AIM To investigate the effect of puerarin (Pue) on tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ?, interleukin (IL) 6 secreted by neonatal rat cardiomyocytes during hypoxia/reoxygenation injury. METHOD The activities of TNF ? and IL 6 in the supernatants of cultured myocytes, which were sampled from different groups (control, model, and therapeutic groups with 1 g?L -1 Pue, 0 1 g?L -1 Pue, 0 01 g?L -1 Pue) at different time, were assayed by bioassay method. RESULTS TNF ? and IL 6 activity increased compared with that of control ( P

Objective To determine in vitro drug susceptibility to five antifungal agents of clinical Cryptococcus neoformans strains isolated from different areas of China in recent ten years. Methods Eighty clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans were isolated from Shanghai, Guangdong, Fujian, Beijing and some other areas of China from 1998 to 2007. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the isolates to five antifungal agents, including amphotericin B, fluconazole, flucytosine, itraconazole and voriconazole, were determined using broth microdilution procedure (document M27-A2) recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test was employed for the statistical analysis. Results The MIC50 of the Cryptococcus neoforrnans isolates tested for amphotericin B, fluconazole, flucytosine, itraconazole and voriconazole were 0.5, 4, 2, 0.25 and ≤0.031 3 mg/L, respectively; and the MIC<,90> of the isolates tested for the above antifungal agents were 1, 8, 4, 0.5 and 0.062 5 mg/L, respectively. Among the tested isolates, 3 (3.8 %) were resistant to flucytosine, 4 (5.0 %) were resistant to itraconazole. All isolates were susceptible to amphotericin B and voriconazole. There was no significant difference in MIC of the strains isolated from any particular years to the five agents (χ2=0.500,2.687,2.211, 2.660,0.677,P>0.05). Conclusions The Cryptococcusneoformans isolates are highly susceptible to the five antifungal agents, while a few strains are resistant to flucytosine or itraconazole. The drug susceptibilities of the strains isolated from particular years are similar.

Objective The staffs of biosafety level 3 laboratories (BSL-3) face with the stress of handling highly pathogenic microbs and special laboratory environment.The job stress may result in accidents in the laboratory as negative factor for the risk control.The research may provide support for the control of risk in biosafety laboratories.Methods In order to assess the job stress in the staff in BSL-3 laboratory, we modified “the Chinese simple job stress questionnaire”based on the theory of the JDC mode and ERI mode, and an investigation was carried out.The present study included the staffs (87 employees) from six BSL-3 laboratories located in five provinces ( Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Wuhan) .Results Analysis of the data indicates that variables of age, working years, job duties, manipulating of animals, type of microorganisms and transmission route have a significant influence on the level of job stress in BSL-3 laboratory.Conclusion The BSL-3 laboratory staff in higher stress level have the characteristicses:20-39 years old, short work years, regular staff, operating on air-borne microbiology, manipulating of animals and operating on one more microbiology.

Objective Explore the diagnostic value of color Doppler ultrasonography in renal vein embolism compared with contrast-enhanced CT.Analyze and summarize the sonographic features and reasons of misdiagnosis of renal vein embolism.Methods Reports of color Doppler ultrasonography and contrast-enhanced CT in 15 patients with 20 renal vein thrombosis and 25 patients with 25 renal vein tumor thrombosis were retrospectively analyzed.We summarized the sonographic features including the location of emboli,the lumen and wall of the involved veins,the information of collateral circulation and the color Doppler sonographic features.Results The diagnostic accuracy of renal vein thrombosis and tumor thrombosis were 85%and 84%for ultrasound,100%and 96%for contrast-enhanced CT,the difference was not statistically significant(all P＞0.05).The typical sonographic features include(1)Expansion of the renal vein and full of solid echogenicity;(2)No flow signals or flow filling defect in renal veins;(3)No or sparse venous flow signal in the involved kidney.Conclusions Color Doppler ultrasonography and contrast-enhanced CT have a good consistency in the diagnosis of renal vein embolism.Color Doppler ultrasonography can be used as an important imaging method to evaluate the renal vein embolism,which can combine medical history and provide a more reliable basis for the diagnosis of renal vein embolism.