Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pneumoconiosis ; diagnosis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the sub-acute oral effect of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles on the oxidation/antioxidation biomarkers and inflammatory cytokines in blood, liver, intestine, and colon in rats. METHODS: Twenty four 4-week-old clean-grade Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly devided into 4 groups by body weight (n=6, control, low, middle, and high), in which the rats were orally exposed to TiO₂ nanoparticles at doses of 0, 2, 10 and 50 mg/kg body weight/day for 28 consecutive days separately. Food intake, body weight and abnormal behaviors during the experiment were recorded. The rats were euthanized on the 29th day. The blood was collected via abdominal aortic method and centrifuged to collect the serum. Tissues from liver, intestine and colon were collected and homogenated. Then enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and microwell plate methods were used to detect oxidation/antioxidation biomarkers including superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), total mercapto (T-SH), glutathione disulfide (GSSG), malomdialdehvde (MDA) and inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in the serum, liver, intestine and colon in the rats. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, no significant differences in body weight, food intake and organ coefficients were observed in all the three groups after TiO₂ gavage. No significant changes in GSH, GSH-Px, T-SH, and IL-6 were observed. Compared with the control group, significant increase of SOD activity in serum in high dose group, signi-ficant increase of GSSG concentration in intestine in middle and high dose group and significant increase of MDA concentration in liver in low and high dose group were observed. Compared with the control group, a significant increase of TNF-α in liver in middle and high dose group was observed. CONCLUSION TiO₂ nanoparticle can increase antioxidant enzymes activities in blood, increase oxidative biomarkers in liver and intestine, increase inflammatory cytokines in liver in rats after a 28-day sub-acute orally administration. Among blood, liver, intestine, and colon, liver is most sensitive to the toxicity induced by TiO₂ nanoparticles, followed by intestine, blood, and colon in sequence.
Animals ; Antioxidants ; Biomarkers ; Cytokines ; Nanoparticles ; Oxidative Stress ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Titanium

BACKGROUNDCervicothoracic junction spinal tuberculosis (CJST) in children is uncommon, especially when accompanied by a huge abscess. However, its consequences can be severe. Because of the special anatomic location of the cervicothoracic junction, surgical treatment is difficult and rarely reported. The aim of this clinical study was to assess the effectiveness of combined anterior and posterior approaches for focal debridement, decompression, allografting and anterior instrumentation in the treatment of CJST in children.

METHODSTen pediatric CJST patients underwent focal debridement and cord decompression through combined anterior and posterior approaches. Then an appropriate allograft and titanium plate were applied to reconstruct the spine. The patients were asked to wear head-neck-chest braces for six months and received regular anti-tubercular drugs therapy for 12 months.

RESULTSThe patients were followed-up for an average of 26 months (range, 15-32 months). There was no recurrent tuberculous infection. The bone grafts incorporated well and the instrumentation was stable. Cervical and thoracic kyphosis was successfully corrected from 40° (range, 30-52°) before the operation to 18° (range, 12-26°) post-operation. Neurological function was improved in all patients.

CONCLUSIONSCombined anterior and posterior approaches for focal debridement, decompression, bone allografting and anterior instrumentation provided an effective means of treatment in children of CJST with a huge abscess in the posterior part of the vertebral body.

Bone Transplantation ; Cervical Vertebrae ; surgery ; Child, Preschool ; Debridement ; Decompression, Surgical ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; surgery ; Tuberculosis, Spinal ; surgery

BACKGROUND:Sepsis has become the greatest threat to in-patients, with a mortality of over 25％.The dysfunction of gut barrier, especially the immunological barrier, plays an important role in the development of sepsis. This dysfunction occurs after surgery, but the magnitude of change does not differentiate patients with sepsis from those without sepsis. Increased intestinal permeability before surgery is of no value in predicating sepsis. The present study aimed to observe the changes of intestinal mucosal immunologic barrier in rat models of sepsis induced by cecal ligation and puncture. METHODS:Sixty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a sepsis group (n=45) and a control group (n=15). The rats in the sepsis group were subjected to cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), whereas the rats in the control group underwent a sham operation. The ileac mucosa and segments were harvested 3, 6 and 12 hours after CLP, and blood samples were collected. Pathological changes, protein levels of defensin-5 (RD-5) and trefoil factor-3 (TFF3) mRNA, and lymphocytes apoptosis in the intestinal mucosa were determined. In an additional experiment, the gut-origin bacterial DNA in blood was detected. RESULTS:The intestinal mucosa showed marked injury with loss of ileal villi, desquamation of epithelium, detachment of lamina propria, hemorrhage and ulceration in the sepsis group. The expression of TFF3 mRNA and level of RD-5 protein were decreased and the apoptosis of mucosal lymphocyte increased (P<0.05) in the sepsis group compared with the control group. Significant differences were observed in RD-5 and TFF3 mRNA 3 hours after CLP and they were progressively increased 6 and 12 hours after CLP in the sepsis group compared with the control group (P<0.05, RD-5 F=11.76, TFF3 F=16.86 and apoptosis F=122.52). In addition, the gut-origin bacterial DNA detected in plasma was positive in the sepsis group. CONCLUSION:The immunological function of the intestinal mucosa was impaired in septic rats and further deteriorated in the course of sepsis.

OBJECTIVEIn order to accumulate experiences for improving the efficiency in serological tests, the present study on mixed testing of serum samples was performed by taking the serological test of trichinellosis and toxoplasmosis as the examples, and had proved the effects on cost-effectiveness of seroepidemiological survey of parasitic disease with method of mixed-samples test.

METHODSAccording to the binomial distribution principle, to develop an approach to the feasibility of mixed testing of serum samples, and to work on a cost-effectiveness analysis of one-by-one testing and mixed testing using hygienic economic analysis method was performed. For serological test of trichinellosis and toxoplasmosis, 3 kinds of mixed testing methods, namely 3 serum sample mixture, 5 serum sample mixture and 10 serum sample mixture, were performed.

RESULTSThe results showed that all the 3 kinds of mixed tests of trichinellosis and toxoplasmosis showing positive result if only 1 weak positive serum sample were mixed with. When the serum samples being mixed were all negative ones, then among the 24 groups tested with each kind of negative serum sample mixture of trichinellosis (3 serum samples, 5 serum samples and 10 serum samples), they all showed negative. However, among the 12 groups tested with 2 kinds of negative serum mixture of toxoplasmosis (3 serum samples and 5 serum samples), all showed negative while among the 18 groups tested with the 10 serum sample mixture, 16 groups showed negative and 2 were positive. The mixed testing of trichinellosis and toxoplasmosis showed that the efficiency of mixed testing was related to the serological positive rate of the parasitic diseases to be examined. When serological positive rate was 10%, the efficiency of mixed testing was higher in 4 serum sample group. When serological positive rate was 1%, the efficiency of mixed testing was higher in 10 serum sample group and when serological positive rate was 0.1%, the in crease of the size of mixed serum samples could decrease the number of testing, but the prerequisite was that there must be one positive sample, so that the positivity for all the mixed tests could be detected. If mixed testing were performed on all negative samples, no positivity could be detected.

CONCLUSIONThe result of cost-effectiveness analysis demonstrated that for seroepidemiological survey of parasitic diseases, the cost for mixed testing was low, especially when the serological positive rate was expected low (< or = 1%, thus the mixed testing could save a large amount of the cost.

Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Data Collection ; Humans ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Specimen Handling ; Toxoplasmosis ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; Trichinellosis ; diagnosis ; epidemiology

Objective Data on the leukapheresis from 26 pediatric patients with hematologic or solid malignancies was retrospectively evaluated to screen predictive factors affecting the efficacy of peripheral blood stem cell(PBSC) collection from donors,as well as hematopoietic recovery in recipients.Methods We present our experience with 49 apheresis from 26 granulocyte-colory Stimulating factor mobilized donors and analyzed the correlations between the mobilization,the leukocyte count in the donor peripheral blood and the MNC and CD_(34)~+ cell yields in collecting products and the neutrophil and platelet recovery of recipients.Results The process of mobilization and apheresis were well tolerated by our pediatric donors.The median numbers for harvested MNCs and CD_(34)~+ cells were 4.5?10~8/kg and 1.9?10~6/kg of recipient body weight,respectively.Mobilizing dose positively affected the number of mononuclear ceus(MNC) but not CD_(34)~+ cells in the apheresis products.The CD_(34)~+ cell number in the apheresis product was influenced significantly by donor circulating MNC on the day of harvest and correlated with recipient′s engraftment after PBSC was reinfused.Conclusions The MNC yield was stable and met with the demand for autologous stem cell transplantation while the CD_(34)~+ cell number varies obviously from each donor.Since a rapid engraftment was associated with a high number of CD_(34)~+ cells collected,which was in turn predicted by the level of the pre-apheresis CD_(34)~+ cells in the peripheral blood of donors,it is necessary to monitor the donors′ CD_(34)~+ cell during mobilization to determine the optimal time for apheresis.J Appl Clin Pediatr,2006,21(3):148-150

OBJECTIVETo examine Clonorchis sinensis infection in China and evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to prevent and control it, two nationwide surveys were undertaken in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities (PAMs) during 1988-92 (the 1990 survey) and during 2001-04 (the 2003 survey).

METHODSDuring the period 2001-04, two sampling methods were applied. The first method repeated the stratified cluster random sampling used in the 1990 survey; the second method applied two-characteristic stratified cluster random sampling in 27 PAMs-the 2003 endemic area (EA) survey. The Kato-Katz thick smear method was used for the nationwide survey.

RESULTSThe infection rates of Clonorchis sinensis in the 1990 and 2003 surveys were 0.311% and 0.579%, respectively. The infection rate was 2.40% in the 2003 EA survey, and it was estimated that 12.49 million people in China were infected with Clonorchis sinensis.

CONCLUSIONThe 2003 survey showed that the standardized infection rate of Clonorchis sinensis increased by 74.85% compared with the 1990 survey. The infection rate in males was higher than in females; the infection rate among people eating raw fish or eating out frequently was higher than among those who did not.

Animals ; China ; epidemiology ; Clonorchiasis ; epidemiology ; parasitology ; Clonorchis sinensis ; isolation & purification ; Cluster Analysis ; Female ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Male

BACKGROUNDWhether WW domain containing oxidoreductase (WWOX) gene is a tumor-suppressor is still controversial. Some researchers found that the transcription of the WWOX gene was lacking not only in tumor tissues but also in non-tumorous tissues and sometimes in normal tissues. Hence it is important to explore the role of the expression of the exogenous WWOX gene in the proliferation and apoptosis of primary cultured lung carcinoma cells.

METHODSLipofection technique was used to determine primary cultured lung carcinoma cells containing the highly expressed exogenous WWOX gene and primary cultured cells with vectors as controls. An animal model of lung cancer was made by subcutaneous implantation of tumor cells into nude mice. RT-PCR, Western blotting, flow cytometry, and TUNEL were used to detect the transcription, expression of the exogenous gene and the effect of the expression of targeted genes on the proliferation and apoptosis of the primary cultured lung carcinoma cells.

RESULTSThe growth, clone formation rate (CFR) ((5.33 +/- 1.53)%) of the primary lung cancer cells transfected with the WWOX gene, tumor size and weight were significantly lower than those of the non-transfected lung cancer cells (CFR: (14.33 +/- 1.53)%) and the primary lung cancer cells transfected with blank plasmids (CFR: (11.00 +/- 1.73)%, P < 0.05). The apoptosis level of primary lung cancer cells transfected with the WWOX gene ((40.72 +/- 5.20)%) was significantly higher than that of the non-transfected lung cancer cells ((2.76 +/- 0.02)%) and the primary lung cancer cells transfected with blank plasmids ((2.72 +/- 0.15)%, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe expression of the exogenous WWOX gene can significantly inhibit the proliferation of lung cancer cells and induce their apoptosis, suggesting that the WWOX gene possesses tumor-suppressing effect.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Carcinoma ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; pathology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Oxidoreductases ; genetics ; physiology ; Phenotype ; Tumor Suppressor Proteins ; genetics ; physiology ; WW Domain-Containing Oxidoreductase

S1 nuclease (from Aspergillus oryzae) is a specific enzyme to degrade single stranded DNA or RNA molecules. It has been reported to be able to convert superhelical circular DNA molecules into open circle or linear forms under certain conditions, but this function has not been well explored. In order to use the action of S1 nuclease to linearize circular DNA and develop a novel way of cloning microcircular DNAs, the pUC19 was used to investigate the relationship between the linearization efficiency of S1 nuclease and the amount of enzyme used. By this way the optimal conditions for linearization of circular DNAs by S1 nuclease would be determined. 0.3u to 17u S1 nuclease per 100ng pUC19 DNA was added into a 25 microL system, respectively, to perform the reaction. The effectiveness of enzyme digestion was realized by electrophoresis in a 1.2% agarose gel. The results showed that along with the increase in enzyme amount from 0.3u to 17u a gradual decrease in the superhelical form, a gradual increase in the linear form and then in the circular form was obvious. The conversion from superhelical form to linear and circular form was directly related to the enzyme amount used. A higher proportion of linear DNA molecules was achieved by using 5 to 17u S1 nuclease per 100ng DNA. Besides, electrophoretic mobility of the S1 nuclease-linearized pUC19 was the same as that of the linear form produced by restriction enzyme digestion. According to the result of phiX174 digested by S1 nuclease it has been proposed that the enzyme cleaves first randomly on one site of one strand, thus converting the superhelical molecules into open circle form, and then on the same site of the complementary strand to produce the linear form. Therefore, the S1 nuclease-linearized DNA molecules are intact in the sense of their length and can be used for cloning. The plasmid-like DNA pC3 from cucumber mitochondria is a double stranded circular DNA molecule with about 550bp and the smallest known plasmid-like DNA in eukaryotic mitochondria. Many attempts have been made to linearize the molecule by using restriction enzymes but failed. Therefore, S1 nuclease was used to linearize pC3 based on the results obtained with pUC19. The linearized pC3 DNA molecules formed a very sharp band in a 2.5% agarose gel after electrophoresis. They were then recovered from the gel, added an "A" tail and ligated with T-vector. After transformation into E. coli JM109 cells, the positive clones were, screened by the blue-white selection. The insert was then cut using restriction enzymes EcoRI and Pst I. The result of electrophoresis shows that the electrophoretic mobility of the insert is just the same as that predicted. A 32 P-labled probe was synthesized using pC3 as the template and Southern blot analysis was carried out. The result shows that the inserted DNA is hybridized to the probe, which indicates that the cloned DNA fragment is from pC3. The sequence information of the insert shows that the plasmid-like DNA pC3 was 537bp in length. The nucleotide sequence was deposited in the GenBank (the accession number is AF522195).
Blotting, Southern ; Cloning, Molecular ; methods ; DNA, Circular ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fungal Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Single-Strand Specific DNA and RNA Endonucleases ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo observe amplitude changes of low frequency fluctuation in brain spontaneous nervous activities induced by needling at Hand Taiyin Lung Channel, and to preliminarily explore the possible brain function network of Hand Taiyin Lung Channel.

METHODSBy using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 16 healthy volunteers underwent resting-state scanning (R1) and scanning with retained acupuncture at Hand Taiyin Lung Channel (acupuncture, AP). Data of fMRI collected were statistically calculated using amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF).

RESULTSUnder R1 significantly enhanced ALFF occurred in right precuneus, left inferior parietal lobule, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, bilateral middle frontal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, left medial frontal gyrus. Under AP significantly enhanced ALFF occurred in right precuneus, bilateral superior frontal gyrus, cerebellum, bilateral middle frontal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, and so on. Compared with R1, needing at Hand Taiyin Lung Channel could significantly enhance ALFF in right gyrus subcallosum and right inferior frontal gyrus. Significant decreased ALFF appeared in right postcentral gyrus, left precuneus, left superior temporal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, and so on.

CONCLUSIONNeeding at Hand Taiyin Lung Channel could significantly change fixed activities of cerebral cortex, especially in right subcallosal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and so on.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Brain ; physiology ; Brain Mapping ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging