Objective To identify the characteristics of Candida utilis uricase and that of Bacillus fastidious intra-cellular uricase.Methods The new strains were cultivated to prepare the uricase.Then the uricase was purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation precipitation,DEAE-cellulose 52 chromatography and preparative PAGE.The activity,characterization and subunit constitution were determined with the purified uricase.Results The two uricas-es were the iso-tetramer.The single peptide chain molecular weight and total molecular weight of Candida utilis uricase were 33.0 ku and 134.0 ku individually,the optimum pH was close to 8.8 and more than 50% activity was reserved at pH 7.4,the Michaelis-Menten constant was (32.8 ± 3.1) μmol/L (n = 10) and the inhibition constant of xanthine was (4.8 ± 0.2) μmol/L(n = 3) for this uricase.For Bacillus fastidious intracellular uricase,its single peptide chain molecular weight and total molecular weight were 35.7 ku and 151.0 ku,the optimum pH was over 9.0 and less than 30% activity left at pH 7.4,the Michaelis-Menten constant and the inhibition constant of xanthine were (204 ± 14) μmol/L(n = 8) and (41 ± 7) μmol/L(n = 5) individually for it.Conclusion Through the research,a significant theoretical basis was funded for constructing hybrid medicinal uricase to treat diseases as-sociated with hyperuricemia.

AIM: To explore whether necroptosis contributes to the high glucose (HG)-induced damage in hu-man umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).METHODS: The protein levels of receptor-interacting protein 3 (RIP3) and cleaved caspase-3 were detected by Western blot.The intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were deter-mined by DCFH-DA staining followed by photofluorography.Mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was measured by rhodamine 123 staining followed by photofluorography.RESULTS: Treatment of HUVECs with HG at different concentra-tions (10, 20 and 40 mmol/L glucose) for 24 h gradually enhanced the expression levels of RIP3.Treatment of HUVECs with HG (40 mmol/L glucose) for different time (3 h, 6 h, 9 h, 12 h and 24 h) also up-regulated the expression levels of RIP3, peaking at 9 h.Pretreatment of HUVECs with 20 μmol/L Z-VAD-FMK (an inhibitor of caspase) for 30 min before exposure to HG enhanced the expression level of RIP3.Pretreatment of HUVECs with 100 μmol/L necrostatin-1 (an inhi-bitor of necroptosis) for 1 h before exposure to HG alleviated the HG-induced injuries, such as a decrease in cell viability, an increase in ROS generation and dissipation of MMP, but up-regulated the protein level of cleaved caspase-3.CON-
CLUSION: Necroptosis mediates HG-induced injury in HUVECs.There is a negative interacting between necroptosis and apoptosis.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) through EB virus antibody profile by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

METHODSEBNA 1/IgA, EBNA 1/IgG and zta/IgG by ELISA and VCA/IgA by immmunoenzymatic method were detected in 121 NPC patients and 332 healthy subjects (HS) in the Pearl river estuary.

RESULTSThe sensitivity rates were 85%, 83% and 79% for EBNA 1/IgA, EBNA 1/IgG and zta/IgG, all three of which if combined was the highest 92%. The specificity rates were 86%, 86% and 80% for EBNA 1/IgA, EBNA 1/IgG and zta/IgG, all three of which if combined was also the highest 93%. According to the level of odds ratio, nasopharyngeal carcinoma risk could be divided into 3 groups: low, moderate and high-risk groups. 93% of HS had low risk of NPC with the odds ratio 0.0 to 0.3. 0.4% of HS had high risk of NPC with the odds ratio of 137.9%.

CONCLUSIONELISA is more objective than the traditional immunoenzymatic method in the detection and diagnosis of NPC. The combination of EBNA 1/IgA, EBNA 1/IgG and zta/IgG is able to evaluate the risk of NPC.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antibodies, Viral ; analysis ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens ; analysis ; Female ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; virology ; Risk Factors

Objective:To investigate the status and willingness of information disclosure based on social supervision in tertiary and secondary public hospitals, so as to provide reference for expanding information disclosure content.Methods:By using stratified cluster random sampling method, 66 tertiary public hospitals and 126 secondary public hospitals in 6 provinces were selected for questionnaire survey in April 2021. Thirty-one indicators in 3 categories and 5 groups were selected to obtain the information disclosure status and willingness. Chi-square test, variance analysis and paired t-test were used to conduct difference analysis. Results:The indicators with higher disclosure rates in public hospitals were drug prices and medical service price adjustments (93.9% in tertiary hospitals and 92.1% in secondary hospitals) and medical insurance reimbursement policies and compensation processes (90.9% in tertiary hospitals and 86.5% in secondary hospitals), while the indicators with lower disclosure rates were case fatality rates in low-risk groups (24.2% in tertiary hospitals and 26.2% in secondary hospitals), proportion of special needs medical services (27.3% in tertiary hospitals), and average daily outpatient visits per practitioner (27.3% in tertiary hospitals and 26.2% in secondary hospitals). The indicators that public hospitals thought could be disclosed at a higher rate were drug and medical service price adjustments, medical insurance reimbursement policies and compensation processes, and prices and medical insurance reimbursement of commonly used drugs and major medical consumables, while the indicators that were thought to be disclosed at a lower rate were some medical service safety indicators and hospital financial indicators.For all indicators, the percentage that the hospitals thought could be disclosed was higher than the percentage that had been disclosed.Conclusions:At present, China′s secondary and tertiary public hospitals have a low rate of disclosure about medical service efficiency, medical service safety, statistical summary cost and financial indicators. However, except for some medical service indicators and financial related indicators, the hospitals′ information disclosure willingness is relatively high, and the scope of information disclosure can be expanded in an orderly manner in steps.

Objective To analyze the characteristics of life expectancy and influencing factors in Chinese population in different areas and provide scientific evidence for policy-making on disease managements,medical care and risk factor intervention.Methods Based on the national census data from National Bureau of Statistics and the death registration data from the National Health and Family Planning Commission,we used exponential model,under-report adjustment model and abbreviated life tables to estimate the life expectancy and influence on disease in Chinese population in 2013.Results The Chinese life expectancy was 75.8 years in 2013,1 year higher than that in 2010.The life expectancy in urban area was 77.4 years,while it was 75.1 years that in rural area with the gap between the rural area and urban area was 2.3 years.The life expectancy was 77.2 years in the eastern area,75.8 years in middle area and 73.5 years in western area,the gap between the east and west was 3.6 years.In 2013,the first 10 leading diseases causing the life expectancy lost were cerebrovascular disease,ischemic heart disease,chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,lung cancer,road injury,liver cancer,stomach cancer,hypertensive heart disease,lower respiratory infection,esophagus cancer,resulting in 7.97 years of life expectancy lost.Conclusion The life expectancy in Chinese has already reached a relative high level,while the gap between different areas still exists.Different policies on disease management,medical care and risk factor interventions targeting different areas are needed to increase the life expectancy and improve the quality of life.

BACKGROUNDS: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of deaths nationwide. However, little is understood about its temporal trend and corresponding influence on longevity improvements. We aimed to describe the updated tendency in CVD mortality and to quantify its impact on life expectancy (LE) increase in China. METHODS: All-cause mortality rates were calculated with population sizes from the National Bureau of Statistics and death counts from the National Health Commission. We estimated CVD mortality rates by allocating age- and sex-based mortality envelopes to each CVD subtype based on its proportion derived from the Disease Surveillance Points system. The probability of CVD premature deaths and LE were calculated with life tables and we adopted Arriaga's method to quantitate age- and cause-specific contributions to LE gains. RESULTS: During 2013 to 2018, the age-standardized mortality rate of CVD decreased from 289.69 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 289.03, 290.35)/100,000 to 272.37 (95%CI: 271.81, 272.94)/100,000, along with a decline in probability of CVD premature deaths from 9.05% (95%CI: 9.02%, 9.09%) to 8.13% (95%CI: 8.10%, 8.16%). The gap in CVD mortality across sexes expanded with more remarkable declines in females, especially for those aged 15 to 64 years. Among major subtypes, the probability of premature deaths from hemorrhage stroke declined fastest, while improvements of ischemic stroke and ischemic heart disease were limited, and there was an increase in stroke sequelae. LE in China reached 77.04 (95%CI: 76.96, 77.12) years in 2018 with an increase of 1.38 years from 2013. Of the total LE gains, 21.15% (0.29 years) were attributed to reductions of CVD mortality in the overall population, mostly driven by those aged >65 years. CONCLUSIONS The general process in reducing CVD mortality has contributed to longevity improvements in China. More attention should be paid to prevention and control of atherosclerotic CVD and stroke sequelae, especially for the elderly. Working-age males also deserve additional attention due to inadequate improvements.
Aged ; Male ; Female ; Humans ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Life Expectancy ; China/epidemiology* ; Disease Progression ; Stroke ; Cause of Death

BACKGROUND: The clinical trials of new anti-tumor drugs are prospering in China. The acceptance of clinical trials in patients is an important factor affecting the speed and quality of clinical trials. Previous studies have investigated the acceptance of clinical trials in those cancer patients, who have never participated in a trial. This study is designed to investigate and compare the acceptance and related causes of clinical trials in cancer patients who have once participated in a clinical trial or not. METHODS: From June 2018 to April 2019, a standardized questionnaire-based survey was conducted among two groups of cancer patients classified by history of clinical trial participation in Cancer hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, mainly focusing on their overall acceptance of clinical trials and related considerations, including the role of attending doctors, as well as group differences between the two participants. RESULTS: A total of 538 patients were enrolled with an average age of 53.5 years old, 51.1% of whom were males, and 43.3% of whom have never participated in a clinical trial. Overall, 502 patients (93.3%) were willing to or recommend their relatives or friends to participate in clinical trials, and patients with history of clinical trial participation had higher willingness (96.6% vs 90.8%, P=0.008). Patients were most likely to be motivated by expectation of optimal treatment (100.0% vs 99.3%) for both those who had once participated in a clinical trial or those not, respectively followed by financial burden reduction (56.0%) and recommendation by attending doctor (43.7%). The main reasons for unwillingness-to-participate for those who had once participated in a clinical trial were abandoning other treatment options, divided into control group or additional visits, while for those who had never participated in a clinical trial, ineffective treatment or serious adverse reactions were their main concerns. In the decision-making of clinical trial participation, 88% patients highly valued the role of recommendation by attending doctors. Among patients without trial participation history, 60.9% of those had no unwillingness-to-participate expressed that recommendation by attending doctors would change their decisions. The study also reported patients' preferences for information and access to clinical trials. CONCLUSIONS The acceptance of clinical trials in cancer patients in our hospital is generally high, especially in patients who had a history of trial participation. It's of substantial significance to give full play to the role of doctors in improving the acceptance of clinical trials of cancer patients in China.

BACKGROUND: Early investigation suggested patients' level of awareness regarding clinical trials was related with willingness to participation. This study was intended to evaluate the level of awareness of cancer patients regarding clinical trials and related influencing factors, and to compare the differences of awareness between patients who attended clinical trials before and not. METHODS: From Jun, 2018 to April, 2019, standardized question-naires were gathered from cancer patients (attended clinical trials vs not attended clinical trials) in our hospital regarding basic information and 10 other questions about awareness. The level of awareness was evaluated and patients were classified into "low cognition" and "high cognition" groups. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine whether certain characteristics would predict for awareness. RESULTS: Of the 617 participants, 38.6% have attended clinical trials before. 338 (54.6%) patients had a correct overall understanding of clinical trials, while 44 (7.1%) patients still thought participants were the victim of scientific research. Except for the compensation of medical expenses (51.5% vs 48.7%) and related laws of clinical trials (52.3% vs 45.5%), other parts of understanding were elevated in patients attended clinical trials before comparing with patients who didn't, including significance (86.2% vs 77.6%), risk disclosure (91.2% vs 71.6%), confidentiality (73.2% vs 59.7%), voluntariness (95.8% vs 76.3%), withdrawal (86.6% vs 68.2%) and expenses (62.8% vs 39.2%). The proportion of participants who understand these components did not increase even in 239 patients who had attended clinical trials before. Participants who attended clinical trials before (OR=1.83, 95%CI: 1.11-3.00), unmarried/divorced (OR=5.04, 95%CI: 1.73-14.66), retired (OR=2.53, 95%CI: 1.16-5.50) had a higher level of awareness, while patients who had bad impression with doctors (OR=0.43, 95%CI: 0.26-0.72) had lower awareness. CONCLUSIONS The current level of awareness for clinical trials of cancer patients in our hospital was relatively low, even in patients who had attended clinical trials before. It's necessary to improve patients' awareness of clinical trial by promoting harmony relationship between patients and doctors, as well as by enhancing related propagation. Strengthening the adequacy and efficacy of informed consent in clinical trials also needs to be achieved in the future.