OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of SF-36 scale being applied in different countries under different culture and to describe the quality of life of pulmonary tuberculosis patients in China and Thailand.

METHODSSF-36 scale was applied to pulmonary tuberculosis patients in both countries using face to face interview.

RESULTSMany coefficients among domains were greater than 0.5 when quality of life of tuberculosis patient in both countries was measured. Cronbach's coefficient of all domains were greater than 0.7 for tuberculosis patients in China while cronbach's Coefficient of most domains were equal or greater than 0.7 for tuberculosis patients in Thailand except for vitality and social domains. The score of social domain for patients in Thailand was greater than that of China.

CONCLUSIONStructure validity was not good for tuberculosis patients in both countries since there were some items overlapped in different domains. However, the reliability was good for measuring quality of life of tuberculosis patients both in China and in Thailand.

China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Thailand ; epidemiology ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; physiopathology ; psychology

AIM:To investigate the protective effect of nerve growth factor combined with Ginkgo biloba extract on retinal ischemia-reperfusion (RIR) injury in rabbits with experimental high intraocular pressure.METHODS:Establishment of rabbit glaucoma ischemia reperfusion model.Twenty-four New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into three groups:nerve growth factor group, Ginkgo biloba extract group and combination group.Respectively, in the continuous administration of 1, 7, 14d.We observed the morphological changes of the tissues of the retina.The levels of superoxide dismutase(SOD), nitric oxide(NO) and malondialdehyde(MDA) in retinal tissue were measured.RESULTS:Respectively, first, in the continuous administration of 1, 7, 14d, the contents of MDA and NO in Ginkgo biloba extract group and nerve growth group were higher than that in combination group (P<0.05).Secondly, the SOD content of Ginkgo biloba extract group and nerve growth group were lower than that of combination group at each time point (P<0.05).At each time point, the number of HE staining of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) showed that the loss of RGCs in the combination group was significantly lower than that in the other groups, and the ganglion cell count showed that the Ginkgo biloba extract group and the neuronal growth group were lower (P<0.05).CONCLUSION:Nerve growth factor combined with Ginkgo biloba extract has better protective effect on retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury.The mechanism may be related to the decrease of free radicals and increase the activity of SOD in retinal tissue.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; blood ; diagnosis ; Case-Control Studies ; Cystatin B ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; Male ; Middle Aged

To observe the effect of intracarotid administration of adrenomedullin (AM) on the spontaneous electrical activity of area postrema (AP) neurons, 78 spontaneous active units were recorded from 63 sino-aortic denervated Sprague-Dawley rats using extracellular recording technique. The results obtained are as follows. (1) Following intracarotid administration of AM (0.3 nmol/kg), the discharge rate of 47 out of 78 units increased markedly from 2.99+/-0.24 to 4.79+/-0.29 spikes/s (P<0.001), 20 units decreased from 3.24+/-0.46 to 1.97+/-0.37 spikes/s (P<0.001), and the remaining 11 showed no response. Blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) did not change throughout the experimentation. (2) Pretreatment with intracarotid administration of calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist CGRP8-37 (3 nmol/kg) did not change the effects of AM. (3) Following intracarotid injection of NO precursor L-arginine (30 mg/kg), the excitatory effect of AM was attenuated. The above results indicate that AM can excite spontaneous electrical activity of AP neurons, this effect is not mediated by calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor but may be attenuated by NO precursor L-arginine.
Action Potentials ; physiology ; Adrenomedullin ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Aorta ; innervation ; physiology ; surgery ; Area Postrema ; physiology ; Carotid Sinus ; innervation ; physiology ; surgery ; Denervation ; Injections, Intra-Arterial ; Male ; Neurons ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Objective To study exogenous expression and subcellular localization of wild type (WT ) and mu-tant PAX3 proteins in vitro by generating their expression plasmids for further study of pathogenesis of Waarden-burg syndrome (WS) .Methods The plasmids pECE-PAX3 and pcDNA3 .0-HA were ligased after they were cut by double enzyme digestion using molecular cloning technique to generate recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid pcDNA3 .0-PAX3-HA ,which was as a template to generate expression plasmids pcDNA 3 .0 -H80D -HA and pcDNA3 .0-H186fs-HA of novel mutations H80D and H186fs of PAX3 gene .All constructs were verified by di-rect nucleotide sequencing .NIH3T3 cells were transfected transiently with the expression plasmids of PAX3 ,H80D and H186fs respectively .The exogenous expression of WT PAX3 protein and mutant H80D ,H186fs proteins were analysed using Western blot assay ,while their subcellular distribution were observed using immunofluorescence as-say .Results The DNA sequences of expression plasmids of PAX3 and its mutant H80D ,H186fs were correct . Both WT and mutant PAX3 proteins were detected at the expected size .WT PAX3 and H80D proteins were only lo-calized in the nucleus ,whereas H186fs protein showed aberrant localization in both cytoplasm and nucleus .Conclu-sion We successfully generated the recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmids of PAX 3 gene and its mutants and drew preliminary conlusion of gene mutation having effect on subcellular distribution of WT PAX 3 proteins in vitro , which lays experimental basis for further study of the moceluar mechanism of WS caused by PAX3 gene mutations in China .

BACKGROUND:Polyhydroxybutyrate-co-volerate (PHBV) is a noticeable tissue engineering material of polyhydroxyalkanoates family. It has the properties of low immune rejection response and good biocompatibility, and its degradation products are non-toxic.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the biocompatibility of PHBV membrane material and human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s in vitro.
METHODS:Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s at passage 3 were seeded upon PHBV membrane as experimental group and upon conventional culture plates as control group. Then we calculated the adherent cel number of two groups at 1, 2 and 4 hours and got the cel adherent rate. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide assay was used at days 2, 4, 6, 8 to observe the cel proliferation of two groups. Fluorimetric method with the fluorescent dye Hoechst 33258 was used to detect the DNA content of cel s at days 3, 6, 9 and 12 in both groups. After cel s were seeded upon PHBV membrane for 5 days, the cel growth upon the material was examined under a scanning electron microscope.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:When the cel s were cultured for 1 hour, the adherent rate in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group;but there were no significant differences between two groups at the other two periods. No difference was found in the cel proliferation and the DNA content between the two groups. Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s seeded upon PHBV membrane for 5 days grew wel with spindle morphology and the intercel ular connections were tight and more extracel ular matrices were observed by scanning electron microscopy. Taken together, PHBV membrane material shows a good biocompatibility with human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s.

OBJECTIVE To investigates the effects of imperatorin on the oxidative stress in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus after focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. METHODS Transient focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion model in male Sprague-Dawley rats was induced by 2 h middle cerebral artery occlusion followed by 24 h reperfusion. Imperatorin (1.25 and 2.5 mg·kg- 1) or vehicle were administered intraperitoneally at 1, 5 and 9 h after the onset of ischemia. At 24 h after reperfusion, the biomarkers of oxidative stress such as the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation products malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), the activities of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus were observed. We also assessed the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and the NAD(P)H-quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1) protein expression by Western blot. RESULTS As compared to vehicle-treated animals, imperatorin treatment significantly reduced the ROS, MDA, NO levels and iNOS activity, increased T-AOC and the activities of SOD and CAT. Furthermore, imperatorin treatment also significantly induced the nuclear translocation of Nrf2, enhanced the protein expression of HO-1 and NQO-1 in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. CONCLUSION Our findings indicate that imperatorin can protect the brain against the excessive oxidative stress induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion through activation of Nrf2 signaling pathway.

Culture environment is the key factor in the construction of dermal skin.It was investigated that the effects of the culture methods,including the static culture and spinner flask culture,and stir speeds on the cells proliferation,metabolism and distribution within collagenchitosan sponges.A higher cell density and specific growth rate was obtained with spinner flask culture versus static culture,especially,the 80 r/min spinner flask culture.The cell distribution in dermal substitutes from stirred culture system was more uniform than static culture,as well as that with increase of stir speeds in spinner flask.In summary,the spinner flasks culture with proper stir speed shows promise for the construction of dermal substitutes in vitro.

By means of comparing biomasses of biodegradation fungi,Fusarium sp.HG-P-01 for ?-cypermethrin,a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide used widely in China,in five different media,the Czapek-Dox medium was selected as the best medium for mycelia growth.Furthermore,an experiment of central composite rotatable design(CCRD) was used to optimize the content of nutrient components.The optimal composition of C,N and P in media for HG-P-01 were 20.94 g/L,1.82 g/L and 1.66 g/L,respec-tively,in which an expectant or real rate of ?-cypermethrin-degradation got to 96.34% or 93.78% by HPLC for a concentration of 50 mg/L after 24 h treatment.The predicted value in degradation rate model was con-sistent with that from HPLC method.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of masking therapy for the early stage of the patients with noise-induced tinnitus,and imply the treatment for patients with noise-induced tinnitus. METHOD: Sixty-eight cases with tinnitus were studied. All the patients took the audiological examinations and tinnitus tests firstly, and accepted the masking therapy for 6 months. The therapeutic effiency was evaluated according to tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) and subjective visual-analogue scale (VAS). The minimum masking intensity was also evaluated. RESULT: The majority of the patients with noise-induced tinnitus (59 cases, 86. 8%) had tinnitus frequency of 4 kHz,and most of them (44 cases, 64. 7%) had positive residual inhibition tests. Tinnitus completely disappeared in 3 cases after masking therapy, and the efficiency of this treatment is 83. 8%. There was significant difference in the scores of THI and VAS before and after therapy(P<0. 01), and there was also significant difference in the minimum masking intensity (P<0. 01). CONCLUSION Masking therapy is the most important treatment for the patients in the early stage of noise-induced tinnitus. The therapeutic effiency is significant and should be promoted.
Humans ; Noise ; adverse effects ; Tinnitus ; etiology ; therapy