Objective:To explore the effects of infant sleep patterns on maternal sleep quality.Methods:Three hundred and nineteen pairs of mothers and infants from two grade three class-a hospitals in Nantong City were enrolled. Infant sleep patterns were assessed by the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ). Maternal sleep quality was evaluated using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). The effect of infant sleep patterns on maternal sleep quality was analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed with multivariate analysis.Results:The maternal sleep quality scored 7.08±2.60. Single factor analysis pointed out that the sleep quality of women whose infants slept in bed near parents, woke up more than 3 times a night, was nocturnal wakefulness more than 60 minutes or nocturnal sleep duration less than 8 hours was significantly worse. After controlling for confounding variables, the way of baby falling asleep, numbers of night wakings, nocturnal sleep duration, maternal age, infant′s gender and primary caregiver were independent factors of maternal sleep quality.Conclusion:Infant sleep pattern is an important factor affecting maternal sleep quality. Nurses should provide information about the sleep patterns of infants to mothers and their family members to promote their babies′ sleep habits so as to improve the maternal sleep quality.

OBJECTIVE Ginsenoside metabolite compound K (CK) is a degradation product of ginsenoside in the intestine by bacteria. The anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities of CK have been reported. This study investigated whether CK exerted its immunoregulatory effect through modulation of dendritic cells (DCs) function. METHODS In vivo, severity of collegen-induced arthritis (CIA), T cells and DCs subsets, phenotype of DC were assayed by flow cytometry, CCL19 and CCL21 level in lymph nodes assayed by ELISA. In vitro, bone marrow-derived DCs from normal mice were matured with lipopolysaccharide and treated with CK for 48 h. In vivo, bone marrow-derived DCs were generated from CIA mice before and 2 weeks into CK treatment. DCs were analyzed for migration, phenotype and T- cell stimulatory capacity. RESULTS CK alleviated the severity of CIA, decreased pDCs and mo-DCs, increased na?ve T cells in CIA mice lymph nodes, and suppressed CCL21 expression in lymph nodes. CK suppressed DCs migration induced by CCL21 and T cells-stimulatory capability of DC, down-regulated LPS-induced expression of CD80, CD86, MHCII and CCR7 on DCs. CONCLUSION This study elucidated the novel immunomodulatory property of CK via impairing function of DCs in priming T cells activation. These results provide an interesting novel insight into the potential mechanism by which CK contribute to the restoration of immunoregulation in autoimmune conditions.

Objectives To investigate the characteristics of changes in serum metabolic profile before and after resection of carcinoma tissues to establish a disease distinguishing model,to analyze the changing trend of characteristic metabolites,and to determine the molecular mechanism and potential clinical value of characteristic metabolic markers for HBV-related liver cancer.Methods Ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) was used to analyze the serum metabolites of 15 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before and after partial hepatectomy and on 25 healthy volunteers.The pattern recognition method and nonparametric test analyzes were used to analyze the data and to identify the specific metabolites and their changes after resection of carcinoma tissues.Results We established the principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) disease distinguishing model for HCC patients before and after operation as against the healthy volunteers.To distinguish between the liver cancer group and the normal control group,27 characteristic metabolites were selected from the patients before and after resection of carcinoma tissues.Eight moved towards the normal control after resection of carcinoma tissues.This indicated that liver carcinoma was an important impacting factor for these metabolites.Finally,7 metabolites were identified,and these metabolites had high diagnostic value as shown on ROC curves.Conclusions Through serum metabolic profiling of patients before and after resection of carcinoma tissues,a high correlation between metabolism and hepatocellular carcinoma was found.Researches on endogenous metabolites and pathways in liver diseases will provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms and provide further directions for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

To investigate the application of a recently developed metallic oxide semiconductor field effect transistor(MOSFET)detector for use in vivo desimetry.Methods The MOSFET detector was calibrated for X-ray beams of 8 MV and 15 MV,as well as electron beams with energy of 6,8,12 and 18 MeV.The dose linearity of the MOSFET detector was investigated for the doses ranging from 0 up to 50 Gy using 8 MV X-ray beams.Angular effect was evaluated as well in a cylindrical PMMA phantom by changing the beam entrance angle every 15?clockwise.The MOSFET detector was then used for a breast cancer patient in vivo dose measurement, after the treatment plan was verified in a water phantom using a NE-2571 ion chamber,in vivo measurements were performed in the first and last treatment,and once per week during the whole treatment.The measured doses were then compared with planning dose to evaluate the accuracy of each treatment.Results The MOSFET detector represented a good energy response for X-ray beams of 8 MV and 15 MV,and for electron beams with energy of 6 MeV up to 18 MeV.With the 6 V bias,Dose linearity error of the MOSFET detector was within 3.0% up to approximately 50 Gy,which can be significantly reduced to 1% when the detector was calibrated before and after each measdurement.The MOSFET response varied within 1.5% for angles firm 270?to 90?.However,maximum error of 10.0% was recorded comparing MOSFET response between forward and backward direction.In vivo mea surement for a breast cancer patient using 3DCRT showed that,the average dose.deviation between measurement and calculation was 2.8%,and the maximum error was less then 5.0%.Conclusions The new MOSFET detector,with its advantages of being in size,easy use,good energy response and dose linearity,can be used for in vivo dose measurement.

Objective To investigate epidemiological and clinical features of patients with acute brucellosis.Methods The epidemiological,clinical,laboratory and treatment data of patients diagnosed as acute brucellosis during 2002 to 2004 in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Results Fifty-one patients had a history of close contact with sheep or cows with brucellsis.Twenty- seven patients had drunk milk or eaten instant boiled mutton.The transmission routes were unknown in 8 patients.All the patients had fever and most had low-grade fever.Fifty-five patients had irregu- lar fever and 20 patients had intermittent fever.The most common manifestations were fever(86/86), fatigue(63/86),sweating(43/86),arthralgia(68/86),orchiditis(7/86),hepatomegaly(8/86),sple- nomegaly(7/86)and headache(18/86).Forty-seven patients had liver dysfunction and 17 patients had thrombocytopenia.Eighty patients recovered and 6 patients relapsed after combination therapy with rifampicin,sulfamethoxazole and quinolone.Conclusion The changes in epidemiological and clinical features of patients with acute brucellosis should be noticed.

OBJECTIVE Bergapten (BG), is a furanocoumarin derived from herbal and citrus extracts can act as antioxidant and selective anticancer agents.The current study aimed to investigate whether bergapten would attenuate immunosenescence and to exploreits immunomodulatory effects on immune responses in D-galactose-induced aging BALB/c mice.METHODS Firstly,mice were given D-galactose(180 mg·kg-1)subcutaneous injections for 30 d.To evaluate the establishment of the aging-related effect in mice, serum samples of BALB/c mice were collected from tail vein. Aging BALB/c mice were freely divided into three groups: negative control group received 1% Tween 80 solution only, named D-gal group. Positive groups were received BG administration at the dose of 20 and 100 mg·kg-1, named D-gal+BG(20)group and D-gal+BG(100)group,respectively.Effects of bergapten on T lympho-cyte proliferation and flow cytometry were assessed by using the splenic cell suspension. Enzyme linked immunospot kits were used to quantitatively determine interferon-γ(IFN-γ)and interleukin-4(IL-4) levels of the isolated serum. Immunophenotype was determined by using mixture of antibodies includ-ing anti-CD3,anti-CD4,and anti-CD8.RESULTS Bergapten(20 mg·kg-1)therapy can modulate immu-nity against viral epidemics and attenuate aging-induced immune deficiency(P<0.01),which was correlat-ed with the decline in the activation of the Th and Tc responses in D-galactose induced aging BALB/c mice.According to the in vivo results,bergapten exposure up-regulated the secretion of IFN-γ and IL-4 in T-helper 1(Th1)and T helper 2(Th2)cells(P<0.05,P<0.01).Additionally,BG(20 mg·kg-1)restored antigen-specific CD4+and CD8+T cells in aging models (P<0.05, P<0.01), which may help to curing chronic infections. CONCLUSION The beneficial effect of bergapten in D-galactose induced aging BALB/c mice may be due to the Th and Tc responses activation.

A method was developed for the determination of eight steroid hormones ( estrone, α/β-estradiol, estriol, testosterone, epitestosterone, progesterone and testosterone propionate ) in butter samples by gel permeation chromatography ( GPC) purification-followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The samples were first extracted by ethylacetate/cyclohexane (1:1, V/V) and the extract was later degreased by GPC column. Then, the GPC concentrate was separated using a C18 column ( 100 mm í2. 0 mm i. d. , 3. 0 μm) with gradient elution of acetonitrile/water. Finally, the steroid hormone components were qualitatively and quantitatively determined by mass spectrometer with electrospray ionization in multi reaction monitoring mode. Using matrix matched external standard method, good linearity in response could be obtained in the concentration range of 1 . 0-20 . 0 μg/kg with correlation co-efficiency larger than 0 . 999 . The detection limits of the method were 0. 04-0. 30 μg/kg and the quantification limit was 1. 0 μg/kg. At the spike levels of 1. 0, 2. 0 and 4. 0μg/kg, the recoveries of hormones were within the range of 64. 1%-110%, and the relative standard deviation ( RSD) was less than 11%. The results show that the method is accurate and reliable, and meets the requirements for determination of 8 steroid hormones in butter samples.

Humans ; Low Back Pain ; therapy ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Meridians ; Spinal Diseases ; therapy ; Vertigo ; therapy

The advances in the research on pharmacological activities of aucubin have been summarized in the last ten years. Aucubin is one of active components of Chinese medicinal herbs such as Eucommia ulmoides and has been shown wide pharmacological activities including hepatoproective, antitoxicanti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiaging, antiosteoporosis and neurotrophic and should be further researched and utilized.
Aging ; drug effects ; Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Antioxidants ; pharmacology ; Eucommiaceae ; chemistry ; Glucosides ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Iridoid Glucosides ; Iridoids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Molecular Structure ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Pyrans ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology

The basic theory of high power green laser equipment for prostate hyperplasia therapy and the components of the system developed are introduced. Considering the requirements of the clinical therapy, the working process of the high power green laser apparatus are designed and the laser with stable output at 120 W is achieved. The controlling hardware and application software are developed, and the safety step is designed. The high power green laser apparatus manufactured with characteristics of stable output, multifunctional and friendly interface provides a choices of prostate hyperplasia therapy for using nationalization instrument.
Humans ; Laser Therapy ; Lasers ; Male ; Patient Safety ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; therapy ; Software