In recent years , a series of agriculture biosecurity accidents have occurred ,such as mad cow disease , foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza , which has aroused worldwide , concern over agriculture bioterrorist attacks .This paper comprehensively analyzes the history and impact of agriculture bioterrorism , the current status of international agricul-ture bioterrorism research , and important issues to be taken into account in future efforts to deal with agriculture bioterrorism .

Research on dual-use of life sciences can promote human health and social development .However,potential harm is also gradually recognized .This article introduces the definition of dual-use life sciences research , major develop-ments and risk samples , trends of development and surveillance , and proposes some considerations in future efforts to strengthen the oversight of dual-use life sciences research .

The 2013 Meeting of Experts from States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention ( BWC) was held in Geneva from August 12 to 16 in 2013 .This paper reviews the main topics and results of the meeting , analyzes the current situation of biological arms control , and proposes some methods to strengthen implementation .

Objective To explore the variation and clinical significance of growth hormone(GH) and insulin like growth factor-Ⅰ(IGF-Ⅰ) in children with critical disease.Methods One hundred and twenty-two cases were recruited into the study,among which 42 cases were sepsis in paediatric intensive care unit (sepsis group),20 cases had finished the cardiopulmonary bypass surgery without infection (surgery group).Sixty healthy children served as control group.Serum levels of GH and IGF-Ⅰ were deteced with immunochemiluminometric assay.Results The serum levels of GH were (6.71 ± 6.62) ng/ml in sepsis group,(8.86 ±8.06) ng/ml in surgery group,(3.87 ± 3.31) ng/ml in control group.Compared with the control group,the serum levels of GH in sepsis group and surgery group were increased significantly (P ＜ 0.05).There was no significant difference between sepsis group and surgery group.The serum IGF-Ⅰ levels were (63.72 ±54.17) ng/ml in sepsis group,(119.06 ± 102.12) ng/ml in surgery group and(154.22 ± 107.10) ng/ml in control group separately.The serum IGF-Ⅰ level of sepsis group was significantly decreased compared to the other two groups (P ＜ 0.05).There was no significant difference between surgery group and control group (P ＞0.05).In sepsis group,compared with those who died,the GH of the survival showed no significant difference,IGF-Ⅰ was significantly increased.(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion GH playes a positive effect in patients with critical disease.IGF-Ⅰ decreases greatly in patients with serious infection.It suggests that IGF-Ⅰ could be a sensitive marker for reflecting whether there is serious infection.The sharply decreasing of IGF-Ⅰ may predict a bad outcome.

Objective: To compare two methods (microbial assay and radioimmunoassay) for measuring plasma folate concentrations, and to examine the relationship between plasma folate levels, and alcohol consumption, tobacco use and body mass index, and the risk of hyperhomocysteinemia in China. Methods: We used a microtiter plate microbial assay and a radioimmunoassay to measure the folate concentration in 88 plasma samples. After comparing the results of these two methods and fitting a regression line, we examined the geographical, seasonal, and gender differences in folate concentration of plasma collected from 2 422 adults in south and north areas in China, and evaluated the association of plasma folate concentration, with alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and body mass index, and with the risk of hyperhomocysteinemia, using the data from the two assays. Results: The data from the two assays had a linear relationship ( r =0.879, P =0.000); the regression was Y =0.683 X +0.308 (where X and Y were nature logarithmic transformations of plasma folate by microbial assay and radioimmunoassay, respectively); however, the mean plasma folate levels by microbial assay were much higher than those obtained by radioimmunoassay. Both data sets showed similar plasma folate distributions among Chinese adults, associations with other risk factors, and the risk of hyperhomocysteinemia. We estimated that 19.9% of the Southerners and 67.1% of the Northerners had plasma folate concentrations by radioimmunoassay lower than the 6.8 nmol/L used to define plasma folate deficiency. Conclusion: There is a linear relationship between plasma folate levels determined by microbial assay and radioimmunoassay, but because of the different levels obtained in the two assays, it is difficult to use the microbial assay results to evaluate folate status at this time. The use of 10.5 nmol/L as a cut off for plasma folate deficiency by microbial assay needs further study.

Balloon Occlusion ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices ; Humans ; Polyethylene Glycols ; Sclerotherapy

Cough recognition provides important clinical information for the treatment of many respiratory diseases. A new Mel frequency cepstrum coefficient (MFCC) extracting method has been proposed on the basis of the distributional characteristics of cough spectrum. The whole frequency band was divided into several sub-bands, and the energy coefficient for each band was obtained by method of principle component analysis. Then non-uniform filter-bank in Mel frequency is designed to improve the extracting process of MFCC by distributing filters according to the spectrum energy coefficients. Cough recognition experiment using hidden Markov model was carried out, and the results
Cough ; Humans ; Markov Chains ; Principal Component Analysis ; Respiratory Tract Diseases ; diagnosis ; Sound

A total of 8 099 outpatient prescriptions for treatment of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection in 9 community health service centers of Shanghai Jing′an district were collected from the regional health information platform.The prescriptions were reviewed and analyzed according to the criteria of the Forth National Consensus Report on the Treatment of Helicobacter pylori Infection.The results showed that only 195 prescriptions met the criteria (2.4%).For those not meeting the criteria, 611 prescriptions (7.5%) gave the right therapeutic protocol but incorrect treatment course;6 893 prescriptions (85.1%) gave the incorrect protocol.It is uggested that incorrect treatment for Hp eradication is common in community health service centers consist in the Helicobacter pylori herapy prescriptions in the community health service cente in Shanghai, Jing′an District, which should be paid more attention to.

Objective:To analyze the effect of interleukin 2(IL-2) on immunoglobulin G(IgG) expression in cervical cancer cell line HeLaS3.Methods:By immunofluorescence-flow cytometry(FCM),we detected membrane and cytoplasmic IgG expression variation of HeLaS3 after IL-2 stimulation.By western blot,we detected IgG expression variation of HeLaS3 after IL-2 stimulation.Meanwhile,by RT-PCR with primers designed to amplify four subclasses of IgG,we detected ? transcript variation in HeLaS3 after IL-2 stimulation at mRNA level.Results:The result of immunofluorescence-FACS showed that after IL-2 stimulation for 48 hours,membrane and cytoplasmic IgG expression elevated in HeLaS3.The result of Western blot showed after IL-2 stimulation for 48 hours,IgG expression elevated in HeLaS3.Meanwhile,the result of RT-PCR showed that ?1 transcript mildly elevated after IL-2 stimulation for 48 hours.Conclusion:IL-2 can promote IgG expression in cervical cancer cell line HeLaS3.

Classification of biological agents is a basic work in biodefense capability building that can help set priorities of biodefense .In this study , we compared and analyzed the Biological Agent Category Lists and the defining criteria used by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) of the United States, the European Union and Russia .We also compared with biological agent category lists for other purposes .