Objective To report a case of subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis caused by Curvularia clavata in China. Methods The skin specimen was collected, and examined by KOH preparation, fungus culture and histopathology. Results A 17-year-old male farmer had dull red, warty and well-defined plaques with some ulceration on his face and his left upper arm for nine years and a history of trauma of his face before the appearance of the lesions. General examination did not reveal abnormal findings except the skin lesions. KOH direct examination showed septate hyphae with irregular branches. On the culture medium the colonies were black in color. Under microscope the conidia were borne singly or in groups at the tip or at the sides of the conidiophores, they were light brown to brown, smooth, straight or slightly curved and clavate, measuring 15 ~ 30 ?m long and 6 ~ 12 ?m thick, with 3 ~ 4 septates. Histopathology showed a granulomatous response. PAS staining showed irregularly swollen or toruloid conidia with branched hyphae. The isolated strain was identified as Curvularia clavata Jain. Conclusion It is the first case report of subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis caused by Curvularia clavata in China.

Objective To investigate the curative effect of arthroscopic treatment for lateral dis-cord meniscus tear in children. Methods The study involved 229 child patients with lateral discord meniscal tear treated arthroscopically from March 1996 to March 2008. There were 133 males and 96 fe-males, at age of (9±3.5) years (range 4-14 years). The treatment methods included meniscus-plasty in 219 patients (including two children with postoperative recurrence), meniscus-plasty-suture in eight and partial meniscectomy in two. The function of the knees was assessed pre-operationally and post-operation-ally by using Lysholm score. Results Of all, 221 patients were followed up for a period of (65±48.9) months (range 5-144 months). The pain and swelling were alleviated, with obvious improvement in range of motion and knee function in all patients six months after operation. There were no complica-tions including intra-articular infection, iatrogenic injury, fibroarthritis or loss of range of motion. Ly-sholm score was (61.85±7.65) points (range 45-73) before operation, which was improved to (95.30±3.50) points (range 87-100 points) six months after operation (t= 26.778, P < 0.01). Conclusion Treatment of lateral discord meniscus tear under arthroscopic guidance in children has the advantages of minor trauma, satisfactory results, can maintain good shape of the meniscus and good func-tion of knee and reduce incidence rate of osteoarthritis.

To review the study progresses in venom protein, peptide and amino acids in natural drug. The study progresses were reviewed on the basis of analying the collected articles. Concerning the distribution, chemical structure, property, pharmacology and toxicity of ricin, abrin, riscotoxin, snake venom, bee venom and buthotoxin. These compounds have certain toxicity and biological activity to animals, It's worth exploiting and utilizing them in conjunction with the achievement in modern chemistry and pharmacology.

Objective To study the methylation status of p16 gene in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) of patients with plaque psoriasis, and to study its significance in the pathogenesis of the disease. Methods Thirty-four cases of psoriatic patients and 35 healthy controls were measured for the status of promoter methylation in p16 gene by methylation specific PCR (MSP). A region containing CpG site in p16 gene promoter was amplified by MSP. The severity of psoriasis was evaluated by PASI scores. Results The methylation rates of p16 gene in PBMC were significantly higher (P

This study was designed to assess the effect of implantation site and environment on early in vivo degradation behaviors of poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) and poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) copolymer. The rods were implanted at two sites in each of 24 New Zealand White rabbits. The first site was within the suprapatellar bursa of the joint cavities (JC) and the second site was in the opposite condyles of femurs (CF). Three rabbits of each group underwent explantation of rods after 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks. At each interval, measures were taken to evaluate the molecular weight, shear strength, weight loss and thermal properties of PLLA and PLGA. It was found that PLGA degraded slightly faster than PLLA. After 16 weeks, PLLA's initial inherent viscosity of 4.6 decreased to about 3.4 in both implantation sites while that of PLGA decreased from 4.6 to about 2.2. Both PLGA and PLLA showed enough shear strength retention in 16 weeks (> or = 53MPa) within 16 weeks. Autocatalysis mechanism was confirmed by the fact of accelerated weight loss of PLGA after 8 weeks and of PLLA after 12 weeks. The results revealed that PLGA could be a promising candidate material as a replacement of PLLA in internal fixation of bone fractures, and no significant difference of early in vivo degradation behaviors between PLLA and PLGA was observed in regard to different implantation sites in 16 weeks.
Absorbable Implants ; Animals ; Bone Nails ; Female ; Implants, Experimental ; Internal Fixators ; Lactic Acid ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Male ; Polyesters ; Polyglycolic Acid ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Polymers ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Rabbits