Objective To study the application value of high frequency ultrasound to the diagnosis of early rheumatoid arthri‐tis .Methods 40 cases were selected ,who were diagnosed with early rheumatoid arthritis ,as the RA group ,another 40 healthy per‐sons were selected as the normal control group .Objects in the 2 groups were examined with high frequency ultrasound and X‐ray . Comparison of the examination results was made ,at the same time ,the results of suprapatellar bursa effusion ,synovial hyperplasia and bone erosion of the positive detection rate in group RA from the analysis of high‐frequency ultrasound and X‐ray examination were also compared .In addition ,the relativity between the related index and ESR index and CRP index in group RA was also ana‐lysed .Results The suprapatellar bursa effusion ,synovial hyperplasia ,bone erosion of color flow rate and bone erosion of the posi‐tive detection rate were higher than those in normal control group(P<0 .05);Compared with the control group ,the artery resist‐ance index was less ,the femoral condyle and lateral condylar cartilage thickness of RA group increased more(P<0 .05) .High fre‐quency ultrasound positive detection rate suprapatellar bursa effusion ,synovial hyperplasia ,bone erosion in patients of group RA were higher than those of X‐ray(P<0 .05) .The knee joint suprapatellar bursa effusion ,synovial hyperplasia of synovial membrane thickenss ,the thickness of the color blood flow grade and CRP ,ESR of patients in RA group were correlated(P<0 .01) .Conclusion High frequency ultrasound can respond to the situation of early rheumatoid arthritis patients ,and the lesion detection rates are higher ,there is a certain correlation between ultrasonographic indexes and CRP ,ESR .

Objective To investigate the effect of β-lactam antibiotics on the false positive rate of the serum Aspergillus galactomannan (GM) assay in patients with lung diseases.Methods We selectively recruited 77 lung disease patients who did not meet the diagnostic criteria of invasive pulmonary Aspergillosis (IPA) and received different β-lactam antibiotics,while 41 patients without IPA who did not receive any antibiotic treatment were recruited as the control group.Serum samples for GM detection were collected from all participants.The rate of false-positive Aspergillus galactomannan was compared between the two groups.Results False-positive serum results were found in patients who received piperacillin-tazobactam (30.8％ or 8/26) and cefoperazone sulbactamand (27.8％ or 5/18).The rate of false-positive Aspergillus galactomannan in patients who receive β-lactam antibiotics were significantly higher than that in the control group (24.7％ or 19/77vs.7.3％ or 3/41,x2 =5.315,P=0.025).Taking false-positive serum Aspergillus galactomannan as the dependent variable and β-lactam antibiotic treatment as the independent variable,univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the rate of false-positive Aspergillus galactomannan in patients who received β-lactam antibiotics were 4.149 times more than that in the control group (OR=4.149,P=0.030).Conclusions The administration of β-lactam antibiotics may increase the occurrence of false-positive serum Aspergillus galactomannan,and physicians should be aware of this possible interference.

BACKGROUND: Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can not only differentiate into multiple nonhematopoietic cell lineages, but seek out damaged tissues and repair them as well. Hence, they were largely studied for their potential clinical use. However, their biological characteristics have not been fully discovered. OBJECTIVE: To compare the biological characteristics of BMSCs of different species cultured in vitro, in order to provide basis for the clinical research of stem cell therapy.DESIGN: Randomized controlled observation was designed.SETTING: Medical Research Department of General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Area.MATERIALS: The experiment was performed in Medical Research Department of General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Area from June 2004 to July 2005. Thirty SD rats weighing (160±20) g, aged 35 to 40 days, 30 Kunming mice weighing (16.0±2.0) g, aged about 40 days, 8 New Zealand white rabbits weighing (2.0±0.2) kg, aged 80 to 90 days and 10 healthy volunteers (25-32 years old) were selected. All the animals were of clean grade, which were purchased from the Animal Center of Southern Medical University.METHODS: The BMSCs of mice and rats were prepared according to the protocol developed in the Caplan laboratory, while those of rabbits and human were isolated from bone marrow suspension obtained by iliac puncture.The morphology of BMSCs was observed by light microscope and transmission electron microscope. Cell growth curve was tested by MTT. Expression of Stro-1 was analyzed by immunofluorescence cytochemistry and flow cytometry. To evaluate the specific response of BMSCs to osteogenic supplements(10 nmol/L dexamethasone, 10 mmol/L β-glycerophosphate,and 50 mg/L ascorbic acid), the activity of alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity was tested by a commercial kit. Expression of osteocalcin was examined by immunocytochemistry and hydroxyapatite crystals were shown by von Kossa staining. Adipogenic differentiation was evaluated by estimating percent of cells containing Oil Red-O- stained oil droplets.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Morphological observation and growth situation of BMSCs. ② Expression of Stro-1: BMSC marker. ③ Differentiation in osteogenic medium.RESULTS: ①The morphology of adherent BMSCs ofthose four species observed by optic microscopy was obviously different. When they became mature or aged, the mouse cells turned into flat shape, irregularly polygonal, fell to pieces and deposited on the flask-bottom, while the rat, rabbit and human cells would enlarge and become polygonal, vacuoles would appear in their cytoplasm, finally, the cells were detached from the flask-bottom, floating off like cotton wool. The cultures of different species also had some commonness, such as poly-layer growing manner, without contact inhibition and consisting of two groups. Cells of one group grew into colonies from single cells and expanded quickly, while cells of the other group were sporadic and did not proliferate. Electron microscopy revealed that all of the primary cells had microvilli and that they could be divided into two subpopulations according to their ultrastructures. Some cells were rich in organelles and most chromatin was euchromatin, while the other subpopulation cells had much fewer organelles and more heterochromatin. Growth curves of BMSCs of different species were almost the same. ② The positive rate of human adherent bone marrow-derived cells for Stro-1: BMSC marker was (91.4±8.3) %, and that of mouse adherent cells was (83.5±6.2) % .③Treated with osteogenic supplements, mouse BMSCs differentiated into adipose tissue, rabbit ones died, while rat and human ones differentiated into osteocytes. BMSCs also demonstrated spontaneous differentiation in vitro.CONCLUSION: Mouse, rat, rabbit and human BMSCs can be easily expanded in vitro, although the harvest of the current method is a mixture of mesenchymal cells with various maturities, most of which are poor-differen-tiated cells. BMSCs of those species are different in morphology and response to the same inductive supplements. Therefore, in order to establish a kind of stem cell therapy, it is necessary not only for evidence from animal experiments but for that from human experiments as well.