[Implications, spiritual characteristics and practical significance of Chinese schistosomiasis control culture].

The culture of schistosomiasis control is specific in the history of Chinese culture. Broadly speaking, the culture of schistosomiasis control is a summary of specific social mood, social consciousness and material culture created by Chinese populations during the progress of schistosomiasis control since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Narrowly speaking, the culture of schistosomiasis control is the spiritual culture that is jointly created and nurtured by schistosomiasis control workers since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The spiritual features of Chinese schistosomiasis control culture are characterized by the patriotism and care about the people, the matter-to-fact attitude, the pioneering and enterprising spirit, and the spirit of sacrifice and dedication. The ultimate goal of the research on the culture of schistosomiasis control is to facilitate the achievement of the strategic goal of Healthy China 2030 as scheduled, accelerate the progress towards elimination of schistosomiasis, and to promote the sustainable development of schistosomiasis control in China.

[Challenges and countermeasures of schistosomiasis control in Hunan Province in the new era].

This paper describes the current epidemic characteristics and endemic status of schistosomiasis, analyzes the main challenges of schistosomiasis control and proposes the emphasis and interventions for future schistosomiasis control activities in Hunan Province, so as to provide insights into the elimination of schistosomiasis in Hunan Province.

Development of polymorphic expressed sequence tag-single sequence repeat markers in the common Chinese cuttlefish, Sepiella maindroni.

The common Chinese cuttlefish (Sepiella maindroni) is one of the popular edible cephalopod consumed across Asia. To facilitate the population genetic investigation of this species, we developed fourteen polymorphic microsatellite makers from expressed sequence tags of S. maindroni. The number of alleles at each locus ranged from 6 to 10 with an average of 7.9 alleles per locus. The ranges of observed and expected heterozygosity were from 0.615 to 0.962 and 0.685 to 0.888, respectively. Four loci were found deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The polymorphism information content ranged from 0.638 to 0.833. These polymorphic microsatellite loci will be helpful for the population genetic, genetic linkage map, and other genetic studies of S. maindroni.

An unblinded, randomised phase II study of platinum-based chemotherapy with vitamin B12 and folic acid supplementation in the treatment of lung cancer with plasma homocysteine blood levels as a biomarker of severe neutropenic toxicity.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin B12 and folic acid (referred to as vitamin supplementation) improves the toxicity profile of pemetrexed containing regimens. Low baseline vitamin B12 and folate levels are reflected in a raised total homocysteine level (HC). Studies have suggested that pretreatment HC levels predict neutropenia toxicity. We have tested supplementation with vitamin B12 and folate in non-pemetrexed platinum-based regimens to decrease treatment-related toxicity and looked for a correlation between toxicity and change in homocysteine levels. PATIENT AND METHOD: Eighty-three patients with advanced lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma were randomly assigned to receive platinum-based chemotherapy with (arm A) or without (arm B) vitamin B12 and folic acid supplementation. The primary end point was grade 3/4 neutropenia and death within 30 days of treatment. Secondary end points included quality of life, overall survival (OS) and the relationship between baseline and post supplementation HC levels and toxicity. RESULTS: In the intention-to-treat population, no significant difference was seen between the two groups with respect to chemotherapy-induced grade 3/4 neutropenia and death within 30 days of chemotherapy (36% vs 37%; p=0.966, emesis (2% vs 6%; p=0.9) or OS (12.3 months vs 7 months; p=0.41). There was no significant difference in survival rates by baseline HC level (p=0.9). Decrease in HC with vitamin supplementation was less frequent than expected. High baseline HC levels decreased with vitamin supplementation in only 9/36 (25%) patients (successful supplementation). Post hoc analysis showed that patients in arm A who were successfully supplemented (9/36=25%) had less neutropenic toxicity (0% vs 69%; p=0.02) compared to unsupplemented patients. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of vitamin B12 and folic acid to platinum-containing regimens did not overall improve the toxicity, quality of life or OS. Rates of grade 3/4 neutropenia at 36/37% was as predicted. Further studies to increase the rate of successful supplementation and to further test the biomarker potential of post supplementation HC levels in predicting chemotherapy-induced neutropenia in platinum-based chemotherapy are warranted. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: EudracCT 2005-002736-10 ISRCTN8734355.

Remodeling of rabbit abdominal aorta and Cx43 gap junctions after stent placement: effect of balloon injury plus cholesterol-enriched diet.

AIM: To examine the effect of stenting and cholesterol-enriched diet (CED) on vascular remodeling, including the expression of connexin43 (Cx43) gap junctions in smooth muscle cells (SMC). METHODS: Rabbits abdominal aortae were either implanted stent made of 316 stainless steel (group 1) or denuded followed by stent placement 28 days later (groups 2 and 3). Animals were given normal chow except those of group 3, which were fed CED after the denudation. Eight weeks later, the development of neointima and the expression of connexin43 (Cx43) were examined. In parallel, human aortic SMC were grown on 316 stainless steel or treated with C-reactive protein (CRP) followed by analysis of Cx43. RESULTS: The results showed that, serum CRP levels became transiently elevated after denudation and stent implantation. For the stented aortic segments, the dimensions of neointima were group 3 > group 2 > group 1 (P<0.05). In groups 1 and 2, Cx43 gap junctions are less in amount in neointima of the stented segment, compared to the unstented upstream neointima or medial layer (all P<0.01). In culture experiments, Cx43 in SMC grown on stent material was up-regulated in growth medium but down-regulated in differentiation medium, and CRP did not affect Cx43 expression. CONCLUSION: Vascular remodeling post stent implantation varied according to the presence of balloon injury, CED, or both. Cx43 expression in SMC is altered after exposure to stent and the regulation depended on the milieu.

In vivo induction of hepatic p-glycoprotein by cyclosporine in the rat.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the regulation of P-glycoprotein by cyclosporine, a known inhibitor of CYP3A, at different dosage levels and lengths of treatment. Rats were given various doses of cyclosporine through oral administration or subcutaneous injection. Each treatment group was studied for 28 days or 28 days followed by 14 days of olive oil vehicle dosing. In each group, rats administered vehicle alone served as the controls. At the end of the study, liver microsomes were prepared and hepatic P-glycoprotein levels were quantified by Western blot analysis. Significant induction of hepatic P-glycoprotein was found in rats given cyclosporine. Rats administered 30 mg/Kg/d orally and 15 mg/Kg/d subcutaneously showed an increase in hepatic P-glycoprotein by 93% (p = 0.0011) and 136% (p < 0.001), respectively. Low doses of cyclosporine also induced P-glycoprotein but not to a significant extent, indicating a dose-dependent effect. The pattern of induction of P-glycoprotein was not, however, dependent on the route of administration. Fourteen days after the discontinuation of cyclosporine treatment, P-glycoprotein levels returned to near the control values. As a drug efflux transporter, the induction of P-glycoprotein by cyclosporine may decrease the hepatic metabolism of P-glycoprotein substrates. Therefore this induction of hepatic P-glycoprotein and suppression of hepatic CYP3A may have a coordinate effect on the metabolism of cyclosporine. These data may help explain the large variability associated with cyclosporine absorption, metabolism, and circulating blood levels.

Non-invasive detection of endothelial dysfunction in patients with essential hypertension.

The endothelium regulates vascular tone through the release of vasoactive agents that act on the underlying vascular smooth muscle. This endothelial function is impaired in certain cardiovascular conditions including atherosclerosis, and hypercholesterolemia. However, in patients with essential hypertension it is unclear whether endothelium-dependent vasodilation is impaired. Using high-resolution ultrasound, we measured the diameter of the brachial arteries at rest, during reactive hyperaemia (with increase flow causing endothelium-dependent dilatation), and after sublingual glyceryl trinitrate (GTN; causing endothelium-independent dilatation) in 42 subjects, consisted of 21 controls with normal blood pressure [mean(SD) arterial blood pressure, 92+/-7 mmHg] and 21 patients with established essential hypertension (mean arterial blood pressure, 123+/-12 mmHg). The results showed that in patients with essential hypertension, flow-mediated dilatation in arteries was much reduced in comparison with the control group (4.6%+/-2.8% vs. 12.4%+/-2.9%, P<0.001). However, there was no significant difference in response to GTN between the two groups (19.8%+/-6.0% vs. 24.5%+/-10.2%, P=0.186). This indicates that endothelium-dependent vasodilation is impaired in patients with essential hypertension.

[The spectral characters of pulsed Doppler in fetal arrhythmia].

Blood flow spectra of left ventricular inflow and outflow of the fetus were measured by pulsed Doppler echocardiography in 82 cases who were diagnosed as fetal arrhythmia clinically. By analysing the order of atrio- ventricular excitation, the spectral characters and the relationship of time- phase, the classification of fetal arrhythmia was confirmed. Among the 82 cases, there were 17 cases of sinus bradycardia, 16 cases of sinus tachycardia, 28 cases of atrial premature beats, 16 cases of ventricular premature beats, 3 cases of II degrees atrioventricular conduction block, 2 cases of atrial fibrillation. These common spectral characters of fetal arrhythmia were confirmed by the examination of neonatal Doppler echocardiography and ECG. This study indicated that this method could be used as one of the diagnostic methods for fetal arrhythmia.

Susceptibility of Oncomelania hupensis subspecies to infection with geographic strains of Schistosoma japonicum.

Subspecies of Oncomelania hupensis were exposed to infection with zoophilic and anthropophilic strains of Schistosoma japonicum. The snails were Philippine O. h. quadrasi from the islands of Bohol, Leyte and Mindanao, O. h. formosana from Changhua and Ilan, and O. h. chiui from Taiwan, O. h. hupensis from China, O. h. nosophora from Japan and O. h. lindoensis from Indonesia. Anthropophilic strains of S. japonicum were from Bohol and Leyte in the Philippines, China, Japan and Indonesia. The zoophilic strains were from Changhua and Ilan, Taiwan. All geographic strains of the parasite developed exceptionally well and produced cercariae in 32-50% of O. h. chiui and 5-43% of the natural snail hosts. Development in other subspecies of snails with geographic strains of the parasite were variable. Only a few O. h. formosana (Changhua) could be infected with the parasites from other geographic areas and only one O. h. quadrasi each from Mindanao became infected with the Bohol and Changhua strains of S. japonicum.

Hybridization between Brugia malayi and Brugia pahangi from south Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Hybridization experiments were carried out between sub-periodic Brugia malayi and B. pahangi recovered from cats originating from the same area in South Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia. Five to six week-old immature males and females of both species from Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) intraperitoneal infections were inoculated into the peritoneal cavity of other gerbils. Mating occurred between the species and microfilariae developed into infective third-stage larvae in mosquitoes. Larvae from the mosquitoes developed into adults in the peritoneal cavity of gerbils but microfilariae were not produced since the males were sterile. Back-crossing between hybrids and males and females of the parental species were also done and female hybrids produced microfilariae when crossed with parental males but females from the parental species did not produce microfilariae when mated with the hybrid males. This confirmed that the males were sterile but the females were not. If these species are hybridized in nature and humans are exposed to hybrid third-stage larvae, could this lead to occult filarial infection? These results confirmed previous hybridization experiments of these species orginating from other geographic areas.