Keshan disease was an endemic cardiomyopathy in China. The very low selenium intake of local people was considered to be an important causal factor. The main pathological characteristics of this disease was multifo-cal necrosis and fibrous replacement of myocardium that was scattered throughout the wall of all chambers.Two patterns of myocardial necrosis, myofibrillar pattern and mitochondrial pattern were distinguished in electron microscopy. The myofibrillar pattern was characterized by myofibril segmentation. It agreed well with the contraction band necrosis described in light microscopy. It was mainly seen in acute Keshan heart and might be related to circulatory disorders. Mitochondrial pattern was identical with myocytolysis of conventional pathology. It represented the typical lesion of Keshan disease.Mitochondria showed early and conspicuous changes in involved myo-cytes. Myofibrillar damage seemed to be secondary to the mitochondrial injury in the development of myocytolysis.Histochemical studies revealed that the acid phosphatase activity was obviously increased in muscle fibers surrounding the necrotic foci, and the succinic dehydrogenase activity was greatly reduced in damaged myocardio-cytes.

Yeast strains with improved ethanol yield are important for efficient bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass for fuel ethanol.Candida shehatae CICC1766 was adapted to 4%(v/v)ethanol,and then subjected to UV mutagenesis.One respiration deficient mutant Rd-5 with improved xylose fermentation capability was selected.Protoplasts of Rd-5 were inactivated by UV treatment,followed by the PEG-mediated protoplast fusion with a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain with good ethanol-fermenting capability.The xylose fermenting capability of the fusants was investigated,and the fusant F6 demonstrated good ethanol fermentation performance,producing 18.75g/L ethanol from 50g/L xylose with an ethanol yield of 0.375 or 73.4% of its theoretical value of 0.511.Comparing with its parent Candida shehatae strain,the ethanol yield of F6 was increased by 28%.

Objective To investigate the expression of water channel aquapoin-4 (AQP4) and its relationship to brain edema formation after status epilepticus (SE) in rats. Methods Fifty-four Sprague-Dawley rats (weighing 250～300 g) were randomly divided into 9 groups (n=6 in each group): the control group and the post-SE 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 168 h groups. SE models were established with Lithium-pilocarpine. Immunohistochemistry and semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to assess AQP4 protein and mRNA expression following SE. Results AQP4 expression significantly increased at 24 h, reached to a peak level at 48 h, lasted for 3 d and then began to decline, but still existed at day 7 (P＜0.05 vs control group). The time-dependent change displayed an obvious positive correlation with the process of brain edema after SE (r=0.73, P＜0.05).Conclusion The time-related change of AQP4 expression after SE has a positive correlation with brain edema, indicating that AQP4 may play an important role in the formation of brain edema following SE.

OBJECTIVETo understand the correlation between CD4+ cell count, HIV viral load (VL) and clinical characteristics among patients when HIV-1 was tested positive and initial AIDS diagnosis was made.

METHODS690 HIV-infected cases from Beijing Di-Tan Hospital were included and under a cross sectional study while SPSS statistical method was used.

RESULTSThe 690 HIV-infected cases would include 458 males and 232 females with age range from 2-72 years (mean age as 35.3). The modes of transmission showed that: homosexual contact taking up 17.5% while heterosexual was 16.7%. Most of the homosexual-infected ones lived in Beijing and most of them had bachelor or master's degrees. 19.4% of the transmission happened between heterosexual/bisexual couples, suggesting that HIV was transmitted through the "bridge population" while the rest were infected by contaminated blood/plasma. Many of the cases were identified when they lately visited the pre-operation surveillance point in the hospital. Serious immunodeficiency symptoms or signs were discovered as: CD4+ count < 50 cell/microl, serious opportunistic infections including pneumocystosis pulmonary, cerebral toxoplasmosis and cryptococcal meningitis. Higher frequencies of diseases seen were dermotosis, pneumonia, upper respiratory tract infection, hepatitis and digestive tract moniliasis.

CONCLUSIONBecause of the late identification of the disease, serious immuo-suppression situation often appeared, suggesting that there was an urgent need to improve STD/AIDS knowledge on those HIV (+) people so they might have an early access to accept medical care.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections ; diagnosis ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; CD4 Lymphocyte Count ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; HIV Infections ; complications ; diagnosis ; transmission ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Viral Load ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic effect of Xinnaoxin capsules in patients with chronic cerebral circulatory insufficiency.

METHODPatients with chronic cerebral circulatory insufficiency were divided randomly into two groups: a Xinnaoxin capsules group (n = 60, treated by Xinnaoxin capsules for four 4 weeks), a control group (n = 58, treated by Nimodiping for four weeks). The transcranial doppler (TCD) was used to determined mean velocity (Vm) and auto-viscometer measured hemorheological indices before and after being treated.

RESULTAfter 4 weeks treatment, the hemorheological indices and mean velocity were obviously improve in Xinnaoxin capsules group (P <0.05), there is significant difference between the effective rate of two groups (88.3%, 70.7%).

CONCLUSIONOur study suggest that Xinnaoxin capsules have therapeutic function on chronic cerebral circulatory insufficiency.

Blood Flow Velocity ; drug effects ; Capsules ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; drug effects ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; diagnostic imaging ; drug therapy ; Drug Combinations ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; isolation & purification ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hippophae ; chemistry ; Humans ; Lycium ; chemistry ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rhodiola ; chemistry ; Treatment Outcome ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial

Objective To investigate the distribution characteristics of nasal cavity and maxillary sinus microbiota in aged patients with chronic maxillary sinusitis.Methods A total of 15 aged patients with chronic unilateral maxillary sinusitis who received surgical treatment between January 2017 to June 2018 in Beijing Hospital were enrolled and analyzed retrospectively.Their lavage samples from nasal cavity(N)and maxillary sinus(M)were collected and the samples were labeled according to the location(N and M groups,n=15 each).The high-throughput sequencing was used for sequencing all bacterial 16S rRNA genes in the samples.The composition of nasal cavity and maxillary sinus microbial communities was obtained,and the distribution features of nasal cavity and maxillary sinus microbiota were analyzed.Results A total of 8 bacterial phyla and 34 bacterial genera were found in nasal cavity and maxillary sinus microbiota.The most widely distributed phyla in nasal and sinus groups were Bacteroidetes,Fusobacteria,Frimicutes,Spirochaetes and Proteobacteria.The abundance of Bacteroidetes was higher in group M(60.0 ％,51 762/86 301)than in group N(42.9 ％,37 999/88 576)with statistically significant difference(P ＜0.05).The most widely distributed bacteria genera were Prevotella,Fusobacterium,Alloprevotella,Treponema,Parvimonas,Streptococcus,Filifactor,Phocaeicola,Campylobacter,Prevotella-7 and Lentimicrobiaceae.The abundance of Prevotella was higher in group M(47.7％,41 252/86 414)than in group N(33.5％,29 680/88 598) with statistically significant difference(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions In the aged patients with chronic maxillary sinusitis,the distribution of bacteria in the nasal cavity and maxillary sinus is partly consistent.The abundance of the anaerobes distribution is higher in maxillary sinus than in nasal cavity in aged patients with chronic maxillary sinusitis.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the clinical features of hemodialysis patients complicated by infective endo carditis.

METHODSThe clinical features of six such patients admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital during the year 1990 to 2009 were analyzed. All of them were diagnosed based on Chinese Children Diagnostic Criteria for Infective Endocarditis.

RESULTSThe average age of the six patients was 52.3 +/- 19.3 years old. Four were males. Vascular accesses at the onset of infective endocarditis were as follows: permanent catheters in three, temporary catheters in two, and arteriovenous fistula in one. Three were found with mitral valve involvement, two with aortic valve involvement, and one with both. Five vegetations were found by transthoracic echocardiography, and one by transesophageal echocardiography. Four had positive blood culture results. The catheters were all removed. Four of the patients were improved by antibiotics treatment, in which two were still on hemodialysis in the following 14-24 months and the other two were lost to follow-up. One patient received surgery, but died of heart failure after further hemodialysis for three months. One was well on maintenance hemodialysis for three months after surgery.

CONCLUSIONSInfective endocarditis should be suspected when hemodialysis patients suffer from long-term fever, for which prompt blood culture and transthoracic echocardiography confirmation could be performed. Transesophageal echocardiography could be considered even when transthoracic echocardiography produces negative findings. With catheters removed, full course of appropriate sensitive antibiotics and surgery if indicated could improve the outcome of chronic hemodialysis patients complicated by infective endocarditis.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Endocarditis ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; mortality ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Renal Dialysis ; adverse effects ; Risk Factors

Autophagy-related gene 5 (Atg5) plays an essential role in autophagy, the loss of its function impairs neurogenesis and axon regeneration. However, the biological function of Atg5 has not been characterized in planarian. Planarian is an ideal model for the study of brain regeneration. It can regenerate a new brain de novo in 1 week following amputation. To explore the role of Atg5 in planarian brain regeneration, we dissected the molecular characteristics of Atg5 in planarian Dugesia japonica (DjAtg5) and examined its function by RNAi. The full-length cDNA of DjAtg5 is 1 014 bp encoding 284 amino acids. The deduced amino sequence of DjAtg5 contains the functional Pfam domain of ATG5 and highly conserved residues for ATG5-ATG12 interaction. After amputation, the transcrips of DjAtg5 are increased and mainly distributed in the newly regenerated brain on day 3-5 of regeneration. However, knockdown of DjAtg5 by RNAi does not impair the regeneration ability and brain structure reformation, nor affects the neoblasts proliferation. Our results suggest that DjAtg5 participates in re-formation of planarian brain structure following amputation, but it is not an important regulator for planarian regeneration. However, autophagy inhibitor 3-MA can block planarian regeneration, which suggests that autophagy is necessary for planarian regeneration.

BACKGROUND: Minimal change nephropathy (MCD) is a common pathological type of nephrotic syndrome and is often associated with acute kidney injury (AKI). This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and related factors of AKI in patients with MCD and nephrotic syndrome. METHODS: Patients from Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital who were diagnosed with pathological renal MCD with clinical manifestations of nephrotic syndrome were included from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017. Patients diagnosed with membranous nephropathy (MN) by renal biopsy from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017 are included as a control population. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and pathological characteristics of patients as well as the percentages and clinical characteristics of AKI in different age groups. We assessed the correlation of pathological characteristics with serum creatinine using multivariate linear regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 367 patients with MCD were included in the analysis, with a sex ratio of 1.46: 1 (male: female) and an age range of 6 to 77 years. Among all the patients, 109 developed AKI (29.7%), and of these patients, 85 were male (78.0%). In the 586 patients with MN, 27 (4.6%) patients developed AKI. The percentage of AKI in MCD patients was significantly higher than that in MN patients (χ2 = 41.063, P < 0.001). The percentage of AKI increased with age in the MCD patients. The percentage of AKI in patients aged 50 years or older was 52.9% (46/87), which was significantly higher than that [22.5% (63/280)] in patients under 50 years (χ2 = 6.347, P = 0.013). We observed statistically significant differences in age (43 [27, 59] years vs. 28 [20, 44] years, Z = 5.487, P < 0.001), male (78.0% vs. 51.4%, χ2 = 22.470, P < 0.001), serum albumin (19.9 ± 6.1 g/L vs. 21.5 ± 5.7 g/L, t = 2.376, P = 0.018), serum creatinine (129.5 [105.7, 171.1] μmol/L vs. 69.7 [57.7, 81.9] μmol/L, Z = 14.190, P < 0.001), serum urea (10.1 [6.2, 15.8] mmol/L vs. 4.7 [3.6, 6.4] mmol/L, Z = 10.545, P < 0.001), IgE (266.0 [86.7, 963.0] IU/ml vs. 142.0 [35.3, 516.5] IU/ml, Z = 2.742, P = 0.007), history of diabetes (6.4% vs. 1.2%, P = 0.009), and history of hypertension (23.9% vs. 5.1%, χ2 = 28.238, P < 0.001) between the AKI group and the non-AKI group. According to multivariate linear regression analysis, among the renal pathological features analyzed, renal tubular epithelial cell damage (β = 178.010, 95% CI: 147.888-208.132, P < 0.001) and renal interstitial edema (β = 28.833, 95% CI: 11.966-45.700, P = 0.001) correlated with serum creatinine values. CONCLUSIONS The percentage of AKI in MCD patients is significantly higher than that in MN patients. Patients over 50 years old are more likely to develop AKI. Renal tubular epithelial cell injury and renal interstitial edema may be the main pathological lesions that are associated with elevated serum creatinine in patients with MCD.
Acute Kidney Injury/etiology* ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nephrosis, Lipoid/complications* ; Nephrotic Syndrome/complications* ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

Objective:To establish risk stratifying criteria for acute rejection(AR)after kidney transplantation(KT)through analyzing the preoperative risk factors of KT recipients from deceased donor(DD).Methods:A retrospective study is conducted for 1 382 KT recipients of DD kidney at First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from January 2015 to December 2020.According to the presence or absence of AR within 1 year post-KT, they are divided into two groups of acute rejection(group AR, 115 cases)and non-rejection(group non-AR, 1 267 cases). Clinical data of two groups are examined by univariate and multivariate analyses for determining the risk factors of AR and a scoring standard is established on the basis of regression coefficients.They are divided into three groups of low-risk(907 cases), middle-risk(450 cases)and high-risk(25 cases)according to the scoring results and the incidence of AR is compared among different scoring groups.Results:Univariate analysis indicates that donor age(AR, 793 cases; non-AR, 474 cases, P=0.033), age difference between recipients and donors&ge;25 years(AR, 63 cases; non-AR; 315 cases; P<0.001), recipient panel-reactive antibodies(PRA)plus donor-specific antibody(DSA)(+ )(AR, 96 cases; non-AR, 1 169 cases, P=0.002), donor kidney cold ischemic time&ge;12h(AR, 81 cases; non-AR, 1 064 cases, P<0.001), donor/recipient HLA mismatch&ge;3(AR, 70 cases; non-AR, 984 cases, P<0.001)and expanded criteria donor(ECD)(AR, 50 cases; non-AR, 790 cases, P<0.001)are high risk factors for AR(all P<0.05). Variables with statistical significance during univariate analysis are included for multivariate analysis.Five variables are finally determined, including age difference between recipients and donors&ge;25 years(β=0.61, P=0.006), PRA+ DSA(+ )(β=0.74, P=0.008), donor kidney cold ischemic time&ge;12 h(β=0.74, P<0.001), HLA mismatch(&ge;3)(β=0.81, P<0.001)and ECD(β=0.82, P<0.001). Score for each risk factor is calculated according to the relevant regression coefficient and scoring standard formulate on the basis of the above five risk factors with a total score of 36.With an overall incidence of AR at 8.32%(115/1 382), the incidence of AR is 4.3%, 14.7% and 40.0% in low/middle/high-risk group and the difference is statistically significant.It hints that immune risk stratification can effectively determine the risk of postoperative AR for KT recipients.The incidence of AR is significantly higher in middle/high-risk group than that in low-risk group ( P<0.001). Conclusions:For recipients with middle/high immune risk, intensity and dose of immunosuppressants should be appropriately boosted during preoperative induction and maintenance period.And the occurrences of AR and infection should be dynamically monitored.