A prospective cohort study was conducted on 671 patients, who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit of the Children Hospital N0 1 in the period of 14 months, to identify risk factors for nosocomial infections (NI). Results: NI rate was 22.9% and 29.3/1000 patient-days, in which nosocomial pneumonia accounted for 49.4%, surgical site infection 12.3%, catheter site infection 11.7%, urinary tract infection 5.8%. There is no significant difference of NI rate in age and sex (p>0.05). By multiple logistic regression analysis, the risk factors for NI were: 2nd degree malnutrition, PRISM score, multiple invasive interventions, antibiotic therapy, H2 receptor blocker, parenteral nutrition. Risk factors for nosocomial pneumonia were intubation, duration of intubation >5 days, reintubation, H2 receptor blockers, aspiration. Risk factors for blood stream infection included venous cutdown, central venous catheter, duration of central venous catheter >3 days, parenteral nutrition. The risk factors for surgical site infection consisted of gastrointestinal surgery, post operative drain, duration of drain >5 days. The risk factors for urinary tract infection were urinary catheter, duration of urinary catheter >3 days
Cross Infection ; Risk Factors ; Pediatrics ; Intensive Care

A prospective cohort study about the incidence of nosocomial infection (NI) was carried out on 671 patients treated at Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in 14 months. The incidence of NI was 22.9% and 29.3/1000 patient-days, in which nosocomial pneumonia accounts for 49.4%, 43.1/1000 ventilator-days; septicema: 27.3%, 49.3/1000 central catheter-days; surgical site infection: 12.3%, catheter-induced infection: 11.7%; urinary tract infection: 58%, 41.9/1000 urinary catheter-day. Day of onset NI was 6.4±5 days. NI rate is higher in moderate malnutrition, co-morbidities, immunocompromise patients. Main causes were gram negative (79.8%). The mortality rate of the patients with NI was 36.4% significantly higher than that of the patients without NI (8.6%)
Cross Infection ; Child

Background: The change of blood pressure during hemodialysis has been noted for long time. However, there were few studies on the rise of blood pressure during hemodialysis. The clinical meaning of hypertension during hemodialysis has not been understood clearly. Objective: To study the role of calcium concentration in dialysate in the rise of blood pressure during hemodialysis sessions. Subjects and method: Prospective study performed on 9 stable patients on chronic hemodialysis treated at Viet Duc Hospital including 5 female and 4 male patients. The mean age of patients was 47.6 years. The patients had period 1 of 10 weeks of treatment using dialysate 1 A (with calcium concentration 1.8 mmol/l) and then they were switched to period 2 of 10 other weeks using dialysate 3A (with calcium concentration 1.25 mmol/l). Results:The blood pressure of patients during the period 2 using 3A dialysate was better controlled during hemodialysis sessions. The response to erythropoietin treatment was similar in both periods. The serum calcium was lower after using 3A dialysate. Conclusions: Using dialysate with lower calcium concentration can be helpful for controlling the hypertension during hemodialysis sessions. The appropriate calcium concentration in dialysate needs to be selected to avoid the hypocalcaemia in chronic hemodialysis patients.
Renal Dialysis ; Hypertension

Background: Bone marrow stem cells with their plasticity can be used to replace and repair the other damaged organs and tissues, so they can also be used to obtain bone healing of nonunions. Objective: to evaluate the results of percutaneous autologous bone marrow grafting to treat the tibia diaphyseal nonunions. Subjects and methods: 12 patients with noninfected nonunion of the tibia were diagnosed and treated in Viet Duc Hospital. About 250mL of marrow was aspirated, then separated and concentrated by density gradient centrifugation. The final mononuclear cell mass containing stem cells and progenitors was washed in 30ml of 0.9% NaCL and then injected into the damaged sites. Patients were evaluated by clinical and X-rays examinations with at least 6 months follow-up. Results: None of the patients had post - op complications. Bone union was obtained in eleven of the twelve patients (91,7%) at an average of 15,3 weeks (range, 9 - 30 weeks), the bone marrow grafts used for these patients who had bone union contained a mean of 5,65 \xb1 3,74 x 106 (0,95 - 11,73 x 106) CD34(+) stem cells in total. Conclusions: Percutaneous autologous bone - marrow grafting is a minimally invasive alternative and a simple, effective, safe method for the treatment of the tibia diaphyseal nonunions with the comparative bone healing rate. \r\n', u'\r\n', u'
Tibia/ pathology ; Bone Marrow/ anatomy & ; histology ; surgery

In this study, twenty known compounds were isolated from Houttuynia cordata Thunb., including four megastigmanes (1‒4), four phenolics (5, 6, 9, and 10), one tetrahydro-2-one derivative (12), four coumarins (7, 13, 14, and 16), six caffeic acid derivatives (8, 11, 15, 17, 18, and 19), and one triterpenoid (20). Their chemical structures were established using NMR spectra and comparison with literature. The anti-diabetic activity of the isolated compounds was assessed by investigating their inhibitory effects on protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) and α-glucosidase. The results revealed that ginnalin A (10) and 3-(4′-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propenoic acid (4′′-carboxyl)-phenyl ester (13) exhibited significant inhibitory effects on both PTP1B and α-glucosidase with IC 50 values of 7.9 ‒ 37.6 and 13.9 ‒ 31.9 μM, respectively. In the kinetic study, these two compounds showed noncompetitive-type PTP1B and α-glucosidase inhibition, with K i values of 35.6 and 7.3 μM for PTP1B and 13.9 and 31.0 μM for α-glucosidase, respectively. These findings highlight the potential of the isolated compounds as candidates for the development of novel therapeutic agents for diabetes.

Here, we designed to examine the anti-inflammatory effects on RAW264.7 cells and the immunosuppressive effects by evaluating interleukin-2 (IL-2) production in Jurkat T cells using a MeOH extract of Panax notoginseng roots. The results showed that the MeOH extract inhibited the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO) in a dose-dependent manner (IC₅₀ value of 7.08 µg/mL) and displayed effects on T cell activation at a concentration of 400 µg/mL. In efforts to identify the potent compounds, bioactivity-guided fractionation of the MeOH extract and chemical investigation of its active CH₂Cl₂-, EtOAc-, and butanol-soluble fractions led to the successful isolation and identification of eleven compounds, including two polyacetylenes (1, 2), a steroid saponin (3), seven dammarane-type ginsenosides (4 – 10), and an oleanane-type ginsenoside (11). Among them, compound 11 was isolated from this plant for the first time. Compound 2 exhibited potent inhibitory effects on NO synthesis and an immunosuppressive effect with IC₅₀ values of 2.28 and 65.57 µM, respectively.
Ginsenosides ; Interleukin-2 ; Nitric Oxide ; Panax notoginseng ; Panax ; Plants ; Polyacetylenes ; Saponins ; T-Lymphocytes

In our study, sixteen known phenolic compounds, including quercetin (1), methyl gallate (2), caesalpiniaphenol C (3), 8S,8′S,7′R-(‒)-lyoniresinol (4), 7,3′,5′-trihydroxyflavanone (5), sappanchalcone (6), sappanone A (7), taxifolin (8), fisetin (9), fustin (10), (+)-catechin (11), brazilin (12), 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl β-ᴅ-glucopyranoside (13), 1-(2-methylbutyryl)phloroglucinol-glucopyranoside (14), (+)-epi-catechin (15), and astragalin (16) and one mixture of two conformers of protosappanin B (17/18) were isolated from the stems of Caesalpinia decapetala var. japonica. Their structures were elucidated based on a comparison of their physicochemical and spectral data with those of literature. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first isolation of compounds 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10 from C. decapetala and compounds 13 and 14 from the Caesalpinia genus. All the isolated compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory effect against the α-glucosidase enzyme.Among them, two flavonols (1 and 9), one chalcone (6), and one homoisoflavanone (7) exhibited an inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase action with an IC 50 range value of 5.08 ‒ 15.01 µM, stronger than that of the positive control (acarbose, IC 50 = 152.22 μM). Kinetic analysis revealed that compounds 1 and 9 showed non-competitive α-glucosidase inhibition, while the inhibition type was mixed for compounds 6 and 7.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common age-related neurodegenerative disease in industrialized countries. It is estimated that about 47 million people living with dementia and the number of cases will be tripled by 2050. However, the exact mechanism of AD is not known, and full therapy has still not been found. Various tryptophan-derived alkaloids have been reported as promising agents for the treatment of AD. In the present study, a series of tryptophan-derived alkaloids were isolated and characterized from the methanol extract of Hedera rhombea fruit. Based on the analysis of their observed and reported spectroscopic data, their structures were identified as N-[4′-hydroxy-(E)-cinnamoyl]-L-tryptophan (1), N-[3′,4′-dihydroxy-(E)-cinnamoyl]-L-tryptophan (2), N-[4′-hydroxy-(E)-cinnamoyl]-L-tryptophan methyl ester (3), and N-[3′,4′-dihydroxy-(E)-cinnamoyl]-L-tryptophan methyl ester (4). These compounds were screened for anti-Alzheimer activity via their inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes in vitro. As a result, compounds 3 and 4 showed moderate BChE inhibition with IC 50 values of 86.9 and 78.4 µM, respectively, compared to those of the positive control [berberine (IC 50 = 11.5 µM)]. However, all four compounds did not show significant inhibition of the AChE enzyme. This is the first time, the AChE and BChE inhibitory activities of these tryptophan-derived alkaloids were investigated and reported.

Background: Dengue virus infection is a major public health problem. A hypothesis put forward for severe dengue is the cytokine storm, a sudden increase in cytokines that induces vascular permeability. Previous studies and our recent meta-analysis showed that IL-6, IL-8, IFNγ, TNFα, VEGF-A and VCAM-1 are associated with dengue shock syndrome. Therefore, in this study we aim to validate the association of these cytokines with severe dengue. Methods & Findings: In a hospital based case control study in Vietnam, children with dengue fever, other febrile illness and healthy controls were recruited. Dengue virus infection was confirmed by several diagnostic tests. Multiplex Immunoassay using Luminex technology was used to measure cytokines simultaneously. A positive association with dengue shock syndrome was found for VCAM-1, whereas a negative association was found for IFNγ. Furthermore, the multivariate logistic analysis also showed that VCAM-1 and IFNγ were independently correlated with dengue shock syndrome. Conclusion: IFNγ and VCAM-1 were associated with dengue shock syndrome, although their role in the severe dengue pathogenesis remains unclear. Additional studies are required to further investigate the function of these cytokines in severe dengue.

Background: Dengue virus infection is a major public health problem. A hypothesis put forward for severe dengue is the cytokine storm, a sudden increase in cytokines that induces vascular permeability. Previous studies and our recent meta-analysis showed that IL-6, IL-8, IFNγ, TNFα, VEGF-A and VCAM-1 are associated with dengue shock syndrome. Therefore, in this study we aim to validate the association of these cytokines with severe dengue. Methods & Findings: In a hospital based-case control study in Vietnam, children with dengue fever, other febrile illness and healthy controls were recruited. Dengue virus infection was confirmed by several diagnostic tests. Multiplex immunoassay using Luminex technology was used to measure cytokines simultaneously. A positive association with dengue shock syndrome was found for VCAM-1, whereas a negative association was found for IFNγ. Furthermore, multivariate logistic analysis also showed that VCAM-1 and IFNγ were independently correlated with dengue shock syndrome. Conclusion: IFNγ and VCAM-1 were associated with dengue shock syndrome, although their role in the severe dengue pathogenesis remains unclear. Additional studies are required to shed further light on the function of these cytokines in severe dengue.