Objective To establish a rapid method having great capability for enrichment and anti-interference, higher sensitivity and good precision for determination of trace silver in drinking water. Methods The conditions of determination such as the definition of peak potentials, the selection of auxiliary electrolytes, the selection of kind and amount of oxidants and anti-interference test were carried out by MP-1 potentiometer using glass-carbon electrode. Results The lowest detection limit, average recorery rate and average relative standard deviation were 0.004 ug/ml, 100.3% and 2.73% respectively. Conclusion This method was suitable for determination of trace silver in drinking water.

Animals ; Brain ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Calmodulin ; metabolism ; Female ; Lead ; toxicity ; Male ; Maternal Exposure ; Pregnancy ; Protein Kinase C ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of chronic lead exposure on mRNA and protein expression of ASIC1a, ASIC2a, ASIC2b in hippocampus of baby-rats.

METHODSThe Wistar pregnant rats were randomly divided into 3 groups fed with distilled water or lead contained water (0.2% and 1.0% lead acetate) respectively, 5 rats in each group. The lead-exposure ranged from the 0 day of pregnancy to the offspring weaned. Then the baby-rats were fed with lead water like their mothers and killed at postnatal day 8 or 50. Atomic absorption spectrometry was used to determine lead content in the brain. RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to observe mRNA and protein expression of ASIC1a, ASIC2a and ASIC2b in their hippocampus respectively.

RESULTSThe brain lead content of test groups was higher than that of the control group (P < 0.01), and the lead content of the postnatal day 50 was higher than that in postnatal day 8 (P < 0.01). Compared with the control group, ASIC1a mRNA expression of 1.0% lead exposure in the hippocampus was uptrend (P < 0.01), ASIC1a protein expression of each test group was downtrend (P < 0.05), while for ASIC2a and ASIC2b mRNA and protein, there was no significant differences observed (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONASIC1a expression in hippocampus can be changed by chronic lead exposure.

Acid Sensing Ion Channels ; Animals ; Female ; Hippocampus ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Lead ; toxicity ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Sodium Channels ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate and compare the effect and safety of Holmium laser and Thulium laser in transurethral enucleation of the prostate in BPH patients.

METHODSNinety-eight BPH patients were divided into 2 groups and underwent transurethral enucleation of the prostate with holmium laser (Ho group) and thulium laser (Th group) respectively. Comparisons were made between the 2 groups in operation time, bleeding volume, electrolyte, IPSS score, PVR and Qmax.

RESULTSNo statistically significant differences were noted between the 2 groups in age and preoperative prostate volume, IPSS, PVR and Qmax (P > 0.05). The mean operation time was shorter in the Th group ([84.6 +/- 10.2] min) than in the Ho group ([70.5 +/- 7.5] min) (P = 0.032); blood loss was less in the former ([126.5 +/- 14.6] ml) than in the latter ([176.5 +/- 14.1] ml) (P = 0.071), with no blood transfusion necessitated; and the mean times of catheter indwelling were 2.4 d and 2.5 d respectively. There were no significant differences in the levels of hemoglobin and electrolyte before and after operation between the two groups, and no TURP syndrome was observed. IPSS, PVR and Qmax before operation were significantly different from those obtained 3 months after it (P < 0.05) in both the groups, but none of the indexes exhibited statistically significant differences when compared in the same period (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONBoth holmium and thulium laser transurethral enucleation of the prostate can alleviate LUTS in BPH patients with similar short-time effectiveness. Thulium is superior to holmium laser in hemostasis, but inferior to it in anatomical distinctness.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Humans ; Lasers, Solid-State ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; surgery ; Thulium ; therapeutic use ; Transurethral Resection of Prostate ; methods ; Treatment Outcome

Township and Village Health Services Integration Management (TVHSIM) is an essential form of China's two-tiered health service integration plan at the township and village level.Its main purpose,also one of the target goals in China's new healthcare reform,is to gradually integrate rural health services and appropriately allocate rural health resources.This study aims to assess the village doctors' satisfaction with the TVHSIM and provide scientific base to further improve TVHSIM.A cross-sectional study was carried out in which 162 village doctors from Qinghai,Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang in western China were interviewed.Descriptive analysis,independent t-test,one-way ANOVA,Spearman rank correlation and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the difference and relevance between village doctors' personal characteristics and their satisfaction with TVHSIM and six subscales.Village doctors with different years of practice,social insurance status and essential medical knowledge level showed statistically significant differences in their satisfaction levels (all P＜0.05).Age (P＜0.05) and years of practice (P＜0.01) were negatively correlated with Drug and Medical Device Management and Financing Management.Essential medical knowledge level (P＜0.05) was negatively correlated with Operations Management as well.However,social insurance status (P＜0.05) was positively correlated with Human Resources Management and Drug and Medical Device management.Gender,age and years of practice respectively had significant influence on village doctors' satisfaction with TVHSIM (P＜0.01).In conclusion,in order to further promote TVHSIM policy in rural China,a well-rounded social insurance model for village doctors is urgently needed.In addition,the development of TVHSIM is regionally imbalanced.Efficient and effective measures aiming at rationalizing gender and age structure and enhancing essential medical training should be carefully considered.

OBJECTIVETo establish a model of acute lung injury induced by paraquat poisoning and to observe the effects of anticoagulant therapy on acute lung injury induced by paraquat poisoning.

METHODSOne hundred twenty adult healthy male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: the paraquat poisoning group was exposed intragastrically (IG) to 50 mg/kg paraquat, anticoagulant therapy group was exposed intragastrically (IG) to 50 mg/kg paraquat then administrated subcutaneously with 68 U/kg low molecular heparin calcium 2 times a day and administrated intragastrically with 1.67 mg/kg aspirin one tome a day for 3, 7, 14 and 21 days, respectively, control group exposed intragastrically to normal saline. After exposure the rats were sacrificed, the venous blood and lung tissues were collected to detect the prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen, thrombin time and D-dimer in blood and the hydroxyproline in lung tissues, and to examine pathological changes in lung tissues with HE and Masson staining under light microscope.

RESULTSAt the 3rd, 7th, 14th and 21st days after exposure, the hydroxyproline contents of lung tissues in paraquat poisoning group and anticoagulation therapy group were significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.05), but the hydroxyproline contents of lung tissues in anticoagulation therapy group were significantly lower than those in paraquat poisoning group (P < 0.05). At the 3rd day after exposure, the PT, APTT, Fib and D-dimer levels in paraquat poisoning group and anticoagulation therapy group were significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.05), the D-dimer level of anticoagulation therapy group was significantly lower than that of control group (P < 0.05). At the 7th, 14th and 21st days after exposure, the TT and D-dimer levels of paraquat poisoning group and anticoagulation therapy group were significantly higher than those of control group (P < 0.05), the TT and D-dimer levels of anticoagulation therapy group were significantly lower than those of paraquat poisoning group (P < 0.05). The lung injury in paraquat poisoning group increased with exposure period, the lung fibrosis in anticoagulation therapy group was lower than that in paraquat poisoning group.

CONCLUSIONAnticoagulation therapy can improve hyper-coagulation state and acute lung injury in rats induced by paraquat poisoning.

Acute Lung Injury ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Animals ; Anticoagulants ; therapeutic use ; Aspirin ; therapeutic use ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Paraquat ; poisoning ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect and mechanism of NF-kappaB P65 gene silencing by small interference RNA on the apoptosis of human pancreatic cancer cells induced by gemcitabine in vitro and in vivo.

METHODSHuman pancreatic cancer cells (BxPC-3 and PANC-1) were cultured and respectively divided into five groups: blank control group, negative control siRNA group, gemcitabine group, NF-kappaB P65 siRNA group and gemcitabine + P65 siRNA group. The ability of cell proliferation was analyzed by MTT; the expression of NF-kappaB P65 and the apoptosis related proteins were examined by Western blot assay; the apoptosis was evaluated by the flow cytometry and laser scanning confocal microscopy analysis stained with Annexin V-FITC/PI; the DNA binding activity of NF-kappaB was examined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. BxPC-3 cells were injected subcutaneously into nude mice to establish pancreatic xenograft tumors. The tumor volume was monitored and TUNEL assay was used to assess the apoptosis index in tumor tissue after treatment.

RESULTSAt 72 h after transfection, the combination with gemcitabine and p65 siRNA significantly decreased the cell viability index (P < 0.05), and down-regulated the expression of Bcl-2 and procaspase-3 and up-regulated the expression of Bax compared with other groups. The combined treatment significantly increased the rate of apoptosis compared with other groups (P < 0.05). EMSA assay indicated that the DNA binding activity of NF-kappaB significantly decreased in NF-kappaB P65 siRNA group and gemcitabine+P65 siRNA group compared with Control group. The combined therapy inhibited the growth of pancreatic xenograft tumors by apoptosis induction in nude mice (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe effect of gemcitabine inducing cell apoptosis may be potentiated through inhibiting the DNA binding activity of NF-kappaB and regulating the expression of apoptosis related proteins by NF-kappaB P65 siRNA, which can activate the mitochondria apoptosis pathway in pancreatic cancer in vitro and in vivo.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; genetics ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Deoxycytidine ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Transcription Factor RelA ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transfection ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

OBJECTIVETo study the real effect of IL-15, a kind of T lymphocyte activators which were derived from lymphocytes, on the acute rejection process in heart and liver transplantation in rats.

METHODSMale (body weight 200 - 250 g) 1A (RT1(a)) and LEW (RT1(l)) rats were selected as donors and recipients, respectively. Heterotopic heart transplantation (in abdomen) and orthotopic liver transplantation were performed as the acute rejection model group (experimental group); LEW (RT1(l))-->LEW (RT1(l)) as donors and recipients to establish isografts transplantation as the control group. Animals were sacrificed on day 1, 3, 5, 7 and graft specimens were collected. Microarray, immunohistochemistry and Western-blotting methods were used to detect the expressions of IL-15, IL-2 and IFN-gamma, etc. 48 rats were divided evenly into two groups and each time-point consisted of 6 rats.

RESULTSAcute rejections which were clarified by pathological findings and animal manifestations were found 3 days after operation in the experimental group. The early expression of IL-15 was found on endothelial cells in allografts 1 day after operation in contrast to IL-2, which expressed lately and only be found on inflammatory cells including lymphocytes and Kupffer cells 3 days after graft implantation. The result of INF-gamma was the same as that of IL-2.

CONCLUSIONSIL-15 appeared earlier in heart and liver allografts than IL-2 and IFN-gamma in rat acute rejection model, and the expression site differed from the later two. IL-15 participated in acute rejection reaction earlier in this process and the pathway may be different from IL-2 and IFN-gamma. Early blocking this pathway combined with other blockade would have a promising result in control of the progression of acute rejection.

Acute Disease ; Animals ; Graft Rejection ; etiology ; Heart Transplantation ; adverse effects ; Immunohistochemistry ; Interleukin-15 ; physiology ; Interleukin-2 ; physiology ; Liver Transplantation ; adverse effects ; Male ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred Lew

OBJECTIVETo investigate the anti-tumor activity of combined gemcitabine with dihydroartemisinin, and the mechanism of the anti-tumor effect of gemcitabine enhanced by dihydroartemisinin on pancreatic cancer.

METHODSFor cultured cells, cell growth was determined by the MTT assay and apoptosis was evaluated by flow cytometry analysis and confocal laser scanning microscope stained with Annexin V-FITC/PI. The nuclear extract for determining NF-kappaB DNA-binding activity was analyzed by EMSA, while nuclear P65 and its downstream gene expression was determined by Western blot assay. BxPC-3 cells were injected subcutaneously into nude mice to establish pancreatic xenograft tumors and the tumor volume was monitored after exposure to agents. TUNEL assay was used to assess tumor cell apoptosis in tumor tissue.

RESULTSAfter combination of gemcitabine and dihydroartemisinin treatment, the proliferative inhibition rates of pancreatic cancer cells BxPC-3 and Panc-1 reached up to (81.1 +/- 3.9)% and (76.5 +/- 3.3)%, and the apoptosis rates were up to (53.6 +/- 3.8)% and (48.3 +/- 4.3)%, the differences were significantly (P < 0.01) compared with gemcitabine [(24.8 +/- 2.9)% and (21.8 +/- 3.5)%]. All the treatment groups inhibited the growth of pancreatic xenograft tumors in nude mice. The tumor volume and apoptosis index were (262 +/- 37) mm(3) and (50 +/- 4)% respectively in the combined treatment, compared to those of [(384 +/- 56) mm(3) and (25 +/- 3)%] in gemcitabine, the differences were significantly (P < 0.05). EMSA showed that gemcitabine alone obviously enhanced its DNA-binding activity compared to control. However, dihydroartemisinin significantly reduced its DNA-binding activity, so that abrogated the inducing effect of gemcitabine on NF-kappaB activation. Western blot assay indicated that dihydroartemisinin downregulated expression of nuclear P65, and combined treatment not only downregulated the expression of Cyclin D1, Bcl-xL and Bcl-2 while upregulated Bax, thus reduced the Bcl-2/Bax ratio, but also increased the caspase-3 activation, all of which increased apoptosis in both BxPC-3 and Panc-1 cells.

CONCLUSIONDihydroartemisinin significantly abrogated the inducing effect of gemcitabine on NF-kappaB activation and downregulated the expression of NF-kappaB targeted gene products, which may be one possible mechanism by which dihydroartemisinin augments the anti-tumor effect of gemcitabine on pancreatic cancer.

Animals ; Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic ; therapeutic use ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Artemisinins ; therapeutic use ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Deoxycytidine ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; NF-kappa B ; metabolism ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of chronic lead contaminant on protein expression of protein kinase (PKC) and calmodulin (CaM) in hippocampus of baby-rats.

METHODSThe Wistar pregnant rats were randomly divided into 3 groups fed with distilled water and lead-contained water (0.2% and 1.0% lead acetate) respectively. The lead exposure period ranged from the 0 day of pregnancy to the offspring weaned. Then the baby-rats were fed with lead water the same as their mothers. Pups were killed at postnatal day 8 and 50 respectively. Atomic absorption spectrometry was used to determine lead content of rats' brain. Western-blotting was used to observe protein expression of PKC and CaM in hippocampus of baby-rats.

RESULTSThe brain lead content of test groups was much higher than that of the control group in the same growth period (P < 0.01). The content of brain lead in rats of postnatal day 50 was significantly higher than that of rats of postnatal day 8 (P < 0.01). Compared with control group, PKC and CaM protein expressions of chronic lead exposure baby-rats in the hippocampus were down trend (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe decrease of PKC and CaM protein expression level in hippocampus might be one of the molecular mechanisms of lead induced impairment of learning and memory.

Animals ; Calmodulin ; metabolism ; Female ; Hippocampus ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Lead ; toxicity ; Male ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects ; Protein Kinase C ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar