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Objective To investigate thejob satisfaction and analyze influencing factors of health workers in basic public health service projects. Methods 164 primary medical institutions in Jiangxi Province were selected according to the method of phased cluster sampling. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the health personnel providing basic public health services in these institutions. Nonparametric test and ordered multiclass logistic regression were used to analyze the influencing factors of job satisfaction. Results Among the 3 018 basic public health service workers, the average score of job satisfaction was 24.52 ± 6.84 points. The proportion of very dissatisfied, relatively dissatisfied, average, fairly satisfied and very satisfied were 3.78%, 9.87%, 39.83%, 23.92% and 22.60%, respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that educational background, job category, working years, income, overtime, training and performance reward mechanism had statistical significance on the overall job satisfaction score (P < 0.05). Conclusion The job satisfaction of health worker in basic public health service projects in Jiangxi Province was above average. In order to improve the job satisfaction, we can improve the promotion and guarantee mechanism for grassroots talents, strengthen vocational training, and improve the assessment mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitation method. 3D graphene was modified on the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles, and then covered with tetraethyl orthosilicate(TEOS) and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMO). Finally, the magnetic functional material Fe3O4@3DG@VTMO@MPS was synthesized by the polymerization of functional monomer 3-mercapto-1-propanesulfonate(MPS) on the surface using "thiol-ene" click chemistry. The structure, morphology and thermal stability of the functional materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FLlR) and thermogravimetric analysis(TGA), respectively. The adsorption properties of this functional material for Lysozyme were studied by static adsorption experiments. The results show that the magnetic functional materials had nice adsorption capacity (the maximum adsorption capacity was 162.1 mg/g) and fast adsorption kinetics(the adsorption equilibrium could be reached in 150 min). The pseudo-second-order kinetic model was suitable for describing the adsorption kinetics of lysozyme on functional materials, and the adsorption process of functional materials on lysozyme was more in line with Langmuir adsorption model, indicating that adsorption is monolayer adsorption. Fe3O4@3DG@VTMO@MPS as solid phase extraction materials as solid phase extraction materials could be used for separation and enrichment of lysozyme, then combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to detect honey in actual samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The filler network structure of the silica-reinforced silicone rubber was simulated by using the rare earth europium complex sensitized fluorescence enhancement technique. The filler network structure, curing performance and dynamic mechanical properties of the silica-reinforced silicone rubber were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, laser scanning confocal microscopy, rubber processing analyzer and solid rheological analyzer. The filler network connection rates of 30-60 parts of silica-filled silicone rubber were 31 %, 41 %, 58% and 70%, respectively, visualized by laser scanning confocal microscopy. The minimum torque (ML), characterization of filler-filler interaction, during the vulcanization process, the Payne effect and the shear storage modulus difference ΔG'(G'0--G'∞) in the strain sweep process were gradually increased. The results show that the filler network structure is gradually formed inside the silicone rubber with the increase of fillers, which is consistent with the obtained filler network connection rate, indicating that the combination of fluorescent labeling and laser scanning confocal microscopy can realize the visualization of the filler network structure in the silicone rubber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was to enrich the control measures of Elizabethkingia miricola EMI and screen the strains with antagonistic effect on Elizabethkingia. The EMI antagonism was isolated by dilution coating method. Morphological observation, physiological and biochemical characteristics analysis and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis were used to determine the classification status of the isolated strain LM-7. To study the optimal bacteriostatic conditions and active substances of antagonistic strain LM-7 against EMI. The results showed that LM-7 belonged to Streptomyces antibioticus which had the best antibacterial effect on EMI in PDA medium, the ratio of circle and diameter was 11.13. LM-7 contained polyketide synthase genes PKS-I and PKS-II and non-ribosomal peptide synthase genes NRPS, the antibacterial active components were related to non-ribosomal peptides and polyketide secondary metabolites, and its antibacterial activity mainly existed in the exocytic secretion of cells. The study indicates that strain LM-7 can be used as a candidate strain for EMI control, and its fermentation broth has the potential to study and develop novel structurally active compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To study the expression characteristics of HOTAIR and HOTTIP and their downstream HOXD10 and HOXA13 genes in lung cancer, as well as the relationship of mutual regulation. Methods We selected 47 patients with lung cancer and collected their cancer tissue and adjacent normal tissue, then used TRIzol to extract total RNA and real-time quantitative PCR to detect relative gene expression levels. Results HOTAIR and HOXA13 relative expression levels in cancer tissues were significantly lower than in adjacent normal tissues (4.12 ± 4.58) vs (7.43 ± 4.20 P < 0.01, (8.64 ± 1.21) vs (9.43 ± 1.58 P < 0.01), and the other three genes expressions were not significantly changed. HOXD10 mRNA expression levels in the cancer tissue of individuals with lymph node were significantly higher than patients without lymph node (9.01 ± 1.22) vs (7.81 ± 2.15, P = 0.02). There were positive correlation relationships between the expressions of HOTTIP and its downstream gene HOXA13 mRNA in cancer tissue (r = 0.78 P < 0.01) and adjacent normal tissue (r = 0.70 P < 0.01); the HOTAIR and its downstream HOXD10 gene mRNA in adjacent normal tissue were positively related (r = 0.37, P = 0.01), but not correlated in cancer tissues (r = 0.12 P= 0.47). Conclusions The regulation between HOTTIP and HOXA13 is normal in lung cancer. The expression of HOTAIR decreases in cancer tissues, and HOTAIR may lose the normal regulation of downstream genes of HOXD10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the expression of lncRNA SENCR in aortic dissection (AD) tissues of AD patients and its effect on and mechanism in the proliferation apoptosis of human vascular smooth muscle cells (HVSMCs). Methods HE staining was done to detect the pathological changes of AD tissues. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and RT-qPCR were used to determine the expression of SENCR in the AD tissue and HVSMCs and the expression of SENCR and miR-206 in the tissues, respectively. HVSMCs were cultured and trans-fected with pcDNA3.1-SENCR overexpression plasmids, or pcDNA3.1 blank plasmid. Then cell proliferation and apoptosis were detected by CCK-8 method and Annexin V/PI double staining flow cytometry assay, respectively. Double luciferase report verified the targeting relationship between SENCR and miR-206. Results SENCR was mainly located in the cytoplasm and nucleus of HVSMCs. Compared with the normal tissue, the expression of SENCR in the AD tissues was down-regulated (P < 0.01), but the expression of miR-206 was up-regulated (P < 0.01). Overexpressed SENCR decreased the cell proliferation of HVSMCs (P < 0.01), but significantly increased the cell apoptosis of HVSMCs (P < 0.01). SENCR could target and negatively regulate miR-206. Conclusion The expression of SENCR is down-regulated in AD tissues, and overexpressed SENCR may inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of HVSMCs by targeting down-regulated miR-206. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper puts forward a new method to screen scale inhibitors. It's an improvement to the traditional method of solid suspended objects measurement named Filter Membrane Filtration Method. The material which is extracted via filter membrane<0. 45 µm is defined as suspended scale, and the material which attaches to the surface of conical flask is defined as sedimentation scale. The content of the sum of suspended scale and sedimentation scale is called total scale quantity. We create a new method to evaluate and select scale inhibitors via measuring the change of scale in quality, observing the change of scale in morphology by polarizing microscope and scanning electron microscope, and analyzing component of scale by X-ray diffraction and energy spectrum analysis. Compared with industrial standard, this new method can estimate scale inhibitors performance so handy, quickly, effectively and reliably that we think it have the value of popularization in the oilfield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The offensive/defensive problem of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in an uncertain environment was presented by analyzing the uncertain information of target value and damage probability. An offensive/defensive payoff function of UAV in the case of uncertain information was established based on the information value of friend and enemy's missiles, and the offensive/defensive game payoff matrix was built. The Nash equilibrium of the game was obtained by combining the particle swarm optimization algorithm and the interval number multiple attribute ranking method in the case of uncertain information. A new method for UAV offensive/defensive game to achieve optimal strategy was proposed. Finally the feasibility and effectiveness of the method was verified by simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective·To investigate the expression and clinical significance of phospholipase A2 Group IIA (PLA2G2A) in kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma (KIRP), and provide new ideas for seeking KIRP targets. Methods·The expression level of PLA2G2A in pan-cancer and its relationship with prognosis and immune infiltration were analyzed by online software SangerBox. On this basis, the expression level of PLA2G2A in KIRP was analyzed with the help of the UCSC xena database; the correlation between PLA2G2A expression and prognosis and immune infiltration of KIRP were analyzed by using the UALCAN database and the TIMER database, respectively. In addition, the LinkedOmics database was used to analyze the related genes, Gene Ontology (GO) function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) signaling pathway enrichment of PLA2G2A in KIRP. Results·PLA2G2A was significantly low expressed in 15 tumor samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) including KIRP. It was further validated that PLA2G2A was significantly lower expressed in KIRP with the help of Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) database. The expression level of PLA2G2A was closely related to the prognosis and immune infiltration of various tumors. The higher the expression level of PLA2G2A in KIRP was, the worse the prognosis and the higher the abundance of immune infiltration were. GO analysis showed that PLA2G2A was mainly enriched in biological regulation and metabolic process in biological process (BP), cell membrane and nucleus in cell component (CC), and protein binding and ion binding in molecular function (MF). KEGG pathway enrichment analysis suggested that the pathways positively correlated with PLA2G2A were enriched in ribosome, cell cycle, proteasome, systemic lupus erythematosus and antigen processing and presentation, while the pathways negatively correlated with PLA2G2A were enriched in citrate cycle, pyruvate metabolism, and carbon metabolism. Conclusion· PLA2G2A is significantly lower expressed in KIRP. Unexpectedly, the higher the expression level of PLA2G2A in KIRP is, the worse the prognosis and the higher the abundance of immune infiltration are. In KIRP, the PLA2G2A positively correlated pathways are mainly enriched in cell cycle and immune-related pathways (such as systemic lupus erythematosus, antigen processing and presentation), while the negatively correlated pathways are mainly concentrated in citric acid cycle and pyruvate metabolism signaling pathways. Thus, it is needed to be further explored whether PLA2G2A plays a role in the development of KIRP as a tumor suppressor or an oncogene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tikhonov regularization is introduced into the point-mass method to solve the ill-posed problem in fusion processing of multi-source gravity data. A point-mass model is regularized, and a modified regularization point-mass model is proposed. Finally, a sea-borne gravity data set and an airborne gravity data set from EGM2008 model are used as a case study to test the efficiency of regularization point-mass. Results show that the modified method can inhibit the amplifying effect of measurement errors due to the small singular values of ill-posed coefficient matrix, and thus improve the precision and stability of point-mass solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the seismic performance of the staircase in the cast-in-place reinforced concrete frame, a 1/2 scaled specimen of the structural unit composed of concrete frame and staircase was tested quasi-statically. The test demonstrated the failure mode and mechanism of the structural unit as a whole and those of its various components, and the load-carrying capacity, displacements and other aspects related to seismic behavior were also measured. The test shows that, when fully connected to the main structure with the conventional manner of construction, the staircase works as asymmetrically inclined bracings in the structure, resulting in its early cracking and fast damaging, and consequently, its functions, such as seismic rescue and evacuation, could not be ensured; meanwhile, it also causes irregular forces of the frame members, leading to the brittle failure of the column in one side of frame and then the complete failure of the specimen. The enclosed area of hysteretic loop of the specimen is relatively small and its peak value of load reaches high but, after that, the capacity decreases fast. The rigid connection between the frame column and the supporting beam of the stair platform on the half story makes some frame columns, which are already in complex state of loading, the short columns, leading to the local collapse of such column and failure in other parts of the frame suddenly. Therefore, the staircase connected to the concrete frame with such a conventional manner as mentioned above is adverse to seismic resistance of the structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two practical downward continuation methods are proposed for the sea surveying areas in accordance with their gravity characteristics and available information addressing the uncertainty of downward continuation for airborne gravity data. In the first method, the continuation corrections are calculated by using the upward continuation of satellite gravity data, and in the other, by using EGM2008 gravity field model. A satellite gravity data set, two sea-borne gravity data sets, and an airborne gravity data set are used as a case study to test the efficiency of these new methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the overall state of the glycemic control in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in a single center and analyze the related factors. Methods This cross sectional clinical based research was conducted among patients under 18 years old diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (the duration of diabetes>3 months) from the Diabetes Clinic of Beijing Children's Hospital from January 2015 to December 2019. The patients were required to receive a follow up every 3 months. The follow up data of the same patient were collected once a year. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was taken as the main research index (the selection principle was the median glycosylated hemoglobin per year). Demographic data included age at onset and at follow up, sex, duration of diabetes, years of follow up. In addition, clinical information on weight, height, modalities of insulin treatment (number of injections or pump therapy), the frequency of self monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) per day or using of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)/flash glucose monitoring (FGM) were collected. According to the years of follow-up, the patients were divided into 5 groups. According to the HbA1c control target (7.0%), the patients were divided into the good-control group (HbA1c<7.0%) and the poor-control group (HbA1c ≥7.0%). According to the age of the patients, they were divided into three groups (<5 years old group, 5 to 10 years old group and>10 years old group). The general situation of blood glucose control from 2015 to 2019 was compared by groups, and the related factors were analyzed by linear regression and two level logistic regression. Results A total of 1 976 patients with T1DM were collected (2015 n=362, 2016 n=410, 2017 n=415, 2018 n=384, 2019 n=405), the age was 10.09 (7.18, 12.85) years old; the duration of diabetes was 1.94 (0.88, 3.86) years, 49.5% (978/1 976) were male. There was no significant difference in age, sex and duration of disease among each groups (P>0.05), and comparable. HbA1c decreased from 7.4% (6.7%, 8.3%) in 2015 to 6.8% (6.1%, 7.6%) in 2019 (P< 0.01). The rate of achieved A1C target increased year by year [34.5% (125/362), 42.0% (172/410), 47.0% (195/415), 55.2% (212/384) and 56.3% (228/405), respectively], and the difference was statistically significant (Z=7.02, P<0.01). The HbA1C was positively correlated with age and duration of disease (r=0.095, 0.170 respectively, P<0.01). Logistic regression analysis showed that older of age, longer duration of disease and less frequency of daily blood glucose monitoring were the risk factors of failing to achieve HbA1c target. Conclusions From 2015 to 2019, HbA1c in children with T1DM has decreased year by year, and the rate of achieved A1C target has increased year by year, and it has increased by 1.63 times in 2019 compared with 2015. The increase in the use of CGM/FGM is the main factor to improve blood glucose control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization of spreading vehicle routing for deicing salt plays important roles in improving operational efficiency of snow removal, reducing environmental pollution and reducing road maintenance cost. Based on the characteristics of deicing salt spreading operations, and combined with road network structure, capacity constraints and load balance constraints, vehicle routing model for spreading deicing salt and vehicle routing model with temporary supplementary points for spreading deicing salt were built. A genetic algorithm was applied to solve the above models, respectively. The results of numerical examples showed that vehicle routing model with temporary supplementary points for spreading deicing salt can obtain less total vehicle mileage, and the deadline distance was only 19.3% of the previous model, which mean that efficiency of spreading operation was improved significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new measure, in which sliding supports are used between the staircases and the main structure, is proposed in the current code for seismic design of buildings. To experimentally verify the new measure, the shaking table test of a large scaled structural unit of concrete frame-staircase with sliding supports made of ploytetrafluoroethene ( PTFE ) plate was conducted to dynamically test its performance under input motions of different intensities. It shows that, with the sliding supports at the lower end of the stairway slabs, the seismic behavior of the structural unit of concrete frame-staircase is satisfactory; even subjected to very severe motions, serious damages happen mainly in the members of concrete frame and no serious failure occurs earlier than the frame in the staircase parts, including stairway slabs, platform, supporting beams and columns; the sliding support made of PTFE plate works effectively and, horizontally along the direction of the input motions, the lower ends of the stairway slabs can slide back and forth as expected; meanwhile, they also have repeated up and down movements there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suspended solid is the main control index of oilfield injection water, the exceeded suspended solids can easily block the leakage end face and seepage pores of injection wells, which pause water injection pressure increasing and injection rate declining, in a word, the effect of water injection is worse. Through the rock ore analysis to analyze the QK 17-2 oilfield water injection suspended solids, and put forward the solution to high suspended solid content and control measures of removing the blockage. Study shows that suspended solids content increases by 1. 8 or 5. 1 mg/L after the injection of fresh water and sewage water, the main reason is that fresh water and sewage water is not compatible, and the process is dirty. By the addition of 30mg/L antiscale 95% ATMP, the concentration of Ca2+, Mg2+ in the mixing water samples as well as he increase of suspended solids can be inhibited, installation of filter at the wellhead can further stabilize the quality of injection water. The main components of suspended solids in injection water are corrosion products of iron-sulfur compounds and formation mineral based on silicon and aluminum, which contain a small amount of calcium and magnesium-based carbonate, the main particle size is from 5µ to 15µ. By strengthening the acidification efforts of iron-sulfur compounds and increasing the dosage of hydrochloric acid pre-liquid, the blockages can be dissolved well and the water injection effect can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Although it has been found in many studies that three-dimensional finite element analysis can be used in the study of knee joint biomechanics, there are few researches on different defect areas of medial condyle cartilage of the femur. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the stress change trend of perimeter articular cartilage before and after the occurrence of different defect areas of medial femoral condyle cartilage, providing biomechanical data for patients with knee medial femoral condyle cartilage defect. METHODS: One normal adult had been selected to establish a three-dimensional finite element model. Material mechanical properties were input to Abaques software with divided grid model. After controlling boundary condition with mechanical load, structural nonlinear finite element was calculated. First, the load stress distribution of knee cartilage and meniscus was observed under normal stress. Articular cartilage stress distribution was observed with load conditions in different defects (0, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 mm) of medial femoral condyle. The stress changes on the cartilage were analyzed during the defect of medial femoral condyle. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University. The volunteer signed the informed consent. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Material properties, boundary conditions and the introduction of loads were defined successfully. The stress cloud chart and its stress data were obtained from different diameter defects of cartilage in medial condyle of knee joint. According to statistical analysis, the stress on the femoral condyle and tibial plateau cartilage had significant changes compared with no defects when the medial femoral condyle cartilage had defects of 10 mm (area 0.78 cm² ) and 12 mm (area 1.13 cm² ). (2) The stress change trend of the cartilage of the medial condyle of the knee joint under the condition of different diameter defects was calculated based on the analysis of the application of three-dimensional finite element method. (3) Results suggest that the defect with the diameter of 10 mm (area 0. 78 cm² ) of medial femoral condyle may be the minimum diameter advised for operation intervention of cartilage repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problem of road detection in aerial images, a road extraction algorithm based on prediction and residual refinement networks is proposed. Firstly, the prediction network makes initial predictions. In order to improve the refinement ability of the segmentation network and learn higher-level road features, the dilated convolution and multi-kernel pooling modules are introduced in the pre-diction networks. Secondly, the residual refinement network will further refine the output of the prediction network and improve the ambiguity of the prediction network results. In addition, considering the small proportion of road pixels in aerial images, the network also combines binary cross entropy, structural similarity, and intersection over union loss functions to reduce road information loss. The experimental results on the Massachusetts road dataset show that the precision, recall, F value and accuracy reaches 99.3%, 95.7%, 97.3% and 95.1%, respectively. The intersection over union and structural similarity also reaches 94.8% and 84.3%, respectively. Compared with other algorithms, this proposed algorithm has certain application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze the chromosome abnormalities of spontaneous abortion tissues after assisted reproductive techniques (ART),and to discuss the relationship between genetic change and clinical feature. Methods:40 cases of spontaneous abortion villuses from ART, and 113 cases from natural pregnancy as control, were studied by the routine G banding karyotyping after the standard cell culture and harvest. Those cases of culture failure or without culture were analyzed by the multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). Results: (1) There was no significant difference in the rates of abnormal karyotyping between the ART group (50%, 20 cases) and the control group (53.1%, 60 cases, P >0.05). (2) There were no significant differences in the rates of abnormal karyotyping when analyzed those parameters, including women age, primary or secondary infertility, infertility cause (male, female, or both), cycle type (fresh or frozen) (P>0.05). Although there was significant difference in this rate when analyzed IVF method (routine IVF and ICSI) in the limited cases(P<0.05), it should be further studied in more cases. Conclusions: Chromosome abnomalities are the main reason of spontaneous abortion after ART. The combined genetic techniques to detect the spontaneous abortion tissues are helpful for the ART treatment of infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visualization analysis of dispersion state of the filler m silicone rubber was based on the fluorescent labeling and the laser scanning confocal microscope. The fluorescent silica microspheres were modified by different silane coupling agents, and the contact angle analysis, thermogravimetnc analysis and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to describe its surface properties. Both hydrophobic effect and bound rubber content of modified fluorescent silica microspheres are KH-570>KH-560>KH-550. Visual analysis results show that the aver- age size of aggregates and network connectivity of KH-570 modified fluorescent silica microspheres were 2.61 ̡m and 47%, KH-560 modified it were 2.95 /im and 43% and KH-550 modified it were 3.32 f(m and 41 %. The visual analysis method of the modified fluorescent SiO2 microsphere is beneficial to observe the dispersion state of it m the silicone rubber, and this method can statistically analyze the particle size of the modified fluorescent SiO2 microsphere aggregates. This method is helpful to evaluate the dispersion state of the filler m the silicone rubber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the effects of growth differentiation factor-11 (GDF-11) on bone marrow endothelial progenitor cells (BM-EPC) cultured with high glucose and its possible mechanism. Methods BM-EPC were cultured in vitro and divided into the following groups: normal glucose (NG) group, high glucose (HG) group, HG+recombinant GDF-11 (rGDF-11) group and HG+rGDF-11+TGF-β receptor I inhibitor SB431542 group. Proliferation was assessed by MTT, and apoptosis of EPC were stained with Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide (PI), and assessed by flow cytometry. The expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Cleaved-caspase 3 were detected by western blot. The phosphorylation of Smad were assessed by immunofluorescence. Data among multiple groups were compared by using one-way ANOVA and the least significant difference t test. Results Compared with the vehicle control group, Bcl-2/Bax ratio decreased, the protein levels of Cleaved-caspase 3 increased and the percentage of apoptotic EPC elevated in those groups cultured with HG [0.45±0.09 vs 1.21±0.23, 0.28±0.02 vs 0.07±0.00, (18.63±3.02)% vs (2.82±0.46)%, t=3.04, -68.06, -7.60, all P<0.05]. However, the effects were blocked by pretreated with rGDF-11. Treatment of EPC with TGF-β receptor I inhibitor SB431542 partially abolished the pro-proliferation and anti-apoptotic effects of GDF-11 (0.56 ± 0.11 vs 1.14 ± 0.07, t=4.33, P<0.05). Immunofluorescence analyses showed that Smad2/3 phosphorylation decreased in high glucose culturing. Pre-incubation with rGDF-11 restored p-Smad2 / 3 expression, however, GDF-11 mediated Smad2 / 3 activation was partially blocked by SB431542 (0.89±0.12 vs 1.21±0.12, t=-3.20,P<0.05). Conclusion GDF-11 may prevent high glucose-induced EPC apoptosis and improve proliferation through activation of TGF-β/Smad2/3 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]