Objective To explore the relationship between the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and exposure to rural environments and pesticide.Methods Studies relevant to rural residence,farmer occupation,pesticide exposure and ALS were identified from the databases including Embase,Ovid Medline,Pubmed,Cochrane Library,Wanfang data,Chinese BioMedical Literature Database,Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure,China Science and Technology Journal Database up to March 2015.Quality of studies was assessed according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS).Analysis of data and publication bias was performed with software Revman 5.3.Results A total of 24 case-control studies and 3 cohort studies were included into the analysis.The NOS scores of all studies were ≥6.The risk of ALS was associated with pesticide exposure (OR =1.41,95％ CI 1.28-1.56) and farmer occupation (OR =1.42,95％ CI 1.29-1.57),but not associated with rural residence (OR =1.21,95％ CI 0.97-1.51).Subgroup analysis of pesticide exposure and ALS revealed that males (OR =1.75,95％ CI 1.39-2.21) had a higher risk than females (OR =1.53,95％ CI 1.13-2.08),and the risk estimate was higher in studies using E1 Escorial standard (OR =1.68,95％ CI 1.45-1.95) than studies not (OR =1.23,95％ CI 1.08-1.40).The meta analysis had a slight publication bias.Conclusions Our findings support pesticide exposure might increase the risk of ALS.Given that farmers always have high levels of pesticide exposure in their work,they should decrease their exposure level or take proper precautions to lower the risk of ALS.

BACKGROUND:Previous tudies have shown that the anti-aging effects of stem cel s with lycopene are more significant, and can also significantly improve the aging body immune function.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the anti-aging effects of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cel s combined with lycopene on the aging beagles.
METHODS:Sixteen aging beagles (6-7 years old) were randomly divided into two groups:aging control group and aging treatment group;young beagles (3-4 years old) were chosen as young control group. In the aging treatment group, human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cel s combined with lycopene was given;while in the other two group, an equal amount of DMEM/F12 cel culture medium and sunflower oil was given. Each dog's general conditions were observed regularly during the whole progress. The changes of superoxide dismutase,
malondialdehyde, glutathione peroxidase in the serum were detected at regular time of the whole process, and the structure changes of each organ were observed at 24 weeks of treatment.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1) Before treatment, the levels of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in the aging control and treatment groups were lower than those in the young control group (P<0.05), while the malondialdehyde content was higher than that in the young control group (P<0.05). However, there was no significant statistical difference between aging control and treatment groups (P>0.05). (2) For the aging treatment group at 24 weeks of treatment:the beagle fur became clearer and smoother, motility was strengthened, appetite became better;and the activity of superoxide dismutase in serum at 8 to 24 weeks of treatment increased significantly compared with before treatment (P<0.05), the activity of glutathione peroxidase significantly increased from 6 weeks (compared with treatment before, P<0.05), the malondialdehyde content decreased significantly from 4 weeks of treatment to the completion of the experiment (compared with before treatment, P<0.05). (3) After the experiment, the microscopic observation showed that compared with the aging control group, the tissues and organ structures of the aging treatment group were al clear, had no inflammatory infiltrates, no obvious necrosis and fibrosis lesions. These results were mainly consistent with the observations of young control group. The above results show that umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cel s combined with lycopene therapy on the natural aging beagles may enhance the activities of antioxidant enzymes, reduce malondialdehyde content, and their combination also can repair tissue structures and promote the functions, which has obvious anti-aging effects.

Objective To explore the relationship between some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP)loci of interferon regulatory factor 6(IRF6)gene,transforming growth faetor-?(TGFA)gene and nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate(NSCL/P)in nuclear families consisting of fathers, mothers and affected offspring with NSCL/P from southeast China.Methods Some SNloci of IRF6 and TGFA were detected by applying microarray technology in nuclear families,and then haplotype relative risk (HRR)and transmission disequilibrium test(TDT)were performed.Results There were no significant difference in genotypes and alleles distribution between patients and their parents.The SNP locus——V274I of IRF6 was associated with NSCL/P(HRR:?~2=4.5816,P

Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of dl-3-butylphthalide on the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. Methods A total of 197 patients who were in the period of 72 hours of first attack of ischemic stroke of internal carotid artery with NIHSS from 5 to 25 scores were enrolled in this multi-center, randomized, double-blind and aspirin-control study. Compound " Dan Shen" was used as a baseline therapy. Results Basical recovery plus significant improvement was seen in 74.7% of the patients in dl-3-butylphthalide group and 60.9% in aspirin group (CMH value 4.0,P=0.047);There was a significant improvement for dl-3-butylphthalide group regarding NIHSS total score, total score difference value and Barthel index on the day 11th and 21st after treatment compared with control group. The main adverse reaction of dl-3-butylphthalide was increased aminotransferase and mainly the slight increase of aspartate aminotransferase, by 4.34% and 0 respectively. Conclusion dl-3-butyiphthalide should be regarded as an effective and safe treatment for ischemic stroke and a treatment without severe side effects.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the short-term results of humeral head replacement for the treatment of four-part proximal humeral fractures or fracture-dislocations.

METHODSTwenty-five patients (11 male and 14 female)with four-part proximal humeral fractures or fracture-dislocations underwent humeral head replacement. The average age was 68.2 years (ranging from 56 to 77 years). All cases were followed up and evaluated the clinical results including pain, function and range of motion of shoulder with Neer scoring system.

RESULTSThe follow-up ranged from 12 to 40 months with an average time of 29.3 months. No prosthesis loosening, prosthesis dislocation, postoperative infection, nerve injury or periprosthesis fractures occurred. The results were excellent in 8 cases, good in 11 cases and fair in 6 cases. The excellent and good rate was 76% according to Neer scoring system.

CONCLUSIONReplacement of humeral head prosthesis could attain good short-term results for four-part proximal humeral fractures or fracture-dislocations. The key to improve the postoperative results is meticulous surgical techniques and appropriate correct consecutive physical therapy.

Aged ; Arthroplasty, Replacement ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Joint Prosthesis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Shoulder Dislocation ; surgery ; Shoulder Fractures ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To describe the prevalence and risk factors of hepatitis C virus (HCV) occurred in Henan province,at the end of 2011.Methods Five villages round Maqiao township,including 5187 residents,were selected for the study.Five-milliliter-blood was drawn from every one of the interviewee.Clinical data including age,gender and anti-HCV antibody was recorded.Patients with positive antibodies against HCV were tested for HCV RNA.Results A total number of 5187 people from five villages were studied,with age span from 1 to 97.The average age was 48 years and the sex ratio was 1 ∶ 1.34.The anti-HCV result showed that the prevalence was 2.27％,with 1-9 age group the lowest ( 1.55％ ) and the ≥50 year-olds the highest (4.93％).Different villages seemed to have significant differences on the prevalence of HCV,with the highest as 8.68％ and the lowest as 0.55％.Under risk factors analysis and distance-infection rates linear regression analysis,data showed that the prevalence might have correlated to the behavior of a certain family-run clinic.Results from multivariate analysis indicated that factors as intravenous dropping,intravenous injection and the use of surgery/endoscope were associated with the HCV infection in this village.Conclusion Although the public health care system had been developed for more than ten years,iatrogenic infection was yet responsible for the infection of HCV patients in the rural areas of China that called for further attention paid to the system.

BACKGROUND:In previous studies,the human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) have been successfully differentiated into islet-like cells in vitro,and insulin expressions have been found.OBJECTIVE:To compare the therapeutic effects of different induced stages of islet-like cells differentiated from hUC-MSCs in a diabetic rat in vivo,so as to find the most suitable induced time in vitro and provide a theoretical basis for clinical treatment of diabetes mellitus.METHODS:Passage 3 hUC-MSCs were differentiated into islet-like cells after 7,14,21,28 days of oriented induction.Eighty male healthy Wistar rats,clean grade,were used in the study.Except eight rats in normal control group,all the rats were injected with streptozotocin at a dose of 70 mg/kg to establish diabetic models.The rats at 10 days after successful modeling were randomly divided into model control group,non-induced group,7-day induction group,14-day induction group,21-day induction group and 28-day induction group.Rats in the normal control group and model control group were given 2 mL of culture medium without any cells and rats in the other groups were implanted withcorresponding cell suspension (2x106 cells) via tail vein for two sessions with an interval of 2 weeks.The blood glucose level,body mass and serum insulin level were detected during the treatment process.The rats were executed to observe the structure changes of each organ at 4 weeks after the second cell transplantation.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1) Compared with the model control group,the body mass and the serum insulin level significantly increased and the blood glucose levels significantly decreased in all the transplantation groups (P ＜ 0.05),and the therapeutic effect was best in the 28-day induction group.(2) Compared with the model control group and normal control group,the frozen sections in all the transplantation groups showed that the morphological structures of the liver and kidney were clear with no abnormal changes,such as necrosis and fibrosis,after transplantation.These experimental results show that it is relatively safe and effective to transplant the different induced stages of islet-like cells induced by hUC-MSCs in the treatment of diabetes mellitus,and the therapeutic effect of islet-like cells at 28 days of in vitro induction is most obvious.

A case of IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis was reported. The patient was an elderly female, with the course of disease more than 8 years. Clinical manifestations included recurrent headache, vision and hearing loss, exophthalmos and thyroid dysfunction. Finally, she was diagnosed as IgG4-related disease and IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis by PET-CT and dural biopsy. After treatment with methylprednisolone and mycophenolate mofetil, the patient′s clinical symptoms improved.

BACKGROUNDRecombinant human parathyroid hormone (1-34) (rhPTH (1-34)) given by injection is a new seventh class drug of biological products, which is prepared by adopting gene recombination technique. rhPTH (1-34) is mainly used to treat osteoporosis, especially for postmenopausal women. This study compared the clinical efficacy and safety of rhPTH (1-34) with elcatonin for treating postmenopausal women with osteoporosis in 11 urban areas of China.

METHODSTwo hundred and five women with osteoporosis were enrolled in a 6-month, multicenter, randomized, controlled study. They were randomized to receive either rhPTH (1-34) 20 microg (200 U) daily or elcatonin 20 U weekly. Lumbar spine (L1-4) and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD), as well as biochemical markers of bone turnover were measured. Adverse events were recorded.

RESULTSrhPTH (1-34) increased lumbar BMD significantly more than did elcatonin at 3 months and 6 months (2.38% vs 0.59%, P < 0.05; 5.51% vs 1.55%, P < 0.01), but there were no significant increases of BMD in these two groups at femoral neck. There were larger mean increases in bone markers in the rhPTH (1-34) group than in the elcatonin group at 3 months and 6 months (serum bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP) 36.79% vs 0.31%; 92.42% vs -0.17%; urinary N-telopeptide/creatinine (NTX/Cr) 48.91% vs -5.32%; 68.82% vs -10.86%). Both treatments were well tolerated and there were no significant differences detected between the two groups in the proportion of any adverse events and any serious adverse events (67.0% vs 59.0%; 0 vs 0).

CONCLUSIONSrhPTH (1-34) has more positive effects on bone formation, as shown by the larger increments of lumbar BMD and bone formation markers, than elcatonin, with only mild adverse events and no significant change in the liver, kidney or hematological indices.

Aged ; Calcitonin ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Osteogenesis ; drug effects ; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal ; drug therapy ; Parathyroid Hormone ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Recombinant Proteins ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of Sophoral flavones on proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts (CFb) induced by high glucose and its underlying mechanism. Cardiac fibroblasts were exposed to different concentration of D-glucose (15, 25 and 35 mmol·L^-1) at different time point (24, 48 and 72 h) in order to determine cell proliferation, and the model group was established by culturing CFb with 25 mmol·L^-1D-glucose for 48 h. Sophoral flavones (12.5, 25 and 50 mg·L^-1) were employed for intervention. The cell viability was measured by MTT assay, and the levels of transforming growth factor-β₁ (TGF-β₁), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ were measured by ELISA. In addition, flow cytometry was employed to detect the cell cycle; while the protein expression of prohibitin (PHB) was observed via immunocytochemistry and Western blot. This animal experiment had been approved by Jilin Medical University Experiment Animal Ethics Review Committee. The results showed that 25 mmol·L^-1 glucose could promote the proliferation of CFb; and the contents of TGF-β₁, MMP-2, collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ in the model group were higher than that of control (P<0.05). The number of cells in S and G₂ phase increased under high glucose condition. In the model group, PHB translocation occurred at 6 h and protein expression decreased at 48 h (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, 12.5-50 mg·L^-1 Sophoral flavones reduced the contents of TGF-β₁, MMP-2, collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ, increased the number of G₁ phase cells, and increased the expression of PHB protein at 48 h (P<0.05), with no effect on the nuclear translocation of PHB. These results indicated that Sophoral flavones could prevent the proliferation of CFb induced by high glucose, the mechanism of which may be related to increasing the expression of PHB protein.