Air ; Humans ; Workplace

Objective To investigate the regulatory effect of adrenomedullin (AM) on the cell-cell contact formation of podocytes and the possible mechanism.Methods Podocytes were treated with AM (10-7 mol/L),AM combined with a PKA inhibitor H89 (10-4 mol/L),and forskolin (10-5 mol/L) as positive control respectively for 12 hours.Immunofluorescent staining was applied to observe the distribution of cell adhesion molecules and actin-associated proteins.Western blotting assay was used to assess their protein levels.Rho GTPases activity was analyzed by GST-pull down assay and their protein levels were tested by Western blotting.Results AM induced the redistribution of adhesion molecules,actin-associated proteins as well as the F-actin at cell-cell contacts between podocytes.This effect was similar to that of forskolin and could be blocked by H89.The levels of those proteins did not change significantly (P ＞ 0.05).AM up-regulated the activities of RhoA,Rac1 and Cdc42 (P ＜ 0.05),which were partially blocked by H89.The protein levels of Rho GTPases showed no difference compared with the control (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions AM may promote cell-cell contact formation of podocytes,probably through enhancing the activity of Rho GTPases and then resulting in the redistribution of adhesion molecules,actin-associated proteins and F-actin,which is partially mediated through cAMP-PKA signaling pathway.

Objective To explore the effect of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen (Mtb-Ag) on neutrophils apoptosis.Methods The fresh isolated neutrophils from healthy adults blood were cultured with Mtb-Ag for 24 h,with or without pretreatment of nuclear factor -?B (NF-?B) inhibitor N-tosyl-L-phenylanyl chloromethyl ketone (TPCK) for 30 minutes.Annexin V staining and Flow cytometry were used to measure cell apoptosis of neutrophils.NF-?B DNA binding was measured by gelelectrophorestic mobility shift assay (EMSA) in neutrophils after incubated with Mtb-Ag for 0,1,2,4,6,24 hours.Results Comparing to the spontaneous apoptosis (55%?6%) of neutrophils after culture in vitro for 24 h,treatment of Mtb-Ag (1.125 mg/ml) decreased the cell apoptosis of neutrophils (32%?3%).The NF-?B shift bands were detected at 1 h in neutrophils after stimulated by Mtb-Ag,and reached maximum peak at 2 hours,and then returned to basal levels within 24 h.Pretreatment of TPCK inhibited the anti-apoptosis role of Mtb-Ag in neutrophils.Conclusion Mtb-Ag prevents neutrophils apoptosis and its inhibitory role concerns NF-?B pathway.

The Telomeric Repeat Amplification Protocol(TRAP)and its modified versions change the size and/or the ratio of the telomerase products in the amplification stage of the assay.Based on TRAP,a useful method was developed for detecting telomerase activity in rice.A special precursor primer and a special reverse primer and conducted two steps of PCR cycles were designed.GENE Genius? Bio-imaging System was applied for this quantitative analysis for exploring telomerase activity and its optimal reaction conditions.The method ensured that the optimal reaction conditions for the telomerase was 19℃,13minutes,at a concentration of 0.28 u g/? l.A quantitative analysis method was established for detecting telomerase activity in rice.With this method,we detected telomerase activity in roots,young leaves and young panicles of six parental lines of hybrid rice.The results show that young panicles have the highest telomerase activity,demonstrating that telomerase activity is closely related to the cell vitality in plants.

Pinellia ternate and Pinellia pedatisecta lectins with biological functions could be obtained through procaryon expression.Their biological similarities and differences were analyzed and further experiments were conducted to discuss the agglutinative activity difference between polymer lectin and metamer lectin.The results showed that agglutinative activity of Pinellia pedatisecta was four times more than that of Pinellia ternate.The differences of the agglutinative activity and pharmacologic action were mainly because two site mutations of Pinellia pedatisecta in the third active site compared with the amino acids sequence in Pinellia ternate.In addition,the metamer lectin expressed by prokaryotic expression system did not agglutinate rabbit red blood cells.It conduct further discussion about the difference between two lectins and the difference between polymer lectin and metamer lectin.It would be applicable for solving the problem of lacking Pinellia resources.

0.05).Conclusions The expression of myostatin gene mRNA is increased in myotonic dystrophy.Up-regulated expression of myostatin in skeletal muscle might be associated with the mechanism of myotonic dystrophy.

OBJECTIVE: To compare pattern-pulse multifocal visual evoked potential (PPmfVEP) with pattern-reversal multifocal visual evoked potential (PRmfVEP), and to investigate the symmetry of mfVEP between both eyes in normal individuals. METHODS: The multifocal Vision Monitor was used to observe the mfVEP. T-test and ANOVA were used to analyze P1 wave, amplitude and signal noise ratios (SNR) of two mfVEPs. RESULTS: The SNR and the P1 amplitude reached the maximum at the central visual field and decreased with the increase of eccentricity, and then decreased slowly. The amplitude of the PPmfVEP was significantly smaller than the PRmfVEP in the central retina, while in the peripheral retina the result was exactly the opposite. SNR and amplitude of the PRmfVEP showed no statistical difference in both eyes (P > 0.05). The variance of the amplitude at the same side of visual field was larger than that at the symmetrical visual quadrant. CONCLUSION mfVEP can reflect the visual function in different parts of retina objectively and exactly. PPmfVEP reflect the vision function of the central retina better than PRmfVEP. The stability of PPmfVEP is better than PRmfVEP in the central retina, while the result is opposite in the peripheral retina. The mfVEP is symmetrical in both eyes of the same individual.
Evoked Potentials, Visual/physiology* ; Humans ; Neurologic Examination ; Reference Values ; Retina ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Visual Fields/physiology*

Bronchi ; Child, Preschool ; Diagnostic Errors ; Foreign Bodies ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Lung Diseases ; congenital ; diagnosis ; Male

Objective To evaluate the value of ventilation and perfusion scintigraphy for predicting the postoperative pulmonary function in patients with lung cancer. Methods Twenty-six patients with lung cancer, male 21 and female 5, aged from 44 to 86 ys, were recruited into the study. Before surgery, 21 patients underwent 99Tcm-DTPA aerosol ventilation and 99Tcm-macroaggregated albumin ( MAA ) perfusion scintigraphic imaging. The other five patients were studied with perfusion imaging only. Pulmonary function was measured as forced expiratory volume in the first second ( FEV1 ) at about one week before surgery for all patients, and at two months after surgery. The predicted postoperative FEV1 ( ppoFEVt ) was calculated by Neuhaus' formula based on the ventilation or perfusion function obtained from scintigraphy studies, and compared with the measured post surgery FEV1. Eighteen patients underwent the surgical resection successfully. The t-test and correlation analysis were used. Results The ppoFEV1 values of ventilation and perfusion were (1.347±0.539) Land (1.410±0.543) L, respectively (n=21, t =0.062, P＞0. 05). Both the ppoFEV1 values of ventilation and perfusion showed no significant difference with the respective post-surgeryFEV1(n=13, (1.545 ±0.588) Lvs (1.45 ±0.521) L, t=0.092, P＞0.05; n=18, (1.697±0. 546) L vs ( 1.457±0.488) L, t =0. 017, P ＞0.05, respectively). Both the ventilation ppoFEV1 (n =13) and perfusion ppoFEV1 (n = 13, n = 18) correlated well with the post-surgery FEV1 respectively (r =0. 950, 0. 937, 0. 922, all P ＜ 0. 01 ). Conclusion Ventilation and perfusion imaging can predict the postoperative pulmonary function for patients with lung cancer, especially for those with borderline pulmonary function, thus useful for selection of suitable candidates for surgical resection.

BackgroundAnterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy (aPVR)is a tissue injury and repair progress,and treatment of aPVR is very important in clinic.Chitosan drug delivery system is becoming a hot spot for its large lading dose and long acting duration.ObjectiveThe present study was to investigate the curative effect of a triamcinolone acetonide (TA) drug delivery system after implantation into the suprachoroidal space to treat traumatic aPVR.MethodsaPVR models were created in the left eyes of 65 healthy pigment rabbits by performinga 5 mm penetrating incision 2.5 mm posterior to limbum at 10:30-11:30.The animals were randomly divided into 4groups.Blank chitosan was implanted into the suprachoroidal space as the blank control group.Chitosan with 1 mg TA was implanted in the TA + chitosa group.The TA solution ( containing 1 mg TA) was intravitreally injected in the TA injection group.Fifteen models were used as the traumatic control group.Another 15 left eyes of normal pigment rabbits were used as the normal control group.The thickness of the ciliary tissue was measured using a ultrasound biomicroscope(UBM) 3,5 and 8 weeks after operation.The animals were sacrificed by excessive anesthesia and eyeballswereobtainedforhistopathologicalandultrastructuralexaminations.ResultsHistopathological examination showed the edema of the ciliary tissue and inflammatory cells infiltration in the blank control group,TA injection group and model control group,but mild response was seen in the TA + chitosa group.Severe damage in the ciliary tissue and subcellular organelle was found in the blank and model control groups,but mild damage was detected in the TA + chitosa group under the transmission electron microscope.UBM examination revealed that obvious abnormalities were visible in the ciliary and iris tissue in the blank control group,TA injection group and traumatic control group,but a mild abnormality was seen in the TA + chitosa group.Significant differences in ciliary thickness were exhibited among the 5 groups 2,5 and 8 weeks after operation (F =212.938,515.323,447.919,P＜0.01 ).Compared with the normal control group,ciliary thickness significantly increased in the blank control group and normal control group at various time points (all P＜0.05 ),but that in the TA + chitosa group was significantly lower than the normal control group at various time points ( two weeks:0.484±0.075 vs.0.327 ±0.094 ; five weeks:0.422 ±0.089vs.0.327±0.094 ;eight weeks:0.418±0.085 vs.0.327±0.094) (all P＞0.05). ConclusionsThe chitosan drug delivery system with TA suppresses the excessive proliferation of injured ocular tissue after implantation into the suprachoroidal space,which prevents the formation and development of aPVR.