Objective To explore the clinical characteristics ,diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of phaeohyphomycosis. Methods Clinical data were collected, including history, physical examination, cranial and spinal imaging. Brain biopsy was performed. Data of the pathology and incubation of brain tissue were analyzed. Responsiveness to treatment was followed up. Results A previously healthy three and half years old boy was presented to our unit, with a three- month history of recurrent headache, vomiting, progressive paraplegia accompanied by urinary continence and constipation. A computed tomogram scan and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed multiple lesions located in the region of the parietal - occipital lobes, periventricular area and frontal lobe, with prominent surrounding edema and irregular peripheral enhancement of the mass after the administration of contrast materials. A cerebral biopsy was performed and the pathological report was cerebral phaeohyphomycosis. The culture of the tissue and cerebrospinal fluid grew a same fungus identified as exo-phiala dermatitidis. The patient's response to therapy was poor, the parents of the boy gave up therapy, and the boy died 1 month later. Conclusions Cerebral Phaeohyphomycosis caused by Exophiala dermatitidis is rare, but the most serious form of fungus infection. Pathology and incubation of the tissue are essential for diagnosis. There is no curative therapy and the prognosis is poor.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the knowledge and the attitude toward prostate cancer (PCa) among Chinese city men and raise some suggestions for the improvement of the present state.

METHODSIn October 2007, a questionnaire investigation was conducted among males in 17 Chinese cities on the knowledge of PCa in the following 6 aspects: general state of PCa susceptible city men, basic knowledge, risk factors, symptoms, management and outcome, and attitude toward the treatment of PCa. The influences of education on their scores were analyzed and compared.

RESULTSWe distributed 1,700 copies of the questionnaire and collected 376 (22.1%) valid ones. The subjects averaged 67.1 +/- 10.1 years of age, 80.1% with junior high school education and above. As for the basic knowledge of PCa, 92.6% of them admitted hearing of it, but only 45.5% knew what it was, with statistically significant differences among men of different educations. The most common accesses to PCa knowledge were media (43.3%), hospital consultation (25.2%) and health booklets (10.1%). Of the total number of subjects, 32.7% regarded "Father has prostate cancer" as a risk factor, 82.2% knew that PCa could be treated by surgery, but only 8.9% knew that " hormonotherapy has an important role in PCa treatment". More positive attitudes toward PCa treatment and its consequence were found among those with higher education.

CONCLUSIONPCa susceptible men in Chinese cities have insufficient knowledge on the disease. Strengthened education in this aspect can improve the present state and promote early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.

Aged ; China ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Male ; Men ; psychology ; Middle Aged ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; prevention & control ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Urban Population

To explore the prevention effect of the joint combination of Yindanxinnaotong soft capsule (YDXNT) and exercise (swimming) on atherosclerotic rats. The method of 3 x 3 factorial design, including two factors (YDXNT and swimming) and three levels (0, 1, 2 g x kg(-1) YDXNT; 0, 0.5, 1 h swimming), was mainly adopted. The atherosclerotic rat model was established by ligating their left common carotid arteries and feeding high-fat diet. After 8 weeks, blood samples were collected from their thoracic aorta to determine blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, fibrinogen (FIB), nitric oxide (NO), 6-keto-PGF(1alpha) endothelin (ET) and thromboxane B2 (TXB2). The tissues of left common carotid arteries of the rats were collected to detect the positive expression of SM22alpha and determine the semi-quantitation through the immunohistochemical staining. The result showed that the combination of YDXNT and swimming can significantly decrease the plasma viscosity (F = 3.241, P = 0.017), the high and low shear blood viscosity (F = 6.444, P = 0.001; F = 3.002, P = 0.024) and FIB (F = 4.046, P = 0.005). The increased NO and 6-keto-PGF(1alpha) and the decreased ET and TXB2 indicated a significant interaction (P < 0.05). The swimming showed an obvious main effect in the expression of up-regulated protein SM22alpha (F = 8.088, P = 0.001). The study suggested that the combined administration of YDXNT and swimming could improve the hemorheological parameters of atherosclerotic rats, protect the vascular endothelium, inhibit the vascular remodeling in atherosclerosis and positively prevent the atherosclerosis.
Animals ; Atherosclerosis ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism ; prevention & control ; Blood Viscosity ; drug effects ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Exercise Therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Microfilament Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Muscle Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Swimming

OBJECTIVETo study whether alisol B could inhibit complement 3a (C3a) induced renal tubular epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).

METHODSThe in vitro cultured human renal tubular epithelial HK-2 cells were intervened with 5 ng/mL transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), 0.1 micromol C3a, and 0.1 micromol C3a + 10 micromol alisol B, respectively. The mRNA and protein expressions of alpha-SMA, E-cadherin, and C3 were detected using RT-PCR, Western blot, and immunofluorescence, respectively.

RESULTSThe mRNA and protein expressions of C3 in HK-2 cells were up-regulated after intervention of C3a (P < 0.01), the mRNA and protein expressions of alpha-SMA in HK-2 cells were obviously enhanced (P < 0.01), the mRNA and protein expressions of E-cadherin obviously decreased (P < 0.01). When compared with the group intervened by exogenous C3a, after intervention of alisol B, the mRNA and protein expressions of alpha-SMA in HK-2 cells were obviously reduced (P < 0.01), the mRNA and protein expressions of E-cadherin obviously increased (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSExogenous C3a could induce renal tubular EMT. Alisol B was capable of suppressing C3a induced EMT.

Actins ; metabolism ; Cadherins ; metabolism ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cell Line ; Cholestenones ; pharmacology ; Complement C3a ; metabolism ; Epithelial Cells ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition ; drug effects ; Humans ; Kidney Tubules ; cytology ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the application of the multiple locus variable numbers of tandem repeats (MLVA) in genotype Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from Tibet, and to understand the characteristics of genotype and distribution.

METHODS217 M. tuberculosis strains were collected from six regions of Tibet. Twenty tandem repeats loci in the total genome of M. tuberculosis (MTB) were analyzed by PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis method. The characteristics on polymorphism of DNA fingerprinting of 217 MTB strains were analyzed with BioNumerics 3.0 software.

RESULTS217 M. tuberculosis strains detected with 20 MLVA loci were classified to 19 genotypes with 87.6% of the stains belonging to Beijing genotype and the other 18 genotypes were scattered,accounted for 1.38% and 0.92% strains, respectively. Beijing genotype was not significantly associated with the resistance to all of the four drugs and BCG vaccination.

CONCLUSIONIt is concluded that the strains of MTB isolated in Tibet present definite polymorphism and most of the epidemic strains belonged to Beijing family genotype and MTB genotyping. The Beijing genotype was not recognized as the one transferred from some of the drug resistance strains or from BCG vaccination. Being a fast and simple technique, MLVA method, seemed a better molecular typing method and could be used for genotyping in M. tuberculosis and monitoring pathogen.

BCG Vaccine ; DNA Fingerprinting ; Electrophoresis, Agar Gel ; Genotype ; Minisatellite Repeats ; genetics ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; classification ; genetics ; Phylogeny ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Tibet

Objective To investigate the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 7(MMP-7) mRNA in LOVO cells of colon cancer induced by TF/F Ⅶ a and its signal pathway.Methods We transfected LOVO cells stably with RNAi plasmid targeting to tissue factor to get TFRNAi LOVO cells and detected efficiency of interference in TFRNAi LOVO cells based on Western blot analysis;Expression of MMP-7 was evaluated in LOVO cells treated with 100 nmol/L FⅦa in 0 h、4 h、8 h、12 h、24 h based on RT-PCR and Northern blot.Expression of MMP-7mRNA was determined in quiescent LOVO cells treated with different doses of FⅦa(0 nmol/L、10nmol/L、50 nmol/L、100 nmol/L、200 nmol/L)for 8 h based on Northern blot.Quiescent LOVO cells were treated for 0 h、4 h、8 h、12 h、16 h、24 h with 100 nmol/L FⅦa to evaluate the expression of p-P38;The expression level of MMP-7mRNA induced by 100 nmol/L FⅦa for 8 h in LOVO cells blocked by 10retool SB203580 0.5 h previously and in TFRNAi LOVO cells were measured by Northern blot.Results Northern blot analysis revealed that FⅦa markedly increased the expression of MMP-7mRNA in a time-and dose-dependent manner.Western blot analysis confirmed that FⅦa stimulates p-P38 in a time-dependent manner.SB203580 block 59.2% expression of MMP-7mRNA in LOVO cells induced by TF/FⅦa.In TFRNAi LOVO cells,the expression of MMP-7mRNA induced by TF/FⅦa was 48% less than that in normal LOVO cells.Conclusions TF/FⅦa Complex induces the expression of MMP-7mRNA in LOVO cells in vitro,possibly through P38 pathway.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Dengue fever (DF) during the Dengue-1 epidemic in Guangzhou.

METHODSClinical and epidemiological data of 1032 patients with DF from May 2002 to November 2003 were retrospectively analyzed. Dengue virus were isolated by cell culture and typed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTSAge of the patients ranged from 55 days to 91 years old (average 34.7 +/- 13.2 years) with sex ratio 1.03:1. Incubation period ranged from 2 to 12 days with mean periods of 5.3 +/- 2.4 days. Most (45.0%) cases appeared in September and the epidemic last from July to November. Dengue outbreak had involved 675 cases in 26 common places. The common manifestations were seen as fever (100%), headache (90.9%), myalgia (68.4%), bone soreness (48.8%), fatigue (79.3%), skin rash (60.1%), positive tourniquet test (45.3%), leukopenia (63.3%) and thrombocytopenia (60.8%), respectively. Dengue virus was isolated from serum of 19 out of 54 patients' and identified as Dengue virus type 1. DNA sequence analyzes on rates of nucleotide homology were 97%, 97% and 98% compared with those of Dengue virus type 1 strain of DF outbreak in Cambodia, in 1997 and 1999 in China.

CONCLUSIONThe epidemic of DF in Guangzhou in 2002/2003 was caused by Dengue virus type-1 with most patients showing classic type of the disease. Date suggested that change can happen from non-endemic to hypoendemic regions in Guangdong province.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Base Sequence ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Dengue ; epidemiology ; Dengue Virus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data

OBJECTIVEThe present study aimed to characterize the clinical presentations and magnetic resonance imaging including conventional MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in newborns with cerebral infarction.

METHODSClinical records of 16 newborn infants with cerebral infarction were reviewed. All cases underwent DWI examination in addition to conventional MRI examination [T1-weighted (T1W) and T2-weighted (T2W)]within 5 days after birth. Five patients received the second MRI examination at the age of 11 to 18 days.

RESULTSEight patients had antenatal risk factors, 9 had intranatal risk factors, and no postnatal risk factors were found. Seizures as the first symptom were noted in 11 neonates, with a short duration and a low frequency. The first imaging examination (within 5 days) showed a slight hypointensity on T1W, a slight hyperintensity on T2W and significantly increased signal intensity with a clear boundary on DWI in the lesions. In the MRI re-examination, more obvious hypointensity on T1W and hyperintensity on T2W were noted, while hypointensity was shown on DWI in the lesions compared with the first imaging results.

CONCLUSIONSSeizures characterized by short duration and low frequency usually may be the first symptom in newborns with cerebral infarction. A hyperintensity on DWI was shown in the lesions at the early stage of neonatal cerebral infarction. A hypointensity on T1W and a hyperintensity on T2W were demonstrated in the lesions with increasing disease duration.

Brain ; pathology ; Cerebral Infarction ; diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Objective:To preliminarily verify the cross talk between tissue factor/active coagulation factor Ⅶ (TF/FⅦa) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathways in human colon cancer cells in culture.Methods:FⅦa was treated to HT-29 (KRAS-wild type) and LoVo (KRAS-mutant) colon cancer cells to activate TF/F Ⅶa pathway,qRT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the expressions of amphiregulin (AREG) and epiregulin (EREG),ligands of EGFR on mRNA and protein levels,respectively.After knocking down expression of TF by TF-targeted siRNA transfection,FⅦa was treated and mRNA expressions of AREG and EREG were detected to see whether the FⅦa-induced effects were dependent on TF.Expressions of mRNA of TF and FⅦwere detected by qRT-PCR following the activation of EGFR pathway by treatment with epidermal growth factor (EGF) to HT-29 and LoVo cells.Results:After TF/FⅦa pathway was activated,for HT-29 cells,expressions of AREG (on mRNA level) and EREG (both on mRNA and protein level) were significantly down-regulated versus those of control group,gene expressions of AREG and EREG were 0.55 ± 0.09 vs.0.99 ± 0.09,0.67 ± 0.10 vs.1.02 ± 0.02,protein expressions of EREG were 0.54 ± 0.09 vs.1.04 ± 0.13,all P ＜ 0.05.For LoVo cells,expressions of AREG (both on mRNA and protein level) and EREG (on protein level) were significantly up-regulated versus those of control group,gene expression of AREG were 1.87 ± 0.39 vs.0.93 ± 0.23,protein expressions of AREG and EREG were 3.09 ±0.73 vs.1.11 ±0.21,1.53 ±0.19 vs.0.97 ± 0.23,all P ＜0.05.The regulating effect of AREG and EREG mRNA expression by FⅦa in HT-29 and LoVo cells could both be partly blocked by knocking down TF expression.For HT-29 cells,activation of EGFR pathway induced no significant TF mRNA expression,F Ⅶ mRNA expression was not detected.However,for LoVo cells,activation of EGFR pathway induced significantly higher mRNA expressions of both TF and FⅦ,expressions were 1.53 ± 0.23 vs.1.00 ± 0.23,53.20 ± 6.08 vs.1.00 ± 0.15,all P ＜0.05.Conclusion:In colon cancer cell LoVo,when activated,TF/FⅦa pathway and EGFR pathway could interact through upregulating the other pathway's effectors,and mutant KRAS might play a critical role in the two pathways'cross talk.

BACKGROUNDRetinopathy of prematurity (ROP) has become one of the leading causes of visual loss in children. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) is the principal stimulator of angiogenesis. VEGF was differentially spliced from exon 8 to exons 8a and 8b to form two families: the pro-angiogenic VEGFxxx family and the anti-angiogenic VEGFxxxb family. Previous research has shown variable effeteness of bevacizumab in inhibiting retinal neovascularization in ROP. This study aimed to investigate whether the effectiveness of this inhibition depends on the relative ratio of the two VEGF isoforms.

METHODSIntravitreal bevacizumab injection (IVB) was performed in the oxygen-induced-retinopathy (OIR) mice on postnatal day 12 (P12) (intravitreal phosphate buffered saline (PBS) injection as control). The Evans blue perfused retina were used to test the retinal neovascularization-leakage (NVL) area and non-perfusion (NP) area.

RESULTSThe retinal NVL and NP area in the IVB group were significantly smaller than the intravitreal PBS injection group (IVP group). On P17, the protein level of total VEGF isoforms was significantly inhibited compared to IVP group (P < 0.05) while VEGF(165)b isoform was slight reduced (P > 0.05). The switch from pro-angiogenic isoforms to anti-angiogenic isoforms after IVB could be found. The relative protein expression of VEGF(165)b isoform was significantly higher in IVB group than in IVP group (P < 0.05) on P17 which was correlated with the reduced ischemia-induced angiogenesis in OIR mice after IVB.

CONCLUSIONSThe anti-angiogenic effectiveness might depend on the relative high expression of VEGF(165)b after intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Anti-angiogenic therapy is a more effective therapy for ROP.

Angiogenesis Inhibitors ; administration & dosage ; Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized ; administration & dosage ; Bevacizumab ; Disease Models, Animal ; Intravitreal Injections ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Protein Isoforms ; analysis ; Retinal Neovascularization ; prevention & control ; Retinopathy of Prematurity ; drug therapy ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; analysis