Visual acuity in preschool children of Yangpu District in Shanghai / 上海预防医学

Objective To investigate the visual acuity condition of preschool children in Yangpu District of Shanghai, providing the basis for formulation of corresponding intervention measures for myopia. Methods The inspection equipment was the international standard logarithmic E-word visual acuity chart, and the Canon RK-F1 automatic computer optometry instrument.By using cross-sectional study and random cluster sampling method, a total of 1 415 preschool children in 5 kindergartens in Yangpu District were selected according to their ages and genders, and their visual acuity and refractive parameters were examined with the result being statistically analyzed. Results In preschool children of Yangpu District, their envisage rate was 80.4%, myopia rate 16.7% and hyperopia rate 2.9%.There was no significant difference in the incidence rate of envisage, myopia and hyperopia between different age groups (χ2=3.419, P=0.755) and different genders (χ2=2.433, P=0.296).The rate of poor vision for preschool children in Yangpu was 10.5%.There was a statistically significant difference in the rate of poor vision between different age groups (χ2=9.637, P=0.022) and different genders (χ2=4.191, P=0.041). Conclusion The visual acuity rate and myopia rate in preschool children are not optimistic and need further screening and early intervention.

Visual acuity in preschool children of Yangpu District in Shanghai / 上海预防医学

Objective To investigate the visual acuity condition of preschool children in Yangpu District of Shanghai, providing the basis for formulation of corresponding intervention measures for myopia. Methods The inspection equipment was the international standard logarithmic E-word visual acuity chart, and the Canon RK-F1 automatic computer optometry instrument.By using cross-sectional study and random cluster sampling method, a total of 1 415 preschool children in 5 kindergartens in Yangpu District were selected according to their ages and genders, and their visual acuity and refractive parameters were examined with the result being statistically analyzed. Results In preschool children of Yangpu District, their envisage rate was 80.4%, myopia rate 16.7% and hyperopia rate 2.9%.There was no significant difference in the incidence rate of envisage, myopia and hyperopia between different age groups (χ2=3.419, P=0.755) and different genders (χ2=2.433, P=0.296).The rate of poor vision for preschool children in Yangpu was 10.5%.There was a statistically significant difference in the rate of poor vision between different age groups (χ2=9.637, P=0.022) and different genders (χ2=4.191, P=0.041). Conclusion The visual acuity rate and myopia rate in preschool children are not optimistic and need further screening and early intervention.

Cell models and drug discovery for mitochondrial diseases.

Mitochondrion is a semi-autonomous organelle, important for cell energy metabolism, apoptosis, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and Ca2+ homeostasis. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutation is one of the primary factors in mitochondrial disorders. Though much progress has been made, there remain many difficulties in constructing cell models for mitochondrial diseases. This seriously restricts studies related to targeted drug discovery and the mechanism and therapy for such diseases. Here we summarize the characteristics of patient-specific immortalized lymphoblastoid cells, fibroblastoid cells, cytoplasmic hybrid (cybrid) cell lines, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-derived differentiation cells in the study of mitochondrial disorders, as well as offering discussion of roles and advances of these cell models, particularly in the screening of drugs.

Effects of ovarian hyperstimulation on mitochondria in oocytes and early embryos.

A mouse model was used to compare the number and function of mitochondria in oocytes and embryos obtained by superovulation and in a natural cycle (control group). The superovulation group had a higher number of total oocytes, MII oocytes, embryos with two pronuclei, 2-cell embryos and blastocysts than the control group (P<0.05 for all). The superovulation group had high proportion of MII oocytes with low number of mitochondrial (mt) DNA copies. The average number of mtDNA copies, ATP level and mitochondrial membrane potential (

LRIG1 dictates the chemo-sensitivity of temozolomide (TMZ) in U251 glioblastoma cells via down-regulation of EGFR/topoisomerase-2/Bcl-2.

In the current study, we aimed to understand the potential role of leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains 1 (LRIG1) in TMZ-resistance of U251 glioma cells. We established TMZ-resistant U251 clones (U251/TMZ cells), which expressed low level of LRIG1, but high levels of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), topoisomerase-2 (Topo-2) and Bcl-2. Depletion of LRIG1 by the targeted RNA interference (RNAi) upregulated EGFR/Topo-2/Bcl-2 in U251 cells, and the cells were resistant to TMZ. Reversely, over-expression of LRIG1 in U251 cells downregulated EGFR/Topo-2/Bcl-2 expressions, and cells were hyper-sensitive to TMZ. Our data suggested EGFR-dependent mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activation was important for Topo-2 and Bcl-2 expressions in U251/TMZ cells. The EGFR inhibitor and the mTOR inhibitor downregulated Topo-2/Bcl-2 expressions, both inhibitors also restored TMZ sensitivity in U251/TMZ cells. Finally, inhibition of Topo-2 or Bcl-2 by targeted RNAi(s) knockdown or by the corresponding inhibitor re-sensitized U251/TMZ cells to TMZ, indicating that both Topo-2 and Bcl-2 were important for TMZ resistance in the resistant U251 cells. Based on these results, we concluded that LRIG1 inhibits EGFR expression and the downstream signaling activation, interferes with Bcl-2/Topo-2 expressions and eventually sensitizes glioma cells to TMZ.

Quantitative detection of serum procollagen III N-terminal peptide chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) for quantitative detection of procollagen III N-terminal peptide (P III NP) in serum.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A sandwich reaction was preformed with horseradish peroxidase labeled monoclonal antibody of P III NP as the catalytic enzyme and the luminol as the luminescence reagent. Several reactions liquid's concentration and reaction conditions were optimized. The method was evaluated in all aspects such as linear range, sensitivity, specificity, stability and so on. The CLEIA was compared with imported ELISA kits, by detecting clinical serum.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The linear range was 0.8-85 ng/ml. The detection limit was 0.5 ng/ml. Inter-assay and intra-assay RSD were both less than 10%. The recoveries of three different spiked concentration samples were 96.2%, 91.2% and 101.1%. After stored at 4 degrees C and 37 degrees C for 3, 5, 7 days, the analysis showed correlation coefficient higher than 0.99 and RSD lower than 6%. The detected results of clinical sera with CLEIA closely corresponded to those with imported ELISA.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Established CLEIA for quantity determination of serum P III NP has high accuracy, sensitivity and repeatability.</p>

[Myocardial protective effects of luteolin on isolated rat heart in hypothermic preservation].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effect of luteolin on isolated rat heart in hypothermic preservation. METHODS: Forty male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 10): control group, luteolin low-dose group (7.5 micromol/L), middle-dose group (15 micromol/L) and high dose group (30 micromol/L). Langendorff model of isolated rat heart was used. After 30 min basal perfusion, the hearts were stored in University of Wisconsin solution (UW solution) at 4 degrees C with luteolin (7.5, 15 and 30 micromol/L) or without luteolin for 12 h and followed by 60 min reperfusion. The recovery of cardiac contractile and diastolic function, coronary flow (CF), creatine kinase (CK) leakage in the coronary effluent, myocardial water content were determined. The myocardial ultrastructure was also observed. RESULTS: The results revealed that luteolin improved the recovery of left ventricular peak systolic pressure and +/- dp/dtmax dose-dependently and increased coronary flow. The leakage of creatine kinase in the coronary effluent was significantly reduced in luteolin-added hearts. Impairment of myocardial ultrastructure after 12 h hypothermic preservation was obviously alleviated in hearts luteolin-added group compared with that in control group. There were no differences between the groups in myocardial water contents. CONCLUSION: Luteolin as a supplementation in cardiac preservation solution can significantly improve the hypothermic preservation effects on rat heart and have myocardial protection effect, especially in luteolin-added with 30 micromol/L.

[Advances in the molecular pathogenesis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy].

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a primary cardiac disorder characterized by asymmetric thickening of the septum and left ventricular wall. HCM affects 1 in 500 individuals in the general population, and it is the most common cause of sudden death in the young and athletes. The clinic phenotype of HCM is highly variable with respect to age at onset, degree of symptoms, and risk of sudden death. HCM is usually inherited as a Mendelian autosomal dominant trait. To date, over 900 mutations have been reported in HCM, which were mainly located in 13 genes encoding cardiac sarcomere protein, e.g., MYH7, MYBPC3, and TnT. In addition, more and more mitochondrial DNA mutations were reported to be associated with the pathogenesis of HCM. Based on the description of the clinical phenotype and morphological characteristics, this review focuses on the research in the molecular pathogenic mechanism of HCM and its recent advances.

Screening and construction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with improved multi-tolerance and bioethanol fermentation performance.

In this study, a systemic analysis was initially performed to investigate the relationship between fermentation-related stress tolerances and ethanol yield. Based on the results obtained, two elite Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, Z8 and Z15, with variant phenotypes were chosen to construct strains with improved multi-stress tolerance by genome shuffling in combination with optimized initial selection. After three rounds of genome shuffling, a shuffled strain, YZ1, which surpasses its parent strains in osmotic, heat, and acid tolerances, was obtained. Ethanol yields of YZ1 were 3.11%, 10.31%, and 10.55% higher than those of its parent strains under regular, increased heat, and high gravity fermentation conditions, respectively. YZ1 was applied to bioethanol production at an industrial scale. Results demonstrated that the variant phenotypes from available yeast strains could be used as parent stock for yeast breeding and that the genome shuffling approach is sufficiently powerful in combining suitable phenotypes in a single strain.

A 65-year-old man with infratentorial diffuse encephalopathy and hydrocephalus / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

Tuberculous encephalopathy (TBE) is an important diagnosis in countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis. TBE is a life-threatening condition but rarely reported in the modern literature. We reported a case of a man with extensive parenchymal lesions involving the brainstem and right cerebellar hemisphere that resolved after treatment. The clinical, laboratory and pathological features of this case are highlighted and the pathogenesis is discussed.

Clinical and laboratory characteristics of a new influenza A (HIN1) epidemic / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analysis the clinical and laboratory characteristics of Patients infected with new influenza A (HIN1) virus.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>All cases with new influenza A (H1N1) confirmed on polymerase chain reaction assay on throat swabs. There were included in a prospective evaluation of clinical characteristics, laboratory results, treatment and overcome of new influenza A (H1N1).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were 35 patients in the epidemic. Clinical illness developed within a mean of 1.7 days. Fever occurred in 97.1%, sore throat 65.7% cough 51.4%, headache 28.6%, and myalgia 31.4%. All patients were treated with oseltamivir lasted 5 days. The mean duration of viral shedding was 4.5 days. All were cured and left hospital after day 7.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>It was infected by new influenza A (H1N1) typically in this epidemic.</p>

Changes and analysis of peripheral white blood cells and lymphocyte subsets for patients with pandemic influenza A virus (H1N1) infection / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the characters and changes of peripheral white blood cells and lymphocyte subsets of patients with pandemic influenza A virus (H1N1) infection and to provide evidences for diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of influenza A (H1N1) infection.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Peripheral white blood cell parameters and the percentages of lymphocyte subsets in acute and recovery phases of 59 cases of influenza A virus (H1N1) infectious patients (42 mild cases and 17 severe cases) were investigated and analyzed, and compared respectively with those of 43 cases of healthy adults as control (HC) and 24 cases of general influenza A virus (no-H1N1) infectious using whole blood cell analysis and flow cytometry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Peripheral white blood cell counts of mild cases decreased greatly but those of severe cases did not decrease significantly; the neutrophils of severe cases increased significantly in acute phase; similar to general influenza A virus (no-H1N1) infectious, the peripheral lymphocytes, CD3, CD4, CD8 and B cells of all patients with influenza A virus (H1N1) infection decreased greatly in acute phase and quickly recovered in recovery phase; NK and NKT cells absolute counts of severe cases decreased significantly in acute phase, and the decreasing extent of which were more than 20%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There were similar characteristics of change in peripheral white blood cells and lymphocyte subsets between patients with pandemic influenza A virus (H1N1) infection and general pandemic A virus (No-H1N1); the great decrease of NK and NKT cells absolute counts may suggest the severe tendency of diseases.</p>

Study of copper metabolism and liver damage in TX Mice-an animal model for liver disease / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To provide right time points in selection of right aged animals and the normal physiological data of TX mice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>7-12 months old TX and DL mice were studied, each group contained 3 female and 3 male mice of TX or DL mice. The concentration of copper in the serum, dry tissues (liver, brain and kidney), together with copper biochemistry indexes were measured. The liver histopathology was observed under light microscopy and electron microscope.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Transaminase increased significantly only in 10 and 11-month- old (AST(TX10) = 218.3 U/L, AST(TX11) = 197.5 U/L, AST(DL10) = 171.5 U/L, AST(DL11) = 165.0 U/L, P(10) less than 0.001, P(11) = 0.022), but the copper concentration of liver, brain and kidney was significantly increased during 7-12 month old (the average concentration of copper, Liver(TX) = (750.0 +/- 85.5) mg/kg, Brain(TX) = (39.7 +/- 2.2)mg/kg, Kidney(TX) = (29.8 +/- 5.0) mg/kg, Liver(DL) = (11.6 +/- 1.5) mg/kg, Brain(DL) = (16.8 +/- 0.9) mg/kg, Kidney(DL) = (14.2 +/- 1.0) mg/kg, t = 21.16, 23.60, 7.47, for all these organs P less than 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TX mice is a suitable model of liver disease with natural recovery, so selecting animal model of suitable time point is very important.</p>

Establishment and evaluation of the diagnostic kit for anti-HIV1/2 antibody and P24 antigen / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish and evaluate an Enzyme Immunoassay diagnostic kit combined with anti-HIV1/2 antibody and P24 antigen for shortening the examination window period of HIV infection in HIV laboratory diagnosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The enzyme-linked reaction plates was coated by anti-HIV P24 monoclonal antibody and HIV 1/2 antigen. Labeling HIV1/2 antigen and anti-HIV P24 polyclonal antibody with horseradish peroxidase, setup an integrated ELISA kit for detecting anti-HIV-1/2 antibody and HIV P24 antigen, and evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of this kit.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The sensitivity of testing P24 antigen was up to 0.2 ng/ml. 78 serum samples of patients with AIDS, 85 serum samples of healthy people were compared with Abbott EIA kit, the coincidence was 100%. 12 051 sera from normal persons and patients were examined, the sensitivity of 100 %and specificity of 99.62 %, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The anti-HIV1/2 antibody and HIV P24 antigen can be measured at the same time using this EIA kit, while the examination window period of HIV infection is shortened. Thus, the method is suitable for laboratory diagnosis and epidemiological investigation.</p>