A survey and cause analysis of community resilience in a Chinese city from the perspective of nursing.

BACKGROUND: Community resilience, which fully reflects the ability of communities to resist, absorb, recover or adapt to disasters, has attracted international attention. Nurses are an important force in disaster prevention, relief and postdisaster reconstruction. This study aims to test the current level of community resilience in Dujiangyan city, which was seriously damaged by the Wenchuan earthquake, and analyze the causes. METHODS: Community data from 952 residents, 574 families, 5 health care institutions and 12 communities in Dujiangyan city were collected by using stratified, cluster, map and systematic sampling methods. A new community resilience evaluation system from the perspective of nursing was used to test individual, family, health care and environmental resilience. RESULTS: In Dujiangyan city, average scores were obtained for community resilience (3.93 ± 0.12), individual resilience (4.07 ± 0.64), family resilience (4.07 ± 0.6), health care resilience (3.84 ± 0.33) and community environment resilience (3.69 ± 0.46). CONCLUSIONS: The urban communities in Dujiangyan city had acceptable resilience, with good family and individual resilience and medium health care and community environment resilience, but environmental resilience had the lowest score. Because conditions and resilience levels varied among the communities, targeted measures should be taken to improve resilience based on population characteristics, management, professional organizations, hardware and software facilities.

The role of FH detection combined with HPV screening on the diagnostic significance of cervical cancer and precancerous lesions.

OBJECTIVE: Cervical cancer is a common type in gynecologic malignant tumor that accounts for the leading morbidity only after breast cancer in female. This study aims to determine the diagnostic significance of uterine epithelial cells stability free body of iron protoporphyrin reduced state (FH) detection combined human papillomavirus (HPV) screening for cervical cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 800 patients were enrolled. FH test and HPV genotyping detection were performed. The cases with abnormal results were treated by colposcopy. Pathological detection was treated as the golden standard. Coincidence rate, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated. RESULTS: The positive rate of FH and high-risk HPV rate were 11.5% and 16.5%, respectively. The coincidence rate of single FH detection positive and negative was 76.08% and 85.71%, respectively. FH detection exhibited sensitivity of 74.26% and specificity of 61.22%. The coincidence rate of single positive and negative HPV test was 53.03% and 88.58%, respectively. HPV screening presented sensitivity of 77.25% and specificity of 65.37%. The coincidence rate of positive and negative combined detection was 92.11% and 100%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of combined detection was 96.32% and 81.22%, respectively, which was significantly higher than that of single detection group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: FH detection combined with HPV screening is efficient in the diagnosis of cervical cancer and precancerous lesion, which is better than single use of FH detection. Our data highlight the importance of FH with HPV screening for the clinical application.

[Effects of allogeneic bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on polarization of peritoneal macrophages in rats with sepsis].

Objective: To explore the effects of allogeneic bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) on polarization of peritoneal macrophages isolated from rats with sepsis induced by endotoxin/lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods: (1) BMSCs were isolated, cultured and purified from 5 SD rats with whole bone marrow adherent method. The third passage of cells were collected for morphologic observation, detection of expressions of stem cell surface markers CD29, CD44, CD45, and CD90 with flow cytometer, and identification of osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation. (2) Another 45 SD rats were divided into sham injury group (SI, n=5), LPS control group (LC, n=20), and BMSCs-treated group (BT, n=20) according to the random number table. Rats in groups LC and BT were injected with LPS (5 mg/kg) via tail vein to induce sepsis; rats in group SI were injected with the same amount of normal saline to simulate the damage. At post injury hour (PIH) 1, rats in group BT were given 1 mL BMSCs (2×10(6)/mL) via tail vein injection; rats in another two groups were injected with equal volume of phosphate buffer saline. Five rats in group SI at PIH 24 and in groups LC and BT at PIH 6, 12, 24, and 48 were sacrificed to harvest lung tissue for pathological observation with HE staining. In addition, rats in group SI at PIH 24 and in groups LC and BT at PIH 24 and 48 were simultaneously performed with intraperitoneal injection of low-glucose DMEM. Then peritoneal fluid was harvested to culture peritoneal macrophages. Flow cytometer was used to assess the positive expression of cell makers of macrophages including CD68 (making gate), CD11c, and CD206 in group SI at PIH 24 and in groups LC and BT at PIH 24 and 48. Data were processed with one-way analysis of variance and LSD test. Results: (1) The third passage of cells showed uniform fiber-like shape similar to fibroblasts. These cells showed positive expressions of CD29, CD44, CD90 and weak positive expression of CD45. They were able to differentiate into osteoblasts and adipocytes. These cells were identified as BMSCs. (2) At PIH 24, the structure of pulmonary alveoli of rats in group SI was clear and complete with no congestion or inflammatory cell infiltration. At PIH 6, the structure of pulmonary alveoli of rats in groups LC and BT was clear with a small amount of inflammatory cell infiltration, slight congestion and pulmonary interstitial thickening. At PIH 12, the inflammatory responses in lung tissue of rats in group LC were more severe than those in group BT with a large amount of inflammatory cell infiltration, serious congestion, and obvious pulmonary interstitial thickening. The pathological results of rats in group BT at PIH 12 was consistent with the results at PIH 6. At PIH 24, the pathological results of rats in groups LC and BT were similar to the results at PIH 12. At PIH 48, the structure of pulmonary alveoli tissue of rats in group LC was still severely disrupted, with a large number of inflammatory cell infiltration and congestion in lung tissue, but pulmonary interstitial thickening was slightly alleviated than before. The condition of rats in group BT nearly recovered to that in group SI. (3) At PIH 24, the positive expression rate of CD11c in peritoneal macrophages of rats in group LC [(83±10)%] was close to that in group BT [(87±7)%, P>0.05], and they were both significantly higher than the rate in group SI [(55±12)%, with P values below 0.01]. The positive expression rate of CD11c in peritoneal macrophages of rats in group LC [(59±11)%] at PIH 48 was close to that in group SI at PIH 24 (P>0.05), and they were both significantly higher than the rate in group BT [(20±11)%] at PIH 48 (with P values below 0.01). At PIH 24, the positive expression percentages of CD206 in peritoneal macrophages of rats were similar among the three groups (with P values above 0.05). The positive expression percentage of CD206 in peritoneal macrophages of rats in group SI at PIH 24 was close to that in group BT at PIH 48 (P>0.05), and they were both significantly lower than the percentage in group LC at PIH 48 (with P values below 0.01). Conclusions: BMSCs can reduce the pathological inflammatory responses in the lung of rats with sepsis and inhibit peritoneal macrophages from polarizing into M1 phenotype, whereas they can not promote macrophages to polarize into M2 phenotype.

Protective effect of zinc on liver injury induced by D-galactosamine in rats.

The protective effects of zinc on liver injury induced by D-galactosamine (GalN) were investigated in rats in vivo and in vitro. Zinc supplementation (50 mg/kg/d) for 5 d of rats treated with GalN (1.5 g/kg, ip) could reduce their mortality rate, restore liver pathomorphological changes, maintain zinc content, inhibit the lipid peroxidation, hasten the protein synthesis, and improve liver function. In vitro, zinc supplement could abate the death of GalN-intoxicated hepatocytes, decrease malonaldehyde (MDA) content, and maintain reduced glutathione (GSH). It is concluded that zinc has protective effects on GalN-induced liver damage. Its effects may be owing to inhibition of lipid peroxidation and hastening of protein syntheses.

The prevalence of Parkinson's disease continues to rise after 80 years of age: a cross-sectional study of Chinese veterans.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) continues to rise after 80 years of age. METHODS: This is a two-stage, multi-center, cross-sectional study using a stratified cluster sampling approach was employed. Subjects included veterans at ≥ 60 years of age living in veterans' communities for at least one month in 18 major cities across China. In the first step, possible PD was screened using a PD screening scale. Demographic and relevant information were collected. In the second step, PD diagnosis was established using the United Kingdom Parkinson's Disease Society Brain Bank (UKPDSBB) diagnostic criteria. RESULTS: The study was conducted during the period from December 2009 to December 2012. The study included 277 veterans' communities. Among the approached 11,593 subjects, 9676 subjects, (9096 men, 580 women) responded. The response rate was 83.46%.The age was ≥ 80 years in 6722 (69.47%) subjects. A diagnosis of PD was established in 228 subjects (2.36%) in the entire sample. The rate of PD was 2.65% in those with an age of ≥ 80 years. The rate of PD increased with increasing age (0%, 1.84%, 2.60% and 3.68% in the subjects at < 70, 70-79, 80-89 and ≥ 90 years of age, respectively; χ2 = 10.891, p = 0.001 in chi-square test). The rate of PD was higher in men (2.44%) than in women (1.46%) on the surface. However, no significant difference was detected (p = 0.241). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of PD continues to increase beyond the age of 80 years. The prevalence of PD in Chinese veterans is not lower than that in other countries and regions.

Diffusion tensor imaging for predicting hand motor outcome in chronic stroke patients.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have indicated that diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) values are related to clinical outcome in stroke patients. This prospective study explored whether DTI values were predictive for hand function outcome in chronic stroke patients. METHODS: The DTI parameters (rλ1, rλ23, fractional anisotropy [rFA] and mean diffusivity [rMD]) were investigated in patients with completely paralysed hands (CPH; n=10) or partially paralysed hands (PPH; n=10), by two methods of analysis: segment of the corticospinal tract [sCST] analysis; pure region of interest [ROI] analysis. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to assess the correlation between the DTI parameters and the following clinical measures: Fugl-Meyer Assessment [FMA]; National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS]. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between CPH and PPH for rFA and rλ23 (sCST analysis) and for rMD and rλ23 (ROI analysis). The rλ23 (sCST analysis) correlated with the NIHSS; the rMD (sCST analysis) correlated with the FMA (hand). CONCLUSION: The three parameters, rFA, rλ23 and rMD may have predictive value for evaluating hand function outcome in chronic stroke patients.

Double eyelid blepharoplasty incorporating epicanthoplasty using Y-V advancement procedure.

Ethnic characteristics of the Asian upper eyelid include the lack of a superior palpebral fold, excessive fat, laxity of pretarsal skin, and medial epicanthal fold. Historically, these features have characterised a unique beauty in Asians. With the increase of cultural exchange, the sense of beauty has changed greatly among Asians and most Asians regard eyes with double eyelids as beautiful. Therefore, surgical creation of a superior palpebral fold (so-called double eyelidplasty) has become the most common cosmetic operation in Asia. However, the presence of an epicanthal fold weakens the aesthetic results of the operation. The size of the epicanthal fold in Asians, whilst varying widely among individuals, is usually relatively small, and thus aesthetically successful effacement rarely requires more complex procedures as performed in the West. The incision for epicanthoplasty should therefore be as simple as possible and be confined to the eyelid area. From October 2001 to May 2006, Y-V advancement procedure for epicanthoplasty was used in combination with double eyelid surgery in 92 cases. Most of the patients attained satisfactory results. There were few complications in our series. A hypertrophic scar was recorded in three early cases and faded within 2 to 3 months with satisfactory results. This procedure is simple and more suitable for people of oriental origin.

Association between polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor gene ApaI, BsmI and TaqI and muscular strength in young Chinese women.

UNLABELLED: The association between the polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor gene ApaI, BsmI and TaqI and isokinetic muscular strength was examined in 109 healthy, young Chinese women. METHODS: Genomic DNA was extracted from mouthwash samples and vitamin D receptor genotypes were determined with the established methods. The peak torque of the dominant limb in concentric and eccentric knee extensors and flexors and elbow extensors and flexors was measured using Cybex-Norm-770 isokinetic dynamometer at slow and fast velocities. The distribution frequency of vitamin D receptor gene alleles was analyzed by chi-square test. The difference in muscular strength between VDR genotype groups was analyzed using one-way ANOVA. The ApaI, BsmI and TaqI alleles and genotype frequencies appeared to be in a Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Subjects with the vitamin D receptor ApaI null (A allele) mutation (AA) exhibited significantly lower knee and elbow concentric or eccentric peak torque than those with aa homozygous or Aa heterozygous. The BB & Bb group showed significantly higher peak torque in concentric knee flexors than bb group. No association was found between vitamin D receptor gene TaqI and muscular strength. The data indicated that vitamin D receptor gene ApaI and BsmI polymorphisms rather than TaqI polymorphism might be associated with muscular strength.

The aerobic fitness (VO2 peak) and alpha-fibrinogen genetic polymorphism in obese and non-obese Chinese boys.

The purpose of the study was to compare the aerobic fitness (VO (2) peak) between obese and non-obese boys at pre-puberty and examine the effect of body composition on VO (2) peak in this cohort with reference to TaqI polymorphism at alpha-fibrinogen gene locus. Seventy-seven Chinese boys with similar lifestyle participated in the study. Among them, 47 were diagnosed as obese. VO (2) peak was measured by a treadmill test and body composition was assessed via a combined anthropometrical and bioelectrical impedance analysis method. The alpha-fibrinogen genetic polymorphism was detected through PCR-based digestion with TaqI restriction enzyme. The results indicated that VO (2) peak was significantly lower in obese boys compared with normal weight counterparts when the data were expressed either in conventional ratio unit (ml (-1) . min (-1) . lean body weight [LBW] (-1)) or in allometric unit (ml (-1) . min (-1) . body weight [BW] (-2/3)). LBW, fat mass (FM), and body fat content (BF %) all were correlated with VO (2) peak, while LBW was the strongest predictor. The relationship between body composition and VO (2) peak seemed quite comparable across different alpha-fibrinogen genotypes. Significant difference was observed between obese and non-obese boys in terms of the proportion of genotypes and frequency of alleles. T1T1 homozygotes had higher risk for obesity. We came to the conclusion that prepubertal obese boys exhibited impaired aerobic fitness compared with their normal weight peers. VO (2) peak is closely related to LBW and independent of FM. This relationship remains constant irrespective of the TaqI alpha-fibrinogen genotypes that may be associated with fatness in boys.

[Analysis on genetic polymorphism of mtDNA in endurance athletes and sedentary subjects].

AIM: To analysis the sequence variation of the origin region (D-loop) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in elite endurance athletes and sedentary subjects in order to find the genetic markers related with performance. METHODS: Using a new established PCR method by virtue of tracing sample analysis, the restricted fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of D-loop in mtDNA was assessed in 76 elite Chinese endurance athletes (EEA), 33 endurance athletes with average-level(GEA) and 20 sedentary control(sc). RESULTS: There is a significant difference in distribution of the polymorphism in mtDNA D-loop between the EEA and SC(chi 2 = 33.3, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The sequence variation of D-loop region of mtDNA in the elite endurance athletes may contribute to the individual difference in aerobic performance and trainability.

Culture-derived Babesia orientalis exoantigens used as a vaccine against buffalo babesiosis.

Buffalo babesiosis represents a major problem for the livestock industry in China. The pathogen of this disease was isolated and identified as Babesia orientalis and subsequently propagated in vitro, using the microaerophilus stationary phase culture system. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of exoantigens derived from B. orientalis cultures to induce a protective immunity against challenge exposure to virulent organisms in laboratory and field. The results showed that exoantigens of B. orientalis could induce a high degree of protection against challenge with a virulent B. orientalis strain. The animals in the vaccinated group exhibited a slight decrease in haemoglobin levels and blood cell counts, whereas animals in the control group showed typical clinical symptoms and died between days 11 and 16 after challenge. In another approach, 82 buffaloes kept in B. orientalis-endemic areas were injected with exoantigens plus Freund's adjuvant in two doses at an interval of 2 weeks, one month before the endemic period. An additional 86 buffaloes served as unvaccinated controls. During the endemic period, the clinical signs of all buffaloes were monitored and the antibody response was investigated, using the latex agglutination test. During the endemic period, none of the vaccinated buffaloes showed clinical signs or died, whereas five control buffaloes showed clinical signs and two of them died. The mean antibody titre of vaccinated animals was higher than that of the control animals. These results showed that the culture-derived exoantigens of B. orientalis could be used as a vaccine to prevent buffalo babesiosis.

Effect of tumor necrosis factor-alpha on the proliferation of leukemic cells from children with B-cell precursor-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL): studies of primary leukemic cells and BCP-ALL cell lines.

The effect of recombinant tumor necrosis factor-alpha (rTNF-alpha) on the primary leukemic blasts and leukemic cell lines derived from children with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) was studied. The proliferation of leukemic cells from the bone marrow of 11 of 13 patients (seven at diagnosis, four in relapse) and from the 697 (BCP-ALL) cell line was significantly inhibited by rTNF-alpha at the lowest dose tested (0.1 ng/mL), as measured by 3H-TdR uptake. The degree of inhibition was variable, ranging from 17% to 78%. Furthermore, a dose-dependent inhibitory effect was observed, with approximately 70% mean inhibition of DNA synthesis detected when cells from 12 of 13 patients were incubated with 100 ng/mL of rTNF-alpha for 3 days. In contrast, rTNF-alpha did not inhibit another BCP-ALL cell line (EU-1/ALL) established recently in our laboratory. Studies indicated that the TNF-alpha gene was expressed by the primary leukemic blasts of one TNF-resistant case in his third relapse and by EU-1 cells. Also, TNF-alpha protein was detected by Western blot analysis and enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay in the supernatant of EU-1 cells; this is the first report of TNF production by a BCP-ALL cell lines. The production of TNF-alpha mRNA and protein was not detected in the 697 cell line and in the primary leukemic blasts from six patients (four at diagnosis, two in relapse) whose leukemic cells were inhibited by TNF. The partially purified TNF-alpha obtained from the EU-1 cell line also suppressed the proliferation of TNF-sensitive primary leukemic cells, and this inhibitory activity was abolished by an anti-TNF-alpha specific antibody. Our results demonstrate that TNF-alpha is an inhibitor of in vitro proliferation of BCP-ALL cells from most patients. The TNF-resistant leukemic cells from a few patients and the EU-1 cell line express TNF mRNA, suggesting that the induction of TNF gene expression is associated with the development of TNF resistance.

Physical growth of Chinese children from birth to 6 years old in urban and rural areas in 1985.

During 1985 a survey of the physical growth of 175,290 Chinese children less than 7 years in age was undertaken in the urban and rural areas of ten provinces. The results of weight, height, and head circumference are similar to those generally found as regards the differences between boys and girls. The children in rural areas were lighter and shorter. From the age of 3-6 months onwards the weights and heights of all groups were less than international standards. Nutrition is probably the major factor in these differences in growth.