Disinfection ; Escherichia coli ; isolation & purification ; Hospitals ; Medical Waste ; Sewage ; Waste Products ; Water Microbiology

Adult ; Anxiety ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; psychology ; Botulinum Toxins, Type A ; therapeutic use ; Dystonia ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Hemifacial Spasm ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Humans ; Male ; Mastication ; Neuromuscular Agents ; therapeutic use ; Risk Factors

Purpose: The imaging characteristics of two popular kV cone-beam CT (CBCT) and two MVCT systems utilised in image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) were evaluated. Materials and methods: The study was performed on Varian Clinac iX, Elekta Synergy S, Siemens Oncor, and Tomotherapy. A CT phantom (Catphan-504, Phantom Laboratory, Salem, NY) was scanned for measurements of image quality including image noise, uniformity, density accuracy, spatial resolution, contrast linearity, and contrast resolution. The measurement results were analysed using in-house image analysis software. Reproducibility, position correction, and geometric accuracy were also evaluated with markers in a smaller alignment phantom. The performance evaluation compared volumetric image properties from these four systems with those from a conventional diagnostic CT (CCT). Results: It was shown that the linearity of the two kV CBCT was fairly consistent with CCT. The Elekta CBCT with half-circle 27-cm FOV had higher CT numbers than the other three systems. The image noises of the Elekta kV CBCT, Siemens MV CBCT, and Tomotherapy fan-beam CT (FBCT) are about 2-4 times higher than that of the Varian CBCT. The spatial resolutions of two kV CBCTs and two MV CBCTs were 8-11 lp/cm and 3-5 lp/cm, respectively. Conclusion: Elekta CBCT provided a faster image reconstruction and low dose per scan for half-circle scanning. Varian CBCT had relatively lower image noise. Tomotherapy FBCT had the best uniformity.

Butanedioic acid was isolated from the ethyl alcohol extract of Hedysarum polybotrys. The methylated carboxylic acid was identified by GC-MS method.
Carboxylic Acids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Succinates ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

Acute Disease ; Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Vasculitis, Leukocytoclastic, Cutaneous ; pathology

Female ; Humans ; Hypophosphatemia ; etiology ; therapy ; Lithium ; poisoning ; Middle Aged ; Phosphorus ; therapeutic use ; Renal Dialysis ; adverse effects

Objective: To analyze the characteristics of super-antigen (SAg) of group A Streptococcus pyogenes (GAS), isolated from patients with scarlet fever or pharyngeal infections in Beijing between 2015-2017. Methods: Throat swab specimens from patients with scarlet fever or pharyngeal infections were collected and tested for GAS. Eleven currently known SAg genes including SpeA, speC, speG, speH, speI, speJ, speK, speL, speM, smeZ and ssa were tested by real-time PCR while M protein genes (emm genes) were amplified and sequenced by PCR. Results: A total of 377 GAS were isolated from 6 801 throat swab specimens, with the positive rate as 5.5%. There were obvious changes noticed among speC, speG, speH and speK in three years. A total of 45 SAg genes profiles were observed, according to the SAgs inclusion. There were significant differences appeared in the frequencies among two of the highest SAg genes profiles between emm1 and emm12 strains (χ(2)=38.196, P<0.001; χ(2)=72.310, P<0.001). There also appeared significant differences in the frequencies of speA, speH, speI and speJ between emm1 and emm12 strains (χ(2)=146.154, P<0.001; χ(2)=52.31, P<0.001; χ(2)=58.43, P<0.001; χ(2)=144.70, P<0.001). Conclusions: Obvious changes were noticed among SAg genes including speC, speG, speH and speK from patients with scarlet fever or pharyngeal infections in Beijing between 2015-2017. SAg genes including speA, speH, speI and speJ appeared to be associated with the emm 1 and emm 12 strains. More kinds of SAg genes profiles were isolated form GAS but with no significant differences seen in the main SAg genes profiles, during the epidemic period.
Antigens, Bacterial/genetics* ; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins ; Bacterial Proteins ; Beijing/epidemiology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Exotoxins ; Female ; Humans ; Membrane Proteins ; Pharyngitis/microbiology* ; Pharynx/microbiology* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/microbiology* ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Scarlet Fever/microbiology* ; Streptococcal Infections ; Streptococcus pyogenes/isolation & purification* ; Superantigens/genetics*

Being an undisputed risk factor of cancer, air pollution is posing a huge threat to the health on human beings. In this article, we introduced the composition of air pollution, and the standards on air quality which was set by both World Health Organization and the Chinese government. We also summarized the most recent research findings on the association between air pollution and the risk of lung, breast, bladder and other major cancers.
Air Pollutants/toxicity* ; Air Pollution/adverse effects* ; Humans ; Neoplasms/epidemiology* ; Prevalence ; Research/trends* ; Risk Factors

[摘 要] 目的：通过生物信息学手段筛选乳腺癌中差异表达的关键miRNA及其靶基因，干预其在乳腺癌细胞中的表达并观察对乳腺癌细胞功能的影响。方法：利用GEO数据库筛选在乳腺癌中差异表达的miRNA，ENCORI数据库验证差异miRNA的表达，以选定最显著的差异表达miRNA为研究对象；利用Starbase、miRDB和miRWalk数据库预测miR-32-5p的靶基因，利用DAVID数据库对靶基因进行GO分析和KEGG分析，利用String数据库联合Cytoscape3.6.2软件进行PPI网络分析及核心基因的筛选，从核心基因中选择相互联系紧密“度值”最显著的Dickkopf相关蛋白3（DDK3）基因进行后续实验。qPCR检测miR-32-5p在人正常乳腺细胞 MCF10A和人乳腺癌细胞MCF7、MDA-MB-231、MDA-MB-453细胞中的表达。向MDA-MB-231细胞中转染miR-32-5p mimic、miR-32-5p inhibitor及各自的对照（NC）序列，分别用CCK-8法、流式细胞术和Transwell实验检测过表达或抑制miR-32-5p对细胞增殖、凋亡和侵袭的影响。结果：从GEO数据库中获取的两个数据集共识别出两个差异miRNA，ENCORI数据库验证差异miRNA的表达发现miR-32-5p的表达水平与GEO数据库的结果一致，故选择其进行研究；预测得到198个miR-32-5p潜在的靶基因并鉴定出10个核心基因（DKK3、WNT2B、SFRP5、SFRP2、SFRP1、LRP6、WNT6、KREMEN1、NEDD4L、TRIP12），其中DKK3的度值最大可能在乳腺癌中较为重要，于是选择miR-32-5p/DKK3轴进行后续研究。miR-32-5p在3种乳腺癌细胞中的表达水平显著高于正常乳腺细胞（均P<0.01），其中以MDA-MB-231细胞中表达最高。双荧光素酶基因报告实验验证了miR-32-5p与DKK3基因的靶向结合及其对后者表达的负向调控。转染miR-32-5p mimic、miR-32-5p inhibitor后成功提高或抑制了MDA-MB-231细胞中miR-32-5p的表达。与对照组相比，过表达miR-32-5p可抑制MDA-MB-231细胞的凋亡而促进细胞增殖和侵袭（P<0.05或P<0.01），敲低miR-32-5p则起相反的作用（均P<0.01）。结论：miR-32-5p/DKK3轴可能是影响乳腺癌发生发展的关键通路，过表达miR-32-5p能够抑制乳腺癌MDA-MB-231细胞的凋亡而促进细胞增殖和侵袭。

Polymorphisms in metabolic genes have been shown to modulate susceptibility to oral cavity cancer. Cases (n=176) and controls (n=317) from the Filipino population were genotyped for selected polymorphisms in CYP1A1, GSTM1, GSTP1, GSTT1, NAT1 and NAT2. Medical and diet histories, occupational exposure and demographic data were also collected for all subjects. The CYP1A1m1/m1 genotype is protective against oral cancer, while being homozygous for the GSTP1 c.313G genotype and heterozygous for the NAT1*10 homozygotes and non-homozygotes for the CYP1A1 m1 allele. The risk from heterozygosity for the NAT1*10 allele was limited to subjects who were not homozygous for the GSTP1 c.313G genotype remained a significant oral cancer risk modifier, together with environmental variables, the homozygous GSTP1 c.313G genotype remained a significant oral cancer risk modifier, together with environmental risk factors, such as smoking, passive smoking, inverted smoking and tobacco chewing, and environmental protective factors, i.e. moderate consumption of fish sauce (patis) and shrimp paste (bagoong). The GSTP1 c.313G polymorphism increases susceptibility for oral cavity cancer in the Filipino population.

Cyp1a1 Protein, Human ; Cytochrome P-450 Cyp1a1 ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution ; Alleles ; Smoking ; Homozygote ; Ointments ; Protective Factors ; Glutathione Transferase ; Mouth Neoplasms ; Diet