Objective To investigate the factors that might influence the effectiveness of treatment for cryptococcal meningitis. Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted for 11 patients with cryptococcal meningitis admitted to Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) Hospital during 1980-1995. Results Seven of 11 patients with cryptococcal meningitis were successfully cured with combination of amphotericin B and flucytosine for 14 to 31 weeks (five months in average), paraventriculostomy was performed in five of them with hydrocephalus complicated with deteriorated mental status and one of them was administered with additional fluconazole for 15 days during its early stage of therapy. Four of the 11 patients died from cryptococcosis during the course of antifungal therapy. The duration of illness varied from three weeks to four and a half months (two months in average) . And four of them had underlying illness with steroids / cytotoxic therapy and another one had AIDS. Factors associated with unfavorable outcomes included more rapidly progress of the illness (2/11), delay in diagnosis and antifungal therapy, severe impairment of host defense mechanisms against infection, underlying illness involving central nervous system, and significantly abnormal cerebrospinal fluid for a sustained period. Conclusions Cryptococcal meningitis could hardly be diagnosed earlier. Combination of antifungal therapy with paraventriculoatomy at adequate time, if necessary, was effective in treatment for it.

Objective : To investigate the prevalence of dyslipidemia among overweight and obese primary and middle school students in Tongzhou District, so as to provide the evidence for the implementation of comprehensive health education and early interventions for overweight and obese students. Methods : The basic information, physical examinations and blood lipid testing results were collected from the primary and middle school students in Tongzhou District from 2015 to 2019 through the nutrition and health monitoring project among students in Tongzhou District. The epidemiological characteristics of overweight and obese students with dyslipidemia were descriptively analyzed. Results : Among the 1 483 primary and middle school students detected, the overall prevalence rates of overweight, obesity and dyslipidemia were 12.68% ( 188 students ), 20.43% ( 303 students ) and 20.57% ( 305 students ), respectively. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was higher in overweight and obese students ( 24.44% ) than in students with normal weight ( 18.65%, P<0.05 ), and the prevalence of dyslipidemia was higher in male overweight and obese students than in female overweight and obese students (29.00% vs. 18.92%, P<0.05), while higher prevalence of dyslipidemia was seen in middle school students than in primary school students ( 37.72% vs. 20.32%, P<0.05 ). In addition, the prevalence of dyslipidemia was higher in students with daily exercise of less than a hour than in students with daily exercise of a hour or longer ( 27.88% vs. 18.44%, P<0.05 ). Conclusions The prevalence of dyslipidemia is high among overweight and obese primary and middle school students in Tongzhou District. Health educations should be reinforced to male, middle school students with daily exercise of less than a hour.

Objective To study the prevalence and the related risk factors of diabetic peripheral neuropathy(DPN) after good blood glucose well controlled among in middle-aged and old-aged population with type 2 diabetes mellitus in a community of Beijing.Methods DPN was screened by Michigan neuropathy screening instrument (MNSI),and common blood biochemical parameters were tested,among over 45 years of age registered population patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Shuangjing community of Chaoyang District of Beijing.Results The blood glucose control rate was 90.36％ (253/280),and the prevalence of DPN was 25.36％ (71/280) with male of 24.47 ％ (23/94) and female of 25.81％ (48/186).Univariate analysis showed that both age and HbA1c in DPN group were higher than that of non-DPN group,and the differences were statistically significant(P =0.000,0.008).The level of plasma low density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C) of the DPN group was lower than that of the non-DPN group,and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.017).The hypertension prevalence rate of the DPN group was 87.32％(62/71),higher than that of the nonDPN group(75.6％ (158/209)),and the difference was statistically significant (P =0.037).The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the estimate of parameter for age was 0.143 (P =0.0001),OR was 1.153,95％CI was from 1.029 to 1.219,for HbA1c was 0.529(P=0.03),OR was 1.698,95％CI was from 1.053 to 2.738,and for LDL-C was-O.919 (P =0.018),OR was 0.399,95％ CI was from 0.186 to 0.854.Conclusion The prevalence of DPN is still above 25％ among middle-aged and old-aged in a community,even though the well controlled rate of blood glucose control rate is above 90％.It is possible that old age and HbA1c are related to DPN,apart from blood glucose.

Objective To better understand the clinical characteristics and predisposing factors in non-pregnant patients with Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) sepsis.Methods Clinical data were collected at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between January 2002 and December 2014.A case with non-pregnant Listeria sepsis is defined as a non-pregnant person with clinically compatible illness and from whom Listeria was isolated from his/her blood culture.We define an underlying condition if a patient has been diagnosed of and/or has been treated for a concurrent baseline disease within 1 month prior to the onset of Listeria sepsis.Results A total of 35 patients were enrolled.The age of all patients was (49.1 ± 17.0) years.The male to female ratio was 2∶ 3.Most patients were combined with at least 1 underlying condition (33,94.3％),including 42.9％ patients with an autoimmune disease,34.3％ with malignancies.The majority (91.4％) represented an acute onset (＜ 1 week) with median time of 3 days.Clinical manifestations included fever (34/35,97.1％),central nervous system (CNS) symptoms (17/35,48.6％),gastrointestinal tract symptoms (13/35,37.1％).Fourteen patients had undergone lumber puncture and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) tests,which revealed abnormalities comparable of Listeria meningitis.Listeria was isolated from CSF in 11 of 14 patients (78.6％).There were 34 patients receiving empiric antibiotics including 54.3％ cephalosporins which are resistant to Listeria.Twenty five (71.4％) patients were switched to the target antimicrobials according to positive blood culture.Of the 35 patients with Listeria sepsis,21 (60.0％) recovered or were cured,however the rest (40.0％) had dismal outcome.Six patients died in hospital,8 critical patients were discharged and died after transferring to local hospitals.Conclusions Listeria sepsis is commonly associated with non-pregnant patients with compromised immune function.Clinical presentations include acute fever,CNS symptoms and gastrointestinal symptoms etc.Empiric antibiotics covering Listeria should be considered when sepsis is suspected among susceptible hosts.

Objective To improve the diagnosis and treatment of infective endocarditis(IE)by exploring its causes,pathogenic microorganism and clinicsI characteristics.Methods The clinical data of 120 IE patients treated in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from October 1997 to September 2007 were analyzed retrospectively.Results Of the 120 consecutive cascs diagnosed as IE according to the Duke's new criteria,79 were male and 41 female with a average age of(43.2±16.7)years old.Twelve cases were prosthetic valve endocarditis(PVE)and 108 cases native valve endocarditis(NVE)and there were no previously known heart diseases in 29 of the cases.Seventy-nine of the 108(73.1%)NVE patients had basic cardiac abnormalifies before IE diagnosis,such as congenital cardiovascular disease(30 cases),idiopathic mitral valve prolapse(23 cases)and rheumatic heart disease(11 cases).Fever(100.0%),anemia(54.2%)and embolism(48.3%)were the most common clinical manifestations in the IE development.Of the 83 patients who had a positive blood culture result,Streptococcus vividaus(51.8%)was the most common isolated microorganism.Conclusions Congenital cardiovascular diseases and idiopathic mitral valve prolapse are the two most commonly heart diseases in IE.Blood culture and echocardiogram should always be done to exclude IE,especially presenting with fever of unknown reasons.

Objective To construct the small hairpinRNA recombinant plasmids targeting mdr-1 gene which expresses highly in ovarian cancer resistance strain SKOV3/TAXOL to silence endogenetic mdr-1 gene expression and investigate the role of mdr-1 gene in the development of resistant ovarian cancer. Methods The pPGPU6/GFP/Neo-mdr-1 were constructed by gene clone technology. The influence on proliferation and apoptosis were investigated by CCK-8 in SKOV3/TAXOL after transfected. pPGPU6/GFP/Neo-mdr-1. Results The expression against mdr-1 proteins were inhibited by pPGPU6/GFP/Neo-mdr-1. The cell proliferation were inhibited after transfected pPGPU6/GFP/Neo-mdr-1 by CCK-8. The apoptosis were observed in DAB experiments and the apoptosis rate incised. Conclusion mdr-1 plays an important role in proliferation of resistant ovarian cancer and the short hairpinRNA of mdr-1 can efficiently suppress mdr-1expression and enhance the apoptosis in SKOV3/TAXOL, which provides a novel method for chemotherapy resistant tumors.

Objective To improve the diagnosis and treatment of Q fever endocarditis.Methods From 2008 to 2013,four cases of Q fever endocarditis were diagnosed in Peking Union Medical College Hospital.Clinical features,laboratory test,management and prognosis were analyzed with literature review.Result All four cases had long period of fever and heart murmur.Two patients represented with respiratory symptom and one with non-specific rash.General laboratory tests including complete blood cell count,ESR,C-reactive protein(CRP),liver function and radiology of lung did not show specific abnormalities.Signs of endocarditis were shown by ultrasound and important for diagnosis.Repeated blood culture was negative.All of the diagnoses were confirmed by serum antibody detection and the patients recovered well with treatment based on doxycycline or minocycline.Conclusions Endocarditis is the most common form of chronic Q fever,which is easily misdiagnosed because its blood culture is negative and may accompanied with varied manifestation such as pneumonia and liver injury.For the patients with chronic fever and blood culture negative endocarditis,chronic Q fever should be considered as differential diagnosis.The confirmatory method for diagnosis is serum antibody detection.Early and sufficient treatment may improve the prognosis.

Objective To construct the short hairpin RNA recombinant plasmids targeting mdr1 gene which expresses highly in ovarian cancer resistance strain SKOV3/TAXOL to silence endogenefic mdr1 gene expression and investigate the role of mdr1 gene in the development of resistant ovarian cancer. Methods The pGPU6/GFP/Neo-mdr1 were constructed by gene clone technology. The influence on proliferation and apoptosis were investigated by CCK-8 in SKOV3/TAXOL after transfected pGPU6/GFP/Neo-mdr1. Results The expression against mdr1 proteins were inhibited by pGPU6/GFP/Neo-mdr1. The cell proliferation were inhibited after transfected pGPU6/GFP/Neo-mdr1 by CCK-8. The apoptosis were observed in DAB experiments and the apoptosis rate increased. Conclusion mdr1 plays an important role in proliferation of resistant ovarian cancer and the short hairpin RNA of mdr1 can efficiently suppress mdr1 expression and enhance the apoptosis in SKOV3/ATAXOL.

Objective To evaluate effects of acitretin on HaCaT cells cultured in hypoxic condition,and to preliminarily explore the possible therapeutic mechanisms of acitretin in psoriasis.Methods HaCaT cells were divided into several groups to be cultured in hypoxic condition with the presence of acitretin at concentrations of 10-5,10-6,10-7 and 10 8 mol/L respectively,with cells treated with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as DMSO control group and those receiving no treatment as blank control group.Cellular proliferative activity was evaluated by CCK-8 assay after 12-,24-and 36-hour hypoxic culture in vitro.The mRNA and protein expressions of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were determined by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and Western-blot analysis,respectively,after 24-hour hypoxic culture.Results After 24-hour hypoxic culture,the cellular proliferation rate was inhibited by 13.31％ ± 1.15％,21.86％ ± 5.31％,32.05％ ± 2.99％ and 37.28％ ± 3.21％ in the 10 8-,10-7-,10-6-and 10-5-mol/L acitretin groups respectively.With the increase of culture duration and acitretin concentrations,the degree of inhibition on cellular proliferation increased gradually.Compared with the blank control group,the 10-5-mol/L acitretin group showed significantly decreased protein expression of HIF-1α (0.319 ± 0.180 vs.1.196 ± 0.088,P ＜0.05),as well as decreased mRNA and protein expressions of VEGF (mRNA:0.442 ± 0.090 vs.1.108 ± 0.073;protein:0.216 ± 0.066 vs.1.174 ± 0.186;both P ＜ 0.05).However,no significant difference was found in the mRNA expression of HIF-lα between the 10-5-mol/L acitretin group and blank control group.Conclusion Acitretin can suppress the in vitro proliferation of HaCaT cells cultured in hypoxic condition,and down-regulate the expressions of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins as well as VEGF mRNA.

Objective To evaluate the clinical diagnostic contribution of 18 F-FDG PET/CT in giant cell arteritis with initial presentation as fever of unknown origin (FUO).Methods Eight cases with initial presentation as FUO diagnosed with the contribution of PET/CT were retrospectively studied in Peking Union Medical College Hospital.The radiologic manifestations of PET/CT were analyzed.Results Eight patients (4 men and 4 women) with average (63 ± 7) years (range from 55-75 years) were included in our study based on the criteria.Non-specific clinical symptoms were common in these patients,including fatigue,night sweat and weight loss.They all suffered from anemia of chronic disease.Not surprisingly,the inflammatory parameters were elevated significantly in all patients.The medical history,physical examination and routine lab and radiologic examinations couldn't reveal the causes of fever.PET/CT was performed in all of them,which demonstrated intense 18F-FDG uptake in the area of aorta and its major branches with maximal standard uptake value (SUVmax) 2.1-4.6 (3.6 ± 0.9).Immunosuppressive agents were effective to control the inflammation activity.The SUV decreased significantly after treatment in the follow-up PET/CT.Conclusions PET/CT has demonstrated high yield of diagnostic contribution in giant cell arteritis with initial presentation as fever of unknown origin.As to elderly FUO patients presenting with prominent inflammatory reaction,PET/CT may provide potential value to differentiate diagnosis from maligancies.