Objective To understand current prevalence of fluorosis, of drinking tea type in Pengyang County of Ningxia to offer scientific basis for preventing and curing, monitoring, health education. Methods Four towns were chosen as investigating spots in Pengyang County of Ningxia in 2007, from each 50 children aged 8-12 year old and 50 adults who either had tea or did not were investigated. Dean method was used to measure dental fluorosis of children and adult; meanwhile fluoride content in water, urine and drinking tea was tested using the fluoride ionic electrode method and that in brick tea using water immersion electrode method. χ2 testing, analysis of variance, u test, q test were performed. Results In adult drink tea group, control group, and children, the detaction rate of dental fluorosis were respectively 24.75%(99/400),9.5%(38/400)and 15.96%(71/445), obviously higher in drink tea group than the control group(χ2= 32.73, P<0.05). Urine average concentration of fluoride was (3.38±2.37), (2.09±1.33 ). (1.41±0.67)mg/L, obviously higher in drink tea group than the control group(u= 9.49, P<0.05). In 4 investigation spots tea fluoride averaged at (3.63±2.05)mg/L, fluoride content in drinking water was averagely (1.01±0.49) mg/L, with that of Wangwa Town [(1.31±0.33)mg/L] exceeding the national standard for drinking water (1.0 mg/L), where dental fluorosis rate was higher and fluoride content was higher than that in 3 other investigation spots (P<0.05). Conclusions Residents in Pengyang County in Ningxia who drink brick tea can cause accumulation of fluorine to poison in Ningxia, leading to fluorosis of drinking tea type; Wangwa Town have both drink tea and water fluorine poison.

Source data and its source documents are the foundation of clinical research. Proper source data management plays an essential role for compliance with regulatory and GCP requirements. Both paper and electronic source data co-exist in China. Due to the increasing use of electronic technology in pharmaceutical and health care industry, electronic data source becomes an upcoming trend with clear advantages. To face new opportunities and to ensure data integrity, quality and traceability from source data to regulatory submission, this document demonstrates important concepts, principles and best practices during managing source data. It includes but not limited to: (1) important concepts of source data (e.g., source data originator, source data elements, source data identifier for audit trail, etc.); (2) various modalities of source data collection in paper and electronic methods (e.g., paper CRF, EDC, Patient Report Outcomes/eCOA, etc.); (3) seven main principles recommended in the aspect of data collection, traceability, quality standards, access control, quality control, certified copy and security during source data management; (4) a life cycle from source data creation to obsolete is used as an example to illustrate consideration and implementation of source data management.
China ; Data Collection ; standards ; Documentation ; standards ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; methods ; standards

Objective To investigate the influence of intermittent catheterization methods on the urinarytract infection in patients with spinal cord injury. Methods Thirty-one cases of spinal cord injury and urinarytract infection were recruited. By use of intermittent catheterization, the bladder function was trained. Bacteria cul-ture and identification of in urine from the patients were conducted before the training (indwelling catheterization)and after 15 or 30 days of intermittent catheterization. Results The rates of urinary tract infection (colony count≥1?10~5cfu/ml) after 15 or 30 days of intermittent catheterization were 38. 7% and 35. 5%, respectively, whichwere significantly lower than those of indwelling catheterization (100%), P

Objective To prepare quercetin liposomes and establish a method for determination of its entrapment efficiency.Methods The film dispersion-homogenizing method was used to prepare quercetin liposomes.The formulation was optimized on the basis of orthogonal design and its entrapment efficiency was performed by the protamine sedimentation method.Results The optimal conditions were found to be cholesterol-egg phospholipid=1:3,quercetin-vehicle = 1:40,homogenization pressure 103.4 MPa for three times.The average entrapment efficiency of the optimized nano-liposomes was 92.1%.Conclusion The film dispersion-homogenizing method could be used to prepare quercetin liposomes.The protamine sedimentation method is convenient,accurate,and suitable for the determination of the entrapment effi- ciency of quercetin liposomes.

Using plants to remove or inactivate heavy metal pollutants from soils and surface waters provide a cheap and sustainable approach of Phytoremediation. However, field trials suggested that the efficiency of contaminant removal using natural hyperaccumulators is insufficient, due to that many of these species are slow growing and produce little shoot biomass. These factors severely constrain their potential for large-scale decontamination of polluted soils. Moreover, both the micronutrient and toxic metal content accumulated in crops determine the quality and safety of our food-chain. By a transgenic approach, the introduction of novel genes responsible for hyperaccumulating phenotype into high biomass plants and/or stable crops uptaking minerals as food is a promising strategy for the development of effective techniques of phytoremediation and improvement of nutritional value of stable food through a viable commercialization. Recently, the progress at molecular level for heavy metal uptaking, detoxification and hyperaccumulation in plants, and also the clarification of some functional genes in bacteria, yeasts, plants and animals, have advanced the research on genetic engineering plants of heavy metal resistance and accumulation, and on the functional genes (e . g. gsh1, MerA and ArsC) and their genetic transformated plants. These studies demonstrated commercialization potentials of phytoremediation. In this paper, the molecular approach, effects and problems in gene transformation were discussed in details, and also the strategy and emphases were probed into the future research.
Biodegradation, Environmental ; Genetic Engineering ; methods ; Metals, Heavy ; metabolism ; Plants, Genetically Modified ; genetics ; metabolism ; Soil Pollutants ; metabolism

Objective To explore the diversity of resting-state network of brain between the patients with leukoaraiosis and the healthy people. Methods 31 patients with leukoaraiosis (patients) and 27 healthy persons (controls) were checked with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), and analyzed with the independent component analysis (ICA) to explore the resting-state functional brain network. Results The resting-state brain network was found in both the patients and the controls, which was coincident with the previous studies. The active areas were the same in both groups, and the activation was weaken in the patients than in the controls, especially in quadrate gyri, posterior cingulate cortex, superior temporal gyrus, superior parietal gyrus, anterior central gyrus, post central gyrus, insula and prefrontal cortex. Conclusion There is a significant diversity of resting-state network of brain between the patients with leukoaraiosis and healthy people in the activation of active areas.

OBJECTIVETo study the plasma protein binding rate of methyl protodioscin.

METHODThe ultrafiltration was employed to determine the plasma protein binding rate of methyl protodioscin. The plasma concentrations of methyl protodioscin were measured by HPLC-MS-MS.

RESULTThe plasma protein binding rate of methyl protodioscin with rat plasma at the concentration of 20.0, 100 and 200 microg x mL(-1) were (94.6 +/- 0.16)%, (91.6 +/- 0.35)% and (86.10 +/- 0.60)%, respectively, while the plasma protein binding rate of methyl protodioscin with normal human plasma at the above concentrations were (82.11 +/- 5.12)%, (84.54 +/- 0.32)% and (88.52 +/- 1.02)%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe binding rate of methyl protodioscin with plasma protein is high.

Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; metabolism ; Blood Proteins ; metabolism ; Calibration ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Diosgenin ; analogs & derivatives ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Protein Binding ; Rats ; Saponins ; metabolism ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Ultrafiltration

OBJECTIVESThe mutations of growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene results in growth hormone insensitivity (Laron syndrome) or partial growth hormone insensitivity. This study aimed to understand the relation between mutations of GHR gene and short stature with non-growth-hormone deficiency, and the clinical feature of the patients with the GHR gene mutations.

METHODS(1) Forty-seven patients with non-growth-hormone deficiency and short stature were enrolled in this study, 33 were male and 14 female. The age of the patients were at a range of 2 - 16 years. (2) The mutations of GHR gene were identified by PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing. (3) The characteristics of the GHR mutation was assumed by screening for the same mutations in patients' family members and the control samples.

RESULTS(1) Four GHR mutations were identified in 5 patients with non-growth-hormone deficiency: H56R, G148E, IVS6-30, -31CA > TG and IVS8 + 10G > C. These mutations were located within the extracellular domain of GHR and not reported before. Five patients were the heterozygous of H56R, G148E, IVS6-30, -31CA > TG and IVS8 + 10G > C. The detection rate of mutant heterozygous individual accounted for 10.6% (5/47). The mutations were considered non-polymorphism by the GHR gene analysis in patients' family members and control samples. (2) Comparison of the amino acid sequence of different species and the position of the mutations H56R and G148E in the GHR protein structure suggested impact of the mutations on the protein function. (3) A polymorphism site was identified in exon 6 of GHR gene: G168G (GGA > GGG). The allelic frequency of G168G had no difference between the patients with non-growth-hormone deficiency and control samples but had significant difference between Chinese and Caucasian. It seems that the G168G was a polymorphism and has no relationship with the height stature. However, there was the allele diversity in different races.

CONCLUSIONThe mutations of GHR gene were detected in the patients with non-growth-hormone deficiency. Special attention should be paid clinically to its potential pathogenesis for short stature.

Adolescent ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; European Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Female ; Growth Disorders ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Receptors, Somatotropin ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the dynamic changes of myocardial matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) activities in mice with viral myocarditis (VM) and their relationships with cardiac function and myocardial collagen amount and to explore the role of MMPs in the pathologic lesion of VM.

METHODSSixty-five six-week-old male DBA/2 mice were obtained from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. They were divided into two groups randomly. Mice in infected group (n=50) were inoculated intraperitoneally with 0.14 ml of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3, Nancy strain). Control mice (n=15) were inoculated intraperitoneally with 0.14 ml of Eagle's solution. Eight infected mice were sacrificed on day 3, 7, 10, 21 and 30, respectively and fifteen control mice were killed on day 30 after inoculation. Total protein concentration was determined according to the method of Bradford, while MMPs activities were measured with SDS-PAGE type substrate gels embedded with type I gelatin (zymography). Echocardiographic studies were performed under anesthesia with 3% chloralhydrate intraperitoneally (0.01-0.015 ml/g). Cardiac systolic function indexes, such as peak velocity of aorta (Vp) and flow velocity integral of aorta (Vi) were determined by echocardiography. Histological cross sections of hearts were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and myocardial histopathologic scores were counted under optical microscope. Myocardial collagen amount was measured by determination of hydroxyproline quantification.

RESULTSIn virus-infected mice, both MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities were increased significantly compared with those in controls and reached the peak on day 10 (P < 0.01). On day 10, cardiac systolic function indexes (Vp and Vi) were all significantly lower than those at other stages after virus inoculation and in control group (P < 0.05). There was no obvious elevation in myocardial collagen amount in mice with VM at acute stage (P > 0.05). While the myocardial collagen amount in infected group at recovery stage (on day 21 and 30) increased significantly compared with controls. MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities positively correlated with myocardial histopathological scores, respectively (r =0.801, 0.821 P < 0.01), while they negatively correlated with Vp (r = -0.649, -0.683, P < 0.01) and Vi, respectively (r = -0.711, -0.755, P < 0.01). However, Vp and Vi negatively correlated with myocardial histopathological scores (r = -0.756, -0.584, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSIn mice with VM, the activities of myocardial MMP-2 and MMP-9 at acute stage increased significantly, then myocardial collagen amount elevated in recovery stage. These changes were associated with myocardial remodeling and cardiac dysfunction. Myocardial MMP activities are important markers of myocardial pathologic lesion. They are of value in the evaluation of the severity of myocardial damage and cardiac dysfunction in mice with VM.

Animals ; Collagen ; metabolism ; Coxsackievirus Infections ; complications ; Disease Models, Animal ; Echocardiography ; Male ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 ; metabolism ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 ; metabolism ; Matrix Metalloproteinases ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred DBA ; Myocarditis ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; physiopathology ; virology ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; pathology ; Systole ; Ventricular Dysfunction ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Ventricular Remodeling

To explore anti-tumor active components of Chimonanthus salicifolius, the phytochemistry of the chloroform fraction from leaves extract was investigated by repeated silica gel column chromatography. Twelve compounds were isolated and their structures were identified by physicochemical properties and spectroscopic data analysis as 9-epi-blumenol C(1), blumenol C(2), (+)-dehydrovomifoliol (3), (+)-vomifoliol (4), robinlin (5), (-)-loliolide (6), isofraxidin (7), scopoletin (8), 6,7-dimethoxycoumarin (9), 6, 7, 8-trimethoxycoumarin (10), beta-sitostenone (11), and beta-stigmasterol(12). Compounds 1-6 belonging to nor-sesquiterpenoids were isolated from the family Calycanthaceae for the first time. Compound 1 was a new natural product. Compounds 7, 11 and 12 were obtained from this plant for the first time.
Antineoplastic Agents ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; Calycanthaceae ; chemistry ; Chloroform ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry