AIM: The impaired function of vascular endothelial cells occurs popularly in hypertensive patients. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) plays a crucial role on impaired function, and is related to prevalence, severity and target organ damages of hypertension. This study explored the relationship between HGF gene C57488A polymorphism and essential hypertension (EH). METHODS: ①Between June and December in 2006, totally 107 EH patients with an average age of (61?9) years, in them 47 cases with family history of hypertension, were recruited in this study. Informed consents were obtained from the patients who were all the Han residents of Hefei area, and the experiment was approved by the hospital ethical committee. The hypertension criteria formulated by Chinese Medical Association included the systolic pressure ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic pressure ≥ 90 mm Hg (1 mm Hg=0.133 kPa), or having received drug therapy for hypertension over one year. The patients were administrated with hypotensive drugs with one month. Meanwhile 110 normotensives without family history of hypertension and drug therapy were served as controls, with an average age of (60?8) years. Inclusion criteria: systolic pressure 0.05).②The distributions of HGF gene C57488A polymorphism were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, indicating population representativeness. The frequencies of three genotypes CC, CA, AA were 0.809, 0.170, 0.021 and C, A alleles were 0.894, 0.106 in the EH group with family history respectively. Correspondingly, the frequencies were 0.733, 0.233, 0.033 and 0.850, 0.150 respectively in the EH patients without family history. Meanwhile, the frequencies were 0.527, 0.355, 0.060 and 0.705, 0.295 respectively in the controls.③The frequencies of genotype CC and allele C were both significant higher in EH with or without family history compared with the controls (P 0.05). CONCLUSION: HGF gene C57488A polymorphism is possibly associated with EH, and genotype CC and allele C may be the factors of genetic predisposition of EH in Han population of Hefei area.

Objective To assess the efficacy of topical application of Ephedrine and furacilin nasal drops combined with tetracaine in reducing complications of pack removal after nasal surgery.Methods 81caseshaving un-dergone nasal septum surgery were randomly divided into the experimental group and control group: the former were treated with Ephedrine and furacilin nasal drops combined with tetracaine and the blank control group.The occur-rence of complications at removing nasal fillers after nasal surgery was assessed.Results The hemorrhage and pain in the experimental group were significantly less than those in the blank control group (p <0.05).Conclusion top-ical application of Ephedrine and furacilin nasal drops combined with tetracaineis an effective method for reducing the pains of pack removal after nasal surgery.

Objective To investigate the effect of adenovirus-medicated gene therpy with vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)delivered into the subdermal space to treat compromised skin flap in the rat.Methods Thir- ty sprague-dawley rats weighing 350～400g were used in this study.The rats was randomly divided into three groups of ten rats each.A dorsal flap(8cm?2cm)in full thickness with the pedicale located at the leve of the iliaccrest was designed,each,animal received recipient bed subfascial injections of adenovirus encoding VEGF(Ad-VEGF)or green fluorescent protein(Ad-GFP)as treatment control.Another set of animals(n = 10)received NG was designated as control.The flap were elevated as originally designated and sutured back to its bed.The survival rate of the flap was evaluated on day seven after operation.Results The survival rates of the flap in Ad-VEGF group increased signifi- cantly as compared with those of the Ad-GFP group(P

Objective To investigate the risk factors for postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD)induced by patient-controlled intravenous analgesia(PCIA)in elderly patients. Methods 95 patients with POCD and 97 cognitive normal controls were included in the study. The cases and controls were matched for gender, type of operation and PCIA volume dose. Cognitive function was assessed by Mini-Mental-State test and the relationship between POCD and various factors was analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results Univariate analysis revealed that the education level and visual analog scale (VAS) score had significant differences between the two groups. Multivariate analysis showed that the VAS score and education level were significantly related to POCD induced by PCIA, with the odds ratios of 2. 379 (95%CI:1.205～4.698) and 0. 292 (95%CI:0.157～0.543), respectively. Conclusions Lower VAS score is an independent risk factor and higher education level seems to be a protective factor for POCD induced by PCIA.

Animals ; Calcium ; physiology ; Chloride Channels ; physiology ; Electrophysiological Phenomena ; Male ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; cytology ; physiology ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; physiology ; Pulmonary Artery ; cytology ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Animals ; Oocytes ; metabolism ; physiology ; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled ; physiology ; Receptors, Purinergic P2X ; physiology ; Xenopus laevis

Objective:To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI)among the medical students.Methods:A total of 603 undergraduate students were selected from a medical school in Beijing using a stratified-cluster random-sampling strategy,who were assessed by using the Chinese version of PSQI.Then 1 71 subjects were randomly selected to retest about 1 month later,using a variety of psychometric properties to evaluate reliability and validity of the scale. Results:The average of global PSQI scores was 5.38 ±2.34,the overall Cronbach’s αcoefficient of all the scale items was 0.734,the half-split reliability coefficient was 0.655;the test-retest correlation coef-ficient was 0.530 for global PSQI score,and there was no statistically significant difference before and af-ter (P >0.05).As for the construct validity,confirmatory factor analysis results indicated that the two factor model (containing sleep efficiency factor and sleep quality factor)was the optimal model (good-ness-of-fit index 0.949,root of the mean square residual 0.083,comparative fit index 0.699),and the factor loading for “hypnotic drug use”was the lowest.Using subjective sleep quality of the students as the criteria,the global PSQI score was statistically different between the criteria-based groups (P <0.001 ).And the area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC)curve which was plotted using the global score of PSQI was 0.908 (95%CI:0.880 -0.936).Conclusion:The Chinese version of PSQI has been verified,having good reliability and validity among the medical students,and is an effec-tive tool to investigate and screen the sleep quality of medical students in China.

Effects of Pb,Zn,Cu and Cd on growth and enzyme activities of microorganisms such as Bacillus licheniformis 2709,Bacillus subtilis1.398 and Aspergillus usamii 537,which can individually produce alka-line,neutral and acid protease,were studied,respectively. By determining growth and enzyme activities of three bacterial species,as well as analyzing their tolerance and resistance indicators(MTC and MIC) using growth inhibition plate analysis(GIPA) under different heavy metal gradients,results showed that four heavy metals under higher than a special concentration level significantly inhibited growth and enzyme ac-tivities of three species. The alkaline protease exhibited greatest adaptability to four heavy metals,next the neutral protease also exhibited certain adaptibilty to Zn and Cd,whereas the acid protease was totally inhib-ited under any levels of heavy metal concentrations. Three species not only showed great potential to tolerate and resist toxicity of lead and zinc(2.0 mmol/L-6.0 mmol/L) ,but also showed certain resistance to cad-mium(0.5 mmol/L-0.75 mmol/L) .

Objective To study the effects of H_2S on the visceral pain induced by colorectal dis- tention (CRD) and the expression of substance P (SP)in rats.Methods Forty Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group,normal saline(i,p.) group,low( 15?mol/kg),moderate (45?mol/kg) and high(75?mol/kg) dose of NaSH(i.p.) groups.All rats.except control group,were subjected to CRD for 25 seconds and their behavioral responses to CRD were assessed by measuring the abdominal with drawal reflex(AWR).The expression of SP in the ileocecal junction,colon,spinal cord of thoracic waist (T6-L5) and brain was detected by immunohistochemistry.Results The visceral pain induced by CRD produced a capacity-dependent increase of AWR score in normal saline group,and a dose-dependent reduction of AWR score in three of NaSH groups.There was no significant differences of SP expression in the ileocecal junction,colon,spinal cord of thoracic waist and thalamencepbalon between the normal saline group and the NaSH low dose group.However,the decreased SP expression in the NaSH moder- ate and high dose groups were observed in comparison to those in the normal saline group(P

Objective In order to investigate the relationship among reflux esophagitis,Barrett's e- sophagus and esophageal adenocarcinomas,the expressions of Cdx2 and MUC2 gene were studied.Methods Using immunohistochemistry,the expressions of the Cdx2 and MUC2 were detected in the esophageal mu- cosa of 30 patients with reflux esophagitis,18 patients with Barrett's esophagus and 25 patients with esopha- geal adenocareinoma.Results The positive rate and staining intensity of Cdx2 and MUC2 expressions in re- flux esophagitis,Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma were significantly higher than those in normal esophageal mucosa(P