As a new type of pesticides and because of their high performance and low toxicity, pyrethroid insecticides are widely used in place of organochlorine insecticides both in agriculture and in the home. In the recent years, more and more evidence indicates that pyrethroid insecticides can reduce sperm count and motility, cause deformity of the sperm head, increase the count of abnormal sperm, damage sperm DNA and induce its aneuploidy rate, as well as affect sex hormone levels and produce reproductive toxicity. The present article reviews the advances in the studies of male reproductive toxicity of pyrethroid pesticides by experiment in animals and human population, discusses the mechanism of male reproductive toxicity of pesticides and raises some problems concerning the evaluation of human reproductive hazards.
Animals ; Genitalia, Male ; drug effects ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Insecticides ; poisoning ; toxicity ; Male ; Mice ; Pyrethrins ; poisoning ; toxicity ; Rats ; Toxicity Tests

BACKGROUND: It has been proved that the application of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) combined with Brucea Javanica oil emulsion can accelerate wound healing and inhibit scar formation.OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of bFGF plus Brucea Javanica oil emulsion cream on accelerating the skin wound healing of rabbits.DESIGN: A randomized controlled observation.SETTING: Center of Biotechnological Research and Development, Jinan University; College of Pharmacy, Jinan University.MATERIALS:The experiment was carried out in the College of Pharmacy, Jinan University from June to September in 2004. Eight Beijing big-ear white rabbits (4 males and 4 females) of 2.0-2.5 kg were provided by the experimental animal center of Southern Medical University (certification number: SoKx-2002-010). bFGF sterile freeze dried powder agent,provided by Guangzhou Changsheng Gene Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd (batch number: 20040219; specific activity was 6 000 U/bottle), was prepared to solution with water for injection before application. Brucea Javanica oil emulsion (manufactured by Zhejiang 999 Bang'erkang Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd.) was provided by Professor Yao from staff Room of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University.METHODS: The rabbits were anesthetized and disinfected, 5 round wounds with diameter of 1.8 cm and area of 2.54 cm2were induced from front to back by bilateral incision at 1.5 cm from middle spine of rabbit. The 5 wounds of each rabbit were randomly divided into bFGF-treated group (90 U/cm2), bFGF+Brucea Javanica oil emulsion group [the wound was smeared with Brucea Javanica oil emulsion (30 mg/cm2) 30 minutes after bFGF (90 U/cm2)], Brucea Javanica oil emulsion treated group [the wound was smeared with Brucea Javanica oil emulsion (30 mg/cm2)], blank emulsion group (30 mg/cm2) and blank control group (the wound was smeared with saline). The medication was give immediately after injury, and changed once a day for 16 days. At 4, 8, 12 and 16 days after injury, the wound areas were recorded with the method of hyaline membrane tracing (the wound was covered with clean saran wrap, the size of wound was traced,and then sheared to be weighed, and converted to calculate the area), and the volume of wounded cavity was measured by infusing water. At 8 and 16 days, the wound tissue was removed, stained after routine tissue sections, and the conditions of growth of granulation tissue and reepithelization on the wound surface were observed.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The wound area, volume of wounded cavity, and the conditions of growth of granulation tissue and reepithelization on the wound surface were obviously at different time points after injury in each group.RESULTS:All the 8 rabbits were involved in the analysis of results. ① Wound areas at different time points in each group: The wound areas in the bFGF+Brucea Javanica oil emulsion group at 4, 8 and 12 days after medication were smaller than those in the blank control group at corresponding time points [(2.05±0.35), (1.59±0.25), (0.55±0.25) cm2;(2.53±0.30), (2.41±0.19), (1.09±0.34) cm2, P＜0.05-0.01]. The wound areas in the bFGF group at 8 and 12 days after medication were (1.71±0.31) and (0.51±0.10) cm2, which were significantly smaller than those in the blank control group at corresponding time points (P＜0.05-0.01). ② Volume of the wounded cavity in each group: The wound volume in the bFGF group at 4 days after injury was markedly smaller than that in the blank control group at corresponding time point [(0.49±0.12), (0.59±0.1) mL, P＜0.05]. The wound volumes in the bFGF+Brucea Javanica oil emulsion group at 4 and 8days after injury were significantly smaller than those in the blank control group at corresponding time points [(0.47±0.12), (0.30±0.08) mL; (0.59±0.1), (0.41±0.07) mL, P＜0.05, 0.01]. ③ Growth of granulation tissue and reepithelization on the wound surface in each group: At 8 days after injury, the inflammatory reaction was milder and fibroblasts proliferated significantly in the bFGF+Brucea Javanica oil emulsion group, and the numbers of capillary plumules and fibroblasts were significantly more than those in the blank control group. The conditions in the blank control group and blank emulsion group were generally the same that there were severe inflammatory reactions, obvious increase of granulation tissue, fewer new capillaries, and unobvious proliferation of epidermic cells. At 16 days after injury, the contraction and reepithelization on the wound surface were obvious, and the new epithelia went towards the wound center rapidly in the bFGF+Brucea Javanica oil emulsion group.CONCLUSION : The application of Brucea Javanica oil emulsion plus bFGF can obviously accelerate the repair of incised wound on the back of rabbits.

Objective To evaluate the clinical outcome and relative factors of intervention treatment for atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis in elderly patients.Methods The clinical data of 79 patients diagnosed as atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis by angiography and treated by revascularization were analyzed.Results There were 55(69.6%)successes and 24(30.4%)failures in decreasing blood pressure and 28(35.4%)successes and 51(64.6%)failures in improving renal function after intervention treatment.Predictors of favorable outcome of intervention treatment in decreasing blood pressure were related to lower urine protein,higher glomerular filtration rate,higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure before treatment,lower resistance index(RI)of renal artery,and no complication of cerebral vascular diseases.Predictors of favorable outcome of intervention treatment in improving renal function were related with percentage of angiographic stenosis,category of antihypertension and lower urine protein.The logistic regression analysis showed that the percentage of angiographic stenosis was the most important predictor of intervention treatment for blood pressure control,age and level of serum creatinine before intervention treatment were the most important predictors of intervention treatment for improving renal faction.Conclusion Percentage of stenosis(≥85%),age(133 ?mol/L)can be used as the predictors of therapeutic success for renovascular stenosis in older patients.

OBJECTIVETo study the anticancer effect in vitro and in vivo and mechanism of DHA compound.

METHODSCervical cancer cell line HeLa cells, glioma cell line U251 cells and mouse hepatoma H(22) tumor were used in this study. Transmission electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy were used to observe the morphological changes of cell apoptosis. Western blot was used to detect the expression of caspase-3. RT-PCR was used to determine the effect on Bcl-2 and Bax mRNA transcription in U251.

RESULTSAntitumor effect was observed in vivo and in vitro. Typical morphological changes were seen in cancer cells. The level of caspase-3 was significantly increased and the content of Bcl-2 mRNA was decreased significantly, while the content of Bax mRNA was significantly increased in the U251 cells after treatment with DHA compound.

CONCLUSIONDHA compound can inhibit the growth of some types of tumors and the increase of caspase-3 and Bax mRNA and decrease of Bcl-2 mRNA may be involved in its mechanism of action.

Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Docosahexaenoic Acids ; pharmacology ; Glioma ; pathology ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Mice ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; genetics ; metabolism

Based on site-specific transposition of an expression cassette into a baculovirus shuttle vector (Bacmid) which propagated in Escherichia coli, the Bac-to-Bac System provides a rapid and efficient method to generate recombinant baculoviruses and is widely used for high level expression of heterologous proteins. And the efficiency of recombinant baculovirus infecting cells plays an important role on the protein expression. In this study, we introduced an EGFP expression cassette driven by polyhedrin promoter into the p74 locus of Bacmid by homologous recombination. The target Bacmid-egfp was then transformed into E. coli DH10B containing the transposition helper plasmid to gain a new transposition receipt strain E. coli DH10Bac-egfp. Because of the intact attTn7 sites and lacZ', target gene cloned in a pFastBac vector can be transposed into the Bacmid-egfp shutter vector to construct recombinant baculovirus, which would allow the tracing of the target protein expression and the recombinant Bacmid transfection or recombinant baculoviral infection under fluorescence microscopes. Recombinant virus Bac-egfp-DsRed was constructed by transposing DsRed into the Bacmid-egfp in E. coliDHl0Bac-egfp, and the Sf9 cells infected with the recombinant virus expressed DsRed and EGFP efficiently. Another protein IL-6 fused with 6 x his tag was expressed and purified sucessfully from Sf9 cells infected with recombinant virus Bac-egfp-6 x his-IL6 constructed by the improved Bac-to-Bac system.
Animals ; Baculoviridae ; genetics ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; genetics ; Interleukin-6 ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Plasmids ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; Spodoptera

OBJECTIVETo investigate the role of caspase-3 and its inhibitor Ac-DEVD-CHO in rat lens epithelial cell apoptosis induced by hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) in vitro.

METHODSRat lenses were incubated in modified Eagle's medium containing 2 mmol/L H(2)O(2) to induce apoptosis in vitro. Apoptosis in lens epithelial cells was assessed by transmission electron microscopy and annexin V-propidium iodide (PI) double staining flow cytometry after 12, 24 and 48 h of incubation. The activity of caspase-3 was analyzed by western blotting.

RESULTSObservations under transmission electron microscopy revealed that 2 mmol/L H(2)O(2) could effectively induce lens epithelial cell apoptosis in vitro. Caspase-3 activity increased during cell apoptosis and the peak measurement occurred at 24 h after treatment with H(2)O(2). Cell apoptosis was blocked by caspase-3 inhibitor Ac-DEVD-CHO.

CONCLUSIONSThe activation of caspase-3 plays an important role in executing apoptosis in H(2)O(2)-treated lens epithelial cells and in the formation of cataract. The caspase-3 inhibitor Ac-DEVD-CHO may effectively prevent lens epithelial cell apoptosis caused by oxidative injury.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Caspase 3 ; Caspase Inhibitors ; Caspases ; metabolism ; physiology ; Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Enzyme Activation ; Epithelial Cells ; cytology ; Female ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; pharmacology ; Lens, Crystalline ; cytology ; Oligopeptides ; pharmacology ; Organ Culture Techniques ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo compare the efficacy of telbivudine monotherapy and telbivudine combination therapy with adefovir in patients with nucleos(t)ide-naive chronic hepatitis B, high-level hepatitis B virus (HBV) load and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positivity, and to explore the relationship between treatment regimen adherence and treatment outcomes.

METODSA retrospective study was performed with 123 HBeAg-positive, high-level viral load (HBV DNA≥10(7) copies/ml), nucleos(t)ide-naive chronic hepatitis B patients. Fifty-three of the patients received combination therapy with telbivudine and adefovir dipivoxil,while 70 patients received the telbivudine monotherapy. All patients were tested for rates of conversion to HBV DNA-negative status,alanine aminotransferase (ALT) normalization, HBeAg seroconversion, drug resistance, and side effects at treatment weeks 12, 24, and 48. Treatment regimen adherence was assessed through self-reporting, and interviews were used to explore the relationships to treatment outcomes. The chisquare test, t test and Fisher's exact test were used for statistical analyses.

RESULTSThe rates of HBV DNA negative conversion in the combination group at treatment weeks 12, 24 and 48 were 62.3% (33/53), 88.7% (47/53) and 94.3% (50/53) and were significantly different from those in the monotherapy group at weeks 12 and 24.The rates of ALT normalization were significantly different between the two groups at treatment week 12 (94.3% vs. 77.1%). The rate of HBeAg seroconversion in the combination group at treatment week 48 was 39.6%, and significantly different than that of the monotherapy group. The rates of drug-resistance in the combination and monotherapy groups at treatment week 48 were 3.8% and 11.4%, and the proportion of non-adherence to the treatment regimen was 53.3%, which significantly affected treatment outcome. No side effects occurred in either treatment group.

CONCLUSIONTelbivudine combination treatment with adefovir was more effective than telbivudine monotherapy and elicited a low drug resistance rate in nucleos(t)idenaive chronic hepatitis B patients with high-level HBV load and HBeAg-positivity. Adherence to the therapy regimen was a key factor influencing treatment outcomes.

Adenine ; analogs & derivatives ; Alanine Transaminase ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Humans ; Organophosphonates ; Retrospective Studies ; Thymidine ; analogs & derivatives ; Treatment Outcome ; Viral Load

Information on co-adherence of different oral bacterial species is important for understanding interspecies interactions within oral microbial community. Current knowledge on this topic is heavily based on pariwise coaggregation of known, cultivable species. In this study, we employed a membrane binding assay coupled with polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) to systematically analyze the co-adherence profiles of oral bacterial species, and achieved a more profound knowledge beyond pairwise coaggregation. Two oral bacterial species were selected to serve as "bait": Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) whose ability to adhere to a multitude of oral bacterial species has been extensively studied for pairwise interactions and Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) whose interacting partners are largely unknown. To enable screening of interacting partner species within bacterial mixtures, cells of the "bait" oral bacterium were immobilized on nitrocellulose membranes which were washed and blocked to prevent unspecific binding. The "prey" bacterial mixtures (including known species or natural saliva samples) were added, unbound cells were washed off after the incubation period and the remaining cells were eluted using 0.2 mol x L(-1) glycine. Genomic DNA was extracted, subjected to 16S rRNA PCR amplification and separation of the resulting PCR products by DGGE. Selected bands were recovered from the gel, sequenced and identified via Nucleotide BLAST searches against different databases. While few bacterial species bound to S. mutans, consistent with previous findings F. nucleatum adhered to a variety of bacterial species including uncultivable and uncharacterized ones. This new approach can more effectively analyze the co-adherence profiles of oral bacteria, and could facilitate the systematic study of interbacterial binding of oral microbial species.
Adult ; Animals ; Bacterial Adhesion ; DNA, Bacterial ; analysis ; Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis ; Fusobacterium nucleatum ; physiology ; Humans ; Membranes, Artificial ; Mice ; Microbial Interactions ; physiology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Protein Binding ; Saliva ; microbiology ; Streptococcus mutans ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate hereditary susceptibility to coronary heart disease (CHD) in apolipoprotein E(apo E) and apo B polymorphisms of youths.

METHODSPolymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze apoE, apoB Xba I, apoB 3' variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) genotypes for 244 healthy Han students (among them were 109 students with positive CHD family history).

RESULTSThe allele frequencies of apo e4, XbaI x(+), 3'VNTR-B(hypervariable element, HVE>38) in the positive group were obviously higher than those in the negative group(P<0.05), and were significantly correlated with the increase in TC, LDL-C, apoB100 levels (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe alleles for apo e4, XbaI x(+), 3'VNTR-B may be the important genetic markers of Han CHD.

Adolescent ; Alleles ; Apolipoproteins B ; genetics ; Apolipoproteins E ; genetics ; Coronary Disease ; genetics ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Humans ; Male ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo assess the outcome of phacoemulsification-intraocular lens (IOL) implantation combined with viscocanalostomy (P-C group), compared with that of phacoemulsification-IOL implantation combined with trabeculectomy (P-T group).

METHODSCombined phacoemulsification with corneal incision, foldable intraocular lens implantation and viscocanalostomy was performed in 21 eyes of 19 cataract patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. All patients were followed up for 3 - 6 months.

RESULTIntraocular pressure (IOP) was significantly lower in both P-C group and P-T group (P=0.000). There was no statistically significant difference between two groups. Visual outcome was similar in both groups. Complications of P-C group included Descemet's membrane puncture in 2 eyes, Schlemm's tube puncture in 2 eyes and IOP spikes in 3 eyes (at 24 hours postoperatively). The P-C group experienced significantly less inflammation than the P-T group.

CONCLUSIONPhacoemulsification-IOL implantation combined with viscocanalostomy is a safe and effective surgery, with lower complicatin rate and easier ambulatory care.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Filtering Surgery ; methods ; Glaucoma, Open-Angle ; surgery ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Lens Implantation, Intraocular ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phacoemulsification ; Postoperative Complications ; etiology ; Visual Acuity