Effects of gross motor skills on physical activity in preschoolers aged 3-6 years / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the effect of gross motor skills on physical activity of children aged 3-6 years, and to provide basis for children’s health behavior intervention.@*Methods@#A total of 332 young children in Shanghai Xiangyin kindergarten were selected as survey objects. The development of gross movements of young children was measured by TGMD-2. Caregivers reported children’s physical activity using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF).@*Results@#The development level of gross movements of children aged 3-6 in Shanghai was relatively low(54.76±13.86). The physical activity of children was mainly light-intensity physical activity, and the daily moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity time was (58.62±52.73) minutes every day. Locomotor skills had the greatest effect on children’s VPA (β=0.19) and TPA(β=0.12), with a contribution rate of 3.3% and 1.1%, respectively; Object control skills has the greatest effect on children’s MVPA (β=0.17) and MPA (β=0.12) had the largest effect(P<0.05), with contribution rates of 2.5% and 1.2%, respectively. The relationship between gross motor skills and physical activity had nothing to do with gender and age.@*Conclusion@#Children’s gross motor skills in the 3-6 year-old population should be improved and may be an effective way to promote physical activity.

[Effect of genistein on hepatic stellate cell proliferation and lipid peroxidation in vitro].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of genistein on the proliferation and lipid peroxidation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) in vitro and its the protective effect against hepatic fibrosis. METHODS: Rat hepatic stellate cells (HSC-T6 cells) were divided into 3 groups and incubated in the presence of 0.1 mol/L hydrogen dioxide followed by washing with PBS for 3 times. Genistein at different concentrations was added into the cell culture meclia, and after 48 h of incubation, the cell proliferation was assessed with MTT assay and the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), malonaldehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) in the supernatant of the cell culture were measured. RESULTS: Genistein at different concentrations inhibited the cell proliferation, showing a dose-effect relationship. Genistein significantly decreased the production of intracellular MDA and GSH and increased SOD and GSH PX activity. CONCLUSION: Genistein can prevent the formation of hepatic fibrosis probably by decreasing HSC proliferation and lipid peroxidation.

Genetic structure of X-STR loci of Ewenki nationality and its affinity with other nationalities / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To determine the genetic diversity of X-TR loci, and to evaluate the genetic structure X chromosome's of Ewenki nationality and its affinity with other nationalities.@*METHODS@#We chose 9 X-TR (DXS6804, DXS7133, DXS101, DXS6789, DXS6799, DXS7423, HPRTB, DXS8378, DXS7132) as genetic markers from 99 irrelative individules to determine the genetic diversity of Ewenki in Inner Mongolian. Cluster analysis and phylogenic trees was applied to show the genetic distance among the nationalities.@*RESULTS@#We got 51 alleles in the studied population, with the frequency diverse between 0.0109 and 0.6863. Genotype frequency was from 0.0217 to 0.3778. Heterozygosity(H),the power of discrimination(PD) and the polymorphism information conten (PIC) were consistent with the forensic application. Cluster analysis and phylogenic trees revealed that Ewenki nationality had estrangement genetic affinity with the other 3 major nationalities in inner mongolia and Han nationality in Xi'an.@*CONCLUSION@#The genetic information demonstrates that the 9 chosen gene makers were highly informative loci and are suitable for population genetics research and forensic application.

Effects of estradiol on liver estrogen receptor-alpha and its mRNA expression in hepatic fibrosis in rats.

AIM: Estradiol treatment regulates estrogen receptor (ER) level in normal rat liver. However, little information is available concerning the role of estrogen in regulating liver ER in hepatic fibrosis in rats. The present study was conducted to determine whether estradiol treatment in CCl4-induced liver fibrosis of female and ovariectomized rats altered liver ERalpha and its mRNA expression, and to investigate the possible mechanisms. METHODS: Seventy female rats were divided into seven groups with ten rats in each. The ovariectomy groups were initiated with ovariectomies and the sham operation groups were initiated with just sham operations. The CCl4 toxic fibrosis groups received 400 mL/L CCl4 subcutaneously at a dose of 2 mL/kg twice weekly. Estrogen groups were treated subcutaneously with estradiol 1 mg/kg, the normal control group and an ovariectomy group received injection of peanut oil vehicle twice weekly. At the end of 8 weeks, all the rats were killed to detect their serum and hepatic indicators, their hepatic collagen content, and liver ER and ER mRNA expression. RESULTS: Estradiol treatment in both ovariectomy and sham ovariectomy groups reduced liver levels of ALT (from 658 +/- 220 nkat/L to 311 +/- 146 nkat/L and 540 +/- 252 nkat/L to 314 +/- 163 nkat/L, P<0.05) and AST (from 697 +/- 240 nkat/L to 321 +/- 121 nkat/L and 631 +/- 268 nkat/L to 302 +/- 153 nkat/L, P<0.05), increased serum nitric oxide (NO) level (from 53.7 +/- 17.1 micromol/L to 93.3 +/- 24.2 micromol/L and 55.3 +/- 23.1 micromol/L to 87.5 +/- 23.6 micromol/L, P<0.05) and hepatic nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity (from 1.73 +/- 0.71 KU/g to 2.49 +/- 1.20 KU/g and 1.65 +/- 0.46 KU/g to 2.68 +/- 1.17 KU/g, P<0.05), diminished the accumulation of hepatic collagen, decreased centrolobular necrotic areas as well as the inflammatory reaction in rats subjected to CCl4. The positive signal of ER and ER mRNA distributed in parenchymal and non-parenchymal hepatic cells, especially near the hepatic centrolobular and periportal areas. Ovariectomy decreased ER level (from 10.2 +/- 3.2 to 4.3 +/- 1.3) and ER mRNA expression (from 12.8 +/- 2.1 to 10.9 +/- 1.3) significantly (P<0.05). Hepatic ER and ER mRNA concentrations were elevated after treatment with estradiol in both ovariectomy (15.8 +/- 2.4, 20.8 +/- 3.1) and sham ovariectomy (18.7 +/- 3.8, 23.1 +/- 3.7) fibrotic groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The increase in hepatic ER and mRNA expression may be part of the molecular mechanisms underlying the suppressive effect of estradiol on liver fibrosis induced by CCl4 administration.

Estrogen reduces CCL4- induced liver fibrosis in rats.

AIM: Chronic liver diseases, such as fibrosis or cirrhosis, are more common in men than in women. This gender difference may be related to the effects of sex hormones on the liver. The aim of the present work was to investigate the effects of estrogen on CCL(4)-induced fibrosis of the liver in rats. METHODS: Liver fibrosis was induced in male, female and ovariectomized rats by CCL(4) administration. All the groups were treated with estradiol(1 mg/kg) twice weekly. And tamoxifen was given to male fibrosis model. At the end of 8 weeks, all the rats were killed to study serum indicators and the livers. RESULTS: Estradiol treatment reduced aspartate aminotransferase(AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), hyaluronic acid(HA) and type IV collagen(CIV) in sera, suppressed hepatic collagen content, decreased the areas of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) positive for alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA), and lowered the synthesis of hepatic type I collagen significantly in both sexes and ovariectomy fibrotic rats induced by CCL(4) administration. Whereas, tamoxifen had the opposite effect. The fibrotic response of the female liver to CCL(4) treatment was significantly weaker than that of male liver. CONCLUSION: Estradiol reduces CCL(4)-induced hepatic fibrosis in rats. The antifibrogenic role of estrogen in the liver may be one reason for the sex associated differences in the progression from hepatic fibrosis to cirrhosis.