Blood-brain barrier (BBB) is the major obstacle for drug delivery into the central nervous system (CNS). However, there is no ideal model animal for the study of BBB permeability till now. Currently zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as a powerful model organism for the study of vertebrate biology. In this study, the feasibility of using zebrafish as model animal was investigated for BBB permeability by comparing the results of administration of BBB-penetrating peptide and protein to mouse and zebrafish. The results showed that the BBBs of mouse and zebrafish were similar in molecular permeability. Additionally, zebrafish has advantageous features as a model animal, such as small size, fertile and easy to breed. Therefore, it is suggested that zebrafish may be a favored model for the study of BBB permeability.

Objective To investigate the clinical features and prognostic factors of Epstein-Barr virus-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH) in adults.Methods Clinical data of 40 adult patients with EBV-HLH admitted in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University during January 2010 and September 2013 were retrospectively analyzed.The patients were divided into fatal group or survival group based on the results of 1-month follow-up.Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors of early death.Results EBV-HLH in clinic were characterized by fever,hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenopathy.The incidences of peripheral blood cytopenias in 2 or 3 lines,hepatic dysfunction and hyperferritinemia in EBV-HLH patients were 60.0％ (24/40),95.0％ (38/40) and 94.9％ (37/39),respectively.Hemophagocytic phenomenon in bone marrow was observed in 83.8％ patients (31/37).Soluble CD25 (sCD25) was detected in 12 patients,and all were higher than 2 400 pg/mL.Nineteen patients died 1 month after fiual diagnosis with a fatality rate of 47.5％.Univariate logistic regression analysis indicated that EBV-DNA ＞ 105 copies/mL (OR =4.85,95％ CI:1.14-25.83,P ＜ 0.05),PLT ＜ 50 × 1012/L (OR =6.81,95 ％ CI:1.41-32.83,P ＜ 0.05),total bilirubin ＞ 50 μmol/L (OR =6.91,95％ CI:1.24-38.52,P ＜0.05),albumin ＜ 30 g/L (OR =7.50,95％ CI:1.80-31.28,P ＜ 0.01),serum ferritin ＞5 000 μg/L (OR =8.75,95％ CI:2.03-37.67,P ＜0.01) and polyserositis (OR =5.40,95％ CI:1.18-24.64,P ＜0.05) were risk factors of death within 1 month after final diagnosis,while chemotherapy was a protective factor of early death (OR =0.15,95％ CI:0.03-0.81,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions EBV-HLH in adult has a poor prognosis.Significant elevated EBV-DNA,total bilirubin or serum ferritin,and notable decrease of peripheral blood platelet count or albumin level may indicate a poor prognosis,while chemotherapy may reduce the risk of early death.

The application of high-throughput sequencing technologies has greatly enhanced our understanding to the human microbiome. The causal relations between human microbiome and diseases have become a critical issue to elucidate disease development and develop precision medicine. Recently, the study about vaginal microbiome (the microbial flora that inhabits the female vagina) has received wide interests. It has been shown that dysbiosis of vaginal microbiome was closely related to the development of genital tract diseases. This article summarizes the interaction between vaginal microbiome and disease and the treatment for the dysbiosis of vaginal microbiome. The culturomics of virginal microbiome, engineered probiotics and synthetic microbiome were also proposed.
Female ; Humans ; Microbiota ; Probiotics ; Vagina