Occupational exposure levels of bisphenol A among Chinese workers.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess ambient Bisphenol A (BPA) levels in workplaces and urine BPA levels of workers.

Methods: Workers in epoxy resin and BPA manufacturing factories were recruited. Personal samples for airborne BPA were taken in the workshops and spot urine samples were collected from workers before and after their shifts.

Solvent-modulated metamagnetism in a nickel(ii) coordination polymer with mixed azide and carboxylate bridges.

A novel 2D coordination polymer consisting of ferromagnetic Ni(ii) chains with alternating double EO-azide bridges and (EO-azide)bis(carboxylate) triple bridges exhibits solvent-modulated metamagnetism, and the reversible dehydration/hydration processes are accompanied by significant changes in critical temperature, critical field and hysteresis.

[A case-control study on the association of RFC-1 polymorphism and cervical cancer].

Objective: To evaluate the possible association between RFC-1 polymorphism and cervix carcinoma, as well as the interaction between polymorphism and human papilloma virus16 (HPV16).

Methods: Based on a hospital-based case-control study, 107 cases which were diagnosed as cervical cancer pathematologically and 107 controls with hysteromyoma, were selected by frequency, matched with age and habitation. HPV16 and RFC-1 A80G polymorphism were detected by special PCR and RFLP.

Fetal macrosomia and adolescence obesity: results from a longitudinal cohort study.

Objective: To assess the association between fetal macrosomia and adolescent obesity.

Design: Longitudinal cohort study of the association between macrosomia and adolescent obesity.

Subjects: Between 1 October 2005 and 1 February 2007, a follow-up study of live-born infants born in 1993-1995 in Wuxi, a suburban area of Shanghai, was conducted.

Induced overexpression of Na+/Ca2+ exchanger transgene: altered myocyte contractility, [Ca2+]i transients, SR Ca2+ contents, and action potential duration.

We have produced mice in which expression of the rat cardiac Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger (NCX1) transgene was switched on when doxycycline was removed from the feed at 5 wk. At 8 to 10 wk, NCX1 expression in induced (Ind) mouse hearts was 2.5-fold higher but protein levels of sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase, alpha(1)- and alpha(2)-subunits of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase, phospholamban, ryanodine receptor, calsequestrin, and unphosphorylated and phosphorylated phospholemman were unchanged compared with wild-type (WT) or noninduced (non-Ind) hearts.

Detection of survivin-expressing circulating cancer cells in the peripheral blood of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its clinical significance.

We previously demonstrated that the detection of circulating cancer cells (CCC) expressing survivin mRNA could provide valuable information for predicting recurrence in patients with breast, lung, gastric and colorectal carcinoma. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the detection of survivin-expressing CCC in the peripheral blood is also useful for predicting recurrence in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Blood samples obtained from 108 ESCC patients and 75 healthy volunteers were quantitatively investigated by a technique that detected reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction products based on a hybridization-enzyme linked immunosorbent essay.

Antiferro- and ferromagnetic interactions in Mn(II), Co(II), and Ni(II) compounds with mixed azide-carboxylate bridges.

A series of transition metal coordination polymers with azide and flexible zwitterionic dicarboxylate ligands was synthesized and structurally and magnetically characterized. These compounds are formulated as [M(2)(L(1))(N(3))(4)] (L(1) = 4,4'-trimethylenedipyridinio-N,N'-diacetate and M = Mn, 1; Co, 2; and Ni, 3) and [ML(2)(N(3))(6)(H(2)O)(2)] (L(2) = 4,4'-dipyridinio-N,N'-diacetate and M = Mn, 4; Co, 5). The isomorphous compounds 1-3 consist of two-dimensional coordination layers in which the anionic uniform chains with mixed triple bridges (two end-on (EO) azides and a syn-syn carboxylate) are cross-linked by the flexible cationic 4,4'-trimethylenedipyridinium spacers, while the isomorphous compounds 4 and 5 consist of alternating chains with triple (two EO azides plus a carboxylate) and double (two end-to-end azides) bridges, the 4,4'-dipyridinium spacers serving as side bridges along the chain.

Immunohistochemical localization of sortilin and p75(NTR) in normal and ischemic rat retina.

In our previous study, we found the increased expression of p75(NTR) and sortilin by Western blotting in ischemic retina induced by elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). Cell specific expression of sortilin and p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75(NTR)) was now characterized in normal and ischemic rat retina induced by elevated IOP by double-labeling immunochemistry. Two patterns of sortilin staining in normal retina were identified: punctate and consistent.

Cardiomyocyte cyclooxygenase-2 influences cardiac rhythm and function.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs selective for inhibition of COX-2 increase heart failure and elevate blood pressure. The COX-2 gene was floxed and crossed into merCremer mice under the alpha-myosin heavy-chain promoter. Tamoxifen induced selective deletion of COX-2 in cardiomyocytes depressed cardiac output, and resulted in weight loss, diminished exercise tolerance, and enhanced susceptibility to induced arrhythmogenesis.

Coordination chemistry of tetrazolate-5-carboxylate with manganese(II): synthesis, structure and magnetism.

Six Mn(II) coordination compounds with tetrazolate-5-carboxylate (tzc), have been synthesized and characterized. They are of the formula [Mn2(tzc)2(H2O)2].4H2O (), Mn(tzc)(H2O)2 (), [Mn2(tzc)2(phen)2(H2O)2] (), [Mn(tzc)(2,2'-bpy)(H2O)2] (), [Mn(tzc)(4,4'-bpy)] () and [Mn2(tzc)2(H2O)2].

Current development of Pd(II) complexes as potential antitumor agents.

Research has proven that the most effective and widely used metal-containing chemotherapy anticancer drugs are cisplatin ([cis-PtCl(2)(NH(3))(2)]) and many platinum complexes, however, these compounds have significant disadvantages including poor water solubility and serious side effects. Thus researches in order to overcome these shortcomings have never interrupted. Many non-platinum complexes have been synthesized and tested, in which some palladium complexes show significant antitumor activity in normal tumor cells and lower resistance of tumor cells to clinical treatments as well as lower side effects.

AMP-activated protein kinase deficiency enhances myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury but has minimal effect on the antioxidant/antinitrative protection of adiponectin.

Background: Diabetes increases the morbidity/mortality of ischemic heart disease, but the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Deficiency of both AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and adiponectin occurs in diabetes, but whether AMPK is cardioprotective or a central mediator of adiponectin cardioprotection in vivo remains unknown.

Methods And Results: Male adult mice with cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression of a mutant AMPKalpha2 subunit (AMPK-DN) or wild-type (WT) littermates were subjected to in vivo myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) and treated with vehicle or adiponectin.

[Effects of intracoronary autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells transplantation in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy].

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of intracoronary autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) transplantation in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

Methods: On top of standard therapy, DCM patients received BM-MNCs transplantation (n = 71) or saline injection (n = 187). The baseline clinical characteristics of two groups were comparable.

Tetra-aqua-diazido-cobalt(II) 4,4'-dicarboxyl-ato-1,1'-ethyl-enedi-pyridinium dihydrate.

In the title compound, [Co(N(3))(2)(H(2)O)(4)]·C(14)H(12)N(2)O(4)·2H(2)O, the metal complex mol-ecule is centrosymmetric, the Co(II) ion being six-coordinated by two azide N atoms and four aqua O atoms with a trans-octa-hedral geometry. The zwitterionic organic mol-ecule is also centrosymmetric. In the crystal, the components are associated into a two-dimensional network through O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

Bis[3-(2-carboxy-ethen-yl)pyridinium-1-acetato]dichloridozinc(II).

In the title complex, [ZnCl(2)(C(10)H(9)NO(4))(2)], the Zn(II) ion lies on a twofold rotation axis and is four-coordinated by two carboxyl-ate O atoms from two 3-(2-carboxy-ethen-yl)pyridinium-1-acetate ligands in a monodentate mode and two Cl atoms in a distorted tetra-hedral geometry. In the crystal structure, inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into a double-chain structure extending parallel to [101].

Complex long-range magnetic ordering behaviors in anisotropic cobalt(II)-azide multilayer systems.

The crystal structures and magnetic properties of two new Co(II) molecular magnets, [Co(N(3))(2)(btzb)] (1) and [Co(N(3))(2)(btze)(2)] (2), are described and discussed (btzb=1,4-bis(tetrazol-1-yl)butane and btze=1,4-bis(tetrazol-1-yl)ethane). In the materials, (4,4) layers with mu-1,3-azide bridges are cross-linked by the monolayered btzb bridging ligands or spaced by bilayered btze terminal ligands to give a 3D (1) or 2D (2) coordination network with significantly different interlayer separations (10.6 vs.

Unprecedented self-catenated eight-connected network based on novel azide-bridged tetramanganese(II) clusters.

The combination of the azide bridge and a neutral inner-salt-type dicarboxylate ligand leads to a three-dimensional coordination framework that contains unprecedented azide-bridged tetramanganese(II) clusters and defines a novel self-catenated, eight-connected net of 4(16) x 6(12) topology.

Mifepristone-induced abortion and placental complications in subsequent pregnancy.

Background: The aim of the study was to explore the effect of first-trimester mifepristone-induced abortion (MA) on placental complications in subsequent pregnancy.

Methods: Two cohorts of nulliparous pregnant women were recruited in China during early pregnancy, one with a history of one MA and the other with no abortion (NA). Women were followed up until delivery.

INO-4885 [5,10,15,20-tetra[N-(benzyl-4'-carboxylate)-2-pyridinium]-21H,23H-porphine iron(III) chloride], a peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst, protects the heart against reperfusion injury in mice.

Oxidative/nitrative stress caused by peroxynitrite, the reaction product of superoxide (O2(.-)) and nitric oxide (NO), is the primary cause of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. The present study determined whether INO-4885 [5,10,15,20-tetra[N-(benzyl-4'-carboxylate)-2-pyridinium]-21H,23H-porphine iron(III) chloride], a new peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst, may provide cellular protection and protect heart from myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Coordination compounds of bis(5-tetrazolyl)amine with manganese(II), zinc(II) and cadmium(II): synthesis, structure and magnetic properties.

Six coordination compounds of bis(5-tetrazolyl)amine (H2bta) with different metal ions, M{M3(mu3-X)(bta)3(H2O)6}2] (X = OH for M = Mn(II) 1, and Cd(II) 2; X = F for M = Mn(II) 3), [Mn(bta)(H2O)3].0.5H2O (4), [Zn(bta)(NH3)2]0.

EGFR mutations and HER2/3 protein expression and clinical outcome in Chinese advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with gefitinib.

Background: To assess the role of various epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and HER2/3 protein expression as predictive markers of responsiveness to gefitinib therapy in Chinese patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: A total of 106 Chinese NSCLC patients who had failed at least one chemotherapy regimen received gefitinib 250 mg once daily. All the 106 tumors from these patients were screened for mutations in the EGFR exons 18-24, and 84 tumors were studied by immunohistochemistry for HER2/3 expression and correlated with clinical treatment outcome.

Rosiglitazone inhibits hypercholesterolaemia-induced myeloperoxidase upregulation--a novel mechanism for the cardioprotective effects of PPAR agonists.

Aims: Hypercholesterolaemia and myeloperoxidase (MPO) overexpression are two well-recognized risk factors for ischaemic heart disease. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) agonists have recently been shown to reduce ischaemic heart injury in hypercholesterolaemic animals. However, whether PPARgamma agonists may exert their cardioprotective effects by eliminating those risk factors that increase ischaemic injury remains unknown.

Isomorphous CoII and MnII materials of tetrazolate-5-carboxylate with an unprecedented self-penetrating net and distinct magnetic behaviours.

Two isomorphous Co(II) and Mn(II) three-dimensional coordination polymers with tetrazolate-5-carboxylate as magnetic mediator exhibit an unprecedented 3,4-connected self-penetrating net topology; a combination of canted antiferromagnetism and metamagnetism was observed in the Co(II) compound, whereas the Mn(II) compound shows typical antiferromagnetic behaviors.

Reference values of semen parameters for healthy Chinese men.

Aims: To establish reference values of semen parameters in a residential, geographic, and age representative sample of healthy Chinese men.

Methods: From a national study of 1,191 healthy Chinese men, semen samples were analyzed from 105 subjects whose wives or partners were pregnant within the 12 months prior to the date when the semen sample was taken.

Results: The means, fifth percentiles, and percentages lower than the WHO criteria for semen parameters were, respectively: 75.