Factors Affecting Postoperative Complications of Suction-Curettage by Arthroscopic Shaver for Bromhidrosis

BACKGROUND

Suction-curettage by arthroscopic shaver is the most effective treatment for bromhidrosis; however, postoperative complications require wound management and exhibit a high risk of hypertrophic scarring. We investigated factors affecting postoperative complications.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated data for 215 patients (430 axillae) with bromhidrosis treated with suction-curettage by arthroscopic shaver between 2011 and 2019. Cases followed for less than 1 year were excluded. Complications of hematoma or seroma, epidermis decortication, skin necrosis, and infection were recorded. Multinomial logistic analysis was used to calculate odds ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals for the complication of the surgery, adjusting for relevant statistically significant variables.

RESULTS

Complications occurred in 52 axillae (12.1%). Epidermis decortication occurred in 24 axillae (5.6%), with a significant difference for age (P < 0.001). Hematoma occurred in 10 axillae (2.3%) with a significant difference in tumescent infiltration use (P = 0.039). Skin necrosis occurred in 16 axillae (3.7%) with a significant difference for age (P = 0.001). Infection occurred in 2 axillae (0.5%). Severe scarring occurred in 15 axillae (3.5%), with complications related to more severe skin scarring (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Older age was a risk factor for complications. Use of tumescent infiltration resulted in good postoperative pain control and less hematoma. Patients with complications presented with more severe skin scarring, but none experienced limited range of motion after massage.

[Completion rates of bundle treatment of among patients with sepsis shock in intensive care departments of hospitals in Jiangsu Province from 2016 to 2020 years]

Current clinical approaches for septic shock increasingly incorporate bundle treatment, a multi-component approach that uses a collection of tests and agents to assist in the identification and treatment of infection. The present study analyzed completion rates of 3 h and 6 h bundle treatment among patients with septic shock in intensive care units (ICUs) of hospitals in Jiangsu Province from 2016 to 2020, using data from the Jiangsu Provincial Intensive Care Medical Quality Control Center. Current approaches and factors affecting treatment completion were assessed.The completion rates of 3 h and 6 h bundle treatment in ICUs of all medical units in Jiangsu Province and in ICUs of hospitals of different levels were recorded. Analyses show that the completion rate of 3 h and 6 h bundle treatment for patients with septic shock in ICUs in Jiangsu Province increased year by year from 2016 to 2020.The completion rate of 3 h bundle treatment increased from 69.82% (3 604/5 162) to 82.47% (8 915/10 775) (all P<0.001). The completion rate of 6 h bundle treatment increased from 62.69% (3 236/5 162) to 72.54% (7 816/10 775) (all P<0.001). In addition, year by year, the completion rate of 3 h bundle treatment in ICUs in tertiary hospitals increased, from 69.80% (3 596/5 152) to 82.23% (7 375/8 969), while the completion rate of 6 h bundle treatment increased from 62.69% (3 230/5 152) to 72.18% (6 474/8 969) (all P<0.001). Completion rates in secondary hospitals also increased year by year, from 80.00% (8/10) to 85.27% (1 540/1 806) for 3 h treatment and from 60.00% (6/10) to 74.31% (1 342/1 806) (all P<0.001) for 6 h treatment. Completion rates for 3 h treatment in first-tier cities (83.99% (2 099/2 499)) and second-tier cities (84.68% (3 952/4 667)) was higher than in third-tier cities (79.36% (2 864/3 609)). The completion rate of 6 h bundle treatment gradually decreased in first-line (77.19% (1 929/2 499)), second-line (74.37% (3 471/4 667)), and third-line (66.94% (2 416/3 609)) cities (all P<0.001). The data collectively show that from 2016 to 2020, the completion rate of bundle treatment in septic shock patients in ICUs in Jiangsu Province improved significantly.

Dimensionality reduction approach for many-objective epistasis analysis

In epistasis analysis, single-nucleotide polymorphism-single-nucleotide polymorphism interactions (SSIs) among genes may, alongside other environmental factors, influence the risk of multifactorial diseases. To identify SSI between cases and controls (i.e. binary traits), the score for model quality is affected by different objective functions (i.e. measurements) because of potential disease model preferences and disease complexities. Our previous study proposed a multiobjective approach-based multifactor dimensionality reduction (MOMDR), with the results indicating that two objective functions could enhance SSI identification with weak marginal effects. However, SSI identification using MOMDR remains a challenge because the optimal measure combination of objective functions has yet to be investigated. This study extended MOMDR to the many-objective version (i.e. many-objective MDR, MaODR) by integrating various disease probability measures based on a two-way contingency table to improve the identification of SSI between cases and controls. We introduced an objective function selection approach to determine the optimal measure combination in MaODR among 10 well-known measures. In total, 6 disease models with and 40 disease models without marginal effects were used to evaluate the general algorithms, namely those based on multifactor dimensionality reduction, MOMDR and MaODR. Our results revealed that the MaODR-based three objective function model, correct classification rate, likelihood ratio and normalized mutual information (MaODR-CLN) exhibited the higher 6.47% detection success rates (Accuracy) than MOMDR and higher 17.23% detection success rates than MDR through the application of an objective function selection approach. In a Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, MaODR-CLN successfully identified the significant SSIs (P < 0.001) associated with coronary artery disease. We performed a systematic analysis to identify the optimal measure combination in MaODR among 10 objective functions. Our combination detected SSIs-based binary traits with weak marginal effects and thus reduced spurious variables in the score model. MOAI is freely available at https://sites.google.com/view/maodr/home.

[Mechanism of circZNF609 targeting miR-153 to regulate the proliferation and apoptosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma]

Objective: To investigate the molecular mechanism of circZNF609 targeting miR-153 to regulate the proliferation and apoptosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Methods: Fifty cases of lymphoma tissue from patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who were diagnosed and treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from July 2018 to December 2019 were collected. Thirty cases of normal lymph node tissues that were confirmed to be reactive hyperplasia by pathological diagnosis during the same period were selected as controls. Real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the expression of circZNF609 in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma tissues and control hyperplasia lymph nodes. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma OCI-LY19 cells were divided into control group (blank control), si-con group (transfected with siRNA control), si-ZNF609 group (transfected with circZNF609 siRNA), and si-ZNF609+ Anti-NC group (co-transfected with circZNF609 siRNA and inhibitor control) and si-ZNF609+ Anti-miR-153 group (co-transfected with circZNF609 siRNA and miR-153 inhibitor). Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to detected proliferation, flow cytometry was used to detect cell cycle and apoptosis. Western blot was used to detect the protein expressions of C-caspase-3, cyclin D1, p21. The luciferase reporter system was used to identifie the relationship between circZNF609 and miR-153. Results: The expression level of circZNF609 in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma tissue was (1.44±0.22), higher than (0.37±0.14) in the control tissues (P<0.001). The cell survival rate of the si-ZNF609 group was (51.74±6.39)%, lower than (100.00±10.23)% of the control group and the (99.64±11.67)% of the si-con group (P<0.001). The proportion of cells in the G(0)/G(1) phase was (63.25±4.11)%, higher than (48.62±4.32)% of the control group and (47.12±3.20)% of the si-con group (P<0.001), the apoptosis rate was (13.36±1.42)%, higher than (3.65±0.47)% of the control group and (3.84±0.62)% of the si-con group (P<0.05). The expression levels of C-caspase-3 and p21 protein were (0.85±0.09) and (0.90±0.08), higher than (0.38±0.04) and (0.65±0.07) in the control group and (0.39±0.05) and (0.66±0.05) in the si-con group (P<0.001). The expression level of cyclin D1 protein was (0.40±0.03), lower than (0.52±0.06) of the control group and (0.53±0.04) of the si-con group (all P<0.001). CircZNF609 and miR-153 are mutually targeted. The cell survival rate of the si-ZNF609+ Anti-miR-153 group was (169.92±13.25)%, higher than (100.00±9.68)% of the si-ZNF609+ Anti-NC group (P<0.001), the ratio of cells in G(0)/G(1) phase and apoptosis rate were (52.01±3.62)% and (8.20±0.87)%, respectively, lower than (64.51±5.17)% and (14.03±1.17)% in the si-ZNF609+ Anti-NC group (P<0.001). The protein expression levels of C-caspase-3 and p21 were (0.42±0.06) and (0.52±0.06), lower than (0.80±0.07) and (0.92±0.10) of the si-ZNF609+ Anti-NC group (P<0.001). The protein expression level of cyclin D1 was (0.68±0.07), higher than (0.39±0.04) in the si-ZNF609+ Anti-NC group (P<0.001). Conclusion: Down-regulation of circZNF609 inhibits the proliferation of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma OCI-LY19 cells and induces apoptosis by targeting miR-153.

Illness Perceptions, Disabilities, and Quality of Life of Patients With Hand Injury: A Prospective Study

BACKGROUND

Few studies have tracked hand injury patients past the acute care period. Postdischarge tracking of hand injury patients may identify time points most patients require assistance, which can help direct interventions to reduce post-hand injury sequelae.

OBJECTIVE

To examine hand injury patients' experiences during early recovery to illness perceptions, disabilities, and quality of life and to identify predictors of quality of life at 1 month and 3 months after hospital discharge.

METHODS

This prospective observational study of hand injury patients was performed at a teaching hospital in Taiwan. Data were collected at patient discharge, 1 month, and 3 months after discharge, from January 2017 to October 2018. The variables measured included illness perceptions, disabilities, and quality of life.

RESULTS

A total of 117 patients participated in the study. The patients reported more positive illness perceptions at 3 months versus 1 month after discharge. The impact of disabilities on patient work was significantly greater at 1 month than at 3 months after discharge. Quality of life was better at 3 months than at 1 month after discharge. Predictors of quality of life after hospital discharge were demographic variables, clinical variables, and illness perceptions. Patients with lower education reported poorer psychological quality of life after discharge.

CONCLUSION

Primary care providers should perform a comprehensive assessment of patients prior to their discharge. Patients should undergo regular follow-ups to reduce comorbidities and improve their outcomes.

High Incidence of Axillary Web Syndrome among Breast Cancer Survivors after Breast Reconstruction

Objective

The aim of this study was to identify if breast reconstruction is a surgical risk factor for axillary web syndrome (AWS) in breast cancer (BC) patients.

Methods

The data of 207 patients who have been diagnosed with unilateral BC and who had mastectomy and lymph node dissection were retrospectively reviewed. Information of their clinical and pathological data, whether they had immediate -reconstruction and intraoperative radiotherapy, surgical methods, and postoperative complications during the 3 months after their surgery (AWS, lymphedema, seroma, and myofascial adhesion) were collected, and the incidence of AWS was compared between different surgical methods.

Results

The overall incidence of AWS was 48.8% in 207 patients. Of the 22 patients who received reconstruction, 19 developed AWS, yielding an incidence of 86%. Multivariate logistic regression modeling showed that patients who underwent reconstruction had a significantly higher incidence of AWS (odds ratio, 4.74), as did patients with postoperative complication of myofascial adhesion (odds ratio, 7.07).

Conclusions

BC survivors after breast reconstruction are susceptible to AWS, and there is a significant association between myofascial adhesion and AWS. Our results can stimulate further investigation and provide an evidence base for the development of educational guidance for patients who plan to undergo breast reconstruction.

Identification of High-Order Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism Barcodes in Breast Cancer Using a Hybrid Taguchi-Genetic Algorithm: Case-Control Study

Background

Breast cancer has a major disease burden in the female population, and it is a highly genome-associated human disease. However, in genetic studies of complex diseases, modern geneticists face challenges in detecting interactions among loci.

Objective

This study aimed to investigate whether variations of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with histopathological tumor characteristics in breast cancer patients.

Methods

A hybrid Taguchi-genetic algorithm (HTGA) was proposed to identify the high-order SNP barcodes in a breast cancer case-control study. A Taguchi method was used to enhance a genetic algorithm (GA) for identifying high-order SNP barcodes. The Taguchi method was integrated into the GA after the crossover operations in order to optimize the generated offspring systematically for enhancing the GA search ability.

Results

The proposed HTGA effectively converged to a promising region within the problem space and provided excellent SNP barcode identification. Regression analysis was used to validate the association between breast cancer and the identified high-order SNP barcodes. The maximum OR was less than 1 (range 0.870-0.755) for two- to seven-order SNP barcodes.

Conclusions

We systematically evaluated the interaction effects of 26 SNPs within growth factor–related genes for breast carcinogenesis pathways. The HTGA could successfully identify relevant high-order SNP barcodes by evaluating the differences between cases and controls. The validation results showed that the HTGA can provide better fitness values as compared with other methods for the identification of high-order SNP barcodes using breast cancer case-control data sets.

[Application of radiomics captured from CT to predict the EGFR mutation status and TKIs therapeutic sensitivity of advanced lung adenocarcinoma]

Objective: To explore the ability of computed-tomography (CT) radiomic features to predict the Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status and the therapeutic response of advanced lung adenocarcinoma to EGFR- Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) treatment. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 253 patients diagnosed as advanced lung adenocarcinoma, who underwent EGFR mutation detection, and those with EGFR sensitive mutation were treated with TKIs. Using the Lasso regression model and the 10 fold cross-validation method, the radiomic features of predicted EGFR mutation status and the screening of TKIs for sensitive populations were obtained. 715 radiomic features were extracted from unenhanced, arterial phase and venous phase, respectively. Results: The area under curve (AUC) values of the multi-phases including unenhanced, arterial phase and venous phase of the EGFR mutation status validation group were 0.763, 0.807 and 0.808, respectively. The number of radiomic features extracted from the multi-phases were 5, 18 and 23, respectively, which could distinguish the EGFR mutation status. The AUC values of the multi-phases of the EGFR-TKIs sensitive validation group were 0.730, 0.833 and 0.895, respectively. The number of radiomic features extracted from the multi-phases were 3, 7 and 22, respectively, which can be used to screen the superior population for TKIs treatment. The efficiency of radiomic features extracted from venous phase in predicting EGFR mutant status and EGFR-TKIs sensitivity was significantly superior than those of unenhanced and arterial phase. Conclusions: The radiomic features of CT scanning can be used as the radiomics biomarker to predict the EGFR mutation status of lung adenocarcinoma and to further screen the dominant population in TKIs therapy, which provides the basis for targeted therapy.

The impact of robotic surgery on quality of life, urinary and sexual function following total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer: a propensity score-matched analysis with laparoscopic surgery

AIM

Quality of life (QoL) and functional outcomes are at risk of being impaired after rectal surgery, but there has been no large prospective study to thoroughly assess QoL according to surgical approach. We have investigated the impact of laparoscopic and robotic total mesorectal excision (TME) on QoL and functional outcomes.

METHOD

Patients undergoing laparoscopic or robotic TME for rectal cancer between 2009 and 2013 were prospectively included in this questionnaire-based survey of QoL together with variations in urinary and sexual function. A propensity score analysis was retrospectively conducted to compare outcomes between groups in a cohort matched 1:1 for age, sex, body mass index, preoperative chemoradiation status and tumour height. The survey was performed preoperatively and 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery.

RESULTS

Global health status/QoL was similar between the two groups for 130 matched pairs, but the robotic group showed better role, emotional and social functioning and experienced less fatigue and financial difficulty. International Prostatic Symptom Scores in men increased postoperatively, with significantly less impairment in the robotic group at 6 months. These scores were comparable to preoperative scores at 6 months in the robotic group and at 12 months in the laparoscopic group. Of 48 sexually active men in each group, International Index of Erectile Function-5 scores decreased postoperatively, returning to preoperative levels at 6 months in the robotic group and at 12 months in the laparoscopic groups.

CONCLUSION

The robotic approach for TME was associated with less impairment of urinary and sexual function; QoL was comparable to the laparoscopic approach.

[Survey of continuous renal replacement therapy application status]

Objective: To investigate the condition of implementation of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) in quality control center of critical care medicine. Methods: Questionnaire mails were issued to all of the quality control respondents to survey the application of CRRT in June 2015 from Jiangsu quality control center of critical care medicine. Results: Among the 69 quality control respondents, 62 were equipped with CRRT devices, and in 58 of which patients were treated with CRRT. There were 195 doctors and 253 nurses in 62 quality control respondents attended CRRT training at or above the provincial level; the proportions of hospitals in southern, central and northern regions of Jiangsu were 63%, 79% and 86% respectively with trained doctors (more than 2), and 34%, 38% and 43% respectively with trained nurses (more than 3). The preferred material for CRRT filter were AN69 and acrylic, accounting for 48% and 45% respectively. The average life span was less than 12 h for 21% filters, 12-24 h for 34% filters, and more than 72 h for only 2% filters. Manual displacement liquids were currently mainly used in our province, accounting for 75%. Heparin is the most frequently used anticoagulants, accounting for 48%. Citrate and low molecular weight heparin used for anticoagulation accounted for 31% and 21% respectively. Bleeding was the most common clinical complication (43%) in patients with CRRT, followed by low temperature (22%). The average hospitalization expenses for patients with CRRT amounted to 69 643 yuan RMB per person, in which the cost for CRRT accounted for 19 525 yuan RMB per person. Conclusion: The application of CRRT varies in filter materials, anticoagulants, replacement frequencies and dilution mode. Bleeding is the most common clinical complication in patients with CRRT. Besides, the proportion of trained doctors and nurses at the provincial level is still very low. It will be improved with intensive training and reasonable implementation for us to prolong the lifespan of the filters and reduce the cost for patients with CRRT.

Epidemiology and patterns of facial fractures due to road traffic accidents in Taiwan: A 15-year retrospective study

OBJECTIVE

The facial region is a commonly fractured site, but the etiology varies widely by country and geographic region. To date, there are no population-based studies of facial fractures in Taiwan.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with facial fracture and registered in the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan between 1997 and 2011. The epidemiological characteristics of this cohort were analyzed, including the etiology, fracture site, associated injuries, and sex and age distributions.

RESULTS

A total of 6,013 cases were identified that involved facial fractures. Most patients were male (69.8%), aged 18-29 years (35.8%), and had fractures caused by road traffic accidents (RTAs; 55.2%), particularly motorcycle accidents (31.5%). Falls increased in frequency with advancing age, reaching 23.9% among the elderly (age > 65 years). The most common sites of involvement were the malar and maxillary bones (54.0%), but nasal bone fractures were more common among those younger than 18 years.

CONCLUSION

Most facial injuries in Taiwan occur in young males and typically result from RTAs, particularly involving motorcycles. However, with increasing age, there is an increase in the proportion of facial injuries due to falls.

[Mutation status of epidermal growth factor receptor and KRAS gene in non-small cell lung cancers at Xuanwei regions of Yunnan Province]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the mutation status of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and KRAS gene in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Xuanwei, Yunnan and to correlate the mutation status with clinicopathologic features.

METHODS

Mutation status of exons 18, 19, 20 and 21 of EGFR, and codons 12, 13 of KRAS in 63 cases of NSCLC were analyzed by gene sequencing and ARMS-Taqman probe method. Correlation with patients' clinicopathological characteristics was performed.

RESULTS

EGFR and KRAS mutations were present in 55.6% (35/63) and 6.3% (4/63), respectively. EGFR gene mutations were present, including exon 18 G719X in 14.3% (5/35), exon 19 in 14.3% (5/35), exon 20 S768I and T790M in 20.0% (7/35), exon 21 L858R in 31.4% (11/35), exon 18 G719X and exon 20 S768I double mutation in 17.1% (6/35), and exon 20 T790M and exon 21 L858R double mutation in 2.9% (1/35). KRAS mutations were seen in codon 12 in 3 of 4 cases, and codon 13 in 1 of 4 cases. EGFR mutations were mutually exclusive with KRAS mutations. According to statistic analysis, EGFR mutations were associated with the histological types of NSCLC(P<0.05), but without correlation with patient's gender, age, smoking status and lymph node metastasis(P>0.05). KRAS mutations in NSCLC had no correlation with the clinical pathologic characteristics of the patients.

CONCLUSIONS

A higher frequency of EGFR exon 18 G719X and 20 exon S768I mutations are found in the patients in Xuanwei, Yunnan. EGFR mutations are associated with histologic types of NSCLC, but without correlation with patient's gender, age, smoking status and lymph node metastasis. KRAS mutation in NSCLC has no correlation with the clinicopathologic characteristics of the patients.

Proteomic analysis of prognostic plasma biomarkers in peripheral arterial occlusive disease

A comprehensive patient-based plasma proteomic approach for the identification of potential plasma biomarkers for the screening and detection of good/poor prognosis of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD).

Nurse practitioner job content and stress effects on anxiety and depressive symptoms, and self-perceived health status

AIM

We explored the impact of job content and stress on anxiety, depressive symptoms and self-perceived health status among nurse practitioners (NPs).

BACKGROUND

Taiwan's NP roles vary between hospitals as a result of the diverse demands and complex tasks that cause job-related stress, potentially affecting the health of the NP.

METHODS

This study utilised a cross-sectional descriptive design with 161 NPs from regional hospitals participating. Data collection involved demographics, the Taiwan Nurse Stress Checklist, the Job Content Questionnaire, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, a General Health Status Checklist and salivary cortisol tests.

RESULTS

NPs reported moderate job stress, similar job control to nurses, mild anxiety and depression, and below-average self-perceived health. Being a licensed NP, personal response, competence, and incompleteness of the personal arrangements subscales of job stress, and anxiety predicted self-perceived health after adjusting for other covariates.

CONCLUSIONS

Job stress and anxiety affect NP health.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

NPs are a valuable resource, and the healthcare system demand is growing. Reasonable NP staffing, working hours, proper promotion systems, the causes of job stress, job content clarification and practical work shift scheduling need to be considered. The occupational safety and physical and psychological health of NPs are strongly associated with the quality of patient care.

An efficiency analysis of high-order combinations of gene-gene interactions using multifactor-dimensionality reduction

Background

Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) is widely used to analyze interactions of genes to determine the complex relationship between diseases and polymorphisms in humans. However, the astronomical number of high-order combinations makes MDR a highly time-consuming process which can be difficult to implement for multiple tests to identify more complex interactions between genes. This study proposes a new framework, named fast MDR (FMDR), which is a greedy search strategy based on the joint effect property.

Results

Six models with different minor allele frequencies (MAFs) and different sample sizes were used to generate the six simulation data sets. A real data set was obtained from the mitochondrial D-loop of chronic dialysis patients. Comparison of results from the simulation data and real data sets showed that FMDR identified significant gene–gene interaction with less computational complexity than the MDR in high-order interaction analysis.

Conclusion

FMDR improves the MDR difficulties associated with the computational loading of high-order SNPs and can be used to evaluate the relative effects of each individual SNP on disease susceptibility. FMDR is freely available at http://bioinfo.kmu.edu.tw/FMDR.rar.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1717-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

X-ray imaging of tumor growth in live mice by detecting gold-nanoparticle-loaded cells

We show that sufficient concentrations of gold nanoparticles produced by an original synthesis method in EMT-6 and CT-26 cancer cells make it possible to detect the presence, necrosis and proliferation of such cells after inoculation in live mice. We first demonstrated that the nanoparticles do not interfere with the proliferation process. Then, we observed significant differences in the tumor evolution and the angiogenesis process after shallow and deep inoculation. A direct comparison with pathology optical images illustrates the effectiveness of this approach.

One-pot tuning of Au nucleation and growth: from nanoclusters to nanoparticles

We describe a simple and effective method to obtain colloidal surface-functionalized Au nanoparticles. The method is primarily based on irradiation of a gold solution with high-flux X-rays from a synchrotron source in the presence of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA). Extensive tests of the products demonstrated high colloidal density as well as excellent stability, shelf life, and biocompatibility. Specific tests with X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectrometry, visible microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dark-field visible-light scattering microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that MUA, being an effective surfactant, not only allows tunable size control of the nanoparticles, but also facilitates functionalization. The nanoparticle sizes were 6.45 ± 1.58, 1.83 ± 1.21, 1.52 ± 0.37 and 1.18 ± 0.26 nm with no MUA and with MUA-to-Au ratios of 1:2, 1:1, and 3:1. The MUA additionally enabled functionalization with l-glycine. We thus demonstrated flexibility in controlling the nanoparticle size over a large range with narrow size distribution.

Chemical composition and antibacterial activities of Illicium verum against antibiotic-resistant pathogens

In recent years, human pathogenic microorganisms have developed multiple drug resistance and caused serious nosocomial infections. In this study, we identified four new antimicrobial compounds from the Chinese herbal medicine Illicium verum and assessed their antibacterial efficacies. The supercritical CO₂ and ethanol extracts of Illicium verum showed substantial antibacterial activity against 67 clinical drug-resistant isolates, including 27 Acinetobacter baumannii, 20 Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and 20 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The diethyl ether (EE) fraction obtained from partition extraction and supercritical CO₂ extracts revealed an antibacterial activity with a minimum inhibitory concentration value of 0.15-0.70 mg/mL and 0.11 mg/mL, respectively. The EE fraction of I. verum showed synergetic effects with some commercial antibiotics. The antimicrobial mechanism was investigated with killing curves and scanning electron microscopy observation. The chemical components of the extracts were analyzed by spectrophotometry; (E)-anethole, anisyl acetone, anisyl alcohol, and anisyl aldehyde exhibited antibacterial activity against different clinical isolates. These extracts from I. verum can be further developed into antibiotic medicines due to their proven antibacterial activity.

Impact of far-infrared ray exposure on the mechanical properties of unwounded skin of rats

Far-infrared ray (FIR) has been applied to promote growth, modulate sleep, speed up the healing of wounds and accelerate microcirculation. The action of FIR on wounds has been well established in previous studies. However, whether the same action also works on normal skin is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of FIR exposure on the tensile strength (TS) and composition of unwounded skin. In this study, 84 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into control and FIR groups. The dorsum samples were harvested for mechanical testing and histological observation at one, two, four and six weeks. The TS in the control group had no significant difference for all durations. However, a steep increase in the TS occurred between one and two weeks (P = 0.033) in the FIR group. The TS in the FIR group was found to be significantly higher than the TS in the control group at two weeks (P = 0.049). From histological observation, capillary dilation and increased inflammatory cells around the capillaries were observed at one week in FIR-treated groups. However, the mild inflammatory changes vanished after two weeks. In conclusion, our results showed that FIR may induce inflammatory changes and enhance skin TS in the short term, but the effect diminished with time.

Tailored Au nanorods: optimizing functionality, controlling the aspect ratio and increasing biocompatibility

Monodisperse gold nanorods with high aspect ratio were synthesized by x-ray irradiation. Irradiation was first used to stimulate the creation of seeds. Afterward, nanorod growth was stimulated either by chemical reduction or again by x-ray irradiation. In the last case, the entire process took place without reducing agents. The shape of the final products could be controlled by modulating the intensity of the x-ray irradiation during the seed synthesis. In turn, the nanorod aspect ratio determines the absorption wavelength of the nanorods that can thus be optimized for different applications. Likewise, the aspect ratio influences the uptake of the nanorods by HeLa cells.

Tag SNP selection using particle swarm optimization

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most abundant form of genetic variations amongst species. With the genome-wide SNP discovery, many genome-wide association studies are likely to identify multiple genetic variants that are associated with complex diseases. However, genotyping all existing SNPs for a large number of samples is still challenging even though SNP arrays have been developed to facilitate the task. Therefore, it is essential to select only informative SNPs representing the original SNP distributions in the genome (tag SNP selection) for genome-wide association studies. These SNPs are usually chosen from haplotypes and called haplotype tag SNPs (htSNPs). Accordingly, the scale and cost of genotyping are expected to be largely reduced. We introduce binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) with local search capability to improve the prediction accuracy of STAMPA. The proposed method does not rely on block partitioning of the genomic region, and consistently identified tag SNPs with higher prediction accuracy than either STAMPA or SVM/STSA. We compared the prediction accuracy and time complexity of BPSO to STAMPA and an SVM-based (SVM/STSA) method using publicly available data sets. For STAMPA and SVM/STSA, BPSO effective improved prediction accuracy for smaller and larger scale data sets. These results demonstrate that the BPSO method selects tag SNP with higher accuracy no matter the scale of data sets is used.

Mechanical evaluation of the influence of different suture methods on temporal skin healing

BACKGROUND

The progress of wound healing is mainly investigated using histological analyses. The study of mechanical recovery of healing wound is lacking.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the temporal mechanical strength of healing skin after the use of different suture methods.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The dorsum of each of 36 Sprague-Dawley rats was divided into four regions, and 2-cm-long cuts were randomly made in three regions and closed using three suture methods. The size of all suture material was 4/0. The suture methods included full-thickness skin sutures with nylon (N group), degradable polyglactin 910 sutures in the dermis (V group), and nylon sutures in the epidermis with polyglactin sutures in the hypodermis (NV group). After 1, 2, 4, and 6 weeks, the sutured sites were harvested for tensile testing and recovery index.

RESULTS

The V and NV groups had greater recovery indices than did the N group after 2 weeks, but the V and N groups reached almost full recovery and had greater recovery than the NV group 6 weeks after wounding. Recovery strengths increased rapidly between 4 and 6 weeks in the V and N groups.

CONCLUSION

These results are helpful for suture method selection and management of wound healing.

Chaotic genetic algorithm for gene selection and classification problems

Pattern recognition techniques suffer from a well-known curse, the dimensionality problem. The microarray data classification problem is a classical complex pattern recognition problem. Selecting relevant genes from microarray data poses a formidable challenge to researchers due to the high-dimensionality of features, multiclass categories being involved, and the usually small sample size. The goal of feature (gene) selection is to select those subsets of differentially expressed genes that are potentially relevant for distinguishing the sample classes. In this paper, information gain and chaotic genetic algorithm are proposed for the selection of relevant genes, and a K-nearest neighbor with the leave-one-out crossvalidation method serves as a classifier. The chaotic genetic algorithm is modified by using the chaotic mutation operator to increase the population diversity. The enhanced population diversity expands the GA's search ability. The proposed approach is tested on 10 microarray data sets from the literature. The experimental results show that the proposed method not only effectively reduced the number of gene expression levels, but also achieved lower classification error rates than other methods.

Oblique electron-beam evaporation of distinctive indium-tin-oxide nanorods for enhanced light extraction from InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes

This paper presents a novel and mass-producible technique to fabricate indium-tin-oxide (ITO) nanorods which serve as an omnidirectional transparent conductive layer (TCL) for InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes (LEDs). The characteristic nanorods, prepared by oblique electron-beam evaporation in a nitrogen ambient, demonstrate high optical transmittance (T>90%) for the wavelength range of 450nm to 900nm. The light output power of a packaged InGaN/GaN LED with the incorporated nanorod layer is increased by 35.1% at an injection current of 350mA, compared to that of a conventional LED. Calculations based on a finite difference time domain (FDTD) method suggest that the extraction enhancement factor can be further improved by increasing the thickness of the nanorod layer, indicating great potential to enhance the luminous intensity of solid-state lighting devices using ITO nanorod structures.

Genotype and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii isolates in Taiwan

Rapid and accurate identification of the drug susceptibility profile of clinical strains is very important for controlling bacterial infections and determining the antibiotic therapy. The objective of this study was to investigate the spectrum of the correlation between phenotypic and genetic characters of the drug-resistant clinical isolates. A total of 133 clinical isolates, including 76 Acinetobacter baumannii and 57 Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were examined for their antibiotic susceptibility by the method of disc diffusion. Among them, most of the isolates were multiresistant, and 80% of the strains showed phenotypic resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics. Using PCR analysis, among the several types of beta-lactamases, TEM was the most prevalent, and OXA was the second most prevalent. The integron harbored was identified by conserved segment PCR, and 50% of the test isolates carried integrons with various gene cassette sizes inserted. The results obtained from this study reveal that the majority of these isolates displayed multiple drug resistance phenotypes that were associated with their mutational gene profiles.

A Combination of Shuffled Frog-Leaping Algorithm and Genetic Algorithm for Gene Selection

Microarray data referencing to gene expression profiles provides valuable answers to a variety of problems, and contributes to advances in clinical medicine. The application of microarray data to the classification of cancer types has recently assumed increasing importance. The classification of microarray data samples involves feature selection, whose goal is to identify subsets of differentially expressed gene potentially relevant for distinguishing sample classes and classifier design. We propose an efficient evolutionary approach for selecting gene subsets from gene expression data that effectively achieves higher accuracy for classification problems. Our proposal combines a shuffled frog-leaping algorithm (SFLA) and a genetic algorithm (GA), and chooses genes (features) related to classification. The K-nearest neighbor (KNN) with leave-one-out cross validation (LOOCV) is used to evaluate classification accuracy. We apply a novel hybrid approach based on SFLA-GA and KNN classification and compare 11 classification problems from the literature. Experimental results show that classification accuracy obtained using selected features was higher than the accuracy of datasets without feature selection.

Long-term efficiency and stability of wetlands for treating wastewater of a lead/zinc mine and the concurrent ecosystem development

A constructed wetland system in Guangdong Province, South of China has been used for treating Pb/Zn mine discharge since 1985. The performance in the purification of the mine discharge and the concurrent ecosystem development within the system during the period of 1985-2000 has been studied. The untreated wastewater contained rather high concentrations of cadmium (Cd) (0.05 mg L(-1)), lead (Pb) (11.5 mg L(-1)), and zinc (Zn) (14.5 mg L(-1)), which greatly exceed the upper limits for industrial wastewater discharge in China. The constructed wetland system effectively removed Cd by 94.00%, Pb by 99.04%, Zn by 97.30%, and total suspended solids (TSS) by 98.95% from the mine discharge over a long period (over 16 years) leading to significant improvement in water quality; it was also found that there were no significantly annual or monthly variations in pH values, As, Cd, Hg, Pb, and Zn concentrations in water collected from the outlet of the wetland. Moreover, diversity and abundance of living organisms, including protozoan, higher plants, terrestrial animals, and birds, increased gradually. The 16-year monitoring results showed a reciprocal relationship, at a certain extent, between restoration of the wetland ecosystem, in other words, the maturity of the wetland, and the long-term efficiency and stability on purifying heavy metal-contaminated wastewater.

Charge-orbital ordering and Verwey transition in magnetite measured by resonant soft X-ray scattering

We report experimental evidence for the charge-orbital ordering in magnetite below the Verwey transition temperature T(V). Measurements of O K-edge resonant x-ray scattering on magnetite reveal that the O 2p states in the vicinity of the Fermi level exhibit a charge-orbital ordering along the c axis with a spatial periodicity of the doubled lattice parameter of the undistorted cubic phase. Such a charge-orbital ordering vanishes abruptly above T(V) and exhibits a thermal hysteresis, correlating closely with the Verwey transition in magnetite.

The effect of temperature on monoxygenase reactions in the microsomal membrane

The effect of temperature on the rates of monoxygenase reactions was studied with microsomes prepared from phenobarbital pretreated rats. The rates of the N-demethylation of ethylmorphine, benzphethamine, aminopyrine, and p-nitroanisole were studied. Breaks at temperatures around 24 degrees C were observed in the Arrhenius plots of all these reactions. The energy of activation of these reactions has values of 10-12 and 19-21 kcal per mol at temperature ranges above and below the break temperature, respectively. The break, however, was not observed if 30% glycerol was added to the microsomes. The Arrhenius plot of the microsomal NADPH-cytochrome c reductase activity also did not show any break. The implications of these observations in relationship to the fluidity of the membrane, the translational mobility of membrane enzymes, and the rate of monoxygenase reactions are discussed.

Movement of finger joints induced by synergistic wrist motion

BACKGROUND

An experiment has recently been conducted to evaluate and compare the differences in tendon excursions between the flexor digitorum profundus and superficialis using three mobilization techniques. No previous studies deal with the total joint excursions with constant tendon length. The purpose of this study was to investigate the coordinated motion between the finger and wrist joints resulting from passive tension of the muscles while performing synergistic wrist motion.

METHODS

The relative joint positions of the hand and wrist were measured using a three-dimensional motion analysis system with external retroreflective markers 2 mm in diameter placed on the dorsal surface of the hand. Fifty normal subjects, with a 1:1 gender ration, ranging in age from 20 to 40 years, and with no previous history of upper extremity injury, were recruited for the experiment.

FINDINGS

The relationships of synergistic motion between the wrist and finger joints due to passive tension in the muscles were approximately linear. The ranges of wrist motion averaged 60 degrees extension and 60 degrees flexion. Moving the wrist from flexion into extension induced synergistic finger joint motion as follows: the distal interphalangeal joint angles changed from an average of 12 degrees of flexion to 31 degrees; proximal-interphalangeal joint angles changed from 19 degrees to 70 degrees; and metacarpal phalangeal joints changed from 27 degrees to 63 degrees of flexion.

INTERPRETATION

The relationships of synergistic motion between the wrist and finger joints were systematically documented. Such a relationship could be considered in optimizing the design of dynamic splints used for rehabilitation in post-surgical tendon repair, as well as providing useful information about potential diagnoses of problems with the integrity of the flexor and extensor mechanisms.

Taxonomic history and current status of Stachybotrys chartarum and related species

The fungus Stachybotrys chartarum is the type species of the genus Stachybotrys. It is a cellulolytic saprophyte with a worldwide distribution and is frequently recovered in water-damaged buildings. Three isolates of S. chartarum were studied morphologically from single-spore isolations. Significant differences were found with the sizes, lengths, width, and L/W ratio of conidia and phialides among the isolates. QPCR analysis on S. chartarum, S. yunnanensis, S. chlorohalonata, S. elegans, S. microspora, and S. nephrospora showed that the primers and probe for detecting S. chartarum used by commercial laboratories were not able to differentiate S. chartarum from S. chlorohalonata and S. yunnanensis. Results suggested that S. chartarum may not be well delineated even after S. chlorohalonata was recently segregated from the species complex. Further study on the taxonomic status of the epithet S. chartarum is necessary.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Six species of Stachybotrys are present indoors. Differentiation of Stachybotrys chartarum from S. chlorohalonata, and S. yunnanensis can be challenging using either morphological or QPCR methods. Caution should be taken to identify S. chartarum and closely related species and to explain their health effects implication for indoor air quality investigations.

Leukotriene A4 hydrolase as a target for cancer prevention and therapy

Leukotriene A4 hydrolase (LTA4H) is a bifunctional zinc enzyme with the activities of epoxide hydrolase and aminopeptidase. As an epoxide hydrolase, LTA4H catalyzes the hydrolysis of the epoxide LTA4 to the diol, leukotriene B4 (LTB4), which mainly functions as a chemoattractant and an activator of inflammatory cells. As an aminopeptidase, LTA4H may process peptides related to inflammation and host defense. In a chronic inflammation-associated animal model of esophageal adenocarcinoma, we have shown that LTA4H was overexpressed in tumor as compared to normal tissues. Bestatin, an LTA4H inhibitor, suppresses tumorigenesis in this animal model. Since LTA4H has long been regarded as an anti-inflammatory target, we propose LTA4H as a target for prevention and therapy of cancers, especially those associated with chronic inflammation. Here we review the gene structure, expression, regulation and functions of LTA4H, as well as its involvement in carcinogenesis. We believe LTA4H/LTB4 may play an important role in chronic inflammation associated carcinogenesis by at least two mechanisms: a) the inflammation-augmenting effect on inflammatory cells through positive feedback mediated by its receptors and downstream signaling molecules; and b) the autocrine growth-stimulatory effect of LTB4 produced by epithelial cells, and the paracrine growth-stimulatory effect of LTB4 produced by inflammatory cells, on precancerous and cancer cells. Based on our present knowledge, inhibitors of LTA4H or antagonists of LTB4 receptors may be used alone or in combination with other agents (e.g., cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors) in cancer prevention and treatment trials to test their effectiveness.

Endoscopic screening and determination of p53 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen in esophageal multistage carcinogenesis: a comparative study between high- and low-risk populations in Henan, northern China

The objective of this study was to characterize the histologic changes from endoscopic screening for early esophageal cancer (EC) on subjects at high-incidence area (HIA) and low-incidence area (LIA) in Henan, China, and to further compare the changes in p53 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in the multistage of human esophageal carcinogenesis from these two populations. The detection rate of basal cell hyperplasia (BCH) and dysplasia (DYS) was higher in the subjects from HIA than in those from LIA. Out of the 1568 symptom-free subjects examined at HIA, 10 (0.6%) cases with early squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were identified. Immunoreactivity of p53 and PCNA was observed in cell nuclei of esophageal biopsies and surgically resected esophageal cancer specimens both in HIA and LIA. With the lesions progressed from normal epithelium to BCH to DYS to SCC, the positive-immunostaining cells expanded from basal layer to superficial layer, and the number of positive cells/mm2 for p53 and PCNA increased, and was significantly higher in HIA than in LIA among the similar morphological lesions (P < 0.01). The number of p53 positive cells/mm2 in SCC from HIA was almost fivefold higher than SCC from LIA (P < 0.01). The remarkable difference was also observed between HIA and LIA in DYS and BCH. The present results indicate that p53 protein accumulation is an important early biomarker for identifying high-risk subjects for EC.

Changes of TGFbeta1 and TGFbetaRII expression in esophageal precancerous and cancerous lesions: a study of a high-risk population in Henan, northern China

The level of transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1) and transforming growth factor betaII receptor (TGFbetaRII) was determined immunohistochemically in normal tissues and tissues with different severities of lesions (basal cell hyperplasia, BCH; dysplasia, DYS; carcinoma in situ, CIS; and squamous cell carcinoma, SCC) from surgically resected human esophagi and esophageal biopsies of symptom-free subjects. The samples were from an area with high esophageal cancer incidence in northern China (Linzhou, formerly Linxian, and nearby county Huixian in Henan Province). Peroxidase immunostain (ABC) and conventional hematoxylin and eosin stain were used. The tissue sections were incubated with antibodies of TGFbeta1 and TGFbetaRII overnight. The immunoreactivity was observed in cytoplasm of the esophageal specimen. From normal to BCH to DYS to CIS and to SCC, the positive immunostaining rates for TGFbeta1 increased significantly (P < 0.05). A linear correlation between the positive immunostaining rates of TGFbeta1 and the different lesions was observed (P < 0.05). From well- to moderately- and poorly differentiated SCC, the positive immunostaining rates for TGFbeta1 decreased gradually, but the difference was not significant (P > 0.05). In contrast, with the lesions progressing from normal to BCH to DYS to CIS and to SCC, the positive immunostaining rates for TGFbetaRII decreased significantly (P < 0.05). From well- to moderately- and poorly differentiated SCC, the positive immunostaining rates for TGFbetaRII decreased significantly (P < 0.05). There was a linear correlation between the positive rates of TGFbetaRII and different lesions and SCC differentiation (P < 0.05). The present results indicated that the alterations of TGFbeta1 and TGFbetaRII is a frequent event in esophageal multistage carcinogenesis, the absent or lower expression of TGFbetaRII may lead to the loss of cell proliferation control by TGFbeta1 and the overexpression of TGFbeta1 may be a negative feedback response caused by the lower expression of TGFbetaRII protein.

Serologic markers of Epstein-Barr virus infection and nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Taiwanese men

BACKGROUND

It is probable but unproven that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has a role in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. We determined whether antibodies against EBV are present before the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

METHODS

A total of 9699 men were enrolled between 1984 and 1986. Blood samples were examined for IgA antibodies against EBV capsid antigen and neutralizing antibodies against EBV-specific DNase. During 131,981 person-years of follow-up, 22 pathologically confirmed new cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma that were diagnosed more than one year after recruitment were ascertained through linkage with the National Cancer Registry of Taiwan.

RESULTS

The cumulative risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma per 100,000 person-years was 11.2 for subjects who tested positive for neither serologic marker, 45.0 for those who had one marker, and 371.0 for those who had both markers. After adjustment for age and the presence or absence of a family history of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the relative risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was 32.8 for subjects with both markers (95 percent confidence interval, 7.3 to 147.2; P<0.001) and 4.0 for subjects with one marker (95 percent confidence interval, 1.6 to 10.2; P=0.003), as compared with subjects with neither marker. The longer the duration of follow-up, the greater the difference in the cumulative incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma between seropositive and seronegative subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

IgA antibodies against EBV capsid antigen and neutralizing antibodies against EBV DNase are predictive of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Inhibition of carcinogenesis by dietary polyphenolic compounds

Plants consumed by humans contain thousands of phenolic compounds. The effects of dietary polyphenols are of great current interest due to their antioxidative and possible anticarcinogenic activities. A popular belief is that dietary polyphenols are anticarcinogens because they are antioxidants, but direct evidence for this supposition is lacking. This chapter reviews the inhibition of tumorigenesis by phenolic acids and derivatives, tea and catechins, isoflavones and soy preparations, quercetin and other flavonoids, resveratrol, and lignans as well as the mechanisms involved based on studies in vivo and in vitro. Polyphenols may inhibit carcinogenesis by affecting the molecular events in the initiation, promotion, and progression stages. Isoflavones and lignans may influence tumor formation by affecting estrogen-related activities. The bioavailability of the dietary polyphenols is discussed extensively, because the tissue levels of the effective compounds determine the biological activity. Understanding the bioavailability and blood and tissue levels of polyphenols is also important in extrapolating results from studies in cell lines to animal models and humans. Epidemiological studies concerning polyphenol consumption and human cancer risk suggest the protective effects of certain food items and polyphenols, but more studies are needed for clear-cut conclusions. Perspectives on the application of dietary polyphenols for the prevention of human cancer and possible concerns on the consumption of excessive amounts of polyphenols are discussed.

Inhibitory mechanisms of tea polyphenols on the ultraviolet B-activated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent pathway

In this study, we investigated the effect of tea polyphenols, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate or theaflavins, on UVB-induced phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) activation in mouse epidermal JB6 Cl 41 cells. Pretreatment of cells with these polyphenols inhibited UVB-induced PI3K activation. Furthermore, UVB-induced activation of Akt and ribosomal p70 S6 kinase (p70 S6-K), PI3K downstream effectors, were also attenuated by the polyphenols. In addition to LY294002, a PI3K inhibitor, pretreatment with a specific mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases (Erks) kinase 1 inhibitor, U0126, or a specific p38 kinase inhibitor, SB202190, blocked UVB-induced activation of both Akt and p70 S6-K. Pretreatment with LY294002 restrained UVB-induced phosphorylation of Erks, suggesting that in UVB signaling, the Erk pathway is mediated by PI3K. Moreover, pretreatment with rapamycin, an inhibitor of p70 S6-K, inhibited UVB-induced activation of p70 S6-K, but UVB-induced activation of Akt did not change. Interestingly, UVB-induced p70 S6-K activation was directly blocked by the addition of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate or theaflavins, whereas these polyphenols showed only a weak inhibition on UVB-induced Akt activation. Because PI3K is an important factor in carcinogenesis, the inhibitory effect of these polyphenols on activation of PI3K and its downstream effects may further explain the anti-tumor promotion action of these tea constituents.

Retinopathy of prematurity: screening, incidence and risk factors analysis

BACKGROUND

The sequela of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is an important cause of infant blindness. This study was designed to screen the high-risk premature infants and investigate the incidence and risk factors associated with the development of ROP.

METHODS

From October 1997 to October 1998, all premature infants with birth body weight (BBW) less than 2000 gm or gestational age (GA) less than 36 weeks were enrolled and underwent ophthalmologic examination at 4 to 6 weeks of age at Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The perinatal variables were analyzed to evaluate their correlation with the development of ROP.

RESULTS

In totally 108 premature infants, the incidence for development of ROP was 25% (27 in 108 patients). The threshold ROP occurred in 15 eyes (7%). The average BBW and GA (1267+/-341 gm and 29.7+/-2.7 weeks) were significantly lower in ROP group than in the non-ROP group (1703+/-368 gm and 32.3+/-2.2 weeks). The artificial ventilation for more than 5 days, chronic lung disease and periventricular leukomalacia were significant risk factors associated with highest rate of ROP. The respiratory distress syndrome, intraventricular hemorrhage, congenital heart disease and sepsis were significant risk factors accompanied by moderate rate of ROP.

CONCLUSION

Low birth body weight and young gestational age are the most important risk factors in the development of ROP. The analysis of risk factors will be helpful in understanding and prediction of ROP formation in high-risk neonates. The timely clinical screening retina examination of high-risk premature infants is important to prevent the development of advanced ROP.

Light-induced structural changes occur in the transmembrane helices of the Natronobacterium pharaonis HtrII transducer

The Natronobacterium pharaonis HtrII (NpHtrII) transducer interacts with its cognate photoactive sensory rhodopsin receptor, NpSRII, to mediate phototaxis responses. NpHtrII is predicted to have two transmembrane helices and a large cytoplasmic domain and to form a homodimer. Single cysteines were substituted into an engineered cysteine-less NpHtrII at 38 positions in its transmembrane domain. Oxidative disulfide cross-linking efficiencies of the monocysteine mutants were measured with or without photoactivation of NpSRII. The rapid cross-linking rates at several positions support that NpHtrII is a dimer when functionally expressed in the Halobacterium salinarum membrane. Thirteen positions in the second transmembrane segment (TM2) exhibited significant light-induced increases in cross-linking efficiency, and they define a single face traversing the length of the segment when modeled as an alpha-helix. Four positions in this helix showing light-induced decreases in efficiency are clustered on the cytoplasmic side of the protein. One of the monocysteine mutants, G83C, showed loss of phototaxis responses, and analysis of double mutants showed that the G83C mutation alters the dark structure of the TM2-TM2' region of NpHtrII. In summary, the results reveal conformationally active regions in the second transmembrane segment of NpHtrII and a face along the length of TM2 that becomes more available for TM2-TM2' cross-linking upon receptor photoactivation. The data also establish that one residue in TM2, Gly83, is critical for maintaining the proper conformation of NpHtrII for signal relay from the photoactivated receptor to the kinase-binding region of the transducer.

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha-induced apoptosis in cord blood T lymphocytes: involvement of both tumour necrosis factor receptor types 1 and 2

Cord blood T cells are much more likely to be induced to apoptosis in vitro than adult T cells. Nevertheless, the expression of Fas is markedly lower on cord blood lymphocytes than on peripheral blood lymphocytes. In the current investigation, we determined the capacity of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) to induce apoptosis in human naïve T cells in cord blood, and assessed the roles of two distinct TNF receptors (TNFRs) in mediating death signals. After activation, cord blood T cells were sensitive to TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis, and interleukin 2 (IL-2) could prevent this apoptotic response. Both TNFR1 (p55) and TNFR2 (p75) expressed on activated cord blood T cells were able to transmit apoptotic signals. Moreover, a synergistic effect was observed by a combination of TNFR1- and TNFR2-signals. Additionally, CD4(+) T cells showed higher sensitivity to TNFR-mediated apoptosis than CD8(+) T cells. These data suggest that TNF-alpha probably is a mediator of apoptosis in cord blood T cells in vivo and may contribute to the low incidence of graft-versus-host disease in cord blood transplantation.

Occupational exposure to wood, formaldehyde, and solvents and risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Our objective was to evaluate the link between occupational exposures to wood dust, formaldehyde, and solvents and the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). A case-control study was conducted among 375 newly diagnosed cases of NPC in Taipei, Taiwan, and 325 community controls matched to cases on sex, age, and geographical residence (99 and 87% response rates, respectively). Most cases (>90%) were diagnosed with WHO Types 2 or 3 (nonkeratinizing and undifferentiated carcinomas), whereas the remaining cases were diagnosed with WHO Type 1 (squamous cell carcinomas). A complete occupational history was obtained via a personal interview and blindly assessed by an industrial hygienist for intensity and probability of exposure to wood dust, formaldehyde, and solvents. Information on socio-demographic characteristics, cigarette smoking, dietary consumption of nitrosamines, and other potential confounding factors was obtained via a personal interview. Blood specimens were tested for human leukocyte antigen class I/II genotypes, polymorphisms in cytochrome P450 2E1 genotype, and various anti-EBV antibodies known to be associated with NPC. Analysis was performed using logistic regression; relative risk (RR) estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Individuals exposed to wood dust had an adjusted RR of 1.7 (95% CI = 1.0-3.0). Those exposed to wood dust for >10 years had an adjusted RR of 2.4 (95% CI = 1.1-5.0; p(trend) = 0.02). Risk was strongest for those first exposed before the age of 25 years and those seropositive to EBV. Individuals exposed to formaldehyde were at a more modest and nonsignificant increased risk of NPC (RR = 1.4; 95% CI = 0.93-2.2). Those exposed to formaldehyde for >10 years had an adjusted RR of 1.6 (95% CI = 0.91-2.9). The association between formaldehyde and NPC was stronger in analyses restricted to EBV seropositive individuals (RR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.2-5.9). However, no dose response was observed with increasing duration or cumulative use. No association was observed between solvent exposure and NPC (RR = 1.2; 95% CI = 0.86-1.7). Occupational exposure to wood dust is likely to be involved in the development of NPC, a finding that is consistent with the known link between wood exposure and nasal adenocarcinomas. Formaldehyde exposure is less clearly linked to NPC, whereas exposure to solvents is unlikely to be involved in NPC pathogenesis.