Aged ; Ethmoid Sinus ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Nasal Polyps ; complications ; Oculomotor Nerve Diseases ; complications ; Sphenoid Sinus ; pathology

Objective To analyze the Brucellosis incidence and to predict the trends of the disease in Shanxi province and the national in recent years,which could provide the reference for surveillance,prevention and control of the disease.Methods Brucellosis data which was reported monthly during January 2006 and December 2010 in Shanxi province and the data released by Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention during January 2005 and December 2010 were collected.Several indexes,such as the annual increasing number,the development rate,growth rate and other indicators were applied to compare Shanxi province with the national Brucellosis epidemic in recent years.What's more,the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) was fitted respectively with the data of Brucellosis incident number reported monthly,so as to predict the prevalence status in the coming two years by verifying the fitting effect.Results Brucellosis prevalence of Shanxi province reached the peak in 2008,and the incidence number was 5397,which was 900 more than 2007.From the onset of decline after 2008,the prevalence decreased by 17.67％ (906/5128) in 2010.However,national incidence of Brucellosis kept increasing before 2009 and the prevalence increased rapidly from 2007 to 2008,and the growth rate reached 39.16％ (8442/21 560).Although the number of Brucellosis fell by 2041 cases in 2010 than in 2009,the rate of decline was only 5.14％(2041/37 734).The fastigium of Brucellosis was from May to July yearly whether Shanxi province or the country.The ARIMA models of Shanxi province and the nation were ARIMA [(1,0,1)(1,1,0)12] and ARIMA[(1,0,1)(0,1,1)12],respectively,according to the incidence numbers reported monthly.The fitting effect of models showed that the predicted values of the two models were both consistent with the actual situation and all predicted values fell within the 95％ confidence limits,which depicted that they both fitted well.The predicted values depict that the incidence of Brucellosis overall trend was basically stable in Shanxi province,while the numbers in the nation would increase in a small extent in 2011 and 2012.The fastigium of Brucellosis was still from May to July yearly.Conclusions Brucellosis control measures are effective in Shanxi province,incidence of Brucellosis declining.The ARIMA model could predict the number of Brucellosis well,which can provide a valuable reference for the predication and evaluation of Brucellosis epidemic in the future.

Objective To evaluate the running status of the water-improving projects in Gansu Province in order to further improve the supervising mechanism and raise the efficiency of defluoridation in drinking water.Methods The water-improving projects,either being normal,or intermittent,or discarded and the cause of abnormal running in 33 counties in Gansu Province were surveyed with unified standard method.Fluoride content in water was determined by F-ion selective electrode.Results 993 water improving projects covering 3389 fluorosis villages were surveyed,682 projects worked well[68.68%(682/993)]and had supplied water with normal fluoride contents to 2174 villages[64.15%(2174/3389)]and benefited 116.56 hundred thousand populations.And the rest 311[31.32%(311/993)]projects worked abnormally or supplied unqualified fluoride water.The main causes were the exceeded lasting life,insufficiency of water resources,high fluoride content in water and unqualified administration.Conclusions Most of the water-improving projects in Gansu Province are basically running normally,but about 1/3 of the projects do not function well,so the management of the projects must be improved and consummated.

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of contralateral acupuncture in treating motor dysfunction in patients with acute ischemic stroke.Methods Sixty patients with acute ischemic stroke were randomized to treatment and control groups, 30 cases each. Both group received electroacupuncture in addition to conventional rehabilitation training. Besides, the treatment group received electroacupuncture at points on the healthy side in the morning and on the affected side in the afternoon and the control group, electroacupuncture at points on the affected side in both the morning and afternoon. Motor function was assessed using the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), the modified Barthel Index (MBI), integrated electromyography (iEMG) and median frequency (MF) in the two groups of patients before and after treatment.Results There were statistically significant pre-/post-treatment differences in the FMA score, the MBI score, iEMG and MF in the two groups (P<0.01). There were statistically significant post-treatment differences in the FMA score, the MBI score and iEMG between the treatment and control groups (P<0.01,P<0.05).ConclusionContralateral and healthy side acupuncture can markedly improve motor function in acute stroke patients.

Objective To investigate the distribution of water fluoride and the present status of water- improving delluoridation projects in the endemic fluorosis areas in Gansu Province. Methods According to "The National Technical Scheme for Endemic Disease Control in 2004" for the water improving projects, water fluoride content was determined from fluorosis villages in 34 counties of 11 cities in Gansu Province. The fluoride content in drinking water was assessed by F-ion selective electrode. Results Water fluoride content was determined in 1576 fluorosis villages of 34 counties. Water fluoride content of 7829 water samples was determined, and the fluoride content of 1891 samples was over standard. Water fluoride content was ≤ 1.00 mg/L(accounting for 75.19%) in 1185 villages and 1.00 mg/L(accounting for 24.81%) in 391 villages; the highest water fluoride content was 6.78 mg/L Nine hundred and ninety three water-improving and defluoridation projects were determined. Water fluoride content of 867 water-improving and defluoridation projects was determined; 768 projects had water fluoride content ≤1.00 mg/L(accounting for 87.67%) and water fluoride content of 108 projects was 1.00 mg/L(accounting for 12.33%),with the highest water fluoride content being 5.27 mg/L. Water-improving and delluoridation projects mostly relied on drilling a well to obtain under-grand water. Abandoned projects accounted for 30%. Conclusions In 34 counties of 11 cites(prefecture), nearly 30% of the villages had water fluoride content exceeding the standard. The situation of endemic fluorosis control is still serious in Gausu Province, countermeasures for endemic fluorosis must be carried out as soon as possible and surveillance of water-improving and defluoridation projects must be strengthened.

Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of the application of condensed Chinese version of the MOS 36-item short form health survey (SF-36) in assessment of quality of life among adult patients with Kashin-Beck disease,and to provide a scientific basis in rehabilitation of the patients.Methods Four hundred and twenty seven eases of adult patients with Kashin-Back disease and 419 healthy individuals randomly selected in Kashin-Beck disease endemic areas in 8 counties of Gansu province were surveyed with the SF-36.The reliability of the SF-36 was assessed by split-half reliability and Cronbach's α coefficient and the validity through principal component factor analysis and correlation analysis,etc.The dimension scores of different people were obtained by analysis of variance and univariate t-test.Results The split-half reliability of all the 8 dimensions was greater than 0.6 and the Cronbach's α coefficient was greater than 0.8; the pearson correlate coefficients of all the items to their dimensions were greater than 0.391.SF-36 contained 8 domains and 2 summary scales in the factor analysis.The score differences of quality of life in different ages of the patients,different stages of the disease were statistically significant (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The SF-36 is practical in studying the quality of life among adult patients with Kashin-Beck Disease.

OBJECTIVETo explore mutation of Cited2 gene coding strand in Chinese patients with congenital heart disease (CHD).

METHODSDNA was extracted from the blood samples of 120 nonhomologous and various CHD patients and 100 healthy children. The sequence of coding regions of Cited2 was amplified by PCR and compared to those in the GeneBank after sequencing to identify the mutations. The family of the samples who have Cited2 mutations were investigated as well. Clustal W software was applied for conservative analysis of the altered amino acids.

RESULTSThree new mutations of Cited2 coding strand were found in 4 CHD patients. Two point mutations were first identified respectively in two patients, one patient with mirror image dextrocardia and tetralogy of Fallot (c.550 G > A), another with aortic stenosis (c.574 A > G). Apart from this, the same deletion (c.573-578del6) was first detected in another two patients, one with ventricular septal defect and atrial septal defect, the other with aortic stenosis and pulmonary stenosis. All the mutations resulted in the protein changes (p.Gly184Ser; p.Ser192Gly; p.Ser192fs). None of these changes were detected in the control group.

CONCLUSIONThis study showed that there are 3 brand-new gene mutations as demonstrated by sequencing of Cited2 gene in Chinese CHD patients with a broad phenotype spectrum. Serine-glycine rich junction (SGJ) is considered as the mutation hot spot. Cited2 mutations may be one of the causes of the development of CHD in human.

Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; genetics ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Mutation ; Repressor Proteins ; genetics ; Trans-Activators ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of in utero exposure to di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) on the protein expression in the penile tissue of hypospadiac rats, isolate and identify differentially expressed proteins, and determine the role of the differential expression of Annexin A3 in the development of hypospadia in the rat offspring after maternal exposure to DBP.

METHODSTwenty pregnant SD rats were randomly assigned to an experimental group, intragastrically administered DBP at 800 mg/kg, and a control group, given soybean oil at 5 ml/kg, both for 5 days. Three days after birth, the penises of the newborn rats were removed, and the total protein extracted for 2D-electrophoretic separation and image analysis. Differentially expressed protein spots were screened and identified by mass spectrometry, and the changes in the expression of Annexin A3 detected by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSThirty-one differentially expressed protein spots were screened, of which 17 were identified by mass spectrometry and the SwissProt database, including pyruvate kinase M2, alpha-enolase, and Annexin A3. Western blot showed that Annexin A3 was mainly located in the urethral epithelia and had a lower expression in the hypospadiac rats (1.851 +/- 0.014, n = 10) than in the controls (2.603 +/- 0.012, n = 10) (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONA pedigree of differentially expressed proteins in the penises of DBP-induced hypospadia and normal rats was established by the proteomic method. The differential expression of Annexin A3 may play an important role in the development of hypospadia.

Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Annexin A3 ; metabolism ; Dibutyl Phthalate ; adverse effects ; Epispadias ; Female ; Hypospadias ; metabolism ; Male ; Maternal Exposure ; Penis ; metabolism ; Pregnancy ; Proteome ; analysis ; Proteomics ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects of antiarrhythmic peptide (AAP10) on ventricular arrhythmias in rabbits with healed myocardial infarction (OMI).

METHODSThirty rabbits were randomly divided into three groups (n = 10 each): Sham group, left thoracotomy was performed without coronary ligation; OMI group and OMI + AAP10 group, the circumflex coronaries were ligated. Three months post operation, the electrophysiological and antiarrhythmic effects of AAP10 were assessed in the arterially perfused rabbit left ventricular wedge preparation. Sham and OMI group were perfused with Tyrode's solution and OMI + AAP10 group was perfused with Tyrode's solution + AAP10 (80 nmol/L). Transmembrane action potentials were recorded simultaneously from endocardium and epicardium together with a transmural ECG by use of 2 separate intracellular floating microelectrodes. The stimulus-response-interval (SRI) of the epicardium and the incidence of ventricular tachycardia (VT) were observed. Whole heart and left ventricular weights, the left ventricular thickness at infarct border zone were measured.

RESULTSWhole heart and left ventricular weights as well as the left ventricular thickness at the infarct border zone significantly increased post infarction. VT was induced in 8 out of 10 rabbits in OMI group and in 2 out of 10 rabbits in OMI + AAP10 group (P < 0.05). SRI was also significantly shortened in OMI + AAP10 group compared to OMI group [SRI-1: (20.59 +/- 0.79) ms vs. (28.71 +/- 0.55) ms; SRI-2: (30.42 +/- 0.74) ms vs. (38.67 +/- 0.49) ms, all P < 0.01]. However, the action potential morphology and duration were similar between OMI and OMI + AAP10 groups.

CONCLUSIONThe antiarrhythmic peptide (AAP10) can increase gap junctional intercellular conductance without affecting the action potential morphology and duration and decrease the incidence of inducible ventricular tachycardia.

Animals ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; complications ; physiopathology ; Oligopeptides ; pharmacology ; Rabbits ; Random Allocation

BACKGROUNDThe blood vessels of a transplanted organ are the interface between donor and recipient. The endothelium in the blood vessels is thought to be the major target for graft rejection. Endothelial cells of a transplanted organ can be of recipient origin after transplantation. In this study, we tested whether endothelial chimerism correlated with the graft rejection and cold ischemia.

METHODSWe studied the biopsy samples from 34 renal transplants of female recipients who received the kidney from a male donor for the presence of endothelial cells of recipient origin. We examined the tissue sections of renal biopsy samples by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for the presence of endothelial cells containing two X chromosomes using a biotinylated Y chromosome probe and digoxigenin labelled X chromosome probe, and then analyzed the relationship between the endothelial cell chimerism and the rejection and cold ischemia.

RESULTSEndothelial chimerism was common and irrespective of rejections (P > 0.05). The cold ischemic time of chimerism group was longer than no chimerism group ((14.83 +/- 4.03) hours vs (11.27 +/- 3.87) hours, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThere is no correlation between the percentage of recipient endothelial cells in vascular endothelial cells and the type of graft rejection. The endothelium damaged by ischemic injury might be repaired by the endothelial cells from the recipient.

Animals ; Biopsy ; Endothelial Cells ; pathology ; Female ; Graft Rejection ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Kidney ; pathology ; Kidney Transplantation ; Male ; Mice ; Time Factors ; Transplantation Chimera ; Transplantation, Homologous