Adolescent ; Adult ; DNA, Viral ; genetics ; Female ; Genes, Viral ; Genotype ; Hepatitis B ; virology ; Hepatitis B virus ; classification ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

Genes, Viral ; Genotype ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; virology ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods

Adolescent ; Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Membrane Transport Proteins ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Spastic Paraplegia, Hereditary ; genetics ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo develop a rapid multi-residue assay for detecting 16 demanded by the European Union (EU).

METHODSA recombinant penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 2x* from Streptococcus pneumoniae R6 was expressed in vitro and six β-lactams were conjugated to HRP by four methods. A rapid multi-residue assay for β-lactams was established with PBP2x* and HRP-conjugate.

RESULTSPBP2x* was expressed and purified successfully and the ideal HRP-conjugate was identified. The multi-residue assay was developed. After optimization, penicillin G, ampicillin, amoxicillin, cloxacillin, dicloxacillin, oxacillin, nafcillin, cephalexin, ceftiofur, cefalonium, cefquinome, cefazolin, cefoperazone, cephacetrile, and cephapirin can be detected at levels below MRL in milk with simple pretreatment.

CONCLUSIONThis assay developed can detect all 16 β-lactams demanded by the European Union (EU). The whole procedure takes only 45 min and can detect 42 samples and the standards with duplicate analysis.

Animals ; Milk ; chemistry ; Penicillin-Binding Proteins ; metabolism ; beta-Lactams ; analysis ; metabolism

INTRODUCTIONThe G2385R and R1628P LRRK2 gene variants have been associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) in the Asian population. Recently, a new LRRK2 gene variant, A419V, was reported to be a third risk variant for PD in Asian patients. Our objective was to investigate this finding in our cohort of Asian subjects.

MATERIALS AND METHODSEight hundred and twenty-eight subjects (404 PD patients, and 424 age and gender-matched control subjects without neurological disorders) were recruited. Genotyping was done by Taqman® allelic discrimination assay on an Applied Biosystems 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR machine.

RESULTSThe heterozygous A419V genotype was found in only 1 patient with PD, compared to 3 in the control group (0.4% vs 1.3%), giving an odds ratio of 0.35 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.01 to 3.79; P = 0.624).

CONCLUSIONA419V is not an important LRRK2 risk variant in our Asian cohort of patients with PD. Our data are further supported by a literature review which showed that 4 out of 6 published studies reported a negative association of this variant in PD.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alanine ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; China ; ethnology ; Cohort Studies ; Cytosine ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Variation ; genetics ; Genotype ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; India ; ethnology ; Leucine-Rich Repeat Serine-Threonine Protein Kinase-2 ; Malaysia ; ethnology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Parkinson Disease ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; genetics ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; genetics ; Risk Factors ; Singapore ; Thymine ; Valine ; genetics ; Young Adult

BACKGROUNDHuman bocavirus (HBoV) is a parvovirus recently found to possibly cause respiratory tract disease in children and adults. This study investigated HBoV infection and its clinical characteristics in children younger than five years of age suffering from acute lower respiratory tract infection in Beijing Children's Hospital.

METHODSNasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from children suffering from acute lower respiratory tract infection during the winters of 2004 to 2006 (from November through the following February). HBoV was detected by polymerase chain reaction amplification and virus isolation and the amplification products were sequenced for identification.

RESULTSHBoV infection was detected in 16 of 333 study subjects. Coinfections with respiratory syncytial virus were detected in 3 of 16 HBoV positive patients with acute lower respiratory tract infection. The median age for HBoV positive children was 8 months (mean age, 17 months; range, 3 to 57 months). Among the HBoV positive children, 14 were younger than 3 years old, 9 were younger than 1 year old and 7 were younger than 6 months. These 16 positive HBoV children exhibited coughing and abnormal chest radiography findings and more than 60% of these children had wheezing and fever. Ten children were clinically diagnosed with pneumonia, 2 bronchiolitis, 2 acute bronchitis and 2 asthma. One child died.

CONCLUSIONSHBoV was detected in about 5% of children with acute lower respiratory infection seen in Beijing Children's Hospital. Further investigations regarding clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of HBoV infection are needed.

Bocavirus ; isolation & purification ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Parvoviridae Infections ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; diagnosis ; etiology

Objective:To study the protective effect of Ficus pandurata extract on acute alcoholic liver injury based on pyroptosis mechanism.Method:The 56 male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into normal control group， model control group， positive control group（60 mg·kg^-1）， fresh medicine water extract group（48 g·kg^-1）， dry drug water extract group（48 g·kg^-1），dry drug 50% alcohol extract group（48 g·kg^-1） and dry drug 95% alcohol extract group （48 g·kg^-1）， 8 mice in each group.Positive control and different solvent extract groups of Ficus tenuifolia were intragastrically administrated for 18 days，once a day，while normal group and model group were given the same volume of pure water intragastrically. After 15 days of continuous gavage， mice received 50％ ethanol（12 mL·kg^-1）intragastrically for 3 days to induce acute alcoholic liver injury model except for the normal control group. At 14 h after the last treatment，serum and liver samples were obtained，the serum content of alanine aminotransferase （ALT） and aspartate transaminase（AST） were determined， the histopathologic changes of the hepatic tissues were observed by hematoxylin ecosin（HE） staining.The content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver was determined by thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and the content of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was determined by microplate method. Western blot and TUNEL assay kit was used to detect the cell pyroptosis rate.Result:Compared with normal group， ALT， AST， MDA and LDH levels in the model group were significantly increased， liver index was significantly increased，TUNEL staining positive， inflammatory factors and pyroptosis related protein expressions were significantly increased （P<0.05）. Compared with model control group， the ALT，AST ，MDA and LDH of the drug intervention group decreased significantly （P<0.05）. The liver index decreased in different degrees， and the expression of inflammatory factors and pyroptosis related protein in the water extract treatment group decreased significantly （P<0.05）.Conclusion:The root extract of Ficus pandurata Hance has protective effect on acute alcoholic liver injury， and the mechanism of water extract might relate to inhibiting hepatocyte pyroptosis.