Factors associated with the development of intestinal strictures or obstructions in patients with Crohn's disease.

Objective: Theoretical concern exists that rapid luminal healing in Crohn's disease (CD) with therapies like infliximab increases the risk of intestinal stenosis, stricture, or obstruction (SSOs).

Methods: Data were analyzed from the ongoing observational TREAT (the Crohn's Therapy, Resource, Evaluation, and Assessment Tool) Registry and ACCENT I (A Crohn's Disease Clinical Trial Evaluating Infliximab in a New Long-Term Treatment Regimen) study. Investigators reported SSOs as adverse events or serious adverse events.

Theoretical investigation of doubly resonant IR-UV sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy of binaphthol chiral solution.

The doubly resonant IR-UV sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy (SFVS) of 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol (BN) solution and its dispersion spectra are analyzed and computed using the ZINDO//AM1 calculation and the direct approach of Raman scattering tensor calculation, which is based on calculations of Franck-Condon factors and on differentiation of the electronic transition moments with respect to the vibrational normal modes. The calculated results indicate that, for the most intense vibrational bands observed in the SFVS experiment, the calculated frequencies, symmetry, order, intensities, and pattern of the enhanced vibrational modes agree with experiment qualitatively, and due to the Franck-Condon progression, there are the doublet peaks in the corresponding resonant sum-frequency dispersion spectra. The polarization resonance Raman spectra of BN for the vibrational modes appearing in SFVS are also computed and associated with the experiment SFVS of BN.

[Study of dental caries prevalence in children of Yinchuan in China].

Objective: To assess the dental caries prevalence of children in Yinchuan.

Methods: The 3-, 5-, 12-, 15-year-old children were chosed from nursery, primary and middle schools of Yinchuan in 1990, 1996 and 2001. The survey was carried out by five senior dentists from stomatologic hospital of Yinchuan according WHO criteria.

[Expression of nestin and neurogenin 3 in the human fetal pancreas].

Objective: To examine the expression of nestin and neurogenin 3 (Ngn3), the markers of pancreatic stem cells, in the human fetal pancreas.

Methods: The human fetal pancreas tissue of 12 and 14 weeks were examined for the expression of nestin and Ngn3 using the techniques of immunofluorescence dye and RT-PCR.

Results: Both nestin and Ngn3 expressed widely in 12 and 14 weeks before in human fetal pancreatic tissue.

Amyloid, cholinesterase, melatonin, and metals and their roles in aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

The aging brain shows selective neurochemical changes involving several neural cell populations. Increased brain metal levels have been associated with normal aging and a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Melatonin levels are decreased in aging, particularly in AD subjects.

Density functional theory studies on the Raman and IR spectra of meso-tetraphenylporphyrin diacid.

The vibrational spectra of meso-tetraphenylporphyrin diacid (H4TPP2+) have been studied with the density functional theory. Raman and IR spectra of H4TPP2+ and its N-deuterated analogue (D4TPP2+) are measured and compared with the computational results. Complete assignments of observed IR and Raman bands were proposed on the bases of calculation results.

[Safety of sputum induction in subjects with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

Objective: To evaluate the safety of sputum induction in subjects with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD).

Methods: Twenty-two patients with AECOPD were enrolled in the study. All subjects inhaled a mist of 3% hypertonic saline solution and the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)) and pulse oxygen saturation (SpO(2)) were measured during the procedure.

Dietary intake and nutritional status of urban community-dwelling men with paraplegia.

Objectives: To evaluate nutritional status, dietary intake, nutrition knowledge, and depression of healthy urban men with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) and to compare these findings with national guidelines and data.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Urban university.

Pimecrolimus cream 1% in the treatment of intertriginous psoriasis: a double-blind, randomized study.

Background: Inverse psoriasis can be difficult to treat because of the high sensitivity of intertriginous areas to cutaneous side effects, such as irritation and striae. Pimecrolimus, a well-tolerated, nonatrophogenic, skin-selective inflammatory cytokine inhibitor, has been shown to be effective in the treatment of psoriasis when applied topically under occlusion.

Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of pimecrolimus cream 1% versus vehicle twice a day in the treatment of inverse psoriasis.

Circular dichroism effect for linear molecules induced by a resonant circularly polarized pumping optical field.

In this paper we propose and discuss the laser-induced circular dichroism (LICD) effect, which is expected to occur in linear molecules pumped by a strong circular resonant light beam. The effect is to be detected via the absorption of a weak circularly polarized probe beam on another transition. Analogous to the external magnetic field in magnetic circular dichroism the resonant circular polarized pumping optical field can induce the nonzero antisymmetric rotational polarizabilities of a linear molecule, and cause the LICD effect.

Proteomic response analysis of endothelial cells of human coronary artery to stimulation with carbachol.

Aim: To identify the molecular basis of the endothelial target for acetylcholine (ETA).

Methods: Proteomic methods were used to monitor changes in protein expression in the first 10 h following the stimulation of human coronary endothelial cells with carbachol 100 micromol/L. Thirty proteins showing the largest changes were identified by mass spectrometry.

Mechanism responsible for initiating carbon nanotube vacuum breakdown.

We report a physical mechanism responsible for initiating a vacuum breakdown process of a single carbon nanotube (CNT) during field emission. A quasidynamic method has been developed to simulate the breakdown process and calculate the critical field, critical emission current density and critical temperature beyond which thermal runaway occurs before the CNT temperature reaches its melting point. This model is in good agreement with experiments carried out with a single CNT on a silicon microtip.

Anisotropic metal-insulator transition in epitaxial thin films.

By comparing the properties of In and Pb quantum wells in a scanning tunneling microscopy subsurface imaging experiment, we found the existence of lateral bound states, a 2D Mott-Hubbard correlation gap, induced by transverse confinement. Its formation is attributed to spin or charge overscreening of quasi-2D excitations. The signature of the 2D confinement-deconfinement transition is also experimentally observed, with the correlation gap being pinned in the middle of the conduction band.

[Experimental study of mandibular reconstruction with Sr-HAP].

Objective: Different ration of Sr-HAP was implanted in animals to study the bioreactions in order to prepare for the clinical applications in future.

Methods: 24 rabbits were divided into 3 groups for study.Bone defect of 6 x 12 x 4 mm was made at the mandibular angle of rabbits and Sr-HAP of different proportion (10%,5%,0%) was applied to repair the defect.

[Molecular epidemiologic survey of rotaviruses from infants and children with diarrhea in Shanghai].

Objective: To investigate molecular epidemiologic features of rotaviruses circulating in Shanghai, China.

Methods: Stool samples were collected from 1230 hospitalized children with community-acquired and nosocomially acquired diarrhea in Children's Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University between November 1, 1999 and December 31, 2001. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) was used to detect rotavirus genomic RNA and identify electropherotypes of group A rotavirus RNAs.

[In vitro study on the cytotoxicity of strontium substituted hydroxyapatite].

Objective: To evaluate the cytotoxicity of strontium substituted hydroxyapatite.

Methods: Cell Relative Growth Rate(RGR) method, MTT assay and Flow Cytometry(FCM) method were used, and the strontium substituted hydroxyapatite contained different strontium concentration(0%,1%,5%,10%,100%).

Results: It was found that there's no apparent cytotoxicity of all the strontium substituted hydroxyapatite,but the cytotoxicity increased as the strontium concentration raised.

Photodynamic therapy with aminolevulinic acid topical solution and visible blue light in the treatment of multiple actinic keratoses of the face and scalp: investigator-blinded, phase 3, multicenter trials.

Objective: To determine the safety and efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) using 20% wt/vol aminolevulinic acid hydrochloride (hereinafter "ALA") and visible blue light for the treatment of multiple actinic keratoses of the face and scalp.

Design: Randomized, placebo-controlled, uneven parallel-group study.

Interventions: Patients (N = 243) were randomized to receive vehicle or ALA followed within 14 to 18 hours by PDT.

[Antithrombotic effects of morpholine and piperazine ring derivatives and their molecular mechanism].

Aim: To investigate the antithrombotic effects of morpholine and piperazine ring derivatives and their mechanisms.

Methods: In isolated rat aorta-precontracted with norepinephrine (NE), the vasodilatory effects of compounds with novel structure were investigated. Mice was given kappa-carrageenin i.

[Transformation of wml1 5' promoter region into tomato plants and studies on its transcriptional regulation role].

According to its restriction sites, fragments of 1573 bp, 1197 bp, 896 bp and 795 bp were obtained from the 5' promoter region of wml1 and fused with the coding sequence of the GUS gene. Constructs containing these fragments were introduced into tomato plants via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Histochemical assay of GUS expression in transgenic tomato plants revealed that fragments of 1573 bp, 1197 bp, 896 bp were able to direct GUS expression in fruits of 15, 30, 45 days after anthesis with the expression level of GUS increasing with fruit development, but not in leaves, stems and roots.

[Sequence analysis of VP7 gene from rotavirus field strain from Guangzhou, China].

Objective: To compare the difference of VP7 fragment at the nucleotide level between rotavirus Guangzhou field strain R97-196 and rotavirus Beijing field strain or prototype strains.

Methods: The VP7 fragment amplified from Guangzhou field strain R97-196 by RT-PCR was cloned into the T-A cloning vector pUCm-T and sequenced.

Results: The VP7 fragment from Guangzhou field strain R97-196 was 1,062 bp in length and contained two open reading frames which is consistent with that reported in the literature.

Disorder and suppression of quantum confinement effects in Pd nanoparticles.

Size-selectable ligand-passivated crystalline and amorphous Pd nanoparticles (<4 nm) are synthesized by a novel two-phase process and verified by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy preformed at 5 K on these two types of nanoparticles exhibits clear Coulomb blockade and Coulomb staircases. Size dependent multipeak spectral features in the differential conductance curve are observed for the crystalline Pd particles but not for the amorphous particles.

Influence of water stress on biomass production by isolates of an ericoid mycorrhizal endophyte of Woollsia pungens and Epacris microphylla (Ericaceae).

The influence of water stress on growth of six isolates of an anamorphic ericoid mycorrhizal fungal endophyte from two Australian Ericaceae hosts was investigated. Biomass production was determined in liquid media amended with NaCl or polyethylene glycol to give osmotic potentials of -0.05 to -2.

Substitution of a non-retinal phospholipase C in Drosophila phototransduction.

The Drosophila norpA gene encodes at least two subtypes of phospholipase C (PLC), one of which is essential for phototransduction and the other is utilized in signalling pathways other than phototransduction. The two subtypes of norpA-PLC differ by 14 amino acids that have been proposed as important for the function of PLC in different signalling pathways. The present study aimed to determine whether norpA subtype II enzyme can functionally substitute for the subtype I enzyme in the phototransduction pathway.