Objective: To observe the difference in clinical efficacy between acupuncture with point selection based on syndrome differentiation along the meridians and acupuncture at non-meridian and non-acupoint points for functional dyspepsia (FD). Methods: A total of 74 FD patients were randomized into an observation group and a control group, with 37 cases in each group. Both groups received acupuncture treatment. Zusanli (ST 36) and Neiguan (PC 6) were selected in the observation group, with Taichong (LR 3) and Neiting (ST 44) added for excess syndrome, and Gongsun (SP 4) and Yinlingquan (SP 9) added for deficiency syndrome. Four non-meridian and non-acupoint points were selected in the control group. The treatments in both groups were performed once a day with a 2-day break after 5 consecutive treatments, which constituted one treatment course. A total of 4 courses were performed. The scores of Nepean dyspepsia index (NDI) and Leeds dyspepsia questionnaire (LDQ) were recorded before and after treatment, and during follow-up (8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 weeks after recruitment) to assess the clinical efficacy. Results: The NDI scores in the two groups after treatment and at each time point during follow-up were higher than those before treatment (all P<0.05), and the LDQ scores were lower than those before treatment (all P<0.05). The NDI scores after treatment and at each time point during follow-up in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (all P<0.01); the total LDQ score and scores of upper abdominal pain, postprandial satiety and upper abdominal burning sensation after treatment and at each time point during follow-up in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.01 or P<0.05).. Conclusion: Acupuncture with point selection based on syndrome differentiation along the meridians has a better curative effect than acupuncture at non meridian and non-acupoint points in the treatment of FD.

Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of treating infantile diarrhea due to spleen deficiency with five-step pediatric tuina of Huxiang school. Methods:Using a randomized controlled trial design, sixty eligible kids with diarrhea due to spleen deficiency were randomized into an observation group and a control group, with 30 cases in each group. The observation group was intervened by the five-step pediatric tuina method of Huxiang school, and the control group received conventional tuina treatment. The intervention was conducted once a day, consecutive 5-day treatment as 1 course, at a 2-day interval between courses, successively for a total of 4 courses. Changes in the primary and secondary symptoms of diarrhea due to spleen deficiency were observed, and the clinical efficacy was evaluated. Results: After treatment, the scores of primary and secondary symptoms and the general score of diarrhea due to spleen deficiency were improved; the improvements in fecal form and frequency, decreased appetite, bloating after meals and fatigue and sluggishness were more significant in the observation group than in the control group. Conclusion: The five-step pediatric tuina method of Huxiang school and conventional tuina both can improve the primary and secondary symptoms in infantile diarrhea due to spleen deficiency, while the former one can produce more significant efficacy.

Objective To explore the clinical characteristics of pancreatic gland damage in children with Henoch-Sch(o)nlein purpura(HSP).Methods The serum and urine analysis of 95 examples were detected by the automatic biochemical analyzer,which were diagnosed as HSP from Aug.2009 to Jun.2010 in Department of Nephrology,Hunan Children's Hospital,and the clinical characteristics of them were analyzed.All children were treated with anti-infection and anti-allergic drugs.The pancreatic morphology of patients was observed by B ultrasonic,and the clinical features of skin,joints,digestive tract,and kidney damage were observed.And the relationship between damage of pancreas and damage of other systems was analyzed.Results There were 64 cases suffering from pancreatic gland damage in 95 HSP children:34 cases were male(53.1％),30 cases were female(46.9％),and there was no significant difference (x2 =0.56,P ＞ 0.05).The incidence of pancreatic gland damage of the patients with allergic purpura combined with abdominalgia was 82.8％ (53 cases),which was obviously higher than that in the patients without abdominalgia (11 cases,17.2％)(x2 =14.24,P ＜0.05).The incidence of pancreatic gland damage in mixed type of allergic purpura(61 cases,95.3％) was obviously higher than that in the patients which only possess the skin rash(3 cases,4.7％) (x2 =18.18,P ＜0.05).The pancreatic glands of the total 64 patients were detected by type B ultrasonic.None of them had been detected with pancreatic gland edema and deformation of structure.The mean hospital stay of the HSP patients with pancreatic gland damage was (10.80 ± 6.39) days (5-39 days),while mean hospital stay without pancreatic gland damage was (8.42 ± 3.51) days (4-13 days),and there was no significant difference between them (t =5.68,P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions HSP children usually were accompanied with pancreatic gland damage,and if they get abdominalgia and multi-system damage they are more likely to be accompanied with pancreatic gland damage,which should be paid attention to.

Objective To analyze the clinical and pathological characteristics of children in different stages and to investigate the clinical significance based on clinical diagnosis and staging criteria of acute kidney injury(AKI).Methods Based on the clinical diagnosis and staging criteria of AKI,165 AKI children admitted to the Department of Nephrology of Hunan Children's Hospital,between Oct.2004 and Oct.2011 were divided into 3 groups:stage 1,stage 2 and stage 3.Clinical characteristics,age,etiology,pathology and prognosis were compared among 3 groups of children with AKI.Results (1) A total of 165 patients(109 males and 56 females) were included in this study,average age of (6.26 ± 4.43) years,including 69 patients in stage 1,19 patients in stage 2,and 77 patients in stage 3.(2) The 3 groups of patients had an average age of(9.09 ± 3.69) years,(4.34 ± 3.90) years,and (4.22 ± 3.78) years,respectively,which showed significant differences (P ＜ 0.01).(3)Three most frequent causes of AKI were drugs (24.8％),acute glomerulonephritis (AGN) (22.4％) and septicemia (15.2 ％),which showed significant differences (P ＜ 0.01).(4) Renal histopathological examination was performed on 140 AKI children,3 most main types of pathology were acute tubular interstitial nephritis 56 cases (40.0％),endocapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis 33 cases (23.6％) and mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis 18 cases(12.9％).In the stage 1 patients,glomerular disease was predominant(84.4％).In the stage 2 patients,glomerular disease(38.5％) and tubulointerstitial lesions(38.5％) were the major pathological types.In the stage 3 patients,tubulointerstitial damage (73.0％) was the major pathological type (P ＜0.01).The patients in 3 different groups showed significant differences in the ratio of tubulointerstitial disease and glomerular disease(P ＜0.01).(5)The median recovery time of serum creatinine to the baseline was 9 days(3-41 days) for stage 1 patients,11 days(3-25 days) for stage 2 patients,and 16 days(3-∝ days) for stage 3 patients,which showed a significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).(6)Of the 165 A KI patients,124 cases had hematuria,126 cases had varying degrees of proteinuria.There were significant differences in the hematuria incidence and the duration among the 3 groups(P ＜ 0.01).There was no difference in the proteinuria incidence among the 3 groups (P ＞ 0.05),while the stage 1 patients showed significant differences from the other 2 groups (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions The patients are mostly seen in stage 1 and stage 3.The stage 1 AKI children are largely school-age children and acute glomerulone phritis is the main etiology.The stage 3 AKI children are mainly infants and the etiology of AKI is mainly drugs and septicemia,the pathological type is mainly acute tubulointerstitial nephritis,and the renal functional recovery is slow.

OBJECTIVERecent studies have shown that integrin linked kinase (ILK) plays an important role in the pathogenesis and development of some kidney diseases. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between ILK and renal glomerular damage in children with Henoch schonlein purpura nephritis (HSPN).

METHODSOne hundred and eighty eight HSPN children (aged 3 to 17 years) were assigned to five groups according to the classification of the International Study of Kidney Disease in Children (ISKDC): grade < or = IIa (n = 62), grade IIb (n = 42), grade IIIa (n = 29), grade IIIb (n = 40) and grade > or = IV (n = 15). Fifteen children with basement membrane nephropathy served as the control group. ILK expression on glomeruli was ascertained by immunohistochemical staining. The relationships of ILK expression on glomeruli with glomerular histopathologic lesions and urinary protein excretions were examined.

RESULTSThe positive areas of ILK expression on glomeruli in the control, grade < or = IIa, grade IIb, grade IIIa, grade IIIb and grade > or = IV groups were (3.35 + or - 1.01)%, (4.88 + or - 1.13)%, (9.64 + or - 1.36)%, (11.27 + or - 1.68)%, (17.42 + or -3.0)% and (20.62 + or - 2.32%), respectively. There were significant differences in the ILK expression between groups (p<0.01). ILK expression on glomeruli increased with increased urinary protein excretions. There were significant differences in the ILK expression in children with different urinary protein excretions (p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSILK might be involved in the process of renal glomerular histopathologic damage and the production of proteinuria in children with HSPN.

Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Kidney Glomerulus ; pathology ; Male ; Nephritis ; enzymology ; pathology ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; analysis ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch ; enzymology ; pathology

To explore the effect of retinoic acid (RA) on the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in murine bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) and adhesive rate of human cord blood mononuclear cell (UCBMNC) to BMSC in vitro, the express ions of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 of murine BMSC were detected by flow cytometry and the binding capacity of UCBMNC to BMSC was tested by MTT assay after co-culturing with 0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 micro mol/L RA, respectively. The results showed that 1.0 and 10.0 micro mol/L RA increased the expression of ICAM-1 and the adhesive rate of U CBMNC to BMSC, however, RA did not induced the increase of expression of VCAM-1. It was positive correlation between the increments of ICAM-1 expression and the adhesive rate (r = 0.7883, P < 0.05). It is concluded that RA up-regulated ICAM-1 expression of BMSC and increased the adhesion of UCBMNC to BMSC in vitro. These may clarify the correlation between adhesion molecules on BMSC and homing of hematopoietic stem cells, and provide the experimental basis for RA to promote the homing of umbilical cord blood stem cell.
Animals ; Bone Marrow Cells ; chemistry ; drug effects ; physiology ; Cell Adhesion ; drug effects ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; physiology ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; analysis ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; drug effects ; physiology ; Mice ; Stromal Cells ; chemistry ; drug effects ; physiology ; Tretinoin ; pharmacology ; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 ; analysis

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignant neoplastic disease in children. With the continuous improvement in diagnosis and treatment, there has been an increasing number of ALL children who achieve long-term survival after complete remission; however, a considerable proportion of these children have cognitive impairment, which has a serious adverse impact on their learning, employment, and social life. This article reviews the latest research on cognitive impairment in children with ALL from the aspects of the influencing factors, detection techniques, and prevention/treatment methods for cognitive impairment.
Child ; Humans ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/therapy* ; Remission Induction ; Cognitive Dysfunction/etiology*

OBJECTIVETo study the feasibility of genetic diagnosis for female carriers of human glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency by reverse transcriptase-PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (RT-PCR-DGGE).

METHODSBlood samples were collected from suspected 54 female carriers of G6PD deficiency. Total RNAs of peripheral blood were prepared and reverse-transcripted into cDNA. Design of 6 primer pairs for DGGE was based on 17 mutation sites of G6PD cDNA described in the Chinese population. Mutations in the coding region of G6PD gene were screened and genotyped by combination of PCR-DGGE and DNA sequencing.

RESULTSOne case of 1024C/T, 20 cases of 1376G/T and 12 cases of 1388G/A were detected in the 54 samples. The total detection rate was 66.1% (33/54).

CONCLUSIONSHeterozygous mutation rate in female carriers of G6PD deficiency detected by RT-PCR-DGGE is high. RT-PCR-DGGE is value of clinical diagnosis for G6PD-deficiency female carriers.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Female ; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Infant ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficiency of one-step multiplex RT-PCR for identifying four common fusion transcripts (TEL/AML1, E2A/PBX1, MLL/AF4 and BCR/ABL) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

METHODSTotal RNA was extracted from bone marrow samples of 76 children who were newly diagnosed with ALL between January 2003 and December 2010. These RNAs were analyzed for TEL/AML1, E2A/PBX1, MLL/AF4 and BCR/ABL by one-step multiplex RT-PCR or common nested-multiplex PCR. The PCR products were confirmed by DNA sequencing.

RESULTSTEL/AML1 was found in 12 cases (the length of products was 298 bp in 9 cases and 259 bp in 3 cases), E2A/PBX1 was found in 3 cases (the length of products was 373 bp), BCR/ABL was found in 1 case (the length of products was 2 124 bp), and MLL/AF4 was found in 7 cases (the length of products was 427 bp in 1 case and 673 bp in 6 cases) using one-step multiplex RT-PCR combined with DNA sequencing. The results were consistent with those using common nested-multiplex PCR.

CONCLUSIONSOne-step multiplex RT-PCR may be another alternative for detection of common fusion transcripts in children with ALL.

Child ; Child, Preschool ; Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit ; genetics ; Female ; Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl ; genetics ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein ; genetics ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion ; genetics ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

This article reports two cases of children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) complicated by invasive fungal disease (IFD) who received bridging treatment using blinatumomab. Case 1 was a 4-month-old female infant who experienced recurrent high fever and limb weakness during chemotherapy. Blood culture was negative, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) of peripheral blood, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and cerebrospinal fluid were all negative. Chest CT and cranial MRI revealed obvious infection foci. Case 2 was a 2-year-old male patient who experienced recurrent high fever with multiple inflammatory masses during chemotherapy. Candida tropicalis was detected in peripheral blood and abscess fluid using NGS, while blood culture and imaging examinations showed no obvious abnormalities. After antifungal and blinatumomab therapy, both cases showed significant improvement in symptoms, signs, and imaging, and B-ALL remained in continuous remission. The report indicates that bridging treatment with blinatumomab in children with B-ALL complicated by IFD can rebuild the immune system and control the underlying disease in the presence of immunosuppression and severe fungal infection.
Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Antibodies, Bispecific/therapeutic use* ; Invasive Fungal Infections/drug therapy* ; Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/drug therapy* ; Remission Induction