Association of smoking status with incident cardiovascular disease in the middle-aged and older male populations / 中华疾病控制杂志

Objective To investigate the association of smoking status with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its subtypes among the middle-aged and older male populations. Methods This study included 13 940 males from Dongfeng-Tongji (DFTJ) cohort who were free of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, cancer or severely abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) at baseline. All participants completed baseline questionnaires, physical examinations, clinical biochemical tests and blood sample collection. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confident intervals (CI) for the association analyses. Results Compared with never smokers, current smokers had significant higher risks of CVD, CHD and stroke, the adjusted HRs of current smokers who smoked for more than 40 pack-years were 1.49 (95% CI: 1.32-1.68, Ptrend=0.001), 1.40 (95% CI: 1.22-1.62, Ptrend=0.026) and 1.59 (95% CI: 1.26-2.00, Ptrend=0.029) for CVD, CHD and stroke, respectively; and the adjusted HRs of current smokers who started smoking before 20 years old were 1.29 (95% CI: 1.06-1.58, Ptrend=0.007) and 1.30 (95% CI: 1.03-1.64, Ptrend=0.010) for CVD and CHD, respectively. Former smokers who had quitted smoking for 10 or more years had significant lower risks of CVD (HR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.71-0.91, Ptrend=0.017) and stroke (HR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.50-0.84, Ptrend=0.207) when comparing to current smokers. Conclusions Smoking is significantly associated with higher risks of CVD, CHD and stroke, and greater amount of smoking and earlier age at smoking initiation are associated with a higher risk of CVD. Smoking cessation can reduce the risk of CVD.

Effect of glucosidorum tripterygii tororum on acute graft-versus-host disease in mice / 中国实验血液学杂志

To prevent acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD), glucosidorum tripterygii tororum (GTT) was used in the murine model. The lethally irradiated C57BL/6 recipients were injected with bone marrow and lymphocyte grafts from BALB/c donors and were treated intraperitoneally with GTT, cyclosporine A (CsA), or methotrexate (MTX). T lymphocytes, adhesion molecules and cytokines were detected by immunohistochemical method, flow cytometry, ELISA and RT-PCR, respectively. The results showed that all the control recipient mice (21/21) died of aGVHD within 30 days, but many recipient mice treated with GTT (19/21), CsA + MTX (13/21) and GTT + CsA (17/21) survived beyond 30 days without obvious signs of aGVHD. The numbers of CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+), CD11a(+), CD18(+) lymphocytes in skin and lung decreased markedly by GTT, GTT + CsA and CsA + MTX treatments. The numbers of CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+), CD4(+)CD11a(+), CD4(+)CD18(+), CD8(+)CD11a(+), CD8(+)CD18(+) lymphocytes in spleen decreased markedly by GTT, GTT + CsA and CsA + MTX treatments. and the changes of CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+) cells in small intestine were not remarkable (P > 0.05) by above mentioned GTT, GTT + CsA and CsA + MTX treatments. The serum concentrations and mRNA expressions of IL-2 and TNFalpha in spleens decreased significantly (P < 0.05); the concentration of IL-10 increased significantly (P < 0.05), the change of IL-4 was not remarkable (P > 0.05) by GTT treatment. It is concluded that the GTT may retain the graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect of transplant without aGVHD. The role of GTT in prevention of murine aGVHD is mediated by reduction of T lymphocytes and their subgroups, expression of adhesion molecule, and regulation of cytokine secretion.

Effects of hyperbaric oxygen and cyclosporin A on the levels ofactive oxygens and nitric oxide in spleens of skin transplanted mice / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM: To study effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) and cyclosporin A (CsA) on the contents of active oxygens and nitric oxide (NO) in spleens of skin transplanted mice. METHODS: The donor mice BALB/C and receptor mice Cs7BL/6 were tested for skin transplantation. The HBO group mice were,treated with 99.2 % oxygen under 0.25 MPa for 1.5 hours, while CsA group mice were treated with CsA 0.5 rmg· kg- t· d- 1 by abdomen injection. After 14 days, the spleen were extracted the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and NO and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH - PX), catalase (CAT) and NO synthases (NOS) were determined. RESULTS: (1) Compared with the control group, the transplantation group, HBO group and CsA group have markedly increased the content of MDA and the activities of GSH - PX and CAT; Compared with the transplantation group, the CsA group have markedly increased activity of SOD and reduced activities of GSH - PX and CAT; the HBO group have markedly reduced the activity of GSH - PX and increased the activities of CAT and SOD (P < 0.01 ). (2) Compared with the control group, the transplantation group have markedly increased the content of NO and the activity of NOS; Compared with the transplantation group, the HBO group have markedly increased the activity of NOS and reduced the content of NO ( P < 0.01 ); The content of NO and the activity of NOS in CsA group was not changed significantly. CONCLUSION: In the lymphocytes of the transplantation group, the peroxidation is intensified, and the content of NO and the activity of NOS increased. HBO and CsA may activate the systems of oxidation/antioxidation and NO/NOS in spleen, which may be related to their mechanism of inhibition rejection.