Objective To investigate the distribution characteristics of (CAG)n polymorphism in the exonl of the androgen receptor (AR) gene and its relation to the sensitivity of hypoxic training in men of Han nationality from northern China. Methods Sixty five healthy young men of Han nationality completed HiHiLo training under simulated normobaric hypoxic environment for 4 weeks. They stayed under the condition of 14.3-14.8% O_2 (simulating 2800～3000m) during nighttime and carried out hypoxic training under the condition of 14.8-15.4% O_2 (simulating 2500～2800m) 3 times per week at the intensity of 75% individual VO_2max. VO_2max and body weight of the subjects were measured. GeneScan method was used to identify the repeat alleles (genotypes) of CAG polymorphism. Results (1) Fifteen alleles (CAG)12,(CAG)16-28,(CAG)30 repeat alleles (genotypes) were observed in the subjects, in which (CAG)22 was the most common allele; (2) When 21 and 22 alleles were used as the cut point, the baseline of body weight in those carrying shorter genotypes was significantly lower than that in those carrying longer genotypes; (3) △VO_2max and △rVO_2max in men carrying shorter genotypes were significantly higher than that in men carrying longer genotypes after hypoxic training. Conclusion The result reveals that AR (CAG)n polymorphism is associated with the sensitivity of simulated normobaric hypoxic HiHiLo training in men of Han nationality from northern China, especially in those carrying shorter genotypes of AR CAG.

OBJECTIVETo analyze factors related to the virulence associated genes of Leptospires.

METHODSTwelve putative virulence associated genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method in 38 reference strains, 81 field strains of Leptospira interrogans isolated from patients or animals, and 12 avirulent strains of Leptospira biflexa.

RESULTSThese putative virulent genes were widely distributed among the strains of Leptospira interrogans, but only few of them were detected in Leptospira biflexa. Gene lipL32 was detected in all strains of Leptospira interrogans. Distribution of gene lipL36 was varied significantly with detected rates from 0 to 90.91%. Gene la1608 had a positive rate of 87.50% for strains of serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae, but was only detected in few strains of other serogroups with a range from 0 to 25.00%. Rate of detection on gene sphA was 17.65% in Leptospira interrogans, and was absent in serovar hardjo reference strain.

CONCLUSIONResults indicated that these genes might be of importance for the virulence and pathogenicity of Leptospira interrogans, while gene lipL32 might be one of the common antigens. Gene lipL36 might be involved in serogroup specificity with genetic diversity, but gene la1608 was as one of the genes with specificity for serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae. However, serovar hadjo might hold quite different genetic characteristics when compared with the other serovars of Leptospires.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; Carbohydrate Dehydrogenases ; genetics ; Flagellin ; genetics ; Genes, Bacterial ; genetics ; Hemolysin Proteins ; genetics ; Leptospira ; genetics ; pathogenicity ; Lipoproteins ; genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Virulence ; genetics ; Virulence Factors ; genetics

Cultivating comprehensive personnel with competent professional ethics, technical skills and scientific research capabilities is the goal and task of today's laboratory medical education. How to make full use of diversified teaching materials, tools and methods to improve teaching quality is worthy of exploration and thinking in laboratory medical teaching units. In this paper, using mind map as a tool, taking the COVID-19 epidemic as an example, we intend to design a set of multidisciplinary and all-round integrated curriculum of medical laboratory education, and discuss the application status and prospect of integrated curriculum and mind map in medical laboratory education. Through doing this, we aim to optimize the training goals of laboratory medicine education, innovate the teaching methods and boost the training efficiency of laboratory medicine education to keep up with the times.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the clinical characteristics and risk factors on responses and survival of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) clones.

METHODSThe clinical data of 31 MDS cases with PNH clones from October 2004 to June 2012 were retrospectively analyzed to reveal the influence of PNH clone size on responses and survival.

RESULTS①The chromosome karyotypes were analyzed in all patients, 23 patients with normal karyotype, 7 patients with abnormal karyotype [including 3 patients with +8, 2 -Y, 1 del(7q) and 1 Xp+] and 1 patient with no mitosis. 1 patient belonged to low-risk, 27 intermediate-1 risk, 2 intermediate-2 risk and 1 high-risk groups, respectively, according to IPSS. There were significantly statistical differences between responders and nonresponders in terms of infection, ANC, Reticulocyte count and IPSS (P values were 0.049, 0.006, 0.031 and 0.043, respectively). ②The overall responsive rate was 67.7%, no patients progressed to acute leukemia (AL) during median follow-up of 19 months after immunosuppressive therapy (IST). The 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates were 82.7% and 55.1%,respectively. ③According to univariate analysis,age, infection and ANC had significant influence on survival (P values were 0.050, 0.031 and 0.026, respectively). ④The PNH clone size had no significant influence on survival through univariate and COX analyses (P=0.393).

CONCLUSIONMDS patients with PNH clone had less cytogenetic abnormalities, higher probability of response to IST and lower probability of progression to AL; Furthermore, the PNH clone size had no significant influence on response and survival.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Clone Cells ; Female ; Hemoglobinuria, Paroxysmal ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo identify and type three leptospires isolated from Rattus tanezumi in Guizhou Province by using three molecular techniques (PFGE, MLVA, and MLST), reveal the molecular characteristic of causative agents of local leptospirosis and evaluate these three molecular methods based on their detection resolution and efficiency.

METHODSThree Leptospira strains were isolated from the kidney of Rattus tanezumi and cultured with EMJH medium. PFGE, MLVA, and MLST assays were applied to type the three strains isolated from Rattus tanezumi in Guizhou Province.

RESULTSPFGE, MLVA, and MLST typing showed that the three leptospiral isolates matched with leptospiral serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae serovar Lai. The findings of the genotyping methods were consistent. MLVA and MLST defined genotypes, whereas PFGE allowed the recognition of additional subgroups within the genotypes, and the findings of molecular typing were also consistent with those of traditional techniques.

CONCLUSIONThree leptospiral isolates from Guizhou Province matched with leptospiral serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae serovar Lai, and PFGE, MLVA, and MLST, as reliable molecular techniques for identifying and typing of Leptospira interrogans, would contribute to the active surveillance, outbreak investigation and source tracking for leptospirosis in Guizhou Province.

Animals ; China ; epidemiology ; DNA, Bacterial ; classification ; genetics ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Genotype ; Leptospira interrogans ; classification ; genetics ; Leptospirosis ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; veterinary ; Phylogeny ; Rats

The present study aimed to investigate the change of cytochrome c in postconditioning-attenuated ischemia-reperfusion (I/R)-induced mucosal apoptosis in rat intestine compared with ischemic preconditioning (IPC). Using rat model of intestine I/R injury, male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 220-250 g were divided into 4 groups which were Sham operation group, I/R group, IPC group and ischemic postconditioning (IPOST) group. In these groups, I/R procedure was performed by the occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) for 45 min followed by reperfusion for 1 h. In Sham group, there was no intervention. In IPC group, SMA was occluded for 5 min and reperfused for 5 min, for two cycles, before the prolonged occlusion. In IPOST group, three cycles of 30-s reperfusion and 30-s reocclusion were preceded at the start of reperfusion. After the reperfusion, the small intestines were sampled for experimental detection. Intestinal mucosal mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Expressions of cytochrome c and caspase-3 proteins were detected using Western-blot method. The apoptosis of intestinal mucosal cells was determined with agarose gel electrophoresis and deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP-biotin nick-end labeling (TUNEL) technique. Compared with I/R group, the mitochondrial membrane potentials and the expressions of cytochrome c protein were significantly increased, while the expressions of caspase-3 and the apoptotic rates were decreased in IPOST and IPC groups (P<0.05). There were no significant differences between IPOST and IPC groups (P>0.05). These data provide substantial evidence that IPOST attenuates I/R-induced mucosal apoptosis by reducing the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria in the rat small intestine.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; physiology ; Cytochromes c ; metabolism ; Intestinal Mucosa ; metabolism ; pathology ; Intestines ; blood supply ; Ischemic Postconditioning ; methods ; Male ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial ; Mitochondria ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; prevention & control

OBJECTIVETo establish a standardized operation procedure for pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) on Leptospira interrogans as well as a figure digital database to develop the Chinese representative reference strains.

METHODSUnder the characteristics of strains and referring to the other SOPs of PFGE on pathogens provided by CDC and PulseNet Asia Pacific, genomic chromosome DNA purification, restriction endonuclease digestion and the parameters for running PFGE were optimized.

RESULTSNot I digestion patterns of leptospiral genome for the Chinese representative strains were established and partial isolates of serogroup icterohaemorrhagiae from the leptospirosis surveillance in Sichuan and Anhui provinces were analyzed by PFGE. Results showed that each of all the 15 Chinese representative strains had a unique pattern. 91.67% (22/24) of the 24 isolates identified as serogroup icterohaemorrhagiae matched to the map of the reference strain 56601 (serogroup icterohaemorrhagiae serovar lai).

CONCLUSIONThe PFGE figures were clear with high resolution and the fragments were equally distributed by this standardized operating procedure so as to reveal the molecular-genetic characteristics of Leptospira interrogans. The patterns had high relativity with the serological identification and seemed to be very important for genetic analysis of strains in studying the outbreak of leptospirosis.

Bacterial Typing Techniques ; methods ; DNA, Bacterial ; analysis ; Databases, Factual ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; methods ; standards ; Genome, Bacterial ; Leptospira interrogans ; classification ; isolation & purification

The study was purposed to explore the role of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the pathogenesis of bone disease particularly observed in multiple myeloma (MM), the biological features of marrow derived MSCs from patients with MM have been investigated. Marrow aspirates were harvested from 11 newly diagnosed patients with MM and 5 normal adults and MSCs were isolated and culture-expanded by the cell properties of adherence to plastic flasks, The phenotype was analyzed by flow cytometric technique. The proliferation of MSCs was observed by MTT assay and their differentiation capacities into osteoblasts and adipoblasts were assessed with lineage-specific histochemical staining. The concentrations of IL-6 and SCF in the culture supernatant were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). MSC culture supernatants were collected and MTT assay was performed to evaluate their support on the proliferation of an MM cell line SKO007 cells. The results showed that bone marrow-derived MSCs from MM patients were homogeneously positive for CD29, CD73, CD166 and HLA-ABC and negative for hematopoietic cell marker CD45 and endothelial cell marker CD31, the phenotype of which was similar to that of marrow counterparts from normal adults. MTT assay indicated that MSCs from MM patients or normal adults proliferated at similar rates. MSCs from MM patients occupied in vitro osteogenic and adipogenic capacity as those from normal adults. The levels of IL-6 and SCF in culture supernatant were greatly up-regulated in MM patients by ELISA assay. Furthermore, MSC culture supernatants from MM bone marrow displayed enhanced activity to promote the proliferation of SKO007 cells. It is concluded that marrow-derived MSCs from bone marrow of MM patients are normal in their proliferation and differentiation capacities, and myeloma bone disease may not be ascribed to the differentiation of MSCs while the elevated secretion of IL-6 and SCF may provide necessary cues for the survival of malignant myeloma cells.
Bone Marrow Cells ; pathology ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; analysis ; Male ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma ; pathology ; Osteoblasts ; cytology ; Stem Cell Factor ; analysis

Bacterial Typing Techniques ; Leptospira interrogans ; classification ; genetics ; Minisatellite Repeats ; Multilocus Sequence Typing ; methods