Nanostructures ; adverse effects ; toxicity ; Nanotechnology ; Safety

DNA Methylation ; Humans ; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases ; genetics ; metabolism

Biomarkers ; analysis ; Genomics ; methods ; trends ; Humans ; Preventive Medicine ; methods ; trends

Ecotoxicology ; Humans ; Proteomics ; Risk Assessment

Differential display-PCR was used to clone the differential expressed genes between Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence strain H37Rv and its avirulent mutant H37Ra. All of different genes were cloned, sequenced and some were analyzed by Northern-blotting. Two cDNAs that appeared to be expressed in H37Rv, but not in H37Ra, were cloned and sequenced. Rv0170, and Rv1894c, code for proteins with unknown functions. The two gene were present in H37Ra, but not expressed. These results show that mRNA DD methodology can represent a potential tool for investigation of M. tuberculosis gene expression.

Ecotoxicology ; methods ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; Gene-Environment Interaction ; Toxicogenetics ; methods

DNA Damage ; DNA Glycosylases ; genetics ; metabolism ; DNA Repair Enzymes ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To develop an online organ doses reporting software VirtualDose-IR, which can compute the radiation doses and provide an easy access to evaluation and control of patients ′radiation doses.Methods Monte Carlo method was applied to simulating various interventional radiology ( IR) processes , which included various parameters such as different patient models at different ages and with different weights , different projection angles and regions of interest , and other parameters .All of the dose data was acquired and then integrated into a database , and displayed with hyper text markup language (HTML), so only a web browser was necessary for users .Results A web-based software that reports organ doses for patients under IR progress was developed .The organ doses assessed with VirtualDose-IR were compared with other experiment and simulation data , and the results were basically consistent with each other .Conclusions VirtualDose-IR is a easy and efficient method to assess patients′radiation doses of IR.

OBJECTIVETo characterize the immune reaction in SD rats exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) and to identify the gene expression profiles involved in skin after TCE exposure.

METHODSFifteen percent of TCE was injected intradermally into the rat back (100 microL/120 g) at intervals of 7 days. Whole blood was collected 24 h after the fifth or seventh intradermic administration of TCE. The percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ of T lymphocytes were measured by a flow cytometer. The concentrations of IFN-gamma and IL-4 in the serum were semi-quantified by ELISA. Total RNAs of skin samples at 3 h or 24 h after the seventh dose of TCE in SD rats were extracted, and gene expression profiles of these tissues were analyszed by rat toxicology U34 array of Affymetrix.

RESULTSObvious decline of CD4+ in T lymphocytes was observed in the TCE-administer group. No significant concentration differences in IFN-gamma and IL-4 were found between TCE-treated and control rats. Gadd45a and Mel were significantly up regulated in skin tissue 24 h after TCE exposure. The expression regulation of immune response factors was as active as proteins associated with lipid metabolism and synthesis process in these skin samples of SD rats exposed to TCE.

CONCLUSIONT-helper type 1 cells mediate immune response can not be elicited in TCE-treated SD rats, but certain immune disorder can be induced.

Animals ; Female ; Gene Expression ; immunology ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Skin ; immunology ; Trichloroethylene ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo observe the differentially expressed genes in human embryonic lung fibroblasts (HELF) induced by small-dose hydroquinone (HQ) using fluorescence differential display-PCR (DD-PCR).

METHODSAccording to the dose-effect relation of HQ toxicity we established previously, HQ dose that did not induce observed cell damage or proliferation arrest was defined as low dose (100 pmol/L), and that causing obvious cell damage as the high dose (100 micrommol/L). The cells were then treated with low or high dose of HQ, or exposed to high-dose HQ following pretreatment with low-dose HQ for some time, respectively. Fluorescence DD-PCR was performed and 33 differentially expressed genes were identified in the cells with different treatments, and 8 of the identified genes were amplified, cloned, sequenced and blasted.

RESULTSSeven of the 8 amplified genes were unknown genes, and the left one was identified as a known gene highly homologous to that encoding Homo sapiens Rap1 interacting factor 1 (RIF1).

CONCLUSIONLow-dose HQ can induce damage tolerance in HELF, and identification of the differentially expressed genes may provide valuable sight into the mechanism of HQ-induced damage tolerance.

Adaptation, Physiological ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Fibroblasts ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Gene Expression ; drug effects ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Humans ; Hydroquinones ; pharmacology ; Lung ; cytology ; embryology ; metabolism ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods