Palatal implants: a new approach for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the short-term safety and efficacy of palatal implants in patients with mild and moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A prospective, non-randomized study conducted at 5 clinical sites. Three polyester implants were placed in the soft palate under local anesthesia during a single-stage office procedure. Polysomnography was conducted at baseline and 90 days post-procedure. Subjective quality of life data were collected. RESULTS: Fifty-three patients were evaluated; the apnea hypopnea index (AHI) decreased from 25.0 +/- 13.9 to 22.0 +/- 14.8 events/hour (P = 0.05). The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) decreased from 11.0 +/- 5.1 to 6.9 +/- 4.5 (P < 0.001), and the snore score decreased from 7.9 +/- 2.1 to 4.0 +/- 3.0 (P < 0.001). No serious complications occurred during the study. CONCLUSION: Palatal implants can be an effective initial low morbidity treatment option for patients diagnosed with mild to moderate OSA.     

喷雾(冰冻)干燥法制备钠、锂快离子导体

对两种性能较好的快离子导体Na_3Zr_2Si_2P_3O_(12)(Nasicon)和Li_(1.8)Ti_(1.2)·Cr_(0.8)P_3O_(12)用喷雾干燥法和冰冻干燥法制备粉料和陶瓷烧结,并对样品进行了X射线衍射分析,形貌和显微结构观察以及阻抗谱测量等。实验结果表明:两种方法制备的粉料具有颗粒细,均匀性好,合成温度低等优点。在300℃时,两种样品的电阻半分别为10.05 Ω.cm和94.8 Ω.cm。激活能分别为0.25 eV和0.27ev。     

Melatonin Levels in the Gastrointestinal Tissues of Fish, Amphibians, and a Reptile

Melatonin was detected by radioimmunoassay in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of several species of fish (sturgeon, rainbow trout, carp), amphibians (axolotl, leopard frog, bullfrog), and one reptile (red-sided garter snake), which were sacrificed during the daytime. The highest levels of melatonin were detected in the snake [means = 1018 pg/g stomach, 328 pg/g proximal gut (PG), 511 distal gut (DG)] and carp (means = 102 pg/g stomach, 146 pg/g PG and 141 pg/g DG). Lowest levels were found in the axolotl (means = 44 pg/g stomach and PG, 92 pg/g DG) and the bullfrog (means = 73 pg/g esophagus, 78 pg/g stomach, 20 pg/g PG, and 152 pg/g DG). In most cases there were no statistically significant differences in the melatonin levels among various GIT tissues of the same species but there were differences in tissue levels between different species.     

Use of modified nucleotides and uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG) for the control of contamination in the PCR-based amplification of RNA.

The inadvertent carryover of amplified fragments of nucleic acids (amplicons) is a potential source of contamination in the polymerase chain reaction. Recently, a method has been developed to generate amplicons with deoxyuracil triphosphate (dUTP) and to specifically hydrolyze these amplicons with uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG) following the completion of the assay. We evaluated this system for the specific amplification of RNA from coxsackievirus A3 and B3. We found that RNA from both viruses could be amplified with dUTP, although the use of this triphosphate in place of TTP resulted in some loss of assay sensitivity. We also found that the dUTP-containing amplicons could be efficiently hydrolyzed by UNG, resulting in a 10,000,000-fold reduction in amplicon concentration with little effect on the native nucleic acid. The dUTP-UNG method has a great deal of potential for reducing amplicon contamination during the routine performance of nucleic acid amplification reactions.     

氧化作用与子宫内膜异位症

子宫内膜异位症是育龄妇女的常见疾病 ,近年来其发病率有上升趋势 ,研究认为EM发生发展与腹腔氧化作用有关。氧化作用是一种炎症反应 ,EM中巨噬细胞释放的氧化活性物 ,腹腔液中氧化低密度脂蛋白及其产物的增加 ,子宫内膜细胞氧化酶与抗氧化酶的异常表达 ,腹腔液中VitE的消耗 ,均说明EM与腹腔氧化作用有关。本文综述有关研究结果为用抗氧化剂和抗炎症制剂预防EM发生提供新的研究途径     

Relation between exposure to respirable silica dust and silicosis in a tungsten mine in China.

To estimate the quantitative relation between exposure to respirable silica dust and risk of an attack of silicosis, 1151 workers exposed to silica dust and employed from 1958 to 1987 in a tungsten mine in China were investigated. The results showed that the ratio of respirable silica dust concentration to total silica dust concentration was 0.529. Then, the total silica dust concentration in historical surveillance and monitoring data was converted to respirable silica dust concentration. The free silica content in respirable dust determined by x ray diffraction averaged 24.7%. Multiple logistic regression was used for the dichotomous dependent variables (presence or absence of silicosis). The independent variables in the multiple logistic regression with presence of silicosis as the dependent variable were age when first exposed, tuberculosis (presence or absence), and cumulative exposure to respirable silica dust. The partial regression coefficient of individual cumulative exposure was estimated as 0.079. It implied a positive association between exposure to respirable silica dust and risk of an attack of silicosis. The exposure limit for respirable silica dust was estimated as 0.24 mg/m3 under given conditions.     

The effect of vascular endothelial growth factor on the healing of ischaemic skin wounds.

The effect of exogenous vascular endothelium growth factor (VEGF) on wound healing in an ischaemic skin flap model was evaluated in this study. Seventy-two Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Normal incisional wound and H-shaped double flaps were used as the wound models. The study was divided into two parts. In Part I, VEGF protein levels were determined from the incisional and H-shaped ischaemic wounds at 12 and 24 h, postoperatively. In Part II, tensile strength and immunohistochemical stains were examined to determine the level of microvessel density (MVD) at 1 and 2 weeks, postoperatively in simple incisional wounds, ischaemic wounds, and ischaemic wounds following 1 ml (1 microg/ml) exogenous VEGF injections into the subcutaneous tissue. The results showed a significantly higher level of VEGF protein in the ischaemic wounds than the incisional wounds. Tensile strength was statistically higher in the incisional wound group and in the ischaemic flap wounds with VEGF treatment compared to the ischaemic flaps with no treatment at 1 week, postoperatively (p>0.05). MVD data indicated that ischaemic wound repair with VEGF treatment had significantly higher MVD than the normal incisional wounds and ischaemic wounds without treatment. We conclude that exogenous application of VEGF can increase early angiogenesis and tensile strength in the ischaemic wound.     

抗人生长激素免疫血清的制备和鉴定

Using small dosage of human growth hormone to immunize rabbit or guinea pig, it is able to induce anti-hGH antibody formation with high titre and high affinity that could be applied to hGH RIA. In the present study five rabbits and three guinea pigs were immunized with 125-200 micrograms and 250-285 micrograms per animal of hGH respectively, followed by boosters of 10-20 or 160-250 micrograms of hGH at 2-4 week intervals for 6 or 3 months. Blood was drown 1-2 weeks before each booster for determination of antibody formation. Antibody titre and affinity were successively observed and specificity of antibody was determined for the final bleeding. It was shown that titres of immune sera from guinea pigs were much higher than those of rabbit immune sera, but vice versa for antibody affinity. This might be due to larger immunogen dose used for guinea pigs than for rabbits. Fourteen different peptide hormones were tested in reference to cross-immunoreactivity to anti-hGH antibody. It could be demonstrated that the major cross-reactive hormones are hFSH and hLH, and hTSH also reacts to rabbit anti-hGH immune sera at a lesser degree. These cross reactivities are obviously owing to the molecular homogeneities between hGH and these hormones especially of their alpha-subunits.