Effects of Ophiopogonis Root Decoction on a mouse model of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis based on PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway / 中成药

AIM To investigate the effects of Ophiopogonis Root Decoction on bleomycin(BLM)-induced idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis(IPF)in mice and to explore its metabolic modulation of immunity.METHODS The IPF mouse model was constructed by tracheal drip injection of BLM,and the mice were randomly divided into the control group,the model group,the pirfenidone group(0.3 g/kg)and the high,medium and low dose groups of Ophiopogonis Root Decoction(18,9,4.5 g/kg).HE and Masson staining,ELISA,flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the histopathological changes of the lung,the levels of Collagen I,HYP and TGF-β1,the proportion of PD-1+ CD4+T cells in plasma,and the expressions of p-STAT3,PD-1,PD-L1 and IL-17A in lung tissue,respectively.RESULTS Compared with the control group,the model group displayed significantly higher level of lung coefficients(P<0.01),more severe pulmonary inflammatory cell infiltration and collagen fiber deposition,and increased pulmonary fibrosis score(P<0.01),increased levels of Collagen I,HYP and TGF-β1(P<0.01),increased proportion of PD-1+ CD4+ T cells in plasma(P<0.01),increased pulmonary expression of p-STAT3,PD-1,PD-L1 and IL-17A(P<0.01).Compared with the model group,the Ophiopogonis Root Decoction groups shared lower levels of lung coefficients(P<0.05),less pulmonary inflammatory cell infiltration and collagen fiber deposition,decreased pulmonary fibrosis score(P<0.05),decreased levels of Collagen I,HYP and TGF-β1(P<0.05),decreased proportion of PD-1+ CD4+T cells in plasma(P<0.05),and decreased pulmonary expression of p-STAT3,PD-1,PD-L1,and IL-17A(P<0.05).CONCLUSION Ophiopogonis Root Decoction can significantly reduce extracellular matrix(ECM)deposition and curb the progression of IPF via inhibition of STAT3/PD-1/PD-L1 immunomodulatory signaling pathway.

Application of the OmniLogTM microbial identification system in the detection of the host spectrum for wild-type plague phage in Qinghai Plateau / 中国人兽共患病学报

The growth of three plague phages from Qinghai Plateau in two Yersinia pestis strains(plague vaccine strains EV76 and 614F)and four non-Yersinia pestis strains(Yersinia pseudotuberculosis PTB3,PTB5,Escherichia coli V517,and Yersinia enterocolitica 52302-2)were detected through a micromethod based on the OmniLogTM microbial identification system and by the drop method,to provide a scientific basis for future ecological studies and classification based on the host range.For plague vaccine strains EV76 and 614F,successful phage infection and subsequent phage growth were observed in the host bacte-rium.Diminished bacterial growth and respiration and a concomitant decrease in color were observed with the OmniLogTM mi-crobial identification system at 33 ℃ for 48 h.Yersinia pseudotuberculosis PTB5 was sensitive to Yersinia pestis phage 476,but Yersinia pseudotuberculosis PST5 was insensitive to phage 087 and 072204.Three strains of non-Yersinia pestis(Yersinia pseudotuberculosis PTB3,Escherichia coli V517,and Yersinia enterocolitica 52302-2)were insensitive to Yersinia pestis pha-ges 087,072204,and 476 showed similar growth curves.The growth of phages 476 and 087,as determined with the drop method,in two Yersinia pestis strains(plague vaccine strains EV76 and 614F)and four non-Yersinia pestis strains(Yersinia pseudotuberculosis PTB3,Escherichia coli V517,and Yersin-ia enterocolitica 52302-2)showed the same results at 37 ℃,on the basis of comparisons with the OmniLogTM microbial i-dentification system;in contrast,phages 072204 did not show plaques on solid medium at 37 ℃ with plague vaccine strains EV76 and 614F.Determination based on the OmniLogTM detection system can be used as an alternative to the traditional determination of the host range,thus providing favorable application val-ue for determining the interaction between the phage and host bacteria.

Research progress on autophagic flux regulation in cataract / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

Autophagic flux refers to a series of dynamic process of autophagic bilayer membrane formation, autophagosome formation, autophagolysosomes formation and degradation. The etiology of cataract is complex, including congenital abnormalities in lens development due to genetic mutations, oxidative damage due to aging, abnormalities in glucose metabolism due to diabetes, and proliferation of lens epithelial cells(LECs)stimulated by postoperative inflammatory factor, all of which are associated with the development of cataracts. A growing number of research in recent years have discovered that altering the status of LECs can contribute to the pathophysiological process of cataract by regulating autophagic flux. This review summarized the impacts of autophagic flux regulation on cataract.

Researchers' Knowledge About the Ethical Norms of National Natural Science Foundation of China Funded Medical Research:Current Status and Suggestions / 中国医学科学院学报

Objective To understand the current status of Chinese medical researchers' knowledge regarding the ethical norms of the research involving humans or laboratory animals,and provide reference for further improving the ethics review norms. Methods The questionnaire method was employed to survey the applicants for the 2019 projects supported by the Department of Medical Sciences,National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) about their knowledge of ethical requirements.Furthermore,the ethical supervision of the NSFC and affiliations at the project application and implementation stages was analyzed. Results The survey showed that 29.9% medical researchers were familiar with NSFC's ethical requirements for research involving human or laboratory animals.During the project application stage,59.0% affiliations adopted the simplified review method.Regarding the ethical supervison,95.5% medical researchers believed that the affiliations should fulfill the ethical supervision obligations and take relevant measures during the project implementation period.In addition,55.0% medical researchers fully agreed to discuss with the review experts about the ethical issues involved in the project. Conclusions The NSFC should establish rules and regulations to improve institutional management responsibilities and institutionalize the training about research ethics to comprehensively strengthening the training.Taking the management of research project ethics as a starting point,the NSFC should form a multi-party linkage between project funding and management and establish an accountability mechanism for ethics management.Furthermore,the NSFC should double the endeavors at the review of ethical issues during expert review and process management and attach importance to the research,judgment,and prevention of ethical risks.

Influencing factors of secondary primary cancer in patients with acute lymphoid leukemia / 公共卫生与预防医学

Objective To analyze the influencing factors of second primary cancer (SPC) in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methods The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database of the National Cancer Institute was used to extract data, and SEER*Stat program 8.4.0 was used to calculate the standardized incidence rate ratio (SIR) and absolute excess rate (AER). In addition, Cox regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) of different age, race, sex, chemotherapy, and radiation and other factors for secondary tumors by R 4.2.1, and Kaplan-Meier method was used to plot the cumulative incidence. Results A total of 22 407 cases were included, and the person-years of follow-up were 142780.82. There was a total of 436 SPC cases, 32 of which developed multiple cancers. The median time of secondary cancers was 47.5 months. Patients with ALL had a higher risk of SPC than the general population (SIR=2.27; 95% , CI:2.07-2.50), and the most observed SPC was lymphatic and hematopoietic system, with an SIR of 6.96 (95% CI:5.94-8.11). The risk of SPC in ALL patients diagnosed in different time periods showed an upward trend, from 1.98 in 2000 to 2.38 in 2019. With the increase of age, the risk of SPC in ALL patients gradually decreased. Chemotherapy reduced the risk of SPC (HR=0.26; 95%CI: 0.19-0.36), while radiotherapy increased the risk of SPC by 59.60% (HR=1.57; 95% CI: 1.23-2.00). Conclusion In the future, chemotherapy is recommended for ALL patients to reduce radiation exposure during radiotherapy, and more attention should be paid to the health status of ALL patients within 1-5 years after their onset.

Normative wideband absorbance measures in children: a cross-sectional study / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Objective: This study was to investigate the main characteristics and related factors of wideband absorbance (WBA) in children with normal hearing and to obtain age-specific reference range of WBA. Methods: 384 children between 0-12 years old (615 ears) who visited the Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University from October 2019 to February 2021 were enrolled, including 230 males (376 ears) and 154 females (239 ears), with totally 306 left ears and 309 right ears. Wideband tympanometry (WBT) was performed and normative WBA data were analyzed by SPSS 24.0 statistical software. Repeated measures and multivariate analysis of variance were applied to the data from 16 points at 1/3-octave frequencies (226, 324, 408, 500, 667, 841, 1 000, 1 297, 1 682, 2 000, 2 670, 3 364, 4 000, 5 339, 6 727 and 8 000 Hz) to evaluate the effects of frequency, age, external auditory canal pressures, gender and ear on WBA. Results: According to the WBT frequency-absorbance curve, the subjects were divided into seven groups: 1-month old group, 2-month old group, 3-month old group, 4-5 month old group, 6-24 month old group,>2-6 year old group and>6-12 year old group. The WBA of normal-hearing children underwent a series of developmental changes with age at both ambient pressure and tympanometric peak pressures. WBA results for 1-month group and 2-month old group exhibited a multipeaked pattern, with the peaks occurring around 2 000 and 4 897 Hz, and a notch around 3 886 Hz. WBA results for 3-month group and 4-5 month old group exhibited a single broad-peaked pattern, with the peak occurring between 2 000-4 757 Hz. The WBA of 1-month old group to 4-5 month old group decreased gradually at low frequency (226-408 Hz) and 6 727 Hz, and increased at middle to high frequency (2 670-4 000 Hz). The WBA of 6-24 month old group were significantly lower than that of 2-month old group to 4-5 month old group at all frequencies except 3 364 and 4 000 Hz. WBA results for 6-24 month old group,>2-6 year old group and>6-12 year old group exhibited a single-peaked pattern, and the peak frequency of WBA moved to the lower frequency successively. From 6-24 month old group to>6-12 year old group, the WBA gradually increased at low to middle frequencies (667-2 670 Hz) and 8 000 Hz, and decreased at middle to high frequencies (3 364-5 339 Hz). Among the 16 frequencies of all age groups, the difference between WBA under ambient pressure and tympanometric peak pressure were -0.09-0.06, and 43.75%-81.25% frequency points had statistically significant difference, which was mainly manifested in that WBA under ambient pressure were lower than that under tympanometric peak pressure at 226-1 682 Hz. There was no significant ear effect on all of the age groups. Similarly, there was no significant gender effect except for 3-month old group and 4-5 month old group. Conclusions: The WBA of normal-hearing children measured at ambient pressure and tympanometric peak pressure varied across the frequencies with age from 1 month to 12 years old, and different frequencies followed different change patterns (increase vs. decrease) in WBA. There was also significant external auditory canal pressures effect on all of the age groups. The establishment of age-specific reference range of WBA for 0-12 years old normal-hearing children in this study would be useful for clinical practice of determining normative data regarding WBT.

Clinical characteristics and diagnostic indicators of macrophage activation syndrome in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and adult-onset Still's disease / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To analyze and compare the clinical and laboratory characteristics of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD), and to evaluate the applicability of the 2016 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology/Paediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organization classification criteria for MAS complicating systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) in different auto-immune diseases contexts and to propose new diagnostic predictive indicators.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical and laboratory data of 24 SLE patients with MAS (SLE-MAS) and 24 AOSD patients with MAS (AOSD-MAS) who were hospitalized at Peking University People's Hospital between 2000 and 2018. Age- and sex-matched SLE (50 patients) and AOSD (50 patients) diagnosed in the same period without MAS episodes were selected as controls. The cutoff values for laboratory indicators predicting SLE-MAS and AOSD-MAS were determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Furthermore, the laboratory diagnostic predictive values for AOSD-MAS were used to improve the classification criteria for systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated MAS (sJIA-MAS), and the applicability of the revised criteria for AOSD-MAS was explored.@*RESULTS@#Approximately 60% of SLE-MAS and 40% of AOSD-MAS occurred within three months after the diagnosis of the underlying diseases. The most frequent clinical feature was fever. In addition to the indicators mentioned in the diagnosis criteria for hemophagocytic syndrome revised by the International Society for Stem Cell Research, the MAS patients also exhibited significantly elevated levels of aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase, along with a significant decrease in albumin. Hemophagocytosis was observed in only about half of the MAS patients. ROC curve analysis demonstrated that the optimal discriminative values for diagnosing MAS was achieved when SLE patients had ferritin level≥1 010 μg/L and lactate dehydroge-nase levels≥359 U/L, while AOSD patients had fibrinogen levels≤225.5 mg/dL and triglyceride levels≥2.0 mmol/L. Applying the 2016 sJIA-MAS classification criteria to AOSD-MAS yielded a diagnostic sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 62%. By replacing the less specific markers ferritin and fibrinogen in the 2016 sJIA-MAS classification criteria with new cutoff values, the revised criteria for classifying AOSD-MAS had a notable increased specificity of 86%.@*CONCLUSION@#Secondary MAS commonly occurs in the early stages following the diagnosis of SLE and AOSD. There are notable variations in laboratory indicators among different underlying diseases, which may lead to misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis when using uniform classification criteria for MAS. The 2016 sJIA-MAS classification criteria exhibit high sensitivity but low specificity in diagnosing AOSD-MAS. Modification of the criteria can enhance its specificity.

Clinical Characteristics and Diagnostic Methods of Pulmonary Mucormycosis / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

ObjectiveTo summarize the clinical features and prognosis of pulmonary mucormycosis （PM） in southern China， and to explore the diagnostic value of metagenomic next generation sequencing （mNGS） in PM. MethodsThe clinical manifestations， diagnosis， treatment and prognosis of patients diagnosed with PM in The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 1， 2019 to January 31， 2022 who had undergone mNGS detection in lung tissue or alveolar lavage fluid were collected retrospectively. A total of 14 patients with PM were included， including 4 patients with confirmed diagnosis and 10 patients with clinical diagnosis. ResultsAll patients had underlying medical conditions， with hematological malignancies and diabetes being the most common. The most common symptoms were fever （n = 10）， cough （n = 9） and shortness of breath （n = 9）. Consolidation was the most common sign of chest CT， followed by mass， mostly with cavity. On laboratory tests， decreased CD4+T lymphocytes， elevated CD8+T lymphocytes， and decreased CD4+/CD8+ ratio， and presentation with pleural effusion indicate poor prognosis. The positive rate of mNGS diagnosis was 78.5%， which was significantly higher than that of histopathology （50%）， fungus rapid fluorescence staining （61.5%） and fungal culture （23.1%） of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. ConclusionsPulmonary mucormycosis is more likely to occur in patients with underlying diseases or who are immunocompromised. The clinical manifestations lack specificity. The low CD4/CD8 ratio and presentation of pleural effusion on CT imaging indicate poor prognosis of patients. mNGS is a rapid， convenient and sensitive method for the diagnosis of PM， which has advantages in the diagnosis of pulmonary mucormycosis.

Design and Verification of Human Metabolic Measurement System Based on STM32 / 中国医疗器械杂志

A high-precision human metabolic measurement system is designed. The system uses STM32F103 as the main control chip to acquire oxygen, carbon dioxide and flow signals to calculate four quantitative indicators: oxygen consumption(VO2), carbon dioxide production(VCO2), respiratory entropy(RQ) and resting energy metabolism(REE), and finally uses an upper computer to display the calculation results.In this paper, the signal acquisition circuit design was carried out for the oxygen sensor, carbon dioxide sensor and flow sensor, and the validity of the device was verified with the American machine MGCDiagnositcs using Bland-Altman analysis method, and the results showed that the four parameters of VO2,VCO2, RQ and REE of both devices fell in the agreement interval of more than 95%. The device thus provides accurate metabolic measurements and offers an effective tool for the field of general health and clinical nutrition support in China.

Study on factors in patients to get rid of blindness with post traumatic infectious endophthalmitis / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM:To investigate the factors affecting patients with post traumatic infectious endophthalmitis(PTIE)relieving from blindness.METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on 169 patients(169 eyes)with PTIE from January 2010 to December 2020 in the department of ophthalmology, the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University. After treatment of intravitreal injection of antibiotics(IVIA)and/or pars plana vitrectomy(PPV), the patients were divided into the getting rid of blindness group(103 eyes)and unilateral blindness group(66 eyes)according to the last follow-up of best correct visual acuity(BCVA)≥0.05. The factors affecting the patients to get rid of blindness were analyzed.RESULTS: The rate of relieving from blindness was 53.5%. Univariate analysis showed that BCVA before treatment ≥ hand movement, no retinal detachment, fundus grade of endophthalmitis < grade 3 and no strong virulence of infected microorganisms were beneficial for patients to get rid of blindness(P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis identified that BCVA before treatment ≥ hand movement(OR=0.253, 95%CI: 0.108-0.592)and no retinal detachment(OR=0.241, 95%CI: 0.103-0.564)were favorable factors for patient to get rid of blindness.CONCLUSION: Better BCVA before treatment, no retinal detachment, endophthalmitis fundus grade < 3, and no strong virulence of infected microorganisms are favorable factors for patients with PTIE to get rid of blindness finally.

RNA m / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

The central nervous system controls high-level neural activities such as perception, movement, language, and cognition. As the most important part of the human nervous system, its normaldevelopment and functional activities are very important in the process of human development. A betterunderstanding of the essential molecular pathways that regulate the development of the nervous systemmay improve diagnoses and treatments for neurologic diseases, as well as basic biological understanding ofthe brain. The dynamic changes of the modified state of RNA N

Clinical characteristics of crystal deposits in joints and tendons in patients with gout / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the abnormal manifestations and clinical features of patients with gout according to the location of crystal deposits: in articulars or in tendons.@*METHODS@#A total of 105 patients with gout who were continuously treated in the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology of Peking University People's Hospital from June 2019 to December 2019 were selected and their knees, ankles, toes and painful joints and tendons were examined by high-frequency ultrasound. Then we grouped them according to the presence or absence of sodium urate crystals and the location of the crystals, collected their clinical data, and analyzed the clinical characteristics.@*RESULTS@#Among the 105 patients, 25 patients had no crystal deposits in the joints or tendons (as the non-crystal group), 43 patients had intra-articular crystals (as the joint group), and 37 patients had intra-tendon crystals with or without intra-articular crystals (as the tendon group). Among them, the most involved part of sodium urate crystals deposited in the joints was the metatarsophalangeal joint (29 cases, 67.4%), followed by knee joints (10 cases, 23.2%), ankle joints (9 cases, 20.9%). The most involved part of sodium urate crystals deposited in the tendon was the quadriceps tendon (16 cases, 43.2%), followed by the Achilles tendon (13 cases, 35.1%), the patellar tendon (12 cases, 32.4%), and the three heads of brachii tendons (5 cases, 13.5%). The three groups were compared using multi-sample analysis of variance/multi-sample rank sum test. Age, age of first increase in uric acid (UA), serum glucose (Glu) level and C reactive protein (CRP) were all significantly different. After multiple comparisons, compared with the non-crystal group, age, the age of first increase in uric acid, and CRP were significantly higher in the tendon group. There was no significant difference between the non-crystal group and the joint group. There was no significant difference between the tendon group and the joint group.@*CONCLUSION@#In patients with gout, it is common for ultrasound to find crystals deposited in joints or tendons. The most commonly affected parts include the metatarsophalangeal joint, knee joint, ankle joint, quadriceps tendon, Achilles tendon, patellar tendon, and triceps tendon. There were significant differences among the three groups in age, age of first increase in uric acid, CRP and blood glucose, and the proportion of urinary calculi in patients with crystal deposits was significantly higher than those without crystal deposits.

Studies on efficacy of a bioabsorbable steroid-eluting sinus stent in the frontal sinus opening of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Objective: To assess the efficacy of a bioabsorbable steroid-eluting sinus stent in improving surgical outcomes when placed in the frontal sinus ostium (FSO) following full endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) in patients with whole group chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). Methods: Patients with whole group CRSwNP who had similar lesions on bilateral sinus between September 2019 and March 2020 in Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Shanghai Changhai Hospital were chosen. Patients with CRSwNP who underwent extended ESS were randomly assigned to receive a steroid-eluting sinus stent in one FSO whereas the contralateral side received surgery alone. Endoscopic evaluations recorded at 30, 90 days postoperative were graded by an independent assessment panel to assess the need for interventions in the FSO. Semi-quantitative data with CT and endoscopic score were performed by rank sum test. The need for postoperative intervention and the patency rate of FSO were analyzed using the McNemar test. Results: Thirty-one patients with whole group CRSwNP met all eligible criteria, including 17 males and 14 females, with the age of (44.5±11.8) years(x¯±s). Stents were successfully placed in one FSO of all patients. At 30 days post-ESS, the assessment panel reported that steroid-eluting stents reduced the need for postoperative interventions by 41.0% (χ2=5.314,P=0.021), the need for oral steroid interventions by 40.0% (χ2=4.133,P=0.042) and the need for surgical interventions by 74.8% (χ2=4.292,P=0.038) compared to control sinuses with no stents. Clinical surgeons also reported greater diameter of FSO compared to control sinuses at 30 days post-ESS (74.2% vs 48.4%, χ2=4.351, P=0.037). These results at 90 days post-ESS were consistent with those at 30 days post-ESS. Conclusion: Bioabsorbable steroid-eluting sinus stents in the FSO can reduce polyp formation, adhesion, and the need for postoperative interventions in FSO of CRSwNP patients and improve the early postoperative outcomes.

Study on the feature of cortical auditory evoked potential under different auditory tasks in cochlear implant children / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Objective: To investigate the variation regularity and influencing factors of cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) evoked by pure tone, syllable and tone stimuli in cochlear implant (CI) children. Methods: Cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) responses were collected from 46 CI children in the sound field. Pure tones with frequencies of 1 kHz and 2 kHz were used as the standard and the deviant respectively in the pure tone stimulation condition. The Chinese Mandarin tokens/ba/-/pa/and/ba1/-/ba4/pairs were used as the stimuli respectively in the syllable and tone stimulation condition. The latency, amplitude and presence rate of P1 and mismatch negative(MMN) were obtained and the correlation between the difficulty of auditory task, the age of hearing month, the duration of severe-profound hearing loss, the wearing history of hearing aid before CI, the hearing threshold of the better ear before CI and the latency and amplitude of P1 and MMN were analyzed. All statistical analyses and figures were conducted using SPSS 25.0. Results: The P1 presence rate of pure tone, syllable and tone group was 100% (17/17), 100% (13/13) and 75.0% (12/16), respectively, with significant difference (χ²=8.214, P=0.016). There was significant difference between pure tone group and tone group (χ²=4.836, P=0.028), but no significant difference between pure tone group and syllable group, syllable group and tone group. The MMN presence rate of pure tone, syllable and tone group was 94.1% (16/17), 84.6% (11/13) and 62.5% (10/16), respectively, but no significant difference among the three groups with different auditory tasks(χ²=0.066, P=0.066). No significant difference was observed among the three groups of different auditory tasks in the latency and amplitude of P1 and MMN. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the latency of P1 was positively correlated with the difficulty of auditory task and the hearing threshold of the better ear before CI, and negatively correlated with hearing age and the history of hearing aid before CI. The latency of MMN was positively correlated with the difficulty of auditory task, and negatively correlated with hearing age. Conclusions: The P1 presence rate of pure tone auditory task is significantly higher than that of tone auditory task. The difficulty of auditory task, hearing age, the history of hearing aid before CI, and the hearing threshold of the better ear before CI has significant effects on the P1 latency. The difficulty of auditory task and hearing age has significant effects on the MMN latency.

Expression and significance of TGF-β1, p38MAPK and BMP-7 protein in liver specimens of patients with alveolar hepatic echinococcosis / 中国血吸虫病防治杂志

Objective To detect the expression of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), p38MAPK and bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) protein in the liver specimens of patients with hepatic alveolar echinococcosis, and to investigate the potential role of TGF-β1, p38MAPK and BMP-7 protein in hepatic fibrosis caused by hepatic alveolar echinococcosis. Methods A total of 20 patients with hepatic alveolar echinococcosis were enrolled as study subjects, and hepatic specimens were sampled from the sites within 0.5 cm (Group A) and 0.5 to 1.5 cm from hepatic alveolar echinococcosis lesions (Group B), while normal liver specimens sampled from the sites 2 cm and greater from hepatic alveolar echinococcosis lesions served as controls (Group C). The fibrosis of liver specimens was pathological examined using HE and Masson staining, and the expression of TGF-β1, p38MAPK and BMP-7 protein was quantified in liver tissues using Western blotting. The associations of TGF-β1, p38MAPK and BMP-7 protein expression with hepatic fibrosis were assessed. Results HE staining showed the malaligned structure of hepatocytes and destruction of the structure of hepatic lobules at various degrees in liver specimens in groups A and B, with hepatocyte degeneration, atrophy and necrosis, hyperplasia of fibrous tissues and eosinophilic granulocyte infiltration seen, while no abnormal pathological alterations of liver tissues, normal hepatocyte structure and morphology and uniform size, no malaligned structure of hepatocytes, clear structure of hepatic lobules, no or mild hepatocyte degeneration or necrosis, and no eosinophilic granulocyte infiltration were seen in Group C. Masson staining showed that there was hyperplasia of multiple fibrous connective tissues in the liver portal areas in groups A and B, with fibrosis seen in hepatic lobules, while no obvious pathological changes were seen in Group C. There were significant differences seen in TGF-β1 (P < 0.001), p38MAPK (P < 0.01) and BMP-7 protein (P < 0.05) expression in liver tissues in groups A, B and C, and higher TGF-β1, p38MAPK and BMP-7 protein expression was quantified in groups A and B than in Group C (all P values < 0.05), while greater TGF-β1, p38MAPK and BMP-7 protein expression was detected in Group B than in Group C (all P values < 0.05). The expression of TGF-β1, p38MAPK and BMP-7 protein correlated positively with the severity of hepatic fibrosis (r = 0.866, 0.702 and 0.801, all P values < 0.05), and there were significant differences in TGF-β1 (F = 72.580, P < 0.01), p38MAPK (χ2 = 31.705, P < 0.01) and BMP-7 protein expression (χ2 = 48.388, P < 0.01) among liver tissues with different degrees of fibrosis. The TGF-β1 protein expression correlated positively with p38MAPK and BMP-7 protein expression (r = 0.607 and 0.702, both P values < 0.001), and the BMP-7 protein expression also correlated positively with p38MAPK protein expression (r = 0.456, P < 0.001). Conclusion The interaction among TGF-β1, p38MAPK and BMP-7 jointly participates in the development of hepatic fibrosis induced hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.

Biochemical Activity of PIF1 Helicase from Thermophilic Bacteria / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

Petite integration frequency 1 (PIF1) helicases are ubiquitous enzymes which play vital roles in nearly all DNA metabolic processes. In recent years, the biochemical activity and three-dimensional structure of several PIF1 helicases have been reported, but there are few reports on the PIF1 helicase of bacteria living in extreme environments. In this paper, a series of biochemical and biophysical techniques were used to study the Thermodesulfovibrio yellowstonii PIF1 (Ty.PIF1) helicase in many aspects. Ty. PIF1 was obtained with a purity of over 90% and good uniformity using the prokaryotic expression and purification system. Ty.PIF1 is a monomer with a calculated molecular weight of 60 kD in solution. Ty. PIF1 has high thermal stability. The secondary structure remains stable when the temperature is below 65 ℃, and the secondary structure changes only when the temperature is above 70 ℃. The optimal unwinding temperature of Ty.PIF1 in vitro is 45 ℃, which is not the optimal temperature for the survival of thermodesulfovibrio yellowstonii. It indicates that when Ty.PIF1 exerts its enzymatic activity in vivo, it may require the participation of other cofactors. Ty.PIF1 can exert unwinding activity in a wide temperature range (20-55 ℃), and the presence of enzyme activity at 55 ℃ indicates that Ty.PIF1 has heat-resistant properties. Ty.PIF1 prefers to bind to substrates containing ssDNA, but there is certain requirement for the length of the ssDNA, which is at least 4 nt in length. Ty.PIF1 can also bind to the G

Blood homocysteine level in Shanghai rural residents with high risk of stroke / 上海预防医学

Objective:To determine the blood level of homocysteine （Hcy） and its influencing factors among Shanghai rural residents with high risk of stroke and to verify if hyperhomocysteinemia （HHcy） is a main biomarker of stroke. Methods:With a clustered random sampling method， questionnaire survey and physical examination were conducted among 4 073 rural residents， aged 55 years and above， in Luojing community， Shanghai， in 2018. A total of 470 residents were at high-risk for stroke based on screening of plasma Hcy and other blood indicators. Multivariate logistic regression method was performed for data analysis. Results:The overall level of Hcy was （18.92±6.37）μmol/L， with （20.40±5.89）μmol/L for men and （17.87±2.12）μmol/L for women （t=5.431，P<0.001）. HHcy was detected in 78.94%（371/470） of the participants， in which 85.77%（235/274） were men and 69.39%（136/196） were women （χ2=12.400，P=0.001）. In the high-risk male group， subjects with smoking history， overweight or obesity， exercise frequency <1 h/d， and hypertension has a higher detection rate of HHcy than those without smoking history， normal body mass index， exercise frequency ≥1 h/d and without hypertension （χ2=11.340，8.170，8.200， and 12.400， respectively， all P<0.01）. However， there was no significant difference in HHcy detection rate in different age groups and between the patients with or without diabetes， and dyslipidemia（χ2=3.120，2.311， and 0.984， respectively， all P>0.05）. In the high-risk women group， HHcy detection rate increased with age （χ2=13.874，P<0.01）， and it was higher in participants with overweight or obesity， exercise frequency < 1 h/d， hypertension， and dyslipidemia（χ2=10.278， 13.840， 14.100， and 12.330， respectively， all P<0.01）. Unconditional logistic regression analysis showed that the factors affecting HHcy in the high-risk population of stroke include being male， smoking， hypertension， overweight and obesity. Conclusion:Screening of high-risk populations for stroke should include blood level of Hcy.

Automatic Adjustment Algorithm of Bed Height for Multi-position Lower Limb Rehabilitation Robot / 中国康复理论与实践

Objective:To develop an automatic adjustment algorithm of bed height of multi-position lower limb rehabilitation robot, to meet the variety of leg lengths and training modes to avoid the collision between robot and ground. Methods:Six mathematical models of robot bed body height were established for six training modes of multi-position lower limb rehabilitation robot, which were described with leg length and bed tilt angle. The influence was analyzed that mechanical clearance and deflection as well as the jitter error of leg bracket during movement. Furthermore, a software related to these models was developed to automatically adjust the bed height for training. Volunteers were recruited to test actually. Results:The test data of bed height are consistent with the theoretical calculation of six mathematical models. Clearance and deflection did not affect the theoretical results of bed height. The end of robot's lower limb was always above the safe height during rehabilitation training. Conclusion:The automatic adjustment algorithm of bed height has been established, which can ensure that the rehabilitation robot runs at a safe height.

Variable Quasi-circular Gait Planning with Smooth Angular Acceleration for Lower Limb Rehabilitation / 中国康复理论与实践

Objective:To solve the problem of leg shaking caused by the sudden change of angular acceleration at the joint of periodic motion during circular gait training of lower limb rehabilitation robot. Methods:A kind of quasi-circular gait was proposed, which divided the periodic motion into three phases: start phase, middle phase and end phase. The time was equal in the start phase and the end phase, and could be adjusted with the parameter ratio. The joint trajectories of the two phases were planned by quintic polynomial, and the middle phase was still the circular gait joint trajectory. The trajectory of the proposed quasi-circular gait was simulated. Results:The angular velocity was continuously differentiable and 0, the angular acceleration was continuous and 0, and the end-effector trajectory became flat with the increase of ratio. The results on the physical prototype of the lower limb rehabilitation robot were principally consistent with the simulation, and the machine worked smoothly. Conclusion:The proposed variable quasi-circular gait had smooth angular acceleration at the junction of periodic motions, which effectively solved the jitter problem when using circular gait for lower limb rehabilitation training and avoided secondary injury to the patients.

Efficacy of Pinggan Yuyin Qingre Recipe for Treatment of Hyperevaporative Dry Eye Disease Caused by Meibomian Gland Dysfunction / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To observe the therapeutical effect and the safety of Pinggan Yuyin Qingre recipe on the hyperevaporative dry eye disease （Yin deficiency and Yang hyperactivity type） caused by the meibomian gland dysfunction（MGD）. Method:The 120 Consecutive outpatients who met the criteria were included in the trial and divided into three layers （mild， moderate and severe） according to the meibomian gland function classification （grade 1-3）. The patients in each layer were randomly assigned to the experiment group and the control group at a ratio of 1∶1. Both groups were treated with sodium hyaluronate eye drops， 1 drop/eye/time， 3 times a day. In the experiment group， Pinggan Yuyin Qingre recipe was additionally prescribed two times a day. The treatment course was 8 weeks in both groups. All patients were evaluated at the beginning and end of the study mainly for noninvasive tear breakup time （NITBUT），corneal lesions score，meibomian gland exclusion score，meibomian gland structure，eye symptom score，the ocular surface disease index（OSDI） score，and the traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） syndrome scores at both overall and layered levels. Result:A total of 116 cases completed the study，with 1 drop-out case and 3 eliminated cases. Both before and after treatment，NITBUT，the corneal lesions score，the symptom score，and the OSDI score in the experiment group were significantly superior to the control group， but there was no significant difference in meibomian gland exclusion score between two groups，only with a superior tendency in experiment group. There were significant differences in the scores of the related TCM syndrome scores between two groups after treatment. There were no adverse reactions， no abnormal changes in electro cardiogram （ECG） or liver and kidney functions in all patients. Conclusion:Pinggan Yuyin Qingre recipe can effectively improve the hyperevaporative dry eye disease caused by meibomian gland dysfunction， the tear film stability，eye dryness， burning，itching，foreign body sensation and TCM symptoms of patients with dry eye syndrome of Yin deficiency and Yang hyperactivity. The improvement effect is more obvious in moderate and severe patients. It is an effective，safe，and well-tolerated treatment for the hyperevaporative dry eye.