Analysis of cytogenetic indexes in interventional radiology workers exposed to low dose long-term chronic irradiation / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of low dose long-term chronic irradiation on chromosome aberration and micronucleus in peripheral blood lymphocytes of interventional radiology workers.METHODS: A total of 100 interventional radiology workers in a grade A tertiary hospital of Henan Province were selected as the interventional group using a convenient sampling method, and 78 healthy individuals without radiation exposure were selected as the control group. The incidence of chromosomal aberration and micronucleus of peripheral blood lymphocytes in individuals of these two groups were investigated. RESULTS: The frequencies of cells with acentric fragment(ace), dicentric chromosome(dic), reciprocal translocation(t), chromosome type aberration and total aberration in the interventional group were higher than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant(0.55% vs 0.30%, 0.25% vs 0.03%, 0.38% vs 0.01%, 1.21% vs 0.34%, 1.37% vs 0.54%, all P<0.01). In the interventional group, the frequency of cell with chromosome type aberration was higher than that of chromatid type aberration(1.21% vs 0.16%, P<0.01).The frequency of cell with unstable chromosome aberration was higher than that of stable chromosome aberration(0.80% vs 0.41%, P<0.01), and the frequency of cell with chromosomal type aberrant in the interventional group ranked from high to low in order of ace, t, dic and deletion(P<0.01). The incidence of micronuclear cells and micronucleus in the interventional group were higher than those in the control group(0.86‰ vs 0.40‰, 0.89‰ vs 0.41‰, all P<0.01). The incidence of micronuclear cells and micronucleus of female interventional radiology workers were higher than those of male workers(1.12‰ vs 0.62‰, 1.19‰ vs 0.62‰, all P<0.01).CONCLUSION: Low dose and long-term chronic irradiation exposure can affect both chromosome aberration and micronucleus of interventional radiology workers. The main chromosomal aberrations were non-stable chromosomal aberrations ace, dic and stable chromosomal aberrations t.

Pediatric colonoscopy findings and changing patterns from Beijing in one institutional experience over 12 years / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the demographics and diagnostic yield in a cohort of Chinese pediatric patients undergoing colonoscopy in one institution over 12 years.@*METHODS@#The study participants were consecutive patients aged <18 years that underwent their first colonoscopy in the endoscopy center at Peking University Third Hospital between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2017. Demographic, endoscopic, and pathological findings were collected. According to the age of the patients, they were divided into 0-3 year-old group, 4-6 year-old group, 7-14 year-old group and 15-17 year-old group. The patients were also divided into 2005-2011 group and 2012-2017 group, according to the time of colonoscopy.@*RESULTS@#The cohort consisted of 326 patients, including 205 boys (62.9%) and 121 girls (37.1%). In the study, 31 patients (9.5%) were in 0-3 year-old group, 28 (8.6%) were in 4-6 year-old group, 96 (29.4%) were in 7-14 year-old group and 171 (52.5%) in 15-17 year-old group. The terminal ileum intubation success rate was 90.5% (295/326). No serious complications such as hemorrhage or perforation occurred during the procedures. The cleaning effect was good in 92.3% (301/326) of the patients. A total of 204 patients (62.6%) received a positive diagnosis under colonoscopy. 27.0% (88/326) of the patients was diagnosed as nonspecific colitis or terminal ileitis. 46 (14.1%) with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and 39 (12.0%) with polyp. The diseases were significantly different among the different age groups. The highest IBD diagnostic rate was found in 0-3 year-old group (7/31, 22.5%), while the highest polyp finding rate was in 4-6 year-old group (8/28, 28.6%). The number of the patients in 0-3 year-old group was significantly increasing in 2012-2017 group compared with 2005-2011 group (27/191 vs. 4/135, P=0.001), while the terminal ileum intubation success rate was higher (179/191 vs. 116/135, P=0.037). However, comparisons between years 2005-2011 and 2012-2017 showed that neither IBD nor polyp detection rate changed significantly (P=0.850).@*CONCLUSION@#Colonoscopy in pediatric patients was a safe and effective procedure. Colitis or terminal ileitis was the primary finding during colonoscopy while IBD was the second one, and polyp was the third. However, the diagnostic yield did not change significantly. IBD was not as quickly increased in our hospital as it was in South China.

Serum levels of CC-Chemokine ligand 18 in the patients with pneumoconiosis / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To measure the peripheral serum levels of CC-chemokine ligand-18 (CCL-18) in patients with pneumoconiosis, and to investigate the feasibility of the index asa potential biomarker for pneumoconiosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-seven male patients with pneumoconiosis (stage 1:40 cases, stage 2:22 cases, stage 3:15 cases), including 42 cases of silicosis and 35 cases of coal worker pneumoconiosis, were enrolled as subjects, and 162 healthy male physical examinees in our hospital were used as controls. A fasting blood sample (3 ml) was collected from the peripheral venous blood of each patient or control. The CCL-18 concentration in serum was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The serum CCL-18 concentrations of the patients with pneumoconiosis were significantly higher than those of the controls [(116.70 ± 82.85) ng/ml vs. (83.34 ± 64.83) ng/ml]; (Z = -2.389, P < 0.05). The serum CCL-18 concentrations of the patients with silicosis were significantly higher than those of the patients with coal worker pneumoconiosis (147.02 ± 93.32 ng/ml vs. 96.43 ± 47.19 ng/ml; Z = -3.030, P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in serum CCL-18 concentration among different stages of pneumoconiosis (P > 0.05). The degree of respiratory impairment was positively correlated with the serum CCL-18 concentration in patients with pneumoconiosis (r = 0.611, P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Serum CCL-18 level can be used as a potential biomarker for pneumoconiosis.</p>

Regulation of a Highly Repeated GT Sequence from DCA1 Promoter of Dunaliella Salina in Salt-induction / 中国生物工程杂志

To identify whether a highly repeated GT sequence from DCA1 promoter from Dunaliella salina,which have been proved to be a salt-inducible promoter in our previous study,would be a salt-inducible regulation element,different primers were designed to amplify 6 different-length fragments of DCA1 promoter from D.salina by PCR.After these fragments were respectively inserted into the HindⅢ-BamH I sites of the vector pU?GUS,serial expression vectors containing the gus gene were generated.D.salina cells transformed with these recombinant plasmids by electroporation were grown in liquid media containing different concentrations of sodium chloride respectively.GUS enzyme activity was measured histochemically and fluorometrically.The results revealed that 3 fragments containing GT repeated sequence drove the external gus gene expression and the expression pattern of the gus gene was regulated by the concentrations of sodium chloride.Additionally,the 2 fragments without tandem GT sequence drove the gus gene expression,but the expression pattern of the gus gene wasn't regulated by the concentration of sodium chloride;Also,the upstream fragment of the tandem GT sequence wasn't able to drive the gus gene expression.In conclusion,the highly repeated GT sequence from the DCA1 promoter plays an important role in the salt-inducible regulation of DCA1 promoter from D.salina and might be a novel salt-inducible element.