OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor 1 (LOX-1) on secretion of adhesive molecules mediated by ox-LDL in human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVECs).

METHODSHUVECs with different concentration of ox-LDL (0, 10, 20, 50, 100 microg/ml) were incubated for 24 h, or HUVECs were pretreated with 250 microg/ml poly (I) or 250 microg/ml carrageenan for 2 h and then incubated with 50 microg/ml ox-LDL for another 24 h. Expression of LOX-1 was determined by realtime RT-PCR and Western blot. mRNA and protein of ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin were examined by RT-PCR and Western blot respectively.

RESULTSIncubation of HUVECs with ox-LDL (10-100 microg/ml) enhanced the expressions of LOX-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin in a concentration-dependent manner (P < 0.01). On the contrary, ox-LDL did not affect the expression of VCAM-1 by HUVECs. The expression of LOX-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin induced by ox-LDL were reduced in HUVECs pretreated with 250 microg/ml poly (I) or 250 microg/ml carrageenan for 2 h and then incubated with 50 microg/ml ox-LDL for 24 h. This showed that both poly (I) and carrageenan obviously decreased the expression of LOX-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin induced by ox-LDL.

CONCLUSIONox-LDL may upregulate the expression of LOX-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin, and LOX-1 blocker may partly inhibit this upregulation. The results suggest that the expression of inflammatory molecules induced by ox-LDL in HUVECs is mediated by LOX-1.

Cell Adhesion ; Cell Adhesion Molecules ; Cells, Cultured ; E-Selectin ; metabolism ; Endothelial Cells ; metabolism ; Endothelium, Vascular ; metabolism ; Humans ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; metabolism ; Lipoproteins, LDL ; biosynthesis ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Receptors, Oxidized LDL ; metabolism ; Scavenger Receptors, Class E ; metabolism ; Umbilical Veins ; cytology ; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationships between alcohol expectancy,cultural orientation, self-efficacy and drinking behavior to provide theoretical support for the development of education programs aimed at preventing alcohol abuse among adolescents.

METHODSAn anonymous quantitative survey of 2756 tenth and eleventh grade students in six senior high schools in Zhengzhou and Xinyang city of Henan province was conducted in November 2005 and data was analyzed by SPSS 13.0 software.

RESULTSThe overall rate of drinking alcohol among participants was 56.5%. The median score of cultural orientation was 3.25 (3.09, 3.42); of alcohol expectancy was 3.02 (2.81, 3.23); and 79.64 (60.36, 93.21) of alcohol self-efficacy. Direct or indirect relationships were found between Chinese traditional cultural orientation, western cultural orientation, alcohol positive expectancy, alcohol negative expectancy, alcohol self-efficacy and alcohol drinking behavior. Lower monthly drinking habit was directly associated with higher self-efficacy and higher negative expectancies,lower positive expectancies and lower western cultural orientation (coefficients = -0.346, -0.282, 0.234 and 0.162 respectively), but not with Chinese cultural orientation variables.

CONCLUSIONThe current situation of alcohol drinking among the participants was critical. Drinking behavior seemed most affected by drinking beliefs and cultural orientation, suggesting that the development of education programs should focus on students' beliefs.

Adolescent ; Alcohol Drinking ; psychology ; Alcoholism ; prevention & control ; China ; Culture ; Female ; Health Education ; Humans ; Male ; Self Efficacy ; Students ; psychology

OBJECTIVETo explore the factors influencing failure of an immunization to interrupt perinatal (mother-to-child) transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV).

METHODSBetween June 2006 and March 2010, a total of 1355 pregnant women testing positive for the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), at gestational weeks 20 to 42, and without use of antiviral or immunomodulatory drugs during the pregnancy were prospectively recruited to the study. The mothers were given a choice of receiving hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG; three 200 IU intramuscular injections give at four-week intervals starting from gestation week 28) or not. All neonates (1360, including five sets of twins) received hepatitis B vaccine (10 mug) plus HBIG (200 IU) combined immunization within 24 h of birth, as early as possible. Peripheral venous blood samples were collected from the neonates within 24 h of birth and at 7 and 12 months of age for detection of HBV markers, including hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and HBV DNA. The infants were classified according to HBV perinatal transmission status (infection group and non-infection group) and various factors (maternal-related: age, gravidity, parity; pregnancy/birth-related: threatened premature labor, complications; neonate-related: sex, birth weight, apgar score) were compared between the two groups by using non-conditional logistic regression analysis to determine their potential influence on failure of immunization to inhibit transmission.

RESULTSAfter 12 months of follow-up, 1.54% (21/1360) of the neonates had presented with HBV infection. Analysis of the HBV-infected neonates revealed differences in infection rates between neonates born to mothers with HBIG injection (2.22% vs. without HBIG injection: 1.11%, P less than 0.05) and caesarean section (1.35% vs. vaginal delivery: 1.73%) but neither reached statistical significance (P less than 0.05); only the practice of breastfeeding showed a significant difference for infection rate, with neonates fed artificial formula having higher infection rate (3.13%) than the breastfed neonates (0.27%, P less than 0.05). The neonate HBV infection rate was also significantly higher for neonates born to HBeAg-positive mothers (4.44% vs. HBeAg-negative mothers: 0%, P less than 0.05) and HBV DNA-positive mothers (3.13% vs. HBV DNA-negative mothers: 0%, P less than 0.05). When the mothers were stratified by serum level of HBV DNA, there was a significant difference in HBV-infected neonates born to mothers with more than or equal to 1*10(7) IU/ml(6.01% vs. 10(3)-10(6) IU/ml: 0.56% and less than 1*10(3) IU/ml: 0%, both P less than 0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the independent risk factors for HBV perinatal transmission despite immunization were maternal serum HBeAg-positive status (relative risk (RR)=31.74, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.88-259.38) and maternal HBV DNA of ≥ 10⁷ copies/mL (RR=22.58, 95% CI: 4.75-107.40).

CONCLUSIONFailure of vaccine plus HBIG to interrupt mother-to-child transmission of HBV is influenced by maternal serum HBeAg-positive status and maternal HBV DNA of ≥10⁷ copies/mL.

Adult ; DNA, Viral ; blood ; Female ; Hepatitis B ; prevention & control ; transmission ; virology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; blood ; Hepatitis B Vaccines ; therapeutic use ; Hepatitis B virus ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; therapeutic use ; Infant, Newborn ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical ; prevention & control ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious ; prevention & control ; virology ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second ; Pregnancy Trimester, Third ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Viral Load

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical characteristics and treatment of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), in order to improve the early diagnosis and effective treatment. METHODS: Clinical data of five children with ALL developing PCP in the post-chemotherapy granulocyte deficiency phase were analyzed retrospectively. The clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, imaging findings, treatment methods and effect were summarized. RESULTS: The male-to-female ratio of the five children was 1∶4, and the median age was 5.5 (2.9-8) years old. All patients developed PCP during granulocyte deficiency phase after induction remission chemotherapy. The clinical manifestations were generally non-specific, including high fever, tachypnea, dyspnea, non-severe cough, and rare rales in two lungs (wet rales in two patients). Laboratory tests showed elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), serum procalcitonin (PCT), (1,3)-β-D-glucan (BDG), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and inflammatory factors including IL-2R, IL-6 and IL-8. Chest CT showed diffuse bilateral infiltrates with patchy hyperdense shadows. Pneumocystis carinii(PC) was detected in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) or induced sputum by high-throughput sequencing in all patients. When PCP was suspected, chemotherapy was discontinued immediately, treatment of trimethoprim-sulfame thoxazole (TMP-SMX) combined with caspofungin against PC was started, and adjunctive methylprednisolone was used. Meanwhile, granulocyte-stimulating factor and gammaglobulin were given as the supportive treatment. All patients were transferred to PICU receiving mechanical ventilation due to respiratory distress during treatment. Four children were cured and one died. CONCLUSION PCP should be highly suspected in ALL children with high fever, dyspnea, increased LDH and BDG, and diffuse patchy hyperdense shadow or solid changes in lung CT. The pathogen detection of respiratory specimens should be improved as soon as possible. TMP/SMZ is the first-line drug against PCP, and the combination of Caspofungin and TMP/SMZ treatment for NH-PCP may have a better efficacy. Patients with moderate and severe NH-PCP may benefit from glucocorticoid.
Caspofungin/therapeutic use* ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Pneumonia, Pneumocystis/therapy* ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/therapy* ; Respiratory Sounds ; Retrospective Studies

Stem cell growth factor (SCGF) is an early-acting hematopoitic cytokine that has two isoforms including hSCGF with full length molecules and hSCGFbeta, 78 amino acids of which lost in the conserved calcium-dependent carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD). It has been demonstrated that hSCGFbeta is strictly species-specific in regulating he-matopoiesis. This study was aimed to explore whether human SCGF can exert synergistic stimulatory effect on heterogenous murine CFU-GM progenitor. Firstly, hSCGF cDNA was amplified from human fetal liver cDNA library by using two-step PCR. The hSCGF mature peptide coding sequence was subsequently placed at downstream of glutathione S-transferase (GST) sequence in GST gene fusion expression vector. The results indicated that there existed an additional 60 kD protein compared with mock BL21 when the cells hosting recombinant plasmid were induced with IPTG at 37 degrees C. SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated that the GST-hSCGF fusion protein mainly existed in insoluble form. When induced at low temperature (28 degrees C), the recombinant protein was mostly soluble. The GST-fusion recombinant protein was subsequently purified by using affinity chromatography. The clonogenic assay revealed that, unlike hSCGFbeta, hSCGF had the granulocyte/macrophage promoting activity (GPA) for murine bone marrow GM progenitor. It is concluded that, in contrast to human SCGFbeta, the intact molecular hSCGF may have no species specificity, implying that CRD domain in human SCGFbeta does not directly bind to corresponding SCGF receptor, but may have certain biological function.
Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Hematopoiesis ; genetics ; Humans ; Species Specificity ; Stem Cell Factor ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo investigate the safety and effect of nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) in treatment of T1a and T1b renal cell carcinoma.

METHODSRetrospective analyzed the clinical data of 101 patients with T1 renal cell carcinoma underwent NSS from November 1999 to December 2009.Including 79 male and 22 female with the mean age of 52.3 years (ranged 28 to 79 years). Based on tumor pathologic diameter, 101 patients were divided into T1a group with 62 patient and T1b group with 39 cases. Demographic, intraoperative, postoperative and follow-up data were compared between the 2 groups.

RESULTSThe operation were performed successfully in all the 101 cases. The mean operation time was (151 ± 80) min in group T1a and (158 ± 50) min in group T1b with no statistical difference (P = 0.32). The mean blood loss was (322 ± 596) ml in group T1a and (308 ± 239) ml in group T1b (P = 0.45). Postoperative follow-up ranged from 8 to 102 months with a mean of 38.4 months. One patient in T1b group died of distant metastasis 36 months after operation. Others were no tumor recurred.

CONCLUSIONNephron-sparing surgery is safe and effective for the treatment of T1a and T1b renal cell carcinoma.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Kidney Neoplasms ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo determine the prevalence of urolithiasis in young children fed infant formula (IF) contaminated with melamine, and the association between IF consumption and urolithiasis.

DESIGNA total of 2 733 children < or = 3 years of age on September 1, 2008 in two townships of Gansu Province, China were studied. Cases of urolithiasis were diagnosed by ultrasonography. Milk product consumption was determined by their caregivers. Remaining IF samples were tested for melamine and cyanuric acid.

RESULTSOf 2 733 eligible children in the two townships, 2 186 (80%) were enrolled in our study. Overall, 16.6% (362) of 2 186 children had urolithiasis. The prevalence was 24.6% in children exclusively fed Sanlu brand IF, 9.7% in those fed other IF, and 8.5% in those fed exclusively on other milk products. For children exclusively breast-fed, no urolithiasis was found (P < 0.05). The prevalence of urolithiasis was 11.4% in children fed 400 g of Sanlu IF, rising to 37.5% in children fed over 25 600 g. Of 48 Sanlu IF samples, 91.7% contained melamine (median = 1 800 ppm; range = 45-4 700) and 66.7% contained cyanuric acid (median = 1.2 ppm; range = 0.4-6.3). Melamine was also detected in 22.2% of 36 other brand IF (median = 27.5 ppm, range = 4-50).

CONCLUSIONSUrolithiasis was associated with melamine-contaminated IF. Although one product caused most morbidity, other milk products may have also contributed to the outbreak.

Child, Preschool ; Data Collection ; Food Contamination ; Humans ; Infant Food ; analysis ; Triazines ; toxicity ; Urolithiasis ; chemically induced

BackgroundOne of the main aims of the updated Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System Version 2 (PI-RADS v2) is to diminish variation in the interpretation and reporting of prostate imaging, especially among readers with varied experience levels. This study aimed to retrospectively analyze diagnostic consistency and accuracy for prostate disease among six radiologists with different experience levels from a single center and to evaluate the diagnostic performance of PI-RADS v2 scores in the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (PCa).

MethodsFrom December 2014 to March 2016, 84 PCa patients and 99 benign prostatic shyperplasia patients who underwent 3.0T multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging before biopsy were included in our study. All patients received evaluation according to the PI-RADS v2 scale (1-5 scores) from six blinded readers (with 6 months and 2, 3, 4, 5, or 17 years of experience, respectively, the last reader was a reviewer/contributor for the PI-RADS v2). The correlation among the readers' scores and the Gleason score (GS) was determined with the Kendall test. Intra-/inter-observer agreement was evaluated using κ statistics, while receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve analyses were performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the scores.

ResultsBased on the PI-RADS v2, the median κ score and standard error among all possible pairs of readers were 0.506 and 0.043, respectively; the average correlation between the six readers' scores and the GS was positive, exhibiting weak-to-moderate strength (r = 0.391, P = 0.006). The AUC values of the six radiologists were 0.883, 0.924, 0.927, 0.932, 0.929, and 0.947, respectively.

ConclusionThe inter-reader agreement for the PI-RADS v2 among the six readers with different experience is weak to moderate. Different experience levels affect the interpretation of MRI images.

Objective: To analyze the changes in tobacco use and exposure in primary school students in Shandong province in 2012 and 2019. Methods: A multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling method was used in the survey. In 2012 and 2019, 5 861 and 4 021 students from 3 different cities of Shandong province were selected as the study population. The questionnaire was filled anonymously by the subjects. χ² test was conducted to compare the difference of groups. Results: In 2012 and 2019, the rate of attempting smoking among pupils under this study in Shandong province were 6.0％and 6.3%, respectively, while the current smoking rate were 1.2％and 2.3%, respectively. The sex ratio of male and female students attempting to smoke was 2.56∶1 in 2012 and 1.31∶1 in 2019. The sex ratio of current smoking rate was 2.43∶1 and 2.00∶1, respectively in 2012 and in 2019. The rate of tobacco exposure in the public places was 50.5％and 41.4%, respectively. The rate of tobacco exposure in family was 49.7% and 46.4%, respectively. Two rates of tobacco exposure decreased, but the reduction in family (3.3%) was far less than that in public places (9.1%). In 2019, the rate of tobacco exposure in family was higher than that in public places. Conclusions: The tobacco exposure rate declined in senior pupils in Shandong province. However, the situation is still grim for the current smoking rate, growth trend of girls tobacco use, and tobacco exposure in family.
Cities ; Environment ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Prevalence ; Students ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution ; Tobacco Use/epidemiology*

In this study, we investigated the anti-osteoporotic activity and mechanism of action of extract of Panax quiquefolium L. based on zebrafish model combined with metabolomics technology. A zebrafish model of prednisolone-induced osteoporosis was used to compare the anti-osteoporotic activity of Panax quiquefolium L., and the expression of osteoblast-associated genes and osteoclast-associated genes in zebrafish was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), using bone fluorescence area and fluorescence density as evaluation indexes. Metabolomics based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) was used to explore the change patterns of biomarkers and the metabolic pathways affected. The results showed that the 50% ethanol extracts of Panax quiquefolium L. from Jilin, Canada, Wenden and the United States can significantly improve the bone fluorescence area of zebrafish compared with model group. Furthermore, four sources 50% ethanol extracts of Panax quiquefolium L. except United States also can significantly improve the bone fluorescence density of zebrafish. In addition, PCR showed that extract of Panax quiquefolium L. can significantly up-regulated the expression of vitamin D receptor b (vdrb), collagen type I α2 (col1a2) and cysteine-rich acidic secreted protein (sparc) genes, and down-regulated the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (mmp9), anti-tartrase acid phosphatase (trap) and cathepsin K (ctsk) genes. Metabolomic analysis identified 24 key differential metabolites. Furthermore, pathway analysis showed that Panax quiquefolium L. could regulate the levels of 10 key biomarkers by participating in purine metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle and pentose phosphate metabolism and improve the osteoporosis status of zebrafish. This study preliminically revealed the anti-osteoporosis mechanism of 50% ethanol extract from Panax quiquefolium L. through multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway and also provides theoretical basis for clinical development and utilization of anti-osteoporosis products of Panax quiquefolium L. This experiment was approved by the Experimental Animal Welfare Ethics Committee of the Institute of Biology, Shandong Academy of Sciences (approval number: SWS20181002).