Adolescent ; Adult ; Brain Edema ; epidemiology ; Hazardous Substances ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Health ; Prospective Studies ; Pulmonary Edema ; epidemiology ; Railroads ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) level in asthmatic children to predict bronchial hyperresponsiveness by analyzing the correlation between fraction of exhaled nitric oxide and bronchial provocation test.Methods One hundred and fourteen asthma outpatients of Shengjing Hospital were enrolled, FeNO levels, spirometry and bronchial provocation test were measured.Results In the bronchial provocation test,there were 33 positive and 81 negative cases.The positive group had a significantly higher FeNO levels than the negative ones(19.0 × 10-9 vs.16.0 × 10-9 ,p =0.000).By the ROC curve, the best FeNO cut-off value to predict bronchial hyperresponsiveness was 38.5 × 10-9 with high specificity (92.6％) but relatively low sensitivity (36.4％).There was no relationship between methacholine provocative dose causing a 20％ fall in FEV1 (PD20-FEV1) and the level of FeNO.Conclusion FeNO level has important predicting value for bronchial hyperreactivity in children with asthma.The level of FeNO ＞ 38.5 × 10-9 has high predictive value in asthmatic children with bronchial hyperreactivity.

Recently,the progress in employing transplanting stem cells to cure injured retina is very fast and has been continuously yielding exciting results.Various sources are used in the studies,including retina-derived cells such as M?ller cells and ciliary body cells,and non-retina-derived cells such as embryonic stem cells and brain-derived stem cells.This review briefly discusses the recent progress of these studies.

Objective To investigate the effects of filter reuse on solute clearances, safety and oxidative stress parameters in on-line hemodiafiltration(HDF) . Methods 8 stable maintained uremic patients were treated by post-dilution on-line HDF with first-use or reuse F60 polysulfone filter, respectively. Both blood-side and dialysate-side solute clearances at 20 minute of HDF or during the whole session were measured. Whole blood interleukin-1?(IL-1?) production was monitored before HDF, after HDF, and at 20 minutes of HDF at both venous and arterial lines. Plasma before and after treatment and dialysate were collected for measuring total ascorbic acid, dehydroascorbic acid and total vitamin E. Restults No difference of small molecular substance clearances was observed in blood and dialysate side, while filter reuse group had a significantly higher dialysate side clearance and a significantly lower absorption clearance for ?2-microglobulin. In contrast with stable vitamin E concentration during dialysis, total ascorbic acid level decreased after treatment, with reuse group further inducing a reduced ration of dehydroascorbic acid to total ascorbic acid. No significant changes were found in whole blood IL-1? production within and between each group, so did intra-dialysis symptoms and temperature curves. Reuse filter also caused more albumin loss through high-flux membrane than that of first-use filter. Conclusions Although reuse filter can maintain both small and large molecular weight substance clearance, it increases albumin loss through high-flux membrane. Reuse filter does not stimulate white blood cell to produce more cytokine than the first-use filter, but it increases oxidative stress, and may harm uremic patients in a long run.

Hemorrhoid refers to soft vein mass formed by varicosity of submucosal veins around the end of the rectum and subcutanceous veins of the anal canal. It is the most common anorectal disease. This article summarized the regular patterns, features and advantages of Professor Yu Hai-Bo's acupuncture-moxibustion therapy for hemorrhoids, in order to guide the acupuncture treatment for hemorrhoids.

In this paper, the effects of the blend of nanoparticles and microneedle matrix materials on the mechanical properties of dissolving microneedles were studied mainly, so as to construct microneedles with excellent mechanical properties. Different kinds of nanoparticles (calcium carbonate, hydroxyapatite, silica), particle sizes (20, 60, 100 nm) and the proportion of prescription (2%, 6%, 10%) were blended with the matrix material [polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), poly(1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate)(PVP/VA)] to form dissolving microneedles. The effects of nanoparticles on the elastic modulus and hardness of the microneedles were investigated using a nanoindenter. The results showed that the elastic modulus and hardness of PVP microneedles were significantly improved by nano-calcium carbonate (P < 0.001), and the elastic modulus and hardness of PVP/VA microneedles were significantly improved by nano-hydroxyapatite (P < 0.001). When the particle size of hydroxyapatite was 20 nm, the elastic modulus of PVP/VA microneedles was (10.6 ± 1.0) GPa, and the hardness was (0.47 ± 0.06) GPa. As the size of the nanoparticles increases, the mechanical performance of the microneedles decreases. When the mass proportion of nano-hydroxyapatite increased from 2% to 6%, the elastic modulus and hardness of the microneedles were significantly improved (P < 0.001), but the effect of continue increasing the proportion of nanoparticles on the microneedles was not significant. The nano-enhanced PVP/VA dissolving microneedles has no irritant effect on intact skin and has a slight irritation to damaged skin, but they disappear completely after 72 h. Animal experiments have been approved by the Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee of Zhejiang University of Technology. Therefore, the nano-enhanced dissolving microneedles has good biological safety. To sum up, it is necessary to select the appropriate kind of nanoparticle, particle size, and prescription ratio when microneedles constructing with a given matrix material, so as to effectively improve its mechanical performance.

Humans ; Nasal Cavity ; Paranasal Sinuses

Objective To investigate the effects of human Rrain-derived neurotrophic factor-gamma fetopro-tein (hBDNF-GFP) gene-transfected neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation on BDNF expressions in the retina of rots after optic nerve (ON) crush injury. Method ①Seventy-eight Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly as-signed into a control group (n = 6) and ON crush group (n = 72). In the ON crush group, the right ON was crushed while the left NO was exposed as sham injury. Rats in the ON crush group were divided into three sub-groups: PBS group (intravitreons injection of 0.01 mol/L phosphate buffered solution); GFP group (intravitreous transplantation of GFP gene-transfected NSCs); and hBDNF-GFP group (intravitreous transplantation of hBDNF-GFP gene-transfected NSCs). Rats were sacrificed 3, 7, 14 and 28 days after transplantation, and BDNF expres-sions in retinal homogenates was detected by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). ②The hBDNF-GFP-NSCs were transplanted intravitreous into six rats after ON crush injury. Following this, two rats were sacri-riced 2, 4 and 8 weeks after transplantation. The survival and location of NSCs in host retina were observed by frozen section analysis. ③Adult SD rats were randomly divided into four groups: control group (n = 5); NSC group (NSC transplantation, n = 10); GFP-NSC group (GFP-NSC transplantation, n = 10); and hBDNF-GFP-NSC group (hBDNF-GFP-NSC transplantation, n = 10). Four and eight weeks after transplantation, five rats from every group were sacrificed. Western blot analysis was used to determine retinal BDNF expression. Results ① There was no significant difference in BDNF expression between the control group and sham-injury groups (P >0.05). Three days after NSC transplantation, BDNF expression increased significantly in the three injured sub-groups compared with the sham-injury group, (P < 0.05), whereas no significant inter-group differences in BDNF expressions among three injured sub-groups were observed (P > 0.05). Seven days after transplantation, there was a significant difference in BDNF expression between the GFP-NSC group and the sham-injury groups (P <0.05), whereas there were no significant differences in BDNF expressions among the PBS, hBDNF-GFP-NSC and sham-injury groups (P > 0.05). Fourteen and 28 days after transplantation, BDNF expressions decreased in the PBS group and the GFP-NSC groups, while BDNF expressions in the hBDNF-GFP-NSC group increased significant-ly compared with the other three groups (P < 0.05); ②Frozen section showed that transplanted hBDNF-GFP-NSCs could survive and gradually extended to all layers of the host retina. ③Westem blot revealed there were no differences in BDNF expressions between 4-week and 8-week intervals in the hBDNF-GFP-NSC group. Compared with other three groups, BDNF expressions in the retina increased significantly after hBDNF-GFP-NSC transplanta-tion. Conclusions The hBDNF-GFP gene-trausfected NSCs can survive in the host retina and BDNF expressions are stable at a high level.

Objective To observe liver functional lesion caused by combination chemotherapy containing or not containing oxaliplatin. Methods Data from 42 patients with liver functional lesion caused by chemotherapy between March 2005 and October 2007 were analyzed. All patients were diagnosed through histology or cytology detection and received chemotherapy only. Different drugs were. admitted,based on different tumors. Before chemotherapy, each patient had normal liver function without liver lesions such as liver metastasis, Hepatitis B and C, hepatic cirrhosis, etc. Furthermore, 22 received FOLFOX-4 in containing oxaliplatin group while the remaining 20 received chemotherapy excluding oxaliplatin. When liver functional lesion without the influence of any liver protectant was first observed, ALT, AST, TBIL, DBIL, IBIL, ALP, GGT and the WHO criteria of liver toxicity were analyzed. T test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used for data analysis. Results All together 90 cycles, median 2.14 cycles, were given. According to WHO criteria of liver toxicity, 13 cases were in grade O, 21 in grade Ⅰ, 7 in grade Ⅱ, and 1 in grade Ⅲ. ALT and AST were significantly high after chemotherapy(P <0.05). Moreover, ALT and AST were significantly higher in containing oxaliplatin group than non oxaliplatin group after chemotherapy(P <0.05). Chemotherapy had no influence on bilirubin. The population distribution of accumulative chemotherapy cycles and WHO criteria of liver toxicity was similar between two groups. Conclusion Before the intervention of liver protectant, combination chemotherapy containing oxaliplatin is more likely to have liver functional lesion than other chemotherapy without oxaliplatin. It mainly presents an increase in transaminase.