OBJECTIVE: To study the incidence of hearing loss at high frequency and the related influence factors among the flight cadets. METHOD: Using multi-stage sampling method, 312 flight cadets were randomly selected from grade 2011,2012,2013. The level of binaural hearing threshold at 4 kHz, 6 kHz, 8 kHz were measured by hearing-assistant evaluative apparatus. Whether or not have hearing loss was chosen as dependent variable. Territory, smoking, dietary habit, previous history of tinnitus, the noise exposure time, the vestibular function and the psychological quality were chosen as independent vailables. T test, ANOVA and accumulative logistic regression were performed to analyze the factors influence on hearing impairment by software SPSS 18.0. RESULT: The morbidity of hearing impairment among flight cadets was 18.9%. Results from single factor analysis showed that the levels of hearing thresholds at 4 kHz, 6 kHz frequency had statistically significant differences between smoking group and non-smoking group (P < 0.05). The levels of hearing thresholds at 4 kHz frequency had statistically significant differences between spicy diet group and not spicy diet group (P < 0.05). The levels of hearing thresholds at 4 kHz, 6 kHz, 8 kHz frequency had statistically significant differences among different strong noise exposure groups (P < 0.05), and that at a same frequency hearing loss increased when noise exposing increased. The levels of hearing thresholds at 4 kHz, 6 kHz frequency had statistically significant difference among different vestibular function groups (P < 0.05). Results of accumulative logistics regression showed that smoking and strong noise exposure were risk factors causing hearing impairment at 4 kHz frequency, and excellent vestibular function seemed to be a preventive factor. Smoking and strong noise exposure were also risk factors causing hearing impairment at 6 kHz frequency. CONCLUSION Hearing impairment appears higher morbidity among flight cadets, and it has statistical correlation with smoking, strong noise exposure and vestibular function.
Hearing Loss ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Risk Factors ; Space Flight ; Young Adult

Objective:To investigate the expression level of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) CTC-338M12.4 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma tissues, and its effects on the cell cycle, cell proliferation, and migration of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells in vitro as well as its molecular mechanisms.Methods:The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was used to obtain the lncRNA series data set GSE139869, and the differential expression of CTC-338M12.4 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues was analyzed. The transcriptional expression levels of CTC-338M12.4 in human immortalized oral keratinocytes (HOK) and tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell lines HN13, TSCCa, CAL-27, Tca8113, SCC15 were detected by using reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). CAL-27 cells with the lowest expression level of CTC-338M12.4 were selected and were divided into the control group (co-transfected with vectors containing negative sequence) and CTC-338M12.4 group (co-transfected with CTC-338M12.4 overexpression vectors). The proliferation ability of CAL-27 cells in each group was detected by using cell colony formation assay, and the cell cycle distribution of CAL-27 cells was detected by using flow cytometry. The migration ability of CAL-27 cells was detected by using scratch test. The lncACTdb database was used to predict the complementary binding sites between CTC-338M12.4 and miRNA-27a-5p (miR-27a-5p), and dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was used to verify. The expression level of miR-27a-5p in CAL-27 cells of all groups was detected by using qRT-PCR. The protein expression level of related factors on JAK/STAT signaling pathway in CAL-27 cells of all groups was detected by using Western blot.Results:Analysis of GEO database data showed that transcriptional level CTC-338M12.4 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma tissues was lower than that in adjacent tissues, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.01). Transcriptional level CTC-338M12.4 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma HNl3, TSCCa, CAL-27, Tca8113, and SCC15 cells was lower than that in HOK cells, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). The transcriptional level relative expression level of CTC-338M12.4 in CAL-27 cells in the CTC-338M12.4 group was higher than that in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.01). Cell colony formation assay showed that the colong number of CAL-27 cell in the CTC-338M12.4 group was less than that in the control group [(51±10) vs. (114±21)], and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 2.71, P = 0.035). Flow cytometry showed that the proportion of G 0/G 1 phase cells in CAL-27 cells in the CTC-338M12.4 group was higher than that in the control group [(64±3)% vs. (43±4)%], and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 4.87, P = 0.003). The scratch test showed that when scratching, the scratch width of both groups was similar ( P > 0.05); after scratch for 25 h, the scratch width of CAL-27 cells in the CTC-338M12.4 group was wider than that in the control group [(133±15) μm vs. (64±10) μm], and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 3.78, P = 0.009). The dual luciferase reporter gene assay showed that the relative luciferase activity of CAL-27 cells co-transfected with wild-type CTC-338M12.4 sequence and miR-27a-5p sequence was lower than that of CAL-27 cells co-transfected with wild-type CTC-338M12.4 sequence and miR-27a-5p irrelevant sequence, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.001). The relative expression level of transcriptional level miR-27a-5p of CAL-27 cells in the CTC-338M12.4 group was lower than that in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P = 0.003). Western blot showed that the protein expression levels of JAK/STAT signaling pathway p-JAK, p-STAT, p-Raf, p-ERK, and p-mTOR were lower than those in the control group. Conclusions:The level of lncRNA CTC-338M12.4 is low in tongue squamous cell carcinoma. CTC-338M12.4 mediates the inactivation of JAK/STAT signaling pathway via inhibiting miR-27a-5p expression in tongue squamous cell carcinoma CAL-27 cells, thereby leading to cell cycle arrest and inhibiting the cell proliferation and migration of CAL-27 cells.

To assess relationships between xanthine oxidase (XOD) and nephropathogenic infectious bronchitis virus (NIBV) infection, 240 growing layers (35 days old) were randomly divided into two groups (infected and control) of 120 chickens each. Each chicken in the control and infected group was intranasally inoculated with 0.2 mL sterile physiological saline and virus, respectively, after which serum antioxidant parameters and renal XOD mRNA expression in growing layers were evaluated at 8, 15 and 22 days post-inoculation (dpi). The results showed that serum glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities in the infected group were significantly lower than in the control group at 8 and 15 dpi (p < 0.01), while serum malondialdehyde concentrations were significantly higher (p < 0.01). The serum uric acid was significantly higher than that of the control group at 15 dpi (p < 0.01). In addition, the kidney mRNA transcript level and serum activity of XOD in the infected group was significantly higher than that of the control group at 8, 15 and 22 dpi (p < 0.05). The results indicated that NIBV infection could cause the increases of renal XOD gene transcription and serum XOD activity, leading to hyperuricemia and reduction of antioxidants in the body.
Antioxidants ; Chickens ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; Hyperuricemia ; Infectious bronchitis virus* ; Kidney ; Malondialdehyde ; RNA, Messenger* ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Uric Acid ; Xanthine Oxidase* ; Xanthine*

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of the T2WI gray scale ratio for Hashimoto's thyroiditis(HT).Methods The T2WI-iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least square estimation(IDEAL)quantitation sequence water images of 22 HT cases were analyzed retrospectively.The gray scale ratio of the thyroid,sternocleidomastoid muscle,trachea cavity,and subcutaneous fat at the same layer were measured on the picture archiving and communication systems(PACS).The gray scale ratios of thyroid/sternocleidomastoid muscle(T/M),thyroid/trachea cavity(T/Tr),and thyroid/lipid(T/L)were calculated.The intraclass correlation coefficient(ICC)was used to evaluate the consistency among the measurements,and the optimal threshold for distinguishing HT from non-HT was determined via the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.The Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between T/M,T/Tr,T/L ratios,and titers of thyroid peroxidase antibody(TPO-Ab)and thyroglobulin antibody(Tg-Ab),respectively.Results On the T2WI-IDEAL quantitation sequence water images,the(x)±s of T/M,T/Tr,T/L ratios for HT and non-HT were 2.17±0.47 and 1.62±0.21(t=14.90,P<0.001),9.40±3.24 and 4.87±2.93(t=11.42,P<0.001),1.66±0.32 and 1.21±0.31(t=7.51,P<0.001),respectively.The area under the curve(AUC)of T/M,T/Tr,and T/L ratios for diagnosing HT were 0.89,0.86,and 0.85,respectively;the optimal thresholds were 1.90,3.50,and 1.36,and the sensitivity and specificity were 72.7%and 100%,100%and 40.5%,95.5%and 29.7%,respectively.The T/M ratio had a moderate correlation with TPO-Ab(r=0.513,P<0.05),and T/Tr,T/L ratios had a mild correlation with TPO-Ab,respectively.Conclusion The T/M ratio in the T2WI gray scale ratio can quantitatively and objectively distinguish HT from non-HT to some extent and is correlated with TPO-Ab.It has extremely high specificity and holds promise as a non-invasive imaging method for the diagnosis of incidental HT.