Objective To analyze the clinical features and common etiology of lung nodules in children. Methods The etiology, diagnosis, radiological features from 98 hospitalized children of lung nodules were analyzed. Results Of them, 58 were male and 40 were female aged from 0.2 years old to 14.8 years old. Pulmonary infection were found in 41 cases (41.8%) including tuberculosis in 15 cases (15.3%), pulmonary fungal infection in 13 cases (13.3%), pneumonia in 11 cases (11.2%), lung trematode in 2 cases (2.0%). Pulmonary metastases were found in 28 cases (28.6%), multiple pulmonary arteriovenous fistula in 1 case (1.0%), and pulmonary contusion in 1 case (1.0%) and unknown etiology in 27 cases (27.6%). Conclusions The etiology of lung nodules is complicated, in which infectious diseases are the most commonly seen, followed by pulmonary metastases. Biopsy is the golden standard of diagnosis.

Objective To observe the therapeutic effects of astragalus membranaceus parenteral solution on the elders with cerebral infarction and its influences on patients' nerve function,activities of daily living and hemorheology. Methods Ninety-two patients diagnosed with cerebral infarction who were older than 60 years were randomly divided into astragalus membranaceus group(n=50) and control group (n=42). The two groups were treated with conventional therapy. But based on conventional therapy, astragalus membranaceus parenteral solution (30 mL, 2 g/mL) added into 5%glucose saline was used in the astragalus membranaceus group once daily for 4 weeks. The clinical therapeutic effects, nerve function, ability of activities of daily living and hemorheology were compared between the 2 groups. Results The total effective rate of the astragalus membranaceus group was not significantly different from that of the control group (P＞0.05), while the excellent rate and therapeutic effects of the astragalus membranaceus group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P＜0.05). Compared with control group, the scores of the neurologic impairment were decreased significantly(P＜0.05), Barthel index was increased significantly (P＜0.05), whole blood viscosity, hematocrit and fibrinogen were decreased significantly (P＜0.05) in the astragalus membranaceus group. Conclusions Astragalus membranaceus parenteral solution can improve nerve function and the ability of activities of daily living of the gerontal cerebral infarction patients.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of long-term application of Shengmai Capsule (SMC) on recovery of patients after myocardial infarction.

METHODSA total of 120 myocardial infarction patients were: assigned into two groups. Changes of angina pectoris, electrocardiogram (ECG), living capacity and heart function in patients were observed after 6-month treatment.

RESULTSThe total effective rate in alleviating angina: pectoris was 90.0% and that in improving ECG figure was 93.3% in the treatment group, both were significantly higher than those in the control group, 73.4% and 70.0% respectively (P<0.05). The Karnofsky Performance Status scores of heart function were increased and the Activity of Daily Living scores in living capacity decreased in both groups, but the improvements were better in the treatment group (P<0.01 and P<0.05). The parameters of cardiac function, including cardiac output, stroke volume, cardiac index and ejection fraction, were increased in both groups, but the increments in the treatment group were more significant (P<0.01 or P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONLong-term application of SMC could effectively prevent and treat angina pectoris, improve the living capacity and accelerate the recovery of heart function in patients after myocardial infarction.

Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Karnofsky Performance Status ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Myocardial Infarction ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Quality of Life

In order to evaluate the efficiency of ITS2 and psbA-trnH sequences used as DNA barcodes to distinguish Plantaginis Semen from its adulterants, we collected 71 samples of Plantaginis Semen and its adulterants. The ITS2 and psbA-trnH sequences were aligned through Clustal W, and the genetic distances were calculated by kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model and the Neighbor-Joining (NJ) phylogenetic trees were constructed using MEGA 5.1. The results indicated that the ITS2 sequence lengths of Plantago asiatica and P. depressa were 199 bp and 200 bp, respectively; the maximum intra-specific K2P distance were lower than the minimum inter-specific K2P distance; the NJ tree based on ITS2 sequence indicated that Plantaginis Semen and its adulterants could be distinguished clearly. The sequence lengths of psbA-trnH of both P. asiatica and P. depressa were 340 bp; the maximum intra-specific K2P distances were lower than the minimum inter-specific K2P distance; the NJ tree based on psbA-trnH sequence showed that Plantaginis Semen can be distinguished clearly from its adulterants except for P. major. Therefore, ITS2 sequences can be used as an ideal DNA barcode to distinguish Plantaginis Semen from its adulterants.
Base Sequence ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; Plantago ; classification ; genetics ; Quality Control ; Seeds ; classification ; genetics

AIM To investigate the efficacy and safety of Chinese Jing Liqueur (Curculiginis Rhizoma,Angelicae sinensis Radix,Cistanches Herba,etc.) in relieving main symptoms of patients with Kidney Yang Deficiency Syndrome.METHODS Within eight-week trial,one hundred and twenty patients randomly and equally assigned to control group and experimental group took 50 mL Chinese Jing Liqueur and 50 mL 10％ diluted Chinese Jing Liqueur,respectively.The grading scale for Kidney Yang Deficiency Syndrome and change curve for body surface temperature after drinking were established on day 0,the 4th week day and the 8th week day.The blood samples were collected for blood hemorheologies detection as well.An array of measurements before and after drinking,the Kidney Yang Deficiency Syndrome scores,single symptom scores,body surface temperature and hemorheologies between the two groups were thus compared.RESULTS The experimental group displayed a significantly higher clinical cure rate (31.034％) than the control group (5.172％) (P =0.000),total effective rate (69.966％)than the control group (34.483％) (P =0.000).The experimental group didn't compromise its superiority to the control group if evaluated by improvement in chilly sensation and the cold limbs (35.593％ to 6.667％,P =0.000);and by the fibrinogen level [(2.845 ± 0.724) g/L to (2.500 ± 0.395) g/L,P =0.004)].No significant difference in incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups was observed (P =0.619).Meanwhile,Chinese Jing Liqueur's power in improving the patients' fatigue and weakness of waist and knees,hyposexuality,listlessness,nocturia and lower extremity edema was noticed as well.CONCLUSION For patients with Kidney Yang Deficiency Syndrome,Chinese Jing Liqueur proves its efficacy in improving their main symptoms through enhancing the basic skin temperature and prolonging the duration of skin temperature rise.

BACKGROUNDPrompt diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection is an essential step in tuberculosis control and elimination. However, it is often difficult to accurately diagnose pediatric tuberculosis (TB). The tuberculin test (TST) may have a low specificity because of cross-reactivity with antigens present in Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and other mycobacteria, especially in China with a predominantly BCG-vaccinated population. Early-secreted antigenic target 6-kDa protein (ESAT-6) and culture filtrate protein 10 (CFP-10), stand out as suitable antigens that induce an interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) secreting, T-cell-mediated immune response to infection. While, considered the higher costs and complexity of the IFN-γ release assay (TSPOT), we aimed to evaluate the TSPOT and TST test in the clinical diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis and to establish a diagnostic process suitable for China.

METHODSThe sensitivity and specificity of the assay were evaluated in total seventy four children with active tuberculosis and fifty one nontuberculous children with other disease, and then the results were compared with TST. Logistic regression models were used to identify variables that were associated with positive results for each assay. The independent variables included sex, age, birth place, vaccination history, close contract with an active TB patient.

RESULTSThe sensitivity of TSPOT was higher than TST in active TB children with or without BCG vaccination, as well as in children with culture-confirmed TB. But the difference was not significant statistically. Combining results of the TSPOT and TST improved the sensitivity to 94.6%. Agreement of the TST and TSPOT was low (77.0%, κ = 0.203) in active TB patients. The difference in specificity between TSPOT and TST test was statistically significant (94.1% vs. 70.6%, P = 0.006). Specificity of the two tests in patients without prior BCG vaccination history was similar (80.0% vs. 60.0%). The concordance between the two tests results in BCG vaccinated subjects was low (71.7%, κ = 0.063). For TSPOT, none of the included risk factors was significantly associated with positive results. For TST, BCG vaccination (OR: 1.78; 95%CI: 1.30 - 2.00) was significantly associated with positive results.

CONCLUSIONSAlthough IFN-γ release assay had relatively high sensitivity and specificity, we also should consider the higher costs and complexity of this test. Therefore, TSPOT could be used as the complementary tool of TST in circumstances when a suspected patient with negative TST results, or to exclude a positive TST result caused by BCG vaccination.

BCG Vaccine ; immunology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; secretion ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tuberculin Test ; methods ; Tuberculosis ; diagnosis ; Vaccination

Objective: To investigate the clinical value of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) measured pulmonary artery parameters and pulmonary valve annulus Z scores for choosing the type of operation in complete repair of pediatric tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) Methods: A total of 143 patients received complete repair of pediatric TOF in our hospital were retrospectively studied. The patient's median age was 8 (1-171) months. Based on the type of operation, patients were divided into 2 groups: Trans-annular patch group, n=100 and Valve sparing repair group, n=43. Conventional TTE parameters, right ventricular outflow parameters and pulmonary valve annulus Z scores were compared between 2 groups; pulmonary valve annulus diameters measured by TTE and surgery were studied by correlation analysis. Results: Compared with Valve sparing repair group, Trans-annular patch group had decreased left ventricular end diastolic diameter (23.14±3.82) mm vs (25.23±4.56) mm, pulmonary valve annulus diameter (8.52±2.18) mm vs (10.01±2.61) mm and main pulmonary artery diameter (67.31 vs 82.91) all P<0.05. With reduced value of pulmonary valve annulus Z scores, the constituent ratio in Trans-annular patch group was gradually increasing and in Valve sparing repair group was gradually decreasing, all P<0.05. Correlation analysis indicated that pulmonary valve diameters measured by TTE and surgery had moderate agreement (r=0.581, P<0.001). Conclusion: TTE measured pulmonary valve annulus diameter, main pulmonary artery diameter and pulmonary valve annulus Z scores were the objective parameters provided to surgeon at pre-operation, which had clear clinical value.

Objective To establish a height prediction model of Chinese Han male based on the reported 547 height-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) loci in Europeans, and assess its accuracy for height estimation. Methods The DNA typing was analyzed in 59 Han male samples of Shandong province by Affymetrix SNP Array 6.0 chip and HiSeq 4000 sequencing platform. Prediction model was established using 547 height-associated SNPs loci as predictors and weight allele sums (WAS) as com-puting method. The accuracy of height prediction model was analysed using receiver operating characteris-tic (ROC) curve and area under curve (AUC). Results There was no height-associated SNPs locus was found by genome-wide association studies. In present study, height prediction model was established by WAS and obtained an AUC of 0.67 (95％CI:0.53-0.90). Conclusion It has reference value for predicting the height of Han male in Shandong province by WAS model based on 547 SNPs loci, while it is still necessary to further promote the accuracy of the prediction model by screening more height-associated SNPs loci with population heterogeneity.

Objective To analyze the correlations of the expressions of miR-4500 and nerve growth factor(NGF)in breast cancer patients with preoperative magnetic resonance(MR)signs.Methods A total of 105 patients with breast cancer admitted to our hospital were selected,the mRNA expression levels of miR-4500 and NGF in breast cancer tissues and adjacent tissues of patients were detected by qRT-PCR,and the positive expression rates of NGF in breast cancer tissues and adjacent tissues were determined by immunohistochemistry method.The correlations of the expressions of miR-4500 and NGF in breast cancer tissues with clinicopathological features and MR signs of patients were analyzed.The targeting relationship between miR-4500 and NGF was predicted by the bioinformatics website,and the correla-tion between the expressions of the two was analyzed.Results Compared with the adjacent tissues,the expression level of miR-4500 in breast cancer tissue decreased(P<0.05),while the level of NGF mRNA and the positive expression rate of NGF increased(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in age,pathological type,tumor classification,parenchymal background,apparent diffusion coefficient or enhancement curve among different expressions of miR-4500 and NGF(P>0.05).The histological grade,lymph node metastasis,tumor diameter,tumor morphology,ring-like enhancement,and peritu-moral brain edema were related to the expressions of miR-4500 and NGF(P<0.05).The bioinformatics website prediction showed that miR-4500 and NGF had binding sites,and the expressions of miR-4500 and NGF mRNA in breast cancer tissues were negatively correlated(r=-0.576,P<0.05).Conclusion The expression of miR-4500 in breast cancer tissue is low,and the expression of NGF is high,which are correlated with the preoperative MR signs in patients,providing a molecu-lar basis for MR signs.

We sought to identify common key regulators and build a gene-metabolite network in different nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) phenotypes. We used a high-fat diet (HFD), a methionine-choline-deficient diet (MCDD) and streptozocin (STZ) to establish nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and NAFL+type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in rat models, respectively. Transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses were performed in rat livers and serum. A functional network-based regulation model was constructed using Cytoscape with information derived from transcriptomics and metabolomics. The results revealed that 96 genes, 17 liver metabolites and 4 serum metabolites consistently changed in different NAFLD phenotypes (>2-fold, P<0.05). Gene-metabolite network analysis identified ccl2 and jun as hubs with the largest connections to other genes, which were mainly involved in tumor necrosis factor, P53, nuclear factor-kappa B, chemokine, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor and Toll-like receptor signaling pathways. The specifically regulated genes and metabolites in different NAFLD phenotypes constructed their own networks, which were mainly involved in the lipid and fatty acid metabolism in HFD models, the inflammatory and immune response in MCDD models, and the AMPK signaling pathway and response to insulin in HFD+STZ models. Our study identified networks showing the general and specific characteristics in different NAFLD phenotypes, complementing the genetic and metabolic features in NAFLD with hepatic and extra-hepatic manifestations.
AMP-Activated Protein Kinases ; Animals ; Complement System Proteins ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diet ; Diet, High-Fat ; Insulin ; Liver ; Metabolism ; Metabolomics ; Models, Animal ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* ; Peroxisomes ; Phenotype ; Rats ; Streptozocin ; Toll-Like Receptors ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha