Inspiration of clinical laboratory skills competition to the practical teaching of medical laboratory technology / 中华医学教育探索杂志

After participating in the student selection training and on-site refereeing of the clinical examination skills competition for college students in Sichuan-Chongqing region twice in succession, the author combined the on-site performance and competition results of the participating students with pre-match training experience and normal teaching experience. A comprehensive analysis found that the students' proficiency in basic testing skills, psychological quality and humanistic quality have an important impact on the results of the competition. Teachers should not only pay attention to the quality of basic skills training and theoretical knowledge teaching in practical teaching, but also pay attention to the cultivation of students' teamwork ability and good working habits. Therefore, the clinical laboratory skills competition has a strong leading role in promoting the education and teaching reform of medical laboratory technology and improving the quality of professional practice teaching. It is hoped that more medical colleges and universities will pay attention to and participate in it, and further promote the development of practical teaching of medical laboratory technology.

Magnetic Resonance Image Texture Analysis of the Periaqueductal Gray Matter in Episodic Migraine Patients without T2-Visible Lesions

OBJECTIVE: The periaqueductal gray matter (PAG), a small midbrain structure, presents dysfunction in migraine. However, the precise neurological mechanism is still not well understood. Herein, the aim of this study was to investigate the texture characteristics of altered PAG in episodic migraine (EM) patients based on high resolution brain structural magnetic resonance (MR) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The brain structural MR images were obtained from 18 normal controls (NC), 18 EM patients and 16 chronic migraine (CM) patients using a 3T MR system. A PAG template was created using the International Consortium Brain Mapping 152 gray matter model, and the individual PAG segment was developed by applying the deformation field from the structural image segment to the PAG template. A grey level co-occurrence matrix was used to calculate the texture parameters including the angular second moment (ASM), contrast, correlation, inverse difference moment (IDM) and entropy. RESULTS: There was a significant difference for ASM, IDM and entropy in the EM group (998.629 ± 0.162 × 10−3, 999.311 ± 0.073 × 10−3, 916.354 ± 0.947 × 10−5) compared to that found in the NC group (998.760 ± 0.110 × 10−3, 999.358 ± 0.037 × 10−3 and 841.198 ± 0.575 × 10−5) (p < 0.05). The entropy was significantly lower among the patients with CM (864.116 ± 0.571 × 10−5) than that found among patients with EM (p < 0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.776 and 0.750 for ASM and entropy in the distinction of the EM from NC groups, respectively. ASM was negatively related to disease duration (DD) and the Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS) scores in the EM group, and entropy was positively related to DD and MIDAS in the EM group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The present study identified altered MR image texture characteristics of the PAG in EM. The identified texture characteristics could be considered as imaging biomarkers for EM.

Effect of fluid shear stress on the cellular morphology and tight junction of laryngeal squamous carcinoma Hep2 cells / 生物医学工程学杂志

This paper is aimed to investigate the effect of fluid shear stress on the tight junction of laryngeal squamous carcinoma (Hep2) cells and to explore the potential molecular mechanism. Hep2 cells were selected and subjected to the fluid shear stress of 1.4 dyn/cm2 for different time, respectively. The morphological changes of Hep2 cells under shear stress were observed using inverted microscope. The cell-cell junctions were examined by transmission electron microscope (TEM). The expressions of tight junction proteins (including Occludin, Claudin-5 and ZO-1) and the distribution of Claudin-5 were examined by Western blot assay and laser scanning confocal microscope, respectively. The results indicated that Hep2 cells turned to spindle-like shapes after exposed to shear stress, and showed the trend of the recovering to original shapes when the shear stress was cancelled. The cell-cell junctions were tight under the shear flow condition, and the permeability was reduced under the condition of 1.4 dyn/cm shear flow. The expressions of tight junction proteins were enhanced with increased duration of shear flow, but reduced after removing shear flow. The result of Claudin-5 expression by immufluorescence assay was consistent with that by Western blot. The Claudin-5 mainly distributed in the cytoplasm under static condition, while it located at the intercellular after shear flow stimulation, and it appeared intercellular and cytoplasm after stopping shear flow stimulation. Therefore, it can be concluded that shear stress changes the morphology of laryngeal squamous carcinoma Hep2 cells, and upregulates the tight junction.

Isolation and purification of alpha-glycerophosphate oxidase in a polyethylene glycol/(NH4 )2SO4 aqueous two-phase system / 生物医学工程学杂志

Alpha-glycerophosphate oxidase (alpha-GPO) from Enterococcus casseli flavus was successfully isolated and purified by using polyethylene glycol (PEG)/(NH4)2SO4 aqueous two-phase system (ATPS). The results showed that the chosen PEG/(NH4)2SO4 ATPS could be affected by PEG molecular weight, pH, concentration of PEG and (NH4)2SO4, and inorganic salt as well as additional amount of crude enzyme. After evaluating these influencing factors, the final optimum purification strategy was formed by 16.5% (m/m) PEG2000, 13.2% (m/m) (NH4)2SO4, pH 7.5 and 30% (m/m) additive crude enzyme, respectively. The NaCl was a negative influencing factor which would lead to lower purification fold and activity recovery. These conditions eventually resulted in the activity recovery of 89% (m/m), distribution coefficient of 1.2 and purification fold of 7.0.

Pregnancy nutrition, birth weight and the development of metabolic syndrome / 中华健康管理学杂志

Objective To explore the relationship between birth weight and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS).Methods A population cohort study was carried out among 561 adults who were born in 1956,1960 or 1964 in Jinzhong City of Shanxi Province in August 2008 and October 2012.All the participants were required to fill in a questionnaire survey,take physical examinations and laboratory tests.Height,body weight,waist circumference,blood glucose,triglyceride and blood pressure were recorded.Their mothers were interviewed through phone call.Results One hundred individuals were finally qualified,including 42 men and 58 women.Thirty-nine and 41 MS patients were detected in 2008 and 2012,respectively.Prevalence of MS showed statistically significant difference among those born in 1964,1960 or 1956(2008:x2 =6.41,P ＜ 0.05; 2012:x2 =8.14,P ＜ 0.05).The average body weight of babies born in 1960 ((2.9 ± 0.6) kg) was significantly lower than those born in 1964 ((3.2 ±0.4) kg) or 1956 ((3.3 ±0.5) kg) (t values were 5.88 and 6.32,respectively; both P ＜0.05).The rate of poor nutrition during pregnancy was significantly higher in 1960 (68.9％) than in 1956 (28.6％) and 1964 (45.2％) (x2 values were 14.15 and 4.39,respectively; both P ＜ 0.05).In Pearson correlation analysis,coefficient of birth weight and post-MS was-0.106,the coefficient of nutrition during pregnancy and post-MS was -0.005.Conclusions The non-low birth weight children whose mothers had pregnancy malnutrition show higher prevalence of MS in adult.It could be important to carry out health management among children whose mother has experienced pregnancy malnutrition.