The status and challenging perspectives of 3D-printed micro-batteries.

In the era of the Internet of Things and wearable electronics, 3D-printed micro-batteries with miniaturization, aesthetic diversity and high aspect ratio, have emerged as a recent innovation that solves the problems of limited design diversity, poor flexibility and low mass loading of materials associated with traditional power sources restricted by the slurry-casting method. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of the rational design of 3D-printed materials, inks, methods, configurations and systems is critical to optimize the electrochemical performance of customizable 3D-printed micro-batteries. In this review, we offer a key overview and systematic discussion on 3D-printed micro-batteries, emphasizing the close relationship between printable materials and printing technology, as well as the reasonable design of inks. Initially, we compare the distinct characteristics of various printing technologies, and subsequently emphatically expound the printable components of micro-batteries and general approaches to prepare printable inks. After that, we focus on the outstanding role played by 3D printing design in the device architecture, battery configuration, performance improvement, and system integration. Finally, the future challenges and perspectives concerning high-performance 3D-printed micro-batteries are adequately highlighted and discussed. This comprehensive discussion aims at providing a blueprint for the design and construction of next-generation 3D-printed micro-batteries.

TSCA-Net: Transformer based spatial-channel attention segmentation network for medical images.

Deep learning architectures based on convolutional neural network (CNN) and Transformer have achieved great success in medical image segmentation. Models based on the encoder-decoder framework like U-Net have been successfully employed in many realistic scenarios. However, due to the low contrast between object and background, various shapes and scales of objects, and complex background in medical images, it is difficult to locate targets and obtain better segmentation performance by extracting effective information from images. In this paper, an encoder-decoder architecture based on spatial and channel attention modules built by Transformer is proposed for medical image segmentation. Concretely, spatial and channel attention modules based on Transformer are utilized to extract spatial and channel global complementary information at different layers in U-shape network, which is beneficial to learn the detail features in different scales. To fuse better spatial and channel information from Transformer features, a spatial and channel feature fusion block is designed for the decoder. The proposed network inherits the advantages of both CNN and Transformer with the local feature representation and long-range dependency for medical images. Qualitative and quantitative experiments demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms against eight state-of-the-art segmentation methods on five publicly medical image datasets including different modalities, such as 80.23% and 93.56% Dice value, 67.13% and 88.94% Intersection over Union (IoU) value on the Multi-organ Nucleus Segmentation (MoNuSeg) and Combined Healthy Abdominal Organ Segmentation with Computed Tomography scans (CHAOS-CT) datasets.

Two-dimensional phase unwrapping based on U2-Net in complex noise environment.

This paper proposes applying the nested U2-Net to a two-dimensional phase unwrapping (PU). PU has been a classic well-posed problem since conventional PU methods are always limited by the Itoh condition. Numerous studies conducted in recent years have discovered that data-driven deep learning techniques can overcome the Itoh constraint and significantly enhance PU performance. However, most deep learning methods have been tested only on Gaussian white noise in a single environment, ignoring the more widespread scattered noise in real phases. The difference in the unwrapping performance of deep network models with different strategies under the interference of different kinds of noise or drastic phase changes is still unknown. This study compares and tests the unwrapping performance of U-Net, DLPU-Net, VUR-Net, PU-GAN, U2-Net, and U2-Netp under the interference of additive Gaussian white noise and multiplicative speckle noise by simulating the complex noise environment in the real samples. It is discovered that the U2-Net composed of U-like residual blocks performs stronger anti-noise performance and structural stability. Meanwhile, the wrapped phase of different heights in a high-level noise environment was trained and tested, and the network model was qualitatively evaluated from three perspectives: the number of model parameters, the amount of floating-point operations, and the speed of PU. Finally, 421 real-phase images were also tested for comparison, including dynamic candle flames, different arrangements of pits, different shapes of grooves, and different shapes of tables. The PU results of all models are quantitatively evaluated by three evaluation metrics (MSE, PSNR, and SSIM). The experimental results demonstrate that U2-Net and the lightweight U2-Netp proposed in this work have higher accuracy, stronger anti-noise performance, and better generalization ability.

Lipid analysis of meat from Bactrian camel (Camelus bacterianus), beef, and tails of fat-tailed sheep using UPLC-Q-TOF/MS based lipidomics.

Introduction: As a source of low-cost and high-quality meat for human beings, the consumption of camel meat was increasing, and beef has similar texture and nutritional characteristics with camel meat. Camel hump and fatty-tails are important parts of fat storage for camels and fat-tailed lambs, respectively, which were to adapt and endure harsh environments. Considering their similar physiological functions, their fat composition might be similar. Lipidomics is a system-level analysis of lipids method, which play an important role in the determination and quantification of individual lipid molecular specie, food adulteration and labeling. Methods: A GC/MS was used to analyze fatty acids composition of Xinjiang Bactrian camel meat, hump, beef, and fatty-tails. UPLC-Q-TOF/MS based on lipidomics approach was used to analyze lipid composition, characterize and examine the lipid differences in Xinjiang Bactrian camel meat, hump, beef, and fatty-tails. Results and discussion: The major fatty acids of the four samples were C16:0, C18:0, and C18:1cis, and camel meat had a significant low SFA content and high MUFA content. A total of 342 lipid species were detected, 192, 64, and 79 distinguishing lipids were found in the groups camel hump compared to camel meat, camel meat compared to beef, and camel hump compared to fatty-tails, respectively. Lipid metabolisms of ether lipid, glycerophospholipid, glycerolipid, and sphingolipid were the most influential pathways revealed by KEGG analysis. The results contributed to enrich the lipid information of Bactrian camel meat, and indicated that UPLC-Q-TOF/MS based on lipidomics was an alternative method to distinguish meat samples.

Chemical composition of kabuli and desi chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars grown in Xinjiang, China.

Chickpeas are a very important legume crop and have abundant protein, carbohydrate, lipid, fiber, isoflavone, and mineral contents. The chemical compositions of the four chickpea species (Muying-1, Keying-1, Desi-1, Desi-2) from Xinjiang, China, were analyzed, and 46 different flavonoids in Muying-1 were detected. The moisture content ranged from 7.64 ± 0.01 to 7.89 ± 0.02 g/100 g, the content of starch in the kabuli chickpeas was greater than that in the desi chickpeas, the total ash content ranged from 2.59 ± 0.05 to 2.69 ± 0.03 g/100 g and the vitamin B1 content of the chickpeas ranged from 0.31 to 0.36 mg/100 g. The lipid content ranged from 6.35 to 9.35 g/100 g and the major fatty acids of chickpeas were linoleic, oleic, and palmitic acids. Both kabuli and desi chickpeas have a high content of unsaturated fatty acids (USFAs), Muying-1 and Desi-1 contained the highest level of linoleic acid, and Keying-1 had the highest oleic acid content. The protein level ranged from 19.79 ± 2.89 to 23.38 ± 0.30 g/100 g, and the main amino acids were aspartic acid, glutamic acid, and arginine acid. The four chickpea species had significant amounts of essential amino acids (EAAs). Forty-six varieties of flavonoids in Muying-1 were determined by ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqQ-MS) analysis, and there were higher levels of conjugate flavonoids (55.95%) than free flavonoids (44.05%). Isoflavones were the most abundant flavonoids in Muying-1, and among the isoflavones, daidzin had the highest content, followed by biochanin A and genistin. Muying-1 was rich in daidzin, biochanin A, genistin, troxerutin, isorhamnetin, astilbin, L-epicatechin, astragalin, acacetin, hyperoside, and myricitrin. Information provided in the study will be helpful to further understand the chemical composition of chickpeas and be beneficial to the development of chickpeas.

Flavor formation based on lipid in meat and meat products: A review.

Meat product is popular throughout the world due to its unique taste. Flavor is one of the most important quality characteristics of meat products and also is a key influencing factor in the overall acceptability of meat products. The flavor of meat products is formed by precursors undergoing a series of complex reactions. During meat product processing, lipids are hydrolyzed by lipase to produce flavor precursors such as free fatty acid, then further oxidized to form volatile flavor compounds. This review summarizes lipolysis, lipid oxidation, and interaction of lipid with Maillard reaction and amino acid during meat products processing and storage as well as influencing factors on lipid degradation including raw meat (source of meat, feeding pattern, and castration), processing methods (thermal processing, nonthermal processing, salting, and fermentation) and additives. Meanwhile, the volatile compounds produced by lipids in meat products including aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, and hydrocarbons are summed up. Analytical methods of volatile compounds and the application of lipidomics analysis in mechanisms of flavor formation of meat products are also reviewed. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Flavor is one of the most important quality characteristics of meat products, which influences the acceptability of meat products for consumption. Lipids play an important role in the flavor formation of meat products. Understanding the relationship between flavor compounds and changes in lipid compositions during the processing and storage of meat products will be helpful to control the quality of meat products.

Ameliorative effects of chickpea flavonoids on redox imbalance and mitochondrial complex I dysfunction in type 2 diabetic rats.

Chickpeas are an important source of flavonoids in the human diet, and researchers have demonstrated that flavonoids have antidiabetic compositions in chickpeas. Because the NAD+/NADH redox balance is heavily perturbed in diabetes and complex I is the only site for NADH oxidation and NAD+ regeneration, in the present study, mitochondrial complex I was used as a target for anti-diabetes. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a crude chickpea flavonoid extract (CCFE) on NAD+/NADH redox imbalance and mitochondrial complex I dysfunction in the pancreas as well as oxidative stress in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats. Our results demonstrated that the degree of NAD+/NADH redox imbalance in the pancreas of T2DM rats was alleviated by CCFE, which is likely attributed to the inhibition of the polyol pathway and the decrease in poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) and sirtuin 3 (Sirt3) activities. Moreover, mitochondrial complex I dysfunction in the pancreas of T2DM rats was ameliorated by CCFE through the suppression of the activity of complex I. Furthermore, CCFE treatment could attenuate oxidative stress in T2DM rats, which was proven by the reduction in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) as well as the upregulation of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in serum. CCFE treatment significantly improved dyslipidemia in T2DM rats.

Change detection based on unsupervised sparse representation for fundus image pair.

Detecting changes is an important issue for ophthalmology to compare longitudinal fundus images at different stages and obtain change regions. Illumination variations bring distractions on the change regions by the pixel-by-pixel comparison. In this paper, a new unsupervised change detection method based on sparse representation classification (SRC) is proposed for the fundus image pair. First, the local neighborhood patches are extracted from the reference image to build a dictionary of the local background. Then the current image patch is represented sparsely and its background is reconstructed by the obtained dictionary. Finally, change regions are given through background subtracting. The SRC method can correct automatically illumination variations through the representation coefficients and filter local contrast and global intensity effectively. In experiments of this paper, the AUC and mAP values of SRC method are 0.9858 and 0.8647 respectively for the image pair with small lesions; the AUC and mAP values of the fusion method of IRHSF and SRC are 0.9892 and 0.9692 separately for the image pair with the big change region. Experiments show that the proposed method in this paper is more robust than RPCA for the illumination variations and can detect change regions more effectively than pixel-wised image differencing.

Heterojunction-Promoted Sodium Ion Storage of Bimetallic Selenides Encapsulated in a Carbon Sheath with Boosted Ion Diffusion and Stable Structure.

Although metallic chalcogenides are deemed as attractive sodium anode materials recently, the electrochemical performance is severely confined by the liability of structural collapse and sluggish ion diffusion kinetics. Herein a composite of carbon-encapsulated bimetallic selenides MoSe2-Sb2Se3 was prepared by a hydrothermal method on the basis of abundant reaction sites, high activity, an extra built-in electric field generated from heterointerfaces, and synergistic effects between the different components. Equally important, the carbon coating is effective to support the structural stability by restraining the vast volumetric variation to achieve the purpose of improving the cycling performance. The density functional theory calculation results indicate that the band gap is narrowed and that the work function is decreased on the interface of the MoSe2-Sb2Se3 heterojunction, leading to an additional driving force stemming from the introduction of the built-in electric field and the formation of the Sb-Se (Se from MoSe2) bond. Therefore, the resultant composite presents increased reaction kinetics and good electrochemical properties by acquiring a capacity of 376.0 mA h g-1 over 580 cycles at 2.0 A g-1 for the half-cell and 276 mA h g-1 over 750 cycles at 2 A g-1 for the full-cell. This work highlights bimetallic selenides with facilitated ion transferability with high performance.

Laser Capture Microdissection-Based RNA Microsequencing Reveals Optic Nerve Crush-Related Early mRNA Alterations in Retinal Ganglion Cell Layer.

Purpose: To establish a method of laser capture microdissection (LCM) and RNA microsequencing for exploring optic nerve crush (ONC)-related early mRNA alterations in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) layer. Methods: An LCM protocol was developed using retinal tissue sections to obtain high-quality RNA for microsequencing. Cells in the RGC layer were collected by laser pressure catapulting (LPC) using a PALM Zeiss UV LCM system. The effect of section thickness and slide type on tissue capture success and RNA yield and the integrity after LCM were evaluated. The optimal LCM protocol was used to explore ONC-related early mRNA alterations in the RGC layer. Candidate genes were validated by real-time polymerase chain reaction of the RGC layer tissue dissected by "cut and LPC" using the same LCM system. Results: We successfully established an optimal LCM protocol using 30-µm-thick retinal tissue sections mounted on glass slides and laser pressure catapulting (LPC) to collect cells in the RGC layer and to obtain high-quality RNA for microsequencing. On the basis of our protocol, we identified 8744 differentially expressed genes that were involved in ONC-related early mRNA alterations in the RGC layer. Candidate genes included Atf3, Lgals3, LOC102551701, Plaur, Tmem140, and Maml1. Conclusions: The LCM-based single-cell RNA sequencing allowed a new sight into the early mRNA changes of RGCs highlighting new molecules associated to ONC. Translational Relevance: This technique will be helpful for more accurate transcriptome analysis of clinical pathological samples of ophthalmology and provide important reference for the discovery of new pathological diagnosis indicators and drug development targets.

Cardiac catheterization procedures in children with congenital heart disease: Increased chromosomal aberrations in peripheral lymphocytes.

Cardiac catheterization procedures are performed on about 20,000 children with congenital heart disease (CHD) annually in China. The procedure, which involves exposure to ionizing radiation, causes DNA damage and may lead to increased cancer risk. We have studied chromosomal aberrations (CA) in peripheral lymphocytes of CHD children. CA frequencies were assessed in an interventional group of 70 children who underwent cardiac catheterization and a control group of 51 children receiving open-heart surgery. Total CA and all chromosome-type aberrations were higher in the exposed children than in the control group. With respect to the type of septal defect, the translocation frequency was higher in patients with ventricular rather than atrial defects. Cardiac catheterization procedures increase CA frequencies and may also increase the risk of cancer.

Peptide-Mediated Tumor Targeting by a Degradable Nano Gene Delivery Vector Based on Pluronic-Modified Polyethylenimine.

Polyethylenimine (PEI) is considered to be a promising non-viral gene delivery vector. To solve the toxicity versus efficacy and tumor-targeting challenges of PEI used as gene delivery vector, we constructed a novel non-viral vector DR5-TAT-modified Pluronic-PEI (Pluronic-PEI-DR5-TAT), which was based on the attachment of low-molecular-weight polyethylenimine (LMW-PEI) to the amphiphilic polymer Pluronic to prepare Pluronic-modified LMW-PEI (Pluronic-PEI). This was then conjugated to a multifunctional peptide containing a cell-penetrating peptide (TAT) and a synthetic peptide that would bind to DR5-a receptor that is overexpressed in cancer cells. The vector showed controlled degradation, favorable DNA condensation and protection performance. The Pluronic-PEI-DR5-TAT/DNA complexes at an N/P ratio of 15:1 were spherical nanoparticles of 122 ± 11.6 nm and a zeta potential of about 22 ± 2.8 mV. In vitro biological characterization results indicated that Pluronic-PEI-DR5-TAT/DNA complexes had a higher specificity for the DR5 receptor and were taken up more efficiently by tumor cells than normal cells, compared to complexes formed with PEI 25 kDa or Pluronic-PEI. Thus, the novel complexes showed much lower cytotoxicity to normal cells and higher gene transfection efficiency in tumor cells than that exhibited by PEI 25 kDa and Pluronic-PEI. In summary, our novel, degradable non-viral tumor-targeting vector is a promising candidate for use in gene therapy.

Radiation dose in the thyroid and the thyroid cancer risk attributable to CT scans for pediatric patients in one general hospital of China.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the radiation dose in the thyroid attributable to different CT scans and to estimate the thyroid cancer risk in pediatric patients. METHODS: The information about pediatric patients who underwent CT scans was abstracted from the radiology information system in one general hospital between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2012. The radiation doses were calculated using the ImPACT Patient Dosimetry Calculator and the lifetime attributable risk (LAR) of thyroid cancer incidence was estimated based on the National Academies Biologic Effects of Ionizing Radiation VII model. RESULTS: The subjects comprised 922 children, 68% were males, and received 971 CT scans. The range of typical radiation dose to the thyroid was estimated to be 0.61-0.92 mGy for paranasal sinus CT scans, 1.10-2.45 mGy for head CT scans, and 2.63-5.76 mGy for chest CT scans. The LAR of thyroid cancer were as follows: for head CT, 1.1 per 100,000 for boys and 8.7 per 100,000 for girls; for paranasal sinus CT scans, 0.4 per 100,000 for boys and 2.7 per 100,000 for girls; for chest CT scans, 2.2 per 100,000 for boys and 14.2 per 100,000 for girls. The risk of thyroid cancer was substantially higher for girls than for the boys, and from chest CT scans was higher than that from head or paransal sinus CT scans. CONCLUSIONS: Chest CT scans caused higher thyroid dose and the LAR of thyroid cancer incidence, compared with paransal sinus or head CT scans. Therefore, physicians should pay more attention to protect the thyroid when children underwent CT scans, especially chest CT scans.

Evaluation of pluronic nanosuspensions loading a novel insoluble anticancer drug both in vitro and in vivo.

To improve the solubility, stability and the antitumor activity of a novel anticancer drug, 3-(4-bromopheny l)-2-(ethyl-sulfonyl)-6-methylquinoxaline1,4-dioxide (Q39), a poloxamer nanosuspension was developed by precipitation combined with high pressure homogenization in present study. In vitro characterizations of Q39 nanosuspension (Q39/NS), including particle size, polydispersity index (PI), morphology, crystalline, saturation solubility, stability and releases were evaluated. BABL/c nude mice bearing HepG2 cells were used as in vivo tumor models to evaluate the anti-tumor activity of Q39/NS after intravenous administration. The particle size and PI for Poloxamer188 nanosuspension (P188/NS) were (304±3) nm, and (0.123±0.005) respectively, and it was (307±5) nm and (0.120±0.007) for Poloxamer85 nanosuspension (P85/NS) correspondingly. The morphology of P188/NS was spherical shape while elliptoid shape for P85/NS. The crystalline of Q39/NS did not change as shown by the X-ray diffraction analysis. The stability of Q39/NS improved compared with the solution. The solubility of Q39 in P188/NS was 7.3 times higher than the original solubility, while it was 6 times for P85/NS. Sustained release as shown from the in vitro release test, together with the tumor-targeting as shown from in vivo NS distribution, may contribute to the enhanced in vivo antitumor activity of Q39/NS.

[Investigation on food contamination with parasites in Shanghai market].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the contamination status of food with parasites in Shanghai market, so as to provide the evidence for formulating the surveillance strategy in parasitic diseases and provide the technical support in the food safety. METHODS: The freshwater fish products, marine products, vegetables, snails and frogs were sampled with the cluster random method in the farmer-trades and supermarkets of the 18 districts in Shanghai City during 2005-2010 period, and all the specimen were screened by the digestion method, or crushing method or dissection method or saline floatation method to check the parasite metacercaria or larvae or eggs. RESULTS: A total of 5 185 specimen in 23 species of fishes were screened in fresh-water products, with parasite infection rate of 1.93%. About 4 033 specimens of 20 species of fishes and shrimps were screened and 1.76% of samples were infected with Clonorchis sinensis. Among all kind of fishes, the highest infection rate was 7.83% (48/613) in Pseudorasbora parve. No any infected specimen was found among 1 152 specimen of fresh water crustacean screened. Anisakis spp. were found in 12.7% of 433 specimens of 23 species of seawater products, among them, the higher infection rate of Anisakis spp. was found in Pneumatophorus japonicas and Trichiurus haumela with their infection rates of 50.00% (13/26) and 23.46% (42/179), respectively, which much higher than those found in other seawater products (P < 0.01). In 37 kinds of vegetables, the parasite eggs were found in one of 428 specimens with its infection rate of 0.47%, while no any parasite egg was found in 103 specimens of 10 kinds of fruits. No any Angiostrongylus cantonensis larvae were found in 330 snails, 31.37% of 102 frogs were found infected with Spirometra mansoni spargana. No any contamination with parasites was found in 116 meat specimens of pigs and cattle. In the same time, the intestinal parasite infection rate of residents was 0.42% (131/31 239). CONCLUSIONS: It is found that some of foods in Shanghai markets are contaminated with parasites. Therefore, it is necessary to enforce the activities in health education as well as to take integrated prevention measures in order to ensure the food safety.

Survey on risk perception of radiation following an incident involving a stuck 60Co source in Henan province, China.

In July 2009, an incident involving a stuck Co-60 source led hundreds of thousands of people to escape Qi County, Henan Province, China, although no medical or environmental consequences were related to the incident. To investigate knowledge about radiation, public risk-perception of radiation, and evaluation of the official response, a survey was conducted in Qi and Hui County (control). Face-to-face questionnaire interviews were conducted among three groups with different educational backgrounds. In total, 1340 valid questionnaires were collected from people interviewed. Knowledge about radiation was low in all groups in both counties, although knowledge in Qi County was higher than that in Hui County (control). More than 40% respondents supported construction of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in China, while only a few supported constructing NPPs in their vicinity. The main reasons for the mass escape following the incident were assumed to be lack of knowledge about radiation, misinformation, the government's failure to disclose information in time and imitation of group behaviour. Over 60% in Group I and II trusted the local government. About 64% disapproved the response of the Qi County government. After the incident, the population in Qi County still knows little about radiation. Although people trust the government, they are dissatisfied with the response of the local government regarding the incident.

Doxorubicin-loaded PEG-PCL copolymer micelles enhance cytotoxicity and intracellular accumulation of doxorubicin in adriamycin-resistant tumor cells.

BACKGROUND: Multidrug resistance remains a major obstacle to successful cancer chemotherapy. Some chemical multidrug resistance inhibitors, such as ciclosporin and verapamil, have been reported to reverse resistance in tumor cells. However, the accompanying side effects have limited their clinical application. In this study, we have developed a novel drug delivery system, ie, a polyethyleneglycol-polycaprolactone (PEG-PCL) copolymer micelle encapsulating doxorubicin, in order to circumvent drug resistance in adriamycin-resistant K562 tumor cells. METHODS: Doxorubicin-loaded diblock copolymer PEG-PCL micelles were developed, and the physicochemical properties of these micelles, and accumulation and cytotoxicity of doxorubicin in adriamycin-resistant K562 tumor cells were studied. RESULTS: Doxorubicin-loaded micelles were prepared using a solvent evaporation method with a diameter of 36 nm and a zeta potential of +13.8 mV. The entrapment efficiency of doxorubicin was 48.6% ± 2.3%. The micelles showed sustained release, increased uptake, and cellular cytotoxicity, as well as decreased efflux of doxorubicin in adriamycin-resistant K562 tumor cells. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that PEG-PCL micelles have the potential to reverse multidrug resistance in tumor cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells: a promising targeted-delivery vehicle in cancer gene therapy.

The targeting drug delivery systems (TDDS) have attracted extensive attention of researchers in recent years. More and more drug/gene targeted delivery carriers, such as liposome, magnetic nanoparticles, ligand-conjugated nanoparticles, microbubbles, etc., have been developed and under investigation for their application. However, the currently investigated drug/gene carriers have several disadvantages, which limit their future use in clinical practice. Therefore, design and development of novel drug/gene delivery vehicles has been a hot area of research. Recent studies have shown the ability of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to migrate towards and engraft into the tumor sites, which make them a great hope for efficient targeted-delivery vehicles in cancer gene therapy. In this review article, we examine the promising of using mesenchymal stem cells as a targeted-delivery vehicle for cancer gene therapy, and summarize various challenges and concerns regarding these therapies.

[Prevention and control of intestinal nematode infection in Shanghai].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the current status of intestinal nematode infection in Shanghai and make recommendations for further control activities. METHODS: Retrospective review of the control program was made based on the change of nematode prevalence in Shanghai area since the 1950s, and challenges under the current situation were analysed. RESULTS: The intervention measures included chemotherapy, health education, sanitary disposal of human excreta and safe water supply. With the control strategy, socio-economical development and the change of farming patterns, the prevalence of intestinal nematode infection in population was reduced by 88.5%, from 62.6% in 1955 to 8.2% in 2000. Among them, ascaris infection decreased by 89.0%, from 52.1% to 6.3%, hookworm infection decreased by 99.0%, from 12.9% to 0.1%, but pinworm infection was still as high as 18.9% in 1999. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of nematode infection in Shanghai was considerably reduced. To match it with the current socio-economical development in the Municipality, however, more needs to be done. Sustainable control activities and surveillance are recommended.