Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is one of the most commonly encountered developmental toxicity, which could lead to perinatal morbidity and mortality, be also extended from the fetus to adulthood, and seriously affect the quality of the population. Caffeine widely exists in a variety of daily beverages and some drugs. Its consumption is increasing year by year. Caffeine intake during pregnancy is one of the risk factors for IUGR. However, its mechanism of adverse outcome based on embryonic research is still unclear. In this paper, the possible mechanisms of caffeine-induced IUGR focusing on 3 important factors-the mother, placenta and fetus were explored. Caffeine's impact on the mother is the chronic activation of renin-angiotensin system; on the placenta, caffeine induces cell damage or the failure of the cell proliferation/apoptosis balance, leading to blockage of blood supply to the placenta; caffeine is also capable of directly affecting fetal development through interfering its neuroendocrine.

Environmental Monitoring ; Humans ; Occupational Diseases ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Occupational Health Services ; organization & administration ; Population Surveillance ; methods ; Risk Assessment ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; standards

Steroidal saponins have a wide range of pharmacological effects and biological activities, such as anti-tumor, antifungal, hypoglycemic, immune regulation, insecticides, etc. In the last ten years, some new structures of steroidal saponins compounds were found from natural plants, they have some new and different activities. In order to accelerate the research on the drug innovation of steroidal saponins, we summarized the new progress of the research on such compounds.
Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Antifungal Agents ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; pharmacology ; Saponins ; pharmacology ; Steroids ; pharmacology

·Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) are common outer retinal degenerative problems, which are also the predominant causes of most blinding retinal diseases. Retinal prosthesis is a promising solution for such photoreceptor degeneration diseases.Most of current concepts for a retinal prosthesis are based on neuronal electrical stimulation. In the past twenty years, retinal prosthesis has been developed in two different directions: epiretinal prosthesis and subretinal prosthesis. Each prosthesis technique has its advantages and disadvantages. For epiretinal prosthesis, it is easier to be implanted and has the advantage of keeping most of the electronics in the vitreous cavity, off the retinal surface, which greatly helps in dissipating the heat generated by the implant device. In this paper, a brief overview of retinal prostheses concepts is introduced. After that, several important aspects of epiretinal electrical stimulation will be discussed. Moreover, some practical epiretinal prosthesis devices developed by researchers in United States, Germany and Japan in the past have been reviewed. We hope that the devices will be used widely in the near future.

To obtain the key genes for chlorogenic acid biosynthesis of Lonicera hypoglauca, four new genes ware obtained from the our dataset of L. hypoglauca. And we also predicted the structure and function of LHPAL4, LHHCT1 , LHHCT2 and LHHCT3 proteins. The phylogenetic tree showed that LHPAL4 was closely related with LHPAL1, LHHCT1 was closely related with LHHCT3, LHHCT2 clustered into a single group. By Real-time PCR to detect the gene expressed level in different organs of L. hypoglauca, we found that the transcripted level of LHPAL4, LHHCT1 and LHHCT3 was the highest in defeat flowers, and the transcripted level of LHHCT2 was the highest in leaves. These result provided a basis to further analysis the mechanism of active ingredients in different organs, as well as the element for in vitro biosynthesis of active ingredients.
Chlorogenic Acid ; metabolism ; Cloning, Molecular ; Computational Biology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Lonicera ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Plant Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein Structure, Secondary

Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) IE3 protein is a multifunctional viral protein that interacts with several target proteins of both viral and host cellular origin. To investigate the biological function of IE3 in the pathogenesis of the brain disorders caused by CMV, a screening for host cellular proteins that could interact with IE3 was performed. By yeast two-hybrid screening, ankyrin repeats domain 17 (Ankrd17, also known as Gtar) was identified as a host factor that could interact with IE3. This interaction was verified by yeast two-hybrid assay and chemiluminescent co-immunoprecipitaion. Mapping analysis suggested that the 1-148 residues of IE3 were responsible for the interaction. These results suggested that the interaction between Ankrd17 and IE3 may play a key role in the pathogenesis of MCMV-associated disease.

Objective To observe the effects of comprehensive measures of changing grain,selenium supplementation,off-site education and resettlement on prevention of children's Kashin-Beck disease in Aba state.Methods Fifty eight villages in Aba Kashin-Beck disease areas were chosen as intervention points in Aba state Sichuan province from 2007 to 2011.Based on the implementation of prevention and control measures,the villages were divided into off-site education + changing grain + selenium supplementation group and resettlement + off-site education + changing grain + selenium supplementation group,Geletuo town of Seda county,Ganzi state was selected as a control point,and right-hand anteroposterior X-ray examination(including the wrist) was carried out on children aged 6-13 from 2007 to 2011 annually.Clinical and X-ray diagnosis of Kashin-Beck disease was made in accordance with the Diagnostic Criteria of Kaschin-Beck Disease(GB 16003-1995).The effects of prevention and control measures were evaluated by comparing the child X-ray detection rate before and after the implementation of the measures.Results The average X-ray positive detectable rate of children in the intervention points was 2.07％(66/3181),2.72％ (69/2540),1.16％ (35/3017),0.56％ (19/3397) and 0.56％ (24/4273),respectively from 2007 to 2011,with a downward trend (x2trend =66.74,P ＜ 0.01).There was a downward trend in the average X-ray positive detectable rate of children in off-site education + changing grain + selenium supplementation group [1.60％(29/1809),2.63％ (39/1484),1.29％ (25/1941),0.64％ (15/2332),0.42％ (10/2379)] and resettlement + off-site education + changing grain + selenium supplementation group [2.70％ (37/1372),2.84％ (30/1056),0.93％(10/1076),0.38％ (4/1065),0.74％(14/1894)] (x2trend=30.97,35.19,all P ＜ 0.01).The average X-ray positive detectable rate of children in the intervention group was 0 from 2007 to 2010,and was 1.61％ (1/62) in 2011.The difference of X-ray positive detectable rate was not statistically significant in the control group in the 5 years from 2007 to 2011.The difference of children's X-ray positive detectable rate was not statistically significant between control group and intervention group.Conclusions The effect of taking changing grain,selenium supplementation,off-site education and resettlement comprehensive measures to prevent children's Kashin-Beck disease is not significant in those places where the state of Kaschin-Beck disease is not active.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility of multiple loci detection in single cell by primer extension preamplification (PEP) followed by nest PCR. METHODS: Using PEP, the whole genomic DNA in single lymphocyte or single blastomere was amplified. In addition, CD17, nt-28 and linked ATTTT repeat for beta-thalassemia, F508 and linked GATT repeat for cystic fibrosis, DMD exon 17 and 48 for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, short tandem repeats of D18S51, D21S11 and D21S1411, and sex-determination gene SRY of the Y chromosome were all detected using nest-PCR from a small aliquot of the PEP reaction. RESULTS: The rate of successful single lymphocyte amplification was 89.5%(false positive 0.48%false negative 2.5%). The rate of successful single blastomere amplification was 85.56%(false positive 3%). CONCLUSION: The PEP technique followed by nest PCR analysis of single cell is very useful for simultaneous detection of multiple gene loci. It may be applicable for preimplantation genetic diagnosis.

Objective To present a preliminary latest procedure for portal hypertension and evaluate the technical feasibility and efficacy of portacaval shunt creation through the percutaneous transhepatic approach in order to make a hemodynamic comparison with that of the classic TIPS.Methods Thirty-eight patients with portal hypertension(36 men;mean age 57 years,range 32～73)were referred for PTPS procedure because of bleeding varices(n=36),intractable ascites(n=1),and hepatopulmonary syndrome(n=1).The severity of liver disease was classified as Child-Pugh B in 27 and C in 11.The PTPS was created by a percutaneous transhepatic puncture into right portal vein and then through left portal vein to the hepatic segment of IVC followed by a prefabrication stress stent-graft placement at the very site.Results Technical and functional success of 100% was achieved in all patients,without related complications.The postprocedural portal vein-IVC gradients mean 13 cmH_2O was achieved with the follow-up period mean 493 days.No recurrence of variceal bleeding and controlled refractory ascites were achieved,and still more with primary patency rate of the involved vascular structure up to 94.8% at 365 days,much better than classic TIPS. Conclusions Portacaval shunt creation using the prefabrication stress stent via percutaneous transhepatic technique is safe and feasible.The compact coincidence was obtained between the stent and the involved vessel with restoration of intrahepatic portal venous bemodynamics together with partial lowering of portal venous pressure and guaranteeing intrahepatic perfusion through right portal vein.It is also obviously to have postoperative prevention of shunt restenoses and lowering postoperative incidence of hepato-encephalopathy.

BACKGROUND: Active compression-decompression cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ACD-CPR) has been popular in the treatment of patients with cardiac arrest (CA). However, the effect of ACD-CPR versus conventional standard CPR (S-CRP) is contriversial. This study was to analyze the efficacy and safety of ACD-CPR versus S-CRP in treating CA patients. METHODS: Randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials published from January 1990 to March 2011 were searched with the phrase "active compression-decompression cardiopulmonary resuscitation and cardiac arrest" in PubMed, EmBASE, and China Biomedical Document Databases. The Cochrane Library was searched for papers of meta-analysis. Restoration of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) rate, survival rate to hospital admission, survival rate at 24 hours, and survival rate to hospital discharge were considered primary outcomes, and complications after CPR were viewed as secondary outcomes. Included studies were critically appraised and estimates of effects were calculated according to the model of fixed or random effects. Inconsistency across the studies was evaluated using the I2 statistic method. Sensitivity analysis was made to determine statistical heterogeneity. RESULTS: Thirteen studies met the criteria for this meta-analysis. The studies included 396 adult CA patients treated by ACD-CPR and 391 patients by S-CRP. Totally 234 CA patients were found out hospitals, while the other 333 CA patients were in hospitals. Two studies were evaluated with high-quality methodology and the rest 11 studies were of poor quality. ROSC rate, survival rate at 24 hours and survival rate to hospital discharge with favorable neurological function indicated that ACD-CPR is superior to S-CRP, with relative risk (RR) values of 1.39 (95% CI 0.99–1.97), 1.94 (95%CI 1.45–2.59) and 2.80 (95% CI 1.60–5.24). No significant differences were found in survival rate to hospital admission and survival rate to hospital discharge for ACD-CPR versus S-CRP with RR values of 1.06 (95% CI 0.76–1.60) and 1.00 (95% CI 0.73–1.38). CONCLUSION: Quality controlled studies confirmed the superiority of ACD-CPR to S-CRP in terms of ROSC rate and survival rate at 24 hours. Compared with S-CRP, ACD-CPR could not improve survival rate to hospital admission or survival rate to hospital discharge.