We analyze the epidemiology,clinical features,and outcome of the patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases (CJD) in Guizhou Province from 2010 to 2015.The epidemiology,clinical characteristics and follow-up data of CJD suspected patients obtained from Guizhou CJD surveillance network were analyzed.The testing results of cerebrospinal fluid (CFS) and blood from the patients were also collected and analyzed.Results showed that a total of 11 CJD cases was found from 23 reported CJD suspected patients in Guizhou from 2010 to 2015,including 8 probable sporadic CJD(sCJD) cases,2 possible sCJD cases and 1 genetic CJD(gCJD) case.In 11 cases,rapidly progressive dementia was the major initial symptom,following by mental symptoms,extrapyramidal symptoms,signs and cerebellum cortical blindness.Clinical symptoms of progressive dementia were the main symptoms,following by visual or cerebellar dysfunction,myoclonus,cone system/extrapyramidal dysfunction,and akinetic mutism.Most of cases were abnormal in MRI (45.45％) and 14-3-3 protein detection in CSF(70％).The 14-3-3 blood samples of prion gene 129 amino acids (PRNP)polymorphisms were M/M type,excepting for 1 case gCJD confirmed diagnosis cases with D178N mutation in PRNP gene.Eleven CJD cases did not show season and regional clusterings and vocational tendency.The majority of the cases were male,the median age was 65,and mainly were the Han nationality.For all cases of CJD reported during that year for follow-up,the lost-tofollow-up rate was 27％,and the majority of cases died within one year.The sCJD cases were the majority in CJD cases of Guizhou Province,2010-2015.The epidemiological characteristics were similar to the national monitoring cases in the same period.

The nucleocapsid protein (N protein) has been found to be an antigenic protein in a number of coronaviruses. Whether the N protein in severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is antigenic remains to be elucidated. Using Western blot and Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), the recombinant N proteins and the synthesized peptides derived from the N protein were screened in sera from SARS patients. All patient sera in this study displayed strong positive immunoreactivities against the recombinant N proteins, whereas normal sera gave negative immunoresponses to these proteins, indicating that the N protein of SARS-CoV is an antigenic protein. Furthermore, the epitope sites in the N protein were determined by competition experiments, in which the recombinant proteins or the synthesized peptides competed against the SARS-CoV proteins to bind to the antibodies raised in SARS sera. One epitope site located at the C-terminus was confirmed as the most antigenic region in this protein. A detailed screening of peptide with ELISA demonstrated that the amino sequence from Codons 371 to 407 was the epitope site at the C-terminus of the N protein. Understanding of the epitope sites could be very significant for developing an effective diagnostic approach to SARS.
Blotting, Western ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epitopes ; chemistry ; immunology ; Humans ; Nucleocapsid Proteins ; chemistry ; immunology ; Peptide Fragments ; chemical synthesis ; Plasmids ; Recombinant Proteins ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; SARS Virus ; genetics ; immunology ; metabolism

Objective:To investigate the impact of recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rh-EGF) on the epithelial recovery and the tear film stability after trans-epithelial corneal collagen crosslinking in patients with progressive keratoconus.Methods:A randomized controlled clinical trail was designed.Consecutive 66 patients (37 males and 29 females) with an average age of (21.27±3.80) years old diagnosed with primary progressive keratoconus and hospitalized in Xiamen Eye Center Affiliated to Xiamen University from October, 2016 to January, 2017 were enrolled and treated with unilateral enhanced transepithelial corneal crosslinking surgery by iontophoresis, and the patients were randomly divided into control group and experimental group according to random number table method, with 33 patients 33 eyes in each group.The eyes in the control group were treated with carboxy-methylcellulose sodium lubricant eye drops and the eyes in the experimental group were treated with rh-EGF eye drops.The ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionare, slit lamp examination, Schirmer Ⅰ test, corneal fluorescein sodium staining scoring, non-contact tonometry, uncorrected visual acuity, best corrected visual acuity, bulbar conjunctival congestion scoring, lacrimal sevretion test, non-invasive break-up time of tear film (NIBUT), as well as tear meniscus height analysis were performed before surgery, and on day 1, day 3, day 5, day 7, day 14 and day 28 after surgery.This study followed the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Xiamen Eye Center Affiliated to Xiamen University (No.2016-ME-003).Results:On day 7 after surgery, the OSDI values were increased in both groups than the preoperative value, while the value in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group ( P<0.05). There were statistically significant differences in the overall corneal epithelial staining score values between the two groups at different time points ( Fgroup=16.701, P<0.01; Ftime=454.418, P<0.01). The corneal epithelial staining score in the experimental group on day 3 and day 5 after surgery were significantly lower than those in the control group (1.79±0.65 vs. 2.70±0.68; 0.91±0.46 vs. 1.55±0.51) (both at P<0.01). The conjunctival congestion score in the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group on day 3 and day 5 after surgery (both at P<0.05). There were statistically significant differences in the overall NIBUT values between the two groups at different time points ( Fgroup=13.084, P<0.01; Ftime=34.383, P<0.01). The NIBUT values were significantly decreased rapidly on day 7, day 14 and day 28 after surgery in both groups (all at P<0.01), but gradually recovered.The NIBUT of the experimental group on day 7 and day 14 after surgery were significantly higher than those of the control group ([8.18±2.26]seconds vs. [5.93±2.33]seconds; [9.49±1.95]seconds vs. [7.52±2.27]seconds) (both at P<0.01). No statistical differences were found in the tonometry value, visual acuity, value of Schirmer I test as well as tear meniscus height at any time point before or after surgery between the two groups (all at P>0.05). Conclusions:Recombinant human epidermal growth factor has positive effects in the patients received enhanced transepithelial corneal crosslinking surgery, presenting with promotion of epithelial healing, relief of post-operative discomfort, and the recovery of tear film stability.

AIM: To investigate the preoperative ocular symptoms and the characteristics of asymptomatic ocular surface abnormalities in hospitalized patients with primary pterygium.METHODS: Cross-sectional study. Hospitalized patients diagnosed with primary pterygium and scheduled to receive pterygium excision surgery at the Xiamen Eye Center of Xiamen University from August 2022 to October 2022 were enrolled. Ocular surface disease index questionnaire(OSDI), six examinations including non-invasive tear film break-up time, Schirmer I test, tear meniscus height, lid margin abnormality, meibomian gland dropout and tear film lipid layer thickness, and anterior segment optical coherence tomography(AS-OCT)were performed and statistically analyzed.RESULTS: A total of 178 cases(178 eyes), with a mean age of 54.39±10.75 years old, were recruited, including 75 males(42.1%)and 103 females(57.9%). The average values of ocular surface parameters in these patients included OSDI: 11.47±9.69, tear film break-up time: 7.10±3.86 s; tear meniscus height: 0.16±0.07 mm, Schirmer I test values: 14.39±7.29 mm/5 min, and pterygium thickness: 504.74±175.87 μm. Totally 161 eyes(90.4%)presented with abnormal lid margin, 44 eyes(24.7%)presented with meibomian gland dropout score ≥4, 52 eyes(29.2%)presented with low lipid layer thickness. In the 6 objective examinations, abnormalities in at least 4 of these tests were found in 85.4% of eyes. Pterygium morphology was classified into four grades: 10 eyes(5.6%)of grade Ⅰ, 93 eyes(52.2%)of grade Ⅱ, 60 eyes(33.7%)of grade Ⅲ, and 15 eyes(8.4%)of grade Ⅳ. In patients with a higher grade of pterygium, the tear film break-up time was lower, and the proportion of abnormal lid margin was also significantly higher(P<0.05). The patients were further divided into two subgroups, including 121 eyes(68.0%)with normal OSDI <13 in the normal group and 57 eyes(32.0%)with OSDI ≥13 in the abnormal group. No significant difference was found in the proportion of meibomian gland dysfunction between the two groups of patients(71.9% vs. 71.9%, P=0.872). In addition, there were differences in the number of abnormal objective examinations(4.11±0.85 vs. 4.91±0.99, P<0.001).CONCLUSIONS: Asymptomatic ocular surface abnormalities were present preoperatively in patients hospitalized for primary pterygium. A comparable high incidence of structural or functional meibomian gland dysfunction existed in pterygium patients with or without apparent ocular discomfort. More attention should be paid to the ocular surface abnormalities in those asymptomatic patients before primary pterygium surgery.