Adult ; Aged ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; Silicosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; methods

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: There has been little research regarding the effectiveness of oseltamivir for influenza B infections. We sought to identify the different clinical manifestations between patients treated with and without oseltamivir. METHODS: We retrospectively studied the medical records of 72 inpatients or outpatients from two medical centers diagnosed with influenza B infections by either a rapid antigen test or multiplex reverse transcriptase PCR between January 2012 and July 2012. We compared gender, age, past medical history, admission period, total fever duration, fever duration after hospitalization, post-oseltamivir medication peak temperature, laboratory test, chest X-ray, antibiotic medication, and the presence of concomitant viral or bacterial infections. RESULTS: The number of subjects in our study was 72 who were diagnosed with influenza B pneumonia, acute bronchitis, acute bronchiolitis, croup, and mean age was 3.6+/-2.8 year old. The demographic characteristics and clinical manifestations of oseltamivir and the non-oseltamivir groups, including hospitalization period (4.18+/-2.10 vs 4.79+/-1.49 days, P=.17) and total fever duration (5.32+/-2.07 vs 6.41+/-3.25 days, P=.09), demonstrated no significant differences. Notably, the oseltamivir group did have significantly reduced usage of antibiotic treatment than the non-oseltamivir group (P=.04). When we limited our patient group to patients under the age of three, similar results were seen. The group prescribed oseltamivir within 48 hours of fever onset had less antibiotic usage, in addition to a shorter fever duration. CONCLUSION: Oseltamivir appeared to have no benefit in improving the clinical course. However, if it is prescribed within the first 48 hours of symptoms, it may be more effective.
Bacterial Infections ; Bronchiolitis ; Bronchitis ; Child* ; Croup ; Fever ; Hospitalization ; Hospitals, University* ; Humans ; Influenza B virus* ; Influenza, Human ; Inpatients ; Medical Records ; Oseltamivir* ; Outpatients ; Pneumonia ; Retrospective Studies ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Thorax

No abstract available.
Durapatite* ; Radionuclide Imaging*

Epikeratophakia is a newly developed refractive corneal surgery for the correction of aphakic vision. Two aphakic patients have received hyperopic epikeratophakia grafts. Three months postoperatively, two patients had visual acuities of 0.6 without spectacle overcorrection. Epikeratophakia appears to be effective for the correction of adult aphakia.
Adult* ; Aphakia* ; Epikeratophakia* ; Humans ; Transplants ; Visual Acuity

Objective To investigate the onset of left ventricular remodeling (LVRM) after acute myocardium infarction (AMI) and its changes within 6 hours in dogs on echocardiography. Methods AMI was induced in 14 dogs by ligating the left anterior descending arteries. Eight myocardium infarcted models were successful and were sacrified for pathological study. The indices of LVRM: wall infarction thickness (WIT), the wall motion score index (WMSI), left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were evaluated before and 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, 4 h, 5 h and 6 h after operation. Results Compared with the pre-operation, WIT and LVEF were decreased (P<0.01), LVESV and WMSI were increased (P<0.01), and LVEDV was increased (P<0.05 or P<0.01) at every time point after operation. WIT had no significant difference at 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, 4 h, 5h and 6h after operation (P＞0.05). LVEDV, LVESV were higher (P<0.05) and LVEF was lower (P<0.05 or P<0.01) at 4 h, 5 h, and 6 h than at 1 h, and 2 h after operation. WMSI was higher at 3 h, 4 h, 5 h, and 6 h than at 1h (P<0.05). Conclusions In our experiment, LVRM occurred at 1 h after AMI in dogs. Thus echocardiography may evaluate early LVRM.

AIM: To investigate the expression of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its effect on the biological function of human erythroleukemia cell line TF1, and to explore the underlying mechanism .METHODS: The abundance of CFTR in the bone marrow mononuclear cells of patients with AML was measured by real-time PCR.After TF1 cells were incubated with CFTR specific inhibitor CFTRinh-172, cell viability, cell cycle distribution and cell apoptosis were analyzed by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry . The Wnt signaling pathway-related proteins were determined by Western blot .RESULTS: CFTR was highly expressed in both patients with AML and leukemia cell lines .After incubated with CFTRinh172, the viability of TF1 cells was de-creased, the proportion of the cells in G0/G1 phase was increased, while that in S phase declined (P<0.05).Further-more, the cells treated with CFTRinh-172 exhibited higher apoptotic rate , accompanied with lower protein expression of β-catenin, c-Myc and cyclin D1 (P<0.05).CONCLUSION:CFTR expression is dramatically increased in AML .Inhibi-tion of CFTR restrains the growth and promotes the apoptosis of TF 1 cells via classical Wnt signaling pathway .

Objective To observes the change of early effective biomarkers of endothelial injury with lowarsenic exposure in drinking water. MethodsNinety rurad residents, who had lived in Yanhe village, Xuyi county and Jiangsu province for at least 10 years, were recruited by simple random sampling in this study. The level of arsenic in their household shallow well were divided into three groups, which were ＜ 10 (32 people), 10 - 50(28 people) and ＞ 50 μg/L(30 people). Blood samples from individuals were collected. Malondialdehyde(MDA) in human plasma, which is considered as the most important marker for monitoring lipid peroxidation, was determined as conjugate with tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulphate(TBA). The level of anti-superoxide anion radical(O-·2),C-reactive protein(CRP) and NO in human plasma was measured with colorimetry, turbidimetry and nitric acid reductase, respectively. The number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells(CEPCs) in peripheral blood was analyzed by CD133+/KDR+ antibodies and flow cytometry. Results Ninety cases underwent questionnaires. Between the groups, the difference of the levels of MDA (61.1, 65.5, 67.5 μmol/kg), O-·2 (4774.6, 5143.3, 4736.0 U/kg) ,CRP[(5.92 ± 2.44), (5.11 ± 2.40), (5.55 ± 2.96)mg/L], and NO[(659.8 ± 387.5), (667.4 ± 486.6), (762.1 ±763.2)μmol/kg], was not statistically significant (F =0.00, 0.46, 0.80, 0.47, all P ＞ 0.05). The difference of the number of CEPCs in different groups of arsenic in drinking water was statistically significant(0.96 x 10-5, 0.77 x 10-5,1.59 x 10-5, F=5.08, P＜ 0.05), where ＜ 10, 10 - 50 μg/L groups were significantly lower than ＞ 50 μg/L group (q =4.58, 6.65, all P ＜ 0.05). ConclusionsThe number of CEPCs in peripheral blood changes significantly with lower-arsenic exposure, whereas there are no obvious changes with the markers of oxidized damage and inflammation. This is the first human demonstration showing that lower-arsenic exposure may cause endothelial injury.

Patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) become dependent on blood transfusions and develop into transfusional iron overload, which is exacerbated by increased absorption of dietary iron in response to ineffective erythropoiesis. However, it is uncertain whether there is an association among iron accumulation, clinical complications, and decreased likelihood of survival in MDS patients. Thereby our current understanding of the effects of transfusion dependency and iron overload in MDS are discussed. Particular emphasis should be placed on further characterizing the role of redox-active forms of labile iron and oxidative stress in iron overload, decreased life expectancy and increased risk of leukemic transformation in MDS patients with iron overload.
Humans ; Iron ; metabolism ; Iron Overload ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Oxidative Stress

We report a case of a patient with cystic subdural hygroma who underwent pre-operative Tc-99m DTPA cistrenoscintigraphy to determine the course of operation. A 68-year-old female was admitted to the department of neurosurgery because of acute subarachnoid hemorrhage. After emergency ventricular drainage, the hydrocephalus and cystic subdural hygroma in the right fronto-temporal area developed. She underwent Tc-99m DTPA cisternoscintigraphy to evaluate the type of hydrocephalus, which revealed obstructive communicating hydrocephalus and the communication between the subdural hygroma and the subarachnoid space. As a result of these findings, she underwent the ventriculo-peritoneal shunt operation without removal of the subdural hygroma. Post-operative brain CT showed nearly normalized shape and size of the right ventricle and disappearance of subdural hygroma. We recommend the pre-operative cisternoscintigraphy in patients with complex hygroma to evaluate the communication between subdural hygroma and the subarachnoid space.
Aged ; Brain ; Decision Making* ; Drainage ; Emergencies ; Female ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Lymphangioma, Cystic ; Neurosurgery ; Pentetic Acid ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; Subarachnoid Space ; Subdural Effusion* ; Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt