BACKGROUND:Electromagnetic fields can cause changes of the body,especially the nervous system.Effect of pulsed electromagnetic fields(PEMFs)on neural stem cells has been detected.OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effect of prenatal pulsed electromagnetic fields(PPEMFs)on neural stem cell proliferation and nestin protein expression in the hippocampus of rat offspdng.METHODS:Sprague Dawley female rats weighing 240-260 g were included and randomly divided into two groups:control and PPEMFs.Rats from the control group were given no interventions.Rats from the PPEMFs group were given PEMFs stress at gestational days 14-20.Each stress was given three times daily for 10 minutes.The male and female offspring rats were sacrificed at 1 month of age and their brains were sectioned to determine the expression of nestin protein and Brdu-positive cells in the hippocampus by immunohistochemistry.RESULTS:The expression of nestin-and Brdu-positive cells in the hippocampus of female and male PEMFS offspring were significantly higher compared with the control group(P<0.001),and there was a significant difference between female and male offspring(P<0.001).The nestin-and Brdu-positive cells in female offspring outnumbered those in male offspring(P<0.001);however,there was no significant difference between female and male offspring in the control group(P>0.05).CONCLUSION:PPEMFs can increase the number and proliferative capability of the neural stem cells in offspring.It may be a pdmary stage of the cascade reaction of the body to the brain damage caused by PPEMFs stress.

Objective To observe the effects of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on the expressions of transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1), fibronectin(FN),and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in rats with diabetic nephropathy(DN), and to elucidate the protective mechanism played by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. Methods DN models were estabolished by injecting streptozotoein ( STZ ) into male SD rats, which were divided into TGF-β1 overexpression group, TGF-β1 overexpression plus vitamin D3 group, TGF-β1 low-expression group, TGF-β1 low-expression plus vitamin D3 group, TGF-β1 normal-expression group, and TGF-β1 normal-expression plus vitamin D3 group. After 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 treatment for 37 days, renal function and blood biochemical parameters were evaluated. The morphology and fibrosis of kidney tissues were observed. The expressions of TGF-β1, FN, and VEGF in kidney cortex were measured by immunohistochemistry, realtime PCR, and Western blotting. Results The levels of cholesterol, triglyceride, creatinine,plasma glucose, HbA1C , and 24 h urinary protein were lower in vitamin D3treated groups than those in corresponding control groups(P<0. 05). The degree of renal fibrosis was raised with the increased level of TGF-β1. Vitamin D3 treatment decreased the fibrosis in diabetic kidney. There were significant differences in the mRNA and protein expressions of TGF-β1 in three control groups(P<0. 05). With the increased levels of TGF-β1, the expressions of FN and VEGF were increased. The expressions of TGF-β1, FN, and VEGF were lowered by vitamin D3compared with the corresponding control groups(P<0. 05). Conclusion 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 may protect the renal tissure in diabetic rats via inhibiting the expressions of TGF-β1, FN, and VEGF in the kidney.

Objective To investigate the effect of glucose supplement on AMPK activation in myocardium of exercised rats by measuring the myocardial AMPK activation and glycogen content after acute exercise training.Methods Rats were subjected to an acute endurance exercise and glucose supplement in varying doses and time points before and after exercise.The dynamic changes of myocardial AMPK activities was measured with Western blotting, changes of myocardial glycogen content were measured with Anthrone method.Results AMPK activation in myocardium of exercised rat was increased significantly throughout the exercise, and remained at a higher level 1 hour after acute exercise.However the level of AMPK activity was not significantly increased in exercised rat with glucose supplement.Glycogen content was not significantly changed after exercise.Rats subjected to lower dose glucose supplement did not show significant changes in glycogen content neither.But glycogen content was significantly increased in rats at 24 hours after exercise, subjected to higher dose of glucose supplement.Conclusions 1) Acute exercise induces a significant increase in AMPK activation in myocardium of exercised rats.Glucose supplement significantly inhibites the activation of AMPK induced by acute exercise.(2) Higher dose glucose supplement significantly increases glycogen content in the rat myocardium 24 h after exercise.

OBJECTIVE To explore the relationship between urinary tract infection(UTI) and urological surgical site infections(SSI).METHODS The surgical site infections of 115 patients underwent urological operations were observed.Patients were screened for the presence of UTI before the operation and subcutaneous swabs for culture were collected at the end of the operation by brushing with a sterile cotton-swab just before skin closure.The resistance and similarity of the isolates were analyzed by antimicrobial susceptibility test and pulsed field gel electrophoresis(PFGE).RESULTS Surgical site infection occurred in 14 of 115 patients.The isolates from infected surgical sites showed higher resistance to antimicrobial agents than those from non-infected surgical sites(P

OBJECTIVE: To study the incidence of hearing loss at high frequency and the related influence factors among the flight cadets. METHOD: Using multi-stage sampling method, 312 flight cadets were randomly selected from grade 2011,2012,2013. The level of binaural hearing threshold at 4 kHz, 6 kHz, 8 kHz were measured by hearing-assistant evaluative apparatus. Whether or not have hearing loss was chosen as dependent variable. Territory, smoking, dietary habit, previous history of tinnitus, the noise exposure time, the vestibular function and the psychological quality were chosen as independent vailables. T test, ANOVA and accumulative logistic regression were performed to analyze the factors influence on hearing impairment by software SPSS 18.0. RESULT: The morbidity of hearing impairment among flight cadets was 18.9%. Results from single factor analysis showed that the levels of hearing thresholds at 4 kHz, 6 kHz frequency had statistically significant differences between smoking group and non-smoking group (P < 0.05). The levels of hearing thresholds at 4 kHz frequency had statistically significant differences between spicy diet group and not spicy diet group (P < 0.05). The levels of hearing thresholds at 4 kHz, 6 kHz, 8 kHz frequency had statistically significant differences among different strong noise exposure groups (P < 0.05), and that at a same frequency hearing loss increased when noise exposing increased. The levels of hearing thresholds at 4 kHz, 6 kHz frequency had statistically significant difference among different vestibular function groups (P < 0.05). Results of accumulative logistics regression showed that smoking and strong noise exposure were risk factors causing hearing impairment at 4 kHz frequency, and excellent vestibular function seemed to be a preventive factor. Smoking and strong noise exposure were also risk factors causing hearing impairment at 6 kHz frequency. CONCLUSION Hearing impairment appears higher morbidity among flight cadets, and it has statistical correlation with smoking, strong noise exposure and vestibular function.
Hearing Loss ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Risk Factors ; Space Flight ; Young Adult

Humans ; Lipoma ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; surgery ; Male ; Mediastinal Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; surgery ; Middle Aged ; Thymus Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

To introduce the writing techniques for structured Abstract of literature review papers based on the knowledge of corpus linguistics,so as to summarize the stylistic,structural,syntactic and lexical characteristics,objectively and systematically.This research will also faci-litate the authors and translators,who have difficulties in writing structured English Abstract,to publish their articles via mastering its stylistic characteristics,writing format and language.

Objective:To investigate the feasibility of ultrasound-guided percutaneous endomyocardial septal cryoablation of in vitro porcine hearts and to compare its effect with the percutaneous endomyocardial radiofrequency ablation.Methods:Experiment 1: Six in vitro porcine hearts were divided into 1 min ( n=2), 3 min ( n=2) and 5 min ( n=2) groups according to the cryoablation time, and all were subjected to ultrasound-guided percutaneous intra-myocardial septal cryoablation at 100% power respectively. After cryoablation, ultrasound images, the size of the solid dissection of the ice ball, and the size of the necrotic area after melting of the frozen ice ball were measured. Experiment 2: The in vitro porcine hearts were divided into cryoablation group ( n=3) and radiofrequency ablation group ( n=3), and ultrasound-guided percutaneous endomyocardial septal cryoablation and radiofrequency ablation were performed with 100% cryo power and 40 W radiofrequency power, and the extent of complete necrotic area and incomplete necrotic area were compared between the two ablation methods after 1 min. Results:Experiment 1: In the 1 min cryoablation time group ( n=2), the short diameter of the puck measured by ultrasound was (8.00±0.84)mm, the short diameter of the puck measured by solid was (8.38±1.19)mm, and the short diameter of the necrotic zone measured by solid was (8.35±0.83)mm; in the 3 min group ( n=2), the short diameter of the puck measured by ultrasound was (19.4±0.28)mm, and the short diameter of the puck measured by solid was (19.03±0.33)mm, solid measurement of the short diameter of the necrotic zone was (19.16±0.25)mm; in the 5 min group ( n=2), the short diameter of the puck measured under ultrasound was (26.4±2.54)mm, solid measurement of the short diameter of the puck was (26.01±0.24)mm, and solid measurement of the short diameter of the necrotic zone was (24.82±0.25)mm. Randomized blocks analysis of variance was performed on this data and the difference of block Factor b (freezing time: 1 min, 3 min, 5 min) among the three groups was statistically significant( F=505.884, P<0.001). The SNK- q test showed that all three groups differed from each other(all P<0.05). The analysis results for the treatment factors K (measurement modality-ultrasound image measurements, solid anatomical measurements of the puck, and measurements of the necrotic area after melting of the frozen puck) was not statistically significant ( F=0.470, P=0.635). Experiment 2: In the RF ablation group ( n=3), the ratio of incomplete necrotic zone to the radius of the RF ablation area was 0.64±0.01; in the cryoablation group ( n=3), the ratio of incomplete necrotic zone to the radius of the ablation area was 0.26±0.02. The difference was statistically significant( P=0.002) and it can be considered that the incomplete necrotic zone of cryoablation was smaller than that of RF ablation. Conclusions:Percutameous intramyocardial septal cryoablation is controllable in scope, ultrasound image evaluation of ablation area is more accurate and incomplete necrosis area is small, which may have potential applications in cardiac ablation.

Neurogranin, a neuron-specific postsynaptic protein, has been considered to play an important role in synaptic plasticity and learning and memory. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of prenatal restraint stress on neurogranin expression in rat offspring hippocampus. Pregnant rats were given a restraint stress (3 times a day for 7 d, 45 min each time) at the late stage of gestation except that in the control group. The offspring rats were divided into four groups: female control group, male control group, female stress group and male stress group. Expression of neurogranin was determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. The results showed that neurogranin-positive immunostaining was detected in all areas of the hippocampus. The staining density was stronger in the CA1 and CA3 regions than that in the dentate gyrus (DG) region. Western blot assay showed that neurogranin protein level in female and male prenatal stressed offspring was significantly lower than that in the controls (P<0.01). Neurogranin level was significantly lower in the female stress group than that in the male stress group, whereas there was no significant gender difference in the control group. Immunohistochemical data further confirmed these results. The present study provides evidence that prenatal restraint stress induces gender-dependent decrease in neurogranin expression in the offspring hippocampus. The prenatal restraint stress-induced decrease in neurogranin expression in the hippocampus might be associated with the deficit in spatial learning and memory reported previously.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Female ; Hippocampus ; chemistry ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Neurogranin ; analysis ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Restraint, Physical ; Stress, Psychological ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo observe clinical characteristics of herb-induced liver injury (HILI).

METHODSGeneral conditions, medical history, clinical manifestations, biochemical indices, prognosis, and Roussed Uclaf Causality Assessment Method (RUCAM) scores were retrospectively analyzed in 595 inpatients at 302 Military Hospital between January 2009 and January 2014.

RESULTSThere were 423 cases (accounting for 71.1%) were females with multiple onset age ranging 41 to 50 years old. The median time from starting Chinese herbs to the occurrence of liver injury (LI) was 30 days (15-75 days), and 511 cases (85.9%) were classified as hepatocellular injury. Chinese herbs inducing HILI were mainly used for skin disease (102 cases, 17.1%), osteoarticular disease (57 cases, 9.6%), and gastrointestinal disease (49 cases, 8.2%), covering 207 kinds of Chinese patent medicines. Polygonum multiflorum, Psoralea corylifolia, and Corydalis ambigua were often seen in Chinese prescriptions. In RUCAM scoring, 451 HILI patients (accounting for 74.1%) were very possibly associated with Chinese herbs. Liver failure occurred in 47 HILI patients (accounting for 7.9%), cirrhosis in 45 patients (accounting for 7.6%), chronic HILI in 80 patients (accounting for 13.4%), 27 (4.5%) died, and only 2 (0.3%) underwent liver transplantation.

CONCLUSIONSChinese herbs could cause LI or even death. Attention should be paid to herbal hepatotoxicity and improving monitoring system of HILI.