OBJECTIVETo examine the effect of short-term occupational lead exposure on the inflammatory response system in blood among workers.

METHODSA total of 255 lead-exposed workers (length of service ≤1 year) at an electronics factory in Dongguan, China (exposure group), as well as 205 managers without any occupational exposure at another factory (control group), were included in the study. Occupational physical examination was done to get peripheral blood counts. The blood lead levels of workers were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The relationship between blood lead and peripheral hemogram was analyzed using SPSS software.

RESULTSThe exposure group had blood lead levels of 0.07∼1.70 µmol/L, falling within the normal range. The leukocyte count, percentage of granulocytes, and absolute value of granulocytes were significantly higher in the exposure group than in the control group, and the results remained unchanged after adjustment for age and sex (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in red blood cell count and hemoglobin value between the two groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONShort-term occupational lead exposure may increase the counts of inflammatory cells in blood, but it has little effect on red blood cells and hemoglobin.

Adult ; Blood Cell Count ; China ; Electronics ; Female ; Humans ; Lead ; blood ; Lead Poisoning ; blood ; Male ; Occupational Exposure ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the influence of anti-depression therapy on cardiac function and short-term prognosis in elderly patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and the safety and effectiveness of fluoxetine in these patients.Methods Ninety six elderly hospitalized patients with CHF accompanied with depressive disorder were randomly divided into two groups:fluoxetine (20mg once daily)and placebo treated groups based on the routine cardiac drug therapy for 3 months. Results The prevalence rate of depressive disorder in elderly patients with CHF was 31.1%.The length of stay of fluoxetine group was shorter than that of placebo group.The post-treatment depressive exponents of self-rating depression scale(SDS)in fluoxetine group (51.39%?8.63)was lower than those in pretreatment and in placebo group.The improvement of cardiac function in fluoxetine group(53.4%?4.5%) was much better than that of placebo group (P

OBJECTIVETo introduce the WHO 2000 diagnostic criteria of biopsy of colorectal intraepithelial neoplasia and carcinoma and to enhance diagnostic accuracy and avoid overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis.

METHODThe postoperative pathological examination and preoperative biopsy in 56 patients diagnosed as colorectal intraepithelial neoplasia and carcinoma before operation from January 2001 to October 2005 were compared retrospectively.

RESULTSAmong the 56 cases, 16 patients were diagnosed by preoperative biopsy as carcinoma in situ, intramucosal carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, but according to the new standard, of them 14 cases should be revised to be higher grade colorectal intraepithelial neoplasia.

CONCLUSIONSStrictly adhere to the new WHO criteria, colorectal intraepithelial neoplasia and carcinoma can be diagnosed properly, but for the cases that submucosal muscular layer would not presented in biopsy, the diagnosis should be made by combining clinical findings and various examination results so as to avoid underdiagnosis and delay of treatment.

Adult ; Aged ; Biopsy ; Carcinoma ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Carcinoma in Situ ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Colon ; pathology ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Preoperative Care ; Rectum ; pathology ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo assess the clinical value of three-dimensional contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (3D-CE-MRA) in the diagnosis of mesenteric arteriosclerosis.

METHODS3D-CE-MRA of the mesenteric arteries was performed in 21 patients with 23 healthy subjects as the control. After 3D image reconstruction and maxi intense projection, and the abnormalities of the mesenteric arteries were observed and analyzed. The diameter and number of the arterial branches were compared between the patients and the control subjects.

RESULTSAll the 21 patients suffered arteriosclerosis in the arteries other than the mesenteric arteries. On 3D-CE-MRA, mesenteric arteriosclerosis was characterized by thinning of the arterial trunk, luminal stenosis, irregular arterial margins and homo- or heterogeneous thickening of vascular walls. Multiple filling defects were found in the mesenteric artery lumens with reduced second order branches, which showed rigid lining with dashed line appearance or disappeared in some cases. The inferior mesenteric arteries were seen in only 2 patients. The diameters of superior and inferior mesenteric arteries were 3.8-/+0.32 mm and 1.20-/+0.12 mm in the patients, significantly smaller than those of in the control subjects (6.51-/+1.01 mm and 2.90-/+0.90 mm, respectively, P<0.01). The number of the mesenteric artery branch of the patients was also significantly reduced as compared with that in the control subjects (P<0.05). In som cases, the intestinal enhancement was attenuated with the intestinal contraction, dilatation and lowering of the intestinal tension.

CONCLUSION3D-CE-MRA can clearly display mesenteric arteriosclerosis and secondary intestinal changes, and provides a useful means for the diagnosis and assisting the therapy of mesenteric arteriosclerosis.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Arteriosclerosis ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Case-Control Studies ; Contrast Media ; Female ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Magnetic Resonance Angiography ; methods ; Male ; Mesenteric Arteries ; pathology ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVETo identify genes that differentially expressed in Lin(-)CD(34)(-) and Lin(-)CD(34)(+) cells.

METHODSWith Lin(-)CD(34)(-) cells as tester and Lin(-)CD(34)(+) cells as driver, cDNA subtractive library for Lin(-)CD(34)(-) cells was constructed using suppression subtractive hybridization technique. Part of clones in the library were sequenced and the homologue analysis was conducted against the DNA database in GenBank.

RESULTS593 clones containing an average of 300 - 500 bp insert were identified. Of them, 53 randomly selected ESTs were sequenced. Homologue analysis revealed that 37 ESTs represented 10 known genes, and the other 16 ESTs represented 4 novel sequences.

CONCLUSIONPart of specifically expressed genes in Lin(-)CD(34)(-) cells were identified, which maybe related to Lin(-)CD(34)(-) cells' specific characteristics.

Antigens, CD34 ; metabolism ; Cloning, Molecular ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Library ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Nucleic Acid Hybridization

Adult ; Female ; Hemangioma ; surgery ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Spleen ; surgery ; Splenectomy ; methods ; Splenic Neoplasms ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association among serous and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) TNF-alpha level, gene polymorphisms of TNF-alpha and multiple sclerosis (MS) in Han nationality of southern China.

METHODSMS diagnosis was base on Poser (1983) criteria. Fifty-five patients with nonimmulogical diseases and 68 patients with MS from southern China were enrolled in the study, and their TNF-alpha level of serum and CSF were measured by double antibody sandwich ABC-ELISA. TNF-alpha -308G/A in 106 normal healthy subjects and 68 MS patients was genotyped with polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

RESULTSThere was significant difference in the serous TNF-alpha level between nonimmune patients and active MS patients (234+/- 76 pg/mL vs 276+/- 71 pg/mL, P< 0.05), but not in the CSF (245+/- 83 pg/mL vs 265+/- 78 pg/mL, P> 0.05). The gene frequency distribution of TNF-alpha -308G/A was corresponding with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The positive rate of genotype AA and the gene frequency of allele A of TNF-alpha were 4.4% and 14.0% in MS group, and 0 and 8.50% in healthy subjects, there was no statistical significance (P> 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe TNF-alpha level in serum is associated with active MS, but not in the CSF. The gene polymorphisms of TNF-alpha -308G/A is not associated with MS in Han nationality of southern China.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; China ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Sclerosis ; blood ; cerebrospinal fluid ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood ; cerebrospinal fluid ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the performance of BNII auto-analyzer system in detecting C3 and C4.

METHODSCLSI protocols (EP15-A, EP6-A, EP9-A2) and other relevant literatures were use to or evaluate the precision, accuracy, linearity of C3 and C4 detection by the auto-analyzer system, and the results were compared with the recognized standards.

RESULTSThe relative bias of C3 and C4 was less than one third of the CLIA'88 standard and the precision met the clinical requirement. The results tested by DADE BNII system were not compatible with those by Roche Modular System. C3 showed good linearity in the tests (R2>0.975, P<0.05) with a linearity range of 0.18-5.1 g/L. The linearity of C4 was not available because of lack of high-level samples.

CONCLUSIONThe performances of DADE BNII System basically meet the recognized standards in clinical detection of C3 and C4, but the method comparison needs further validation.

Autoanalysis ; methods ; Blood Chemical Analysis ; instrumentation ; methods ; Complement C3 ; analysis ; Complement C4 ; analysis ; Humans ; Nephelometry and Turbidimetry ; instrumentation ; methods ; Proteins ; analysis ; Sensitivity and Specificity

AIMTo investigate glutamate-induced [Ca2+]i changes in cultured rat neonatal cortical astrocytes after hypoxia/reoxygenation, H2O2 or high concentration of L-glutamate injury. In the meantime, the effects of Gingko biloba extract (GbE) were examined.

METHODS[Ca2+]i changes in astrocytes were monitored by laser scanning confocal microscopy with the Ca2+ sensitive fluorescent probe fluo-3.

RESULTSAfter astrocytes were impaired by hypoxia/reoxygenation, H2O2 (50 micromol x L(-1)) or L-glutamate (0.25 mmol x L(-)), the exogenous glutamate (27 micromol x L(-1)) could not induce increase of [Ca2+]i, but decrease by (3.3 +/- 1.6)%, (81 +/- 11)% and (81 +/- 7)%, respectively. Pretreatment with GbE (10 mg x L(-1)) could not improve injured astrocytic glutamate response. But after pretreatment with GbE (100 mg x L(-1)), glutamate-induced [Ca2+]i elevation of astrocytes after hypoxia/reoxygenation, H2O2 or high concentration of L-glutamate injury were (135 +/- 98)%, (117 +/- 93)% and (89 +/- 36)%, respectively. Nimodipine (1.6 mg x L(-1)) could also reverse the abnormal response of astrocytes after different injury.

CONCLUSIONHypoxia/reoxygenation, H2O2 and high concentration of L-glutamate impaired astrocytes' response to exogenous L-glutamate, and then bidirectional communication between astrocytes and neurons could not take place. GbE could improve the abnormal responses and maintain the normal function of astroglical network. These effects support that GbE has potential beneficial actions against brain injury.

Animals ; Astrocytes ; cytology ; metabolism ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Cell Hypoxia ; Cells, Cultured ; Cerebral Cortex ; cytology ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Ginkgo biloba ; chemistry ; Glutamic Acid ; toxicity ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; toxicity ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rats ; Reperfusion Injury

Objective To explore the clinical value of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence navigation combined with carbon nanoparticles (CNP) in sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for patients with early breast cancer. Methods A total of 294 early breast cancer patients with axillary node negative in Department of Breast Surgery, Foshan Hospital Affiliated to Sun Yat-Sen University from June 2013 to April 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Of the patients, 149 cases underwent SLNB with ICG combined with CNP (combination group), while 145 cases underwent SLNB with methylene blue alone (MB group). If the intraoperative pathology results of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) were negative, axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) was avoided. The SLNs detection rate, detection number, metastatic SLNs detection rate in SLNB were compared between two groups. The influence of age and body mass index (BMI) on SLNs detection rate was also analyzed. Results In the combination group, subcutaneous lymphatic channels were successfully visualized in 145 patients, and the detection rate was 97.3％(145/149). The fluorescence of SLNs was successfully detected in 143 patients, and the detection rate was 95.9％(143/149). The detection rate of SLNs was higher in the combination group than that of methylene dye alone group (97.9％vs. 91.0％,χ2=6.902,P<0.05). The average number of detected SLNs was higher in the combination group than that of methylene dye alone group (4.5±1.6 vs. 3.2±1.5,t=4.476,P<0.05). Fifty-eight metastatic SLNs were found in 715 SLNs in the combination group (8.1％), and 26 in 544 SLNs in MB group (4.7％). The detection rate was significantly higher in the combination group than that of methylene dye alone group (χ2=13.714,P<0.01). Age and BMI showed no influence on the detection rate and accuracy of SLNB in two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The combined tracing of ICG fluorescence and carbon nanoparticles for SLNB has showed a better stability and operability in patients with early breast cancer, which is recommended to be a new SLNB method.