Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is one of typical indicators to evaluate arterial stiffness.About the gender difference of pulse wave velocity,some controversies exist.In this paper,several factors affecting the differences such as height,aging,sex steroids,which affect the arterial structure and function and bring the gender difference,are reviewed relatively in detail.In addition,several aspects including measurement accuracy,analyzing method and the characteristics of sample population,which may induce the difference of PWV results,are also briefly reviewed.Meanwhile,some existing controversies are indicated objectively to further possible research interests in this field.

Space flight training simulator is one of the important equipments for astronaut training on ground.Based on general international classification criteria,technology principle and engineering implementation of simulators developed in our country were introduced.The key technology of developing simulators was discussed.The prospect of development for future studies and applications were looked forward to.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical application of bidirectional Glenn shunt without extracorporeal circulation(ECC) on treatment of children with complicated congenital heart disease (CHD).MethodsForty-six patients with complicated CHD(without ECC group) underwent bidirectional Glenn shunt without ECC,and 40 patients with complicated CHD (with ECC group) underwent bidirectional Glenn shunt with ECC.The therapeutic effect was compared between two groups.ResultsThere was no operative mortality in two groups.The pulmonary artery pressure in without ECC group was significantly lower than that in with ECC group [( 16.7 ± 1.2) mm Hg ( 1 mm Hg =0.133 kPa) vs.( 18.9 ± 1.0) mm Hg,t =4.686,P=0.026 ].Duration of respirator assistance after operation in without ECC group was significantly lower than that in with ECC group [ ( 12.2 ± 2.7) h vs.( 19.2 ± 2.8) h,t =2.972,P =0.041 ].There was no significant difference in saturation of blood oxygen and the rate of chylothorax after operation between two groups (P＞0.05).The symptoms and signs including cyanosis and breath were markedly alleviative in all patients.ConclusionBidirectional Glenn shunt without ECC is an effective and safe method for complicated CHD.

BACKGROUND:Erythromycin spreads widely in the body with a short period of effective concentrations and has a lot of adverse effects.Therefore,it is necessary to make erythromycin as targeted medicine.OBJECTIVE:To optimize the preparation conditions of erythromycin gelatin microspheres.DESIGN,TIME AND SETTING:An orthogonal controlled test was performed in the Department of Pharmacy,Guangdong Pharmaceutical University from June to December in 2005.MATERIALS:Erythromycin and gelatin.METHODS:According to the emulsion principle,erythromycin dispersed in the gelatin solution.In the process of preparing microspheres,the gelatin solution and oil should form W/O emulsion and then it turned into spheres by solidification.The formation and quality of microspheres were influenced by four factors,namely the concentration of gelatin,dosage of emulsifier,the solidification time and the speed of mixing.The arithmetic mean diameter of microspheres,the drug loading efficiency and the encapsulation efficiency were targets for the survey in this study on the basis of pretests.The best preparation conditions were optimized in accordance with the results of L9 (34) orthogonal tests.The optimized preparation conditions were obtained according to the results of orthogonal tests.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:The mean diameter of microspheres,the drug loading efficiency,the encapsulation efficiency,and the orthogonal tests were examined.RESULTS:The optimized preparation conditions of erythromycin gelatin microspheres included 15% gelatin,3.0 mL emulsifier,0.5 hour solidification and mixing at 1 000 r/rain.The erythromycin gelatin microspheres were regular in their morphology.Drug was enveloped in microspheres.The average particle size was (14.15±0.20) μm;the drug loading efficiency and the encapsulation efficiency were (5.83±0.38)% and (65.70±0.56)%,respectively.Over 90.16% of the microspheres was in the range of 7-25 μm;The reappearance of pharmaceutical technology was good.CONCLUSION:The optimized preparation conditions of erythromycin gelatin microspheres are obtained using L9 (34)orthogonal tests.The microspheres prepared meet the requirement of the size for lung targeting.

Objective To observe the different characteristics of spontaneous activitiy after simulated weightlessness 21 days in rats , aimed to provide a evaluation method for space weightlessness induced function change in human beings and to provide a reference for researches on the astronauts protective measures .Methods 30 Wistar male rats were randomly divided into three groups , the control group , the sham tail-suspended hindlimb unloading group ( the sham group ) , the tail-suspended hindlimb unloading group ( the suspending group ) , ten animals in each group .All animals were placed in the simulated space flight environmental equipment which has a real -time monitor system for 21 days.During the 21 days, the intake of water , food and the body weight were measured every week .Meanwhile, five independent activity data were collect every day , for example, morning(8:00am~12:00am), afternoon(2:00pm~6:00pm), daytime(8:00am~8:00pm),night(8:00pm~8:00am),and whole day (8:00am ~8:00am).Results The spontaneous activity of normal rats in the control group between morning and afternoon had no significant difference , but it is significantly between night and daytime .The movement time and distance in night are 2 -3 times than that of the daytime.After 10 days of tail suspending , the circadian rhythm was disordered , and the spontaneous activity in day and night become more similar in rats of the suspending group .Because of the individual difference , the spontaneous activity is not stable at the first 10 days in rats of the sham group , but after 10 days, it become close to the control group .Conclusion Rat is nocturnal animal and sleeps in the daytime , the spontaneous activity in night is 2 -3 times as compared with the daytime.The sham tail-suspended hindlimb unloading 21 days can not influence the circadian rhythm in rats .Tail suspending 21 days will caused to the disappearance in the circadian rhythm in rats .

Objective To study changes of phonetic features of mandarin speech when the talker is in stressed environment of spaceflight.Methods The mandarin speech database was established from volunteers speech in 72 h psychological isolation & sleep deprivation experiment,60 d head-down-tilt bed-rest experiment and 60 d sealed module experiment.The phonetic features were fundamental frequency,syllable duration and short-term energy of speech.Results In above three kinds of stressed environments,the changes of fundamental frequency were correlated with appearance of annoyance emotion of volunteers.But changes of syllable duration and short-term energy were related to different time points during experiments.Conclusion According to the findings,acoustic changes of speech under simulated environment of spaceflight may provide important reference to the study of emotional speech recognition in spaceflight for the future.

Objective To develop a computer-aided-controlling and analysis system for light/dark box in mice and rats with a high degree of automation and intelligence.Methods Video recording and image processing were applied to develop the computer-aided-controlling and image analysis system for light/dark box test in mice and rats. The artificial environment was developed. The stability and reliability of the system was validated by male rats. Results The percentage of time spent in the lit chamber in total time was above 79.40%. The data showed that the artificial environment was successful. When the threshold was set at 18 cm/s, the data showed a high correlation coefficient of movement time between the computer and manual recordings(r > 0.99). Classical indexes including transition and time spent in both the lit and dark chambers also showed a high correlation. The model group showed a significantly decrease in the transitions and time spent in the lit chamber compared with the control group, indicating a high stability and reliability of the light/dark box test. Conclusions A stable and highly intelligent computer-aided-controlling and image analysis system for light/dark box test of mice and rats has been developed,and it could be used for pathological mechanism studies of anxiolytics.

This is a systematic review of the history and progress of animal behavior experiment methods at home and abroad, and the conception associated with animal behavior experiments. In addition, the application of animal behavior experiment methods in the field of neuropsychology and military medicine is also reviewed, providing a reference for the scientific research based on animal behavior experiments.

Objective To investigate the relationship between different brain developmental stages and changes of cognitive function in rats. Methods 1-month, 2-month and 8-month-old rats were selected to imitate the juvenile, adolescent and adulthood, respectively, and their behavioral functions were compared. The reward operant conditioning and Morris water maze task were used to investigate the differences in exploration interest, executive and recognition ability, spatial learning and memory of the rats at different ages. Results In the reward operant conditioning and Morris water maze task, there was no significant difference in the cognitive function between 1-month and 2-month-old rats. In the reward conditioning phase, the nose pokes numbers of 8-month-old rats were significantly decreased compared with the 1-month-old rats (P＜ 0. 01). There was no significant difference in nose pokes accuracy. During the operant conditioning phase, the lever press numbers and accuracy of 8-month-old rats were significantly decreased ( P ＜ 0. 05 or P ＜ 0. 01) and the press latency was longer (P ＜ 0. 05). At the phase of visual identification, the press and reward numbers, and the visual identification index were significantly decreased ( P ＜ 0. 05 or P ＜ 0. 01). In the Morris water maze test, compared with the 1-month-old rats, the total swimming distance and escape latency of the 8-month-old rats were significantly increased (P＜ 0. 05), as well as average swimming speed ( P ＜ 0. 05 or P ＜ 0. 01) in spatial learning phage. In spatial memory phage, the swimming distance and time spent in the target quadrant were obviously decreased (P＜ 0. 01). Conclusions The cognitive functions of rats at different brain developmental stages are different. The juvenile and adolescent rats have similar cognitive functions, but 8-month-old adult rats appear decline in the exploration interest, executive and recognition ability, and spatial learning and memory function.

Objective To develop a multi-mode,detailed and sensitive object recognition method for learning and memory research,including novel object recognition task,object location recognition task,temporal order memory task and object context recognition task in animals based on their spontaneous behavior. Methods Two strains of mice(KM and ICR)and four patterns were used to establish the object recognition method and several relative factors,such as time of test phase,delay between test phase and familiar phase were investigated. Results It was stable and reasonable to set the time of familiar phase as 5 min,the interval between test phase and familiar phase as 10 min,and the time of test phase as 3-5 min,under the precondition of habituation for three days and selecting the appropriate object pairs. Conclusions Object recognition test including four patterns has been systematically established as a stable, reliable and normative way for the research of animal learning and memory and drug development.