The emergence of atypical El Tor strains from V .cholerae in South Asia and Africa has been attributed to several outbreaks in recent decades ,however ,backgrounds of such strains in China remain exclusive .In this study ,PCR am-plification of both El Tor and classical alleles for ctxB ,tcpA ,rstR and hlyA genes was attempted in sixty-nine El Tor isolates from Fujian between 1962 to 2005 ,in addition ,some amplicons were sequence-analyzed .Thus ,the time point of atypical EVC strains in Fujian was determined ,genetic diversities of such strains were investigated .It was revealed that ctxB-Cl ,tcpA-Cl and hlyA genes were detected in O1 serogroup EVC isolates from Fujian since 1962 .Although rstR-Cl gene was solely detected in isolates between 1994 to 2000 .It was indicated by sequence analysis that atypical EVC strains from Fujian possessed a novel T→G mutation at residual 204 of the ctxB gene .Remarkably ,two novel ctxB genotypes (ctxB-10 and ctxB-11) were identified in one strain .The residual 115-C of ctxB in ctxB-11 showed characteristics of ctxB-Cl ,however ,its residual 203-T demonstra-ted characteristics of ctxB-El .This observation implied that it was common in O1 serogroup EVC strains from Fujian hybrid-ized with classical alleles since 1962 ,which would be the earliest time-point for the emergence of atypical El Tor strains hitherto in literature .Emergence of atypical El Tor strains harboring rstR-Cl in Fujian occurred since 1994 .Meanwhile ,novel mutation sites and ctxB genotypes were observed in Fujian isolates ,including diverse combination of ctxB genotypes in one strain and combination of biotype-specific sites in ctxB sequences .In summary ,molecular characterization of O 1 serogroup EVC strains from Fujian was unique and geography-associated .

OBJECTIVETo investigate the inhibitory effects of phytosterols on abacterial prostatitis and discuss the possible mechanism.

METHODXiaozhiling-induced chronic prostatitis model were used to observe the inhibitory effect of phytosterols on abacterial prostatitis. The changes of serum IL-2, IL-1beta and TNF-alpha were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The expression of COX-2 and 5-LOX were evaluated by Western blot and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTTreated by phytosterols (150 mg x kg(-1)), the number of white blood cells in xiaozhiling-induced chronic abacterial prostatitis rats was obviously decreased, the density of lecithin corpuscle in prostatic secretion increased and closed to control group. The edema, inflammatory infiltration of prostate were partly recovered compared with model group. The proliferation of chronic prostatitis were obviously decreased in phytosterols groups compared with model group in histological sections. Phytosterols could obviously reduce the serum IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, prostate COX-2 and 5-LOX expression and improve IL-2 level.

CONCLUSIONThese results demonstrated that phytosterols had good therapeutic effects on chronic abacterial prostatitis. Participation of immune regulation and inhibiting COX-2 and 5-LOX expression may be the mechanisms of action.

Animals ; Chronic Disease ; therapy ; Disease Models, Animal ; Humans ; Interleukin-1beta ; blood ; immunology ; Interleukin-2 ; blood ; immunology ; Male ; Phytosterols ; therapeutic use ; Plant Extracts ; therapeutic use ; Prostatitis ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood ; immunology

Activity of IL-1 produced by peripheral blood monocytes stimulated with lipopolysaccharide in vitro was detected from 17 acute cases, 14 chronic cases and 19 advanced cases of schistosomiasis japonica. It was found that the level of IL-1 was significantly increased and positively related to the body tempereture in the group with acute schistosomiasis. The activity of IL-1 was statistically reduced in the chronic and advanced groups, especially in the latter. After inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandin with indomethacin, the level of IL-1 was significantly increased in three groups of patients, but no apparent change in the normal contro group. The results indicate that IL-1 may play an important role in inducing the inflammatory reaction in patients with acute schistosomiasis japonica and in the immunoregulation in the chronic stage. The changes of IL-1 activity in patients with schistosomiasis japonica may be closely related to prostaglandin.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of Qingkailing injection on RBL-2H3 cell degranulation and histamine release, and discuss the possible mechanism of anaphylactoid reaction induced by Qingkailing injection.

METHODRBL-2H3 cells were incubated with Qingkailing injection for 30 min. Then the morphological changes of cells were observed by transmission electron microscopy. Cell degranulation rate was detected by Alcian blue dye assay, Annexin V binding assay and beta-hexosaminidase assay, and cell histamine release rate was detected by ELISA.

RESULTDifferent concentration of Qingkailing injection can induce the typical morphological changes in RBL-2H3 cell with degranulation. The rates of degranulation and histamine release in Qingkailing injection treated cells were significantly increased and dose-dependent.

CONCLUSIONRBL-2H3 cell degranulation and histamine release can be induced by single administration of Qingkailing injection, and then induced anaphylactoid reaction, which may be one of the possible mechanisms of serious adverse induced by Qingkailing injection for the first administration in clinic.

Animals ; Basophils ; drug effects ; immunology ; physiology ; Cell Degranulation ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Histamine ; metabolism ; Rats

Objective: To make laboratorial diagnosis of imported yellow fever (YF) cases in Fujian province with molecular method . Methods: Serum and urine samples were collected from suspected cases at various time-points post illness onset. Real-time RT-PCR and nested RT-PCR were performed respectively for viral specific nucleotide detection and fragment amplification. Sequencing and restrictive fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method were used to identify the wild virus infection. Results: A total of five cases with wild yellow fever virus (YFV) infection were confirmed in this study. It revealed that the viral agent belonged to Angola-71 like YFV, and the duration of viral agent in urine was longer than that in serum. Conclusions Simultaneous detection of serum and urine samples would increase detection sensitivity, and further RFLP method contributed to rapid identification of wild YFV infection and exclusion of positive result due to recent vaccination.