No abstract

Cytostatic antineoplastic drugs are considered carcinogenic and mutagenic risk factors for health workers who are occupationally exposed to them; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects remain to be elucidated. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of antineoplastic drugs-induced apoptosis of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) obtained from oncology nurses handling antineoplastic drugs. A microRNA (miRNA/miR) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array was performed to analyze the expression levels of miRNAs in the PBLs from 3 trained nurses occupationally exposed to antineoplastic drugs. The effects of miR-34a on cell proliferation and apoptosis in temozolomide (TMZ) treated PBLs were analyzed by cell counting kit-8 and flow cytometry assays. The protein expression levels of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), Bcl-2-associated X protein, caspase-3 and caspase-9 were determined by western blot analysis, and miR-34a expression levels were detected using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. The results of the present study demonstrated that miR-34a was significantly upregulated in oncology nurses that were occupationally exposed to antineoplastic drugs. In addition, TMZ suppressed cell proliferation and induced apoptosis, by promoting the expression of miR-34a, in a dose-dependent manner, and also inhibited the expression of Bcl-2. Furthermore, knockdown of miR-34a was able to reverse the reduction of cell proliferation and promotion of apoptosis induced by TMZ in PBLs. Together, these results indicated that abnormal expression of miR-34a may be considered a diagnostic marker in nurses occupationally exposed to antineoplastic drugs.

To explore the diagnostic value of lung ultrasonography in children community-acquired pneumonia is the objective of the study. A total of 126 children who were diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia and underwent lung ultrasonography examination during the course of the disease were selected. All patients underwent lung ultrasonography and chest X-ray examination within 24 h of admission. The clinical characteristics of lung ultrasonography examination of community-acquired pneumonia were analyzed and the sensitivity, specificity, correct index and diagnostic coincidence rate of lung consolidation with lung ultrasonography and chest X-ray were compared. The lung ultrasonography imaging features of severe community-acquired pneumonia in children are the disappearance of A-line, increase of B-line, waterfall sign, lung consolidation, bronchial inflation sign, pleural effusion, etc. 53 cases of patients chest computed tomography results were used as the gold standard. The sensitivity, correct index and diagnostic coincidence rate of lung ultrasonography in the diagnosis of lung consolidation were all higher than those of X-ray diagnosis and the differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). Lung ultrasonography determined abnormal changes in the lungs of 124 children and chest X-ray determined abnormal changes in the lungs of 122 children. The chest X-rays of 2 children showed normal, while the lung ultrasonography showed a large number of B-line and lung consolidation in both lungs. A total of 17 cases of pleural effusion were determined by lung ultrasonography and 1 case of pleural effusion was determined by chest X-ray. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). Lung ultrasonography in children community-acquired pneumonia is superior to chest X-ray in lung consolidation and pleural effusion and can be used for diagnosis of children community-acquired pneumonia.