Objective To explore the spatial-temporal characteristics and changing regularities of Schistosoma japonicum in-fections among human from 2004 to 2011. Methods The township level spatial databases of schistosomiasis in Hunan Province from 2004 to 2011 were established,and the related spatial analysis was performed by SPSS 17.0,ArcGIS 10.1 and SaTScan 7.03. Results The schistosome infection rate among human in Hunan Province sharply decreased from 3.0％in 2004 to 0.8％in 2011. However,the rate among residents in parts of some townships in 2011 was still hovering at a higher level (P90=2.12％),and the higher rate was distributed along the Oncomelania hupensis snail ridden areas outside embankment. The auto-correlation analysis showed that the global Moran's I for schistosome infection rate among human was 0.34 to 0.53 from 2004 to 2011,and was higher than the expected value(Z>8.71,P<0.05). The local G statistics indicated that the positive hotspot high-high clustering areas were mainly near the coast of Dongting Lake from 2004 to 2011,and the number of townships with schistosomiasis endemic in the clustering areas reached 30 to 70. The spatial scan analysis showed that the number of townships in the clustering areas ran up to 145 to 183 from 2004 to 2011. Conclusions The schistosome infection rate among human de-creased significantly in Hunan Province from 2004 to 2011. However,the rate in parts of some townships still remains at a com-paratively high level,and there are positive spatial correlation and spatial agglomerations in the schistosome infection rate among human,suggesting that the prevention and control work on schistosomiasis in these areas should be strengthened in the fu-ture.

Objective To observe the effects of calcium cyanamide (Rongbao) on the histological and morphological changes of Oncomelania hupensis snails in order to explore its molluscicidal mechanisms.Methods The serial snails' slides were fixed after soaking in a concentration of Rongbao leached liquor at different time.The histological and morphological changes of the snails were compared among these slides.Results After soaking in the Rongbao leached liquor for 48 h,the mantle epithelia,respiratory epithelia of the gill,liver cells,and muscle cells of gastropods were injured seriously,which resulted in the death of the snails directly.The death rates of the snails were 96.70% and 100% after soaking in the Rongbao leached liquor for 48 h and 72 h,respectively.Conclusion Rongbao is an effective molluscicide by damaging the several snail tissues.

Objective To study the protective effects of taurine on liver and kidney injury induced by intestinal ischemia-reperfusion(I/R) in rats.Methods Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into Sham,I/R,and taurine groups.Thirty min before operation,2% taurine(200 mg/kg) was injected via dorsal vein of the rat′s penis.Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion was produced by occlusion of superior mesenteric artery for one hour later,then the blood flow was restored by removing the clamps.Blood samples were taken from rats in I/R and taurine groups at 1.5,3,6 and 12h after reperfusion,and the serum levels of ALT,AST,BUN and Cr were measured to evaluate the functions of liver and kidney.Tissues from livers and kidneys were cryostated and stained with hematoxylin and eosin to observe changes in histological pathology.TUNEL was also performed to examine apoptotic cells and the average light density levels were measured.Results The serum levels of ALT,AST,BUN and Cr in I/R group were significantly higher than those in Sham group(P

Objective The toxicological compatibility of Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix, as a toxic Chinese medicinal herb, combined with the other ingredients in Sini Decoction was investigated to elucidate the rationality of the combination of the ingredients in Sini Decoction from toxicological point of view. Methods Three kinds of experiments, acute toxicity in mice, heart toxicity in rats and aconitines level in water extract of Sini Decoction and its ingredients including Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix alone and its combination with licorice or dried ginger were adopted in this study. In the toxicological experiments, LD50 values for the acute toxicity test and TD50 values for the heart toxicity (arrhythemia as a parameter) of Sini Decoction, Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix alone and its combination with licorice or dried ginger were comparatively determined. And levels of individual aconitines of the water extracts from Sini Decoction, Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix alone and its combination with licorice or dried ginger were measured, respectively. Results The LD50 and TD50 of the combination of Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix and licorice in Sini Decoction were found to be higher than Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix alone or Sini Decoction, while the LD50 and TD50 of the combination of Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix and dried ginger appeared to be not different from those of Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix alone. The level of the main toxic compound of the water extracts for the combination of Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix and licorice, and Sini Decoction was lower than that of Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix alone and its combination with dried ginger. Conclusion The combination of Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix and licorice can attenuate the toxicity of Aconiti Carmichaeli Radix.

Objective To understand the dynamic rules of schistosomiasis endemic situation before and after reaching the criteria of schistosomiasis transmission controlled or transmission interrupted,so as to provide the evidence for improving schis-tosomiasis control. Methods Wuling District,Xihu District and Linli County were selected and investigated retrospectively to collect the schistosomiasis epidemiological information 10 years before they reached the criteria of transmission controlled and the subsequent years until 2008. A database of retrospective investigation was established for analyzing the trends and rules of changes of the Oncomelania hupensis snail status and infection status of cattle and human. Results In Wuling District,the en-demic situation was declining,and no schistosome infection persons,animals and snails were found after 1974. There was no re-bound until 2008. In Xihu District,the endemic situation reached the criteria of transmission controlled in 1997,and the endem-ic situation was stable. The human infection rate was positively correlated with the area of infection snails(r=0.584,P<0.05). In Linli County,there were no snails,no infected persons and cattle twice,but 2 endemic rebounds,and there were positive corre-lations between the densities of living snails and the infection rates of human and animal during the endemic rebound period. Conclusion The snail status is an important indicator of schistosomiasis endemic rebound. Therefore,the snail control is one of the most important schistosomiasis control measures.

Objective:To investigate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the adults aged 40 years old and over in Changchun urban area,and to clarify the important significance of early application of pulmonary function examination.Methods:With the help of community workers,10 communities which around Second Hospital of Jilin University were selected and the participants aged 40 years old and over were randomly collected.COPD questionnaire and pulmonary function examination were conducted in all subjects.The patients with COPD were diagnosed according to the criteria established by the Global Initiative for COPD (GOLD).The patients with COPD were divided into the diagnostic group and undiagnostic group,then the patients with COPD who had smoking history were divided into smoking cessation group and smoking group.The pulmonary function of each groups were compared.Results:A total of 1 392 participants aged 40 years old and over were recruited in this survey,including 568 males and 824 females,and their average age was (59.59±6.60) years.Totally 176 subjects were diagnosed as COPD,and the prevalence was 12.64％.Furthermore,160 of them were newly diagnosed,which showed the undiagnostic rate of COPD was 90.91 ％.Among the 176 patients with COPD,16 had been confirmed before,which meant only 9.09％ patients got the accurate diagnose before.The analysis of high-risk factor (smoking) showed that the population had an increased prevalence of COPD (20.71％) compared with non-smokers (8.8％) (P＜ 0.05).The correlational analysis between smoking index and the pulmonary function of the patients with COPD showed that all of the pulmonary function indexes except forced vital capacity (FVC％) and maximum midexpiratory flow (MMEF％) in smoking cessation group were descended along with the increase of smoking index (P＜0.05).All of the pulmonary function indexes except FVC％ in smoking group were descended along with the increase of smoking index (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion:The high prevalence and underdiagnostic rate of COPD are found in the residents aged 40 years old and over in Changchun urban area.More patients with COPD should be screened by performing pulmonary function examination to treat them at an early stage.

Objective: To investigate the effects and potential mechanisms of tolvaptan on chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH)-induced atrial remodeling in rats. Methods: A total of 45 Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups by the random number table: control group, CIH group (6 h/d for 30 days), CIH plus tolvaptan group (8 mg·kg^-1·d^-1 per gavage for 30 days). Echocardiography examination was performed after 30 days. Thereafter, 5 rats were randomly chosen for histology evaluation, 5 for molecular biological examinations and another 5 rats underwent isolated heart electrophysiology study in each group. Protein and mRNA expression levels of miRNA-21, Spry1, PTEN, ERK/p-ERK, MMP-9, PI3K, AKT/p-AKT were detected. Results: Compared to the rats in control group, rats in the CIH group showed higher atrial interstitial collagen deposition (P<0.001), increased atrial fibrillation inducibility (P=0.022). The results of immunohistochemistry staining showed that the mean optical density (MOD) of ERK, p-ERK and MMP-9 were significantly increased (all P<0.05), the MOD of Spry1 and PTEN were significantly decreased (both P<0.05), above changes could be significantly reversed by cotreatment with tolvaptan. No significant differences were detected in PI3K and AKT among the three groups (P>0.05). In addition, compared with rats in control group, mRNA levels of miRNA-21, MMP-9, PI3K, AKT, and protein levels of ERK, p-ERK, MMP-9 were significantly increased in CIH group(all P<0.05), whereas protein levels of Spry1, PI3K, p-AKT were significantly decreased (all P<0.05). Above changes could be significantly attenuated. Conclusions CIH induces significant atrial remodeling in this rat model, which can be attenuated by tolvaptan possibly through modulating miRNA-21/Spry1/ERK/MMP-9 and miRNA-21/PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathways.

Urea transporters (UT) play a vital role in the mechanism of urine concentration and are recognized as novel targets for the development of salt-sparing diuretics. Thus, UT inhibitors are promising for development as novel diuretics. In the present study, a novel UT inhibitor with a diarylamide scaffold was discovered by high-throughput screening. Optimization of the inhibitor led to the identification of a promising preclinical candidate,