Background Both functional and morphological changes in amblyopic development are known to occur at various levels in the central visual pathway.However,whether the retina is involved or not during amblyopic progression remains controversial.Objective This study was designed to compare the thicknesses of the fovea and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) of the normal fellow eye of amblyopic eye using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in children with myopic anisometropia.Methods Twenty-two patients with unilateral myopic anisometropic amblyopia were included as the anisometropia amblyopia group.Ten unilateral myopic anisometropic amblyopia subjects received treatment and recovered were used as the amblyopic cure group,and 11 individuals with simple myopic anisometropia without amblyopia were enrolled as the control group.OCT was performed on both eyes of all the subjects with informed consent.Fovea retinal thickness and RNFL thickness from the superior,inferior,nasal and temporal quadrants in the peripapillary region were evaluated.The measurement parameters were bilaterally compared in all the individuals by paired t test.The multiple regression model was used to analyze the correlation of retinal thickness with amblyopia patients.This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of this hospital.Written informed consent was obtain from each subject prior to the eye examination.Results Fovea retinal thickness increased in the amblyopic eyes compared with the fellow eyes,showing a statistically significant difference between them (P =0.001).However,no significant differences were found in the fovea retinal thickness between both eyes in the amblyopic cure group and simple myopic anisometropia without amblyopia group (P =0.778,0.943).Among the anisometropia amblyopia group,amblyopia cure group and simple myopic anisometropia without amblyopia group,the RNFL thicknesses of the temporal quadrant was significantly thicker in the higher myopic lateral eyes than those of the fellow eyes (P＜0.001,P =0.003,P =0.046).However,the differences in the superior,inferior,nasal and the average RNFL thickness were not statistically significant between the two eyes (P＞0.05).A negative correlation was found between the inferior retinal thickness with age (r=-0.559,P=0.016).Conclusions The fovea may be affected in unilateral myopic anisometropic amblyopia.There is no significant difference in the RNFL thickness between simple myopic eye and unilateral myopic anisometropia amblyopic eye.Improvement in amblyopia is coming along with the reduction of the thickness of the fovea.

Objective To investigate the curative effect of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) and the method of the pretreatment choice on myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).Methods 13 cases who were undergoing allo-HSCT including 10 HLA-matched, 2 HLA partially matched,and one umbilical cord blood transplanted patients were enrolled in this study. The infusion number of MNC and CD+34 cells is 6.92 (2.65-21.33)×108/kg and 4.47 (1.49-10.22) ×106/kg, respectively. Of the 13 cases,5 adopted TBI, fludarabine(Flud), and cyclophosphamide(Cy) pretreatment, 3 chose BU/Cy pretreatment, and 3 chose TBI and Cy pretreatment, 2 chose Ara-C+BU+Cy+VM26 pretreatment. In order to prevent GVHD, 2cases of HLA partially matched were treated with ATG, cyclosporin A (CsA), MTX and MMF aftertransplantation, while the others were treated with CsA and MTX only. Results 9 out of 13 cases achieved hematopoietic reconstruction completely. 4 died of complications. Conclusion The allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is an efficient regimen to cure MDS. The pretreatment should adopt the individuation.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the occupational exposure levels of dust in new suspension preheated dry process (NSP) cement production line and put forward rectification measures for dust-exposed posts, and to provide ideas for the modern cement production enterprises in dust control and occupational health management.

METHODSOccupational health field investigation combined with field test were used to measure the time-weighted average concentration (C(TWA)) of the dust in the workplace. Rectification measures were taken for the dust-exposed posts with unqualified dust concentration, and the protective effects of dustproof facilities in the rectified workplace were evaluated.

RESULTSThe field investigation revealed incompletely closed dustproof facilities, improperly set dust hoods, excess of dust leakage points, and other problems in the dust-exposed posts of an NSP cement production line before rectification, and the dustproof facilities could hardly exert dust removal effect. The field test showed that the vast majority of dust-exposed posts had the dust concentrations exceeding the occupational exposure limits (OELs), with a qualified rate as low as 31.8%. A series of rectification measures were taken for these posts. After the rectification, the dust-exposed posts demonstrated dramatically dropped C(TWA), and the qualified rate of dust concentration in the dust-exposed posts rose to 90.9%.

CONCLUSIONThe dust hazards in NSP cement production line cannot be ignored. Taking appropriate protective measures are critical for curbing dust hazards in modern cement production.

Air Pollutants, Occupational ; analysis ; Construction Materials ; Dust ; analysis ; Humans ; Occupational Exposure ; analysis ; prevention & control ; Workplace

Little is known about the non-structural protein 6(NSP6)of rotavirus.This report describes expression of the NSP6 of a group A human rotavirus strain TB-Chen in bacteria,and its immunological properties and cellular distribution.The results showed that the recombinant NSP6(rNSP6)was expressed in high efficiency without any other proteins fused(possesses about 34.2% of total bacterial proteins).rNSP6 elicited mono-specific antibodies in immunized guinea pigs and the antibodies could react with the rNSP6 itself and the viral NSP6 proteins synthesized in SA11-or Wa-infected MA104 cells in Western blot and immunofluorescence assay.The NSP6 distributed evenly in the cytoplasm mainly around the nucleus of virus-infected cells,no viroplasm-like gathering observed;The top amount of NSP6 synthesized in SA11-infected cells or Wa-infected cells could be detected at 12h after infection.This is the first report about the high expression of entire NSP6(without any other proteins fused)in prokaryotic expression system and detection of NSP6 synthesis in virus infected cells by immunofluorescence assay.The results are important to understand the structure,biological properties and further application of the NSP6.

Objective To establish a nursing performance evaluation indicator system in military hospitals,so as to provide reference for standardized nursing performance management. Methods Based on literature review,group discussion and qualitative interviews,two rounds of consultation were conducted among 19 experts using Delphi method. Results The nursing performance evaluation indicator system in military hospitals included 3 first-level in-dicators,13 second-level indicators and 60 third-level indicators. Experts' authority coefficient,judgment coefficient and familiarity coefficient were 0.930,0.960,0.900,respectively. The coordination coefficients of the first-level,sec-ond-level and third-level were 0.517,0.490 and 0.459. Variation coefficients were 0~0.113. Conclusion The nurs-ing performance evaluation indicator system in military hospitals based on Delphi method is scientific and reliable, which provides references for nursing performance in clinical units and makes significant contributions to nursing performance management in military hospitals.

Objective To explore the effect of alprostadil on renal hemodynamics and vasoactive substance in patients with type 2 hepato-renal syndrome ( HRS ) .Methods Eighty -six patients with type 2 hepatorenal syndrome were randomly divided into the observation group ( n=43 ) and the control group( n=43).They all accepted the conventional treatment , but the patients in the observation group were given the treatment of alprostadil injection 10 μg put into 0.9% NaCl injection once a day. The treatment lasted for 2 weeks.The data of renal hemodynamics and vasoactive substance were compared between the two group after 2 weeks. Results After treatment, the data of leak diastolic velocity, resistive index, peak systolic velocity, pulsatile index, the renin, endothelin, nitric oxide, glutamic pyruvic transaminase, total bilirubin, and creatinine and urea nitrogen in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group ( P<0.05 ) , and the endogenous creatinine clearance rate were significantly higher than that in the control group ( P<0.05 ) .Conclusion Alprostadil could improve the clinical efficacy by improving renal hemodynamics and vasoactive substance in patients with type 2 hepatorenal syndrome.

Our previous study demonstrates that hypoxia promotes human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) proliferation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the gene profile involved in this process by using cDNA microarray. Cultured hMSCs were treated with hypoxia (3% O(2)) for 4 h, 12 h, 24 h, 36 h, 48 h and 72 h, respectively. Then these cells were collected to prepare total RNA. Hypoxia-induced gene expression profile was examined and analyzed by GenePix Pro 4.0 software. Some of cDNA microarray results were confirmed by RT-PCR. Microarray analysis identified that 282 genes expressed differentially, of which most were involved in metabolism. The number of differentially expressed genes at different hypoxia time points was different, and most genes were regulated after 24-hour hypoxia. Among the 282 differentially expressed genes, 4 hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) targeted genes and 10 genes that changed at 3 continuous time points were found. The results obtained indicated that 4 HIF-1 targeted genes, i.e., transforming growth factor beta3 (TGFbeta3), phospho-glycerate kinase 1 (PGK1), insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) and BCL2/adenovirus E1B 19 kDa interacting protein 3 (BNIP3), displayed up-regulated pattern at 36 h under hypoxia. BNIP3 displayed a dynamically up-regulated pattern at 12, 36 and 72 h under hypoxia. However, TGFbeta3 and PGK1 were down-regulated at 72 h. In addition, the gene expressions of adenylate kinase 3-like 1 (HAC), neurofilament light polypeptide 68 kDa (NEFL), N-myc downstream regultated gene 1 (NDRG1), discoidin domain receptor family member 1 (DDR1), tribbles homolog 3 (TRIB3), nucleoprotein (AHNAK) and eukaryotic elongation factor selenocyteine-tRNA-specific (EESTS) were up-regulated. Moreover, the gene expressions of EESTS, NEFL were up-regulated at 5 different time points under hypoxia. Furthermore, it was found that the gene expressions of histone cluster 1 (HIS1) and transferring receptor (TFRC) were down-regulated. These results suggest that the proliferation of hMSCs induced by hypoxia is a complex process in which a number of genes may be involved.
Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Hypoxia ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Oxygen ; metabolism ; Transcriptome

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of Huoxuezhitong recipe on the pathway of mitochondrial apoptosis and the expression of related gene (Caspase-3, -9, Bax, Bcl-2) in epidural scar tissue.

METHODSA total of 60 New Zealand rabbits, ranging in weight from 2.5 to 3.0 kg, were randomly divided into sham operative group (group A), control group (group B), sodium hyaluronate group (group C), Huoxuezhitong recipe group (group D, included Danggui 20 g, Chishao 20 g, Honghua 20 g, Ruxiang 15 g, Myrrh 15 g etc.) with 15 rabbits in each group. Except for group A, L4,5 vertebral plate were resected leading to 1.0 cm x 1.0 cm dura mater exposed area, which were covered with 0.5 ml sodium hyaluronate in group C, covered with same amount of saline in group B and D. At 2 weeks after operation, the rabbits of group D were administered with Huoxuezhitong recipe (2.5 ml/kg, once a day, continuous 14 d). Five rabbits of each group were selected randomly and were killed at 2, 4 and 8 weeks after operation; and the expression of Caspase-3, -9, Bax, Bcl-2 in scar tissue were surveyed by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTSThe results by RT-PCR showed significant different in expressions of Caspase-3, -9, Bax, Bcl-2 of group A and others groups at each period (P < 0.01). At 2, 4, 8 weeks after operation, compared with group B, the expressions of Caspase-3, -9, Bcl-2 in group C and D were decreased (P < 0.05), but the expression of Bax in group C and D were increased (P < 0.05). At 8 weeks after operation, the expressions of Caspase-3, -9, Bax, Bcl-2 in group D was significant decreased compared with group C (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONHuoxuezhitong recipe can regulate the levels of expression of Caspase-3, -9, Bax, Bcl-2 mRNA and further induce the pathway of mitochondrial apoptosis, thereby, achieve the effect of prophylaxis for the proliferation and conglutination of epidural scar tissue.

Actins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; genetics ; Carthamus tinctorius ; Caspase 3 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Caspase 9 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Female ; Genes, bcl-2 ; drug effects ; genetics ; Mitochondria ; drug effects ; pathology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Rabbits ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVESTo study the effect of Houxue Zhitong decoration on the expression of the mitochondria-initiated apoptosis pathway and transmembrane protein I an II of the epidural scar tissue.

METHODSA total of 60 New Zealand rabbits (weight: 2.5-3.0 kg) were randomly divided into four groups, sham operation group (D, n=15), control group (B, n=14), sodium hyaluronate group (C, n=15), Houxue Zhitong decoration group (D, n=15). Except for group A, 1.0 cm x 1.0 cm dura mater uncovered area laminectomy was performed at I (4) and I(5), covered with 0.5 ml sodium hyaluronate in group C, covered with same amount of saline in group B and D. First 2 weeks after operation, animals in group D were lavaged with 2.5 ml/kg Houxue Zhitong decoction by one a day for 14 days. Five rabbits of each group selected randomly were killed in the 2,4,8 weeks after laminectomy. The specimens were prepared for determination of the expression of Fas and FasL, at scar tissue by semiquantitative reserve transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The degree of scar adhesion was evaluated according by Rydell method.

RESULTSThe adhesion area in group B was larger than of group C and D in the 4th and 8th week. However, the number of fibroblasts and inflammantory cells in group D was the least among the three groups in the 8th week. At 2, 4, 8 weeks after operation, as compared with group B the expression of Fas, FasL of group C and D were decreased (P < 0.05). Especially, at 2 weeks, as compared with group B the expression of this two cytokines of group D was significant decreased (P < 0.05), too. In group C and D the duramater adhesion was decreased (P < 0.05). The proliferation of fibroblast and fibroblastic function were inhibited (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONHuoxue Zhitong is able to down-regulated the expression of Fas, FasL, which inhibited the proliferation of fibroblast, the fibroblastic function and the synthesis of extracellular matrix in the epidural scar tissue. It is an effective way of reducing peridural scar formation and prevent the failed back surgery syndrome.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cicatrix ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Epidural Space ; pathology ; Fas Ligand Protein ; genetics ; metabolism ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation ; drug effects ; Rabbits ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; fas Receptor ; genetics ; metabolism

BACKGROUNDStathmin was identified as an endometriosis-related protein by comparative proteomics in our previous study. As a microtubule-destabilizing factor, stathmin was shown to participate in the relay and integration of diverse intracellular signaling pathways involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, and many other cellular activities. To investigate whether stathmin is involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, we examined the expression of stathmin in eutopic endometrium of women with or without endometriosis.

METHODSEutopic endometrium samples were collected from thirty-six patients who were diagnosed as endometriosis and the nineteen age-matched patients who were confirmed to be free of endometriosis surgically and histologically. The expression of stathmin mRNA was detected by real-time PCR, and its protein was detected by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSStathmin was overexpressed in eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis detected by real-time PCR in mRNA levels and by Western blotting in protein levels, without significant difference between proliferative and secretory phase. Immunohistochemistry showed that stathmin protein was localized in both endometrial glandular and stromal cells throughout the menstrual cycle.

CONCLUSIONSStathmin is overexpressed in endometrium of patients with endometriosis and may play a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

Adult ; Blotting, Western ; Endometriosis ; metabolism ; Endometrium ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Middle Aged ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Stathmin ; genetics ; metabolism