OBJECTIVETo study the characteristics of the effect of different temperatures on mortality of different cities through analyzing the relationship between mortality and meteorology of five Chinese cities.

METHODSWe get the demography and climate data of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing and Changsha cities from National Center of Disease Control and Prevention and Climate net respectively. Then we applied the R software and Distributed Lag Non-linear Models (DLNM) package to analyze our data and find the nonlinear and lag effects on mortality using DLNM.

RESULTSThe city of Beijing and Tianjin are located in the temperate zone. And the climate of Shanghai, Nanjing, Changsha belong to subtropical monsoon climate. When the daily mean temperature arrived 30°C and on lag 0 day, the values of relative risk of effect of high mean temperature on mortality in Nanjing (1.31, 95%CI: 1.21 - 1.41) and Changsha (1.25, 95%CI: 1.13 - 1.39) are larger than that in Beijing (1.18, 95%CI: 1.12 - 1.25), Tianjin (1.18, 95%CI: 1.10 - 1.26) and Shanghai(1.15, 95%CI: 1.06 - 1.24). While the relative risk of effect of low mean temperature on mortality is lower and lasts for a longer lag time. During the whole lag time, the relative risk of effect of the lowest daily mean temperature of each city on mortality in Tianjin, Changsha, Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai is 3.41, 95%CI: 1.60 - 7.27, 2.15, 95%CI: 1.11 - 4.15, 2.24, 95%CI: 1.12 - 4.48, 2.80, 95%CI: 1.75 - 4.48, 1.53, 95%CI: 1.12 - 2.03, respectively. The cumulative effect of mean temperature on mortality appears like a U-shape. When on lag 0-1 day, the value of relative risk of effect of extremely high temperature and the highest mean temperature on mortality is larger than 1. While the effect of low temperature on mortality becomes obvious after lag 2 days.

CONCLUSIONDepending on this research, extremely low temperature and the lowest mean temperature has a more obvious impact on mortality in the northern area than in the south. Extremely high temperature and the highest daily mean temperature is on the contrary. Meanwhile, different temperatures have different impacts on mortality in the same city: high temperature has an acute impact while there is a longer lag time in low temperature.

China ; Climate ; Humans ; Mortality ; Nonlinear Dynamics ; Temperature ; Urban Population

Objective To explore the changes of nitric oxide(NO) and superoxide dismutase(SOD) in the serun and intestine mucosal and the treatment of ulcerative colitis(UC) with tanshinon in rats,Methods 30 mg of trinitro-benzene-sulfonic acid (TNBS) dissolved in 0.85ml of 50% ethanol was administrated intrarectally in Sprague-Dawley female rats to induce experimental colitis.After 7 days,the rats were divided into normal control, 0.9% saline and treatment group tanshinon 2ml?kg~(-1)?d~(-1) were intravenously.The therapeutic effect was evaluated by measuring the ponderal index,the surface area of the ulcers,macroscopical and histological score,activity of NO and SOD were measured in colonic tissue and serum all rats.Results Compared with the saline group,the ponderal index,the surface area of the ulcers,macroscopical and histological score,activity of NO level in the serum and intes- tine mucosal was decreased and the SOD increased of significantly in the treatment group(P

OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficiency of concurrent application of VCA-IgA, EA-IgA and EA-IgG serological tests in diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

METHODSThe sera of 266 untreated NPC patients and 347 healthy adults were collected. In addition to the conventional immunoenzymatic method of VCA-IgA test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was adopted as an alternative to test the antibody level of EA-IgG and EA-IgA. A new statistical formula was used to evaluate the odds ratio of different combinations of these three tests.

RESULTSThe sensitivity and specificity of VCA-IgA, EA-IgG and EA-IgA concurrently were as high as 95.11% and 97.41%, respectively, which were higher than those of single test (90.60% and 94.52% for VCA-IgA, 93.98% and 93.66% for EA-IgG, 89.84% and 88.18% for EA-IgA). Furthermore, the odds ratio of 3-test positivity (1 912.5) was higher than those of 2-test positivity (27.903 2 for VCA-IgA and EA-IgG, 11.169 0 for EA-IgG and EA-IgA, 8.032 8 for VCA-IgA and EA-IgA), which were even higher than those of 1-test positivity (0.121 4 for VCA-IgA, 0.170 5 for EA-IgG and 0.048 8 for EA-IgA).

CONCLUSIONELISA is more accurate in reflecting the antibody level of EA-IgG and EA-IgA than the conventional immunoenzymatic method. The concurrent application of VCA-IgA, EA-IgG and EA-IgA test can markedly improve the sensitivity, specificity and odds ratio as well, thus resulting in enhancing the efficiency of diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma serologically.

Adult ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Antigens, Viral ; immunology ; Capsid Proteins ; immunology ; Diagnostic Errors ; Epstein-Barr Virus Infections ; blood ; diagnosis ; immunology ; virology ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; blood ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; blood ; immunology ; virology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Serologic Tests

OBJECTIVETo determine the molecular basis of late onset ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency in a Chinese family of Han nationality and the exon sequences of OTC gene of this patient.

METHODSPolymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism and direct sequencing were used to identify the mutation type.

RESULTSA missense mutation E122G in the conserved residue of exon 4 was identified which is unreported before.

CONCLUSIONThe E122G mutation in human OTC gene may cause late onset OTC deficiency.

Age of Onset ; Base Sequence ; Child, Preschool ; DNA ; chemistry ; genetics ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Family Health ; Fatal Outcome ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Models, Molecular ; Mutation, Missense ; Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase ; chemistry ; genetics ; Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase Deficiency Disease ; enzymology ; genetics ; pathology ; Pedigree ; Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational ; Protein Structure, Secondary

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the value of EBNA1-IgA and EA-IgG in serological diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

METHODSThe serum EBNA1-IgA and EA-IgG of 56 patients with NPC and 58 healthy adults were detected by ELISA. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, accuracy rate and odds ratio of the two tests used singly or in combination were compared with each other.

RESULTSThe sensitivity of EBNA1-IgA (91.07%) was higher than that of EA-IgG (87.50%), while the specificity of EA-IgG (87.93%) was higher than that of EBNA1-IgA (84.48%). The combination of EBNA1-IgA and EA-IgG could enhance the specificity (94.83%), positive predictive value (0.9375), likelihood ratio (15.5435) and odds ratio (75.0000) for serological diagnosis of NPC. Forty-five patients showed both positive EBNA1-IgA and positive EA-IgG. A positive EA-IgG was detected in 4 out of 5 patients with negative EBNA1-IgA and a positive EBNA1-IgA was founded in 6 out of 7 patients with negative EA-IgG.

CONCLUSIONAlthough relatively high sensitivity and specificity could be obtained by either EBNA1-IgA or EA-IgG test alone, the combination of these two tests with a complementary effect is able to enhance the reliability of serological diagnosis of NPC as most patients have positive ENBA1-IgA and EA-IgG concurrently.

Adult ; Antigens, Viral ; immunology ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; blood ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; immunology ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVETo study the outcome of hepatitis C virus (HCV) vertical transmitted infants.

METHODSThirteen HCV vertical infected infants were followed up for 10 years. HCV antibody and HCV RNA in the blood samples from them were tested using second generation HCV antibody EIA kits and RT-PCR, respectively.

RESULTSAmong the 13 infants, one developed clinical hepatitis C, and serum HCV antibody and HCV RNA could be detected for 7 and 8 years, respectively. Three were subclinical hepatitis C, serum HCV antibody continued to be positive for 12 months (2 infants) and 24 months (1 infant), respectively, and serum HCV RNA turned to be negative at the 24th month (2 infants) and the 60th month (1 infant), respectively. Nine were HCV insidious infection, whose serum HCV antibody and HCV RNA turned to be negative in 12 months. During the eight to ten years, there was no infants with anti-HCV or HCV RNA positive again.

CONCLUSIONSIt is rarely happened that vertical transmitted HCV induce chronic HCV carrying state and chronic viral hepatitis, and most of the infected infants have good outcome.

Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Hepatitis C ; transmission ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; blood ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical ; Pregnancy ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo analyze polysomnogram characteristics of children with suspected obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and to explore the role of obstructive apnea index (OAI), apnea hypopnea index (AHI) and arousal index for pediatric OSAHS diagnosis.

METHODSSixty one suspected pediatric OSAHS cases had overnight polysomnography for at least 8 h in a quiet, dark room. Sleep studies were interpreted according to diagnostic criteria of Guangzhou Children's Hospital (Obstructive apnea was defined as cessation of nose and mouth airflow, while the respiratory effort continues for any duration. Hypopnea was defined as reduction of oronasal flow > 50% accompanied by a desaturation of 0. 04 or greater) and Urumqi diagnostic criteria (Obstructive apnea was defined as cessation of airflow at the nose and the mouth, while the respiratory effort continues for at least two breaths. Hypopnea was defined as reduction of oronasal flow > 50% accompanied by a desaturation of more than 0.03, or/and by an arousal) respectively. The OAI, AHI and arousal index were recorded and analyzed according to the two different diagnostic criteria respectively.

RESULTS(1) Forty - one children (67.2%) had 206 obstructive apneas. Fifty - four children (88.5%) had 2249 obstructive hypopneas. Apnea - hypopnea events mainly occurred during rapid eye movement sleep. (2) OAI and AHI were analyzed by diagnostic criteria of Guangzhou Children's Hospital and Urumqi diagnostic criteria respectively. OAI < 1 was observed in 68. 9% and 75.4% children respectively and AHI < 5 occurred in 34.4% and 24.6% children respectively. (3) Statistically significant difference found between spontaneous arousal index and respiratory - related arousal index (z = -5.787, P = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONSAs the criteria of pediatric OSAHS, arbitrary OAI number should be determined on the basis of large sample investigation, the significance of spontaneous arousal index still needs further investigation.

Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Polysomnography ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; diagnosis ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the current demands for professional continuing medical education (CME) in ophthalmic nurses and their influential factors, and to provide evidence for properly setting the curriculum of professional CME for nurses.

METHODSQualitative and quantitative analysis was performed on 60 nurses in an ophthalmic hospital by questionnaire survey and group interview.

RESULTSOf the nurses surveyed, 49 (81.7%) thought the training time of professional CME needs to be adjusted, 40 (66.7%) referred to the training pattern, and 53 (88.3%) the training contents. The demanded courses of training mainly included professional nursing knowledge, professional nursing skills, and ophthalmic knowledge. Most nurses considered the influential factors for training were unreasonable training time and lack of applicability of some courses.

CONCLUSIONTo improve the quality of professional CME for ophthalmic nurses, the training curriculum should be designed in consideration of ophthalmic characteristics, different work experiences of nurses, and different nursing positions, the training time should be arranged properly, and various training patterns should be adopted flexibly.

Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Education, Nursing, Continuing ; Female ; Humans ; Needs Assessment ; Nurses ; Ophthalmology ; education ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the dynamic changes of oxidative stress and nuclear factor-E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) expression in the lung tissues of acute hydrogen sulfide (H2S) intoxicated rats and intervention effects of ulinastatin (UTI).

METHODSA total of 96 SD rats of clean grade were divided randomly into four groups: normal control group (n = 8), UTI control group (n = 8), H2S -intoxicated model group (n = 40), and UTI treatment group (n = 40). The H2S-intoxicated model group and UTI treatment group were exposed to H2S (283.515 mg/m3) by inhalation for 1h, then UTI treatment group was intraperitoneally exposed to UTI at the dose of 10(5) U/kg for 2 h. H2S-intoxicated model group and UTI treatment group were sacrificed at 2, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after exposure, respectively. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and glutathione (GSH) in the rat lung tissues were measured. The expression levels of Nrf2 mRNA in the rat lung tissues were detected. Pathological changes of rat lung tissues were observed under a light microscope and the lung injury scores were evaluated.

RESULTSCompared with control group, the pulmonary SOD, CAT and GSH levels at 2,6 and 12 h after exposure and the pulmonary GSH-Px levels at 2, 6, 12 and 24 h after exposure in H2S-intoxicated model group significantly decreased (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The levels of pulmonary MDA at 2, 6, 12 and 24 h after exposure in H2S-intoxicated model group were significantly higher than those in normal control group (P < 0.01). As compared with H2S -intoxicated model group, the pulmonary GSH-Px activities at 6 and 12 h after exposure, the pulmonary CAT activities at 2, 6 and 12 h after exposure, the pulmonary GSH levels at 2, 6, 12 and 24 h after exposure and the pulmonary SOD activities at 2, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after exposure in UTI treatment group significantly increased (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), the pulmonary MDA levels at 2, 6 and 12 h after exposure in UTI treatment group significantly decreased (P < 0.01). The expression levels of Nrf2 mRNA at 2, 6, 12, 24 h after exposure in H2S-intoxicated model group were 0.314 +/- 0.011, 0.269 +/- 0.010, 0.246 +/- 0.011 and 0.221 +/- 0.018, respectively, which were significantly higher than those (0.149 +/- 0.012) in control group (P < 0.01). As compared with H2S-intoxicated model group, the expression levels (0.383 +/- 0.017, 0.377 +/- 0.014, 0.425 +/- 0.017, 0.407 +/- 0.011 and 0.381 +/- 0.010) of Nrf2 mRNA at 2, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after exposure in UTI treatment group significantly increased (P < 0.01). The lung injury at 24 h after exposure in H2S-intoxicated model group was higher than that in UTI treatment group. Histopathological examination showed that the scores of lung injury at 12, 24 and 48 h after exposure in UTI treatment group was significantly lower than those in H2S-intoxicated model group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONOxidative stress and Nrf2 activation may be the important factors in rat lung injury induced by H2S-intoxicated, UTI may reduce the rat lung injury and protect the rat lung from damage induced by H2S by inhibiting ROS, improving the imbalance in redox and up-regulating Nrf2 mRNA expression.

Acute Lung Injury ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; Animals ; Glycoproteins ; pharmacology ; Hydrogen Sulfide ; poisoning ; Lung ; metabolism ; Male ; NF-E2-Related Factor 2 ; metabolism ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Chronic enteritis can produce an excess of reactive oxygen species resulting in cellular damage. Stanniocalcin-1(STC-1) reportedly possesses anti-oxidative activity, the aim of this study was to define more clearly the direct contribution of STC-1 to anti-oxidative stress in cattle. In this study, primary intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) were exposed to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for different time intervals to mimic chronic enteritis-induced cellular damage. Prior to treatment with 200 microM H2O2, the cells were transfected with a recombinant plasmid for 48 h to over-express STC-1. Acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) double staining and trypan blue exclusion assays were then performed to measure cell viability and apoptosis of the cells, respectively. The expression of STC-1 and apoptosis-related proteins in the cells was monitored by real-time PCR and Western blotting. The results indicated that both STC-1 mRNA and protein expression levels positively correlated with the duration of H2O2 treatment. H2O2 damaged the bovine IECs in a time-dependent manner, and this effect was attenuated by STC-1 over-expression. Furthermore, over-expression of STC-1 up-regulated Bcl-2 protein expression and slightly down-regulated caspase-3 production in the damaged cells. Findings from this study suggested that STC-1 plays a protective role in intestinal cells through an antioxidant mechanism.
Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Blotting, Western/veterinary ; Caspase 3/*genetics/metabolism ; Cattle ; Cattle Diseases/etiology/*genetics/metabolism ; Duodenum/metabolism ; Enteritis/etiology/genetics/metabolism/*veterinary ; Epithelial Cells/metabolism ; *Gene Expression Regulation ; Glycoproteins/*genetics/metabolism ; Hydrogen Peroxide/pharmacology ; Male ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/*genetics/metabolism ; RNA, Messenger/genetics/metabolism ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary