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Objective To study the effects of different pellet feed hardness on the growth and reproduction, feed utilization rate, and environmental dust in laboratory mice.Methods One hundred of fifty 50 3-week-old SPF-grade C57BL/6JGpt and 150 ICR laboratory mice were randomly divided into three groups, with an equal number of males and females. They were fed diets with different hardness of 18.62 kg, 23.15 kg, and 27.89 kg. Body weight, feed utilization rate, and dust levels in cages were recorded and calculated for mice aged 3-10 weeks. Forty-five 6-week-old male mice and ninety 4-week-old female mice from each strain were randomly divided into three groups and fed pellet feeds with three different hardness levels. After 2 weeks of adaptation to the same hardness feed, the mice were paired at a 1∶2 male-to-female ratio and monitored for reproductive data for 3 months.Results At the age of 4 weeks, the body weight of male C57BL/6JGpt mice in 23.15 kg group was significantly higher than that in the 18.62 kg and 27.89 kg groups (P<0.01), and the body weight of females in the 18.62 kg group was significantly higher than that in the 27.89 kg group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in body weight among ICR mice aged 3-10 weeks across different feed hardness groups (P>0.05). For both strains, feed utilization rate for males was higher than that for females across different feed hardness groups at all weeks of age (P<0.01). Compared to the 27.89 kg group, both the 18.62 kg and 23.15 kg groups showed a significant increase in the 50-mesh dust levels in cages for both strains aged 4-8 weeks (except for 7-week-old C57BL/6JGpt mice) (P<0.05). For both C57BL/6JGpt and ICR mice, there was no significant difference in basic reproductive performance such as interval between the first litter and the monthly production index among the three feed hardness groups during the experimental period (P>0.05). However, the monthly production index of C57BL/6JGpt mice first increased and then decreased with the increase of feed hardness, while that of ICR mice increased with increasing feed hardness, though these differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05).Conclusion Different strains and genders had different tolerance to feed hardness. C57BL/6JGpt mice are more adapted to lower hardness feeds, while ICR mice are better suited to slightly higher hardness feeds.
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Objective:To understand the characteristics of brucellosis in adults and the abnormality of blood lipid profile, and to analyze the related factors of dyslipidemia in brucellosis patients, so as to provide reference for preventing and controlling the potential risk of dyslipidemia in brucellosis patients.Methods:The clinical data of all hospitalized patients with brucellosis diagnosed in Liaoning Provincial Hospital of Infectious Diseases from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2016 were collected. Patients' general demographic characteristics, exposure history, clinical stage and course of disease, concomitant chronic diseases and other basic conditions and dyslipidemia were analyzed; single factor and multivariate unconditional logistic regression models were used to analyze the related factors of dyslipidemia in patients with brucellosis.Results:A total of 562 cases with brucellosis were collected, aged (48.59 ± 12.26) years old, ranging from 18 to 76 years old, and the male to female ratio was 2.5∶1.0 (402∶160); among them, 193 cases (34.3%) had a history of contact with cattle and 331 cases (58.9%) had a history of contact with sheep. Among the 562 cases of brucellosis, 314 cases (55.9%) were accompanied with dyslipidemia, 48 (8.5%), 152 (27.0%), 60 (10.7%) and 217 (38.6%) with abnormal total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), respectively. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that diabetes [odds ratio ( OR) = 4.201, 95% confidence interval ( CI): 1.361-12.971], elevated neutrophils ( OR = 2.314, 95% CI: 1.981-5.462), elevated alanine transferase ( OR = 2.188, 95% CI: 1.379-3.473), increased procalcitonin ( OR = 1.707, 95% CI: 1.515-2.532), history of contact with cattle ( OR = 2.170, 95% CI: 1.464-3.125) were risk factors of dyslipidemia in patients with brucellosis; and neutropenia ( OR = 0.458, 95% CI: 0.232-0.904) was a protective factor. Conclusions:The incidence of dyslipidemia in brucellosis patients is high. Diabetes, inflammation, abnormal liver function, and history contact with cattle are related factors for dyslipidemia in patients with brucellosis. Targeted measures should be taken to intervene and control the potential risk of dyslipidemia in patients with brucellosis, so as to reduce the burden of brucellosis and non-infectious chronic diseases.
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Objective To explore the effect of Taijiquan on motor function and depression in patients with post-stroke depression. Meth-ods From January to October, 2015, 60 stroke patients with depression were randomly divided into control group (n=30) and Taijiquan group (n=30). Both groups accepted routine rehabilitation, while Taijiquan group accepted another training of six actions from simplified Taijiquan. They were assessed with Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), Barthel Index (BI) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) be-fore, and four and eight weeks after treatment. Results The scores of FMA and BI increased more in Taijiquan group than in the control group after treatment (t>2.351, P2.169, P<0.05). Conclusion Taijiquan can relieve the depression and improve the motor and activities of daily living in patients with post-stroke depression.