Objective To investigate new cases of endemic cretinism in high-risk areas of Inner Mongolia, the prevalence of endemic goiter, the implementation of comprehensive measures, and to provide scientific basis for developing control strategies against iodine deficiency disorders (IDD). Methods In 2007 and 2008, a search for new cretin cases was conducted among children under the age of 10 in 11 historical serious epidemic cretinism prevalent areas of Songshan district, Keshiketeng qi, Kalaqin qi, Zhalaite qi, Zhuozi county,Liangcheng county, Qingshuihe county, Helin county, Dongsheng district, Zhungeer qi and Yinjinhuoluo qi. Three to 5 towns were selected in each qi(county, district) and 3 to 5 village primary schools were selected in each town.One hundred and twenty to 200 children aged 8 to 10 were selected in each school to inspect thyroid by B ultrasound and palpation and to test intelligence and urinary iodine. Two villages were selected in each town and 30 households were selected to determine urinary iodine of housewives and salt iodine. Results A total of 56 cases of suspected cases of endemic cretinism were found from the 11 counties but no case was confirmed. The goiter rate of children aged 8 to 10 was 5.2% (309/5922) by palpation and 4.3% (252/5922) by B-ultrasound. The median urinary iodine of children aged 8 to 10 was 241.5 μg/L, and urinary iodine was 100 to 300 μg/L, accounted 65.9%(3901/5920). Median urinary iodine of the 9 Qis(counties, districts) was in the range of 200 and 300μg/L.Higher than 5% of the 11 Qis(counties, districts) with urinary iodine lower than 50 μg/L was zero. Higher than 10% of the 11 Qis(counties, districts) with urinary iodine lower than 100 μg/L was 1. The median urinary iodine of housewives was 225.6 μg/L, and lower than 50 μg/L accounted for 2.2%(35/1597). Higher than 10% of the 11 Qis(counties, districts) with urinary iodine lower than 100 μg/L was 4. A total of 2109 households were investigated and 97.45%(2055/2109) of them ate iodized salt and 2.55%(54/2109) of them ate non-iodized salt. Conclusions In the 11 investigated counties, goiter rate of children has decreased to less than 10%, and no new cretin was found. It could be concluded that the fulfillment of prevention and control of IDD is effective. The iodine nutrition of children and women of childbearing age is in an adequate level. The coverage rate of iodized salt has maintained at a higher level, the sales network is sound, the salt price is reasonable and salt is easy to get and the children's intelligence is protected effectively. But, the health education about IDD is still weak, need to be reinforced.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of sequoyitol (Seq) on expression of eNOS and NOX4 in aortas of type 2 diabetic rats. Type 2 diabetic rats induced by high fat and high sugar diet and low dose of streptozotocin (STZ, 35 mg x kg(-1)) and were administered Seq (12.5, 25 and 50 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) for 6 weeks. The fasting blood glucose (FBG) and body weight were tested. Acetylcholine (Ach) induced endothelium-dependent relaxation and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) induced endothelium-independent relaxation were measured in aortas for estimating endothelial function. Aortic morphological change was observed with HE staining. The level of serum insulin was measured by radioimmunoassay. The total antioxidative capacity (T-AOC), malondialdehyde (MDA) and NO levels in aortas were determined according to the manufacturer's instructions. In addition, the expressions of eNOS and NOX4 in aortas were measured by immunohistochemisty, real-time PCR or Western blotting. The results showed that Seq significantly decreased FBG and insulin resistance, and improved aortic endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation function. The expressions of NOX4 and MDA content were obviously decreased, while the expression of eNOS, the levels of NO and T-AOC increased significantly in aortas of diabetic rats with Seq treatment. In conclusion, Seq protects against aortic endothelial dysfunction of type 2 diabetic rats through down-regulating expression of NOX4 and up-regulating eNOS expression.
Animals ; Aorta ; metabolism ; pathology ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Body Weight ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; pharmacology ; Inositol ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Insulin ; blood ; Insulin Resistance ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; NADPH Oxidase 4 ; NADPH Oxidases ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III ; metabolism ; Oxidation-Reduction ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Streptozocin ; Vasodilation ; drug effects

OBJECTIVETo investigate the protective effect and mechanism of sequoyitol (Sep) on high glucose-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) injury.

METHODSHUVECs were cultured with high glucose (30 mmol/L) in the presence or absence of sequoyitol (0.1, 1 and 10 micromol/L) for 24 h. Cell proliferation was measured by BrdU marking and cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry. 2', 7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate was used to evaluate intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. The NO, malonydialdehyde (MDA) and H2O2 levels were determined by colorimetric method according to the manufacturer's instructions. The expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) were measured by real-time PCR and Western blot.

RESULTSIn the present study, we found that sequoyitol pretreatment for 1 h significantly decreased cell injury, promoted cell proliferation. Meanwhile sequoyitol significantly down-regulated NOX4 expression and decreased the level of ROS, MDA and H2O2 and obviously increased NO levels and up-regulated eNOS expression.

CONCLUSIONSequoyitol alleviates high glucose-induced cell injuries in HUVECs via inhibiting oxidative stress and up-regulating eNOS expression.

Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Glucose ; toxicity ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; metabolism ; Inositol ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; NADPH Oxidase 4 ; NADPH Oxidases ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III ; metabolism ; Oxidative Stress ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism

Corneal newborn lymphatic vessels construct the afferent arc of corneal immunological reaction, which play important role in immune response. The corneal transplantation rejection rate rises due to the emergence of new lymphatic vessel which breaks the immunologic mechanism. With the founding of specific marker of lymphatic endothelial cells and research advancing of growth factor of lymphatic vessels, the mechanism, therapy and prevention of corneal immunological rejection reaction of corneal lymphatic vessel have been studied intensively. The graft survival rate has been greatly improved through inhibiting newborn lymphatic vessel.

OBJECTIVETo compare the effect of reinforcing Shen method (RSM) and activating blood method (ABM) in treating osteoarthritis (OA) at the molecular level.

METHODSThe physical and chemical characteristics of components from respective recipes of RSM and ABM, and network features of component-target interaction network were analyzed by computer simulation methods including chemical space, molecular docking, and biological network, etc.

RESULTSThe chemical components of RSM and ABM were scarcely scattered with larger overlapping. Among established networks, the distribution of network features was partially similar in RSM and ABM. The average target number correlated with each component was 1.86 in RSM and 2.11 in ABM respectively. Each average target number was respectively correlated with 4.46 compounds and 3.93 compounds, reflecting multi-component and multi-target actions.

CONCLUSIONComputer simulation could intuitively trace out similarities and differences of two different methods and their interaction with targets, which revealed that the compatibility of RSM and ABM could have broader protein targets and potential synergism at the molecular level.

Computer Simulation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Osteoarthritis ; drug therapy ; Phytotherapy ; methods

Objective To investigate the effects of different doses of dexamethasone (Dex) on bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Methods Forty 3-month-old female SD rats were divided into four groups:control group (Cont, saline), low dose Dex group (LDG, 1 mg/kg), medium dose Dex group (MDG, 2.5 mg/kg) and high dose Dex group (HDG, 5 mg/kg). Ten rats for each group. Dex was injected intramuscularly twice a week. The values of BMD and body composition were measured by DEXA densitometer at the beginning and 4-week of treatment. Results The body weights of different doses of Dex intervention groups were decreased after 1 to 4-week intervention compared with those of Cont group (P<0.01). After 4-week intervention, the total BMD, femur BMD, total bone mineral content (BMC), to-tal fat mass, trunk fat mass and leg fat mass were significantly increased in Cont group (P<0.01), while the total lean mass, trunk lean mass were significantly decreased (P<0.01). The total BMC, femur BMD, leg lean mass, leg fat mass were signifi-cantly lower in LDG group and MDG group than those of Cont group (P<0.05). The femur BMD, leg fat mass were signifi-cantly lower in LDG group and MDG group than those of HDG group (P<0.05). Conclusion The doses of 1 mg/kg and 2.5 mg/kg Dex have greater impact on the femur BMD and the leg composition in SD rats than that of Dex (dose of 5 mg/kg ).

?Smart phones as a symbol of the mobile Internet appears in college classroom, which is not only a challenge, but also a great opportunities of education information. This paper applied smart phones as the carrier of the Internet into ophthalmology classroom. Smart phones has a lot of features, such as rich teaching resources, diverse learning methods, flexible learning time, collating and recording capabilities and the timely, comprehensive and accurate teaching feedback so on, and could be used in case teaching and interactive teaching. The implementation of smart phones into ophthalmology classroom could inspire the learning enthusiasm of the students, enhance the quality of teaching, eventually improve teaching effects.

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) play a crucial role in T cell dysfunction, which is related to poor outcome in patients with severe trauma. Cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) contributes to immune disorder in trauma and infection via production of prostaglandin E2. However, the role of Cox-2 in the accumulation and function of MDSCs after traumatic stress has not been fully elucidated. In the present study, we treated murine trauma model with NS398, a selective Cox-2 inhibitor. Then the percentages of CD11b+/Gr-1+ cells, proliferation and apoptosis of CD4+ T cells were determined. Arginase activity and arginase-1 (Arg-1) protein expression of splenic CD11b+/Gr-1+ cells, and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response were analyzed. The results showed that Cox-2 blockade significantly decreased the percentages of CD11b+/Gr-1+ cells in the spleen and bone marrow 48 and 72 h after traumatic stress. NS398 inhibited arginase activity and down-regulated the Arg-1 expression of splenic CD11b+/Gr-1+ cells. Moreover, NS398 could promote proliferation and inhibit apoptosis of CD4+ T cells. It also restored DTH response of traumatic mice. Taken together, our data revealed that Cox-2 might play a pivotal role in the accumulation and function of MDSC after traumatic stress.

AlM:To observe the changes of corneal endothelium after phacoemulsification cataract surgery in different types of cataract patients.
METHODS: Randomly selected age-related cataract, diabetic cataract and cataract of high myopia 30 eyes of 30 cases, respectively, in our hospital. All patients underwent phacoemulsification combined with intraocular lens implantation, corneal endothelial density and the percentage of hexagonal cells were measured by corneal endothelial cell instrument without touching before surgery and one week after surgery.
RESULTS: The difference of the preoperative corneal endothelial cell density and the percentage of hexagonal cells among three groups were not statistically significant (P>0. 05). One week after surgery, the cell density in three groups were respectively 2 496. 86 ± 298. 96/mm2 , 2 379. 51 ± 375. 13/mm2 , 2 425. 38 ± 312. 68/mm2 , the percentage of hexagonal cells were respectively ( 46. 20 ± 12. 03)%, (43. 44±13. 99)%, (44. 35±8. 13)%. Both the cell density and the percentage of hexagonal cells one week after surgery were lower than those before operation. There were significant difference in three groups ( P <0. 05). Both the measurements in diabetic cataract group and cataract of high myopia group after surgery were lower than those in age-related cataract group, the cell density and the percentage of hexagonal cells in diabetic cataract group were lower obviously compared with those in age- related cataract group and the difference was significant (P<0. 05).
CONCLUSlON:The tolerance of corneal endothelial cell to phacoemulsification cataract surgery is lower in cataract with diabetes and high myopia. Corneal endothelium should be assessed preoperatively and protected intraoperatively.

G,the noval insertion mutation of c.2298_2299insC is identified in Chinese patients.