PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R Liang

Publications and source records attributed to R Liang.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

[Study and drawing of standard curve of body height and weight for orthodontics].

OBJECTIVE: To study and trace the standard growth curve of body height and weight of adolescent in Shenzhen area for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning. METHODS: Based on the general assessment data of 21,120 students (7-18 years) in Shenzhen, the body height and weight were measured and the standard curve of body height and weight was drawn. RESULTS: Under 12 years, the annual increment of body height and weight was similar for both sexes. Above 12 years, the annual body height and weight increment of girls was slower than that of boys. The annual body weight increment peak was between 11-12 years for girls and 13 years for boys. CONCLUSIONS: The standard growth curve of body height and weight plays an important role in the orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

[Characterization of cefoperazone resistance gene on plasmid pFC in E. coli HX88108].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the characterization of cefoperazone resistance gene (CPZr) on plasmid pFC in E. coli HX88108 and inquire into the mechanism of resistance to CPZ at the molecular level. METHODS: E. coli HX88108 strain which demonstrated high-level resistance to cefoperazone (MIC, > 512 micrograms/ml) was isolated from a severely infected patient in 1988. Five plasmids coexisting in the strain were designated pFC, pFT1; pFT2, pFT3 and pFX, respectively. Four plasmids except pFX conferred CPZ resistance. Cefoperazone resistance gene (CPZr) has been cloned from plasmid pFC. beta-lactamase assays with Nitrocefin were performed. RESULTS: The expression product of CPZr was beta-lactamase. The high level beta-lactamase enzymatic activities against cephaloridine of CPZr transformants which were detected spectrophotometrically at 260 nm wave length demonstrated high level similarities to that of pFC. MICs of 18 antibiotics were determined according to a guideline of NCCLS by broth dilution method. CPZr transformants showed moderate level resistance to ampicillin, cefazolin, cefazolin, cefamandole and CPZ (MIC, 64 micrograms/ml). Meanwhile, susceptibility testing results demonstrated that the level of resistance to CPZ of pFC transformant in this study (MIC, 64 micrograms/ml) was much lower than that in 1988 (MIC, > 512 micrograms/ml) and resistance to nofloxacin and aminoglycosides was not observed. Induction experiment and temperature-sensitive mutation of CPZ resistance were performed. CPZr colonal strains revealed the higher-level of resistance to CPZ (MIC, 512 micrograms/ml) due to antibiotic CPZ induction rather than temperature sensitive mutation. CONCLUSION: This observation suggests that resistance to antibiotics encoded by plasmid might have been lower or lost under no antibiotic stress in a certain period, but higher under heavy stress.

Cefoperazone↗
PubMed2001

[The study of skeletal mechanics of anterior crossbite evaluated with SN length].

OBJECTIVE: To study the stability of SN (anterior cranial base) length and the ability to evaluate upper lower jaws, and study the inner skeletal structure mechanism. METHODS: Interrelated angles, SN length, maxillary and mandible length were measured, the ratios between SN and maxillary and mandible length were compared with normal standard data, the data between mixed and permanent dentition groups were compared. RESULTS: No significant difference was found on SN length between anterior crossbite patients and normal sample. Significant difference was found between crossbite and normal data on the ratio of SN and maxillary length and mandible length. Based on evaluation of SN length, the crossbite can be divided into three types of skeletal structures including normal maxilla and longer mandible, short maxilla and normal mandible, short maxilla and longer mandible, the longer mandible is a main factor. CONCLUSION: With the advantage of stability, SN can be used to evaluate maxilla and mandible, and decide the skeletal mechanics of crossbite individually and accurately.

English Abstract↗
PubMed2000

Genetic and clinical features of hemoglobin H disease in Chinese patients.

BACKGROUND: Normally, one pair of each of the two alpha-globin genes, alpha1 and alpha2, resides on each copy of chromosome 16. In hemoglobin H disease, three of these four alpha-globin genes are affected by a deletion, a mutation, or both. We studied the alpha1-globin gene abnormalities and the clinical and hematologic features of Chinese patients with hemoglobin H disease in Hong Kong. METHODS: We assessed the clinical features, hematologic values, serum ferritin levels, and liver function of 114 patients with hemoglobin H disease. We also performed echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging of the liver and examined the two pairs of alpha-globin genes. RESULTS: Hemoglobin H disease in 87 of the 114 patients (76 percent) was due to the deletion of three of the four alpha-globin genes (--/-alpha), a combination termed the deletional type of hemoglobin H. The remaining 27 patients (24 percent) had the nondeletional type of hemoglobin H disease, in which two alpha-globin genes are deleted and a third is mutated (--/alphaalphaT). All 87 patients with the deletional type of hemoglobin H were double heterozygotes in whom there was a deletion of both alpha-globin genes from one chromosome, plus a deletion of the alpha1 or alpha2 gene from the other chromosome (--/alpha- or --/-alpha). A variety of mutated alpha-globin genes was found in the patients with nondeletional type of hemoglobin H disease. Patients with the nondeletional type of the H disease had more symptoms at a younger age, more severe hemolytic anemia, and larger spleens and were more likely to require transfusions than patients with deletional hemoglobin H disease. The severity of iron overload was not related to the genotype. CONCLUSIONS: Chinese patients in Hong Kong with the nondeletional type of hemoglobin H disease have more severe disease than those with the deletional type of the disease. Iron overload is a major cause of disability in both forms of the disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

A case-controlled study on the use of HBsAg-positive donors for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

To compare the clinical and serological outcomes of patients receiving donors' marrow positive or negative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), we studied 18 patients of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation receiving HBsAg-positive marrow (group 1) and 18 receiving HBsAg-negative marrow (group 2). The recipients of the 2 groups were matched for hepatitis B virus (HBV) serology, sex, age, underlying hematological diseases, conditioning regimen, and prophylaxis against graft-versus-host diseases. Eight (44.4%) recipients in group 1 and 2 (11.1%) in group 2 suffered from HBV-related hepatitis posttransplant (P =.03). Furthermore, HBV-related hepatic failure was seen in 6 group 1 patients, but in none of the group 2 patients (P =.007). Five of the 9 (55.5%) HBsAg-negative recipients in group 1 became positive after receiving HBsAg-positive marrow. Serum HBV DNA was positive in all 5 donors of these patients, but in none of the donors of recipients who remained HBsAg negative (P =.008). Group 1 patients developing HBV-related hepatitis posttransplant were more likely to have a donor carrying a precore A(1896 )and/or core promoter T(1762)/A(1764) HBV variant (62. 5% versus 0%, P =.007). This study has demonstrated that a high incidence of HBV-related hepatitis was associated with the use of HBsAg-positive marrow for transplant, and a high viral load in the donor appeared to predispose recipients to the development of HBV-related hepatitis posttransplant. Further clinical trials will be necessary to determine the optimal management approach to this problem, including the use of the antiviral agents in the donors and the recipients. (Blood. 2000;96:452-458)

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Phonon screening in high-temperature superconductors

In good conductors optical phonons are usually screened, and therefore not observed. However, sharp features due to infrared-active modes in the copper-oxygen planes are observed in the optical conductivity of Pr1.85Ce0.15CuO4 and YBa2Cu3O6.95. Oscillator strengths indicate that the screening of these modes is poor or totally absent. These materials are compared with eta-Mo4O11, in which lattice modes appear suddenly below the charge-density wave transition. It is proposed that poor screening in the cuprates originates from fluctuating charge inhomogeneities in the copper-oxygen planes.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Hairy cell leukemia in Hong Kong Chinese: a 12-year retrospective survey.

BACKGROUND: Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a unique chronic B cell lymphoproliferative disease (B-LPD), with distinct clinical and pathological features, and excellent treatment response to 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CDA) and pentostatin. There have been few reports of HCL from oriental countries. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective survey of HCL in six major hematology units in Hong Kong over a 12-year period. RESULTS: There were 18 cases of HCL identified. Most patients presented with fever, splenomegaly and monocytopenia. Lymphadenopathy was present in three patients, and open biopsy revealed tuberculosis infection in two cases. Seven cases received interferon and 12 cases received 2-CDA. Four patients died from bronchogenic carcinoma, cerebral vascular accident, fulminant hepatitis B virus reactivation and malignant melanoma. The remaining 14 patients are in clinical remission at a median of 6 years' follow-up; two are also surviving from second malignancies (thyroid papillary carcinoma and renal cell carcinoma). CONCLUSIONS: Parallel to the low incidence of B-LPD in Chinese, the incidence of HCL (0.035/100000 population per year) is much lower than in Western series. Other clinical features such as male dominance, clinical presentation, response to 2-CDA treatment, and association with second malignancy are similar to Western reports. However, two common complications in the Chinese population are the fulminant reactivation of hepatitis B infection and disseminated tuberculosis infection.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Metabolism of chloramphenicol succinate in human bone marrow.

OBJECTIVE/METHODS: The metabolism of chloramphenicol succinate (CAPS) by human bone marrow was studied in vitro using 75 marrow samples. Whole marrow samples were incubated with CAPS with or without reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate for 1, 2 and 3 h at 37 degrees C. Ficoll-paque-separated marrow mononuclear cells and erythrocytes were similarly incubated. After precipitation and centrifugation, clear supernatant was analysed for the presence of metabolites using high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: Only one metabolite was detected when CAPS was incubated for 3 h with whole marrow from 72 donors. Its retention time (RT 10.9 min) corresponded to chloramphenicol (CAP). When CAPS was incubated with samples of whole marrow, marrow mononuclear cells, marrow erythrocytes, marrow plasma and peripheral blood from one donor who had taken Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), three metabolite peaks were detected within 15 min to 1 h. The RT of two of these peaks corresponded to CAP and nitroso-CAP (RT 14.9 min), but one peak remained unidentified. These peaks were not detected in the control samples incubated without CAPS. Blood samples collected after 3 months and 6 months to reconfirm metabolic activity yielded no such metabolite peaks when incubated with CAPS for 1-3 h. Therefore induction of enzyme activity by TCM was suspected. Three metabolite peaks with the same RTs were also detected when CAPS was incubated for 3 h with whole marrow from two other donors. CONCLUSION: These studies demonstrated that CAPS may be metabolised to CAP and occasionally other metabolites in human bone marrow. This novel observation is particularly important because the bone marrow is known to be a target organ for chloramphenicol toxicity.

Bone Marrow↗
PubMed2000

Consistent patterns of allelic loss in natural killer cell lymphoma.

Natural killer (NK) cell lymphomas are a group of rare but highly aggressive malignancies. Clinically, they can be divided into nasal NK cell lymphomas, nonnasal NK cell lymphomas, and aggressive NK cell lymphoma/leukemia. To determine the patterns of genetic deletions in these tumors, we performed loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis on 15 cases (11 nasal and four nonnasal), and fluorescence in situ hybridization on three cases of aggressive lymphoma/leukemia. A panel of 41 microsatellite loci on chromosomes 6q, 11q, 13q, and 17p were investigated. LOH at chromosomes 6q and 13q was frequently detected in NK cell lymphomas, being found in 80 and 66.7% of cases, respectively. LOH at chromosomes 11q and 17p was less common, being found in 28.6 and 30.8% of cases, respectively. Most tumors showed multiple loci deletions at different chromosomal regions, but several patterns of LOH could be defined. LOH at chromosome 6q was found in 90.9% of nasal NK cell lymphomas, but only in 50% of nonnasal NK cell lymphomas. LOH at chromosome 13q was found in 63.6% of nasal NK cell lymphomas and 75% of nonnasal NK cell lymphomas. For nasal NK cell lymphomas, LOH at 13q was found in 33.3% of cases at presentation, but 100% of cases at relapse. Five tumors showed LOH in only one chromosomal region, involving 6q in three cases (two nasal and one nonnasal), and 13q in two cases (both nonnasal). For the three cases of aggressive NK cell lymphoma/leukemia studied by fluorescence in situ hybridization, DNA loss at 13q14 and 17p13 regions were demonstrated. 17p13 seemed to be more commonly involved in aggressive than nasal and nonnasal NK cell lymphomas. Our results suggested that consistent patterns of LOH could be defined in NK cell malignancies. These deleted loci may contain genes important in the initiation and progression of this lymphoma.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Ni(II) specifically cleaves the C-terminal tail of the major variant of histone H2A and forms an oxidative damage-mediating complex with the cleaved-off octapeptide.

The acetyl-TESHHK-amide peptide, modeling a part of the C-terminal "tail" of histone H2A, was found previously by us to undergo at pH 7. 4 a Ni(II)-assisted hydrolysis of the E-S peptide bond with formation of a stronger Ni(II) complex with the SHHK-amide product [Bal, W., et al. (1998) Chem. Res. Toxicol. 11, 1014-1023]. To further characterize the hydrolysis and test the resulting Ni(II) complex for redox activity, bovine histone H2A and three peptides were investigated: acetyl-LLGKVTIAQGGVLPNIQAVLLPKKTESHHKAKGK (H2A(34)), modeling the entire "C-tail" of H2A; SHHKAKGK (H2A(8)), modeling the cutoff product of hydrolysis; and acetyl-KTESHKAKGK (H2A(10)), modeling a putative Ni(II) binding site in a minor variant H2A.4 of human histone H2A. The Ni(II)-assisted hydrolysis of H2A and H2A(34) was found to proceed approximately 7-fold faster than that of the Ni(II)-acetyl-TESHHK-amide complex under comparable conditions. In both cases, the Ni(II) complex with H2A(8) was the smaller product of the hydrolysis, indicating a high site specificity of the reaction. Of three other metals tested with H2A(34), only Cu(II) cleaved the E-S bond, although much less efficiently than Ni(II); Co(II) and Zn(II) had no effect whatsoever. The H2A(10) peptide appeared to be fully resistant to hydrolytic cleavage and did not exhibit any redox activity versus H(2)O(2) in the presence of Ni(II) at pH 7.4. Likewise, redox-inactive was the Ni(II)-H2A(34) complex. In contrast, the Ni(II)-H2A(8) complex promoted oxidative damage of pUC19 DNA by H(2)O(2), evidenced by a significant increase in the number of single strand breaks and nucleobase modifications typical for a hydroxyl radical-like species attack on DNA. Interestingly, instead of 8-oxopurines, the corresponding formamidopyrimidines were the major products of the damage. The difference in redox activity between the Ni(II)-H2A(34) and Ni(II)-H2A(8) complexes is most likely associated with their different geometries: octahedral and square planar, respectively. Incubation of the Ni(II)-H2A(8) complex with H(2)O(2) also resulted in degradation of the peptide ligand, especially at its Ser and His residues. Thus, binding of Ni(II) to the ESHHK motif of the histone H2A C-tail is damaging to the histone C-terminal tail and to histone-associated DNA. The results support a dual mechanism of Ni(II)-induced carcinogenesis, including both genotoxic and epigenetic effects.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2000

Nasal T-cell/natural killer cell lymphoma: CT and MR imaging features of a new clinicopathologic entity.

OBJECTIVE: Nasal T-cell/natural killer cell lymphoma is a new clinicopathologic entity with a characteristic immunophenotypic profile and distinct clinical features. This study describes the radiologic features of nine cases of proven nasal T-cell/natural killer cell lymphoma. CONCLUSION: Nasal T-cell/natural killer cell lymphoma is often a locally destructive (T stages 3 and 4) disease, typically presenting with obliteration of the nasal passages and maxillary sinuses. Involvement of the adjacent alveolar bone, hard palate, orbits, and nasopharynx is found in more than 50% of cases and is associated with extensive soft-tissue masses. Presence of bone erosion is suggestive but not diagnostic of the disease.

Aged↗