Objective This study investigated the impact of occupational mercury(Hg)exposure on human gene transcription and expression,and its potential biological mechanisms. Methods Differentially expressed genes related to Hg exposure were identified and validated using gene expression microarray analysis and extended validation.Hg-exposed cell models and PTEN low-expression models were established in vitro using 293T cells.PTEN gene expression was assessed using qRT-PCR,and Western blotting was used to measure PTEN,AKT,and PI3K protein levels.IL-6 expression was determined by ELISA. Results Combined findings from gene expression microarray analysis,bioinformatics,and population expansion validation indicated significant downregulation of the PTEN gene in the high-concentration Hg exposure group.In the Hg-exposed cell model(25 and 10 μmol/L),a significant decrease in PTEN expression was observed,accompanied by a significant increase in PI3K,AKT,and IL-6 expression.Similarly,a low-expression cell model demonstrated that PTEN gene knockdown led to a significant decrease in PTEN protein expression and a substantial increase in PI3K,AKT,and IL-6 levels. Conclusion This is the first study to report that Hg exposure downregulates the PTEN gene,activates the PI3K/AKT regulatory pathway,and increases the expression of inflammatory factors,ultimately resulting in kidney inflammation.

OBJECTIVE To esta blish the method for simultaneous determination of 25 components （such as berberine ， magnoflorine and hydroxysafflor yellow A ）in Bawei xiaobopi capsules. METHODS High-performance liquid chromatography- tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry （HPLC-QqQ-MS）method was adopted. The determination was performed on WondaSil C18-WR column with mobile phase consisted of 0.1％ formic acid solution-methanol （gradient elution ）at the flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The column temperature was 25 ℃，and sample size was 5 μL. Electrospray ionization source was scanned in positive and negative ion mode at the same time ，with multiple reaction monitoring. The capillary voltage was 4 000 V（+）and 2 500 V（－）. The drying gas flow rate was 11 L/min with the temperature of 300 ℃. The pressure was 15 psi. RESULTS Totally 25 components of Bawei xiaobopi capsules had good linear relationship within a certain range ，such as magnolflorine ，jatrorrhizine，berberine， palmatine，bufotenine，bufotenidine，piperine，glycyrrhizic acid ，ferulic acid ，ferulic acid 4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside，hydroxysafflor yellow A ，chlorogenic acid ，gallic acid ，chebulagic acid ，corilagin，ellagic acid ，liquiritigenin，liquiritin，rutin，quercetin， glycocholic acid ，cholic acid ，glycochenodeoxycholic acid ，glycodeoxycholic acid ，ursodeoxycholic acid （r≥0.999 0）. The limits of quantitation were 0.62-554.50 ng/mL；the limits of detection were 0.18-166.30 ng/mL.RSDs of precision ，repeatability and stability（24 h）tests were all lower than 3.00％. The recovery rates were 80％-115％（all RSDs lower than 3.00％，n＝6）. The contents of above 25 components were 16.94-20.82，3.78-5.17，9.11-11.43，0.24-0.30，0.20-0.39，0.74-1.16，0.79-0.89，3.26-3.35， 0.48-0.66，11.96-13.35，2.30-3.12，0.19-0.21，6.07-8.83，10.42-10.48，1.43-1.64，4.17-4.76，0.14-0.15，0.46-0.52，0.04，0.01， 0.59-0.63，0.20-0.23，0.02，0.15-0.16，0.01 mg/g，respectively. CONCLUSIONS Established method is simple ，sensitive and stable，and can be used for content determination of 25 components in Bawei xiaobopi capsules simultaneously.

Critical ultrasonography(CUS) is different from the traditional diagnostic ultrasound,the examiner and interpreter of the image are critical care medicine physicians.The core content of CUS is to evaluate the pathophysiological changes of organs and systems and etiology changes.With the idea of critical care medicine as the soul,it can integrate the above information and clinical information,bedside real-time diagnosis and titration treatment,and evaluate the therapeutic effect so as to improve the outcome.CUS is a traditional technique which is applied as a new application method.The consensus of experts on critical ultrasonography in China released in 2016 put forward consensus suggestions on the concept,implementation and application of CUS.It should be further emphasized that the accurate and objective assessment and implementation of CUS requires the standardization of ultrasound image acquisition and the need to establish a CUS procedure.At the same time,the standardized training for CUS accepted by critical care medicine physicians requires the application of technical specifications,and the establishment of technical specifications is the basis for the quality control and continuous improvement of CUS.Chinese Critical Ultrasound Study Group and Critical Hemodynamic Therapy Collabration Group,based on the rich experience of clinical practice in critical care and research,combined with the essence of CUS,to learn the traditional ultrasonic essence,established the clinical application technical specifications of CUS,including in five parts:basic view and relevant indicators to obtain in CUS;basic norms for viscera organ assessment and special assessment;standardized processes and systematic inspection programs;examples of CUS applications;CUS training and the application of qualification certification.The establishment of applied technology standard is helpful for standardized training and clinical correct implementation.It is helpful for clinical evaluation and correct guidance treatment,and is also helpful for quality control and continuous improvement of CUS application.

Objective: To investigate the effect of hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP) on the mortality and early complications of premature infants. Methods: The general clinical data of preterm infants with gestational age 24-36^{+ 6} weeks were collected from the cooperative units in the task group from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014.According to the severity of HDCP, the infants were divided into 4 groups: HDCP group, preeclampsia group, eclampsia group and non HDCP group, the mortality and major complications of preterm infants were compared, and the influencing factors were analyzed. Results: The mortality rate of preterm in the HDCP group was significantly higher than that of non HDCP group, and there was statistical significance (χ²=9.970, P=0.019). Eclampsia had a highest fatality rate (4.8%) in the early stage, compared with non HDCP group (2.2%), and the difference was statistically significant.Comparison of HDCP group (1.8%) and eclampsia group (3.2%) suggested that there was no statistically significant difference.The incidence of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in preterm in HDCP group was significantly higher than that of non HDCP group, and there was statistical significance (χ²=13.241, P=0.004). Eclampsia group showed the highest incidence (35.4%), compared with non HDCP group (16.2%), the difference was statistically significant, but compared with HDCP group (19.9%), preeclampsia group (17.1%), there was no significant diffe-rence.The incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm in HDCP group was significantly higher than that of non HDCP group (χ²=9.592, P=0.022), the highest incidence showed up in eclampsia group (9.7%), compared with non HDCP group (2.0%) and HDCP group (1.7%), the difference was statistically significant.But there was no statistically significant difference, compared with preeclampsia group.As the degree of HDCP aggravated, the incidence of BPD gradually rose.There was no significant impact on necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and sepsis of HDCP (χ²=7.054, 7.214, 0.358, 3.852; P=0.070, 0.065, 0.949, 0.278). Considering the overall outcome of the child, that was, whether the child died or survived, he had at least one complication, and HDCP had an effect on it (χ²=15.697, P=0.001), so the incidence increased while the degree of HDCP rose gradually.After adjusting gestational age, birth weight, sex, way of delivery, placental abruption and front placenta, prenatal hormonal, gestational diabetes, neonatal asphyxia and other factors, the results displayed that HDCP was the factor leading to the death of premature baby (OR=2.159, 95%CI: 1.093-4.266), and comparison between preeclampsia and eclampsia showed no statistical difference (P=0.714, 0.389); HDCP had no significant influence on RDS, BDP, ICH, NEC, ROP and sepsis. Conclusions HDCP leads to increased risk of premature death, but also leads to the increased incidence of RDS and BPD, but it had no obvious effect on NEC, ROP, IVH, sepsis and other complications.

Objective To establish a method for the simultaneous determination of ursolic acid(UA)and oleanolic acid(OA) in Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam.,and the quantitative determination the UA and OA contents in the different Z. clinopodioides plant samples collected with various parts of the plant at different times,from different regions of Xinjiang,China. Methods Dual wave?length scanning method was used for the quantification of UA and OA spots on a silica gel G plate in the TLC analysis. The samples loaded on the silica gel G plate were in situ treated with the 1%iodine solution in dichloromethane,and then the plate was developed using cyclohexane,cyclohexane-chloroform-ethyl acetate-formic acid(20:5:8:0.1)as the developing solvent. In the dual wavelength scanning,the measurement wavelength was 530 nm and the reference wavelength was 700 nm. Results The UA and OA spots in samples were well separated on the TLC plate and could be simultaneously quantified by the present method. The average contents of UA and OA in Z. clinopodioides plant samples from 18 different areas were(1.84 ± 0.41)and(2.82 ± 0.89)mg/g,respectively. The contents of UA and OA in the plant increased from late spring to early summer and then decreased thereafter. As to the different parts of the plant,the contents of UA and OA were highest in leaves and lowest in stems. Conclusion The method is simple,fast and accu?rate. The present results provided basic data for further evaluation of the quality of Z. clinopodioides resources.

The relationship between Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) and the Notch pathway was determined to investigate the effect of KLF4 on the activation of hepatic stellate cells and underlying mechanisms. Fifty SPF BALB/c mice were randomly divided into two groups. A liver fibrosis model was established in 25 mice as the experimental group, and the remaining 25 mice served as controls. On the day 0, 7, 14, and 35, liver tissues were removed for immunofluorescent detection. The Notch pathway inhibitor DAPT was added to the primary original hepatic stellate cells, and KLF4 and Notch-associated factor expression was detected by qRT-PCR. Additionally, the hepatic stellate cell line LX-2 was used to establish control and experimental groups, and was cultured in vitro. LX-2 cells in the experimental groups were treated with DAPT and the Notch activator transforming growth factor-beta 1 separately, whereas those in the control group were given isotonic culture medium. After 48 h, KLF4 expression was examined by Western blotting. After transient transfection of LX-2 cells to increase KLF4, the expression of Notch factor was examined. Immunofluorescence analysis showed that, with the aggravation of liver fibrosis, the absorbance (A) values of KLF4 were decreased (day 0: 980.73±153.19; day 7: 1087.99±230.23; day 14: 390.95±93.56; day 35: 245.99±87.34). The expression of Notch pathway- related factors (Notch-1, Notch-2, and Jagged-1) in the hepatic stellate cell membrane was negatively correlated to KLF4 expression. With the increase of KLF4 expression, Notch-2 (0.73±0.13) and Jagged-1 (0.43±0.12) expression decreased, whereas Notch-1 level was not detectable. When the Notch pathway was inhibited, KLF4 levels generally increased (18.12±1.31). Our results indicate that KLF4 expression is negatively correlated to the Notch pathway in hepatic stellate cells, which may provide a reference for the treatment of hepatic fibrosis.
Animals ; Cell Line ; Cells, Cultured ; Hepatic Stellate Cells ; metabolism ; Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Liver Cirrhosis ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Receptors, Notch ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of premature rupture of the membrane (PROM) on neonatal complications in premature infants.

METHODSThe registration information of 7684 preterm infants with gestational age <37 weeks were collected from the cooperative units in the task group between January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014. Specially trained personnel from each cooperative units filled in the unified form in a standardized format to record the gender, gestational age, birth weight, PROM, placental abruption, antenatal corticosteroid, Apgar score, amniotic fluid pollution, and complications of the infants. The data were analyzed comparatively between the cases with PROM and those without (control).

RESULTSThe preterm mortality rate was significantly lower but the incidences of ICH, NEC, ROP and BPD were significantly higher in PROM group than in the control group (P<0.05). The 95% confidence interval of the OR value was <1 for mortality, and was >1 for ICH, NEC, ROP and BPD. After adjustment for gestational age, birth weight, gender, mode of delivery, placental abruption, placenta previa, prenatal hormones, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gestational period hypertension and 5-min Apgar score <7, the incidences of NEC, ROP and BPD were significantly different between the two groups (P<0.05) with 95% confidence interval of OR value >1, but the mortality rate and incidence of ICH were not significantly different between the two groups (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONPROM is a risk factor for NEC, ROP and BPD in preterm infants, and adequate intervention of PROM can reduce the incidences of such complications as NEC, ROP and BPD in the infants.

Apgar Score ; Birth Weight ; Female ; Fetal Membranes, Premature Rupture ; pathology ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Newborn, Diseases ; etiology ; Infant, Premature ; Pregnancy ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVEThe present study is concerning qualitative and quantitative detection of Poria cocos quality based on FT-near infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometrics.

METHODThe Poria cocos polysaccharides contents were determined by UV. Transmission mode was used in the collection of NIR spectral samples. The pretreatment method was first derivation and vector normalization. Then principal component analysis (PCA) was used to build classification model and partial least square (PLS) to build the calibration model.

RESULTThe results showed that conventional criteria such as the R, root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC), and the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) are 0.944 0, 0.072 1 and 0.076 2, respectively. The misclassified sample is 0 using the qualitative model built by PCA.

CONCLUSIONThe prediction models based on NIR have a better performance with high precision, good stability and adaptability and can be used to predict the polysaccharose content of Poria cocos rapidly, which can provide a fast approach to discriminate the different parts of Poria cocos.

Fungal Polysaccharides ; analysis ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Poria ; chemistry ; Principal Component Analysis ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared ; methods

This study was purposed to establish a new quick and simple diagnostic method with high sensitivity and good specificity for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) and to evaluate its significance. 240 platelet lysates (from patients with ITP, leukemia, MDS, and healthy adults, each of 60 cases) were randomly assigned to training set (120 cases) or validation set (120 cases), all of them were detected by surface enhanced laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS), in order to identify the differentially expressed protein, the diagnostic model was established by means of artificial neural network (ANN), and was validated by blind test with SPSS 17.0. The results showed that 5 marked proteins significantly differentially expressed (P < 0.01), m/z of highly expressed proteins were 2234.30, 3476.36, and 7526.29, m/z of low expressed proteins were 4990.02 and 5152.39, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic model were 80.6% and 77.3% respectively. The area under the ROC curve consisting of the output value of artificial neura1 network was 0.837. Efficacy of the model was validated by means of blinded test. It is concluded that the ANN model is useful for clinical diagnosis of ITP on the basis of platelet protein fingerprint spectrum.
Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Humans ; Neural Networks (Computer) ; Peptide Mapping ; Proteome ; analysis ; Proteomics ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic ; diagnosis ; genetics ; metabolism ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization ; methods

Objective To identify the differentially expressed proteins and clarify the major proteins involved in the molecular mechanism of osteoblasts under mechanical strain loading. Method Saos 2 osteoblastic cells were subjected to 12% elongation for 24 hours by using Flexcell strain loading system. Proteins extracted from Saos 2 cells were separated by two dimensional electrophoresis (2 DE). Differential expressed protein spots among groups were submitted to matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometer (MALDI TOF MS) assay and peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) identification. The Swiss Prot and NCBI databases were used to obtain further information about proteins identified. Results Saos 2 stimulated by mechanical strain showed a significant difference in 2 DE system compared with the control group. A total of (1031±41) or (928±25) protein spots were resolved by 2 DE of controls or experimental groups extractions respectively. 17 significant up regulated proteins were identified. These associated proteins fell into 6 groups, including stress reaction, energy metabolism, cell proliferation, reconstruction of cytoskeleton, signaling and osteogenesis. Conclusions The Saos 2 can express differential proteins stimulated by mechanical strains and these proteins may play an important role in molecular mechanism of osteoblasts under mechanical strain loading.