[The situation concerning marriage and births among childbearing women in Shaanxi province].
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Asia↗
Biomedical subjects
Z Feng
Publications and source records attributed to Z Feng.
[Remote results of trabeculectomy (author's transl)].
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Adult↗
Durability and diffusion of the nutrition intervention in the Working Well Trial.
BACKGROUND: The Working Well Trial (WWT) emphasized employee participation in the planning and implementation of the health promotion intervention. These participatory strategies were intended to promote institutionalization of the health promotion program and thereby encourage maintenance of the intervention activities. We used data from 107 worksites in the WWT to test whether the nutrition intervention activities were maintained after the research program (i.e., durability) or were adopted by control sites (i.e., diffusion). METHODS: At baseline, upon the completion of the 2-year intervention, and 2 years later, we conducted organization surveys regarding worksite health promotion activities. A nutrition activity score from 0 to 3 was calculated based on availability of nutrition-related programs, self-help manuals or guides, and videos, tapes, brochures, or posters. RESULTS: From baseline to the end of the intervention, there was a significant increase in the nutrition activity score in intervention worksites compared with the controls (P < 0.001). However, 2 years later, there was no difference between intervention and control worksites. In addition, there was no significant increase in the nutrition activity score in control site 2 years after they received the intervention protocols and materials. CONCLUSIONS: Research is needed to develop and test worksite-based interventions to promote institutionalization, durability, and diffusion.
Adult↗
Recurrent outbreaks of childhood diseases revisited: the impact of isolation.
The recurrent outbreaks of measles and other childhood diseases have previously been explained by an interaction of intrinsic epidemiologic forces generating dampened oscillations and of seasonal and/or stochastic excitation. We show that isolation (i.e., sick individuals stay at home and have a reduced infective impact) can create self-sustained oscillations provided that the number of per capita contacts is largely independent of the number of individuals present. This means that the bilinear mass action term for disease incidence is modified by dividing it by the number of nonisolated individuals.
Child↗
Abortifacient activity in leaves, roots and seeds of Phytolacca acinosa.
Fresh leaves, roots and seeds of Phytolacca acinosa were individually extracted with 0.9% saline and cold acetone was added to the supernatants. The resultant precipitates were dialyzed against distilled water and lyophilized to form acetone powders (AP). The relative potencies of abortifacient activity of the APs were: seed greater than root greater than leaf. The abortifacient activity in these APs was susceptible to destruction by heat and pepsin.
Abortifacient Agents↗
Blood compatibility of amorphous titanium oxide films synthesized by ion beam enhanced deposition.
Titanium oxide films were synthesized on titanium, cobalt alloy and low-temperature isotropic pryolytic carbon by ion beam enhanced deposition. The non-stoichiometrical titanium oxide films were obtained. Blood compatibility of the films were evaluated by clotting time measurement, platelet adhesion investigation and hemolysis analyses. The results revealed that blood compatibility of the materials was improved by the coating of titanium oxide films. Semiconductor nature of non-stoichiometric titanium oxide films might be responsible for the improvement of blood compatibility.
Animals↗
Glutamine enhances gut glutathione production.
BACKGROUND: The gastrointestinal tract is recognized as having important metabolic functions. This study examined gut glutathione (GSH) extraction and the effect of supplemental oral glutamine (GLN) on gut GSH fractional release. METHODS: Healthy female Fisher-344 rats weighing approximately 150 to 200 g were pair-fed chow and supplemented by gavage with 1 g/kg/d GLN or an isonitrogenous amount of Freamine (McGaw, St. Louis, MO). Rats were sacrificed at 6 weeks. Arterial and portal blood was assayed for GLN and GSH content. The gut GLN and GSH extractions were calculated. RESULTS: The gut GLN fractional uptake was increased by approximately 50%, and there was a near threefold increase in gut GSH fractional release in the GLN-supplemented group. CONCLUSIONS: The discovery of gut's role as a major producer of GSH may give insight into why feeding via the gut rather than by the venous route is so important. Supplemental oral GLN further enhances GLN extraction as well as GSH fractional release in the gut.
Animals↗
Detection of p53 protein accumulation in sputum and lung adenocarcinoma associated with indoor exposure to unvented coal smoke in China.
Lung cancer in Xuan Wei (XW), China has been linked to exposure to unvented coal smoke and adenocarcinoma, especially bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, is most common. p53 mutations occur commonly in lung cancers and usually generate detectable levels of p53 protein accumulation. Sputum is noninvasive to collect and ideal for screening p53 abnormalities. p53 protein accumulation was detected by immunohistochemistry in lung tumors and sputa from XW lung cancer patients to determine (1) the role of p53 in lung pathogenesis, and (2) feasibility of detecting p53 protein accumulation in sputum, p53 protein accumulation was detected in 73% (22/30) of lung adenocarcinomas from XW females exposed to coal emissions and significantly higher than the control cases (33%, p < 0.05). In sputum, we detected p53 overexpression in tumor cells in 54% (13/24) of XW cases and also in dysplastic cells (50% or 4/8). These findings suggest that p53 abnormalities is important in XW lung cancer etiology.
Adenocarcinoma↗
A sensitive immunofluorescence assay for detection of p53 protein accumulation in sputum.
p53 mutations are common genetic alterations in lung cancers and usually result in p53 protein accumulation in tumor cells. Sputum is noninvasive to collect and ideal for screening p53 abnormalities. This study was to determine the feasibility of detecting p53 protein accumulation in sputum cells using an immunofluorescence assay. Sputum samples were collected from 58 Chinese subjects, including 16 lung cancer cases from Xuan Wei (XW) County exposed to coal smoke, 25 mostly tobacco smoke-related cases from Zhengzhou City, and 17 XW controls. The p53 protein accumulation in tumor cells and some atypical cells was detected in 56% (9/16) of the coal smoke-exposed XW cases, 44% (11/25) of the Zhengzhou cases and none (0/17) in controls. The p53+ tumor cells were confirmed morphologically by Papanicolaou staining after the p53 immunofluorescence assay. This is the first report of successfully using an immunofluorescence assay to detect p53 protein accumulation in sputum.
Adenocarcinoma↗
DNA damage in buccal epithelial cells from individuals chronically exposed to arsenic via drinking water in Inner Mongolia, China.
The purpose of this pilot study was to assess DNA damage in buccal cells from individuals chronically exposed to arsenic via drinking water in Ba Men, Inner Mongolia. Buccal cells were collected from 19 Ba Men residents exposed to arsenic at 527.5 +/- 23.7 micrograms/L (mean +/- SEM) and 13 controls exposed to arsenic at 4.4 +/- 1.0 micrograms/L. DNA fragmentation by the DNA ladder and TUNEL assay were used to detect DNA damage in buccal cells. In the DNA ladder assay, 89% (17/19) of the arsenic-exposed group showed < 100 bp DNA fragments, in contrast to 15% (2/13) of the controls (p < 0.0001). For the TUNEL assay, the mean frequencies of positive cells were higher in the exposed group (15.1%) than in the controls (2.0%) (p < 0.0001). This study showed that high arsenic exposure via drinking water resulted in DNA damage and DNA fragmentation in buccal cells thus may be an appropriate biomarker for assessing chronic effects of arsenic in humans. A study investigating DNA fragmentation from the individuals with low levels of arsenic exposure in this population is in progress.
Adolescent↗