Objective: To explore the effect of Fuzheng granules on immune function activities in animal models.Methods: The effects of Fuzheng granules were investigated in normal mice and immunosuppressive mice by macrophage englobement rate and index of phagocytosis,leucocyte quantity,lymphocyte conversion ratio induced by adhesin,serum hemolysin,content of serum con-complement.Results: Fuzheng granules could significantly elevate the macrophage englobement rate,index of phagocytosis,leucocyte quantity,lymphocyte conversion ratio induced by adhesin,serum hemolysin,content of serum con-complement in above mice.Conclusion: Fuzheng granules had the effect of improving immune function activities.

Objective To investigate the occupational hazards in automobile maintenance industry in Hangzhou and to provide field-research based evidence for prevention and control. Methods We visited 12 workshops of automobile maintenance to investigate the actors of occupational hazards, examine the protective facilities, and evaluate the occupation-related risk using MES method. Results The factors of occupation-related hazards at polishing posts met the criteria. At the painting posts in the painting room, the factors of chemical hazards satisfied the criteria, however, the levels of xylene and butyl acetate exceeded the standard lines in some enterprises when the ventilation system was close. The noise was higher than the limit at a few posts of sheet metal. The ventilation in spray paint room and the dust collector in dry mill room work well. The risks of occupational hazards at grinding, painting, and sheet metal posts were slightly harmful. Conclusion The occupational hazard factors in automobile repair enterprises were much more complicated. The noise hazard of the sheet metal posts was relatively prominent.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the status of household disaster preparedness in 4 counties of Shaanxi province and explore the affecting factors.

METHODSDuring the period from September to October in 2008, multi-stage sampling was used to select subjects from urban and rural residents in Xincheng district, Hantai district, Fuping county and Xunyang county of Shaanxi province. Questionnaire survey was conducted among 1945 subjects aged 18-88 years to investigate their experience and expectation of disaster events, preparedness knowledge, activities and emergency supplies. Logistic regression was used to analyze the factors influencing household disaster preparedness.

RESULTSThe average age of the 1945 subjects was (43.55 ± 12.76) years old. A total of 7.12% (138/1939) of respondents never experienced disaster. Earthquake and fire (57.35% (1175/2049), 19.81% (406/2049), respectively) were rated as the two disasters most likely to occur. The awareness rate of knowledge about household disaster preparedness was 51.43% (989/1923), and 23.41% (454/1939) discussed how to prepare for disaster with their family, only 9.27% (179/1932) attended evacuation drill. The rates of preparing household emergency supplies were 23.64% (230/973), 30.56% (55/180), 31.19% (141/452) and 54.49% (97/178) for urban residents, subjects with junior college or above education, subjects having frequent family discussions of disaster preparedness and subjects participating in emergency rescue drills, respectively. For subjects with junior high school, senior high school and junior college or higher education, the likelihood of preparing household emergency supplies was 5.02 (95%CI: 1.12 - 22.42), 5.74 (95%CI: 1.27 - 26.04) and 6.84 (95%CI: 1.44 - 32.39) times as that of illiterate, respectively. Urban residents, subjects who often discussed disaster preparedness with their family, and who participated in emergency rescue drills were more likely to prepare emergency supplies than rural residents (OR = 4.38, 95%CI: 2.74 - 7.00), those who never discussed (OR = 4.99, 95%CI: 2.52 - 9.91), and who didn't participate (OR = 5.72, 95%CI: 3.84 - 8.51).

CONCLUSIONThe residents in 4 counties of Shaanxi lack comprehensive knowledge and appropriate activities of disaster preparedness, the rate of preparing household emergency supplies is low. Higher education, living in urban area, frequent family discussions of disaster preparedness and participating in emergency rescue drills are facilitating factors of preparing household emergency supplies.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Disasters ; Emergencies ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

Sex difference has shown in the arthritis diseases in human population and animal models. We investigate how the sex and symmetry vary among mouse models with different genomic backgrounds. Disease data of sex and limbs accumulated in the past more than two decades from four unique populations of murine arthritis models were analyzed. They are (1) interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) deficient mice under Balb/c background (Balb/c KO); (2) Mice with collagen II induced arthritis under DBA/1 background; (3) Mice with collagen II induced arthritis under C57BL/6 (B6) background and (4) A F2 generation population created by Balb/c KO X DBA/1 KO.Our data shows that there is a great variation in sexual dimorphism for arthritis incidence and severity of arthritis in mice harboring specific genetic modifications. For a F2 population, the incidence of arthritis was 57.1% in female mice and 75.6% in male mice. There was a difference in severity related to sex in two populations: B6.DR1/ B6.DR4 (P < 0.001) and F2 (P = 0.023) There was no difference Balb/c parental strain or in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in DBA/1 mice. Among these populations, the right hindlimbs are significantly higher than the scores for the left hindlimbs in males (P < 0.05). However, when examining disease expression using the collagen induced arthritis model with DBA/1 mice, sex-dimorphism did not reach statistical significance, while left hindlimbs showed a tendency toward greater disease expression over the right. Sexual dimorphism in disease expression in mouse models is strain and genomic background dependent. It sets an alarm that potential variation in sexual dimorphism among different racial and ethnic groups in human populations may exist. It is important to not only include both sexes and but also pay attention to possible variations caused by disease expression and response to treatment in all the studies of arthritis in animal models and human populations.

The peroxisomal matrix proteins involved in many important biological metabolism pathways in eukaryotic cells are encoded by nucleal genes, synthesized in the cytoplasm and then transported into the organelles. Targeting and import of these proteins depend on their two peroxisomal targeting signals (PTS1 and PTS2) in sequence as we have known so far. The vectors of the fluorescent fusions with PTS, i.e., green fluorescence protein (GFP)-PTS1, GFP-PTS2 and red fluorescence protein (RFP)-PTS1, were constructed and introduced into Magnaporthe oryzae Guy11 cells. Transformants containing these fusions emitted fluorescence in a punctate pattern, and the locations of the red and green fluorescence overlapped exactly in RFP-PTS1 and GFP-PTS2 co-transformed strains. These data indicated that both PTS1 and PTS2 fusions were imported into peroxisomes. A probable higher efficiency of PTS1 machinery was revealed by comparing the fluorescence backgrounds in GFP-PTS1 and GFP-PTS2 transformants. By introducing both RFP-PTS1 and GFP-PTS2 into Deltamgpex6 mutants, the involvement of MGPEX6 gene in both PTS1 and PTS2 pathways was proved. In addition, using these transformants, the inducement of peroxisomes and the dynamic of peroxisomal number during the pre-penetration processes were investigated as well. In summary, by the localization and co-localization of PTS1 and PTS2, we provided a useful tool to evaluate the biological roles of the peroxisomes and the related genes.
Base Sequence ; DNA Primers ; genetics ; DNA, Fungal ; genetics ; Fungal Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genes, Fungal ; Genetic Vectors ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Luminescent Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Magnaporthe ; genetics ; metabolism ; Microscopy, Fluorescence ; Mutation ; Peroxisomal Targeting Signal 2 Receptor ; Peroxisome-Targeting Signal 1 Receptor ; Peroxisomes ; metabolism ; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transformation, Genetic

BACKGROUNDGastric varices (GV) are life-threatening for patients with portal hypertension. Endoscopic injection with butyl cyanoacrylate (BC), the mainstay of the therapy for GV, has been reported to be effective for hemostasis of bleeding varices, but its efficacy in the obliteration of GV and impact on the survival of patients still needs clarification. Here we summarized our experience of 10 years' practice to evaluate the efficacy and safety of endoscopic therapy using BC for GV patients.

METHODSFrom January 1997 to April 2006, GV cases treated with endoscopic injection using BC were collected. The "sandwich method" and the "modified sandwich method" were used to inject BC intravascularly. Retrograde analysis was made on the data of treatment and follow-up.

RESULTSA total of 635 GV cases treated with endoscopic injection using BC were collected, most of them (90.2%) suffered from post-hepatitis cirrhosis. Emergency hemostasis was achieved in 139 out of 146 sessions (95.2%). Complications occurred in 32 cases (5.2%), including hemorrhage due to early expulsion of tissue glue (3.1%), septicemia (1%) and ectopic thrombosis (0.5%), such as spleen infarction. Endoscopic follow-up in 503 patients showed complete disappearance (76.9%), collapse (17.3%) or remnants (5.8%) of gastric varices. A total of 550 patients were followed up clinically for 3 to 115 months. Of these patients, 44 had recurrent bleeding (8.0%) and 44 died from hepatic failure, recurrent bleeding, hepatic carcinoma or other causes. The longest survival was 115 months, with a median survival of 25 months. Survival rates at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 year were 95%, 92%, 90%, 83% and 81%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSEndoscopic sclerotherapy with BC is effective for the hemostasis of bleeding GV, as well as obliteration of GV which contributes to less rebleeding and better survival. The modified sandwich method may be useful to minimize ectopic embolism, which we speculated to result from excess iodized oil.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Enbucrilate ; therapeutic use ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; methods ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices ; mortality ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sclerotherapy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Tissue Adhesives ; therapeutic use

Tumor rapid growth depends on neovascularization. Vascular endothelial growth factor, the main mediator during the occurrence and formation of vascularization, has specific receptors whose expression rate shows difference of orders of magnitude between tumor and the normal tissue, so it can be used to transport toxin molecules to the proliferative tumor endothelial and kill cancer cells. In our experiment, we constructed fusion protein DT-VEGF by linking diphtheria toxin's forward 389 amino acids's gene and VEGF165 via a linker. DT-VEGF is expressed in E. coli and purified. Our experiment proves in can kill vascular endothelial cells specifically, and the inhibition of neovascularization of chicken chorionic membrane is also confirmed.
Angiogenesis Inhibitors ; biosynthesis ; Diphtheria Toxin ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; Immunotoxins ; genetics ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors ; biosynthesis ; genetics

Objective:This study aimed to explore the status of radiological Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) among school-aged children in Chamdo City, Tibet, through a 3-year monitoring survey, providing epidemiological evidence for prevention and control strategies.Methods:The target areas for this study were Luolong, Bianba, and Basu counties in Chamdo City, Tibet Autonomous Region, identified as having the most severe historical cases of KBD. Children aged 7-12 years attending school were enrolled as study subjects. Anteroposterior X-ray films of the right-hand were taken, and radiological diagnoses were made based on the "Diagnosis of Kashin-Beck Disease" criteria (WS/T 207-2010). Two experienced researchers independently reviewed the X-rays, and intra- and inter-group consistency were assessed using weighted Kappa values and percentage agreement. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2017 and 2020 to describe the X-ray detection rates of KBD, and logistic regression analysis was employed to construct a predictive model of risk factors for radiological KBD cases.Results:In 2017, a total of 5,711 children aged 7-12 years in Chamdo City, Tibet, participated in the baseline cross-sectional survey (average age 9.2 years, 48.0% female), with 28 cases of radiological KBD. The age- and gender-standardized prevalence rate was 0.527%. In 2020, 6,771 participants (average age 9.3 years, 49.5% female) underwent a second cross-sectional survey, with 9 cases of radiological KBD and a standardized prevalence rate of 0.134%. Logistic regression analysis indicated that older age [ OR=2.439, 95% CI(1.299, 4.580), P=0.006] and female gender [ OR=8.157, 95% CI(1.016, 65.528), P=0.048] were independent risk factors for radiological KBD cases. Conversely, higher residential altitude, under the premise of Tibet's high altitude, was a protective factor [ OR=0.995, 95% CI(0.990, 0.999), P=0.032). Conclusion:The radiographically positive detection rate of KBD among school-aged children in Chamdo City, Tibet Autonomous Region, is at an extremely low level and showing a declining trend, reaching the historical standard in 2020. Considering the absence of positive signs in affected children, it suggests that local KBD has been effectively eliminated.

INTRODUCTION: Three doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines have been recommended for cancer patients to reduce the risk of severe disease. Anti-neoplastic treatment, such as chemotherapy, may affect long-term vaccine immunogenicity. METHOD: Patients with solid or haematological cancer were recruited from 2 hospitals between July 2021 and March 2022. Humoral response was evaluated using GenScript cPASS surrogate virus neutralisation assays. Clinical outcomes were obtained from medical records and national mandatory-reporting databases. RESULTS: A total of 273 patients were recruited, with 40 having haematological malignancies and the rest solid tumours. Among the participants, 204 (74.7%) were receiving active cancer therapy, including 98 (35.9%) undergoing systemic chemotherapy and the rest targeted therapy or immunotherapy. All patients were seronegative at baseline. Seroconversion rates after receiving 1, 2 and 3 doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination were 35.2%, 79.4% and 92.4%, respectively. After 3 doses, patients on active treatment for haematological malignancies had lower antibodies (57.3%±46.2) when compared to patients on immunotherapy (94.1%±9.56, P<0.05) and chemotherapy (92.8%±18.1, P<0.05). SARS-CoV-2 infection was reported in 77 (28.2%) patients, of which 18 were severe. No patient receiving a third dose within 90 days of the second dose experienced severe infection. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates the benefit of early administration of the third dose among cancer patients.
Humans ; SARS-CoV-2 ; COVID-19/prevention & control* ; Treatment Outcome ; Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Vaccination ; RNA, Messenger ; Antibodies, Viral ; Immunogenicity, Vaccine

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of serum free light chain (sFLC) and monoclonal protein (MP) on the efficacy and prognosis of patients with multiple myeloma relapse, and investigate the clinical value of light chain escape (LCE). METHODS: The relationship between sFLC/MP levels and clinical features and outcomes in 71 patients with multiple myeloma after relapse were retrospective analyzed. The patients were divided into MO group, MLC group and LCE group according to different levels of sFLC/MP after relapse. Then the clinical indicators, efficacy, survival after relapse (SAR) and overall survival (OS) of the patients in each group were compared. Meanwhile a paired sample t test was used to analyze the relevant indicators of the patients before and after relapse in LCE group. RESULTS: There were significant differences in ISS stage, the levels of Hb, PLT, ALB, SFLC/MP and the proportion of myeloplasma cells afte relapse (P<0.05). The initial treatment effect of the patients in MO group was better than those in the other groups, and the LCE group was the worst (P<0.05). Comparison of relevant indicators between the patients before and after relapse in LCE group showed that the levels of MP, Hb and PLT decreased significantly, while sFLC, LDH and Cr increased significantly (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that MO was the independent risk factor affecting SAR, while MO and LCE were the independent risk factors affecting OS (P<0.05) of the patients.The average SAR of the patients in MO, MLC and LCE group was 41, 28.6 and 23.5 months (P=0.002), and the average OS was 79.6, 57.9 and 41 months (P<0.001), respectively. The patients in MO group showed longer SAR and OS, while the LCE group was the shortest. CONCLUSION After relapse, patients only with elevated MP levels have a better curative effect and prognosis, while only with elevated sFLC levels have poor curative effects and prognosis, which suggesting that sFLC/MP levels can be used as a good indicator for predicting the prognosis of multiple myeloma patients.The appearance of LCE indicates disease progression, poor prognosis and early relapse.
Humans ; Immunoglobulin Light Chains ; Multiple Myeloma ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies