Objective Imaging and clinical manifestations of melioidosis were analyzed in order to improve our understanding of the disease and to reduce the rate of misdiagnosis.Methods From 2001 to 2006,12 melioidosis cases were confirmed by blood,pus and sputum culture.All cases were examined with radiography,and nine of them with CT and 2 with US.The imaging and clinical data were assessed retrospectively.Results Ten of 12 cases revealed lung abnormalities,the main organ involved by melioidosis in the body.The appearances were observed as follows:diffused sheets and sheets fused partly in bilateral fields of the lungs can be seen on chest radiograph;homogeneous dense shadow of the lobe or segment were observed on plain chest film and CT;blurred strips radiated from hilum were revealed on plain chest film;multitude nodules in 2 lungs showed on CT;cavity with air and liquid be seen on plain chest film and CT;patches and granules in superior and middle fields or(and)inferior fields be seen on plain chest film and CT;arc shadow of water attenuation in dorsal thorax showed on CT.Infections outside the lung can be observed in orbital,lumbar muscle,liver and spleen in 1 case,and thighbone osteomyelitis with multi abscesses in one case.Conclusion Alhough medioidosis has no characteristic imaging appearances,the disease's location,extent,severity and quantity objectively can be demonstrated by imaging,final confirmation is necessary using the culture of blood,pus and sputum.

Angiolymphoid Hyperplasia with Eosinophilia ; pathology ; Child, Preschool ; Humans ; Male

Objective To investigate the changes of dopamine-?-hydroxylase(DBH) and activator protein 2-?(AP-2?) expression in spinal cord under the condition of stress or pain stimulation,so as to explore the mechanism for changes of noradrenergic(NA) neurons in the spinal cord of rat pain model.Methods Immunohistochemical staining,double immunofluorescent staining,Western blotting and computing-image analysis system were used to detect the changes of DBH/AP-2? expression in the spinal cord of formalin-induced rat pain model.Results A small number of DBH-positive neurons were sparsely distributed in the ventral horn of the normal spinal cord,while in the formalin-treated group,much more darkly-stained DBH-positive neurons appeared primarily in the ventral horn,intermediate zone,and the dorsal horn,which reached the highest level on day 3 after formalin-injection.The grey value and number of DBH-positive neurons on day 7 after injection began to decrease,but still higher than that in the control group.Compared with control group,the number of noradrenergic neurons in spinal cord of formalin-treated rat was increased significantly,which was also confirmed by Western blotting.Double immunofluorescent staining showed that DBH and AP-2? co-existed in the cells of the spinal cord.The changes of AP-2? expression were similarly to that of DBH in the spinal cord of rat pain model.Conclusion Our results indicated that some non-noradrenergic neurons with different chemical properties might convert into noradrenergic neurons under pain stimulation;noradrenaline may be involved in the formalin-induced pain and behavior regulation;As one of transcription factors,AP-2? may promote the DBH synthesis.

Objective To study the early diagnostic indices of melioidosis by analyzing 49 cases. Methods Unconditional logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the clinical data of 49 cases of melioidosis and 98 cases of bacterial pneumonia who were admitted in our hospital and Peoples' Hospital of Hainan Province from December 1996 to December 2007. Their social characteristic,background diseases,clinical manifestations,laboratory findings,radiologic examination and complications were studied. Results Background disease (such as diabetes),hepatosplenomegaly,septic shock,sepsis et al were the main causes of melioidosis. Conclusion Chills,fever,hepatosplenomegaly,diabetes mellitus,septic shock and sepsis are all factors that should be considered with melioidosis.

Objective To investigate the evolution of diffusion indices in the pyramidal tract with Wallerian degeneration(WD)due to cerebral infarction using diffusion tensor imaging(DTI),and to study the relationship between early changes of diffusion indices and motor deficit.Methods Fifteen patients (13 males and 2 females)with acute cerebral infarction(within 7 days)were recruited from the Neurology Department from Mar 2006 to Jan 2007.A11 patients were assessed with DTI.National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS),Bathel Index(BI),modified Rankin Scale(mRS)and Motricity Index(MI)within 7 days from onset,and at the second week.DTI was performed with SIEMENS Trio 3.0 T MR scanner.The placement of region of interest(ROI),measurement of diffusion indices were performed by DTI Studio software.The mean diffusivity(MD),the fractional anisotropy(FA),the first eigenvalue (λ1),the second eigenvalue(λ2),and the third eigenvalue(λ3)were computed.Results At the second week.NIHSS was 6.93±3.39.BI 45.33±26.01,mRS 4.33±0.90.and MI 69.47± 60.71.At the second week from onset.MD of the pyramidal tract at the levels of the middle slice of pons and the superior slice of medulla oblongata showed no significant differences between both the two sides at second week from onset. Other ROI showed significant differences between both sides.MD.FA and λ1 of affected side were lower than the unaffected side.λ2 and λ3 of the affected side were higher than the unaffected side.Positive correlations were found between FA and BI(r=0.530,P=0.042),FA and MI(r=0.543,P=0.036)at the second week.Negative correlations were found between FA and NIHSS(r=-0.613,P=0.015)at the second week.Conclusions DTI can detect the changes in the pyramidal tract due to WD within 7-14 days after ischemic stroke.including a decrease of the fractional anisotropy.the first eigenvalue and increased the second and the third eigenvalues.The fractional anisotropy of the second week from onset is related to the outcome of the motor function.

Animals ; Cadmium ; toxicity ; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System ; blood ; Female ; Ovary ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Phosphoproteins ; blood ; Progesterone ; biosynthesis ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Adult ; Endocarditis ; microbiology ; Humans ; Male ; Mycoses ; Recurrence

Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture combined with rehabilitation exercises on swallowing function and cerebral perfusion in dysphagic stroke patients.Methods Sixty-two stroke pa- tients with dysphagia were randomly divided into a treatment group(n=32)and a control group(n=30).The treat- ment group received electroacupunture,rehabilitation exercise and conventional medical treatment,while the control group received only rehabilitation exercise and conventional medical treatment.They were treated once a day,6 times a week for 4 weeks.Water drinking test,stethocatharsis scores and swallowing fluorography were used to assess the swallowing function before and after treatment.Single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT)was also em- ployed to observe the status of cerebral perfusion before and after treatment.Results It was shown that the swallo- wing function and cerebral perfusion in the treatment group were significantly better than the control group after treat- ment.The effective rate in the treatment group was 96.88% while that of the control group was 66.67%.Conclu- sion Electroacupuncture combined with rehabilitation exercises is effective in treating the dysphagic stroke patients, and can significantly improve the brain perfusion of these patients.

AIM: To study effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) and cyclosporin A (CsA) on the contents of active oxygens and nitric oxide (NO) in spleens of skin transplanted mice. METHODS: The donor mice BALB/C and receptor mice Cs7BL/6 were tested for skin transplantation. The HBO group mice were,treated with 99.2 % oxygen under 0.25 MPa for 1.5 hours, while CsA group mice were treated with CsA 0.5 rmg· kg- t· d- 1 by abdomen injection. After 14 days, the spleen were extracted the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and NO and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH - PX), catalase (CAT) and NO synthases (NOS) were determined. RESULTS: (1) Compared with the control group, the transplantation group, HBO group and CsA group have markedly increased the content of MDA and the activities of GSH - PX and CAT; Compared with the transplantation group, the CsA group have markedly increased activity of SOD and reduced activities of GSH - PX and CAT; the HBO group have markedly reduced the activity of GSH - PX and increased the activities of CAT and SOD (P < 0.01 ). (2) Compared with the control group, the transplantation group have markedly increased the content of NO and the activity of NOS; Compared with the transplantation group, the HBO group have markedly increased the activity of NOS and reduced the content of NO ( P < 0.01 ); The content of NO and the activity of NOS in CsA group was not changed significantly. CONCLUSION: In the lymphocytes of the transplantation group, the peroxidation is intensified, and the content of NO and the activity of NOS increased. HBO and CsA may activate the systems of oxidation/antioxidation and NO/NOS in spleen, which may be related to their mechanism of inhibition rejection.

Background Vancomycin has been increasingly recommended for the management of endophthalmitis,but few research report has been published about the pharmacokinetics of intravitreal vancomycin up to now.It is necessary to have an exact method to measure the concentration of vancomyein in animal eyes after intravitreal injection.Objective This study was to observe and compare the phamacokinetical process of vancomycin in serum,vitreous and aqueous humor between normal and infected rabbit eyes.Methods Seventy-two healthy adult rabbits were randomly divided into normal group and infected group and 36 rabbits for each.The animal models of endophthalmitis were established by intravitreal inoculation of 2000 CFU/ml staphylococcus aureus in the right eyes of rabbits in the infected group.Once endophthalmitis developed,0.1 ml vancomycin ( 10 g/L) solution was injected into the vitreous of every rabbit.The peripheral blood,vitreous and aqueous humor samples were respectively collected in 4 rabbits for each group at 0.5,2,4,6,12,24,48,72 and 84 hours after injection for detection of vancomycin concentration by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC-UV).3p97 software was used to create fit parameters of pharmacokinetics.This experiment followed the Regulations for the Administration of Affair Concerning Experimental Animals by State Science and Technology Commission (Version 1988).Results The accuracy of HPLC fitted the detecting request of biological specimen.The concentration-time data of vancomycin in normal rabbit aqueous humor and vitreous was subject to two-compartment model.The pharmacokinetic parameters were separately as following:Cmax was 50.16 mg/L and 751.42 mg/L,t1/2was 51.04 hours and 53.21 hours.The concentration-time data of vancomycin in infected rabbit aqueous humor and vitreous was subject to one-compartment model.The pharmacokinetic parameters were separately as following:Cmaxwas 24.94 mg/L and 687.66 mg/L,t1/2was 11.42 hours and 12.91 hours.The concentration of vancomycin in serum was much lower and almost undectable.The concentration of vancomycin in vitreous was gradually reduced as the prolong of time after injection in both normal group and infected group,but a obvious decline after increased level was scen in aqueous humor.Compared with normal group,the concentrations of vancomycin in both vitreous and aqueous humor were reduced at various time points(P＜0.05,P＜0.01 ).Conclusions HPLC is simple,highly sensitive and specific for the pharmacokinetic analysis of vancomycon.These results indicate that pharmacokinetic parameters of vancomycin alter in pathological condition,which is helpful for us to establish the better treatment guidelines for endophthalmitis.