Objective To compare the ability of the fourth and the third generation HIV assay kits available in Chinese market to detect early HIV infection.Methods 8 BBI HIV seroconversion panels (PRB924,930,940,942,943,944,946 and 948) and 2 National AIDS Reference Lab's HIV seroconversion panels (2004XJ727 and 20505217) were respectively detected with one HIV antigen assay kit,2 fourth generation HIV assay kits and 4 third generation HIV assay kits.The ability of these kits to detect early HIV infection was analyzed and compared.Results For every panel,the fourth generation HIV assay kits could detect HIV-1 infection 4 to 8 days earlier than the third generation kits,and 2 to 4 days later than the antigen kit.The detection ability of different brands of kits was different.Conclusions The fourth generation HIV assay kits could reduce the window period to detect HIV infection.It's meaningful for diagnosing early HIV infection,blood safety and etc.

Objective To investigate anterior longitudinal ligaments (ALL) ossified surrounding osteotomy vertebra impact the lordosing effect of pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) in patients with thoracolumbar kyphosis secondary to ankylosing spondylitis (AS).Methods We retrospectively reviewed 102 AS patients with thoracolumbar kyphosis treated with single-level PSO at our institution from September 2007 to August 2015.There were 92 male and 10 female.The average age was (35.6±11.8)years old (range from 17 to 65 years old).Patients were stratified into ossified group (54 cases) and non-ossified group (48 cases)based on the presence of ALL ossification adjacent to osteotomy vertebra.Compared the contribution of adjacent disc wedging to total correction of each PSO segment between the ossified and non-ossified groups.The long-term correction loss of spine and pelvic sagittal morphology were also evaluated and compared between the 2 groups.Results Patients in the ossified group accomplished significantly lower amount of correction in single level segment of PSO (36.3°±6.9° vs.41.5°±6.9°),and there was significant difference between the two groups.The contribution of adjacent disc wedging to total correction of PSO was significantly larger in the non-ossified group (22.9％ vs.7.8％,P＜0.001).For subgroups with a minimum 2 year follow-up,loss of corrections concerned sagittal vertical axis (SVA),which was (1.7±4.5) cm vs.(-0.2±4.0) cm in ossified group and non-ossified group,and there was significant difference between the two groups.Pelvic tilt (PT) was 3.5°±8.2° vs.2.0°± 10.4°,lumbar lordosis (LL) was-7.9°±11.9° vs.-0.1°± 11.9° and sacral slope (SS) was 4.5°±9.3° vs.1.6°±7.9°,and there were all significant differences between the two groups.The change of adjacent disc wedging angle was marginally higher in the unossified group (-2.1°±6.2° vs.-0.1°±3.7°,P=0.09),but there was no significant difference between the two groups.No significant correction loss of osteotomy angle was observed in both groups.Conclusion Osteotomy vertebrae accompanied by unossified adjacent ALL in PSO of AS were prone to create more disc-originated lordosing effect immediately after surgery.However,a correction loss might occur more commonly during a long term follow-up.

Objective To investigate the mRNA and protein expressions of Nav 1.1 and Nav 1.2 in hippocampus following traumatic brain injury ( TBI) in rats.Methods After the lateral fluid percussion model was established in adult male Sprague Dawley rats,the rats were sacrificed at 2,12,24 and 72 hours after percussion and collected ipsilateral hippocampus for detecting mRNA and protein expressions of Nav 1.1 and Nav 1.2 by means of fluorescent quantitation RT-PCR,Western blot and immunofluo rescence staining.Results The mRNA expressions of Nav 1.1 and Nav 1.2 were significantly down-regulated (P<0.01) in hippocampus and reached the lowest level at 2 hours following TBI.The protein expression of Nav 1.1 was significantly down-regulated (P<0.01) but recovered near to level of control group at 72 hours after TBI.While there was no statistical difference on protein expression of Nav 1.2 in hippocampus after TBI compared with control group (P>0.05).Conclusion TBI induces significant down-regulated mRNA and protein expressions of Nav 1.1 in the hippocampus,which may be one of molecular mechanisms for functional alternation of sodium channels and excitotoxic action following TBI.

Abstract: Objective　To investigate the clinical characteristics and diagnosis key points of brain abscess caused by Nocardia asiatica, and provide a clinical basis for diagnosing and treating intracranial infection caused by Nocardia. Methods　A case of pulmonary Nocardia asiatica complicated with brain abscess diagnosed at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University was selected to analyze the clinical manifestations, cerebrospinal fluid characteristics, pulmonary and cranial imaging features, and treatment plan, and to summarize the diagnosis and treatment experience. Results　The patient was an elderly woman with a history of diabetes, dry cough was the first symptom without fever or headache. At the beginning of the course, it was diagnosed as pulmonary infection and tuberculosis in the local hospital, and received conventional antimicrobial and anti-tuberculosis therapies, but showed no improvement. The patient developed progressive limb weakness, followed by consciousness disorders, and coma. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) adenosine deaminase and lactate dehydrogenase were not abnormal, CSF pressure, protein and white blood cells were high, mainly with multiple nuclear cells. CSF glucose and chloride were normal in the early stage of the disease, but decreased significantly in the later stage. Metagenomic analysis of cerebrospinal fluid indicated Nocardia asiatica with a specific sequence number of 537. Lung CT showed exudation, abscess, and cavity in the right lung. Skull MRI scan + enhancement suggested multiple scattered abscesses in both cerebral hemispheres. The abscesses were of different sizes and showed ring enhancement, with extensive surrounding edema, and ventricular compression. After treatment with meropenem, linezolid, and compound sulfamethoxazole tablets, the cerebrospinal fluid recovered, and the lesions in the lungs and intracranial structures improved. Conclusions　Brain abscess caused by Nocardia asiatica is similar to the tuberculous brain in clinical symptoms, cerebrospinal fluid examination, craniocerebral imaging, so we should be alert to the possibility of Nocardia infection in patients with diabetes. At the same time, metagenomic testing of the cerebrospinal fluid can help confirm the diagnosis. The mortality and disability rates of brain abscess caused by Nocardia are high. Early diagnosis and treatment can improve the prognosis.

Objective To analyze the outcomes of bracing treatment for girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), and to investigate the predictive factors of the protocol. Methods This study included 142 girls with AIS who finished standardized bracing treatment from July 2003 to July 2009. These patients had a mean age of 13.1±1.5 years, a mean main curve of 29.6°±5.4°, and a mean Risser grade of 2.0±1.5 before bracing treatment. Curve progression was defined that Cobb angle was greater than 6° compared to bracing initiation or was aggravated to more than 45° (indicative for surgery). The outcomes of bracing treatment were assessed based on the ratio of curves of progression or indicative for surgery. Chi-square and Logistic regression Analyses were performed to investigate the predictive factors of bracing treatment. Results The duration of bracing treatment averaged 2.5±1.0 years. Twenty-seven girls with curve progression (19%)and 115 girls (81%) with non-progression were found. Final curve which was greater than 45° was found in 18 girls (13%) who need a correction surgery, the remaining 124 girls (87%) had completed bracing treatment and avoided surgery. Chi-square analyses revealed that curve progression were more common in younger girls with lower Risser grade, with initial larger Cobb angle and with a main thoracic curve pattern.Logistic regression analyses found that premenarchal status and a main thoracic curve pattern were the independent risk factors of curve progression despite bracing. While initial Cobb angle which was greater than 30° was the additional independent risk factor of progression requiring surgery. Conclusion Bracing treatment could effectively prevent curve progression in most girls with AIS. The degree of growth maturity, the pattern and grade of curve are the influencing factor for bracing treatment.

Summary: The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro cytotoxieity of polyphosphoester polymer used as a novel injectable alveolar bone substitutes for controlled delivery of tetracycline. Cell culture medium was exposed to the polymer (0.01-10 mg/mL) for 24h. The L-929 mouse fibroblasts were then exposed to the treated cell culture medium for 24h. Finally, cell viability and growth were assessed by using MTT assay and Alamar Blue assay. No significant cytotoxicity of the polyphosphoester against L-929 mouse fibroblasts was observed at a concentration up to 10 mg/mL (P0.05). The two evaluation methods showed no significant differences (P0.05). This study suggests that polyphosphoester does not demonstrate any significant toxic effects to cells in vitro and has the potential to be used both as a medical device and as scaffolds in tissue engineering applications.

OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between fumonisin biosynthesis gene and toxicity of Fusarium moniliforme isolated in China.

METHODSThe toxigenic gene of 29 Fusarium moniliforme isolated from different provinces and varied food samples were determined. Eighteen fum5-positive strains were selected for biosyhesizing fumonisin and determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

RESULTSTwenty-six isolates were identified as fum5 gene positive strains. And all of these strains produced FB(1), FB(2) and FB(3). The amount of FB(1), FB(2) and FB(3) was ranging from 0.41-140.20 mg/kg, 0.06-14.30 mg/kg to 0.30-58.00 mg/kg, except one strain produced a lower level of FB(1) only. It wight be the first report showing a high level fumonisin-producing strain isolated from the sesame sample and identified in the world. The amount of FB(1), FB(2) and FB(3) produced by the isolate was 128.84 mg/kg, 11.80 mg/kg and 14.88 mg/kg.

CONCLUSIONSIt should have a close relationship between fumonisins biosynthesis gene and toxicity of Fusarium moniliforme isolated in China. The study demonstrated that strain of Fusarium moniliforme might contaminate the sesame sample and produce a high level of fumonisins.

China ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Food Contamination ; analysis ; prevention & control ; Fumonisins ; analysis ; metabolism ; Fungal Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fusarium ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Sesamum ; microbiology

OBJECTIVEA molecular technique based on quasispecies analysis for tracing postexposure HIV transmission was applied in an investigation of a possible case of HIV transmission after blood transfusion.

METHODSSixteen plasma specimens were collected from 3 HIV infections (T1-T3) involved in a possible HIV transmission chain and 13 HIV/AIDS (C1-C13) controls. The RNAs were extracted and then amplified by RT-PCR, the PCR products were cloned and sequenced.BioEdit 6.0.7 and MEGA 4.0 software were used to analyze gene sequences, calculate gene dispersion ratio and construct phylogenetic tree.

RESULTSThe sequences of 13 specimens were successfully obtained.The HIV strains from T1, T2 and T3 were CRF07_BC recombinants, those from 5 out of the 6 controls lived in the same city with T2 and T3 were CRF07_BC recombinants as well, while those from 4 controls living in the same city with T1 were CRF01_AE recombinants. Compared with the clone sequences from T1, the mean gene dispersion ratio of T2 was the least (2.0%), followed by C12 (2.8%) , T3 (2.9%) and others. The phylogenetic tree showed that all clones from T1, T2, T3 and C12 might cluster together,and implied that the direction of HIV transmission was from T3 to T2, and then to T1.

CONCLUSIONThe results support the possible epidemiological clue that HIV was transmitted from T3 to T2, and then to T1, indicating that molecular epidemiological investigation could provide more direct evidence for tracing postexposure HIV transmission.

Female ; HIV ; genetics ; HIV Infections ; epidemiology ; genetics ; transmission ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Phylogeny ; RNA, Viral ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, RNA ; Transfusion Reaction

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the feasibility of using radiomic features for differential diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hepatic cavernous hemangioma (HHE).

METHODSGadoxetate disodium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from a total of 135 HCC and HHE lesions. The radiomic texture features of each lesion were extracted on the hepatobiliary phase images, and the performance of each feature was assessed in differentiation and classification of HCC and HHE. In multivariate analysis, the performance of 3 feature selection algorithms (namely minimum redundancy-maximum relevance, mRmR; neighborhood component analysis, NCA; and sequence forward selection, SFS) was compared. The optimal feature subset was determined according to the optimal feature selection algorithm and used for testing the 3 classifier algorithms (namely the support vector machine, RBF-SVM; linear discriminant analysis, LDA; and logistic regression). All the tests were repeated 5 times with 10-fold cross validation experiments.

RESULTSMore than 50% of the radiomic features exhibited strong distinguishing ability, among which gray level co-occurrence matrix feature S (3, -3) SumEntrp showed a good classification performance with an AUC of 0.72 (P<0.01), a sensitivity of 0.83 and a specificity of 0.57. For the multivariate analysis, 15 features were selected based on the SFS algorithm, which produced better results than the other two algorithms. Testing of these 15 selected features for their average cross-validation performance with RBF-SVM classifier yielded a test accuracy of 0.82∓0.09, an AUC of 0.86∓0.12, a sensitivity of 0.88∓0.11, and a specificity of 0.76∓0.18.

CONCLUSIONThe radiomic features based on gadoxetate disodium-enhanced magnetic resonance images allow efficient differential diagnosis of HCC and HHE, and can potentially provide important assistance in clinical diagnosis of the two diseases.

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical effect of early or late administration of caffeine citrate in the prevention and treatment of apnea in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. METHODS: A total of 82 VLBW infants who were hospitalized and treated in the neonatal intensive care unit between June 2015 and May 2017 were enrolled. According to the age in days when caffeine citrate treatment was started, they were divided into early treatment group (<3 days) with 22 infants and late treatment group (3 - <10 days) with 60 infants. A retrospective analysis was performed for their clinical data. The two groups were compared in terms of general information during the perinatal period, treatment process, and clinical outcome. RESULTS: Compared with the late treatment group, the early treatment group had a significantly lower birth weight (P=0.004), significantly shorter durations of mechanical ventilation and oxygen inhalation (P<0.05), and a significantly lower incidence rate of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (P=0.032). There were no significant differences in other general information, treatment process, and clinical outcome between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS Early administration of caffeine citrate can improve the prognosis of VLBW infants.
Apnea ; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia ; Caffeine ; Child ; Citrates ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Retrospective Studies