OBJECTIVETo study the chest X-ray image features of patients with severe SARS.

METHODSChest X-ray image features in 36 patients with severe SARS were retrospectively analyzed. The image characteristics were compared with those of 224 patients with common SARS.

RESULTSThe important chest X-ray imaging features of 36 patients with severe SARS included small patch of infiltration (n = 27, 75.0%), large patch of infiltration (n = 22, 61.1%), large area of lung consolidation (n = 10, 27.3%), interstitial lung lesion (n = 26, 72.2%), ground-glass shadow (n = 28, 77.8%), irregular linear opacity (n = 15, 41.7%), diffuse lung lesion (n = 12, 33.3%), with single lung involved (n = 9, 25.0%), and both lungs involved (n = 32, 88.9%). The rates of large patch of infiltration, large area of lung consolidation, ground-glass shadow, diffuse lung lesion and involvement of both lungs in patients with severe SARS were significantly higher than those in patients with common type of SARS (all P < 0.01). Out of the 11 severe SARS patients who died, nine had large area of ground-glass shadow with air bronchogram in both lungs before death.

CONCLUSIONSLarge patch of infiltration, large area of consolidation, ground-glass shadow, diffuse lung lesion and involvement of both lungs were the main X-ray image characteristics of patients with severe SARS. Large area of ground-glass shadow with air bronchogram in both lungs indicated a bad prognosis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; diagnostic imaging

Objective To study the chest radiographic appearances of the non-tuberculous mycobacterial(NTM) pulmonary infection in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).Methods Ten patients with AIDS and NTM underwent chest X-ray radiography and 7 patients performed high-resolution CT (HRCT) scan. Chest radiographic features of NTM in patients with AIDS were retrospectively analyzed. Results The chest radiograph showed bilateral pulmonary involvement in 6 cases and single lung involvement in 4 cases (3 cases in the right, 1 case in the left). Patchy air space consolidation (6 cases), large consolidation (5 cases), cavitation (5 cases), small nodules (3 cases),military nodules (2 cases), linear opacity ( 1 cases) were demonstrated on radiography. On HRCT, air space consolidation (7 cases), small nodules (6 cases), large consolidation (5 cases) with cavitation and cylindric bronchiectasis after the absorption of consolidation, enlarged hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes (4 cases), ground-glass opacities (3 cases), military nodules and "tree-in-bud" sign (2 case), pleural effusion ( 1 case), pericardial effusion ( 1 case) and fibrotic band ( 1 case) were found. Conclusion The most common radiographic appearances of NTM in patients with AIDS are bilateral small nodules, large consolidation with cavitation and cylindric bronchiectasis, enlarged hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes.

Objective To manifest the imaging appearances of the pulmonary mucormycesis in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome(AIDS).Methods The radiographic and hiish resolution computed lomography(HRCT)features of the pulmonary mucormycosis in 13 patients with AIDS were retrospectively analyzed.Results On radiography,the infiltrative lesions were found in 5 patients,7 cases had reticular pattem,4 cages had pleural effusion,4 cages had enlarged hilar and mediagtinal lymph nodes,3 cases had diffuse milliary lesions,3 Cages had masses,2 cases had ground-slags shadows,2 cages had cystic lesions,cavity,pleural thickening,pericardia]effusion and focal pneumothorax Wag presented in 1 cage respectively.On HRCT,7 cages had enlarged mediagtinal lymph nedes,7 cages had interlobular septal thickening,the infiltrative lesion were found in 6 patients,5 cages had diffuse milliary lesions,4 cages had pleural effusion,3 cases had inasses,2 cages had ground-glass shadows,2 cases had cystic lesions,cavity,pleural thickening,focal bronchiectagis,pericardial effusion and focal pneumothorax was presented in 1 case respectively.Conclusion The main imaging appearances of the pulmonary mucormycesis in patients with AIDS include diffuse milliary lesion,enlarged hilar and mediagtinal lymph node,interiobular septal thickening,infiltrative lesion,pleural effusion and mass.

Objective:To explore the relation of the radiochemical purity and in vivo imaging effect of 68Ga-1, 4, 7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane-1, 4, 7, 10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA)- D-phe1-Tyr3-Thr8-octreotide (TATE) injection. Methods:High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and thin-layer chromatography (TLC) methods were established to determine 68Ga-DOTATATE, 68Ga 3+ , 68Ga in colloidal form and 68Ga-DOTA- D-Phe1-Tyr3-Thr8-dethreonine-octreotide (heptapeptide) and to study the influence of precursor purity on radiochemical purity of labelled products. The uptake of 68Ga-DOTATATE injection with different radiochemical purities was investigated in nude mice bearing AR42J cells by microPET imaging and the tumor target/non-target (T/NT) value was calculated. One-way analysis of variance and Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. Results:The contents of 68Ga 3+ and 68Ga in colloidal form were not related with precursor purity ( r values: 0.385, 0.497, P values: 0.306, 0.137), while the content of 68Ga-DOTA-heptapeptide was positively related with the purity of DOTA-heptapeptide ( r=0.957, P<0.001). The radiochemical purities of 68Ga-DOTATATE injection were (87.0±2.3)%, (86.8±0.8)% and (94.0±3.1)% when the DOTATATE purities were 90.9%, 91.6% and 99.2%, respectively. The results of microPET imaging showed that the tumor uptake was positively related with the radiochemical purity of 68Ga-DOTATATE injection ( r=0.828, P<0.001), and the T/NT values of 68Ga-DOTATATE injection with radiochemical purities of 95.7%, 85.8%, 84.5% and 79.9% were 21.25±8.84, 8.50±1.51, 11.38±1.65 and 6.01±0.99, respectively ( F=11.48, P=0.001). Conclusion:The radiochemical purity of 68Ga-DOTATATE injection is impacted by the purity of labelled precursor and manufacturing processes and is related with the imaging effect in vivo.

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) has become an important regulator of many cellular processes, including cell proliferation. Although studies have shown that a variety of lncRNAs play an important role in the occurrence and development of hematopoietic malignancies, a more comprehensive and unbiased method to study the function of lncRNAs in leukemia cell lines is lacking. Here, we used short hairpin RNA (shRNA) library combined with high-throughput sequencing to screen lncRNAs that may affect the proliferation of leukemia cell lines, and identified lncRNA C20orf204-203 among 74 candidate lncRNAs in this study. Further experiments showed that C20orf204-203 was localized in the cytoplasm in both K562 and THP-1 cell lines. C20orf204-203 knockdown decreased the proliferation of K562 and THP-1 cell lines accompanied with the increased proportion of early apoptotic cells. We observed the increased mRNA level of BAD gene while decreased protein level of TP53 and BCL2. The expression of Caspase 3 decreased and Caspase 3-cleaved protein increased in THP-1 cell line. However, their changes were inconsistent in the two cell lines. Our experimental results showed that knockdown of lncRNA C20orf204-203 in leukemia cell lines affected cell proliferation although the mechanism of action in different cell lines may differ. Importantly, our research demonstrated the feasibility of using shRNA library combined with high-throughput sequencing to study the role of lncRNA in leukemia cell lines on a large scale.
Caspase 3 ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation/genetics* ; Humans ; Lentivirus/genetics* ; Leukemia/genetics* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; RNA, Long Noncoding/metabolism* ; RNA, Messenger ; RNA, Small Interfering/genetics*

OBJECTIVE: To examine the anti-inflammatory effects and potential mechanisms of polypeptide from Moschus (PPM) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced THP-1 macrophages and BALB/c mice. METHODS: The polypeptide was extracted from Moschus and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Subsequently, LPS was used to induce inflammation in THP-1 macrophages and BALB/c mice. In LPS-treated or untreated THP-1 macrophages, cell viability was observed by cell counting kit 8 and lactate dehydrogenase release assays; the proinflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and flow cytometry, respectively; and protein and mRNA levels were measured by Western blot and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), respectively. In LPS-induced BALB/c mice, the proinflammatory cytokines were measured, and lung histology and cytokines were observed by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, respectively. RESULTS: The SDS-PAGE results suggested that the molecular weight of purified PPM was in the range of 10-26 kD. In vitro, PPM reduced the production of interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-18, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), IL-6 and ROS in LPS-induced THP-1 macrophages (P<0.01). Western blot analysis demonstrated that PPM inhibited LPS-induced nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) pathway and thioredoxin interacting protein (TXNIP)/nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, leucine-rich repeat and pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome pathway by reducing protein expression of phospho-NF-κB p65, phospho-inhibitors of NF-κB (Iκ Bs) kinase α/β (IKKα/β), TXNIP, NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC), and pro-caspase-1 (P<0.05 or P<0.01). In addition, qRT-PCR revealed the inhibitory effects of PPM on the mRNA levels of TXNIP, NLRP3, ASC, and caspase-1 (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Furthermore, in LPS-induced BALB/c mice, PPM reduced TNF-α and IL-6 levels in serum (P<0.05 or P<0.01), decreased IL-1β and IL-18 levels in the lungs (P<0.01) and alleviated pathological injury to the lungs. CONCLUSION PPM could attenuate LPS-induced inflammation by inhibiting the NF-κB-ROS/NLRP3 pathway, and may be a novel potential candidate drug for treating inflammation and inflammation-related diseases.