OBJECTIVETo investigate the levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-furans (PCDD-Fs) in human breast milk of the mothers who lived in non-directly persistent organic pollutants (POPs) polluted area in Shenzhen, and the correlation of exposure risk factor was analyzed.

METHODSFrom July to November in 2007, 60 primiparas by vaginal delivery after parturition 3 weeks to 2 months were sampled for breast milk who aged from 20 - 34 years old and has lived in Shenzhen non-directly POPs polluted areas over 5 years. PCDD-Fs were extracted from the frozen-dried samples with accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), cleaned up by fluid management system (FMS) and quantified by high-resolution gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC-HRMS) using isotope dilution methodology. TEQ were calculated. The correlation relationship among infant's birth weight and length, participatory's dietary, age, inhabitation period, environment and the body burden of PCDD-Fs in mother was statistically analyzed by SPSS 13.0.

RESULTSThe participants aged from 20 - 34 years old (28 years on average) and lived in Shenzhen for 5 - 29 years (10 years on average). The concentration of PCDD-Fs in 60 breast milk samples were 26.957 143 - 669.583 333 pg/g fat (mean: 7.224 817 pg/g fat, median: 84.176 062 pg/g fat), and TEQ-PCDD-Fs in samples were 2.420 793 - 29.014 277 pg/g fat (mean: 8.645 992 pg/g fat, median: 7.751 804 pg/g fat). 2, 3, 4, 7, 8-PeCDF, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8-PeCDD, 2, 3, 7, 8-TCDD were the dominant contributors to the total TEQ, which were 3.691 654 pg/g fat (42.689 378%), 2.478 315 pg/g fat (28.652 356%), and 0.980 995 pg/g fat (11.343 995%) respectively. Significant positive correlations were found among age (r = 0.26, P < 0.05), inhabitation period (r = 0.49, P < 0.05), the consumption of fish (r = 0.37, P < 0.05) and the concentrations of TEQ-PCDD-Fs in the study.

CONCLUSIONThe levels of dioxin chemicals in the breast milk samples in non-directly POPs polluted areas of Shenzhen are high. Significant positive correlations were found among age, inhabitation period, the consumption of fish and the concentration of PCDD-Fs.

Adult ; China ; Dioxins ; analysis ; Environmental Exposure ; Female ; Humans ; Milk, Human ; chemistry ; Mothers ; Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins ; analogs & derivatives ; analysis ; Risk Assessment ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of the treatment of congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (CHPS) with endoscopic pyloromyotomy.

METHODNine consecutive infants (7 boys, 2 girls; age range 26 - 70 days; weight range 2.65 - 6.10 kg), with a diagnosis of CHPS according to typical clinical manifestations, transabdominal ultrasound (US), gastroenterography and gastroscope. All the cases had accompanying malnutrition, anaemia, metabolic alkalosis, and some were complicated with congenital heart disease. In gastroscope operating room, all the patients were given pentobarbital and midazolam intravenously. A gastroscope with an outer diameter of 5.9 mm was passed through mouth, stomach, pylorus to the descending segment of duodenum. Under gastroscopy, two incisions were made along the anterior and posterior wall of pylorus from the duodenal bulb to the antrum by using endoscopic electrosurgical needle knife and an arch sphincter sarcosome. Incisions were deepened by 2 to 3 procedures until the longitudinal muscle was exposed, about 2 to 4 mm according to transabdominal US performed before operation. The incision depth was 2 - 3 mm if pylorus wall was 4 - 6 mm in thickness; or 3 - 4 mm when the wall was thicker than 6 mm.

RESULTThe endoscope was easily passed through the pylorus to the duodenum post-operation. The transabdominal US and gastroenterography showed that liquid easily flew through pylorus. All patients were able to have regular feeding about 2 to 10 hours after the operation. Vomiting in all patients was significantly decreased in frequency and amount, and in 8 infants vomiting stopped within 1 week, in one case it did not stop until 1 month after the treatment. Some cases showed slight adverse reaction, no perforation or massive haemorrhage in stomach or intestines occurred in any of the patients during and post-operation. Eight infants were doing well at follow-up (range 2 to 9 months). One girl had recurred vomiting at normal feeding after a period of 1 month postoperation without vomiting. This case was cured by second endoscopic pyloromyotomy.

CONCLUSIONSEndoscopic pyloromyotomy is effective, safe, simple, and offers several advantages: no need for open-abdomen surgery, feeding can be initiated rapidly.

Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Pyloric Stenosis, Hypertrophic ; congenital ; surgery ; Pylorus ; surgery ; Sphincterotomy, Endoscopic ; ethics ; methods

Objective: Patients with a history of ischemic stroke are at risk for a second ischemic stroke. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between carotid plaque enhancement on perfluorobutane microbubble contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) and future recurrent stroke, and to determine whether plaque enhancement can contribute to risk assessment for recurrent stroke compared with the Essen Stroke Risk Score (ESRS). Materials and Methods: This prospective study screened 151 patients with recent ischemic stroke and carotid atherosclerotic plaques at our hospital between August 2020 and December 2020. A total of 149 eligible patients underwent carotid CEUS, and 130 patients who were followed up for 15–27 months or until stroke recurrence were analyzed. Plaque enhancement on CEUS was investigated as a possible risk factor for stroke recurrence and as a possible adjunct to ESRS. Results: During follow-up, 25 patients (19.2%) experienced recurrent stroke. Patients with plaque enhancement on CEUS had an increased risk of stroke recurrence events (22/73, 30.1%) compared to those without plaque enhancement (3/57, 5.3%), with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 38.264 (95% confidence interval [CI]:14.975–97.767; P < 0.001) according to a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model analysis, indicating that the presence of carotid plaque enhancement was a significant independent predictor of recurrent stroke. When plaque enhancement was added to the ESRS, the HR for stroke recurrence in the high-risk group compared to that in the low-risk group (2.188; 95% CI, 0.025–3.388) was greater than that of the ESRS alone (1.706; 95% CI, 0.810–9.014). A net of 32.0% of the recurrence group was reclassified upward appropriately by the addition of plaque enhancement to the ESRS. Conclusion Carotid plaque enhancement was a significant and independent predictor of stroke recurrence in patients with ischemic stroke. Furthermore, the addition of plaque enhancement improved the risk stratification capability of the ESRS.

Two-dimensional polyacryiamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and matrixassisted laser desorption/ionization tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS), incorporated with online database searching, were performed to investigate differential proteins of breast cancer and adjacent normal breast tissues. Considering that serum albumin is abundantly presented in normal control samples, 15 differential spots detected in 11 out of 12 (91.7%) breast cancer samples were identified by online SIENA-2DPAGE database searching and MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS analysis. The results indicate that pathological changes of breast cancer are concerned with augmentation of substance metabolism, promotion of proteolytic activity, decline of activity of some inhibitors of enzymes, and so on. Some important proteins involved in the pathological process of breast cancer with changed expression may be useful biomarkers, such as alpha-1-antitrypsin, EF1-beta, cathepsin D, TCTP, SMT3A, RPS12, and PSMA1, among which SMT3A,RPS12, and PSMA1 were first reported for breast cancer in this study.

OBJECTIVETo identify the etiologic agents from children who had been clinically diagnosed as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) during the epidemic in Beijing and to characterize the transmissibility of SARS from those children to others.

METHODSOne hundred and seventy-seven serum specimens were collected during the period of June to August, 2003 from children and adults who had been clinically diagnosed as SARS and who closely contacted with those diagnosed as SARS during SARS epidemic in Beijing. Serum specimens were also collected from 49 children from Anhui province which was non-epidemic region and 93 healthy kindergarten children without history of contacting with SARS patients in Beijing during SARS epidemic. Serum specimens collected from 90 healthy kindergarten children in Beijing in September 2002 were included in the study. All the 409 serum specimens were tested for specific antibodies against SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) by different methods including ELISA for specific IgM and IgG, whole antibodies against SARS-CoV, IFA for specific IgM and IgG against SARS-CoV, and Western-blot for IgG to expressed N protein from SARS-CoV.

RESULTSThe positive rates of specific IgG and whole antibodies against SARS-CoV ranged from 39.1% to 43.5% in the children who had been clinically diagnosed as SARS, zero in children and 6.0% to 9.0% in adults who had closely contacted with the clinically diagnosed SARS children. Among those clinically diagnosed SARS adult patients, the positive rates of specific IgG and whole antibodies against SARS-CoV were 57.1% to 71.4%. In children and adults who closely contacted with these clinically diagnosed SARS adult patients, the positive rates of specific IgG and whole antibodies against SARS-CoV were 0 to 9.7% and 4.4% to 7.1%, respectively. None of the serum specimens collected from healthy children before and during epidemic in Beijing and children from non-epidemic region was positive when IFA methods and ELISA with Beier kits were used for detection, but some were positive when ELISA with the diagnostic kit from other source was applied.

CONCLUSIONThe positive rates of specific IgG and whole antibodies against SARS-CoV in children who had been clinically diagnosed as SARS were around 40%, which is much lower than the positive rate in clinically diagnosed adult SARS patients, indicating that a large proportion of those "SARS" children were infected with respiratory viruses other than SARS-CoV during SARS epidemic in Beijing. Some of the children who closely contacted with children and adults SARS patients showed positive SARS-CoV antibodies, suggesting that asymptomatic infections may occur. The value of some approved diagnostic kit at least in children for SARS etiological diagnosis needs to be analyzed further.

Adult ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Blotting, Western ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Contact Tracing ; Disease Outbreaks ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Immunoglobulin M ; blood ; SARS Virus ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; blood ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; virology

Objective Aims to delineate the distribution profile of three isoforms of vesicular glutamate transporter (VGluT), viz. VGluT1-3, and their cellular localization within vestibular nuclear complex (VNC). Methods Brain sections from normal Sprague-Dawley rats were processed immunohistochemically for VGluT detection, employing avidin-biotinylated peroxidase complex method with 3-3'-diaminobenzidine (DAB) as chromogen. Results The whole VNC expressed all of the three transporters that were observed to be localized to the fiber endings. Compared with VGluT1 and VGluT3, VGluT2 demonstrated a relatively homogeneous distribution, with much higher density in VNC. VGluT3 displayed the highest density in lateral vestibular nucleus and group X, contrasting with the sparse immunostained puncta within vestibular medial and inferior nuclei. Conclusion Glutamtatergic pathways participate in the processing of vestibular signals within VNC mainly through the re-uptake of glutamate into synaptic vesicles by VGluT1 and 2, whereas VGluT3 may play a similar role mainly in areas other than medial and inferior nuclei of VNC.

A new dibenzocyclooctadiene lignan, renchangianin E (1) was isolated from the stems of Kadsura renchangiana. Its structure and stereochemistry were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including 2D-NMR techniques.
Cyclooctanes ; chemistry ; Kadsura ; chemistry ; Lignans ; chemistry ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Molecular Structure

P[8]b is a newly discovered sub-genotype for VP4 gene of group A human rotaviruses (HRV) worldwide. This study was to develop an effective method to identify P[8]a, P[8]b, P[4] and P[6] (sub) genotypes of VP4 genes of HRV and to investigate the prevalence of P[8]b sub-genotype and its G/P combinations of HRV in outpatient and inpatient children with diarrhea in Children's Hospital affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics from 2009 to 2010. By analyzing the collected nucleotide sequences of VP4 gene for all known P genotypes of HRV including P[8]b subtype from GenBank and using softwares of DNAS-tar and MegAlign to align and analyze multiple sequences, probes for P[8]a, P[8]b, P[4] and P[6] (sub) genotypes in the corresponding regions which are highly divergent among genes from different genotypes and conserved within genes of VP4s in same genotypes were designed. Then four sets of primers for PCR amplified DIG labeled probes were designed and corresponding DIG-labeled specific P genotype probes were synthesized with PCR by using VP8* genes of Beijing field HRV strains representing P-genotypes P[8]a, P[8]b, P[4] and P[6], respectively, as templates. Dot-blot hybridization was developed based on cDNA of VP4 genes. The dot-blot hybridization assay for P genotyping was reliable which was confirmed by sequencing of RT-PCR products of VP4 genes amplified from corresponding clinical samples. P genotyping for VP4 genes from 88 HRV positive specimens from the Outpatient Department (55%, 88/160) and 79 HRV positive specimens from the hospitalized (70.5%, 79/112) children with diarrhea indicated that P[8] a subtype was still the most prevalent sub-genotype, which was 96.6% (85/88) and 62.0% (49/79) respectively. The positive rate for P[8]b subtypes in hospitalized children with HRV diarrhea was higher (27.9%, 22/79) than that of in outpatient (2.3%, 2/88) HRV infected children. HRV with P[4] genotype was only found in one of the hospitalized children (1.3%, 1/79), and HRV with P[6] genotype was not detected from specimens either from outpatient or inpatient. G9P[8]b was the predominant combination among the P[8]b subtype of HRV positive specimens in this study. The results in this study indicated that G9P[8]b HRV circulated in children with diarrhea in Beijing.
Base Sequence ; Capsid Proteins ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Diarrhea ; epidemiology ; virology ; Genotype ; Humans ; Rotavirus ; genetics ; Rotavirus Infections ; epidemiology ; virology

OBJECTIVETo discuss the clinical effectiveness in treating thoracolumbar fractures adopting the rehabilitation exercise utilizing knee pads on the orthopedic traction bed.

METHODSFrom June 1996 to June 2006, we studied the clinical effectiveness of thoracolumbar fractures utilizing knee pads on the orthopedic traction bed for rehabilitation exercise. The cases surveyed total 209, 163 of which had full data. There were 98 males and 65 females with the age from 17 to 74 years (mean, 14.5 years). Consulting time after injury from 30 min to 7 days. Fracture site in T11 had 8 cases, in T12 24 cases, in L1 73 cases, in L2 33 cases, in L3 8 cases, in L4 3 cases, in T12 and L1 14 cases. Compression degree of vertebral anterior border: full compression had 1 case,more than 4/5 had 23, more than 2/3 had 67, more than 1/2 had 40, in 1/3 had 46.

RESULTSAmong them, 8 cases with legs paresis no recovery in nerval function or stopping recovery changed methods, and underwent surgical treatment. Others 155 cases were followed up from 2 to 12 years with an average of 3 years and 4 months. The average height of vertebral anterior borders of the 169 injured compressed had increased from 1.55 cm before treatment to 2.70 cm after treatment with an average of 1.15 cm. The height of the injured vertebral anterior borders had recovered from 50.5% (1.55/3.07) before treatment to 89.4% (2.70/3.02) after treatment. Kyphosis angle of the injured vertebral bodies had recovered from 13.25 degrees to -1.6 degrees in average. Twenty-three cases associated with dislocation basic reduction.

CONCLUSIONRehabilitation exercise using knee pads on the orthopedic traction bed can obtain satisfactory clinical effect in treating thoracolumbar fractures, the method is easy. At 3, 7, 10 days after treatment, the height of bed should be adjusted according X-ray.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Exercise Therapy ; instrumentation ; methods ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Orthopedic Equipment ; Recovery of Function ; Spinal Fractures ; physiopathology ; rehabilitation ; surgery ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; injuries ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult