Arteriosclerosis ; Humans ; Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors

Objective To simulate the mechanical environment of cells in vivo and study cellular signal transduction mechanisms. Methods A device was developed which could provide high cell yield, control the time, strain magnitude, direction and frequency of stretch, and applied 10% cyclic strain to cell culture substrate with stretch frequency at 1Hz. Results After being stretched, morphology and cytoskeleton of cells were altered. The major axis of cells and the alignment of stress fibers were vertical to the orientation of cyclic stretch. Conclusion This device provides versatile options for the study on the cellular responses of mechanical loading.

Xanthii Fructus is a traditional medicine for the treatment of nasal diseases in clinic, mainly come from the burs of Xanthium sibiricum with a worldwide distribution. By sorting and studying literature of Chinese medicine and comparing different figures recorded with the morphological description of several species from Xanthium (Asteraceae) in the Flora of China, combining the biological investigation in resource survey, the article pointed out that the burs or the whole herbs of X. mongolicum, as well as X. sibiricum, has been used by the traditional Chinese medicine in ancient time. It provides a reference for further studies in the future.
China ; Herbal Medicine ; history ; History, Ancient ; Medicine in Literature ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history ; Xanthium ; anatomy & histology ; classification

Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country in the northeastern part of Central Asia which shares borders to the southeast with China. Due to their extreme environment and climate, there are a diverse range of species of plants. Many of the plants used in Kyrgyz folk medicine have not been studied using modern scientific techniques. This paper introduced the basic situation of medicinal herbs in Kyrgyzstan by comparing the differences traditional use between China and Kyrgyzstan, and looked for traditional medicinal plant research to provide basis for the development and cooperation of China and Kyrgyzstan.
China ; Humans ; Kyrgyzstan ; Medicine, Traditional ; methods ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; classification ; growth & development

Diagnosis, Differential ; Diarrhea ; etiology ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mediastinal Cyst ; complications ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Mediastinal Neoplasms ; complications ; diagnosis ; Respiratory Sounds ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Treatment Outcome ; X-Rays

Animals ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Signal Transduction ; physiology

Objective To investigate the clinical spectrum of respiratory viruses in infants and young children with acute lower respiratory infection(ALRI) in Chongqing area from 2003-2007.And to assess the clinical diagnostic value of virus detection in nasopharyngeal secretions(NPS) and serum viral antibody detection for ALRI.Methods Cases of 2 529 specimens of NPS in hospitalized children with ALRI from Apr.2003 to Oct.2007 were taken for detecting 7 common respiratory virus antigens by immunofluorescence assay including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV),adenovirus(ADV),influenza A(IA),influenza B (IB),parainfluenza virus1-3 (PIV1,PIV2,PIV3).Fifty-five thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven samples were tested for ADV-IgM by ELISA.Among those,45 159 cases were further tested for RSV-IgM by ELISA.Results Respiratory virus pathogens were detected in 778 samples out of 2 529(30.76%) including RSV positive in 668 samples (85.86%),PIV3 positive in 75 samples (9.64%),IA positive in 22 samples (2.57%),ADV positive in 15 samples ( 1.93%),only 1 sample ( 0.13%) positive for both PIV1 and RSV. And the positive rate of RSV-IgM was 0.9%-15.2%,and the positive rate for ADV-IgM was about 0.6%-10.6%.RSV infection occured mainly in winter and spring.Conclusions Respiratory virus is the most common pathogen in children with ALRI during the survey period in Chongqing area,especially for RSV infection.The pattern of RSV circulation varied every year with seasonality.It is suggest that this year is peak one for RSV infection from the monthly positive results,especially in Feburary(50%) in 2007.But the infection rate of PIV3,IA,ADV and PIV1 are lower,particularly IB and PIV2 infection have not been seen for the last 5 years.It is fast and accurate to detect RSV antigen and suit to clinical diagnosis by using immunofluorescence assay than other antibody detection.

Adult ; China ; Humans ; Male ; Neisseria meningitidis, Serogroup C ; drug effects ; genetics ; isolation & purification

To remedy the limitations of traditional numerical classification softwares,a new application,X-Cluster,was developed by using various design patterns.X-Cluster had powerful functions to support the researching of numerical classification,and testified by some classify studying about Bacillus spp..

SMART-RACE was performed after isolating the total RNA of Armillariella tabescens to amplify the full-length cDNA of arabinosidase (GenBank Accession No. AJ620046). Bioinformatics analysis was used to analyze the code frame of arabinosidase, to predict its structure and function. Recombinant plasmid pPIC9-AF was constructed and then electroporated into methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris GS115. The secreted 6 ? His fusion protein was purified to analyze its enzymology property. This arabinosidase had high activity at 30-35℃ under acid condition, and was stable within wide range of pH and temperature. It maintained about 80% activity at the range of pH4. 0-8.0 and 20-40℃,wider than many other cloned arabinosidase. So it was worthy to go step further to study this enzyme, and recombinant expression provided a chance of highly expressing arabinosidase.