Communicable Diseases ; epidemiology ; Disease Outbreaks ; Humans ; Population Surveillance ; methods

Adult ; African Continental Ancestry Group ; ethnology ; C-Reactive Protein ; metabolism ; Calcinosis ; complications ; Coronary Disease ; complications ; Female ; HIV Infections ; complications ; pathology ; physiopathology ; HIV-1 ; Heart Diseases ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Lipid Metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardium ; pathology

Vitiligo is an intriguing depigmentary disorder and is notoriously difficult to be treated. The ultimate goal of vitiligo treatment is to replenish the lost melanocytes by immigration from hair follicle and to restore the normal function of melanogenesis by residual melanocytes. There are two types of topical calcineurin inhibitors called tacrolimus and pimecrolimus, and are recommended as the first-line treatments in vitiligo. Although pimecrolimus is efficacious for the repigmentation of vitiligo, its intrinsic mechanisms have never been investigated in vitro. This research aimed to study the ability of pimecrolimus on stimulating melanogenesis, melanocyte migration and MITF (microphthalmia associated transcription factor) protein expression. Results showed that pimecrolimus at the dosages of 1, 10, 10² nM were neither mitogenic nor cytotoxic to melanocytes. The addition of pimecrolimus at 10, 10² and 10³ nM significantly increased intracellular tyrosinase activity, which was consistent with the elevated content of melanin content at the same concentrations. The peak effect was seen at 72 h in response to 10² nM pimecrolimus. Results of the wound scratch assay and Transwell assays indicate that pimecrolimus is effective in facilitating melanocyte migration on a collagen IV-coated surface. In addition, MITF protein yield reached the highest by pimecrolimus at 10² nM. In brief, pimecrolimus enhances melanin synthesis as well as promotes migration of melanocytes directly, possibly via their effects on MITF protein expression.
Calcineurin ; Calcineurin Inhibitors ; Collagen ; Emigration and Immigration ; Hair Follicle ; In Vitro Techniques* ; Melanins ; Melanocytes* ; Microphthalmia-Associated Transcription Factor ; Monophenol Monooxygenase ; Tacrolimus ; Vitiligo ; Wounds and Injuries

In recent years, for improving the ability of early detection on infectious disease outbreak, many researchers study the disease outbreak detection algorithms, based on many disease surveillance data, expecting to detect the abnormal increasing and cluster of disease and symptom at an early stage by adopting appropriate algorithm. This paper introduces a cumulative sum control chart method, one of statistical process control algorithms widely used in foreign countries and describes its basic principle and characteristic, key points of design, typical examples in application of disease outbreak detection of cumulative sum method, with expect to provide reference for its application in studies of disease outbreak early warning in China.

Objective To evaluate the performance of China Infectious Disease Automatedalert and Response System(CIDARS). Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on data related to the warning signals, the outcome of signal verification, the field investigation of CIDARS,and the emergent events reported through Public Health Emergency Events Surveillance System from July 1,2008 to June 30, 2010 in Zhejiang province. The performance of CIDARS was qualitatively evaluated by indicators on its sensitivity and rote of false alarm. Results In total, 26 446 signals were generated by the system which involving 17 diseases, with an average of 2.83 signals per country per week. Among all the signals, 99.95% of them were responded. 0.90% of the signals were judged as suspected events via the preliminary verification, and 30 outbreaks were finally confirmed by field investigation. The sensitivity of the system was 69.77% with the false alarm rate as 1.39%. Conclusion The system seemed to have worked on the outbreak early warning of infectious diseases and could directly reflect the anomaly event emerged from the infectious disease reporting system.However, more efforts should be paid to the following areas as how to decrease the false positive signals, select suitable thresholds and increase the quality of data in order to enhance the accuracy of the system.

Objective To understand the effectiveness of China Infectious Disease Automated-alert and Response System(CIDARS)for outbreak detection at the regional level.Methods Two counties in Hunan province(Yuelu and Shuangfeng county)and two counties in Yunnan province(Xishan and Gejiu county)were chosen as the study areas. Data from CIDARS were analyzed on the following items: reported cases, warning signals, the time interval of signal response feedback, way of signal verification, outcome of signal verification and field investigation, from July 1,2008 to June 30,2010. Results In total, 12 346 cases from 28 kinds of diseases were reported,and 2096 signals of 19 diseases were generated by the system, with an average of 4.94 signals per county per week. The median of time interval on signal verification feedback was 0.70 hours(P25-P75:0.06-1.29 h)and the main way of signal preliminary verification was through the review of surveillance data(account for 63.07%). Among all the signals, 34 of them(1.62%)were considered to be related to suspected events via the preliminary verification at the local level. Big differences were found to have existed on the proportion of signals related to the suspected events of the total signals among the four counties, with Shuangfeng county as 4.71%, Yuelu county as 1.88%, Gejiu county as 0.95% and Xishan county as 0.58%. After an indepth study on the fields of suspected events, 12outbreaks were finally confirmed, including 5 on rubella, 4 on mumps, 2 on influenza and 1 on typhoid fever. Conclusion CIDARS could be used to assist the local public health institutions on early detection of possible outbreaks at the early stage. However, the effectiveness was different depending on the regions and diseases.

Objective To compare the performance of aberration detection algorithm for infectious disease outbreaks, based on two different types of baseline data. Methods Cases and outbreaks of hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) reported by six provinces of China in 2009 were used as the source of data. Two types of baseline data on algorithms of C1 ,C2 and C3 were tested, by distinguishing the baseline data of weekdays and weekends. Time to detection (TTD) and false alarm rate (FAR) were adopted as two evaluation indices to compare the performance of 3 algorithms based on these two types of baseline data. Results A total of 405 460 cases of HFMD were reported by 6 provinces in 2009. On average,each county reported 1.78 cases per day during the weekdays and 1.29 cases per day during weekends, with significant difference (P<0.01) between them. When using the baseline data without distinguish weekdays and weekends, the optimal thresholds for C1, C2 and C3 was 0.2,0.4 and 0.6 respectively while the TTD of C1,C2 and C3 was all 1 day and the FARs were 5.33% ,4.88% and 4.50% respectively. On the contrast, when using the baseline data to distinguish the weekdays and weekends, the optimal thresholds for C1, C2 and C3 became 0.4,0.6 and 1.0 while the TTD of Cl,C2 and C3 also appeared equally as 1 day.However, the FARs became 4.81%,4.75% and 4.16% respectively, which were lower than the baseline data from the first type. Conclusion The number of HFMD cases reported in weekdays and weekends were significantly different, suggesting that when using the baseline data to distinguish weekdays and weekends, the FAR of C1, C2 and C3 algorithm could effectively reduce so as to improve the accuracy of outbreak detection.

The androgen receptor (AR) plays an important role in the development and progression of prostate cancer (PCa). Androgen deprivation therapy is initially effective in blocking tumor growth, but it eventually leads to the hormone-refractory state. The detailed mechanisms of the conversion from androgen dependence to androgen independence remain unclear. Several PCa cell lines were established to study the role of AR in PCa, but the results were often inconsistent or contrasting in different cell lines, or in the same cell line grown under different conditions. The cellular and molecular alteration of epithelial cells and their microenvironments are complicated, and it is difficult to use a single cell line to address this important issue and also to study the pathophysiological effects of AR. In this paper, we summarize the different effects of AR on multiple cell lines and show the disadvantages of using a single human PCa cell line to study AR effects on PCa. We also discuss the advantages of widely used epithelium-stroma co-culture systems, xenograft mouse models, and genetically engineered PCa mouse models. The combination of in vitro cell line studies and in vivo mouse models might lead to more credible results and better strategies for the study of AR roles in PCa.
Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Disease Models, Animal ; Epithelial Cells ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Receptors, Androgen ; physiology ; Stromal Cells ; pathology

Adolescent ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Influenza A virus ; immunology ; Male ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Students, Medical ; Vietnam ; epidemiology ; Young Adult

Adult ; Antigens, CD34 ; Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; Bone Marrow Cells ; virology ; DNA, Viral ; blood ; Female ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; physiology ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; therapeutic use ; Lamivudine ; therapeutic use ; Liver Transplantation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Monocytes ; Postoperative Period ; Virus Replication