Adolescent ; Adult ; Brain Edema ; epidemiology ; Hazardous Substances ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Health ; Prospective Studies ; Pulmonary Edema ; epidemiology ; Railroads ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) level in asthmatic children to predict bronchial hyperresponsiveness by analyzing the correlation between fraction of exhaled nitric oxide and bronchial provocation test.Methods One hundred and fourteen asthma outpatients of Shengjing Hospital were enrolled, FeNO levels, spirometry and bronchial provocation test were measured.Results In the bronchial provocation test,there were 33 positive and 81 negative cases.The positive group had a significantly higher FeNO levels than the negative ones(19.0 × 10-9 vs.16.0 × 10-9 ,p =0.000).By the ROC curve, the best FeNO cut-off value to predict bronchial hyperresponsiveness was 38.5 × 10-9 with high specificity (92.6％) but relatively low sensitivity (36.4％).There was no relationship between methacholine provocative dose causing a 20％ fall in FEV1 (PD20-FEV1) and the level of FeNO.Conclusion FeNO level has important predicting value for bronchial hyperreactivity in children with asthma.The level of FeNO ＞ 38.5 × 10-9 has high predictive value in asthmatic children with bronchial hyperreactivity.

Objective To investigate the effects of filter reuse on solute clearances, safety and oxidative stress parameters in on-line hemodiafiltration(HDF) . Methods 8 stable maintained uremic patients were treated by post-dilution on-line HDF with first-use or reuse F60 polysulfone filter, respectively. Both blood-side and dialysate-side solute clearances at 20 minute of HDF or during the whole session were measured. Whole blood interleukin-1?(IL-1?) production was monitored before HDF, after HDF, and at 20 minutes of HDF at both venous and arterial lines. Plasma before and after treatment and dialysate were collected for measuring total ascorbic acid, dehydroascorbic acid and total vitamin E. Restults No difference of small molecular substance clearances was observed in blood and dialysate side, while filter reuse group had a significantly higher dialysate side clearance and a significantly lower absorption clearance for ?2-microglobulin. In contrast with stable vitamin E concentration during dialysis, total ascorbic acid level decreased after treatment, with reuse group further inducing a reduced ration of dehydroascorbic acid to total ascorbic acid. No significant changes were found in whole blood IL-1? production within and between each group, so did intra-dialysis symptoms and temperature curves. Reuse filter also caused more albumin loss through high-flux membrane than that of first-use filter. Conclusions Although reuse filter can maintain both small and large molecular weight substance clearance, it increases albumin loss through high-flux membrane. Reuse filter does not stimulate white blood cell to produce more cytokine than the first-use filter, but it increases oxidative stress, and may harm uremic patients in a long run.

Recently,the progress in employing transplanting stem cells to cure injured retina is very fast and has been continuously yielding exciting results.Various sources are used in the studies,including retina-derived cells such as M?ller cells and ciliary body cells,and non-retina-derived cells such as embryonic stem cells and brain-derived stem cells.This review briefly discusses the recent progress of these studies.

Hemorrhoid refers to soft vein mass formed by varicosity of submucosal veins around the end of the rectum and subcutanceous veins of the anal canal. It is the most common anorectal disease. This article summarized the regular patterns, features and advantages of Professor Yu Hai-Bo's acupuncture-moxibustion therapy for hemorrhoids, in order to guide the acupuncture treatment for hemorrhoids.

In this paper, the effects of the blend of nanoparticles and microneedle matrix materials on the mechanical properties of dissolving microneedles were studied mainly, so as to construct microneedles with excellent mechanical properties. Different kinds of nanoparticles (calcium carbonate, hydroxyapatite, silica), particle sizes (20, 60, 100 nm) and the proportion of prescription (2%, 6%, 10%) were blended with the matrix material [polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), poly(1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate)(PVP/VA)] to form dissolving microneedles. The effects of nanoparticles on the elastic modulus and hardness of the microneedles were investigated using a nanoindenter. The results showed that the elastic modulus and hardness of PVP microneedles were significantly improved by nano-calcium carbonate (P < 0.001), and the elastic modulus and hardness of PVP/VA microneedles were significantly improved by nano-hydroxyapatite (P < 0.001). When the particle size of hydroxyapatite was 20 nm, the elastic modulus of PVP/VA microneedles was (10.6 ± 1.0) GPa, and the hardness was (0.47 ± 0.06) GPa. As the size of the nanoparticles increases, the mechanical performance of the microneedles decreases. When the mass proportion of nano-hydroxyapatite increased from 2% to 6%, the elastic modulus and hardness of the microneedles were significantly improved (P < 0.001), but the effect of continue increasing the proportion of nanoparticles on the microneedles was not significant. The nano-enhanced PVP/VA dissolving microneedles has no irritant effect on intact skin and has a slight irritation to damaged skin, but they disappear completely after 72 h. Animal experiments have been approved by the Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee of Zhejiang University of Technology. Therefore, the nano-enhanced dissolving microneedles has good biological safety. To sum up, it is necessary to select the appropriate kind of nanoparticle, particle size, and prescription ratio when microneedles constructing with a given matrix material, so as to effectively improve its mechanical performance.

Animals ; Cocaine ; pharmacology ; Habenula ; drug effects ; physiology ; Neurons ; drug effects ; physiology ; Pain Threshold ; drug effects ; Rats

Humans ; Nasal Cavity ; Paranasal Sinuses

Adolescent ; Humans ; Male ; Microphthalmia-Associated Transcription Factor ; genetics ; Mutation ; Waardenburg Syndrome ; genetics