Humans ; Singapore ; Sleep Wake Disorders

Aim To investigate the curative effects of resveratrol on OVA induced allergic rhinitis in mice and the underlying immune mechanisms. Methods Balb/c mice (female, 6 weeks) were divided randomly into normal control ( NC) group, allergic rhinitis (AR) group, high dose resveratrol treatment group (RH), low dose resveratrol treatment group (RL), and dexamethasone treatment group ( Dex). RL, RH and Dex group were oral administered with resveratrol 30 mg • kg"1, resveratrol 100 mg • kg"1 and dexamethasone 10 mg • kg"1, respectively. After the treat-ment , the sneezing and nasal rubbing behaviors of mice in all the group were recorded and HE was performed to assess the inflammatory cell infiltration in nasal tissues. The sera levels of allergic cytokines were determined with ELISA assay. The percentage of CD4+ GA- TA3 + T cells in spleen of each group was further recorded by flow cytometry. Results Compared with AR group, treatment with resveratrol (100 mg - kg"1) reduced the sneezing and nasal rubbing behaviors signifi-cantly and improved inflammatory cell infiltration in nasal tissues. The up-regulated sera levels of IL-4, IL- 13 and OVA-sIgE in AR group were reversed by RH, and ratios CD4+ GATA3 + Th2 cells in spleen of RH were also down-regulated parallelly. Conclusions RH treatment could improve the allergic related symptoms of OVA-induced allergic rhinitis, which is associated with down-regulated sera levels of IL-4, IL-13 and OVA-sIgE and ratios of CD4+ GATA3 + Th2 cells in spleen of mouse model.

Objective: To study the in vitro antiproliferative effect and probable mechanism of solasonine on human breast cancer Bcap-37 cells, meanwhile, make comparison with solamargine. Methods: The cytotoxicity was evaluated by MTT assay. The cell damage and type of cell death were examined through Hoechst33342/PI and Annexin V/PI staining, respectively. Mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by JC-1 staining. The expression of Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bax, and cytochrome c was determined by immunoblot method, and the activation of caspase-3 was analyzed by immunocytochemistry method. Results: Solasonine showed the different extents of cytotoxicity on eight human tumor cell lines as well as four human normal cell lines, and the IC50 values of solasonine ranged from 12.73 to 37.15 μmol/L. Cell apoptosis and mitochondria depolarization were observed in Bcap-37 cells after treatment with solasonine for 24 h, respectively. In immunoblot and immunocytochemistry analysis, solasonine obviously induced the up-regulation of Bax and down-regulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, caused the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria into cytosol, and increased the expression of both pro- and cleaved caspase-3. Solamargine exhibited stronger antipoliferative activity than solasonine, but the similar mechanism in Bcap-37 cells in this study. Conclusion: Solasonine possesses the antiproliferative effect on tumor cells. Regulation of the levels of Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bax, and activation of mitochondria cytochrome c-dependent apoptosis pathway might be one of its main antitumor mechanisms against breast cancer cells. In view of the cytotoxic effect of solasonine and solamargine also shown on normal cells, the safety needs concern when the antitumor activity is studied.

The era of medical big data, translational medicine and precision medicine brings new opportunities for the study of etiology of chronic complex diseases. How to implement evidence-based medicine, translational medicine and precision medicine are the challenges we are facing. Systems epidemiology, a new field of epidemiology, combines medical big data with system biology and examines the statistical model of disease risk, the future risk simulation and prediction using the data at molecular, cellular, population, social and ecological levels. Due to the diversity and complexity of big data sources, the development of study design and analytic methods of systems epidemiology face new challenges and opportunities. This paper summarizes the theoretical basis, concept, objectives, significances, research design and analytic methods of systems epidemiology and its application in the field of public health.
Epidemiology ; Forecasting ; Humans ; Precision Medicine ; Translational Research, Biomedical

Objective    To introduce the surgical and perioperative strategy for giant mediastinal mass. Methods    The clinical data of 21 patients with giant mediastinal mass who underwent surgical treatment in Xinhua Hospital of Shanghai from January 2007 to July 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. There were 14 males and 7 females, with a mean age of 34.62 ± 22.95 years (range: 11 months to 79 years), and mean weight of 58.07±22.24 kg (range: 10.8 to 90.5 kg). Their clinical manifestation, anesthesia methods, surgical treatment and the prognosis were analyzed. Results    The tumor volume ranged from 8 cm×6 cm×6 cm to 25 cm×25 cm×8 cm. For surgical approach, 12 patients received median sternotomy, 5 anterior lateral incision, 1 posterior lateral incision, 2 "L"-shape sternotomy, 1 cervical and thoracic "]"-shape incision. All patients were given mass radical resection, except one patient with two-stage resection. Twelve patients needed other tissues resection besides the single tomor resection. The operation time was 55-480 (207.86±87.67) min, blood loss volume 700 (10-4 000) ml, intraoperative blood transfusion 800 (0-4 100) ml, postoperative mechanical ventilation time 4.75 (0-87) h, postoperative drainage time 3-12 (7.43±2.66) d, the total drainage volume 295-4 940 (1 584.76±1 173.98) ml, average daily drainage volume 62-494 (204.90±105.76) ml, and postoperative hospital stay 7-47 (11.86±8.51) d. The postoperative complications included pericardial effusion in 1 patient, Horner   syndrome in 1, left recurrent laryngeal nerve injury with the left phrenic nerve injury in 1, right phrenic nerve injury in 1 and delayed wound healing in 1. The remaining patients recovered well. All patients were followed up for 1 month to 9 years. Till September 1, 2016, 5 patients died and 2 suffered recurrent tumor. Conclusion    It is safe to perform surgical treatment after comprehensive evaluation of patients with giant mediastinal mass, perioperative mortality is low, and prognosis in patients with benign tumor is good.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among older Korean Chinese with hypertensiondone of the most underserved and understudied ethnic minority groups in China. In addition, factors underlying the risk of CVD were examined. METHODS: A total of 334 participants were recruited at the Community Health Service Center in Yanji, China. Data regarding socioeconomic, health-related, psychosocial, and other CVD risk factors were collected between June and October 2009. In this cross-sectional study, factors related to the risk of CVD were assessed by multivariate logistic regression; the Framingham Risk Score was used to measure the risk of CVD. RESULTS: The prevalence of dyslipidemia, diabetes, and current smoking were 75.4%, 6.6%, and 23.1% respectively. Participants who lived alone were twice as likely to have a high risk of CVD (10-year risk of CVD > or =15%; odds ratio [OR], 2.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13e3.54). Those with a higher education level and greater knowledge about hypertension were at 57% and 62% reduced risk for CVD (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.21e0.92 and OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.15-0.95, respectively). CONCLUSION: Future intervention should include strategies to addressing social isolation and also focus on older Korean Chinese with low education. Knowledge enhancement program is warranted for the prevention of CVD in this population.
Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; China ; Community Health Services ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dyslipidemias ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Minority Groups ; Minority Health ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Social Isolation

Ovarian cancer is most deadly gynecologic malignancies worldwide. Chemotherapy is the mainstay treatment for ovarian cancer. Despite the initial response is promising, frequent recurrence in patients with advanced diseases remains a therapeutic challenge. Thus, understanding the biology of chemoresistance is of great importance to overcome this challenge and will conceivably benefit the survival of ovarian cancer patients. Although mechanisms underlying the development of chemoresistance are still ambiguous, accumulating evidence has supported an integral role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in recurrence following chemotherapy. Recently, tumor metabolism has gained interest as a reason of chemoresistance in tumors and chemotherapeutic drugs in combination with metabolism targeting approaches has been found promising in overcoming therapeutic resistance. In this review, we will summarize recent studies on CSCs and metabolism in ovarian cancer and discuss possible role of CSCs metabolism in chemoresistance.
Biology ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Metabolism* ; Neoplastic Stem Cells* ; Ovarian Neoplasms* ; Recurrence

In order to study the susceptibility of murine vaginal mucosa to Candida albicans under different conditions, vaginal lavage fluid and vaginal tissue of mice were observed and compared between murine models with normal immune system (estrogen-treated mice) and immunosuppressed murine model, and between primary infection model of vaginal candidiasis and secondary infection one. The average level of colony forming unit (CFU) from the immuosuppressed group was higher than that from estrogen-treated group at each time point and the peak time was delayed. The differences between the two groups were statistically significant (P < 0.05) from the fourth day after inoculation. A significant difference existed in the average level of CFU between the control group and the estrogen-treated group (P < 0.05), and between the control group and the immuosuppressed group (P < 0.01). It was concluded that the vaginal mucosa from the immunosuppressed mice is more susceptible to Candida albicans and no difference is found in susceptibility between mice with primary infection and secondary infection.
Candida albicans/drug effects ; Candidiasis, Vulvovaginal/*etiology ; Candidiasis, Vulvovaginal/*immunology ; Disease Susceptibility ; Estrogens/*pharmacology ; Immunocompromised Host ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Random Allocation ; Vagina/microbiology

Aptamers are single stranded oligonucleotides that have high affinity and specificity towards a wide range of target molecules .Owing to the indispensable advantages ,aptamers have wildly prospects and have become a research hotspot in targeted drug delivery system (TDDS) .In this article ,application advantage and progress of aptamers in TDDS were briefly reviewed ,the problems and prospects were also discussed .