Analysis on health status and influencing factors of 1353 mercury workers in Xinjiang / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

Objective: To investigate the health status of workers exposed to occupational mercury, and to provide the theoretical basis for formulating reasonable health monitoring and targeted protection measures. Methods: In November 2021, 1353 mercury-exposed workers who underwent occupational health examination in a hospital in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from 2018 to 2021 were collected as research subjects. By analyzing their blood pressure, electrocardiogram, blood routine, liver function and urine β2-microglobulin and urinary mercury in different gender, age, length of service, industry and enterprise scale, and the health status. And the influencing factors of urinary mercury were evaluated. Results: Among 1353 workers exposed to mercury, there were 1002 males (74.1%), the average age was (37.2±9.8) years old, and the length of service was 3.1 (2.0, 8.0) years. The abnormal rates of physical examination, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, blood routine, liver function, urinary β2-microglobulin and urinary mercury were 73.9% (1000/1353), 12.3% (166/1353), 30.2% (408/1353), 59.9% (810/1353), 32.5% (440/1353), 15.2% (205/1353) and 2.2% (30/1353), respectively. The abnormal rates of blood pressure, blood routine, liver function, urinary β2-microglobulin and urinary mercury in male workers were higher than those in female workers (P<0.05). The abnormal rates of workers' blood pressure and physical examination results increased with the increase of age and length of service, while the abnormal rate of electrocardiogram results were opposite (P<0.05). There were statistically significant differences in the abnormal rates of blood pressure, blood routine, urinary β2-microglobulin and physical examination results among workers of different enterprises and different industries (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the workers with age ≥30 years old, microminiature enterprises, abnormal physical examination results and urinary β2-microglobulin were the susceptible population with abnormal urinary mercury (P<0.05) . Conclusion: The occupational health status of mercury workers in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is not optimistic, and the health monitoring of microminiature enterprises and older workers should be improved to effectively protect the physical and mental health of workers.

Screening of HDAC3/8 Small Molecule Inhibitors from Traditional Chinese Medicine Based on Molecular Docking / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective::To discover a small molecule active ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with the inhibitory activity of histone deacetylase (HDAC) 3/8. Method::The molecular docking technique was performed by AutoDock 4.2.6 software. Trichostatin A (TSA) was used as a reference to screen 19 small molecular components from TCM, and the default docking conformation number was set to obtain the docking binding energy, active site amino acid residues and hydrogen bonds, and the biological activity was verified. Result::The binding energies of 19 small molecule components from TCM to HDAC3 and HDAC8 were different. Among them, ursolic acid, fangchinoline and tetrandrine have low binding energies to HDAC3 and HDAC8, and their binding activities were strong. The optimal binding energy of fangchinoline and HDAC3 at the site 1 was the lowest (-26.71 kJ·mol-1), and that of HDAC8 at the site 9 was the lowest (-26.84 kJ·mol-1). The optimal binding energy of tetrandrine and HDAC3 at the site 13 was the lowest (-26.38 kJ·mol-1), and that of HDAC8 at the site 12 was the lowest (-25.41 kJ·mol-1). In addition, the binding energy of ursolic acid and HDAC3 at the site 16 was the lowest (-25.83 kJ·mol-1), and that of HDAC8 at the site 8 was the lowest (-35.62 kJ·mol-1). Three kinds of amino acids at the docking site of small molecules were rendered by PyMOL 2.3.1.When ursolic acid was combined with HDAC3/8, the active sites produced two hydrogen bonds, and the interaction was strong, and many amino acids were connected at the active site. The fangchinoline formed two hydrogen bonds with the active site of HDAC3 and one hydrogen bond with the active site of HDAC8, and hydrophobic binding with some active site amino acids. There was no hydrogen bond between tetrandrine and HDAC3/8, and all docking sites were docked by 4 active amino acids. Three small molecules (ursolic acid, fangchinoline and tetrandrine) with the best docking effect had the inhibitory activity against HDAC3/8 at the concentration of 500 μmol·L-1 and 100 μmol·L-1, and the inhibitory activity was still optimal among the 10 selected small molecules. Conclusion::Among the screened 19 small molecules, ursolic acid, tetrandrine and fangchinoline may be the new anti-inflammatory drugs of HDAC3/8 inhibitory target, which provides a reference for further exploration and discovery of new anti-inflammatory drugs.

Distribution of mast cells and its role in the pathogenesis of Hirschsprung disease / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the distribution of mast cells (MC) in colon tissue of Hirschsprung disease (HD) and explore the role of mast cells in the pathogenesis of HD.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-one cases of HD (male 23, female 18), age from 2 months to 15 years, and eight age-matched normal cases were enrolled in this study. The distribution of MC in all layers of colon was examined by immunohistochemistry with mouse antihuman mast cell tryptase monoclonal antibody.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The count of MC in all layers of colon aganglionic segments of HD was significantly higher as compared with colon ganglionic segments of HD and normal controls (21.47+/-3.59 vs 3.18+/-0.87, 2.75+/-0.51). The average optical density values(A) of MC in aganglionic and ganglionic segments significantly decreased as compared to normal control (0.38+/-0.10,0.31+/-0.11 vs 0.51+/-0.08).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Mast cells may play an important role in the pathogenesis of HD.</p>

Correlation between magnetic resonance imaging findings and proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression in peripheral lung cancer / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the correlation between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression in peripheral lung cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expression of PCNA was detected by means of SABC immunohistochemistry in 45 cases of surgically and pathologically confirmed peripheral lung cancer. The correlation between PCNA expression in the tumors and the MRI findings was analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>PCNA expression was correlated to the differentiation, tumor size, lobulation, and mediastinal lymph node metastasis of the tumors (P<0.05), but not to the histological type, clinical stage, pleural retraction, spiculation, or signal feature.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Correlations are found between MRI findings of lung cancer and abnormal expression of PCNA.</p>