Objective To investigate the correlation between augmentation index (AI) of the radial artery and diastolic heart function in patients with hypertension.Methods Echocardiographs were obtained for 305 patients with hypertension.AI,pulse wave velocity (PWV) of peripheral arteries and serum pro-brain natriuretic peptide (proBNP) levels were determined.Correlations and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn between AI values and impaired diastolic function.Results AI levels were significantly increased in patients with impaired diastolic function diagnosed by ultrasound.Assessment of diastolic heart function based on proBNP levels revealed that AI and aortic pulse wave velocity were significantly elevated in patients with impaired diastolic function.The operating curve indicated that AI may be a more accurate and efficient index for the evaluation of impaired diastolic function compared to pWV.Correlation analysis also showed that proBNP levels had altered in parallel with changes in AI and PWV.After adjusting for various factors including age,gender,blood pressure and blood lipid,a positive correlation was observed between proBNP and AI with a correlation coefficient of 0.3697 (P =0.003).However,no correlation between proBNP and aortic PWV was seen after adjustment.Conclusions Changes in radial AI levels may reflect parallel changes in diastolic cardiac function in patients with hypertension,suggesting that AI may be utilized as a non-invasive clinical indicator of diastolic heart function.

Animals ; Arrestins ; metabolism ; Hypoxia ; metabolism ; Male ; Prefrontal Cortex ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled ; metabolism ; beta-Arrestin 1 ; beta-Arrestins

Objective To investigate a simple and efficient fluorescence in situ hybridization method for prenatal diagnosis.Methods Thirty-six cases of chorionic villus samples were hybridized with probes 18/X/Y,13/21 by using traditional cuhure methods and modified three-step methods in controlled experimentation during 2012 to 2013.The hybridization rate and fluorescence signals were analyzed.Results A total of 72 hybrid zone were detected.Probe 21/13 hybridization rate and fluorescence signals of three-step modified methods were higher than that of traditional methods(99.72％ ±0.42％ vs 85.90％ ±4.15％,t =20.4,P ＜0.01; 2.58 ±0.50 vs 1.52 ± 0.55,t =7.53,P ＜0.01).Probe 18/X/Y has the same hybridization rate and fluorescence signals between three-step modified methods and traditional methods (99.57％ ±0.53％ vs99.70％ ±0.42％,t=1.30,P＞0.05; 2.22±0.42 vs2.36±0.48,t=1.57,P＞0.05).The coincidence rate of two methods was 100％ (36/36).Conclusion The modified fluorescence in situ hybridization three-step methods in the study was simple,rapid,effective and environment-friendly.At the same time,it has some defects such as the signals of 18/X/Y was not concentrated enough.Further exploration is needed.

Objective To investigate the fear and attitude of the common people to some threatening diseases .Methods Accord-ing to the age and sex structure of the whole nation ,500 common people were randomly enrolled in the public places of Chongqing main urban area .Firstly ,the respondents were asked to name three diseases they feared most .Then their fear degrees to eight im-portant diseases were performed the questionnaire survey .Results The top ten diseases that common people fear most by their own words were cancer ,AIDS ,heart disease ,hypertension ,stroke ,leukemia ,chronic liver diseases ,diabetes mellitus ,dementia and de-pression successively .Meanwhile ,their fear to the eight important diseases ,which was determined by the ratio of people who did fear to all ,were cancer(94 .2% ) ,traffic accidents(89 .2% ) ,heart disease(85 .0% ) ,AIDS(79 .4% ) ,tuberculosis(76 .8% ) ,hepatitis B(76 .6% ) ,Alzheimer′s disease(73 .4% ) and depression(69 .0% ) .Further analysis showed that such fear was significantly influ-enced by age ,sex and education level .Conclusion The knowledge and perception of common people about certain diseases is one-si-ded ,and their health awareness should be improved .

Appropriate selection and measurement of lead biomarkers of exposure are critically important for health care management purposes, public health decision making, and primary prevention synthesis. Lead is one of the neurotoxicants that seems to be involved in the etiology of psychologies. Biomarkers are generally classified into three groups: biomarkers of exposure, effect, and susceptibility.The main body compartments that store lead are the blood, soft tissues, and bone; the half-life of lead in these tissues is measured in weeks for blood, months for soft tissues, and years for bone. Within the brain, lead-induced damage in the prefrontal cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum can lead to a variety of neurological disorders, such as brain damage, mental retardation, behavioral problems, nerve damage, and possibly Alzheimer's disease, Parkinsons disease, and schizophrenia. This paper presents an overview of biomarkers of lead exposure and discusses the neurotoxic effects of lead with regard to children and adults.
Alzheimer Disease ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology ; psychology ; Animals ; Behavior ; drug effects ; Biomarkers ; metabolism ; Brain ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Brain Diseases ; chemically induced ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Environmental Exposure ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Lead ; pharmacokinetics ; toxicity ; Lead Poisoning ; etiology ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology ; psychology ; Neurotoxicity Syndromes ; etiology ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology ; psychology ; Parkinson Disease, Secondary ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology ; psychology ; Schizophrenia ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; pathology ; physiopathology

This study reported the analysis of plasma phospholipid metabolism of the rats and the pathological biomarkers between the type 2 diabetes model control group (MC) and the normal control group (NC). SD rats were randomly divided into 2 groups: NC and MC. To investigate state of plasma metabolite profiling in normal body, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) model group using UPLC-Q-TOF/MS which was used as analysis tool in this research. The compounds were identified by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS based on MS/MS fragment ions information, element composition in MassLynx 4.1 and the Lipid Maps database. The sign of two groups of samples in specific markers for screening was through a software package in R software (BioMark software). The results show that the pathological markers were mainly phosphatidylcholine (PC) and triglycerides (TG); the 2-acyl PC in the MC group was less more obviously than that in the NC group; high carbon number and high degree of unsaturation of the TG was reduced under the condition of type 2 diabetes. In the state of type 2 diabetes, metabolic changes occurred in rat plasma phospholipids obviously, which had a close relationship with the occurrence and development of T2DM.
Animals ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; blood ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; blood ; Metabolome ; Phospholipids ; blood ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

HIF-1 is composed of HIF-1α and HIF-1β subunits. It promotes target genes transcription under hypoxia and plays essential roles in cell development, physiological adaptations, and pathological processes. In the past 10 years, the research on signaling pathways of HIF-1 in response to cell hypoxia stress, especially on HIF-1α-mediated gene transcription has made great progress.
Animals ; Cell Hypoxia ; physiology ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction

Objective To evaluate the effect of health education on controlling endemic fluorosis in Shaanxi Province between 2004 and 2006. Methods Hanbin, Pingli, Ziyang and Hanyin were selected for the investigation in 2004;in addition to the four areas, Zhengping, Shiquan and Langao were also for the investigation in 2006. Two schools were selected in each area, and 2 villages as the investigation spots. Fifty pupils in the fifth grade in each school, and 30 housewives between 25 - 50 years old in each village were chosen as the research subjects. Referring to the health education questionnaire in Technique Scheme of Endemic Disease Prevention Granted by Central Government of 2004, the degree of health education of endemic fluorine, arsenic poisoning in pupils and housewives were investigated. Results In 2004 and 2006, the average mark of pupils in school was 54.7 and 83.6, the pass rate was 57.5% (230/400) and 90.2% (629/697), respectively;the average mark of housewives was 59.7 and 83.9, the passing rate was 59.6% (143/240), 87.6%(338/386) respectively, indicating that the outcome was improved obviously in 2006 compared to that in 2004. Conclusions In the past three years, health knowledge of endemic arsenic and fluorosis has been improved among pupils and housewives in these areas.

Objective To report the outcome of emergency repair traumatized limbs by vascularized free tissue transplantation.Methods From April 1988 to August 2004,86 patients,58 men and 28 women,had undergone emergency vascularized free tissue transplantation to have their injured limbs repaired in 54 cases and the missing thumbs reconstructed in 32.The patients aged from 5 to 55 (mean 27.9) years. The transplants included latissimus dorsi myocutaneons flap,anterolateral femoral skin flap,medial crural skin flaps,dorsal pedal flaps,medial plantar flap,composite tissue mass of the discarded limbs and big toe skin- nail flap.The operations were performed 1 to 5 days after injuries.Results Postoperative vascular crises occurred in 8 cases and were all followed by exploration with successes in 5 cases while failure in 3.The total survival rate of the transplants was 96.5% (83/86).In this series all the patients were followed up for 1 to 16 years with a mean of 7.5 years only to reveal satisfying functional recovery in all the repaired limbs and an ex- cellent and good rate of 87.5% in the reconstructed thumbs.Conclusion Emergency vascularized free tis- sue transplantation is an effective way to repair a traumatized limb and to reconstruct a traumatically missing thumb.

OBJECTIVETo assess whether the existing three types of pharmacogenetics-based Warfarin dosing algorithms appropriately predict the actual maintenance dose in Han Chinese mechanical heart valve replacement patients (n = 130).

METHODSThe patients' CYP2C9 and VKORC1 genetic polymorphisms were detected by PCR-RFLP. The genotype of CYP2C9, VKORC1 and other information were used to calculate predicted doses. Accuracy of the models was assessed using the absolute value of the difference between predicted dose and actual dose, calculated on both an absolute and percentage basis. Actual weekly dose was also regressed on predicted weekly dose, from which we obtained R(2) values. Clinical accuracy of the predictions was assessed by computing the proportion in which the predicted dose was 20% or more below the actual dose (under dosed), within 20% of the actual dose (ideally dosed), or 20% or greater above the actual dose (over dosed).

RESULTSThe average absolute error is the smallest for the predictions made by the Wen model (3.74 mg/wk), followed by the Ohno model (4.07 mg/wk) and IWPC model (5.05 mg/wk). R(2) was 40.2% in the Wen model, 38.2% in the Ohno model and 26.7% in the IWPC model. When comparing the percentage of patients for whom the predicted doses were ideal, the Wen model works the best (50.0%) in low-dose group (≤ 21 mg/wk), but the Ohno model works the best (85.29%) in middle-dose group (21 - 49 mg/wk), followed by the Wen model.

CONCLUSIONThe best accuracy is achieved by the Wen model and the best clinical accuracy is obtained by the Ohno model for predicting the actual maintenance dose in Han Chinese mechanical heart valve replacement patients.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Anticoagulants ; administration & dosage ; Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases ; genetics ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C9 ; Drug Design ; Female ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase (Quinone) ; genetics ; Pharmacogenetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Warfarin ; administration & dosage ; Young Adult