Survey of the readiness for hospital discharge and its influencing factors among chronic renal failure patients undergoing arteriovenous fistula surgery / 中国实用护理杂志

0bjective To investigate the status of readiness for hospital discharge of chronic renal failure patients undergoing arteriovenous fistula surgery and analyze its influencing factors. Methods A total of 229 diabetic patients who were discharged from the department of endocrinology were surveyed by the general data questionnaire, Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RHDS), Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale (QDTS) and Social Support Rating S1cale (SSRS). Results The total score of RHDS was (157.20±19.39) points, and the items were equally (7.15±0.88) points. Education level, inhabiting pattern, discharge guidance skills and subjective support entered the readiness for hospital discharge regression equation of chronic renal failure patients undergoing arteriovenous, accounting for a total of 33.1% of all the variation. Conclusions The readiness for hospital discharge of chronic renal failure patients undergoing arteriovenous fistula surgery is intermediate level. Education level, inhabiting pattern, discharge guidance skills and subjective support could exert important influence on readiness for hospital discharge of chronic renal failure patients undergoing arteriovenous fistula surgery.

Development of a near-infrared fluorescence imaging system based on fluorescence properties of methylene blue / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To develop a near-infrared fluorescence imaging system based on the fluorescence properties of methylene blue.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>According to the optical properties of methylene blue, we used a custom-made specific LED light source and an interference filter, a CCD camera and other relevant components to construct the near-infrared fluorescence imaging system. We tested the signal-to-background ratio (SBR) of this imaging system for detecting methylene blue under different experimental conditions and analyzed the SBR in urine samples collected from 15 Wistar rats with intravenous injection of methylene blue at the doses of 0, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, or 2.0 0 mg/kg methylene blue.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The SBR of this imaging system for detecting methylene blue was affected by the concentration of methylene blue and the distance from the sample (P<0.05). In the urine samples from Wistar rats, the SBR varied with the the injection dose, and the rats injected with 1.6 mg/kg methylene blue showed the highest SBR (8.71∓0.20) in the urine (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>This near-infrared fluorescence imaging system is useful for fluorescence detection of methylene blue and can be used for real-time recognition of ureters during abdominal surgery.</p>

Effect and mechanism of Kuntai Capsule on premature ovarian failure in rats / 药物评价研究

Objective To explore the effect and mechanism of Kuntai Capsule (KC) on premature ovarian failure in rats.Methods Totally 40 SD female rats were randomly divided into four groups:control group,model group,Kuntai Capsule (KC) group and conjugated estrogens tablets (CET) group.The premature ovarian failure model in rats was made by ig administration of 75 mg/kg tripterygium.After the model was established,rats were continually treated with 0.6 and 0.625 g/kg of KC and CET respectively by ig administration for 36 d.HE staining was used to observe the morphology of ovary and count the number of follicle.The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Elisa) method was used for the detection of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH),luteinizing hormone (LH),serum estradiol (E2),and anti-Mueller tube hormone (AMH) level.The real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) method was used to detect the mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF).Results Compared with control group,the number of primordial follicles,preantral follicles and antral follicles were significantly reduced,the number of atretic follicles was increased (P ＜ 0.05),E2 and AMH significantly decreased (P ＜ 0.05),FSH and LH levels increased significantly (P ＜ 0.05),and the levels of VEGF and bFGF mRNA in model group were significantly decreased (P ＜ 0.05).Compared with model group,the number of primordial follicles,preantral follicles,and antral follicles were significantly increased,the number of atretic follicles was significantly reduced (P ＜ 0.05),E2 and AMH significantly increased (P ＜ 0.05),FSH and LH levels significantly decreased (P ＜ 0.05),and the levels of VEGF and bFGF mRNA in KC group were significantly increased (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion By regulating the level of hormone and up-regulating the expression of VEGF and bFGF,KC can repair the damaged ovarian tissue and promote the growth and development of the follicle,so as to inhibit the premature exhaustion of mRNA.

Chromatin remodeling protein MORC2 promotes a breast cancer stem-like phenotype by regulating ALDH1A3 expression / 中国癌症杂志

Background and purpose: MORC2 (microrchidia family CW-type zinc finger 2, MORC2) is a newly identified chromatin remodeling protein that plays key roles in DNA-based biological processes including gene transcription and DNA damage repair. However, its functional role in breast cancer development and progression re-mains unknown. ALDH1A3 (aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family member A3), a member of the aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH) superfamily, is a putative breast cancer stem cell marker, but its regulatory mechanism in breast cancer is poor-ly characterized. This study aimed to investigate the effects of knockdown of endogenous MORC2 on the expression levels of ALDH1A3 and the breast cancer stem-like phenotype in MCF-7 cells. Methods: Human breast cancer MCF-7 cells were infected with negative control short hairpin RNAs (shNC) and specific shRNAs targeting human MORC2 (shMORC2), followed by selection with puromycin to generate stable MORC2 gene knockdown cell lines. Western blot and real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTFQ-PCR) were used to examine the protein and mRNA levels of ALDH1A3 in MCF-7 cells stably expressing shNC and shMORC2. Microsphere formation and fluo-rescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) assays were used to analyze the effects of knockdown of MORC2 on the breast cancer stem-like phenotype. Results: Western blot and RTFQ-PCR analyses revealed that the protein and mRNA levels of ALDH1A3 were significantly down-regulated in shMORC2 expressing cells as compared with shNC -transfected control cells. Moreover, mammosphere formation assay showed that knockdown of endogenous MORC2 in MCF-7 cells significantly reduced the ability of cells to form microspheres. Consistently, FACS assays demonstrated that shMORC2-transfected cells had a lower proportion of ALDH-positive stem cells as compared with shNC expressing cells. In contrast, knockdown of MORC2 did not significantly affect the CD44+CD24- stem cell population. Conclusion:MORC2 promotes a breast cancer stem-like phenotype through, at least in part, regulating ALDH1A3 expression.

Support vector machine?assisted diagnosis of human malignant gastric tissues based on dielectric properties / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To achieve differential diagnosis of normal and malignant gastric tissues based on discrepancies in their dielectric properties using support vector machine.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The dielectric properties of normal and malignant gastric tissues at the frequency ranging from 42.58 to 500 MHz were measured by coaxial probe method, and the Cole?Cole model was used to fit the measured data. Receiver?operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the discrimination capability with respect to permittivity, conductivity, and Cole?Cole fitting parameters. Support vector machine was used for discriminating normal and malignant gastric tissues, and the discrimination accuracy was calculated using k?fold cross?</p><p><b></b>VALIDATION</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The area under the ROC curve was above 0.8 for permittivity at the 5 frequencies at the lower end of the measured frequency range. The combination of the support vector machine with the permittivity at all these 5 frequencies combined achieved the highest discrimination accuracy of 84.38% with a MATLAB runtime of 3.40 s.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The support vector machine?assisted diagnosis is feasible for human malignant gastric tissues based on the dielectric properties.</p>

The electroporation effects of high power pulse microwave and electromagnetic pulse irradiation on the membranes of cardiomyocyte cells and the mechanism therein involved / 生物医学工程学杂志

Though there is ongoing public concern on potential hazards and risk of electromagnetic radiation, the bioeffects mechanism of electromagnetic fields remains obscure. Heart is one of the organs susceptive to electromagnetic fields (EMF). This study was designed to assess the influence of high power pulse microwave and electromagnetic pulse irradiation on cardiomyocytes, to explore the critical mechanism of electromagnetic fields, and to explain the regular course of injury caused by exposure to pulse EMF. Cultured cardiomyocytes were irradiated by high power pulse microwave and electromagnetic pulse first, then a series of apparatus including atom force microscope, laser scanning confocal microscope and flow cytometer were used to examine the changes of cell membrane conformation, structure and function. After irradiation, the cardiomyocytes pulsated slower or stop, the cells conformation was abnormal, the cells viability declined, and the percentage of apoptosis and necrosis increased significantly (P< 0.01). The cell membrane had pores unequal in size, and lost its penetration character. The concentration of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl-, Mg2+, Ca2+ and P3+ in cell culture medium increased significantly (P< 0.01). and the concentration of Ca2+ in cells ([Ca2+]i) decreased significantly (P<0.01). The results indicated that cardiomyocytes are susceptible to non-ionizing radiation. Pulse electromagnetic field can induce cardiomyocytes electroporation, and can do great damage to cells conformation, structure and function. Electroporation is one of the most critical mechanisms to explain the athermal effects of electromagnetic radiation.

Observation of the L929 cell membrane after infrasound exposure with atomic force microscope / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the changes of L929 cell membrane with atomic force microscope (AFM) after infrasound exposure and to explore the mechanisms of effect of infrasound on cell membrane.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>After primary culture, the L929 cells were exposed to infrasound with intensity output of 130 dB and frequency of 16 Hz 2 hours each day for 3 days. The subsequent changes in the membrane of the control cells and the cells exposed to the infrasound were determined by nano-scale scanning with AFM.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After infrasound exposure, the normal prominence of the membrane became short and the dent became shallow in the 7.5 microm x 7.5 microm and 4.0 microm x 4.0 microm photographs. The prominence appeared as cobblestones. The surface of the membrane became smooth.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The membrane structure of the L929 cells can be changed by infrasound exposure with intensity of 130 dB and frequency of 16 Hz. The change might be one of the characteristics of effect of infrasound on cell membrane.</p>