Bone Diseases ; chemically induced ; epidemiology ; China ; epidemiology ; Chronic Disease ; Fluoride Poisoning ; epidemiology ; etiology ; genetics ; Fluorosis, Dental ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Humans ; Prevalence

Objective: To study the effect of rosiglitazone on the bone microarchitecture of bilaterally ovariectomized(OVX) rats. Methods: Twenty-one 24-week-old skeletally mature rats were bilaterally ovariectomized, and were randomly divided into three groups (n = 7) : Control group(C group) ,Rosiglitazone A group(RA group) ,and Rosiglitazone B group (RB group). Rats in RA group were given i. g 0. 35 mg/d rosiglitazone for four weeks and those in the RB group were given i. g 0. 70 mg/d rosiglitazone. Rats in the control group were given normal saline in the same manner. The rats were sacrificed four weeks later. The bone volume/tissue volume (BV/T V) , the trabecular number(Tb. N), the trabecular thickness ( Tb. Th), the trabecular separation Th. Sp), and the bone surface/bone volume (BS/BV) of the femur, tibia, and lumbar were determined by micro-computered tomography(micro-CT). Results: Compared with the control group, the Tb. N,Tb. Th, and BS/BV of the femur, tibia, and lumbar all decreased significantly in RA group (except for the BS/BV of tibia) (P<0. 05, P<0. 01) ; the Tb. SP of tibia and lumbar in the RA group were significantly increased (P<0. 05) ; and there were no differences in BV/TV between the two groups. Compared with control group, the Tb, N, Tb. Th, and BS/BV of the femur, tibia, and lumbar were decreased significantly in RB group (P<0. 05, P<0. 01); the Tb. Sp of tibia and lumbar increased significantly (P<0. 05); and the BV/TV had no differences between the two groups. There were no significant differences between the RA group and RB group concerning all the parameters. Conclusion: Rosiglitazone can cause injury to the bone microarchitecture, especially to the cancellous part of the bone.

Air Pollutants ; analysis ; Animals ; Child ; Esters ; toxicity ; Humans ; Liver ; drug effects ; Phthalic Acids ; analysis ; metabolism ; toxicity ; Reproduction ; drug effects ; Soil Pollutants ; analysis ; Thyroid Gland ; drug effects ; Water Pollutants, Chemical ; analysis

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Injections ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; therapy

Adolescent ; Adult ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; therapy ; Chiropractic ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Massage ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

Relevant literatures on the relationship betw een fluorosis and oxidative stress were reviewed.Based on most of the original papers published in recent years,we can see the increased free radicals and oxidative stress may occur in certain stage of fluoride intoxication,but confirmation of the causality between oxidative stress and fluoride-induced damages still remains much work to do.

The fresh conidia powder of Beauveria bassiana SGBB8702 produced with diphasic technology was dried using 36-h procedures of vacuum-freeze drying (VFD) or vacuum drying (VD). The VFD and VD procedures reduced water content of the fresh conidia powder from 58.56% to 3.97% and 4.26%, resulting in preparations containing 1.29, and 1.25?10 11 conidia/g. The VFD or VD conidia had the same viability (≥98%) as the fresh ones but germinated slightly more slowly than the fresh ones. The estimates of LC 50 s for the fresh, VFD, and VD conidia against Myzus persicae on day 7 after inoculation were 1.15, 5.89, and 2.95?10 4 conidia/ml, respectively. At the concentration of 10 6 conidia/ml, the LT 50 of the fresh conidia against M. persicae was estimated as 3.6 d, corresponding to 3.9 d and 4.4 d for the VFD and VD conidia, respectively. Due to much lower cost, the VD procedure was of greater potential for drying B. bassiana conidia in mass production though the VFD procedures resulted in slightly better quality of conidia powder. The viability and virulence of the VFD conidia were assessed periodically during 12-mon storage at 4℃ and 20℃, respectively. No viable conidia stored at 20℃ were detected 255 d after storage whereas those stored at 4℃ had a viability of 90.15% and an LT 50 of 4.7 d at the end of 12-mon storage. The results showed that storage of B. bassiana conidia powder at ambient temperature was unable to maintain shelf life at commercially acceptable level even though its water content was reduced to

Adolescent ; Adult ; Capsules ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy

BACKGROUND:Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is an important mitogen and an indispensable regulator during normal hair cell development. Extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) is also expressed in mammalian vestibular organs.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes of the expression and the distribution of IGF-1, IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) and ERK1/2 in guinea pig's vestibular epithelium following gentamycin injury.DESIGN: A randomly controlled study.SETTING: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, General Hospital of Chengdu Military Area Command of Chinese PLA.MATERIALS: Twenty healthy and adult guinea pigs, weighing 300 to 350 g, provided by the Experimental Animal Center,Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA, were randomly divided into four experimental groups and a control group with 4 in each group.METHODS: The experiment was performed at Department of Otorhinolaryngology Research Laboratory of Xijing Hospital,Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA from January 2002 to May 2002. In the experimental groups,gentamycin was intraperitoneally administered daily (80 mg/kg) for 10 consecutive days. For the control group, 1 mL of 0.9% sterile saline was administered in the same way. The guinea pigs, in which unsteady gait or nystagmus appeared,could be involved in the further experiments. Before being sacrificed, the animals' gait, nystagmus and the amount of food-intake were observed every day. The animals were anesthetized deeply with 50 mg/kg pentobarbital 1, 7, 14 or 21days after the last gentamycin administration and then decapitated. Bilateral otic vesicles were harvested and immersed in 4% paraformaldehyde. Then the specimens were decalcified in 10% ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA),thereafter embedded in OCT gel and serially sectioned at a thickness of 10 μm in the cryostat. The behavioral changes of guinea pigs were observed. The morphological changes of vestibular epithelium were examined by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining. The expression and distribution changes of IGF-1/1R and ERK1/2 were investigated immunohistochemically. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The behavioral, morphological, expression and distribution changes of IGF-1/1R and ERK1/2 of guinea pigs in each group.RESULTS: Twenty involved guinea pigs entered the stage of final analysis. ① All the guinea pigs' vestibular functions were impaired after gentamycin treatment, then partially restored without any pharmaceutical treatment. ②Morphological injury was obvious after gentamycin treatment, and improved 1 week later. ③The expression of IGF-1/1R was low in the control group, and in the 1-day group it increased significantly to its maximum. After that, its expression decreased gradually, but was still higher in the 21-day group than that in the control group. There were significant differences in the expression of IGF-1/1R among different groups (F =51.8,45.7,P ＜ 0.05). The expression changes of IGF-1 and its receptor were similar. ④The expression of ERK1/2 was low in the control group, and increased gradually after gentamycin toxicity. In the 7-day group, the immunoreactivity reached its maximum. Then the levels of ERK1/2 decreased gradually, but were still higher in the 21-day group than that in the control group. There were significant differences in the expression of ERK1/2 among different groups (F =103.7,106.4, P ＜ 0.01), but no significant differences existed in the expression between ERK1 and ERK2 among different groups (P ＞ 0.05).CONCLUSION: The expression of IGF-1/1R and ERK1/2 in vestibular epithelium increased after gentamycin treatment,and IGF-1 may play an important role as an endogenous mitogen through a paracrine or autocrine manner in the early stage of hair cell self-repair of guinea pigs. ERK1/2 may play an important role in signal transduction during vestibular hair cell self-repair after gentamycin toxicity in guinea pigs.