BACKGROUND: Research shows that the auditory brainstem response (ABR) wave amplitude of tinnitus patients often act as big Ⅲ small Ⅴ.Tinnitus masking is a therapy of tinnitus, then how dose the ABR change in the process of tinnitus masking?OBJECTIVE: To observe the changing characteristics of ABR in patients with tinnitus as well as the changing rules of ABR after tinnitus masking.DESIGN: Case-control and self-control.SETTING: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, First Hospital of Jilin University.PARTICIPANTS: Continuous tinnitus group: 63 cases (68 ears) were selected from the Clinic of First Hospital of Jilin University from March 1999to October 2001. Control group: 10 cases (20 ears) of normal hearing youth (20-23 years old). All subjects received the examination and treatment voluntarily.METHODS: The ABR was firstly detected in tinnitus patients (foreheadmastoid conducting method was adopted), and examination of tinnitus as well as tinnitus masking test (masking for 5 minutes) were respectively conducted, immediately after that, the ABR was detected to do control-observation with the control group.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ①The characteristics of ABR in patients with tinnitus. ②Effects of tinnitus masking on the amplitude wave of ABR, which was divided into positive group in residual inhibition test and negative group in residual inhibition test for analyzing.RESULTS: A total of 83 subjects were involved in the analysis of results.①The amplitude wave of ABR in youth of normal hearing were small Ⅲ big Ⅴ, whereas that in 22 ears (32.4％) out of 63 subjects (68 ears) were big Ⅲ smallⅤ, in which 17 ears were of patients positive residual inhibition test, and 5 were of negative.②After tinnitus masking therapy, 10 ears out of 17 ears of patients positive in residual inhibition test turned from big Ⅲ small Ⅴ to small Ⅲ big Ⅴ, and the wave amplitude of Ⅲ wasre duced in 3 ears, while the ABR in 2 ears out of 5 ears of negative patients turned to small Ⅲ bigⅤ, and there were no changes in other 3 ears.CONCLUSION: Tinnitus masking therapy can convert the abnormal ABR wave amplitude in patients with tinnitus to normal, which will be taken as the objective index in judging whether it is positive in residual inhibition test.

Objective To explore the related risk factors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Uygurs population of Xinjiang area.Methods A total of 966 Uygurs individuals undergoing physical examination in the First Affiliated Hospital and physical examination center of Xinjiang Medical University were collected and performed the questionnaire investigation,blood biochemical detection and B-type ultrasound examination;the subjects were divided into the NAFLD group (569 cases) and non-NAFLD group (397 cases) according to the physical examination situation.The NAFLD group was performed the correlation analysis of risk factors according to the body mass index (BMI) and waist to height ratio (WHtR) stratification.Results BMI and WHtR had statistical difference between the two groups(P＜0.05);overweight(OR =2.527,P＜0.05) and obesity(OR=1.938,P＜0.05) were the risk factors of NAFLD.The multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that BMI,fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and triacylglycerol (TG) were associated with NAFLD(P＜0.05) and the risk factors of NAFLD.Conclusion BMI,WHtR,FPG and TG are the risk factors of NAFLD,and have a certain clinical significance in the evaluation and prediction of NAFLD high risk population.

Polyamidoamine-polyethylene glycol (PAMAM-PEG) copolymers were synthesized using IPDI as coupling reagent by two-step method. The copolymers were characterized by IR spectrum and 1H NMR spectrum, and the PEG conjugating ratios of the copolymers were calculated equal to 10% and 30% separately. MTT assay indicated that after PEGylation a lower cytotoxicity of the copolymers could be found, and with increasing PEG conjugating ratio the cytotoxicity decreased obviously. Agarose gel retardation assay demonstrated that PAMAM-PEG copolymers could be combined with DNA and PAMAM-PEG/DNA complexes were prepared by self-assembly. DLS measurement showed that when N/P > or = 50, the particle size of copolymer/ gene complexes was in a range of 150-200 nm, and the zeta potential was in a range of 10-25 mV. In vitro gene transfection illustrated that when N/P < or = 50, the gene transfection efficiency of PAMAM-PEG copolymers was a little less than that of PAMAM-G5, but the transfection efficiency can be raised by increasing N/P ratio or transfection time. Considering both cytotoxicity and transfection efficiency aspects PAMAM-PEG-13 was more effect than PAMAM-PEG-39 in PEGylation.

This investigation was aimed to detect the carotid elasticity in normal adults by use of echo-tracking (ET) technique. The stiffness parameter (beta), pressure-strain elasticity modulus (Ep), arterial compliance (AC), argumentation index (AI) and one-point pulse wave velocity (PWV beta) of carotid in 145 normal adults with the average age of 47.0 were calculated. The population were divided into five groups according to age: 20-29 y, 30-39 y,40-49 y, 50-59 y and > or = 60 y. The elasticity parameters between left and right side, between male female and between different age groups were compared using SAS 6.12 statistic software. There was no difference in carotid elasticity regarding the side and gender. The carotid beta, Ep, AI and PWV beta were noted to increase with age while AC was noted to decrease with age. The carotid elasticity was found to correlate with age significantly, but not with side and gender. This change can be detected by ET technique.
Adult ; Age Factors ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Blood Flow Velocity ; Carotid Arteries ; diagnostic imaging ; physiology ; Compliance ; Echocardiography, Doppler, Color ; methods ; Elasticity ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

Objective To construct a recombinant Escherichia coli ( E. coli) with surface-dis-played lead specific binding protein PbrR and to further study intestinal colonization by the recombinant bac-teria in mice and gastrointestinal tolerance of the bacterial surface-displayed PbrR. Methods Chimeric pro-tein Lpp-OmpA coding sequence was chemically synthesized and inserted into the expression vector pET-21a to construct the outer membrane display vector pLOA. PbrR coding sequence was also obtained by chemical-ly synthesis and inserted into pLOA to generate the outer membrane display plasmid pLOA-pbrr. E. coli BL21 (DE3)pLysS was transformed with pLOA-pbrr and induced by IPTG. The expressed recombinant proteins were analyzed by 15% SDS-PAGE and Western blot assay. Lead adsorption capacity of the cell surface-dis-played PbrR in the simulated intestinal juice and tolerance of the recombinant E. coli to simulated gastric juice were analyzed, respectively. KM mice were orally given the induced recombinant bacteria by gastric lavage for 7 consecutive days and then were continually fed until day 30. The contents of recombinant bacte-ria in stool samples were detected by dilution plate method on day 7, 15 and 30. The recombinant protein with His tag was detected by immunoblotting on day 7 and 15. Results Based on Lpp-OmpA, the PbrR outer membrane display vector was successfully constructed. The recombinant fusion protein Lpp-OmpA-PbrR-His tag was highly expressed in E. coli. The recombinant E. coli strains displaying PbrR on their outer membrane accumulated a significant level of Pb2+ in simulated intestinal juice. Moreover, those strains showed a tolerance to gastric acid in vitro and could colonize in the intestinal tracts of mice via oral infection. The surface-displayed recombinant fusion protein showed a better tolerance to the environment of digestive tract. Conclusion The recombinant E. coli strain displaying PbrR on its surface showed a stronger capabili-ty of lead accumulation from simulated intestinal environment and could colonize in the intestinal tracts of mice. The surface-displayed recombinant PbrR also showed a good tolerance to digestive juice. This study paved the way for further researches on the selective elimination of lead by biosorption based on animal mod-els.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients infected with novel coronavirus Omicron variant in Shanghai, as to provide a reference for epidemic prevention, clinical diagnosis, and treatment.Methods:Altogether 4 264 novel coronavirus Omicron variant-infected patients with positive results of nucleic acid admitted to Shanghai New International Expo Center N3 Mobile Cabin Hospital from April 2 to May 7, 2022, were included. The demographic and baseline clinical characteristics, treatment strategy, prognosis, and different factors affecting the length of hospital stay were analyzed.Results:A total of 4 264 novel coronavirus variant Omicron-infected cases were collected, including 3 111 cases (73.0%) asymptomatic infections and 1 153 cases (27.0%) mild infections. The overall median age was 45 (33, 55) years old with a range from 2 years old to 81 years old. The male to female ratio was 1.37∶1. Altogether 3 305 cases (77.5%) had been vaccinated, of which 3 166 cases completed more than 2 doses. The upper respiratory tract symptoms such as cough and expectoration were the most common clinical manifestations of these infected patients. During the course of the disease, patients with asymptomatic infection were mainly treated with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM, 55.1%) and clinical observation (36.8%), and those with mild infection were mainly treated with TCM (42.2%) or integrated Chinese and Western medicine (30.4%). All patients were cured and discharged. The overall median length of hospital stay and the negative conversion time of nucleic acid were 9 (6, 10) days and 8 (5, 9) days, respectively. Compared with the asymptomatic infected patients, the hospitalization duration and the nucleic acid negative conversion time of the mildly infected patients were slightly longer [days: 10 (8, 11) vs. 9 (5, 10); 8 (6, 10) vs. 7 (4, 9), both P < 0.001]. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the increasing age and mild infection were associated with longer hospitalization duration, and the treatment of TCM or integrated Chinese and Western medicine was associated with shortened length of hospital stay (all P < 0.05). Conclusions:The current novel coronavirus Omicron variant epidemic in Shanghai mainly caused asymptomatic and mild infections. The young and middle-aged population had a relatively high infection rate. The upper respiratory tract symptoms such as cough and expectoration were the most common clinical symptoms. Elderly and confirmed patients had prolonged hospitalization duration, while for patients receiving TCM treatment, the hospitalization duration was shortened.

The in vitro release is an important index to evaluate the quality of liposome formulation.Currently, there is no evaluation method for the in vitro release of liposome in pharmacopoeia of various countries, which leads to the lack of unified standard and safety guarantee for the quality evaluation of liposome formulation.Taking the self-made paclitaxel derivative liposomes as an example, the paddle membrane binding method established by optimizing external release conditions was used to simulate the complete release of paclitaxel derivative drugs in 12 hours under physiological conditions.The results showed that using 0.5% SDS-HEPES as the release medium and a dialysis bag with a molecular weight cutoff of 1 000 kD to release the liposome solution met the requirements and had discrimination ability, providing a reference for the development of drug-loaded liposomes release methods in vitro.

OBJECTIVETo establish a modified method for microculturing whole human blood for cytogenetic analysis.

METHODSA novel tube rack was designed to overcome the drawbacks of directly culturing the cells within centrifuge tubes. The fractions of human plasma, human serum and two commercial fetal bovine sera were analyzed with 15% sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The influence of adding 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% autologous plasma to the culture on lymphocyte transformation rate and mitotic index (MI) was examined.

RESULTSThe SDS-PAGE analysis showed a significant difference between commercial fetal bovine sera, and that the components of human plasma were similar to those of fetal bovine serum. The value of MI in lymphocyte was evidently increased along with addition of autologous plasma. However, this has exerted no significant effect on the transformation rate. With the addition of 10% autologous plasma, the MI value has become much higher than the conventional method.

CONCLUSIONA modified method was established by application of a novel tube inclined rack and optimization of whole blood inoculation. This method is easier and cheaper, and is suitable for application in clinical practice.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Cytogenetics ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; ultrastructure ; Male ; Mitotic Index

Objective:To detect serum levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE), soluble version of the IgE-binding alpha-chain of Fcepsilon-RI (sFcεRIα), immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-IgE, IgG anti-FcεRI in patients with chronic urticaria(CU), and to evaluate their relevanceMethods:Forty-three newly diagnosed patient with CU were enrolled. Thirty-seven patients with dermatitis or eczema and 51 healthy subjects were selected as the disease control (DC) and normal control (NC) group, respectively.Serum IgE was detected by immunoturbidimetry; serum anti-IgE, anti-FcεR Ⅰ and sFcεR Ⅰ α were determined byenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods. Statistical analysis was carried out by non-parametric test for comparisons of the above variables between groups, and by Spearman correlation analysis for assessment of relationships between the variables as well as between the variables and disease severity, and by receiver operating characteristic curve to analyze the diagnostic value of the variables.Results:Serum IgE, anti-IgE and anti-FcεRI in CU were significantly higher than that of NC.Their medians are 65.70 IU/ml vs 17.10 IU/ml,χ 2=28.541, P=0.001;0.61 vs 0.39,χ 2=27.408, P=0.001;0.64 vs 0.51, χ 2=29.102, P<0.001.Serumanti-FcεRI in CU was significantly lower than that in NC(0.64 vs 0.83,χ 2=25.869, P=0.007).The medians of serum sFcεRIα in CU, DC and NC groups were 5.74,5.38,4.50 ng/ml, respectively. The difference was not statistically significant,χ 2=3.463, P=0.177.There was a positive correlation between IgE and sFcεR Ⅰ α, anti-IgE and anti-FcεRI( r=0.455, P<0.001; r=0.611, P<0.001).No significant correlation was showed between the four variables and the course of disease or the severity of symptoms, P>0.05. The diagnostic performances of IgE, anti-FcεRI for CU were similar (AUC=0.72),which were better than that of sFcεRIα (AUC=0.61).The highest diagnostic efficacy (AUC=0.83) can be achieved by four joint tests.Anti-FcεRI is of value in differential diagnosis of CU and DC, AUC=0.7, P=0.002. Conclusion:The levels of serum IgE, anti-IgE, anti-FcεRI were significantly increased in CU patients, and these mast cell activation-related molecules have the potential to be diagnostic markers for CU.

Drug-resistance and adverse reaction in the treatment of lung cancer patients are still a difficult problem in modern medicine. Studies have indicated that the abundance, diversity and metabolites of intestinal and pulmonary microbiota can be used to assist in the early diagnosis and monitoring the prognosis of lung cancer. Meanwhile, as combined modality therapies, intestinal microbiota combined with chemotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy can enhance therapeutic effect and reduce adverse reaction. Microbiota exhibits an extensive application prospect in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.