Objective To compare the diagnostic accuracy between neutrophil CD64 and C-reactive protein (CRP) as a single test for the early detection of neonatal sepsis. Methods A total of 36 patients who were hospitalized in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in our hospital were divided into documented sepsis group(n=10), clinical sepsis group (n=14) and control newborns (n=12). CRP, neutrophil CD64, complete blood counts and blood culture were detected at the time of the suspected sepsis for the documented or clinical group. CD64 was measured by automatic flow cytometry. The di-agnostic value of CRP and CD64 was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results CD64 was significantly elevated in the groups with documented or clinical sepsis, whereas CRP was not significantly increased compared with controls. For documented sepsis group, CD64 and CRP had a sensitivity of 92% and11%, a specificity of 83% and 80%, a positive predictive value of 83% and 34% and a negative predictive value of 91% and 50%, respectively, with a cutoff value of 3.2 mg/dL for CD64 and 1.1 mg/dL for CRP. Conclusion The diagnostic ac-curacy of CD64 is superior to CRP when measured at the time of suspected sepsis, which implies that CD64 is a more reliable marker for the early identification of neonatal sepsis as a single determination compared with CRP.

Objective To investigate whether mild hypothermia can promote neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of hippocampus and cognitive function recovery after traumatic brain injury ( TBI) through inhibiting apoptosis of hippocampal neurons. Methods A total of 66 healthy adult Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group, TBI group and TBI+hypothermia group, with 22 rats in each group. The rat TBI model was established using the fluid percussion device. The rats in TBI +hypothermia group received 4-hour hypothermia therapy immediately after injury, with the target temperature of 33. 5℃. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was injected into the rats' abdominal cavity to label the mitotic cells. The test of Morris water maze was used to evaluate the rats' spatial learning and memory capabilities. Immunofluorescence staining was used to observe the expression levels of BrdU, doublecortin (DCX), neuron specific nuclear protein (NeuN), cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 3 (caspase-3) and cleaved caspase-3 expressions in dentate gyrus of hippocampus at 7 days and 28 days after injury. Expressions apoptosis-related proteins including the factor associated suicide ( FAS )/factor associated suicide ligand (FASL), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-3 expressions were detected by Western blot assay. Results The water maze tests at 28 days after injury showed that compared with TBI group, the escape latency in TBI+hypothermia group was significantly shorter [(24. 2 ± 5. 9)s:(18 ± 4. 1)s], and both the time in the target quadrant and the number of platform crossing were increasedsignificantly[(24.9±6.5)s:(31.7±5.2)s; (1.9±0.8) times:(3.5±1.2)times](P<0. 05). Compared with the sham group, in TBI group and TBI+hypothermia group, the BrdU+ new-born cells in the dentate gyrus of hippocampus were significantly increased at 7 days after injury [(9. 4 ± 4. 1):(33. 4 ± 3. 8);(9. 4 ± 4. 1):(45. 8 ± 5. 6)], the BrdU+ /DCX+ new-born neurons were increased at 7 days after injury [(2. 0 ± 0. 6):(9. 6 ± 1. 6);(2. 0 ± 0. 6):(19. 2 ± 3. 7)], and the BrdU+ /NeuN+mature neurons were increased at 28 days after injury [(2. 6 ± 1. 0) :(17. 2 ± 3. 9); (2. 6 ± 1. 0) :(33. 6 ± 9. 1)] (P<0. 01). TBI group showed more obvious increase than the TBI+hypothermia group (P<0. 01). Moreover, compared with 7 days after injury, the number of BrdU+ cells at 28 days after injury was further increased in TBI +hypothermia group but decreased in TBI group [(45. 8 ± 5. 6) :(58. 8 ± 9. 2);(33. 4 ± 3. 8):(22. 0 ± 3. 5)](P<0. 05 or <0. 01). Compared with the sham group, the caspase-3 +NeuN+ and caspase-3 +NeuN+ apoptotic neurons were significantly increased at 7 days after injury in TBI group [(2. 0 ± 0. 9):(11. 6 ± 2. 6); (2. 6 ± 1. 0):(10. 2 ± 2. 9)] (P<0. 05). Compared with the TBI group, the cleaved caspase-3 +NeuN+ apoptotic neurons were decreased in TBI+hypothermia group [(6. 6 ± 2. 0):(11. 6 ± 2. 6)](P<0. 05). Furthermore, compared with the TBI group, mild hypothermia might down-regulate the expression of FAS, FASL, cleaved caspase-3 and caspase-3 and up-regulate the expression of Bcl-2 in the hippocampus [(1. 54 ± 0. 15) :(1. 14 ± 0. 12);(1. 06 ± 0. 04):(0. 80 ± 0. 09); (0. 84 ± 0. 03):(0. 62 ± 0. 08); (0. 93 ± 0. 06):(0. 86 ± 0. 09);(0. 71 ± 0. 01):(1. 58 ± 0. 18)](P<0. 05). Conclusions Mild hypothermia might inhibit apoptosis of hippocampal neurons through cleaved caspase-3, FAS/FASL and Bcl-2 pathways, thus improving the neurogenesis and maturation of neurons in the dentate gyrus of hippocampus and facilitating cognitive function recovery in rats. It indicates that the function of hypothermia in anti-apoptosis and neurogenesis and maturity of hippocampal neurons may have a potential role in predicting the prognosis of TBI patients.

Objective:To determine whether postoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) improves the survival outcomes of cervical cancer patients with pelvic and/or para-aortic lymph node metastasis after radical surgery.Methods:Clinical data of 188 cervical cancer patients presenting with pelvic and/or para-aortic lymph node metastasis after radical surgery between February 2008 and November 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. The incidence of pelvic and/or para-aortic lymph node metastasis was confirmed by postoperative pathology. The clinical efficacy of CCRT was evaluated.Results:Recurrence/metastasis occurred in 46 patients. In the radiotherapy alone group, 4(57.1%) patients had recurrence/metastasis in the posterior peritoneum subgroup, 5(55.6%) in the iliac subgroup and 11(28.2%) in the pelvic non-iliac subgroup, respectively. In the CCRT group, there were 5(62.5%) cases of recurrence/metastasis in the posterior peritoneum subgroup, 5(25%) in the iliac subgroup and 16(15.2%) in the pelvic non-iliac subgroup, respectively. Compared with the radiotherapy alone, CCRT could significantly improve the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of patients with pelvic without iliac lymph node metastasis or iliac lymph node metastasis (pelvic without iliac: 88.6% vs.76.9%, P=0.003; iliac: 80.0% vs.44.4%, P=0.041), whereas failed to improve the 5-year OS of patients with para-aortic lymph node metastasis (50.0% vs.42.9%, P=0.973). The location of lymph node metastasis and CCRT were the independent prognostic factors for OS (para-aortic vs. pelvic without iliac: hazard ratio[HR]=4.259, 95% CI=1.700-10.671, P=0.002; iliac vs. pelvic without iliac: HR=2.985, 95% CI=1.290-6.907, P=0.011; concurrent chemotherapy vs. radiotherapy alone: HR=0.439, 95% CI=0.218-0.885, P=0.021). Conclusions:CCRT can improve the survival of patients with pelvic lymph node metastasis, but it fails to enhance the survival rate of patients with para-aortic lymph node metastasis.