Objective To explore the changes of serum cortisol and its influence on prognosis in children with traumatic brain injury( TBI) . Methods A total of 52 children suffering from TBI hospitalized in SICU of Nanjing Children′s Hospital from June 2014 to December 2015 were analyzed. According to the glasgow coma scale(GCS),they were divided into three groups:mild injury group(19 cases,GCS≥13), moderate injury group(16 cases,8

BACKGROUND:The relationship between the occurrence time and clinical symptoms of bone marrow edema in nontraumatic femoral head necrosis is stil controversial. OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the relationship of bone marrow edema in nontraumatic femoral head necrosis with Association Research Circulation Osseous (ARCO) staging and pain grading. METHODS: Forty-eight patients with nontraumatic femoral head necrosis (58 hips) were confirmed to have bone marrow edema on MRI T1 weighted images and T2 fat suppression images. Then, the patients were graded according to the MRI Classification Method reported by Zhao Pei-rong, the ARCO Staging System and Harris hip score for pain grading. We analyzed the correlation of bone marrow edema with ARCO staging and pain grading. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The incidence rate of bone marrow edema in ARCO I-III was increased in sequence, and the difference was statisticaly significant (χ2=27.69,P=0.001); the average rank of bone marrow edema in ARCO I-III was increased significantly (χ2=19.947,P=0.000). The incidence rate of bone marrow edema also increased among different pain grading, and the difference was statisticaly significant (χ2=57.0, P=0.000); the average rank of bone marrow edema among different pain grading was increased significantly (χ2=174.0,P=0.000). The presence and aggravation of bone marrow edema indicate the enlargement of necrosis area and the aggravation of symptoms in patients with nontraumatic femoral head necrosis, which can be used as an auxiliary index for the appraisal of disease progression.

r study.

Objective The current study is aimed to investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms and gene expression in peptidylarginine deiminase Ⅳ (PADI4) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods The gene expression of PADI4 was examined using real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymcrase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 70 patients with RA and 81 healthy controls. Four exonie SNPs of the PADI4 gene (PADI4_89, _90, _92, _104) were genotyped using DNA sequencing and TA cloning.Results The distribution of PADI4_89, _90, _104 SNPs in RA was different from that of healthy controls. The increased RA susceptibility was significantly associated with minor alleles. When haplotypes were construe -ted with 4 SNPs, two major haplotypes, ACCC and GTGT were found in all samples, and GTGT haplo-type (carrying only the minor alleles) was significandy associated with increased RA susceptibility (P<0.01)in comparison with the reference haplotype ACCC. There was over expression of PADI4 in RA than controls(P<0.05). C, enotypes carrying the minor alleles had higher expression level of PADI4 in RA and controls than those with the common alleles. Conclusion PADI4 SNPs and haplotypes are associated with RA susceptibility in Chinese. PADI4 is over-expressed in the blood of RA patients, and there is significant association between the haplotypes and expression level of the PADI4 gene.

Objective To investigate the variation of morbidity and clinical features of Henoch-Seh(o)nlein purpura (HSP) in childhood in recent years.Methods The clinical data of 901 cases with HSP admitted to our hospital from January 1,1995 to December 31,2005 were retrospectively analyzed.The constitute rate of admission,the initial clinical presentations,specific manifestations such as multi-system 23/2165(1.06%),29/2098(1.38%),24/1973(1.22%),39/2008(1.94%),54/2433(2.22%),86/2611(3.29%),94/2724(3.45%),99/3014(3;28%),138/2900(4.76%),143/3177(4.50%)and 172/3500(4.91%),resp-sixty-five of 901 HSP children (1 8.3%) had no palpable purpura at onset, 90 cases initially manifested as abdominal pain and (or) gastrointestinal bleeding,14 of them was diagnosed by gastroendoscopy which demonstrated mucous membrane vasculitis.Sixty-three cases manifested as arthritis/arthralgias,6 cases presented as renal involvement,1 case with neurological symptoms and 5 cases with other symptoms at their pancreatic involvement was present in 3 cases,cardiac involvement in 47 Cases and one case had lung hemorrhage.Conclusion The morbidity of HSP has increased in recent years.The diagnosis in patients who do not have palpable purpura at onset and patients who present with the cerebral,pulmonary,cardiac and pancreatic involvement as the initial manifestations is difficult.Special attention should be paid to this group of patients.Gastrointestinal endoscope is valuable in diagnosing HSP in patients whose initial symptoms are abdominal pain and (or) gastrointestinal bleeding.

The shape and structure of granules are controlled by the granulation process, which is one of the main factors to determine the nature of the solid dosage forms. In this article, three kinds of granules of a traditional Chinese medicine for improving appetite and promoting digestion, namely, Jianwei Granules, were prepared using granulation technologies as pendular granulation, high speed stirring granulation, and fluidized bed granulation and the powder properties of them were investigated. Meanwhile, synchrotron radiation X-ray computed micro tomography (SR-µCT) was applied to quantitatively determine the irregular internal structures of the granules. The three-dimensional (3D) structure models were obtained by 3D reconstruction, which were more accurately to characterize the three-dimensional structures of the particles through the quantitative data. The models were also used to quantitatively compare the structural differences of granules prepared by different granulation processes with the same formula, so as to characterize how the production process plays a role in the pharmaceutical behaviors of the granules. To focus on the irregularity of the particle structure, the box counting method was used to calculate the fractal dimensions of the granules. The results showed that the fractal dimension is more sensitive to reflect the minor differences in the structure features than the conventional parameters, and capable to specifically distinct granules in structure. It is proved that the fractal dimension could quantitatively characterize the structural information of irregular granules. It is the first time suggested by our research that the fractal dimension difference (Df,c) between two fractal dimension parameters, namely, the volume matrix fractal dimension and the surface matrix fractal dimension, is a new index to characterize granules with irregular structures and evaluate the effects of production processes on the structures of granules as a new indicator for the granulating process control and optimization.

Objective To detect DNA damage of peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients and family members of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD),and to study the effect of irradiation on genomic stability of lymphocytes. Methods Before and after 0.5 Gy radiation dose,single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) was employed to analyze DNA damage of lymphocytes in 10 ADPKD patients (group A),3 members without clinical symptoms of a ADPKD family (group B) and 20 healthy control people (group C).The damage was estimated based on the content of DNA in tail (TDNA％) with comet analysis software (CASP). Results Both before and after irradiation,the TDNA％ (8.85％±0.14％,14.84％±0.77％) and the value-added (6.00％±0.77％) of TDNA％ of group A were significantly higher than those of group C (7.50％±0.37％,12.46％±0.26％,4.96％±0.44％) respectively.There were no significant differences between group B and group C or group A and group B.While 1 person in group B had higher TDNA％ as compared to group C both before and after irradiation. Conclusions The lymphocytes of ADPKD patients are more sensitive to ionizing radiation as compared to healthy people.The genomic instability in ADPKD patients or member of ADPKD family may trigger cystic formation in multi-organs when exposing to environmental agents. SCGE may provide a new approach to elucidate the pathogenesis and prognosis of ADPKD.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the mechanism of epididymal hypofunction of rats with varicocele (VC) by observing the changes in the epididymal index, motility of epididymal sperm, expressions of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) and the tumor suppressor protein p53, and epididymal epithelial cells.

METHODSNinety SD rats were equally randomized to a VC model (A), a sham operation (B), and a normal control group (C). At 49 days after surgery, all the rats were executed after weighing. Then the volume of the left epididymis was obtained, the epididymal sperm motility was detected by computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA), the expressions of HIF-1 alpha and p53 in the epididymal tissue were determined by Western-blot, and the epididymal epithelial cells were observed by HE staining.

RESULTSVC models were successfully established in 27 of the rats. One-way ANOVA test showed no statistically significant differences in the epididymis index among groups A ([40.53 +/- 1.76] x 10 (-5)) , B ([43.31 1.58] x 10( -5)) , and C ( [44. 10 +/- 2.62] x 10 -5) (P > 0.05). Sperm motility and the percentage of progressively motile sperm were significantly lower in group A ([71.86 +/- 5.07]% and [42. 26 +/-4.45]%) than in B ([78.51 4.50]% and [49.08 +/-4. 19]% ) and C ( [79.24 +/- 2.70] % and [52. 23+/- 2. 23] % ) (both P <0.05) , while the expressions of HTF-1 a and p53 were remarkably higher in A (1.74 +/- 0. 16 and 1.71 +/- 0. 11) than in B (0.32 +/- 0. 08 and 0.56 +/- 0.13) and C (0.12 +/- 0. 03 and 0.25 +/-0.06) (both P < 0.05). The epididymal epithelial cells in group A were obviously decreased in number and arranged in loose and disorderly patterns as compared with those in B and C.

CONCLUSIONVaricocele can cause hypoxia in the epididymal tissue, which in turn may lead to epididymal hypofunction.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Epididymis ; metabolism ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; metabolism ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sperm Motility ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; metabolism ; Varicocele ; metabolism

The SRY gene from buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) genome was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) with primers based on the sequence of Hostein SRY gene. The amplified fragment was 2005 bp include 5UTR ( 1 - 504bp) and 3'UTR(1196 - 2005bp). And the amplified fragment was cloned and sequenced. Sequence analysis showed that the coding region of SRY gene (505 - 1195bp) from buffalo was highly homologous with those of other bovine counterpart genes (96% homology) , especially in the HMG box region (99%homology). It was found that there were only signal on male buffalo genome on Southern blot,which indicate SRY gene are highly conservative on evolves.