Objective To establish a PCR-RFLP method for detection of CD26 mutation of hemoglobin E(HbE)gene.Methods The genome DNA from the family members who were suspected of having HbE combined with beta-thalassemia was amplified using PCR.The PCR products were digested by restriction endonuclease Mnl I,and then separated on PAGE.The electrophoretical patterns were finally analyzed to confirm if CD26 mutation was present or not.Results Four cases with CD26 mutation in two families were successfully screened out.Conclusion Although the incident frequency of CD26 mutation in Sichuan population is not high,it must not be neglected since it may present alone or combined with other type of thalassemia.PCR-RFLP method described in this study is available in screening mutated HbE gene and treating the disease owing to its simplicity,rapidity and specificity.

Objective To evaluate the relationship of left atrial (LA) size and phasic function in hypertension (HT).Methods Data of 589 HT patients in an urban community of Beijing was analyzed.LA global longitudinal strain in late diastole (Sa),early diastole (Se),and total strain (Stot =Sa + Se),strain rate in late diastole (SRa),systole (SRs),and early diastole (SRe) were measured using off-line speckletracking echocardiography analyzing software,and were compared among groups (normal,mild,moderate and severe enlargement) divided by LA volume index.Results LA reservoir parameters[Stot:(21.4 ± 5.8)％,(20.8±5.4)％,(19.7±4.5％),(17.8±7.4)％,P =0.012;SRs:(1.1±0.3)s-1,(1.0±0.3)s-1,(1.0 ±0.2)s-1,(0.9 ±0.3)s-1,P =0.001] and contraction parameters[Sa:(11.7±4.0)％,(11.1 ± 3.3)％,(9.9±2.6)％,(8.9±4.5)％,P＜0.001;SRa:(1.6±0.6)s-1,(1.4±0.4)s 1,(1.3±0.4)s-1,(1.1 ± 0.6)s 1,P ＜ 0.001] deteriorated from normal to severe enlarged LA groups,while conduit parameters (Se and SRe) had no difference (P ＞0.05).Conclusions LA enlargement in HT associated with deteriorated reservoir and contraction function and unaffected conduit function.

The ecosystem characteristics of soil microorganism and the nutrient uptake of irrigated rice were investigated in a split-block experiment with different fertilization treatments, including control (no fertilizer application), PK, NK, NP, NPK fertilization, in the main block, and conventional rice and hybrid rice comparison, in the sub block. Average data of five treatments in five years indicated that the indigenous N supply (INS) capacity ranged from 32.72 to 93.21 kg/ha; that indigenous P supply (IPS) capacity ranged from 7.42 to 32.25 kg/ha; and that indigenous K supply (IKS) capacity ranged from 16.24 to 140.51 kg/ha, which showed that soil available nutrient pool depletion might occur very fast and that P, K deficiency has become a constraint to increasing yields of consecutive crops grown without fertilizer application. It was found that soil nutrient deficiency and unbalanced fertilization to rice crop had negative effect on the diversity of the microbial community and total microbial biomass in the soil. The long-term fertilizer experiment (LTFE) also showed that balanced application of N, P and K promoted microbial biomass growth and improvement of community composition. Unbalanced fertilization reduced microbial N and increased C/N ratio of the microbial biomass. Compared with inbred rice, hybrid rice behavior is characterized by physiological advantage in nutrient uptake and lower internal K use efficiency.
Agriculture ; methods ; Ecosystem ; Fertilizers ; Oryza ; drug effects ; microbiology ; physiology ; Soil Microbiology

Animals ; Electromagnetic Fields ; Embryo, Mammalian ; metabolism ; Female ; Mice ; Pregnancy ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of speckle-tracking echocardiography in detecting left atrial (LA) function impairment in early hypertensive (HT) patients.Methods Echocardiography was performed in 154 HT patients with LA volume index ＜28 ml/m2 and 64 age/gender-matched control subjects.LA global longitudinal strain in late diastole (Sa),systole (Ss),and total strain (Stot =Sa + Ss),strain rate in late diastole (SRa),systole (SRs),and early diastole (SRe) were measured using off-line speckle-tracking analyzing software in apical 4 chamber view.Results Both parameters reflecting LA reservoir function [Stot (23.7 ± 6.0) ％ vs (25.7 ± 5.9) ％,p =0.03 and SRs ( 1.2 ± 0.3) s- 1 vs ( 1.3 ±0.3) s-1,P =0.03]and conduit function [Ss (12.0 ± 5.1)％ vs (14.0±5.7)％,P =0.02 and SRe (1.0 ± 0.4)s- 1 vs ( 1.2 ± 0.4)s- 1,p ＜0.001 ]decreased significantly in HT group than control,while LA pump function parameters (Sa and SRa) had no differences.Ss,Stot and SRe correlated significantly with HT and HT duration.Conclusions LA phasic function are impaired in HT patients with normal LA size.Speckle tracking echocardiography is a promising tool for the early detection of LA dysfunction.

Objective To observe the curative effect of herbal iontophoresis with rotation manipulation treating lumbar disc herniation.Methods 84 patients from July 2011 to July 2012 with lumber disc herniation in Electric Power hospital of Capital Medical University were randomly divided into two groups (a testing group n=42,a control group n=42).The testing group was treated with herbal iontophoresis and rotation manipulation,and the control group was treated with rotation manipulation only.The Visual Analogue Scale and Macnab standard for curative effect were observed before the treatment and 3 weeks later after the treatment.Results The total effective rate was 88.1％ and 66.7％ in the testing group and the control group respectively,the difference between two groups was statistically significant (chi-square=5.51,P=0.02＜0.05).The VAS before and after treatment in testing group were (7.31±1.39) and (2.41±1.62) respectively,compared with (7.19± 1.38) and (3.07± 1.28) in the control group.The VAS and curative effect indexes were both improved in the two groups,but the testing group increased more apparent,and the difference between the two groups was significant (P＜0.05).Conclusion The curative effect of herbal iontophoresis and rotation manipulation treating lumber disc herniation was sound.

Objective To assess the effect of combined hypertension (HT) and aging on left atrial (LA) size and phasic function.Methods This evaluation was based on the data from a cross-sectional study including 738 subjects with high risk for cardiovascular disease from an urban community in Beijing.Subjects were divided into 3 groups according to age (41-59,60-69 and ≥70 years) and further into HT and non-HT sub-groups.LA volume index were calculated and LA global longitudinal strain in late diastole (Sa),early diastole (Se),and total strain (Stot =Sa + Se),and strain rate in late diastole (SRa),systole (SRs),and early diastole (SRe) were measured using off-line speckle-tracking echocardiography.Results LA volume index increased significantly in HT groups with aging,whereas no changes could be viewed in non-HT subjects among all age groups.LA conduit index (Se and SRe) decreased with aging in both HT and non-HT subjects with more sever in HT subjects than in non-HT subjects in all age groups.The LA conduit index in 41-59 year-HT,and in 60-69 year-HT subjects were comparable with that in 60-69 year-non-HT subjects [Se (11.0 ±4.4)％ vs (11.6 ±4.7)％,SRe (1.0 ±0.4) s-1 vs (1.0 ±-0.3) s-1],and in ≥70 year-non-HT subjects [Se(10.1 ±4.0)％ vs (9.5 ±5.4)％,SRe (0.9 ±0.3)s-1 vs (0.8 ± 0.4) s-1],respectively.LA reservoir (Stot and SRs) and contraction (Sa and SRa) index also decreased with aging in HT but not in non-HT subjects.Conclusions Aging along does not lead to LA enlargement in subjctes,but it does when combined HT.There is synergistic effect of HT and aging on LA volume and phasic function.

Objective:To investigate the correlation between anthropometric indices and arteriosclerosis detection indicators in the middle-aged and the elderly .Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was made of 1 626 individuals ( diabetics patients 23.37%, hypertensive subjects 39.48% and healthy individuals 37.15%), aged 45 to 90 years [mean age:(61.60 ±10.22) years)] in Shijingshan Dis-trict, Beijing.Their measurements:body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist to height ratio ( WHtR ) .Arterial stiffness was assessed according to brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), intima-media thickness (IMT), augmentation index (AI) and ankle-brachial index (ABI), which were measured by noninvasive detectors and equipment .The correlations between the various indi-cators were analyzed .Results:The percentages of the hypertensive and diabetic groups of central obesity ( male WC>85 cm, female WC >80 cm or WHtR>0.5 ) and of general obesity ( BMI>28 kg/m2 ) were significantly higher than those of the healthy group ( P<0 .01 ) .The difference between the two disease groups was not significant ( P>0 .05 ) .There was a moderate positive correlation between the measures of abdominal obesity (WHtR and WC) and the general obesity indicators (BMI) (r=0.710 and 0.716) .In the healthy group , WC and WHtR showed positive correlation with baPWV , IMT and ABI, and negative correlation with AI 75 .BMI showed positive correlation with IMT and negative correla-tion with AI75 , and no correlation with baPWV and ABI .There was negative correlation between BMI and baPWV in the diabetic group .In the hypertension group , we found negative correlation between BMI and baPWV, maximum IMT, AI75 , and also between WC and AI 75 .The simple regression straight line of baPWV versus the anthropometric parameters showed that the regression equations were y =0 .949 +1.379 x (baPWV vs.WHtR, R2 =0.046, P<0.001) and y=1.133+0.006x (baPWV vs.WC, R2 =0.027, P<0.001), respectively.baPWV and BMI did not have a linear relationship (P =0.62). Conclusion:WHtR and WC are superior to BMI indices in predicting arteriosclerosis .Anthropometric measurements for central obesity are good predictors of cardiovascular risk .

Objective To compare the anterograde amnesia produced by midazolam,propofol and dexmedetomidine when used to supplement sedation during neuraxial anesthesia.Methods Sixty patients of both sexes,aged 18-50 yr,with body mass index of 23-26 kg/m2,of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅰ or Ⅱ,scheduled for elective operation on lower limbs with neuraxial anesthesia,were divided into 3 groups (n =20 each) using a random number table:midazolam group (group M),propofol group (group P) and dexmedetomidine group (group D).When the height of anesthesia was kept below T10,midazolam in a loading dose of O.05 mg/kg was intravenously injected in group M,propofol in a loading dose of O.4 mng/kg was intravenously injected in group P,and dexmedetomidine in a loading dose of 0.6 μg/kg was intravenously injected in group D.The infusion rate of the 3 drugs was adjusted to maintain bispectral index value at 82-86.When Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation Scale scores achieved 3 or 4 after administration,anterograde amnesia was measured by postoperative recall of cards.The development of intraoperative hypotension,bradycardia and respiratory depression was recorded.Results Compared with group M,the incidence of global amnesia was significantly decreased in P and D groups (P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in the incidence of global amnesia between group P and group D (P＞ 0.05).No patients developed hypotension,bradycardia or respiratory depression in three groups.Conclusion Midazolam produces better anterograde amnesia than propofol and dexmedetomidine when used to supplement sedation during neuraxial anesthesia.

Objective:To study the effects of pioglitazone on atherosclerosis on ApoE-/-mice,and to investigate the roles of adiponectin and its receptors.Methods:ApoE-/-mice were fed with high-fat chow for the induction of atherosclerosis and were divided into three subgroups:placebo(n=10),low-dose[10 mg/(kg?d),n=10] pioglitazone therapy,and high-dose[20 mg/(kg?d),n=10] pioglitazone therapy.C57BL/6J wild type mice(n=9) were used as control.Aortic atherosclerosis and intima-media thickness(intima-media thickness,IMT) of abdominal aorta were monitored,and plasma adiponectin was also measured.Expression levels of the adiponectin receptor 1(AdipoR1)and adiponectin receptor 2(AdipoR2) in vessels were analyzed(RT-PCR).Results:(1) Aortic atherosclerotic lesions were observed in ApoE-/-mice but not in wild type mice.Interestingly,these lesions were significantly prevented by high-dose pioglitazone therapy.Compared with wild type mice,ApoE-/-mice had increased IMT of abdominal aorta [(0.290?0.063 vs 0.178?0.012) cm,P