Objective To evaluae possible association between interleukin-1 beta (IL-1?) gene exon 5 polymorphism and childhood asthma.Methods The study was conducted in two different groups: asthmatic children(n=55) and healthy children(n=35). The IL-1? gene exon 5 polymorphism was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PCR-RFLP). Results Frequencies of CC,CT and TT genotypes were 92.7%,7.3%,0, and frequencies of C,T allele were 96.4%,3.6% in asthmatic group. However, frequencies of CC,CA and AA genotypes were 85.7%,14.3%,0, and frequencies of C,T allele were 92.9% ,7.1% in healthy group. There were no significant difference in distribution of genotypes and allele frequencies between two groups.Conclusion IL-1? gene exon 5 polymorphism may not be associated with childhood asthma.

Branchioma ; complications ; Child ; Female ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; complications ; Humans ; Thyroiditis, Suppurative ; complications

OBJECTIVETo discuss the possible mechanism of drug resistance transmission between Staphylococcus and Escherichia coli.

METHODSThe chloramphenicol resistance plasmid of Staphylococcus aureus was extracted to transform the sensitive Escherichia coli, and the drug-resistant Escherichia coli were screened by drug sensitivity test.

RESULTSThe drug-resistant Escherichia coli were successfully obtained.

CONCLUSIONStaphylococcus may have a natural shuttle plasmid of drug resistance, which can transform Escherichia coli under specific conditions.

Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; genetics ; Escherichia coli ; drug effects ; genetics ; Plasmids ; Staphylococcus ; genetics ; Transformation, Bacterial

OBJECTIVETo compare clinically therapeutic effects of warming needle moxibustion and simple acupuncture on knee osteoarthritis.

METHODSOne hundred and twenty cases conformed with the diagnostic criteria of knee osteoarthritis with TCM kidney-yang deficiency and cold syndrome were randomly divided into a warming needle moxibustion group and a simple acupuncture group. Guanyuan (CV 4), Qihai (CV 6), Zusanli (ST 36) and others were selected in the two groups. Their therapeutic effects were assessed with joint pain scale, knee osteoarthritis severity index scale and cold syndrome differentiation factors.

RESULTSBoth warming needle moxibustion and simple acupuncture could alleviate pain of knee osteoarthritis, improve dysfunction of the knee joint, reduce symptoms. The clinically basic cured rate and the total effective rate were 32.1% and 96.4% in the warming needle moxibustion group, which were better than 7.4% and 92.6% in the simple acupuncture group.

CONCLUSIONWarming needle moxibustion is an effective therapy for knee osteoarthritis with kidney-yang deficiency and cold type.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; Needles ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; therapy ; Yang Deficiency

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ; Escherichia coli Infections ; epidemiology ; Germany ; epidemiology ; Humans

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of graft composition on hematopoietic reconstitution and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in HLA-identical related donor peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) for hematological malignancies.

METHODSThe relationship between the number of graft composition and their hematopoietic reconstitution and GVHD in 107 patients with hematological malignancies undergoing HLA-identical related donor PBSCT was retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSNone of the graft composition numbers had correlation with the time of neutrophil reconstitution. There was a negative correlation between the number of mononuclear cells (MNCs) or CD34+ cells and the time of platelet reconstitution (P < 0.05) with the absolute correlation coefficients below 0.4, and so did between the number of CD34+ or CD34+ CD38- cells and the development of acute GVHD (P < 0.05) and their absolute correlation coefficients. Each lymphocyte subset number had no correlation with acute GVHD. There was a positive correlation between the number of CD25+ CD4+, CD3+ or CD4+ CD3+ cells or CD4+ /CD8+ ratio and the development of chronic GVHD (P < 0.05). And the correlation coefficients all exceeded 0.4, more over, CD25+ CD4+ cells number reached up to 0.78. CD34+, CD34+ CD38- cells number had no correlation with chronic GVHD.

CONCLUSIONIn HLA-identical related donor PBSCT, further increasing infused MNC, CD34+, CD34+ CD38- cells can no more accelerated hematopoietic reconstitution after these cells attained their threshold values, otherwise the incidence of cGVHD might increase due to the increase of the accompanied lymphocytes.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Female ; Graft vs Host Disease ; immunology ; pathology ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation ; Retrospective Studies ; Tissue Donors ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the prevalence and epidemiological features of valvular heart disease (VHD)adult populations with different ethnicities in Xinjiang.Methods A total of 14 618 adults aged 35 or older were surveyed.Random sampling was employed to study valvular heart diseases in different age,gender and ethnic groups.Samples were collected fiom 7 localities (Urumqi,Ke lamayi,Fukang,Turfan Basin,Hetian,Altay,Yili Hazakh Autonomous Prefecture) in 23 municipalities and 5 autonomous counties in Xinjiang.The proportion of male to female accounted for 50％ each.Results The overall prevalence of valvular heart diseases was 7.67％ (male:7.31％ vs.female:8.00％).The prevalence rates of valvular heart diseases were 10.57％,2.36％ and 12.22％in Han,Uygur and Kazakh populations,respectively.The prevalence of valvular heart diseases was lower in Uygur than in Hazak and Han ethnic populations ( x2=3.90,P=0.000).Complications related to valvular heart diseases would include hypertension (63.20％),diabetes (7.60％),coronary heart disease (7.50％) and fibrillation atrial (3.20％).Conclusion The prevalence of valvular heart diseases had a substantial increase,parallel with age.Differences were seen on the prevelance rates of VHD among ethnic populations.

Objective The primary purposes of this article were to examine the distributions and correlation between conditions of sleep and the quality of life,so as to explore the risk factors of abnormal sleep among elderly in the rural areas of Anhui province.Methods Elderly who aged 60 years or more (n= 1680) were randomly selected from rural areas in Anhui province.Conditions of sleep and quality of life of the subjects were assessed independently,using the pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQ1) scale and SF-36 scale.A generalized logistic model analysis was performed,using sleep-related factors as explanatory variables.Results The average PSQI score was 7.43 + 4.13.Persons whose sleep conditions were graded as well,common or poor were accounted for 29.4%,24.3%,46.3%,respectively.Sex and sleep quality were different in terms of quality of life among all the factors (P＜0.05).Men had better quality than women,and poor sleepers had poorer quality of life as compared to the one with better conditions.Factors as being married/living alone/economically independent,having better social function,often eating meat or wheat were significant predictors for having good sleep conditions.However,factors as better education received,living alone,with poor vitality/general health,having chronic diseases (back pain,coronary heart or stomach disease),less meat intake,rice as major foods etc.were predictors for poorer sleeping condition.Conclusion Our data showed that it was unsatisfactory on the quality of sleep among the rural elderly in Anhui province.Conditions on general,health and nutrition should be improved in order to prevent the poor sleep condition.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the inhibitory effect of 420 nm intense pulsed light on Trichophyton rubrum growth in vitro and explore the mechanism.

METHODSThe fungal conidia were divided into treatment group with intense pulse light irradiation and control group without irradiation. The surface areas of the fungal colonies were photographed before irradiation and on the 2nd and 3rd days after irradiation to observe the changes in fungal growth. The viability of the fungus in suspension was detected at 6 h after irradiation using MTT assay. The intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in the fungus was determined using DCFH-DA fluorescent probe, and the MDA content was detected using TBA method.

RESULTSIntense pulse light (420 nm) irradiation caused obvious injuries in Trichophyton rubrum with the optimal effective light dose of 12 J/cmin 12 pulses. At 6 h after the irradiation, the fungus in suspension showed a 30% reduction of viability (P<0.05), and the fungal colonies showed obvious growth arrest without further expansion. Compared to the control group, the irradiated fungus showed significant increases in ROS level and MDA content (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONIntense pulse light (420 nm) irradiation can induce oxidative stress in Trichophyton rubrum to lead to fungal injuries and death.