Research on Relationship Between Neonatal Health and TCM Constitution Types of Early to ;Mid-Pregnancy Expectant Parents / 中国中医药信息杂志

Objective To investigate the relationship between neonatal health and TCM constitution types of early to mid-pregnancy expectant parents;To provide basis for the targeted interventions for couples of childbearing age before pregnancy-periconceptional TCM constitution. Methods Compiling scales for pregnant couple’ TCM constitution type assessment and postpartum visits to newborns, the research team got access to the information of neonatal physical problems, constitutions and changes of 675 babies’ father and mother who had established maternal manual from April, 2012 to March, 2013 at the Sanlin Community Health Center of Pudong District of Shanghai. Results Early to mid-pregnancy expectant parents mainly had peace constitution type. In detail, 55% of pregnant women had gentle constitution type, while others mainly had qi deficiency, yang deficiency and damp-heat constitution types;76% expectant fathers got peace constitution, while others mainly got damp-heat, yin deficiency and qi deficiency constitution types. Marital pregnancy physique did not change significantly. Compared with the peace constitution type, newborns, whose fathers got damp-heat constitution type, had higher risk of jaundice, and whose mothers got yin deficiency, the babies had higher risk of spits (P<0.05). The constitution types of expectant parents did not have obvious combined action on neonatal health. Conclusion There is a certain relationship between neonatal health and TCM constitution types of early to mid-pregnancy expectant parents. It is necessary to distinguish constitution types of prospective parents, and thus to take targeted health interventions.

Curcumin inhibits the replication of enterovirus 71 in vitro

Human enterovirus 71 (EV71) is the main causative pathogen of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in children. The epidemic of HFMD has been a public health problem in Asia-Pacific region for decades, and no vaccine and effective antiviral medicine are available. Curcumin has been used as a traditional medicine for centuries to treat a diversity of disorders including viral infections. In this study, we demonstrated that curcumin showed potent antiviral effect again EV71. In Vero cells infected with EV71, the addition of curcumin significantly suppressed the synthesis of viral RNA, the expression of viral protein, and the overall production of viral progeny. Similar with the previous reports, curcumin reduced the production of ROS induced by viral infection. However, the antioxidant property of curcumin did not contribute to its antiviral activity, since N-acetyl-l-cysteine, the potent antioxidant failed to suppress viral replication. This study also showed that extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) was activated by either viral infection or curcumin treatment, but the activated ERK did not interfere with the antiviral effect of curcumin, indicating ERK is not involved in the antiviral mechanism of curcumin. Unlike the previous reports that curcumin inhibited protein degradation through ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), we found that curcumin had no impact on UPS in control cells. However, curcumin did reduce the activity of proteasomes which was increased by viral infection. In addition, the accumulation of the short-lived proteins, p53 and p21, was increased by the treatment of curcumin in EV71-infected cells. We further probed the antiviral mechanism of curcumin by examining the expression of GBF1 and PI4KB, both of which are required for the formation of viral replication complex. We found that curcumin significantly reduced the level of both proteins. Moreover, the decreased expression of either GBF1 or PI4KB by the application of siRNAs was sufficient to suppress viral replication. We also demonstrated that curcumin showed anti-apoptotic activity at the early stage of viral infection. The results of this study provide solid evidence that curcumin has potent anti-EV71 activity. Whether or not the down-regulated GBF1 and PI4KB by curcumin contribute to its antiviral effect needs further studies.

Nicotine dependence among rural-to-urban migrant workers in Shanghai / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective To explore the nicotine dependence levels and the influencing factors of dependence among rural-to-urban migrant workers in Shanghai so as to provide scientific rationales for an effective implementation of tobacco control.Methods Multi-stage randomized sampling was used to select a total of 5 856 rural-to-urban migrant workers from 7 districts in Shanghai.Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence ( FTND) and logistic regression model were used to analyze the association between nicotine dependence and relevant risk factors.Results The current smoking prevalence was 23.7%.The average FTND score for current smokers , high dependence and low dependence were 3.38 ±2.49, 7.00 ±1.07 and 2.23 ±1.71 respectively.The high and low dependence rates were 21.7% and 78.3%.The results of logistic regression showed that education , duration of smoking and length of migration were associated with nicotine dependence.Lower level of education was more prone to high nicotine dependence.Those with a lower education had a higher risk of nicotine dependence ( junior high school: OR=1.742, primary school or lower: OR =1.994 vs.senior high school or higher ).High nicotine dependence increased with the duration of smoking (smoking 6-10 years:OR=3.007, 11-15 years:OR=4.076, 16-20 years:OR=5.451, 20 years or more:OR=5.726 vs.5 years or less).Length of migration over 3 years was less likely to have a high nicotine dependence (3-5 years: OR=0.602, more than 5 years: OR=0.407 vs.<1 year) .Conclusion The rate of high nicotine dependence is high among rural-to-urban migrant workers in Shanghai.Level of education , duration of smoking and length of migration are significant influencing factors of nicotine dependence.

Effect of overexpression of p16 on anion exchange function of anion exchanger 1 at HeLa cell lines / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM: To study the effect of the overexpression of p16 on an anion exchange function of band 3 in HeLa cells. METHODS: The expression of p16 and band 3 in HeLa cells was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The p16 cDNA was subcloned to plasmids pEGFP-C1 by PCR and identified by restriction enzyme digestion and sequencing, and then, the recombinant pEGFP-C1-p16 plasmids were transiently transfected into HeLa cells. The expression of fusion protein in HeLa cells was detected by fluorescence microscope. 6-methoxy-N-(3-sulfopropyl)-quinolinium(SPQ)fluorescent probes were used to detect the anion exchange function of band 3. RESULTS: P16 and band 3 were expressed in HeLa cells. The amplificated p16 cDNA sequence was the same as the report sequence. The transfective efficacy of pEGFP-C1-p16 was above 60%. The anion exchange function increased after the transfection of pEGFP-C1-p16 plasmids. CONCLUSION: p16 facilitates the anion exchange function of band 3 in HeLa cells.