To understand Lophatherum gracile plant community's structural characteristics, a survey of community structure and species diversity was conducted through quadrat sampling in Yongchuan district of Chongqing. The results showed that there were 386 species vascular plants, belonging to 117 families and 229 genera. Based on habitat, community structure and species composition, L. gracile were found in three community types: Pinus massoniana community, banboo community, shurb community. Vertical structure was composed of three layers, including tree layer, shrub layer and herb layer. Species in shrub layer was the richness. P. massoniana is the only dominant species of the community, it can not regenerate naturally, the shrub layer has a greater effect on the community of L. gracile in the future. In addition, the banboo community and shurb community is not stable because of human's activity. Therefore, the community characters of L. gracile should be taken care of conservation when the resources are utilized.
China ; Ecosystem ; Pinus ; physiology ; Plants ; Poaceae ; physiology

Angiotensin II ; immunology ; Chronic Disease ; Heart Failure ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Renin-Angiotensin System ; immunology ; Vaccines ; therapeutic use

OBJECTIVETo investigate the levels and roles of serum growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).

METHODSSerum GH and PRL levels were measured by radioimmunoassay in 54 neonates with HIE (20 mild, 19 moderate and 15 severe HIE) at the acute and convalescence stages. Twenty normal neonates were used as controls.

RESULTSSerum GH levels were significantly lower, but PRL levels were significantly higher in moderate and severe HIE neonates at the acute stage compared with those of controls and mild HIE neonates (P < 0.01). There were noticeable differences in serum levels of GH and PRL between the moderate and severe HIE cases (P < 0.01). During the convalescence stage, serum GH levels increased and PRL levels decreased in moderate and severe HIE neonates compared with those at the acute stage (P < 0.01); serum GH and PRL levels in each sub-group of HIE restored to the levels of controls. There was a closely negative correlation between GH and PRL levels at the acute stage of HIE (r = -0.8759, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSGH and PRL might be involved in the pathophysiological process of HIE. The levels of GH and PRL closely relate to the severity of HIE at the acute stage.

Female ; Human Growth Hormone ; blood ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain ; blood ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Prolactin ; blood

OBJECTIVETo investigate an individualized approach to the treatment of auricle keloid to maintain the normal appearance of external ear and meanwhile reduce the recurrence.

METHODSDifferent local flaps were performed according to the location of the keloid in our approach. The auricle was divided into different anatomical regions and all the patients received local postoperative radiotherapy.

RESULTSOf 68 patients with auricle keloid received the individualized approach, 3 cases suffered delayed healing due to partial flap necrosis. The remaining patients were followed up for 8-21 months(mean:11.5 months) . Recurrence occurred in one patient(1.47%) .

CONCLUSIONThe individualized approach combining local flaps with radiotherapy in treating auricle keloid can effectively maintain the normal ear appearance with low recurrence rate.

Adult ; Ear, External ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Keloid ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Male ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Recurrence ; Surgical Flaps ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of ursolic acid (UA) on the alloxan-induced kidney injury in diabetic mice and explored its possible mechanisms.

METHODSDiabetes mellitus was induced in male Kunming mice by an injection of alloxan (70 mg/kg, i.v.). After 72 hours, blood glucose levels were detected and mice with blood glucose levels over 13.9 mmol/L were considered as diabetic and selected for further experiment. Thirty mice were randomly divided into three groups: control, diabetic and diabetic + UA(35 mg/kg/d, i.g. continuously for 8 weeks). Blood glucose concentration, organ coefficient of kidney, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr) as well as renal tissue levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were determined. Pathology of the renal tissue was measured by hematoxylin-eosin staining.

RESULTSCompared to the control group, blood glucose, organ coefficient of kidney, BUN and Cr increased significantly. In addition, SOD activities was reduced markedly and levels of MDA and inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-6) increased significantly. Renal cells from model group rats showed atrophy and disordered after HE staining and infiltration of inflammatory cells also appeared in renal tissue of the model group. These changes were significantly attenuated in the diabetic group treated with UA.

CONCLUSIONUA can significantly relieve renal damage in mice with diabetic nephropathy induced by alloxan, which might be related to decreased blood glucose level, antioxidation effect and inhibiting the production of inflammatory factors such as TNF-α and IL-6.

Alloxan ; adverse effects ; Animals ; Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Blood Glucose ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Creatinine ; metabolism ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; physiopathology ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Interleukin-6 ; metabolism ; Kidney ; physiopathology ; Male ; Mice ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; Triterpenes ; pharmacology ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism

Objective To explore the application value of retrobulbar nerve block combined with general anesthesia in the penetrating keratoplasty (PKP). Methods A total of 100 recipients undergoing PKP from January 2017 to January 2019 were recruited in this study. All recipients were divided into the observation group (n=50) and control group (n=50) by random number table method. In the control group, patients received laryngeal mask airway under general anesthesia, and in the observation group, patients received laryngeal mask airway under general anesthesia combined with retrobulbar nerve block. Hemodynamic changes of the PKP recipients before and after operation were observed in two groups. The dosage of analgesic drugs and the incidence of complications were observed in two groups. The degree of pain at postoperative 2-, 6- and 24-h was evaluated by visual analogue scale (VAS) in two groups. The awakening situation of the recipients in two groups was observed. The levels of inflammatory cytokines at 1 d before and after operation were statistically compared in two groups. Results The average arterial pressure and heart rate at intraoperative 15 min and after the surgery in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (both P < 0.05). In the observation group, the dosage of remifentanil and propofol were (1.0±0.4) mg and (299±40) mg, significantly lower than (1.3±0.6) mg and (365±42) mg in the control group (both P < 0.05). The incidence of complications did not significantly differ between two groups (P > 0.05). In the observation group, the VAS scores at 2-, 6- and 12-h after operation were remarkably lower than those in the control group (all P < 0.01). The respiratory recovery time, eye opening time, directional force recovery time and extubation time of the recipients in the observation group were significantly shorter than those in the control group (all P < 0.05). The expression levels of including interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) at postoperative 1 d in the observation group were considerably lower than those in the control group (all P < 0.05). Conclusions Retrobulbar nerve block combined with general anesthesia can maintain hemodynamic stability during PKP, reduce the dosage of remifentanil and propofol and alleviate the degree of postoperative pain and inflammatory responses of the recipients.

Objective To investigate the relationship between cortical watershed infarction and carotid artery stenosis and evaluate the stent insertion operation.Methods After 23 cortical watershed infarction patients diagnosed by CT or MRI received DSA detection,we performed stent insertion operationon 11 patients according to their requirements,and conservative treatment on the remaining 12 patients.All the patients underwent follow up for 6-12 months post-operatively.Results Among the 23 cortical watershed infarction patients,22 Were detected with carotid artery stenosis.Statistical analysis showed that the degree of carotid artery stenosis was associated With the elinical svmDtoms and the volume of steal phenomenon(P<0.05);further,the artery stenosis improvement was over 90%with the stent inserted;conversely,dizziness and steal phenomenon disappeared.The post procedure follow-up,ranging 6-12 months,showed that the patients with stent insertion got less new symptoms,steal phenomenon and artery stenosis,compared with the patients with conservation treatment(P<0.05).Conclusion Cortical watershed infarction is associated with carotid artery stenosis.The stent insertion iS useful for the treatment ofcarotid artery stenosis and prevention of cortical watershed infarction.

This study was aimed to investigate the molecular genetic basis and serological phenotype of Rh weak D type 15 individuals. Samples were identified by serological tests and genotyped by sequence specific primer-PCR (SSP-PCR), and were sequenced to detect the changes of all ten RHD exons. The number of gene RHD was detected through SSP-PCR. The results showed that in tested individuals of weak D type confirmed by the IAT, 18 cases (56% in weak D) were weak D type 15. Rh factors found in 2 weak D type 15 individuals (11%) were C+c+E+e; Rh factors found in 2 weak D type 15 individuals (11%) were C+c+E-e+; others (78%) were c-c+E+e+. The results by serological tests were consistent with the results genotyped by PCR-SSP method. In all 18 samples, the sequencing result revealed a gene mutation 845G > A at the exon 6 of the RHD and the point mutation changed amino acid G282D of the RhD polypeptide. The zygosity test demonstrated that 2 out of 18 weak D type 15 individuals were RHD(+)/RHD(+) homozygous (two DCe/DcE), 16 cases were RHD(+)/RHD(-) heterozygous (two DCe/dce and fourteen DcE/dce). It is concluded that Weak D type 15 is predominant in weak D individuals of Chinese Han Nationality, and most of them are heterozygous with various RH haplotypes.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Blood Donors ; China ; ethnology ; Erythrocytes ; immunology ; Exons ; genetics ; Genotype ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phenotype ; Point Mutation ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Rh-Hr Blood-Group System ; genetics ; immunology ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

In microarray-based cancer classification, gene selection is an important issue owing to the large number of variables and small number of samples as well as its non-linearity. It is difficult to get satisfying results by using conventional linear statistical methods. Recursive feature elimination based on support vector machine (SVM RFE) is an effective algorithm for gene selection and cancer classification, which are integrated into a consistent framework. In this paper, we propose a new method to select parameters of the aforementioned algorithm implemented with Gaussian kernel SVMs as better alternatives to the common practice of selecting the apparently best parameters by using a genetic algorithm to search for a couple of optimal parameter. Fast implementation issues for this method are also discussed for pragmatic reasons. The proposed method was tested on two representative hereditary breast cancer and acute leukaemia datasets. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method performs well in selecting genes and achieves high classification accuracies with these genes.
Algorithms ; Breast Neoplasms ; genetics ; Female ; Genes ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; genetics ; Models, Genetic ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; methods ; Predictive Value of Tests

To study the genetic polymorphism of HPA 1-16 platelet antigen alleles among unrelated volunteer donors and establish a typed platelet donor panel in Handan, typing was perfomed by polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific primers (SSP-PCR); 148 random unrelated blood donors in Handan were genotyped for each of the HPA 1-16 antigen. The gene frequencies were analyzed and the genetype frequencies were determined by direct counting, and these data were compared with HPA distribution among various population by the chi-square test. The results indicated that HPA-1a, 2a, 4a-14a, 16a genes were found among the 16 HPAs in every sample tested. Monomorphic HPA-4a, 7a-14a, 16a were found in the samples. For HPA-1, 2, 5 and 6, a/a homozygosity was predominant with frequencies of 0.9595, 0.8108, 0.9865, 0.9797, respectively, and none of HPA b/b was found in the samples. HPA-1b, 2b, 5b, 6b were rarely found among subjects. HPA-15 had the greatest heterozygosity with a gene frequency of 0.2230, 0.5270, 0.2500 for HPA15a/15a, HPA15a/15b, HPA15b/15b, respectively. HPA-3 showed the second greatest heterozygosity with a gene frequency of 0.3851, 0.5135, 0.1014 for HPA3a/3a, HPA3a/3b, HPA3b/3b, respectively. HPA genotype frequencies showed a good fit to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. HPA1-5 gene frequencies for Chinese people in Handan were consistent with those of Chinese people in Shijiazhuang (P > 0.05). Among the HPA1-13, -15, the frequencies of HPA-1, -2, -6 for Chinese people in Handan differed appreciably from those for Chinese people in Taiwan (P < 0.05), others were similar to those of Chinese people in Taiwan. Among the HPA 1 - 8, a similarity was noted between Chinese people in Handan and Koreans (P > 0.05), except for HPA-3. Frequencies of HPA-1, -2, -5 significantly were differed from those in African Americans, as compared with HPA 1-5 (P < 0.05). Comparison of gene frequencies from HPA-1 and -5 showed significant differences between Chinese people in Handan and people in UK (P < 0.05). It is concluded that HPA-2, -3, -5, -15 of people in Western region of China have polymorphism, incompatible frequency of HPA antigen distribution is higher, which inevitably results in the increase of immunologic exposure, therefore attention must be paid to the importance of HPA-2, -3, -5, -15 in clinical disorders. This study for the first time completely analyses HPA1-16 gene frequencies in China, and provides data for establishing a typed platelet donor panel in Handan, China.
Antigens, Human Platelet ; classification ; genetics ; Blood Donors ; statistics & numerical data ; China ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Platelet Transfusion ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Polymorphism, Genetic