Objective To investigate the relationships between the concentration of serum NT-proBNP,New York Heart Association(NYHA) classification,left ventricular ejection fraction((LVEF),)and the value of serum NT-proBNP in the evaluation of cardiac function and the diagnosis of chronic heart failure.Methods One hundred and two subjects were selected,including 30 healthy controls and 72 patients with heart failure.The concentration of serum NT-proBNP was determined by an automated electrochemiluminescence immunoassayan Roche Elecsys 2010.LVEF was measured by the modified Simpson′s equation with echocardiography.The diagnosis of clinical physician was considered to be the golden standard for heart failure.Results The relationships between the concentration of serum NT-proBNP and NYHA,serum NT-proBNP levels(287.7 pg/ml) was significantly higher in heart failure patients(287.7 pg/ml) than that in healthy controls 287.7 pg/ml vs (46.1 pg/ml),P

Cysts ; complications ; Exophthalmos ; complications ; Frontal Sinus ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Paranasal Sinus Diseases ; complications

Objective To detect levels of serum platelet activating factor(PAF),thrombomodulin(TM) and white blood cell(WBC),platelet count(PLT) in neonates with meconium aspiration syndrome(MAS),and observe changes of mediators of inflammation and function of endotheliocute.Methods All cases were taken vein blood in 24 h and 72-96 h after birth.Surm PAF and TM were detected by EILSA technique,at the same time,blood cell counts were determined.Results PAF and WBC in neonates with MAS increased,which were relevant to the patients′ condition.TM of neonates with MAS increased significantly,especially in 72-96 h after birth and(aggrava)-ted with the patients′ condition.Conclusion Neonates with MAS have inflammatory reaction and injured endotheliocyte,which are(inte)-raction.

Technological improvement for microorgnism isolation is important since isolation provides substantial materials for the exploitation of new microbial resources. In this study, a new approach, dispersion and differential cetrifugation (DDC), was applied in the isolation of acidophilic and acidoduric streptomycetes from 12 acid soil samples. Contrast with traditional method, the new approach yielded satisfying results with 2 - 20 times isolation efficiency and good selectivity. 45 representatives out of 249 streptomycetes isolates, which belonged to 12 color groups, showed morphology and cell wall type consistent with streptomycetes. The optimum pH range for their growth were between pH 4.5 - 5.5. It is proved that we succeeded in the rare-streptomycetes isolation using DDC approach.

Background and purpose:Chemotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of breast carcinoma by inhibiting the tumor growth and inducing the apoptosis.MAPK transduction pathway is closely related to proliferation and apoptosis of varieties of tumor cells,inhibition of MAPK pathway may increase the efficiency and decrease the toxicity of chemotherapy.Our study was to investigate the effect of MEK inhibitor PD98059 in response of breast cancer cell lines to Epirubicin.Methods:Human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR were used as cell models.Epirubicin(EADM),PD98059(inhibitor of MAPK Kinase-MEK),or EADM+PD98059 was added into the culture medium,the expression of MEK2 and p-ERK were measured by Western blot,the growth of the two cell lines were measured by MTT.Results:ERK activity was elevated in MCF-7 after the treatment of EADM,the cells were more sensitive to EADM if combined with PD98059,while in MCF-7/ADR,ERK activity kept unchanged after EADM treatment,and PD98059 has no effect on the sensitivity of cells to EADM.Conclusion:MAPK signal transduction may be activated in some cells treated by EADM,adding inhibitor of MAPK signal transduction could improve the sensitivity of the cells to EADM.

DNA microarrays have been acknowledged to represent a promising approach for the detection of viral pathogens. However, the probes designed for current arrays could cover only part of the given viral variants, that could result in false-negative or ambiguous data. If all the variants are to be covered, the requirement for more probes would render much higher spot density and thus higher cost of the arrays. Here we have developed a new strategy for oligonucleotide probe design. Using type I human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) tat gene as an example, we designed the array probes and validated the optimized parameters in silico. Results show that the oligo number is significantly reduced comparing with the existing methods, while specificity and hybridization efficiency remain intact. The adoption of this method in reducing the oligo numbers could increase the detection capacity for DNA microarrays, and would significantly lower the manufacturing cost for making array chips.

Background Porcine fibrin sealant kit has been widely used in surgery for clotting and woundssealing.It is thought to be a substitution for inert gas and silicone oil in vitrectomy.But whether it produce toxic effect on retina or not after intravitreal injection is still studying.Objective This study aimed to investigate the retinal toxicity of porcine fibrin sealant kit following intraocular application.Methods Vitrectomy was performed on bilateral eyes of 15 pigmented rabbits.Porcine fibrin sealant kit of 0.5 ml was intravitreally injected in the lateral eyes of the rabbits as the experimental group,and equal volume of BSS was used at the same way in contralateral eye as control group.The inflammatory response of eye was observed under the slit lamp and ophthalmoscopy in 1 day,3,7,15,30 days after injection.Schi(o)tz tonometer was used to measure intraocular pressure(IOP) in 1 day,3,7 days,and retinal function was evaluated by electroretinogram (ERG) before operation and 30 days after operation.B-ultrasonic examination was carried out 30 days after surgery.Animals were sacrificed and eyeballs were obtained for retinal histopathological and ultrastructural examination in 30 days after operation.Results Complications appeared in 7 eyes of the experimental group,including cataract in 3 eyes,proliferation vitreoretinopathy and retinal detachment in 5 eyes,endophthalmitis in 1 eye,however,the cataract in 2 eyes and retina injury in 2 eyes were found in 15 control eyes.On the 30 days after injection,no inflammation was found in the 8 eyes without complication in the experimental group and 11 eyes in the control group.The IOP change was insignificant in different groups and various time points (Fgroup =0.008,P =0.929 ;Ftime =3.600 P =0.075).No significant difference was found in a-wave amplitude between groups and various time points(Fgroup =0.728,P =0.405 ; Ftime =0.516,P =0.482),and so was the b-wave amplitude (Fgroup =0.222,P =0.644 ; Ftime =0.057,P =0.814).On the 30th day after operation,arrangement of the retina was regular and no tissue edema and inflammatory cell infiltration were seen in both groups under the light microscope.Transmission electron microscope revealed that the ultrastructures of retinal cells,photoreceptor and retinal pigment cell were normal with the clear subcellular organelle,intact cellular membrane structure and mitochondria in both groups.Conclusions Domestic porcine fibrin sealant kit does not produce toxic effect on retina after intravitreal injection in rabbit.

The relationship between tyrosine phosphorylation (TP) and protein expression of insulin receptor (InsR) and insulin resistance (IR) in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) was investigated. The InsR expression and TP in skeleton muscle tissue were determined by Western blotting and immunoprecipitation in women with GDM (GDM group, n=22), normal pregnant women (normal pregnancy group, n=22) and normal non-pregnant women (normal non-pregnant group, n=13). Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and fasting insulin (FINS) were measured by oxidase assay and immunoradioassay. The results showed that the levels of FPG (5.61±0.78 mmol/L), FINS (15.42±5.13 mU/L) and Homeostasis model assessment-IR (HOMA-IR) (1.21±0.52) in GDM group were significantly higher than those in normal pregnancy group (4.43±0.46 mmol/L, 10.56±3.07 mU/L and 0.80±0.31 respectively) (P<0.01). The levels of FINS and HOMA-IR in normal pregnancy group were significantly higher than those in normal non-pregnant group (7.56±2.31 mU/L and 0.47±0.26 respectively) (P<0.01). There was no significant difference in the InsR expression level among the three groups (P>0.05). TP of InsR with insulin stimulation was significantly decreased in GDM group (0.20±0.05) as compared with normal pregnancy group (0.26±0.06) (P<0.01). TP of InsR with insulin stimulation in normal pregnancy group was lower than that in normal non-pregnant group (0.31±0.06) (P<0.01). TP of InsR with insulin stimulation was negatively related with HOMA-IR in GDM group (r=-0.525, P<0.01). There was no correlation between the protein expression of InsR and HOMA-IR in GDM group (r=-0.236, P>0.05). It was suggested that there is no significant correlation between the protein expression of InsR in skeletal muscle and IR in GDM, but changes in TP of InsR are associated with IR in GDM.

By inoculation of blood samples in DF-1 (C/E) cell culture, an exogenous avian leukosis virus (ALV) strain SDAU09C2 was isolated from a breeder farm of Chinese native breed "Luhua" in Shandong province. Comparisons of the amino acid sequence of env gene gp85 from the isolate with those from other ALV reference strains of different subgroups indicated that SDAU09C2 had the highest gp85 identity to two reference strains of subgroup B of 92.5%. Its gp85 identity to other chicken ALV subgroups A, C, D, E was in the range of 73.2%-87.9%. The identity to subgroup J was only 30.3%-32.4%. This is the first report on isolation and identification of ALV-B and its gp85 from Chinese native breed chickens.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Avian Leukosis ; virology ; Avian Leukosis Virus ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Breeding ; Chickens ; Female ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Poultry Diseases ; virology ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo establish a method for real-time recording the oxygen consumption of mice under normobaric hypoxia.

METHODSThe experimental apparatus was made up of animal container, filling water control system, electronic balance, hose, a computer with weight recording software, etc. The working principle was that the oxygen consumed by animal was replaced by water filling which was controlled by the pneumatic and hydraulic actuator. The water was weighted by an electronic balance and the weight signal was recorded into excel file at the same time. The accuracy and precision of the apparatus were detected by a 10 ml syringe. The oxygen consumption characteristics of 6 acute repetitive hypoxia mice and 6 normal mice were observed.

RESULTSThe P value for the paired t test was 1 and the CV value was 4%. The survival time and total oxygen consumption of acute repetitive hypoxia mice were both significantly increased compared to normal mice (P < 0.05), which were (58.8 +/- 6.8) min and (46.0 +/- 8.7) min respectively for the survival time and (85.1 +/- 8.5) ml and (73.6 +/- 5.4) ml respectively for total oxygen consumption.

CONCLUSIONThe hypoxia tolerance of the acute repetitive hypoxia mice can significantly improved by taking more oxygen in the animal cabin. The accuracy and precision of the apparatus are high and it can be used for the determination of oxygen consumption in hypoxia research.