Objective To explore the clinical value of false positive of Down’ s Syndrome Screening for premature rupture of membranes in the second trimester of pregnancy. Methods From Jan. 2009 to Jul. 2013, there were 321 cases who were in the second trimester of high risk pregnancy recieved Down’ s Syndrome Screening. Their fetals have been excluded chromosome or organ abnormality, and there was no fetal organ structure abnormal through sequence prenatal ultrasound examinations. Results of their pregnancy have been followed-up, and pregnancy outcomes of 346 cases who were of low risk were followed-up at the same time. Results Among the 321 cases, there were 14 ca-ses of abortion because of PROM ( gestational age less than 28 weeks);17 cases of premature delivery because of PROM, including 9 cases whose gestational age were from 28 to 34 weeks and 8 cases whose gestational age were from 34 weeks to 37 weeks;and 7 cases of neonatal asphyxia. In the low risk group, abortion because of PROM occured in 6 cases before 28 weeks, 3 cases between 28 to 34 weeks, and 4 ca-ses between 34 to 37 weeks, and neonatal asphyxia occured in 3 cases. Conclusion Comparing with Down’ s screening false positive preg-nant women and the low risk group, the false positive group have a higher occurrence of PROM, Down’ s screening is a potential high risk in-dex as a predictor of PROM.

Background Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a group of vision-threatening eye disorders.Previous researches showed that the activation of Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (Akt/mTOR) pathway closely related to the mechanism of AMD.A new specific method to inhibit Akt/mTOR pathway will become a breakthrough for the treatment of AMD.Objective This study was to establish a mouse fibroblast cell line (NIH/3T3) which can stably inhibit the expression of mTOR gene and provide a cell model for the study on the function of Akt/mTOR pathway in AMD and observe the influence of mTOR gene knockdown on related proteins.Methods Three short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) targeting mTOR gene were designed and synthesized based on murine mTOR mRNA sequence.Double-strand shRNA hairpins were separately cloned into PIGZ-green fluorescent protein (GFP) +Puro vectors to produce recombination plasmids.The packaged lentiviral plasmids and RNAi plasmids were co-transfected into NIH/3T3 cells,a mouse fibroblast line.After puromycin selection and culture expansion,0.5 mg/L puromycin was added the culture medium to establish stable cell clones.The expressions of mTOR mRNA and protein in NIH/3T3 cells were detected by real-time PCR and Western blot respectively,and the inhibitory efficiency of interference was analyzed.Results Transfected GFP-labeled NIH/3T3 cells by lentiviral presented the green fluoresccence with the efficiency of infection of 90％ in the third day.Real-time PCR showed a distinct band of mTOR mRNA in 184 bp.The knockdown rate for sh1,sh2 and sh3 were respectively 31.3％,31.8％ and 45.3％ in the lower multipolicity of infection (MOI) group ;while in the higher MOI group,the knockdown rate for sh1,sh2 and sh3 were 47.1％,56.5％ and 71.6％ respectively.Western blot assay exhibited weakened expression band of mTOR protein in NIH/3T3 cell line for sh1,sh2 and sh3 in both lower and higher MOI groups with the weakest expression for sh3.Conclusions A stable mouse fibroblast cell line is established by the inhibition of mTOR with RNA interference technique,which can provide a cell model for studying the function of Akt/mTOR pathway in AMD.

Objective To evaluate the effects of turmeric volatile oil (TVO) combined with cisplatin on the proliferation and apoptosis of a human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cell line A431,and to explore their mechanisms.Methods Some cultured A431 cells at exponential growth phase were divided into several groups to be treated with 5,10,20,40 and 80 mg/L TVO,as well as high-glucose Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) containing 1％ dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO,control group),respectively.After 24-hour treatment,cell counting kit 8 (CCK8) assay was performed to estimate the proliferative activity of A431 cells in the above groups.Some other A431 cells were divided into 4 groups:control group treated with high-glucose DMEM containing 1％ DMSO,TVO group treated with 40 mg/LTVO,cisplatin group treated with 10 mg/L cisplatin,and TVO + cisplatin group treated with 40 mg/L TVO and 10 mg/L cisplatin.After 24-hour treatment,CCK8 assay was performed to estimate the cellular proliferative activity,inverted microscopy to observe changes in cell morphology,fluorescence microscopy to detect cell apoptosis after acridine orange (AO)/ethidium bromide (EB) double-staining,colorimetry to evaluate the activity of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9,and Western blot analysis to determine the protein expression of Caspase-3 and p-glycoprotein.Results After 24-hour treatment with 5,10,20,40 and 80 mg/L TVO,the cell proliferation rates were inhibited by (12.83 ± 6.4)％,(16.27 ± 11.4)％,(21.61 ± 9.1)％,(33.11 ± 2.0)％ and (46.00 ± 3.3)％ respectively,and the inhibition rates were all significantly higher in these groups than in the control group (4.03％ ± 1.4％,all P ＜ 0.05).The 50％ inhibitory concentration (IC50) of TVO at 24 hours was (61.66 ± 1.03) mg/L.Compared with the control group,the proliferation inhibition rates significantly increased in the TVO group,cisplatin group and TVO + cisplatin group (all P ＜ 0.05),suggesting that the combination of TVO and cisplatin showed synergistic inhibitory effects with a combination index of 1.366.Moreover,A431 cells turned round to different extents and became apoptotic in the TVO group and cisplatin group,and the TVO + cisplatin group showed obviously decreased number of cells and a large number of cell debris.The TVO + cisplatin group also showed significantly increased activity of Caspase-3 (1.520 ± 0.115) and Caspase-9 (2.760 ± 0.297) as well as protein expression of Caspase-3 (1.482 ± 0.016) compared with the TVO group (Caspase-3 activity:1.117 ± 0.095;Caspase-9 activity:1.259 ± 0.059;Caspase-3 protein expression:1.156 ± 0.006,all P ＜ 0.01) and cisplatin group (Caspase-3 activity:1.381 ± 0.089;Caspase-9 activity:1.829 ± 0.171;Caspase-3 protein expression:1.296 ± 0.021,all P ＜ 0.01),but significantly decreased p-glycoprotein expression (0.528 ± 0.014) compared with the TVO group (1.311 ± 0.011,P ＜ 0.01) and cisplatin group (1.169 ± 0.012,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion TVO combined with cisplatin can synergistically inhibit the proliferation of A431 cells and induce cell apoptosis,which may be associated with activation of the caspase system and decreased expression of pglycoprotein.

Intranasal drug delivery system is a non-invasive drug delivery route with the advantages of no first-pass effect, rapid effect and brain targeting. It is a feasible alternative to drug delivery via injection, and a potential drug delivery route for the central nervous system. However, the nasal physiological environment is complex, and the nasal delivery system requires "integration of medicine and device". Its delivery efficiency is affected by many factors such as the features and formulations of drug, delivery devices and nasal cavity physiology. Some strategies have been designed to improve the solubility, stability, membrane permeability and nasal retention time of drugs. These include the use of prodrugs, adding enzyme inhibitors and absorption enhancers to preparations, and new drug carriers, which can eventually improve the efficiency of intranasal drug delivery. This article reviews recent publications and describes the above mentioned aspects and design strategies for nasal intranasal drug delivery systems to provide insights for the development of intranasal drug delivery systems.
Administration, Intranasal ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; Drug Carriers ; Brain ; Nasal Cavity/physiology* ; Nasal Mucosa

An explicit illustration of pulmonary delivery processes (PDPs) was a prerequisite for the formulation design and optimization of carrier-based DPIs. However, the current evaluation approaches for DPIs could not provide precise investigation of each PDP separately, or the approaches merely used a simplified and idealized model. In the present study, a novel modular modified Sympatec HELOS (MMSH) was developed to fully investigate the mechanism of each PDP separately in real-time. An inhaler device, artificial throat and pre-separator were separately integrated with a Sympatec HELOS. The dispersion and fluidization, transportation, detachment and deposition processes of pulmonary delivery for model DPIs were explored under different flow rates. Moreover, time-sliced measurements were used to monitor the PDPs in real-time. The Next Generation Impactor (NGI) was applied to determine the aerosolization performance of the model DPIs. The release profiles of the drug particles, drug aggregations and carriers were obtained by MMSH in real-time. Each PDP of the DPIs was analyzed in detail. Moreover, a positive correlation was established between the total release amount of drug particles and the fine particle fraction (FPF) values ( = 0.9898). The innovative MMSH was successfully developed and was capable of illustrating the PDPs and the mechanism of carrier-based DPIs, providing a theoretical basis for the design and optimization of carrier-based DPIs.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effect of occupational stress on abnormity of serum total cholesterol and triglyceride in male steel workers. METHODS: A total of 3 957 male steel workers from an iron and steel group company were selected as study objects by judgment sampling method. Occupational stress was measured by the Chinese version of Job Content Questionnaire. The serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were measured using fasting venous blood. RESULTS: Among the 3 957 workers,the detection rate of occupational stress was 56. 8%,and 55. 0% of them showed high social support. The abnormal rates of total cholesterol and triglyceride were 21. 8% and 40. 9%,respectively. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that workers with high social support had high risk of abnormal total cholesterol and abnormal triglyceride than workers with low social support( P < 0. 05) after adjusting for confounding factors such as age,education level,marital status,body mass index,smoking and drinking alcohol,tea. The odds ratio of abnormal total cholesterol in occupational stress workers was 1. 17 times of that of non-occupational stress workers. No association was found between occupational stress and abnormal triglyceride( P > 0. 05). CONCLUSION: Occupational stress may be associated with abnormity of total cholesterol in male steel workers. Social support is an important influences factor to the abnormity of total cholesterol and triglyceride in male steel workers.

Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) had been widely used in lung diseases on account of direct pulmonary delivery, good drug stability and satisfactory patient compliance. However, an indistinct understanding of pulmonary delivery processes (PDPs) hindered the development of DPIs. Most current evaluation methods explored the PDPs with over-simplified models, leading to uncompleted investigations of the whole or partial PDPs. In the present research, an innovative modular process analysis platform (MPAP) was applied to investigate the detailed mechanisms of each PDP of DPIs with different carrier particle sizes (CPS). The MPAP was composed of a laser particle size analyzer, an inhaler device, an artificial throat and a pre-separator, to investigate the fluidization and dispersion, transportation, detachment and deposition process of DPIs. The release profiles of drug, drug aggregation and carrier were monitored in real-time. The influence of CPS on PDPs and corresponding mechanisms were explored. The powder properties of the carriers were investigated by the optical profiler and Freeman Technology four powder rheometer. The next generation impactor was employed to explore the aerosolization performance of DPIs. The novel MPAP was successfully applied in exploring the comprehensive mechanism of PDPs, which had enormous potential to be used to investigate and develop DPIs.