BACKGROUND: The population of male and female adolescents in China accounts for 1/5. Adolescents have much psychological bewilderment,troublesome and even diseases on sexual issues.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the development status quo and the regulation of adolescents' sexual physiology, sexual psychology, sexual knowledge and sexual education.DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey by employing students of junior high school as subjects.SETTING: A clinic for adolescent of a tertiary hospital.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 960 students aged between 14 and 19 years old of three junior high schools in Dalian city were selected as subjects between November and December of 2001.METHODS: Self-complied questionnaire was used in the survey based on the sexual psychological education situation scale for junior and senior high school students. Classes were randomly selected for anonymous survey based on voluntary principle.Answers to sex-related questions and differences between male and female students.RESULTS: The average age of menarche in female students was 12.96years old and the average age of first emission in male students was 13.89years old, which were consistent with the results of similar national researches. The incidence and frequency of masturbation and sexual impulse was significantly higher in males than females. There were significant differences in sexual concept and the understanding of sexual knowledge between males and females. The desire to affiliate with the opposite sex was far more than the real occurrence.CONCLUSION: The understanding of sexual knowledge in adolescent is not satisfied. Students are also not satisfied with the sexual education provided by their schools. Hence, school sexual education for adolescents should be enhanced with the involvement of community.

Objective Mongolian gerbil can make themself urine concentration for saving water and adapt to the harsh desert environment, due to their very unique moisture control system in the body.Methods Mongolian gerbil is resistant to drought on account of their special kidney. Histology of the kidney, ureter and bladder in Meriones Unguiculataus were observed by light microscopy using HE staining.Results The results showed that compared with rats and mice, the Mongolian gerbils have more developed distal tubules, and well developed inner renal medulla.Conclusions We hope that the findings of this study enrich our understanding of the histology of urinary system in Mongolian gerbils and provide support for the laboratory animalization of this animal.

AIM: To observe clinical efficacy of the intravitreal injection of conbercept treatment for exudative age -related macular degeneration.
METHODS:Prospective study. Totally 112 senile patients (112 eyes) with exudative macular degeneration were randomly divided into study group and the control group, 56 cases in each group. The study group were treated with intravitreal injection of conbercept. The control group received conservative treatment. Uncorrected visual acuity and foveal retinal thickness were observed before and after treatment in the two groups.
RESULTS: Visual acuity of study group improved significantly, and the most obvious improvement was observed at 6mo after treatment. Foveal retinal thickness of study group was reduced after treatment, and the most obvious decrease was observed at 6mo after treatment.CONCLUSION: Intravitreal injection of conbercept can improve visual acuity reduced foveal thickness in senile patients with exudative age - related macular degeneration.

Background Acanthamoeba keratitis is a sort of serious infectious eye disease with high causing-blindness rate.Acanthamoeba keratitis often is misdiagnosed as fungal keratitis or viral keratitis in the early stage.Because conventional clinical diagnosis methods show a low specificity and take a long time,timely treatment often is delayed.Conventional PCR does not apply well because the lesion sample is not enough to extract DNA.However,direct PCR can amplify 18S rRNA conserved sequence of acanthamoeba keratitis without the extraction of DNA.Objective This study was to discuss the feasibility for rapid diagnosis of acanthamoeba keratitis using direct PCR to amplify the gene 18S rRNA fragment.Methods Ten acanthamoeba strains were isolated from 10 eyes with acanthamoeba keratitis in Qingdao Eye Hospital.The sensitivity of the direct PCR assay was tested using different numbers of amoebas.The specificity of the assay was tested using DNA extracted from acanthamoeba,candida albicans,pseudomonas aeruginosa,herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) and normal human corneal epithelial cell.Acanthamoeba keratitis models were established using infected method in clean 6-week-old female BALB/c mice.Corneal lesion samples were obtained 1 day,3,5,7,10,15 days after modeled.The effectivity and feasibility of the direct PCR assay for rapid diagnosis of acanthamoeba keratitis were evaluated and compared with culture method,corneal smear examination and real-time PCR.Results Direct PCR primers could only amplify DNA of acanthamoeba rather than other pathogens,and 10 stains of acanthamoeba were detected at least in each sample.During the development of acanthamoeba keratitis in the mice,the diagnosis positive rate of direct PCR was 80.0％,90.0％,80.0％,70.0％,70.0％ and 50.0％ in 1 day,3,5,7,10,15 days after modeled with the total positive rate 73.3％,which was higher than 31.7％ of culture method,56.7％ of corneal smear examination and 61.7％ of realtime PCR,with a significant difference between the direct PCR and culture method (P =0.005),but no significant difference was seen in the total positive rate between the direct PCR and real-time PC R (P =0.172) or corneal smear examination (P =0.056).Conclusions The direct PCR assay is a simple,rapid,highly specific and sensitive method for the rapid diagnosis of acanthamoeba keratitis,especially for the limited lesion sample.

Holmium ; Humans ; Kidney ; Lithotripsy, Laser ; Shock, Hemorrhagic ; Ureteroscopy

Objective Islet transplantation has been an effective method for diabetes mellitus. The quality of donor pancreas is important for successful islet isolation. In this study, we evaluated expanded criteria donor usability based on the warm ischemic time, fatty pancreas and perfusion injury. Methods The marginal pancreases include those from cardiac death donor, fatty pancreas and edema pancreas from perfusion injury. Islets were isolated and purified using a modified University of Minnesota method. Islet yield and purity was determined by Dithizone (DTZ) staining and microscopic examination. Islet viability was assessed by AO/EB staining, and islet function was assessed by static glucose stimulation test. Results In the cardiac death donor group, the islet quality, viability, and in vitro function were similar when the warm ischemic time within 15 min. The quality and viability was decreased when the warm ischemic time beyond 30 min, but the function remained well. With 45 min warm ischemic time, insulin release index was decreased significantly. The islet quality, viability, and in vitro function from severe obesity group and severe edema group were decreased obviously. Conclusion Donor factors play a vital role in pancreas transplant outcomes. We concluded that pancreas severe obesity, severe edema and pancreas from cardiac donors (warm ischemic time ＞30 min) are unsuitable for islet isolation.

ObjectiveTo explore the effects of heat treatment and ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation alone or in combination on the expression of heat shock protein (HSP) 72 in human epidermal melanocytes.Methods Melanocytes were obtained from human foreskin,and subjected to primary culture.After 3 to 5 passages,the melanocytes were classified into 4 groups:control group (receiving no treatment),heat treatment group (treated with heat at 42 ℃ for 1 hour every day for 3 days),UVB group(irradiated with UVB at 50 mJ/cm2 daily for 3days),combination group(treated with heat at 42 ℃ for 1 hour followed by irradiation with UVB at 50 mJ/cm2daily for 3 days).After another 2- to 6-hour culture following the last treatment,melanocytes were collected and subjected to real time PCR and Western blot for the detection of HSP72 mRNA and protein expression,respectively.ResultsThe mRNA and protein expressions of HSP72 were significantly higher in the heat treatment group and combination group than in the control group (mRNA:6.584 ± 0.871 and 7.269 ± 0.454 vs.0.975 ± 0.089,both P ＜ 0.001; protein:2.022 ± 0.058 and 2.080 ± 0.045 vs.0.532 ± 0.033,both P ＜ 0.001 ),but was similar between the UVB group and control group (mRNA:0.832 ± 0.084 vs.0.975 ± 0.089,P ＞ 0.05;protein:0.546±0.021 vs.0.532 ± 0.033,P ＞ 0.05).The ANOVA of factorial design showed that neither heat treatment nor UVB irradiation had interaction effect on the mRNA or protein expression of HSP72 (F =2.106,1.399 respectively,both P ＜ 0.05).ConclusionsHeat treatment can cause an increase in the expression of HSP72,which may enhance the function of melanocytes and protect melanocytes from UVB induced damage.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of heat treatment combined with narrow band ultraviolet B(NB-UVB) on cultured normal human melanocytes in vitro.MethodsMelanocytes were isolated from the foreskin of normal human,cullured in vitro,and irradiated with NB-UVB of different doses(20,30,50,70,90,120 and 180 mJ/cm2).Then,MTT assay was performed to evaluate the proliferation and activity of melanocytes to determine the optimal dose of UVB for the next experiment.Melanocytes were classified into 3 groups to be treated with heat at 42 ℃ for 1 hour (heat group),irradiated with UVB at 50 mJ/cm2 (UVB group),or irradiated with UVB at 50 mJ/cm2 followed by heat treatment at 42 ℃ for 1 hour (combination group),daily for 3 successive days; those receiving no treatment served as the control.After 24-hour culture following the last treatment,tyrosinase activity was evaluated with L-dopa as the substrate,melanin content was detected by NaOH assay,and cell cycle stages were determined by flow cytometry.ResultsNB-UVB irradiation decreased the viability of melanocytes in a dose-dependent manner,and the optimum dose of UVB was 50 mJ/cm2.The tyrosinase activity of melanocytes was 0.244 ± 0.018 and 0.310 ± 0.015 respectively in the UVB group and combination group,and increased by 3.8％ (P ＜ 0.05) and 31.9％ (P ＜ 0.05) respectively compared with the control group (0.235 ± 0.018); the melanin content was 0.201 ± 0.016 and 0.286 ± 0.019,respectively in the UVB group and combination group,and increased by 17.5％ (P ＜ 0.05 ) and 67.3％ (P ＜ 0.05) compared with the control group (0.171 ± 0.016).In comparison with the control group,the percentage of melanocytes in G1 phase was decreased by 23.94％ in the UVB group(P＜ 0.05) and 33.51％ in the combination group(P ＜ 0.05),while that in S phase and G2 phase increased by 15.35％ (P ＜ 0.05 ) and 11.93％ (P ＜ 0.05),respectively in the UVB group,and 17.76％ (P ＞ 0.05) and 16.08％ (P ＞ 0.05),respectively in the heat group.ConclusionHeat treatment and NB-UVB can synergistically enhance the tyrosinase activity and accelerate melanogenesis,proliferation and differentiation,of melanocytes.

Objective To evaluate the effect of military performance stress on the changes of concentrations in salivary chromogranin A ( CgA) ,β-endorphin (β-EP) and salivary IgA ( sIgA) of submariners.Methods Twenty-nine submarine soldiers were selected, and their saliva samples were collected separately at the end of a long dive trip and nine months after relaxation ashore.In addition,the saliva samples of twenty-eight graduate students were collected as the normal control.The method of ELISA was used to detect the level of salivary CgA,β-EP and sIgA.Results After long-term dive training, the submariners showed significantly decreased CgA,β-EP and sIgA.Conclusion After a long term dive trip, chronic military performance stress is associated with the decline of salivary CgA,β-EP and sIgA, indicating that the function of sympathet-ic adrenal medulla is suppressed.The biological significance of these changes needs to be assessed in the future.

Objective To investigate the significance of salivary cortisol , dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) and cortisol/DHEA-S ratio changes for evaluation of military performance stress .Methods Forty submarine soldiers were selected, whose saliva samples were collected separately at the end of long-term dive training and after nine months of relaxation break.In addition, the saliva samples of thirty-four graduate students were collected the moment they finished a three-hour final examination and one week later .The method of ELISA was used to detect the levels of salivary cortisol and DHEA-S and to count their ratio .Results After long-term dive training , the submarine soldiers showed significantly decreased DHEA-S and an increased cortisol/DHEA-S ratio, but the cortisol level did not change very much .In contrast, the final examination stress did not change the level of cortisol , DHEA-S or the cortisol/DHEA-S ratio among these students.Conclusion This is the first study to show that long-term, chronic military performance stress is associated with the salivary DHEA-S and cortisol/DHEA-S ratio changes .The increase in the cortisol/DHEA-S ratio may be used as an important and useful biomarker to evaluate chronic stress .In addition , it is relatively simple and sensitive to detect stress biomarkers by using saliva samples .