OBJECTIVESince the outbreak of a highly contagious new pneumonia, atypical pneumonia or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in Guangzhou area, 33 children with this syndrome were treated in the authors' hospital. The present study aimed to understand clinical characteristics and prognosis of pediatric SARS patients in Guangzhou area.

METHODSClinical manifestations, laboratory and radiologic findings, therapeutic approaches and prognosis of the 33 children with SARS in Guangzhou area were analyzed.

RESULTSOf the 33 cases, 17 were males and 16 were females. The age was between 3 months to 13 years, and 3 - 12 years old patients accounted for 82%. Five (15%) cases had an evident history of contacting SARS patient before the symptoms occurred. Another 5 (15%) cases had a history that contacts of these patients (family members or friends) developed fever and/or cough later. The most common symptoms in this cohort were fever (100%) and cough (91%). Most of the cases had high fever, higher than 39 degrees C. Near half of the cases had nonproductive cough. The initial blood cells count showed that total white blood cell (WBC) count was (2.5 - 9.7) x 10(9)/L. In 22 (67%) cases the WBC count was < 5.0 x 10(9)/L, and in 10 (30%) WBC was (5.0 - 7.0) x 10(9)/L, in 18 cases most of the WBC were lymphocyte count. Chest radiograph showed patchy infiltrates, in 15 cases the changes were unilateral, and in 18 were bilateral. The radiologic changes developed fast, in some cases the changes progressed from one side to both sides. The opacity was absorbed slowly, significant absorption took in average two weeks. Elevated ALT was found in 3 cases and elevated CK-MB in 2 cases. Treatment included isolation, good ventilation of the ward, bed rest, supportive regimens, low volume oxygen inhalation, use of Chinese traditional medicine, antibiotics to prevent bacterial infection, and anti-inflammation therapy. All the patients recovered and discharged from hospital after a mean period of 10.0 +/- 3.8 days.

CONCLUSIONSARS in children may have its own characteristics. The main clinical manifestations were high fever and cough while no severe toxic symptoms, nor respiratory failure was seen; few symptoms or signs suggesting involvement of systems other than respiratory system were seen. Chest radiograph showed uni- or bilateral asymmetric air-space infiltrates which could worsen quickly and were absorbed slowly. Though there were severe changes in the lung, the patients might not have corresponding symptoms or signs. The total white blood cell count in peripheral blood did not increase. All the patients studied had a favorable outcome after the combined treatment.

Adolescent ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Bed Rest ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Cohort Studies ; Cough ; complications ; Female ; Fever ; complications ; Humans ; Infant ; Length of Stay ; Lung ; drug effects ; microbiology ; pathology ; Male ; Prognosis ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo study the safety, immunogenicity on the enterotoxige Escherichia coli (E. coli) recombinant active vaccine FE3 and FE16.

METHODSToxicity and immunogenicity of the vaccine were determined by experiments on enterotoxigenic E. coli toxicity and immunological experiments on rabbits and mice.

RESULTSThe results of an toxicological experiments were negative. The agglutination titer of antibodies against the S. flexneri 2a and enterotoxigenic E. coli plamid antigen were all higher than 1:640 and 1:1280 in the sera of rabbits. IgG in the serum went up remarkably, while sIgA against CFA/I was also decteted in the dejecta of mice immunized with active bacteria either orogastrically or intranasally. Simultaneously, sIgA was not detected in the dejecta of mice immunized with inactive bacteria either orogastrically or intranasally.

CONCLUSIONThe enterotoxigenic E. coli recombinant active vaccine showed good safety and immunogenicity, inducing both humoral and mucosal immunity in mice.

Administration, Intranasal ; Administration, Oral ; Agglutination ; immunology ; Animals ; Bacterial Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; immunology ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; immunology ; Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli ; immunology ; Female ; Immunoglobulin A ; blood ; immunology ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; immunology ; Mice ; Rabbits ; Vaccines, Synthetic ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; immunology

Objective To study the effects of Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription on the migration ability of MHCC97-H and the expressions of CXCL12, CXCR4 and CXCR7; To discuss its relevant mechanism of action. Methods Setting Sorafenib as a positive control, CCK-8 method was used for determining the effects of Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription on the cell proliferation of MHCC97-H and the optimum concentration. Scratch assay was used to observe the migration ability of MHCC97-H. The protein expressions of CXCL12, CXCR4 and CXCR7 were detected by Western blot after 24 h of medicine intervention. Results Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription and Sorafenib can inhibit the cell proliferation of MHCC97-H , and the inhibitory concentration was 0.095 g/mL and 10 μmol/mL at 24 hours. Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription can inhibit migration ability of MHCC97-H. The protein expressions of CXCL12, CXCR4 and CXCR7 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells decreased after the action of Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription. Conclusion Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription can inhibit MHCC97-H cell proliferation and migration, which may be realized by down-regulating chemokine axis of CXCL12/CXCR4/CXCR7.

OBJECTIVETo study the value of 3D visualization technique in breast-preserving surgery for breast cancer with immediate breast reconstruction using laparoscopically harvested pedicled latissimus dorsi muscle flap.

METHODSFrom January, 2015 to May, 2016, 30 patients with breast cancer underwent breast-preserving surgery with immediate breast reconstruction using pedicled latissimus dorsi muscle flap. The CT data of the arterial phase and venous phase were collected preoperatively and imported into the self-developed medical image 3D visualization system for image segmentation and 3D reconstruction. The 3D models were imported into the simulation surgery platform for virtual surgery to prepare for subsequent surgeries. The cosmetic outcomes of the patients were evaluated 6 months after the surgery. Another 18 patients with breast cancer who underwent laparoscopic latissimus dorsi muscle breast reconstruction without using 3D visualization technique from January to December, 2014 served as the control group. The data of the operative time, intraoperative blood loss and postoperative appearance of the breasts were analyzed.

RESULTSThe reconstructed 3D model clearly displayed the anatomical structures of the breast, armpit, latissimus dorsi muscle and vessels and their anatomical relationship in all the 30 cases. Immediate breast reconstruction was performed successfully in all the cases with median operation time of 226 min (range, 210 to 420 min), a median blood loss of 95 mL (range, 73 to 132 mL). Evaluation of the appearance of the breast showed excellent results in 22 cases, good appearance in 6 cases and acceptable appearance in 2 cases. In the control group, the median operation time was 283 min (range, 256 to 313 min) and the median blood loss was 107 mL (range, 79 to 147 mL) with excellent appearance of the breasts in 10 cases, good appearance in 4 cases and acceptable appearance in 4 cases.

CONCLUSION3D reconstruction technique can clearly display the morphology of the latissimus dorsi and the thoracic dorsal artery, allows calculation of the volume of the breast and the latissimus dorsi, and helps in defining the scope of resection of the latissimus dorsi to avoid injuries of the pedicled vessels. This technique also helps to shorten the operation time, reduce intraoperative bleeding, and improve the appearance of the reconstructed breast using pedicled latissimus dorsi muscle flap.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of immature dendritic cells (inDC) genetically modified to express sTNFR I on acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and the graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect ofter allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT) in leukemic mice and its mechanism.

METHODSAn EL4 leukemia allo-BMT model was established with the BALB/c (H-2d) donor mice (DM)and C57BL/6 (H-2b) recipient mice (RM). The RM received DM bone marrow (BM) cells at a 1:1 ratio with spleen cells intravenously via tail vein at 4 h after TBI. Fifty DM were separated randomly into five groups: (1) Group A: total body irradiation (TBI) group, (2) Group B: lymphoma cell leukemia group, (3) Group C: allo-BMT group, (4) Group D: pXZ9-DC group, (5) Group E: sTNFR I-DC group. Acute GVHD scores, incidence of leukemic cell infiltration, histopathological analysis, survival rate, and survival rate of the recipients were estimated after allo-BMT. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was used to detect cytokines (INF-gamma and IL-4 ) production. Flow cytometry (FCM) analysis was used to detect allogeneic chimerism.

RESULTS(1) The mice in group A and group B all died of the BM failure and lymphoma cell leukemia, respectively. The mice in group C developed typical clinical signs of a GVHD after BMT with an average survival time(AST) of (11.50 +/- 3.50) d. The signs of aGVHD were less evident in the group D and E, and their AST (21.70 +/- 5.80 and 25.80 +/- 5.20 days, respectively) were all longer than that in group C (P < 0.05). AST of group E was the longest (P < 0.05). The mice in group B all died of leukemia within 18 days after engraftment of EL4 cells. There was was no significant difference in groups C, D and E in the incidence of leukemia (P > 0.05). (2) Serum IFN-gamma level reached peak value. At + 12 d, then decreased gradually in group C, D, and E, and then reached the nadir at +18 d post-BMT, with the lowest in group E (P < 0.05), and the level was significantly lower in group D than in group C (P < 0.05). After BMT, serum IL-4 level slightly decreased in group C, but gradually elevated in group D and E and reached their peak at +12 d, and even more significantly increased in group E (P < 0.05). There was no statistical significance in the pair wise comparison among three group (P < 0.05). (3) The average proportion of H-2d positive cells in RM was 95%-100% on day 30 post-BMT, with complete donor-type implantation.

CONCLUSIONImmature DC can induce immuno tolerance. Immature DC genetically modified to express sTNFR I has been shown to prevent acute GVHD in lethally irradiated mice reconstituted with allogeneic bone marrow grafts while maintaining the GVL response.

Animals ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; adverse effects ; methods ; Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; Female ; Graft vs Host Disease ; prevention & control ; Graft vs Leukemia Effect ; Immune Tolerance ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type I ; genetics ; Transplantation, Homologous

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of Nur77 on lipid loading in macrophages exposed to 40 microg/ml oxidized low density lipoprotein (ox-LDL).

METHODSStable RAW264.7 strain expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) or GFP-Nur77 was established by G418 screening after transfection with corresponding plasmids and identified by Western blot. After 24 h stimulation with ox-LDL, intracellular lipid loading of each strain was observed by Oil Red O dyeing, and the intracellular cholesterol level was measured by liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The transcriptional changes of CD36 and ABCA1 were monitored by Real Time Quantitative-PCR, while the expressions of these two proteins were assayed by flow cytometry and Western blot, respectively.

RESULTSAfter 24 h stimulation with ox-LDL, intracellular total cholesterol and esterified cholesterol concentration in GFP-Nur77-RAW264.7 were significantly dropped by 26.15% and 30.93% respectively (P < 0.05 vs. GFP-RAW264.7). The transcription and expression of ABCA1 in GFP-Nur77-RAW264.7 were significantly increased while the transcription and expression of CD36 were significantly reduced (all P < 0.05 vs. GFP-RAW264.7).

CONCLUSIONOrphan nuclear receptor Nur77 reduced ox-LDL induced intracellular lipid loading in macrophages by inhibiting lipid influx and enhancing lipid efflux.

Animals ; CD36 Antigens ; metabolism ; Cell Line ; Cholesterol ; metabolism ; DNA, Complementary ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Lipid Metabolism ; Lipoproteins, LDL ; metabolism ; Macrophages ; metabolism ; Mice ; Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4, Group A, Member 1 ; Receptors, Steroid ; genetics ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo study the correlation between DNA fingerprinting of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) stains isolated from the Chinese army in the south and from local residents, and to investigate the molecular epidemiological characteristics of tuberculosis (TB) in the army, for the sake of TB prevention in the army.

METHODSMTB DNA was digested with restriction endonuclease PvuII and electrophoresed in agarose gel, after Southern Blotting, the membrane was hybridized with a 245 bp fragment of IS6110 which labeled [alpha(32)P]-dCTP as probe. Finally, a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns was shown, and analyzed logestic with epidemiological data from the patients.

RESULTSA total number of 185 TB strains were detected and the IS6110 copy numbers ranged from 1 - 22. No significant difference was found in the IS6110 copy numbers between patients from army and local patients. IS6110 copy numbers of TB strains in army patients were centered in 6 - 20, however, with 7 - 20 copies in local TB patients. The TB strains were dispersed into 8 groups and the majority of TB strains in both army and local patients was centered in groups I, II, III. The distribution of DNA fingerprint for drug resistance TB strains was significantly different from those for sensitive strains. No different distribution of among groups was found regarding BCG history.

CONCLUSIONSThe genetics of TB stains were roughly the same between the army patients and local ones, but there was a strong correlation in the gene levels. Data suggested that a close connection should be considered on TB prevention and treatment for TB patients in the army and local residents.

China ; epidemiology ; DNA Fingerprinting ; DNA, Bacterial ; analysis ; genetics ; Humans ; Military Personnel ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Tuberculosis ; epidemiology ; genetics ; microbiology

OBJECTIVETyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains and epidemiological studies in the army of southern China to provide scientific basis for prevention of pulmonary tuberculosis.

METHODSA rapid fingerprinting of M. tuberculosis strains method by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with outward-directed primers that designed to the ends of the insertion sequence IS6110 was developed, and to analyze the relationship between the polymorphism of DNA fingerprinting and epidemiology of M. tuberculosis.

RESULTSOne hundred and fifty-four M. tuberculosis detected were classified into eight types according to their characters of PCR amplified fingerprints. The main types were type I (36.4%), type II (31.8%), and type III (21.4%), while other types were less than 4 percentage. In those main type groups, patients aged 20 to 29 and 30 to 39 took up 31.8% and 27.9% respectively. For those main types, the distribution of those types in the first treated patients showed significant difference compared with that in the retreated patients, and the rate of drug-resistance was also statistically different. However, the distribution was not statistically significant to history of BCG vaccination and patients living in urban or rural area. The main drug-resistant strains were only Isoniazid-resistant or Rifampin-resistant strains, while the drug-resistant strains were 44.4%, 29.6% and 14.8% respectively in type I, type II and type III.

CONCLUSIONPCR fingerprinting was a rapid, precise, sensitive, specific method to type M. tuberculosis, and could be used to study the epidemiology of tuberculosis; The prevalence of tuberculosis was primarily due to the transmission of type I, type II and type III in the army being studied from Southern China, to suggest that surveillance needs to be strengthened.

Adult ; China ; epidemiology ; DNA Fingerprinting ; methods ; DNA, Bacterial ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Military Personnel ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tuberculosis ; epidemiology ; Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant ; epidemiology ; microbiology

Liver cancer has the characteristics of high incidence rate, high malignancy and hidden disease.At present, the treat¬ment of liver cancer mainly includes surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but the prognosis is poor.Therefore, it is very important to explore the pathogenesis of liver cancer and find ef¬fective drugs on this basis.Protein post-translational modifica¬tion is a hot topic in epigenetics.Recent studies have found that the occurrence and development of liver cancer is related to the abnormality of post-translational modification, and can be used as a target for the diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer.This article reviews the relationship between the major protein post- translational modifications discovered in recent years and liver cancer, and provides clues for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of liver cancer.

Objective To investigate the changes of cognitive impairment and its correlated factors in patients with first acute cerebral ischemic stroke.Methods Five hundred and sixty-eighty patients,admitted to our hospital from July 2010 to June 2011 and met the diagnostic criteria of first acute cerebral ischemic stroke,were chosen in our study; neuropsychological evaluation was conducted within 1 week of acute cerebral ischemic stroke.The comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation battery included mini-mental state examination (MMSE),Digit span,Mattis dementia scale,Rey complex figure test,stroop test,World Health Organization and University of California-Los Angeles auditory verbal learning test,semantic category verbal fluency test and clock drawing test,which contained tests for memory,attention,executive function,information processing capability,visuospatial and visuo constructive functions.Gender,age,histories of hypertension and smoking,and levels of blood pressure,random blood glucose,fasting blood glucose and 2-hour postprandial blood glucose,cholesterin,triglyceride,low density lipoprotein-C (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein-C (HDL-C) were noted and the relations between cognitive function and both blood sugar and blood lipid levels were analyzed.Results (1) The abnormal rates of these patients in MMSE,Mattis dementia scale,attention deficit disorder,immediate logical memory disorder,delayed logical memory disorder,instant auditory memory disorder,delayed auditory memory disorder,visual memory disorder,executive function disorder,information processing disorder,and visuospatial and visuo constructive disorder were 78.2％,72.5％,26.5％,56.3％,60.9％,74.6％,98.2％,83.8％,62.7％,4.9％ and 77.7％,respectively.In patients with different blood glucose levels,significant differences were found on scores of MMSE,Mattis dementia scale,attention scale (P＜ 0.05); furthermore,the scores ofMMSE,Mattis dementia scale,attention scale in patients with impaired fasting glucose were obviously lower as compared with those in other groups (P＜0.05).The scale of above cognitive domains showed no significant difference in patients with different types of hyperlipidemias (P＞0.05); the scores of execution ability and visual space structure capability in patients with HDL-C were higher than those in normal density lipoprotein-C and LDL-C (P＜0.05),and the higher level of density lipoprotein-C,the higher scores of visual space structure capability (P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis found that the total MMSE scores were associated with gender,age,and levels of fasting blood glucose and 2-hour postprandial blood glucose; the independent risk factors of executive function were gender,age and HDL-C level; the ability of memory was correlated with age and HDL-C level.Visuospatial and visuo constructive function was associated with gender,age and mRS scores; the information processing ability was only correlated with HDL-C level.Conclusion In patients with acute cerebral ischemic stroke,the cognitive impairment is extensive and severe,with a prevalence of about 75％,mainly having disorders in memory,executive ability,spatial structure; glucose levels,especially impaired fasting glucose level show most obvious influence in cognitive impairment;HDL-C level helps keep normal cognitive function; age,gender,HDL-C level are the most important factors of cognitive function.