Objective To explore the multiple risk factors for family lifestyle of children with congenital heart defects (CHDs) in Shaanxi Province, China. children and their parents. The univariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyze the influence of risk factors related to parents' lifestyle on CHDs. Results Several possible risk factors were found for CHDs, including fever (OR=4.465, P=0.017), pesticides contact (OR=2.234, P=0.083), passive smoking during pregnancy (OR=20.529, P=0.007) and father's smoking (OR=3.342, P=0.005); fever (OR=2.428, P=0.012) and passive smoking during pregnancy (OR=1.201, P=0.037) were also correlated with ventricular sepal defect (VSD). Conclusion Fever, pesticides contact and passive smoking are associated with CHDs during pregnancy. We should focus our attention on health care during pregnancy to avoid the above-mentioned risk factors and call on parents to hold on to a good healthy lifestyle.

In this study, the COI barcode was used to identify the Scolopendra medicinal materials and its adulterants in order to provide a new method for the identification of Scolopendra. Genomic DNA was extracted from the experimental samples. The COI sequences were amplified and sequenced bi-directionally. Sequence alignment and NJ tree construction was carried out by MEGA6.0 software. The results showed that the COI sequences can be obtained from all experimental samples. The average inter-specific K2P distance of Scolopendra was 0.222 and the minimum inter-specific distance was 0.190. All the Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans medicinal samples clustered into a clade in the NJ tree and can be distinguished from its adulterants. In a conclusion, COI can be used to correctly identify Scolopendra medicinal materials, and it will be a potential DNA barcode for identifying other animal medicinal materials.
Animals ; Arthropod Proteins ; genetics ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Electron Transport Complex IV ; genetics ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Quality Control ; Scorpions ; classification ; enzymology ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation( NIPPy) on the gene and protein expression of biquitin-proteasome of skeletal muscle in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(AECOPD).

METHODSSeven patients with AECOPD by NIPPV were used as the study group, meanwhile, 6 patients with AECOPD who refused NIPPV was the control group. The blood gas analysis, heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MBp) were monitored before and 14 days after treatment. A skeletal muscle biopsy was performed after 14 days of therapy. The mRNA expression of ribosomal protein S21 (RPS21), Ubiquitin, Ubiquitin combined with enzyme E2 (E2), Ubiquitin ligase E3 (E3) in skeletal muscle cell were measured by RT-PCR. The protein expression of mitochondrial aconitase (AC02), protease C3 (C3), ribosomal protein SLC16 (SLC16) were detected by Western blot.

RESULTSForteen days after treatment, the patients in NIPPV group got much better improvement in PaCO2, PaO2 and HR than that of the patients.in the control group (P < 0.05). The gene expression of RPS21,Ubiquitin, E2 and E3 in skeletal muscle cell on patients with NIPPV were obviously lower than that of the control group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Compared with that of the control group, the protein expression of C3 and AC2 increased significantly in the NIPPV group (P < 0.01). The protein expression of SLC16 was significantly lowered in the treated group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONNIPPV can ameliorate the proteasome pathway and energy metabolic disorders in patients with AECOPD.

Humans ; Muscle, Skeletal ; metabolism ; Positive-Pressure Respiration ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex ; metabolism ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; metabolism ; therapy ; Ubiquitin ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the efficacy and toxicity of postmastectomy hypofractionation radiotherapy in patients with high-risk breast cancer. Methods Postmastectomy radiation of 43.5 Gy in 15 fractions of 2.9 Gy over 3 weeks was delivered to 38 patients with breast cancer. The incidence of acute radi-ation toxicity and lecoregional recurrence was evaluated. Results With a median follow up of 13 months, all patients were alive. No patient had locoregional recurrence within radiation field. Five (13%) had dis-tant metastases. Five (13%) developed grade 3 radiation dermatitis at 2 to 3 weeks after the course of radia-tion. Three (8%) had grade 2 radiation pneumonitis. Conclusions Hypofractionation radiation of 43.5 Gy in 15 fractions of 2.9 Gy over 3 weeks is effective in the near time for patients with high-risk breast cancer after mastectomy, and the acute toxicities are tolerable.

In order to construct an integrated DNA barcoding database for identifying Chinese animal medicine, the authors and their cooperators have completed a lot of researches for identifying Chinese animal medicines using DNA barcoding technology. Sequences from GenBank have been analyzed simultaneously. Three different methods, BLAST, barcoding gap and Tree building, have been used to confirm the reliabilities of barcode records in the database. The integrated DNA barcoding database for identifying Chinese animal medicine has been constructed using three different parts: specimen, sequence and literature information. This database contained about 800 animal medicines and the adulterants and closely related species. Unknown specimens can be identified by pasting their sequence record into the window on the ID page of species identification system for traditional Chinese medicine (www. tcmbarcode. cn). The integrated DNA barcoding database for identifying Chinese animal medicine is significantly important for animal species identification, rare and endangered species conservation and sustainable utilization of animal resources.
Animals ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; Databases, Nucleic Acid ; Eukaryota ; classification ; genetics ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Acute Disease ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteochondroma ; diagnosis ; pathology ; therapy ; Spinal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; therapy

In this paper, the chloroplast psbK-psbI intergenic spacers of 18 species of Dendrobium and their adulterants were amplified and sequenced, and then the sequence characteristics were analyzed. The sequence lengths of chloroplast psbK-psbI regions of Dendrobium ranged from 474 to 513 bp and the GC contents were 25.4%-27.6%. The variable sites were 71 while the informative sites were 46. The inter-specific genetic distances calculated by Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) of Dendrobium were 0.006 1-0.058 1, with an average of 0.028 4. The K2P genetic distances between Dendrobium species and Bulbophyllum odoratissimum were 0.093 2-0.120 4. The NJ tree showed that the Dendrobium species can be easily differentiated from each other and 6 samples of the inspected Dendrobium species were identified successfully through sequencing the psbK-psbI intergenic spacer. Therefore, the chloroplast psbK-psbI intergenic spacer can be used as a candidate marker to identify Dendrobium species and its adulterants.
Chloroplasts ; DNA, Chloroplast ; genetics ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Dendrobium ; classification ; genetics ; Plants, Medicinal ; classification ; genetics

DNA barcoding is a technique in which species identification and discovery are performed by using short and standard fragments of DNA sequences. In this study, eleven species of Paris, including seven varieties, were sampled. Five chloroplast sequences, psbA-trnH, rpoB, rpoC1, rbcL, matK, and one nuclear marker, the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of ribosomal DNA, were amplified and sequenced. The PCR amplification and sequencing efficiency, intra- and inter-specific divergence and barcoding gap were used to evaluate different loci, and the identification efficiency was assessed using BLAST1 and Nearest Distance methods. The ITS2 sequences in the studied samples of Paris were amplified and sequenced successfully using primers designed by our group, while matK showed low level in the amplification and psbA-trnH was difficult for sequencing because of over 800 bp and poly (A) structure. Analysis of the intra- and inter-specific divergence and barcoding gap showed ITS2 was superior to other loci. The ITS2 showed a much higher percentage of success (100%) in identification than other five loci, none of which indicated more than 50% except matK (52.9%). The 2-locus combination of rbcL+matK didn't improve ability of authentication. In addition, the rate of successful identification with ITS2 kept 100% when the samples were expanded to 67 samples of 29 species. In conclusion, ITS2 can be used to correctly identify medicinal plants of Paris, and it will be a potential DNA barcode for identifying medicinal plants of other taxa.

To investigate the morphogenetic process of human adenovirus type 41 (HAdV-41), 293TE cells were infected with purified wild-type HAdV-41, and ultrathin sections of infected cells were prepared and observed under a transmission electron microscope. Results showed that HAdV-41 entered host cells mainly through three ways: non-clathrin-coated pit, clathrin-coated pit, and direct penetration of plasma membrane. In addition, cell microvilli might help HAdV-41 enter cells. After entering into cells, HAdV-41 virus particles could be found in vacuoles or lysosomes or be in a free state in cytoplasm. Only free virus particles could be found near nuclear pores (NP), suggesting that the virus needed to escape from lysosomes for effective infection and viral nucleoprotein entered the nucleus through NP. Progeny viruses were as-sembled in the nucleus. Three types of inclusion bodies, which were termed as fibrillous inclusion body, condense inclusion body, and stripped condense inclusion body, were involved in HAdV-41 morphogenesis. In the late phase of viral replication, the membrane integrity of the infected cells was lost and viral particles were released extracellularly. This study reveals the partial process of HAdV-41 morphogenesis and provides more biological information on HAdV-41.
Adenovirus Infections, Human ; virology ; Adenoviruses, Human ; genetics ; growth & development ; physiology ; ultrastructure ; Cell Membrane ; virology ; Cell Nucleus ; virology ; Humans ; Virus Release ; Virus Replication

Objective To analysis and summarise the feature of conventional ultrasound(US) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) of anterior mediastinal tumor.Methods From April 2011 to March 2015,24 patients,diagnosed as anterior mediastinal tumor by chest CT and could be detected by conventional US,were enrolled in this study.Among them,there were 11 lymphomas,5 thymic carcinomas and 8thymomas.The US and CEUS,micro flow imaging(MFI) and time intensity curve(TIC) parameters were evaluated respectively.Results Compare with lymphoma and thymoma in US,there were significant difference between the tumor shape and internal echo respectively (P ＜0.05,P ＜0.05).Compare with lymphoma and thymoma in CEUS,there were significant difference between the display rate of microvascular and feature of enhancement respectively (P ＜ 0.05,P ＜0.05).The result of TIC in different tumors were analyzed respectively.The rise time of lymphoma was early than thymoma,but the half time of wash out of lymphoma was later than thymoma,there was significant difference between the two diseases respectively(P ＜0.05,P =0.01).Further more,the arrive time of invasive thymoma was later than noninvasive thymoma,there was significant difference between the two diseases (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions CEUS could further assess the characteristic of microvascular perfusion in anterior mediastinal tumors,based on the evaluation of conventional US.It could have a potential clinical value and a development capacity for differentiation diagnosis.