Objective To investigate the current status of lead(Pb) poisoning in children and correlations between Pb levels and calcium(Ca), iron(Fe), zinc(Zn) and environmental factors. Methods ①Questionnaire survey was conducted among 3160 parents in Qingdao area, regarding factors that might have effects on the levels of Pb. ②Levels of blood Pb, Ca, Fe and Zn were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption (GFAA) spectrometry for 3160 children, who were divided into three groups: mildly increased Pb levels, moderately increased Pb levels and severely increased Pb levels, and the effects of Ca, Fe and Zn on children's blood Pb levels were analyzed by multiple linear regressions.③Children having mildly Pb increase were divided into four groups and received Ca, Fe or Zn preparations or placebo. Results ① Children living with smokers, in new houses, in houses or kindergartens located in industrial areas or main traffic roads, consuming preserved eggs or canned drinks regularly were more easily poisoned.②Percentages of children with increased levels who had insufficient blood Ca, Fe and Zn : 53.31% (306/574), 46.17% (265/574) and 68.47% (393/574), respectively, in the group of children with mildly increased Pb levels; 57.68% (263/456), 49.34% (225/456) and 77.41% (353/456), respectively, in the group of children with moderately increased Pb levels; 64.71% (11/17), 58.82% (10/17) and 82.35%(14/17), respectively, in the group of children with severely increased Pb levels. In contrast, the percentages of children in the control group who had low blood Ca, Fe and Zn were 19.78%(418/2113), 5.21% (110/2113) and 14.62%(309/2113), respectively. ③The levels of Ca, Fe and Zn had a negative correlations with blood levels of Pb(coefficient of regression were-0.870,-0.430,-0.565, respectively). ④When given Ca, Fe and Zn, the children had the blood Pb levels decreased by 78.32% (112/143), 66.43% (95/143) and 67.83% (97/143), respectively. Conclusions ①Children's increased levels of Pb have adverse effects on the absorption of Ca, Fe and Zn. ②Intaking Ca, Fe and Zn preparations can reduce blood Pb level.

A 56-year-old man with 1-year history of palpitation, heat intolerance and sweating, was diagnosed as thyrotropin (TSH) -secreting pituitary adenoma based on the symptoms of hypermetabolism, enlarged thyroid gland, inappropriately increased serum TSH concomitantly elevated plasma thyroid hormones and a pituitary tumor demonstrated on magnetic resonance imaging. Long-acting octreotide formulation was administered at a dose of 20 mg intramuscularly. Tumor volume shrinkage and improvement of thyroid function was achieved after a single drug injection; and the thyroid function returned to normal in 28 days. It is suggested that long-acting octreotide formulation might be used as a routine therapeutic approach prior to pituitary surgery, which may enhance the effectiveness of surgery and postoperative recovery.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Azithromycin ; pharmacology ; Bacteremia ; microbiology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Culture Media ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial ; Escherichia coli ; drug effects ; isolation & purification ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Methicillin Resistance ; Middle Aged ; Penicillin G ; pharmacology ; Salmonella paratyphi A ; drug effects ; isolation & purification ; Staphylococcus aureus ; drug effects ; isolation & purification ; Staphylococcus epidermidis ; drug effects ; isolation & purification

AIM:To observe the effect of fresh amniotic membrane transplantation ( FAMT) in acute ocular chemical burns.
●METHODS:A prospective study of 25 consecutive cases (36 eyes) with acute ocular chemical burns were treated with FAMT. The clinical efficacy was observed such as the time of amniotic membrane absorbed, corneal epithelialization & transparency, visual acuities and complications.
●RESULTS: With follow-up ranged from 3 to 6mo, 31 eyes′ amniotic membrane were dissolved in 2wk (86%). A total of 33 eyes showed corneal epithelialization in 4wk ( 92%) , 3 eyes showed persistent corneal epithelial defects and need secondary limbal stem cell transplantation or corneal transplantation ( 8%) . A total of 10 eyes showed superficial corneal vascularization (28%), 6 eyes′ cornea were opacity in part (17%), and one eye was symblepharon (3%).
●CONCLUSION:Early FAMT is an effective treatment in the management of acute ocular chemical burns to support epithelial healing, restore ocular surface integrity with potential to improve vision and reduce the incidence of complications. Furthermore, FAMT has advantages of easily obtain and convenient usage, which is suitable in local hospital of our country.

Objective: To investigate the effect of rhubarb on gastrointestinal blood perfusion in critical illness and hemorrhagic shocked rats.Methods: Clinical Study: Sixty-four septic patients, who suffered from stress ulcer, were treated with rhubarb at a dose of 25 mg/kg. Twenty-five non-septic patients were taken as control. The gastrointestinal perfusion was evaluated by intramural pH (pHi). Animal study: SD rats were anesthetized with intraperitoneal sodium pentobarbital at a dose of 20 mg/kg. Blood-letting were performed in the animals. Blood pressure reduced to 5.32 kPa and maintained for 120 mins. They were resuscitated at the end of shock by reinfusing all of the shed blood. The rats were randomly divided into four groups: Normal control, shock group, therapeutic group (shocked rats were treated with 50 mg/kg rhubarb at the end of shock) and rhubarb group (normal rats were treated with rhubarb). Laser Doppler was applied to estimate the gastrointestinal blood perfusion. Results: Clinical Study: The gastrointestinal pHi in septic patients was much lower than that in the control, whereas rhubarb could obviously elevate gastrointestinal pHi (P<0.001). In addition, rhubarb also had good effect on gastric hemorrhage caused by stress ulcer. Animal Study: Although the shocked rats were resuscitated completely, their gastrointestinal blood perfusion was much lower than that in the control. Rhubarb could significantly improve the blood perfusion in gastrointestinal mucosa and mesentery (P<0.01). Furthermore, rhubarb also increase the gastrointestinal perfusion in normal rats. Conclusion: Rhubarb could improve gastrointestinal blood perfusion in critical illness and shocked rats.

Artemisia lactiflora is an important medicinal plant in China. The antitumor and antioxidant activities of the extracts of 54 endophytic fungi from the plant were screened via MTT assay and DPPH scavenging radical assay, respectively. The bioactive strains were identified based on similarity of 5.8S gene and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. The results showed that extracts from ten (18.5%) isolates exhibited antitumor activity, and which from two (3.7%) isolates exhibited antioxidant activity. The Alternaria sp. GYBH47 strain was simultaneously having antagonistic activity against HL-60 leukemia, MCF-7 breast and COLO205 colon cell lines, and Phomopsis sp. GYBH42 strain having cytotoxic and antioxidant activities. The results indicated that endophytic fungi from Artemisia lactiflora are potential resources to find valuable bioactive components.
Antineoplastic Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Artemisia ; microbiology ; Biphenyl Compounds ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Endophytes ; chemistry ; classification ; physiology ; Free Radical Scavengers ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Fungi ; classification ; physiology ; Humans ; Picrates ; metabolism

In the 1960s, modern science began involving the essence of heat syndrome, but there have still no in-depth systematic studies on pathological mechanisms of heat syndrome and action mechanisms of cold and cool herbs. In this study, the animal model with heat syndrome was set up by feeding herbs with hot property, and then cold and cool herbs was applied in the experimental therapy. The two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry technologies were adopted to compare the liver mitochondria proteome of the rats of the heat syndrome model and the ones treated with cold and cool herbs, so as to discover specificity-related proteins after heat syndrome and treatment with cold and cool herbs.
Animals ; Carbohydrate Metabolism ; drug effects ; Cold Temperature ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Energy Metabolism ; drug effects ; Hot Temperature ; Lipid Metabolism ; drug effects ; Male ; Mitochondria, Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Proteome ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

BACKGROUND: As a cytokine highly expressed in internal organs, visfatin could be used as a biomarker of systemic inflammation response for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, but few studies have reported the use of visfatin in severe pneumonia. The present study was undertaken to determine the plasma levels of visfatin in patients with severe pneumonia. METHODS: A total of 70 patients, including 40 patients with severe pneumonia (group A) and 30 patients with non severe pneumonia (group B) who had been admitted to the ICU from June 2009 to June 2010, were enrolled in this prospective study. And another 30 healthy physical examinees served as healthy controls (group C). Patients were excluded if they suffered from severe diseases of the heart, brain and kidney, cancers, autoimmune diseases, or received special treatment in the latest month. The plasma levels of visfatin, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α were measured by ELISA, while the level of CRP was determined by immuneturbidimetry, and the routine blood test was performed. Blood gas analysis and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) were performed in patients with pneumonia. Comparisons between the groups were conducted by Student's t test, ANOVA or nonparametric test. Correlation analysis was carried out by Pearson's correlation test or Spearman's rank-order correlation test. RESULTS: The plasma level of visfatin in group A was significantly higher than that in groups B and C (P<0.001), and the level of visfatin in group B was significantly higher than that in group C (P<0.001). The plasma level of visfatin was positively correlated with CRP, TNF-α, APACHE II and PMN％ in patients with severe pneumonia (rho=0.653, r=0.554, r=0.558, r=0.484, respectively, P<0.05 for all), while it was negatively correlated with PaO2 and PaO2/FiO2 (rho=?0.422, r=?0.543, respectively, P<0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Visfatin may be involved in the systematic inflammation response in patients with severe pneumonia as a pro-inflammatory cytokine, and it is valuable in assessing the severity of pneumonia..

Objective To study clinicopathologic significance of microvessel density(MVD)and the expres- sion of CD34 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods Using Elivision Plus immunohistochemistry method.50 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and 15 cases of inflammation nasopharyngeal tissues were stained with CD34.Results In comparison with inflammation nasopharyngeal tissues MVD(9.23?1.84),the MVD in nasopharyngeal carcino- ma(21.92?7.80)was significantly higher(P

Objective To clone the novel activation-related gene of B lymphocyte. Methods The differential display reversal transcription PCR (DDRT-PCR) technique was applied to analyse the expression difference of mRNA between resting and activated B lymphocyte from human tonsil. The positive differential display cDNA fragment identified by Northern-blotting was chosen as probe to filtrate human activated B lymphocyte cDNA library. Results Sixty two differential display cDNA fragments(expressed sequence tag, EST)were obtained. Thirty-two of them were mainly expressed in resting B lymphocyts and thirty were expressed in activated cells. Twenty-five were positive ones after identification by Northern blot analysis. A novel cDNA clone was obtained after using EST30 as a probe to filtrate the human activated B cell cDNA library.The whole cDNA clone was 2 048 bp in length and contains a 630 bp open reading frame. The N end of the deduced amino acid sequence was homologous with KAR3 protein which is a member of kinesins superfamily in yeast. Conclusions A novel possible activation-related gene in human B lymphocyte was obtained.