Objective To apply a one-step loop-mediated isothermal amplification(LAMP) assay for rapid detection of Escherichiaco-li .Methods According to the Genbank of Escherichiacoli lacZ(accession number:M74750) ,a set of four specific primers were designed for the Escherichiacoli LAMP assay and optimized the reaction .The results were judged with naked eyes and electrophoretic analysis .Results Genomic DNAs from 13 bacterial strains including Escherichia coli strains were amplified using LAMP ,and no amplicon was observed in the other bacterial strains .The detection limits of LAMP assay was 15 cfu/mL .Conclusion LAMP assay is extremely rapid ,cost-effective , specific and highly sensitive and has potential usefulness for clinical application .

Objective To evaluate left ventricular regional systolic myocardial function quantitatively before and after coronary artery bypass graft(CABG) in patients with coronary artery disease(CAD) by strain rate imaging(SRI),and determine the effect of CABG.The diagnostic value of two-dimensional echocardiography(2-DE) method and SRI parameter method was compared.Methods The values of systolic strain rate(SRs) at 9 segments supplied by left anteior descending were measured in study group(20 patients with CAD) at 1 d before and 10 d,1 month,3 months and 6 months after CABG.The regional myocardial function befose CABG was analyzed and compared with that of controls,and abnormal segments were found.Then the values of these abnormal segments before and after CABG were compared.Results In control group,SRs displayed a wide and negative peak and was homogeneous in every segments.The SRs peak values decreased,and the homogeneity disappeared in study group.Beginning from 1 month after CABG,the SRs peak values at the graft segments increased in varying degrees,and there was significant difference at basal segments of anterior wall,middle segments of anteroseptal,and middle segments of posteroseptal in the different periods(P

Objective To establish a rapid ,sensitive direct method for detecting Escherichia coli (E .coli) in the positive blood culture bottles by using the loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) .Methods Based on the lacZ (accession number :M74750) gene sequence of E .coli in the gene sequence GenBank by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ,4 specific primers (2 inner primers and outer primers) were designed ,the lacZ gene was amplified and the amplification reaction was optimized .The sen‐sitivity and specificity of this method were verified and its comparison with the traditional culture method was conducted .Results Sixty‐eight strains of E .coli were detected in 300 positive blood culture bottles by adopting the LAMP method .The designed prim‐ers had good sensitivity and good specificity for the amplification of E .coli .The sensitivity and specificity of LAMP all reached 100% compared with the traditional method ,but the traditional method needed 3 d to get the results ,while LAMP only needed 1 h . Conclusion LAMP is extremely rapid for detecting E .coli with low cost ,strong specificity and high sensitivity and is suitable for clinical application .

This paper aims to analyze Professor Guo Rongjuan's medication experience on insomnia therapy based on the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Inheritance Support Plat. First, TCM formulae prescribed by Professor Guo for insomnia therapy were collected from the TCM Inheritance Support Plat. Next, unsupervised data mining algorithms, including apriori, modified mutual-information, and entropy clustering of complex system were applied to obtain the frequencies for different herbs and identify the association rules among the herbs. Accordingly, we can gain new insights into Professor Guo's medication experience on insomnia therapy. Based on analysis of 3 084 formulae, we determined the frequencies for herbs in the formulae and identified the association rules among these herbs. At last, 41 core combinations and 7 new formulae were obtained. The identified medication experience conform with Professor Guo's views on the etiology and pathogenesis of insomnia: "pathogenic fire derived from stagnation of liver-QI (Gan Yu Hua Huo)" is the core pathogenesis of insomnia; "liver stagnation and spleen deficiency" and "chronic illness transferred to kidney" are the main features for insomnia. The TCM Inheritance Support Plat is of great practical value for mining clinical experience of famous TCM doctors.
Algorithms ; Data Mining ; Databases, Bibliographic ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Humans ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; drug therapy

Abstract: Chigger mites belong to the phylum Arthropoda, class Arachnida, sub-class Acari, order Parasitiformes, family Trombiculidae and Leeuwenhoekiidae, with a wide range of species. There are more than 3 700 known species of mites globally, of which 531 species in 46 genera from three sub-families have been recorded in China, and 320 species of chigger mites recorded from 3 subfamilies and 32 genera in Yunnan Province. At this stage, chigger mites are the only vectors of scrub typhus, with about 60 species worldwide being potential vectors. Six vectorial mite species have been confirmed in China, including Leptotrombidium deliense, L.scutellare, L.rubellum, L.sialkotense, L.kaohuense, L.insulare. Yunnan Province has reported five vectorial mite species, including the previously-mentioned five species except for L.sialkotense. The zoogeographic study divided Yunnan Province into 5 zoogeographic areas, namely, Central Hengduan Mountains subregion, Southern Hengduan Mountains subregion, Eastern Yunnan Plateau subregion, Western Yunnan Plateau subregion, Southern Yunnan Mountainous subregion. The Southern Hengduan Mountains subregion has the highest number of known genera and species of scrub typhus and the highest number of scrub typhus cases, with 216 species in 22 genera from 3 subfamilies, and all 5 species of vector scrub typhus were distributed. Southern Yunnan Mountain subregion has the least number of mite species, with 91 species in 12 genera from three sub-families, with L. scutellare being the dominant vectorial mite species across the province. Due to suitable natural geographic conditions in Yunnan Province, vectorial mites can propagate rapidly, leading to a large number of scrub typhus cases. According to statistics, the number of scrub typhus cases in Yunnan Province has rapidly increased, with 15.40 times, 20.64 times and 28.91 times more cases in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively than in 2006. Scrub typhus remains a serious public health problem in Yunnan Province, posing a threat to the health of the local population. Therefore, prevention and control efforts should continue to focus on the affected areas and the general public.

Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; drug therapy

Objective To study a safe method to dissect cystic duct under laparoscope. Methods Clinical data of 300 cases of posterior Calot's triangle approach laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) from November 2000 to April 2003 were analyzed respectively. Results Posterior Calot's triangle approach LC was successfully carried out in 282 cases while a conversion to open surgery was required in 18 cases (6%, 18/300). Postoperative complications were observed in 2 cases (0.7%, 2/300). Conclusions Posterior Calot's triangle approach LC is a safe procedure and simple to operate.

Objective To explore the effective way to decrease serious complications and to minimize the mortality following transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE).Methods In 265 liver cancer patients experiencing TACE,the causes of death in 19 (20 days after TACE) were analyzed.Results 9 cases died of liver failure,4 died of the rupture of liver tumors, and 2 died of upper digestive tract bleeding.Gastroduodenal perforation,pulmonary embolism,myocardial infarction,and hyperkalemia resulted in death in one case,respectively.The mortality rates of primary liver cancer and liver metastasis were 9.2% and 1.4%,respectively (P

Objective To observe whether bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can promote the repair of IgA nephropathy and to explore its possible mechanism. Methods Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups which were MSCs injection group, normal saline(NS) infusion group and healthy control group. IgA nephropathy model was established by the improving method with BSA +SEB +CCl4 in former two groups. MSCs of SD rats were continuously cultured in vitro and identified with specific surface antigens by flow cytometry and osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation. MSCs were labeled with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) in vitro before transplanted. At 1st and 4th week after MSCs injection, the changes of body weight, urine protein, renal function, histopathology and IgA immunofluorescence were observed. MCP-1, TGF-β1 in urine were detected by ELISA. The expression of MCP-1, TGF-β1 in kidney were examined by RT-PCR. The cytokines and BrdU labeled MSCs were detected by immunohistochemistry to observe the disposition in kidney. Results At the end of the first week of MSCs transplantation, MSCs group urine protein (36.86±4.78) mg/24 h, serum creatinine (53.50±6.28) μmol/L, and the NS group urine protein (66.98±5.86) mg/24 h, serum creatinine (82.50±8.36) μmol/L, the differences between two groups were significant (P<0.05). At the same time, the content of MCP-1, TGF-β1 in urine and expression in renal tissue of MSCs group were obviously less than those of NS group (P <0.05). At the end of the 4th week, the body weight, histopatholngy, IgA immunofluorescence of MSCs group were remarkably improved as compared with those of NS group. The content of MCP-1, TGF-β1 in urine and expression in renal tissue, and renal pathological change in MSCs group had no significant differences as compared with those of healthy control group. As the time passed, the disposition of BrdU-labeled MSCs in kidney was taper. Conclusions MSCs injection contributes to renal repair in rat IgA nephropathy. The mechanism may partly depend on adjusting the excretion of cytokines in renal microenvironment and/or other functions rather than completely depend on their differentiation to renal cells.

BACKGROUND: Abnormal lipid metabolism is one of the risk factors in patients with ischemic cerebral disorders, and is correlated with the changes of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase activity.OBJECTIVE: To observe the relationship between the changes of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase activity and lipid content in red blood cell membrane.DESIGN: A case-control study(experimental group with control as standard level).SETTING: Department of clinical laboratory, emergency room and department of neurology of a hospital affiliated to a medical college of a university.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 105 inpatients and outpatients with cerebrovascular diseases were selected from the Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University, from March 2002 to December 2003. They accorded with the Diagnostic Criteria set at the Second National Conference on Cerebrovascular Diseases. A total of 42 patients with cerebral arteriosclerosis and 63 patients with cerebral infarction were selected as patients group consisting of 67 males and 38 females. Another 65 healthy people receiving physical examination in the hospital, 36 males and 29 females, were selected as control group.METHODS: Venous blood of 8 mL was drawn from the participants on an empty stomach. We assayed the activity of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase,high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol,apolipoprotein A1 and apolipoprotein B. Red blood cell membrane cholesterol was determined by phthalyl aldehyde-acetometry and red blood cell membrane phospholipid was determined by chemical quantitative analysis.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase activity and lipid content in red blood cell membrane in patients group and control group.RESULTS: According to intention analysis, all the 105 patients in patients group and 65 patients in control group entered the results analysis. Activity of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase: Activity changes in cerebral arteriosclerosis group and cerebral infarction group were obvious lower than those in control group[(2.14±0.72) kat/L, (2.06±0.80) kat/L, and(2.61± 0. 74) kat/L, P ＜ 0.01 ] . Level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein A1: The level in cerebral arteriosclerosis group and cerebral infarction group was obvious lower than that in control group[ (1.32±0.33) mmol/L, (1.37±0.33) g/L, (1.28±0.33) mmol/L; (1.27±0.31) g/L, (1.60±0.43) mmol/L, (1.60±0.43) g/L, t=2.72 to 5.01, P ＜ 0.01 ]. Content of low density lipoprotein cholesterol and red blood cell membrane-cholesterol: The content in cerebral arteriosclerosis group and cerebral infarction group was obvious higher than that in control group [ (2.94 ± 0. 82) mmol/L, (0.63 ±0.05) mmol/g, (3.02 ±0.79) mmol/L;(0.60 ±0.07) mmol/g, (2.56 ±0. 58) mmol/L, (0.57 ±0.05) mmol/g, P ＜ 0. 01 ] . Moreover, the activity of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase was positively correlated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein A1(r=0.247, P ＜0.05; r=0.303, P ＜0.01), but was negatively correlated with low density lipoprotein cholesterol and red blood cell membrane cholesterol(r= -0.212, P ＜0.05;r= -0.346, P ＜0.01).CONCLUSION: In patients with ischemic cerebral disorders, the major change of plasma lipid is the decrease of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase,but it is not secondary to cerebral infarction. The activity of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase is positively correlated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein A1, but is negatively correlated with low density lipoprotein cholesterol and red blood cell membrane cholesterol.