Parents' perceptions towards their child's use of inhaled medications for asthma therapy

Objective : Understanding patients' and their parents' perceptions towards asthma medication is important in developing strategies to ensure patient compliance. In this study, parents' perceptions towards their children's use of inhaled medication for asthma treatment were evaluated.
Methodology : A questionnaire was administered by interviewing parents of 210 asthmatic children attending the Department of Paediatrics, National University Hospital.
Results : Our results showed that 76/210 (36%) of parents either felt opposed to inhaler therapy and/or preferred oral medications. The main reasons for their reluctance to use inhalers were related to fear of dependence, side effects and overdosage, and the child's dislike for inhalers. A third of these parents felt that inhalers were only indicated for very severe asthma.
Conclusions : We conclude that a significant proportion of parents have reservations regarding the use of inhalers for the treatment of asthma. These factors should be taken into consideration when planning an effective asthma education programme.     

Abnormal anatomy of the lumbosacral region imaged by magnetic resonance in children with anorectal malformations

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the frequency of lumbosacral anomalies, the association with urogenital abnormalities, and the correlation with defaecation pattern by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS: A prospective analysis was performed of routine MRI in patients with anorectal malformations. Between 1990 and 1994, MRI was performed in 43 such patients: 31 boys and 12 girls. Twenty four had a high anorectal malformation, 16 had a low anorectal malformation, and three had Currarino's triad. MRI was performed before reconstruction in 26, and postoperatively in 17. Urogenital anomalies were found in 21. RESULTS: Abnormalities of the spinal cord and spine were found with MRI in 20 patients (46.5%); caudal regression syndrome in 10, tethered cord in two, a combination of both in three, and other spinal anomalies in five. These anomalies were found in 30% of the patients with low anorectal malformations, and in 50% with high anorectal malformations. In patients with urogenital malformations, MRI more often showed spinal anomalies (13/21, 62%) than in patients without (7/22, 32%). In high anorectal malformations, defaecation was more often a problem in patients with spinal anomalies (12/15, 80%) than in patients without (2/8, 25%). CONCLUSIONS: Spinal anomalies in the lumbosacral region were found with MRI in 46.5% of patients with anorectal malformations. Since presence of these anomalies seems to be related to clinical outcome, MRI should be performed routinely in all such patients.     

Epigenetic silencing of maspin gene expression in human breast cancers

Maspin is a tumor suppressor whose expression is lost in many advanced breast cancers. Maspin has been shown to inhibit cell motility, invasion and metastasis; however, its precise role in normal mammary epithelium remains to be elucidated. Although expression of maspin mRNA is low or absent in most human breast cancer cells, the maspin gene is rarely re-arranged or deleted. We hypothesized that aberrant cytosine methylation and chromatin condensation of the maspin promoter participates in the silencing of maspin expression during neoplastic progression. To test this hypothesis, we compared cultured normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) to 9 cultured human breast cancer cell lines. HMECs expressed maspin mRNA and displayed a completely non-methylated maspin gene promoter with an open chromatin structure. In contrast, 7 of 9 breast cancer cell lines had no detectable maspin expression and 6 of these 7 maspin-negative breast cancer cell lines also displayed an aberrant pattern of cytosine methylation of the maspin promoter. Interestingly, the maspin promoter was completely methylated in maspin-negative normal peripheral blood lymphocytes. This indicates that the maspin promoter is not a functional CpG island and that cytosine methylation of this region may contribute to normal tissue-restricted gene expression. Chromatin accessibility studies with MCF-7 cells, which lack maspin expression and have a methylated maspin promoter, showed a closed chromatin structure compared with HMECs. Moreover, maspin gene expression could be re-activated in MCF-7 cells by treatment with 5-aza-2;-deoxycytidine, a DNA demethylating agent. Thus, aberrant cytosine methylation and heterochromatinization of the maspin promoter may silence maspin gene expression, thereby contributing to the progression of human mammary cancer.     

空心胶囊中残留氯乙醇的测定方法改进

目的：改进空心胶囊中残留氯乙醇的测定方法。方法：利用大口径毛细管柱的“溶剂效应”技术,进行测定。结果;色谱图重现性佳,分离效果好。结论;对氯乙醇的测定中,采用大口径毛细管柱分离效果优于固定液为聚乙二醇－１５００的填充性。     

Arsenicals produce stable progressive changes in DNA methylation patterns that are linked to malignant transformation of immortalized urothelial cells

Aberrant DNA methylation participates in carcinogenesis and is a molecular hallmark of a tumor cell. Tumor cells generally exhibit a redistribution of DNA methylation resulting in global hypomethylation with regional hypermethylation; however, the speed in which these changes emerge has not been fully elucidated and may depend on the temporal location of the cell in the path from normal, finite lifespan to malignant transformation. We used a model of arsenical-induced malignant transformation of immortalized human urothelial cells and DNA methylation microarrays to examine the extent and temporal nature of changes in DNA methylation that occur during the transition from immortal to malignantly transformed. Our data presented herein suggest that during arsenical-induced malignant transformation, aberrant DNA methylation occurs non-randomly, progresses gradually at hundreds of gene promoters, and alters expression of the associated gene, and these changes are coincident with the acquisition of malignant properties, such as anchorage independent growth and tumor formation in immunocompromised mice. The DNA methylation changes appear stable, since malignantly transformed cells removed from the transforming arsenical exhibited no reversion in DNA methylation levels, associated gene expression, or malignant phenotype. These data suggest that arsenicals act as epimutagens and directly link their ability to induce malignant transformation to their actions on the epigenome.     

师范院校贫困新生与非贫困新生心理健康状况的比较

目的:比较师范院校贫困新生与非贫困新生的心理健康状况。方法:于2005-10在衡阳师范学院完成调查。采用整群抽样横断面调查方法,以衡阳师范学院2005级3089名新生为调查对象,运用症状自评量表对其进行集体测查。在统一指导语下,学生根据最近1周内的自我感觉答题,独立完成,当场收卷。结果数据运用光电阅读机(OMR2000)输入计算机心理测评工具箱标准版V3.0系统进行总分和因子分的统计。量表中没有回答的项目记为"没有",5个以上项目未答者视为问卷无效以及总分低于95分的问卷因缺乏可靠性均不进行分析。所有数据输入电脑后用SPSS11.0软件进行统计分析;群体差异比较用t和Z检验。结果:共发放3089份问卷,收回有效答卷2994份,有效率为96.92%,其中贫困新生有效答卷510份,占17.03%。问卷结果显示,师范院校贫困新生在人际关系、偏执和精神病性3项因子上的得分分别为1.86±0.54,1.70±0.48和1.58±0.43,明显高于非贫困新生(1.78±0.51,1.65±0.46,1.53±0.39,t=3.34,2.02,2.92,P<0.05)。从阳性因子的人数比率来看,师范院校贫困新生在总分阳性的人数比率为0.28,明显低于非贫困新生(0.33,Z=-2.27,P<0.05);而在人际关系、偏执和精神病性3项因子阳性的人数比率分别为0.35,0.30,0.16,明显高于非贫困新生(0.31,0.24,0.13,Z=1.73,2.72,1.71,P<0.05)。结论:师范院校贫困新生的整体心理健康状况并不比非贫困新生差,但是在人际关系敏感、偏执和精神病性3个问题上明显比非贫困新生要严重。