Bayes Theorem ; Public Health ; Translational Medical Research

Objective To explore the prenatal ultrasonographic features of fetuses diagnosed as echogenic bowel and chromosomal abnormalities. Methods From September 2009 to June 2013, eighty cases diagnosed as echogenic bowel by prenatal ultrasound screening in our hospitals underwent chromosomal karyotype analysis and were followed up till fetal birth. The prenatal ultrasonographic features were carefully correlated with the postnatal findings. Results Prenatal ultrasoundand chromosomal findings of the 80 cases were:(1) Fifty-eight cases of fetuses with echogenic bowel alone (72.5%, 58/80, without chromosomal karyotype abnormalities). (2) Eleven cases of fetuses with additional ultrasound soft markers (13.8%, 11/80, without chromosomal karyotype abnormalities). The ultrasound examination revealed 8 cases of choroid plexus cysts, 1 case of single umbilical artery, 1 case of shorter nasal bone, and 1 case of echogenic intracardiac focus. (3) Five cases of fetuses with severe functional abnormalities or complex structural malformations and normal chromosomal karyotype. The ultrasound examination revealed 3 cases of structural cardiac malformations, 1 case of heart failure and 2 cases of central nervous system malformations. Of them,one case showed complex malformations (right ventricular dysplasia syndrome, cerebellar dysplasia and single umbilical artery), whereas the remaining 4 cases only involve single malformation. (4)Six cases had chromosomal abnormalities (7.5%, 6/80), including 3 cases of abnormal chromosome microdeletions, and 3 cases of abnormal chromosome numbers (1 21-trisomy syndrome, 1 18-trisomy syndrome, and 1 triploid syndrome). All of them had severe structural malformations and abnormal soft markers. The ultrasound examination revealed 2 cases of severe cardiac malformations, 2 cases of central nervous system malformations, 1 case of pericardial/peritoneal effusion, and 1 case of placental chorionic multiple hemangioma. One case of holoprosencephaly (donor of the twins) ended with intrauterine death. The associated abnormal soft markers include nuchal fold (NF) thickening, choroid plexus cysts, umbilical cord cysts, single umbilical artery, and placental chorionic hemangioma. Conclusions The fetuses with echogenic bowelaloneusualyhaveagoodprognosis.Insomecases,echogenicbowelmaydisappearduringvfolow-up.The fetuses complicated with severe structural malformations and chromosomal abnormalities have poor prognosis. For the fetuses diagnosed of echogenic bowel by prenatal ultrasound screening, systematic ultrasound examination should be carried out and clinical chromosomal karyotype analysis was suggested.

Exposure to thermal environment is one of the main concerns for manned space exploration. By focusing on the works performed on thermoregulation at microgravity or simulated microgravity, we endeavored to review the investigation on space thermal environmental physiology. First of all, the application of medical requirements for the crew module design from normal thermal comfort to accidental thermal emergencies in a space craft will be addressed. Then, alterations in the autonomic and behavioral temperature regulation caused by the effect of weightlessness both in space flight and its simulation on the ground are also discussed. Furthermore, countermeasures like exercise training, simulated natural ventilation, encouraged drink, etc., in the protection of thermoregulation during space flight is presented. Finally, the challenge of space thermal environment physiology faced in the future is figured out.
Aerospace Medicine ; Body Temperature Regulation ; Environment ; Exercise ; Humans ; Space Flight ; Weightlessness ; Weightlessness Simulation

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Diseases ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Phosphines ; poisoning ; Poisoning ; diagnosis ; therapy

Objective　To approach the relationship betwe en glycosaminoglycan metabolism in cartilages and pathogenesis of KBD.Methods　Rhesus monkey was fed with grains and water from KBD endemic area for 18 months to produce the animal model with KBD . The glyc osaminoglycans in the monkey cartilage were extracted by the improved Dish method of Bitter. Purified glycosaminoglycans were digested with chondroitinaseABC, and the enzymatic digests were analyzed by HPLC. Results　Comparing with those of the control, the glycos aminoglycans in the head of femur, tibia plateau and costal cartilage from the Rhesus monkey fed with grains and water from KBD endemic area were undersulfated . Decreased unsaturated 4-sulphated disaccharide (△Di-4S) from the glycosa minoglycans in the head of femur and tibia plateau and decreased unsaturated 6- sulphated disaccharide (△Di-6S) from the glycosaminoglycans in the costal cart ilage were discovered.Conclusions　Detrimental factors in grains and water from KBD endemic area cause undersulfate of the cartilages glycosaminoglycans from Rhesus monkey. The glycosaminoglycans changes have a direct bearing on the patho logical alterations in morphology on the cartilages from the animal model with K BD.

Objective To investigate the relationship between eosinophil and in-stent restenosis in acute coronary syndrome patients. Methods One hundred and fifity-one ACS cases werenenrolled in this study. According to the results of coronary angiography (the stented segment lumen loss over 50% was judged to be ISR), patients were divided into the restenosis group and the non-restenosis group. Results Based on the logistic analysis, no significant association was found between eosinophil and ISR, and even after adjustment of related risk factors (P > 0.05). The stratification analysis showed that the high level of eosinophil might increase the risk of ISR in ACS patients with history of hypertension (P = 0.038) and myocardial infarction (P = 0.032). Conclusion Eosinophil may be associated with the risk of ISR in ACS patients with history of hypertension and myocardial infarction. The underlying mechanisms need to be elucidated in further study.

Objective To investigate the expression of interferon-induced protein 44 (IFI44) gene in the leukocytes of the peripheral blood samples from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to evaluate the relationship between the expression level and disease activity. Methods Mononuclear cells in the peripheral blood samples from 100 SLE patients were compared with those of 40 disease controls and 40 healthy donors (HD) and the expression of the IFI44 was evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR.Comparisons between groups were performed with ANOVA, and the correlation analysis between the level of expression was higher in SLE patients than disease controls and healthy donors (26.8±5.3, 7.4±2.7, 5.2±2.0,respectively) (P=0.0012, P=0.005), but no difference was found between disease controls and healthy donors. Mild disease activity and the SLE patients with stable disease (63.1±22.4, 28.0±7.2, 9.2±1.8, respectively)and 24 hours urine protein level (r=0.42, P=0.000). Conclusion IFI44 is demonstrated to be highly expressed in SLE patients. The level of IFI44 may be a promising candidate biomarker for identifying SLE activity.

Chloroplast-based expression system is promising for the hyper-expression of plant-derived recombinant therapeutic proteins and vaccines. To verify the feasibility of obtaining high-level expression of the SARS subunit vaccine and to provide a suitable plant-derived vaccine production platform against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), a 193-amino acid fragment of SARS CoV spike protein receptor-binding domain (RBD), fused with the peptide vector cholera toxin B subunit (CTB), was expressed in tobacco chloroplasts. Codon-optimized CTB-RBD sequence was integrated into the chloroplast genome and homoplasmy was obtained, as confirmed by PCR and Southern blot analysis. Western blot showed expression of the recombinant fusion protein mostly in soluble monomeric form. Quantification of the recombinant fusion protein CTB-RBD was conducted by ELISA analysis from the transplastomic leaves at different developmental stages, attachment positions and time points in a day and the different expression levels of the CTB-RBD were observed with the highest expression of 10.2% total soluble protein obtained from mature transplastomic leaves. Taken together, our results demonstrate the feasibility of highly expressing SARS subunit vaccine RBD, indicating its potential in subsequent development of a plant-derived recombinant subunit vaccine and reagents production for antibody detection in SARS serological tests.
Chloroplasts ; metabolism ; Cholera Toxin ; Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; SARS Virus ; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus ; biosynthesis ; Tobacco ; metabolism ; Vaccines, Subunit ; biosynthesis

Objective To analyze the status of reference intervals (RIs) of complete blood cell count (CBC) in China and compare them with the published standards.Methods The RIs information of CBC (containing the items of WBC,RBC,Hb,HCT,MCV,MCH,MCHC and PLT) were collected by the External Quality Assessment (EQA)software from laboratories participated in the Second Complete Blood Cell Count EQA Program in 2013,which including the sources of RIs,the lower and upper limits of RIs and the validation information of RIs.The sources and validation information of RIs were analyzed by Microsoft Excel 2007 using all data except those from maternal and child care service center,children's hospital and corporations.The outliers of limits of RIs were excluded according to the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry(IFCC)guidelines,then data were analyzed by SPSS 13.0.The mean of the upper and lower limits of the RIs were compared with the published standards by the t-test.Results Totally 299 (57.72％) of 518 laboratories reported were using RIs according to National Clinical Laboratory Operation Rules,while 112(26.62％)labs were using RIs from instrument/reagent manufacturer instructions,411 (80.00％)labs did not validate the RIs they used,of which 258 (50.00％) did not know how to validate RIs.The deviation of the maximum and the minimum ranged from 16％ to 70％.More than one third laboratories did not separate RIs of RBC,Hb and HCT according to the gender.The upper and lower limits of WBC and MCV of most laboratories were higher,while those of RBC(male/female),PLT and Hb(male) were lower than that from the published standard.The RIs of MCH was narrower than that from the published standard.Meanwhile,HCT,MCHC (male/female) and Hb (female) were near the upper and lower limits of published standards.Conclusions At present,the RIs of CBC used in laboratories is chaotic,which is significantly different from the published standard.On the basis of standardization,the RIs of published standard result from a multi-center study in Chinese people should be preferred.

Objective To investigate clinical features of lower motor neuron lesion (LMNL) caused by the single level lower thoracic disc protrusion (LTDP),and to observe clinical outcomes of surgical treatment.Methods Between January 1997 and December 2009,17 patients with LMNL caused by single level LTDP underwent en bloc resection of the superior articular process,Cave-in 360° circumferential decompression and internal fixation in our hospital.MRI and CT scans were taken to confirm lesion levels:T10-11 in 4 patients of whom 3 had patellar clonus and ankle clonus,T11-12 in 5 patients of whom 4 had ankle clonus,and T12L1 in 8 patients who only had positive Babinski sign.The neurologic status was assessed using the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scoring system.The muscle strength of the tibialis anterior was assessed using the Manual Muscle Test (MMT).Sagittal Cobb angle and cross-sectional area of the dural sac at the level of maximal compression in MRI were also observed.Results All patients were followed up for 22 to 76 months (average,48.6 months).The mean JOA score increased from preoperative 5.88±1.11 to 9.53±0.94 at final follow-up (t=16.143,P＜0.05).The muscle strength of the tibialis anterior recovered to more than grade 4 in all patients.Postoperative Cobb angle was unchanged compared with that before operation.MRI indicated that the cross-sectional area of the dural sac at the level of maximum compression increased from preoperative 35.8±7.3 mm2 to postoperative 132.9±6.5 mm2 (t=70.78,P＜0.05).Conclusion LMNL can be caused by LTDP.The eu bloc resection of the superior articular process,Cave-in 360° circumferential decompression and internal fixation can provide a satisfactory decompression effect and marked recovery of neurological function.