Adolescent ; Adult ; Darier Disease ; therapy ; Electroacupuncture ; Female ; Humans ; Young Adult

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aspergillosis ; complications ; microbiology ; Aspergillus ; isolation & purification ; Candida albicans ; isolation & purification ; Candidiasis ; complications ; microbiology ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis ; complications ; microbiology ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mucor ; isolation & purification ; Mucormycosis ; complications ; microbiology ; Nocardia ; isolation & purification ; Nocardia Infections ; complications ; microbiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the effect of Sirt1 gene knockout on chronic kidney disease induced by 5/6 nephrectomy in mice and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/fetal liver kinase-1 (Flk-1) signaling pathway.Methods Twenty four male Sirt1 +/+ and Sirt1 +/-mice wererandomly divided into four groups:Sirt1+/+ mice with sham-operation (WT-Sham,n=6),Sirt1+/-mice with sham-operation (KO-Sham,n=6),Sirt1 +/+ mice with 5/6 nephrectomy (WT-Nx,n=6) and Sirt1 +/-mice with 5/6 nephrectomy (KO-Nx,n=6).Proteinuria was determined by urine collection from 8:00 to 8:00 the next day at 20 weeks.Serum creatinine (Scr),urea nitrogen (BUN) and the renal pathological changes were measured after 20 weeks.Expressions of Sirt1,collagen Ⅰ and transforming growth factor β(TGF-β) were used to analyze the changes of renal fibrosis by immunohistochemistry staining.Real-time PCR and Western blotting were used to measure the mRNA and protein expressions of Sirt1,fibronectin,collagen Ⅰ,VEGF and Flk-1 in kidney.Results Sirt1 expressed in glomernlar endothelial cells,podocytes,mesangial cells and renal tubular epithelial cells in Sirt1 +/+ mice,while Sirt1 expression intensity was significantly reduced in Sirt1 +/-mice.Compared with the WT-Sham group,WT-Nx group had increased proteinuria,BUN,Scr,glomernlar sclerosis index and tubulointerstitial fibrosis index at 12 weeks after operation (all P ＜ 0.01),and KO-Nx group had exacerbated the above up-regulations (all P ＜ 0.01).Compared with those in WT-Sham group,the expressions of fibronectin,collagen Ⅰ and TGF-β were up-regulated in WT-Nx group (all P ＜ 0.01),and were significantly augmented in KO-Nx group (all P ＜ 0.01).Compared with those in WT-Sham group,renal mRNA and protein expressions of VEGF and Flk-1 were decreased in WT-Nx group,and KO-Nx group aggravated their down-regulation (all P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions Sirt1 gene knockout can increase proteinuria and Scr,and aggravate renal pathology and renal fibrosis in 5/6 nephrectomized mice,which is associated with the inhibition of VEGF/Flk-1 signaling pathway.It is suggested that Sirt1 may be a potential therapeutic target of chronic kidney disease.

Objective To explore the killing effect of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma on tumor cells and to analyze the DBD-induced apoptosis mechanism.Methods Thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay method was used to detect the killing effect of low temperature plasma on the cytotoxicity of normal spleen leukocytes and acute promyelocytic leukemia cells (LT-12) at different doses.The changes of reactive oxygen species (ROS) level were measured after plasma treatment.The cell apoptosis rate was detected by Annexin V/PI double staining at different doses.The expression of apoptosis-related genes and proteins was detected by qRT-PCR and Western Blot.Results MTT results showed that the killing effect of plasma treatment was dose-dependent and time-dependent.The cell survival rate after 8 hours of treatment decreased from 98％ to 63％ with the dose increasing from 30 s to 240 s.The survival rate decreased from 78％ (2 h) to 39％ (24 h) after the treatment with a same dose (e.g.240 s).Annexin V/PI double staining results demonstrated that the plasma effect can induce apoptosis,and the apoptosis rate was not only positively correlated with the plasma dose,but also with the post-plasma time.The longer the post-plasma time,the higher was the apoptosis rate.The apoptotic rate of the 60 s dose treatment after 12 h was 48％ that increased to 55.3％ with the dose of 120 s.The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) detected by flow cytometry also showed a time correlation of the plasma treatment.After the plasma treatment,the ROS level immediately increased to 1.24 times,and sharply increased to 5.39 times after 20 h post-plasma.The experimental results of qRT-PCR and Western blot showed that the expression of the genes and proteins of Caspase family and Bcl-2 family was very active at 8 to 12 h post-plasma treatment.Conclusions Low-temperature plasma can effectively kill tumor cells,and apoptosis is the main mechanism of death.The molecular mechanism of apoptosis of tumor cells induced by low temperature plasma was preliminary confirmed.

Objective To analyze the results of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination(OSCE) of medical interns in Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics,and to assess the role of OSCE in clinical teaching and practice. MethodsAtolal of 104 medical interns of five-year education program in 2002 and seven-year education program in 2003 in School of Medicine had taken part in OSCE of gynecology and obstetrics.The OSCE consisted of six stations: gynecologic examination,obstetric examination,oral test,interrogation of standardized-patients(SP),drawing partogram,and non-stress test(NST) explanation.After gathering the data of each station,the software of SPSS 11.0 was used to make statistical analysis. Results The median scores were as follows: 92.0 for gynecologic examination,91.0 for obstetric examination,83.5 for oral test,80.0 for interrogation of SP,80.0 for drawing partogram,and 70.0 for NST explanation.There was no significant impact of familiarity to OSCE on the results of the test.The results showed that medical interns did good job in basic performance,but lack of clinical practice skills in some complicated practice of gynecology and obstetrics.Conclusion The grading system and stations setup of OSCE in Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital show objectivity and equity.The OSCE can be widely applied in the after-department examination and even graduation examination.

The traditional Chinese medicine of Radix Hedysari plays an important role in invigorating gas for as-cending, benefiting blood for promoting production of fluid, and promoting circulation for removing obstruction in collaterals, which is consistent with the principle of treatment for osteoporosis. This study is designed to investigate the bioactive components on increasing peak bone mass (PBM) by exploring the spectrum-effect relationship between chromatography fingerprints and effect. Multiple indicators are selected to evaluate the pharmacological activity. In fingerprints, 21 common peaks are obtained, five of which are identified. Furthermore, gray relational analysis (GRA) is a quantitative method of gray system theory and is used to describe the correlation degree of common peaks and pharmacological activities with relational value. 21 components are then divided into three different regions, of which ononin and calycosin play an extremely significant role in increasing PBM. In addition, factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) are used to screen the optimal producing area for Radix Hedysari. This provides a comprehensive and efficient method to improve the quality evaluation of Radix Hedysari, confirming the bioactive components for PBM-enhancement and further develop its medicinal value.

Background The integration of segregated pathways from the two eyes first appears in V1 neurons,where it not only plays a critical role in the generation of a three-dimensional visual representation.Abnormal visual experiences in critical period usually lead to amblyopia and binocular integration defects.Objective Present study was to investigate how neurons of kitten coordinate their activity patterns in response to synchronous dichoptic stimulus inputs in striate cortex.Methods Spike rate and local field potential(LFP) gamma band(20-90Hz) power of three kitten(1-1.2Kg,8-10 weeks old) to monocular and synchronous dichoptic presented gratings were assessed for 28 binocular neurons in V1 of kitten by in vivo extracellular record method under anaesthesia and paralysis.Ocular dominance index(ODI) and binocular integration index(BII) were assessed and the correlation between these two indexes were analyzed.Results In 28 cells with binocular characteristic,the absolute value of spike-ODI was significant larger than that of LFP-ODI(t=2.606,P=0.021).A positive linear correlation between the ocular preferences of spike and LFP was found(R2=0.513,F=27.423,P=0.003).In dichotic trails,binocular facilitation with BII for spike was 2.348±0.996,showing a significant reduce in comparison with BII for LFP(3.678±1.974)(t=2.671,P=0.019).Binocular integration index for two signals were greater when monocular responses of both eyes were similar(P=0.035 and P=0.124,respectively).Conclusion Both spike rate and gamma band power of LFP exhibited binocular facilitation to synchronous presented dichotic stimuli with significant facilitation induced by balanced monocular responses.Spiking activity and LFP reflect neural activities of different spatial scales and source components.

Objective To study the incidence of stroke among elderly people in China's longevity area and its association with diseases such as hypertension,diabetes and heart disease.The differences in the following common hematological indicators in subjects with stroke and non-hypertension,diabetes,heart disease and stroke were studied:superoxide dismutase (SOD),malondialdehyde (MDA),hypersensitive c-reactive protein (hsCRP),albumin (propagated) glucose (GLU),cholesterol (CHO),triglyceride (TG),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC),glycosylated serum protein (GSP) urea nitrogen (BUN),creatinine (CREA) and uric acid (UA).Methods Residents who participated in the project of biomedical research of aging population conducted in 2014 were selected from 8 longevity Areas in China.2 315 people aged 40 and over attended the study,including 22 aged 40 and over,238 aged 60 and over,490 aged 70 and over,629 aged 80 and over,518 aged 90 and over,418 aged 100 and over.Using the self-designed questionnaire to collect information about the characteristics of social demographics,the clinical doctors used the unified inspection tool to examine the subjects.The fasting blood samples were collected by vacuum tube at early morning.The contents of plasma SOD,MDA,hsCRP,ALB,GLU,CHO,TG,HDLC,GSP,BUN,CREA and UA were detected and compared among these elderly who were classified into different genders and different age groups and different healthy groups.Results The prevalence of high blood pressure,diabetes,heart disease and stroke increased with age,reaching a peak and then slowly decreasing.The age of peak was 90 ～ 99,60 ～ 69,70～ 79 and 80～ 89.The prevalence of hypertension was 71.62 ％ and 60.54 ％ respectively for stroke subjects and non-cerebral apoplexy subjects,and the difference was statistically significant.The prevalence of diabetes was 18.92％ and 11.35％ respectively,and the difference was statistically significant.The prevalence of heart disease was 20.98％ and 5.26％,respectively,and the difference was statistically significant.The rates of non-hypertension,non diabetic and non-heart disease were 4.73％ and 33.41％ respectively,and the difference was statistically significant.In the groups of Stroke subjects and Non-high blood pressure,nomdiabetic,non-heart disease subjects the following indicators were Compared,values of SOD were 55.76±8.27 and 57.16±8.00 U/ml respectively,the difference between groups were not statistically significant (t=0.341,P=0.053),values of MDA were 5.81 ± 3.82 and 5.67± 3.16 μmol/L respectively,the difference between groups were not statistically significant (t=0.329,P =0.661),values of hsCRP were 4.15 ± 12.33 and 2.94 ± 6.25 mg/L,respectively,the difference between groups were not statistically significant (t=0.026,P=0.080),values of ALB were 41.60±4.51 and 42.08±3.94 g/L respectively,the difference between groups were not statistically significant (t=0.032,P=0.194),values of ALB were 41.60 ± 4.51 and 42.08± 3.94 g/L respectively,the difference between groups were not statistically significant (t =0.032,P=0.194),values of ALB were 41.60 ± 4.51 and 42.08 ± 3.94 g/L respectively,the difference between groups were not statistically significant (t =0.032,P=0.194),values of GLU were 5.89 ± 2.67 and 4.90 ± 0.90 mmol/L respectively,the difference between groups showed statistically significant (t=0.000,P=0.000)),values of CHO were 4.81 ± 1.00 and 4.71±1.02 mmol/L respectively,the difference between groups were not statistically significant (t =0.670,P=0.318),values of TG were1.33±0.69 and 1.14±0.57 mmol/L respectively,the difference between groups showed statistically significant (t=0.012,P=0.000),values of HDLC were 1.29±0.35 and 1.41±0.40 mmol/L respectively,the difference between groups showed statistically significant (t=0.004,P=0.001),values of GSP were 259.10±60.90 and 246.75±24.52 μmol/L respectively,the difference between groups showed statistically significant (t =0.000,P =0.000),values of BUN were 6.84±± 3.53 and 6.62 ± 2.20 mmol/L respectively,the difference between groups were not statistically significant (t=0.110,P=0.338),values of CREA were 84.92 ± 33.00 and 80.14 ± 24.64 μmol/L respectively,the difference between groups showed statistically significant (t=0.013,P=0.044),values of UA were 296.73±91.34 and 288.12±80.47 μmol/L respectively,the difference between groups were not statistically significant (t=0.123,P=0.247).Conclusion Diabetes,hypertension,and heart disease are risk factors for stroke.Abnormal blood glucose and lipid metabolism:the increase of GLU,TG and the decrease of HDLC are important common biochemical index of stroke.Patients with cerebral apoplexy have certain renal impairment.

OBJECTIVETo explore the influence of water fluoride exposure on reproductive hormones in female.

METHODSCross-sectional study was conducted in seven villages of a county in Henan province by using simple random sampling including high fluoride area, defluoridation project area and control area on April, 2011 based on the preliminary study results of fluoride concentration in drinking water. Women who were born and growth or lived in the village at least 5 years and aged 18-48 years old were recruited using cluster sampling. They were divided into high fluoride group (HFG, 116 subjects), defluoridation project group (DFPG, 132 subjects) and control group (CG, 227 subjects) in accordance with the above areas. All subjects accepted questionnaire and physical checkup. Fasting blood and morning urine samples were collected. The concentration of fluoride in urine was determined by fluoride ion selective electrode method. The serum level of GnRH was detected using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The serum level of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone (T), estradiol (E2) were determined by chemiluminesence immunoassay (CLIA).

RESULTSThe average age was (39.44 ± 7.34), (38.84 ± 8.03), (37.45 ± 7.70) years old in female from DFPG, HFG and CG respectively, there were no significant differences among the three groups (F = 3.02, P = 0.05). The urine fluoride levels were (1.34 ± 1.07), (2.59 ± 1.57), (0.92 ± 0.46) mg/ml in female from DFPG, HFG and CG respectively, there was a significant difference among three groups (F = 105.38, P < 0.01). No significant differences were observed of serum GnRH, LH, T, FSH and E2 among three groups in follicular phase (P > 0.05). The serum levels of E2 in Ovulatory period were 67.73, 58.09, 84.96 pg/ml in female from DFPG, HFG and CG respectively. It was lower in HFG than that in CG (H = 4.00, P < 0.05). The serum levels of T in Ovulatory period were 0.55, 0.45, 0.55 ng/ml in female from DFPG, HFG and CG respectively. It was lower in HFG than that in DFPG (H = 6.47, P < 0.05), but no significant difference was observed between HFG and CG (H = 2.41, P > 0.05). The serum levels of GnRH in Luteal phase were 24.09, 20.16, 23.50 ng/ml in female from DFPG, HFG and CG respectively. It was lower in HFG than that in DFPG (H = 14.14, P < 0.05) and CG (H = 12.53, P < 0.05). The serum level of E2 in luteal phase were 81.47, 64.60, 74.55 pg/ml in female from DFPG, HFG and CG respectively. It was lower in HFG than that in DFPG (H = 5.69, P < 0.05). As for LH, FSH and T, no significant differences were observed among the three groups (P > 0.05 respectively). The abnormal rates of E2 level were 22.73 (30/102), 37.93 (44/72), 20.26 (46/181) in female from DFPG, HFG and CG respectively. The E2 abnormal rate in female from HFG was higher that from DFPG (χ(2) = 6.82, P < 0.05) and CG (χ(2) = 12.38, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONFluoride exposure may influence reproductive hormones in female, especially in ovulatory and luteal phase of menstrual cycle.

Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Drinking Water ; chemistry ; Environmental Exposure ; adverse effects ; Estradiol ; blood ; Female ; Fluorides ; adverse effects ; urine ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; blood ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; blood ; Humans ; Luteinizing Hormone ; blood ; Menstrual Cycle ; drug effects ; Middle Aged ; Progesterone ; blood ; Testosterone ; blood

BACKGROUNDIn this prospective randomized study, we compared the predicted blood and effect-site C 50 for propofol and remifentanil target-controlled infusion (TCI) and the bispectral index (BIS) values at loss of consciousness (LOC) and response to a standard noxious painful stimulus (LOS) in elderly and young patients, respectively. We hypothesized that the elderly patients will require lower target concentration of both propofol and remifentanil at above two clinical end-points.

METHODSThere were 80 American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I-II unpremedicated patients enrolled in this study, they were divided into elderly group (age ≥65 years, n = 40) and young group (aged 18-64 years, n = 40). Propofol was initially given to a predicted blood concentration of 1.2 μg/ml and thereafter increased by 0.3 μg/ml every 30 s until Observer's Assessment of Alertness and Sedation score was 1. The propofol level was kept constant, and remifentanil was given to provide a predict blood concentration of 2.0 ng/ml, and then increased by 0.3 ng/ml every 30 s until loss of response to a tetanic stimulus. BIS (version 3.22, BIS Quattro sensor) was also recorded.

RESULTSIn elderly group, the propofol effect-site C 50 at LOC of was 1.5 (1.4-1.6) μg/ml, was significantly lower than that of young group, which was 2.2 (2.1-2.3) μg/ml, the remifentanil effect-site C 50 at LOS was 3.5 (3.3-3.7) ng/ml in elderly patients, was similar with 3.7 (3.6-3.8) ng/ml in young patients. Fifty percent of patients lost consciousness at a BIS value of 57.3 (56.4-58.1), was similar with that of young group, which was 55.2 (54.0-56.3).

CONCLUSIONIn elderly patients, the predicted blood and effect-site concentrations of propofol at LOC were lower than that of young patients. At same sedation status, predicted blood and effect-site concentrations of remifentanil required at LOS were similar in elderly and young patients. BIS were not affected by age. Low-propofol/high-opioid may be optional TCI strategy for elderly patients.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Anesthetics, Intravenous ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Piperidines ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Propofol ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Prospective Studies ; Unconsciousness ; chemically induced ; Young Adult