This study was designed to analyze the effect of the mitochondrial respiratory pathways of Candida albicans (C.albicans) on the biofilm formation.The 2,3-bis (2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide (XTT) reduction assay was used to measure the metabolic activities of biofilms formed by the C.albicans which were cultured in the presence of respiratory pathways inhibitors.The biofilms formed by the wide type (WT),GOA1-deleted (GOA31),GOA1-reconstituted (GOA32),AOX1a-deleted (AOX1) and AOX1b-deleted (AOX2) C.albicans strains were examined by the XTT reduction assay and fluorescence microscopy.The expression of adhesion-related genes BCR1,ALS1,ALS3,ECE1 and HWP1 in the biofilms formed by the above five C.albicans strains was detected by real time polymerase chain reaction.It was found that the metabolic activity of biofilms formed by C.albicans was decreased in the presence of alternative oxidase inhibitor whereas it was increased in the presence of classical mitochondrial respiratory pathway complex Ⅲ or complex Ⅳ inhibitor.AOX1 strain produced scarce biofilms interspersed with few hyphal filaments.Moreover,no significant changes in the expression of BCR1 and ALS3 were observed in the AOX1 strain,but the expression of ALS1 and ECE1 was down-regulated,and that of HWP1 was up-regulated.These results indicate that both AOX1 and AOX2 can promote the biofilm formation.However,AOX1a primarily plays a regulatory role in biofilm formation in the absence of inducers where the promoting effect is mainly achieved by promoting mycelial formation.

OBJECTIVETo explore a convenient and effective method for norovirus nucleic acid extraction from oysters suitable for long-term viral surveillance.

METHODSTwo methods, namely method A (glycine washing and polyethylene glycol precipitation of the virus followed by silica gel centrifugal column) and method B (protease K digestion followed by application of paramagnetic silicon) were compared for their performance in norovirus nucleic acid extraction from oysters. Real-time RT-PCR was used to detect norovirus in naturally infected oysters and in oysters with induced infection.

RESULTSThe two methods yielded comparable positive detection rates for the samples, but the recovery rate of the virus was higher with method B than with method A.

CONCLUSIONMethod B is a more convenient and rapid method for norovirus nucleic acid extraction from oysters and suitable for long-term surveillance of norovirus.

Animals ; Centrifugation ; methods ; Norovirus ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Ostreidae ; virology ; RNA, Viral ; isolation & purification

Objective To explore the Electrocardiography (ECG) changes of residents in Keshan disease area and the status of growth and decline of Keshan disease in Shaanxi Province. Methods Using stratified randomized sampling method,2 mild,2 moderate and 2 serious disease counties were selected respectively in 2005 and 2006. A total of 6 counties were sampled,2 villages,one with severe disease and one with mild,were selected from each sampled county. A total of 12 villages were selected. The clinical examination and ECG were conducted in 3-year old children of agricultural population of the selected villages. Results ECG of 5692 cases were performed in the selected 12 village in the 6 counties,in which 4917 cases showed normal electrocardiogram,up to 86.38% (4917/5692). Two hundred and fifty-two cases showed roughly normal electrocardiograms,up to 4.43%(252/5692). Five hundred and twenty-three cases had abnormal electrocardiogram,accounting for 9.19% (523/5692). Among them,the abnormal electrocardiogram rates in mild,moderate and serious disease areas were 7.07% (144/2036), 11.41%(167/1646) and 10.54%(212/2010),respectively. Atrioventricular block was the major abnormal electrocardiogram change,followed by arrhythmia,ST-T changes,and low voltage. One hundred and thirty-nine cases were confirmed as latent and chronic Keshan diseases. One hundred and thirty-one cases were latent Keshan, and detection rate was 2.30%(131/5692). Eight cases were chronic Keshan,and the detective rate was 0.14% (8/5692). Complete right bundle branch block [37.06% (63/170) ],ST-T changes [22.35% (38/170) ],multiple premature ventricular beats [12.94% (22/170)] were the major abnormal electrocardiogram change of Keshan patients. Conclusions Atrioventricular block and arrhythmia are the major abnormal electrocardiogram changes. Keshan disease incidences are controlled under a stable condition.

Objective To know the prevalence tendency of Keshan disease(KSD) under control after 10 years in Shaanxi Province, the factors that causes or relative to the disease, to provide scientific reference for disease's prevention and control. Methods Through stratified cluster sampling, based on the severity of KSD in endemic area of Shaanxi Province, 12 villages from 6 counties were randomly selected as investigation points in 2006. The people older than 3 year-old were chosen to do clinical check up and electrocardiogram tracing. Among them, suspicious or abnormal cases were asked to take chest X-ray and cardiac ultrasound. Maize and rice, hair and whole blood were randomly collected to test the selenium content, the activity of Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). Results The total detection rate of potential or chronic KSD was 2.44%(139/5694), the detection rate of abnormal ECG was 9.19% (523/5692), the detection rate of cardiac enlargement from chest X-ray and cardiac ultrasound were 45.6%(72/158) and 34.5%(59/171) respectively. The average content of selenium in staple foods(wheat and corn) were[(0.045±0.036), (0.035±0.025)mg/kg, respectively]. The level of hair selenium in patients and healthy people were [(0.376±0.091), (0.384±0.077)mg/kg, respectively], with non-significant different (u=0.77, P>0.05). There were significant differences in whole blood selenium of patients, healthy people in KSD areas and healthy people in non-KSD areas[(0.071±0.017), (0.077±0.017), (0.090±0.016)mg/L, respectively; F=4.55, P<0.05), the whole blood selenium in patients lower than in healthy people in KSD areas (P<0.05), in healthy people in KSD areas lower than in non-KSD areas (P<0.05). Conclusions After the KSD condition being controlled, the situation in Shaanxi Province has become stable and exhibited a decreasing tendency. The selenium level of both internal and external environment in the endemic area increased significantly, that is the main factors of controlling disease.

OBJECTIVETo prepare a DNA Microarray that can detect 8 common species of food borne bacterial pathogens in south China.

METHODSAll the 70mer oligo probes were designed on the characteristic genome loci of the 8 species of food borne bacterial pathogens. Eight subarrays corresponding to the 8 food borne bacterial pathogens were spotted onto the slide and integrated into a pan-array on the chip. A number of identified and known bacterial samples from the storage bank were selected for the validation test.

RESULTSBased on the PPR ranking, for LM sub-array, the PPR of the 3 Listeria bacteria LM, Lin and Liv was 68.8%, 51.8% and 59.6%, respectively, while that of the non-Listeria bacterial samples was all below 43%. For VC sub-array, the PPR of VC sample was 54.1% and that of the non-VC bacterial samples was lower than 17.2%. For VP sub-array, the PPR was 66.7% for VP sample and below 24.2% for non-VP bacterial samples. For Sal sub-array, the PPR was 55.9% for Sal sample and below 50.5% for non-Sal bacterial samples. For Shi sub-array, the PPR of Shi sample and the non-Shi bacterial samples was 53.8% and below 36.6%, respectively. For SA sub-array, the PPR of SA sample and non-SA bacterial samples was 65.2% and below 22.7%, respectively. For CJ sub-array, the PPR of the 2 Campylobacter bacteria CJ and CC were 88.2% and 58.8%, respectively, and that of the non-Campylobacter bacterial samples was lower than 35.3%. For EC sub-array, the PPR of EC sample was 47.9%, and that of the non-EC bacterial samples was lower than 41.6%. Evaluation of the Biosafood-8 chip developed in this study by 18 biological samples from different origins demonstrated its good specificity and accuracy in the identification of the pathogens.

CONCLUSIONThe chip we developed can clearly differentiate the target food borne pathogenic bacteria and non-target bacteria and allows specific and accurate identification of the species of the tested bacteria isolates.

Bacteria ; classification ; isolation & purification ; China ; Food Contamination ; analysis ; Food Microbiology ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; methods

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of nitric oxide donor and alpha(1)-receptor antagonist on proliferation/apoptosis of hyperplastic prostatic stromal cells in vitro.

METHODSPrimary cultured prostatic stromal cells were treated by nitric oxide donor SNP and Terazosin, and the antiproliferative index and apoptosis index were determined by MTT assay and TUNEL respectively.

RESULTSThere was a significant dose-effect relationship between SNP and the antiproliferative effects, while Terazosin showed no antiproliferative effects and the combination of SNP and Terazosin showed no strengthen effects. Terazosin significantly induced apoptosis, but SNP showed no effect on induction of apoptosis, while there were much more effects of inducing apoptosis in the combination of Terazosin and SNP than the Terazosin alone.

CONCLUSIONSTerazosin induces apoptosis in cultured BPH stromal SMCs with little effect on the cell proliferation. SNP inhibits the proliferation of the cells without affecting apoptosis. The apoptosis induction effect is enhanced when Terazosin is combined with SNP, but they do not have an additive antiproliferative effect.

Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drug Synergism ; Humans ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Male ; Nitric Oxide Donors ; pharmacology ; Prazosin ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Stromal Cells ; drug effects ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the different permeation enhancers on the transdermal permeation of Xiao'er Niuhuang tuire cataplasms (XNTC).

METHODUsing improved franz-type diffusion cell with excised rat skin in vitro as the transdermal barrier, the content of permeated geniposide was determined by HPLC to study the kinetic parameters such as cumulative permeation quantity and permeation rate.

RESULTThe result showed that the process of penetrating of geniposide in XNTC through skin could be in accordance with zero-rade releasing equation and XNTC was stable during the course of experiment.

CONCLUSION5% Propylene glycol (PG)-azone (2:3) has the best permeation-enhancing effect, and the results provided a primary basis for the future research on Xiao'er Niuhuang tuire cataplasms.

Animals ; Azepines ; pharmacology ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; In Vitro Techniques ; Iridoids ; chemistry ; Pharmaceutical Vehicles ; pharmacology ; Propylene Glycol ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Skin ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Skin Absorption ; drug effects

OBJECTIVETo find out the nasendoscopic changes of velopharyngeal configuration and movement after palatoplasty with or without velopharyngeal muscle reconstruction.

METHODSThe nasendoscopy was taken in forty-one patients with palatoplasty, 22 repaired by velopharyngeal muscle reconstruction and 19 with modified von Langenbeck's procedure (non-reconstructive group).

RESULTSIn patients with velopharyngeal muscle reconstruction, the velopharyngeal ports are smooth and full with a definite reduction in size than patients without velopharyngeal muscle reconstruction. During phonation, the complete and marginal velopharyngeal competence rate in reconstructive group (90.91%) is higher than the group of non-reconstruction (37.31%) The major velopharyngeal closure is circular movement in reconstructive group, otherwise coronal closure in nonconstructive group.

CONCLUSIONSBased the observation of nasendoscopy, the velopharyngeal muscle reconstruction in palatoplasty has more definite improvement to velopharyngeal closure than non-reconstructive procedure. Palatoplasty with velopharyngeal muscle reconstruction could reduce the size of velopharyngeal port and make the complete velopharyngeal closure easier.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cleft Palate ; surgery ; Endoscopy ; methods ; Humans ; Infant ; Nose ; surgery ; Pharyngeal Muscles ; abnormalities ; surgery ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; methods

OBJECTIVEAbout 20 - 50% individuals with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) could not achieve catch-up growth and remain small in size till adulthood. There are few reports on the relation between intestinal development and body catch-up growth of IUGR. Studies showed that early "nutritional programming" would results in long-term effects on the body growth and organic function, and gastrointestinal development is closely related to the body development as well. The authors aimed to study the effect of early nutritional interventions on serum IGF1, IGFBP3, intestinal development and catch-up growth of pups with IUGR by using diets with different protein and caloric levels during the first four weeks of life.

METHODSAn IUGR rat model was established by maternal nutrition restriction during pregnancy. Thirty-two IUGR female pups were divided randomly into 4 groups (8 pups in each group) and eight normal female pups as control. The groups and interventions were (1) Normal control group (C group); (2) IUGR control group (S group), (3) IUGR low-protein diet group (SL group); (4) IUGR high-protein diet group (SH group); (5) IUGR high-caloric group (SA group). The serum IGF1, IGFBP3, body weight, body length, and intestinal weight, length, intestinal villi height (VH), crypt depth (CD), villi absorbing area (VSA), mucous thickness (MT) were measured at the 4(th) week of life.

RESULTS(1) At the 4(th) week, the serum IGF1 (724.0 +/- 153.5 ng/ml), IGFBP3 (9.69 +/- 3.13 ng/ml), and VH (416.9 +/- 46.3 microm), VSA (115.9 +/- 24.0 x 10(3) microm(2)), MT (583.9 +/- 68.5 microm) in the SH group were significantly higher than those of normal control group (539.4 +/- 198.4 ng/ml, 4.77 +/- 2.98 ng/ml and 322.1 +/- 25.8 microm, 85.8 +/- 17.8 x 10(3) microm(2), 480.0 +/- 61.5 microm) and IUGR control group (P < 0.05). The intestinal weight (1.91 +/- 0.16 g) and length (80.67 +/- 9.47 cm) in the SH group was not significantly different from the normal control group (2.24 +/- 0.22 g and 74.77 +/- 9.06 cm, P > 0.05). The SH group showed the fastest catch-up growth. Their body weights (40.14 +/- 11.03 g) at the 3(rd) week and body lengths (23.61 +/- 0.49 cm) at the 4(th) week of life reached the normal ranges of the control group (44.65 +/- 5.36 g and 23.10 +/- 1.42 cm, P > 0.05). (2) The serum IGF1 (346.7 +/- 85.3 ng/ml), IGFBP3 (1.4 +/- 0.21 ng/ml), body weight (21.41 +/- 3.54 g) and body length (15.96 +/- 1.29 cm) and the most of intestinal indexes in the SL group were markedly lower than other groups at the 4(th) week of life (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe serum IGF1 was a sensitive marker to reflect the catch-up growth and nutritional status, and IGF1 was positively correlated with the intestinal development and body growth. When given different nutritional interventions during the first four weeks of life, high protein diet is more helpful for the IUGR catch-up growth by promoting the intestinal development and the absorption of nutrition.

Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena ; Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; growth & development ; Dietary Proteins ; administration & dosage ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; blood ; diet therapy ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; analysis ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena ; Rats

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of prostatectomy on nocturia in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

METHODSThe data of patients who had received prostatectomy for BPH between June 2006 and December 2007 were collected. Nocturia severity was assessed preoperatively and 3 to 6 months after prostatectomy by the number of nocturia events, the time from falling sleep to the first awakening to void (hours of undisturbed sleep, HUS), the score of the nocturia quality of life (N-QOL) questionnaire, the International Prostatic Symptom Score (IPSS) and the quality of life (QOL) score.

RESULTSOne hundred and twenty five cases were included. Of them, 73 patients finished the follow-up completely. There were 62 patients whose number of nocturia events before the operation was equal or more than 2. The data from these 62 patients were analyzed. Of them, 56 patients underwent transurethral resection of prostate, the remaining 11 patients suprapubic prostatectomy. Significant improvement (P < 0.01) was noted in all the following parameters after treatment: the number of nocturia events decreased from 4.2 ± 2.4 to 2.2 ± 1.0, HUS increased from (1.8 ± 0.7) h to (3.0 ± 1.4) h, N-QOL score raised from 30 ± 10 to 40 ± 7, IPSS decreased from 23 ± 5 to 8 ± 5, and QOL score fell down from 4.4 ± 0.7 to 1.5 ± 1.0.

CONCLUSIONThe prostatectomy can markedly improve the symptoms of nocturia, sleep and life quality in the BPH patients who accompanied with nocturia.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nocturia ; complications ; surgery ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; complications ; surgery ; Quality of Life ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome