Objective To investigate the susceptibilities of HCMV clinical strains isolated to ganciclovir from the patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.Methods Eight HCMV clinical isolates were isolated from the blood or the urine of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients who had been treated with GCV.Tissue cell infection median dose(TCID50) were calculated by Reed-Muench method.Drug susceptibility was determined by MTT assay.Results TCID50 values of eight HCMV clinical strains were 10-4.12/0.1ml,10-4.29/0.1ml,10-4.3/0.1ml,10-4.4/0.1ml 10-4.42/0.1ml,10-4.5/0.1ml,10-4.52/0.1ml and 10-4.62/0.1ml respectively.50％ inhibitory concentration(IC50) to GCV of eight HCMV clinical strains were 0.638,1.438,0.965,0.698,0.482,1.167,1.519,1.511 mg/L respectively.Conclusion Our results suggest that resistant HCMV strains are not prevalent in Guangzhou.Continuous monitoring of HCMV is needed to understand the antiviral resistance status of the virus in patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and guide its clinical management.

OBJECTIVETo establish the median of serum markers for second trimester screening in Qingdao region and to assess the influence of median correction on the performance of screening.

METHODSMaternal serum alpha-fetoproteins (AFP), human chorionic gonadotrophin, free beta subunit (β -HCG) and unconjugated oestriol (uE3) were assayed for prenatal screening of 18 188 singleton pregnancies at 15-20(+ 6) weeks gestation from January 2009 to July 2010. The median of serum markers was calculated based on above results and applied for risk estimation in screening for fetal aneuploidy from August 2010 to March 2011. The screening performance, specified in terms of detection rates (DRs), false positive rates (FPRs) and odds of being affected given a positive result (OAPR) were compared between the two groups. The risks of 45 affected pregnancies detected during the study were estimated with both Caucasian and corrected medians.

RESULTSThe average level of AFP in local pregnancies was similar to that of the Caucasian population, whilst β -HCG and uE3 were respectively 11% and 33% higher than those of Caucasians. The multiple of median (MoM) value was between 0.94 and 1.02 for the dataset based on the corrected median. At a cut-off of l in 270, FPR has decreased from 5.2% to 4.9%, and DR of Down syndrome has increased from 60% to 69.2%, and OAPR has increased from 1:79 to 1:59 when evaluating risk based on the corrected median. For the 45 affected pregnancies, three Down syndrome pregnancies could be missed because their risk estimates were lower than the cut-off level based on Caucasian median.

CONCLUSIONIt is useful to establish and apply population and laboratory-specific medians in order to improve the performance of prenatal screening and diagnosis.

Adult ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Estriol ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Lindane ; blood ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; methods ; alpha-Fetoproteins ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether the variants A(-6)G and A(-20)C of angiotensinogen (AGT) gene are involved in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension in Kazakans.

METHODST his case control study recruited 125 subjects with hypertension and 74 normotensive subjects from Kazakans of Xinjiang. Genomic DNA from leukocytes was analyzed for genetic variants A(-6)G and A(-20)C in 5' upstream core promoter of AGT gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and automatic sequencing.

RESULTS(1)There were only A(-6)G and A(-20)C variants in the -164 to +73 region of Kazakans' AGT gene. (2) The distributions of genotypes AA, AG, GG at locus -6 of AGT gene showed significant difference between the hypertensive group (0.39, 0.45, 0.16) and the normotensive group (0.49, 0.49, 0.02; Chi2=8.56, P=0.014). There were evident differences in the frequencies of the -6A and the -6G allele of the two groups (0.62, 0.38 and 0.73, 0.27; Chi2=5.35, P=0.021). (3) No significant difference was observed in the distribution of genotypes AA, AC, CC at locus -20 of AGT gene between the hypertensive group (0.69, 0.26, 0.05) and the normotensive group (0.65, 0.32, 0.03; Chi2=2.42, P=0.30). There was no distinct difference in the frequencies of the -20A allele and the -20C allele of the two groups (0.82, 0.18 and 0.82, 0.18; Chi2=0, P=0.99). (4) No significant difference was found at the levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure between the groups corresponding to genotypes at the loci -6 and -20 of AGT gene.

CONCLUSIONThe results suggest that the polymorphism of A(-6)G in 5' upstream core promoter of the AGT gene may be involved in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension in Kazakans, while the A(-20)C variant may not play an important role in the etiology of essential hypertension in Kazakans.

5' Flanking Region ; genetics ; Adult ; Alleles ; Angiotensinogen ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; Blood Pressure ; physiology ; Case-Control Studies ; China ; DNA ; chemistry ; genetics ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Hypertension ; genetics ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; genetics

In this study, ecological factors, occurrence records, the essential oil components content were used to predict the potential geographical distribution and quality division of Mentha haplocalyx in China based on the MaxEnt modeling and geographic information system(GIS). The AUC of ROC curve was above 0.950,indicating that the predictive results with the maximum model were highly precise. The results showed that the main environmental factors determining the potential distribution were annual average precipitation (the contribution rate, 45.87%), mean temperature of wettest quarter (11.92%), mean temperature of warmest quarter (7.84%), average monthly precipitation of May (6.80%), standard deviation of seasonal temperature variation (4.42%), mean temperature of the coldest quarter (3.47%) and altitude (2.92%). The environmental variables in the highly potential areas were determined as annual average precipitation around [530,1 465] mm, mean temperature of wettest quarter around [24.5,29] ℃, mean temperature of the warmest quarter around [25.5,29] ℃, average monthly precipitation of May around [67,133] mm, standard deviation of temperature seasonal change around [8 333,9 643], mean temperature of the coldest quarter around [1.7,8.3] ℃ and the altitude around [0,165] mm. The best quality distribution of M. haplocalyx was mainly located in Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Zhejiang and Heilongjiang. The zoning results basically coincide with the actual situation. The quality division of M. haplocalyx can be used for providing a scientific basis for selection of artificial planting base and guidance of its production.

BACKGROUNDAn acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is still one of the major challenges in critically ill patients. This study aimed to investigate the effect of inhibiting c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) on ARDS in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ARDS rat model.

METHODSThirty-six rats were randomized into three groups: control, LPS, and LPS + JNK inhibitor. Rats were sacrificed 8 h after LPS treatment. The lung edema was observed by measuring the wet-to-dry weight (W/D) ratio of the lung. The severity of pulmonary inflammation was observed by measuring myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity of lung tissue. Moreover, the neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were counted to observe the airway inflammation. In addition, lung collagen accumulation was quantified by Sircol Collagen Assay. At the same time, the pulmonary histologic examination was performed, and lung injury score was achieved in all three groups.

RESULTSMPO activity in lung tissue was found increased in rats treated with LPS comparing with that in control (1.26 ± 0.15 U in LPS vs. 0.77 ± 0.27 U in control, P < 0.05). Inhibiting JNK attenuated LPS-induced MPO activity upregulation (0.52 ± 0.12 U in LPS + JNK inhibitor vs. 1.26 ± 0.15 U in LPS, P < 0.05). Neutrophils in BALF were also found to be increased with LPS treatment, and inhibiting JNK attenuated LPS-induced neutrophils increase in BALF (255.0 ± 164.4 in LPS vs. 53 (44.5-103) in control vs. 127.0 ± 44.3 in LPS + JNK inhibitor, P < 0.05). At the same time, the lung injury score showed a reduction in LPS + JNK inhibitor group comparing with that in LPS group (13.42 ± 4.82 vs. 7.00 ± 1.83, P = 0.001). However, the lung W/D ratio and the collagen in BALF did not show any differences between LPS and LPS + JNK inhibitor group.

CONCLUSIONSInhibiting JNK alleviated LPS-induced acute lung inflammation and had no effects on pulmonary edema and fibrosis. JNK inhibitor might be a potential therapeutic medication in ARDS, in the context of reducing lung inflammatory.

Animals ; Anthracenes ; therapeutic use ; Collagen ; metabolism ; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides ; toxicity ; Lung ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Rats ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects

BACKGROUNDCirculating endometrial cells (CECs) have been reported to be present in the peripheral blood of women with endometriosis (EM), providing clear and specific evidence of the presence of ectopic lesions. In this study, we established a method with a high detection rate of CECs, assessed the diagnostic value of CECs for EM and compared with serum CA125, and proposed a hypothesis for the pathogenesis of EM from the new perspective of CECs.

METHODSThe participants were enrolled prospectively from October 2015 to July 2016. The peripheral blood samples were collected from 59 participants, and the blood cells were isolated for immunofluorescence staining via microfluidic chips. The cells that were positive for vimentin/cytokeratin and estrogen/progesterone receptor and negative for CD45 were identified as CECs. The serum CA125 level was tested with electrochemiluminescence immunoassay.

RESULTSThe detection rate of CECs reached 89.5% (17/19) in the EM group, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (15.0% [6/40], P < 0.001) and was independent of menstrual cycle phases. Furthermore, a positive CEC assay detected 4/5 cases of Stage I-II EM. In contrast, a positive CA125 test had limited value in detecting EM (13/19, 68.4%) and detected only one case of Stage I-II EM.

CONCLUSIONCECs are promising biomarkers for EM with great potential for a noninvasive diagnostic assay.

Objectives: To analyze and understand the risk factors related to HIV new infections among men who have sex with men (MSM). Methods: A longitudinal observational study among MSM was conducted to collect information on HIV related behaviors and sero-conversion. Univariate and multivariate generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to discuss the risk factors for HIV new infection. Results: A total number of 4 305 MSM were followed during 2013-2015. Among those self-reported MSM who are seeking partners on the Interner tended to have higher proportion on receptive anal intercourse and consistent condom use during anal intercourse than the subgroups seeking their partners in gay bars or bathrooms. HIV incidence among followed MSM during the study period appeared as 4.3/100 person years, with adjusted RR (aRR) of HIV infection for receptive anal intercourse as group 2.20 (95% CI: 1.49-3.24) times than that of insertion anal intercourse group. Those who used rush-poppers (aRR=1.55, 95% CI: 1.10-2.17), unprotected anal intercourse (aRR=2.24, 95%CI: 1.62-3.08), and those with syphilis infection (aRR=2.95, 95%CI: 2.00-4.35) were also risk factors for HIV new infections. After controlling other factors, the relationship between the ways of seeking partners and HIV new infection was not statistical significant. Conclusion: Risk factors for HIV new infection among MSM appeared complex and interactive, suggesting that further studies are needed to generate tailored strategies for the prevention of HIV epidemic among MSM population.
Adult ; Cohort Studies ; HIV Infections/diagnosis* ; Homosexuality, Male ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Risk Factors ; Risk-Taking ; Sexual Behavior ; Sexual Partners ; Sexual and Gender Minorities ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Unsafe Sex

The Baimai Ointment with the effect of relaxing sinew and activating collaterals demonstrates a definite effect on Baimai disease with pain, spasm, stiffness and other symptoms, while the pharmacodynamic characteristics and mechanism of this agent remain unclear. In this study, a rat model of chronic compression of L4 dorsal root ganglion(CCD) was established by lumbar disc herniation, and the efficacy and mechanism of Baimai Ointment in the treatment of CCD were preliminarily explored by behavioral tests, side effect evaluation, network analysis, antagonist and molecular biology verification. The pharmacodynamic experiment indicated that Baimai Ointment significantly improved the pain thresholds(mechanical pain, thermal pain, and cold pain) and gait behavior of CCD model rats without causing tolerance or obvious toxic and side effects. Baimai Ointment inhibited the second-phase nociceptive response of mice in the formalin test, increased the hot plate threshold of normal mice, and down-regulated the expression of inflammatory cytokines in the spinal cord. Network analysis showed that Baimai Ointment had synergistic effect in the treatment of CCD and was related to descending inhibition/facilitation system and neuroinflammation. Furthermore, behavioral tests, Western blot, and immunofluorescence assay revealed that the pain-relieving effect of Baimai Ointment on CCD may be related to the regulation of the interaction between neuroactive ligand and receptors(neuroligands) such as CHRNA7, ADRA2A, and ADRB2, and the down-regulation of the expression of NOS2/pERK/PI3K, the core regulatory element of HIF-1 signaling pathway in spinal microglia. The findings preliminarily reveal the mechanism of relaxing sinew and activating collaterals of Baimai Ointment in the treatment of Baimai disease, providing a reference for the rational drug use and further research of this agent.
Rats ; Mice ; Animals ; Chronic Pain/metabolism* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Ganglia, Spinal/metabolism* ; Ligands ; Signal Transduction ; Hyperalgesia/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal