Effects of essential oil from Cinnamomum Cassia on Clostridia flora IV and Bacteroides in gut of rats / 中草药

Objective: To investigate the impact of essential oil (cinnamon oil) from Cinnamomum cassia (EOCC) on Clostridia flora IV and Bacteroides in gut of normal rats. Methods: SD rats were administered with EOCC (0.384 3 g/kg) for 30 d and the colon and rectal contents were sampled. The population, diversity, and distribution of Clostridium flora IV and Bacteroides in the samples were analyzed by the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) method based on the intestinal flora 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Results: Both the intestinal flora population, diversity, and distribution of Clostridia flora IV and Bacteroides changed significantly due to the injection, especially for Clostridia flora IV. Additionally, EOCC exerted the different effects on colon and rectal microflora. Conclusion: The effects of EOCC on Clostridia flora IV and Bacteroides in gut might be the functional mechanism of cinnamon oil in curing obesity and diabetes.

Reporter gene assay for detection of shellfish toxins / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the potential reporter gene assay for the detection of sodium channel-specific toxins in shellfish as an alternative for screening harmful algal bloom (HAB) toxins, considering the fact that the existing methods including HPLC and bioassay are inappropriate for identifying HAB toxins which poses a serious problem on human health and shellfish industry.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A reporter plasmid pEGFP-c-fos containing c-fos promoter and EGFP was constructed and transfected into T24 cells using LipofectAMINE 2000. Positive transfectants were screened by G418 to produce a pEGFP-c-fos-T24 cell line. After addition of increasing neurotoxic shellfish poison (NSP) or GTX2,3, primary components of paralytic shellfish poison (PSP), changes in expression of EGFP in the cell line were observed under a laser scanning confocal microscope and quantified with Image-pro Plus software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Dose-dependent changes in the intensity of green fluorescence were observed for NSP in a range from 0 to 10 ng/mL and for GTX2,3 from 0 to 16 ng/mL.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>pEGFP-c-fos-T24 can be applied in detecting HAB toxins, and cell-based assay can be used as an alternative for screening sodium channel-specific HAB toxins.</p>

The status on care and nutrition of 774 children staying in rural areas while parents were in towns / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To understand the status on care and nutrition of children living in the rural areas (so called 'left-behind' children) while their parents were seeking for jobs in the urban areas. Methods Cross-sectional study was employed in this investigation.The group of‘left-behind' children (n=774) and the comparison group (n=774) were identified.The ascertainment methods mainly included questionnaire,anthropometries measurements,food-frequency,and laboratory examination.Results be poorly attended (X2=6.671,P=0.036;X2=15.053,P=0.001 ).Mothers who chose to work outside of their households would tend to choose bottle-feeding or decrease the duration of breastfeeding for their infants (X2=5.051,P=0.031;t=-7.201,P=0.001).The intake of milk and bean products in children were obviously lower than that seen in the control group (t=-2.150,P=0.032 ;t=-2.054,significant difference when comparing with the control group (X2=4.560,P=0.033 ).Conclusion communities,parents and extended families would facilitate more attention and effective intervention programs to improve the situation.