Attitudes of students, parents, and teachers toward glasses use in rural China.

Objective: To use focus groups to understand barriers to glasses use among children in rural China.

Methods: Separate focus groups were conducted between December 17, 2007, and August 5, 2008, for the following 3 groups at each of 3 schools in rural China: children aged 14 to 18 years with myopia of less than -0.5 diopters in both eyes, those children's parents, and those children's teachers.

Application of PCR-LDR-nucleic acid detection strip in detection of YMDD mutation in hepatitis B patients treated with lamivudine.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (CHBV) infection causes cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Lamivudine (LAM) has been successfully used to treat CHBV infections but prolonged use leads to the emergence of drug-resistant variants. This is primarily linked to a mutation in the tyrosine-methionine-aspartate-aspartate (YMDD) motif of the HBV polymerase gene at position 204.

Rapid detection of melamine in whole milk mediated by unmodified gold nanoparticles.

A strategy for rapid and facile detection of melamine in food and other substances is described. Unmodified gold nanoparticles enable a colorimetric signal output that is amplified through integration by precipitation formation via a chemical component specific to melamine. The sensitivity was determined to be approximately 40 ppb with a two standard deviation cutoff.

Creation of highly efficient solid emitter by decorating pyrene core with AIE-active tetraphenylethene peripheries.

Turning "stone" into "gold": pyrene, a faint fluorophore in the solid state, is transformed into a bright emitter by decorating it with tetraphenylethene units; the new luminogen is thermally and morphologically stable and its light-emitting diode shows excellent performance, with external quantum efficiency and current efficiency up to 4.95% and 12.3 cd A(-1), respectively.

Synthesis of 9,9-dialkyl-4,5-diazafluorene derivatives and their structure-activity relationships toward human carcinoma cell lines.

A homologous set of 9,9-dialkyl-4,5-diazafluorene compounds were prepared by alkylation of 4,5-diazafluorene with the appropriate alkyl bromide and under basic conditions. The structures of these simple organic compounds were confirmed by spectroscopic techniques (FTIR, NMR, and FABMS). Their biological effects toward a panel of human carcinoma cells, including Hep3B hepatocellular carcinoma, MDAMB-231 breast carcinoma, and SKHep-1 hepatoma cells, were investigated; a structure-activity correlation was established with respect to the length of the alkyl chain and the fluorene ring structure.

Fabrication of fluorescent silica nanoparticles hybridized with AIE luminogens and exploration of their applications as nanobiosensors in intracellular imaging.

Highly emissive inorganic-organic nanoparticles with core-shell structures are fabricated by a one-pot, surfactant-free hybridization process. The surfactant-free sol-gel reactions of tetraphenylethene- (TPE) and silole-functionalized siloxanes followed by reactions with tetraethoxysilane afford fluorescent silica nanoparticles FSNP-1 and FSNP-2, respectively. The FSNPs are uniformly sized, surface-charged and colloidally stable.

Evolution of full-length HBV sequences in chronic hepatitis B patients with sequential lamivudine and adefovir dipivoxil resistance.

Background & Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the evolution of full-length hepatitis B virus (HBV) sequences in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with sequential lamivudine (LAM) and adefovir (ADV) resistance.

Methods: The full-length genomes of HBV were sequenced from 11 CHB patients before LAM treatment and at the emergence of LAM- and ADV-resistant HBV.

Results: Besides the known LAM-resistant polymerase gene mutations, 10 of 11 patients who had LAM-resistant HBV variants had additional amino acid changes in the reverse transcriptase (RT) domain, and ADV therapy reversed these additional changes to pre-LAM therapy status.

Genome-wide identification of binding sites defines distinct functions for Caenorhabditis elegans PHA-4/FOXA in development and environmental response.

Transcription factors are key components of regulatory networks that control development, as well as the response to environmental stimuli. We have established an experimental pipeline in Caenorhabditis elegans that permits global identification of the binding sites for transcription factors using chromatin immunoprecipitation and deep sequencing. We describe and validate this strategy, and apply it to the transcription factor PHA-4, which plays critical roles in organ development and other cellular processes.

Hyperphosphorylated tau in the brains of mice and monkeys with long-term administration of ketamine.

Ketamine, a non-competitive antagonist at the glutamatergic N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, might impair memory function of the brain. Loss of memory is also a characteristic of aging and Alzheimer's disease. Hyperphosphorylation of tau is an early event in the aging process and Alzheimer's disease.

Aggregation-induced emission, self-assembly, and electroluminescence of 4,4'-bis(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)biphenyl.

Two is better than one: a luminogen comprised of two units of tetraphenylethene (BTPE) emits more efficiently than that with one tetraphenylethene unit in the solid state; self-assembly of the BTPE molecules affords crystalline microfibers that fluoresce in 100% efficiency, giving the largest effect of aggregation-induced emission (alpha(AIE)-->infinity); BTPE-based electroluminescence devices emit in current efficiency up to approximately 7.3 cd/A.

[Clinicopathologic analysis of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis].

Objective: To improve the understanding and diagnosis of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM).

Methods: Fifteen cases of LAM of our hospital were presented and 73 cases reported in domestic literature from 1993 to 2008 were reviewed. By means of histological and immunohistochemical(IHC)studies, the clinical and pathological features of LAM were analyzed.

Strontium borate glass: potential biomaterial for bone regeneration.

Boron plays important roles in many life processes including embryogenesis, bone growth and maintenance, immune function and psychomotor skills. Thus, the delivery of boron by the degradation of borate glass is of special interest in biomedical applications. However, the cytotoxicity of borate glass which arises with the rapid release of boron has to be carefully considered.

Extended lamivudine consolidation therapy in hepatitis B e antigen-positive chronic hepatitis B patients improves sustained hepatitis B e antigen seroconversion.

Objectives: Longer lamivudine (LAM) consolidation therapy after hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion has been demonstrated to reduce the cumulative relapse rate. However, the optimal interval of LAM consolidation therapy remains controversial. We evaluated the post-treatment durability of LAM-induced HBeAg seroconversion and the length of LAM consolidation therapy required to maintain sustained HBeAg seroconversion.

The sequence and de novo assembly of the giant panda genome.

Using next-generation sequencing technology alone, we have successfully generated and assembled a draft sequence of the giant panda genome. The assembled contigs (2.25 gigabases (Gb)) cover approximately 94% of the whole genome, and the remaining gaps (0.

Leptin signaling protects NK cells from apoptosis during development in mouse bone marrow.

Increasing evidence indicates a role of leptin in immune response, but it remains largely unclear whether leptin signaling is involved in regulating NK cell development in the bone marrow (BM). In this study, we have characterized NK cell differentiation and maturation in the BM of leptin-receptor deficient db/db mice at a prediabetic stage. Although the BM cellularity was similar to the control value, the total number of NK cells was severely reduced in mutant mice.

Height, stunting, and refractive error among rural Chinese schoolchildren: the See Well to Learn Well project.

Purpose: To evaluate the hypothesis that changes in nutritional status could be partly responsible for observed increases in myopia prevalence among Chinese children.

Design: Cross-sectional cohort study.

Methods: Rural Chinese secondary school children participating in a study of interventions to promote spectacle use were randomly sampled (20% of children with uncorrected vision >6/12 bilaterally, and 100% of remaining children) and underwent cycloplegic refraction with subjective refinement and measurement of height and weight.

A cis-acting regulatory variant in the IL2RA locus.

The mechanism for the association of type 1 diabetes (T1D) with IL2RA remains to be clarified. Neither of the two distinct, transmission-disequilibrium confirmed loci mapping to this gene can be explained by a coding variant. An effect on the levels of the soluble protein product sIL-2RA has been reported but its cause and relationship to disease risk is not clear.

Clinical and histopathological alterations of lymphangioleiomyomatosis in 14 Chinese patients.

Background: Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare disease that predominantly affects young females. It is considered as an "orphan" life-threatening disease of unknown etiology, with uncertain clinical prognosis, and no effective treatment. LAM can arise sporadically or in association with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), an autosomal inherited syndrome characterized by hamartoma-like tumor growth and pathologic features that are distinct from manifestations of pulmonary LAM.

Cadaveric study of nerves supplying the membranous urethra.

Aims: To better understand the anatomy of the region of the male membranous urethra in order to preserve continence during radical cystectomy and prostatectomy.

Methods: Cadaveric dissections of 15 male specimens were undertaken to investigate the nerves to membranous urethra. The nerves were traced from both an intrapelvic approach and a perineal approach.

The toxic effect of ketamine on SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line and human neuron.

Ketamine used as an injectable anesthetic in human and animal medicine is also a recreational drug used primarily by young adults often at all night dance parties in nightclubs. The percentage of ketamine users has grown very fast in the last 5 years worldwide. However, this leads to the serious question of the long-term adverse effects of ketamine on our nervous system, particularly the brain, because ketamine as an NMDA antagonist could cause neurons to commit apoptosis.

An upper limit on the stochastic gravitational-wave background of cosmological origin.

A stochastic background of gravitational waves is expected to arise from a superposition of a large number of unresolved gravitational-wave sources of astrophysical and cosmological origin. It should carry unique signatures from the earliest epochs in the evolution of the Universe, inaccessible to standard astrophysical observations. Direct measurements of the amplitude of this background are therefore of fundamental importance for understanding the evolution of the Universe when it was younger than one minute.

Treatment of idiopathic Parkinson's disease with traditional chinese herbal medicine: a randomized placebo-controlled pilot clinical study.

The objective of this clinical study is to examine the effects of a Chinese herbal medicine formula (Jia Wei Liu Jun Zi Tang: JWLJZT) on motor and non-motor symptoms, and on complications of conventional therapy in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), using an add-on design. Fifty-five patients with PD were randomly allocated to receive either Chinese herbal medicine or placebo for 24 weeks. Primary outcome measure was the 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39).

Perfluorinated compounds in tap water from China and several other countries.

The recent development of a sensitive and accurate analytical method for the analysis of 20 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), including several short-chain PFCs, has enabled their quantification in tap water collected in China, Japan, India, the United States, and Canada between 2006 and 2008. Of the PFCs measured, PFOS, PFHxS, PFBS, PFPrS, PFEtS, PFOSA, N-EtFOSAA, PFDoDA, PFUnDA, PFDA, PFNA, PFHpA, PFHxA, PFPeA, PFBA, and PFPrA were found at detectable concentrations in the tap water samples. The water samples from Shanghai (China) contained the greatest concentrations of total PFCs (arithmetic mean = 130 ng/L), whereas those from Toyama (Japan) contained only 0.