The study aims to characterize and compare interferon reference standards from 5 manufacturers. By testing molecular mass and trypsin-digested peptide mass mapping, the amino acid sequence was verified and post-translational modifications such as disulfide bond were identified. Results show that the molecular mass and amino acid sequence were consistent with theory; the disulfide bonds of 4 lots of interferon were Cys1-Cys98/Cys29-Cys138, 1 lot was Cys29-Cys139/Cys86-Cys99; N-terminal "+Met", acetyl N-terminal and Met oxidation were identified in part of the sample. UPLC-MS can be used to characterize and compare interferon reference standards from different manufacturers.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Interferons ; standards ; Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Molecular Weight ; Oxidation-Reduction ; Peptide Mapping ; Protein Processing, Post-Translational ; Reference Standards

Objective To discuss effect on prevention of postpartum hemorrhage of caesarean section by us- ing calcium gluconate combined with oxytocin and misoprostol.Methods 385 cases of caesarean section were select- ed and randomized into O(Oxytocin) group and OM(Oxytocin+ Misoprostol) group and COM (Calcium gluconate+ Oxytocin+Misoprostol)group.Results The mean operative blood loss in O group and OM group and COM group were (300?50.24)ml,(220?30.83) ml,(150?45.52) ml.The amount of the mean operative blood loss of COM group was significantly lower than those of O group and OM group(P＜0.05).The amount of bleeding of 2 hours after delivery in O group and OM group and COM group were (400?45.52)ml,(260?60.43)mi and(210?50.54) ml.The amount of bleeding of COM group was significantly lower than those of O group and OM group (P＜0.05).Conclusion The prevention by used calcium gluconate combined with oxytocin and misoprostol is efficient in reducing the amount of postpartum hemorrhage of caesarean section.The operation of medicine is easy and safe and economic.

OBJECTIVEHuman papillomavirus (HPV) commonly exists in healthy individuals, but its prevalence in the pubic hair follicles is not yet clear, nor is the relationship between HPV infection in the pubic hair follicles and the recurrence of genital warts in men. This study aimed to investigate HPV infection in the pubic hair follicles of healthy men and patients with genital warts, and to look into the correlation of HPV infection with recurrent genital warts.

METHODSWe included in this study 122 healthy men aged 21-80 years and 86 male patients with genital warts aged 24-61 years, detected HPV in their pubic hair follicles by PCR, and made comparative analysis of the data obtained from the two groups.

RESULTSThe positive rate of HPV in the pubic hair follicles of the healthy males was 17.21% (21/122), including 15 cases of HPV6, 4 HPV11, 1 non-HPV6/11 and 1 the mixed type (both HPV6 and HPV11), while that of the genital wart patients was 32.55% (28/86), including 17 cases of HPV6, 7 HPV11, 2 non-HPV6/11 and 2 the mixed type.

CONCLUSIONThe incidence of HPV infection is higher in patients with genital warts than in healthy men, while the types of HPV involved are basically the same in the two groups, mainly HPV6 and HPV11.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Case-Control Studies ; Condylomata Acuminata ; epidemiology ; virology ; Hair Follicle ; virology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Papillomaviridae ; isolation & purification ; Papillomavirus Infections ; epidemiology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with 3.0 T magnetic resonance scanner for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and to explore the appropriate b value during this procedure.

METHODSTotally 50 patients with histopathologically confirmed NPC and 20 volunteers underwent DWI using single-shot echo-planar imaging technique were enrolled in this study. Four groups of b value (600, 800, 1000 and 1200) were applied. The apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) between the primary tumor of NPC and the metastatic lymph nodes were compared in each group. ADC between the metastatic lymph nodes and benign nodes were also compared.

RESULTSAlthough the mean ADC were not significantly different between NPC and those of metastatic cervical lymph nodes in each group, the mean ADC of the metastatic lymph nodes were significantly lower than those of benign nodes (P<0.05). When b value was 800, both satisfying images and accurate measurements were acquired.

CONCLUSIONDWI is helpful in the diagnosis of primary lesions and their lymph node metastases of NPC.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma ; Child ; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the encoding information of electrical signals of wide dynamic range (WDR) neurons in the spinal dorsal horn evoked by acupuncture manipulation at different frequencies using nonlinear dynamics analysis.

METHODSMicroelectrode extracellular recordings were used to observe the WDR neuron discharge evoked by acupuncture manipulation at Zusanli point (ST36) with different frequencies (0.5, 1, 2, and 3 Hz) in SD rats. The nonlinear dynamics analysis method was used to extract the nonlinear characteristic parameters, such as interspike interval, the Lyapunov exponent, Lempel-Ziv complexity, and the neural coding of the electrical signal evoked by acupuncture manipulations at different frequencies.

RESULTSDifferent characteristics were manifested with acupuncture manipulations at 4 different frequencies. More than a simple linear correlation was shown between the firing rate of the WDR neurons and the frequency of the acupuncture manipulation. The electrical signals evoked by acupuncture manipulation at Zusanli point (ST36) showed distinguished chaotic features.

CONCLUSIONSIt is applicable and feasible to describe and summarize the rhythm of the acupuncture electrical signal using the concepts and terminology of the nonlinear dynamics. Different acupuncture manipulation methods could interfere the transmission, coding, and processing of electrical signals in the spinal dorsal horn.

Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Animals ; Male ; Microelectrodes ; Nonlinear Dynamics ; Posterior Horn Cells ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord ; physiology

Adult ; Hepatic Encephalopathy ; therapy ; Hepatitis ; complications ; therapy ; Humans ; Liver Failure, Acute ; therapy ; Liver, Artificial ; Plasma Exchange

Objective To identify the factors that influence the prognosis and particularly the survival of patients with corpus callosal gliomas. Methods A retrospective analysis of the clinical data was conducted involving 60 patients with corpus callosal gliomas treated between January, 1995 and December, 2007. All the patients underwent surgical tumor resection with postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression model were used to evaluate the possible prognostic factors including the patients' gender, age, preoperative Karnofsky performance status (KPS), tumor locations, preoperative epilepsy, histological grade, enhancement pattern on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), extent of surgical resection, and tumor size. Results Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that age, preoperative KPS score, and histological grade had significant influences on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival time of the patients. The tumor location had a significant impact on the overall survival time of the patients, but did not obviously affect the PFS. Multivariate analysis with the Cox regression model indicated that age, histological grade, and extent of surgical tumor resection significantly influenced the overall survival time of the patients, and age and histological grade of the tumor significantly affected the PFS. Conclusion A younger age, lower pathological grade and radical surgical resection of the tumor are the protective prognostic factors in patients with corpus callosal gliomas, while gender, tumor size, tumor location, and KPS score before operation have no prognostic significance.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Hemodynamics ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; complications ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Liver Cirrhosis ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Portal Vein ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color ; Venous Pressure

Neutrophils play a major role in host defense against microbial infection. There are some clues indicate that neutrophils may also play a role in the pathophysiology of the airway obstruction in chronic asthma. We studied the roles of intracellular calcium and GTP gamma S in the regulation of neutrophils exocytosis using pipette perfusion and membrane capacitance measurement technique in whole cell patch clamp configuration. The results showed that the membrane capacitance increase induced by calcium revealed a biphasic process. The first phase occurred when the calcium level was between 0.2-14 micromol/L with a plateau amplitude of 1.23 pF and a calcium EC50 of 1.1 micromol/L. This phase might correspond to the release of the tertiary granules. The second phase occurred when the calcium concentration was between 20-70 micromol/L with a plateau increment of 6.36 pF, the calcium EC50 being about 33 micromol/L. This phase might represent the release of the primary and secondary granules. Intracellular calcium also simultaneously increased the exocytotic rate and the eventual extent in neutrophils. On the other hand, GTP gamma S can increase the exocytotic rate in a dose-dependent manner but had no effect on the eventual extent of membrane capacitance increment (>6 pF) if the cell was stimulated for a long period (>20 min). GTP gamma S (ranging from 20 to 100 micromol/L) induced the neutrophils to release all four types of the granules at very low intracellular calcium level.
Calcium ; metabolism ; Cell Degranulation ; drug effects ; Exocytosis ; drug effects ; GTP-Binding Proteins ; metabolism ; physiology ; Guanosine Triphosphate ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Neutrophils ; metabolism ; physiology ; Patch-Clamp Techniques

OBJECTIVETo analyze the patterns of serum soluble CD14 (sCD14) and C-reactive protein (CRP) alterations in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and investigate the correlations of sCD14 variation to the etiology, clinical symptoms, and the number of mononuclear cells in these patients.

METHODSThis study involved 246 CHF patients stratified according to their etiology and clinical symptoms, with 107 normal individuals serving as the control group. Blood samples were collected from these patients the next day after admission and also from the control subjects for measuring serum sCD14 and CPR levels using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and rate nephelometry, respectively.

RESULTSThe CHF patients had significantly higher serum levels of sCD14 and CRP than the control subjects (P<0.01). In the CHF patients, serum sCD14 and CRP levels differed significantly in the patients with clinical symptoms of different severities (F=3.787, P=0.024), and those with moderate and severe symptoms had significantly higher levels than the asymptomatic patients (P<0.05). The difference in etiologies also resulted in significant difference in sCD14 levels (P<0.05), which were significantly lower in coronary artery disease group than in hypertension group (P<0.05). Significant positive correlations were found between sCD14 and the CRP levels in the CHF patients (r=0.227, P=0.018) and between sCD14 level and the clinical symptoms (r=0.206, P=0.001), but sCD14 level was not correlated to the absolute or relative number of mononuclear cells.

CONCLUSIONSSerum sCD14 and CRP levels are significantly elevated in CHF patients, but this condition may vary as the etiologies and clinical symptoms differ. Increased mononuclear cells do not contribute to the elevation of serum sCD14.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; C-Reactive Protein ; metabolism ; Chronic Disease ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Heart Failure ; blood ; Humans ; Lipopolysaccharide Receptors ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged