BACKGROUND: With the development of tissue engineering, more attention has been paid to tooth regeneration. However, the resource of best seed cells is still uncertain. Therefore, alternative sources should be attached to intensive investigation. OBJECTIVE: To review the feasibility of stem cells from umbilical cord blood as seed cells for tooth regeneration. METHODS: A PubMed search was performed for articles published between January 1998 and January 2009. Key words were "tooth regeneration, seed cells, tissue engineering, umbilical cord blood, mesenchymal stem cells". Only studies written in English were included. Simultaneously, databases of China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and VIP published between January 1998 and January 2009 were also retrieved, using the key words of "tooth regeneration, seed cells, tissu engineering, umbilical cord blood, mesenchymal stem cells". Only studies written in Chinese were included. Totally, 40 literatures were included. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Seed cells, such as odontoblasts from dental germ, stem cells from dental pulp and deciduous teeth, and ectomesenchymal cells from the firstbranchial arch showed odontogenic differentiation potential in basic research. However, these cells are not practical to harvest in clinic. Although bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells have odontogenic capacity, their differentiation abilities significantly decrease with the increasing age of the donors. Stem cells from umbilical cord blood have many clinical advantages over bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and exhibited typical mesenchymal stem cells characteristics. Thus, we propose the hypotheses that stem cells from umbilical cord blood could be induced into odontogenic lineage and might be used as suitable seed cells for tooth regeneration to replace the lost tooth.

ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy and safety of the self-expandable metal stent for treatment of gastric outlet and duodenal obstruction.MethodsData of 24 patients with symptomatic gastric outlet and duodenal obstruction diagnosed from January 2005 to February 2011 were retrospectively studied.All patients were measured by gastric outlet obstruction scoring system ( GOOSS ) before and one week after the placement of self-expandable metal stent.ResultsStent placement was succeeded in all patients with a mean operation time of 25.90 ± 11.03 min.Twenty patients (83.3％) were able to intake liquid food after the procedure.The GOOSS (P50 =0) before and after stent placement were 0.14 (P50 =0) and 1.42( P50 =2),respectively,with significant difference (P ＜0.01 ).Minor digestive bleeding occurred in 3 patients,but no severe complications including perforation or aspiration were observed.ConclusionPlacement of a self-expandable metal stent in patients with gastric outlet or duodenal obstruction is safe and effective for resolving obstructive symptoms.

OBJECTIVETo develop a new technique for assessing the risk of birth defects, which are a major cause of infant mortality and disability in many parts of the world.

METHODSThe region of interest in this study was Heshun County, the county in China with the highest rate of neural tube defects (NTDs). A hybrid particle swarm optimization/ant colony optimization (PSO/ACO) algorithm was used to quantify the probability of NTDs occurring at villages with no births. The hybrid PSO/ACO algorithm is a form of artificial intelligence adapted for hierarchical classification. It is a powerful technique for modeling complex problems involving impacts of causes.

RESULTSThe algorithm was easy to apply, with the accuracy of the results being 69.5%±7.02% at the 95% confidence level.

CONCLUSIONThe proposed method is simple to apply, has acceptable fault tolerance, and greatly enhances the accuracy of calculations.

Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; China ; epidemiology ; Environmental Exposure ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Models, Biological ; Neural Tube Defects ; epidemiology ; Risk Factors

Objective To assess the influence of PBL formation study effectiveness of TCM students.Methods The controlled studies with the teaching format of both PBL and LBL were included to assess the effectiveness of learning,by searching CBM,CNKI and VIP database.All data was analyzed on Revman 5.1.Results 9 articles were included ; All were low in the quality of their methodology,and the theoretical scores of students in PBL or LBL format shows no statistical difference [SMD=3.76,95％ CI ( -0.62,8.15 ) ].PBL format was superior to LBL on students' practical scores [SMD=7.62,95％ CI ( 3.92,11.32 ) ]; Compared to LBL format,PBL proved to have a better influence on students' self-assessment for learning ability[OR=3.69,95％ CI( 1.88,7.21 )].Conclusion PBL helps to enhance the activeness of students,to improve their practical ability,which is valuable if applied in clinical concerned courses.But the included studies were low in quality; more rigorously randomized controlled teaching trials are expected to verify the conclusion.

Objective To study the role of human carcinoembryonic antigen-related cellular adhesion molecule 1 (hCEACAM1)in mediating the specific adhesion of N. gonorrhoeae to its human host cells.Methods A recombinant eukaryotic expression vector pCDPGICEA1 was constructed by putting hCEACAM1 cDNA behind both hCD46 promoter and rabbit β-globulin intron 2,and with which,the COS-1 cells were transfected. Following G418 selection, the COS-1 cells expressing hCEACAM1 were sorted out with flow cytometry. The adhesion of N. gonorrhoeae to the gene transfected COS-1 cells was analyzed with bacterial binding assay. Results hCEACAM1 cDNA could be expressed effectively under the direction of hCD46 promoter and rabbit β-globulin intron 2,and N. gonorrhoeae could adhere to COS-1 cells expressing hCEACAM1. Conclusion hCEACAM1 can mediate the adhesion of N. gonorrhoeae to animal originated COS-1 cells. thus its transgenic mice may be used as a novel animal model for studying N. gonorrhoeae infection.

The evaluation systems for chronic venous insufficiency of lower extremities play a very important role in standardizing the diagnosis and evaluating the curative effect in patients with the disease. This paper gives an introduction to the CEAP classification system, VSS evaluation system and chronic venous insufficiency questionnaire.

BACKGROUND:The sodium alginate film, jointly developed by our research team and the Institute of Polymer Material of Qingdao University, has good biocompatibility and is often used for the preparation of a variety of composite materials. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of sodium alginate film wrapping and covering nerve anastomotic stoma on the regeneration of injured sciatic nerve in rats. METHODS: A total of 36 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups after the right sciatic nerve was cut. Control group: The nerve stump was sutured through epineurial end-to-end anastomosis; Experimental group: The nerve stump was sutured through epineurial end-to-end anastomosis, and wrapped with sodium alginate film, forming a regenerative environment for sciatic nerve regeneration. The degradation and absorption of sodium alginate film, as wel as the adhesion at suture site were observed post-operation. Interleukin-2 and interleukin-4 positive expression was detected with immunohistochemistry method. The histological sections were also detected with hematoxylin-eosin staining and osmium tetroxide staining. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:At 4-6 weeks post-operation, sodium alginate film was mostly degraded and absorbed in the experimental group. The experimental group rats had less local adhesion, slighter infiltration of inflammatory cels, and fewer fiber tissue hyperplasia than control group rats. The contents of interleukin-2 and interleukin-4 were almost the same between the control and experimental groups at 1, 7, 14 days post-operation. At 6 weeks, the regenerated nerve fibers were distributed evenly with uniform shape, the number of nerve fibers, axons and myelin sheath were significantly better than the control group (P < 0.05). Sodium alginate film has good biological degradability and histocompatibility and plays an important role in promoting sciatic nerve regeneration.

Objective To quantitatively evaluate the left ventricular systolic synchrony in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3DE). Methods Thirty patients with CRF and twenty-five normal subjects were enrolled in this study.The M-mode ejection fraction (M-EF), left ventricular end diastolic internal diameter (LVIDd), interventricular septum diameter (IVSd), left ventricular posterior wall diameter (LVPWd) were obtained on two-dimension. The global and regional volume-time curves were obtained on three -dimensional. The end diastolic volume (LVEDV),end systolic volume (LVESV) and ejection fraction (LVEF) of left ventricule, the time to minimal systolic volume (Tmsv) of 16,12,6-segmental standard deviation (Tmsv16, 12, 6-SD), maximal difference (Tmsv16, 12, 6-Dif) were derived from Qlab software . The above parameters as a percentage of the cardiac cycle with different heart rates between patients were also calculated from the Qlab software, which were Tmsv16, 12, 6-SD% and Tmsv16, 12, 6-Dif %, rspectively. Results The indices of HR, LVIDd, IVSd, LVPWd and LVESV were significantly higher while LVEF was significantly lower in the CRF group than those of the control group (P<0.05 or P<0.01); The indices of systolic asynchrony of Tmsv16,12-SD%, Tmsv16,12-Dif, Tmsv16 ,12 ,6-SD/R-R%,Tmsv16,12,6-Dif/R-R% were significantly larger in the CRF group than those of the control group(P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusions RT-3DE provides a simple, intuitional and noninvasive approach to assess the systolic synchrony of all the LV segments simultaneously and LVEF in patients with chronic renal failure.

Sijunzi Decoction (SJZD) is a classical prescription for curing spleen deficiency in traditional Chinese medicine, consisting of Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma, Atractylodes Macrocephalae Rhizoma, Poria, and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparate cum Melle. Modern pharmacological experiments have proved that sponin, flavonoid, and polysaccharide are the most active ingredients in SJZD. SJZD has been used to regulate gastrointestinal function and enhance immunity ability. Effects on tumor cell apoptosis and anti-aging have also been reported. But few report on SJZD polysaccharide and its therapeutic basis research was found. This review is to give a comprehensive summary of information regarding the chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of SJZD to help us take the action for reasonable clinical utilization and further researches of SJZD.

Objective: To investigate whether paraoxonase 1 (PON1) genotypes were effect modifiers in the relationship between exposure to organophosphate pesticides (OPs) and oxidative stress level in pregnant women. Methods: A total of 204 pregnant women recruited from a hospital in Shandong Province were included in the study. Four nonspecific dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites of OPs were measured in each urine sample. Levels of two oxidative stress biomarkers [total free sulfhydryl (-SH) and malondialdehyde (MDA)] were measured in serum samples. Blood samples were also analyzed for detecting PON1 genotypes (PON1-108, PON1192 and PON155). Separate linear regression models were conducted to explore the relationship between DAP metabolite levels and oxidative stress levels in all 204 pregnant women or women within each PON1 genotype. Results: There was no significant association between DAP metabolite levels and oxidative stress levels in all 204 women. Levels of dimethyl phosphates [β (95% CI): -104.10 (-191.31, -16.88)] and dialkyl phosphates [β (95% CI): -111.78 (-221.84, -1.72)] were negatively associated with -SH level among pregnant women with PON1192RR genotype, but this association was not found among women with other genotypes. Conclusion: OP exposure may be associated with a higher oxidative stress level among pregnant women with PON1192RR genotype.