Effect of three different gargling liquid on bacterial colonies in air during oral ultrasound scaling / 中国感染控制杂志

Objective To evaluate the effect of different gargling liquid on colony number in air during oral ultrasound scaling for patients with periodontitis.Methods Patients with mild (n=54), moderate (n=54), and severe chronic periodontitis (n=54) were selected, then patients with same degree of periodontitis were randomly divided into three groups, with 18 in each group. Before scaling, patients in each group of mild, moderate, and severe periodontitis were given honeysuckle liquid (gargle A), 3％ hydrogen peroxide (gargle B), and normal saline (gargle C) respectively. Bacterial culture and identification of air specimens were conducted at 0 and 30 minutes after the beginning of ultrasonic scaling as well as 10, 20 minutes after the end of ultrasonic scaling.Results Variance analysis of three-factor factorial design data showed that degree of periodontitis, types of gargling liquid, and sampling time had interaction (F=2.666, P=0.002). Comparisons of air colonies: At the beginning of scaling, there was no significant difference in colony number of air around patients using different gargling liquid in mild, moderate and severe groups (all P＞0.05). Among patients using the same gargling liquid at 30 minutes after the beginning of scaling, colony number of air was the lowest around patients with mild periodontitis and the highest around patients with severe periodontitis, colony numbers of air around patients with gargle A and B were lower than that of patients with gargle C. Comparison of each sampling points showed that colony number of air around the right side of patients' head was highest, differences were all statistically significant (all P＜0.05). 20 minutes after the end of scaling, there was no significant difference in colony number among groups compared before scaling (all P＞0.05). The main isolated strains in the air were Streptococcus viridans (32.53％), coagulase negative staphylococcus (24.56％), and filamentous fungi (18.48％).Conclusion There are variety of opportunistic pathogens in the air during oral ultrasound scaling, and the number of colonies is positively correlated with the degree of periodontitis. honeysuckle liquid has a good effect on reducing the number of air colonies during and after scaling.

Interventional effect of epalrestat on renal interstitial fibrosis in unilateral ureteral obstruction rats and its mechanism / 中国应用生理学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the protective effects of epalrestat (EPS) on interstitial fibrosis in unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) rats and its mechanism.@*METHODS@#Rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham group, UUO group, UUO + epalrestat (50 or 100 mg/kg), 8 rats in each group.Rats in UUO and UUO + epalrestat group were obstructed left ureter.In the sham group, rats had their left ureters exposed and manipulated without ligation.Animals for epalrestat treatment received daily drug via gavage for 3 weeks, the rats of sham and UUO groups received equal amount of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose with the same regimen.Renal tissues pathological changes and collagen deposition were observed by HE and Masson's staining.The aldose reductase(AR) expression in renal tissues was measured by immunohistochemisty.The expression levels of collagen I, collagen III, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), fibroblast-specific protein1 (FSP-1), fibronectin (FN), epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and AR from kidney tissues were measured by real-time RT-PCR or Western blot.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the sham group, the renal tissues of the UUO group showed significant fibrosis, including renal tubular epithelial cell atrophy and vacuolated degeneration, collagen deposition, fibroblasts and myofibroblasts proliferation and inflammatory cell infiltration, and concomitantly with the expressions of collagen I, collagen III, TGF-β1, AR, α-SMA, FSP-1 and FN were remarkably up-regulated, but E-cadherin was significantly reduced in UUO group.Compared with the UUO group, after 3 weeks epalrestat administration, the level of renal interstitial fibrosis was obviously ameliorated and the expressions of collagen I, collagen III, TGF-β1, AR, α-SMA, FSP-1 and FN were remarkably down-regulated, but E-cadherin was significantly increased in rats of epalrestat groups.@*CONCLUSION@#These results suggest that epalrestat attenuates renal interstitial fibrosis possibly through inhibition of EMT via inhibiting TGF-β1 and AR expression.

Proliferation of MicroRNA-365 and E74-like Factor 4 in Cervical Cancer Cells and Its Clinical Significance / 中国医学科学院学报

Objective To investigate the expressions,roles,and clinical significance of microRNA-365(miR-365)and E74-like factor 4(ELF4)in cervical cancer. Methods The expressions of miR-365 in normal cervical tissues(n=34),cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1(CIN 1)(n=31),cervical intraepithelial neoplasia2-3(CIN 2-3)(n=37),squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix(SCC)(n=33),and three cervical cancer cell lines(C33A cells,Hela cells,and SiHa cells)were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR).Bioinformatic prediction and luciferase reporter gene assay were performed to verify whether ELF4 was a direct target of miR-365.Western blot and immunohistochemistry were used to detect ELF4 expression in cervical cancer cells and in different pathological cervix tissues.CCK8 assay was used to detect the effect of overexpression or inhibition of miR-365 on the proliferation of cervical cancer cells at different time points.The relationships among the miR-365 expression,ELF4 expression,and clinicopathological parameters of cervical cancer were analyzed by correlation analysis. Results qPCR results showed that compared with the normal cervical cell HcerEpic,the expressions of miR-365 in CIN1,CIN2-3,and cervical cancer tissues gradually decreased with the increased pathologic grade,and its expressions also decreased in different cervical cancer cell lines.The luciferase reporter gene assay confirmed that ELF4 was the direct target of miR-365.Western blot showed that the expression of ELF4 increased in all three cervical cancer cell lines compared with normal cervical epidermal cell(P=0.013,P=0.002,P=0.004).Immunohistochemistry showed that ELF4 expression was up-regulated in CIN and cervical cancer tissues.CCK8 assay showed that overexpression of miR-365 inhibited cell proliferation,while inhibition of miR-365 promoted the proliferation of three cervical cancer cells(PConclusion The decreased expression of miR-365 in human cervical cancer cells relieves its inhibitory effect on ELF4,which promotes the proliferation of cervical cancer cells and the formation of tumor.

Analysis of Gene Mutation Types of Thalassemia in Fuzhou Area of China / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the gene mutation types and spectrum of α, β-thalassemia in Fuzhou area of China.@*METHODS@#Thalassemia gene screening was performed in the women receiving physical, prenatal, and pre-pregnancy examination, and the patients with suspected thalassemia in our hospital from July 2013 to March 2018.Genotypes of thalassem were detected by Gap-PCR and RDB-PCR.@*RESULTS@#1042 were positive among 2074 suspected cases with a positive rate of 50.24%; 618 cases were confirmed to be α-thalassemia and with a positive rate of 29.8%; 409 cases were confirmed to be β-thalassemia with a positive rate of 19.72%. 15 cases were confirmed to be α-β complex thalassemia with a positive rate of 0.72%. the --/αα(76.54%) was the most common genotype among α-thalassemia, -α/αα(10.03%) and -α/αα(2.91%) in hot pursuit. In addition, IVS-II-55 (T->G) and IVS-II-119 (-G, +CTCGGCCC) were newly found alpha mutations; the IVS-2-654 (C→T) (40.83%) was the most common genotype among β-thalassemia, CD41-42 (-TCTT) (35.94%) and CD17 (A→T) (9.78%) in hot pursuit.@*CONCLUSION@#The genotype of thalassemia in Fuzhou area is highly heterogenic, --/αα is the most common genotype among α-thalassemia, IVS-2-654 (C→T) is the most common genotype among β-thalassemia, Meanwhile, two α-mutation sites are found in this study which were not reported in the Database of Human Hemoglobin Variants and Thalassemias.

Rutaecarpine protects against bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis through inhibiting Notch1/eIF3a signaling pathway in rats / 中国中药杂志

To investigate whether the protection of rutaecarpine against bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis is mediated by inhibiting Notch1/eukaryotic initiation factor 3a (eIF3a) signaling pathway, and whether these effects are related to the synthesis and release of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of alveolar epithelial cells, male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups (=12), respectively, Control group, bleomycin group, rutaecarpine (100, 300 mg·kg⁻¹) group and capsaicin plus rutaecarpine (300 mg·kg⁻¹) group. Bleomycin (5 mg·kg⁻¹) was used to induce pulmonary fibrosis rat model. Rats were given capsaicin (50 mg·kg⁻¹) by subcutaneous injections 1 days before and 7, 14, 21 days after induce pulmonary fibrosis rat model to deplete endogenous CGRP. At the end of experiments, blood was collected from carotid artery to determinate the plasma levels of CGRP by ELISA. Pulmonary tissue change was observed by HE staining. Masson's trichrome stain was used to demonstration collagen deposition. The collagen I expression in pulmonary tissue was measured by immunohistochemisty. The expression of CGRP, Notch1, eIF3a, collagen I, vimentin, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), E-cadherin and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) was detected by qPCR or Western blot. Compared with the control group, the pulmonary tissue of the bleomycin group showed significant fibrosis, including significant disturbed alveolar structure, marked thickening of the interalveolar septa and dense interstitial infiltration by inflammatory cells and fibroblasts, and concomitantly with the decrease in plasma CGRP and expression of CGRP. Importantly the expression of E-cadherin and ZO-1 was decreased and expression of Notch1, eIF3a, collagen I, vimentin and α-SMA was increased in bleomycin group (<0.05 or <0.01). Compared with the bleomycin group, rutaecarpine (100, 300 mg·kg⁻¹) group significantly reduced bleomycin-induced pulmonary injury concomitantly with the increase in plasma CGRP and expression of CGRP. Importantly the expression of E-cadherin and ZO-1 was increased and expression of Notch1, eIF3a, collagen I, vimentin and α-SMA was decreased by rutaecarpine treatment (<0.05 or <0.01). All these effects of rutaecarpine were abolished by capsaicin.These results suggest that rutaecarpine protects against bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis by inhibiting Notch1/eIF3a signaling pathway, alleviating EMT process, which is related to the increased synthesis and release of CGRP.

Epalrestat inhibits PDGF-induced proliferation of rat PASMCs by inhibiting aldose reductase expression / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

OBJECTIVE To explore the inhibitory effects of epalrestat (EPS) on platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-induced rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells proliferation by inhibiting aldose reductase (AR) expression.METHODS Primary rat pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) were prepared from the pulmonary artery of male 10-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats using explant method.PDGF 30 mg·L-1was given to induce cell proliferation.After PASMCs grew to 70%-80% conflu?ence, AR small-interferring RNA(ARsiRNA) was transfected with Lipofectamine 3000 into PASMCs. After 24 h,the expression and activity of AR were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR),Western blotting and spectrophotometric method,respectively to investigate EPS on PASMCs proliferation and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and collagenⅠexpression induced by PDGF from in vitro. PASMCs (normal control, PDGF 30 mg·L-1, PDGF+EPS 1, 10 and 100 μmol·L-1,EPS 100 μmol·L-1)were treated according to groups.Cell proliferation was measured by BrdU marking and flow cytometry. The expressions of AR, PCNA and collagenⅠwere analyzed with RT-qPCR and Western blotting.RESULTS In cultured PASMCs,compared with normal control group, the application of exogenous PDGF-induced cell proliferation concomitantly up-regulated AR expres?sion and activity (P<0.01), and such effect was abolished by ARsiRNA. Compared with PDGF group, EPS attenuated PDGF-induced proliferation of PASMCs,expression of PCNA,and collagenⅠ(P<0.05, P<0.01),and the inhibitory effect of EPS was accompanied by inhibition of AR expression(P<0.05,P<0.01).CONCLUSION EPS inhibits PDGF-induced proliferation of PASMCs via inhibiting AR expression.

Application of chitosan scaffolds in tissue engineering / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: Chitosan as a functional polymer material has been widely used in the field of biomedicine, and it is an intelligent material with sensor function, feedback function and response function.OBJECTIVE: To discuss the recent application of chitosan scaffolds in different fields of tissue engineering, and to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of chitosan as a scaffold material. METHODS: The key words of "tissue engineering, scaffold, chitosan" in Chinese and English were used to search CNKI and PubMed databases for relevant articles published from 2000 to 2016. After the initial screening,the reserved articles were further detailed, summarized and concluded. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Due to its biological properties such as being biocompatible, biodegradable and carrying many different growth factors, chitosan has been widely used in the tissue engineering field for repair of different tissues including nerve tissue, periodontal tissue, bone tissue, and myocardial tissue. However, the application of chitosan as a scaffold in tissue engineering is limited due to its shortcoming. The combination of chitosan and other biocompatible materials provides a solution to these limitations, which greatly broadens the application of chitosan.

Application of chitosan scaffolds in tissue engineering / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: Chitosan as a functional polymer material has been widely used in the field of biomedicine, and it is an intelligent material with sensor function, feedback function and response function.OBJECTIVE: To discuss the recent application of chitosan scaffolds in different fields of tissue engineering, and to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of chitosan as a scaffold material. METHODS: The key words of "tissue engineering, scaffold, chitosan" in Chinese and English were used to search CNKI and PubMed databases for relevant articles published from 2000 to 2016. After the initial screening,the reserved articles were further detailed, summarized and concluded. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Due to its biological properties such as being biocompatible, biodegradable and carrying many different growth factors, chitosan has been widely used in the tissue engineering field for repair of different tissues including nerve tissue, periodontal tissue, bone tissue, and myocardial tissue. However, the application of chitosan as a scaffold in tissue engineering is limited due to its shortcoming. The combination of chitosan and other biocompatible materials provides a solution to these limitations, which greatly broadens the application of chitosan.

Genetic diversity analysis of germplasm of authentic Astragalus membranaceus in Inner Mongolia / 中草药

Objective: To establish an optimum reaction system suitable for ISSR analysis of Astragalus membranaceus and to analyze the genetic diversity of wild populations in Inner Mongolia. Methods: A stable and reliable ISSR reaction system was set up combining the concentration gradient of the single factor test and orthogonal test. The genetic diversity of 30 A. membranaceus populations in nine zones of Inner Mongolia was analyzed using NTSYS2.1 software. Results: The optimal ISSR reaction system (20 μL) contained 10 × PCR buffer 2.0 μL, 1.5 mmol/L MgCl2, 0.4 mmol/L deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate (dNTP), 1.5 U Taq DNA polymerase, 0.5 μmol/L primer, and 40 ng template DNA. A total of 169 amplified loci were detected by 15 ISSR primers, in which 157 loci were polymorphic loci with the percentage of 75%~100%. The genetic distance amplitude ranged between 0.242 7-0.730 8. The clustering analysis showed that 30 A. membranaceus populations could be divided into two categories, and most of them corresponded to the geographical distribution. Conclusion: ISSR-PCR reaction system for A. membranaceus is stable and reliable. Wild resources of A. membranaceus in Inner Mongolia have higher genetic diversity. The genetic relationship of the populations is correlated with its geographic location.

Laryngo-tracheobronchial amyloidosis: a case report and review of literature / 中国医学科学杂志(英文版)

AMYLOIDOSIS is a benign process which can have systemic involvement. Though larynx is the common site of localized amyloidosis in the head and neck region,1 it was seldom reported with heterochronous implication of bilateral ventricles. Here we report a case of laryngeal amyloidosis heterochronously localized at bilateral ventricles with tracheobronchial involvement. Combined with our experience we reviewed the literature, and discuss the pertinent managements of this condition.

Effect of quercetin on heat shock protein 27 expression in prostate cancer cells / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the mRNA expression of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) in different prostate cancer cell lines including RWPE-1, LNCaP, PC-3, and TSU-Pr1 and to further analyze the effect of quercetin on PC-3 cell lines.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The in vitro cultured human prostate cancer cell lines RWPE-1, LNCaP, PC-3, and TSU-Pr1 were randomly divided into four groups: control group; negative control group (treated with dimethyl sulfoxide), high-dose group (treated with 150 Μl 0.6 mg/ml quercetin), and low-dose group (treated with 150 Μl 0.3 mg/ml quercetin). The mRNA expression of HSP27 was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunofluorescence staining.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>RT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining showed that HSP27 expression were highly dependent on the cell types and increased in an order of RWPE-1, LNCaP, PC-3, and TSU-Pr1 after quercetin treatment. The HSP27 mRNA expression levels were 128%, 110%, 50%, and 60% in control group, negative control group, high-dose group, and low-dose group. Obviously, it was significantly lower in the high-dose group and low-dose group than in the control group (both P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>HSP27 expression level is associated with the the degree of prostate cancer. Quercetin may inhibit HSP27 expression in PC-3 cell.</p>

The effect of emodin on the contraction of isolated jejunum smooth muscle of rats / 中国应用生理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of emodin on the contraction of jejunum smooth muscle and its underlying mechanisms.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Rats were randomly divided into 7 groups (n = 6): control group, emodin group (1, 5, 10, 20 micromol/L), propranolol (PRO) plus emodin group, glibenclamide (GLI) plus emodin group, NG-Nitro-L-arginine Methyl Ester (L-NAME) plus emodin group, calcium free control group and calcium free emodin group. The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the small intestine was isolated. The jejunum segment specimens were mounted on an Organ Bath System with a tension transducer. The effect of emodin on contraction of jejunum smooth muscle was measured by BL-420E+ biological signal processing system and the amplitude (AM), tension (TE) and frequency (FR) of contraction were determined.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) Emodin inhibited the tension and amplitude of jejunum smooth muscle contraction in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05, P < 0.01) while the frequency was not obviously influenced. (2) PRO (P < 0.05) or GLI (P < 0.01) partly abolished the inhibitory effect of emodin on jejunum smooth muscle. (3) L-NAME had no obvious effect on the inhibitory effect of emodin. (4) Emodin attenuated the contraction of jejunum smooth muscle induced by calcium chloride application into calcium free K-H solution (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Emodin obviously inhibits the amplitude and tension, while has no influence on the frequency of jejunum smooth muscle contraction in rats. Activation of beta adrenergic receptor, open of ATP sensitive potassium channels, and inhibition of the extracellular calcium influx through calcium channels of smooth muscle cell membrane might be involved in the process.</p>

Cognitive function of 172 cases of 6 - 13 years old children with epilepsy in regular school / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the cognitive function, its correlation with and the impact on quality of life in epileptic children aged 6-13 years in regular school.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Cognitive function of 172 children with various types of epilepsy were measured using a computerized neuropsychological test battery including six items. Their scores across the neuropsychological measures were compared with 172 healthy control subjects from the general population strictly matched for age, sex and the region where education was accepted. The quality of life was measured in 105 cases by the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31).</p><p><b>RESULT</b>(1) After adjusting for age, gender, and education, children with epilepsy performed significantly worse than healthy control subjects on 5 of 6 cognitive tasks, including Raven's progressive matrices correct number (8.6 vs. 14.0), choice reaction time (620.4 ms vs. 489.5 ms), word-rhyming tasks (2796.9 ms vs. 2324.4 ms), simple substraction correct number (28.6 vs. 35.5)as well as number comparision (1002.4 ms vs. 803.1 ms), P < 0.01. When an impairment index was calculated, 44.2% patients had at least one abnormal score on the test battery, compared with 14.5% of healthy volunteers, there was statistically significant differences between the two groups, P < 0.001. (2) Children with new onset epilepsy before the treatment with anti-epilepstic drugs performed significantly worse than healthy controls on 5 of 6 cognitive tasks, including Raven's progressive matrices correct number (9.1 vs. 13.8), choice reaction time (625.8 ms vs.474.5 ms), word-rhyming tasks(3051.8 ms vs. 2575.4 ms), simple substraction correct number (28.9 vs. 35.3) as well as number comparison (942.4 ms vs. 775.8 ms), P < 0.01. (3) Cognitive performance was not related to the age of onset, type of epilepsy, therapy duration or comorbid emotional and behavior disorders, P > 0.05. (4) 105 cases filled in the QOLIE-31 questionaire, the total score of the quality of life in the group without cognitive impairment and psychical conditions was the highest (60.5 ± 0.9), and the lowest total score was found in group with cognitive impairment and psychical conditions (54.6 ± 1.5), there were highly significant differences between the groups, P < 0.001.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Almost one-half of the children with epilepsy accepting regular education had at least one abnormal score in the battery tests. Newly diagnosed untreated patients with epilepsy are cognitively compromised before the start of antiepileptic drug medication. Cognitive impairment was not related to the epilepsy-related or psychiatric variables. Cognitive impairment and mental disorders require further attention and essential therapy, which is important to the improvement of the quality of life in epileptic children.</p>

Genetic characteristics of EV71 in Yunnan Province from 2009 to 2010 / 病毒学报

In order to learn about the genetic characteristic of human enterovirus type71 (HEV71) isolated from cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) in Yunnan Province from 2009 to 2010. 50 isolates form HFMD cases were performed entire VP1 coding region amplification by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and sequencing the nucleotide sequences; then the phylogenetic tree was constructed. The complete nucleotide sequences of region VP1 of the 50 strains were all 891nt length coding 297 amino acids. The result of molecular identification of the 50 strains is HEV71. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that 48 EV71 isolates belonged to subgenotype C4a and 2 EV71 isolates belonged to genotype A. From 2009 to 2010, the pathogen of HFMD cases were EV71 strains in Yunnan province, which were co-evolved with isolates from other provinces in mainland of China. There was no significant difference found in the whole sequence of VP1 gene of the strains isolated from different regions or under different diseases occurred, but the spread of genetype A appared in Yunnan Province in 2009.

Protective effect of intranasal cilostazol administration on chronic injury after cerebral ischemia in mice / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the protective effect of cilostazol administrated intranasally on chronic injury after focal cerebral ischemia in mice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Focal cerebral ischemia in mice was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Cilostazol was administrated intranasally or intraperitoneally 1 h, 4 h and 7 h after the operation; then twice a day from the second day for 2 weeks. The neurological deficit scoring and the inclined board testing were performed within 35 d after ischemia. The survival rate, infarct volume and neuron density were assessed 35 d after ischemia.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Intranasal cilostazol at 0.3 mg/kg increased the survival rate. Intranasal cilostazol (0.3 mg/kg, 1 mg/kg) and intraperitoneal cilostazol (10 mg/kg) significantly attenuated neurological deficit, reduced infarct volume, and increased the survival neuron density in the border of ischemia region.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Cilostazol administered intranasally demonstrates protective effects on chronic cerebral ischemia in mice.</p>

Impact of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 on tumor invasion and metastasis in breast cancer / 中华病理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate HIF-1α gene expression in human breast cancer cells and the role of HIF-1 in tumor metastasis and invasion.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Human breast cancer cell lines were cultured under normoxic or hypoxic conditions. Western blot was used to evaluate the protein expression of HIF-1α, p-vimentin and α-tubulin. Small interfering RNA targeting HIF-1α was used to block the expression of HIF-1α in MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3 cell lines. Matrigel transwell and cell wound healing assays were used to detect the capability of cellular invasion and migration, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Under normoxic condition, all the cell lines tested showed a base-level of HIF-1α expression. The highest expression level of HIF-1α protein was obtained in the MDA-MB-231 cell line, which is also noticed to be highly invasive and migratory in behavior. HIF-1α siRNA was capable of blocking the protein expression of both HIF-1α and p-vimentin and in addition, the attenuated ability of invasion and migration.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Since HIF-1 is able to promote invasion and metastasis of tumor cells, which may be considered as a target in anti-cancer therapy.</p>

Review of Research on Xanthan Gum Degradation / 微生物学通报

The progress in the biochemistry and degradation of xanthan gum were reviewed. Significance and technique of xanthan gum degradation were stressed. Biodegradation was discussed significantly and prospect of xanthan degradation was depicted.

Effects of heparanase inhibition by RNA interference on proliferation, invasiveness and apoptosis of lung cancer cells / 中华病理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of heparanase expression inhibition on the proliferation, invasiveness and apoptosis of human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid pshRNA-Hpa targeting human heparanase gene was constructed. A549 cells were cultured in DMEM and transfected with pshRNA-Hpa. The expression of heparanase mRNA and protein were examined by RT-PCR and Western blot. The proliferation, invasiveness and apoptotic rates of A549 cells were determined by MTT method, matrigel invasion assays and flow cytometry respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression levels of heparanase mRNA and protein were down-regulated in A549 transfected with pshRNA-Hpa. The number of cells penetrating matrigel and the proliferation ability of A549 cells transfected with pshRNA-Hpa were reduced significantly compared to the control cells. The apoptotic rate of A549 cells transfected with pshRNA-Hpa was 12.53% +/- 0.34%, being significantly higher than that of the control cells (both P < 0.01). Western-blot showed that inhibition of heparanase expression led to reduced Akt phosphorylation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The recombinant plasmid pshRNA-Hpa effectively inhibited the expression of heparanase, thus suppressing the proliferation and invasion and inducing apoptosis of A549 cells. The effects may be due to the down-regulation of Akt phosphorylation level.</p>

A time series analysis of outdoor air pollution and preterm birth in Shanghai, China / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relation between air pollution exposure and preterm birth in Shanghai, China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We examined the effect of ambient air pollution on preterm birth using time-series approach in Shanghai in 2004. This method can eliminate potential confounding by individual risk factors that do not change over a short period of time. Daily numbers of preterm births were obtained from the live birth database maintained by Shanghai Municipal Center of Disease Control and Prevention. We used the generalized additive model (GAM) with penalized splines to analyze the relation between preterm birth, air pollution, and covariates.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>We observed a significant effect of outdoor air pollution only with 8-week exposure before preterm births. An increase of 10 microg/m3 of 8-week average PM10, SO2, NO2, and O3 corresponded to 4.42% (95%CI 1.60%, 7.25%), 11.89% (95%CI 6.69%, 17.09%), 5.43% (95%CI 1.78%, 9.08%), and 4.63% (95%CI 0.35%, 8.91%) increase of preterm birth. We did not find any significant acute effect of outdoor air pollution on preterm birth in the week before birth.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Ambient air pollution may contribute to the risk of preterm birth in Shanghai. Our analyses also strengthen the rationale for further limiting air pollution level in the city.</p>

Interaction between ambient particles and ozone and its effect on daily mortality / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To examine the effect of particulate matter (PM) less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10) and ozone (O3) on daily mortality in Shanghai, China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A generalized additive model with penalized spline function was used to observe the acute effect of PM10 and O3 on daily mortality.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Higher PM10 significantly increased the effect of O3 on total mortality, and O3 also increased the effect of PM10 although the estimated increment was statistically insignificant.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Our findings provide further evidence for the effect of PM10 and O3 on daily mortality.</p>