Cough ; diagnosis ; Disease Management ; Humans

BACKGROUNDSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is a newly emerging virus that gives rise to SARS patients with high rates of infectivity and fatality. To study the humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV, the authors evaluated IgG and IgM specific antibodies in patients' sera.

METHODSTwo methods, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA), were used to detect specific serum IgG and IgM against SARS-CoV in 98 SARS patients and 250 controls consisting of patients with pneumonia, health-care professionals and healthy subjects. The serum antibody profiles were investigated at different times over one and a half years in 18 of the SARS patients.

RESULTSThe sensitivity and specificity of ELISA for detecting IgG against SARS-CoV were 100.0% and 97.2% and for IgM 89.8% and 97.6% respectively; the figures using IFA for IgG were 100.0% and 100.0% and for IgM 81.8% and 100.0% respectively. During the first seven days of the antibodies trace test, no IgG and IgM were detected, but on day 15, IgG response increased dramatically, reaching a peak on day 60, remaining high up to day 180 and decreasing gradually until day 540. On day 15, IgM was detected, rapidly reached a peak, then declined gradually until day 180 when IgM was undetectable.

CONCLUSIONThe detection of antibodies against SARS virus is helpful in the clinical diagnosis of SARS.

Adult ; Aged ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Immunoglobulin M ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; SARS Virus ; immunology ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; immunology

BACKGROUNDOptical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new imaging technique capable of obtaining high-resolution intravascular images of small vessels and has been widely used in interventional cardiology. However, application of OCT in peripheral pulmonary arteries in patients has been seldom documented.

METHODSThree patients who were highly suspected peripheral pulmonary arteries thrombi and had undergone CT pulmonary angiography but tested negative for thrombi in peripheral pulmonary arteries were enrolled. Subsequently, OCT imaging was performed in peripheral pulmonary arteries. The patients received more than three-month anticoagulative treatment if thrombi were detected by OCT. Thereafter, OCT re-evaluation of the thrombolized blood vessels detected earlier was performed. The changes of thrombi before and after anticoagulative treatment were compared.

RESULTSThree patients underwent OCT imaging of peripheral pulmonary arteries. Thrombi were found in most of imaged vessels in these patients. Red and white thrombi can be differentiated, according to features of the thrombus on OCT images. After anticoagulation treatment, these patients' symptoms and hypoxemia improved. Repeated OCT imaging showed that most thrombi disappeared or became smaller.

CONCLUSIONOCT may be used as a potential tool for detecting peripheral pulmonary artery thrombi and differentiating red thrombi from white ones.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Embolism ; diagnosis ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; methods

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new imaging technique capable of obtaining high-resolution intravascular images and has been used in interventional cardiology. However, an application of OCT in pulmonary arteries had seldom been documented. In this case, OCT imaging is performed in peripheral pulmonary arteries and shows mural red thrombi. Subsequently, the red thrombi are aspirated and confirmed by a histological examination. These findings suggest that OCT may be a useful tool to depict peripheral pulmonary artery thrombi.
Adult ; Angiography ; Humans ; Male ; Pulmonary Artery/*pathology/radiography ; Pulmonary Embolism/*diagnosis ; Tomography, Optical Coherence/*methods ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUNDImmunostimulating agents made from bacterial extracts represent a class of medications that contains antigens derived from several bacterial strains and their potential ability to prevent bacterial infections results from the stimulation of the nonspecific component of the immune system. The present study investigated the effect of the oral immunostimulant Broncho-Vaxom, which includes material from eight different species of bacteria that are frequently present in the lower respiratory tract, on the frequency and severity of acute exacerbation in patients with chronic bronchitis accompanied by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

METHODSNinety patients with chronic bronchitis complicated with COPD were randomly divided into groups A and B. Forty-nine subjects in group A received oral capsules containing 7 mg Broncho-Vaxom, while 41 patients in group B received similar placebo capsules. Both groups took one capsule daily for the first 10 days of each month for 3 consecutive months. The frequency of acute exacerbation, symptom scores, and lung function were recorded for the following one year period.

RESULTSThere was a significant decrease in the incidence, duration, and severity of acute exacerbation, as well as a reduction in the course of antibiotics administered and in the dosage of bronchodilator and mucolytic agent in group A, as compared to group B (P < 0.05, respectively). Symptom scores for cough, sputum, dyspnea, as well as symptoms observed upon auscultation of the chest also improved significantly in group A as compared to group B (P < 0.05, respectively). The bacterial clearance rate in sputum cultures from patients who received no antibiotics for the first 3 months was also significantly higher in group A compared to group B (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSOrally administered Broncho-Vaxom is associated with a decrease in the incidence of acute exacerbation and a decrease in the need for antibiotics and symptomatic relief medications in patients with chronic bronchitis accompanied by COPD. Broncho-Vaxom is also associated with a decrease in symptom scores. Without causing any apparent adverse effects, this drug may also help to eradicate pathogenic bacteria in the airways.

Adjuvants, Immunologic ; therapeutic use ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Bacteria ; Bronchitis ; complications ; Cell Extracts ; therapeutic use ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; physiopathology ; therapy

AIMTo compare the efficacy and complications of extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (SWL) and pneumatic ureteroscopic lithotripsy (URS) in the treatment of lower ureteral calculi.

METHODSFrom August 1997 to June 1999, 210 patients with calculi in the distal third of the ureter were treated with SWL and the other 180 with URS. The stones were fragmented with either HB-ESWL-V lithotripter or JML-93 pneumatic lithotripter through Wolf 7.5 approximately 9.0 Fr ureteroscope. The outcome was assessed in terms of stone clearance rate, re-treatment rate and complication incidence.

RESULTSThe stone clearance rate was 78.1 % with SWL and 93.3 % with URS (P<0.05). SWL had a re-treatment rate of 11.9 %, vs 2.2 % in the URS group (P<0.05). URS caused ureteral perforation in 3.3% of patients, while it was 0 with SWL (P<0.05). The differences in the incidence of other complications such as infection and stricture between the two groups were insignificant.

CONCLUSIONThough the selection of these two options depends on equipments available and the expertise of the operator, we recommend URS as the optimal treatment for distal ureteral calculi.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Lithotripsy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Ureteral Calculi ; therapy

Objective To investigate the changes of cognitive impairment and its correlated factors in patients with first acute cerebral ischemic stroke.Methods Five hundred and sixty-eighty patients,admitted to our hospital from July 2010 to June 2011 and met the diagnostic criteria of first acute cerebral ischemic stroke,were chosen in our study; neuropsychological evaluation was conducted within 1 week of acute cerebral ischemic stroke.The comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation battery included mini-mental state examination (MMSE),Digit span,Mattis dementia scale,Rey complex figure test,stroop test,World Health Organization and University of California-Los Angeles auditory verbal learning test,semantic category verbal fluency test and clock drawing test,which contained tests for memory,attention,executive function,information processing capability,visuospatial and visuo constructive functions.Gender,age,histories of hypertension and smoking,and levels of blood pressure,random blood glucose,fasting blood glucose and 2-hour postprandial blood glucose,cholesterin,triglyceride,low density lipoprotein-C (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein-C (HDL-C) were noted and the relations between cognitive function and both blood sugar and blood lipid levels were analyzed.Results (1) The abnormal rates of these patients in MMSE,Mattis dementia scale,attention deficit disorder,immediate logical memory disorder,delayed logical memory disorder,instant auditory memory disorder,delayed auditory memory disorder,visual memory disorder,executive function disorder,information processing disorder,and visuospatial and visuo constructive disorder were 78.2％,72.5％,26.5％,56.3％,60.9％,74.6％,98.2％,83.8％,62.7％,4.9％ and 77.7％,respectively.In patients with different blood glucose levels,significant differences were found on scores of MMSE,Mattis dementia scale,attention scale (P＜ 0.05); furthermore,the scores ofMMSE,Mattis dementia scale,attention scale in patients with impaired fasting glucose were obviously lower as compared with those in other groups (P＜0.05).The scale of above cognitive domains showed no significant difference in patients with different types of hyperlipidemias (P＞0.05); the scores of execution ability and visual space structure capability in patients with HDL-C were higher than those in normal density lipoprotein-C and LDL-C (P＜0.05),and the higher level of density lipoprotein-C,the higher scores of visual space structure capability (P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis found that the total MMSE scores were associated with gender,age,and levels of fasting blood glucose and 2-hour postprandial blood glucose; the independent risk factors of executive function were gender,age and HDL-C level; the ability of memory was correlated with age and HDL-C level.Visuospatial and visuo constructive function was associated with gender,age and mRS scores; the information processing ability was only correlated with HDL-C level.Conclusion In patients with acute cerebral ischemic stroke,the cognitive impairment is extensive and severe,with a prevalence of about 75％,mainly having disorders in memory,executive ability,spatial structure; glucose levels,especially impaired fasting glucose level show most obvious influence in cognitive impairment;HDL-C level helps keep normal cognitive function; age,gender,HDL-C level are the most important factors of cognitive function.

BACKGROUNDChemokine-like factor 1 (CKLF1) was recently identified as a novel cytokine. The full-length CKLF1 cDNA contains 530 bp encoding 99 amino acid residues with a CC motif similar to that of other CC family chemokines. Recombinant CKLF1 exhibits chemotactic activity on leucocytes and stimulates proliferation of murine skeletal muscle cells. We questioned whether CKLF1 could be involved in the pathogenesis of inflammation and proliferation in the lung. Therefore we used efficient in vivo gene delivery method to investigate the biological effect of CKLF1 in the murine lung.

METHODSCKLF1-expressing plasmid, pCDI-CKLF1, was constructed and injected into the skeletal muscles followed by electroporation. Lung tissues were obtained at the end of week 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively after injection. The pathological changes in the lungs were observed by light microscope.

RESULTSA single intramuscular injection of CKLF1 plasmid DNA into BALB/c mice caused dramatic pathological changes in the lungs of treated mice. These changes included peribronchial leukocyte infiltration, epithelial shedding, collagen deposition, proliferation of bronchial smooth muscle cells and fibrosis of the lung.

CONCLUSIONSThe sustained morphological abnormalities of the bronchial and bronchiolar wall, the acute pneumonitis and interstitial pulmonary fibrosis induced by CKLF1 were similar to phenomena observed in chronic persistent asthma, acute respiratory distress syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome. These data suggest that CKLF1 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of these important diseases and the study also implies that gene electro-transfer in vivo could serve as a valuable approach for evaluating the function of a novel gene in animals.

Animals ; Base Sequence ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ; cytology ; Cell Movement ; Chemokines ; genetics ; physiology ; Electroporation ; Humans ; Lung ; pathology ; MARVEL Domain-Containing Proteins ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Plasmids ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; etiology

Objective: To investigate the protective effect of glucagon-like peptid-1 (GLP-1) against cardiac microvascular endothelial cell (CMECs) injured by high glucose. Methods: CMECs were isolated and cultured. Superoxide assay kit and dihydroethidine (DHE) staining were used to assess oxidative stress. TUNEL staining and caspase 3 expression were used to assess the apoptosis of CMECs. H89 was used to inhibit cAMP/PKA pathway; fasudil was used to inhibit Rho/ROCK pathway. The protein expressions of Rho, ROCK were examined by Western blot analysis. Results: High glucose increased the production of ROS, the activity of NADPH, the apoptosis rate and the expression level of Rho/ROCK in CMECs, while GLP-1 decreased high glucose-induced ROS production, the NADPH activity and the apoptosis rate and the expression level of Rho/ROCK in CMECs, the difference were statistically significant (. P<0.05). Conclusions: GLP-1 could protect the cardiac microvessels against oxidative stress and apoptosis. The protective effects of GLP-1 are dependent on downstream inhibition of Rho through a cAMP/PKA-dependent manner, resulting in a subsequent decrease in the expression of NADPH oxidase.

Erbin, a member of Leucine-rich repeat and PDZ-containing protein family, was found to inhibit TGF-β-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in our previous study. However, the mechanism of Erbin in regulating EMT is unclear. Semaphorin protein Sema4C, with PDZ binding site at C-terminal has been recognized as a positive regulator of EMT. Here, we aimed to examine the interaction between Erbin and Sema4C. HK2 cells were treated with TGF-β1, or transfected with Erbin and (or) Sema4C. Interaction of Erbin and Sema4C was identified by immunoprecipitation. RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of Erbin and Sema4C at mRNA level after transfection. The expression levels of Erbin, Sema4C, and markers of EMT were measured by using Western blotting or ELISA. After HK2 cells were stimulated with 10 ng/mL TGF-β1 for 72 h, the protein expression levels of Erbin and Sema4C were both up-regulated, and immunoprecipitation results showed Erbin interacted with Sema4C in HK2 cells both at endogenous and exogenous levels. Furthermore, overexpression of Sema4C suppressed E-cadherin, induced vimentin and promoted fibronectin secretion, indicating Sema4C promotes the process of EMT. However, HK2 cells overexpressing Erbin were resistant to Sema4C-induced EMT. In contrast, Erbin specific siRNA promoted EMT induced by Sema4C. Taken together, these results suggest that Erbin can interact with Sema4C, and co-expression of Erbin blocks the process of Sema4C-induced EMT.
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing ; genetics ; metabolism ; Blotting, Western ; Cadherins ; metabolism ; Cell Line ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition ; Humans ; Immunoprecipitation ; Kidney Tubules, Proximal ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Protein Binding ; RNA Interference ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Semaphorins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transfection ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; pharmacology ; Vimentin ; metabolism