A reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and single-strand conformation polymorphisms (SSCP) assay were applied to rapidly detect the molecular variability in CP and SP genes among seven isolates of Rice stripe virus in China. The PCR results showed that the CP gene of JD isolate and SP gene of PJ isolate could not be amplified. SSCP analysis showed that there were completely different electrophoretic pattern of CP gene among six isolates. To SP gene, SSCP results also discovered polymorphisms. There were five patterns among these isolates, and the pattern of YL and BS isolates were same.

Objective To set a rapid,simple gene diagnosis method for Down syndrome.Methods Three short tandem repeats(D21S11,D21S1270,D21S1437)loci in or near Down syndrome critical region(DSCR) were analyzed and detected by polymerase chain reaction and DNA quantitative analysis in 11 core ancestry.Results There were four types by DNA quantitative analysis to different individuals at a short tandem repeats(STR) locus.In type one,a homozygote of one allelic gene was detected.In type two,a normal heterozygote of two allelic genes was found,the content or two DNA electrophoresis bands was approximately 1∶1.In type three,a Down syndrome patient of two allelic genes was discovered.The quantity of two electrophoresis bands was nearly 2∶1.In type four,the patient showed three DNA electrophoresis bands which the content was approximately 1∶1∶1.Conclusion A rapid gene diagnosis and prenatal diagnosis method for Down syndrome can be used for quantitative analysis of STR polymorphism loci.

OBJECTIVEIn order to understand the status of benzodiazepine (BZD) use in middleschool students from Wuhan city.

METHODSIn the Wuhan city zone, twenty-eight middle-schools were chosen randomly to the even numbers, with students from grade 8 to 12 had been studied. Altogether, 258 classes were investigated with 12 345 questionnaires were filled in by the subjects anonymously. SPSS 10.0 was used for data analysis.

RESULTSRate of BZD use in Wuhan middle school students was 4.0% with the rate of dependence as 4.1per thousand. There were differences in gender and grade: male students tend to be higher than females (P< 0.01), and senior higher than junior's (P < 0.01). More commonly used drugs would include Diazepam (59%) and Surazepam (29.7%). Among students who used drugs, 43.3% used for 1-7 day and 8.2% of them used 6 tablets or more. 57.6% used 1 tablet once a day (46.2%) before bed time (40.8%). The major reason for using drug was insomnia (43%), followed by pressure from school. The reasons for BZD abuse were: relief of anxiety (14.1%), curiosity (13.3%), peer pressure (10.8%), and fun seeking (9.85%), etc. The source of drugs was from their families (29%). By Multinomial logistic regression, the risk factors of abuse BZD were: ignorance of drug prescription, sex, regular alcohol intake, knowing that BZD use can bring amusement regular, smoking cigarettes, relationship with parents, mother's way of providing education, schooling of fathers, relationship between parents.

CONCLUSIONDifference was seen in the use of BZD between gender and age of the students. Multiple factors showed that: personal, family and social factors were related to the use of BZD.

Adolescent ; Benzodiazepines ; administration & dosage ; classification ; supply & distribution ; therapeutic use ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Cities ; statistics & numerical data ; Demography ; Drug Administration Schedule ; Drug Dosage Calculations ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Male ; Schools ; statistics & numerical data ; Substance-Related Disorders ; epidemiology ; Time Factors ; Young Adult

Objective To explore the changes of plasma angiotensinⅡ (AngⅡ) and cardiac function,and the curative effect of children with acute viral myocarditis (VMC) treated with captopril(CAP).Methods Concentrations of plasma AngⅡ were measured with radio-immunity and cardiac function was detected by Doppler echocardiography for the VMC group (n=60) before and after treatment [the CAP group (n=30), the routine group (n=30) and the control group (n=30)].Results 1. The level of plasma AngⅡ significantly increased and the contractive and diastolic function obviously declined in children with acute VMC. There was a significant difference between VMC group and control group, with a significant correlation between the level of AngⅡand the contractive diastolic function.2. Compared with the level before treatment, the level of AngⅡ decreased and the contractive function obviously ameliorated in two groups; the diastolic function obviously ameliorated in the CAP group and did not ameliorate in the routine group after treatment. In CAP group the level of AngⅡ and the cardiac function significantly improved; there were statistical differences between the two groups after treatment.Conclusions 1.The increase of the plasma AngⅡ was an important factor for decrements of the contractive and diastolic function in acute viral myocarditis.2.It could decrease the concentration of plasma AngⅡ and ameliorate cardiac function in children with acute VMC treated with captopril,which was an effective therapy for acute VMC.

Objective To analyze obese children serum lipid level in order to understand the relationship between serum lipid and cardiovascular disease in obese children.Methods One hundred and fifty-three children(109 male and 44 female)aged 4-16 years old with obesity who attended the outpatient clinic of Beijing Children′s Hospital were collected.Percentage body fat (%BF),body fat (BF),fat-free mass (FFM) was estimated by using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and calculate.Waist and hip circumference,waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was estimated by soft tape measure and calculate.Skinfold thickness of scapular bone below (S) and triceps muscle (T),S/T rate was estimated by skin fold meter and calculate.Serum total cholesterol (TC),triglyceride(TG),high density lipoprotein(HDL-C),low density lipoprotein(LDL-C),apolipoprotein(Apo) AI and Apo B levels were also measured.SPSS 11.0 software was used to analyzed the data.Results The cardiovascular disease related was the prevalence of high TC levels(3.3%)or high LDL-C level(6.0%) and high TG level(24.7%) was rather low.HDL-C level was reduced in 31.3% of obese children.In children over 10 years old,%BW and %BF showed a weak correlation with HDL-C(r=-0.202,-0.211).Conclusions In obese children,serum lipid as well as Apo level should be exa-mined in order to evaluate angiocardiopathy.

Objective To study the influence of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) implantation on ventricular remodeling and heart function after myocardial infarcion. Methods Bone marrow was aspirated from Gui-zhou Xiang swines.After being isolated,cultured and co-cultured with 5-azacytidine,either autologous MSCs(experiment group) or a comparable volume of physiologic saline(control group) were injected into the infarcted myocardium.Three and six weeks later,echocardiographic measurement was performed to assess the myocardial structure and heart function,and single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT) was employed for myocardial imaging.Implanted stem cells were detected by the anti-Brdv antibody DAB with HE staining. Results Left ventricular ejection fraction(EF),fractional shortening and wall thickening were higher in experiment group than control group.The thickness of the ventricular wall and septum was found increased while the left ventricular chamber size was smaller in experiment group.It was indicated by SPECT that three and six weeks after implantation,there was obvious image defect in control group while in experiment group there were some imaging areas in the infarcted area.Brdv-labelled cells were observed in the central part of and around the infarcted area.Conclusion Implantation of MSCs into the infarcted myocardium is believed to attenuate the remodeling process,inhibit the extent of wall thinning and dilatation of the ventricular chamber.MSCs implantation may also improve the contractile ability of the myocardium and heart function.

The rhizome of Panax japonicus var. major have been used as the natural medicinal agent by Chinese traditional doctors for more than thousand years. Most of the therapeutic effects of P. japonicus var. major had been reported due to the presence of tetracyclic or pentacyclic triterpene saponins. In this study, Illumina pair-end RNA-sequencing and de novo splicing were done in order to understand the pathway of triterpenoid saponins in this species. The valid reads data of 15. 6 Gb were obtained. The 62 240 unigenes were finally obtained by de novo splicing. After annotation, we discovered 19 unigenes involved in ginsenoside backbone biosynthesis. Additionally, 69 unigenes and 18 unigenes were predicted to have potential function of cytochrome P450 and UDP-glycosyltransferase based on the annotation results, which may encode enzymes responsible for ginsenoside backbone modification. This study provides global expressed datas for P. japonicus var. major, which will contribute significantly to further genome-wide research and analysis for this species.
Gene Expression Profiling ; Panax ; genetics ; Saponins ; biosynthesis ; Sequence Analysis, RNA

The aims of this study were to analyze the composition of umbilical cord blood cells (UCBC), to examine the characteristics of dendritic cells (DC) before and after culture, to search the method of differentiation and increase of DC in vitro and to appraise surface antigen from UCBC. Twelve units of umbilical cord blood were collected from May 2002 to September 2002. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 9 cases were collected from healthy adult donors. The nature of UCBC was freshly determined and then UCBC were cultured for 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks with granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin 3 (IL-3), recombinant human stem cell factor (SCF) and EPO. Method of flow cytometry was used to determine the number of DC and cell surface antigens before and after culture by using monoclonal antibodies. The monoclonal antibodies included CD4, CD8, CD19, CD34, CD38, CD83, CD1a, CD11c and CDw123. The results showed that amounts of CD34+ progenitors in peripheral blood cells were 0.02 x 10(5)/ml, and amounts of CD34+ progenitors in human UCBC were 0.22 x 10(5)/ml. UCBC cultured for 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks with GM-CSF, IL-3, EPO and SCF were shown to differentiate into CD1a+ CD11c+ CD83+ CDw123+ DC. Numbers of DC from UCBC remarkably generated in 2-4 weeks and then decreased in number. By culture with cytokines DC increased up to (10.6 - 28.2) x 10(5)/ml in actual numbers. It is concluded that the mononuclear cells of UCB are able to differentiate into CD1a+, CD83+, CD11c+ and CDw123+ DC when UCBC are cultured with proper cytokines of GM-CSF, SCF, EPO and IL-3 for 2-4 weeks. These DCs as antigen presenting cells are possibly effective in cancer immunotherapy.
Antigens, CD1 ; blood ; Antigens, CD34 ; blood ; Blood Cell Count ; Cell Differentiation ; Cytokines ; pharmacology ; Dendritic Cells ; cytology ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn

OBJECTIVETo investigate the feasibility and safety of the treatment for thoracolumbar fractures with transpedicular intracorporeal hydroxyapatite grafting and pedicle screw fixation via paraspinal approach.

METHODSFrom June 2007 to December 2008, 19 cases of thoracolumbar fractures were treated with transpedicular intracorporeal hydroxyapatite grafting and pedicle screw fixation via paraspinal approach. There were 7 female and 12 male, ranging from 21 to 57 years of age (mean 40.8 years) at surgery. The time from injury to surgery varied from 1 d to 5 d (mean 2.9 d). Nineteen patients all suffered from single thoracolumbar fracture with the distribution of injury level being T(11) in 1, T(12) in 5, L(1) in 9, and L(2) in 4. According to Denis fracture classification, there were 5 compression fractures and 14 burst fractures. The mean preoperative ratio of the anterior height of the body was 57.2%, kyphosis angle was 17.6° and occupation of spinal canal was 27.7%. The mean preoperative load-sharing classification of spine fractures was 5.2. Based on the ASIA neurologic grading system, preoperative neurological function was grade B in 2 cases, C in 9 and D in 8.

RESULTSMedian operating time was 83.8 min (range 60-95 min) and median blood loss was 133 ml (range 90 - 200 ml). Infection did not occur in any of the patients and the operative incisions were healing well. Average follow-up time was 19.2 months (range 12 - 36 months). At the latest follow-up, the height of the anterior border was corrected to 88.4%, the kyphosis angle was 6.1°, and the occupation of spinal canal was 8.2% on average. The postoperative neurologic function of all 19 patients was improved with grade D in 2 cases and E in 17. There were no instances of instrumentation failure and no patient had persistent postoperative back pain.

CONCLUSIONSTranspedicular intracorporeal hydroxyapatite grafting and pedicle screw fixation via paraspinal approach could provide reliable neurologic improvement in patients with incomplete neurologic deficit, and could prevent the development of kyphosis.Furthermore, it has the obvious advantages of less invasive and blood loss, and decreases the risks of postoperative lumbodorsal pain.

Adult ; Bone Screws ; Bone Transplantation ; methods ; Durapatite ; Feasibility Studies ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Spinal Fractures ; surgery ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; injuries ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate curative effect of plate and xenogenic bony plate were applied in refracture in plate-screw fixation of femoral shaft.

METHODSThirteen cases of refracture in plate-screw fixation of femoral shaft included 8 males and 5 females, average age was 31.2 years ranging from 14 to 57. Fracture type was comminuted fracture in 7 cases, oblique fracture in 4 cases, transverse fracture in 2 cases. Fixation type used eight holes femoral LC-DCP in 5 cases, eight holes epipodite LC-DCP in 2 cases, six holes femoral LC-DCP in 2 cases, 8 holes La-Plate in 4 cases. All the patients were treated by femoral LC-DCP and xenogenic bony plate.

RESULTSAll of the patients were followed up from 16 to 40 months with average of 32 months. All cases had undergone only one operation and achieved bony union. Average time of bony union was 9 months. The lower limbs resumed walk and beared a heavy burden. According to criterion of Merchan, the results were excellent in 7 cases,good in 4,fair in 1 and poor in 1, the excellent and good rate of knee function was 84.6% (11/13) in one year after operation.

CONCLUSIONTreatment of refracture in plate-screw fixation of femoral shaft with armor plate and xenogenic bony plate is a reliable treatment.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Bone Plates ; Bone Screws ; Female ; Femoral Fractures ; pathology ; physiopathology ; prevention & control ; surgery ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; instrumentation ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Recurrence ; Time Factors ; Young Adult