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This study aims to establish an optimization procedure to define the cut-offs of quantitative assays for acetylcholine receptor antibody (AChRAb), evaluate their diagnostic performance in myasthenia gravis (MG), and explore the association with clinical features.Samples from a representative cohort of 77 MG patients, 80 healthy controls (HC) and 80 other autoimmune diseases (OAD) patients were tested using competitive inhibition ELISA and RIA. Raw values (OD and cpm) and processed values (inhibition rate, binding rate and concentration) were used to define the cut-offs with statistical methods, a rough method, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Optimal cut-offs were selected by comparing false positive rates in HC and OAD individuals. The diagnostic performance was evaluated in whole MG cohort and subgroups. Agreement between ELISA and RIA for AChRAb positivity were examined with Kappa test and McNemar test. Clinical association with AChRAb was explored by comparison among subgroups and with Spearman rank correlation.The optimal cut-offs for AChRAb positivity were determined as OD ≤ 1.79 for ELISA and cpm ≥ 1234.12 for RIA, which derived from statistical method and performed better than those derived from ROC curves. The sensitivity and specificity were 74.03%, 100% for ELISA, and 74.03%, 99.37% for RIA. There was good agreement between ELISA and RIA for AChRAb positivity in whole cohort and subgroups (weighted к ≥ 0.71, p 0.01; McNemar test, p 0.05). Levels of AChRAb were different in MG subgroups (p 0.01). Correlation between Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis scores and AChRAb levels was moderate for ELISA and RIA (rThe raw testing values of ELISA and RIA were found as optimal quantitative measures of AChRAb levels. There are good agreements on diagnostic performance between two assays. Quantitative values are more informative than positivity in association with clinical features.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common chronic hepatopathy worldwide, in which ectopic steatosis (5%) and inflammatory infiltration in the liver are the principal clinical characteristics. Huangqin decoction (HQD), a Chinese medicine formula used in the clinic for thousands of years, presents appreciable anti-inflammatory effects. Nevertheless, the role and mechanism of HQD against inflammation in NAFLD are still undefined.The objective of this study was to evaluate the curative efficacy and unravel the involved mechanism of HQD on a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced NAFLD.First, HPLC was utilized to analyze the main chemical components of HQD. Then, NAFLD model was introduced by subjecting the rats to HFD for 16 weeks, and HQD (400 and 800 mg/kg) or polyene lecithin choline (PLC, 8 mg/kg) was given orally from week 8-16. Pharmacodynamic indicators including body weight, liver weight, liver index, as well as biochemical and histological parameters were assessed. As to mechanism exploration, the expressions of TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway and molecular docking between major phytochemicals of HQD and key targets of TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway were investigated.Seven main monomeric constituents of HQD were revealed by HPLC analysis. Of note, HQD could effectively attenuate the body weight, liver weight, and liver index, rescue disorders in serum transaminases and lipid profile, correct hepatic histological abnormalities, and reduce phagocytes infiltration into the liver and pro-inflammatory cytokines release in NAFLD rats. Mechanism investigation discovered that HQD harbored inhibitory effects on TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway-regulated liver inflammation. Further exploration found that seven phytochemicals in HQD exhibited better binding modes with TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway, in which baicalein, baicalin and liquiritin presented the highest affinity and docking score for protein TLR4, NF-κB, and NLRP3, respectively.These findings confirmed that HQD ameliorated hepatic inflammation in NAFLD rats by blocking the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway, with multi-components and multi-targets action pattern.

Background Peri-implantitis is an inflammation that occurs around the implant, resulting in varying degrees of inflammatory damage to the soft and hard tissues. The characteristic criterion is the loss of the supporting bone in an inflammatory environment. However, the specific mechanisms and biomarkers involved in peri-implantitis remain to be further studied. Recently, competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNA) and immune microenvironment have been found to play a more important role in the inflammatory process. In our study, we analyzed the expression of immune related microRNAs (miRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and message RNAs (mRNAs) in peri-implantitis by analyzing GSE33774 and GSE57631. Methods In this study, we explored the expression profile data of immune-related lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs, and constructed immune-related ceRNA network involved in the pathogenesis of peri-implantitis. In addition, the CIBERSORT was used to evaluate the content of immune cells in normal tissues and peri-implantitis to detect the immune microenvironment of peri-implantitis. Results In the analysis, 14 DElncRNAs, 16 DEmiRNAs, and 18 DEmRNAs were used to establish an immune related ceRNA network and the immune infiltration patterns associated with peri-implantitis was discovered. Through the mutual verification of the two datasets, we found that GSK3B and miR-1297 may have important significance in the immune microenvironment and pathogenesis of peri-implantitis and GSK3B was closely related to four types of immune cells, especially with the highest correlation with resting mast cells (P = 0.0003). Conclusions Through immune-related ceRNA network, immune-related genes (IRGs) and immune cell infiltration can further comprehensively understand the pathogenesis of peri-implantitis, which built up an immunogenomic landscape with clinical significance for peri-implantitis.

Multiple reports have demonstrated the benefits of preoperative oral carbohydrates (CHO) in patients receiving open abdominal, thoracic, and orthopedic surgeries. However, thus far, no reports have investigated the benefits of CHO in patients undergoing nasal endoscopic surgery. Our goal was to evaluate the outcome of preoperative oral of administration of CHO in septal deviation patients, undergoing endoscopic septoplasty, under general anesthesia.A retrospective cohort study from a prospectively collected database.Consecutive 400 septal deviation patients, undergoing endoscopic septoplasty, were randomly assigned to receive CHO or plain water (80 CHO cohort vs. 320 control cohort) before general anesthesia. The primary outcome was the risk of acute postoperative hypertension (APH). The secondary outcomes included length of hospital stay (LOS), hospitalization cost, sleep time the day before surgery, fluid infusion volume on surgical day, as well the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) and aspiration.Patients in the CHO cohort experienced a lower risk of both diastolic blood pressure (DBP)-based APH (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.25 to 0.96; P = 0.0375) and total APH (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.92; P = 0.0258), lower LOS, lower hospitalization cost, longer sleep time and less fluid infusion volume after adjusting for gender, age, BMI, preoperative blood pressure and pulse. Besides, data showed no significant differences in the incidence of (P = 0.4173) and aspiration (P0.99).Preoperative CHO administration can reduce APH risk in patients undergoing endoscopic septoplasty under general anesthesia. Besides, preoperative CHO administration can improve other clinical outcomes, such as, LOS, hospitalization cost, sleep time, and fluid infusion volume. Moreover, CHO safety was confirmed in our study. In the future, additional investigation is necessary to confirm our results.

Complement component 3 (C3) had been proved to be involved in the pathogenesis and exacerbation of both myasthenia gravis (MG) patients and experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG) models. We evaluated the underlying association between five SNPs (rs344555, rs7951, rs3745568, rs366510 and rs163913) in C3 gene and Chinese adult MG patients. Our study consisted of 409 adult MG patients and 487 healthy controls. Subgroups were classified by gender, onset age, thymoma, anti-AChR antibody, onset muscle involvement (ocular/generalized) and severity (Oosterhuis score at the maximal severity during the initial two years after the onset of MG). We found significant differences in allele frequencies between MG and the control group, between various MG subgroups and the control group in rs344555 and rs3745568. There were significant differences in genotype frequencies between MG group and the control group, between MG subgroups and the control group under the codominant and additive inheritance models in rs344555 and rs3745568. No association was found between the frequencies of these SNPs and the severity of MG. We also used a comprehensive classification which was close to the clinical scenario to minimize the interaction among clinical features. In rs344555, the T allele frequency in thymoma (-) AChR-Ab (+) subgroup was significantly higher than that in the control group. Our results indicated that rs344555 was associated with the susceptibility of Chinese adult MG patients; rs3745568 was probably associated with the susceptibility of Chinese adult MG patients. No association was found between the frequencies of these SNPs and the severity of MG.

The present study aims to analyze the effects of breast-conserving surgery and modified radical mastectomy on operation indexes, Symptom checklist-90 scores and prognosis in patients with early breast cancer. The clinical data of 128 patients with breast cancer who were treated in our hospital from May 2015 to May 2016 were included into the analysis. These patients were divided into 2 groups, according to the different modes of operation (n = 64): control group, patients underwent modified radical mastectomy; observation group, patients underwent early breast conserving surgery. Then, the surgical indexes and prognosis were compared between these 2 groups. Intraoperative bleeding volume, incision length and hospitalization duration were better in the observation group than in the control group (P

Despite the development of green products, convincing consumers to engage in green consumption is still a difficult task. This research attempts to help solve this problem from the perspective of brand logo design. Specifically, this research explores how circular and angular logo shapes influence green consumption. Three studies provide support for our basic prediction that a circular (vs. angular) logo is more effective in promoting green consumption. Self-construal plays a mediating role in this mechanism. However, the logo shape effect disappears when consumers are primed with high sense of power. When taken together, this research not only has theoretical contributions to green consumption and visual marketing, it also provides practical implications for firms manufacturing green products.

Three different Ni–Al foams were synthesized by vapor aluminizing with control of aluminizing time. Oxidation tests under 1100 °C and compression tests were conducted to evaluate the oxidation resistance and compression properties of the foams. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) tests were carried out to study the phase composition and microstructure of Ni–Al foams before and after oxidation. Results showed that vapor aluminizing process did not change the foam macro- and microstructure, and the phase composition became from β/γ′-phase to single β-phase as the aluminizing time extending. The Ni–Al foams possessed excellent oxidation resistance, and decreased Al content increased oxidation weight gain and altered oxidation products. Foams containing single β-phase presented obvious brittleness under compression tests, but the foam with β/γ′-phase exhibited elasticity and toughness to a certain extent. The elasticity and toughness of the foams significantly can be improved after oxidation because of the phase changing in matrix during oxidation, and the pre-oxidized high-Al-content Ni–Al foams exhibited good compression properties, as well as excellent oxidation resistance.

Cardiovascular and renal inflammation induced by Aldosterone (Aldo) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of hypertension and renal fibrosis. GSK-3β contributes to inflammatory cardiovascular and renal diseases, but its role in Aldo-induced hypertension, and renal damage is not clear. In the present study, rats were treated with Aldo combined with SB-216763 (a GSK-3β inhibitor) for 4 weeks. Hemodynamic, cardiac, and renal parameters were assayed at the indicated time. Here we found that rats treated with Aldo presented cardiac and renal hypertrophy and dysfunction. Cardiac and renal expression levels of molecular markers attesting inflammation and fibrosis were increased by Aldo infusion, whereas the treatment of SB-216763 reversed these alterations. SB-216763 suppressed cardiac and renal inflammatory cytokines levels (TNF-a, IL-1β, and MCP-1). Meanwhile, SB-216763 increased the protein levels of LC3-II in the cardiorenal tissues as well as p62 degradation, indicating that SB-216763 induced autophagy activation in cardiac, and renal tissues. Importantly, inhibition of autophagy by 3-MA attenuated the role of SB-216763 in inhibiting perivascular fibrosis, and tubulointerstitial injury. These data suggest that SB-216763 protected against Aldo-induced cardiac and renal injury by activating autophagy, and might be a therapeutic option for salt-sensitive hypertension and renal fibrosis.

Introduction The acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients who are not ready to quit smoking immediately have an extremely low rate of cessation. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of intensive personalized '5As+5Rs'intervention (IPANR intervention) on smoking cessation in this population. Methods A parallel-group randomized controlled trial was carried out, which compared IPANR intervention with routine 5Rs (control) at Fu Xing Hospital, Capital Medical University, Bei Jing, China. Three hundred and twenty hospitalized ACS smokers who were not ready to quit were randomly distributed to IPANR intervention group comprising three individual counseling during hospitalization and 15 intensive follow-up sessions (weekly during months 1, 2, 3, and monthly thereafter until month 6) or 5Rs group in a 1:1 fashion by 8 cardiologists who were blinded to the allocation sequence. Primary end point was carbon monoxide-confirmed continuous abstinence rate (CAR) through week 9 to week 12. Secondary outcome included abstinence rate at 24 weeks. Results Overall, 97.5% (312/320) participants completed the trial. An intention-to-treat analysis showed statistically significant advantage of IPANR compared with control group at 4 weeks CAR (27.5% vs. 17.5%, RR = 1.571, 95% CI = 1.032-2.392, p = 0.032, number needed to treat (NNT) = 10), and abstinence rate at 24 weeks (23.8% vs.15.0%, RR 1.583, 95% CI = 0.998-2.512, p = 0.048, NNT: 11.36). At 24 weeks, cigarettes smoked per day by the patients who failed to quit were significant lower in IPANR group than 5Rs group (13.21 ± 8.23 vs. 17.45 ± 10.71; p < 0.001). Conclusions The IPANR initiated during hospitalization, is a feasible and effective approach for smoking cessation in ACS patients not ready to quit immediately. Implications Smoking has a major impact on acute stages of ACS for recurrent ischemic events and long-term outcomes. However, there are few evidence-based treatments for smokers who are not ready to quit. This study described a cessation intervention initiated during hospitalization and included 15 intensive follow-up aimed at enabling ACS smokers who were not ready to quit immediately to deliver adequate motivational and behavior change counseling. Given its effectiveness demonstrated in this prospective study, this intervention in hospitalized ACS smokers might have the potential to substantially improve the cessation rate of ACS patients who are not ready to quit smoking immediately.

A switched reluctance motor drive (SRD) is designed in this paper. This system has the characteristics of simple structure and reliable performance. It is designed based on 3 phase, 12/8 pole, 2.2 KW switched reluctance motor (SRM). The TMS320LF2407A is chosen as the core controller. The type of half bridge is adopted in the main power converter circuit, and IGBT is used as the main power switching component and discrete components is used as the main power switch converter device driver circuit. Experimental results show that the designed system can be run steadily under rated load conditions. Moreover, the speed regulation of this system has satisfactory performance.

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to explore the molecular mechanisms in the process of oral squamous cells carcinoma (OSCC) development. Method: We downloaded the affymetrix microarray data GSE31853 and identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between OSCC and normal tissues. Then Gene Ontology (GO) and Protein-Protein interaction (PPI) networks analysis was conducted to investigate the DEGs at the function level. Results: A total 372 DEGs with logFC| >1 and P value < 0.05 were obtained , including NNMT, BAX, MMP9 and VEGF. The enriched GO terms mainly were associated with the nucleoplasm, response to DNA damage stimuli and DNA repair. PPI network analysis indicated that GMNN and TSPO were significant hub proteins and steroid biosynthesis and synthesis and degradation of ketone bodies were significantly dysregulated pathways. Conclusion: It is concluded that the genes and pathways identified in our work may play critical roles in OSCC development. Our data provides a comprehensive perspective to understand mechanisms underlying OSCC and the significant genes (proteins) and pathways may be targets for therapy in the future.

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an antibody-mediated autoimmune disease against antigens at the neuromuscular junction. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the susceptibility of MG. We undertook a case–control study to explore the contribution of genes of the auto-antigen and immune-modulating proteins in the pathogenesis of MG. We enrolled 389 adult MG patients and 487 healthy controls. Eighteen SNPs were selected from genes of cholinergic receptor nicotinic alpha 1 (CHRNA1), autoimmune regulator (AIRE), cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4), protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor type 22 (PTPN22), and interleukin-10 (IL-10). Rs16862847 and rs2229957 in CHRNA1, rs3761389 in AIRE, and rs733618 in CTLA-4 were significantly associated with MG, with the highest association in SNPs of CHRNA1. Carrier of rs16862847 G allele was found to be an independent risk factor in predicting high-level acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibodies (P = 0.003, OR = 10.296). Genetic interaction analysis revealed a synergistic effect of CHRNA1 (rs16862847), AIRE (rs3761389), and CTLA-4 (rs733618) in the susceptibility of MG (P

In order to study the rutting problem of asphalt pavement, this paper sets up a three-dimensional model of asphalt pavement with finite element. By analyzing the mechanical response of high-modulus asphalt concrete at different layers, this paper finds out the layer set of high-modulus asphalt concrete. At the same time, it further analyzes the influence of the modulus’ size and thickness of the high-modulus asphalt concrete on the load-carrying capability of road structure. The results show that high-modulus asphalt concrete can significantly restrain rutting problem and the recommend ideal modulus is between 2000MPa and 2500MPa; the ideal thickness ranges from 5cm to 7cm.

The stability of conductivity is evaluated by measuring the resistance of Carbon-coated Filaments (CCFS) and analyzing the influence of temperature, relative humidity and washing on the resistance and relative resistance. The result shows that the with the increase of temperature and relative humidity, the resistance value trends to negative increase, and the electrical conductivity increases. Compared to temperature, the relative humidity has more influence on the electrical conductivity of CCFS. With the increase of washing times, the conductivity coating breaks off which results in the decrease of electrical conductivity.

The evolvement of chemical structure and thermal–mechanical properties of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A and novolac epoxy resin blends cured with low molecular polyamide (DGEBA/EPN/LMPA system) during thermal-oxidative aging were investigated by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometry (ATR-FTIR) and Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis (DMTA). The results revealed that the chemical reactions during thermal-oxidative aging contained oxidation and chain scission. Some possible chemical reaction processes were given. There was a new compound formed during aging processes and the change of its glass transition temperature ( T g ) with aging time followed an exponential law. In addition, the changes of dynamic mechanical behavior of this epoxy system aged at four different temperatures (110 °C, 130 °C, 150 °C, 170 °C) were compared. An empirical formula was obtained through kinetic analysis and this formula can be used to predict the oxidative degree of the surface at different aging temperature.

The method to analysis the strength of planetary trains’ carriers of EPB(earth pressure balance) shield machine is presented in this paper. The structure of the shield machine trains is analyzed and the 3-D solid model of the carrier is built with Pro/E. After the load on the carrier has been dealt with, the strength of carrier is calculated by means of finite element method. The results via ANSYS show that the max stress and strain on the carriers are increasing as the increasing load on it. The max stress is lying on the joint point of the carrier and planetary gear shaft because of the bending deformation of the shaft.

In order to predict the permanent deformation of graded gravel, through to the existing flexible pavement granular base permanent deformation estimate model's contrastive analysis, combined with repeated dynamic triaxial test , selects Wei Mi permanent deformation estimate model as the loose aggregate permanent deformation of the estimate model, using 1stopt statistical analysis software carries on the nonlinear curve fit for the parameter, obtained two kinds of norms of graded broken stone aggregates forecast model of the correlation among the types : permanent deformation of the coefficient and water content and resilient modulus, and their reliability was analyzed. Analysis result shows that when load acting time reaches 10 000, the minimum and average correlative coefficients of the regression formulas is 0.4144 ,0.6340 and 0.5080, which is greater than the critical value of 0.3993, and the correlative coefficient between theoretical curve and measured one is more than 0.96. So the reliability of the proposed prediction formulas of permanent deformation for graded gravel is higher, can be used to forecast China's Asphalt Pavement Rutting.

To evaluate the effect of casein phosphopeptide-amorphouscalcium phosphate (CPP-ACP) treatment on the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets after tooth bleaching.One hundred extracted human premolars were randomly divided and treated according to 5 groups (n=20) : (1) no treatment; (2) 10% carbamide peroxide bleaching; (3) 38% hydrogen peroxide bleaching; (4)10% carbamide peroxide bleaching and CPP-ACP paste; (5)38% hydrogen peroxide bleaching and CPP-ACP paste. In all groups, the brackets were bonded using a conventional acid-etch and bond system (Transbond XT, 3M Unitek, Monrovia, Calif). The shear bond strength adhesive remnant index (ARI) of the brackets were determined and the data was analyzed by ANOVA and Bonferroni test using SPSS13.0 software package.The use of 10% carbamide peroxide and 38% hydrogen peroxide bleaching significantly decreased the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets when compared with untreated group (P0.05). After combination of tooth bleaching and CPP-ACP treatment, group 4 (10% carbamide peroxide bleaching + CPP-ACP) and group 5 (38% hydrogen peroxide bleaching + CPP-ACP) showed higher levels of shear bond strength than group 2 and 3; however, no significant difference was found (P0.05). The ARI did not show any significant difference before and after CPP-ACP treatment.After tooth bleaching, CPP-ACP treatment have little influence on the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets.

In this article, the hot air aging of high strength glass fiber fabric/epoxy novolac resin (SW/EPN) composites was investigated by the aid of the aging behavior of EPN, mainly focusing on the microstructure evolvement of SW/EPN composites. The aging mechanism and thermal mechanical properties of SW/EPN composites were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermo-gravimetric analyzer coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. The results showed that micro cracks initiated and propagated at the fiber–matrix interphase because of the heat and oxygen effect. After long-time aging at elevated temperatures, delamination phenomenon was discovered in SW/EPN composites. The results of weight changes showed that the degradation of EPN played a major role in SW/EPN composites. Moreover, the degradation of EPN contained post-curing, oxidation, and decomposition. The results also revealed that unaged EPN indicated two glass transition temperatures (Tg1 and Tg2). Tg1 increased for post curing while Tg2 decreased for oxidation with increasing of aging time and temperature. In the final period of aging at higher temperatures, only one Tg was observed because the formation of perfect crosslinked networks made EPN homogeneous. In addition, the relationship between Tg and chemical structure, as well as Tg and mass loss, confirmed that the variation of Tg depended on chemical changes. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40128.

In order to complete the semi auto-segmentation of dual-source CT image of heart and extract the structure of heart accurately, propose a novel segmentation method of CT images based on graph cuts based active contour and anisotropies spreads algorithms. The method combines image characteristics with high-level segmentation model, Due to effectively used heart anatomical structure, the noise and fuzzy boundary have less effect on the segmentation results. It is used to quickly and accurately segment ventricle, atria and coronary artery. After the pre-segmentation of the DSCT images, the ventricular and atrium are fast and accurately segmented through minimize the energy function. The segmentation method can effectively process cardiac medical image of DSCT. It provides new methods for clinical doctors to get more information of cardiac images.

The nomination of Ashi points was reviewed, and the meaning of Ashi method was discussed in this article. On the base of further study on Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine), the general meaning of palpation at acupoints, meridians and collaterals to the process of acupoint locating were expounded. The concept of pressing reaction was proposed as well. It is held that Ashi points are a category of acupoints without specific names and definite locations. They are a kind of manifestation of reactions of acupoints, meridians and collaterals, which embody their dynamic features. Pressing reaction mainly manifested by sensations of comfort, pain, and moreover, relieving of the primary symptoms. It is the most basic evidence for us to estimate Ashi points.

The aim of this study was to investigate the microbiologic and immunologic factors related to orthodontic treatment-induced gingival enlargement (GE).Our study included 12 patients with GE undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment and 12 periodontally healthy controls. At baseline, periodontal variables, subgingival plaque samples, and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) samples were taken from 2 preselected sites in both the GE and the control groups. The levels of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Prevotella intermedia, Treponema denticola and Tannerella forsythia were determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction. GCF interleukin (IL)-1β and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Invitrogen, Camarillo, Calif). Periodontal therapy was given to the GE group, and all parameters were reassessed after 4 weeks.At baseline, the GE group showed higher prevalences of the 5 periodontal pathogens than did the control group (P 0.05). IL-1β and TGF-β1 levels at the GE sites were also significantly higher than those at the control sites (P 0.05). Four weeks after periodontal therapy, the GE group showed significant improvements in the clinical parameters associated with significant reductions of P gingivalis, A actinomycetemcomitans, and T denticola. The levels of IL-1β decreased significantly compared with the baseline (P 0.05), whereas there was no significant change in TGF-β1 levels (P 0.05).Periodontal pathogens might have a relationship with the initiation and development of orthodontic treatment-induced GE. Inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and TGF-β1) can also be considered as contributing factors.

To investigate the inhibitory effect of antisense oligonucleotides (ODN) on dopamine transporter (DAT) in rats and observe the response of the rats to 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP).The cannula was implanted in the substantia nigra compacta under a rat stereotaxic device, through which drugs were used. The rats with successful operation were divided randomly into four groups, and received injection of antisense, sense, missense oligonucleotides and saline respectively, in the substantia nigra compacta of each rat via the cannula, followed by MPTP (30 mg/kg) injection. Behavior of the rats was observed and immunohistochemistry was carried out to check the expression of DAT and apoptosis of dopamine cell.The expression of DAT (positive unit, PU) in the substantia nigra compacta in rats was 6.65+/- 1.67 in the antisense ODN group, 12.41+/- 2.46 in saline group, 11.45+/- 1.17 in sense ODN group, and 10.35+/- 2.89 in missense ODN group. The expression of DAT was lower in the antisense ODN group than that of the other three groups (P0.01). The rotation of the rats induced by apomorphine was slower than that of the other three groups(P0.05). The apoptotic cells (21.4+/- 5.6) in the antisense ODN group (200x ) were less than that of the other three groups (61.6+/- 19.7, 56.5+/- 16.3, 52.2+/- 12.5 respectively), (P0.01).The expression of DAT can be inhibited effectively by the antisense ODN, and the response of the rats to the MPTP was reduced upon DAT inhibition.

To study prospectively the short-time survival of patients with severe virus hepatitis using model of severe liver diseases (MSLD) established by our previous study.One hundred and three patients with severe hepatitis were included by cohort study. Of them, there were 85 patients with severe chronic hepatitis patients, 10 acute and 8 subacute severe hepatitis patients, respectively. The follow-up endpoint was 6 months. The cutoff score of the MSLD was determined by receiver operating characteristic cure (ROC) statistic analysis, and the survival of severe hepatitis patients in 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 3 months and 6 months were estimated by Kaplan-Meier statistic analysis.The cutoff MSLD score for predicting survival was 5. The survival curves of group A (total MSLD scoreor =4) was significantly better than group B (total MSLD scoreor =5, P0.000). After treatment for 2 weeks, the survival rate in 2 weeks and 4 weeks was 37.9% and 3.5%, respectively, if MSLD score had no change or increased. The survival rate in 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 3 months was respectively 61.5%, 15.4%, 5.8% if the MSLD score decreased 1. Then, the survival in 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 3 months and 6 months was respectively 95.0%, 90.0%, 63.9% and 52.4% if MSLD score decreased 2 or more.It is suggested that MSLD may be valuable in predicting 6-month survival of severe virus hepatitis patients. It may be used to determine the efficacy of medical treatment and to guide clinical decision.

The purpose of this cephalometric study was to compare the difference of NHP (natural head posture) and spinal position among malocclusions with different skeletal patterns.79 malocclusions aged from 12 to 16 were divided to several groups according ANB and NSL-MP. The features of head posture and spinal position were examined by comparing the groups and the statistical significant correlation among NHP, spinal position and craniofacial morphology was sought.NHP and spinal position was not the same in malocclusions with different NSL-MP, while was identical in malocclusions with different ANB.It is believed that there was correlation among NHP, spinal position and vertical, sagittal development of face rather than anteroposterior relationship between maxilla and mandible.

To evaluate the effect of rapid maxillary expansion on skeletal,dental,and nasal structures.8 UCLP patients in the period of permanent teeth (mean: 14 years old) were treated with rapid maxillary expansion. Pretreatment and posttreatment postero-anterior cephalograms were taken to evaluate the changes of the indicators. The data were analyzed with paired t-test.The indicators of the width of the nasal cavity, the upper intermolars, and the upper base bone had significant change (P0.05).Following dental arch expansion, the cleft side had remarkable skeletal alteration, while the alteration in noncleft side was mainly in teeth position. The nasal cavity had been expanded. It's more symmetrical between the relevant parts.

To investigate the perception of Shanghai population with labial profile and evaluate its effect on orthodontic treatment.Four facial profiles with different labial convexity were drawn with computer aid on the basis of the pretty Chinese female cephalometric measurements. 650 panelists were selected from Shanghai area including 250 youth with normal profile and 200 adolescents under orthodontic treatment and their parents. Subjects were asked to rank the four facial profiles in descending order of attractiveness.The ranking was as follows: slightly straight style, standard style, straight style and slightly convex style. The normal male youth preferred more convex style than female. Patients with Class profile preferred standard style while Class and patients and the parents were fond of slightly straight style.People in Shanghai area tended to prefer straight profile. The perception with labial profile has sex and age difference. It also has difference between non-orthodontic and orthodontic patients and was influenced by the profiles themselves. It was suggested that consultation between orthodontist and patient was essential and more attention should be made on the patient's perception with labial profile.