diagnostic rate of an associated femoral neck fracture.

Two-factor factorial design refers to the research involving two experimental factors and the number of the experimental groups equals to the product of the levels of the two experimental factors. In other words, it is the complete combination of the levels of the two experimental factors. The research subjects are randomly divided into the experimental groups. The two experimental factors are performed on the subjects at the same time, meaning that there is no order. The two experimental factors are equal during statistical analysis, that is to say, there is no primary or secondary distinction, nor nested relation. This article introduces estimation of sample size and testing power of quantitative data with two-factor factorial design.

Objective To study the characteristics and differences of phonetic pronunciation between hearing-impaired and normal children in 4.5~5.5 years old groups. Methods Phonetic articulation of consonants and vowels were tested by three-grade assessors for 20 hearing- impaired children and 20 normal children in 4.5~5.5 years old group using Question Bank for Hearing-impaired Children's Rehabilitation Evaluation of Hearing and Speech. Results and Conclusion For hearing-impaired children, the consonants of /b. m. d. l. j/ were the most articulative, followed with /h. f. r. p. t. n. g. x/, and then /zh. z. k. c. sh. q. s. ch/; for normal children, the consonants of /b. p. f. g. m. d. h/ were the most articulative, followed with /k. j. x. t. r. l/, and then /q. zh. ch. sh. n. z. s. c/. For both groups, the single final was the most articulative, followed with the compound final, and then the nasal. The articulation of these 3 types of vowels were poorer in hearing-impaired children than in normal children (P<0.01)

Adult ; Aged ; Cardiovascular Agents ; therapeutic use ; Diastole ; drug effects ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Heart Failure ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Injections ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy ; Systole ; drug effects ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left ; complications ; drug therapy

BACKGROUND:A large number of studies have shown that adult stem cels derived from multiple tissues are available to differentiate towards nucleus pulposus-like celsin vitro. It is unclear whether mesenchymal stem cels derived from nucleus pulposus tissues have the ability to differentiate towards nucleus pulposus-like phenotypes induced by transforming growth factor-beta 1. Up to now, there are few reports on the difference between the differentiation ability of mesenchymal stem cels derived from nucleus pulposus tissues and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cels. OBJECTIVE:To compare the ability of mesenchymal stem cels derived from nucleus pulposus tissues and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cels differentiating into nucleus pulposus-like cels under induction of transforming growth factor-beta 1. METHODS:The groin fat tissue and the coccygeal spine of rats were taken respectively to isolate and culture mesenchymal stem cels derived from nucleus pulposus tissues and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cels by mechanical enzyme digestion method. Flow cytometry was employed to detect the expression of CD105, CD90, CD29, CD45, CD44, CD34, and CD24 of both two kinds of stem cels. Mesenchymal stem cels derived from nucleus pulposus tissues and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cels were divided into complete induction group (complete induction medium with transforming growth factor-beta 1), incomplete induction group (complete induction medium without transforming growth factor-beta 1) and control group(DMEM/F12 containing 10% fetal bovine serum and 100 mg/L penicilin/streptomycin), respectively. After 14 days of culture, real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of colagen type II, Aggrecan and SOX-9 in each group. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:CD105, CD90, CD29 expressed positively and CD45, CD44, CD34, CD24 negatively in both two kinds of stem cels. After 14 days of induced differentiation, the expressions of colagen type II, Aggrecan and SOX-9 in the two kinds of cels were significantly higher in the complete induction groups than in the control groups (P < 0.05). Under the induction of transforming growth factor-beta 1, the expression of colagen type II, Aggrecan and SOX-9 in mesenchymal stem cels derived from nucleus pulposus tissues was significantly higher than that in adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cels (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that both two kinds of mesenchymal stem cels have the ability to differentiate towards nucleus pulposus-like cels induced by transforming growth factor-beta, and mesenchymal stem cels derived from nucleus pulposus tissues may be more suitable as seed cels for nucleus pulposus tissue engineering research.

The variation of blood glucose in 1 147 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus was monitored by continuous glucose monitoring system(CGMS). The results showed that the peak hours of nocturnal hypoglycemia occurred during 22 : 00-2 : 00. The incidence of nocturnal hypoglycemia was negatively correlated with mean blood glucose and blood glucose at three hours after supper. The probability of hypoglycemia was up to 50% when blood glucose level had been as low as 4. 7 mmol/L at 3 h after supper.