Pathogenic microorganism contamination and duration of service time of medical waste sharps containers / 中国感染控制杂志

Objective To understand pathogenic microorganism contamination status of medical waste sharps containers with different use time, explore the reasonable duration of service time of sharps containers, provide reference for the management of medical waste.Methods Twelve 2 L sharps containers on treatment trolleys in a tertiary first-class infectious disease specialty hospital were randomly selected, viral loads of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as well as bacterial colonies on inner and outer surfaces of sharps containers at different time points were detected, three unused sharps containers were taken as control at the same time.Results Sixty eluent specimens of outer surface and contents of sharps containers in trial group and control group were collected respectively at four time points (48 h, 72 h, 5 d, 7 d), no HIV and HCV were detected, and no HBV was detected in specimens of outer surface of sharps containers, HBV was detected in the eluent of contents in one sharps container 72 hours after the use, concentration of HBV was 2.20 E+01 IU/mL. Changes in bacteria in the eluent of used sharps containers: 100％ of the eluent of contents in sharps containers grew bacteria on the 5 th day after use, bacterial load of the eluent of contents in sharps containers on the 7 th day after use was incalculable. Bacterial load on the outer surface of sharps containers ranged from 1 to 9 CFU/cm2. No significant changes were observed in the inner and outer surfaces of all sharps containers, and no discomfort odor emerged.Conclusion With the storage time prolonged to 7 days, bacterial colonies on the outer surface of sharps containers didn't increase significantly, HIV, HBV and HCV were not detected. It is suggested that service time of sharps containers with small production of contents should not be set compulsorily at 48 hours (even if the contents in sharps container is less than 3/4 of storage capacity after 48 hours of use).

Prevalence and risk factors of chronic kidney disease in high-risk population in Minhang district of Shanghai / 第二军医大学学报

Objective To analyze the prevalence and related risk factors of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the high-risk residents in Minhang District of Shanghai, so as to provide recommendation for the prevention of CKD. Methods A total of 22 811 subjects with high risk of CKD in Minhang District of Shanghai were screened by cluster random sampling method. The clinical data from the population were collected by questionnaire, physical examination and laboratory examination, and were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and logistic regression analysis. Results Among the 22 811 subjects, 9 605 (42.1%) were males and 13 206 (57.9%) were females. The number of suspected CKD patients was 5 989 (26.3%, 5 989/22 811) and the number of CKD patients was 1 633 (7.2%, 1 633/22 811). The detection rates of positive urinary protein and abnormal urinary red blood cell count in the males were significantly lower than those in the females (P0.01); there were no significant differences in the detection rates of abnormal estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) or abnormal urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) between different genders (P0.05). The detection rates of the above indexes in the non-aged group (65 years old) were lower than those in the elderly group (≥65 years old). There were no significant differences in the detection rates of positive urinary protein or abnormal UACR between different age groups (P0.05), while the detection rates of abnormal urine red blood cell count and abnormal eGFR were significantly different between different age groups (P0.01). Gender, age, body weight, height, blood pressure, history of hypertension, history of diabetes, hyperuricemia and history of renal transplantation were risk factors of CKD (P0.05), while body mass index, history of genetic kidney disease, family history of chronic nephritis, history of renal tubules lesions, renal ultrasound structural abnormalities and history of renal biopsy were not related to the occurrence of CKD (P0.05). Conclusion Early screening, early intervention and standardized health management are necessary measures to reduce the incidence of CKD in high-risk population of CKD. Specific measures include real-time control of high-risk factors (blood pressure, blood glucose and so on), developing targeted regular health examination program, and strengthening the screening of CKD in elderly people, which can delay and control the CKD.

Attention of community population in Shanghai to chronic kidney disease and related influencing factors / 第二军医大学学报

Objective To investigate the attention of community population in Shanghai to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and related influencing factors. Methods Community populations in 27 community health service centers in Jing’an District and Minhang District of Shanghai were surveyed by stratified random sampling method. The investigation included the understanding the early symptoms, examination methods, dietary requirements and intervention measures of CKD and the attention to kidney health and the related influencing factors. Results The overall attention of community population in Shanghai to CKD was 31.4% (240/764). The community population paid the most attention to the treatment of CKD (57.5%, 439/764), followed by life expectancy (63.5%, 485/764), while the concerns about physical symptoms and urination change were the lowest (19.5% [149/764] and 21.7% [166/764], respectively). Residents aged 60 years or older, with junior college or above, and having participated in the CKD health lectures paid the most attention to CKD. Conclusion The attention of community population in Shanghai to CKD is low, suggesting that the health education should be strengthened to improve the cognitive level of CKD in community population.

Removal of cephalosporin antibiotics 7-ACA from wastewater during the cultivation of lipid-accumulating microalgae.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of using lipid-accumulating microalgae to remove cephalosporin antibiotics 7-amino cephalosporanic acid (7-ACA) from wastewater with the additional benefit of biofuels production. Three isolated microalgal strains (namely, Chlorella sp. Cha-01, Chlamydomonas sp. Tai-03 and Mychonastes sp. YL-02) were cultivated under 7-ACA stress and their biomass productivity, lipid production and N-NO3- consumption were monitored. It was found that 7-ACA had slight inhibition effects on the microalgal growth at the ratio of 12.0% (Cha-01), 9.6% (YL-02), 11.7% (Tai-03). However, lipid accumulation in the three microalgae was not influenced by the presence of 7-ACA. The investigation on the 7-ACA removal mechanisms during microalgal growth shows that 7-ACA was mainly removed by microalgae adsorption as well as hydrolysis and photolysis reactions. This study demonstrates that using microalgae to treat antibiotic-containing wastewater is promising due to the potential of simultaneous antibiotic removal and biofuel production.

Sulfamethoxazole degradation by ultrasound/ozone oxidation process in water: kinetics, mechanisms, and pathways.

In this research, sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation was investigated using ultrasound (US), ozone (O3) and ultrasound/ozone oxidation process (UOOP). It was proved that ultrasound significantly enhanced SMX ozonation by assisting ozone in producing more hydroxyl radicals in UOOP. Ultrasound also made the rate constants improve by kinetics analysis. When ultrasound was added to the ozonation process, the reaction rate increased by 6-26% under different pH conditions. Moreover, main intermediates oxidized by US, O3 and UOOP system were identified. Although the main intermediates in ozonation and UOOP were similar, the introduction of ultrasound in UOOP had well improved the cleavage of S-N bond. In this condition SMX become much easier to be attacked, which led to enhanced SMX removal rate in UOOP compared to the other two examined processes. Finally, the SMX degradation pathways were proposed.

Possible causes of excess sludge reduction adding metabolic uncoupler, 3,3',4',5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide (TCS), in sequence batch reactors.

Two parallel sequence batch reactors (SBRs) were operated, with and without TCS addition, to research the causes of sludge reduction by uncouplers. Three possible mechanisms of sludge reduction by TCS were studied: (1) occurrence of metabolic uncoupling, (2) consumption of more energy to resist the infection of TCS, (3) promotion of lysis-cryptic growth by TCS addition. Results showed the remarkable reduction of electronic transport system (ETS) activity and specific cellular ATP (SATP) in TCS reactor, which proved the occurrence of metabolic uncoupling. The increasing amounts of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), as measured by chemical methods and excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectra, implied microorganisms consumed more energy to resist TCS. The similar DNA concentrations of the effluents in two reactors indicated sludge lysis was not intensified by TCS. Therefore, uncoupler might not only cause metabolic uncoupling but also induce more energy consumption in the production of some substances to resist uncoupler.

Thermophilic hydrogen production from sludge pretreated by thermophilic bacteria: analysis of the advantages of microbial community and metabolism.

In this study, the effects of thermophilic bacteria pretreatment and elevated fermentation temperature on hydrogen production from sludge were examined. The highest hydrogen yield of 19.9mlH2g(-1) VSS was achieved at 55°C by using pretreated sludge, which was 48.6% higher than raw sludge without pretreatment, and 28.39% higher than when fermented at 35°C. To explore the internal factors of this superior hydrogen production performance, the microbial community and the metabolism analysis were performed by using high-throughput sequencing and excitation-emission matrix. The pretreated sludge showed better utilization of dissolved organic matter and less inhibition of metabolism, especially at thermophilic condition. The 454 sequencing data indicated that microbial abundance was distinctly reduced and extremely high proportion of hydrogen-producing bacteria was found in the thermophilic community (Thermoanaerobacterium accounted for 93.75%). Thus, the pretreated sludge and thermophilic condition showed significant advantages in the hydrogen production using waste sludge as substrate.

Treatability study of 3,3',4',5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide (TCS) combined with 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) to reduce excess sludge production in a sequence batch reactor.

The present study investigated the synergistic effects of a novel combined uncoupler of TCS and TCP on excess activated sludge reduction during a 60-day operation using a sequence batch reactor (SBR). Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to obtain the optimal dosage of the combined uncoupler. The results of 60-day operation demonstrated the combined uncoupler had effectively reduced the sludge yield by approximately 52%, without serious affecting the substrate removal efficiency. The high sludge reduction rate revealed that it was feasible and effective to utilize a combined uncoupler to limit excess activated sludge. The three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy analysis of activated sludge with different metabolic uncouplers indicated that tryptophan, tyrosine protein-like substances and tryptophan, tyrosine amino-like substances were reduced by adding a combined uncoupler. Moreover, the variation of sludge components provided a better understanding of the effects of uncouplers on activated sludge reduction.

Advanced oxidation protein products promote expression of stromal-cell derived factor-1alpha of ECV304 cells through ERK signal pathway / 中国应用生理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the effects of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) on expressions of stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha) in ECV304 cells and the signal pathway that mediated the effects.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>AOPP-BSA was made from bovine serum albumin (BSA) and sodium hypochlorite. After treated with AOPP-BSA of different concentrations (50, 100, 200 micromol/L), the expressions of SDF-1alpha mRNA in ECV304 cells were measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the expressions of SDF-1alpha protein and the levels of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in ECV304 cells were analyzed by Western blot. In inhibition test, U0126, the special inhibitor of ERK of different concentrations (0.1, 1, 10 rmol/L) were added into ECV304 cells culture media for 1 hour, then the cells were treated with AOPP-BSA for 24 hours, at last the protein levels in supernatant were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>AOPP-BSA obviously promoted the expressions of SDF-1alpha mRNA and increased the levels of SDF-1beta protein of ECV304 cells in dose-dependent manner (all P < 0.01), after 15 minutes treated with 200 micromol/L AOPP-BSA, the levels of phosphorylated ERK of ECV304 cells increased significantly (P < 0.01). When the ERK pathway was blocked by U0126, the promoting effects of AOPP-BSA on expressions of SDF-la protein in ECV304 cells were significantly inhibited in dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>AOPP induced the expression of SDF-la of ECV304 cells, ERK signal pathway is an important pathway that mediated the effects.</p>

Antitumor effects of mutant endostatin are enhanced by Bcl-2 antisense oligonucleotides in UM-UC-3 bladder cancer cell line / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Endostatin is a potent inhibitor of tumor angiogenesis. In the preliminary studies, we developed a mutant endostatin containing Arg-Gly-Asp-Arg-Gly-Asp (RGDRGD) sequences. In this study, we compared the antitumor effects of mutant endostatin and Bcl-2 antisense oligonucleotides both in combination and individually.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The artificially synthesized Bcl-2 ASODN (antisense oligonucleotides) included a translation-initiation site and was transfected into the bladder cancer cells by Lipofectamine. Cell growth was investigated by the tumor cell growth chart, MTT assay, caspase-3 activity detection assay, AO/EB fluorescein stain, and the annexin V-FITC apoptosis detection assay. In the in vivo study, UM-UC-3 bladder cancer cells were subcutaneously implanted into nude mice and the growth of tumor was examined. The ultrastructure of the tumor tissues in the treated and control groups were observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The cell growth chart showed that the cell population of the treated combination group decreased by 52.04% compared to the control group. The inhibition rate of the treated combination group was (79.66 ± 6.79)%, whereas those of the individual ASODN and ES groups were (53.39 ± 3.22)% and (50.22 ± 5.46)% respectively. In the caspase-3 activity detection using AO/EB fluorescein stain and annexin V-FITC apoptosis detection assay, the co-inhibitory effect was higher than the individual inhibitory effects (P < 0.05). There were significant differences in the inhibition of the solid tumor growth in the in vivo study.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Our findings indicated that Bcl-2 antisense oligonucleotides enhance the antitumor effects of mutant endostatin both in vitro and in vivo. We noted the synergistic effects of Bcl-2 antisense oligonucleotides combined with mutant endostatin.</p>

Interventions to improve chronic cyclosporine A nephrotoxicity through inhibiting renal cell apoptosis: a systematic review / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To reveal interventions for chronic cyclosporine A nephrotoxicity (CCN) and provide new targets for further studies, we analyzed all relevant studies about interventions in renal cell apoptosis.</p><p><b>DATA SOURCES</b>We collected all relevant studies about interventions for cyclosporine A (CsA)-induced renal cell apoptosis in Medline (1966 to July 2010), Embase (1980 to July 2010) and ISI (1986 to July 2010), evaluated their quality, extracted data following PICOS principles and synthesized the data.</p><p><b>STUDY SELECTION</b>We included all relevant studies about interventions in CsA-induced renal cell apoptosis no limitation of research design and language) and excluded the duplicated articles, meeting abstracts and reviews without specific data.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were three kinds of intervention, include anti-oxidant (sulfated polysaccharides, tea polyphenols, apigenin, curcumin, spirulina, etc), biologics (recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO), a murine pan-specific transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-neutralizing monoclonal antibody1D11, cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP)-angiopoietin-1 and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene), and other drugs (spironolactone, rosiglitazone, pirfenidone and colchicine). These interventions significantly improved the CCN, renal cell apoptosis and renal dysfunction through intervening in four apoptotic pathways in animals or protected renal cells from apoptosis induced by CsA and increased cell survival through respectively four pathways in vitro.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There are three group interventions for CCN. Especially anti-oxidant drugs can significantly improve CCN, renal cell apoptosis and renal dysfunction. Many drugs can improve CCN through intervening in Fas/Fas ligand or mitochondrial pathway with sufficient evidences. Angiotensin II, nitric oxide (NO) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) pathways will be new targets for CCN.</p>

B7-1 induces immunosuppression when expressed in cultured neonatal mice keratinocytes.

BACKGROUND: Chimeric (allo-auto or even xeno-auto) cultured keratinocyte grafting did not exhibit obvious acute rejection or chronic rejection. Although cultured murine keratinocytes were recognized by allogenic CD8+ T cells, they were not rejected. The precise mechanisms underlying this process were unclear. To analyze how keratinocytes attenuated the immune response, we investigated the effect of culturing on neonatal murine keratinocytes and their immunomodulatory properties. METHODS: Keratinocytes isolated and purified from BALB/c and C57BL/6 neonatal mice were cultured for 7 days. The expression of B7-1, B7-2, B7-H1 and MHC-I was examined by semi-quantitative RT polymerase chain reaction (PCR), fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. Cytotoxicity and mixed lymphocyte response (MLR) assays were performed to determine the effects of keratinocytes on cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) mediated cell lysis and lymphocyte proliferation. RESULTS: B7-1 was highly expressed in cultured, proliferating murine keratinocytes while no expression of B7-2 and B7-H1 was found. Keratinocytes that expressed B7-1 decreased CTL-mediated cell lysis by an interaction between B7-1 and CTLA-4. In addition, autologous keratinocytes but not allogeneic keratinocytes significantly suppressed auto-specific lymphocyte proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. The modulation was dependent on B7-1 expression and its interaction with CTLA-4. CONCLUSIONS: Cultured murine keratinocytes expressed B7-1, but not B7-2 or B7-H1. The keratinocytes attenuated CTL-mediated lysis and suppressed lymphocyte proliferation via an interaction with B7-1 and CTLA-4. Therefore, separate expression of B7-1 induced immunosuppression. Non-professional APCs (antigen presenting cells) which separately express B7-1 may possess an ability to induce immunotolerance and thus act as a regulatory APC.

Analysis of immunophenotypes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia by three color flow cytometry / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was purposed to investigate the immunophenotype characteristics and their significance in subtypes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The immunophenotypes in 40 cases of ALL were analyzed with three color flow cytometry using CD45/SSC two-parametric gating. The results showed that the three color flow cytometry assay using CD45/SSC two-parametric gating could accurately distinguish each other from lymphocytes, monocytes, granulocytes, erythroblasts and primitive cells in bone marrow and/or peripheral blood. Among 40 cases of ALL, B-ALL was 26 cases, T-ALL was 11 cases, HAL was 3 cases. All of the 26 cases of B-ALL expressed CD19 with positive rate of 100%, meanwhile 11 cases of T-ALL most highly expressed CD17 with positive rate of 100%. 12 cases of ALL with myeloid antigen expression (My-ALL) were involved in ALL, the incidence of these cases was almost 30% (12/40). The CD13 was expressed most highly in myeloid antigens. All 3 cases of HAL coexpressed myeloid and B-lineage antigens, among them CD34 was expressed in 2 cases with positive rate of 66.67%. It is concluded that three color flow cytometry assay using CD45/SSC two-parametric gating can exclude the interference of normal cells, thereby the results are more reliable and more accurate.

Inhibition effect of antisense Bmi-1 on Jurkat cells / 中华血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To investigate whether antisense Bmi-1 plasmid could inhibit the proliferation of Jurkat cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The antisense plasmid was constructed by PCR amplification of a 171 bp segment spanning Bmi-1 start codon and zinc finger structure and the PCR product was subsequently inserted reversely to plasmid pLNCX2. The final construct was confirmed through restriction enzyme digestion. G418 was added into the medium after the plasmid was successfully introduced into Jurkat cells by using lipofectin-mediated DNA transfection. The proliferation of Jurkat cells were determined by MTT and colony formation assays. Cell cycle was determined by flow cytometry. The p16 expression of Jurkat cells was studied by immunofluorescent histochemistry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The growth rate of antisense Bmi-1 transfected Jurkat cells was significantly lower than that of the controls, and the colony forming capacity of the transfected cells decreased significantly (P < 0.01), the colony numbers being (90.7 +/- 9.07)/10(3) cells, (83.3 +/- 6.11)/10(3) cells and (56.0 +/- 5.56)/10(3) cells for control cells, empty plasmid transfected Jurkat cells and antisense Bmi-1 transfected Jurkat cells, respectively. The percentage of G, phase cells was increased and the p16 expression of antisense Bmi-1 transfected cells was significantly upregulated than that of control cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Antisense Bmi-1 can inhibit the growth and upregulate the expression of p16 of Jurkat cells in vitro.</p>

Using single primer PCR to amplify the orf25 gene fragment related to plant male-sterility in Salicornia europaea / 生物工程学报

The gene orf25 encodes functional protein that may play an important role in plant fertility control in nature. To clone the orf25 from Salicornia europaea Xinjiang into a T-vector, a single designed primer was used to amplify 1.7kb cDNA fragment with RT-PCR. Sequence analysis reveals that the cloned fragment contains entire orf25 coding region with 98%, 95%, 92% and 88% identity to that of orf25 from Beta vulgaris, Nicotiana, wheat and maize mitochondrion, respectively. This analysis suggests that orf25 gene is highly conserved in terms of evolution in plant; and it also suggests that wild plant Salicornia europaea contain a male-sterility gene similar to crops that is of great importance in improvement of the breed of crop.