Antimicrobial peptides, a cluster of small peptides secreted by the majority of creatures, have been demonstrated with activity against a wide range of microorganisms including bacteria, protozoa, yeast, fungi, viruses and even tumor cells. These peptides have some features such as broad spectrum , high effi-cacy and stability, little drug resistance. A lack of new antibiotics combined with emerging multi-drug resis-tance issues demands that new antimicrobial strategies be explored for treating these infections. It has been proposed that the antimicrobial peptides might form the foundation for a new class of clinically useful an-timicrobials. We review the advantages of these molecules in construction features and bioactivity, with the focus on the mechanism and clinical applications.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the sensitivity of effect factors between the PCL-C and the SCL-90, to provide evidence for social psychological crisis screening and post-trauma interventions.

METHODSWe administered the PCL-C and SCL-90 to screen for PTSD and other psychological problems among students who survived the disaster and continued their school studies. The surveys were carried out 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after the earthquake. A bivariate 2-level logistic model was used to explore the different levels of sensitivity among students. The factors influencing the relationships between PTSD and depression, and between PTSD and anxiety were examined.

RESULTSWe analyzed data from 1 677 students, revealing that female students in higher grades were more likely to exhibit symptoms of depression, rather than PTSD, compared with the control group (males in lower grades), and the difference was significant (P<0.05). In contrast, ethnic minorities were more likely to exhibit PTSD symptoms compared to the others. In addition, female students were more likely to exhibit symptoms of anxiety than PTSD. Other effects that did not reach statistical significance were suggested to have a similar influence on PTSD, depression, and anxiety.

CONCLUSIONAfter a natural disaster, specific aspects of depression and anxiety should be examined, avoiding an overemphasis on PTSD in social psychological crisis interventions.

Adolescent ; Age Factors ; Child ; China ; Depression ; etiology ; psychology ; Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Sex Factors ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; etiology ; psychology ; Students ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

Cardiac Catheterization ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; therapy ; Humans ; Prosthesis Implantation ; instrumentation ; Septal Occluder Device

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical characteristics and the prevalence of mitochondrial gene A3243G mutation in diabetic pedigrees.

METHODSNineteen suspected mitochondrial DNA diabetic family members from three families were recruited. The gene fragment was amplified by PCR, and mutation was detected by direct sequencing.

RESULTSIn three pedigrees, the three probands and their mothers were found carrying the most common nt3243A>G mutation. Most of diabetic patients in these families were deaf and diabetes was developed at early age, characterized by impaired beta cell function and low body mass index (BMI).

CONCLUSIONThe mitochondrial gene A3243G mutation may cause diabetes mellitus and deaf.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Base Sequence ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; genetics ; Deafness ; complications ; genetics ; Diabetes Complications ; genetics ; Diabetes Mellitus ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; Pedigree ; RNA, Transfer, Leu ; genetics

Objective To investigate the effect of a selective muscarinic receptor antagonist (penehyclidine hydrochloride) in three vessel occlusion model of acute global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in rats.Method One hundred and forty-four male SD rats were randomly divided into four groups:sham operated group,vehicle treated group (saline 1 ml,i.p.),scopolamine treated group (0.01 mg/kg,i.p.) and penehyclidine hydrochloride treated group (0.01 mg/kg,i.p.) with drugs injected 40 minutes before ischemia respectively.The ischemic duration was 10 minutes.The animals were subjected to motor activity tests (open field activity test,beam-walking test and grip test) at 24 hours or on the 3rd and 7th day after reperfusion.HE staining,TUNEL staining and immunohistochemical reactions of bax and bel-2 were carried out at the time points of 2,12,24 hours,3 and 7 days after reperfusion.TTC staining was carried out in some rats for assessment of infarction volume on the 4th day after reperfusion.Results As compared with the vehicle treated group,both penehyclidine hydrochloride treatment and scopolamine treatment decreased the numbers of apeptotie neurons (P

Objective To evaluate the value of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in transthoracic minimally invasive device closure of ventricular septal defect(VSD).Methods A total of 164 cases of VSD were recruited as candidates to receive transthoracic minimally invasive device closure between January 2007 and October 2010,including 138 perimembranous VSDs,3 muscular VSDs and 23 supracristal VSDs.Among these groups,85 male patients were included.Four-champer view,five-champer view,left ventricular long-axis view,short-axis view and right ventricular inflow view were detected to evaluate the availability of device closure.Results A total of 152 cases(92.7%)were successfully closed with a device.All the patients were followed up more than 3 months arranged with a standard protocol.No complete atrioventricular block (CAVB) or associated valvular complications were observed.Three of the five cases with traced residual shunt after device closure closed spontaneously.Conclusion TEE plays an important role in transthoracic minimally invasive device closure of ventricular septal defect,which has been proved by the good follow-up results without CAVB and associated valvular complications.

Objective To find out the perception status of Kaschin-Beck disease(KBD)-related knowledge among residents in Aba KBD areas. Methods In 2009, hierarchical clustering random sampling method was used to select 13 villages as survey points in Aba KBD areas, general demographic characteristics, KBD prevalence and KBD-related knowledge of residents were investigated. Results Of the residents investigated, the understanding rate of KBD-related knowledge was 36.7% (7361/20 080), understanding rate among female [40.2% (4427/11012) ]was high than that of male[32.3%(2934/9084), x2 = 134.80, P ＜ 0.05];50-year group[42.5%(2789/6562] was higher than others;Tibetan [42.8% (6775/15829)] was higher than other nationals;residents in Semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas [47.2% (5777/12239)] was higher than people in other areas ;farmer [42.6% (4585/10762) ],people who lost labor ability [42.7% (1487/3482)] and the unemployed [42.8% (941/2199) ] was higher;married people[41.6%(6067/14584)] was higher;KBD patients[47.6%(4585/9632)] was higher[x2 = 92.41,148.04,578.56,116.35,36.96,371.29 respectively, all P ＜ 0.05]. Sixty three point nine persent (978/1530) acquired KBD knowledge through explaination by medical and health personnel. Conclusions The current situation of perception of KBD-related knowledge among residents in Aba KBD areas is not optimistic. Understanding rate among residents with different demographic characteristics is significantly different. Targeted health education strategies and measures should be developed among different population groups.

Background: Obesity classifications vary globally and the impact of older age adiposity on incident diabetes has not been well-studied. Methods: We examined a random sample of 2,809 participants aged ≥60 years in China, who were free of diabetes at baseline and were followed up for up to 10 years to document diabetes (n=178). The incidence of diabetes was assessed in relation to different cut-off points of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) in multiple adjusted Cox regression models. Results: The diabetic risk in the cohort increased linearly with the continuous and quartile variables of BMI and WC. The BMI-World Health Organization (WHO) and BMI-China criteria analysis did not show such a linear relationship, however, the BMI-Asian/Hong Kong criteria did; adjusted hazards ratio (HR) was 0.42 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.20 to 0.90) in BMI <20 kg/m2, 1.46 (95% CI, 0.99 to 2.14) in 23–≤26 kg/m2, and 1.63 (95% CI, 1.09 to 2.45) in ≥26 kg/m2. The WC-China criteria revealed a slightly better prediction of diabetes (adjusted HRs were 1.79 [95% CI, 1.21 to 2.66] and 1.87 [95% CI, 1.22 to 2.88] in central obese action levels 1 and 2) than the WC-WHO. The combination of the BMI-Asian/Hong Kong with WC-China demonstrated the strongest prediction. There were no gender differences in the impact of adiposity on diabetes. Conclusion In older Chinese, BMI-Asian/Hong Kong criteria is a better predictor of diabetes than other BMI criterion. Its combination with WC-China improved the prediction of adiposity to diabetes, which would help manage bodyweight in older age to reduce the risk of diabetes.

OBJECTIVEThe main purpose of this work was to give the evidence of reasonable and feasible dust control measures which will be taken in the future by analyzing the trend of dust concentration from 1991 to 2010 and identifying working faces with the severe dust contamination in one underground iron mine.

METHODSThe data was from routine monitoring between the years 1991 and 2010, which enclosed the total dust concentrations and silica contents. China National Standard of Occupational exposure limits for hazardous agents in the workplace used to judge whether the dust concentration exceeded the National Standard.

RESULTSThe general trend of total dust concentration from 1991 to 2010 was decreased, especially maximum and average levels. The highest exceeding rate was 43.16% in 1993 and the best years were 2009 and 2010, but the exceeding rates were still over 30%. The dust exposure levels varied with different work faces. The mining and supporting were the most severe dust pollution faces which the highest ultra exceeding rates were 51.61% and 51.48% and the maximum exceeding times were 64.6 and 16.4 respectively. The next was constructing face with 40.23% exceeding rate and 24.6 times more than standard.

CONCLUSIONThe trend of total dust concentration from 1991 to 2010 was decreased, but the dust exceeding rate was still high. The strong measures should be taken to control the dust pollution in this iron mine, especially mining and supporting faces.

Air Pollutants, Occupational ; analysis ; Dust ; analysis ; Environmental Monitoring ; Iron ; analysis ; Mining ; Occupational Exposure ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical usefulness of direct monoclonal antibody immobilization of platelet antigen (MAIPA) technique in the differential diagnosis of immune and non-immune thrombocytopenia.

METHODSPlatelet-bound autoantibodies in thrombocytopenic patients (immune and non-immune) were measured by direct MAIPA. Monoclonal antibodies against GP II b/III a, GPIb and GP I a/II a were used.

RESULTSThe positive rates of platelet-bound GP-specific autoantibodies between immune (76.4%) and non-immune thrombocytopenia (3.6%) were significantly different (P < 0.05). The direct MAIPA had a sensitivity of 76.4%, a specificity of 96.4%, and a positive predictive value of 97.1% for the diagnosis of immune thrombocytopenia. There was a significant inverse correlation between platelet-bound GP II b/III a specific autoantibody levels and platelet counts (r = -0.338, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe direct MAIPA technique can be used to differentiate immune from non-immune thrombocytopenias.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; immunology ; Autoantibodies ; blood ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Platelet Membrane Glycoproteins ; immunology ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic ; diagnosis ; immunology ; Young Adult