血液灌流治疗百草枯中毒临床观察

目的观察血液灌流治疗百草枯中毒的疗效。方法血液灌流治疗组（治疗组）22例在常规治疗的基础上，采用血液灌流治疗并观察疗效。非血液灌流治疗组（对照组）16例。结果治疗组22例中死亡14例，病死率为63．6％，对照组病死率87．5％，两组相比P〈0．05。结论血液灌流治疗百草枯中毒可提高治愈率，降低病死率，是临床上抢救百草枯中毒较有效的方法。     

碳纳米管及其复合材料在生物医学领域的研究进展

碳纳米管是一种新型碳材料，具有特殊的纳米结构和优异的力学、电学和磁学性能，在生物医学领域显示出诱人的潜在应用价值和前景，吸引了越来越多的研究者的关注。本文简要介绍了碳纳米管的基本结构与性能，并对近年来碳纳米管在生物大分子的修饰与特异性识别、细胞体外生长支架、植入性生物医学材料、生物医学传感器以及生物医学微电子器件等方面的研究进展和发展趋势进行了综合评述。     

Effects of carbon dioxide on preoptic thermosensitive neurons in vitro

Effects of carbon dioxide (CO₂) on the firing rates of preoptic thermosensitive neurons were examined in rat brain slice preparations. The perfusing medium was saturated with gas mixtures consisting of 90% O₂ and one of various concentrations (5%, 6.3%, 7.5%, and 10%) of CO₂ balanced with N₂. The medium containing 5% CO₂ was used as control. Most preoptic neurons were inhibited during application of a high CO₂ medium. An excitatory effect of CO₂ on a small number of neurons was also significant, although this was weak and transient compared to the inhibitory effect. Thermosensitivities of the neurons did not correlate with their CO₂ sensitivities. The influence of CO₂ tended to be more evident at higher temperatures. We conclude that the direct effect of CO₂ on PO thermosensitive neurons as well as on thermally insensitive neurons is mainly inhibitory.     

低氧对大鼠肺动脉平滑肌细胞血红素加氧酶-1 mRNA 表达及细胞增殖的影响

探讨血红素加氧酶－1（HO－1）mRNA在低氧大鼠肺动脉平滑肌细胞（PASMC0的表达及HO－1／一氧化碳（HO－1／CO）体系对PASMC增殖的影响。应用荧光定量RT－PCR法测定HO－1mRNA表达。用双波长法检测碳氧血红蛋白（HbCO)吸光值。应用免疫细胞化学方法检测细胞增殖核抗原（PCNA）及核转录因子－κB（NF-κB）的表达。发现HO－1 mRNA在常氧大鼠PASMC有低水平的表达，低氧12h HO-1mRNA水平是常氧时的1．5倍，且HbCO产量随之显著增高（P＜0．01）；低氧24h HO-1 mRNA表达呈回落趋势，HbCO产量亦有所减少，但两者仍高于常氧水平。低氧12h及24h PASMC PCNA核阳性反应颗粒表达较常氧时增强（P＜0．01，P＜0．001），使用HO抑制剂ZnPP-9，其PCNA该阳性反应颗粒表达较单纯低氧时增加更多（P＜0．001，P＜0．01）。低氧组核NF－κB阳性染色较常氧组增强（P＜0．001），使用ZnPP-9，其表达则比低氧时更多（P＜0．01）。低氧通过诱导大鼠PASMC的HO－1 mRNA基因表达，上调HO／CO体系活性，使内源性CO含量增高，抑制PASMC增殖；NF－κB参与了PASMC增殖的调控机制。     

Divergent regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor and of erythropoietin gene expression in vivo

There is accumulating evidence from in vitro experiments that the gene expression of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is, like that of the erythropoietin (EPO) gene, regulated by the oxygen tension and by divalent cations such as cobalt. Since the information about the regulation of VEGF gene expression in vivo is rather scarce, this study aimed to examine the influence of hypoxia and of cobalt on VEGF gene expression in different rat organs and to compare it with that on EPO gene expression. To this end male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to carbon monoxide (0.1% CO), hypoxia (8% O₂ ) or to cobalt chloride (12 and 60 mg/kg s.c.) for 6 h. mRNA levels for VEGF- 188, -164, and -120 amino acid isoforms in lungs, hearts, kidneys and livers were semiquantitated by RNase protection. For these organs we found a rank order of VEGF mRNA abundance of lung >> heart > kidney = liver. EPO mRNA levels were semiquantitated in kidneys and livers. Hypoxia, CO and cobalt increased EPO mRNA levels 60-fold, 140-fold and 5-fold, respectively, in the kidneys, and 11-fold, 11-fold and 3-fold, respectively, in the livers. None of these manoeuvres caused significant changes of VEGF mRNA in lung, heart or kidneys. Only in the livers did hypoxia lead to a significant (50%) increase of VEGF mRNA. These findings suggest that, in contrast to the in vitro situation, the expression of the VEGF gene in normal rat tissues is rather insensitive to hypoxia. In consequence, the in vivo regulation of the VEGF and the EPO genes appear to differ substantially, suggesting that the regulation of the VEGF and EPO genes may not follow the same essential mechanisms in vivo. Received: 31 July 1995/Received after revision: 20 November 1995/Accepted: 27 November 1995     

Reproducibility of the parameters of the on-transient cardiopulmonary responses during moderate exercise in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

To be clinically useful as indices reflective of altered physiological function consequent to interventions in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the time constant (τ) and steady-state amplitude of the kinetic responses for oxygen uptake ( ) carbon dioxide output ( ) ventilation ( ) and heart rate (HR) have to be appropriately differentiable and reproducible. We therefore assessed the reproducibility of τ and steady state amplitude values in 41 patients with severe COPD [mean (SD)] [forced expiratory volume in 1 s=41 (7)% predicted], aged 64 (5) years. Of the total, 6 of the patients (15%) did not produce breath-by-breath data of sufficient quality to warrant kinetic analysis. The remaining 35 patients completed two moderate-intensity 10 min square-wave exercise tests separated by 2 h, both before and after an endurance training programme. Tests were conducted on an electromagnetically-braked cycle ergometer at an exercise intensity corresponding to 80% of the estimated lactate threshold (θ_La) or 50% of peak oxygen uptake if θ_La was insufficiently differentiable. Breath-by-breath measurements of , , and HR were averaged into 10 s bins and the on-transient response kinetics were estimated using a mono-exponential model. Analysing the pre-training and the post-training test 1 and test 2 comparisons together, the test 1 –test 2 differences were not significantly different from 0 for either τ or A. The standard deviation of the test 1 –test 2 differences allowed us to define the magnitude of change that would reach statistical significance. For τ, this averaged some 8, 10, 11 and 8 s, for , , and HR, respectively, for a one-tailed paired-comparisons test (i.e. appropriate for assessing hypothesised improvements resulting from an intervention); for a two-tailed comparison, the differences were approximately 2 s greater. The corresponding one-tailed values for A were 100 ml·min^–1, 95 ml·min^–1, 2.5 1·min^–1 and 4 beats·min^–1, respectively; the two-tailed values were 10%–15% greater. We therefore conclude that both τ and A for moderate-intensity exercise can be reproducibly estimated in patients with COPD when the data set provides a sufficiently large amplitude of response and sufficiently low sample variability to allow appropriate parameter estimation. Electronic Publication     

Recurrent Poisoning in Children: A Review

The literature on poisoning accidents or ingestion of toxicsubstances in children is reviewed. Special emphasis is givento the phenomenon of recurrent or repeat episodes. Recommendationsare made concerning means for identifying children who are atrisk for repeat poison episodes, as well as for developing methodsof intervention to prevent such occurrences.     

Biomedical applications of tunable diode laser spectrometry: Correlation between breath carbon monoxide and low level blood carboxyhemoglobin saturation

Tunable diode laser spectrometry was used to measure breath carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations in nonsmoking subjects. Corresponding blood carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) saturations between physiological levels and levels after 1 and 8 hours exposure to 9 ppm CO, the maximum permissible concentration in the air under federal regulations, were also determined. A good linear correlation between breath CO and blood COHb saturation for low levels representing ambient conditions was established, with a correlation coefficient better than 0.999 for the means and 0.945 for the individual data points. Similar studies on the other compounds of concern are also possible using tunable diode laser spectrometry, requiring only a breath sample and with no sample preparation. This technique will facilitate fast, noninvasive environmental health effect and biomedical studies.