Objective To study the protective mechanism of dl-3-n butylphthalide (NBP)on oxidative stress injury induced by hydrogen peroxide(H2O2)in rat bone marrow stem cells(rBMSCs).Methods The rBMSCs were divided into control,H2O2 and different concentration NBP pretreatment groups.The control group received no treatment.An oxidative stress injury model was induced by H2O2 for 4 hours with the final concentration 600 μmol/L in the H2O2 group.In the NBP pretreatment groups,the rBMSCs were pretreated with different NBP concentrations(0.1,1,10,and 100 μmol/L)for 24 hours,then treated with H2O2 for 4 hours with the final concentration 600 μmol/L.The cell viability was detected by MTT method.The apoptosis rate was detected by flow cytometry.Superoxide dismutase(SOD)activity and malondialdehyde(MDA)content were measured with SOD and MDA commercial kits.Results The cell activity(A)was 0.487 ±0.018 in the H2O2 group,and it was significantly lower than 0.750 ±0.016 in the control group(P =0.000);they were 0.597 ±0.024,0.666 ±0.033,and 0.658 ±0.012 in the NBP 1,10,and 100 μmol/L pretreatment groups,they were all significantly higher than the H2O2 group(all P =0.000),and showed a dose dependent manner.The apoptosis rate was(44.96 ± 2.84)% in the H2O2 group,and it was significantly higher than (0.15 ±0.07)% in the control group(P= 0.000).The apoptosis rates were(31.79±1.60)% 、(21.41 ± 1.92)% and(22.59 ± 1.78)% in the NBP 1,10,and 100 μmol/L pretreatment groups,they were all significantly lower than the H2O2 groups(all P= 0.000),and showed a dose-dependent manner.The SOD activity was(24.01 ± 2.85)U/mg in the H2O2 group(P = 0.000),and it was significantly lower than(43.58 ± 2.72)U/mg in the control group(P =0.000);they were(28.29 ± 1.19),(34.06 ± 1.83),and(31.76 ± 1.75)U/mg in the NBP 1,10,and 100 μmol/L pretreatment groups,and they were all significantly higher than the H2O2 group(all P = 0.000).The MDA content was(7.98 ± 0.55)nmol/mg in the H2O2 group,and it was significantly higher than(4.73 ± 0.53)nmol/mg in the control group(P =0.000);they were(6.97 ±0.29),6.09 ±0.28),and(6.15 ±0.41)nmol/mg,respectively in the NBP 1,10,and 100 μmol/L pretreatment groups(P = 0.000),they were significantly lower than the H2O2 group,and showed a dose-dependent manner.Conclusions NBP has obvious protective effects on oxidative stress injury induced by H2O2 in rBMSCs.Its mechanism may be associated with the role of antioxidant oxidative stress of NBP.

Air Pollutants ; toxicity ; China ; epidemiology ; Hospitals, Public ; Humans ; Patient Admission ; Respiratory Tract Diseases ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Temperature ; Weather

Objective To study on the metal clip installation to avoid post-operative bleeding in pa- tients accepted papilla sphinctecotomy.Methods One hundred and eighty five patients who accepted ERCP +EST were divided into two groups:Group 1 was given routine regimen alone(N=95),group 2,given routine regimen and metal clip to prevent post-operative bleeding.Results The postoperative bleeding hap- pened in 3(3.2%)cases of Group 1 and none in Group 2,there is significant difference between these two groups(P＜0.05).The breeding cases in group 1 were controlled by metal clip under endoscopy successful- ly.Conclusion Preventive usage of metal clip was significantly decreased the incidence of post-operative bleeding in EST patients.

Molecular methods and fluoroscopic techniques suggest that rich microbial diversity exist in the marine environment, but less than 1% of these microbes can be cultured in the laboratory conditions, and that the cultivable dominant species were even less. This limitation has long been a barrier to the development of environmental microbiology and the utilization of marine resources. In the past decade, novel methods for culture and detection of these uncultured marine microbes have successfully applied to obtain several conventionally-uncultured microbes including those from extreme environments. Those progresses have inspired researchers greatly. Developments in the research of marine microbial resources are an important basis for the study of the micro-world and deserve increasing scientific attention.

OBJECTIVETo assess the efficacy of various therapeutic principles of TCM in treating patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS).

METHODSAdopting blinded controlled trial method, 218 patients with CP/CPPS were randomly assigned to 4 groups: Group A treated with Aike Decoction for smoothing Gan-qi; Group B with Bazhengsan Decoction for clearing heat and removing dampness; Group C with Qianliexianyan Decoction for promoting blood circulation to remove stasis; and Group D with placebo. The scores of NIH chronic prostatitis symptom index (NIH-CPSI), clinical symptoms, including pain, symptoms of urinary tract and quality of life (QOL), and TCM syndrome integral were estimated at the beginning, the end of the 2nd and 4th week in the study.

RESULTSCompared with the others, Group A showed a superiority in improving NIH-CPSI, scores of various clinical symptoms and TCM syndrome integral at the 2nd week, and improving NIH-CPSI, scores of pain and QOL at the 4th week (all P < 0.05), while the improvement on urinary tract symptoms and TCM syndrome integral in Group A at the 4th week were better than those in Group B and D, but insignificantly different to those in Group C, respectively. No adverse reaction occurred in Group A and D, but it did occur in the other two groups.

CONCLUSIONTCM therapy for smoothing Gan-qi shows good efficacy with quick initiating and high safety, it is an important principle for the treatment of CP/CPPS.

Adult ; Chronic Disease ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Double-Blind Method ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Middle Aged ; Pelvic Pain ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Phytotherapy ; Prostatitis ; complications ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Syndrome ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To explore acute toxicity of succimer on mice.Methods Twenty Kunming mice(10 males and 10 females) weighting approximately (21.2?2.3)g were acclimatized for 3 days prior to dosing,then were divided into control group and experiment group with 10 mice in each group according to body weight.Fasted for 12 hours,the mice in experiment group received intragastric administration of 160mg DMSA in deionized water in 24 hours,and the control group received the same volume of deionized water,and then they were observed for 7 days.Blood was collected into heparinized-tubes by removal of eyeball.All mice were sacrificed and brain,heart,liver and kidney were removed and washed with normal saline.The activity or amount of BUN,Scr,AST,ALT,SOD, GSH-PX and MDA were analyzed.Results (1)Given 160rag DMSA in 24 hours,gastrointestinal symptoms were main side effects.During the observation,experiment group lost weight due to the decrease of food-intake ,and some mice had slight hydroabdomen.(2)High dose of DMSA caused a significant inhibition of GSH-PX(P0.05).The hepatic cell was damaged accord- ing to the significant raise of MDA in liver(P0.05),which was related to acute toxicity on liver.Conclusion Succimer could inhibit the antioxidarrt systems and could do damage to liver and kidney.

BACKGROUNDCandida albicans (C. albicans) infection, often occurring in genital candidiasis, has increased dramatically recently. Developing an efficient C. albicans typing method may contribute to understanding its epidemiological characteristics and guiding efficient treatment. We used rapid microsatellite genotyping assay for interstrain differentiation of C. albicans isolates and explored some characteristics of its spread.

METHODSDNA was extracted from C. albicans isolates from gentalia, recta and mouths of 39 female cases and 27 male cases of genital candidiasis. Three fluorescent primers for the microsatellite markers in conserved genes (CDC3, EF3 and HIS3) of C. albicans were used to amplify the isolates DNA by PCR. Fluorescent signals were read with an automatic sequencer and analyzed with GeneScan software.

RESULTSAnalysis of the three microsatellites markers showed 18 gene allelic associations in genital C. albicans infected patients: 10 allelic associations in female and 11 allelic associations in male, of which 3 allelic associations shared by both genders covered 71% of infections. The most dominant allele association of pathogenic strains for both genders was 116:124, 122:131, 160:200 that covered about 50% of infection. Gentalia and recta shared the same strains in 80% of female patients, but in only 3.8% of male patients. There were 2.7% female patients, but no males, with same strain in both gentalia and mouths. Five of seven genital C. albicans infected couples had the same allelic associations of which 4 were the dominant pathogenic C. albicans susceptible for both genders.

CONCLUSIONSThe predominant allelic association of the pathogenic strain in genital C. albicans infection is 116:124, 122:131, 160:200. Vaginal pathogenic strains are probably maintained from the rectal reservoir. Pathogenic strains of male patients are probably from frequent sexual intercourse. The aggressiveness of some strains varies with gender.

Adult ; Candida albicans ; classification ; genetics ; Candidiasis ; diagnosis ; Candidiasis, Vulvovaginal ; diagnosis ; Female ; Genital Diseases, Male ; diagnosis ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Rectum ; microbiology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tongue ; microbiology

A naphtha catalytic reforming unit with four reactors in series is analyzed. A physical model is proposed to describe the catalytic reforming radial flow reactor. Kinetics and thermodynamics equations are selected to describe the naphtha catalytic reforming reactions characteristics based on idealizing the complex naphtha mixture by representing the paraffin, naphthene, and aromatic groups by single compounds. The simulation results based above models agree very well with actual operation unit data.
Alkanes ; analysis ; chemistry ; Catalysis ; Chemical Industry ; instrumentation ; methods ; Computer Simulation ; Computer-Aided Design ; Equipment Design ; Equipment Failure Analysis ; methods ; Hydrocarbons, Aromatic ; chemical synthesis ; Models, Chemical

OBJECTIVETo investigate the characteristics of gene expression of surfactant protein A in Chinese premature infants and the association between surfactant protein A and the risk of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).

METHODSVein-blood samples (2 mL) from 18 Chinese premature infants with RDS and 28 controls were assayed for SP-A genotypes 6A2, 6A3, 1A0 and 1A1 by SSCP.

RESULTSThe frequency of allele distribution of SP-A1 allele 6A2 and 6A3 was 0.50 and 0.056 respectively in the RDS group and was 0.214 and 0.107 in the control group. Compared with the controls, SP-A1 allele 6A2 was over-represented in the RDS group (P<0.05). In contrast, SP-A1 allele 6A3 tended to be under-represented in the RDS group but there was no statistical difference when compared with the controls. The frequency of allele distribution of SP-A2 allele 1A0 and 1A1 was 0.722 and 0.667 respectively in the RDS group and was 0.679 and 0.821 respectively in the control group. There were no significant differences in the distribution frequency of SP-A2 allele 1A0 and 1A1 between the two groups. In the infants born at gestation >32 weeks, SP-A1 allele 6A2 was over-represented in the RDS group compared with the control group (frequency: 0.56 vs 0.15; P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe frequency of SP-A1 allele 6A2 and 6A3 was low, in contrast, the frequency of SP-A2 allele 1A0 and 1A1 was high in normal Chinese premature infants. SP-A1 allele 6A2 may be a susceptible gene for RDS.

Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Male ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A ; genetics ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn ; etiology ; genetics

BACKGROUNDPrevious investigations indicate that cooks are exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from cooking oil fumes (COF). However, Emission of PAH and their carcinogenic potencies from cooking oil fumes sources have not been investigated among cooks.

AIMSTo investigate the urinary excretion of a marker for oxidative DNA damage, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), in different groups of cooks and different exposure groups, and to study the association between 8-OHdG and 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), a biological marker for PAH exposure.

METHODSUrine samples were collected from different groups of cooks (n = 86) and from unexposed controls (n = 36), all are male with similar age and smoking habits. The health status, occupational history, smoking, and alcohol consumption 24 hours prior to sampling was estimated from questionnaires. The urinary samples were frozen for later analyses of 8-OHdG and 1-OHP by high performance liquid chromatography.

RESULTSExcretion in urine of 8-OHdG were similar for controls (mean 1.2 µmol/mol creatinine, n = 36), and for those who had been in the kitchen room with exhaust hood operation (mean 1.5 µmol/mol creatinine, n = 45). COF exposed cooks without exhaust hood operation had increased excretion of 8-OHdG (mean 2.3 µmol/mol creatinine, n = 18). The difference between this group and the unexposed controls was significant. The urinary levels of ln 1-OHP and ln 8-OHdG were still significantly correlated in a multiple regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONResults indicate that exposure to PAH or possibly other compounds in COF may cause oxidative DNA damage.

Adult ; Air Pollutants, Occupational ; urine ; Cooking ; DNA Damage ; Deoxyguanosine ; analogs & derivatives ; urine ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Exposure ; Oils ; adverse effects ; Oxidative Stress ; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ; adverse effects ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult