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In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), dysfunctional T cells sustain chronic inflammatory immune responses in the synovium. Even unprimed T cells are under excessive replication pressure, suggesting an intrinsic defect in T cell regeneration. In naive CD4 CD45RA(+) T cells from RA patients, DNA damage load and apoptosis rates were markedly higher than in controls; repair of radiation-induced DNA breaks was blunted and delayed. DNA damage was highest in newly diagnosed untreated patients. RA T cells failed to produce sufficient transcripts and protein of the DNA repair kinase ataxia telangiectasia (AT) mutated (ATM). NBS1, RAD50, MRE11, and p53 were also repressed. ATM knockdown mimicked the biological effects characteristic for RA T cells. Conversely, ATM overexpression reconstituted DNA repair capabilities, response patterns to genotoxic stress, and production of MRE11 complex components and rescued RA T cells from apoptotic death. In conclusion, ATM deficiency in RA disrupts DNA repair and renders T cells sensitive to apoptosis. Apoptotic attrition of naive T cells imposes lymphopenia-induced proliferation, leading to premature immunosenescence and an autoimmune-biased T cell repertoire. Restoration of DNA repair mechanisms emerges as an important therapeutic target in RA.

Objective: To study the chemical constituents of Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus., Methods: The compounds were isolated by silica gel column chromatography, and their structures were elucidated by spectral methods., Results: Five compounds were isolated and identified as ergosterol (I), ergosterol 5a,8a-peroside (II), ergothioneine (III), adenosine (IV), uracil (V)., Conclusion: All these compounds are obtained from this high fungus for the first time.

Objective: To analyze the tendency of hospital based surveillance incidence rates of birth defects in Guangdong province to provide reference evidence for related intervention program., Methods: Data from hospital based birth defects surveillance of Guangdong province during 1997 - 2007 were analyzed retrospectively., Results: The overall surveillance rates of birth defects in Guangdong province showed an increasing trend form 98.9 per 10 000 birth in 1997 to 244.2 per 10 000 birth in 2007. Among the frequently seen birth defects, the rate of congenital heart diseases increased sharply, but the rates of congenital talipes equinovarus, polydactyly, cleft lip with/without cleft palate showed a slight increasing trend. It seemed that there was a significant difference between different maternal age interval and gender of the infants. Mother's illness, drug use, and exposure to environment harmful factors in early pregnancy stage, high maternal age, negative bearing history were the suspect risk factors for birth defects., Conclusion: The increasing trend of surveillance rate of birth defects seemed to be comprehensively affected by the factors as: method being adopted, target and extension of birth defects surveillance, technology used for diagnosis, kinds of risk factor, and quality control on surveillance programs.

Objective: To study the chemical constituents from the stem bark of Trewia nudiflora., Method: The chemical constituents were isolated by silica gel and sephadex LH - 20 column chromatography, and the structures were elucidated by means of spectral analysis., Result: Ten compounds were obtained from EtOAc fraction of EtOH extract and identified as stigmast-4-en-6beta-ol-3-one (1), stigmast-4-en-6alpha-ol-3-one (2), 7beta-hydroxysitosterol (3), 7alpha-hydroxysitosterol (4), schleicheol 2 (5), taraxerone (6), abbeokutone (7), beta-hydroxypropiovanillone (8), o-vanillyl alcohol (9), glycerol monopalmitate (10)., Conclusion: Compounds 1-5 and 7-9 were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Harvested fruits of three Chinese bayberry (Myrica rubra Sieb. & Zucc.) varieties, i.e. "Biqi", "Dongkui" and "Zaodamei" which were divided into three maturities (designated as "Immature", "Mature" and "Ripe") according to fruit colour, were investigated for the changes in climacteric pattern and quality at 20 degrees C. Respiration rate and ethylene production rate were underwent 3 h during 48 h storage. Our result showed that both Immature and Mature fruits underwent rises in respiration and ethylene production rate of a climacteric rise, but no such peak was observed in Ripe fruit (Fig.1 and 2). Total soluble solids (TSS) contents increased with maturity and decreased over the 48 h at 20 degrees C (Fig.3); titratable acidity (TA) decreased with the maturity and throughout 48 h storage period (Fig.4). In "Biqi" Chinese bayberry fruit, PAL activities increased in Immature and Mature fruit, but, it decreased in Ripe fruit during the storage period; the change in Cy-3-Glu with fruit ripening was consistent with PAL activities (Table 1); there was significant positive correlation between CIRG (Color Index for Red Grape) values and Cy-3-Glu content (r=0.96**). This study provides important information on the postharvest behaviour of Chinese bayberry fruit, and our result shows that it is climacteric fruit.

Objective: To evaluate the necessity, scientificity, and feasibility of the drafted Practice Guidelines on Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension for Primary Care Physicians., Methods: Derivative Dolphe Method was used to collect the responses from 50 experts in hypertension or related fields within the nation. An evaluation score of 1 to 5 was given to each item for selection, 1 for highly disagreed and 5 for highly agreed. The mean, standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variance (CV) of the scores were calculated., Results: (1) 90% experts responded to the evaluation sheet. (2) The mean score were above 4 for the five out of the six items related to necessity, the SD varied from 0.51 to 1.05, and the CV from 0.11 to 0.30. (3) Among the 28 items related to scientificity and rationality, the mean score was above 4 for 25 items and was between 3.5 and 4 for other three items. The CV was generally lower than 0.35. (4) Among the seven items related to feasibility, the mean score for five of them was lower than 4, and the CV varied from 0.21 to 0.33., Conclusion: The results indicate that the necessity and scientificity of the most content of the guidelines are confirmed by the invited experts.