Objective To investigate the relationship between cardiac vagus nerves and changes of connexins(Cx)and intracellular gap junction(GJ)distribution pattern in superior vena cava(SVC)myosleeve in dog with atrial fibrillation(AF).Methods Twenty four hybrid dogs were divided into sham operation group(Sham group,n=8),SVC-AO fat pad removed group(RM group,n=8)and SVC-AO fat pad reserved group(RS group,n=8).In RM group and RS group,right atrial pacing was performed at a frequency of 500～650/min for 6 weeks to establish AF model.AF was induced by programmed stimulation or burst stimulation of atrial pacing.The expression and distribution of Cx40 and Cx43 in the SVC myosleeve tissue in three groups were analyzed by immunofluorescence staining.Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the uhrastructural organization of gap junction(GJ).Results The rate of inducing sustained AF(＞ 15 min)in RS group was significantly higher than that in RM group (P ＜ 0.01).The expression of Cx40 and Cx43 in the SVC myosleeve in sham group and RS group were significantly higher than that in RM group(P ＜ 0.05).Furthermore,the expression of Cx40 and Cx43 in RS group were obviously higher than that in sham group(P ＜0.05).The ratio of end-to-end to side-to-side in RS group was lower than that in Sham group and RM group.Comparing with RM group,the channel of GJ became shorter and wider in RS group(P ＜0.05).Sarcomere was dissolved and mitochondrion showed vacuole degeneration in RS group.Conclusion The remodeling of Cx40 and Gx43 in SVC myosleeve tissue may be mediated by vagus nerves.It is conducive to the maintenance and stability of AF.However,this effect can be weakened by removing SVC-AO fat pad of canine.

Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; complications

Objective To assess the proficiency of water monitoring laboratory at rural, county, and provincial levels in Guangdong province, to ensure the province's drinking water monitoring results accurate and reliable. Methods State quality of certified reference materials as water arsenic, fluoride and chloride of 90 copies each were numbered and distributed to 90 monitoring laboratories in the province for testing, The measurement results of the participatory labs were evaluated through normative values and expanded uncertainty, and were compared with those of robust statistics method. Results All participatory labs had timely feedback of their measurement results. The qualified rate was higher when arsenic was tested by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry and zinc-new silver salt of sulfuric acid spectrophotometric system, while fluoride and chloride by ion chromatography. The average qualified rates of water arsenic, fluoride and chloride of the province's rural drinking water quality monitoring laboratory were 66% (59/90), 72% (65/90) and 72% (65/90), respectively.Seven participatory labs failed the proficiency testing of all three analytes and unqualified rate was 7.8% (7/90)among the ninety participated monitoring labs. The qualified rates of robust statistics method for arsenic fluoride and chloride were greater than those evaluated by the expanded uncertainty, and large deviations with small sample sizes. Conclusions The testing ability of drink-water monitoring labs in Guangdong province has improved.However, by comparison with the requirements of national quality control and testing skills, there is still a gap. It is suggested that internal quality control be included in routine inspeetion to improve laboratory testing technology.

Objective To establish a risk warning model for surgical site infection(SSI), provide support for screening high risk population and finding suspected cases.Methods Clinical data of 5 067 patients who underwent abdominal surgery in 6 domestic hospitals from January 2013 to December 2015 were collected retrospectively, all cases were randomly divided into modeling group and validation group according to a 6:4 ratio, warning model was established by employing logistic regression, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate discriminant ability of evaluation model, the maximum Youden index was as the optimum cut-off point.Results For the warning model of high-risk patients, AUC was 0.823, sensitivity and specificity were 78.81% and 74.33% respectively, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 19.67% and 97.78% respectively.For the discriminant model of suspected infection cases, AUC was 0.978, sensitivity and specificity were 93.38% and 95.62% respectively, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 62.95% and 99.45% respectively.Conclusion The early-warning model established in this study has better discrimination ability, which can provide a reference for the development of early warning and discrimination of healthcare-associated infection information system.

To clone and analyze a member of the Auxin/indole-3-acetic acid (Aux/IAA) gene family, RgIAA1, from Rehmannia glutinosa. The transcriptional EST database of R. glutinosa was used to clone the new Aux/IAA gene by cDNA probe of AtIAA14. Bioinformatics was applied to analyze the sequence characteristics of RgIAA1 protein and construct phylogenetiC trees. Quantitative RT-PCR has been applied to detect the transcription level of RgIAA1 in seven tissues as well as in leaves under three stresses. The results showed that, the cDNA sequence of RgIAA1 contains 903 bp was obtained. The open reading frame (ORF) of RgIAA1 was 681 bp encoding 226 amino acids, which has typical structural domains and characteristic sequence of Aux/IAA family proteins. RgIAA1 showed the highest expression level in unfolded leaf, followed by the stem. And the expression of RglAA1 was quickly decreased with leaf growing up. The transcription level increased under continuous cropping conditions while it reduced both in salinity and waterlogging stresses. RgIAA1, an Aux/IAA gene from R. glutinosa has been obtained for the first time, which can lay the foundation for further studies about its molecular function in development and responses to stress.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Cloning, Molecular ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Indoleacetic Acids ; metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Organ Specificity ; Phylogeny ; Plant Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; Rehmannia ; classification ; genetics ; physiology ; Stress, Physiological ; genetics

This article summarized the experience of Professor Xiong Jibai,a national TCM master,in treating pulmonary nodules based on the theory of"body fluids and blood stasis mixing"in Huang Di Nei Jing.Professor Xiong Jibai believes that the basic pathogenesis of pulmonary nodules is that"body fluids and blood stasis mixing"accumulate in lung collaterals,and the fundamental pathological factor is phlegm and blood stasis.Xiong's treatment is based on dissipating phlegm and activating qi,activating blood circulation and resolving masses,paying attention to syndrome differentiation and treatment,examining syndromes and seeking causes,flexibly selecting prescriptions and treating both symptoms and root causes;attaching importance to maintaining healthy qi,preventing both illness and change,and preventing recovery after illness.Clinical medical records were attached to prove the clinical thinking and medication characteristics.

OBJECTIVETo detect the expression of MAP3K5 and miR-BART22 encoded by Epstein-Barr virus and explore their relationship in nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs).

METHODSFifty-three archived specimens of NPCs and 30 nasopharyngitis specimens were collected for detecting the expression of EBERs and miR-BART22 by in situ hybridization, and the expression of MAP3K5 was detected using immunohistochemistry. Ten fresh NPC and 10 fresh nasopharyngitis specimens were also obtained for determining the protein expression of MAP3K5 by Western blotting.

RESULTSEBERs were positive in all the 53 NPC specimens, and miR-BART22 was positive in 49 specimens; all the 30 nasopharyngitis specimens were negative for EBER or miR-BART22. In the 53 NPC tissues, 50 were negative for MAP3K5 expression in the cancer areas but positive in the adjacent mucosal areas, with the other 3 specimens showing a weak positivity (+). In the 30 nasopharyngitis specimens, 25 showed strong MAP3K5 positivity, 3 showed weak positivity and 2 were negative for MAP3K5 (P<0.001). Western blotting showed that the expression of MAP3K5 protein was significantly higher in nasopharyngitis than in NPC tissues (P=0.029). The expression of MAP3K5 and miR-BART22 was inversely correlated (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONCompared with the adjacent mucosal tissues, NPC tissues have a lower expression of MAP3K5 but a higher expression of miR-BART22. The expression of MAP3K5 and miR-BART22 is inversely correlated, suggesting the possibility of MAP3K5 to serve as target gene of EBV miR-BART22. miR-BART22 may inhibit the expression of MAP3K5, thus reducing the protein phosphorylation of MAPK pathway downstream genes, inhibiting NPC cell apoptosis, preventing their differentiation and promoting their escape from immune surveillance.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Viral ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; genetics ; Humans ; MAP Kinase Kinase Kinase 5 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Male ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; virology ; Tumor Escape ; Viral Matrix Proteins ; metabolism ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the immune memory in vaccinees after the completion of a full schedule hepatitis B immunization.

METHODSOne thousand and two hundred one infants born in 1987 -1989 were immunized with 3 doses of plasma derived hepatitis B vaccine, while 2484 newborn babies during 1996-1999 were injected with 3 doses of the yeast recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. All of the infants under observation were tested for HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc, in 2005. Of 959 individuals negative for anti-HBs (< 10 mIU/ml), HBsAg and anti-HBc, 228 were immunized with plasma-derived vaccine and 731 with yeast recombinant vaccine after birth. All of them were detected for anti-HBs 15 days after a booster of 10 Ipg yeast recombinant vaccine. In addition, interleukin-2 (IL-2) was detected in 11 non-responders and 22 responders after boostering, using an enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT). The anti-HBs levels of 190 individuals (91 with plasma derived vaccine and 99 with yeast recombinant vaccine) who had had quantitative data on their antibody status after the primary hepatitis B vaccination, were compared with that after the boostering.

RESULTSAmong the individuals who received plasma derived vaccine 16-18 years ago, 79.82% of them showed the signs of immune memory after one booster, with a geometric mean titer (GMT)of 325.69 mIU/ml. Of the individuals who received the yeast recombinant vaccine 6-9 years ago, 95.62% showed immune memory after one booster,with its GMT of 745.18 mIU/ml. Anti-HBs levels induced by the booster were associated with that after the primary immunization. The positive rate of IL-2 was 40.91% in subjects with good immune memory. However, IL-2 was not detected in non-responders after the booster (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONMost of the individuals who had received a completed schedule of primary hepatitis B vaccination and seroconverted from anti-HBs positive to negative,showed the signs of having immune memory after the booster. Only a small proportion of the vaccinees had lost their immune memory during the long term follow-up period, suggesting that these individuals should receive a booster of hepatitis B vaccine in the highly endemic areas of hepatitis B. Hepatitis B virus; Immune memory; Booster immunization

Antibody Formation ; Hepatitis B ; immunology ; prevention & control ; Hepatitis B Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunization, Secondary ; Immunologic Memory ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Interleukin-2 ; blood

OBJECTIVETo conduct a meta-analysis of the effect of levosimendan on B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels and evaluate the therapeutic effect of levosimendan on advanced heart failure.

METHODSA meta-analysis was performed on the selected data to analyze the effect of levosimendan on BNP levels.

RESULTSLevosimendan decreased BNP by a mean of 337.66 [95%CI (-296.30, -379.02)] pg/ml 24 h after the administration, and by 259.92 [95%CI (-195.76, -324.08)] pg/ml at 48 h, and by 123.09 [95%CI(-53.32,-195.86)] pg/ml at 1 week. Levosimendan resulted in improvements of the cardiac function by about 29%, 22%, and 10% at 24 h, 48 h and 1 week after the administration.

CONCLUSIONLevosimendan produces favorable effects on the cardiac functions and BNP levels.

Cardiotonic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Heart Failure ; blood ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Hydrazones ; therapeutic use ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; blood ; Pyridazines ; therapeutic use

OBJECTIVETo investigate the value of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels in assessing myocardial protection by remifentanil precondition against myocardial injury induced by off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB).

METHODSTwenty-four patients undergoing OPCAB were randomized into control and remifentanil preconditioning group (n=12). All the patients received pretreatment with oral diazepam (10 mg), intramuscular morphine (10 mg) and hyosine (0.3 mg). General anesthesia was induced with midazolam (0.08 mg/kg), etomidate (0.1-0.3 mg/kg), fentanyl (5-10 microg/kg), and rocuronium (1 mg/kg), and maintained with isoflurane inhalation and propofol infusion. Intermittent fentanyl and pipecuronium were given intravenously. In remifentanil preconditioning group, remifentanil (5 microg/kg in 50 ml normal saline) was infused in 10 min after anesthesia induction, and only NS was administered in the control group. Blood samples were obtained before and at 0, 2, 6, 24, and 48 h after the operation to determine serum cTnI levels.

RESULTSIn both of the two groups, the cTnI levels increased significantly at the postoperative time points (0, 2, 6, 24, and 48 h) as compared with those before the operation (P<0.05). The cTnI levels of remifentanil preconditioning group were markedly decreased after the operation in comparison with those of the control group (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONRemifentanil preconditioning decreases the cTnI levels and reduces myocardial injury induced by OPCAB.

Aged ; Coronary Artery Bypass, Off-Pump ; adverse effects ; Female ; Heart ; drug effects ; Humans ; Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial ; Male ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; blood ; etiology ; metabolism ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Piperidines ; pharmacology ; Postoperative Period ; Time Factors ; Troponin I ; blood ; metabolism