Globally, pneumonia is the leading cause of childhood mortality. Pneumonia is the second killer of children less than 5 years of age in China. The World Heath Organization and United Nations Children′s Fund launched the integrated Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD) in 2013. The ambitious goal is to end preventable childhood deaths due to pneumonia by 2025. Countries or regions should achieve the following goals: (1) reduce mortality from pneumonia in children less than 5 years of age to fewer than 3 per 1 000 live births; (2) reduce the incidence of severe pneumonia by 75% in children less than 5 years of age compared to 2010 levels. If the implementation of key interventions is accelerated, the mortality rate of childhood pneumonia will drop substantially every year, which makes the goal achievable.
Child Mortality ; trends ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Pneumonia ; mortality ; Time Factors

Child ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Humans ; Pneumococcal Infections ; drug therapy ; prevention & control ; Pneumococcal Vaccines ; immunology

Acute Disease ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Cyclophosphamide ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hemoperfusion ; Humans ; Male ; Methylprednisolone ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Middle Aged ; Paraquat ; poisoning ; Renal Dialysis ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate short-term curative effect of endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. Methods Twelve cases of infra-renal abdominal aortic aneurysms were checked. Results The av-erage bleeding in the operation was 245 millimeter, the avenage hospitalization time was 8.6 days, and the average abrosia time was 1.5 days. White blood cell, hemoglobin, thrombocyte, hepatic function, and renal function were in the normal limits. Prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time were post-poned after operation, and recovered normally within one week. Complications of operations were as follows:1 case of pulmonary infection, 2 cases of abdominal distention, and 1 case of intraoperafive endoleak. The former two kinds of complications alleviated after conventional treatment, and the latter disappeared naturally after 3 months. Conclusion Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair is safe, mini-invasive, and has little disturbance for body internal environment.

Objective: To observe the therapeutic efficacy of acupoint application at different groups of acupoints in treating bronchial asthma in remission stage. Methods:A total of 120 patients with bronchial asthma in remission stage were recruited and divided by the random number table method into acupoint application group 1, acupoint application group 2 and acupoint application group 3, with 40 cases in each group. In all the three groups, Tiantu (CV 22), Dazhui (GV 14) and Feishu (BL 13) were selected, with Dingchuan (EX-B 1) added in acupoint application group 1, Shenshu (BL 23) added in acupoint application group 2, and Gaohuang (BL 43) added in acupoint application group 3. Before intervention, one month and 3 months after intervention, clinical symptoms, peak expiratory flow (PEF) andforced expiratory volume in 1 second percentage of predicted value (FEV1％) of the three groups were observed, and their clinical efficacies were evaluated. Results: Comparing the therapeutic efficacy regarding traditional Chinese medicine symptoms and signs, after 1-month treatment, the total effective rate was 87.5％ in acupoint application group 1, versus 62.5％ in acupoint application group 2 and 55.0％ in acupoint application group 3, and the between-group differences were statistically significant. After 3-month treatment, the total effective rate was 95.0％ in acupoint application group 1, versus 70.0％ in acupoint application group 2 and 65.0％ in acupoint application group 3, and the between-group differences were statistically significant. After intervention, the three groups all showed significant improvements in pulmonary function with statistical significance; among the three groups, the improvement in acupoint application group 1 was more significant than that in the other two groups. Conclusion: Tiantu (CV 22), Dazhui (GV 14) and Feishu (BL 13) as basic prescription plus Dingchuan (EX-B 1) can improve symptoms of bronchial asthma in remission stage, and it works better in improving pulmonary function than the basic prescription plus Shenshu (BL 23) or Gaohuang (BL 43).

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of serum Cystatin C for early detection of renal damage in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods 24-h creatinine clearance (CCr), serum level of cystatin C (CysC) and serum creatinine were measured in 76 patients with cirrhosis and t-test,Pearson's correlation test and ROC curve were used to evaluate the diagnostic significance of Cys C.Results The increase in Cys C level was associated with a decrease of CCr in the patients. Both Cys C and SCr were inversely correlated with CCr ( CysC: r =- 0. 763, P ＜ 0. 001; SCr: r=-0. 571,P＜0.01). Meanwhile, the area under the ROC curve was significantly higher in Cys C than in SCr (0. 830 vs. 0. 612). Conclusion Cystatin C is a more accurate and sensitive marker of renal diagnosis in liver cirrhosis. Detection of Cys C level in cirrhotic patients is of great significance for the prevention of liver-kidney syndrome.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of zinc finger E-box binding homebox 1 (ZEB1) in the prepuce of hypospadias children and its relationship to the incidence of hypospadias.

METHODSPrepuce tissues were collected from 37 children aged 6-15 months undergoing hypospadias repair and 11 age-matched controls receiving circumcision. Based on the position of the urethral meatus, the hypospadias cases were classified as severe (n = 13) and mild-moderate (n = 24). The mRNA and protein expressions of ZEB1 were determined by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR.

RESULTSThe expression of the ZEB1 protein was remarkably higher in the severe (100% [13/13]) and mild-moderate hypospadias patients (75.0% [18/24]) than in the controls (9.1% [1/11]), with statistically significant differences between any two groups (P < 0.05). RT-PCR showed the integrated density value (IDV) of the ZEB1 mRNA expression to be (0.67 ± 0.21), (0.81 ± 0.24), and (1.55 ± 0.29) in the control, mild-moderate, and severe hypospadias patients, respectively, significantly higher in the severe hypospadias than in the control and mild-moderate hypospadias groups (P < 0.05), but with no significant difference between the latter two (P = 0.64).

CONCLUSIONThe expression of ZEB1 is significantly increased in hypospadias patients, and its upregulation is positively correlated with the severity of hypospadias, which suggests that the overexpression of ZEB1 may contribute to the development of hypospadias.

Biomarkers ; metabolism ; Case-Control Studies ; Circumcision, Male ; Foreskin ; metabolism ; Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hypospadias ; classification ; etiology ; metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Infant ; Male ; Penis ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Transcription Factors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Up-Regulation ; Urethra ; Zinc Finger E-box-Binding Homeobox 1

OBJECTIVETo determine the expression of Skp2 in different prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines and tissues, and explore its influence on the androgen receptor (AR) signaling pathway and development of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

METHODSThe expression levels of Skp2 and AR in different PCa cell lines were detected by Western blot. After knockdown of Skp2 in the C4-2 and 22RV1 cells transfected with shRNA, the expressions of AR and P27 were determined and the activity of ARR3-Luc measured by dual-luciferase reporter gene assay following treatment with dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The expressions of AR and Skp2 in human naïve PCa or CRPC specimens were detected by immunohistochemical staining followed by analysis of their differences and correlation.

RESULTSThe Skp2 protein expression level was significantly higher in the C4-2 or 22RV1 cells than in the LNCaP cells. DHT treatment increased the expression of Skp2 in the C4-2 cells, but knock-down of Skp2 significantly up-regulated the expression of the well-known downstream protein P27 and down-regulated that of AR. Consistently, DHT treatment increased the activity of ARR3-Luc, while knockdown of Skp2 remarkably decreased it in the C4-2 and 22RV1 cells (P < 0.05). In addition, significantly higher expressions of Skp2 and AR were observed in the CRPC than in the naïve specimens (P < 0.05), with a positive correlation between the two proteins (r = 0.658 1, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSkp2 can enhance the expression and transcription activity of the AR protein in CRPC cells or tissues and is promising to be a critical molecular therapeutic target.

Androgens ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Dihydrotestosterone ; pharmacology ; Disease Progression ; Gene Knockdown Techniques ; Humans ; Male ; Neoplasm Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant ; metabolism ; Receptors, Androgen ; genetics ; metabolism ; S-Phase Kinase-Associated Proteins ; physiology ; Transcriptional Activation ; Up-Regulation

AIM: To study the renoprotective and synergistic effects of sesamin in combination with vitamin E on nephropathy in rats with the metabolic syndrome.METHODS: Nephropathy of metabolic syndrome in rats was induced by high-fat and high-carbohydrate diet.Sesamin(30 mg?kg-1?d-1),sesamin +vitamin E [(15+20) mg?kg-1?d-1),sesamin +vitamin E(30+20) mg?kg-1?d-1] and vitamin E(20 mg?kg-1?d-1) were given to rats with metabolic syndrome at 9th week and lasted for 16 weeks.After 24 weeks,the body weight,left kidney humid weight,blood glucose(BG),blood lipids(BL),systolic blood pressure(SBP), renal function,and indexes of oxygenation and antioxygenation for renal cortex were measured.Pathological changes,collagen deposition and iNOS protein and nitrotyrosine expression of kidney were observed by HE-stain,Masson-stain and immunohistochemical method,respectively.RESULTS:(1)In high-fat and refined-sugar diet group(HFS): the levels of BG,BL,SBP,and MDA,OH and NO2-/NO3-in renal cortex were increased;the activities of T-SOD, CAT and GSH-Px in renal cortex were decreased;the expressions of iNOS protein and nitrotyrosine in kidney were up-regulated;the inflammatory cell infiltration and collagen deposition in renal glomerulus and renal interstitium were severe;the glomerular sclerosis and renal interstitial fibrosis were obvious;the renal function was deteriorated.(2)In sesamin +vitamin E [(30+20) mg?kg-1?d-1] group: the decreases in BG,BL,SBP,MDA,OH-and NO2/NO3-in renal cortex were obviously observed;the activities of T-SOD,CAT and GSH-Px in renal cortex were increased;the expressions of iNOS protein and nitrotyrosine in kidney were down-regulated;the inflammatory cell infiltration and collagen deposition in renal glomerulus and renal interstitium were improved;the glomerular sclerosis and renal interstitial fibrosis were reversed;the renal function was ameliorated.The therapeutic effect of sesamin +vitamin E[ (30+20) mg?kg-1?d-1] surpassed that of using sesamin or vitamin E alone(P

Objective To explore the clinical value of renal dynamic imaging and urinary N-acetyl-?-D-glucosaminidase(NAG),apoptosis DNA fragment(ADF) in evaluating the damage degree of hydronephrotic kidneys(HnK) in children with hydronephrosis.Methods Level of glomerular filtration rate(GFR) was detected in 41 children with congenital hydronephrosis by renal dynamic imaging,and urine NAG,ADF in pelvis in HnK and healthy kidneys (as controls) were detected by enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay(ELISA).Patholo-gic changes of HnK in 41 children were graded intoⅠ~Ⅴ according to Elder standard. And GFR,urinary NAG and ADF of HnK were divi-ded into subgroup according to pathologic changes ,at the same time statistical analysis was performed within each groups. And the correlations of pathologic grades with GFR,urinary NAG and ADF of HnK were analyzed.Results 1.Kindneys GFR in healthy kidneys and Hnk were (174.33?20.43)?10-3 L/min,(143.86?17.51)?10-3 L/min respectinely,and there was significant difference between healthy kidneys and Hnk (P0.05).3.There was significant negative correlation between GFR levels of HnK and pathologic grades(r=-0.814 P0.05).Conclusions For hydronephrotic kidneys,urinary NAG can eva-luate impaired nephric tubule whereas renal dynamic imaging may evaluate the damage level of glomeruli;urine ADF may not indicate the damage level of diseased kidneys in children with congenital hydronephrosis.