Objective To study the relationship between the stenosis content of carotid artery and the degree of homocysteine (Hcy) by analyzing the level changes of Hcy in ischemic stroke patients.Methods One hundred and thirty patients of carotid artery stenosis with ischemic stroke were divided into four groups based on the degrees of carotid artery stenosis determined by ultrasound Doppler flow imaging:the slight stenosis group (32patients),the moderate group (35 patients),the severe group (33 patients) and the total occlusion group (30 patients).Meanwhile,30 healthy people were chosen as the control group.The levels of serum homocysteine (Hcy),total cholesterol (TC),triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) of each group were measured,and the results were compared with those of the control group.Results It was found that the serum Hcy level in ischemic stroke group were significantly higher than that in the control group (P＜0.05),whereas the variations ofTC,TG,HDL and LDL levels between the ischemic stroke group and the control group could be neglected (P＞0.05).An obviously increased order of serum Hcy levels was observed as the following,the control group,the slight stenosis group,the moderate group,the severe group as well as the total occlusion group.The difference between every two groups was statistically significant (P＜0.05).The level of serum Hcy was positive correlated to the content of carotid artery stenosis (r=0.835,P＜0.05).However,no correlation was found between the carotid artery stenosis and each level of TC,TG and LDL (r=0.031,0.012,0.018,respectively,P＞0.05).Conclusions The serum Hcy level is closely related to the degree of carotid artery stenosis,and high level Hcy is suggested to be one of major risk factors for ischemic stroke.

OBJECTIVETo describe the clinical features, treatments and prognosis of very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs) requring mechanical ventilation, to assess the risk factors associated with the mortality of VLBWIs, and to evaluate the significance of the scoring system based on clinical risk index for babies (CRIB) and the score for neonatal acute physiology-perinatal extension II (SNAPPE-II) for predicting mortality risk for premature infants in China.

METHODSPerinatal data were collected from 127 VLBWIs requring mechanical ventilation who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) from January 2010 to October 2011.

RESULTSThe enrolled infants had a mean gestational age of 31±2 weeks, a mean birth weight of 1290±170 g, a male/female ratio of 1.23∶1, and extremely low birth weight infant accounting for 6.3%. Of the 127 cases, 48.0% were administered with pulmonary surfactant (PS), and 49.6% received endotracheal intubation ventilation. The overall in-hospital mortality was 41.7%. Multivariate logistic regression revealed the following independent risk factors for mortality: low birth weight, multiple birth, cesarean section, and low PaO2/FiO2 ratio (OR = 1.611, 7.572, 4.062, and 0.133 respectively; P<0.05). SNAPPE-II and CRIB showed good performance in predicting prognosis, with areas under the ROC curve of 0.806 and 0.777 respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThe overall mortality rate of VLBWIs is still relatively high. The high-risk factors for VLBWI mortality include low birth weight, multiple birth, cesarean section, and low PaO2/FiO2 ratio. The neonatal illness severity scoring system (using SNAPPE-II and CRIB) can be used to quantify illness severity in premature infants.

Adult ; Female ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Prospective Studies ; ROC Curve ; Respiration, Artificial ; Risk Factors

The fusion protein (F) gene of Newcastle disease virus was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from the recombinant plasmid pVAX1-F, and subcloned into eukaryotic expression vector pmcDNA3. 1+. The F gene was identified by sequencing. The recombinant plasmid was transformed into attenuated Salmonella typhimurium SL7207, and the recombinant was designated as SL7207 (pmcDNA3. 1-F). In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that the plasmid stability of pmcDNA3. 1-F was apparently higher than that of pcDNA3. 1-F in SL7207. In order to compare the immune response induced by these two re combinant bacteria, BALB/c mice were immunized orally with them at the dosage of 2 x 10(9) CFU respectively. Both SL7207(pcDNA3. 1-F) and SL7207(pmcDNA3. 1-F) initiated F-specific serum and mucosal antibodies in immunized mice. Furthermore, 4-day-old SPF chickens were immunized with SL7207(pcDNA3. 1-F) and SL7207(pmcDNA3. 1-F) at the dosage of 5 x 10(9) CFU and boosted two weeks later with the same dosage. Humoral and intestinal mucosal immune responses were observed and their levels were significantly higher than that of negative and positive controls. The result of protective efficacy showed that the chickens immunized with SL7207(pmcDNA3. 1-F) had the protective rate of 70.0%, higher than that of the SL7207 (pcDNA3. 1-F) with 50.0%. In summary, the DNA vaccine delivered by attenuated Salmonella typhimurium has good immunogenicity. A novel mucosal DNA vaccine has been developed and could be useful for controlling the infection and epidemic of Newcastle disease in the poultry.
Animals ; Chickens ; Female ; Immunization ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Newcastle disease virus ; immunology ; Plasmids ; Salmonella typhimurium ; genetics ; Vaccines, Attenuated ; immunology ; Vaccines, DNA ; immunology ; Viral Vaccines ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association of estrogen receptor (ER) gene polymorphism and primary trigeminal neuralgia.

METHODSBy polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), ER gene polymorphism was analyzed in 20 trigeminal neuralgia (TR) patients and 20 control individuals, and the distribution of ER genotype was compared in TR group and control group.

RESULTSThere was no significant difference in frequencies of allele and genotype in XbaI or PvuII polymorphism or XbaI with PvuII polymorphisms together between TR group and control group (P > 0.05). The genotypic distribution of Xx or PpXx in TR group was higher than control group, and it was contary to xx, ppxx or Ppxx in TR group and control group.

CONCLUSIONXbaI or PvuII polymorphism may be related to TR. Women with PpXx genotype may be a dangerous factor to primary trigeminal neuralgia.

Female ; Genotype ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Receptors, Estrogen ; Trigeminal Neuralgia

Humans ; Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms ; Hypopharynx ; Neurilemmoma

Two Diaporthe species isolated from fruit of Citrus sinensis in China were characterized based on morphology and multilocus phylogeny of ITS, tef1, and tub2 gene sequences. The phylogeny indicated that the two species match Diaporthe taoicola and D. siamensis. A critical examination of phenotypic characteristics confirmed the phylogenetic results. Diaporthe taoicola was morphologically characterized by producing Alpha conidia with tapering toward both ends. Meanwhile, D. siamensis produced cylindrical or ellipsoidal Alpha conidia with two oil drops. Pathogenicity tests revealed that both species were pathogenic to fruit of C. sinensis. To our knowledge, the two species were firstly reported on Citrus sinensis in China.

Two Diaporthe species isolated from fruit of Citrus sinensis in China were characterized based on morphology and multilocus phylogeny of ITS, tef1, and tub2 gene sequences. The phylogeny indicated that the two species match Diaporthe taoicola and D. siamensis. A critical examination of phenotypic characteristics confirmed the phylogenetic results. Diaporthe taoicola was morphologically characterized by producing Alpha conidia with tapering toward both ends. Meanwhile, D. siamensis produced cylindrical or ellipsoidal Alpha conidia with two oil drops. Pathogenicity tests revealed that both species were pathogenic to fruit of C. sinensis. To our knowledge, the two species were firstly reported on Citrus sinensis in China.

Background:Blood glucose control is closely related to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) prognosis.This multicenter study aimed to investigate blood glucose control among patients with insulin-treated T2DM in North China and explore the application value of combining an elastic network (EN) with a machine-learning algorithm to predict glycemic control.Methods:Basic information,biochemical indices,and diabetes-related data were collected via questionnaire from 2787 consecutive participants recruited from 27 centers in six cities between January 2016 and December 2017.An EN regression was used to address variable collinearity.Then,three common machine learning algorithms (random forest [RF],support vector machine [SVM],and back propagation artificial neural network [BP-ANN]) were used to simulate and predict blood glucose status.Additionally,a stepwise logistic regression was performed to compare the machine learning models.Results:The well-controlled blood glucose rate was 45.82％ in North China.The multivariable analysis found that hypertension history,atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease history,exercise,and total cholesterol were protective factors in glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) control,while central adiposity,family history,T2DM duration,complications,insulin dose,blood pressure,and hypertension were risk factors for elevated HbA1c.Before the dimensional reduction in the EN,the areas under the curve of RF,SVM,and BP were 0.73,0.61,and 0.70,respectively,while these figures increased to 0.75,0.72,and 0.72,respectively,after dimensional reduction.Moreover,the EN and machine learning models had higher sensitivity and accuracy than the logistic regression models (the sensitivity and accuracy of logistic were 0.52 and 0.56;RF:0.79,0.70;SVM:0.84,0.73;BP-ANN:0.78,0.73,respectively).Conclusions:More than half of T2DM patients in North China had poor glycemic control and were at a higher risk of developing diabetic complications.The EN and machine learning algorithms are alternative choices,in addition to the traditional logistic model,for building predictive models of blood glucose control in patents with T2DM.

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and its downstream target protein kinase B (Akt/PKB) can be activated by a variety of extracellular and intracellular signals. They are important signaling molecules and key survival factors involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and other cellular processes. Recently, many reports demonstrate that type I PI3K/Akt signaling pathway plays an important role in maintenance of self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem (ES) cells. Further studies with regard to the self-renewal and pluripotency of ES cells and underlying molecular mechanisms are crucial to its application in cell replacement therapy, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. The present review focuses on the recent progress on the mediation of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway on the maintenance of self-renewal and pluripotency of ES cells.
Cell Differentiation ; Cell Proliferation ; Embryonic Stem Cells ; cytology ; Humans ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; physiology ; Pluripotent Stem Cells ; cytology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; physiology ; Signal Transduction

This paper was aimed to investigate the effect of Aralia echinocaulis containing serum on expression of β-catenin, Wnt-1, Frizzed-2, TCF and Axin in Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway of primary osteoblasts. SD healthy female rats (n=80) were used to make A. echinocaulis containing serum by gastric perfusion for seven days with distilled water, A. echinocaulis decoction high dosage, middle dosage, and low dosage. In vitro, primary osteoblasts were cultured and identified. The third generation primary osteoblasts were taken and cultured for 48 h, then cells were treated with the different drug serums for 10 days and calcified nodules were counted by alizarin red staining. The cells were collected after treatment for 48 h and the expression levels of β-catenin, Wnt-1, Frizzled-2, TCF and Axin were detected by Real-time PCR and Western blot. The results suggested that the in vitro cells were primary osteoblasts; and after treatment, various doses groups could promote the mineralization ability of primary osteoblasts, up-regulate the mRNA and protein expression levels of β-catenin, Wnt-1, Frizzled-2, and TCF, and down-regulate the mRNA and protein expression levels of Axin. These findings indicated that A. echinocaulis containing serum can enhance the differentiation and proliferation of osteoblasts by regulating the expression levels of β-catenin, Wnt-1, Frizzled-2, TCF and Axin in Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway of primary osteoblasts.