Objective To investigate the role of the percentage of the total cross-sectional area of small pulmonary vessels for the lung area (%CSA) from multi-slice CT (MSCT) in evaluating the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods One hundred and sixty-six COPD patients and 166 normal subjects underwent chest MSCT scans and all data were analyzed retrospectively. COPD patients underwent pulmonary function tests (PFT), including forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1%) and FEV1/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC), and were classified into mild (n=32), moderate (n=65), severe (n=69) groups according to pulmonary function results, respectively. The%CSA less than 5 mm2 and 5—10 mm2 for the lung area (%CSA<5 and %CSA5-10) of small pulmonary vessels were measured with Image J image-processing program. Comparison of%CSA<5 and%CSA5-10 between the COPD and control groups was perfomred using t test, and the comparison between the 3 COPD subgroups and control group were carried out using ANOVA test. The correlation between %CSA and PFT was evaluated by the Spearman rank correlation test. The sensitivity and specificity of %CSA to diagnose COPD and the best cutoff were calculated from areas under the ROC curves. Results %CSA<5 of COPD patients and control group were (0.56 ± 0.19)%and (0.82 ± 0.15)%(t=12.80, P<0.001), respectively.%CSA5-10 of the two groups were (0.19 ± 0.09)%and (0.33 ± 0.16)%(t=8.93,P<0.001), respectively. The AUC values of%CSA<5 and%CSA5-10 were 0.866 and 0.790, respectively. When the cut-off values of%CSA<5 and%CSA5-10 were 0.65%and 0.24%, the sensitivities and specificities were 88%and 71%, 76%and 81%, respectively. The mean values of%CSA<5 in mild, moderate and severe groups were (0.67±0.20)%, (0.61±0.16)%and (0.44±0.14)%, respectively (P<0.05). The mean values of %CSA5-10 in the three groups were (0.19 ± 0.06)%, (0.19 ± 0.10)% and (0.20 ± 0.08)%, respectively.%CSA5-10 in the three groups were of no significant difference (P>0.05). FEV1%and FEV1/FVC in COPD patients were (60.38±15.52)%and 57.95±22.27.%CSA<5 in COPD patients correlated positively with both FEV1%and FEV1/FVC (r=0.609 and 0.721, P<0.01, respectively).%CSA5-10 in COPD patients correlated positively with both FEV1%and FEV1/FVC (r=0.271 and 0.288, P<0.01, respectively). Conclusion The measurement of%CSA<5 and%CSA5-10 in MSCT images correlated with PFTs and%CSA<5, which may play an important role in evaluating the severity of COPD.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the cumulative effect regarding the family history of cardiovascular disease and smoking on ischemic stroke events in population with Mongolian ethnicity.

METHODSBased on data gathered from the baseline investigation, a 10-year prospective cohort follow-up project was conducted among 2 589 participants with Mongolian ethnicity. Ischemic stroke events were defined as the outcomes of the study. All the 2 589 participants were categorized into four subgroups: without family history of cardiovascular disease/nonsmokers, without family history of cardiovascular disease/smokers, with family history of cardiovascular disease/nonsmokers and with family history of cardiovascular disease/smokers, according to family history of cardiovascular disease and smoking status. Cumlative incidence rates of events among the four subgroups was described with Kaplan-Meier curves. Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) of ischemic stroke events among the four subgroups.

RESULTSData from the Kaplan-Meier curves showed that the cumulative incidence rates of ischemic stroke were 1.17% (15/1 278), 3.83% (37/967), 5.70% (9/158) and 8.33% (15/180) for the groups of no family history of cardiovascular disease/nonsmokers, no family history of cardiovascular disease/smokers, with family history of cardiovascular disease/nonsmokers and with family history of cardiovascular disease/smokers, respectively. By cox proportional hazards model, after adjusting for age, male, drinking status, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol factors, the HRs (95% CI) of ischemic stroke were 2.26 (1.19-4.28) and 2.45 (1.13-5.33) in the no family history of cardiovascular disease/smokers group, with family history of cardiovascular disease/smokers group when compared to the no family history of cardiovascular disease/nonsmokers group, respectively. The risk of ischemic stroke appeared the highest in the group with family history of cardiovascular disease/smokers (all P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSmoking may increase the risk of ischemic stroke events among the population with family history of cardiovascular disease.

Alcohol Drinking ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; ethnology ; genetics ; Blood Glucose ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; ethnology ; genetics ; Cholesterol ; Cholesterol, LDL ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Mongolia ; epidemiology ; Population Surveillance ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Smoking ; adverse effects ; epidemiology ; Stroke ; epidemiology ; genetics

Bacillus spp. are probiotics and can secrete a variety of natural antimicrobiol active substances, of which lipopeptides are an important class. Up to now, about 90 lipopeptides have been identified, and most of them are cyclic lipopeptides. surfactin, iturin, fengycin, bacillomycin and polymyxins are widely studied, and the first three have huge potential for application due to their properties of surfactants and anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory functions. In this paper, the research progress in the structure, function, synthesis regulation, separation, purification and production of surfactin, iturin and fengycin was reviewed. Synthetic biology is a vital means to increase the yield of lipopeptides, and in the future, lipopeptides can be used in crop cultivation, animal farming, food, medicine and petroleum industries as well as environmental protection. Future research should be strengthened on the discovery of new lipopeptides, synthesis of high-activity lipopeptides, economical production of lipopeptides on a large scale and their safety evaluation.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Anti-Infective Agents/pharmacology* ; Bacillus ; Bacillus subtilis ; Lipopeptides/pharmacology* ; Peptides, Cyclic/pharmacology*