Ergonomics ; Humans ; Occupational Health

Air Pollutants, Occupational ; analysis ; Dust ; analysis ; Environmental Monitoring ; methods ; Workplace

Objective To correct the high supratarsal fold after cosmetic upper blepharoplasty is a challenge because of the shortage of both upper eyelid skin and fat.Levator shortening has been a procedure of choice selected by the surgeons to correct this condition.Methods Under local anesthesia, the desired crease was marked according to the characteristics of eyelid anatomy and aesthetic consideration for Asian women.The incision was made through the marked new skin crease and the old incision with surrounding scar tissue was incised.The adhesion between the skin and the levator aponeurosis was completely released.The levator aponeurosis was then divided above the tarsal plate.It could be shortened and then reattached to the tarsal plate depending on the amount of the upper eyelid skin and the degree of the ptosis.The skin incision was then closed to form new but lowered fold.Results Between 2003 to 2015, a total of 34 Chinese women underwent bilateral levator shortening for correction of high supratarsal fold after previous unsatisfactory upper blepharoplasty by other surgeons.There were no surgical complications postoperatively in this series and 32 patients (94.1%) were satisfactory for the outcome of the proper height of the supratarsal fold with at least 1 month follow-up.Only one patient (2.9%) required surgical revision for asymmetry of supratarsal folds and one patient (2.9%) for correction of deepened supratarsal fold.Conclusions The levator shortening can be an effective procedure to correct high supratarsal fold after unsatisfactory upper blepharoplasty in Asian women.It is especially useful to correct such a condition where there is shortage of the eyelid skin combined with the eyelid ptosis.

Huntington disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of the polyglutamine tract in the N-terminal huntingtin (Htt). Htt is a substrate of caspases and calpains, the proteases involved in initiation and execution of neuronal apoptosis. Caspase- and calpain-mediated cleavage of mutant Htt results in the production of toxic Nterminal Htt fragments. Recent studies suggest that Htt cleavage may be a crucial step in the pathogenesis of HD and may be a potential molecular target for HD therapy.

OBJECTIVETo observe Smads protein expression in lung tissue of quartz exposed mice and to explore its association with pulmonary fibrosis in silicosis.

METHODSThe experimental mice were divided into control and quartz groups. 0.2 g/kg weight of quartz was injected intratracheally in quartz group. Samples were collected at the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 14th and 28th day after injection. Immunohistochemical methods with quantitative image analysis were used to assay the protein expression of transforming growth factor beta(1) (TGF-beta(1)), Smad 2/3, Smad 4, and Smad 7 protein levels. Protein expression level is presented by positive unit (PU).

RESULTSSmad 2/3 protein expression increased from day 3, reaching its peak level in day 14 [(42.2 +/- 2.4) PU], and decreased gradually. The elevation of Smad 4 protein level began from day 5, and the highest degree came into day 14 [(40.0 +/- 1.8) PU], decreased thereafter. The expression of Smad 7 presented a decreasing tendency at the beginning and reaching the lowest level in day 14 [(33.5 +/- 3.3) PU]. It seemed to elevate in day 28, but was still lower than the controls. There were positive correlation between Smad 2/3, Smad 4 and TGF-beta(1) (r = 0.91, r = 0.71, respectively, P < 0.05) and also between Smad 2/3 and hydroxyproline contents of lung tissue (r = 0.85, P < 0.05) except Smad 7.

CONCLUSIONSmad protein may have certain association with pulmonary fibrosis in silicosis.

Animals ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; immunology ; metabolism ; Lung ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred Strains ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; Quartz ; toxicity ; Smad2 Protein ; Smad3 Protein ; Smad4 Protein ; Smad7 Protein ; Trans-Activators ; immunology ; metabolism ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the possibility of subjective rate, primary task evaluation and psychophysiology evaluation as methods for mental workload assessment of mental arithmetic on visual display terminal (VDT).

METHODSThe indexes including Cooper-Harper scale score, correct rate, speed in answering questions, heart rate variability, pupil size and blink rate were recorded during the performance of three different difficult tasks.

RESULTSWith the variable number of formula increasing, the Cooper-Harper scale score increased, the right rate decreased, the speed decreased, pupil size increased, and blink rate significantly decreased. In comparison with rest, the value of TP, VLF, LF, LFnorm, LF/HF decreased remarkably in the mental arithmetic task, the value of HFnorm, HF/TP, rMSSD increased. However, the difference was not significant among three groups.

CONCLUSIONWith the variable number of formula increasing, the participant's mental workload increases. Every method of mental workload evaluation can assess the mental workload information for three tasks at various different levels in a way. Multi-indexes may be appropriate for mental load assessment.

Computer Terminals ; Humans ; Male ; Mathematics ; Mental Fatigue ; physiopathology ; Mental Processes ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Workload ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo develop a gene chip for rapid detection of the "a" determinant hotpoint mutation of hepatitis B virus (HBV).

METHODSPrimers were designed in the HBV conservative region, and probes for detecting 126A, 126S, 144A, 145R, 145E, 144A+145R, and 144A+145E mutants were developed for that gene chip. PCR amplification and gene chip technology were optimized. The performance of the gene chip was evaluated by detecting the reference plasmids. Forty five samples of serum obtained from patients with chronic hepatitis B were used to compare the sensitivity of the gene chip and the direct sequencing of PCR products.

RESULTSThe oligonucleotide microarray was specific for mutant and native plasmids. The sensitivity of the gene chip was 5 x 10(3)copies/micro l with a high reproducibility. The gene chip could detect minor variants when they were more than 10% among the HBV strains. The positive rates of 126A, 126S-1, 126S-2 detected in the 45 specimens by the gene chip (46.67%, 35.56% and 24.44%, respectively) were higher than those detected by direct sequencing of PCR products (9.00%, 4.44% and 2.22%; P=0.000, P=0.000 and P=0.002, respectively). The sequencing of cloned PCR products demonstrated that the gene chip was specific for the "a" determinant hotpoint mutation detection.

CONCLUSIONHBV "a" determinant hotpoint mutations can be detected by oligonucleotide microarray with high sensitivity and specificity, providing a method for large scale screening of the mutants.

Hepatitis B ; blood ; diagnosis ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; Humans ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; methods ; Point Mutation

OBJECTIVETo investigate if heart rate variability (HRV) can be used to evaluate mental workload.

METHODSForty-six volunteers were selected to simulate mental work by inputting the random number through keyboards. ECG was recorded by Holter 8800 during the performance and transferred into digital signal. Total power (TP), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) were analysed by Holter software.

RESULTSAlong with time, the inputting speed increased but accuracy decreased, and was positively correlated with TP, LF (r = 0.851 and 0.827 respectively, P < 0.05), showing a distinct dose-effect relationship. HRV values at rest were higher than during mental work [TP: (2 745.4 +/- 1 301.6) vs (686.2 +/- 420.7) ms(2)/Hz; HF: (670.6 +/- 393.8) vs (202.6 +/- 171.7) ms(2)/Hz; LF: (870.5 +/- 553.7) vs (206.0 +/- 187.9) ms(2)/Hz] indicating that they were decreased remarkably as the mental work started. Then, they were gradually increased with the workload (intensity and time) increased, but still at lower level.

CONCLUSIONHRV may be used as a parameter to evaluate mental workload but the change pattern of HRV needs to study further.

Adult ; Electrocardiography, Ambulatory ; statistics & numerical data ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Female ; Heart Rate ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Processes ; physiology ; Rest ; physiology ; Workload

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the influence of the frequency, the weight and the motion angle on the stress and the fatigue of the forearm extensors in repetitive wrist extending at low force loading level with surface electromyography (SEMG).

METHODSSixteen male college student volunteers were recruited for the experiment. Eight tasks of wrist extending were performed for 20 minutes respectively in given weight (1.96, 4.90 N), frequency (8.0, 33.3 moves/minute) and motion angle (45 degrees, 90 degrees). The static wrist extending at the level of 20% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) were performed before and after each task for 2 up to 3 seconds, and the SEMG signals of extensor carpi ulnaris muscle (ECU) and extensor digitorum (ED) were recorded and analyzed.

RESULTSThe weight loading level was approximately equal to 1.40% or 3.50% of the MVC force. The mean power frequency (MPF) and the median frequency (MF) were decreased with the increase of 3 kinds of loading levels. The decrease of MPF of the muscle ED was significant (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The MF was decreased with the increase of angle and weight loading levels (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The root mean square (RMS) value of SEMG could be divided into 3 or 4 groups with significant difference. All three kinds of loads had positive correlation with amplitude of SEMG according to the stepwise regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONThe fatigue level of ED is the highest. The primary load factor for the forearm extensors is the frequency followed by the weight and the angle. MF, MPF and RMS can be used as sensitive indexes for evaluating the stress and the fatigue of the forearm extensors during repetitive performance at lower force loading level.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Electromyography ; Forearm ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Muscle Fatigue ; physiology ; Muscle, Skeletal ; physiology ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Regression Analysis ; Workload ; Wrist Joint ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association of heptitis B virus (HBV) genotypes and precore(PreC)/basal core promoter(BCP) mutation with interruption failure of HBV vaccination in mother-to-infant transmission.

METHODSA total number of 208 serum samples were collected from infants and mothers,including 16 infants who had become HBsAg-positive despite a complete and timely course of immunization and another 88 infants successfully protected from mother-to infant HBV transmission. HBV genotypes were determined by type-specific primers PCR method. PreC/BCP mutations were detected by direct sequencing of PCR products, and Clustal W 1.8 software was applied to analyzing the sequences.

RESULTSOf 16 mothers who were having vaccine failure infants, 15 (93.8%) were HBeAg positive and infected with genotype C (15/15, 100%). Among 88 mothers of having children being protected by vaccine, 51 (58.0%) were HBeAg positive, with 45.1% (23/51) of genotype C. The proportion of genotype C in HBeAg mothers of infants with vaccine failure, was significantly higher than that of mothers with vaccine protected infants (chi2 = 14.3, P = 0.003). However, the frequencies of T1762/A1764 mutations had no significant differences between genotype C HBeAg positive mothers with vaccine failure or protected infants (33.3% and 13.3%, respectively, P = 0.4). No A1896 mutation was found in these two groups.

CONCLUSIONHBV genotype C might contribute to the immune failure of HBV vaccination in mother-to-infant transmission, while PreC/BCP mutation might not have correlation with it.

Adult ; Female ; Genes, Viral ; Genotype ; Hepatitis B ; immunology ; prevention & control ; transmission ; Hepatitis B Vaccines ; immunology ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; immunology ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical ; prevention & control ; Mutation ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious ; immunology ; virology ; Promoter Regions, Genetic