The daily intake levels and trend of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins(PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans(PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) of general population of several developed countries are reviewed. Based on the data of China, PCDD-Fs levels in Chinese human milk and blood were less than that of other countries, in addition, a daily intake of PCDD-Fs for Chinese general population was estimated in the present paper, the tolerable daily intake of Chinese general population was less than that the World Health Organization proposed.

Tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A) is the most widely used brominated flame retardant in the world. It is a kind of potential environmental endocrine disruptor, similar to the persistent organic pollutants. It can accumulate in the environment and biota and it has adverse effects on the environment and the living creature, such as disrupting the action of hormones related to the skeleton and brain development. Research progresses on TBBP-A, including toxicology, analysis methods, were reviewed in this paper.

Congenital malformations of the external and middle ear is the common reason of pediatric hearing impairment and cosmic problem. The treatment composes of auricular plastic surgery and auditory reconstruction surgery. The use of BAHA, vibrant sound-bridge and tissue engineering materials can significantly improve the treatment outcomes.
Contraindications ; Ear, External ; abnormalities ; surgery ; Ear, Middle ; abnormalities ; surgery ; Hearing Aids ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To investigate the activity changes of gelatinase in the formation of ascending aortic aneurysm.Methods Thirty five young Wistar rats were divided into two groups:the control group and the experiment group.The rat models induced by ascending aorta banding were made.The ascending aortas were taken after 3-5 months operation,changes of gelatinase activity was observed by gelatin zymography and film in situ zymography.Results Gelatinase activity of ascending aortic aneurysm was significantly increased compared with that of normal ascending aortic aorta.Conclusion Elevation of gelatinase activity may play a significant role in the formation of ascending aortic aneurysm.

Objective To investigate the expressions and significance of transforming growth factor-beta 1(TGF?1) and its typeⅡ receptor(TGF?RⅡ) in experimental rat ascending aortic aneurysm of rat model.Methods The rat ascending aortic aneurysm models were made by banding ascending aorta of young Wistar rats.The ascending aortas were taken 4 months after operation.Immunohistochemistry staining and Western blotting were used to investigate the expressions of TGF?1 and TGF?RⅡ.Result Immunohistochemistry staining results showed that TGF?1 expressed in all layers of the aortic aneurysm and the control.TGF?RⅡ was extensively located in the hyperplastic intima and tunica media smooth muscle cells in the aortic aneurysm,while there was only a little positive staining in the control group.Western blotting results indicated that the expression levels of TGF?1 and TGF?RⅡ in the aortic aneurysm were stronger than the control,P

Postoperative surgical site infection (SSI) can lead to adverse clinical outcomes in patients, such as prolonged hospital stay, increased medical costs, and severe economic burden on patients and on society.In addition, it may also cause nosocomial cross-infection.Therefore, it has aroused the high attention of medical workers.The development of SSI is closely related to a variety of factors, including patient factors, such as blood glucose levels, smoking, systemic use of steroids, obesity and malnutrition, and perioperative related factors, such as long preoperative hospital stay, preoperative skin preparation and prophylactic use of antibiotics of patients, hand hygiene and asepsis principles of medical staff, operation-related factors, anesthetic management and operation related factors, operating room environment factors and postoperative factors.Through reading a large number of relevant literatures published in recent years and according to the work characteristics of anesthesiologists, the author summarized the influential factors and preventive measures for postoperative SSI for the reference of fellow doctors.

Objective To compare clinical outcomes in cardiac transplant recipients treated with individualized dosing (ID) and fixed dosing (FD) of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF).Methods Fortyeight de novo cardiac transplant patients in ID group received MMF (2.0 g/day) in combination with calcineurin inhibitors and prednisone.The MMF dosages were adjusted individually based on clinical events and MPA trough levels (MPA-C0).The target range of C0 was maintained within 2.0-4.0rng/L.The FD group included 55 recipients retrospectively from the transplant database who were also treated with MMF (2.0 g/day).In this group,the MMF dose adjustment was performed empirically according to clinical events only.All of the follow-up data were collected up to 12 months post-transplantation.Results The follow-up rate was 95.8％ and the mean MPA-AUC0-12 was (54.37± 17.03) rng h-1 L-1 in the ID group.The mean MPA-C0 on the day 7 post-transplantation was significantly higher in the ID group than that at 12th month [(3.44 ± 0.58) mg/L vs.(2.79 ± 0.54)mg/L] (P＜0.05).The dose of MMF was significantly lower in the ID group at 4th week posttransplantation than in control group [(1.49± 0.48) g/day vs.(1.96 ± 0.39) g/d] (P＜0.05),while there was no significant difference at 12 th month post-transplantation [(1.61 ± 0.77) g/day vs.(1.68 ± 0.84) g/day] (P＞ 0.05).No significant difference was found in the incidence of acute rejection episode between two groups (8.7％ vs.9.1％,P＞0.05).57.6％ of overall side effects were observed within one month postoperatively,and the incidence of MPA-related side effects was significantly lower in the ID group than in the control group (47.8％ vs.67.3％,P＜0.05).Conclusion It was demonstrated that individualized use of MMF based on therapeutic drug monitoring may prevent MMF-related side effect and appears to be valuable to optimize the treatment of cardiac transplantation.

AIM:To establish a kind of simple and efficient method for cell-free fetal DNA ( cff-DNA) enrich-ment and to investigate its range of applications and the advantages and disadvantages.METHODS:(1) The single nucleo-tide polymorphisms( SNPs) , which linked to paternalβ-thalassemia mutations, were screened.We analyzed the contact be-tween the SNPs inβ-thalassemia gene ( HBB gene) and haploid type by the Haploview software, and then selected these close SNPs which have higher heterozygosity with the HBB gene.(2) We selected 4 cases of different β-thalassemia muta-tions with their husband, and then we used TT-FAST-COLD-PCR to enrich the IVS-II-654 mutations in maternal plasma.If the IVS-II-654 mutation was not detected, we detected the SNP which linked to the IVS-II-654 mutation.Similarly, we used TT-FULL-COLD-PCR to enrich the CD41-42 mutations in the maternal plasma.At the same time, we used the conventional PCR to enrich CD41-42 mutation and IVS-II-654 mutation in the maternal plasma.RESULTS:(1) Nine cases of the SNP ( rs7480526) linked to the mutation at IVS-II-654 in HBB gene, and 11 cases of the SNP ( rs10768683) linked to the muta-tion at CD41-42 in HBB gene were detected.( 2 ) We detected 1 case who inherited the paternal β-thalassemia mutation (IVS-II-654).We did not directly detect patermal IVS-II-654 mutation in maternal plasma, but detected the SNP linked to the IVS-II-654 mutation in the other case and had 100%detection, and 2 cases inherited the paternal β-thalassemia muta-tions (CD41-42) in the maternal plasma by TT-FULL-COLD-PCR and had 100%detection.However, we detected nothing by conventional PCR.CONCLUSION:TT-COLD-PCR is applicable to enrich cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma and is a method in the field of noninvasive prenatal diagnosis.

Purpose To investigate effect of valsartan on expression of Notch pathway and production of extracellular matrix. Methods Urine protein and production of extracellular matrix were measured after diabetic mice were treated with valsartan. The levels of Jag-ged1, Notch1, Notch intracellular domain 1 (NICD1), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), TypeⅣcollagen and Laminin were determinated by immunohistochemistry, Western blot and real-time PCR. Results Valsartan suppressed urine protein and production of extracellular matrix in diabetic mice (P<0. 05). Valsartan also inhibits overexpression of Jagged1, Notch1, NICD1, TGF-β1, Type Ⅳ collagen and Laminin in glomerular tissues of diabetic mice (P<0. 05 or P<0. 01). Conclusion Valsartan inhibits activa-tion of Notch pathway in glomerular tissues of diabetic mice, inhibits production of extracellular matrix in glomerulus and delays glomer-ulosclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of ginsenoside (Gs) and berberine (Ber), two kinds of active components of traditional Chinese herbal medicine, on transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in PG cells. METHODS: Co-culture system of human lung carcinoma cell line PG and human T lymphocyte cell line Jurkat was established. PG cells were treated with Gs (100 microg/ml) and Ber (10 mug/ml) for twenty-four hours, and then cocultured with Jurkat cells. After 24-hour coculture, the state of Jurkat cells was observed with inverted microscope. The viable count of Jurkat cells was detected by trypan blue staining after 6- and 24-hour coculture, and the apoptosis of Jurkat cells was evaluated by flow cytometry. PG cells were treated with 100, 50, 25 microg/ml Gs and 10, 5, 2.5 microg/ml Ber respectively, and the content of TGF-beta1 and PGE(2) in PG cells was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and radioimmunoassay (RIA) method. RESULTS: After coculture with PG cells treated with Gs and Ber, the number of Jurkat cells was less than blank control group, and the apoptosis rates of Jurkat cells in Gs- and Ber-treated groups were higher than blank control group. Gs and Ber could promote the secretion of TGF-beta1 in PG cells, but could not change the level of PGE(2). CONCLUSION: Gs and Ber can promote the growth inhibition and apoptosis of Jurkat cells induced by PG cells, which may be related to the up-regulation of Gs and Ber on TGF-beta1 secretion in PG cells.