Objective To observe the change of the level of blood ghrelin in the children with anorexia and its relationship with insulin sensitivity.Methods Height,weight,body mass index(BMI)of 40 children in anorexia group,20 healthy children in control group were measured;the level of blood grelin,insulin and blood glucose were determined;insulin sensitivity index(ISI) was calculated,then the results in both groups were analyzed.Results Levels of height,weight and BMI in anorexia group were significantly lower than those of control group.The ghrelin and ISI levels in anorexia group were significantly higher than those in control group,but the insulin and glucose levels were significantly lower in anorexia group than those in control group,the differences were significant.Ghrelin level showed negative correlation with insulin and blood glucose concentration in both groups and positive correlation with ISI level.Conclusions The decrease of appetite in children with anorexia may not necessarily result from under-secretion of ghrelin.The increase of insulin sensitivity in children with anorexia may be a response to high level of ghrelin secretion.

OBJECTIVETo study the clinical characteristics and the treatment of periorbital injuries.

METHODS61 cases were treated, including 30 cases orbitozygomatic fracture, 6 cases of frontal-orbital fracture, 8 cases of naso-ethmoid-orbital fracture, 7 cases of blow -out fracture and 10 cases of complicated fracture. The patients were diagnosed after physical examination and other examination, like CT. Through bicoronal or local mini incision at the end of eyebrow, combined with subciliary incision and local wound approach, the fractured sites were exposed completely. Then the fractured fragments were repositioned and fixed rigidly. The orbital wall was reconstructed with titanium net and Medpor.

RESULTSThe wounds healed primarily. Good cosmetic and functional results achieved in most of the patients. 4 cases underwent second-stage ophthalmectomy. 2 patients had diplopia after operation, but improved gradually. 3 cases of blepharoptosis needed further treatment.

CONCLUSIONSEarly diagnosis and treatment is very important for periorbital injuries. Fracture reposition and orbital wall reconstruction should he performed at early period.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Orbital Fractures ; surgery ; Skull Fractures ; surgery ; Young Adult

The aim of the present study was to assess the ototoxicity of kanamycin sulfate (KM) in adult rats and its underlying mechanism. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats (6-7 weeks old) were randomly divided into the experimental group and the control group. The animals in the experimental group were injected subcutaneously with KM (500 mg/kg per day) for two weeks, and the control group received equal volume of normal saline. To assess the ototoxicity of KM, the auditory brainstem response (ABR) was recorded to monitor the changes in hearing thresholds, and the density of spiral ganglion cells (SGCs) and morphology of cochlea were observed using surface preparations and frozen sections of cochlea. The results showed that the hearing threshold of rats in the experimental group was elevated by more than 60 dB across all the frequencies two weeks after the first administration of KM. And in the experimental group, the density of SGCs became lower, and organ of Corti suffered loss of hair cells. The loss of outer hair cells (OHCs) was more severe than that of inner hair cells (IHCs), correlated with the density decrease of SGCs. We conclude that the ototoxicity of KM in the adult rats was apparent and the underlying mechanism is associated with the loss of SGCs and hair cells.
Animals ; Cochlea ; drug effects ; pathology ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem ; drug effects ; Hair Cells, Auditory, Outer ; cytology ; drug effects ; pathology ; Hearing Loss ; chemically induced ; physiopathology ; Kanamycin ; toxicity ; Male ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spiral Ganglion ; pathology ; physiology ; ultrastructure

Design space approach is applied in this study to enhance the robustness of first ethanol precipitation process of Codonopsis Radix (Dangshen) by optimizing parameters. Total flavonoid recovery, dry matter removal, and pigment removal were defined as the process critical quality attributes (CQAs). Plackett-Burman designed experiments were carried out to find the critical process parameters (CPPs). Dry matter content of concentrated extract (DMCE), mass ratio of ethanol to concentrated extract (E/C ratio) and concentration of ethanol (CEA) were identified as the CPPs. Box-Behnken designed experiments were performed to establish the quantitative models between CPPs and CQAs. Probability based design space was obtained and verified using Monte-Carlo simulation method. According to the verification results, the robustness of first ethanol precipitation process of Dangshen can be guaranteed by operating within the design space parameters. Recommended normal operation space are as follows: dry matter content of concentrated extract of 45.0% - 48.0%, E/C ratio of 2.48-2.80 g x g(-1), and the concentration of ethanol of 92.0% - 92.7%.
Chemical Precipitation ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Codonopsis ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo study the relations between different feeding patterns and the body weight retention of the perinatal women living in rural areas of China.

METHODSA cluster sampling method was used to investigate 409 women, who are currently living in rural areas of Tianjin, at pregnant and perinatal status. While, their body weights and heights before pregnancy, antepartum and postpartum were measured, respectively. Body weight retention was the difference of the measured data after postpartum minus pre-pregnant weight. Variance analysis was used for statistic comparison.

RESULTSThe rate of exclusive breastfeeding was 70.9% (290/409) within four months. The net body weight retention of women (5.8 kg) using the exclusive breastfeeding was lower than that of the women (7.0 kg) using artificial feeding within 4 - 6 months, but there was no significantly statistic difference (F = 1.45, P = 0.236). However, there was the opposite result within 7 - 9 months, the data showed that the body weight retention in the women using the exclusive breastfeeding was 4.9 kg, which was significantly higher than that the women (2.9 kg) with artificial feeding (F = 3.17, P = 0.043). The food consumption of the women (901 g) using exclusive breastfeeding was the highest, followed by those (877 g) using mixed feeding and the women (750 g) using artificial feeding.

CONCLUSIONThe body weight retention after postpartum should be related to infant feeding patterns. After postpartum, the weight loss of women using the exclusive breastfeeding is relatively low. While, for the women using the exclusive breastfeeding, the net weight retention during pregnancy and after postpartum were lower than those with artificial feeding. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance health education and guidance on promoting exclusive breast-feeding as well as increasing awareness on pre-pregnant health.

Body Weight ; Breast Feeding ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Infant ; Rural Population ; Sampling Studies

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical characteristics of acute myeloid leukemia patients with 3q abnormalities.

METHODSConventional cytogenetic analysis of R-banding was used to detect the abnormalities of 3q in 657 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

RESULTTwenty-four (3.7%) out of 657 patients had abnormalities of 3q, of which 3q21 or 3q26 were involved in 18 cases (75.0%); 3q21q26 abnormalities were harbored in 11 patients (45.8%), including 9 of t (3;3) and 2 cases of inv (3), of which 3 cases progressed from MDS. Ten patients presented with normal or elevated platelets and their bone marrow morphologies showed abnormal and striking proliferation of megakaryocytes. While in other 7 patients with 3q21 or 3q26, no one presented with high platelets and megakaryocytes. All 24 patients with 3q abnormalities received chemotherapies and only 4 patients achieved short-term remission with a median survival time of 6.7 months.

CONCLUSION3q21q26 anomaly is the most common karyotype in acute myeloid patients with 3q abnormalities. The patients with 3q anomaly had extremely poorer treatment outcome and prognosis.

Adult ; Aged ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosome Banding ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 3 ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Karyotyping ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

Carotid endarterectomy(CEA)has been proved to be an effective surgery to treat the cerebral ischemia caused by carotid atherosclerotic stenosis. However,there is still no effective mean for the early diagnosis of the CEA-related severe complications such as stroke and death. Many studies have explored the potential biomarkers for stroke alert,although there is still a long way to go for their actual application in clinical settings. The carotid atherosclerotic stenosis,the perioperative complications of CEA,and the stroke share similar pathogenic mechanisms,and some biomarkers such as S100B,matrix metalloproteinase 9,asymmetric dimethylarginine,and neuron-specific enolase have been studied in the clinical trails of CEA. This article summarizes recent advances in this field.
Biomarkers ; metabolism ; Endarterectomy, Carotid ; Humans ; Intraoperative Period ; Postoperative Complications ; prevention & control ; Risk Assessment ; S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta Subunit ; metabolism

BACKGROUNDSubsequent neutrophil (polymorphonuclear neutrophil [PMN])-predominant inflammatory response is a predominant feature of ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), and mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) can improve mice survival model of endotoxin-induced acute lung injury, reduce lung impairs, and enhance the repair of VILI. However, whether MSC could attenuate PMN-predominant inflammatory in the VILI is still unknown. This study aimed to test whether MSC intervention could attenuate the PMN-predominate inflammatory in the mechanical VILI.

METHODSSprague-Dawley rats were ventilated for 2 hours with large tidal volume (20 mL/kg). MSCs were given before or after ventilation. The inflammatory chemokines and gas exchange were observed and compared dynamically until 4 hours after ventilation, and pulmonary pathological change and activation of PMN were observed and compared 4 hours after ventilation.

RESULTSMechanical ventilation (MV) caused significant lung injury reflected by increasing in PMN pulmonary sequestration, inflammatory chemokines (tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6 and macrophage inflammatory protein 2) in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and injury score of the lung tissue. These changes were accompanied with excessive PMN activation which reflected by increases in PMN elastase activity, production of radical oxygen series. MSC intervention especially pretreatment attenuated subsequent lung injury, systemic inflammation response and PMN pulmonary sequestration and excessive PMN activation initiated by injurious ventilation.

CONCLUSIONSMV causes profound lung injury and PMN-predominate inflammatory responses. The protection effect of MSC in the VILI rat model is related to the suppression of the PMN activation.

Animals ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ; Cells, Cultured ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Inflammation ; therapy ; Male ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; physiology ; Neutrophils ; cytology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury ; metabolism ; therapy

Ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder of herbal medicine lack of the morphological characters and microscopic identification features. This makes it hard to identify herb's authenticity with traditional methods. We tested ITS2 sequence as DNA barcode in identification of herbal medicine in ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder in this study. We extracted genomic DNAs of 93 samples of 31 representative herbal medicines (28 species), which include whole plant, roots and bulbs, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. The ITS2 sequences were amplified and sequenced bidirectionally. The ITS2 sequences were identified using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) method in the GenBank database and DNA barcoding system to identify the herbal medicine. The genetic distance was analyzed using the Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model and the Neighbor-joining (NJ) phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA 6.0. The results showed that DNA can be extracted successfully from 93 samples and high quality ITS2 sequences can be amplified. All 31 herbal medicines can get correct identification via BLAST method. The ITS2 sequences of raw material medicines, ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder have same sequence in 26 herbal medicines, while the ITS2 sequences in other 5 herbal medicines exhibited variation. The maximum intraspecific genetic-distances of each species were all less than the minimum interspecific genetic distances. ITS2 sequences of each species are all converged to their standard DNA barcodes using NJ method. Therefore, using ITS2 barcode can accurately and effectively distinguish ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder of herbal medicine. It provides a new molecular method to identify ultrafine powder and cell wall-broken powder of herbal medicine in the quality control and market supervision.
Cell Wall ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Phylogeny ; Plants, Medicinal ; classification ; genetics ; Powders ; Quality Control

In recent years, human cancer genome projects provide unprecedented opportunities for the discovery of cancer genes and signaling pathways that contribute to tumor development. While numerous gene mutations can be identified from each cancer genome, what these mutations mean for cancer is a challenging question to address, especially for those from less understood putative new cancer genes. As a powerful approach, in silico bioinformatics analysis could efficiently sort out mutations that are predicted to damage gene function. Such an analysis of human large tumor suppressor genes, LATS1 and LATS2, has been carried out and the results support a role of hLATS1//2 as negative growth regulators and tumor suppressors.
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Animals ; Carrier Proteins ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Computational Biology ; Genes, Neoplasm ; Humans ; LIM Domain Proteins ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mutation ; Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Phosphoproteins ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Phosphorylation ; Protein Binding ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups) ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Tumor Suppressor Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism