Objective To investigate the dynamic level changes and significance of triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (TREM-1) in the injury brain tissues of rats caused by pneumolysin (PLY).Methods Sixty-four SD rats were randomly and equally divided into PLY group and control group,0.1 mL PLY and isopyknic normal saline was given through left internal carotid artery respectively.Brain tissue gross and histological changes were observed at different time(4 h,6 h,12 h,24 h),meanwhile the expression levels of neurocyte damage marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) protein were detected by immunohistochemistry;and the expression levels of TREM-1,tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were detected respectively by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results The observation of brain tissue gross and histological changes indicated the existence of brain injury,and the expression levels of GFAP,NSE,TNF-α and IL-6 protein increased from 4 h after PLY were injected and augmented dynamically as time went on,compared with the control group at corresponding time points,the differences were statistically significant (all P ＜ 0.05).The level of TREM-1 in the PLY group reached a peak at the 4 h time point,but decreased somewhat at the 6 h time point,the level of TREM-1 was still higher than that in control group,the differences were statistically significant(all P ＜ 0.05).However,the level of TREM-1 in the PLY group declined obviously at 12 h and 24 h time points,compared with that in control group,there were no significant differences (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The expression levels of TREM-1 up-regulated obviously in the early stage of brain damage induced by PLY,which might be involved in the pathological process of brain damage by promoting the expression of TNF-α and IL-6.

An electrolyte cathode atmospheric glow discharge atomic emission spectroscopy(ELCAD-AES) has been developed to determine the hardness of water. By the standard curves of Mg and Ca, the concentration curves of Mg and Ca measurement were obtained. The limits of detection of Mg and Ca were 0.2 and 0.8 mg/L, respectively. The precision and recovery were experimentally elucidated, which indicated that the homemade ELCAD-AES system has a good performance. Finally, practical water samples such as tap water, boiled tap water, ground water, boiled ground water and lake water were analyzed by the method. The results were in agreement with those by the EDTA titration. This demonstrates that ELCAD-AES has the capacity for on-line determination of water hardness.

Objective:To analyze the clinical and genotype features of infants with epilepsy caused by RYR2 gene mutations, and explore the correlation between RYR2 gene mutations and epilepsy. Methods:The clinical characteristics and genetic test results of 2 infants with epilepsy caused by RYR2 gene mutations, admitted to Department of Pediatrics, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in December 2020 or May 2022, were retrospectively analyzed. The related literature was reviewed. Results:These 2 infants had onset at the infancy (4 and 9 months after birth), characterized by repeated unprovoked seizures; 1 patient had abnormal dynamic electrocardiogram results without malignant ventricular arrhythmia; 1 patient showed abnormal discharge in interictal electroencephalogram, which was effectively controlled after treatment with levetiracetam oral solution. Whole exon sequencing revealed heterozygous missense mutation of the RYR2 gene c.14767A>G(p.Met4923Val) in 1 child, heterozygous missense mutation of the RYR2 gene c.14014A>G(p.Met4672Val) in 1 child, and no other known epilepsy pathogenic gene mutation was found in 2 children. American Society for Medical Genetics and Genomics guidelines evaluated 2 mutations as pathogenic mutations (PS2+PM1+PM2+PP2+PP3). Conclusion:RYR2 gene is potentially a novel epilepsy gene.