Research status of occupational stress among radiation workers in China / 中国辐射卫生

In recent years, occupational stress has become a focus of public attention in public health in China and abroad. Radiation workers are exposed to ionizing radiation in their daily work, which further exacerbates their levels of occupational stress. This not only affects their physical and mental health, but also increases the potential for radiation incidents or accidents. Based on the literature on occupational stress among radiation workers in China throughout the years, this article provides a summary, conclusion, and systematical analysis of the research status of occupational stress among radiation workers, with a detailed sorting of the data. It explores key research issues and directions and provides reference for future work.

Analysis of the current status of radiation protection in non-medical sectors in China / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective:To analyzes the current status of radiation protection in non-medical sectors, together with the vulnerable spots in the prevention and control of occupational radiation sickness in China in order to provides both technical basis for occupational health management in non-medical radiation sectors and the better protection of occupational health benefits for radiation workers.Methods:The monitoring plan for this survey was worked out on the part of the National Institute for Radiological Protection, China CDC. Survey and monitoring of the current status of radiation protection and occupational health management were, under the monitoring the plan, completed by the relevant agencies of all provincial-level regions for the key industries of non-medical sectors countrywide, involving occupational health monitoring, personal dose monitoring, radiation protection monitoring instruments equipped, and radiation protection monitoring in workplace. Based on the survey result , the deficiencies in radiation protection and occupational health monitoring in non-medical sectors were analyzed.Results:The survey of non-medical sectors was divided into general investigation and detailed monitoring, with the general investigations covering 9 075 non-medical institutions in 31 provincial-level regions across the country. Of them, a total of 4 911 institutions within 329 district-level regions received detailed investigation and radiation protection monitoring. As survey result , the X, γ ambient dose equivalent rates for the institutions using ray-generator are greater than 2.5 μSv/h, about 2.35% of the total, with a maximum of 817 μSv/h. The values for those using radioactive sources were greater than 2.5 μSv/h, about 9.57%, with a maximum of 1 700 μSv/h. The frequencies of personal dose monitoring and occupational health examination were 72.9% and 82.1%, respectively.Conclusions:There is still a gap in radiation protection between the current status and the national regulations and standards in non-medical sectors, so both regulation and management of radiation protection should be further strengthened.

Effect of two kinds of fermented food on blood glucose and lipids in induced diabetic mice / 中国应用生理学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To investigate the effect of two kinds of fermented food, noni juice and natto, on blood glucose and lipids in induced diabetic mice.@*METHODS@#Female (ICR) mice were induced into diabetes by an injection of alloxan (55 mg/kg, i. v.). After 72 hours, those mice whose fasting blood glucose levels were over 12.00 mmol/L and urine sugar was strongly positive (+ + +) were regarded as diabetical model and were randomly divided into three groups (=10):diabetical model (DM) group, noni juice (NJ) group and natto (NT) group. Another ten normal female ICR mice were taken as normal control (NC) group. The mice in NJ and NT groups were gavaged with noni juice (25.0 ml/kg) and natto (0.6 g/kg) respectively. The other two groups were given normal saline (25.0 ml/kg). Continuous gavage administration was given for 30 days, the water-drinking volume and food-intake were recorded. After 1.5 h of the last administration, the glucose tolerance of mice was measured. Finally, the changes in glycated serum protein(GSP), insulin(Ins) and blood lipids of blood samples of mice, taken from the femoral artery, were determined.@*RESULTS@#Compared to the NC group, the water-drinking amount and food-intake, GSP and total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride(TG) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) in DM group were increased significantly (<0.01), while glucose tolerance, Ins and high density lipoprotein (HDL) were decreased significantly (<0.01). However, when it came to DM group, NJ and NT could significantly (<0.01 or <0.05) reduce, GSP, TG and LDL, meanwhile improve glucose tolerance, Ins and HDL (<0. 01).@*CONCLUSIONS@#Both noni juice and natto could reduce the blood glucose levels in induced diabetical mice and improve blood lipids, which suggested that they may have certain application value in prevention and treatment of diabetic mellitus.

Effect of saffron aqueous extract on the level of blood glucose in experimental diabetes mice / 中国应用生理学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To investigate the effects of saffron aqueous extract (SE) on blood glucose, lipid and pancreatic tissue in streptozocin-induced diabetes mice.@*METHODS@#Diabetes mellitus mice were established by intraperitoneal injection of streptozocin (60 mg/kg) for two consecutive days. The 30 well-established diabetes mice were randomly divided into three groups(=10):diabetic mellitus (DM) group, SE treated (SE) group and positive control (metformin hydrochloride, MH) group. Another ten normal mice were selected as normal control (NC) group. The mice in SE and MH groups were intragastrically administered with SE 100 mg/kg or MH 100 mg/kg once a day for 6 weeks, mice in DM and NC were given normal saline. The amount of food-intake, water consumption and body weight were measured weekly, the changes of the indicators including fasting blood glucose (FBG), oral glucose-tolerance test (OGTT), glycated serum protein (GSP), insulin (INS) and blood lipid were determined after 6 weeks of continuous administration. The pathologic changes in the pancreas tissues were detected by HE staining.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the normal control group, the amount of food-intake, water consumption, area under the curve, FBG, GSP, and total cholesterol (TC) were significantly increased, while fasting weight, INS and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) were dramatically decreased in DM group. Compared with DM group, the water consumption, FBG, area under the curve and TC in SE group were starkly declined with a notable elevation of HDL-c and INS. In addition, the biopsy from DM mice showed the structure of pancreas islet was destroyed and reduced, and vascular proliferation with irregular shape. The damaged pancreas was obviously repaired by giving SE.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The saffron aqueous extract had efficacy on blood glucose and blood lipids reduction, improvement on damaged pancreas in streptozocininduced diabetic mice, which suggested that saffron could be used for the treatment in diabetes.

Metabolic characteristics and radio-protective function of nano cerium oxide / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To observe the in vivo metabolism and distribution characteristics of nano-cerium oxide( nanoCeO_2) in rats,and to explore the radio-protective effect of nano-CeO_2. METHODS: i) A total of 18 specific pathogen free( SPF) SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups. Rats of experiment group and CeO_2 blood group were gavaged with1. 0 g/kg body weight( bw) nano-CeO_2 suspension. Rats of control group were gavaged with double distilled water( DDW)in equal volume. At different time-points after treatment,venous blood was collected from the rats' eye socket in CeO_2 blood group,meanwhile urine and excrement of rats of experiment group were also collected. Organ and tissue samples of experiment group and control group were collected 24. 0 hours after treatment. The concentrations of cerium in biological samples were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. ii) A total of 72 SPF BALB/c mice were randomly divided into 6 groups. Mice of low-,medium-and high-dose groups were gavaged with 100,300 and 900 mg/kg bw nano-CeO_2 suspension respectively. Mice of negative control group,irradiation control group and drug positive control group were gavaged with DDW in equal volume once daily. After 14 days,mice of the other 5 groups were exposed by60Coγ-rays once with 3. 5 Gy( 1 Gy/min) except the negative control group. Mice of drug positive control group were given intraperitoneal injection with 200 mg/kg bw amifostine half an hour before irradiation. After exposure,mice were treated by the above gavages once daily. After 3 and 8 days,6 mice were randomly selected to collect the peripheral blood for the count of white blood cell( WBC) and lymph cell measuring. RESULTS: i) The cerium concentration in blood reached peak value in 4. 0 hours after exposure of nano-CeO_2,and the cerium concentration of urine and excrement reached maximum in8. 0 hours after exposure. After 24. 0 hours of exposure,the cerium concentration of brain in experiment group was higher than that of control group( P < 0. 05). Among the experiment group,the cerium concentrations of sternum,duodenum and brain were higher than that of kidney and heart( P < 0. 05),meanwhile the cerium concentrations of thymus and lung were higher than that of kidney( P < 0. 05). ii) There was no statistical difference in interactive effect of WBC count and lymph cell counts between nano-CeO_2 exposure ways and time( P > 0. 05). The WBC counts of the low-and medium-dose groups were lower than those of the negative control group and the drug positive control group( P < 0. 05). The WBC count of high-dose group was lower than those of irradiation control group,drug positive control group and medium-dose group( P <0. 05). The lymph cell counts of the 3 dose groups were lower than that of drug positive control group( P < 0. 05).CONCLUSION: The nano-CeO_2 is mainly cumulated in organs such as sternum,duodenum,brain,thymus and lung. After induced by radiation,nano-CeO_2 has a certain degree of promotion role in increasing the WBC counts.

The effects of Shadu Cao Mixture on immune functions of immunosuppression mice / 中国应用生理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of Shadu Cao Mixture (SDCM, traditional Chinese medicine) on immune functions of immunosuppression mice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty BALB/C mice were randomly divided into blank control group, model group, SDCM low-dose, middle-dose and high-dose group. Except the blank control group, other groups were intraperitoneal injected with cyclophosphamide (40 mg/kg) to establish immunosuppression mice model. The blank control group and model group received gavage administration with nonnal saline, while the other groups received gavage administration with different doses of SDCM (10, 20, 40 m/kg for 15 days) respectively. The number of leukocytes and serum levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in peripheral blood, spleen index, and the function of NK cells were measured.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the model group , SDCM increased the number of leukocytes and serum concentrations of IL-2, TNF-α and IFN-γ in peripheral blood and improved the spleen index and the function of NK cells significantly (P < 0.05-0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>SDCM could remarkably enhance the immune functions of immunosuppression mice induced by cyclophosphamide.</p>

Study on oxidative lipid and DNA damages in the malignant transformed BEP2D cells induced by α-particle exposure / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective To investigate the mechanism of malignant transformation in human bronchial epithelial cell line BEP2D exposed to α-particles.Methods The levels of intracellular ROS and malonaldehyde (MDA) in BEP2D,RH22 (passage 22 of α-particle-irradiated BEP2D cells) and BERP35T-1 cells (derived from nude mice bearing malignant transformed cells generated from the passage 35 of α-particle-irradiated BEP2D cells) were assayed with DCFH-DA and MDA kit,respectively.The expressions of 8-OH-dG and γ-H2AX in BEP2D,RH23 (passage 23 of α-particle-irradiated BEP2D cells)and BERP35T-1 cells were also measured with immunocytochemistry and immunofluorescence staining.Results Compared to BEP2D cells,the levels of ROS ( t =4.30 and 3.94,P ＜ 0.05 ) and MDA ( t =4.89 and 15.10,P ＜0.05) increased in RH22 and BERP35T-1 cells.The expressions of 8-OH-dG (t =3.80 and 2.92,P ＜ 0.05 ) and γ-H2AX ( t =7.61 and 12.67,P ＜ 0.05 ) in RH23 and BERP35T-1 cells were also higher than those in BEP2D cells.Conclusions Oxidative stress induces lipid peroxidation and DNA damage leading to genomic instability,which could contribute to cellular malignant transforming process in the human bronchial epithelial cell line BEP2D with α-particle exposure.

Dose-effect relationship and time-effect relationship of T cell receptor gene mutation induced by γ-rays in human lymphocytes of peripheral blood / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective To study the dose-effect relationship and time-effect relationship of T cell receptor (TCR) gene mutation induced by γ-rays in lymphocytes of human peripheral blood.Methods Samples of peripheral blood were collected from 10 healthy adults and lymphocytes were separated.Four samples from males used to fit time-effect curve were exposed to γ-rays at the doses of 0,0.5,1.0,1.5,2.0,2.5,3.0,3.5,4.0,and 5.0 Gy,respectively,and 6 samples from 3 males and 3 females used to fit dose-effect curves were exposed to γ-rays of the dose of 2 Gy.Flow cytometry was used to detect the mutation frequency of TCR gene (TCR MF).Radiation dose-effect curves and time-effect curves were fitted and optimal mathematical models were selected respectively.Results The optimal mathematical model for radiation dose-effect was quadratic equation model:TCR MF = 92.14 + 22.61D2 (R2adj = 0.65).The optimal mathematical model for radiation time-effect was quadratic polynomial equation model:TCR MF = 3.74 + 743.66T + 308.64T2 (R2adj = 0.79).Conclusions TCR MF is increased as the γ-rayirradiation dose increases within the range of 0-5 Gy,and TCR MF is increased with the lapse of time within the range of 4 days after γ-ray radiation.

Study on graft-versus-host disease in the allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for the treatment of leukemia / 中华血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the incidence and the effective prevention and treatment of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) for the allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (allo-PBSCT) for the treatment of leukemia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty patients with acute leukemia (n = 29) and chronic myeloid leukemia (n = 21) were treated with allo-PBSCT. The conditioning regimens were TBI plus CTX and Vp16 or TBI plus CTX. Two regimens were used for prophylaxis of GVHD: one was the combination of low dose cyclosporine (CsA, 2 - 3 mg x kg(-1) x d(-)1 i.v. or 4 - 6 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1) p.o.) and short course methotrexate (MTX, 15 approximately 10 mg, +1, +3, +6, +11 d) (CsA/MTX group, 32 patients), the other was short course of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF, 1.0 bid, +1 - +28 d) in addition to CsA and MTX (MMF/CsA/MTX group, 18 patients).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All patients were successfully engrafted and the median times to ANC > 0.5 x 10(9)/L and to platelet > 20 x 10(9)/L were 14 (10 - 22) and 20 (10 - 68) days post PBSCT respectively. The incidence of acute GVHD (aGVHD) was 40% (20/50) and of grade III - IV was 12% (6/50). The chronic GVHD (cGVHD) occurred in 22 out of 33 (66.7%) evaluable patients (survived longer than 6 months post PBSCT) and extensive cGVHD in 11 out of 33 (33.3%) patients. Patients with aGVHD displayed significantly higher sIL-2R levels [(277.3 +/- 26.4) U/L] and CD(25)(+) cells [(8.1 +/- 3.4)%] than those without GVHD [(128.1 +/- 96.7) U/L and (3.6 +/- 1.7)%] (P < 0.05). The incidences of aGVHD (16.7%) and extensive cGVHD (9.1%) in MMF/CsA/MTX group were significantly lower than that in CsA/MTX group (53.1% and 45.5%, P < 0.05). The median follow-up duration was 30 (3 - 70) months and 33 patients were still alive. The relapse rate was significantly higher in GVHD negative group (47.1%) than in GVHD positive group (0, P < 0.05). The 3 year disease-free-survival (DFS) rate was 66%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The incidence of aGVHD was low, but of cGVHD was high in allo-PBSCT. sIL-2R and CD(25)(+) cells after PBSCT may provide predictive markers for aGVHD. The MMF/CsA/MTX regimen for prevention of aGVHD in allo-PBSCT is more effective than the CsA/MTX one. There was a strong antileukemic effect of GVHD in the allo-PBSCT.</p>

Role of interleukin-18 in pathogenesis of acute graft-versus-host disease / 中国实验血液学杂志

To investigate the relationship between interleukin-18 (IL-18) and human acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD), 26 patients undergoing allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (allo-PBSCT) were included in this study. IL-18 secreted by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNCs) was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) before transplantation and during aGVHD. The results showed that grade I GVHD and grades III-IV GVHD developed in 10 and 5 cases, respectively. The levels in the supernatants of MNCs from patients with aGVHD were significantly higher than those in the cases without aGVHD. The levels of IL-18 were correlated with the severity of aGVHD. It is concluded that IL-18 plays an important role in the development of aGVHD.