Asteroid Hyalosis (AH) is a common clinical disease,which has been considered a benign disorder as it rarely impairs visual acuity.It was often discovered when the patient was treated for other eye diseases.The mechanism was unclear.Its characteristic B-ultrasound property makes the B-ultrasound a very helpful diagnostic technique.In the case of the patients with other fundus diseases associated with AH,optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fluorescein angiography (FA) may be used to reduce the interference from asteroid bodies,therefore improve the fundus visibility.Recent studies have shown that AH can incorporate with many other eye diseases.For example,in patients with cataracts,asteroid hyalosis can cause surface calcification of silicone plate intraocular lenses,which in most cases may lead to the need for explantation of the calcified intraocular lenses.The efficacy of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV),the removal of some,or all,of the eye`s vitreous humor for AH remains controversial.In this paper,we provide a review of the recent literature on AH disease: the etiology,diagnosis and treatment.We hope to thus improve the awareness and outcomes of AH disease.

Secondary hyperparathyroidism is the most common complication of patients with chronic kidney disease.For patients poorly responding to medical treatment,parathyroidectomy would be the best choice.This article reviews the indications and modalities of surgical treatment for secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Objective To study the diagnosis and treatment of retroperitoneal schwannoma.Methods Clinical data of 11 cases of primary retroperitoneal schwannomas were analyzed retrospectively from February 1990 to September 2014.There were 6 males and 5 females,with a median age of 46 years,and the median tumor size was 9.6 cm (4.5-12.3 cm).Seven cases were revealled due to physical examination,3 cases were revealled due to ipsilateral lower back pain or discomfort,and 1 case was revealled due to right lower extremity numbness.There were no clinical manifestations of hypertension or appearance shape change,and there were no abnormal findings in routine laboratory and endocrine examinations.Radiological examination showed a retroperitoneal mass.There were 3 cases in the left adrenal gland,1 case in the right adrenal gland,3 cases in the lower pole of left kidney and 4 cases in the lower pole of right kidney.Four patients were initially diagnosed as adrenal tumors,and 7 patients were diagnosed as kidney tumors.Results All the 11 cases underwent surgical resection,with 7 cases of complete resection,1 case of capsule resection,2 cases of partial resection and 1 case of biopsy.The pathology of immunohistochemical staining showed S-100 positive in 10 cases of benign retroperitoneal schwannomas.During the follow-up period for 1.5-24 years (median 14 years),no recurrence and malignance was observed.One case of malignant retroperitoneal schwannoma died of multiple metastases in 17 months after opreation.Conclusions Primary retroperitoneal schwannoma is rare and preoperative diagnosis is difficult.Clinical manifestations and radiological findings are usually nondiagnostic,and histopathology is the only way for final diagnosis.Complete surgical resection is proved to be the best choice.

OBJECTIVETo summarize clinical features of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID) in children.

METHODSThe clinical data of 35 children with PID from September 2005 to December 2008 were studied retrospectively, including illness history, birth history, family history, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, diagnosis, treatment and outcome.

RESULTSOf the 35 cases of PID, 6 cases were confirmed with combined T- and B-cell immunodeficiency, 4 cases with X-linked agammaglobulinaemia, 22 cases with selective IgG subclass deficiency, 1 case with common variable immunodeficiency and 2 cases with chronic granulomatous disease. All cases had fever and recurrent infections. Respiratory and digestive tract infections were the most common clinical manifestation. Some of the PID cases lagged behind the normal children of the same age in growth and development. Human gamma-globulin transfusion and anti-infection therapy were administered. Two patients discontinued the therapy, one was transferred to the other hospital and the other 32 patients were discharged following improvement in clinical symptoms.

CONCLUSIONSPID should be considered in children who suffer from recurrent infections and autoimmune diseases or do not respond to long-term use of antibiotics. Immunologic tests should be done as early as possible for the children.

Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes ; complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Retrospective Studies

Objective To investigate the clinical features,treatment response and prognosis in children with Takayasu′s arteritis(TA) in order to improve the understanding of TA.Methods A retrospective study of 10 children with TA was performed.All of them were admitted and diagnosed in Peking University First Hospital from Jan.1998 to Oct.2008.The clinical features,laboratory tests,imaging modalities,treatment response and prognosis were all collected and evaluated.Results There were 3 boys and 7 girls in the 10 patients with TA,and the ratio of male to female was 12.3.The onset was from 4 months to 9 years old,with average age at 5.5 years old.The average duration of diagnosis was 7.6 months.The incidences of hypertension,vascular bruits,albuminuria,convulsion were present in 100%,100%,70% and 40%,respectively.The clinical types included typeⅡ(60%),type Ⅲ(10%) and type Ⅳ(30%).The acute phase inflammatory indices of activity such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR),C-reactive protein(CRP) and white blood cell(WBC) were not evidently increased.Tuberculosis infection was found in 6 out of 10 patients and anti-tuberculosis treatment was performed.Six patients were treated with steroids and 3 cases of them were also given immunosuppressives cyclophosphamide or methotrexate.Three of the 10 patients received anti-hypertensive and vasodilator.Two patients received percutaneous translurminal angioplasty and 1 patient received nephrectomy.One patient died of renal failure,heart failure and shock.Conclusions The patients with TA had high prevalence of tuberculosis infection,diagnosis as often late because of lack of specific clinical features at the acute inflammatory period.When organic ischaemia occurred,treatment response was usually unsatisfactory.Patients with multi-systemic and multi-viscera lesions should have comprehensive examination,especially for those with hypertension,pulseless and vascular bruits,in order to rule out TA.Early ultrasonography,computed tomography and magnetic resonnance image methods are valued in eariler diagnosis and they are the key factors to improve prognosis.

Objective To explore the apoptosis and proliferation of peripheral blood lymphocytes(PBLs) from primary nephrotic syndrome(PNS) and effects of dexamethasone(Dex) on them.Methods Minimal change NS(MCNS), non-minimal change NS(NMCNS) and healthy children were involved in this study. PBLs were cultured in vitro with Dex or PHA+Dex or without PHA and Dex. Apoptosis of PBLs was measured by propidium iodide(PI) staining; The effects of Dex at different concentrons on PBLs′proliferation were investigated by 3H-TdR incorporation.Results The apoptotic rate of vacuity group in MCNS was lower compared with NMCNS and healthy controls(P

Objective To study the expression of membrane glucocorticoid receptors(mGR), the correlation between mGR and glucocorticoid(GC)'s effects on apoptosis and proliferation of peripheral blood lymphocytes(PBLs) in minimal change nephrotic syn-drome(MCNS)and the influence of GC on mGR. Methods MCNS, nonminimal change NS(NMCNS) and healthy children were involved in this study. Indirect immune fluorescence and flow cytometry were used to examine the percentages of positive mGR lymphocytes; the apoptosis of PBLs was measured by propidium iodide(PI) staining and the proliferation of PBLs was investigated by fa -TdR incorporation. Results 1.mGR expression in MCNS was higher than that in NMCNS and healthy control,but it was reduced after clinical GC therapy(P

Objective To obtain the fusion genes of several human orphan G protein coupled receptors (oGPCRs) with Gi1α subtype of G protein and their expression system. Methods The whole open reading frames of GPR45, GPR85, GPR174 and Gilα were cloned by RT-PCR from HepG2 cDNA separately,and the corresponding fusion genes were amplified by overlap extension PCR. Then, the fusion genes-containing pBacmids were successfully constructed with the Bac-to-Bac baculovirus expression system indicated by specific transposition and virus recombination. The insect Sf9 cells were transfected with pBacmid-oGPCRs-Gi1α, and the supernatant containing recombinant virus was harvested. With the supernatant, insect Sf9 cells were infected under an optimized condition (MOI=5, infection time=72 h) and the fusion proteins were prepared and detected by Western blotting.Results The three fusion genes of GPCR45, GPR85 or GPR174 with Gi1α were obtained. The corresponding fusion proteins could be properly prepared in Sf9 cells.Conclusion Human oGPCRs could be fused with Gilα, and the fusion genes could be expressed using the Bac-to-Bac baculovirus expression system in insect Sf9 cells.

This article proposes the "Efficacy Theory" hypothesis of the traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs): TCMs take effects and weaken toxicities through the additive effects of numerous effective forms (including their constituents or/and metabolites) on a same target, the synergistic effects based on the overall action of the additive effects on individual targets and their toxicities scattering effects. A TCM may include approximately 1000 constituents and each constituent may produce about 100 metabolites in vivo after oral administration. Numerous effective forms of incalculable constituents and their metabolites could work like a "army group" together. When the quantity of a specific target molecule is larger than the pharmaceutical molecules, the molecules of different kinds of effective forms could combine with the target molecules successively, to exert the additive effects. When the target molecules are mostly occupied ("target most spaces occupied"), this TCM begins to work. The additive effects maybe exert not only in concentration but also in a time order way, which gives a sustained efficacy of TCM. The additive effects and the toxicities scattering effects are resulted from the same effective groups and not identical toxic groups among different effective form molecules. The "toxicities scattering effect" can be used to explain the non-toxic TCMs, but not fit for toxic TCMs. The efficacy theory showed that the variety of constituents and metabolites may participate in the process of pharmacodynamic actions, including the additive effects, synergy effects and toxicities scattering effects, which may be useful for explaining and developing the characteristic advantage of the TCMs. The questions we need to study or confirm are as follows: What are the TCMs' pharmacodynamic substance basis and mechanism made up of Why are toxicities of most TCMs' smaller How is the TCMs' "Efficacy Theory" which reflects characteristic advantage of TCMs applied in the research and development of new drugs.
Animals ; Drug Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; chemistry