Objective To evaluate the mechanical homogeneity pattern of isolated carotid atherosclerotic plaque intima on longitudinal axis view using ultrasonic velocity vector imaging.Methods Fourty six patients with 48 isolated plaques were undergone the high frequency ultrasound scanning,the real-time two-dimensional longitudinal-axis gray scale view at the maximal thickness of the plaque was obtained in three complete cardiac cycles.A dedicated velocity vector imaging(ⅤⅤⅠ)workstation was used for the off-line dynamic two-dimensional gray-scale image analysis and mechanics parameter(i.e.,the peak strain and the absolute difference of the peak strain)assessment at the sites of the upper,middle and down stream separately.The length and direction distribution of the velocity vectors at the carotid atherosclerotic plaque intima were observed.Wilcoxon test was utilized for the comparison of the peak strain and the absolute difference of the peak strain between two sites.Results The chaos phenomenon of velocity vector distribution at the sites of plaque intima occurred significantly differed from those uniform velocity vectors at the reference sites.According to the two groups of the higher strain value side and the lower strain value side on the upper stream and the down stream of the plaque intima,the peak strain at the higher strain value side was significantly higher than the lower strain value side(P=0.000).There was a significantly difference between the absolute difference of peak strain from the higher strain value side to the middle stream point of the plaque intima and the absolute difference of peak strain from the lower strain value side to the higher strain value side of the plaque intima(P＜0.017).Conclusions The length and direction distribution of velocity vectors of the isolated carotid atherosclerotic plaque intima on longitudinal axis view are uneven,the mechanical heterogeneity pattern exists at the plaque intima and could be visualized and quantitatively evaluated using ultrasonic velocity vector imaging.

Objective To evaluate the changes of left ventricular(LV) 3-dimension peak displacement (3D-D) during different cardiac pacing patterns. To provide a reliable mechanical data base for the optimization cardiac pacing. Methods Cardiac pacings in open-chest Beagle canine models( n = 10) were performed using three patterns[I, e. , right ventricular apical pacing (RVA-P), LV lateral pacing (LVL-P)and LV apical pacing(LVA-P)],3D full volumetric real-time imaging were acquired in a completed cardiac cycle. The 3D-D,3D-D peak time (3D-DTc) and the standard deviation of TC(3D-DTSD) were calculated and analyzed in different pacing patterns for difference and spatial correlationship. Results ① The 3D-D of LVL-P and LVA-P state decreased compared with BASE and RVA-P state, there were significant 3D-D difference of mid anterior,mid anteriorspetal, mid interior,mid posterior, mid lateral between LVL-P and BASE, RVA-P patterns( P ＜0.05). There were significant 3D-D difference of mid anterior,mid lateral,mid posterior between LVA-P and RVA-P patterns groups( P ＜0.05). There were significant 3D-D difference of all segments in apical level between LVL-P,LVA-P and BASE, RVA-P states( P ＜0.05). ② Corrected by the heart rate,the 3D-DTC of different cardiac pacing patterns were shorter than BASE state. ③ There were no significant 3D-DTSD difference between different cardiac pacings and BASE patterns. There were significant 3D-DTSD difference between RVA-P and LVA-P patterns (P ＜ 0.05). Conclusions LV mechanical activation and synchronization could be maintained during RVA-P rather than LVA-P and LVL-P. Echocardiographic study of left ventricular 3D-D can actually reveal myocardial mechanical state during different cardiac pacings and BASE patterns.

OBJECTIVETo study the expression of human myofibrillogenesis regulator 1 (MR-1) gene in E. coli and obtain the MR-1 protein and its antibody for further investigation of its biological function.

METHODSExpression vectors pGEX-5X-1, pET30a (+), and pET24a (+), as well as host strain E. coli BL21 (DE3) and BL21-CodonPlus (DE3) -RIL were used for expression of MR-1. MR-1 N-terminal with GST or T7-tag or C-terminal with His-tag, separately, or N terminal with T7-tag and C terminal with His-tag, simultaneously, were fused in plasmids pGEX-5X-1, pET30a (+) , and pET24a (+). The expressed MR-1-T protein, separated and purified by preparative SDS-PAGE, was applied to immunize the rabbits. The titer of the antibody was assayed by ELISA and its immunogenicity was tested by Western blot with pcDNA3/MR-1 transfected human breast cancer cell MCF7.

RESULTSThe MR-1 protein was successfully expressed as inclusion body by fusing its N-terminal with T7-tag in E. coli BL21-CodonPlus (DE3) -RIL. MR-1 protein was purified by electro-elution from SDS-PAGE gel. Using this purified protein, polyclonal antibody in rabbit against MR-1 was essentially generated. ELISA and Western blot showed the titer of this antibody was about 1:10(5) with high immunogenicity.

CONCLUSIONSThe N-terminal fusion tag is the most important mechanism for MR-1 expression. The polyclonal antibody of the generated MR-1 protein in E. coli may be applied for its further biological function studies.

Animals ; Antibodies ; analysis ; Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Escherichia coli ; metabolism ; Female ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; Immunization ; Muscle Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Plasmids ; Rabbits ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo comprehensively evaluate the effect of interventions on obesity in Chinese pupils.

METHODSA literature research was carried out in China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, PubMed and the Excerpts Medica Database (EMBASE) databases to collect articles published between 1979 and 2010 concerning the effect of interventions for preventing obesity in Chinese pupils. Rate difference (RD) of the rate of obesity as the evaluation indicator was selected to Meta-analyze the effect of interventions on obesity. There are total 215 articles, in which 211 articles were written in Chinese and other articles were written in English.

RESULTS17 literatures were used for Meta-analysis by the uniform inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results showed that the RD of obesity rate for the students in the intervention group was 3% (95%CI: 1% - 5%) after the intervention. However, the RD of obesity rate for the students in the control group was -2% (95%CI: -4% - -1%) after the intervention. Results of stratified analysis for the RD of obesity rate showed that the obesity rate for the students in the intervention group were decreased significantly after the intervention of combined programs with health education, physical exercise and nutrition interventions with moderate intervention time (1 to 2 years), the RD (95%CI) of obesity rate were 5% (2% - 8%), 3% (1% - 4%), respectively. For the studies whose baseline obesity rates was insignificant difference between the intervention group and the control group, the obesity rate for the students in the intervention group was 4% (95%CI: -7% - -1%) lower than the obesity rate for the students in the control group after the intervention.

CONCLUSIONHealth-education-based comprehensive intervention is effective on obesity prevention in Chinese pupils; combined intervention programs with moderate intervention time (1 to 2 years) were effective in improving efficiency of obesity prevention in pupils.

Child ; China ; Health Education ; Humans ; Obesity ; prevention & control ; Students

Objective To evaluate the associations between polymorphisms of LEPR Gln223Arg,LEPR Pro 1019Pro and the risk on obesity.Methods A computerized search on literature was carried out in Wanfang,CNKI,VIP databases and CBM,PubMed,EMBASE databases to collect articles published between 1979 and 2010 concerning the associations between polymorphisms of LEPR Gln223Arg and/or LEPR Pro 1019Pro and risk of obesity in the Chinese population.Odds ratios (ORs) were used to assess the strength of the association,and 95％ confidence intervals (CIs) to present the precision of the estimates.Meta-analysis was performed using the STATA statistical software.Results Fifteen literature were collected for Meta-analysis by the uniform inclusion and exclusion criteria.There were 1096 obese patients and 949 controls for polymorphisms of LEPR Gln223Arg in 9 papers,together with 961 obese patients and 818 controls for polymorphisms of LEPR Prol019Pro in 8 papers.Overall,there were significant associations between decreased risk of obesity and LEPR Gln223Arg polymorphisms (-668 A→G) (G versus A,OR=0.66,95％CI:0.49-0.89; AG and GG versus AA,OR=0.50,95％CI:0.32-0.77; respectively).There were significant associations between increased risk of obesity and LEPR Prol019Pro polymorphisms (-3057 G→A) (A versus G,OR=1.61,95％CI:1.15-2.26; AG and AA versus GG,OR=1.50,95％CI:1.08-2.08; respectively).Conclusion Variant alleles at both LEPR-668 and LEPR-3057 were associated with obesity in the Chinese Han-dominated population.

Objective To evaluate left ventricular function in patients with hypertensive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(HHC)using real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography(RT-3DE).Methods Thirty patients with HHC and 32 control subjects were studied.Full-volume RT-3DE data from apical window were acquired,and regional volumetric time curves of 17 segments were obtained by fast 3-dimensional border detection software.Several left ventricular function parameters were calculated semiautomatically,including global left ventricular end-diastolic volume(EDV),end-systolic volume(ESV),left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF),the ratio of ESV/EDV of 17 segments,the standard deviation(SD)and difference(Dif)(adjusted by the R-R interval) of time to minimum systolic volume(Tmsv)in 16 segments(Tmsv16-SD and Tmsv16-Dif).Results EDV and ESV were significantly larger in patients with HHC than that in control subjects[(88±29)ml vs (72±15) ml,t=-2.680,P=0.008;(28±10)ml vs (22±6 )ml,t=-2.613,P=0.01].HHC had a higher ratio of ESV/EDV at interventricular septum(IVS)compared with control group[mid-segments of anterior IVS:(40.51±20.28)% vs (26.43±10.10)%,t=-3.378,P=0.002;mid-segments of posterior IVS:(41.44±23.55)% vs (24.46±8.12)%,t=-3.688,P=0.001;apical segments of IVS:(30.96±21.31)% vs (19.53±7.33)%,t=-2.745,P=0.01].In patients with HHC,Tmsv16-SD and Tmsv16-Dif were significantly longer[(2.48±1.38)% vs (1.16±0.26)%,t=-5.117,P＜0.001;(7.67±5.07)% vs (3.95±1.48)%,t=-3.865,P＜0.001].And the prevalence of left ventricular dyssynchrony was higher than that in control subjects(43% vs 3%).Conclusions HHC patients may have regional left ventricular systolic dysfunction before global changes,and have a higher prevalence of left ventricular dyssynchrony.RT-3DE is a useful imaging modality for assessing left ventricular systolic function.

The biological characterization, differentiation and regeneration of hepatic stem/progenitor cells are the one of very active and interested fields. In this report, intravenous injection of human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) cells into the BALB/c-nu and SCID mice, an animal model for transplantation and liver injury, was reported. Using of flow cytometry and tissue typing (HLA), it was found that the HUCB cells were survived in mouse liver for 9 weeks. After separation from perfused liver, HUCB cells were detected by hematopoietic colonies (CFU-GEM M) in hepatocyte culture. It was concluded that the transplanted HUCB hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells can be survived in the liver over a long period of time.
Animals ; Cell Division ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; Flow Cytometry ; HLA-DR Antigens ; analysis ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; physiology ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Liver ; cytology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, SCID

Animals ; Borrelia burgdorferi ; genetics ; China ; DNA, Bacterial ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Rodentia ; microbiology ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Objective To monitor the co-infection status of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (R.b.s.1) and spotted fever group Rickettsia (SFGR) in tourist areas of Heilongjiang province.Methods Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the 5S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer of B.b.s.1 and ompA of SFGR in ticks,dynamically collected from tourist areas of Heilongjiang province in 2010.Amplification products from positive ticks were sequenced,and phylogenetic analysis was conducted by Mega 5.0 software package.Results 849 ticks were collected from two tourist points,with the dominant ticks in Tiger Mountain and Jingpo Lake were Ixodes persulcatus and Haemaphysalis concinna.Regarding the Ixodes persulcatus from Tiger Mountain,the infection rates of B.b.s.1 and SFGR were 26.15％ and 10.05％.The infection rate of SFGR was 13.33％ in Haemaphysalis concinna and the B.b.s.1 was tndiscovered in the same ticks from Jingpo Lake.However,the co-infection could only be detected in Ixodes persulcatus of both tourist areas.Surveillance data showed that the major ticks were more likely to be appeared in July at Tiger Mountain and in June at Jingpo Lake.Data from the sequence analysis on B.b.s.1 showed that the B.b.s.1 in tourist areas could be classified into three different genotypes,other than B.garinii and B.afzelii.We first detected B.valaisiana-like group genotype in northeast of China.Results from the sequence analysis of SFGR positive products showed that the two DNA sequences of newly detected agents were completely the same as Rickettsia sp.HL-93 which was detected in Hulin and Rickettsia sp.H820 found in northeast,China.Conclusion The co-infection of B.b.s.1 and SFGR was detected in ticks from the tourist areas of Heilongjiang province,and data from the sequencing of specific fragment showed that various kinds of genotypes existed in this area.However; the rates of co-infectionitis-different according to environment,time and population that contributed to the kinds of and the index of ticks existed in the surveys points,also the infection rate of the ticks was studied.

Heavy metals and other harmful elements in traditional Chinese medicines inflict serious damage on public health. Therefore, risk assessment of Chinese raw materials has gained increasing attention. To date, few reports have been published on the health risk assessment of heavy metals and harmful elements in Chinese patent medicines. To gain a comprehensive understanding of heavy metals and other harmful elements in Chinese patent medicines and to establish proper limits, residual Pb, Cd, As, Hg, Cu and Cr in 15 054 samples of 295 drugs was analyzed with regard to distribution and variation between elements and dosage forms. In addition, in accord with procedures including hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment and risk characterization, basic procedures and specific parameters for risk assessment of heavy metals and harmful elements in Chinese patent medicines were clarified based on the health risk assessment of 14 787 samples and 276 drugs. A method and equation for establishing residual limits is proposed. The results show that content and target hazard quotients (THQs) of the investigated elements in all samples showed a skewed distribution approaching 0. Content of Pb, As, Cu, Hg, Cd or Cr in the samples exceeded 100 mg·kg^-1 and the content of Pb, As, or Cu in individual samples exceeded 1 000 mg·kg^-1. THQs of 586 samples and four drugs were above 1. We believe that the health risk of Hg, Pb and As in Chinese patent medicines with dosage forms of pill, capsule, tablet and powder, especially those in raw powder preparations, warrant concern.