OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of α3 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) on apoptosis and p38 signal transduction pathway in SH-SY5Y cells and to assess the roles of α3 nAChR in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

METHODSThe levels of α3 nAChR mRNA and protein were measured by real-time PCR and Western blot, respectively, in SH-SY5Y cells transfected with α3 nAChR siRNA. The mRNA level of bcl-2 and bax was measured by the real-time PCR. The siRNA transfected SH-SY5Y cells and control were then treated with 10 µmol/L Aβ25-35 for another 48 h, and the change in apoptotic rate and the levels of p-p38 and p38 were measured by flow cytometry and Western blot. Subsequently these SH-SY5Y cells were exposed to a blocker of p38 protein, and the apoptotic rate was measured again.

RESULTSCompared to the controls, the expression of α3 nAChR at mRNA and protein levels in the SH-SY5Y cells transfected with α3 nAChR siRNA decreased by 95% and 86%, respectively; the mRNA levels of bax increased 2.11 times and that for bcl-2 decreased 0.53 times. The apoptotic rate was unaffected (3.40% ± 0.20%); but it increased after Aβ25-35 treatment (24.52% ± 1.59%); the level of p-p38 protein also increased by 178% in the α3 nAChR inhibited cells treated with Aβ25-35. Compared to controls, the Aβ25-35-treated SH-SY5Y cells and the Aβ25-35-treated and siRNA-transfected cells both showed a reduction in apoptosis after treatment with p38 blocker, especially in the former.

CONCLUSIONThe siRNA silencing of α3 nAChR mRNA may enhance the effect of Aβ25-35 on the cell apoptosis by increasing the levels of p38 protein and bax mRNA and decreasing the level of bcl-2 mRNA, which may play a role in the pathogenesis of AD.

Alzheimer Disease ; etiology ; Amyloid beta-Peptides ; metabolism ; Apoptosis ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Gene Silencing ; Humans ; Neuroblastoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Peptide Fragments ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Receptors, Nicotinic ; genetics ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; Transfection ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; genetics ; metabolism ; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; metabolism

Objective A scientific evaluation of hospital culture with the Dimension organizational culture model, in view of features of China's general public hospitals.Methods Based on Denison model, according to the characteristics of the public general hospitals in China, the authors developed a tool for organizational culture assessment (TOCA) by using the survey data from 87 hospitals in three provinces from the East, Central, and West areas in China.Results This tool, an evaluation scale, comprises the four cultural characteristics of direction, consistency, participation, and adaptability, as well as 13 cultural dimensions of social responsibility and competitive consciousness. The tool is tested as having good internal reliability and validity.Conclusion The TOCA provides hospital administrators with a tool for hospital culture evaluation, diagnosis and improvement.

ObjectiveTo explore the procedures and methods for genetic diagnosis in one nonsyndromic variants of congenital neutropenia (NSVCN) patient and its pathogenic mutation.Methods Genomic DNA was prepared from one NSVCN patient who had progressed to chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and ELA2,HAX1,WASp and GFI1 genes were amplified and sequenced.Results A novel compound heterogeneous mutation consisting of two frame-shift mutations (c.430-1insG and c.655- 9del5bp) was found in HAX1 gene.ConclusionA practically genetic diagnosis procedure for NSVCN has been established,and the novel HAX1 gene mutation may contribute to the etiology of NSVCN.

Objective To evaluate the relationship between genetic polymorphism of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and susceptibility of liver cirrhosis after hepatitis B virus infection in Chinese population. Methods CBM, VIP, CNKI, Wanfang technological periodical full-text databases and Pubmed from set up to July, 2013 were electronically searched to identify case-control studies on the relationship between genetic polymorphism of TGF-β1 promoter 509 site, co-don 869 site and liver cirrhosis after hepatitis B virus infection. The data were quantitatively analyzed by RevMan 5.1 soft-ware after assessing the quality of included studies. Results Six case-control studies were selected for Meta-analysis based on our inclusion and exclusion standards. The results of Meta-analysis showed that the pooled OR value for liver cir-rhosis among Chinese patients after hepatitis B virus infection with T allele of TGF-β1 gene at promoter 509 was 1.02 (95%CI:0.67-1.54), the pooled OR values for patients with TT and CT genotypes were 0.80 (95%CI:0.36-1.78). OR values for pa-tients with C allele of TGF-β1 gene at codon 869 was 1.05 (95%CI:0.69-1.62), the pooled OR values for patients with CC and CT genotypes were 0.98 (95%CI:0.48-2.00). No significant publication bias was found. Conclusion The genetic poly-morphism of TGF-β1 at promoter 509 and codon 869 showed no association with susceptibility of liver cirrhosis after hepati-tis B virus infection in Chinese population.

Objective:To investigate the effect of astragaloside IV (AS-IV) on the secretion of stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) and CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) by high glucose injured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), so as to lay a foundation for further study on AS-IV improving angiogenesis by regulating SDF-1 α/CXCR4 axis of endothelial cells.Methods:HUVECs were isolated and cultured from the umbilical vein of full-term healthy newborns and identified by von Willebrand factor (vWF) combined with 4-diamino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) nuclear staining. The obtained HUVECs was cultured in EGM-2 medium with 30 mmol/L glucose for 120 h to obtain high glucose damaged HUVECs. After intervention with different concentration gradients (25 mg/L, 50 mg/L, 100 mg/L, 200 mg/L, 400 mg/L) AS-IV for 72 hours, the contents of SDF-1α and CXCR4 were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method to determine the best concentration of AS-IV. The supernatant of damaged HUVECs were collected at 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after intervention with the best concentration of AS-IV, and the contents of SDF-1α and CXCR4 were detected by ELISA method to determine the best action time of AS-IV. The damaged HUVECs was randomly divided into experimental group and control group, and the blank group was set up at the same time. The experimental group was treated with the best concentration of AS-IV and the best time, the control group and the blank group were treated with the same volume of phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution, and the contents of SDF-1α and CXCR4 in each group were detected by ELISA method.Results:The vWF factor on the cell membrane was green fluorescence, and the nucleus was blue after DAPI staining. When the fusion image showed green fluorescence, HUVECs were identified by blue fluorescence. The expression of SDF-1α in damaged HUVECs was the best when treated with AS-IV of 100 mg/L for 24 hours (1 642.87 pg/ml), and the expression of CXCR4 in damaged HUVECs was the best when treated with AS-IV of 50 mg/L for 48 hours (8.44 ng/ml). Compared with the control group, the contents of SDF-1α and CXCR4 in the experimental group were significantly increased, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). While the contents of SDF-1α and CXCR4 in the experiment group were slightly less than those in the blank group and there was no statistically significant difference ( P>0.05). Conclusions:AS-IV can promote the expression of SDF-1α and CXCR4 in HUVECs damaged by high glucose to return to normal physiological level, so as to play the role of vascular repair and neovascularization.

Objective To explore the effect of percutaneous tracheotomy in the clinical application.Methods 40 patients were divided into the observation group and the control group with 20 cases in each group.The observation group underwent the pereutaneous tracheotomy, and the control group received the surgical tracheotomy.The operation time, the incision size, the amount of intra-operative bleeding and postoperative complications were observed between the two groups.Results The operative time in the observation group was significantly shorter than that in the control group (P＜0.01 ), and the incision size smaller than that in the control group (P＜0.01 ).The amount of intra-operative bleeding and the amount of bleeding 24 hrs after the operation were small, and the postoperative complications reduced.Conclusions Compared to the surgical tracheotomy (ST), the pereutaneous dilational tracheotomy (PDT) has advantages of shorter surgery time, smaller incision size, less bleeding and fewer complications.So PDT is a tracheotomy method that is easy to be conducted near the bed, safe and practical, thereby being worthy of clinical application.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this retrospective study was to analyze the recovery rate of sudden sensorineural hearing loss in children, and explore the prognostic factors in order to guide the clinical diagnosis and treatment. METHOD: A retrospective review was conducted for the prognosis of children with sudden sensorineural hearing loss during the past 5 years (from November 2010 to May 2015) in Chinese PLA General Hospital. This paper have a complete clinical data of 101 patients (113 ears)with sudden hearing loss, ranging from 0 to 18 years old Patients were divided into four groups according to hearing recovery and eight putative prognostic factors were analyzed. RESULT: Among 101 patients (113 ears), the ratio of male and female was 60:53. Treatment was initiated from 1 to 183 days after disease onset, with an average of (18.5 ± 22.1) d. Bilateral and unilateral hearing loss were 24 ears and 89 ears, respectively. The proportion of mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, severe hearing loss and profound hearing loss were 7.1%, 6.2%, 23.9% and 62.8%, respectively. Vertigo and tinnitus occurred in 54.9% and 77.9% of the patients, respectively. After the treatment, the complete recovery rate was 9.7% and the overall recovery rate was 36.3%. The degree of hearing loss, earlier treatment onset, sex and bilateral involvement were significantly associated with hearing recovery (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Sudden sensorineural hearing loss in children was generally identified as severe and profound hearing loss, but after positive and timely treatment, it can be improved or even cured. The mild hearing loss, earlier treatment onset, unilateral hearing loss and female were positive prognostic factors. The concurrence of tinnitus or vertigo, the results of ABR and DPOAE had no significant influence on prognosis.
Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; diagnosis ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; diagnosis ; Hearing Loss, Unilateral ; diagnosis ; Hearing Tests ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Tinnitus ; complications ; Vertigo ; complications

OBJECTIVE: To analysis the characteristics of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) patients with tinnitus, and explore the relationship of characteristics of tinnitus and audiology. METHOD: Patients diagnosed as SSHL with tinnitus were studied in the research. All patients' clinical features were analyzed, such as tinnitus frequency, pure tone audiometry, tinnitus, hearing loss degree, results of residual inhibition test. RESULT: Thirty cases were identified as mild degree hearing loss, 13 cases as moderate degree, 28 cases as severe degree and 34 cases as profound degree. And hearing impaired frequency of 13 cases was ascertained at low-frequency, 39 cases at middle-high-frequency, and 53 cases at full-range-frequency. The incidence of patients with low-frequency was about 41. 9% (44/105), and it was about 21. 9% (23/105) in those with middle-frequency. And it was 36. 2% (38/105) in cases of high-frequency tinnitus. The chi-square test show statistically significant differences between patients with the low-frequency, middle-frequency and high-frequency of the hearing loss (P<0. 05). In tinnitus residual inhibition test, positive rate of convergence type masking curve was about 72.0%, tinnitus separated type masking curve 20.0%, overlapping type was 57.9%, and the spacing type was 43.5%. There was a statistically significant difference among cases with different type masking curve (P<0. 05)with the spacing residual inhibition test positive rate. CONCLUSION There are individual differences of clinical characteristics among SSHL patients with tinnitus. Tinnitus frequency is consistent with the frequency of hearing loss. Patients had the more serious the degree of hearing loss, who had more serious tinnitus grading. Cases with the converged type curve will be fit for tinnitus masking. Therefore, combining the tinnitus detection with the audiological tests, we could obtain the clinical characteristics of SSHL patients with tinnitus.
Audiometry, Pure-Tone ; Deafness ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; complications ; pathology ; Humans ; Tinnitus ; complications ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo choose the best retraction agent for the clinic by evaluating the gingival inflammation related to three kinds of retraction agents.

METHODS40 maxillary premolars were divided into four groups according to the randomized block design: Ferric sulfate group, aluminum chloride group, epinephrine group, sodium chloride group(control group), each 10 teeth, respectively used 25% AlCl3, 15.5% Fe2(SO4)3, 0.1% HCl-epinephrine, sodium chloride as retraction agents. The quantity of gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and the active level of aspartate amino-transferase (AST) in gingival crevicular fluid were measured before and 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 days after retracting gingiva by four kinds retraction agents. The changes of GCF were calculated.

RESULTSThe change of the GCF from the smallest to the largest was sodium chloride, 0.1% HCl-epinephrine, 25% AlCl,, 15.5% Fe2 (SO)3. Compared with sodium chloride, only 15.5% Fe2 (SO)3 in AST was the significant difference in the first day and the third day (P < 0.05). AST of ferric sulfate group after 1, 3 days greater than 800 IU.

CONCLUSION0.1% HCl-epinephrine is suggested in patient without cardiovascular disease. For patient with cardiovascular disease, the better substitute is 25% AlCl3. 15.5% Fe2 (SO4)3 will not be used until its concentration is fallen.

Aluminum Compounds ; Chlorides ; Epinephrine ; Gingiva ; Gingival Crevicular Fluid ; Humans ; Incisor ; Inflammation

This study is to establish the fingerprint for Phyllanthus emblica and their tannin parts from different habitats by HPLC for its quality control. The determination was carried out on a Diamonsil C18 (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) column, with methanol-0.2% glacial acetic acid as mobile phase with gradient elution at a flow rate of 1 mL x min(-1). The temperature was maintained at 30 degrees C and the detected wavelength is 260 nm, Thirteen chromatographic peaks were extracted as the common peaks of the fingerprint of P. emblica, and eleven as the common peaks of P. emblica tannin parts, and five peaks were identified by comparing with referent samples. The fingerprints of 8 samples were compared and classified by similarity evaluation, cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). The similarity degrees of eight P. emblica were between 0.763 and 0.993, while tannin parts were between 0.903 and 0.991. All the samples of P. emblica and their tannin parts were classified into 3 categories. The method was so highly reproducible, simple and reliable that it could provide basis for quality control and evaluation of P. emblica from different habitats.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; Phyllanthus emblica ; chemistry ; classification ; Quality Control ; Tannins ; analysis ; Tibet