Exocytosis is a vital function of many cell types including neuron, endocrine cell and immunocyte. Secretion in immunocytes involves a complex process of signal transduction, in which many factors still remain unknown. In the last 10 years, this area has become an international hot spot of investigation, resulting in many break-through progresses. This progress was made possible by combined efforts in molecular biology, cell biology and biophysics. This review focuses on notable new knowledge and some new techniques in functional study of secretion in immunocytes.
Exocytosis ; physiology ; Humans ; Ion Channels ; physiology ; Lymphocytes ; immunology ; secretion ; Mast Cells ; immunology ; secretion ; Membrane Proteins ; physiology ; Neutrophils ; immunology ; secretion ; SNARE Proteins ; Signal Transduction ; physiology ; Vesicular Transport Proteins

Objective To investigate the pharmacokinetics of floxuridine (FUDR) when administered postoperatively via the celiac axis in experimental animals. Methods Ten healthy prepubertal pigs underwent first radical gastrectomy, then were randomly divided into two groups (each n=5): the one group in which the drug was given via the celiac artery (CAI). and the other in which the drug was administered systemically through a vein (SC). High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was applied to determine the concentration of FUDR in the peripheral blood, tissues surrounding the gastric anastomosis, stomach-neighboring organs and tissues as well as in the related lymph nodes. Results The AUC0-49 and Cmax of FUDR in the tissues neigboring the gastric anastomosis in the liver, pancreas colic mesentery and the Cmax of FUDR in the lymph nodes along the celiac artery and the middle colic vessels, were significantly higher in the CAI group compared with the SC group. There were no significant difference in terms of the Cmax of FUDR in the heart and kidney between the 2 groups. Conclusions A higher concentration of FUDR in the tissues surrounding the gastric anastomosis and in the other neighboring organs and tissues can be achieved in the CAl group, indicating that a better outcome in the treatment and prevention of metastases and recurrence can be obtained through the use of CAI than the SC and without additional toxic reaction.

OBJECTIVETo study the immediate and long-term effects of disasters caused by floods on residents health status.

METHODSStratified sampling by ranks of flood disaster occurred in 1996 and 1998, flood disaster areas and control areas were carried out. A retrospective study was also carried out to study all diseases involved during 1996 - 1999.

RESULTSThe incident rates of acute infectious disease in flooding areas in 1996 and 1998 were both higher than those of non-flooding areas (863.181/100 000 and 736.591/100 000, respectively). But there was no different between the incident rate of the first years in flooding areas and that of non-flooding areas. The prevalence rates of 8 kinds of chronic diseases related to circulatory system, nervous system, digestive system, injury and poisonous diseases in flooding areas were also higher than that in the non-flooding areas. The highest incidence rates of most diseases were in the mountainous flooding areas, followed by areas collapsed by flooding, and the lowest were seen in soakedareas by floods. The incidence rates of intestinal infectious diseases and respiratory infectious diseases were lower in areas where prevention and control measures were weak.

CONCLUSIONFlood could lead to the increase of incidence rates both on acute infectious diseases and non-infectious diseases. Interventions on non-infectious diseases should also be enforced to stop the epidemics when preventing and controlling acute infectious disease.

Acute Disease ; China ; epidemiology ; Chronic Disease ; Communicable Diseases ; epidemiology ; Disasters ; Health Status ; Humans ; Residence Characteristics ; statistics & numerical data ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo study the expenses of hospitalization among the population in the flood disaster areas of Dongting Lake in Hunan province in 1998.

METHODSDescriptive epidemiologic study were conducted to analyze hospitalization expenses of the residents of 55 villages in flood disaster areas in 1998; single factors analysis and logarithmic linear regression analysis were carried out to explore influencing factors about hospitalization expenses of the residents.

RESULTSThe hospitalization rate was 4.59% with an average hospitalization expenses of 667.42 Yuan in the flood disaster areas' residents of Dongting Lake in 1998. Compared with populations without suffering from flood, hospitalization rate and the average hospitalization expenses of flood disaster Areas' residents of Dongting Lake in 1998 were higher and had significant difference. The average hospitalization expenses in 1998 was affected by flood types, family income, gender, age, literacy, occupation, outcome after leaving the hospital and hospital ranks.

CONCLUSIONThese results implied that the flood disease aggravated inhabitants' burden of disease in Dongting Lake areas; the factors influencing the average hospitalization expenses were multiple, and synthetic measures should be taken in the prevention and control of flood disaster.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Cost of Illness ; Disasters ; Female ; Hospital Charges ; statistics & numerical data ; Hospitalization ; economics ; Humans ; Infant ; Linear Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Regression Analysis ; Rural Population

Background::Although the use of expanded-criteria donors (ECDs) alleviates the problem of organ shortage, it significantly increases the incidence of delayed graft function (DGF). DGF is a common complication after kidney transplantation; however, the effect of DGF on graft loss is uncertain based on the published literature. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between DGF and allograft survival.Methods::We conducted a retrospective, multicenter, observation cohort study. A total of 284 deceased donors and 541 recipients between February 2012 and March 2017 were included. We used logistic regression analysis to verify the association between clinical parameters and DGF, and Cox proportional hazards models were applied to quantify the hazard ratios of DGF for kidney graft loss.Results::Among the 284 deceased donors, 65 (22.8%) donors were ECD. Of the 541 recipients, 107 (19.8%) recipients developed DGF, and this rate was higher with ECD kidneys than with standard-criteria donor (SCD) kidneys (29.2% vs. 17.1%; P = 0.003). The 5-year graft survival rate was not significantly different between SCD kidney recipients with and without DGF (95.8% vs. 95.4%; P= 0.580). However, there was a significant difference between ECD kidney recipients with and without DGF (71.4% vs. 97.6%; P = 0.001), and the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for graft loss for recipients with DGF was 1.885 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.305–7.630; P = 0.024). Results showed that induction therapy with anti-thymocyte globulin was protective against DGF (odds ratio= 0.359; 95% CI= 0.197–0.652; P= 0.001) with all donor kidneys and a protective factor for graft survival (HR = 0.308; 95% CI = 0.130–0.728; P = 0.007) with ECD kidneys. Conclusion::DGF is an independent risk factor for graft survival in recipients with ECD kidneys, but not SCD kidneys.