BACKGROUND:Hyaluronan with special linear macromolecular structure and rheologic property has good biocompatibility and becomes a signal matter of the cel surface, which possesses a promising application potential in tissue-engineering field. OBJECTIVE:To review the research progress in medical hyaluronan composites. METHODS:Related literatures concerning preparation, safety evaluation and clinical trials of hyaluronan composites were extensively reviewed and comprehensively analyzed in the three folowing aspects: cartilage scaffold, cornea scaffold and submucous bulking agent. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The hyaluronan composite has a potential use in cartilage scaffold and cornea scaffold as its suitable porosity and pore size, biomimetic three-dimensional microstructure, excelent physical and chemical property and biological property. The hyaluronan composite as a bulking agent has been applied clinicaly, and results from some clinical trials have shown that the composite used as bulking agent has the problems about low efficacy and complications, which need to do further improvement. More researches are needed in product design, evaluation of performance and safety for expending and optimizing the clinical applications of the hyaluronan composite.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of laughter therapy on the quality and quantity of sleep in elders with sleep disorders. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study using a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design with 59 participants and included elders with sleep disorders, The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores of five or more points were: 29 in the experiment group and 30 in the control group. The experimental group participated in laughter therapy sixteen times, twice a week for 50 min per session for 8 weeks. Results: The results showed that laughter therapy was effective according to the PSQI (F=86.13, p<.001), total sleep time (F=9.34, p<.001), sleep efficiency (F=45.34, p<.001), sleep onset latency in the experimental group x2=13.77, p=.001, and in the control group x2=11.95, p=.003), number of awakenings (F=31.21, p<.001), light sleep (F=5.09, p=.008), deep sleep (F=15.13, p<.001), and serum melatonin levels (Z=-3.90, p<.001). but rapid eye movement sleep time did not differ significantly between the groups. Conclusion The results of the study indicate that laughter therapy may be an effective nursing intervention to improve quantity and quality of sleep in community-dwelling elderly.

AIM: To study the effects of astragalosides (AS) on the proliferation and cell cycle of rat glomerular mesangial cell (MC), and verify the correlation between the influence and the AS concentration. METHODS: The experiment was carried out in the Physiological Laboratory of Liaoning Medical University from December 2006 to July 2007. Rat glomerular MCs were cultured in high glucose for 4-7 passages. The experiments were randomly divided into control group and three AS groups with different concentrations (50, 100, 200 mg/L), which were treated with high-glucose liquid and AS respectively. MC proliferation was determined with MTT colorimetric method in each group at hours 48 after intervention. MC cell cycle was detected with flow cytometry. RESULTS: ①MTT results showed that, the values of A490 nm in AS groups were lower than that in the control group at hours 48 (P

This research team extracted keywords from 953 papers published in the Journal of Dental Hygiene Science from 2001 to 2018 for keyword and centrality analyses using the Keyword Network Analysis method. Data were analyzed using Excel 2016 and NetMiner Version 4.4.1. By conducting a deeper analysis between keywords by overall keyword and time frame, we arrived at the following conclusions. For the 17 years considered for this study, the most frequently used words in a dental science paper were “Health,”“Oral,”“Hygiene,” and “Hygienist.” The words that form the center by connecting major words in the Journal of Dental Hygiene through the upper-degree centrality words were “Health,”“Dental,”“Oral,”“Hygiene,” and “Hygienist.” The upper betweenness centrality words were “Dental,”“Health,”“Oral,”“Hygiene,” and “Student.” Analysis results of the degree centrality words per period revealed “Health” (0.227), “Dental” (0.136), and “Hygiene” (0.136) for period 1; “Health” (0.242), “Dental” (0.177), and “Hygiene” (0.113) for period 2; “Health” (0.200), “Dental” (0.176), and “Oral” (0.082) for period 3; and “Dental” (0.235), “Health” (0.206), and “Oral” (0.147) for period 4. Analysis results of the betweenness centrality words per period revealed “Oral” (0.281) and “Health” (0.199) for period 1; “Dental” (0.205) and “Health” (0.169) for period 2, with the weight then dispersing to “Hygiene” (0.112), “Hygienist” (0.054), and “Oral” (0.053); “Health” (0.258) and “Dental” (0.246) for period 3; and “Oral” (0.364), “Health” (0.353), and “Dental” (0.333) for period 4. Based on the above results, we hope that further studies will be conducted in the future with diverse study subjects.
Hope ; Methods ; Oral Hygiene*

BACKGROUND: Group A streptococci (GAS), the most common cause of bacterial pharyngitis, can be spread by interpersonal contact. While T typing is useful for screening, it does not completely identify organisms for epidemiological studies. The M protein is the most important virulence marker but has a drawback for epidemiological studies in that it is difficult to maintain the more than 80 necessary kinds of sera. The emm gene, which encodes the M protein, has variable sequences at the 5' N terminus, and emm genotyping using PCR and automatic sequencing has been reported lately. METHODS: Beta-hemolytic streptococci (BHS) were isolated from the throats of elementary school children in Jinju. T typing and emm genotyping was performed and compared with the T and M typing results of 1995. RESULTS: One hundred seventeen (20.1%) from 581 children yielded BHS, of which 83.8% were group A. T non-typeable strains were the most common (43.9%) and T12 was next (27.6%). The emm 12 was most frequent (33.7%), and emm 75 (10.2%), emm 18 (9.2%), emm 22 (8.2%), and emm 1 (7.1%) were relatively common. emm 2, 18, 50 and 75 were newly recognized. The isolation rate of BHS was 32.4% of which 57.1% was group A in 1995. T12 (44.7%) and T28 (13.2%) were the most common, and M12 (26.3%) and M28 (10.5%) were frequently identified in 1995. CONCLUSIONS: GAS was relatively common in school children. The distribution of the T antigen did not change significantly except for the T non-typeable since 1995. emm genotypes were diverse and emm 2, 18, 50 and 75 were newly recognized. Continuous microbiologic and epidemiological surveillance for GAS should be conducted in the community.
Antigens, Viral, Tumor ; Child* ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Genotype ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Pharyngitis ; Pharynx ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Virulence

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of a weight control program and compliancy in overweight women. METHOD: This program was composed of strategies to modify diet and exercise and to change compliance and self determination over an 8 week period. The subjects were 19 overweight women who participated in our project voluntarily. Data was collected from May 4 to Jun 30 of 2007. The program consisted of regular rapid walking exercise, diet, mobile phone messages and e-mail. The data was analyzed by Repeated Measures ANOVA using the SPSS WIN program. RESULT: According to 3 assessment periods, there were significant differences in body weight, body mass index, and compliance. There were no significant differences in self determination. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that more intensive interventions may be needed to demonstrate a change in self determination.
Adult ; Body Mass Index ; Diet ; Exercise ; Female ; Humans ; Mental Competency ; Obesity/diet therapy ; Overweight/*therapy ; Patient Compliance ; Personal Autonomy ; Walking

The levels of IgG2b monoclonal antibodies against LD H-C4 in sera of mice bearing hybridoma backpack tumors secreting anti-LDH-C4-IgG2b were detected by quantitative ELISA． The accuracy between batches is 7.04%～l3.30 %, the intra-assay variation is 3.6l%～l0.20%． Standard curveof monoclonal lgG2b was well correlated (r=0.962　　884～0.996　　795)． The sensitivit y of the assay reach e dup to0.0l?mg/L． The present modified ELISA offers a reproducible, se nsitive, specific method in determination of antigen-specific IgG2b antibody in sera．

Objective:To assess the β-amyloid (Aβ) deposition of voxel-based PET imaging in Alzheimer′s disease (AD) and its relationships with blood biomarkers (Aβ).Methods:From January 2015 to December 2018, a total of 23 AD patients (9 males, 14 females, age (68.5±9.0) years; duration: (40.9±23.3) months; 8 mild patients, 15 moderate or severe patients) who underwent Aβ PET and with positive imaging results in Daping Hospital, Army Medical University were retrospectively enrolled. The information of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) were collected. Blood level of Aβ42, Aβ40 were measured. Differences of those metrics including Aβ42/Aβ40 between mild and moderate or severe patients were compared. For all 11C-Pittsburgh compound B (PIB) PET images, voxel-based one-sample independent t test analyses were performed. Voxel-based two-sample independent t test analyses were also performed between mild and moderate or severe patients. The voxel-based Pearson correlation analyses were run to assess the associations between blood metrics and Aβ deposition of 11C-PIB PET. Results:Comparing with mild patients, moderate or severe patients had lower MMSE (9.67±4.37 vs 17.13±2.80; t=4.349, P<0.001) and longer duration ((48.8±23.8) vs (26.0±13.5) months; t=-2.489, P<0.05). On voxel-wise analysis, amyloid PET illustrated brain Aβ deposition in bilateral frontal, right temporal, right occipital and posterior cingulate regions ( t values: 0.44-0.67, all P<0.001). Within AD, Aβ42/Aβ40 ( r values: from -0.62 to -0.41, 0.41-0.66, all P<0.05) were associated with amyloid PET, but not associated with Aβ42 ( r values: from -0.33 to 0, all P>0.05) or Aβ40 ( r values: from -0.41 to 0, all P>0.05). Conclusions:Based on voxel-wise analysis, 11C-PIB PET has comparable value for brain Aβ deposition. Aβ42/Aβ40 has the potential to predict brain Aβ deposition.

Objective:To investigate the diagnostic value of 11C-Pittsburgh compound B (PIB) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer′s disease (AD) and explore the factors that may affect the binding of 11C-PIB. Methods:From January 2017 to December 2019, the 11C-PIB uptake of 6 patients with normal cognitive (NC; 3 males, 3 females, age: (64.5±12.3) years), 11 patients with MCI (4 males, 7 females, age: (64.5±9.8) years) and 21 patients with AD (7 males, 14 females, age: (68.1±9.1) years) from Daping Hospital, Army Medical University were retrospectively analyzed. Regional 11C-PIB binding was assessed by using standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) and visual reading of 11C-PIB scan. Clinical data, including age, gender, education level, cognitive impairment, neuropsychological scale score, vascular risk factors (VRF), apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene, were collected and differences among groups were analyzed by using one-way analysis of variance, least significant difference t test or Fisher exact test. Factors that affected the 11C-PIB binding were analyzed by multiple linear regression. Results:SUVR of cerebral lobe among NC, MCI and AD groups were significantly different (range of mean SUVR: 1.16-1.26, 1.19-1.35 and 1.40-1.61; F values: 5.331-9.279, all P<0.05). For positive PIB patients, SUVR of posterior cingulate and precuneus were increased in MCI group compared with NC group (1.20±0.15 vs 1.50±0.12, 1.18±0.15 vs 1.59±0.13; F values: 6.389 and 10.668, t values: -2.33 and -3.10, both P<0.05), and there were no significant differences in all lobes between MCI and AD group ( t values: from -1.29 to -0.51, all P>0.05). Visual analysis showed that the positive rates of PIB in frontal lobe (85.7%(18/21)), posterior cingulate (85.7%(18/21)), precuneus (81.0%(17/21)), temporal lobe (81.0%(17/21)) and occipital lobe (47.6%(10/21)) in AD were higher than those in MCI (4/11, 4/11, 4/11, 3/11 and 1/11, respectively; all P<0.05). Multiple linear regression showed that the degree of cognitive impairment were independent risk factors for SUVR of all lobes ( b values: 0.377-0.536, all P<0.05). The ApoE ε4 gene was independent risk factor for SUVR of precuneus ( b=0.290, P<0.05). Conclusion:11C-PIB is helpful for clinical diagnosis of MCI and AD patients and the degree of cognitive impairment and ApoE ε4 gene may be independent risk factors for increasing 11C-PIB binding.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the mediating effect of meaning in life on the relationship between social connectedness and depression among middle-aged women.METHODS: A descriptive correlational design was employed. One hundred and forty-two middle-aged women who visited welfare centers or churches in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province participated in the study. The data were collected from May to June, 2019 and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression analyses based on Baron and Kenny criteria.RESULTS: Social connectedness was significantly positively correlated with meaning in life (r=.52, p < .001) and negatively with depression (r=−.53, p < .001). Meaning in life was also significantly negatively correlated with depression (r=−.50, p < .001). Furthermore, meaning in life had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between social connectedness and depression (β=−.31, p < .001).CONCLUSION: Our study findings suggest that meaning in life plays an important role in maintaining mental health and well-being for middle-aged women. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a nursing intervention program that can enhance the meaning in life to promote mental health and well-being.
Depression ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Mental Health ; Negotiating ; Nursing ; Seoul