Aim To investigate whether rosuvastatin induced reduction of atherosclerotic plaque was related to the expression of Sialyltransferase ( ST6 Gal-Ⅰ) in ApoE-/ - mice. Methods Six-weeks old ApoE-/ -mice fed with high fat were divided randomly into three groups: baseline group ( n=12 ) , control group ( n=12 ) and rosuvastatin group ( n =12 ) . Sixteen weeks later, control group was sacrificed. Serum and aortic intima were saved. Control group and rosuvastatin group were fed for seven weeks continually. Concentra-tions of serum lipids(TC, TG, LDL and HDL) were analyzed. Sections from the aortic root were examined by Hematoxylin-Eosin( HE) staining. The size of ath-erosclerotic lesion in each section was evaluated. Ex-pression of ST6 Gal-Ⅰ in aortic intima was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results Plasma TG and LDL-C, plaque areas and intimal thickness of control group were significant higher than those of baseline group ( P<0. 05 ) . Those results indicated that the AS model was successfully constructed. After seven weeks, the plaque areas and concentrations of serum lipids of rosu-vastatin group were obviously smaller than those of con-trol group(P<0. 05). The expression of ST6Gal-Ⅰin aortic root was decreased in control group compared to the baseline, and which was increased in control group compared to the rosuvastatin group. Conclusion Ro-suvastatin could inhibit the progression of atherosclero-sis, which might be related to the expression of ST6Gal-Ⅰ in aortic root.

OBJECTIVETo study the factors influencing short-term prognosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) in children.

METHODSThe clinical data of 137 hospitalized children with TBM between January 2007 and February 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 30 potential factors influencing short-term prognosis of TBM were evaluated by univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis.

RESULTSClinical staging showed that of the 137 children 21 cases (15.3%) were in the early stage, 67 cases (48.9%) in the medium stage and 49 cases (35.8%) in the late stage of TBM. The univariate analysis revealed 8 factors associated with a poor short-term prognosis: clinical stage of TBM (late), coma, positive Babinski signs, cranial nerve involvements, paralysis, seizures, obvious abnormalities in brain computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and elevated protein concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Factors associated with a favourable short-term prognosis for TBM included glucocorticoid steroids therapy, positive reaction of PPD skin test and an increased length of stay in hospital. Multivariate logistic analysis revealed two independent risk factors for a poor short-term prognosis: clinical stage of TBM (late) (OR: 11.168, 95%CI: 3.521-35.426) and positive signs of meningeal irritation (OR: 4.275, 95%CI: 1.043-17.521). An increased length of stay in hospital was shown as a favorable factor (OR: 0.893, 95%CI: 0.825-0.968).

CONCLUSIONSLate-stage TBM and positive signs of meningeal irritation suggest a poor prognosis, while an appropriately longer length of stay in hospital may contribute to a favorable short-term prognosis for children with TBM.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Tuberculosis, Meningeal ; complications ; diagnosis

This review is a summary of some useful methods and advances about improving clinical applications to small-diameter vascular grafts in recent years, and it points out the developing orientation of small-diameter vascular grafts in the future.
Bioartificial Organs ; Endothelial Cells ; Endothelium, Vascular ; Tissue Engineering ; Vascular Grafting

OBJECTIVE:To study the effect of comprehensive psychotherapy on psychology of cancer patients received chemotherapy or radiotherapy. METHODS:77 cancer patients received chemotherapy or radiotherapy were divided into two groups. Both groups received routine chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Intervention group(n=40)were additionally given comprehensive psychotherapy,i.e. cognitive therapy,psychological persuasion and relaxation training. Self-rating anxiety scale(SAS)and self-rating depression scale(SDS)were applied to evaluate all patients one week before intervention and one month after comprehensive psychotherapy. RESULTS:SAS and SDS scores of intervention group were significantly lower than that of control group after treatment(P0.05). CONCLUSION:Comprehensive psychotherapy can improve the mental state of patients with can-cer.

U-shaped sacral fractures are rare and often difficult to diagnose primarily due to the difficulty in obtaining adequate imaging and the severe associated injuries.These fractures are highly unstable and frequently cause neurological deficits.The majority of surgeons have limited experience in management of U-shaped sacral fractures.No standard treatment protocol for U-shaped sacral fractures has been available till now.This study aimed to examine the management of U-shaped sacral fractures and the early outcomes.Clinical data of 15 consecutive patients with U-shaped sacral fracture who were admitted to our trauma center between 2009 and 2014 were retrospectively analyzed.Demographics,fracture classification,mechanism of injury and operative treatment and deformity angle were assessed.All the patients were treated with lumbopelvic fixation or (and) sacral decompression.EQ-5d score was applied to evaluate the patients' quality of life.Of the 15 consecutive patients with U-shaped sacral fracture,the mean age was 28.8 years (range:15-55 years) at the time of injury.There were 6 females and 9 males.The mean followup time was 22.7 months (range:9-47 months) and mean full weight-bearing time was 9.9 weeks (range:8-14 weeks).Ten patients received lumbopelvic fixation and sacral decompression,one lombosacral fixation,and 4 merely sacral decompression due to delayed diagnosis or surgery.The post-operation deformity angle (mean 27.87°,and range:8°-90°) of the sacrum was smaller than that pre-operation (mean 35.67;range:15-90) with no significance difference noted.At the latest follow-up,all patients obtained neurological recovery with different extents.Visual analogue score (VAS) was reduced from preoperative 7.07 (range:5-9) to postoperetive 1.93 (range:1-3).All patients could walk without any aid after treatment.Eight patients were able to care for themselves and undertook some daily activities.Five patients had returned to work full time.In conclusion,lumbopelvic fixation is an effective method for stabilization of U-shaped sacral fractures with fewer complications developed.Effective reduction and firm fixation are the prerequisite of early mobilization and neurological recovery.Sacral decompression effectively promotes neurological recovery even in patients with old U-shaped sacral fractures.

OBJECTIVES: To study the value of heparin-binding protein (HBP) in the diagnosis of severe infection in children. METHODS: This study was a prospective observational study. The medical data of children who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit due to infection from January 2019 to January 2020 were collected. According to the diagnostic criteria for severe sepsis and sepsis, the children were divided into a severe sepsis group with 49 children, a sepsis group with 82 children, and a non-severe infection group with 33 children. The three groups were compared in terms of related biomarkers such as plasma HBP, serum C-reactive protein, serum procalcitonin, and platelet count. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to investigate the value of plasma HBP level in the diagnosis of severe infection (including severe sepsis and sepsis). RESULTS: The severe sepsis and sepsis groups had a significantly higher plasma HBP level on admission than the non-severe infection group (P<0.05). Compared with the sepsis and non-severe groups, the severe sepsis group had significantly higher serum levels of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin and a significantly lower platelet count (P<0.05). Plasma HBP level had an area under the ROC curve of 0.590 in determining severe infection, with a sensitivity of 38.0% and a specificity of 82.4% (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS There is an increase in plasma HBP level in children with severe infection, and plasma HBP level has a lower sensitivity but a higher specificity in the diagnosis of severe infection and can thus be used as one of the markers for the judgment of severe infection in children.
Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides ; Biomarkers ; Blood Proteins ; C-Reactive Protein/analysis* ; Child ; Humans ; Procalcitonin ; Prospective Studies ; ROC Curve ; Sepsis/diagnosis*

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of Tuina (Chinese therapeutic massage) manipulation for pediatric adenoid hypertrophy (AH). Methods: A total of 60 children with AH were randomized into an observation group and a medication group, with 30 cases in each group. The observation group was treated with pediatric Tuina treatment, and the medication group was treated with 0.05％ mometasone furoate nasal spray. The changes of main clinical symptom score, quality of life (QOL) score and X-ray nasopharynx lateral film were observed, and the clinical efficacy was evaluated. Results: The total effective rate of the observation group was 90.0％, and that of the medication group was 66.7％. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). After treatment, the A/N value [ratio of adenoid thickness (A) and nasopharyngeal cavity width (N)] of posterior nasopharyngeal lateral film did not show significant change in either group (P>0.05). After treatment, the clinical symptom scores in both groups decreased, and the intra-group differences were statistically significant (P<0.001), but there was no statistical difference between the two groups (P>0.05). After treatment, the QOL scores of children in both groups decreased, and the intra-group differences were statistically significant (P<0.001), and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: Tuina manipulation is effective in treating pediatric AH, and produces a better effect in improving traditional Chinese medicine symptoms and QOL than 0.05％ mometasone furoate nasal spray.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the development and maturation competence of oocytes retrieved from cryopreserved and transplanted human fetal ovarian tissue by techniques of tissue culture, inducing ovary, oocyte retrieval, and in vitro maturation (IVM).

METHODSFetal ovaries of 20 weeks were frozen-thawed and cultured for 6 days in vitro, then xenografted into kidney capsules of immunodeficient mice. All mice were stimulated with follicle stimulating hormone every second day for 23 weeks, starting 1 week after grafting. Then oocytes were retrieved from antral follicles 13 hours after human chorionic gonadotrophin injection. IVM was performed to evaluate the maturation competence of the oocytes from ovarian grafts. Human fetal ovarian tissues were examined with histological and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) evaluation.

RESULTSThere was no difference between fresh ovarian tissues and frozen-thawed ovarian tissues in the percentage of follicles at different growth stages (P > 0.05). The proportion of the primary follicles and preantral follicles in the cultured ovarian tissues was significantly larger than that of fresh ovarian tissues and frozen-thawed ovarian tissues (P < 0.05). The proportion of the primary follicles, preantral follicles, and antral follicles in the transplanted ovarian tissues was significantly higher than that of cultured ovarian tissues, fresh ovarian tissues, and frozen-thawed ovarian tissues (P < 0.05). No significant signals of PCNA in the primordial follicles in all ovarian tissues were observed. PCNA immunoreactivity first appeared in primary follicles. However, the obviously positive signals of PCNA were seen in the oocytes and/or the granular cells of cultured ovarian tissues and transplanted ovarian tissues. Oocytes from antral follicles were collected and matured in vitro, and 21.43% of the oocytes reached to MII within 48 hours IVM.

CONCLUSIONSHuman ovarian follicles can survive and develop well after cryopreservation, tissue culture, and xenotransplantation. Furthermore, oocytes recovered from grafts have normal maturation competence.

Animals ; Cryopreservation ; Female ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Oocytes ; cytology ; Oogenesis ; Ovarian Follicle ; cytology ; growth & development ; transplantation ; Pregnancy ; Transplantation, Heterologous

OBJECTIVETo study the clinical features, diagnosis and therapy of thyroid neoplasm in children.

METHODSA retrospective study was performed on 32 children with thyroid nodular who were underwent operation in Xiangya Hospital between January 2002 and December 2010.

RESULTSOf the 32 cases, there were 23 girls and 9 boys. Six cases were diagnosed as nodular Goiter adenoma and 26 cases were diagnosed as thyroid papillary carcinoma. B-ultrasonic examination showed a 100% accurate rate for the diagnosis of thyroid carcinoma. Fourteen children (44%) were proven to have concurrent Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Twenty-two (69%) children with thyroid carcinoma were found to have lymph metastasis in the lateral neck. The children younger than 10 years showed a high rate of metastasis than those older one (94% vs 56%, P<0.05). All 32 children received a surgical therapy. Subtotal thyroidectomy was performed on the 6 children with nodular Goiter adenoma. Total thyroidectomy (17 cases) or ipsilateral thyroidectomy (9 cases) was performed according to the stage of thyroid carcinoma. The surgical outcomes were followed up for 3 months to 9 years and no recurrence or death occurred. The development and growth were normal in the children.

CONCLUSIONSChildhood thyroid nodular attacks girls more than boys, and the frequency of malignancy is high. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is a common concurrent disease. The incidence of local lymph metastasis is high in those younger than 10 years. The surgical therapy for thyroid neoplasm may lead satisfactory outcomes in children.

Adolescent ; Child ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; surgery

Host genetic factors, such as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles, are important in Human immunod-eficiency virus (HIV) infection and its progression to AIDS. HLA class I genes, especially highly polymorphicHLA-B genes, are involved in the activation of HLA-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) against HIV, andthus control susceptibility to or protect against this virus. The present study was aimed to determine the distributionof HLA-B alleles in the Chinese Uygur ethnic group and its association with HIV infection. One hundred ten healthycontrol (HIV negative) and 128 HIV positive Chinese Xinjiang Uygur ethnic individuals were used in this study.HLA typing for B allele was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with sequence-specific primers (SSP).Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was calculated using POPGENE software for the healthy control group. The HLA-Bfrequency of each allele was compared between the patients and the controls using the chi-square test. In HIV-1-pos-itive group, gene frequency of allele B * 4901 was significantly higher compared to the healthy control subjects (P=0.02, OR=3.06, 95%CI=1.16～8.10 forB*4901). In contrast, the gene frequency of B * 40 in healthy controlswas significantly higher than in the HIV-positive patients (P=0.02, OR=0.39, 95%CI=0.07～0. 92 for B* 40).In this study, HLA allele B * 4901 may be associated with increased susceptibility to HIV-1 infection, whereas the B* 40 allele may be associated with resistance to H HIV-1 infection.