OBJECTIVETo study the effect of traumatic occlusion on CGRP-immunoreactive (CGRP-IR) nerve fibres in rat molar pulp and observe the recovery of CGRP-IR nerve fibres after removal of traumatic occlusion.

METHODSTo observe immunohistochemically the change of CGRP-IR nerve fibres in molar pulp during traumatic occlusion and after removal.

RESULTSThe increase of number, density and morphology of CGRP-IR nerve fibres in traumatic occlusion group was more than in control group, however, the changes of CGRP-IR nerve fibres in removal of traumatic occlusion group were less than in control group.

CONCLUSIONSThe changes of CGRP-IR nerve fibres in number, morphology, and density are induced by traumatic occlusion in rat molar pulp, however, the nerve fibres recover to normal by removal of traumatic occlusion.

Animals ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide ; analysis ; Dental Occlusion, Traumatic ; metabolism ; pathology ; therapy ; Dental Pulp ; innervation ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Molar ; innervation ; Nerve Fibers ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo assess the level of language understanding and expression of healthy children aged from 8 to 16 months in urban Beijing and to investigate the children's physical and psychological development conditions and social and economic status of children's family as to identifying the related factors to children's language development and providing a basis for instructing parents child-rearing and promoting early children language development.

METHODSA quantitative Cross-sectional Study was made. The parents or care givers of 636 healthy young children, randomly stratified and selected in two districts in Beijing were interviewed. T-test was used to compare the scores of language understanding and expression between boys and girls in the same age. Single and multiple factors analysis were used so as to find out the related factors.

RESULTSFor boys, the average scores of language were respectively 115.0 for 8 months, 243.0 for 12 months and 410.6 for 16 months; for girls the average scores were respectively 109.9 for 8 months, 286.4 for 12 months and 456.2 for 16 months. The average score of language understanding of boys was higher than that of girls only in the 11 month group. The average scores of language expression of girls were higher than those of boys in 11, 12, 14, 15 month groups. Multiple factors analysis showed that parent-child book reading, parent-child tape listening, higher education level of grandmothers, children' extroversion personality, child being able to speak one word and children's age were positively related to the children' language score.

CONCLUSIONProviding rich language environment should be helpful to early children's language development.

China ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Language Development ; Male ; Reading ; Speech ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Urban Population ; statistics & numerical data

OBJECTIVETo investigate changes of two sodium channels, PN(3) and NaN, during orofacial pain by occlusal trauma in rat.

METHODSExpressions of PN(3) mRNA and NaN mRNA in trigeminal ganglion were tested during various periods of persistent occlusal trauma with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTSIn groups, including control, occlusal trauma groups, PN(3) mRNA and NaN mRNA were all expressed in trigeminal ganglion neurons. In the control group, there were similar density values bilaterally. In the occlusal trauma group, the density values in gel electrophoresis of PN(3) mRNA and NaN mRNA on the intervention side were slightly greater than those on the control side.

CONCLUSIONSThe stimulation of occlusal trauma upregulates expressions of PN(3) mRNA and NaN mRNA, which suggests the signal occurring and conduction of chronic pain by occlusal trauma have the same molecular mechanism of sodium channel as inflammatory pain.

Animals ; Dental Occlusion, Traumatic ; physiopathology ; Facial Pain ; etiology ; Male ; NAV1.8 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sodium Channels ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Trigeminal Ganglion ; metabolism

OBJECTIVEMany researchers have conducted studies on child language development and relevant risk factors, but most of these studies were about English-speaking children and few of them were on Chinese-speaking children, and less reports of studies on language development of infants or toddlers are available as compared to those on children above 3 years of age. The objective of this study was to assess the level of vocabulary development of healthy toddlers in urban Beijing and to investigate toddlers' physical and psychological development and socioeconomic status of toddlers' family so as to identify factors related to toddlers' language development and provide basis for instructing parents child-rearing.

METHODThis is a quantitative cross-sectional study. Using Chinese Communicative Development Inventory mandarin version, (CCDI) and related background questionnaire, a survey was conducted among the parents or care givers of 1056 healthy toddlers (16 approximately 30 months), randomly stratified and selected from two areas of four urban districts in Beijing. The children who were born prematurely, who had low birth weight, or who were deaf, dumb or with disability, were excluded from this study. The mothers who were deaf, dumb or having disability were not included in this study, either. Rank sum test was used to compare the vocabulary scores between boys and girls at the same age. Single and multiple factors analysis were used to find related factors.

RESULTSBy 16 months of age, boys could speak about 22 words and girls 84 words on the CCDI. By 29 - 30 months of age, boys could speak about 725 words and girls 752 words on the CCDI. The level of vocabulary development of healthy toddlers in urban Beijing was higher than that reported in previous studies of English-speaking children. Girls had higher vocabulary scores than boys in a few different age groups. Single factor analysis showed that the ages of father and mother, income of father, the language used by care-givers and GDP of the families were factors related to families of toddlers and the age, gender, height, weight and the age at which the toddlers began to speak were factors related to individuals. Multiple factors analysis showed that higher education level of mothers, younger father, earlier beginning of children to speak, toddlers' amiable disposition and emotion, girls, toddlers' age and height positively correlated with toddlers' vocabulary score.

CONCLUSIONThe level of vocabulary development of healthy toddlers in urban Beijing is on the high side. Certain individual and familial factors may influence toddlers' language development. It is suggested that health workers should pay attention to the toddlers' language development. The toddlers' parents and caregivers should be taught how to interact with and talk to their children and how to promote children to develop healthy disposition and emotion.

Child Development ; Child Language ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Family ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Language Development ; Male ; Probability ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Urban Population ; Vocabulary

OBJECTIVEAdhesive or too highly located folds upper eyelid and even blepharoptosis are common complications of double eyelid operation. To correct such deformities.

METHODWe shifted down the double eyelid line, removed adhesion thoroughly, relieved orbital fat and restarted the volume with infraorbicularis oculi fat flap.

RESULTWe had treated 32 case in past two years. The results were satisfying.

CONCLUSIONThe method are acted easy and gained fine result, so behaving to extend application.

Adipose Tissue ; transplantation ; Adult ; Blepharoplasty ; methods ; Eye Abnormalities ; etiology ; surgery ; Eyelids ; abnormalities ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Oculomotor Muscles ; surgery ; Postoperative Complications ; surgery ; Tissue Adhesions ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of epithermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and K-ras, B-raf and PIK3CA mutation status on the radiosensitivity of human colorectal carcinoma (CRC) cell lines in vitro.

METHODSReal-time RT-PCR was used to measure EGFR mRNA expression in nine human CRC cell lines, and K-ras, B-raf and PIK3CA mutation status of each CRC cell line was also identified respectively. After treatment with irradiation at graded dose, the cell viability was measured by clonogenic survival assay. The rate of cell apoptosis and cell cycle distribution were tested by flow cytometry. The cell morphology was observed with hoechst 33258 staining to analyze the correlation between EGFR mRNA expression and radiosensitivity of CRC cell lines.

RESULTSA positive correlation between EGFR mRNA expression and survival fraction of 2 Gy(SF2) was observed (r=0.717, P=0.030). Association was also identified between the mutation status of PIK3CA and radiosensitivity (t=2.401, P=0.047), while mutation status of K-ras and B-raf was not associated with radiosensitivity. At 48-hour after exposing to irradiation, the apoptosis rate of radiosensitive cell line (HCT116) was significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05), while the apoptosis rate of radioresistant cell line (HT29) was significantly increased only when radiation dose increased to 6 Gy. The ratio of G0/G1 phase was reduced significantly with the increase of radiation dose in radiosensitive cell line (HCT116, P<0.05), while this trend was not observed in radioresistant cell line (HT29, P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSOver-expression of EGFR mRNA is correlated to radioresistance of human CRC cell lines, and mutation status of PIK3CA is closely related with radiosensitivity of CRC cells. The inhibition of apoptosis and G0/G1 arrest may induce the radioresistance of CRC cell lines.

Apoptosis ; genetics ; radiation effects ; Cell Cycle ; genetics ; radiation effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Class I Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Genes, ras ; genetics ; Humans ; Mutation ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; genetics ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf ; genetics ; Radiation Tolerance ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; metabolism

OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of adenosine (99m)Tc-MIBI myocardial perfusion SPECT for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

METHODSA total of 89 patients [mean age (57 +/- 9) years,62 men, 27 women] were included in this study. Adenosine was infused intravenously at a rate of 140 microg.kg(-1).min(-1) for 6 minutes. At the end of 3 minute of adenosine infusion, 925MBq of (99m)Tc-MIBI was injected intravenously. SPECT myocardial imaging acquisition was obtained 1 hour after adenosine infusion. Coronary angiography was performed in all patients.

RESULTSThirty-one patients had significant coronary artery stenosis and 58 had normal coronary angiography. Adenosine myocardial perfusion imaging was abnormal in twenty-two out of the 31 patients with significant coronary artery stenosis (sensitivity, 71%). Fifty-three out of the 58 patients with normal angiography had a normal adenosine myocardial perfusion imaging (specificity, 91%). The positive predictive value and negative predictive value of adenosine (99m)Tc-MIBI myocardial perfusion imaging for detection of coronary artery disease was 81% and 84% respectively.

CONCLUSIONAdenosine myocardial perfusion imaging is probably an accurate method for detecting coronary artery disease.

Adenosine ; Adult ; Aged ; Coronary Artery Disease ; diagnostic imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Radionuclide Ventriculography ; Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between blood pressure control status and patients' knowledge on hypertension prevention and control among hypertensive patients.

METHODSA total of 726 hypertensives were selected from four community health service centers (2 urban and 2 rural) in Beijing. All subjects were investigated by questionnaires and their blood pressures were measured at the same time.

RESULTSThe rate for blood pressure under control (< 140/90 mm Hg, 1 mm Hg = 0.133 kPa) in the rural and urban patients were 46.4% and 23.9% respectively. The control rate increased with the increase of patients' knowledge on prevention and control of hypertension in both urban and rural patients. The cumulative effect of knowledge on hypertension control status could contribute 30.0% to the difference in hypertension control rate between rural and urban patients.

CONCLUSIONPatients' knowledge on hypertension control was significantly related to the rate on hypertension control. Health education should be helpful to improve the rate on hypertension control.

Aged ; Blood Pressure ; physiology ; Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory ; China ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Hypertension ; physiopathology ; prevention & control ; therapy ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outpatients ; education ; Patient Education as Topic ; organization & administration ; Rural Population ; Social Class ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Treatment Outcome ; Urban Population

BACKGROUNDThe conventional approaches to diabetes screening are potentially limited by poor compliance and laboratory demand. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and postprandial urine glucose (PUG) in screening for diabetes in Chinese high-risk population.

METHODSNine hundred and nine subjects with high-risk factors of diabetes underwent oral glucose tolerance test after an overnight fast. FPG, hemoglobin A1c, 2-h plasma glucose (2 h-PG), and 2 h-PUG were evaluated. Diabetes and prediabetes were defined by the American Diabetes Association criteria. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 2 h-PUG, and the optimal cut-off determined to provide the largest Youden index. Spearman correlation was used for relationship analysis.

RESULTSAmong 909 subjects, 33.4% (304/909) of subjects had prediabetes, and 17.2% (156/909) had diabetes. The 2 h-PUG was positively related to FPG and 2 h-PG (r = 0.428 and 0.551, respectively, both P < 0.001). For estimation of 2 h-PG ≥ 7.8 mmol/L and 2 h-PG ≥ 11.1 mmol/L using 2 h-PUG, the area under the ROC curve were 0.772 (95% confidence interval [CI ]: 0.738-0.806) and 0.885 (95% CI: 0.850-0.921), respectively. The corresponding optimal cut-offs for 2 h-PUG were 5.6 mmol/L and 7.5 mmol/L, respectively. Compared with FPG alone, FPG combined with 2 h-PUG had a higher sensitivity for detecting glucose abnormalities (84.1% vs. 73.7%, P < 0.001) and diabetes (82.7% vs. 48.1%, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONFPG combined with 2 h-PUG substantially improves the sensitivity in detecting prediabetes and diabetes relative to FPG alone, and may represent an efficient layperson-oriented diabetes screening method.

Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Diabetes Mellitus ; blood ; diagnosis ; urine ; Fasting ; blood ; Female ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; methods ; Middle Aged ; Postprandial Period ; physiology

We report an important but long-overlooked manifestation of low-resolution power of 16S rRNA sequence analysis at the species level, namely, in 16S rRNA-based phylogenetic trees polyphyletic placements of closely-related species are abundant compared to those in genome-based phylogeny. This phenomenon makes the demarcation of genera within many families ambiguous in the 16S rRNA-based taxonomy. In this study, we reconstructed phylogenetic relationship for more than ten thousand prokaryote genomes using the CVTree method, which is based on whole-genome information. And many such genera, which are polyphyletic in 16S rRNA-based trees, are well resolved as monophyletic clusters by CVTree. We believe that with genome sequencing of prokaryotes becoming a commonplace, genome-based phylogeny is doomed to play a definitive role in the construction of a natural and objective taxonomy.
Genome ; Genomics ; Phylogeny ; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA