Biomedical subjects
Q Zeng
Publications and source records attributed to Q Zeng.
[Clinical and experimental study on treatment of acute alcohol intoxication with xiangnaojing injection].
OBJECTIVE: To study the therapeutical mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine Xingnaojing injection (XNJI) for acute alcohol intoxication. METHODS: XNJI was used in treating the experimental model rabbits (n = 26) and the patients (n = 8) admitted to the emergency department with acute alcoholism. Before and after the treatment, beta-EP, superoxide anion (free radicals) and SOD were measured. RESULTS: XNJI could enhance the regaining consciousness of rabbits and patients, simultaneously reduce the concentration of beta-EP in plasma to the normal level (drunk rabbits 127.09 +/- 13.67 ng/L, normal rabbits 41.48 +/- 7.46 ng/L. P < 0.01, drunk patients 292.97 +/- 14.85 ng/L, normal people 221.60 +/- 15.95 ng/L, P < 0.01). The concentration change of superoxide anion (free radicals) in plasma of rabbits and patients was similar to beta-EP (drunk rabbits 313.39 +/- 15.64 u/L, normal rabbits 254.27 +/- 21.71 u/L, P < 0.01; drunk patients 278.47 +/- 11.48 u/L, normal people 159.92 +/- 11.51 u/L, P < 0.01), and SOD was inversely changed (drunk rabbits 53.57 +/- 6.48%, normal rabbits 77.18 +/- 7.89%, P < 0.01; drunk patients 43.76 +/- 7.84%, normal people 82.53 +/- 4.33%, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: XNJI is similar to Naloxone in pharmacologic action. And it is an effective antioxidant. It can be used for treating alcoholism.
The change of arteriovenous carbon dioxide and pH gradients during severe hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate clinically useful markers for determining the severity of hemorrhagic shock and adequacy of resuscitation. METHODS: Prospective study was undertaken in 12 dogs, using an established model for hemorrhagic shock. The anesthetized dogs were bled to a mean arterial pressure of 40 mmHg which was maintained for 3 hours. Then each animal was resuscitated with heperinized whole blood followed by intravenous infusion of dobutamine at a rate of 5 micrograms.kg-1.min-1 for 10 minutes. Arterial and mixed venous blood gases, arterial lactate concentrations and hemodynamic parameters were measured throughout the study. RESULTS: A difference in the PCO2 and pH values between arterial and mixed venous blood was observed. Arterial-venous PCO2 and pH difference increased significantly after sustained shock. The arteriovenous carbon dioxide and pH gradients recovered more rapidly than arterial lactate levels after successful resuscitation with blood and dobutamine. CONCLUSION: Arterial blood gases fail to reflect the acid-base status of tissues during hemorrhagic shock. The differences in PCO2 and pH values between arterial and mixed venous blood could be used as clinical indicators for assessing the severity of shock and efficacy of resuscitation.
[Cytotoxic effect of mitomycin C on the nonpigmented epithelium of ciliary body in rabbit eyes].
OBJECTIVE: To observe pathomorphological changes of nonpigmented epithelial cells (NECs) of ciliary body after local single application of mitomycin C (MMC) during sclerectomy in rabbit eyes, and to explore cytotoxic effect of MMC on ciliary body. METHODS: A single five minutes intraoperative exposure to the agent MMC (0.2 mg/ml, 0.1 ml) was used during sclerectomy in rabbit eyes. The treated area was rinsed with 20 ml normal saline. The NECs of ciliary body at the operated area were observed under light microscope and transmission electron microscope on the 7th and 28th day postoperatively. RESULTS: On the 7th day postoperatively, the NECs were swollen, and the intracellular abundant mitochondria were swollen and vacuolized. String pearls-like membrane-encapsulated vacuoles were present in the intervals of beta-cell membrane of the NECs. On the 28th day postoperatively, these damages were gradually recovered. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest a toxic effect of MMC on the NECs of ciliary body, possibly that can decrease the aqueous production and intraocular pressure, even causing persistent hypotony.
Immunoscreening of Schistosoma japonicum egg cDNA library.
AIM: To screen and identify genes encoding vaccine candidates and molecules with diagnostic potential from S. japonicum (S. j) egg cDNA library. METHODS: S. j egg cDNA library was screened by sera from SEA-immunized rabbits. Positive clones were identified after three rounds of screening and were excised automatically in vivo with helper phage. Products of PCR were used to detect insert sizes by agarose gel electrophoresis. DNA samples were obtained by purification using mini-prep kit. Automatic sequencing was carried out and the sequence data were analysed using GCG software. RESULTS: Twelve clones were identified as positive and the inserts were around 1.2 kb in size. Compared with DNA sequences in GenBank, eight clones were homologous to a 70 kDa S. j heatshock protein(S. j HsP70). C18 exhibited 97.8% homology with S. j23. C22 and C23 shared 82.4% and 89.5% homology with S. j calreticulin, respectively. C12 was homologous to S. mansoni(S. m.) immunophilin. CONCLUSION: This paper first reported the results of immunoscreening S. j egg cDNA library by anti-SEA sera. Twelve positive clones were found to be related to protective immunity and/or immunodiagnosis of schistosomiasis.
[Cross-protection against Schistosoma japonicum infection in mice immunized with Trichinella spiralis muscle larva antigen].
AIM: To explore the cross-protection against S. japonicum cercaria challenge in mice immunized with T. spiralis larva antigen. METHODS: Groups of BALB/c mice were immunized with 4 preparations of T. spiralis larva antigen, respectively. Vaccinated mice were then challenged with 30 and 100 S. japonicum cercariae, respectively. Forty-five days later, all mice were sacrificed and examined for adult worm burden, liver and stool egg count. RESULTS: All groups of mice immunized with 4 preparations of T. spiralis larvae antigen without adjuvant showed significant protection against S. japonicum. Among these antigen preparations, the soluble antigen (TsLSA) presented highest protection with reductions in worm burden and liver and stool egg counts of 21.3%, 48.0% and 58.5%, respectively. When mice were immunized with TsLSA plus Freunds complete adjuvant (FCA) or with double-dose of the antigen, the worm reduction rate was increased to 29.3% and 39.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Different preparations of T. spiralis muscle larva antigen could induce protection against S. japonicum in mice.
Automated knowledge extraction from the UMLS.
This paper presents our work in extracting disease-chemical relationship knowledge from the UMLS Co-occurrence table (MRCOC) using an automated method. We evaluated the quality of the knowledge from UMLS MRCOC by comparing it with knowledge from other sources: For disease-lab chemical relationships, knowledge was obtained from a decision support system (DXplain) and our own knowledge base of medical terminology (MED) through automated processes. For disease-drug chemical relationships, knowledge was manually acquired from the medical literature. Evaluations showed that the UMLS MRCOC knowledge has good sensitivity, especially regarding disease-drug relationships. We are using this knowledge to produce disease-specific views of patients' electronic patient record.
Testing homogeneity of intra-run variance parameters in immunoassay.
A common assumption in the analysis of immunoassay data is a similar pattern of within-run variation across runs of the assays. One makes this assumption without formal investigation of its validity, despite the widely acknowledged fact that accurate understanding of intra-run variation is critical to reliable calibration inference. We propose a simple procedure for a formal test of the assumption of the homogeneity of parameters that characterize intra-run variation based on representation of standard curve data from multiple assay runs by a non-linear mixed effects model. We examine the performance of the procedure and investigate the robustness of calibration inference to incorrect assumptions about the pattern of intra-run variation.
Inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor gene expression and function decreases proliferation of head and neck squamous carcinoma but not normal mucosal epithelial cells.
Previous reports have shown that fresh tissues and cell lines from patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) overexpress transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) and its receptor, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) at both the mRNA and protein levels. Protein localization studies confirm that TGF-alpha and EGFR are produced by the same epithelial cells in tissues from head and neck cancer patients further supporting an autocrine growth pathway. Using three strategies, we examined the hypothesis that downmodulation of EGFR would reduce the proliferation of SCCHN cells. We targeted EGFR mRNA using antisense oligonucleotides and the mature EGFR protein at two sites, the ligand-binding domain and the kinase domain, and determined the effects of this targeting on SCCHN proliferation. Treatment of several SCCHN cell lines with a pair of antisense oligodeoxynucleotides directed against the translation start site and first intron-exon splice junction of the human EGFR gene resulted in decreased EGFR protein production and inhibited growth by 86% compared to a 13% reduction in cells treated with sense oligonucleotides (P=0.03). Growth inhibition was specific for carcinoma cells since the same EGFR antisense oligonucleotides had no effect on the proliferation of normal mucosa cells harvested from non-cancer patients. Two monoclonal antibodies which block ligand binding to EGFR (MAbs 425 and 528) inhibited the growth of several SCCHN cell lines by up to 97% which suggests that EGFR is participating in an autocrine pathway in SCCHN that is, at least in part, external. An EGFR-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor (PD 153035) was found to inhibit EGFR phosphorylation in SCCHN cell lines and to reduce growth by 68% although it had no effect on the growth rate of normal mucosal epithelial cells. These experiments indicate that EGFR gene expression and function is critical for SCCHN cell growth but not for growth of normal mucosa cells and therefore may serve as a tumor-specific target for preventive and therapeutic strategies in head and neck cancer.
Near-zero background cloning of PCR products.
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[Cross reaction of Trichinella spiralis larva antigens with sera of schistosomiasis japonica].
Cross reactions of T. spiralis muscular larva antigens (TsMLA) against several sera from patients with other parasitic diseases by ELIB (enzyme-linked immunoblotting technique) were studied. The proteins of 31-100 KDa were recognized by sera of two cases of acute schistosomiasis, while proteins of 44/45, 51/53, 62/64 and 100 KDa were recognized by sera of 11 cases of chronic schistosomiasis. The proteins of 60 KDa showed varied cross reactions against sera of five kinds of patients with other parasitic diseases (filariasis, hookworm diseases, paragonimiasis, ascariasis and clonorchiasis). Only the proteins of 45 KDa were recognized by six of fifteen cases of normal human sera. All of > 29 KDa proteins were recognized by sera of rabbit infected by T. spiralis. It is suggested that there were many antigens in Trichinellen muscular larva which shared in common with several other parasites. The cross reactions of TsMLA against Schistosoma japonicum may be differentiated on the positive reaction bands of 44/45, 51/53, 62/64 and 100 KDa proteins which was specific to the chronic schistosomiasis using the TsMLA by means of ELIB.
[Sea-blue histocytosis--a case report].
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[Advances in the drug therapy of rheumatoid arthritis].
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[10-year epidemiological study on rheumatic diseases in Shantou area].
22,049 adults were surveyed in a ten-year epidemiological study. The frequency of common rheumatic symptoms in Shantou population was much lower than that in northern China. The prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and gout was 0.20%-0.32%, 0.20%-0.26%, 8.3%-10.8%, 12.4% and 0.15%-0.17% respectively. The frequency of HLA-B27 was 4.1% among general population and 90.6% in ankylosing spondylitis. The most commonly involved sites of osteoarthritis were lumbar spine, neck, and knee; but hands and hip were rarely involved. 85% subjects under investigation were found to be short of calcium intake. The differences between the north and the south of China in the prevalence of rheumatic symptoms may be related to the diversities in consciousness of seeking medical advice, reduction of bone content, climate and ergonomics.
Contribution of the C-terminal tail of U1A RBD1 to RNA recognition and protein stability.
The N-terminal RNA binding domain (RBD1) of the human U1A protein interacts specifically with a short RNA hairpin containing the U1 snRNA stem/loop II sequence. Previous RNA binding studies have suggested that the C-terminal tail of RBD1 contributes to RNA recognition in addition to interactions on the beta-sheet surface of the protein. To evaluate the contributions of these C-terminal residues in RBD1 to RNA binding affinity and specificity, as well as to study the thermodynamic stability of RBDs, a number of RBD1 mutants with truncated tails, with single amino acid substitutions, and with both a truncation and an amino acid substitution, have been constructed. The thermodynamic stabilities of these mutants have been measured and compared by GdnHCI unfolding experiments. The RNA binding affinity and specificity of these mutant proteins have been assessed by measuring the binding of each protein to the wild-type RNA hairpin and to selected RNA mutants with nucleotide substitutions in the RNA loop. The results demonstrate first that, although the C-terminal tail of RBD1 makes significant contributions to RNA binding affinity, it is not required for RNA binding, and second, its contributions to binding specificity are mediated only through selected nucleotides in the RNA loop, for in the absence of the tail, the protein continues to use other nucleotides to discriminate among RNAs. In these truncated proteins, the secondary structure intrinsic to the C-terminal tail is absent, yet their affinity and discrimination for RNAs are not lost. Thus, a structured tail is not required for RNA recognition.
A glutamate uptake regulatory protein (Grp) in Escherichia coli?
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Supporting infobuttons with terminological knowledge.
We have developed several prototype applications which integrate clinical systems with on-line information resources by using patient data to drive queries in response to user information needs. We refer to these collectively as infobuttons because they are evoked with a minimum of keyboard entry. We make use of knowledge in our terminology, the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) to assist with the selection of appropriate queries and resources, as well as the translation of patient data to forms recognized by the resources. This paper describes the kinds of knowledge in the MED, including literal attributes, hierarchical links and other semantic links, and how this knowledge is used in system integration.
Linking a clinical system to heterogeneous information resources.
We present a model for providing clinical information system (CIS) users with quick access to high quality information resources. We have developed a chest X-ray information button application which is attached to the chest X-ray reports in the CIS at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. The application generates questions based on clinical information, user interest, generic question templates, and resource availability. It then provides answers to the questions through integrated access to heterogeneous information resources including the CIS itself and publicly accessible Web resources.